--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > What amazes me about this particular run-on piece of > rhetoric is that none of the True Believers who read > it seem to be standing up and saying, "Hey! Wait a > cotton-picking minute! Isn't this the exact OPPOSITE > message than the one you started the TM movement with?"
Perhaps because it *isn't* the "exact OPPOSITE"? > The orginial message was one of self-sufficiency and > hope. Transcendence (enabled by TM) was all that was > necessary to realize one's enlightenment. The prac- > titioner didn't need to believe in anything or anyone > to realize enlightenment. He didn't *need* anyone or > anything to realize enlightenment. Which did *not* mean that there was nothing else you could do to facilitate the process. > One simply trans- > cended, contacted infinity within himself, and over > time came to live that infinity as an all-time reality. > In this model, your environment and your diet and > your medical preferences had no power to "keep you" > from enlightenment, because the Way to enlightenment > was completely in your own hands, via meditation. Certainly when I learned in '75, various aspects of your lifestyle were considered to be more or less conductive to transcending, and to maximizing the beneficial effects of transcending--e.g., you needed to get enough rest at night, get sufficient exercise, eat a healthy diet, not take drugs, do your program twice a day for the recommended time, etc. Not observing these guidelines might or might not keep you from *ever* realizing enlightenment, but it could definitely slow things down. And observing the guidelines, obviously, was also completely in your own hands. What's going on now is that a whole batch of other stuff has been added to this side of the equation. So it isn't "the exact OPPOSITE" at all; rather, it's a major shift in balance. You may feel it's gone too far in that direction, which is entirely reasonable. But it isn't at all reasonable to claim it's the *opposite* of the original direction. (And > it should be stated that this original message has > proven TRUE for many people.) > > The "new" message is one of constriction and dependence. > Basically, what is being said is that the thing that > enables or defeats your ability to realize enlightenment > is your home builder. If you live in a "bad," unapproved > building, you'd best forget about enlightenment. Only if > you live in one of *our* "approved" buildings do you have > a shot at the Big E. Since most of the folks at whom this is directed are not transcending regularly to begin with and show no signs of wanting to learn how, one *might* suggest that living in a Vastu-correct environment would enable them to think more clearly and thus recognize the value of transcending regularly. So at least some of the new stuff could be said to be directed toward removing the barriers to getting folks to want to learn how to transcend regularly. If transcending is the key, and the original principle, anything that facilitates people learning how is entirely in keeping with that principle, not its "opposite." Caveat for the terminally literal-minded: I'm not saying I think the idea that the world should be reconstructed according to Vastu principles makes any practical sense. Rather, I'm pointing out that Barry's theoretical analysis is badly flawed. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
