If you think that the carrot si strong in the TMO you should just imagine evangelist churches and the catholics. The idea that someone would believe that through a book not even a goo d book can they find salvation this has got to be the most over rated Carrot in the world.
----- Original Message ----
From: TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 7:22:30 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] The Dumbo Theory of Enlightenment
From: TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 7:22:30 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] The Dumbo Theory of Enlightenment
Remember the Disney cartoon "Dumbo?" His friend and
mentor gives him a "magical feather" that allows him
to fly when he holds it in his trunk. The thing is,
the feather wasn't magical. It was a *trick*, some-
thing that allowed Dumbo to transcend his own self-
imposed limitations and realize an ability that had
always been available to him.
I think that this is an interesting metaphor to keep
in mind when looking at spiritual traditions.
With the arrival of some pundits in Fairfield I
would expect to see more of something I've seen in
other spiritual groups. That is, people reporting
"good experiences" or even realization experiences,
because now they have an *excuse* to do so. They
have been given a "magical feather."
A teacher comes to town and does a certain empower-
ment (in a Tibetan Buddhist context) or the teacher
announces some kind of "phase shift" in the overall
environment or "enough" buttbouncers gather together
or some pundits come to town and start chanting. And
what happens? Suddenly it's "OK" to have "good
experiences." It's now *permissible* to have "better
experiences," and thus people start having them.
What I wonder about is how much "mood making" (in a
slightly negative sense) or "giving permission to
oneself" (in a more positive sense) is involved in
this phenomenon (which seems to appear in *every*
spiritual trip).
This is *not* a negative rap about TM, or any other
technique. I am firmly convinced that much of self
discovery is *tricking* oneself (one's self) into
recognizing what has always already been present,
but which for various reasons one never gave oneself
permission to notice before. It's as if the empower-
ment or the announcement or the "correct numbers" or
the chanting pundits act as some kind of catalyst,
*NOT* in the sense that these events actually *DO*
anything, but in the sense that seekers *perceive*
them as an event that allows them to open their
minds to what is already present.
Anyway, I just thought I'd throw it out as something
to ponder when reports of the "good experiences"
start coming in, attributed directly to the arrival
of the pundits. Me, I suspect that the experiences
will be no different than they ever were. It'll just
be that bored, uninspired seekers will have a legit-
imate excuse to view their everyday states of attention
in a new way, and thus realize that they haven't been
nearly as boring and uninspiring as they'd thought
they were.
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mentor gives him a "magical feather" that allows him
to fly when he holds it in his trunk. The thing is,
the feather wasn't magical. It was a *trick*, some-
thing that allowed Dumbo to transcend his own self-
imposed limitations and realize an ability that had
always been available to him.
I think that this is an interesting metaphor to keep
in mind when looking at spiritual traditions.
With the arrival of some pundits in Fairfield I
would expect to see more of something I've seen in
other spiritual groups. That is, people reporting
"good experiences" or even realization experiences,
because now they have an *excuse* to do so. They
have been given a "magical feather."
A teacher comes to town and does a certain empower-
ment (in a Tibetan Buddhist context) or the teacher
announces some kind of "phase shift" in the overall
environment or "enough" buttbouncers gather together
or some pundits come to town and start chanting. And
what happens? Suddenly it's "OK" to have "good
experiences." It's now *permissible* to have "better
experiences," and thus people start having them.
What I wonder about is how much "mood making" (in a
slightly negative sense) or "giving permission to
oneself" (in a more positive sense) is involved in
this phenomenon (which seems to appear in *every*
spiritual trip).
This is *not* a negative rap about TM, or any other
technique. I am firmly convinced that much of self
discovery is *tricking* oneself (one's self) into
recognizing what has always already been present,
but which for various reasons one never gave oneself
permission to notice before. It's as if the empower-
ment or the announcement or the "correct numbers" or
the chanting pundits act as some kind of catalyst,
*NOT* in the sense that these events actually *DO*
anything, but in the sense that seekers *perceive*
them as an event that allows them to open their
minds to what is already present.
Anyway, I just thought I'd throw it out as something
to ponder when reports of the "good experiences"
start coming in, attributed directly to the arrival
of the pundits. Me, I suspect that the experiences
will be no different than they ever were. It'll just
be that bored, uninspired seekers will have a legit-
imate excuse to view their everyday states of attention
in a new way, and thus realize that they haven't been
nearly as boring and uninspiring as they'd thought
they were.
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:
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mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
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