--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I can point no fingers here because my group was directly told by > MMY > that three years of sidhaland would perfect our sidhis. It was part > of his hook to get our slave labor. We rounded our asses off, > confident that we were just short of our goal. Do you think I > popped > up at the end of three years and asked "where's my Maypo?" ( a > reference that dates me!) No. I just sucked it up and soldered on, > confident that the man, who directly failed in his own prediction, > would be right the next time. I think after a certain number of > years, consistency and commitment, (described in the book Influence, > The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini), kicks in too > strongly. Challenging MMY's wrong predictions would put the whole > thing on the table for re-examination. It is easier just to blame > yourself for your own imperfections than to challenge the man who > has failed by his own self-stated goals. The phenomenon is amazing > on so many levels isn't it?
I can certainly identify with what you say here. But I have no regrets, no more than I have about staying in a love affair past its expiration date. I use that analogy purposefully. We were in a love affair with Maharishi and the pursuit of enlightenment. When we first got involved in it, it was exciting and "something good was happen- ing" at regular enough intervals to keep us from questioning any of the "little things," no more than we would have in a love affair that was still hot. But then the love affair cooled down, and we stuck it out anyway because part of us remembered how it used to be, and hoped that it could be that way again. And so we kept on keepin' on, for months or years or even decades after the magic has gone. And then one day we just couldn't take it any more, and we split. But it's not really the other party's fault that we stayed too long in a dead love affair, is it? At any point along the way, we had the ability to step back from it all and see that it was no longer a good fit for us, that we no longer believed that we "had a future together." Yes, there IS subtle psychological coercion in spiritual groups to keep you keepin' on long past the point where you no longer believe in it, but we're always the ones who allow that coercion to work or who choose to not allow it to work. The TM movement was a good ride for me for many years. I regret none of those years. And then it was a rough ride for me for many years, as I tried to deal with the cognitive dissonance of realizing that not only didn't deliver on its promises, it had some pretty scary ways of not delivering. But I regret none of those years either. I learned a lot from both parts of the ride. Wouldn't take that bus again if they paid me ten times the amount of money I spent originally, but I don't regret it. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> See what's inside the new Yahoo! Groups email. http://us.click.yahoo.com/2pRQfA/bOaOAA/yQLSAA/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/
