Richard, what I'd say to Sam Harris is: that which is closest to the Truth
lasts longest. What do you think lasts longest, scrutiny or Truth? Truth is
gonna last no matter how little or how much scrutiny we do. (-:
On Monday, September 8, 2014 9:46 AM, "'Richard J. Williams'
pundits...@gmail.com [FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
On 9/8/2014 8:19 AM, steve.sun...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] wrote:
>Sure, I see what you are bringing up here. Thanks for clarifying.
>
>
Just to clarify: "...what does not survive scrutiny cannot be real."
- Sam Harris
"What I'm talking about is slowly lifting up off the sofa and
sitting
in midair for two to three minutes. Or stepping up off the ground in
the desert and then flying around several feet above the ground for
a while."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/message/143231
>
>
>---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <punditster@...> wrote :
>
>
>On 9/7/2014 1:50 PM, steve.sundur@... [FairfieldLife] wrote:
>
>
>>>Well, I've never looked into it, but yes, I'd like to hear other eye witness
>>>accounts.
>
>>What I'm objecting to is, not the possibility of
levitation, but
that it can be performed without the "Woo woo"
factor. It has
already been established that woo woo is just a
magician's trick.
>>
>>Barry has stated here numerous times that anyone
that practices Woo
woo is just a fool and knave.
>>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>You would think something like that would have created major buzz, such that
>>>there'd be stories floating around.
>
>>Judy said Barry was prone to fibbing. Sounds like
dick-waving to me.
And anyway, his account has already been proved to
be fraudulent by
Salya, Xeno, and Michael. And the Rama levitation
events have
already been discussed and trashed on
alt.m.t.transcendental and on alt.sci.skeptic, so why kick a dead horse? So, I
don't know why Barry is bringing up now on a thread about why you can't trust
your own perceptions - maybe because Judy is no longer posting? Go figure.
>>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>And maybe those stories are out there. I've just never looked for them.
>>>
>
>>What I'm objecting to is, not the possibility of
levitation, but
that it can be performed without the "Woo woo"
factor. It has
already been established that woo woo is just a
magician's trick.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <punditster@...> wrote :
>>>
>>>
>>>On
9/7/2014 11:39 AM, steve.sundur@... [FairfieldLife] wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>>What I know is that this was Barry's direct experience, and that of many
>>>>>others.
>
>>>>We've only heard from one eye
witness so far,
Barry. Levitation
events are not mentioned by Rama
himself in either
of his two books
and Mark Laxer doesn't mention
them. Barry failed
to mention it in
his own book! These events were
pretty much
debunked totally by The Amazing Randi on
the alt.sci.skeptic discussion group a long time ago.
>>>>
>>>>'Take Me For a Ride'
>>>>Coming Of Age In A Destructive
Cult
>>>>by Mark E. Laxer
>>>>Outer Rim Press, 1993
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>--In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <punditster@...> wrote :
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Have you heard about the "Indian
Rope Trick?"
>>>>>>
>>>>>>In the rope
trick, the
magician
is usually
accompanied by a
couple
of boy
assistants. In
Rama's
case, he seems
to
have required
over
200 assistants,
both male and
female. Go
figure.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>"The Indian rope
trick is stage
magic said to
have
been performed
in
and around India
during the 19th
century.
Sometimes
described as
"the world’s
greatest
illusion",
it reputedly
involved a
magician, a
length of rope,
and one or more
boy
assistants...."
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Indian rope
trick:
>>>>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_rope_trick
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote :
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Cool
class
experiment. I should remember to try it around my artist friends. Would they be
less likely to see red in a color only close to it on the spectrum, or more
likely?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I have a natural fascination for this stuff, you must understand,
>>>>>>>because I have had a number of perceptions that it would have been FAR
>>>>>>>more convenient for me NOT to have had. Like seeing someone levitate.
>>>>>>>Like seeing triangular-shaped
dimensional
doorways
open up in front of me in what a moment earlier had been the side of a
mountain, and being able to see stars through the doorways. Like seeing a guy
six feet in front of me "go invisible," such that I could see the desert
landscape through him.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I perceived all this stuff, first-hand, many times over many years. So
>>>>>>>did hundreds, possibly thousands of other people who ran into the Rama
>>>>>>>guy and spent time with him. But was it real or was it "future Memorex,"
>>>>>>>created via suggestion?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I don't know. I'll never know. Knowing what I know now about suggestion
>>>>>>>and the placebo effect and the neurochemistry of it all, OF COURSE these
>>>>>>>experiences of mine could have been the result of suggestion. But
>>>>>>>suggestion or not, they really *were* my experiences.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I saw all this stuff. I saw it so often over the years I almost got
>>>>>>>bored with it. Seriously.
I
remember some gal asking me in an L.A. bar one Friday night, "Whatchadoin' this
weekend." I got a wild hair up my ass and decided to tell her the truth:
"Tomorrow I'm going to go out into the Anza-Borrego Desert and hike around all
night with a couple of hundred guys and gals I know. We like to do this because
the guy leading the hike has this tendency to walk around about a foot over the
sand and turn invisible and make the stars move around and that's fun to watch.
What are you doin'?"
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I quite remember her response. I sat there watching her react for a
>>>>>>>couple of moments, the wheels of her mind whirling around as she did the
>>>>>>>Gal Math -- "Do I want to be sitting here talking to a crazy person, or
>>>>>>>one who just thinks he's being funny when he isn't?" She decided to go
>>>>>>>for the latter, ignored everything I had just told her as if it had
>>>>>>>never been spoken, and told me what she was going to be doing this
>>>>>>>coming weekend. :-)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I'm
just
riffing on this today in this canalside cafe because in retrospect it really
amuses me how much we Rama students took our lifestyle for granted. Let's face
it -- most supposed spiritual aspirants would give their left nut or ovary to
see a siddhi performed. We saw them so often we got bored with them.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>But
on
another level I really DID get to see all this stuff. Many times. It's MY
fuckin' experience, even if someone chooses to write it off to "suggestion" or
something else. Damned if I'm ever going to apologize for having had these
experiences just because someone's jealous that it was never *their*
experience. The triangular-shaped
dimensional
doorways
really *were* there in the sides of those mountains. Even if they weren't. :-)
>>>>>>>
>>>>
>>
