On Jul 15, 2005, at 3:34 PM, Rick Archer wrote:
July 14, 2005
The Fairfield Ledger
But a few years later, after a meeting in which two TM movement officials
questioned him about his involvement with Amma's group, Archer's dome badge
was revoked.
He had run afoul of a university policy discouraging TM teachers from seeing
gurus other than Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and he was no longer welcome during
group meditation.
That policy has been a source of division and even fear among members of
Fairfield's meditating community. Although Amma has visited Mount Pleasant
every summer for the past four years, Archer said "fear and paranoia" leads
some Fairfield residents to skip her local appearance and drive to Chicago
to see her -- because they're afraid they'll get kicked out of the dome if
the wrong person sees them in her presence.
But TM movement leaders say the policy is necessary to preserve the purity
of Maharishi's teachings. They also say the rules are nowhere near as
draconian as many people think.
Yeah, it's all in our heads...
"The university's policy on any other teacher of meditation or
self-development is neutral," said M.U.M. executive vice president Craig
Pearson, "meaning we don't endorse other people, we don't criticize other
people."
I'd like to know what flavor of Kool-Aid he's been drinking if he really believes this.
At the same time, Pearson said, the university doesn't want people
practicing meditation techniques other than TM in its domes.
"The essential core thing that we have to protect is the purity of that
practice," he said. In addition to the ceremonies that earned her the
nickname "the Hugging Saint," Amma offers her own meditation technique.
The standards are stricter for teachers than for rank-and-file meditators,
Pearson added. While teachers aren't supposed to be seen going to other
gurus, he said, non-teachers aren't likely to get in trouble for being seen
in another guru's presence.
"Just going to see somebody else, there's no problem with that," he said.
Ha, ha that's pretty funny, esp in light of paragraph #3 above.
"I think a common definition of a cult is that people try to control theYep, telling people who they can and can't see doesn't sound anything like behavior control to me. Time to hit the Kool-Aid...
behavior, and the comings and goings and even the finances of the members of
the cult," he said, "and there's nothing of that associated with the
university or the practice of meditation in the golden domes."
