--- In [email protected], "jim_flanegin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > <snip> > > > Ah. As Maharishi would say, "A perfect opportunity > > > for the answer we have already prepared." :-) > > > > > > ************************************************************ > > > > I just realized something: Barry spent his "vacation" > > from this forum preparing a whole series of "answers" > > offline, which then he planned to post one by one after > > his return > > Yep. I was wondering why they didn't quite fit the > current mood here. Good call.
They were written during the day I got back home and was "catching up" on what had happened on FFL while I was gone. I found some of the stuff I was reading so mindboggling that I had to comment on it, even if the comments were only for myself, to work out my feelings about them. Most of the stuff I wrote down at that time I threw away, but some of it seemed worth keeping and posting if an occasion came up to do so. If one of my posts has that line of asterisks, it was written that day; if it doesn't, it is recent. Here's another of the ones I wrote that day: ************************************************************ Riffing on Words: "steadfast" and "spaced out" Someone posted a link on FFL to some "Rashtra Gita" audio clip, and two things struck me as interesting about the short discussion that followed. The first was that one poster here said that she felt "spaced out" while listening to it. This person clearly seemed to feel that being spaced out is a good thing because she said that she was planning to listen to the clip again later just before sleeping. She then went on to speculate that someone had "cognized" these Sanskrit verses that she liked so much, the ones that made her feel so "spaced out." Then cardemeister came through by pointing out that the audio clip was really just a pastiche of verses from the Vedas, assembled in a somewhat random order. The second thing that struck me as odd about this mini- thread was the actual *meaning* of one of the verses chosen for this (as speculated by Brigante) "national anthem of the Global Country of World Peace." I'll deal with it first. In the translation provided by cardemeister, the verse says, "Firm is the sky and firm the earth, and steadfast also are these hills. Steadfast is all this living world, and steadfast is this King of men. Steadfast, may Varuna the King, steadfast, the God Brhaspati, Steadfast, may Indra, steadfast too, may Agni keep thy steadfast reign." I find this verse -- and the choice of it, presumably by Maharishi -- fascinating because as a Buddhist it strikes me as 100% *opposite* to the way the universe actually works. "Steadfast" means firmly fixed in place, not subject to change. Well, as I understanding things (and as I remember Maharishi himself saying in the past) *nothing* in the relative world is steadfast. Not the sky, not the earth, not the "gods," and *certainly* not the kings of men. To believe -- and celebrate -- the notion that they *are* fixed and not subject to change seems to me tantamount to having Missed The Whole Point, big-time. It's like having one's students meditate on "My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings, Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" and ignore the fact that all that's left of Ozzy's Empire and the statue he built to mark his greatness are two trunkless legs of stone in the desert. Now to the term "spaced out." Why, I ask myself, would someone feel "spaced out" while listening to this chanting, even not knowing what it means? I don't know, but it could have something to do with "name and form." The form of this particular verse is *falsity*, a cling- ing to and praise for the illusion of permanence, and the idea that some people are so cool and so important that they can justly "reigning" over others. Hell, any- body might feel a little spaced out when exposed to that kinda thinking, even in Sanskrit. :-) But more important, *whatever* caused it, why would someone consider being "spaced out" a GOOD thing? Let's examine that term "spaced out" a little more deeply. I'm sure that many here can identify with the phrase from their time spent on rounding courses. I would guess that many of those who do find the term and the experience familiar *also* believe that this spaced-out-edness is a good thing, something that happens when you have a "high" spiritual experience. Here, just as information for those who are open to it, is another take on being "spaced out." In the time since I left the TM movement, I have heard no fewer than a dozen spiritual teachers comment on the phenomenon of feeling "spaced out." Most of these teachers were Buddhist, but a couple were Taoists and a few were from a Hindu tradition. *All* of them, however, were consistent in what they said. In their view, a seeker who is feeling "spaced out" is experiencing a *lower* state of attention than their normal waking consciousness, not a higher one. Some of the teachers equated feeling spaced out with exposure to what they termed a type of "lower astral" energy. That energy, in their view, is characterized by an inability to focus, a general sense of "grayness" or "haziness" (as opposed to clarity) in their thoughts and perceptions, and an inability to function normally when asked to perform normal tasks. *All* of the teachers warned against this, some of them very strongly. I find it pretty interesting that in the TM movement, this idea of being "spaced out" is often actually seen as a good thing, one that indicates "something good is happening," or even worse, is mistaken for the something good *itself*. Based on my own years of experience in the TMO, I would have to say that many TMers actually *seek* this feeling of being spaced out, because they have come to associate it with "bliss" or higher states of consciousness. I suspect that this *alone* explains many of the inefficiencies in the TMO. :-) In my 40-year experience with many different forms of spiritual experience and meditation, only two practices caused me to feel "spaced out" -- TM and the TM-siddhi program. Without exception, the other forms of meditation I've experienced all led to feelings of increased clarity and an increased ability to focus and perform normal tasks, not a lessening of those things. This was true whether I was practicing these techniques once or twice a day when engaged in activity, or when I was meditating using them for 10-12 hours at a stretch on retreats. Not *one* of these techniques, practices, transmitted experiences or empowerments ever resulted in me feeling "spaced out." But TM did, during rounding courses, and the TM siddhis did, period. I have to believe that one reason for this is that the techniques that Maharishi teaches are just as much of a cut-and-paste pastiche as the "Rashtra Gita." There is no real tradition behind them that could have done "lab tests" on practitioners over the centuries to separate the techniques that lower one's state of attention from those that actually raise it. Just my opinion. ************************************************************ 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/
