--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "shempmcgurk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > All that was needed were those two magical words: > "Maharishi said..." > > Or the more defensive version: "BUT Maharishi said..."
Or, come to think of it, *any* sentence starting with the word 'BUT...' Think about it. I've been in spiritual organizations where the students *don't* tend to argue, to start sentences with 'BUT...' and present another point of view that is obviously meant to be the "right" or dominant point of view. In such organizations, replies tend to start with, 'AND...,' as if the speaker were merely introducing another way of seeing the situation, one that is not necessarily superior to the point of view he or she is bouncing off of. It's more of a give-and-take, an exchange of different points of view, none necessarily better or more correct than another. Compare and contrast this to the TMO, in which we hear sentences that begin with 'BUT...' a *lot*. My suggestion for why this is is that the very nature of TM teaching is pedantry. TM teachers are trained to memorize the "right" answer to every question, the "right" comeback to every criticism. And these "right" answers get passed along to the TM rank and file, who then tend to mindlessly repeat them whenever the same question or criticism arises. The repeated buzzphrases and dogma were originally presented as "right;" they are repeated as "right." There is always the supposition that there *IS* a "right" answer to the question or criticism, a "right" point of view to take in such situations. The word 'BUT...," used to introduce a sentence, in most cases defines someone who is convinced that he or she is "right," and is about to make a stand and attempt to convince the other person that he or she *IS* "right." It's the introduction to a butting of heads, an attempt to establish dominance. It's the expression of a self that feels challenged, an ego fighting to convince itself not only that it knows the "truth," but that it exists. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/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/
