> On Jan 12, 2007, at 12:18 AM, suziezuzie wrote: > > > When someone starts meditating, is the flatness (separation of Self > > from sense perception) that they begin to feel is a prelude to Cosmic > > Consciousness or the beginnings of personality pathology that has > > nothing to do with enlightenment? > > > > A prelude to CC is the understanding given to us by the TM movement. > > Personality disorder, depersonalization, etc., is the explanation > > given > > by the TM critics. How do we verify which is true? The state of > > flatness as a prelude to CC would be measured by increasing > > stabilization of Self as defined by what CC is. Personality disorders > > such as spaciness, depersonalization, etc., would be confirmed by > > observations of pathology. So who should we believe, the TMO or the TM > > Critics. Is this 'flatness of perception a pathology or a natural, > > normal prelude to enlightenment defined as stabilized Self throughout > > the three states of consciousness? Mark
This is an excellent question, and one which should be central to people involved in the tmo. AFter much research, I think the answer is a very strong "it depends on the individual". I see a very high rate of psychological disorders among sidhas as well as a very high rate of heightened awareness and evolution. The effect of long term tm-sidhis practice on an individual completely depends on the individual. The dangerous myth is that everyone starting the sidhis is in the same place spiritually and has the same generic type of experiences with the same generic effects over time. This is especially problematic in spiritual groups like the fairfield community where you find above-average incidence of traumatic childhoods, either severely traumatic in terms of abuse or just mildly in terms of being raised in an alcoholic or otherwise unstable env't. Childhood abuse often results in a disturbed kundalini process which can often be made worse by the sidhis resulting in severe psychological problems, which we've all seen in a minority of people on courses throughout the yrs, esp the older days. Milder problems may not be exacerbated by the sidhis but may also not be helped which combined with an avoidance of active healing process (because it's just analyzing the dirt) could over time create the stereotypical type of neurotic/obsessive/overly mental/emotionally flat sidha that is quite common. OTOH, the tm-sidhis program could help a person quite a bit or even provide rapid evolution to higher consciousness depending on their particular makeup and spiritual process. The key for me is that everyone on the tm-sidhis path remain open and as objective as possible as to their actual growth in all areas of life.
