--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bronte Baxter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Bronte writes: > > As we are ALL channels for our God, Curtis.
What you mean "we" whiteman? (Old Tonto joke reference) >In my view, we each have a higher self, our own personal God, or you could say, our ego in its most pure individualized state. Our human bodies and personalities are channels for that being, as well as for God in the universal sense. "> Or you could say we are just humans with belief systems that make us feel more important on earth then our humble existence here would suggest. I am not channeling any being or conception of God that you have, no higher self, no personal God, I am just me. I don't accept your concept of ego as including any of these things. My eyebrows raise when I hear people claiming such things. > > You took it out of context to make me look megalamanic -- I wrote "in spite of many faults which I still intend to correct, I am a fairly clear channel for my God." And I am. God gets through my wires successfully a darn good portion of the time. It's a sad world if we have to be ashamed to say that. Did you think it made you sound like a megalomaniac? I don't share the POV that any version of the God idea is getting through your wires. > > Why I objected to her anonymous holiness the other day was not because she felt connected with God, but because she spoke of herself as superior to the people around her, people she described as beggars after her dharshan. I find that appalling. As I said, if you ever find me thinking or talking like that, drag me home by the toenails and hold me down in a bathtub of icewater. But to say "I am God" is everyone's human right, including my own. I won't be ashamed of admitting my birthright, or the fact that I lay claim to it. As everybody can. That wonderful equality was the whole point of my "it's free to all of us" post. You have the right to say anything you want. When you say "I am God" I have the right to say "Uh oh". I have my reasons. > > - Bronte > > > curtisdeltablues <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > "I'm a fairly clear channel for my God" > > Double uh oh. > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bronte Baxter > <brontebaxter8@> wrote: > > > > do.rflx wrote: > > I look at the quantity of people like myself in that seemingly > > 'unique' and 'special' time frame who were 'lost' in the darker side > > of the hippie daze [days], or just plain 'lost' - and because of TM > > became positive and hopeful for probably the first time in many of > > their lives. The life-saving transformation that happened to me must > > also have been evident in hundreds of thousands of others in those days. > > > > Bronte writes: > > > > You guys make a point that needs to be considered: the fact that > TM did save a lot (most?) of us drugged-out hippies from a nose-diving > lifestyle. I, too, had that experience. The first time I transcended, > the tears rolled down my cheeks for 20 minutes. I had felt so isolated > for so many years, believing in nothing beyond the world of the > senses. In that 20-minute session, I knew beyond a doubt there was a > God. I felt a sense of presence I hadn't known since I was a little > girl. All the noise in my mind had turned to stillness. > > > > And TM quickly also changed my life, in ways much like other > people's stories already told here. So if the TMO, or New Age in > general, is -- as has been alleged -- manipulating people into > becoming mindless zombies, or nice-guys-turned-possessed (Hitler: a > worst-case example) -- how can that possibly be, when TM brought so > much good into our lives? I've thought about this a good deal, and I > think it is a very important question. > > > > What I come up with is this. TM did deliver experience of the > stillest states of awareness, that most of us had been too > outward-directed ever to have noticed before. It pointed us toward > home. That was fantastic. But just as a bad product offer can include > a really good freebie giveaway, TM attached a pretty big pricetag to > the good that it gave us. That pricetag wasn't noticed until we'd been > meditating a long time, until we'd bought the philosophy hook line and > sinker. Kind of like those credit card deals that start out with zero > interest then slowly build interest until you're amazed to find > yourself swimming in debt. > > > > The pricetag was, you pay a toll to the gods to ride the road to > transcendence. You get to pure consciousness using a toll road > highway. At first you're asked for only a tiny toll, no pinch at all. > You're informed this is the only way to the ocean -- taking the > freeway is far too dangerous. So the aspirant flies down the toll > road, thrilled to be using it, paying 35 cents at a tollbooth now and > then. But as the years go by, the toll charge rises -- he gets an > advanced technique, he starts reading Vedas to the gods every day, > listening to chants -- his mantra gets "namah" added to it. Bowing, > bowing down. Delivering soma to the gods. > > > > Longer and longer hours are spent meditating, and he's told this > is good for him. But his health is getting weaker now, he feels > irritability where he used to only feel peace. He has little time for > personal pursuits because the movement requires his fulltime service. > (I'm not saying everyone who meditates experiences weak health after a > while, but a lot of people do.) > > > > But the aspirant rarely complains because he's told he's getting > so much good from all this. He probably hasn't noticed a lot of > progress in a long time. But he believes -- why? Because of those > first great initiatory experiences! Back when the toll was 35 cents. > Back when he visited his inner Source and came back again, infused > with its values, dynamic into activity. But now his energy is going to > Indra and Kali, Shiva and Saraswati. Pictures of gods line the walls > of his house. An alter is in his bedroom. And because he's not happy, > perhaps he starts to visit other gurus, hoping for renewal of those > early days of purity and joy. But instead he just accumulates more > teachers, who teach the very same things only rearranged a little. > They give him a new mantra or a special name. Maybe they give him a > hug. He has so much invested already -- all these years of his life! > So he hangs on yet stronger, dedicating even more of himself to > spiritual advancement. > > > > And he is taught to how to handle the frustration, that feeling he > used to get that his life was supposed to be more. That is just > egoistic desire, he is told. So he surrenders his personal needs. When > his mind starts questioning, he also has been taught the solution to > that: know that the wise embrace paradox -- nothing is real, no thing > is true. Everything but the Absolute is illusion. > > > > The aspirant surrenders mind and desire. He offers them on the > alter of his meditation, of his devotion. He sings more hymns to the > gods. "Oh, Mother, relieve me from this suffering." She does. The > goddess does. The aspirant feels better after meditation and chanting. > His depression miraculously disappears. It comes back, but it goes > away when he meditates. He knows the gracious gods are taking his pain > away. Relieved of so much of what once made him a person, he feels > much less pain. Life seems to flow these days, quite easily. Almost > like he has to do nothing. He feels one with the universe much of the > time. The rest of the time he's irritable or depressed. Sometimes he > rages at people. He doesn't know why he's discontent sometimes. But > his teachers have an answer: surrender your ego completely. All this > is just selfish, limited ego. The wise man knows he is not the > personality, not the one who desires, not the one who does or the one > who thinks. The wise man knows all > > that is but ignorance. You suffer because you wallow still in > illusion. Eschew the ego. Surrender to the Self -- by way of our > mantras, chants and hymns to the gods. Then you will be free of the > last vestiges of human suffering. > > > > So the aspirant does this. He pays the ultimate toll. He allows > his personhood to be fully consumed. And who does he pay it to, the > Absolute? No, to the gods themselves. They it is who eat the fruit of > the sacrifice. They it is he bows down to every day, and now every > moment, replacing his very thoughts with the name of his assigned deity. > > > > The Absolute didn't want him to surrender. It didn't mind his > thoughts and desires. It could have given him the wonderful things he > once wanted. It waits with open arms for anyone who comes to it, and > is ready to grant every wish. But the poor man on the toll road, who > knew no other way, gave all he had to the gods and his guru for the > privilege of knowing the Transcendent. Yes, he gets to have it in the > end. But the price has been his personhood. The price to the > Transcendent has been the destruction of the soul of one of its > precious children. Only a zombie remains -- an empty shell through > which the gods can work their deeds and talk their talk, snaring new > seekers and "selling" the Transcendent to others. > > > > But the ocean was never really up for sale. God never had a price > tag. Heaven was never intended to turn into a racket. The Infinite > weeps for what is being done on earth in its name. And all the while > it sits there, free, for anyone who will look. > > > > So when Angela asks, what is really happening? I listen with both > ears. I'm looking beyond the appearances. I'm asking the tough > questions. Am I scared of what I'll find? Don't I have cherished > assumptions, a world view that could crash? That has already happened, > and guess what, I'm still here. Because when my world view crashed, it > left but one thing behind. It left my Isness. I found that I'm > immortal, that I'm always joined with God. Nothing can ever sever me > unless I give it permission. > > > > No one can take my personhood or my knowledge. I'm filled with > dynamic energy and original ways of seeing. In spite of many still > remaining flaws, which I'll work out because I've committed to that, > I'm a fairly clear channel for my God. Not god with a small g, but God > the Infinite. God, as in the magnificent power and love that created > this world in hopes of making something joyous and beautiful. The God > who saw that dream lost by the ignorance of its children, then > railroaded by a few who started to remember and told the still-asleep > that they were gods. > > > > TM gave us something. But that was the thing that was always free > to us anyway, had we only known where to look. It's something that > still waits for us, never demanding we pay a toll. It's there for the > experiencing, without gods or mantras, bajans or ego-suicide. It's > just what we Are, and it just Is. > > > > > > > > > > "do.rflex" <do.rflex@> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" > <rick@> wrote: > > > > > > From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > On Behalf Of do.rflex > > > Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 10:51 AM > > > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > > > Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Mahesh and Hitler > > > > > > > > > > > > Absolutely. My case wasn't as extreme but Transcendental Meditation > > > got me to stop drug use and to get my act together. My ultra > > > conservative Irish Catholic father whom I'd considered an asshole, > > > became one of my best supporters. After I'd practiced TM for about a > > > year he told me, "That meditation saved your life, boy." And after I > > > became a TM teacher my father asked me to initiate him. Now THAT'S a > > > miracle! And if you had known my father, you'd agree. > > > > > > I had similar experiences with my parents. My dad was an alcoholic > > and my > > > mom was in a mental hospital. TM helped them both tremendously. My mom > > > actually spent 9 months in Switzerland with MMY and came back quite > > > transformed. I'm grateful to him for allowing her to come. It was a > > gift to > > > me, as he knew very well she wouldn't accomplish much there. > > > > I look at the quantity of people like myself in that seemingly > > 'unique' and 'special' time frame who were 'lost' in the darker side > > of the hippie daze [days], or just plain 'lost' - and because of TM > > became positive and hopeful for probably the first time in many of > > their lives. The life-saving transformation that happened to me must > > also have been evident in hundreds of thousands of others in those days. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > > Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos & more. >
