--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "PaliGap" wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb wrote: > > > The problem is compounded in those who carefully stayed > > away from him and never met the man. They got to base > > their fantasies on what he wrote in books and said on > > videotapes, and carefully stayed far, far away so that > > they'd never have to encounter any reality that might > > contradict their fantasies. > > What is reality and what is fantasy Barry? (Uh-oh). > > Is the reality the 'particular' (the hunch in the back > of Richard III), or the 'universal' (the abstract, the > teaching). Which is *more* real?
The whole *premise* of Maharishi's teachings -- or at least the way he acted them out -- is that the idea is more real. I dispute this. > Take me. I'm a "Hendrix freak". So, just as one example, > I absolutely love "The Wind Cries Mary". It means a lot > to me (and to a lot of others to be sure). > > http://youtu.be/zNps6k7oVG4 > > Now I discover that the occasion for the creation of this > gem by the force-of-nature Voodoo Chile was in fact some > badly prepared mashed potato: > > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21292762 > > If you're of a nominalist persuasion I think this would > be a bit of a downer. Philosophical realists are not > bothered. I am not bothered. What does that make me? :-) > If you emphasize as *the* reality MMY the man (who ate, > shat, copulated and all the rest), you are (perhaps > uncritically) taking the former view. "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick Maharishi's promises have almost all gone away. The reality of his actions has not. > Perhaps ideas are more important than bags under the > eyes? Perhaps Einstein's equations are more real than > his hair style? Einstein himself knew that his ideas were mere ideas. My grandfather worked with him, and heard him say this many times. He was too much of a scientist to ever confuse them with reality. > (PS I read MMY's books *and* met the guy. I was not > disappointed in the flesh as it happens). I wasn't disappointed *at the time*, merely underwhelmed. I never detected an ounce of shakti or "personal power" or whatever you might want to call it. In the years since I have been disappointed mainly by the people who still put him up on a pedestal to which he was never entitled. Different strokes for different folks.
