Dr. Parkinson, Welcome to FFL. I've been enjoying your exchanges with our fellow posters immensely. Lately, I've been trying to communicate in moving images but I'm afraid I'll never match the lyrical magic or sattva of our talented Yifu.
While reading one of your posts I found myself reaching for my Webster's and remembered the last time I reached out like that. I was wondering if you've recently been to Canada or Africa? ________________________________ From: William Parkinson <ameradi...@yahoo.com> To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 4:22:34 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Sleep and TM (are youstill there RC?) Thank you so much Ravi for allowing me a peek into your experiences. When I say 'questionable utility' what I mean is this. In the Eastern tradition, as I understand it, the goal of Enlightenment is to free one from karmic bondage; that is to say, to end the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (the 'transmigration of the soul'). Enlightenment is always viewed as something that dispels ignorance. And what is this ignorance? Far more often than not it is the idea that dualism is illusory. But what if there is no such thing as reincarnation (as I believe)? What good does the Enlightenment do then? And what if the phenomenological approach to religion is the worst possible way to proceed to truth? I should really take the time to write of a compelling example of this error in religion using the example if the Mormon faith. In the light of evidence from mitochondrial DNA we can now say that Joseph Smith, and everything he taught, was completely false (there were other lines of compelling evidence that converge on the same conclusion). And yet Mormons, because of a phenomenon called the 'burning bosom,' nevertheless, believe wholeheartedly that it is still true. When I get the time I think I will write a post on this. Hopefully it will be edifying to everyone on the forum. In any event, I'm not sure I see how it is useful to become enlightened, unless it makes a person a better human being; viz. becoming a more loving person. Of course, this is only my personal belief. I would be fascinated to hear anything you can tell me about what value this period in your life has had for you. I am always endlessly fascinated by the religious convictions and scruples of people no matter what the religious tradition. You are one of the few people I have ever encountered who can say that they entered into a state of consciousness that was at least close to, if not entirely synonymous with, the classical definition of enlightenment. It would be a welcome exercise to me personally if you could tell me just a little bit about why you feel it was salutary for you. In any event, I thank you deeply Ravi for sharing your experiences with me. I hope to hear more from you soon! Cheers Bill From: Ravi Yogi <raviy...@att.net> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 4:00 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Sleep and TM (are youstill there RC?) "Did you and Ravi (are you there?) engage in this more dedicated practice of TM?" No like I said I didn't engage in any advanced practices. IME the result does not seem to be proportional to the effort and like ancient scriptures point out the other factors seems to be grace, the existing attachments and one's innate tendencies. "Meditation, at least for the purposes of my goal, is something that is done because it is helpful; not because it develops long-term brain changes of questionable utility!!!! " I can vouch for long term brain changes, I would definitely disagree with the questionable utility part. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, William Parkinson <ameradian2@...> wrote: > > Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly! I deeply appreciate the > Â warm welcome. Â Honestly, however, you have truly baffled me, because your > own experience goes far beyond so-called cosmic consciousness. Up until now I > thought the only two people that had reached what TM jargon calls UC was > Robin C. and Ravi. And now it seems you reached at too! An interesting > question as a follow-up might be this: if a person simply follows the 20 > minutes-twice a day formulation, will they ever go beyond simple cosmic > consciousness? Â I wonder if those of you who have reached GC and UC did so > because of advanced meditation techniques, many hours of so-called > 'rounding;' not to mention many more hours of meditation throughout the week. > I think of Clint Eastwood who has been doing TM for four years. Seemingly he > has done it in the simple 20 minute-twice a day fashion. Did you and Ravi > (are you there?) Â engage in this more dedicated practice of TM? I must > also say that your post has caused me some degree of disquiet. Meditation, at > least for the purposes of my goal, is something that is done because it is > helpful; not because it develops long-term brain changes of questionable > utility!!!! > Cheers > Bill >
