[FairfieldLife] Giving a bad name to TM’ers?
Evidently there is a behavioral axis between self-interest and altruism.. and maybe not strictly related to 'consciousness', as we have seen. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2741368/bruce-a-hauptman-v-commissioner/ https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2741368/bruce-a-hauptman-v-commissioner/ https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2018/ia-4950.pdf https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2018/ia-4950.pdf https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/wyoming-man-ordered-to-pay-restitution-to-iowa-investors/ https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/wyoming-man-ordered-to-pay-restitution-to-iowa-investors/ https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/28227351/USA_v_Hauptman https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/28227351/USA_v_Hauptman
[FairfieldLife] Giving
This three-minute clip is an ad, for a Thai telecommunications company. That said, you'll want to watch it, because it contains better storytelling in those three minutes (not to mention a more uplifting message) than most of the full-length movies produced these days. http://gawker.com/this-three-minute-commercial-puts-full-length-hollywoo\ d-1309506149 http://gawker.com/this-three-minute-commercial-puts-full-length-hollywo\ od-1309506149
Re: [FairfieldLife] Giving
thanks, turq, this made me cry. From: turquoiseb no_re...@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 2:29 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Giving This three-minute clip is an ad, for a Thai telecommunications company. That said, you'll want to watch it, because it contains better storytelling in those three minutes (not to mention a more uplifting message) than most of the full-length movies produced these days. http://gawker.com/this-three-minute-commercial-puts-full-length-hollywood-1309506149
Re: [FairfieldLife] Giving
I enjoyed this very much. But little inconsistencies bug me, such as the handling and changing of money at about 21 seconds. Perhaps it's just me, but somethings not making sense there. From: turquoiseb no_re...@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 2:29 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Giving This three-minute clip is an ad, for a Thai telecommunications company. That said, you'll want to watch it, because it contains better storytelling in those three minutes (not to mention a more uplifting message) than most of the full-length movies produced these days. http://gawker.com/this-three-minute-commercial-puts-full-length-hollywood-1309506149
[FairfieldLife] Giving all of the credit to the guru
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, feste37 fest...@... wrote: And yet he [Maharishi] changed so many people's lives for the better -- indeed, rescued many lives, mine included. He figured out a way of reaching me, a confused 17-year-old high school drop out, and giving me something that permanently turned my life around. I guess all the more qualified yogis were sitting around in India being very learned and doing whatever it is that real yogis do. Maharishi, on the other hand, actually decided to make a difference in real people's lives all across the world. Great seer? You bet. Feste, I am going to riff on this in my by-now- traditional Saturday morning cafe rap not to dispute or argue with anything you said, just to riff on an assumption that seems (to me) to underlie it, and present a different take on things. The assumption I'm seeing in what you wrote above is in attributing all of these things that happened to turn your life around in what you consider a more positive direction to Maharishi. I think of that as a variant of Give all credit to the guru. What, after all did Maharishi actually do for you? He taught you a technique of meditation. *You* were the one doing the meditating; *you* were the one who did so regularly enough to work through your youthful angst and decide to pursue a different path in life. In my spiritual travels -- and NOT just in the TMO -- I have noticed a tendency in followers of a spiritual teacher to attribute anything positive that has happened to them since meeting him *to* the teacher. I mean, running the whole gamut of giving all credit to the guru from Oh, I feel so much better after meditating...all credit to Guru X to Oh, my boss appreciated my work and gave me a promotion today... all credit to Guru X to I was spaced out today and crashed my car but wasn't hurt...all credit to Guru X. I think that this tendency to give all credit to the guru was TAUGHT. And by the gurus. Not neces- sarily consciously in all cases...they were just replicating the environments in which they had learned meditation, and how the students in those environments treated the guru and gave all credit to him...but taught nonetheless. I'm not knocking the belief in give all credit to the guru per se; I'm just suggesting that a little thought can be productively put into trying to remember where that belief came from. The other thing that struck me about your TM story is that I couldn't identify with it. I know that many here will be able to, but I wasn't really a confused, lost, self-destructive teenager when I ran into TM and Maharishi. I was 22, a college senior, and a survivor of the Hippie Daze. I had already been there, done that with drugs, survived, and given them up. I'm probably one of the few people on this forum who didn't have to wait 15 days to be initiated. :-) And I wasn't lost and miserable. I was kinda happy, actually, just interested in finding ways to become more so. I had dabbled in Zen, found it interesting but not quite my thing, and one day heard John Lennon's voice on the radio, followed by a high-pitched giggle. I looked into it and learned TM and gained IMO many benefits from practicing it. I give it (TM) all credit for facilitating many of the good things that happened for me while I was a TMer, and for many good things since. I give none of the credit for those good things to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He didn't do shit, except to teach me a technique of meditation. I was the one meditating. Weren't his own words something like You don't have to believe in the meditation to gain benefits; the benefit comes from the meditation? Well, I'm taking him literally and giving all credit where credit is due -- to the technique of meditation and to myself for practicing it regularly. I don't see that I owe any of the credit for perceived benefits from a meditation to the guy who taught me that meditation. To him I owe only the word Thanks. I can say it honestly to Maharishi, for teaching me a technique of meditation that was all I needed in one for many years. But I don't really see that I owe him the credit for all the good things that happened as a result of practicing it. Back when I was teaching meditation, all I hoped for from my students was the occasional Thanks. That's all I ever got. I kinda doubt that any of them ever gave me the credit for any benefits of practicing that meditation. And that's the way I think things should work; credit where credit is due. Who would ever expect more than a simple Thanks? But clearly some do, or the prevalence of give all credit to the guru would not exist to the extent it does in the spiritual smorgasbord. Go figure.
[FairfieldLife] Giving birth as a lesson in interdependent origination
Dependent origination or dependent arising or, as I prefer, interdependent origination is an important concept in Buddhism. Common to all schools, it states that phenomena arise together in a mutually interdependent web of cause and effect. [ link at the end for the curious ] In other words, this is in direct opposition to New Age philosophies that state that We create our reality. I find such philosophies silly, and have to admit to not having a great deal of respect for them or their proponents. If what they claimed were true, then all that one would have to do is wish for something intently, and it would happen. But it doesn't. Sometimes the world has its own ideas about what should happen, and sometimes the world's ideas win. I think that even the most New Age-leaning bliss- ninny would have to admit the reality of this. If all that were required for world peace was Maharishi willing it, it would have happened long ago. In the last few hours or so, I have been watching from afar my best friend going through a lesson in the nature of interdependent origination. She is across town (I am not the father, and she is with her new family and -- thankfully -- the care of two midwives who have helped to deliver thousands of babies), and I am here at home, trying to not pace the halls like the guys in 1950s movies or run out and buy a pack of cigarettes and smoke them. :-) [ For the record, allow me to bow deeply to all of the women on this forum -- and in the world -- who have given birth. You have a strength I doubt that I or any man could ever have. ] It has been a long and hard birth. And interestingly, because my friend believes very *much* in this We create our own reality philosophy, and is very much a control freak, the hardest part for her has been letting go and realizing that external reality -- in this case her own body and its need to do things *its* way, and not the way her mind wants things done -- has been emotional. She has had a really hard time just surrendering to the urges of external reality, and surrendering control. That phase of things seems now to be past, and she's in the push stage of giving birth, and I'm sitting here meditating and beaming as many good vibes to her as humanly possible, to add as much of my own positive external reality to the mix as possible. But, being the sometimes analytical quasi-Buddhist that I am, I cannot help but relate this experience to interdependent origination. Sure, we all have our wishes and our desires and our intent, but that is IMO (and in the opinion of Buddhists) NOT the only factor at work. There is *also* external reality, and it is *real* reality. It *does* exist; it *isn't* just illusion that can be shaped by our minds. Life is a give and take between what we want and what this very real external reality wants. And I suspect that my friend is getting a lesson in this. I also suspect that, as a result, when I get the call that the baby is born and I get to go visit I'll be meeting *two* people I've never met before, not just one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependent_origination
Re: [FairfieldLife] Giving hope to the world - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews
You expected Chinese? Both the kosher scorpion brunchettes and the kosher horse stew at the complimentary hotel breakfast were excellent, Sal. ...but mountain doesn't move! --- On Fri, 8/22/08, Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Giving hope to the world - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Friday, August 22, 2008, 11:27 PM On Aug 22, 2008, at 9:34 PM, gullible fool wrote: Rick, your friend has a better command of the English language and grammar than 90 percent of US citizens, including many of the active members here. When I was is Israel six years ago, I was surprised to find that the complimentary Tel Aviv newspaper which a hotel employee pushed under the guest room doors every morning was all in perfect English. You expected Chinese? Sal
RE: [FairfieldLife] Giving hope to the world - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of gullible fool Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 9:35 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Giving hope to the world - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews Rick, your friend has a better command of the English language and grammar than 90 percent of US citizens, including many of the active members here. When I was is Israel six years ago, I was surprised to find that the complimentary Tel Aviv newspaper which a hotel employee pushed under the guest room doors every morning was all in perfect English. Yeah, he's a bright guy, and he has a way with languages. He knows several. Before he changed his last name to Moria, it was Harmelin. Some may remember him as Igal Harmelin. He worked at International for years doing research finding evidence of TM in the world's religions.
[FairfieldLife] Giving hope to the world - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews
Article by a friend of mine, who used to be in the TMO, about Obama: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3518573,00.html
Re: [FairfieldLife] Giving hope to the world - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews
Rick, your friend has a better command of the English language and grammar than 90 percent of US citizens, including many of the active members here. When I was is Israel six years ago, I was surprised to find that the complimentary Tel Aviv newspaper which a hotel employee pushed under the guest room doors every morning was all in perfect English. ...but mountain doesn't move! --- On Fri, 8/22/08, Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Giving hope to the world - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Friday, August 22, 2008, 3:46 PM Article by a friend of mine, who used to be in the TMO, about Obama: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3518573,00.html
Re: [FairfieldLife] Giving hope to the world - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews
On Aug 22, 2008, at 9:34 PM, gullible fool wrote: Rick, your friend has a better command of the English language and grammar than 90 percent of US citizens, including many of the active members here. When I was is Israel six years ago, I was surprised to find that the complimentary Tel Aviv newspaper which a hotel employee pushed under the guest room doors every morning was all in perfect English. You expected Chinese? Sal
[FairfieldLife] Giving money away dharmically
--- In another thread, I snided: Actually, there IS one scenario in which I would rejoin the TM movement. If it succeeded in raising 10 trillion dollars and agreed to give *all* of it to me, I'd gladly pretend to be part of the TMO again. It's not like I'd teach TM or attend any meetings or anything, but I'd agree to pay lip service to the TMO by keeping my mouth shut and not criticizing it. Meanwhile, I'd take the money and give it away to spiritual and charitable institutions *other* than the TMO. Every penny of it. Interestingly, the issue of *how* to give money to spiritual organizations in the cleanest possible way, one that insures the highest benefit for all concerned, has been discussed recently on another forum of which I am a member. Here's a compilation of ideas that came up there for how folks there felt that charitable donations should be handled. * Never give money to an organization without specifying exactly what it is to be spent for and receiving a written agreement from the organization that it will be spent for that purpose and *only* that purpose. Include wording that spells out what happens if the money is *not* spent as agreed. (For example, the full amount has to be returned to the donor.) If the organization does not agree to this, more often than not you really don't want to support it. * Never give money to any organization that does not agree to do a *public* accounting of every penny they received for the project you are supporting, and what each penny was spent on. * Only give money to pay for goods and services, not to pay for the lifestyles of people in the receiving organization. That is, if you are donating to help teach meditation, specify that the money has to be spent on renting halls, pay- ing for advertising or posters, and for giveaway materials, but *not* to pay the rent for the teachers themselves, so that they don't have to work at a day job. (Almost everyone on the forum where these suggestions came up has been a teacher of meditation and self discovery. Almost everyone on the forum agrees that it is a *bad* idea for teachers of meditation to be paid for their services. ) * Require the receiving organization to provide you (the donor) with quarterly reports in which they detail the progress that has been made on the project you supported and how the money you donated has been spent so far. If they balk at doing this, chances are something is wrong. * Require the receiving organization to publish the incomes of *all* personnel who work for it full-time, including all perks that they may receive in lieu of actual salary. (For instance, houses and cars provided for free to clergy, vacations, travel expenses, etc.) * Require the receiving organization to publish at least yearly a breakdown of the percentage of money donated that is actually spent on projects and not on supporting the organization itself. For example, if you read the fine print in the United Way brochures (which, sadly, no one does), you learn that less than 40 cents on every dollar raised goes to the charities it supports. The rest goes to salaries for the full-time workers (many of them six-figure salaries) and to support the bloated structure of the organization. If more potential donors *knew* this, they would give their money -- 100% of it -- directly to the charities that the United Way claims to support. Other ideas were equally interesting, in my opinion. I'm just crosspollenating the subject here on FFL to see how people here -- many of whom have given money to the TMO and other organizations in the past or are still doing so -- feel about the subject. 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/
