--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > > > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > <snip> > > > Anyway, just a few random thoughts from a Paris > > > cafe in the middle of the night...kind of a way > > > of saying that I agree with several others here > > > that an announcement of "going into silence" > > > may well be his way of saying goodbye... > > > > The more I think about it, the more I think this > > is the case (not that he's going to pull a Rama, if > > that's what Barry means, but that he knows he's > > dying). > > I meant only that I think he's lost the will > to live. Possibly with a hint of what some > film critic wrote about Stanley Kubrick dying > just before the release of Eyes Wide Shut, > "I think he died so that he didn't have to > read the reviews."
The dude is 90-something and has been frail and in poor health for quite some time. Kubrick was 70, was in good enough health to direct a major film, and died in his sleep of a heart attack, quite unexpectedly. Apples and oranges. > In other words, if Maharishi dies without ever > having had to put his ME theory to the test, > he can die without ever having had it disproved. Uh-huh. It's long past time when he could have "put his ME theory to the test"--if it ever *could* be put to the test in anything like a conclusive manner. He's been doing mini-tests ever since he conceived the theory and has been quite satisfied with the short-term results, justifiably or not. No way he could have lived long enough to do a major long-term test even if he'd wanted to. As I said, I think this current course was put together when it became apparent he had very little time left. He had enough "will to live" to get it organized and to communicate with the participants every day until he no longer had the strength. The notion that he has "lost the will to live" is just wishful thinking on your part. You *want* him to be so miserably crushed and disappointed that he'd give up and die. But given the facts, there's every indication he's been hanging in there with every last ounce of his energy, as long as he could possibly manage it. If he were going to *decide* to die, it's much more likely he'd do so following a smashing success and go out in a blaze of glory. > <snip> > > Or maybe it's just that if a lot of relatively > > devoted TMers are all together when he dies, > > they can support each other in their grief and > > not go off the deep end. > > Just as a point, anyone who "goes off the > deep end" when their spiritual teacher dies > is a cultist in my mind. I attended a satsang > given by Gangaji on the day she received word > that *her* teacher had died. Although there > was some sadness (she had a rather close rela- > tionship with Papaji), it was business as usual, > and conducted with total professionalism. Uh, yeah. But she was purportedly enlightened. MMY, by all accounts, went off the deep end when Guru Dev died. Was he a cultist, or just deeply devoted to an extraordinary teacher? > <snip> > > I think an awful lot of what he's been doing in > > the past several years, if not the past decade, > > has been in preparation for his death. > > While I agree, I *also* agree with the more > Buddhist/Castanedan approach, which is that > *every* action one performs, in one's entire > *life*, is a preparation for one's death. <duh> Distinction without a difference. > If > what he wanted was students who still respected > him at the time of his passing, what he should > have done is treat them with more respect > during his life. I don't think he's ever cared much about "respect" for the sake of respect. What he's always wanted was to get the job done, and he'd sacrifice respect in a nanosecond if he thought whatever he'd have to do to obtain it would get in the way of his goals. Whether what he *has* been doing has been a miscalculation in that regard is a different question entirely. 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/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> 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/
