--- In [email protected], hermandan0 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > <snip> > > Yeah, well, that kind of misses my point, which was > > that *some* things that are apparently cultural may > > *also* be "scientific" in that their specific effects > > are universal. (I wasn't including saris, by the way.) > > Thanks for clarifying. I didn't address that because I didn't see > that the point was in contention (although "universal" is a pretty > large in scope).
If there really is a "law of nature" component to any of this stuff, it *would* be universal, wouldn't it? That's what I was getting at. I didn't even think I was suggesting throwing > anything out in the first place, only saying that I don't believe > Maharishi is totally uninfluenced by culture, history, situation > in time, and ideology, and that some of what he does is based on > that. Yes indeed, I fully agree. It's just that there's a tendency on this forum (not you necessarily) to see everything in black-and-white terms--in this case, if it's cultural, it's *only* cultural and can thus be disregarded. So I wanted to suggest a caveat in that regard. > I wasn't even saying > that's a bad thing, more that it is unavoidable. Just as Guru Dev > was influenced by his cultural milieu, so is Maharishi. Yup. > > And the issue with Vedic chanting, of course, would > > be whether it has a *positive* effect on consciousness. > > (I'm not talking about whether it's enjoyable or > > elevating to listen to aesthetically; I'd vastly > > rather listen to Bach for that.) > > > That could lead to some interesting discussion about precisely which > recitation--Vedic or or non-Vedic sanskrit, or Buddhist, Chinese, > Japanese, Australian aboriginal, North American native, African > etc. Hebrew too, although from a different angle. Many ancient languages make similar claims. --has which effects for developing consciousness or making life > more in harmony with natural law etc. I have more questions than > answers in that regard. No doubt some of the more scholarly posters > here would have some interesting things to say. > > If I have time perhaps I'll start a new thread on that topic. Please do, it's an area of interest for me. As far as I'm aware, the TMO is the only group that has attempted to research the effect of language sounds on consciousness. Do you know of any such efforts elsewhere, with other languages than Sanskrit? It would be neat to do a comparative study, I should think. 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/
