emily: > From 23 years ago. Wow. > It takes the newbies a while to catch up on the news.
Why doesn't he just go over to see Curtis, it's not that far away. They could talk about the old days. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Michael Jackson <mjackson74@> wrote: > > > > Ex-Followers Demonstrate Against > > TM > > > > From "Grounding the Guru," by Susan Gervasi, City Paper >> (Washington, DC), 7/13/90; 14,16. > > > > More than 800 members of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental > > Meditation, attending a week-long convention at Washington, DC's > > Omni-Shoreham Hotel in June, faced the protest of members of TM-EX, an informal > > anti-TM group that educates the public about TM and offers "exit counseling" to > > those who want out of the movement. > > > > One TM-EX, former 15-year follower Curtis Mailloux, a 33-year-old real estate > > broker from Fairfax, VA, denounced the organization as a cultist religion that > > is exploitative, deceptive, and damaging. Mailloux is a 1979 graduate of > > Maharishi International University, in Fairfield, IA, who in 1985 became head of > > TM's Washington Center. > > > > TM-EXers do not dispute that TM can be an effective relaxation technique, though > > they say it is no better than similar relaxation regimens. The danger in TM, > > they say, comes when the discipline takes over the meditators' > > lives. > > > > > > TM-EX member Joe Kelley said: "When we started we were told it was a simple, > > effortless technique for releasing stress with no religious implications. > > Initially, it was a 20 minute technique." But by taking advanced residence > > courses and other activities, "I was effectively made into a Hindu believer," > > said Kelley. > > > > Former TM teacher Diane Hendel, who has sued the organization for fraud and > > extortion, said the many bizarre mental experiences she had were considered a > > sign of spiritual superiority. "I saw little creatures with wings" during > > intensive meditation periods, she related. "They were like my pets. They'd tell > > me things." She was encouraged to believe that these winged beasties were > > "devas" -- Hindu spirits of nature. "I began not to be able to tell who was a > > person and who was a deva," she said. Hendel sought counseling, eventually quit > > meditating, and left the movement. > > > > Mailloux said involvement in the movement becomes "a prison of specialness. > > Especially as a leader in the movement, there's no way you can leave this group > > and be [regarded by other devotees as] OK or leave with dignity... I was only > > special as a nervous system which is a 'generator of purity,' not as an > > individual." > > > > Mailloux's "specialness"earned him three years in Florida with a group of > > celibate TM men, living monastically within the movement, where he enjoyed the > > adulation of female movement "groupies" drawn to his hard-to-getness -- a common > > ego-trip among the celibates, he said. Some movement women with low self-esteem, > > he added, tend to get fixated on these celibate men and get milked for donations > > to support them. > > >