Hey, I was in LaAntilla too from 1972-1973: LaAntilla,
Punta Umbria, Seelisberg.
--- Bronte Baxter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi, Shepmcgurk. Okay, then, here's a little about
> me. I did TTC in La Antilla in 1973, started TM in
> 1971. Became a governor and lived for a while with
> the Mother Diviners when it was just starting in
> South Fallsburg. Worked on Capital staff. Taught
> fulltime a number of years.
>
> I got disillusioned when nothing seemed to fit
> together anymore. I didn't feel I was making
> spiritual progress, and hadn't made any in years. I
> found myself growing bitter and cranky. I had bought
> into the TM "nun" mentality and was very unhappy,
> but I hung on, believing the fastest way to God was
> the brahmacharini path.
>
> I left the movement gradually, starting with going
> back to school for a teaching degree at University
> of Iowa. The final break happened when I moved to LA
> and encountered the teachings of Ramtha. I was
> attracted to what he said because of the emphasis on
> being God within yourself, rather than seeking it at
> the feet of a guru. His ideas felt empowering.
>
> I joined that school for about ten years, learning
> a great deal. But I quit it in '96, because it was
> becoming too cultish for me. Ramtha started teaching
> a lot of weird stuff, and it was time to leave. Now
> I'm eclectic, with a worldview pretty close to the
> New Thought ideas of the early 1900s that started
> Unity Church, Christian Science, and other
> movements. I'm not into the Jesus thing as those
> writers were, but I agree we create our reality
> through our thoughts and that God has a vision for
> this world that is joyous and wonderful, much more
> like paradise eventually than the way the earth is
> at present. I totally believe supernormal powers are
> possible once we claim our status as divine in our
> own minds. The trick is doing that, without thinking
> you need a guru to tell you you're there or to
> empower you with dharshans and mantras. I think such
> practices just keep us going around forever in
> spiritual circles.
>
> I do meditate, but not with a mantra. I feel I was
> deceived when MMY told us mantras were meaningless
> words. My advanced technique added "namah" or "I bow
> down" to my mantra, so when I thought I was simply
> transcending, I was actually paying toll (donating
> soma) to some god. That is perhaps the biggest
> deception of the TM movement for me.
>
> I don't see how you can BE God if you are bowing
> down to God. You have to stand up and be God, in my
> opinion. I particularly don't see how bowing down to
> a finite god is going to lead one to Unity. It is
> only paying toll. The Vedic scriptures themselves
> say that the gods try to keep mankind from
> enlightenment, so why do we think mantra meditation
> or bhajans is going to set us free? The idea of full
> empowerment of the human race is threatening to the
> god gang. It actually says that in the scriptures of
> many cultures. Humans were always getting too
> godlike, and the gods were always smiting humans one
> way or another to keep us in our place. For
> instance, it's said in Greek mythology that each of
> us has a soulmate with whom we once were one, but
> mankind was getting too powerful, so the gods split
> each entity into two. I expect that happened at
> another dimensional level and that such division was
> very real. It contributes to our angst and makes it
> harder to come from
> wholeness.
>
> So I am not into paying duty to the gods. I look
> for ways to empower myself -- basically, my ambition
> is to think and act from my highest level of
> consciousness at all times (which I consider God),
> and anything that helps me do that I consider my
> spiritual practice. Sometimes it's a meditative
> experience or cosmic insight. Sometimes it's a life
> situation. Sometimes it's wisdom I get from other
> people.
>
> That pretty much brings you up to snuff on the
> essentials about me, I guess. Glad to have found you
> folks.
>
>
> shempmcgurk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Thank you for a very interesting read,
> Bronte (sorry, but when I read
> your name I can't help thinking of the Andy McDowell
> character
> from "Green Card" who was also named "Bronte").
>
> I am curious: what are your circumstances? When did
> you start TM,
> how long did you do it and what were the
> circumstances surrounding
> your disillusionment and giving up of TM (did I
> understand you
> correctly when you said you were an ex-TMer that you
> didn't just
> leave the movement but stopped doing the practise,
> too? And if so,
> why?)
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bronte Baxter
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > I am a new observer to FFL, but feel I have to add
> my two cents to
> this discussion. As an bystander, it sure looks to
> me like you guys
> are picking on Knob -- Archer even outright says
> "he's fun to pick
> on." I'm ashamed for you, Archer.
> >
> > I read and do respect Edg's long email on the
> subject. I think
> those of you who are dumping on Knob are doing it
> because you don't
> want to believe in false promises and illusions
> anymore, having been
> duped by the TMO in that way for many years. I was
> duped too -- I'm
> an ex-TMer. So I get and share your cynacism. That
> makes us extra-
> sensitive to bullshit, and that's a good thing. It
> keeps ua from
> getting duped again.
> >
> > But here's what I object to. First of all, the
> ganging up on
> someone. Some of you guys speak so mean to each
> other sometimes in
> this forum. That is not divine, and all of us are
> divine in essence,
> so why fall into the filthy talk and damning words?
> One of you spits
> your insides out at someone, then another one comes
> along and
> sanctions it. It's just not right, and no good can
> come of it. If the
> highest consciousness is all about knowing we are
> one, what does it
> say when we call each other lying curs and use the
> foulest words on a
> public forum to denounce each other? The
> consciousness of a person
> who writes in such hatred must be in some very
> intense pain. But what
> good comes of dumping it on one's fellows? Better to
> say "I hurt like
> hell -- what you said sounds totally deluded makes
> me feel even
> worse" than to practically damn another person.
> >
> > Here's the second thing that bothers me. To assume
> someone is
> lying is putting oneself in the position of a judge
> over another's
> state of heart. Who has such a right or such a level
> of knowledge?
> Even if Knob is lying, are his attackers better than
> he is when they
> belittle him? Maybe when he says he flew over
> people, he meant he
> flew over their laps. Maybe things really were
> hopping on his TTC in
> 77/ 78. How do we know they weren't?
> >
> > I have friends (outside of TM, who never did the
> sidhis) who are
> convinced they levitated once or twice in meditation
> because
> they "felt light and up in the air" as if they were
> levitating. When
> I asked if they opened their eyes to check if they
> were actually
> floating, they say no, but they are quite sure they
> were. I highly
> doubt these people's claims, but I don't call them
> lying curs for
> their beliefs. They choose to believe this. It's
> their business.
> Maybe they need to believe it.
> >
> > Maybe Knob had a few giant leaps and exaggerated
> them in his mind
> to be 24 feet. Maybe that's how long they really
> seemed to him. Maybe
> he believes in TM and flying and the promises MMY
> made of a better
> world. So, some of us don't. But why pick a fight
> with him?
> >
> > For my part, I think there's a lot more hope for
> the world in
> people who believe in visions and possibilities than
> in people whose
>
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