Very good, Rick! I'm sure you've spoken for a lot of people -- many of whom will tell you so in the days after publication.
Isn't it funny how fulfilling it is to see one's own feelings expressed by good writers and speakers? - Patrick Gillam --- In [email protected], Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > on 8/30/05 9:49 AM, akasha_108 at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > Rick said he would post relevant letters to the editor. > > > > Rick, how are you doing this? Scanning the print version? Or do you > > have a link for the Letters to the Editors? > > Erik Gable sent me his "Tale of Two Gurus" article as a text file. The last > two letters I posted, I typed. There's a scanner with OCR software I can use > at a business I sometimes work at in town, but I wasn't going there, so I > typed them. I sent my letter to Erik this morning. Here's how it ended up. > Apologies to any whose suggestions I didn't incorporate. > > -------- > > Intelligent, sensible meditators at MUM and around town (and there are many) > must have cringed when recent letters by Jon Kelly Kirkpatrick ("Respecting > Maharishi requires absolute belief") and Lawrence Topliffe ("Meditators > aren't deluded - nonbelievers are") were published. With spokesmen like > these, who needs critics? I'm afraid these fundamentalist rants exemplified > points I made in Erik Gable's earlier article (A Tale of Two Gurus). If I > could rephrase what I was quoted as saying, it would be to say that some in > the TM Movement have degenerated into a cult-like mentality, or have yet to > grow out of it. Every organization is comprised of a variety of people, and > I apologize for seeming to imply that this mentality characterizes the > entire TM movement. > > There are people in every religious, spiritual, and political group who > believe that their particular teacher or perspective is superior to all > others. In some groups, this may be a subtle bias held by a minority. In > others, it is official doctrine. > > Kirkpatrick's contention that Maharishi alone possesses "Total Knowledge" > misrepresented Maharishi's teaching, as I understand it. Maharishi never > described total knowledge as something that anyone may possess exclusively, > but rather as the experience and understanding of the most fundamental level > of nature's functioning â" a universal, timeless reality that may be > discovered in the core of one's being, and that many people in different > cultures and traditions throughout history have experienced as a living > reality, often contemporaneously. Nor did Maharishi ever advocate belief, > either in himself or in anything he taught. For the most part, at least in > the earlier years of his teaching, he emphasized scientific and experiential > verification. > > On that note, Topliffe's letter contained several examples of unscientific > exaggeration. For instance, there may have been some study in which TM was > shown to reduce occurrences of some illness by 90%, but on the whole, its > health benefits are much less dramatic, and it was disingenuous to imply > otherwise. Also, contrary to Topliffe's suggestion that yogic flyers really > are levitating, after nearly 30 years of practice, there are no documented > accounts in the TM movement of anyone actually floating in the airâ`and yogic > flyers are well aware that this is the case. > > Unsubstantiated beliefs are not a stable foundation for life, because they > constantly clash with reality. This leads to a defensive, "us vs. them" > mentality that is fundamental to all political, ethnic and religious strife. > According to the ancient Chinese text, the I Ching, "The healthy mind > challenges its own assumptions." Examining one's assumptions and beliefs and > revising or discarding them if necessary may not always be comfortable in > the short run, but it results in a harmonious, secure, and far richer life. > > As Bertrand Russell put it, "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but > the wish to find out, which is the exact opposite." Do we know absolutely > that our beliefs are true, or do we hold them because our parents, our > culture, our politicians, or our spiritual leaders told us we should? It > might be liberating to step back and take a fresh look. So what if most of > our certainties become mysteries. Ironically, this makes one more secure â" > not less â" because one has less to defend. A childlike sense of wonder is > much more fascinating than dogmatism. And as Jesus said, it's a prerequisite > to entering the Kingdom of Heaven. ------------------------ 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/
