--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> ...but once couldn't even see as the silliness they were:
>
> * Allowing Maharishi to "have the last word" and declare
> the absolute truth about something, when I felt in my
> heart and with every minute of my life experience that
> what he was saying wasn't true.
>
> * Paying lip service to an organization I no longer
> believed in and that I felt was on the wrong track, both
> spiritually and ethically...just out of habit.
>
> * Feeling guilty about missing a meditation, when what I
> was doing was so much more beneficial to someone else than
> shutting my eyes and thinking a word I'd paid 35 bucks for.
>
> * Thinking that the word I'd paid 35 bucks for was "special."
>
> * Believing that Bad Things Would Happen if I spoke the
> word I'd paid 35 bucks for aloud.
>
> * Being asked to carry a large sum of money illegally across
> international borders by the TMO, and actually considering
> doing it for a few seconds because the person asking me to
> do it said, "Maharishi says it's Ok."
>
> * Borrowing money from people who worked for a living so
> that I didn't have to, and could go to the Next Big Course
> instead. That only happened once, and I paid them back as
> soon as I got home, but it still makes me shake my head
> and laugh at how incredibly *arrogant* I was to believe
> that this was acceptable behavior.
>
> * Telling people in intro lectures that TM had no potential
> negative side effects, after seeing with my own eyes the
> "twitching group" at Fiuggi, 10 to 20 people with spasms
> so uncontrollable that they were not allowed to leave their
> hotels for fear they'd be arrested as crazy people.
>
> * Seeing someone sent home from an ATR course *for* develop-
> ing uncontrollable muscle spasms, after having been told that
> it was their fault and that not only would the money they
> paid for the course not be refunded, but that they would not
> be allowed to enter the TM center back home until the "embar-
> rassing" symptoms had gone away...and not advising them to
> call a lawyer and sue the shit out of the TMO.
>
> * Watching other TM teachers blackball someone and prevent
> them from going to TM Teacher Training because they were
> living with their girlfriend or because they had admitted
> reading books by Carlos Castaneda and, after standing up
> for both applicants and seeing the TM teachers turn "thumbs
> down" on them anyway, not advising *them* to call a lawyer.
>
> * Watching as books were edited to remove embarrassing
> statements by Maharishi or as tapes were burned because he'd
> said something on them that the TM movement now wanted to
> pretend he'd never said...and not speaking up.
>
> * Being told by a good friend, upon her return from one of
> the first TM siddhi courses, that "flying" was a total hoax
> and that -- despite the frequent claims of leaders of the
> TMO at the time -- no one had even come close to actually
> flying...and not believing her.
>
> * Paying big bucks to go the next TM siddhis course in
> spite of what she said, realizing the truth of what she had
> said, and not even being angry at the people who'd stood
> up in front of large groups of people back at the National
> TM Center in L.A. and told us that people were hovering
> on a daily basis
>
> * Being told by Maharishi, "Wear your suit at all times,
> even to the beach," and not laughing out loud.
>
> So many moments, so much silliness. Sometimes I look back on
> some of the silly things I did because I'd been told to do
> them, or because they were Standard Operating Procedure in
> the TMO, and I just *howl* with laughter and with the
> realization of how incredibly silly and stupid I was.
>
> It's a great exercise in humility, and in self acceptance.
> I found ways to excuse all these things and rationalize
> them away, or found ways to never even notice that I was
> doing them. And I would bet that a few people here have a
> similar list of similar sillinesses that they managed to
> rationalize away or pretend weren't happening.
>
> It's normal. People on strong spiritual paths do silly shit.
> It's almost the *definition* of being on a strong spiritual
> path -- being willing to do silly shit.
>
> And if it feels right to do it, I say Go For It. Make no
> excuses for the silly shit you do. *Revel* in the glory of
> silly shitness.
>
> But if you ever get to a point where you can *recognize* it
> as silly shit, I would suggest not being afraid to laugh
> at the behavior, and at yourself for having behaved that way.
> It's very liberating, and frees you to go out and do *new*
> silly shit that you'll look back on and laugh about someday
> in the future.
>
> :-)
>
You forgot to mention abusing your authority as a spiritual teacher
to seduce women.:-)
