--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Rather interesting, since one of the welcome side-benefits of > effective meditation *should* be decrease in negative emotions, > their intensity and their duration.
Not to mention their ability to function effectively in the world without being "spaced out" or in the grip of uncontrollable emotions they call "unstressing." There is a town I know of in Colorado where most of the members of the Fire Department are also members of a local Tibetan Buddhist sangha. Their daily practice involves meditating two to three hours every morning (depending on when they get up) and another hour or two in the evenings. And yet they have absolutely *no problem* integrating this meditation schedule with the responsibilities of their daily lives, on which other people's lives depend. They are often called upon to jump up from meditation and drive to the site of a fire, and again they have *no problem* doing that, and performing their jobs well when they get there. I've noticed the same thing when on retreats for other forms of meditation. We were all meditating four to eight hours a day, but there were no rules about not going into town, or needing to have a "buddy" with you if you went. The reason was that no one was "spaced out" as a result of the meditation; if anything, everyone was *more* clear and *more* capable of dealing with the real world. As someone who used to teach a lot of TM residence courses, this difference was not lost on me. On the TM courses, there were very definite rules about not leaving the grounds, and with good reason. One has to wonder whether the difference was in the form of meditation being practiced, or in the unquestioning acceptance on TM courses that feeling "spaced out" or feeling some kind of "unstressing" was normal. > On Apr 12, 2007, at 9:52 PM, taskcentered wrote: > > > Readers here may be helpful in answering questions a woman > > raises about her ex's anger, > > who was a long-term TM insider. She also reflects on the > > Maharishi's anger and abusive > > nature.
