--- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I think I was off and running in my own world and your points are more > accurate to what he wrote. > > People in the movement near MMY have have to deal with this > contradiction. There is a definite "above the law" vibe > around him. I think in MMY's world you can be attuned to the laws > of nature that may contradict any of man's laws or ethical > standards of the unenlightened. If TM is supposed to improve > your social behavior, it seems like it should make you more > ethical. But ethics are more complex than just being a rule- > follower right?
Right. And it may not even involve ethics per se. Theoretically, the enlightened person can do something that's thoroughly unethical but that will have tremendously beneficial results for humankind down the road that even the enlightened person doesn't foresee. But that doesn't somehow make what the person did ethical. That is why I find his descriptions of > enlightenment problematic for ethics. If what I do in an > enlightened state is considered "right" a priori, then it > seems to me that the world of monkey business is given a complete > pass. (not that I am against my own monkey business you > understand!) Way I see it, you don't get a pass at all. It may be what Nature "wanted" you to do, and hence "right" in that sense, but you still have to take responsibility for it in the relative sphere. Because the course of action is unfathomable, we cannot *know* whether any action is "right" in Nature's view any more than we can know for sure that someone is enlightened. So it's a wash. We can't look at someone's unethical action and conclude that *because* s/he has done something unethical, s/he isn't enlightened. Or vice-versa, we can't assume a person who is highly ethical is necessarily also enlightened. We can't suspend judgment of a person's actions just because we believe the person is enlightened, in other words. > > > > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > > > --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" > > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > > > > > > "> Yeah, but my question is whether we're capable of > > > > determining what they "should" mean. He appears to > > > > be saying he is, at least in that quote, but I'm > > > > not so sure." > > > > > > It seems to me that we are already engaged in this process. > > > > Yes, but some of us have been arguing on the > > other side all along, i.e., that behavior doesn't > > tell you anything about state of consciousness. > > > > Anyone > > > gaining these states in the context of a tradition has been > > > conditioned to think about them in a certain way. MMY spends > > > an amazing amount of time repeating the basics of how we should > > > think of these states. > > > > Remember his banana-peel analogy? That's Krishna's > > "Unfathomable is the course of action." If MMY > > links certain specific kinds of behavior (i.e., more > > "ethical") to state of consciousness, it's a > > big fat contradiction. > > > > (And the enlightened guy should *still* get a summons > > for littering, even if the child molester's slipping > > on the banana peel made it possible to capture him.) > > > > At least teachers have spent a mind numbing amount of > > > time on repetitive tapes. I think in the past most people serious > > > about these practices were under pretty strict control of their > > > teacher. With a system like MMY that is served in a buffet fashion, > > > there may be room for more personal choices, especially for people > > > like yourself who have not joined it as a full time thing. > > > > > > I am sure that I have long departed with any relationship to what he > > > said and am now in my own world on this topic. When I went to his > > > site I got the whole "I am special" vibe that makes me lose my > > lunch. > > > But that quote was intriguing. > > > > I do think you and I are getting very different things > > out of it, although we get the same funny-in-the-tummy > > vibe from him.
