--- In [email protected], "jim_flanegin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> > wrote: > > > > It's *not* some- > > thing that only happens to the "holy" or the "pure" > > or those who "follow all the rules." Sometimes it > > happens to just the weirdest people in the world, > > for no other reason than it just happens to them. > > Yeah, one thing that has been discussed here at length is the > endless diversity of experiences people go through on their way > to awakening. The reason I stuck with TM forever was that I found > I didn't have to follow anyone's rules when doing it, so I have > continued to live a quietly unorthodox life, and though the > challenges have been great, so have the rewards. > > From the time I could think, I have approached each situation as > either something I should do, unless I could personally think of a > reason not to, or, something I should not do, unless I could > personally think of a reason to do it. In other words, I've never > taken anything for granted, nor had much respect for rules imposed > externally. > > Allows for a much freer life, though I've also learned that the > amount of freedom exercised is absolutely equal to the amount of > responsibility taken.
Yup. And I think it's important to present that approach to others as a viable spiritual path. So *much* of traditional spirituality has been about *elitism*. The portrayal of the enlightened as rare, the portrayal of them as perfect, without human frailty and Normal Everyday Flaws. I don't think it's like that. I don't think it's *ever* been like that. Shankara farted and shat just like everyone else does. He had his good days and his bad days. He probably had his share of sexual fantasies. In other words, he was a normal guy...just a normal guy who realized his own enlightenment, that's all. I think that the portrayal of the enlightened as perfect, as existing on some kind of idealized pedestal, is counterproductive to the max. The higher the pedestal that seekers put the enlightened on, the more difficult they believe it is for *them* to ever get up to a pedestal that high. So they don't. Portraying the enlightened as extraordinary, and lacking everyday human frailties, is IMO a mechanism for *preventing* enlightenment. In general, I'd say that the more a spiritual tradition puts its enlightened masters up on a pedestal and teaches its students to revere them as "special" and "rare," the less likely it is that the tradition will ever *produce* enlightenment in those students. ------------------------ 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/
