--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <rick@...> wrote: > > > On Behalf Of turquoiseb, who said: > > Just as a question, how many of you out there in the > > FFL audience still, to this day, light a stick of > > incense and then, to blow it out, either wave the > > stick in the air or wave your hand over it, to create > > a breeze that blows out the flame? > > > > I caught myself doing this tonight. > > > > Immediately thereafter, I caught myself thinking, > > "WHY the fuck am I doing this? Does it really > > MATTER whether I blow this stick of incense out > > by waving my paw at it, Dogbert-like, or whether > > I blow it out with my human -- and thus so-much- > > lower-than-incense-deserves -- breath?" > > > > I was unable to come up with a satisfactory answer. > > So I pass it along to you in the FFL 'verse: DOES > > it make any difference at all whether we blow out > > a stick of incense by waving at it with our hands > > or blowing it out with our own breath? > > > > I don't actually expect anyone to answer, but I do > > suggest that the answers might have been interesting > > if anyone were interested in questioning the things > > we never question... > > You don't want to offend Agni, do you?
See, now *that* is an example of the "insider humor" that allows you to detect whether someone has either Been There Done That with the TM movement or not. :-) Thanks to those who've chimed in. I really find this a fascinating topic. How many of you, like me, never even *noticed* that you still blow out the flame on an incense stick by waving it or waving your paw at it? Until I mentioned it, that is. It's not that I have anything against waving my paw at the incense stick; I may in fact continue doing it. But I *caught myself* doing it, and then laughed at that, and at myself for still doing it mindlessly for all these years, out of habit. My bet is that most on this forum picked up this habit or meme or belief during their time in the TMO. But I'd bet that almost no one can remember where exactly they heard it or who told it to them. I certainly cannot. It was -- like all successful memes -- just an integral part of the subculture. No one even *questioned* the proper way of blowing out the flame on a stick of incense. It was a given that there *was* a proper -- and a frowned- upon, improper -- way of doing it. And we bought it. Looking back on it, isn't that really funny? Weren't we such total dweebs? :-)
