--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "hugheshugo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It's interesting to hear that the power of persuasion might > be at work here, as I had a series of experiences early on > in my "career" that showed me a text book step-by-step > evolution, clearly deliniated states of higher awareness > from cc all the way to unity, it was amazingly convincing > and very obviously a real physical state my brain was > slipping into. But I had read a book about TM and asked > many questions on courses. Can our expectations (not that > I felt I was having any, I've always felt very innocent > with the technique) influence the states this easily? > This would be a fascinating area of study I think.
I agree. I don't think there is any question that what one has "grown up with" philosophically colors and influences one's interpretation of one's own spiritual experiences. Just look at the cross- cultural range of spiritual experiences -- do Native Americans cognize Shiva and Brahma when they have visions? Do people brought up Catholic cognize Krishna when they have visions? No, of course they don't -- the Native Americans have the visions they expect to have, and the Catholics see Jesus or Mary or the beings *they* expect to see. I consider it possible (but not a given) that the Navajo having a vision in his hogan and the monk in his monastery might be having the same experience. But how they *interpret* that experience afterwards is going to be in terms of how they were *taught* to interpret such experiences. > What really impressed me about the teachings is an > experience of the veda I had once, very powerful and > definately real as I couldn't have imagined it if I'd > tried. The thing is, the only veda I knew of at > the time was Darth... :-) LOL. > ...as it was four years before I heard about it on a > course and was told we could actually hear it in > certain states. But was what you heard the "Veda," or some undiffer- entiated cosmic "white noise" associated with a particular state of attention? Would it be possible that someone used to choral singing in churches could have experienced the same thing and heard the "heavenly choir" or that a monk from Lhasa could have heard the same thing and heard something that appeared to them to be in the Tibetan language? I don't have any answers for these questions, BTW. I'm just fascinated by this phenomenon. ------------------------ 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/
