--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Xenophaneros Anartaxius" <anartaxius@...> wrote: > > Almost all the 'big' experiences I had were spontaneous and > not on courses of any kind.
Me, too. Of my Top Ten List, only one is associated with TM, and occurred on a course. And even then it happened while meditating on my own, not with MMY. > In navigating the TMO world, I always tried to be as cost > effective as possible. I was never on very many courses, > and never longer than a week. > > In fact I think the propensity for extraordinary experiences > damped down in the vicinity of the movement. I can see that. Probably not true for everyone, and in fact the opposite for some of a different predilec- tion, but I can certainly see it as being true for some. > But even before I learned TM I had had the experience of > being as a universal value, so, as you put it in another > post, I tended not to see progress in terms of hierarchy. > Having a scientific bent helped with avoiding the > pseudoscience associated with spiritual movements. To be fair, not associated with all of them. > The grit of spiritual growth occurs outside of meditation > etc. I agree completely. > I think of meditation kind of like Drano, drain cleaner. > It loosens stuff up, but you have to turn on the spigot > with hot water to wash the crap completely loose. Very funny. For some reason, your mention of the word "Drano" inspired me to search Google Images for the string "spiritual Drano," wondering whether anyone else had had that insight, and created a graphic for it. What came up as a result of my search were -- no shit -- the following two graphics. The one on the left was #1 and the one on the right was #2. :-) > Courses can be valuable, but picking them strategically > rather than on perceived 'need' seems to work better. I > managed to 'arrive' at my goals in relation to the TMO for > less than the cost of what I think the TM-Sidhi program > sells for, maybe half that. Good for you. That is a major achievement. > My 'best' experiences occurred walking across a living room, > while driving a car, and walking outdoors on asphalt. One of my Top Ten happened as someone was attempting to mug me. Really. It was just way cool. > My most intense experiences of release also did not occur in > a course situation. However special experiences like this, or > sustained experiences of any kind are not what this is all about. Agreed. Top Ten Lists are just a way of talking. One could have a spiritual "resume" consisting of the Top Ten Thousand and still be an asshole to other people. Or one can go through one's life without every having what they consider a spiritual exper- ience and be a pretty neat person.
