To me, Doug's asking FFLers to identify their status is resonant with the TMO regular handing of yet another legal-esque document to the initiators to sign and renew their pledges of loyalty. Sign this or you're dead to us, like that.
Kinda creepy of Doug to promulgate suchlike herein. Then after challenging folks with the in-your-face questioning, Doug interprets the responses without any sign of axiomatic filtering. He assigned me to "being a meditator," despite my not having many of the basics of "common notions about meditation" being operative. Thus, even the sincere replies are handled like the course office handles requests for dome badge updates -- you never know what they're thinking behind those doors, and the resentment that arises from such kangaroo court treatment can surely be the cause of many a disaffection that ends with the meditator leaving FF or ending meditation. In short, I think he's wasting folks' time, abusing those who take him seriously, and then expecting the less trusting others to laugh at those who would pose themselves for a snapshot he takes of them with a camera with no film in it. I'm not laughing. But, if even one person somehow manages to reply in a manner that is equal to a custard pie violently hurled into his kisser, well, as we laughed at his gooed puss, then his riling us up here might be seen as having been worth it -- his irk-jerking us will be as if a dark canvas upon which the flash of custard would be all that much more visible like Elvis on black velvet. Edg --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jst...@...> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > <snip> > > The second was what I perceived as a slight > > reluctance on the part of -- interestingly > > enough -- those who *do* meditate regularly to > > admit it by "stepping up to the place" > > (I think Barry means "plate," not "place.") > > as a > > TM meditator. Well, given what they post, and > > why, I don't actually find that all that sur- > > prising. > > Given that what these TM meditators post has > made their status as such quite clear over and > over, no, it's not surprising at all that they > would see no need to "admit" to what is so > obvious from what they've written here. > > If they did so, there would be no > > question in the mind of lurkers here that folks > > can practice TM faithfully for decades and still > > be petty, small-minded, prudish, hateful, and > > driven by no higher goal in life than needing to > > argue and play pseudo-intellectual "gotcha" games > > with another human being for no more noble > > purpose than the desire to "make them lose." > > What's surprising is that Barry would try to > make it seem that these TM meditators--regardless > of whether his characterization above is accurate-- > want to *hide* their status from the lurkers here, > when he knows that anyone who reads their posts > can't possibly *miss* the fact that they're TM > meditators. > > And by the same token, lurkers who *don't* read > their posts would have no basis for judging > their character, positively or negatively, and > associating it with their TM practice. > > In other words, Barry has made himself "lose" > again, by demonstrating either (a) that he > lacks even the flimsiest grasp of simple logic; > or (b) that he has so little respect for readers > here that he believes *they* lack even the > flimsiest grasp of logic and will thus be taken > in by yet another of his absurd attempts to > denigrate TMers. > > Not to mention that anyone who reads *Barry's* > posts knows these people are TM meditators, since > he rarely misses an opportunity to call attention > to their status. > > Most surprising of all, however, is that Doug > would demand from these TM meditators a > declaration of their status. Either (a) he reads > their posts and knows already that they practice > TM, so his demand is totally unnecessary; or (b) > he doesn't read their posts, thus negating > completely the basis for his demand in the first > place. > > > The reality of the "meditator vs. non-meditator" > > difference is that there is no difference. > > Obviously this is the case, if Barry and Doug can > be taken to be representative of their respective > status. Both seem to be rather muddled thinkers > (or both assume readers here are rather muddled > thinkers). > > > People are people are people are people. > > Exactly. Again, if Barry and Doug are representative > of non-TM-meditators and (presumably) TM-meditators, > whether one practices TM has no effect either way on > the clarity of one's thinking (or one's ability to > determine the clarity of the thinking of others in > relation to one's own). > > > The only thing one can probably say with some > > validity about people who seem to believe that > > "their kind of people" are actually better or > > in some way superior to "those other kinds of > > people" is that anyone who believes that clearly > > isn't. > > Or perhaps we could say more generally that those > who repeatedly attempt to determine which people > are superior or not superior to themselves, as > Barry does here, are excessively preoccupied with > their own status on the superior-inferior spectrum. >
