--- In [email protected], "Marek Reavis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Curtis, excellent analysis and I agree with you that the > 'discussion' itself is a good thing. > > I mean, it seems like such a unique relationship -- the > guru/disciple one -- and more peculiar yet, the guru/former- > disciple relationship, or the false-guru/former-disciple-now- > disciple-of-better-guru one, etc.). I don't know if FFL is > the only forum that lets everyone who might be a member of > some subset of the guru/disciple relationship (above), speak, > discuss and argue their position, but the fact that it > does is fantastic.
I completely agree, and I want to focus on one word in Marek's reply -- "lets." THAT is the thing that these two individuals who have deigned to "discuss" things with Rick are upset about. THAT is what has their panties in a twist. On this forum, Rick *lets* people discuss this rela- tionship. They can say anything they want about it, and think anything they want about it, and NOTHING BAD HAPPENS TO THEM IF THEY SAY THE 'WRONG' THINGS. THAT is what these Purusha guys are upset about. It's the OPPOSITE of the environment that they are used to. It's heresy, with a capital H and that stands for Hell. For DECADES now, these guys have lived within a spir- itual environment in which if one entertained doubts they would be sent to Hell. That is, they would be expelled from the TM movement, which is something that -- to them, because they have come to believe what they were taught by Maharishi -- is equivalent to Hell. Express a doubt about the nature of one's relationship with one's spiritual teacher or about that teacher himself and BAM!, the hammer falls and you're OUTA THERE. The big, bad hand of karma comes down and smites the sinner and knocks him out of the batter's cage. And all of the remaining players on the team cheer inwardly, because it happened to someone else, not to them. The "sinner" got sent to Hell, and they didn't. Not yet. What they're angry with Rick about is that he has created a forum that *lets* people talk about this relationship of student and teacher freely, and that doesn't send offenders to Hell for saying the "wrong" things. This offends them mightily, so much so that they refer to Fairfield Life as a "website," as if it were a propaganda site created by someone with an anti-TM and anti-Maharishi agenda, in an attempt to destroy both. It isn't, of course. It's just a forum where people are allowed to speak freely. The fact that these people perceives FFL and Rick so negatively for doing nothing more than allowing people to speak their minds speaks volumes. They have grown comfortable over the decades living in an environment in which they CANNOT speak their minds. If they do, and if the things those minds speak about are "off the program," they'll be sent to Hell. End of story. That's the way it works, and everyone here, no matter how much they may protest or claim otherwise, KNOWS that that's the way it works. The TM movement is an environment in which people are *prohibited* from expressing their doubts. Doubt is perceived as a Bad Thing, a sin, and thus Bad Things will happen to you if you allow doubt to enter your mind and, even worse, give expression to those doubts in public. Fairfield Life isn't like that, and that's why these sad individuals hate it so much, and seem to hate Rick for having created it. Rick has done nothing more than create a forum on which he *lets* people talk. And these sad individuals are so used to an environ- ment in which that is perceived as WRONG that they have to believe that Rick is wrong for having done it. Think about that. Isn't that the saddest thing you've ever heard? Obviously, word has gotten back to these head-in-the-sand types that there is an environment out there in which people are allowed to talk freely about TM, about Maharishi, and about Things Spiritual. And this upsets them so much that they have actively attempted to "reach out" to Rick and try to convince him of the error of his ways, SO THAT HE'LL SHUT DOWN THE HERETICAL ENVIRONMENT. The thing that these people are offended by is, as hard as it is to believe, spiritual seekers being *allowed* to have doubts, and to express them. They are so uncomfortable with this notion that they feel the need to bash away at Rick with an ad hominem "ugly stick" for having created such a forum. Rick, in their eyes, is a sinner because he *lets* people think for themselves, and express those thoughts. Bad Rick. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, BAD. He should go to Hell for having done what he's done. Just as *they* expect to go to Hell if *they* ever have a thought that is considered "off the program." The things they say about Rick are what they believe will happen to *them* if they ever admit to their own doubts.
