--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: (snip) > > And if you are interested in challenging their supposed > > truth or value. In my experience, it's these "core" or > > *never challenged* beliefs that persist the longest, and > > are toughest to either recognize or challenge. Stuff like > > *assuming* that "effortless is better," or that "the only > > way to transcend is via effortlessness." People have been > > repeating that meme for so long -- in most cases *without > > ever trying a technique not based on effortlessness to > > see if it's really true* -- that they no longer realize > > that it's a fundamental belief that underlies and shapes > > all other beliefs they have about meditation in general, > > and sometimes about life itself.
Or they may say something like, "(Obviously the whole business is based on the premise that the most effective way to transcend is not to exert any effort, a point some disagree with.)" But Barry, of course, fails to notice it when they do. > A poignant example of this, related to me by at least > half a different spiritual teachers from traditions > other than TM, has to do with what long-term TMers > come to their public introductory talks. Often a tech- > nique of meditation is taught, and of course they sit > there and look as if they're trying it, just like > everyone else in the audience. This tale smells very strongly of bogosity. My guess is that it happened more or less like this one time to one teacher, who told Barry about it, and he morphed it in his imagination into a trend. As we all know, Barry is a practiced liar. But he's been having more and more trouble putting his lies across lately; he's losing the knack of making them sound believable. One of the telltale signs here is the two big writing errors in the paragraph above; another is the fact that he starts out talking about "long-term TMers" and halfway through changes it to "former TMers." Plus which, the story just doesn't hang together very well; he hasn't managed to tell it so that it sounds like something that may actually have taken place. > But all of these teachers have related the same story > to me. Some of these TMers actually come up to them > later and ask to meet with them privately, because > they're interested in attending more talks, or study- > ing with them, often because they liked the overall > energy of the group or of the teacher, or liked the > things he or she talked about. > > What these teachers have learned to do, out of long > experience, is to ask the former TMers, "When we > practiced the meditation I was teaching, did you > actually *try* it, or did you sit there doing TM? > Be scrupulously honest now." > > In *most* cases, when dealing with former TMers, they > admit that they never *did* try the new technique of > meditation. Some admit that some part of them still > felt "guilty" about trying it, as if doing so were > somehow "wrong" or "sinful," and others admitted to > not having tried it because "they already knew how > to meditate." > > Most of these teachers at this point asked the person > applying to study with them to go away, and return > when they had regained the ability to achieve > "Beginner's Mind," and approach a new study with > humility, and not with arrogance. Few ever did. (snip) > > Can't argue with that. How you gonna keep 'em down on > > the farm after they've seen Par-eee? Don't ever allow > > them to see Par-eee. :-) But then you're not keeping them down on the farm after they've seen Paree, are you?
