Xeno, I like to think, which probably isn't really thinking (-:that the Age of
Psychology is succumbing to the Age of Brain Development. Well, that's what I
call it.
I'm speculating that each of us "likes," is comfortable with, a certain amount
of sameness and a certain amount of novelty. My guess is that this has to do
with brain development.
Tara Goleman, a wise Buddhist, uses a wonderfully humbling analogy of the
neural pathways being like dirt roads, perhaps too well rutted in certain
directions.
She encourages with the observation that even one firing of a new set of
pathways, makes it more likely that the person will go that way again.
I would love to see some intrepid brain scientist take on the human behavior
encapsulated in the word "intention." Seems such a subtle and rich area for
investigation.
From: "anartax...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
<FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com>
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2015 8:34 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: List Culture and The FFL Post Count
Nicely said. I find the TM teachers I know who are more deeply embedded in
the movement are very careful about how they express themselves, and often
cannot come up with satisfactory answers to weird questions because it is not
in their memory database of Maharishi quotations. Particularly questions that
come in from angles of other enlightenment systems. They fail the Turing test
and sound like a machine. The more experienced teachers though do much better
at this. I admit that devotion as some people seem to practice it is beyond my
understanding. I feel some people are truly devoted, and others have to mimic
it because that particular way of relating to the system was reinforced by
everything Maharishi said. At some point I realised that the peculiarities of
the movement all came from Maharishi, and there was no independent confirmation
of those particular attitudes and ideas from other sources.
If you search through lots of enlightenment traditions you can discover certain
commonalities but the list is rather short, something on the order of
quietness, curiosity, and persistence. Barry's recent post concerning the cult
play book was pretty much spot on. A lot of cult behaviour I think is not
really conscious as people pick it up without realising what is happening, and
because it happened to me in more than one system, it has been a little easier
to spot when I have gone off the rails of rationality. I like to think I was
lucky in that I had some interesting experiences before I learned TM, and they
helped guide me away from a lot of nonsense, but I was not completely
successful in avoiding certain things, especially early on.
I think of enlightenment as a problem to be solved, and there is certain
information you need and certain things you may have to do, and the trick is to
find what works for you by learning to discriminate. It is really ironic how
one can search for freedom and end up in a kind of mental prison, the opposite
of the goal one sought. Perhaps it is the comfort of a certain mental sameness
of the people around you that is the driver of the religious mind.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <salyavin808 to yahoogroups.com> wrote
:---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <anartaxius@...> wrote :
From: "dhamiltony2k5@... [FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com>
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2015 5:05 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: List Culture and The FFL Post Count
For the sake of there beingmaterial divergent view represented on FFL given the
hostile climatethat came over FFL I have volunteered here many times the voice
ofthe tru-believer and for my effort have been heaped on in return withpersonal
invective... <snip>
Most of the people here probably went through a true-believer stage, at least
to some extent...<snip>
I don't know where we'd be without the clarity of your thinking Xeno.
Interestingly, I had dinner with a few old movement friends the other night and
we talked for the first time about beliefs and the TMO. I had assumed they were
well into the movement still but only because we never talk about it, all of us
having many other interests and I wouldn't care if they were or weren't real
TBs unless they go on at me about it and they never do so it never came up.
That should have given it away really as the TBs we've seen here can't help but
go on about it endlessly like they are trying to convert the world still.
Anyway, my friends were almost as sceptical as me and they all said they had a
brief fling with true believerism but grew out of it after careful thought and
checking how the movement worked and the how the long term program resulted in
quite a few not so impressive cases.
I was surprised but pleased, they shared my distaste for fanatics and agreed
with my analysis that some of them are desperate for a strong view of reality
to hold their own inner chaos in check. There has to be a reason some people
just never get over the first flush of involvement with the TMO but a process
of diving into the knowledge and then, as you say, judging and expanding beyond
the limited POV of the movement seems to be something people go through
regardless of exposure to sites like this I'm happy to say.
I'm sure of what the aim of the Reesh was though and it wasn't transcending
devotion to his worldview. Religions have at their basis a set of beliefs that
define what it's all about. without them the religion would cease to exist so
they have to be continually reinforced at the expense of reality to avoid
disintegration of everything else they religion has come to mean to the
adherents. This is the job of TM teachers as you are either on the bus or off
it. But my friends scepticism reassures me that maybe a lot more people are
going beyond the confines of Marshy's vedicism. Learning to see the world with
your own eyes can only be a good thing.
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