OK, my bad. I clicked on the wrong folder and the email below opened, far enough that I caught a glimpse...
LOL -You sound like a fourth grader explaining why he was looking down the teacher's blouse...you haven't missed a post of mine, yet. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote : OK, my bad. I clicked on the wrong folder and the email below opened, far enough that I caught a glimpse of the pasted-in Rama blurb below. That was a real blast from the past, and caused me to laugh out loud for some time. So because I'm still chuckling I think I'll actually address this particular instance of let's-try-to-paint-Barry-as-a-cultist-so-people-will-ignore-him-calling-us-cultists stuff from Jim and Richard. :-) I *was* a cultist, for the time I was a part of the Rama group. No question about it. It was a cult, Fred was its cult leader, and I was a cultist. I have No Problem saying any of this, because it's all true. That said, that was then and this is now. I bailed from Rama's study a couple of years before he died, and before some of the *really* crazy shit went down. I last saw this silly demand for a "monthly summary" shortly before I bailed from the group. Why I laughed so hard seeing it again is that laughter was my reaction when I *first* saw it. I laughed, and then I promptly ignored it. I had, in fact, been teaching basic meditation for the guy, and really enjoying doing the teaching for free, both in the US and in Amsterdam. But I really *didn't* like one aspect of the way he'd set up the teaching thang -- he'd made it competitive. The purpose of teaching became not just to teach people how to meditate (which was cool in my opinion), but to urge them to become full-time students with Rama (which was not). Furthermore, if you found such students, they became your "apprentices" (a la Castaneda), and you had to run their day-to-day study, and be kinda responsible for them. If you got ten apprentices, you got a spiritual name. Really. Hey, I told you it was a cult. :-) Anyway, I was already partly out the door, so when I heard all this shit about apprentices my first thought was, "Yeah, like that's gonna happen. I'll just teach for the fun of teaching and if any of my students feel like continuing with it I'll turn them over to one of the other teachers." And that's what I did. I never sent in a single one of these silly reports because I never considered myself part of the "apprentice" thang. With one exception -- a girlfriend I introduced to Rama and who subsequently studied with him for some time -- I have never been more instrumental in "soliciting" anyone deciding to study with him than being the person who gave their "intro lecture." But to bring this whole diversion (for that is what it is) back into the present, I really wish that Richard, Jim, and a few others would leave off this try-to-get-to-me-by-bringing-up-Rama shit. It's old, and it's based on your *own* cult thinking and how *your* minds work, not how mine works. You guys IDENTIFY WITH your time with Maharishi, and with being part of his group, or of being a teacher for him. A great deal of your own personal "spiritual story" revolves around this identification. So when someone such as myself or Michael makes fun of Maharishi or says what we really think about his teachings, you get all defensive. By "attacking" him, you feel as if we are "attacking" you, and you get your buttons pushed. So you try to do the same thing to me, trying to push my buttons by making fun of Rama or criticizing him. But I really don't IDENTIFY with Rama or with that time any more. It's really just a part of the past, something that I walked away from over 18 years ago. I don't give a shit what Willytex makes up or that anyone else posts about Rama. He's dead, and I walked away from him two years before he died. What you think of him doesn't interest me in the slightest, and it doesn't push any of my buttons. I don't feel the need to "defend" him, and never have. I similarly don't feel the need to "apologize" for any of the time I spent with him. Much of that time was cutting-edge, hang-ten spiritual practice, with access to experiences you people never got a glimpse of within the TM movement. And yes, some of these experiences were a little odd and out of the ordinary, like witnessing levitation and invisibility and stuff like that. But it all really happened. Or at the very least I saw it happen. End of story. It was fun for a long time, and when it stopped being fun I beat feet. Exactly like my experience with TM and Maharishi. :-) Now back to ignoring these folks... From: "fleetwood_macncheese@... [FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, October 17, 2014 3:15 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Billy Graham: America is Just as Wicked... Very interesting link - Shows that Barry was actively involved, in soliciting new cult members for Freddie. No wonder he keeps his mouth shut about that stuff, and only ever mentions Maharishi as a target, for "cult mentality". This is part of a report Barry filled out, and submitted monthly, to "Doctor" Lenz. Other sections cover career, meditation, physical fitness, and product development progress, every aspect of life - no mind control here folks: 5. YOUR APPRENTICE ACTIVITY UPDATE With the understanding that your are entirely responsible for your interactions with any individuals you choose to teach, Dr. Lenz and ASI would like a monthly summary or your general attempts to local appropriate students as well as a monthly update on whether you will be bringing one or more of them to dinner the next month (starting in January, note: Dinner reservations must be made in advance by calling the reservation phone number). Example: (These are not guidelines as to how you should locate or deal with potential students of yours, it is merely an example.) I created a poster for a lecture series I will be giving in the next 3 weeks. i will give 3 lectures, one per week for 3 weeks at Taft College on the subject of meditation and psychic development in the 1990s and how it can benefit you in your career. I have found what I feel is an excellent first candidate and will be bringing her to the next dinner. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <punditster@...> wrote : On 10/17/2014 2:36 AM, TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... mailto:turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: From: salyavin808 <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> mailto:no_re...@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, October 17, 2014 9:18 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Billy Graham: America is Just as Wicked... ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <jr_esq@...> mailto:jr_esq@... wrote : > > I was thinking that there's a similarity to the Maharishi Effect in what > Pastor Graham is recommending. “The man who prays is the one who thinks that god has arranged matters all wrong, but who also thinks that he can instruct god how to put them right.” Christopher Hitchens. > The Hindu God Rama Lenz: http://www.ex-cult.org/Groups/Rama/ http://www.ex-cult.org/Groups/Rama/ > ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <noozguru@...> mailto:noozguru@... wrote : Yeah, maybe if they pray enough they'll start hopping. :-D On 10/16/2014 06:32 PM, jr_esq@... mailto:jr_esq@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: As Sodom and Gomorrah. But he has a solution. http://m.cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/michael-w-chapman/rev-billy-graham-america-just-wicked-sodom-and-gomorrah-ever-were http://m.cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/michael-w-chapman/rev-billy-graham-america-just-wicked-sodom-and-gomorrah-ever-were
