--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I don't think Barry, myself, and most others feel hate or > are trying to pull meditators off their chosen path. I still > meditate regularly. Our attitude, at least mine, is that people > will be stronger in their spiritual path if they can learn to > look at things honestly without hiding behind unexamined > concepts and beliefs. If people don't want to do that, they > shouldn't hang out on FFL.
Bingo. Rick COULD NOT POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN CLEARER about the focus and credo of this discussion group than he was on its Home page. There is a concerted effort by a few (and *very* few) individuals here to portray those who think critically about TM, Maharishi, the TMO and its dogma, and other related subjects as being somehow "interlopers" here, intruding into their world and subjecting them to ideas they don't want to hear. BUT READ THE HOME PAGE!!! It says things like "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out, which is the exact opposite." It goes on to say, "The healthy mind challenges its own assumptions," and "Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -- that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide." It does NOT say things like the things that were said here today by Nablusos and by Jim, indicating that they believe that they're under some kind of concerted "attack" here because people discuss the very things THAT ARE RIGHT THERE IN THE FORUM'S CHARTER. So WHO are the "interlopers?" Are they the people who come to this forum attracted by its free-thinking guidelines, so clearly stated on its Home page, or could it possibly be the people who actively try to SUPPRESS the free discussion of information, the "wish to find out," and who devote a great deal of time and energy to demonizing and practicing character assassination on those FFL members WHO ARE FOLLOWING ITS CHARTER, while they are NOT? > If this group appeals to them, then they're probably ready > to do that. I say things here that I wouldn't dream of > saying to my sister, who lives on campus and whose husband > is on faculty. Exactly. If I were on one of the strongly pro-TM forums on Yahoo, it would be inappropriate for me to discuss some of the criticisms of TM, the TMO, and Maharishi that I freely discuss here. But I'm NOT on one of those forums. I'm on Fairfield Life, the charter of which is right there on display on its Home page, and which INVITES free discussion and yes, even criticism, of TM, the TMO, and Maharishi. > I believe chicks should peck their way out of their shells, > not have them opened from the outside. The TMO is an > incubator. When you're ready to hatch, you'll know what to do. And in the meantime, if you don't like others pecking at the shell you've erected around yourself to protect that self from challenging thought, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. There are forums on Yahoo and other places that are DESIGNED for you. Nothing will rock your world or cause you to think there. And *I*, for one, will not be there to bother you or intrude into your bliss. But if you're gonna stay here, on a forum dedicated to free thought, try not to whine so much when others around you actually think, OK?
