Hmmm, Galileo a cultist? I don't think so. Heretic doesn't equal
cultist. Having strange or nonmainstream beliefs has nothing to do
with being a cult. Every religion looks pretty strange from the outside.
Few raise to the level of destructive cult. Personally, I believe
meditation is one of Nature's miracles
<http://KnappFamilyCounseling.com/mostly.html> . I'm not surprised there
are scientific studies that show it is good -- for most people.
Confession can be shown to be good for most people. OTOH, the public
shaming and abuse that Scientology uses its confessional ritual for
causes trauma. Similarly a little meditation is probably good. The kind
of overindulgence that the Maharishi encouraged appears to damage
<http://knappfamilycounseling.com/tmdangers.html> some people. And the
constant drumbeat to pay more and more for less and less -- up to $1
million for the videotaped Raja course -- has driven numerous TMers into
financial ruin. Cultism has to do with repression, control, and abuse
of a group's members -- usually by the cult leader/founder. Is TM a
cult? That's for every individual to decide for him or herself. But I
fail to see how the Org could not benefit from reform along the lines I
suggest. J. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, off_world_beings
wrote: > > They called Galilleo a heritic (ie. cultist) > > The only
way to not be labelled a cult is to continuously and > vigorously
pursue scientific research under strict methodologies and > continue to
have them published in respected peer-reviewed scientific > journals.
> > Any organization (including any faith based school initiative, or
> some drug-induced stupor forced onto kids by states or governement, >
including also the promotion of junk food to kids, and including the >
promotion of unproven meditation techniques, etc. etc.) that has not >
hundreds of studies on the positive outcomes published in this way, >
are at best a cult, at worst criminally fraudulant. > > Anything other
than something based on hundreds of proven studies > published in
peer-reviewed scientific journals, is by definition, > mythological in
its veracity, religiously ignorant in its > application, and considered
fraudulant in a civilized society > > OffWorld >
