Thanks for taking the time to post this, Curtis. Hopefully it will help many people (here and elsewhere) and help keep FFL aflote despite the tendency of she-who-cannot-be-named to try to drag actual discussion down to that level of utter futility we all sense.
I do not know how to explain this more precisely, yet, but I sense in TM the tendency for people to become total space cadets, whacked out on what they call bliss, which I think is just the vacuity of the meaninglessness of the mantra. I think that in TM one does not go, as the bubble diagram suggests, to the finest level of thought, but rather to the furthest reaches of daydreaming where there is neither dream nor any sense of orientation (and certainly no mantra). This can be a real relief, especially when stressed, which is why we daydream in the first place. But Mahesh has turned it into a life-style. When you get sufficiently hooked on his next greatest thing, it is not that difficult to begin to replace what used to be your own thinking with his whacko nuttiness. How else do you explain a once respected scientist now touting bum bouncing as a means to world peace! And, of course, the question presents itself: can you actually implant a mentality that supplants the one you were born with? The Jesuits seem to think so (Give us the first 7 years and you can have the rest, it will make no difference. Loyola, but I do not have the documentation to hand.) --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > One of the best books I have read this year is called "The Sociopath > Next Door" by Martha Stout. The condition is far more common than I > had realized, 1 in 25. Only a tiny percentage of them are criminals. > Most just operate in society without a conscience. Wherever they are > they take delight in tormenting people. Operating without any sense > of the reciprocity that binds the rest of us, their contempt for > others leaks out even as they try to fit in and hide their agenda. It > was such a wake-up call for me and an important understanding when > dealing with people with this disorder. It cannot be cured. She has > a great test to help spot this disorder in others in the book. Once > you lean to recognize it, so many mysteries about certain difficult > people in your life clear up. We have all interacted with people with > this disorder without realizing it. Check out the description below: > > From Amazon: > > Book Description > > Who is the devil you know? > > Is it your lying, cheating ex-husband? > Your sadistic high school gym teacher? > Your boss who loves to humiliate people in meetings? > The colleague who stole your idea and passed it off as her own? > > In the pages of The Sociopath Next Door, you will realize that your ex > was not just misunderstood. He's a sociopath. And your boss, teacher, > and colleague? They may be sociopaths too. > > We are accustomed to think of sociopaths as violent criminals, but in > The Sociopath Next Door, Harvard psychologist Martha Stout reveals > that a shocking 4 percent of ordinary peopleone in twenty-fivehas an > often undetected mental disorder, the chief symptom of which is that > that person possesses no conscience. He or she has no ability > whatsoever to feel shame, guilt, or remorse. One in twenty-five > everyday Americans, therefore, is secretly a sociopath. They could be > your colleague, your neighbor, even family. And they can do literally > anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt. > > How do we recognize the remorseless? One of their chief > characteristics is a kind of glow or charisma that makes sociopaths > more charming or interesting than the other people around them. > They're more spontaneous, more intense, more complex, or even sexier > than everyone else, making them tricky to identify and leaving us > easily seduced. Fundamentally, sociopaths are different because they > cannot love. Sociopaths learn early on to show sham emotion, but > underneath they are indifferent to others' suffering. They live to > dominate and thrill to win. > > The fact is, we all almost certainly know at least one or more > sociopaths already. Part of the urgency in reading The Sociopath Next > Door is the moment when we suddenly recognize that someone we > knowsomeone we worked for, or were involved with, or voted foris a > sociopath. But what do we do with that knowledge? To arm us against > the sociopath, Dr. Stout teaches us to question authority, suspect > flattery, and beware the pity play. Above all, she writes, when a > sociopath is beckoning, do not join the game. > > It is the ruthless versus the rest of us, and The Sociopath Next Door > will show you how to recognize and defeat the devil you know. > > > > > --- In [email protected], gerbal88 <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > Great story, Rick -- but I never had the feeling Mahesh was any more > > omniscient than the average gyspy fortune teller who could read > > people, like any sociopath. [See James Randi on cold reading.] > > > > Sociopath, I should add, is not necessarily a pejorative term: it > > simply indicates someone who has no sense of or possibly no respect > > for someone else's sense of "boundaries" (among other things). > > Certainly, we are all sufficiently familiar with the TM Nazi who > > barges in assuming an ability to read minds and detect hidden > > agendas. Mahesh could be much the same, but, of course, he had a > > likable personality, or at least the ability to predent one. > > > > --- In [email protected], Rick Archer <groups@> wrote: > > > > > > on 8/6/06 1:44 PM, gerbal88 at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > > > > --- In [email protected] <mailto:FairfieldLife% > > 40yahoogroups.com> > > > > , "curtisdeltablues" > > > > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > > > >> > > > > >> > I thought you were referring to the MIU geniuses who claimed > > that I > > > >> > had never meditated correctly after I left the movement. > > > > > > > > Curtis, I do not remember if I repeated this incident here at FFL. > > > > When Mahesh first asked me to do his letters, I started by reading > > > > them to him. One of the first was from some guy who said he was > > > > saying his mantra backwards and having visions of demons. He > > actually > > > > asked what to do!!!!!! > > > > > > > > Mahesh laughed and said it didn't matter, just to continue. > > > > > > > This reminds me of a story one of Amma¹s swamis told this summer. > > He was > > > reading her letters to her, and after reading 10 or so, he heard > > her laugh > > > and make a funny sound, so he looked up and saw that she was > > reading a comic > > > book. The funny noise was something that had been written in the > > book. He > > > said, ³hey, shouldn¹t you be paying attention to your mail?² She > > then > > > proceeded to tell him in detail what had been in the letters he had > > read. > > > Then, she told him in detail what was in the letters he hadn¹t > > opened yet. > > > Then he said, ³why do you bother having me read these if you > > already know > > > what¹s in them?² She answered that when people write them, they > > expect her > > > to read them, and would feel bad if she didn¹t. > > > > > > There was another cool ³omniscience² story that someone told me. > > One of > > > Amma¹s swamis who stays in the US much of the year had what he > > called a > > > ³negative thought.² He didn¹t tell anyone about it. About three > > months > > > later, he came to Amma, and she began teasing him about his > > negative thought > > > in front of the other swamis. > > > > > > To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' 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