---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <s3raphita@...> wrote:
Re "Don't act like it doesn't happen and that long term TM practice and esp.
long term TMSP practice is not a factor.":
Totally agree with you. Of course, the problem with issues like this is that
if anyone claims TM has such-and-such benefits, or alternatively that TM causes
this-and-that problems, the only way to empirically resolve the issue is to
have a large sample of people who learn TM and another sample who don't. Make
sure the two groups are more-or-less matched for other features - age, status,
mental health, money issues, etc. Then follow the two groups over the years and
see what benefits or disasters occur that are statistically significant.
Anything else is just anecdotal. You also have to rule out the
horse-before-the-cart fallacies: do people who learn TM show a greater tendency
to stop using drugs thanks to regularly experiencing pure consciousness? Or is
it the case that those who display the discipline necessary to stop using drugs
and take up a regular practice of meditation are statistically more likely to
continue abstaining?
I'm pretty sure that for some sensitive individuals, taking up TM could have
undesirable psychological consequences.
Certainly you are correct in all that you say here. In any sampling of the
population you will find the gullible/undiscerning ones who go off the deep end
when the literal promised benefits or consequences of involving themselves in
something doesn't come to pass as exactly outlined. Two outcomes in this case -
they either become bitter and hopeless and just remain angry for the rest of
their lives or they become bitter and hopeless and try and take their lives.
Either way, if they had been a tad more realistic in their expectations of
whatever was promised or guaranteed they might not have fell so hard when it
all didn't pan out. One thing I know, you can't swallow whole any purported
guarantee of anything man-made especially if that guarantee issues from the
mouth of another human being. This is not cynicism on my part, merely common
sense. Don't hold any human being too responsible because it takes a sucker
(the promisee) and someone imperfect (the promiser) to create a problem. I have
a hard time blaming, blaming. blaming others for my own disappointment or
failure to achieve something. I could go through the rest of my life hating and
reviling MMY or Robin for "their" failure to deliver what they promised me but
I simply don't find myself doing that. I mean, what would this bitterness
toward them gain me exactly?
