From: "[email protected] [FairfieldLife]" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2014 11:54 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Graphing the Illumined Batgap interviewees by types ---In [email protected], <mjackson74@...> wrote : Curtis, do you remember what guys you saw that proclaimed their enlightenment in those days? C: The most famous were Robin and Andy Reimer. But there were others who were on the no admittance list at the College of Natural Law in DC. I remember their faces but not all their names although I wouldn't post them if I did. One was even a Minister which in the pre raja days was the hottest ticket. It was a weird position for me to be in to have to keep him out as a lowly sidha. Once I even had to physically chase him out in a weird human billiards angle game! The finessing of experience groups was very interesting in retrospect. The TM model doesn't have a path for people to be recognized as enlightened. This was exacerbated by Maharishi's habit of exiling people who you would assume would have achieved it like Jerry Jarvis. I became pretty good friends with a few guys who were personally sent away to movement Siberia facilities after being skin boys or other top positions close to Maharishi. The Florida Capital became a place they would keep people in after the Vedic Atoms left. It gave you a very clear idea to keep your head down Fritzy Boy! Your position in the movement was at the whim of the master. And the years of being a good little outcast never really took away the taint of being sent away. I even had Neil Patterson talk shit Jerry Jarvis when I invited him to lecture at the DC center. I had worked with Jerry pretty closely at MIU and really liked him. But Neil threatened me with losing my center chairman position for inviting someone with what he called "old thinking" to speak to the group. The story of Jerry would make a fantastic Greek tragedy. A bit off topic of your question but it triggered that memory. Anyway there were more than a few who announced their "whatever", and it never ended well. I can confirm what Curtis says here, from my earlier Regional Office and State Coordinator days. Other than conducting a Black Mass in the TM center, *nothing* was as likely to get you on Maharishi's Shit List and exiled forever from the movement than "announcing your enlightenment." It was an instantaneous way to be dropped from all mailing lists, be barred from any courses, and be shunned by all concerned. As Curtis suggests, this is pretty odd behavior for a group that promises the fastest path to enlightenment. Several scholars who have specialized in the study of spiritual groups have proposed as one of their primary definitions of a cult the tendency to denigrate any student who claims to have achieved what only the "leader" is supposed to have achieved, and promote the idea that "Nobody graduates." This is seen by many of them as *the* most defining characteristic of a controlling cult.
