--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "mainstream20016" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > *I* think that Doug was just posting a news > > bulletin, and allowing those who believe that > > the ME is a real phenomenon to draw their own > > conclusions from that news bulletin. And I'm > > pretty sure that MDixon above was making a joke, > > and didn't mean anything like the stuff I was > > parodying above. But you know that some folks > > who post here from time to time are really going > > to think like that, and react like that. > > > > And *that* mindset, that way of thinking, not > > world peace, is the true legacy of the TM > > movement. > > Hardly. Just because some folks who would like to defend > the TM Movement might entertain a paranoid-like thought > to explain how a bank robbery could occur in FF, does not > validate your proposal that paranoid thinking will be the > TM Movement's legacy, in spite of the heavy investment TM > Movement detractors have in predicting such a legacy.
I actually agree with you, and was indulging in hyperbole above, to make a point about the levels of paranoia one occasionally finds in hard-core TBs. But those hard-core TBs are, fortunately, few and far between these days, and fewer with every passing day. I said what I did above to titty-twist a couple of people here who (I think even you will have to admit) tend to believe the worst things possible about TM critics, to the point of sounding like paranoia incarnate. It's actually a toss-up in my opinion as to what the TM movement's legacy will be. No one can argue against the fact that Maharishi helped to make mediation a household word. At the same time, few can argue that the events of the last few years, with bozos parading around in robes and crowns and pretending to run their own make-believe country, complete with its own money, has possibly turned off more people to the "normality" of meditation that they ever turned onto it in the first place. > I suggest that there are many other organizations that have > a much higher probability of such a negative future legacy > than the TM movement. Probably true, but what organizations did you have in mind? > I'm glad I didn't invest the way movement detractors > have in hoping for a negative legacy for the movement. Speaking only for myself, I don't "hope" for such an outcome; I'm merely commenting on what seems to already be the case. It's a done deal. > It seems like a very poor investment. Good luck with > your returns. My "investment" is in poking fun at a few *individuals* who occasionally post rampant paranoia to this forum and others. *They* would like others to believe that in so doing I'm attacking TMers as a whole. T'ain't so. The vast majority on this forum are cool froods who I would be happy to know in any context, and who in my opinion reflect positively on spirituality in general, and on the spiritual movement from which they emerged (the TMO). There are a few others -- less than one can count on one hand -- who, in my opinion, reflect the *worst* aspects of spiritual development. It is those few that my parody was poking fun at, and at whom I hope more and more people laugh. Having people laugh at them is the thing they fear the most, thus that is my approach to dealing with them. This few do NOT represent the people within the TM movement as a whole, in my opinion. Most TMers were always too smart to become cultists; these few were neither so smart, or so lucky. To *some* extent the paranoia I was poking fun at *does* represent the TM movement. And that, I feel, is sad. But at the same time, I think those who fell for the us-vs-them mindset and the "the CIA's out to get us" mentality were pretty sad sacks to begin with. Fortunately, a great number of people had little to do with the inner circles of the TM movement, and only benefited from the meditation. For them, its legacy is and will always be positive. For those who became cultists somewhere along the way, I'm not so sure.
