--- In [email protected], "It's just a ride" <bill.hicks.all.a.r...@...> wrote: > > On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 4:16 PM, Rick Archer <r...@...> wrote: > > > > Sacred Awakening Series : > > http://sacredawakeningseries.com/ > > Cool. But none of these are good enough to cast a shadow > across Vaj and Barry's studied under every one of them. > He'll be name dropping during the seminars.
Actually, because I really *don't* graze at the spiiritual smorgasbord any more, I have met only two of them, both women. I attended a weekend satsang session with Gangaji once because the person who invited me knew her well and I thus knew I'd get a chance to talk to her "offstage." I dig that. I have met a number of spiritual teachers I would never have gone to see in a public forum just *because* I knew that I'd have some "offstage" time with them. I liked Gangaji a great deal, loathed her followers and what they had made of her, and never saw her again. Lovely woman. The other was a fellow student when I studied with the Rama guy. I actually hit on her. I was rebuffed, and when I ran into her later in her new incarnation as a spiritual teacher and heard what her rap was, I felt that karma was well served by that rebuff. Suffice it to say that I do not regret the rebuff in the least, and in fact applaud the lady for her "seeing." Two world views less compatible have rarely met. And she's a lovely woman, too. (I actually have several friends who study with this woman, and who uprooted their lives to do so, but I have never once attempted to communicate my qualms about her to them. Their association with this woman seems to be "suiting" them, in that they seem perfectly happy with it. Good on them.) I don't even recognize the names of most of the others on this cyberevent, with the exception of Marianne Williamson and Bob Thurman. Guess I'm out of touch with the New Age "Top 40." :-) Don't get me wrong, though. If I remember correctly, I was the first person to post a link to this CyberLent Festival here, and wish them well. I don't know whether I'll actually tune in on any of the presentations, but I would imagine from the writeups about the participants that they will all be interesting. If anyone here catches a few of them and could report, I'd be very interested. Especially if you have seen a few of the TED talks, and can draw a comparison between the two. I'd like to see more of this stuff on the Net. I love Rick's idea, and lurk admiringly. I only lurk because my current interest is not the kind of discussion I've seen on the Gas Pump list. I am less whelmed by such discussions these days than I have been in the past, and would have nothing to contribute. So I stay out of it. BTW, and possibly related only in my mind, by far the most heartening thing I've read on this forum in ages was Rick's recent reply to Sir Newb Nadarrombus (this is *not* a diss, guy... I really like your earnestness, and hope to hear more of it). That was a remarkably *balanced* response, one that I don't think should go unnoticed. I particularly liked, "In many classes [at MUM] there are deep, skeptical discussions of concepts that were once taught as gospel truth." This is cool. This is HUGE. I think that the Internet and its infectious sense of freedom may have had a lot to do with that. If you get used to being able to say Whatever The Fuck You Want on the Internet, how long are you going to allow yourself to be prevented from doing so by your spiritual tradition? I think that the Internet may be the best thing that has ever *happened* to spiritual traditions. > "I have outlived my pecker." -- Willie Nelson Had to leave this in because it's just SO Willy. Great line. Deep bow.
