--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Scroll back up the page to the parts where you > 1) berated people for having rock-solid belief > systems, 2) claimed that it was Ok with you for > people to believe what they wanted, and 3) that > your disbelief in flying was not very strong > and that you don't really care. > > Then read the above and what follows it. Sounds > pretty strong and rock-solid to me. You're > *affronted* that I've seen levitation. You do > everything you can to suggest that's not what > it was. Personally, I think you're just jealous > that I (or anyone else) have had experiences you > haven't, so you feel compelled to pooh-pooh the > experiences. > > > Maybe it was maybe it was just a stage magic or a sort of > > hypnosis. > > Maybe. But it's YOUR job to prove this is so, > not my job. I was there, on hundreds of occasions, > in settings as diverse as the L.A. Convention > Center or small meeting rooms to the desert and > once in a corner booth at Denny's at 3 a.m. while > the waitress ducked out for a smoke. If you can > suggest to me a way that that last one could have > been pre-prepared and set up by a magician, I'm > all ears. :-) > > The bottom line is that I saw what I saw and exper- > ienced what I experienced. WHAT it was I don't > really know and don't really care. The fact is that > I saw it and felt it and HAD TO DEAL WITH IT. > > That's the part you have never experienced, Michael. > That was my point in my first post. The day that > YOU encounter some experience that just doesn't > make sense and violates everything you believe but > is *happening*, right in front of your eyes, is > the day we can have a meaningful discussion about > this. Until that day, you are working with belief > and with theory, and I am talking about experience. > > WHAT the real nature of the experience is probably > doesn't matter. What matters is that the seeker > has to DEAL with it. It's like, "Oh, fuck. I just > saw something that cannot happen. Now I have to deal > with this if I want to be true to my experience." > > Some deal with such phenomena by trying to "explain > them away," by calling them magic tricks or hypnosis > or suggestion. Others just believe in them completely. > Others, more like myself, don't know what the fuck > they were, but to be honest with ourselves have to > recognize that we saw and felt and experienced these > phenomena many times, and so *something* was happen- > ing. And we *know* that to talk about it is to risk > ridicule, because we can never convince anyone of > the truth of what we saw. But we manage to become > comfortable with our own experience *anyway*. > > Here's what I would do if I could levitate. I'd > find the biggest skeptics in the world, people with > rock-solid belief systems like yours that tell them > that such things can't really happen. I'd listen to > them asking me to demonstrate levitation for them > in public, and I'd laugh them off. > > HOWEVER, then I'd find out where they live or follow > them out to the parking lot where no one else was > around and demonstrate it for them, so completely > that that could be no doubt in their minds what > they were seeing. But there would be no one else > around to "verify" their experience. > > I'd consider this a FAVOR to the skeptic. By doing > this I would be placing them in the same position > I am in with regard to phenomena like levitation > or turning invisible, only more so. In my case, > there were hundreds of others who experienced the > same things I did, so that's some small comfort. > But in the end it really comes down to what *I* > experienced, and my personal relationship with > that experience. > > THAT is what you're missing on this subject, Michael. > And in my opinion that is the *only* valuable thing > about the siddhis -- forcing a seeker to evaluate > his own personal experience and decide whether he > is going to trust it or disbelieve it. > > Being put in that position is a very valuable exper- > ience in itself. It's the "test" that differentiates > sit-in-their-armchairs-reading-about-someone-else's- > experiences seekers from mystics. > > May you have such an experience someday. When you > do, and have DEALT WITH IT, however you choose > to deal with it, then we can discuss this further. > Until then, you are just one more person with a > rock-solid belief system based on what others have > told you. > > Get it? This Turq is speaking in tongues again. One day it might even sound beautiful though I doubdt it considering the culprits age. Listen to this and be inspired: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etHe_98Rwec&feature=related
