--- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltabl...@...> 
wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote:
> 
> I'm not sure how anyone could distinguish the cause and effect 
> of an energy like "shakti."  How anyone could say that the source 
> outside yourself was known. I am more inclined to believe that it 
> is self generated.  

This is certainly possible.

> My own "experience" of what I thought at the time was Maharishi's 
> "darshon" is probably my best reference.  After a while it kind 
> of went away in India after seeing him day after day.  But with 
> suggestibility heightened by long meditations we were all ripe 
> for generating all sorts of experiences. 

For the record, I never experienced *anything* I would
ever call "shakti" or "darshan" from Maharishi. Not once
in 14 years, including times when I was sitting a few
feet from him. My experience with what I call shakti
was only with other people.

> What I see lacking in personal healer's presentations is a 
> genuinely honest attempt to test their claims.  

I completely agree. Most of them came out of "spir-
itual" traditions in which one of the golden rules
was "never question anything the teacher says." And
as a result they think that when *they* claim things,
people should just believe them, the same way they did.
I think that this creates a lazy and essentially dis-
honest approach to the things they say. There is no
real *interest* in validating these claims, because
the claimants perceive anyone who *doesn't* auto-
matically believe their claims as "having something
wrong with them."

> Their utter contempt for skepticism and the right for customers 
> to see something that would reasonable support their claims 
> makes them seem dishonest to me.  

To me, too. Add to that taking a lot of money for
something they refuse to prove, and it pretty much
screams "Charlatan" to me.

> Perhaps it is an entertainment expense for people.  They get 
> their ticket and they get their ride.  And everybody is happy 
> till the next MRI.   

That is exactly what I was getting at by comparing
shakti to a hit on a crack pipe. 


Reply via email to