--- In [email protected], "jim_flanegin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> > wrote: > > > This common usage of the term "tradition" has the added > > side benefit of enabling the TB who wields it of putting > > down those who *have* had spiritual experiences. Because > > those experiences don't necessarily jibe with what the > > "tradition" told the TB to expect, the TB can use the > > word "tradition" to attempt to discredit the person who > > has actually had a few experiences, and discredit the > > experiences themselves. It's a nice "perk" of clinging > > to a "tradition" that hasn't really ever delivered on > > its own promises. > > Could be. Don't know. The ego is masterful at distracting the > heart and mind from their suffering.
Or the enlightenment that is always already present. :-) > What your response reminded me of though is that I don't know, > nor have I ever heard of, anyone actually stabilized in the TM > definitions of CC, GC, and UC. Neither have I, but I haven't really been around for decades. > I experienced the hallmarks of all of > those states at different times, and at that time really wanted a > permanent experience. > > It almost seemed like those experiences of higher states of > consciousness, though not full 24/7 enlightenment (i.e. absence of > suffering), were a spur or a goad to keep going, because after > experiencing such states and then having to 'return' to suffering, > my suffering by contrast seemed greater and more intense than ever. Interestingly enough, after my first round of CC experiences (on TTC), I felt some of this. The exper- iences seemed to fade after a few weeks and I felt bad about that. It wasn't as if there was any "return to suffering," for a couple of reasons. First was that there was no suffering before. I've always been fortunate to have a pretty neat life. Second was that however hard I tried to feel bad about the 24/7 realization not being as present as it had been before, after a while I figured out that it really was me *trying to feel bad* about it not being present all the time. I didn't *really* feel bad; quite the opposite. But because by that time I'd had a decade of TM indoctrination about CC being permanent once experienced, I felt that I was supposed to feel bad because it hadn't seemed to turn out that way. By the time the second and third and successive bouts of enlightenment experiences rolled around, I'd learned to get over it and just relax. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not (or perhaps sometimes you notice it's there, sometimes you don't). Either way, it doesn't really matter. Once you've realized your own essential nature, and had that first-hand experience of it *not* being "new" or something "added" to your life, then what's to miss if it's slipped into background? > So, perhaps associating those higher states of consciousness with > some sort of stair-step progression, much as we progress through > school-- I am in CC, there, now I am in GC, OK, now I am in UC...-- > perhaps this is a mistaken understanding. I think it is, and in the long run probably does more harm than good. > So, I would now say that these states are an indication that the > nervous system can support a significant symptom of enlightenment, > leading to Brahman. I never think about "Brahman" and all the so-called "steps" to "full" enlightenment. I mean, big deal... who cares. If the realization is there and life is groovy, who needs a label to put on it to say *how* groovy it is, or where it stands in some mythical hierarchy of grooviness. :-) > It is not at all as cut and dried, nor as 'safe' > as the TMO led us to believe all of these years. Nope. They were just "selling futures," passing along myths to keep people meditating. And contributing, of course. :-) ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
