--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote: > > > On Mar 25, 2009, at 10:37 AM, grate.swan wrote: > > > Does it upset you when you are a guest at a sumptuous meal and the > > host offers grace before the meal. I may be shallow, but I focus > > on the meal and not on my hosts particular beliefs or traditions. > > And I don't somehow feel tainted or duped. > > Only if it is in a public school, in the context we're talking of here. > > > > > Thanksgiving. Is that a religious holiday? Am I being secretly > > taught a religion if I take the holiday off, and eat a thanksgiving > > meal? Who were the pilgrims offering thanks to? Oh my God! It was > > God! Run! > > I don't celebrate Thanksgiving as a religious holiday, I celebrate in > as an exercise in food materialism.
And they why do you deny the same freedom to others to take what they want from religious traditions and use it in a secular way? Somehow you can use a holiday based on Thanksgiving to God an not get tainted by anything religious. In fact you use it for the antithesis of religion -- gluttony. Yet you don't want to ban thanksgiving from schools. So why not provide the same freedom to students who may want to use meditation techniques that stem from a religious tradition but they use it in totally non religious ways? I don't see the distinction. Except that one option suits you. > > > > > Curtis doesn't like me to equate the fruit of meditation with > > actual fruit. And I am sure I am transgressing his beliefs with my > > meal analogy. But to me, it fits quite well. I am getting something > > quite secular -- a meal -- a useful meditation technique -- at the > > HUGE cost of listening to someone give thanks prior to the "meal". > > I don't get the outrage. > > It's a religious technique that invokes gods and goddesses and > worships a guru as a god--it therefore violates the separation of > church and state--there are a host of other issues such as with > charging the taxpayers exorbitant fees for meditation, which can > easily be taught for free and the destructive nature of aspects of > the TM org, side effects, phony and biased research, etc.. Body > modification freaks also feel that insertion of needles can induce > pleasurable trance states. Let's not forget to invite them. And > voudoun trance rites often involve the sacrificing of small animals > to the Loa: VM, Voudoun Meditation. Yes, you too can enjoy an > effortless technique that takes you 'down to the crossroads' without > ever having to leave your chair. > > Perhaps you should look into what the actual goal of Hindu mental > ishta-devata meditation is, since you don't seem clear on what it > actually is. > > Can you name one common place you would find the Hindu 16-fold offering? > > > > > I practiced TM for some time. I don't know much about Hinduism. My > > Indian friends sort of tolerate my delusion that somehow I have > > something in common with them and their religion. But I can't be a > > Hindu in traditional Hinduism. White boys not allowed. So why would > > another white boy or worse white girl -- who can never be a hindu, > > teaching something to another white boy who can never be a hindu, > > somehow make teaching TM a religion. > > I know of numerous people who became Hindus--some have even received > the sacred thread. > > > > > And don't even get me started on Christmas or Easter. If schools > > give these as holidays, aren't they complicit in some great > > religious conspiracy to dupe our poor cloistered youth? These > > holidays CLEARLY have religious roots. > > They're just appealing to the majority of their students I guess, but > that is an interesting objection. Of course none of their religious > rites would appear on campus if they are absent. > > > > > No more Easter egg hunts on the White House lawn. Clearly a > > violation of church and state. Not only that, it has roots in pagan > > religions! Pagan! As do Christmas trees. No more lighting of the > > Christmas tree on TV at Rokerfella square or the White House. > > Easter eggs to not appear in the Christian bible--unless you happen > to have a very different bible than I do! > > > > > And the damn World Series. Those religious nut players actually > > give thanks to GOD before the game. The horror! Our poor kids! > > Getting duped again by the omnipresent religious conspiracy. > > > > (I know you did not explicitly bring up some the points I am > > riffing on. ) >
