--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "jyouells2000" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > <snip> > > > A thousand or so messages earlier I noticed that a lot of > > > the 'newly awakened' didn't get that way until they left the TMO > > > and/or TM. I find this interesting. I seems that TM provides a > > > good platform that sometimes needs to be jumped off of...Rory is > > > spot on! > > > > And possibly it's the "jumping off" itself that acts as the > > catalyst for realization, rather than what it is the student > > is jumping off *of*. > > But maybe what the student has jumped off of has > something to do with the jumping-off being able to > trigger the realization. > > > That is, if one analyzes the hundreds of stories of seekers > > who had their first serious realization shortly after walking > > away from a long-term spiritual trip, the process may have > > more to do with the "walking away" than it does with what > > has been walked away from. > > You'd probably have to do a much larger analysis > of seekers who left a trip to see what *percentage* > of them then had realizations compared to the > percentage who left a *different* trip and then had > realizations. If the percentages of realizations > after leaving various trips were roughly the same, > that would be evidence for your case. If one or > more trips had significantly higher percentages, > then you'd want to think about giving some credit to > those specific trips themselves.
If all you believe in is "objective evidence," by all means do your study. I was merely stating opinion, based on nothing more than watching trends in spiritual organizations for a lifetime (at least). I'm still convinced that the process of challenging one's assumptions and core beliefs can have some- thing to do with "triggering" further realizations. And that this process can occur whether one's self- challenges result in walking away from one's current course of study or not. As I've mentioned before on another forum ( and possibly here, because as a Sagg I tend to repeat myself :-), I had a good friend who was a Paulist priest. He told me something about his order that really appealed to me. He said that no one was *ever* considered for a position of responsibility in the order unless they'd gone through their own personal "dark night of the soul" and almost left the Church. The process of doubting and confront- ing one's doubts (as opposed to "stuffing" them or ignoring them) was considered absolutely neces- sary for someone to be considered worthy of holding a high office. Those who had *not* gone through their period of doubt and "come out the other side" with their faith renewed were looked upon as blissninnies, and not to be trusted. So for me this is the same process. It's the *process* that is important -- the active challenging of one's assumptions and beliefs -- not the outcome. That *process* is what I suspect can trigger realization. But then, I could be wrong about this. And that wouldn't bother me one bit. I'm comfortable with my opinion being mere opinion. I don't have to believe it's fact, or try to convince others it's fact. 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/
