Oh my goodness - that's it exactly.
--- On Wed, 6/22/11, whynotnow7 <whynotn...@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: whynotnow7 <whynotn...@yahoo.com>
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hope Without Magical Thinking
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 11:07 AM
Yeah, not to lose ourselves, good advice. Ironically it is when things
are not working for us that we decide to find the answers somewhere else and
have more of a willingness to accept anything, no matter how irrational it may
seem in a more self-confident moment.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Denise Evans <dmevans365@...> wrote:
>
> Re: the original message - this would be my concern about Amma and her org as
> well - she appears to be "devolving" from the original message and executing
> controlling directives that result in dependencies in many. Â Let alone the
> $$ coming in - a 21st century tithe strategy. Â Magical thinking and magical
> stories abound......lessons... don't lose yourself in someone or something
> else and each of us is responsible for our own spiritual growth.
>
>
> --- On Wed, 6/22/11, whynotnow7 <whynotnow7@...> wrote:
>
> From: whynotnow7 <whynotnow7@...>
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hope Without Magical Thinking
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 9:12 AM
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Â
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Enjoyed your blast from the past Curtis - I can totally see the
> judgment on the dark spirit who was banished from the scene by Maharishi's
> effulgence, now in retrospect realizing the poor guy probably just had to pee
> - too many mango smoothies that morning....and the chosen Governors
> remained...
>
>
>
> I was not part of the reinforced indoctrination that the Governors received,
> but definitely bought into the absolute perfection of our dear leader. Though
> I recall at the time I also took seriously the Jai Guru Dev thing, respect
> the teacher, so I really didn't feel Maharishi was my personal guru, rather a
> perfect teacher (for awhile).
>
>
>
> The difference being I never had nor wanted a personal relationship with him,
> beyond the big Maharishi posters on my dorm walls (I did work for the MMY
> Press, but it was still a pretty groupie thing to do...). I never had a
> chance to meet him. So I hung on his every word and worked for the Movement
> for two and a half years. Then when it became time to take a closer look and
> consider becoming a teacher myself, I decided to leave instead. Just wasn't
> going to work out.
>
>
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltablues@>
> wrote:
>
> >
>
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck" <dhamiltony2k5@> wrote:
>
> > >
>
> > > Whoa, very nice waking state critique Turq.
>
> > > Nice writing. -Buck
>
> >
>
> > I wonder why you would refer to the obvious fact that he had to be awake
> > when her wrote it? I mean do you post in your sleep Doug? Ohhhhh wait a
> > second, you are comparing Barry's post to a higher state of consciousness
> > one that you are somehow capable of discerning by the content. Let me give
> > a shot at the higher state one:
>
> >
>
> > Maharishi was preceded into the hall by a golden glow, egglike in its
> > hyranyagarba glory. As he sat down this glow enveloped the audience and I
> > could see that patches of dark clouds over people were going away. One
> > very dark shrouded person left the room as if the purity itself had
> > expelled him.
>
> >
>
> > As he started to speak it was like the impulses of the Veda were unfolding
> > within me, the Prachetina value of life, the first impulses of creative
> > intelligence were enlivened. On either side of the stage two huge Devatas
> > stood regally enraptured by the master but knowing that they would need a
> > nervous system like ours to achieve their goal. My eyes fall on the
> > nervous system of a co-ed a few rows ahead, wearing a loose fitting,
> > sleeveless, white, cotton shirt. At this angle I can make out the curve of
> > her breast and think if I lean farther ahead I may be in nip-slip range...
>
> >
>
> > But spontaneously my attention is drawn away from the rajasic and back to
> > Maharishi who is laying out the steps of progress for any government to
> > turn the world into Narnia if they would only pay enough for his programs
> > to be taught everywhere, cuz as everyone knows, the divine is always a bit
> > short on cash. (Not much of a saver.) As he speaks he leans forward and at
> > this angle I can see into his hairy chest and if I lean
> > forward...damn...pull back pull back abort abort...Nice to be enlightened
> > though so I can see my pervieness in terms of the Self, as if the universe
> > itself want's a little nip-slip now and then and I am a faithful divine
> > servant...
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > Nice piece BTW Barry, you know for WAKING STATE! (For any new readers,
> > "waking state" is a substitute for "S--t for brains" on FFL. It is used as
> > a reminder of the poster's intrinsic superiority.)
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > >
>
> > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote:
>
> > > >
>
> > > > Today for some reason I found myself thinking back to
>
> > > > the first time I saw Maharishi, in 1967. At that talk,
>
> > > > at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, he said a few
>
> > > > things that got me interested enough in the spiritual
>
> > > > path that I set about walking it.
>
> > > >
>
> > > > He laid out the benefits of meditation as he saw it,
>
> > > > that it offered a way to draw upon one's own inner
>
> > > > resources for one's sense of self worth and happiness,
>
> > > > and not be dependent on others and how they see us or
>
> > > > what they tell us to do for those things. I remember
>
> > > > him speaking about how meditation (as he saw it)
>
> > > > required no belief for it to work, and no leaders or
>
> > > > gurus for it to work. All that it did require was
>
> > > > actually doing the work -- practicing meditation. And
>
> > > > I remember him speaking about how meditation could
>
> > > > help to develop one's own creativity, and how that
>
> > > > could help to resolve the problems of life by being
>
> > > > able to create more effective solutions to them.
>
> > > >
>
> > > > At one point a person stood up and asked a question.
>
> > > > He talked about a particular problem he was having,
>
> > > > and how it had left him in a quandary, not knowing
>
> > > > what to do. He then asked Maharishi what to do.
>
> > > >
>
> > > > Maharishi's answer was the most impressive thing he'd
>
> > > > said in the entire talk. He said, "If I tell you what
>
> > > > to do, all that will happen is that it will make you
>
> > > > weaker. The next time you have a problem, you'll want
>
> > > > me to tell you what to do about it again. You will
>
> > > > become dependent on me. What you should do instead is
>
> > > > meditate, draw upon your own creativity, and solve
>
> > > > the problem yourself. That will make you stronger."
>
> > > >
>
> > > > Compare and contrast to what Maharishi allowed his
>
> > > > teaching and his spiritual movement to devolve into.
>
> > > > What I find myself thinking today, remembering this
>
> > > > first talk, is how SAD it is how little of what he
>
> > > > said that day turned out to be true. Or at least how
>
> > > > little of it turned out to be what he actually taught
>
> > > > and how he conducted himself as the years went on.
>
> > > >
>
> > > > Instead of the independence and self-sufficiency he
>
> > > > touted in that first talk, what happened -- and
>
> > > > within a couple of years -- was an environment in
>
> > > > which the students were taught to rely on him and
>
> > > > what he told them to do. Being on the whole young
>
> > > > and impressionable people in the 60's they may in
>
> > > > fact have brought a lot of this tendency to rely
>
> > > > on guru figures with them, but he allowed them to
>
> > > > do so, and in fact encouraged it.
>
> > > >
>
> > > > He also encouraged "magical thinking," the view that
>
> > > > all you had to do was meditate and that if you did,
>
> > > > and listened to what he told you to do, magical
>
> > > > forces that were larger than you would take care of
>
> > > > you and make everything turn out right. "Do less and
>
> > > > accomplish more," which in those early talks clearly
>
> > > > meant "Meditate and recharge your energy and your
>
> > > > creativity and then go out and USE it by working more
>
> > > > efficiently for the things you want" turned into "Just
>
> > > > meditate and everything will be taken care of." Prag-
>
> > > > matic thinking gave way to magical thinking.
>
> > > >
>
> > > > And look what the outcome of this reliance on magical
>
> > > > thinking has produced. People who can no longer imagine
>
> > > > solutions to the problems of hunger and war and violence
>
> > > > that come from humans using their own intelligence and
>
> > > > working towards pragmatic solutions. Instead, the only
>
> > > > source that they can imagine a solution to these prob-
>
> > > > lems coming from is magic, in the form of some Woo Woo
>
> > > > Rays emanating from the thuds of their butts on foam,
>
> > > > or from other, even more magical Woo Woo Rays emanating
>
> > > > from some teacher or guru or avatar.
>
> > > >
>
> > > > Call me crazy but I miss the message of that first
>
> > > > Maharishi talk. I am hopeful that the problems of this
>
> > > > planet, both individual and worldwide, can in fact be
>
> > > > resolved. But I don't believe that they can only be
>
> > > > resolved by some magical force outside ourselves, or
>
> > > > by Woo Woo Rays. I think that these problems can only
>
> > > > be resolved by the pragmatic, creative ideas of indi-
>
> > > > vidual human beings, creative ideas that are possibly
>
> > > > enhanced by meditation and other practices, but *our*
>
> > > > ideas, not those of some avatar or guru or spiritual
>
> > > > teacher or other source of magical Woo Woo.
>
> > > >
>
> > > > That, after all, was the message of the first talk I
>
> > > > ever heard Maharishi give. It's just too bad that he
>
> > > > either was lying about what he said, or didn't believe
>
> > > > it thoroughly enough to follow through on it in his
>
> > > > own teachings, and with his own students. If he had,
>
> > > > the world might have been a much better place, and
>
> > > > they would certainly have been much stronger human
>
> > > > beings. Instead, just as he said in that first talk,
>
> > > > he wound up making them weaker.
>
> > > >
>
> > >
>
> >
>
