THINGS TMers BELIEVE, Volume II (6 February 2007) Again, the beliefs of long-term TMers (20 to 35+ years of daily TM practice), in *their own words*, as repre- sented by what they said in the posts to which they replied on one Internet forum during the last two and a half days (since the posting of Volume I).
And again, I post the quotes without attribution, because in my opinion the quotes and their authors are pretty much interchangeable in the ways in which they represent common TMer mindsets and states of attention. I apologize for the lack of context, but the challenge of collecting the quotes while holding down a full-time job was taxing enough. If you are interested in determining the author of any of the quotes, and the context in which he or she wrote the quote, please use Yahoo's 'Advanced Search' feature on the Web version of this forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/msearch_adv In general, the people being talked about disparagingly below are those who have dared to be critical of TM, the TM organization, and/or Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on this forum in the past. Other than occasional comments to explain context or who or what is being discussed, none of the words below are mine. And I make no comment on any of these quotes, other than having chosen them for inclusion here. The reader is free to draw his or her own conclusions. ****************************************************** "S [TM critic} has created a big problem for himself, prematurely taking on the nickname 'V', making him resistant to any suggestion that he has more to learn. It is his problem, and no matter how much he argues with himself on this forum, not likely to resolve itself soon. The stupidity of his small self encases him like barbed wire." Same person: "Jewish proverb: 'Listen to your enemy, for God is talking.'" Replying to: "...it's well known that any meditation that uses an object will, by it's very nature, require some subtle effort since they all rely on some kind of technique." -- "It's well known, save to those of us who were content to keep to our original practice, rather than seek something 'better.'" "V [TM critic] has an agenda or is confused, or both. I do not understand why anyone bothers to answer him." "What is sad is that some unestablished souls, newcomers on the Path, could be confused by the negativity [on this forum]. Though I think they judge the Path by experience more than rubbish written on forums like this." "99% of what B [TM critic] says in these rants is due to his coffee addiction, and shouldn't be taken seriously. He has over a decade's worth of empty experience in which he has learned to craft an argument on-line (applause for the little boy!). He adds his coffee addiction to this and spins many fanciful and empty stories." Same person: "'Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?' -Abraham Lincoln" "This fellow [TM critic] has an agenda. To sow dissention, perhaps he is making a buck or two on this. He is not really dangerous to anyone but himself because his motivs are so obvious." "From your many misdescriptions of TM, V [TM critic], you couldn't have 'abandoned' the original practice because you were never practicing TM to begin with, but rather your misunderstanding of it." "That's right. But fellows like 'V' [TM critic] will never get this. People like him will always try to complicate, sow dissention. Their world is simple in the sense of; we know what we have but not what we will get. They hate the whole idea of self-realization. Self realized ? Without the church, without the Government ? No Sir !" Regarding a purported quote by Maharishi saying that TM was not completely effortless: "Who the hell knows? We can't possibly tell without context. R can't provide a verbatim transcript, and we can't just accept without question his interpretation of a long-ago lecture illus- trated by a quote that has no meaning out of context." And in a followup, about that same quote: "*Of course* there was a context. He didn't just sit there and suddenly come up with the quote and then start talking about something completely different. 'A lecture about the effortlessness of TM' is nowhere near adequate context to fathom the meaning of the quote. Don't you know what 'context' means?" "...former TMers like V [TM critic] disdainfully insist that there's effort involved [in TM] and that TMers are lying about it, while getting a bunch of things about what MMY teaches disastrously, unequivocally wrong, demonstrating that they don't know what the hell they're talking about." "So do you and B [TM critics] have the guts to deviate from your 'TMers are just mindlessly repeating the dogma they've been taught' tape loop and incorporate the possibility that they're telling you what their personal experience is?" "This V [TM critic] is lost in his own delusion and agenda. He does not digest what you write, nor does he want to. According to L, fellows like him might well be evicted to a more suitable place by our Space Brothers, where he will be amongst fellowmen, a place where negativity will abound. He is begging for it to happen." "Any TMer who worries about 'trying to GET to samadhi' is OFF THE PROGRAM." "V [TM critic], you're right! (Hindusism IS different than Buddhism) [Tibetan teacher]'s teachings are ineffective, since they operate only in the 25% highest level of the subtle planes. TM operates on all levels, and the Transcendent. Your statement that physical purification is unimportant is a feeble attempt to obfuscate the issues; out of jealously in regard to MMY's brilliant, pioneering ideas in the topic of stress release, and due to the fact that [Tibetan teacher]'s techniques are solely 'subtle body' techniques, having little impact on the physical." "Even more fascinating, to me at least, is someone like you who hasn't taught or practiced TM in decades and who still considers himself an authority on the subject. Is it coffee, or full blown delusion speaking fer ya? Where do you get off on calling others on their supposed trips when you are so out of it?" "I can see you talk to yourself as you type and, once every thirty seconds or so, wipe your spit off the screen." A long-term TM practioner who considers himself to be fully Self Realized, on having so many of his quotes included here: "You are adept at making truth into lies." The same fully Self Realized person: "As to my asking questions regarding being clueless, this tells me that you are not established in Self realization, because you see it as a static state, as someone in waking state, i.e. bondage, would." Same Self Realized individual: "Fifty bucks says he [TM critic] NEVER EVER quotes the recent posts from TT and A that showed him to be who he really is! LOL! So its a very selective showing by Detective Tantrum of FFL." In response to: "If MMY really believes in the ability of the ME ["Maharishi Effect"] to inflence the stock market, why doesn't he take advantage of market trends by manipulating the numbers attending his assemblies?" -- "Because Maharishi is not in it for the money." "Ha-Ha! I just realized that you have definite criteria that you ascribe to Self realized beings! I can assume that the selective posts you will be quoting from me go counter to this list of criteria! You are making my day! Please, B [TM critic], let's see THE LIST! LOL!!!!!!!!!! -->THE LIST<-- Did anyone else catch this? Unbelievable. Hey B, should I change what I say so that I appear Realized to you? How about what I wear? Any suggestions? I wouldn't want to appear un-Realized, especially to you! LOL! Please share that list of TMer actions or whatever soon, so that we will all know to shy away from such 'UNENLIGHTENED' actions!!! Man, I'm cracking myself up..." Trying to demonize a TM critic: "He's made 27 posts in about a day and a half." Then, a few minutes later: "Before B goes on a counting binge of his own, my total for the same period was 36--but that's pretty standard for me." Posted by the Self Realized person: "Yes V [TM critic], continue to obscure Reality with lots of intellectualizing and nitpicking...I can't think of much that is less practical than that...however, to each his own." An exchange between two TMers about a TM critic, after both had just written several posts each in a thirty minute period demonizing him and calling him names: -- "What do you think it is that makes B assume that anyone who challenges him is doing so because what he's said makes them 'uptight'?" -- "Paranoia, I suppose." "Think you can psychoanalyze me do you T [TM critic]. You will get lost and terrified to death in the labiryth that will engulf you if you venture into the realm. My reaction was to do with the clear lack of rational thought and real- world experience connected to the statement that immediately preceded the word 'Bull' [the entire contents of his previous post]. Your Dalai Lama trip is just silly. The Dalai Lama is not trying to create a sea-change in the subtle structure of world consciousness. He is out to meet people and smile a lot and wave the peace sign. Big deal. Try meeting the Pope, see how far you get." Same person: "I think people like you that seek out personal attention from a teacher are like spoilt children. I couldn't care less about it, because it is the TECHNIQUE and knowledge that counts. If it is not, then Maharishi's whole philosophy is wrong. Therefore, he does not emphasise personal attention as being important." "Well, he's [TM critic] feeling very besieged right now, which freaks him out, so he has to cut his 'enemies' down to size in his own mind. He does that by imagining that they're 'uptight' because whatever he said was so threatening to them, rather than acknowledging to himself that they're laughing at him because he's such a fool, which would be unendurable. He makes himself feel more powerful that way." "Oddly, through his persistence B [TM critic] has again become a teacher of TM. Perhaps not in the way he was originally instructed to do, but still we ought to feel good that the knowledge of TM is being spread, in whatever form. Thanks also to those who post the oddly named "TM Free Blog" all about TM and Maharishi. Even if we are quoted out of context, there are probably those people where B will post these quotes who's curiousity will be piqued, and they will find legitimate sites of TM information. I know when my mind has been thirsty for information, I have eventually found what I have been looking for, no matter how it appeared initially. As the expression goes, 'there is no such thing as bad publicity.'" To a TM critic he's never met or seen: "Moving images of frothing old men with their hair on end manically hacking away on a keyboard with scary organ music in the background may scare youngsters." "V {TM critic] isn't intellectualizing - he's just bullshitting. By the evidence fwd by himself on this list V really doesn't know what TM is about. Even by rhetorical standards his post is just bs. He is criticizing a teaching he knows nothing about by sniping at a second hand reference to a post offering a brief summary of what Maharishi ones said on a tape. It's just plain silly draped in a thick layer of pompous-ness." On being told that his quotes were being posted to even more forums than before: "Great ! Can't wait to see my pearls of wisdom, my sword of justice, pop up everywhere." "Given that it's impossble to innocently and seriously discuss TM related issues on this forum without risking being assaulted by Illuminatis, Freemasons, Satanists, Christian fundamentalists, etc my question is: where do people who (1) regularly practice TM, and (2) are quite happy with it, go to yell at each other?"
