MMY's price structure is in order to attract rich elitists. He's said exactly that, in nearly those exact words. Why does everyone keep criticizing him as though he's not aware of the effects that it has on initiation numbers?
Now, if you want to criticize him for attempting to attract wealthy patrons, rather than work with the masses, that's another issue entirely, but you gotta criticize him in a different way if you're going to do that... --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [email protected], Peter Sutphen > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It's like he's reading from a promotional brochure. > > Not much contact with the people he's talking to. > > Or with the world outside the hotel monastery he lives > in and has lived in most of his life. > > This one of my favorite themes, and has been ever > since reading Hesse's "Magister Ludi: The Glass > Bead Game." In that book Hesse talks about the down > side of monastic life, getting so out of touch with > the people one is ostensibly serving that the monks > are no longer serving them, only their imaginary > idea of them. They can't relate to people in the > world at all. (Or at least that's my memory of one > of the themes of the book; it's been decades since > I really read it.) > > It's an interesting issue. In some reclusive orders, > both Eastern and Western, they *force* the monks to > "get out of the ashram" and work in the world for long > periods of time. Doncha think that Maharishi might > have a bit more compassion with regard to his price > structure if he'd actually *met* a poor person in the > last 35 years? Even one? As far as I know, he's > structured things so that the opportunity has never > been allowed to arise. > > This issue comes up for me because of a discussion > this morning on another forum about panhandlers. The > *vehemence* with which these normally intelligent > people dissed the "bums" and the "scum of the earth" > who dare to intrude into their day with a request for > a little spare change just shocked the hell outa me. > It was like listening to a room full of rabid Repub- > licans, but was taking place in a room full of self- > professed Liberals. > > IMO, it's the same issue. Most of the so-called Liberals > on that forum haven't actually *talked* to a poor person > in decades. These people aren't people for them; they > are only intellectual concepts. They talk big about want- > ing to help the poor, but only if the poor are not in > their neighborhood, "smelling bad" and asking for change. > > Sometimes I think that the best thing that could ever > have happened to the TM movement would have been for some- > one to let Maharishi loose in, say, the Bronx for a few > days without a cent to his name and no one to help him > get around. If you think about it, he hasn't had to > interface with life as it is actually lived by millions > of people since he left India the first time. If he > had, I doubt that the movement would be in the situation > it finds itself in today. > > 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/
