Bob: > If the Kaplans had continued to practice TM, like you do, despite > whatever disaffection they had with anybody in the movement, > including MMY, and if they were not making the insane claims about > vampirism that they do, then I would not say that they are > disordered -- but they are, and it's a shame that they are unable > to expand their awareness through a technique that they practiced > happily for years.
Bob, just as a question, do you really believe that your often-expressed feelings of pity for those who have left TM just sprang up from the ether somewhere? Or that they are some manifestation of eternal truth or the laws of nature? These behaviors and beliefs were TAUGHT to you, man. They were taught to ALL of us. How to regard and refer to those who go "off the program" has been an integral part of the TM dogma since the late 60s. It started being an integral part of the dogma right about the time that the first high-profile meditators decided to move on or study other things. My position is that this attitude has been taught so pervasively and so effectively that *most* TMers who react this way to news that someone has left the TM movement do NOT realize that they were TAUGHT to react that way, over and over and over and over, for decades. IMO, there are *many* such teachings in the TM dogma, assumptions that have been taught so pervasively that very few even *think* of challenging their validity. "TM is unique." "TM is 'the best' or most effective technique of meditation." (This is my favorite because there is about a 100-to-1 likelihood that the person saying it has never tried any other technique.) "TM is 100% life-supporting and cannot, by definition, produce any negative effects in practitioners." And my other favorite, "Maharishi is enlightened," a prize because as someone else here pointed out recently, I never heard him even once claim to be enlightened in the 14 years I spent around him, and yet everyone assumed he was. Technically, what these beliefs are called is "memes." They are buzz-phrases that have been repeated so often *as true* that no one questions their truth. As a seeker of truth, isn't it worth analyzing where some of the things you assume to be true *came* from? If you do, I think you'll find that many of them are *not* based on your own experience, but on something that someone *told* you was true, and which you just accepted as truth, without ever challenging it or even thinking about it very much. I like very much the sayings in the "credo" on the home page of this group. You obviously pity the people who have walked away from TM, Bob. Doncha think it might be worth the effort sometime to sit down and try to figure out *why* you pity them? Unc 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/
