My teacher was Joe Smith from Philly. John Y and I are from the same center in PA. He was an SCI teacher when I started and I was sure he was in CC! Were you at the center on Leroy Pl? What a great old house that was. I lived there in 1984 for a year. It must be worth an outrageous amount these days, it is in a great part of town. Was the South Indian restaurant Parus on T street opened when you were there? She taught me to make Idli and dosa and Sambar. It is gone now, but I loved that place.
I am in total agreement about the value of taking personal responsibility with what we make of the circumstances of our lives. If you were born without legs then it really doesn't matter if it was karmic payback or just a random genetic mistake, you have to dig deep and learn to walk on prosthetics. ( I just saw a show with a vet whose legs were blown off in Iraq and he had that valuable attitude and was making his life work) In my own life I figure that my life is 10% what happens to me and 90% what I do with it. Of course I was not born in Africa with HIV, so I can overcome most of my life's challenges with determination and effort. I don't see how making a person be born with HIV would be a moral payback for anything in the context of any morality I can relate to. I guess that is why some say karma is unfathomable. To me it just sounds more similar than different than my own view that random stuff happens and our job is to keep track of the stuff we can do something about. I do believe there are true victims in the world like kids born with problems. But it is unknowable what the reasons are in both my view and the karmic model so I don't find much added value. I also believe that beliefs can be useful without any reference to their accuracy. I don't doubt that some people use the karmic model to empower themselves. When the monkeys start throwing their shit, we all have to duck just the same! Nice rap. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > > > > Nice details on the early days. I was 16 in 1974 when I got involved, > > just a kid. > > I was 17. In 1967. > > Was your teacher from DC? If so, who? I lived at the DC center for > several months in 72. If you came around a couple of years earlier, I > might have initiated you. > > > My teacher came from the days you remember. The tone > > changed through the years as you describe. But I don't view myself as > > a victim of the movement. Pointing out its flaws or dirty tricks > > doesn't make me a victim. How I respond would. > > Yes. I was having some fun with you on the victim part. But I keyed > off your points about "not blaming the follower" which I may have > misunderstood. The view "You are blaming the victim again" is a often > used retort when people are discussing the dark side, in latter years, > of the TMO. > > In my piece, I was exploring looking at it from a different angle. > That some people got screwed by the TMO, many had great experiences. > And the TMO was bright and shining in one decade and dark and dank in > another. Could different peoples' different karma explains such? > Perhaps. Is casting all the blame on the TMO, without recognizing > different people have different karma, a deep view? Probably not. IMO. > > I chose all my > > movement participation and had lots of fun. It was a mixed bag. But > > when I was in it, I was all in baby! I enjoyed the intensity. > > > > > > I think that MMY's ideas about of collective consciousness is > > different from karma theory, but I could be wrong. > > Well I was responding to your claim MMY made up the "cockamanie > concept of 'desrvability'". I equated deservability to karma. > Collective consciouness was not a part of the convo. > > However, since you raised it now, collective consciousness, again > hardly a MMY "conceptual invention", seems to have significant karmic > roots. If you are saying you have trouble as to how ME "cleanses" > individual and group karma -- thats a reasonable concern. But the > current course, if big enough, and long enough, could provide the data > for some good research on it. (finally!) > > > I haven't thought > > about this stuff in detail in so many years. Maybe it is just a > > version of it. I understand your point better from your explanation > > of how you view it. I think of karma theory as a devise to maintain > > the caste system in India. > > OK. Not my view of it. Though karma theory may have been abused by > some. That does not negate it. > > >It seems like a convenient way to keep > > people from acting up in lower castes and to blame people for their > > own birth defects. > > Thats a weak view of karma, IMO. Karma says, if you are down and out, > its possibly from seeds of your own doing. Don't blame others, or > society. Suck it up and overcome it. Act anew, you have the power to > do anything, to oversome anything. Just because you have some less > advantages than others isn't an excuse to quit the game. Its an > impetus to double up and try harder. And fight off any bastards > holding you down. > > > > I find it far from a comforting explanation of > > events. > > I find it quite symetric, just and fair -- that what we get is from > what we do. Do more and better stuff, and you can transform yourself > and your world. > > > I choose to believe in randomness over intended malice from > > the universe. > > "Intended malice from the universe"???!!! That has nothing to do with > karma. Its the antithesis. Its a view that we are puppets of some mean > gods. How horrid. > > Karma mans nothing controls or limits us other than our own will and > determination. > > > I guess we all have to face this very fundamental > > philosophical question "why does shit happen?" for ourselves. > > Its a monkey in the sky throwing it. Or sometimes bears in the cosmos, > shitting in the woods. That drops to earth. Obviously. It has nothing > to do with us. We are simply pawns right? :) > To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! 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