Hilariously written, and pointed questions to which I have no answers. I don't tend to relate much to dead folks, because as far as I can tell they're... uh...dead.
On the other hand, I know quite a few people who *do* claim to have an ongoing relationship with dead people, and who claim this *while* saying that they believe that the dead people in question were without question enlightened, and that after death the enlight- ened have no other option but to merge with infinity, the "drop becoming the ocean," no more individuality, ever, and all that. They seem to have *no problem* believing all this stuff about what happens to the enlightened after they die, and *at the same time* believing that they have an ongoing relationship with *their* particular individualized enlightened dead guy. Go figure. Anything's possible, and I'm not ruling it out, but experience has taught me that the people who seem to have the most relationships with dead (or otherwise non-physical) beings *also* tend to have the most issues with their own self importance. The more elite and important they seem to feel that *they* are, the more elite and important dead people they seem to be in relationships with. I'm not sure which came first, or who "came on" whom first. In other words, I think I'm with you on this one, Curtis. Unlike the kid in The Sixth Sense, I *don't* see dead people, much less date them or have hot relationships with them. --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > In a recent posting exchange about Andrew Sullivan's beliefs, I was > struck by his claim that Jesus loves him. Since that time, I have > seen about one thousand bumper stickers on neighbor's cars > proclaiming that Jesus loves the driver or that the driver loves > Jesus. > > I've been in a few sketchy relationships in my day, but I am pretty > sure that anytime you don't actually ever see your partner, you are > in a fantasy relationship. (no offense meant to my online fantasy > Thai wife Toi with whom I have 3 beautiful fantasy kids) > > After 3 years of almost continuous rounding at Sidhaland, I had some > experiences concerning Guru Dev's image that caused me to believe > that I had developed a relationship with him as if he was a living > person. I am sympathetic to such claims by others because it was > extremely compelling, and although I don't view the experiences > with the same value I did then, it did open my eyes to the power > of mystical experiences and how detailed the experiences can be. > > Stevie Ray Vaughn once claimed that the Spirit of Jimi Hendrix had > taken him over and he began wearing a lot of the tacky hippie colors > that Jimi did in his shows after that. MMY claimed that Vaishistha > "came onto him" one night and afterwards he came out with some new > concepts. (the details of those concepts have faded, but I will > never forget, or fail to chuckle at, his provocative wording)In the > movement there is the concept of Guru Dev guiding us and it may be > just a poetic way to describe the movement's relationship with him > or it may be a more mystical claim. I remember a recent post about > Sattyanand claim that Guru Dev appeared to him after death to get > him to stop blubbering about his passing. > > The phrase "Jesus loves you" is totally mainstream and doesn't raise > an eyebrow anywhere. I don't suppose that people are all referring > to a mystical vision of Jesus although I'm sure some are. But the > conviction that a historical person can have a relationship with > you, beyond their use as an inspirational force, is really > intriguing to me. It is taken for granted in society as if it is > the most natural thing in the world. In my creative life I value > trance induced states in which imagination conjures rich experiences > in detail. But I don't come out of them thinking that I have > contacted a dead person for real. > > So I throw out this bone for insightful gnawing from anyone > interested. How do you relate to this topic? > > (In case anyone does have a hotline to the dead I am interested in > inquiring form a certain Robert Johnson what fret he placed his capo > on in "Crossroad Blues". Although I am not up for his "coming on to > me" I am not adverse to the idea of a little "courtesy of reach > around" for the blues legend. But only if he really loves me.
