--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > on 12/3/05 11:42 PM, sparaig at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]: > > >> on 12/3/05 3:25 PM, sparaig at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > >>>> > > >>>> Actually, they're quite private, even secretive. Maharishi > > >>> isn't "people." > > >>> > > >>> But WHY do they talk about it with YOU? > > >> > > >> They've talked about it with other people. They're just not > > >> running to the > > >> newspapers or setting up a web site. > > > > > > Patiently: but why are they talking about it at all? > > > > Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself that question. > > Don't the have a right to? Are they under some moral > > obligation to remain silent all their lives? > > That question, "Why are they talking about it at all?" > says a lot about a very prevalent trend/teaching in the > TM movement that I don't think is positive. > > "Don't focus on the negative." "Don't talk about those > unpleasant things." Ever hear those phrases? > > And don't forget the canned response if, God help you, > you *do* talk about something less than pleasant that > occurred to you along the Way: "You're just unstressing." > > In the TMO one is supposed to pretend all the time that > things are just hunky-dory. It was like that in TM centers > throughout America; I can only assume that this pressure > to "always be positive" and to cover up anything that is > less than positive is even more intense in Fairfield.
Forget being "positive"...what I couldn't stand was virtually every brochure that came out of MIU had happy, smiling faces...very Stepford Wives-ish. I was at MIU at the time and --speaking for my friends and I -- we stayed as far away as possible from the few on campus that did actually smile that much (and that little demographic had a disproportionately high number of mental breakdowns). > > And God help you if you violate this unspoken taboo. > You are first told that you're unstressing, then you're > shunned, and if you persist in speaking the unspeakable, > you're stigmatized. Your credibility is questioned. > And if this doesn't shut you up, there is always being > declared apostate -- thrown out of the TM movement. I honestly don't think that happens much these days in the TM Movement, Tantra. Why? Because the nuttiness that is coming down from Vlodrop-in-the-sky is occurring so often and is SO undefendable that even the most hard-core True Believer is hapless in his ability to defend it. >From Kings weighed in gold to CIA comments to I-speak-only-to-those- with-Vastu to Damn-democracy, a little negativity from the troops is actually a welcome respite: at least some cynicism, skepticism and negativity from meditators is something in the realm of rationality and, as such, can be dealt with by a rational mind. Vlodrop proclamations leaves the most devoted of the initiators and governors scratching their heads and first trying to figure out what the hell is going on themselves before they would even hope to answer a question from a regular meditator about it. Speaking of proclamations: remember back in the '70s when the TMO lobbied for and got all those State and US Congressional Proclamations? And how the TMO (read: Maharishi) thought that they were actually worth the paper that they were written on and publicized them? Well, as embarrassing as that was then and as much as we all rolled our eyes, well, by comparison to what's going on today, it seems like the good 'ole days. > > I don't think this is a good thing. While one can make > a case for focusing on the positive and not dwelling > overlong on the past, I don't think one can make a case > for stigmatizing those who feel the need to talk about > what's happened to them. I fell that to do so (to stig- > matize or attempt to impune the reputation or the > credibility of the person speaking out) reveals the > spiritual poverty of those who practice it. > > Unc > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
