Every episode is fascinating and together the series presents an intimate
insight into the histories and perspectives of the constellation of characters
that live in town.
My favorite guest to date is Michael 'not Mike' Baxter. His tutorial
presentation on the primacy of the Self, and Rick's wise probes of his theory,
are a real treat.
Highly recommended as a series.
iTunes audio downloads make convenient listening. Thanks, Rick.
Congratulations.
-Mainstream
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltabl...@...
wrote:
=--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, tartbrain no_reply@ wrote:
I have only seen one BudPump, but seek to watch more.
The contrast of unfettered description of change in ones inner life (kind
of ironic huh) from the high-tea, silk couch, victorian approach of the
TMO, to a more blue jeans approach of BudGas, snip
I agree and think the conception of this project is brilliant no matter where
you stand on the higher states thoery. I have listened to 3 of them so far
and think Rick is doing an excellent job in providing a safe venue for people
to expose something pretty intimate while throwing in some good questions to
keep the ball rolling. I'm sure their openness has a lot to do with Rick's
friendly acceptance.
I've been trying to collect the specific claims about what has changed in
their lives. Predictably the people who are still very Maharishi directed
use his terms and people who look elsewhere for their intellectual framework
use those terms to describe their inner states. Very little to put in a
wheelbarrow as should be expected. But the language is so vague and
imprecise that is it difficult to pin down what exactly is being claimed.
Objects appear more transparent, their self expands. Terms that used to
mean so much to me but now seem so empty outside the language system of
spirituality. Believing that your self is the Self of everything is
poetic. Does it really matter? I'm not sure.
I do believe that trans-personal experiences can be helpful but I'm not sure
if taking this long to have them might develop a type of internal state,
self-fascination that strikes me as odd. It might be best for people to drop
a hit of whatever, embrace the feeling of being everything for a while, and
then drop back into daily life refreshed but without years of
self-absorption. That might give most of the claimed benefits. And despite
the strong opinions to the contrary, most of my psychedelic insights have
brought permanent shifts in my perspective. It just depends what you want to
pay attention to. They certainly are on a par with anything I got out of
meditation for permanently shifting my inner states.
Nothing has convinced me that this is more than a POV on their inner
experiences. People who enjoy thinking this much about their inner state of
mind who become more and more expressive of every shift and change. I have
had enough shifts of mind myself to believe that they aren't making this up,
but believe they may be making a big deal about states that the rest of us
take for granted. There are some whose admitted mental history should give
us some insight into how radically their minds might shift at any given time.
If this time it made them feel better, good for them, I hope it stays that
way.
Most of all it is a bit hard to get through entire interviews because their
micro fascination with their own internal states lacks a language that does
it any justice. Describing it head on may be the poorest way to express
these states. It may be that for me it is art that does it best. Perhaps if
I saw the dancer in the series dance I might be more impressed that she was
different in a way that mattered to anyone outside herself. Maybe it is that
people who can convey inner states though the arts can actually move and
inspire me in a way that these descriptions can't. What is it in art that
moves us that shifts our states and conveys such beauty. Why is that
inspirational quality lacking in these descriptions? Or perhaps it is just
me. I may have drifted too far out of the insider perspective that fills
these descriptions with glowy charm. I sense that these people are
experienced in describing their new states of mind and have honed their
narrative to in corporate the reactions they have had to their phrasing. We
are not the first audience for these stories.
But if these people are expressing true significant shifts of consciousness
that would benefit humanity then Rick's project is going way beyond the
movement in opening them for examination. I think either way Rick is really
on to something with this project. By now we should expect people living in
the states Maharishi described vaguely and promised repeatedly. Hearing from
them is a great resource for all of us interested in evaluating these
