Re: The inability to tell opinion from preaching --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <rick@> wrote: > > > > > > I got some chuckles out of that. So what is it about FFL? > > > Most of us have a TM background. Is it that there's little > > > emphasis in the TMO on becoming a nicer person, as there > > > is in Buddhist circles and some other spiritual groups? > > > In fact, egotism is intentionally cultured, with crowns, > > > titles, and a pecking order determined by net worth. > > > > Not to mention being "the best" and "the highest path." > > > > > I remember a political cartoon illustrating the "Reagan > > > end run" in which thoughts would bypass that part of his > > > brain which, in most of us, edits and sometimes censors > > > the nonsense thoughts that might otherwise come out of > > > our mouths. It seems that some here suffer from the same > > > syndrome. If they're in a rage, or feeling nasty toward > > > someone, they somehow feel justified in venting it, and > > > there's no indication of any introspection causing them > > > to pause and consider the consequences or even the > > > legitimacy of their perspective.
Rick, I'll tell you *one* of the sources of conflict on FFL: It's the kind of wild generalizations you make above. > > I was thinking more along the lines of, "If you think > > that you know enough to write a book, or to preach to > > someone else about how they should live their lives, > > you can't join until you get over it." > > Rick, > > In all honesty I think that subsequent followups > to this exchange answered some of the questions > you pose above. > > You stated an opinion. I stated one in reply. One > person saw that exchange of two opinions as > "preaching" to her about how she should live > her life. Obviously not. Barry was (a) preaching to people who wanted to join FFL about how they should live their lives in order to be approved for membership, and (b) preaching to Rick about how he should live his life in terms of approving people to join FFL. I'm not Rick, and I'm already a member of FFL, so clearly it wouldn't occur to me to think Barry's preaching in this instance was directed at me. Not that he hasn't preached to me about how I (and many others) should live their lives innumerable times; as I said earlier, it's his stock in trade here. <snip> > As a real followup to the questions you posed in > your original post, I think that part of the reason > that FFL degenerates into argumentation and noise > is that so many people were systematically *taught* > to react to any opinion that is different than > their opinion *as if* it is some kind of attack. > That's the whole rationale behind being "Off The > Program," that these people who have chosen to > believe something "improper" or "wrong" are doing > HARM to the faithful True Believers by holding > these erroneous opinions. They must be *stopped* > from holding them, and if they *can't* be stopped, > they must be Sent Away, where they cannot infect > the True Believers with their heresies. > > Why is there so much argumentation on TM forums? > Because TMers have been *taught* to argue for the > supremacy and "correctness" of the TM dogma, and to > actively *suppress* any opinion that deviates from > the TM dogma. Sorry, but this is just nuts. I was never "taught" anything of the kind. Maybe Barry was, or maybe he just imagines he was. Maybe it's Barry who thinks that anytime somebody disagrees with him, it's an attack. But maybe that's because so much of what *he* posts is attacks-- like the above--so that's what he expects to get back.
