--- In [email protected], "Marek Reavis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I want to comment on this and don't really know how to, except > to endorse your willingness to explore life with deep and > wholehearted committment. I love that you were so totally > into the movement; you and me and so many people who post here.
If that is you not knowing how to express yourself, I wait with 'bated breath for more posts in which you are more sure. :-) Well said. That is one of my main reasons for being here, too. I really *enjoy* being "in the company" of people who have made a strong commitment to a spiritual path, *wherever* it might have taken them. I am equally comfortable with those who have spent decades with the TMO and who have moved on as I am with those who have spent decades with it and now have mainly positive feelings about their experiences, but approach the movement from a distance, and I am equally comfortable with those who still are committed to the TMO and manage to pull that off without very much of the elitism that one tends to see in those I deem TBs. What I am *not* as comfortable with is those who have *never* made any strong commitment to the TMO or to any other spiritual path, and who consistently try to put down those who have walked away from one or more spiritual paths as if doing so were some kind of failure on their part. When the word "phony" comes up here, as it tends to do more often than it should, *those* are the people who leap to my mind. > Although my children, now adults, are so much better than me > in so many ways, one thing they don't have in their lives is > the experience so many of us had when we were young and > young adults within the TM movement -- the unparalleled > experience of being part of such a cause and such a > movement, either as it actually was at the time or as > we thought it to be. Well said again. I have very little contact these days in "real life" with people who have had this opportunity. That is one reason I find it so inter- esting to hang with such people on the Internet. There is something "about" those who have made a strong, decades-long commitment not only to their own spiritual path, but to *promoting* and *teaching* that spiritual path that "removes the rough edges" of the ego to some extent, and that cultivates a sense of compassion and of caring for one's fellow man. I often find that missing from those who have never had the experience of putting someone else's welfare ahead of their own (other than, say, their own children and families). I worked pretty much full-time for spiritual movements for 28 years of my life, devoting either part or all of my time and income to furthering their goals, and trying to help a few people along the Way. So, like Curtis, do I sometimes get tired when people who have *never* done this suggest that I'm a slimeball because I no longer choose to do this accuse me of being a "failure" or of "having missed the whole point of the teaching?" You betcha. In my not so humble opinion, such people "missed the whole point of the teaching" THEMSELVES. THEY are the ones who never really did much for anyone but themselves, at least in terms of spreading and teaching meditation and other forms of spirituality. Curtis has paid his dues, and has *earned* some fuckin' RESPECT for having done that, man. So have all the other wonderful people here who put their money where their mouths were, spiritually, and made a strong commitment to helping others. Those who have never done that but who set themselves up as the arbiters of Things Spiritual or of what constitutes a "proper" relationship with one's spiritual teacher or spiritual organization can go suck eggs as far as I'm concerned. When they start ragging on those who *have* made such a commitment as if they are better than they are, I consider them spiritual pissants, legends in their own tiny minds who do *not* have the right to insinuate themselves into the thoughts that go through *my* mind on a regular basis. One of the things I've been doing lately is a kind of mindfulness, a Buddhist exercise in maintaining focus. Whenever one of these spiritual pissants -- on this forum or on others -- tries to push his or her way into my mind and make me focus on them, I try to do the exact opposite. I hit the NEXT key the moment they get nasty and read no further in that post. I try to never again think of that person that day. And I have a kind of "rule" that I've made for myself that says that I will not reply to anyone who has gone out of their way to trash me here for at least a week after they have done so. Fortunately, given the way that things seem to work here, that means that there are at least a couple of people here who I *never* will have to reply to again, because they seem to be UNABLE to go a full week without making some comment here trashing me. :-) It cuts down on my posting needs at FFL tremendously. > The posts here that express compassion and understanding, > forbearance and intelligence, as well as humor and flexibility > are the ones that, in my mind, most fully advance the ideals > of the movement to which we all pledged allegiance when we > were young. Exactly. > If the TMO has apparently diverged from those ideals, it is > not my problem. Exactly again. Even if the TM movement doesn't seem to be terribly concerned with integrity and compassion, that doesn't mean that its "graduates" have to live that way. > There are many people who post here, including yourself, whom > I admire greatly. Thanks. Same with me. These people give me *hope* with regard to the value of "doing one's time" in a strong spiritual commitment. Fortunately, there are enough of these great people here that they counterbalance the example of those spiritual pissants who make me *question* the value of such a commitment. All the time I spent in the TM movement was "worth it" in my opinion. All of the time I spent with Rama was "worth it" in my opinion. The time it takes to deal with the spiritual pissants of the world is no longer "worth it" to me, so they're not going to get any more of that time in the form of replies from me. Thanks again to Curtis and Marek for exemplifying what makes FFL a great forum, and pointing out via their examples what *detracts* from that great forum in the behavior of a few (and these days, *very* few) other people. The "New FFL." Long may it wave...
