When you said, "I was there, briefly", at first I thought you were referring to the Florida celibate TM men enjoying the adulation of female movement "groupies" drawn to the hard-to-getness. I was going to ask you if you got lucky.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, doctordumbass@... wrote: > > I was there, briefly. The last big course I attended. The administration and assignment of rooms for participants was unprofessional, inefficient, and highly political - like some third world backwater. > > After waiting five hours (5:30 PM to 10:30 PM) at the hotel, for my reserved and paid for, single room, I was finally given a dorm room on the other side of town, shared with some guy with a skin infection, who woke me up at 1 AM, to move in. I left the course the next day. > > As for the demonstrators mentioned in this article, they must have phoned it in, because nobody, including me, saw any of them. > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Michael Jackson mjackson74@ wrote: > > > > Ex-Followers Demonstrate Against > > TM > > > > From "Grounding > > the Guru," by Susan Gervasi, City Paper (Washington, DC), 7/13/90; > > 14,16. > > > > > > More than 800 members of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental > > Meditation, attending a week-long convention at Washington, DC's > > Omni-Shoreham Hotel in June, faced the protest of members of TM-EX, an informal > > anti-TM group that educates the public about TM and offers "exit counseling" to > > those who want out of the movement. > > > > > > One TM-EX, former 15-year follower Curtis Mailloux, a 33-year-old real estate > > broker from Fairfax, VA, denounced the organization as a cultist religion that > > is exploitative, deceptive, and damaging. Mailloux is a 1979 graduate of > > Maharishi International University, in Fairfield, IA, who in 1985 became head of > > TM's Washington Center. > > > > > > TM-EXers do not dispute that TM can be an effective relaxation technique, though > > they say it is no better than similar relaxation regimens. The danger in TM, > > they say, comes when the discipline takes over the meditators' > > lives. > > > > > > TM-EX member Joe Kelley said: "When we started we were told it was a simple, > > effortless technique for releasing stress with no religious implications. > > Initially, it was a 20 minute technique." But by taking advanced residence > > courses and other activities, "I was effectively made into a Hindu believer," > > said Kelley. > > > > > > Former TM teacher Diane Hendel, who has sued the organization for fraud and > > extortion, said the many bizarre mental experiences she had were considered a > > sign of spiritual superiority. "I saw little creatures with wings" during > > intensive meditation periods, she related. "They were like my pets. They'd tell > > me things." She was encouraged to believe that these winged beasties were > > "devas" -- Hindu spirits of nature. "I began not to be able to tell who was a > > person and who was a deva," she said. Hendel sought counseling, eventually quit > > meditating, and left the movement. > > > > > > Mailloux said involvement in the movement becomes "a prison of specialness. > > Especially as a leader in the movement, there's no way you can leave this group > > and be [regarded by other devotees as] OK or leave with dignity... I was only > > special as a nervous system which is a 'generator of purity,' not as an > > individual." > > > > > > Mailloux's "specialness"earned him three years in Florida with a group of > > celibate TM men, living monastically within the movement, where he enjoyed the > > adulation of female movement "groupies" drawn to his hard-to-getness -- a common > > ego-trip among the celibates, he said. Some movement women with low self-esteem, > > he added, tend to get fixated on these celibate men and get milked for donations > > to support them. > > >
