The very existence of words like selfishness and altruism points to an important distinction. A psychopath would be at one extreme, a Ghandi at another. Saying that love is all about feeding the self is not something you'd want to teach children in school about - the whole point of socialization and morality is to help people respond to needs that are not entirely egocentric. So MMY's exposition, taken at face value, seemed rather shallow and unhelpful, although I can see that he was really trying to focus eventually on the self expanding to the Self.
And yes we have plenty of historical examples of religious exploitation, Christian and otherwise - the more important therefore to ensure such things don't happen again especially within an organization one cares about.. Group meditators showing compassion? Not unless there was such an intention, although maybe a knowledge that this activity might simultaniously serve both individual and social interests makes it both important and worthwhile. Perhaps I camea cross as too "critical"; was just sharing a response to what I saw & heard, which also happened to resonnate with concerns about TMO practices - they do sometimes seem less compassionate and altruistic than ideally I'd like them to be. I also had in mind my previous post about bullying and compassion.. --- In [email protected], "sparaig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "claudiouk" <claudiouk@> wrote: > > > > Happened to watch snippets of two programmes tonight - rather > > disturbing. First MMY tape, quite an early one, on M channel, around > > 18:40 GMT. Some quotes will give the flavour: " funnily enough, this is > > the story of love; no-one loves anybody; all currents of love directed > > by self, for self, to self; feeding of self is what is dear, expansion > > of self is only what is dear" etc. > > LOL. This is the commonly understood psychological (and religious) view of how humans > work, so I'm not sure why you're upset. > > At end talked about self expanding > > to Self, which seems OK but this is rather a limited view. Throughout > > nature from cellular, organ, organism and social levels there is > > evidence of co-operation, altruism & selflessness (more Self than self > > perhaps but nevertheless..). > > Not at all. All organisms work to survive. That this survival might include "altruism" is only > an accident of evolution, not some "higher" purpose. > > A psychpath, according to MMY's criteria, > > would be more enlightened than a Ghandi? Surely not. > > > > Surely you're not this dense. Psychopaths are psychopaths because their brains don't > worth right. They don't recognize others as being worthy of consideration because their > brains don't work that way, period. > > > The other was a TV report on Voodism in Benin - how poor families are > > having to sell their children to pay for expensive Voodoo rituals to > > rectify bad "aspects" etc. Kind of exploitation that could easily > > result, in future, with the likes of Yagyas & Jyotish etc. > > Yes, a danger in any society. Or do you think that its never been done, even in Christian > societies? > > > > > So was reminded of my general unease about TMO's tendencies towards > > fundamentalism where common sense and compassion and fairness have > > become such secondary concerns. Doesn't augur well for future TM Voodoo > > generations... > > > > Soyou think that people sacrificing careers to go do group meditation for the sake of the > world aren't showing compassion... > > > Lawson >
