[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: I've looked at TM and considered it carefully because it has the affirmation of so many of my beloved friends. snip Like, if there's a puja and I'm supposed to bow or offer obeisance, I want to know why and to whom, and whether it's optional. Optional and the puja is to a picture of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's teacher. Yes. One teacher, my most expert friend on the subject, said that he offers the puja, and that basically he would be introducing me to his beloved guru. Sounds like this takes place in the realm of the spirits if one goes there, and can be quite a beautiful and moving experience. He also concluded, after I analyzed the matter to death, that TM probably wouldn't be the thing for me right now. Unless you are a fundamentalist Christian or other extremem (in my mind) religious person who believes that any and all things associated with a foreign religion are satanic, or the cultural equivalent, you should have no problems with simply learning and practicing TM. Now, if you are thinking of attending MUM, or taking the TM-SIdhis, or becoming a TM teacher, or whatever, then you need to evaluate each of those issues in its own context, but plain TM? Nyah. Not to worry. This is what I hear from *lots* of people. And their lives bear it out as far as I can tell. TM isn't the only avenue I analyzed as a path of expansion. Other beloved friends affirm the positive and expansive effects of marijuana and LSD. You probably guessed these are not the same friends. After analyzing *that* path in depth, I decided not to go there either. My most expert friend in that area thinks that that's not the right thing for me now, if ever. I don't think I'm a fundamentalist anything. I actually have quite a fondness for Kali. And I have a fondness for herbs, even a psychotropic like alcohol. I don't think I'm closed, but sometimes I'm pretty s-l-o-w to try new things. Thanks for replying, Lawson. :)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Robert [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone? Well, I'm still here.
[FairfieldLife] charter schools, was: to new.morning - power of myth
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: A charter school in NY has offered to pay all of its teachers $120,000 a year (more than the principal). I am all for that. Tripleteachers salaries and education will flourish. Widescale, this is appropriate, IMO, due to the large positive externalities of education. The school has a huge number of applicants. Paying teachers at the level of competence that you want and you will get among the best and brightest going into, and staying in education. Market mechanisms can work well in education, once the outlaw externality has been captured. Granted, salaries make a difference to teachers! But not the only difference, as Lawson pointed out. The purpose stated in the charter would also make a difference to excellent teachers. There is a new engineering college which is attracting good teachers and students because of its *approach* to engineering education. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/magazine/30OLIN-t.html? _r=1ex=1191816000en=5e6002f1850301bfei=5070emc=eta1oref=slogin Dreams matter. Yes, the salaries are competitive and the campus is decent, because that matters too, but these people are going there to achieve something closer to their dreams.
[FairfieldLife] Hillary= Bill's #1 Bimbo?...'
Bill had plenty of Bimbos in his life; From the days in Little Rock, To the oval office, Bill was always rough and ready... Bimbos come, and Bimbos go; But, Hillary goes on and on and on and on and on... Well, you get the idea... Robert Gimbel Seattle, WashingtonApril 18th, 2008 Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
Where Have All the Flower Children Gone? Well, I'm still here. Me too! Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful [Jimi]
[FairfieldLife] Re: ME and the Stock Market:: Hagelin Needs an Sound Economic Theory of ME
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 13, 2008, at 2:38 AM, george_deforest wrote: the ME has never really been achieved significantly yet, thats why it seems not to work; the population of the US right now is about 303,850,000 so by the formula, the square root of one percent of that is now up to 1742 but the ME requires we have at least 1750 flying together in the domes, both morning and evening, every day, day after day only then can we really test whether ME affects stock markets or not; George, JOOC, do you *really* believe that a certain number of people, or any number, for that matter, sitting and thinking certain words or thoughts, can somehow affect the behavior of other individuals, who happen to be in their physical proximity? Does that really make any sense to you? Of *course* the results are always just out of reach, conveniently so. Sal Om Sal, George don't need to believe it. Is just our experience with it don't need no stinking TMscience neither to know it. Like You know, it's like Gnostic, or transcendent. Is what it is. Jai Guru Dev, -Doug in FF
[FairfieldLife] Virtue of policy - specific example of oil drilling
To me, the central question to determine the virtue of a policy is its ratio of voluntary action versus mandatory action. Voluntary action means a person is their own master. Mandatory action means a person is someone else's slave. Consider the people who are affected by, say, oil drilling -- let's choose the result most obvious and least controversial: the oil isn't part of the earth anymore. Well, we haven't determined who owned the oil. It was the earth's oil, and then some extractor took it away from the earth. That doesn't necessarily make it his. I'd call it stealing from the earth until we determine who has a right to the oil in the earth. It isn't just sitting there for the benefit of the extractor. It's there, in my opinion, for the owners of the earth. That's all of us, isn't it? Or isn't it? That's what we have not economically determined yet in what I would call a fair way. The voluntary/mandatory ratio in the above scenario is that the driller acts voluntarily, but none of the rest of us have any say about our earth or its oil. The oil is just ripped away from our earth without our consent. No voluntary action there. But it's a fallacy to trap EVERYONE in the snares of no voluntary action by way of lots of regulations. There has to be a way to accomodate voluntary action for all while respecting rights for all. In fact, usually if a policy ensures that everyone's rights are respected, the natural result is a policy that supports voluntary action on all parts. The best proponent of policy I've seen in these areas is Hans-Hermann Hoppe. He's on the von Mises Institute website. Here's an article by him y'all might enjoy on a topic often covered on this forum: a battle with PC people -- the political correctness squad. http://mises.org/story/1792 ~ Spiritkin
[FairfieldLife] Re: to new.morning about the power of myth
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig LEnglish5@ wrote: [..] Look at the relative success of Maharishi School in Fairfield where school teachers are paid probably 1/5 that, if they are lucky. Its not JUST the quality of the teachers that is important: its the quality of the students they are teaching. Lawson When Maharishi school graduates are among the top tier of those contributing in public service, government, business, the arts -- and are well seeded (or seated) as professors at the top universities, you will have quite a compelling case. So, we already know the outcome of the charter school that is just now starting to offer the $120,000/year salary? We know the academic outcome of the school years spent at Maharishi School. We have NO idea if paying $120,000 to teachers will help the STUDENTS at the school in NY state. Lawson
[FairfieldLife] Re: Every OS Sucks [for musician/computer lovers friends]
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Have you tried Mac OS X in the past few years? and teh UI intergration on Mac computers is still superior to that on Windows or Linux. X- WIndows GUI's are a joke compared to Mac OS X. Lawson In my understanding, Ubuntu (Linux) has a Mac'ish UI. Could you give an example on how exactly it is inferior to Mac OS X? I'm quite satisfied with it, but mainly because the hard drive rattle is much reduced compared to Windows XP.
[FairfieldLife] Re: to new.morning about the power of myth
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: When Maharishi school graduates are among the top tier of those contributing in public service, government, business, the arts -- and are well seeded (or seated) as professors at the top universities, you will have quite a compelling case. So, we already know the outcome of the charter school that is just now starting to offer the $120,000/year salary? We know the academic outcome of the school years spent at Maharishi School. We have NO idea if paying $120,000 to teachers will help the STUDENTS at the school in NY state. I do not hold that conventional success necessarily translates to personal fulfillment. I personally am doing much, much less in terms of conventional achievement than when I bought into the whole deal about being in the top tier of those contributing, but I am much, much happier now than I was then. I'd rather see my children happy and fulfilled than being members of the top tier of contributors (although these are not necessarily exclusive sets). The measures you mentioned are a lot easier to calculate, but they just don't carry substantial meaning emotionally or spiritually. Frankly, I think people who are emotionally and spiritually fulfilled bring more peace and harmony to the world. That's a top tier contribution, IMO.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: I've looked at TM and considered it carefully because it has the affirmation of so many of my beloved friends. Ha. You don't do TM. Or similar practice. No wonder your mind is so clear. Uh, thanks, I think. What about you? Our minds have so much resonance, and you've done a lot of TM. I haven't noticed that TM necessarily clouds the mind. Have you?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Every OS Sucks [for musician/computer lovers friends]
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig LEnglish5@ wrote: Have you tried Mac OS X in the past few years? and teh UI intergration on Mac computers is still superior to that on Windows or Linux. X- WIndows GUI's are a joke compared to Mac OS X. Lawson In my understanding, Ubuntu (Linux) has a Mac'ish UI. Could you give an example on how exactly it is inferior to Mac OS X? I'm quite satisfied with it, but mainly because the hard drive rattle is much reduced compared to Windows XP. Well,hmm, since I've never used Ubuntu, I can't answer that either. I was going to extole the joys of AppleSCript, but in true Steve Jobs tradition, he apparently has managed to all but kill this unique Macintosh feature O well. Lawson
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: So far, TM has not given the answers I would be satisfied with, so I have not stepped over the threshold Well, like your nice post on being happily non-judgmental until one needs to actually act (so funny/odd, I have written the same post several times over the years) -- one does not need to know everything right NOW! Sometimes just letting go into the mystery has its rewards. Knowledge comes when needed. (parallel to judgement at decision time). Yes, the issue is more complicated. I brought out these examples because Bronte's essay flogged them. For me, because of the way I see my sage do TM, I feel like a larger commitment to the path is called for than just a get-the-technique- and-go approach. That kind of quickie sounds like buying a bag of communion wafers and eating them at home in front of the TV. I just think it sounds superficial. But I'm not comfortable with the way the rest of the package fits in -- the TMO, the pantheon, and other stuff, not by a long shot. Maybe some day TM will drift away from that package of its own accord, and maybe that will be more natural for it than its current enmeshment with them, just like various physical yogas have drifted from their original sources and now are flexed independently.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: So far, TM has not given the answers I would be satisfied with, so I have not stepped over the threshold Well, like your nice post on being happily non-judgmental until one needs to actually act (so funny/odd, I have written the same post several times over the years) -- one does not need to know everything right NOW! Sometimes just letting go into the mystery has its rewards. Knowledge comes when needed. (parallel to judgement at decision time). Yes, the issue is more complicated. I brought out these examples because Bronte's essay flogged them. For me, because of the way I see my sage do TM, I feel like a larger commitment to the path is called for than just a get-the-technique- and-go approach. That kind of quickie sounds like buying a bag of communion wafers and eating them at home in front of the TV. I just think it sounds superficial. But I'm not comfortable with the way the rest of the package fits in -- the TMO, the pantheon, and other stuff, not by a long shot. Maybe some day TM will drift away from that package of its own accord, and maybe that will be more natural for it than its current enmeshment with them, just like various physical yogas have drifted from their original sources and now are flexed independently. But, the TM technique was conceived to be a standalone technique. OF all the practices and techniques that MMY brought out in his various organization, by far, the most important is TM. If you had a choice of doing one thing of all the hundreds of Maharishi Vedic Health things, he would say (and had on many occasions): do TM. If the rest of the stuff turns you of, don't do it. Lawson
[FairfieldLife] 'Ronald Reagan: America's- 1st Hippie President...'
Although he grew up in the Midwest, Ronald started California dreamin' at an early age. Soon after his radio stint in Iowa, He headed to the West Coast... There he first served our great nation, as the 'Voice of America', And continued to be a voice on the American scene...for m,any years to come, After years of senility and finally passing on. Reagan became as 'Big as the Beatles', with his own brand of: rebellious activism. He promoted a free for all in terms of air travel, drugs for everyone and everything. With unlimited quantities of fresh cocaine daily...helping to feed the hippie causes of weatherman throughout the world.He also took credit for the 'Fall of The Soviet Union', When the fall happened because of Gorbachev. He left for us a true 'Hippie State of California'... A hotbed of liberalism, and pot smoking, Free sex for everyone, deodorant is optional; We are back to nature, in a dream-like state of 'Purple Haze'... Ron and Nancy, Let me personally thank you- The Kennedy's are in with the Governator. We have very secret hippie meetings in San Francisco, We're right back in the '60's all over again... ''Tis The Reagan Era over yet? Finally over? Mindless materialism, faked wars, Disney-fication of America? Will we free ourselves in time? But, wait one second! Good ol' Boy, Johnny straight-shooter McCain is lurking, shark-like in the background. Late in the night, in Sedona, Arizona, Strange large crows gather, Jackalopes listen intently... They plot and plan, They sort of 'black ops', all the scenarios, And look forward to their dark and foolish plans... Robert Gimbel Seattle, Washington April 18th, 2008 Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: So far, TM has not given the answers I would be satisfied with, so I have not stepped over the threshold Well, like your nice post on being happily non-judgmental until one needs to actually act (so funny/odd, I have written the same post several times over the years) -- one does not need to know everything right NOW! Sometimes just letting go into the mystery has its rewards. Knowledge comes when needed. (parallel to judgement at decision time). Yes, the issue is more complicated. I brought out these examples because Bronte's essay flogged them. For me, because of the way I see my sage do TM, I feel like a larger commitment to the path is called for than just a get-the-technique- and-go approach. That kind of quickie sounds like buying a bag of communion wafers and eating them at home in front of the TV. I just think it sounds superficial. But I'm not comfortable with the way the rest of the package fits in -- the TMO, the pantheon, and other stuff, not by a long shot. Maybe some day TM will drift away from that package of its own accord, and maybe that will be more natural for it than its current enmeshment with them, just like various physical yogas have drifted from their original sources and now are flexed independently. Of course, according to my own theory, these are intellectual justifications for some kind of emotional conviction. So according to that theory, I must conclude that I am emotionally opposed to using TM right now. I think I'm just not ready yet. Wow, Lawson, you're quick on the draw. I went back to edit this post, and you've already replied to it. :-o
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: For me, because of the way I see my sage do TM, I feel like a larger commitment to the path is called for than just a get-the-technique-and-go approach. snip But I'm not comfortable with the way the rest of the package fits in -- the TMO, the pantheon, But, the TM technique was conceived to be a standalone technique. OF all the practices and techniques that MMY brought out in his various organization, by far, the most important is TM. If you had a choice of doing one thing of all the hundreds of Maharishi Vedic Health things, he would say (and had on many occasions): do TM. If the rest of the stuff turns you of, don't do it. Point taken, Lawson. Yes, TM is probably well on its way to being an independent yoga that is widely and freely distributed without its current ties to deeper meanings. I don't see it doing that right now, but I think it may get there eventually. I understand that MMY wanted people to do TM, perhaps for his own purposes, and perhaps not for their own development. I, however, am interested in my own personal and eccentric development, and I don't fit any kind of average mold, so I can't accept MMY's general advice as if he was my own guru, my own sage, deeply interested in my own welfare.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Power Of Myth
Here's the original post for The Power of Myth as Message # 171799. Here's the link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/message/171799 The link should get you to the beginning of the list of responses. ~ Spiritkin --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB wrote: Please don't interpret my three previous rants this morning as indicating I don't like myth. I *love* myth. I see a good myth the same way that Joseph Campbell did, as a kind of consciousness battery that stores the essence of a certain state of attention, a certain level of consciousness. The best myths can elevate and inspire higher states of consciousness. But the worst can *lower* states of consciousness. I'm a proponent of being careful about WHICH myths one chooses to be inspired by. For example, many of the myths in the Bible and in the Gita and in the Vedas are about the glorious nature of *revenge*. I'm sorry, but I don't see those myths of warfare and genocidal slaughter as uplifting. I see them as a way of perpetuating a *low* state of conscious- ness by glorifying it. Many of the myths of humanity are about heroes. And many of those heroes prove their herohood in battle; they are warriors. Do I see upliftment and inspiration in tales of the warrior mindset? Sometimes. Being will- ing to fight to the death for what one believes IS inspiring, IF what one believes is inspiring in itself. The noble warrior fighting for justice is way cool, IF it's really justice. But if what the hero is fighting for is really INJUSTICE (for example, the perpetuation of the caste system, or the ascendancy of one race or religion over another), is it really justice that is being portrayed? I've seen people on this forum justify war by pointing to the Gita, and holding it up as an example of how an evolved and/or enlightened person does and should act. I've seen people on this and other forums point to stories in the Vedas about some supposed hero killing enough of his fellow human beings to fill lakes with blood as noble, and in accord with the laws of nature. I'm sorry, but I think those folks may be missing the *point* of myth by focusing on the *wrong* myths. Which is more uplifting and consciousness-transforming, the myth of Jesus' anger when he's turning over the tables of the money-changers in the temple, or the myth of him teaching people to forsake anger and revenge and turn the other cheek? Well, kinda depends on the reader of the myth and what they're *looking* for in a myth, doesn't it? For those who *get off* on righteous anger, the temple myth prob- ably gets their Clint Make my day blood pumping. But for those who might be looking for a more noble way of living one's life on planet Earth, the Turn the other cheek myth might be more uplifting. Gordon Charrick once said (wisely), You know you've created God in your own image when he hates the exact same people that you do. I say (possibly not as wisely), You can discern the extent of a person's spiritual progress by *which* myths he or she chooses to focus on. Most of us here are familiar with the plotlines of the myths that make up the bulk of Indian, Biblical, Jewish, and Islamic traditions. Most of them center on war and battle and righteous anger and justified killing. And if you *get off* on those tales, so be it. Me, I get off on other myths. Some of them are about the Buddha, and since *his* story wasn't written down until centuries after his death, *they* might be *just* as fictional as some of the tales of gods and goddesses cavorting in Brahmaloka. But the Buddha myths -- if they are myths -- are often *cooler* than the myths of other spiritual traditions in my opinion. They center on *rejecting* warfare, on *rejecting* righteous anger (and anger itself), and focus instead on Finding Another Way To Live, one that isn't so damned barbaric. Here are a few lines of one of these myths, from the beginning of the Dhammapada: We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind And trouble will follow you. As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with a pure mind. And happiness will follow you. As your shadow, unshakable. Look how he abused me and beat me, How he threw me down and robbed me. Live with such thoughts and you live in hate. Look how he abused me and beat me, How he threw me down and robbed me. Abandon such thoughts, and live in love. Cool myth. Not exactly movie material, though. You can't exactly imagine Clint saying this and the audiences in the theater cheering like they do when he says, Go ahead, make my day, and then wastes the bad guy with the most powerful handgun known to man. They cheer at that, too, and then
[FairfieldLife] 'Hillary The Screwtape Letters...'
Hillary just wants a little sympathy for the devil, I guess... She just 'knows' how to play the 'game' better! R.g. seattle Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
[FairfieldLife] 'Obama Still Alright'
Ongoing nomination fight hurting Clinton more than ObamaBy CHARLES BABINGTON and TREVOR TOMPSON, Associated Press Writers WASHINGTON (AP) — In a dramatic reversal, an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll found that a clear majority of Democratic voters now say Sen. Barack Obama has a better chance of defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in November than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. While Obama and Clinton are both sustaining dents and dings from their lengthy presidential fight, the former first lady is clearly suffering more. Democratic voters no longer see her as the party's strongest contender for the White House. Voters of all types have gotten a better sense of Obama, who was an obscure Illinois legislator just four years ago. As more people moved from the I don't know him category in the AP-Yahoo! News poll, more rated Obama as inexperienced, unethical and dishonest. And 15 percent erroneously think he's a Muslim, thanks in part to disinformation widely spread on the Internet. But Obama's positive ratings have climbed as well, while Clinton — widely known since the early 1990s — has been less able to change people's views of her. And when those views have shifted, it has hurt her more than helped. The New York senator's ratings for being honest, likable, ethical and refreshing have fallen since January, and Obama scores higher than she does in all those categories. In late January, before Obama scored 11 straight primary and caucus victories, 56 percent of Democrats saw Clinton as the stronger nominee, compared to 33 percent for Obama. Now, Obama leads on that question, 56 to 43 percent. Still, the poll, conducted by Knowledge Networks, contains some worrisome signs for the first-term senator. Those rating him as not at all honest, for example, jumped from 18 percent last fall to 27 percent in April. It came as he was put on the defensive over incendiary comments by his former pastor. But many holding such views are Republicans or conservative independents, who would be unlikely to vote in a Democratic primary or support a Democrat in the fall, anyway. The most encouraging sign for Obama is that many Democrats who previously saw Clinton as their party's best hope now give him that role. About one-third of them still prefer Clinton, but they have lost confidence in her electability. I would love to vote for Hillary, said Nancy Costello of Bellevue, Ky., one of the more than 1,800 randomly selected adults whose opinions are rechecked every few months. I'm 67, and I'll probably never get another chance to vote for a woman. But Obama now appears to be the stronger candidate, she said, and electing a Democrat in November is paramount. If McCain wins and continues many of President Bush's economic and foreign policies, Costello said, I think I would just sit down and cry. By tracking the same group throughout the campaign, the AP-Yahoo! News poll can gauge how individual views change. It suggests that Clinton has paid a price for hammering Obama since early February on several issues as she tries to overcome his lead in delegates and the popular vote. Among those Democrats who no longer consider her the more electable of the two, most now see her as less likable, decisive, strong, honest, experienced and ethical than they did in January. Meanwhile, those same voters are more likely to see Obama as strong, honest and refreshing than before. Beulah Barton of Leesburg, Fla., said she initially backed Clinton, partly because she liked Bill Clinton's record as president. But the more I hear her talk, and the more I hear him talk, the more put off I am, said Barton, 69. I think she's brash, I think she's rude. I get the feeling that she feels she deserves to be president and doesn't need to earn it. Barton said she likes Obama, and ignores e-mails suggesting that he refuses to salute the flag or is somehow threatening because of his name. People try to make him look like a traitor, she said. I think he has risen above most of that stuff. Some misinformation sticks, however. The great majority of the poll's participants said this month they did not know the religious affiliation of Clinton (a Methodist) or Obama (United Church of Christ). But 15 percent ventured that Obama, whose father was Kenyan, is a Muslim. That group includes more Democrats than Republicans, and it doesn't necessarily worry them. Randi Estes, a Democrat from Ada, Okla., said she prefers Clinton but feels Obama is likely to win the nomination. He's gotten very strong media coverage, and Bill Clinton's not helping her a bit, said Estes, 36, who has four children under the age of 6. Speaking of Obama, she said, I have a sense he's a Muslim. If Obama wins the nomination, the poll indicates he will need to mend his image a bit as he battles McCain for independents and soft Republicans. His favorability rating among all voters has declined, with those ranking him as very unfavorable growing from 17 percent in January to 25 percent in April.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Whacky World of TM Research
On Apr 18, 2008, at 12:06 AM, sparaig wrote: Hmmm. The segment I watched seemed quite fair and balanced. I don't see why Vaj is touting it as the total refutation of all things TM. Well I'm not touting it as that. It merely counters the TMO BS on the unified field and the fact their research is exaggerated on the conclusions and really actually not that significant. BTW, Peter Canter, the guy she quoted saying that TM research was inconclusive, has said exactly the same thing about mindfulness meditation, in a study published 4 months ago. Well unfortunately you didn't see the rest of the show which goes on after the TM segment to show research on depression and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, the science on the thickening of the cortex in meditators, Richie Davidson's research, etc. Much Mindfulness- based research is relatively new so there is a phase in research where pilot studies are performed but the research should continue to move forward into more serious research which would then utilize more controls and more sophisticated study designs.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Virtue of policy - specific example of oil drilling
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: To me, the central question to determine the virtue of a policy is its ratio of voluntary action versus mandatory action. Voluntary action means a person is their own master. Mandatory action means a person is someone else's slave. Speeding laws, being forced to drive on the right hand side of the road, vehicle and appliance efficiency standards, airplane safety inspections, building codes, fda testing of meds and food, education requirements up to a certain age, statutory rape laws, flu shots for health workers, quiet zones after 10 pm, drunk driving laws, child pornography laws, prostitution laws, certification for doctors, lawyers and engineers, mandating restaurant workers wash their hands after rest room breaks, anti-smoking laws, pet vaccinations, taxes for education and public health, pollution limits, bans for dumping toxic waste, engineering standards, health codes, telecommunication standards, are all mandatory actions. They may be nuisance in some instances, but the far larger positive externalities we collectively share. These mandates hardly make me a slave. And I have some political power to shape them or eliminate them. (Unduly constrained political power as a result of a bad system, and another topic, ..) Consider the people who are affected by, say, oil drilling -- let's choose the result most obvious and least controversial: the oil isn't part of the earth anymore. Well, we haven't determined who owned the oil. It was the earth's oil, and then some extractor took it away from the earth. That doesn't necessarily make it his. I'd call it stealing from the earth until we determine who has a right to the oil in the earth. It isn't just sitting there for the benefit of the extractor. While ownership of natural resources is an interesting question -- I was thinking about that the other day in fact, your view seems quite non von Misian, non-Hayekian -- outside of that tradition or school of thought -- where property rights and contracts between free parties is proposed to solve EVEYTHING. It's there, in my opinion, for the owners of the earth. That's all of us, isn't it? Or isn't it? That's what we have not economically determined yet in what I would call a fair way. The voluntary/mandatory ratio in the above scenario is that the driller acts voluntarily, but none of the rest of us have any say about our earth or its oil. The oil is just ripped away from our earth without our consent. No voluntary action there. I am not sure I understand your ownership claim. If you went and picked a bucket of wild blueberries, are those really my blueberries? Can I walk in and claim my stuff? But how to divide amongst the other six billion owners? But it's a fallacy to trap EVERYONE in the snares of no voluntary action by way of lots of regulations. So you would do away with the above regulations? That sounds astonishing. There has to be a way to accomodate voluntary action for all while respecting rights for all. How would you replace the above regulations with voluntary action? In fact, usually if a policy ensures that everyone's rights are respected, the natural result is a policy that supports voluntary action on all parts. And much doesn't get done. The best proponent of policy I've seen in these areas is Hans-Hermann Hoppe. He's on the von Mises Institute website. Here's an article by him y'all might enjoy on a topic often covered on this forum: a battle with PC people -- the political correctness squad. http://mises.org/story/1792 ~ Spiritkin So campus PC is over regulated. Is all regulation bad? Are the above examples all bad?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: I've looked at TM and considered it carefully because it has the affirmation of so many of my beloved friends. Ha. You don't do TM. Or similar practice. No wonder your mind is so clear. Uh, thanks, I think. What about you? Our minds have so much resonance, and you've done a lot of TM. I haven't noticed that TM necessarily clouds the mind. Have you? It was a joke. Lampooning some sloppy and loopy thinking that very occaisionally appears here.
[FairfieldLife] Re: to new.morning about the power of myth
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: When Maharishi school graduates are among the top tier of those contributing in public service, government, business, the arts -- and are well seeded (or seated) as professors at the top universities, you will have quite a compelling case. So, we already know the outcome of the charter school that is just now starting to offer the $120,000/year salary? We know the academic outcome of the school years spent at Maharishi School. We have NO idea if paying $120,000 to teachers will help the STUDENTS at the school in NY state. I do not hold that conventional success necessarily translates to personal fulfillment. Neither do I. If you are commenting on my post, I did not list all the benefits and results of strong education. I was simply suggesting that there is more to good education than the criteria spraig appeared to be using. If Maharishi schools are the greatest thing ever, then we should see some objective display of that 5-10 years hence. I have not seen that. But clearly education provides more than outer success. And to which results of education are the best? Does it matter. Its all good. I personally am doing much, much less in terms of conventional achievement than when I bought into the whole deal about being in the top tier of those contributing, I was not proposing that as a personal value. Simply, and quite casually, I was suggesting one of many more easily measured attributes and outcomes of a large body of well educated students. but I am much, much happier now than I was then. I'd rather see my children happy and fulfilled than being members of the top tier of contributors (although these are not necessarily exclusive sets). The measures you mentioned are a lot easier to calculate, but they just don't carry substantial meaning emotionally or spiritually. Frankly, I think people who are emotionally and spiritually fulfilled bring more peace and harmony to the world. That's a top tier contribution, IMO.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 1:20 AM, sparaig wrote: traditionally it has no meaning: its just a sound whose effects are known to be good. Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail.
[FairfieldLife] 'Hillary's Witchcraft has Superdelegates Confused'
Must be the old Clinton black-magic... Has 'em all confused, I reckons... Billy Bob and Hill and Chelsea, And that weird couple: The Carville's, I wouldn't trust those people with anything, really. It's like 'The Screw-tape Letters'... Watching Clinton's strategy... Elitism at it's finest! Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: So far, TM has not given the answers I would be satisfied with, so I have not stepped over the threshold Well, like your nice post on being happily non-judgmental until one needs to actually act (so funny/odd, I have written the same post several times over the years) -- one does not need to know everything right NOW! Sometimes just letting go into the mystery has its rewards. Knowledge comes when needed. (parallel to judgement at decision time). Yes, the issue is more complicated. I brought out these examples because Bronte's essay flogged them. For me, because of the way I see my sage do TM, I feel like a larger commitment to the path is called for than just a get-the-technique- and-go approach. That kind of quickie sounds like buying a bag of communion wafers and eating them at home in front of the TV. I just think it sounds superficial. But I'm not comfortable with the way the rest of the package fits in -- the TMO, the pantheon, and other stuff, not by a long shot. Few here are much involved in the offshoots of the TM organizations. Most of us started many years ago in college or around then -- when TM had a bright and shiny face -- and was a simple technique that made your mind clearer, softened the heart, made you feel good. And their were no overlap into ones regular life. In contrast, over the years, the TMO has become a full lifestyle to some. But not many here do much of that. Maybe some day TM will drift away from that package of its own accord, and maybe that will be more natural for it than its current enmeshment with them, just like various physical yogas have drifted from their original sources and now are flexed independently. Of course, according to my own theory, these are intellectual justifications for some kind of emotional conviction. So according to that theory, I must conclude that I am emotionally opposed to using TM right now. I think I'm just not ready yet. TM doesn't take any emotional commitment. Any more than relaxing in a hot tub takes emotional commitment. Wow, Lawson, you're quick on the draw. I went back to edit this post, and you've already replied to it. :-o
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: For me, because of the way I see my sage do TM, I feel like a larger commitment to the path is called for than just a get-the-technique-and-go approach. snip But I'm not comfortable with the way the rest of the package fits in -- the TMO, the pantheon, But, the TM technique was conceived to be a standalone technique. OF all the practices and techniques that MMY brought out in his various organization, by far, the most important is TM. If you had a choice of doing one thing of all the hundreds of Maharishi Vedic Health things, he would say (and had on many occasions): do TM. If the rest of the stuff turns you of, don't do it. Point taken, Lawson. Yes, TM is probably well on its way to being an independent yoga that is widely and freely distributed without its current ties to deeper meanings. I don't see it doing that right now, but I think it may get there eventually. I understand that MMY wanted people to do TM, perhaps for his own purposes, and perhaps not for their own development. I, however, am interested in my own personal and eccentric development, and I don't fit any kind of average mold, so I can't accept MMY's general advice as if he was my own guru, my own sage, deeply interested in my own welfare. He would say use TM to become your own sage and guru.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 1:20 AM, sparaig wrote: traditionally it has no meaning: its just a sound whose effects are known to be good. Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Which of course every new TM student has sitting around in the backseat of their car so they can get their full money's worth and figure out how to do the the REAL TM by fully understanding their bija mantra. Right?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
traditionally it has no meaning: its just a sound whose effects are known to be good. Vaj wrote: Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Nonsense.
[FairfieldLife] Hunting for Witches...'
by Marsha West Witchcraft on the Home Shopping Network? March 31, 2008 12:00 PM EST Last week I received an email from a pastor asking if I’d help inform the public of the Home Shopping Network’s participation in peddling witchcraft. Included in Dr. Greg Allen’s email was a letter addressed to HSN accusing the company of selling materials with spiritual principles that can be used to “teach their ‘power’ and promote New Age spirituality.” It seems HSN is marketing the Evolve with John Edward collection. Since I don’t watch HSN, I have no idea what products are being peddled to the public. So I needed to visit the website. Sure enough, the Evolve with John Edward collection has an entire page [1] featuring Edward’s picture and several products. HSN’s “exceptional array of celebrities” includes Wolfgang Puck, Suzanne Somers, Jennifer Flavin-Stallone and Tori Spelling. The description reads, Hope, comfort and inspiration: Discover the Evolve with John Edward Collection, an HSN exclusive featuring the comforting and hopeful message of this world-famous psychic medium, best-selling author and renowned motivational figure. The collection includes, 7-Strand Beaded Chakra Bracelet -- “Each color representing one of the seven ‘chakras.’ Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘spinning wheel of energy.’ Practical Praying Book with 2-Tone Glass Bead Rosary -- “Helps you learn about the power of prayer and how it can illuminate a path for each of us to follow. Also, learn to use this rosary as a tool to bring focused energy and creative thought into your everyday life.” Handsigned Limited Edition Trilogy Book Set -- “Helps answer many of your lingering questions about the afterlife… Chronicle of personal transition - John deals head on with the controversial issues he has confronted on his voyage as a psychic medium ” Proverbs 24:11says,“Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.” By writing this article I’m hoping to rescue those who are being led into the occult [death] by John Edward. What do we know about John Edward? Mr. Edward is best known for his syndicated TV show “Crossing Over” on the Sci-Fi channel. The superstar psychic engages in after-death communications and purports to receive messages from friends and family “on the other side.” He also claims to communicate with dead animals. In her article “I See Dead People: A Look at After-death Communication [2]” Marcia Montenegro enlightens us on John Edward’s early years, “He claims he astral traveled (traveled out of his body) from ages four to seven and had psychic abilities, which he thought were normal. An uncle who was involved in yoga and psychic practices and whose wife was a card reader, greatly influenced Edward, whose own mother ‘was constantly getting readings from psychics’ and often brought them to the house to do readings and séances for groups. “At age 15 when Edward received an accurate reading from a psychic and was told he was psychically gifted, he was motivated to do research. He read ‘everything’ he could on topics such as psychic phenomena, spiritualism, and spirit guides. He studied tarot cards and other ‘metaphysical’ topics, eventually leading him to work at psychic fairs and seminars. “At one of these psychic fairs, Edward had his first contact from what he believed was a dead person, which he claims was a ‘very different energy.’ These spirits continued to interrupt Edward’s readings, but they brought to him ‘a feeling of contentment, love, and peace,’ so he decided to learn about after-death communication.” (You can read more about John Edward here, or go to link 2 below) Now back to Edward’s page on the HSN website. In the Customer Review section Donna from PA wrote, “Received the bracelet yesterday. I think it is very inspiring, 1 of my sons passed away, and the bracelet makes me feel close to him. I love watching John Edward and I have all his books. I am so glad he came to HSN. Look forward to seeing more of him. Would recommend his things anytime, I really believe him.” Donna may believe Mr. Edward, yet skeptics who have investigated John Edward’s claims to receive messages from family and friends believe he’s a huckster who preys on those who have lost loved ones. Which brings to mind Terri Irwin, wife of deceased Croc Hunter Steve Irwin. A few months ago the grieving widow arranged a “private reading” with John Edward. Translation: He held a séance. On January 6, 2008, Steve allegedly spoke to Terri and his father, Bob Irwin, through Edward. There's no doubt that Steve was with us, Mr. Irwin said. It's not black and white, it's grey, but there was a definite, unmistakable Steve energy [3]. Terri, who says she’s a Christian, addressed the crowd of 5,000 who paid $90 a head hoping to “see” Steve at the Astralia Zoo. If any of you are wondering why Steve didn't come through,” said is wife, “it's because look
[FairfieldLife] Re: Gadgetry's Golden Rule?
Richard J. Williams wrote: For the record: Pricey, so-called high-end cables and wiringspeaker, HDMI, DVI, Firewire, RCA, USB, you name itno matter what, are an out-and-out scam. Monster Cables: 3.3ft HDMI ($119.99) Monoprice Cables: 6ft HDMI 1.2a ($4.79) Blue Jeans Cables: HDMI 3 foot ($21.50) Monoprice cables kicked ass at the 6 foot length that mostly everyone uses. 'The truth about Monster Cable' Gizmodo, 2008 http://tinyurl.com/26rj8k
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 8:30 AM, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 1:20 AM, sparaig wrote: traditionally it has no meaning: its just a sound whose effects are known to be good. Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Which of course every new TM student has sitting around in the backseat of their car so they can get their full money's worth and figure out how to do the the REAL TM by fully understanding their bija mantra. Right? Wrong. TM does not require that you know the meaning of your mantra, in fact they want you to believe it's a meaningless sound. But it's simply not true. Why spread lies when we don't have to?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 1:20 AM, sparaig wrote: traditionally it has no meaning: its just a sound whose effects are known to be good. Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Yes, but this is where meditation got lost in mystically, magical stuff of various rituals and stuff... Instead of using the mantra as a vibration, with no particular meaning to speak of... Just an innocent way to transcend superficial thought, superficial feeling, superficial meaning... Not getting hung up on meaning, the mind begins to transcend, naturally, spontaneously. If you find yourself off on a thought, or meaning of some kind, innocently come back to the mantra... We think the mantra as effortlessly as we think any other thought. 122234556
[FairfieldLife] Re: Virtue of policy - specific example of oil drilling
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: To me, the central question to determine the virtue of a policy is its ratio of voluntary action versus mandatory action. Voluntary action means a person is their own master. Mandatory action means a person is someone else's slave. Speeding laws, snip a list of a couple dozen, are all mandatory actions. They may be nuisance in some instances, but the far larger positive externalities we collectively share. (sigh) We are poles apart on our philosophy of regulation. I certainly don't hate you, darling, as you suggested in an earlier post, but I can see we have a LONG way to go before we can see each other over the horizon. For starters, I don't consider these to be nuisances. They are infringements sold as mere but necessary nuisances, built on earlier infringements which were sold as practical solutions to non-problems. I wonder how constructive a convo on this topic could be. I suspect my explanation of how those mandates are infringements sounds like a lot of blowhard blather to you. Generality upon generality, and nary a specific in sight (to incite, or to cite ;) The best I can do, I think, is to stick to a single topic and explore that for a while. Consider the people who are affected by, say, oil drilling -- While ownership of natural resources is an interesting question -- I was thinking about that the other day in fact, your view seems quite non von Misian, non-Hayekian -- outside of that tradition or school of thought -- where property rights and contracts between free parties is proposed to solve EVEYTHING. Um, funny you should mention it, I was actually going to propose property rights and contracts to solve the problem of ownership of natural resources. Now is that outrageous or what?! :p the driller acts voluntarily, but none of the rest of us have any say about our earth or its oil. The oil is just ripped away from our earth without our consent. No voluntary action there. I am not sure I understand your ownership claim. If you went and picked a bucket of wild blueberries, are those really my blueberries? Can I walk in and claim my stuff? But how to divide amongst the other six billion owners? These are the questions that need to be figured out. I think they could be figured out in a fair and reasonable way. And I'm an optimist and an idealist in the extreme. But it's a fallacy to trap EVERYONE in the snares of no voluntary action by way of lots of regulations. So you would do away with the above regulations? That sounds astonishing. Well, uh, yeah. All two dozen-plus of them. How would you replace the above regulations with voluntary action? Now there, *that* is a book worth writing. No, a 10-volume set, very well worth the writing. Hans-Hermann Hoppe has a good start on it, along with some other Austrians. So campus PC is over regulated. Is all regulation bad? Are the above examples all bad? I feel like I need to pat your hand or hum you something soothing. This is how I would say it: the regulations you listed are not as useful or beneficial, nor as moral or as spiritual, as the alternatives that would support the freedom and development of interdependent individuals. I also think that all of these things can be improved step by step, just like they were degraded step by step. Whew. I got to the bottom in one piece. How 'bout you?
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: to new.morning about the power of myth
On Apr 18, 2008, at 12:42 AM, sparaig wrote: Look at the relative success of Maharishi School in Fairfield where school teachers are paid probably 1/5 that, if they are lucky. Its not JUST the quality of the teachers that is important: its the quality of the students they are teaching. What success is that, spare? You must mean 'relative' in a really abstract sense, because just about all of what I've heard is horror stories, and I live here. There used to be some good teachers there, but most of them left, as they didn't like getting paid nothing for their efforts, and being treated like potted plants on top of it. As far as the quality of the students goes, the teachers were equally unhappy about that, as many of the kids had/have special needs that weren't/aren't adequately dealt with, or dealt with at all. Sal
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 8:47 AM, Richard J. Williams wrote: traditionally it has no meaning: its just a sound whose effects are known to be good. Vaj wrote: Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Nonsense. Give me your mantra, I'll tell you it's meaning and quote the text it came from. For example: ...another level of the TM mantra Shreeng is Sa (the first letter) indicates Mahalakshmi, Repha (the guttural whirring of the R-sound) indicates dAna (giving, imparting, paying back); ee (I) indicates Tushti, satisfaction and contentment, the Nada indicates Para, the transcendent--that which is beyond; and the Bindu indicates the destroyer of discomforts and uneasiness. Thus shreeng is the Bija or Seed for the worship of Lakshmi. -The mantrarthabhidanam (msg # 164856)
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 9:23 AM, Vaj wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 8:47 AM, Richard J. Williams wrote: traditionally it has no meaning: its just a sound whose effects are known to be good. Vaj wrote: Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Nonsense. Give me your mantra, I'll tell you it's meaning and quote the text it came from. For example: ...another level of the TM mantra Shreeng is Sa (the first letter) indicates Mahalakshmi, Repha (the guttural whirring of the R-sound) indicates dAna (giving, imparting, paying back); ee (I) indicates Tushti, satisfaction and contentment, the Nada indicates Para, the transcendent--that which is beyond; and the Bindu indicates the destroyer of discomforts and uneasiness. Thus shreeng is the Bija or Seed for the worship of Lakshmi. -The mantrarthabhidanam Mantrarthabhidanam from the Varada Tantra. It's first verse quotes Shiva, directly communicating to his counterpart, Parameshsvari: Sri Shiva said: Listen Oh Parameshsvari! Now I shall describe to you the meaning of Mantras. In the absence of any knowledge of which no one can get siddhi, even with a million sadhanas. - Mantrarthabhidanam
[FairfieldLife] 'Slain 23 yr old reporter'
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=80522videoChannel=1 Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
[FairfieldLife] Re: Virtue of policy - specific example of oil drilling
spiritkin wrote: Consider the people who are affected by, say, oil drilling -- Yes, let's consider the people who buy foreign oil and as long as we are at it, lets discuss the people who buy foreign cars. Most of the oil I use comes from Spindletop or the Permian Basin. I drive an energy efficient American made car, not a cheap import like a Subaru. And I buy only Texaco gasoline, not Venezuelan ethanol at CITGO. My advice is to vote for the Republican Party - a vote for the Democrats is a vote for recession and foreign energy dependence. Stop the war! Bring the troops home! Support local-made products. Read more: http://www.valero.com/ In short, pretty much every policy that the Democrats have pursued for the last three decades has contributed to the shortage of oil, and resulting high price of gasoline. For the Democrats to pretend that high prices are the fault of the oil companies--which, unlike the Democrats, actually go to great lengths to bring energy to American consumers--is beyond hypocrisy. Read more: 'Incoherence' Posted by John Hindraker: Powerline, April 2, 2007 http://tinyurl.com/567hja
[FairfieldLife] Re: 'Slain 23 yr old reporter'
Robert wrote: 'Slain 23 yr old reporter'... Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one's beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs. You forgot to mention that three Israeli troops had been killed overnight in the same area by Hamas terrorists. Hamas regularly sends unguided Katyusha and Qassam rockets into densely populated parts of Israel in the hope of killing whoever happens to be underneath when they go off. Any journalist or cameraman covering a nation with very active terrorists such as Hizbollah, Hamas and Fatah runs the risk of kidnapping, injury or death. However unfotunate, these risks 'go with the terrirory'. Question: Is this the same Fidal Shana, the 'Palestinian' who may have been working for Iran and that the same day the Palestinian Authority released the men who its own forces had kidnapped! What's up with this? 'Injured Reuters Associate Worked for Iran?' Little Green Footballs, Mon, Aug 28, 2006 http://tinyurl.com/5moqjx And why, exactly, should I believe anything that Reuters or Mr. Babaji has to say? Robert has been posting lies about Hillary Clinton here for weeks. Can anyone answer that? 'Fadel Shana and flechettes' Posted by Adrian Monck, Thursday, April 17 http://tinyurl.com/6jcaop
[FairfieldLife] Stages of samaadhi according to Taimni
http://www.gypsii.com/place.cgi?op=viewattachid=60466
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
Vaj wrote: Wrong. TM does not require that you know the meaning of your mantra, in fact they want you to believe it's a meaningless sound. Wrong. In no TM introductory lecture have I ever heard of the TM mantra referred to as a meaningless sound. In fact, the TM bija mantras are always described as sounds without semantic meaning or sounds whose effects are known. That's not the same as a meaningless sound. Bija mantras are not words found in any Sanskrit lexicon, so any meaning ascribed to them would be purely arbitrary based on the guru's instructions. Obviously, any bija mantra given in initiation will have meaning to the recipient, but not necessarily a semantic meaning. You are confused or either trying to start another argument. At first, your misinformation was amusing - I assumed you had some knowledge of these matters - not you're just trying to inflame - for what purpose? But it's simply not true. In TM you are only given one bija mantra. In fact, no mantras are given in TM. Mantras are the words found in the Rig Veda - there are no bija mantras mentioned in the Rig Veda. Why spread lies when we don't have to? Yeah, why are you spreading lies, Vaj? Have you not ever been to a TM introductory lecture?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Virtue of policy - specific example of oil drilling
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: To me, the central question to determine the virtue of a policy is its ratio of voluntary action versus mandatory action. Voluntary action means a person is their own master. Mandatory action means a person is someone else's slave. Speeding laws, snip a list of a couple dozen, are all mandatory actions. They may be nuisance in some instances, but the far larger positive externalities we collectively share. (sigh) We are poles apart on our philosophy of regulation. I certainly don't hate you, darling, as you suggested in an earlier post, but I can see we have a LONG way to go before we can see each other over the horizon. Hate was a joke -- though I know such may not translate well across the internet. For starters, I don't consider these to be nuisances. They are infringements sold as mere but necessary nuisances, built on earlier infringements which were sold as practical solutions to non-problems. I wonder how constructive a convo on this topic could be. I suspect my explanation of how those mandates are infringements sounds like a lot of blowhard blather to you. Generality upon generality, and nary a specific in sight (to incite, or to cite ;) Yes, sort of. That's why I get bogged down by von Mises and all. It can be a nice theoretical construct -- but when it comes to replacing such regulations with something that achieves the same effect, but with more freedom -- it usually is not forthcoming. But I am open c to being shown the the light. The best I can do, I think, is to stick to a single topic and explore that for a while. Consider the people who are affected by, say, oil drilling -- While ownership of natural resources is an interesting question -- I was thinking about that the other day in fact, your view seems quite non von Misian, non-Hayekian -- outside of that tradition or school of thought -- where property rights and contracts between free parties is proposed to solve EVEYTHING. Um, funny you should mention it, I was actually going to propose property rights and contracts to solve the problem of ownership of natural resources. Now is that outrageous or what?! :p the driller acts voluntarily, but none of the rest of us have any say about our earth or its oil. The oil is just ripped away from our earth without our consent. No voluntary action there. I am not sure I understand your ownership claim. If you went and picked a bucket of wild blueberries, are those really my blueberries? Can I walk in and claim my stuff? But how to divide amongst the other six billion owners? These are the questions that need to be figured out. I think they could be figured out in a fair and reasonable way. And I'm an optimist and an idealist in the extreme. But it's a fallacy to trap EVERYONE in the snares of no voluntary action by way of lots of regulations. So you would do away with the above regulations? That sounds astonishing. Well, uh, yeah. All two dozen-plus of them. How would you replace the above regulations with voluntary action? Now there, *that* is a book worth writing. No, a 10-volume set, very well worth the writing. Well, I hope the plan is to write the book, test the theory, and if it works better than the regulations in achieving the same result, then wonderful. If you are advocationg doing so before that, not so much. Hans-Hermann Hoppe has a good start on it, along with some other Austrians. So campus PC is over regulated. Is all regulation bad? Are the above examples all bad? I feel like I need to pat your hand or hum you something soothing. I am not irritated. Just astonished if you are proposing doing away with all of the above without solid ideas proven with good research that shows your proposals work. This is how I would say it: the regulations you listed are not as useful or beneficial, nor as moral or as spiritual, as the alternatives that would support the freedom and development of interdependent individuals. And these are ? I am not suggesting there are not great alternatives. I see opportunity to streamline much regulation. I don't like micro management. I prefer alternatives without it. For example, pricing energy correctly with all of its many externalities, and the need for appliance, vehicle and power plant emissions go away. I also think that all of these things can be improved step by step, just like they were degraded step by step. Whew, you had me worried. Whew. I got to the bottom in one piece. How 'bout you? I am happy as always. But I still have no clue as to your practical alternatives. Beyond the freedom, property rights, contracts among free
[FairfieldLife] Re: to new.morning about the power of myth
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 12:42 AM, sparaig wrote: Look at the relative success of Maharishi School in Fairfield where school teachers are paid probably 1/5 that, if they are lucky. Its not JUST the quality of the teachers that is important: its the quality of the students they are teaching. What success is that, spare? You must mean 'relative' in a really abstract sense, because just about all of what I've heard is horror stories, and I live here. There used to be some good teachers there, but most of them left, as they didn't like getting paid nothing for their efforts, and being treated like potted plants on top of it. As far as the quality of the students goes, the teachers were equally unhappy about that, as many of the kids had/have special needs that weren't/aren't adequately dealt with, or dealt with at all. Sal But Sal, they have TM, direct access to, and are the living embodiment of the Home of All Knowledge, The Source of All the Laws of Nature, are functioning from the Field of All Possibilities, And live in the global center of Coherence and the ME effect. What child would not thrive and become a walking prodigy in that environment.! If the kids are not, they a nimkumpoops in the first place and are not worthy. :)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin ispiritkin@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: For me, because of the way I see my sage do TM, I feel like a larger commitment to the path is called for than just a get-the-technique-and-go approach. snip But I'm not comfortable with the way the rest of the package fits in -- the TMO, the pantheon, But, the TM technique was conceived to be a standalone technique. OF all the practices and techniques that MMY brought out in his various organization, by far, the most important is TM. If you had a choice of doing one thing of all the hundreds of Maharishi Vedic Health things, he would say (and had on many occasions): do TM. If the rest of the stuff turns you of, don't do it. Point taken, Lawson. Yes, TM is probably well on its way to being an independent yoga that is widely and freely distributed without its current ties to deeper meanings. I don't see it doing that right now, but I think it may get there eventually. I understand that MMY wanted people to do TM, perhaps for his own purposes, and perhaps not for their own development. I, however, am interested in my own personal and eccentric development, and I don't fit any kind of average mold, so I can't accept MMY's general advice as if he was my own guru, my own sage, deeply interested in my own welfare. He would say use TM to become your own sage and guru. I'll second that- the reason I have stuck with TM for over 30 years 2x a day is that there is no support organization necessary, and it works. Aside from two years in which I worked for the TMO as a peon (not a teacher) over 25 years ago, I just quietly do the practice and stay away from the organization. I also went on some courses in residence many years ago, but for the most part have relished my independence and profound experiences resulting from my solitary practice. No need to buy into the idea of Maharishi as guru either-- he sure never encouraged it.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Nonsense. Vaj wrote: Give me your mantra, I'll tell you it's meaning and quote the text it came from. For example: ...another level of the TM mantra Shreeng You idiot! There's no Shreeng TM mantra. Look, Vaj, any sound can be a bija mantra and any bija can have any meaning the guru wants to ascribe to it. But Marshy does not say that any of the TM bija mantras mean anything. How many times do I have to remind you of that? In TM, the bija mantras do NOT have semantic meaning. If they did, the Marshy would have said so to all his American students. In fact, bija mantras given in initiation are esoteric, that is, they are hidden. All you have done with this post is to look up some nonsense syllables in a book composed in the 18th century by some unknown fakir or baba - none of the examples you mention are actual bija mantras - bijas are esoteric. Do you know what esoteric means, Vaj? You can't learn tantra or bija mantras from a book. Here is the whole picture: Newsgroups: alt.meditation.transcendental From: John Manning Date: Tues, Jul 30 2002 10:27 pm Subject: Maharishi's mantras http://tinyurl.com/6q9kmd is Sa (the first letter) indicates Mahalakshmi...
[FairfieldLife] Dudjom - from Kirk
From: Kirk [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 10:12 AM To: Rick Archer Subject: Dudjom Hey Rick, this very powerful cycle of Dzogchen teachings of Dudjom lineage of Tibetan Buddhist empowerments is being given free and open to all in Austin next month. Could you mention it on your group please? Thanks so much - Kirk HYPERLINK http://www.palri.org/events/tulkuteglorinpoche.htmlhttp://www.palri.org/ev ents/tulkuteglorinpoche.html No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.13/1378 - Release Date: 4/15/2008 9:12 AM
RE: [FairfieldLife] to new.morning about the power of myth
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ispiritkin Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 10:48 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] to new.morning about the power of myth I spent a while responding to your post on The Power of Myth, but then the server lost my post and also lost the whole thread. So I can't even point you toward the original. This is an example of why it’s good to read FFL in your email client. No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.13/1378 - Release Date: 4/15/2008 9:12 AM
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
Wrong. TM does not require that you know the meaning of your mantra, in fact they want you to believe it's a meaningless sound. But it's simply not true. Why spread lies when we don't have to? This seems a bit harsh and hostile to me. In TM you are given a word that you have probably never heard before and you are not given any meaning to associate with that word (quite the reverse of course). That makes that word meaningless (to that person). The fact that the word may have a meaning attached to it elsewhere, in another context, or by other people seems hardly relevant. Unless that is you add in the Platonic assumption that meanings have a reality and life of their own and it is that reality that is doing the work in the meditation. But why should it be the meaning of the word rather than the sound of the word that has the meditative effect? Take for example the theme to Tubular Bells. When that music came out I loved it - but I had never seen the film The Exorcist. For me it was a really lovely, beautiful and positive piece of music. But to my friends who had seen the film it was quite chilling. The sound and the meaning here were quite adrift. Or consider this. Supposing I decide to offer some gentle relaxation therapy in which I ask patients to settle down, close their eyes and listen to some calming music. Let's say one piece I use is Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte. And let's also assume that none of my patients know anything about this piece (its title in particular!). Are we to suppose that the real (but unknown) meaning of the music will work its way into my patients' consciousness making them depressed rather than relaxed? I hardly think so! And would I be lying to those patients if I said that this is just some nice music and you don't need to know anything more about it (even though there is always more that can be known about it)? Surely not. This I think is the position of the TMO on mantras. But then I guess some will say that mantras are not just sounds (whereas perhaps music is): They have a meaning (and perhaps a sinister one at that if Bronte Baxter is to be believed). But why should that be right? Could it not be like the old analogy of the finger pointing at the moon? It is a mistake to confuse the meaning or concept of a thing with the thing itself.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 11:28 AM, Richard M wrote: Wrong. TM does not require that you know the meaning of your mantra, in fact they want you to believe it's a meaningless sound. But it's simply not true. Why spread lies when we don't have to? This seems a bit harsh and hostile to me. Why would the truth seem harsh and hostile to you? In TM you are given a word that you have probably never heard before and you are not given any meaning to associate with that word (quite the reverse of course). That makes that word meaningless (to that person). The fact that the word may have a meaning attached to it elsewhere, in another context, or by other people seems hardly relevant. It's not another context. The mantras come from Hindu tantrism and the bija dictionaries do as well. They go hand in hand. In fact mantra useage has a large textual and practical tradition which continues up to the present. It's just not authentically passed on in the TM tradition, which instead distorts the tradition. The fact is there was an attempt to hide this under the guise of TM being some sort of scientific trip. It was important to hide these facts so that the ruse could be maintained and the myth that TM was not actually a religious practice upheld. The fact is the mantras not only have their origins in Hindu tantrism/ paganism, they also have a continuous tradition which explains them, how they're used, their meanings, etc.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Gadgetry's Golden Rule?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Richard J. Williams [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: For the record: Pricey, so-called high-end cables and wiringspeaker, HDMI, DVI, Firewire, RCA, USB, you name itno matter what, are an out-and-out scam. Richard Hughes wrote: Not so, my cables cancel out high frequency radio waves, Most humans can't even hear high frequency radio waves, Richard. True, but you hear their absence with a more natural and much clearer sound. they sounded way clearer from the first chord. Depends on the source, I guess. I only listen to the mellow music sounds of vinyl analog. Digital CDs suck, in my opinion. I don't watch TV or many movies either - they suck as well. Shame to miss out on movies because of the messenger, unless you think the movies are crap too. I know CDs are a poor second to vinyl but I fell for the hype and never heard a good turntable til I started going to hi-fi shows. Buying one now would mean replacing all my albums. But the best sound I ever heard was from a CD player made by Mark Levinson. Awesome and much better than mere reality, leaves everything else, including vinyl, for dead. Shame it costs more than my house, and my old Black Sabbath albums may sound a tad harsh through it, but it's quite an achievement. Silver conducts better than copper and a teflon coating helps your treble stay natural. Tried and tested. Come round and I'll do you a blind test. Next time I'm in East Anglia, I'll give you a call. I've also got a mains purifier to cut out the spikes and backwash from fridges and computers. Sounds like you're on the right track. I live in hi-fi heaven. One of the things that distinguishes a dedicated audiophile from Joe Q. Public is that he has some notion of what audio fidelity is all about. Read more: 'The Absolute Sound of What?' By J. Gordon Holt http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/363/ Check out the site, this is the stuff http://www.russandrews.com/ Thanks for the link - I'll check it out. They do a theree month, no questions asked, guarantee on cables. So you can buy and try for a bit, then put your old bell-wire back on and decide to keep the RA stuff. They don't get many returns.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Richard J. Williams [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Nonsense. Vaj wrote: Give me your mantra, I'll tell you it's meaning and quote the text it came from. For example: ...another level of the TM mantra Shreeng You idiot! There's no Shreeng TM mantra. Perhaps he means Shiring which is my mantra.
[FairfieldLife] Needing advice......... TM Holosync
Hello, I hope someone can help...I'm needing some advice, I am experiencing difficulties with 'pain thresholds' and although I understand I can still meditate (TM) in pain, the whole pain thing is quite challenging to say the least in the area of discomfort thresholds in and out of TM. Holosync has been reccommended to me in the interim when I find meditation (correct meditation) not coming so easy. I've have two questions: Has anyone who enjoys their TM used this technology for enhancing coherent brain functioning. how do you find it? Also if my TM practice is facing difficulty with 'forcing' (ie. not TM) can anyone advize on the wisdom of incorporating such a technology if it does work. cutting corners in a difficult period??? I'd be grateful for any advice coming from experience of this technology. All the Best Simon
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
This seems a bit harsh and hostile to me. Why would the truth seem harsh and hostile to you? Vaj - An attentive reader would notice that the reference of the word this in my statement was not truth. It was your comments. I am sure you know that actually.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Every OS Sucks [for musician/computer lovers friends]
cardemaister wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Have you tried Mac OS X in the past few years? and teh UI intergration on Mac computers is still superior to that on Windows or Linux. X- WIndows GUI's are a joke compared to Mac OS X. Lawson In my understanding, Ubuntu (Linux) has a Mac'ish UI. Could you give an example on how exactly it is inferior to Mac OS X? I'm quite satisfied with it, but mainly because the hard drive rattle is much reduced compared to Windows XP. And unlike Windows you'll never have to defrag your drive as the Linux OS doesn't need it. Does Mac require defragging, Lawson?
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Gadgetry's Golden Rule?
Richard J. Williams wrote: Richard J. Williams wrote: For the record: Pricey, so-called high-end cables and wiring—speaker, HDMI, DVI, Firewire, RCA, USB, you name it—no matter what, are an out-and-out scam. Monster Cables: 3.3ft HDMI ($119.99) Monoprice Cables: 6ft HDMI 1.2a ($4.79) Blue Jeans Cables: HDMI 3 foot ($21.50) Monoprice cables kicked ass at the 6 foot length that mostly everyone uses. 'The truth about Monster Cable' Gizmodo, 2008 http://tinyurl.com/26rj8k I have a few Monster cables on my system but the majority are inexpensive RCA, Phillips and Radio Shack cables. Because I got the Harmony remote I needed to finally fix my setup to handle component switching better. In the process of ordering a couple inexpensive optical cables from Amazon they popped up a new component switcher I hadn't seen there before that not only did component switching but also switched the audio to either optical or SPDIF. It also runs by remote so will work with the Harmony and it was less than $50. My speaker wire is Monster because I didn't like what was available otherwise and it was not particularly expensive. But I can also understand the POV that if you have interference problems they have solutions albeit expensive. But they also prey on home theater owner's vanity too but that was around since the early days of hifi. :) To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, hugheshugo [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Richard J. Williams willytex@ wrote: Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Nonsense. Vaj wrote: Give me your mantra, I'll tell you it's meaning and quote the text it came from. For example: ...another level of the TM mantra Shreeng You idiot! There's no Shreeng TM mantra. Perhaps he means Shiring which is my mantra. Apologies to any TM folk who are upset by me glibly posting my, secret and never to be spoken aloud, mantra here but I'm interested in where it came from. I saw this spelling of it in a list in a book called Levitation; what it is and how to do it. It explained how many TM mantras there are and how they choose the one you get (I'll keep the secret in case you don't know.) That was the one I got and as it's phonetically similar I assumed it was the same as the Shreeng mantra. What do you think Vaj, can you shed any light on it?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Virtue of policy - specific example of oil drilling
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ispiritkin wrote: It can be a nice theoretical construct -- but when it comes to replacing such regulations with something that achieves the same effect, but with more freedom -- it usually is not forthcoming. But I am open c to being shown the the light. Okay, I'll run with that. First, I'd like to say that there is a difference between the promise of a regulation and the effect of a regulation. Legislators et al sell regulations based on some theory or another. When the regulation goes into effect, something else happens -- reality happens, and it's different than the promise/theory/projection. It's important to consider what is NOT seen along with what is seen -- the old essay That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Not Seen by Frederic Bastiat explains it. Very readable -- Bastiat's got a nice style. http://www.mises.org/web/2735 It's a long essay, but the first two sections establish enough of a point. Section VII, Restrictions, is also pertinent. Well, I hope the plan is to write the book, test the theory, and if it works better than the regulations in achieving the same result, then wonderful. If you are advocationg doing so before that, not so much. This is the request of a rational man. Unfortunately, the legislators of the past were not rational men, and they went willy- nilly passing regulations that were written with glowing promises, but not tested whatsoever. Now that the regulations are in place, they are what we see, and it is harder to know what it would be like without them -- what we can't see -- although there is often centuries (or at least decades for new tech) of historical example of exactly how people got along without it. I am not irritated. Just astonished if you are proposing doing away with all of the above without solid ideas proven with good research that shows your proposals work. Without solid ideas? Centuries of historical examples, decades of examples of how regulations have not only failed but have done the *opposite* of what they promised, yet mainstream media extol the virtues of regulation and people believe it. That happens because power is at stake. Every government regulation is power held over somebody by somebody else. The holders of power are few and they are vested in keeping their power and increasing it. In general, they are not worried about justice, equity, or a clean environment. I am happy as always. But I still have no clue as to your practical alternatives. Beyond the freedom, property rights, contracts among free individuals rap. I know that one. Its I just don't see much practical solutions coming from it. Shall we read Bastiat's essay, the first two sections and section VII, and then see where we stand on what he says? A much used example, Milton Friedman used it a lot, but he may be way to left wing for you :), hahaha ;-) is that you don't need FTC to enforce basic honesty claims in advertising, or safety standards, because a companies reputation is king and if they lie and send out unsafe products, all these smart rational and FREE consumers will not buy from them. Nice theory. So many trip points -- that it isn't a practical alternative. The theory doesn't hold up. I trust the private company seals for organic certification far more than the USDA seal. These private companies certainly are a practical alternative, and are MUCH more ethical and responsive to consumer demand than the USDA. And I also think that by shopping at Everybody's, a locally owned grocery store in Fairfield, I get the filters of the owners and managers of the store, who want to stock quality merch. I think they have more dedication to stocking high quality merch than the huge chain store Hy-Vee. I can only imagine the horror if we shoppers could rely only on a government commissar to approve and disapprove of vendors. Gag me. And then there's that bastion of freedom that regulators are panting after: the internet. I happened to find a website that ranked milk according to its true organic origins based on research that some dedicated activists did. So now I don't buy Horizon milk anymore, although from the packaging and the shelf space at Everybody's it's hard to tell the difference from other brands. I am so happy to have these private sources of information available, and I'm grateful that they haven't been run off by regulators. But regulators would just love to make you more dependent on their regulations and run private info sources out of business. It's all about power. These examples show that the theory DOES hold up, even in competition against the tax-supported USDA. But that's only because the private info sources haven't been outlawed. Yet. And frankly, I feel freer, and have more free time, if I don't have to be worried that organic tofu
[FairfieldLife] Re: Gadgetry's Golden Rule?
Not so, my cables cancel out high frequency radio waves, Most humans can't even hear high frequency radio waves, Richard. Richard Hughes wrote: True, but you hear their absence with a more natural and much clearer sound. Maybe so. Thanks for all the information.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 12:25 PM, Richard M wrote: This seems a bit harsh and hostile to me. Why would the truth seem harsh and hostile to you? Vaj - An attentive reader would notice that the reference of the word this in my statement was not truth. It was your comments. I am sure you know that actually. Who knows what you were thinking? I certainly didn't.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
Richard Hughes wrote: Apologies to any TM folk who are upset by me glibly posting my, secret and never to be spoken aloud, mantra here but I'm interested in where it came from. The TM bija mantras are derived from the tantric Sri Vidya tradition of Karnataka. Swami Brahmananda Saraswati belonged to the Saraswati sampradaya which is headquartered at Sringeri. Swmaiji's guru was Swami Krishananda Saraswati. All the Saraswati gurus follow the Sri Vidya tradition. The TM bija mantras are enumerated in the main scripture of Sri Vidya, the Saundaryalahari which was composed by the Adi Shankara. Read more: Auspicious Wisdom: http://www.rwilliams.us/archives/srividya.htm Excerpt from 'Auspicious Wisdom: Like the other Sankara texts, it is possible that SL was composed either in the Sankara matha of Srinigeri or Kanchipuram. The attribution of these four works to Sankara solidifies connections between smarta brahmans, who identify with one of the southern Sankara pithas, and Sakta and Srividya traditionalists. Srividya appears to have undergone something of a reformation in the south in the period of the composition of these texts. Between the ninth and twelfth centuries, southerners distance themselves from Kashmiri Kaulism in order to distinguish Srividya from morally suspect Tantrism. Sakta non-dualism is broadly construed to be compatible with Sankara's advaita Vedanta, though points of difference are rarely articulated and no serious effort is made to address them. Work cited: Auspicious Wisdom by Douglas Renfrew Brooks State University of New York Press, 1992 (page 47-48)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Gadgetry's Golden Rule?
Bhairitu wrote: Because I got the Harmony remote I needed to finally fix my setup to handle component switching better. For true component switching you'll be needing to get a new Yamaha RX-Z11 reciever. That way, you can use the great Yamaha remote that is included, which switches audio AND video, from Component, HDMI, or S-VHS, with a single remote control device that is illuminated for night vision. Who needs four remote controls sitting on their coffee table? Read more: 11.2-Channel Digital Home Theater Receiver: http://tinyurl.com/4n7p9s Richard J. Williams wrote: For the record: Pricey, so-called high-end cables and wiringspeaker, HDMI, DVI, Firewire, RCA, USB, you name itno matter what, are an out-and-out scam. Monster Cables: 3.3ft HDMI ($119.99) Monoprice Cables: 6ft HDMI 1.2a ($4.79) Blue Jeans Cables: HDMI 3 foot ($21.50) Monoprice cables kicked ass at the 6 foot length that mostly everyone uses. 'The truth about Monster Cable' Gizmodo, 2008 http://tinyurl.com/26rj8k
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 12:54 PM, hugheshugo wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, hugheshugo [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Richard J. Williams willytex@ wrote: Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Nonsense. Vaj wrote: Give me your mantra, I'll tell you it's meaning and quote the text it came from. For example: ...another level of the TM mantra Shreeng You idiot! There's no Shreeng TM mantra. Perhaps he means Shiring which is my mantra. Apologies to any TM folk who are upset by me glibly posting my, secret and never to be spoken aloud, mantra here but I'm interested in where it came from. I saw this spelling of it in a list in a book called Levitation; what it is and how to do it. It explained how many TM mantras there are and how they choose the one you get (I'll keep the secret in case you don't know.) That was the one I got and as it's phonetically similar I assumed it was the same as the Shreeng mantra. What do you think Vaj, can you shed any light on it? Shiring is just a poor transliteration. The Harvard-Kyoto transliteration (used for Sanskrit) is srIM which would be pronounced sreeng or often shreeng--the bija of Lakshmi or Shree. In this case the mantra is so close to Lakshmi's epithet Shree it's pretty obvious who or what it invokes, at least to many Hindus.
[FairfieldLife] Fairfield Feels the Shake from an Earthquake
Just think of all the property damage and loss of life that would have occurred had there been no pandits in Vedic City! http://www.fairfieldiowaradio.com/news.cfm Fairfield Feels the Shake from an Earthquake Some Jefferson County Residents awoke this morning to the shaking of their homes. The Jefferson County Law Center fielded several calls of tremors in the Fairfield area just after 4:40 a.m. The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the Level 1 earthquake registering a 5.2 was centered 131-miles east of St. Louis, Missouri. The quake struck at 4:36 a.m., and was felt by residents in multiple states, including Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. The USGS web site reports the epicenter of the earthquake was about three miles below ground, 38-miles northwest of Evansville, Indiana. The Jefferson County Law Center reports people felt their homes shaking during the event. As of this morning no damage or injuries had been reported locally, while minor damage has been reported across the Midwest. The USGS says the largest historical earthquake in the region -- magnitude 5.4 -- shook southern Illinois in 1968.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
Vaj wrote: Shiring is just a poor transliteration... Actually, there are no valid transliterations of bija mantras. All true bijas are given in an esoteric initiation - there's no translation or transliteration possible. Bija mantras are given in diksha - they can mean anything the guru wants them to mean, or not. Any bija that you read about in a book or in a dictionary is just a series of nonsense syllables - they have no shakti. Anyone is doomed to failure when they attempt to use the English language to define or describe a bija mantra - it would be a purely academic exercise, of no use to anyone except a scholastic or a crank.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: to new.morning about the power of myth
On Apr 18, 2008, at 10:00 AM, new.morning wrote: But Sal, they have TM, direct access to, and are the living embodiment of the Home of All Knowledge, The Source of All the Laws of Nature, are functioning from the Field of All Possibilities, And live in the global center of Coherence and the ME effect. What child would not thrive and become a walking prodigy in that environment.! If the kids are not, they a nimkumpoops in the first place and are not worthy. :) That's it, new. Any kid who can't handle living in the Home of All Knowledge obviously doesn't deserve to. Case closed. Sal
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 10:28 AM, Richard M wrote: Wrong. TM does not require that you know the meaning of your mantra, in fact they want you to believe it's a meaningless sound. But it's simply not true. Why spread lies when we don't have to? This seems a bit harsh and hostile to me. In TM you are given a word...That makes that word meaningless ...The fact that the word may have a meaning attached to it elsewhere...Unless that is you add in the Platonic assumption...But why should it be the meaning of the word rather than the sound of the word...Take for example...Or consider this...Let's say...And let's also assume...Are we to suppose...And would I be lying...if I said...This I think...But then I guess some will say... Could it not be...It is a mistake to confuse... This, Richard, is your lecture boiled down to its essence, as it were. :) It reads like something out of Mad Magazine, and proves Vaj's point perfectly. Only by doing extreme mental gymnastics and rationalization after rationalization, can even you, who believe this stuff, make it work. Nice try, though. :) Sal
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
Very nice post, Richard. I agree with you completely. When I taught TM I never told people that the mantras were meaningless sounds and nor was I ever asked to say that. I told them that the mantras were sounds, the effects of which are known, and that that was what was important, rather than any meaning they might have. Your first paragraph is in this respect particularly apt and very well put. I hope you'll post again. We need clear, literate voices on this forum. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Richard M [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Wrong. TM does not require that you know the meaning of your mantra, in fact they want you to believe it's a meaningless sound. But it's simply not true. Why spread lies when we don't have to? This seems a bit harsh and hostile to me. In TM you are given a word that you have probably never heard before and you are not given any meaning to associate with that word (quite the reverse of course). That makes that word meaningless (to that person). The fact that the word may have a meaning attached to it elsewhere, in another context, or by other people seems hardly relevant. Unless that is you add in the Platonic assumption that meanings have a reality and life of their own and it is that reality that is doing the work in the meditation. But why should it be the meaning of the word rather than the sound of the word that has the meditative effect? Take for example the theme to Tubular Bells. When that music came out I loved it - but I had never seen the film The Exorcist. For me it was a really lovely, beautiful and positive piece of music. But to my friends who had seen the film it was quite chilling. The sound and the meaning here were quite adrift. Or consider this. Supposing I decide to offer some gentle relaxation therapy in which I ask patients to settle down, close their eyes and listen to some calming music. Let's say one piece I use is Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte. And let's also assume that none of my patients know anything about this piece (its title in particular!). Are we to suppose that the real (but unknown) meaning of the music will work its way into my patients' consciousness making them depressed rather than relaxed? I hardly think so! And would I be lying to those patients if I said that this is just some nice music and you don't need to know anything more about it (even though there is always more that can be known about it)? Surely not. This I think is the position of the TMO on mantras. But then I guess some will say that mantras are not just sounds (whereas perhaps music is): They have a meaning (and perhaps a sinister one at that if Bronte Baxter is to be believed). But why should that be right? Could it not be like the old analogy of the finger pointing at the moon? It is a mistake to confuse the meaning or concept of a thing with the thing itself.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: to new.morning about the power of myth
On Apr 18, 2008, at 1:50 AM, new.morning wrote: When Maharishi school graduates are among the top tier of those contributing in public service, government, business, the arts -- and are well seeded (or seated) as professors at the top universities, you will have quite a compelling case. It's an interesting and apropos criteria you're suggesting here New Morn IMO: can these kids actually survive in the real world? Of course one of the criticisms of the MSAE is that these kids can have a hard time leaving the TMO let alone functioning in the real world.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
When you teach TM you write down the qualities needed for a mantra. One of them is that they are meaningless so the mind is not kept on the surface, and one is that their effects are known to be life supporting. Am I the only teacher who remembers this? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, feste37 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Very nice post, Richard. I agree with you completely. When I taught TM I never told people that the mantras were meaningless sounds and nor was I ever asked to say that. I told them that the mantras were sounds, the effects of which are known, and that that was what was important, rather than any meaning they might have. Your first paragraph is in this respect particularly apt and very well put. I hope you'll post again. We need clear, literate voices on this forum. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Richard M compost1uk@ wrote: Wrong. TM does not require that you know the meaning of your mantra, in fact they want you to believe it's a meaningless sound. But it's simply not true. Why spread lies when we don't have to? This seems a bit harsh and hostile to me. In TM you are given a word that you have probably never heard before and you are not given any meaning to associate with that word (quite the reverse of course). That makes that word meaningless (to that person). The fact that the word may have a meaning attached to it elsewhere, in another context, or by other people seems hardly relevant. Unless that is you add in the Platonic assumption that meanings have a reality and life of their own and it is that reality that is doing the work in the meditation. But why should it be the meaning of the word rather than the sound of the word that has the meditative effect? Take for example the theme to Tubular Bells. When that music came out I loved it - but I had never seen the film The Exorcist. For me it was a really lovely, beautiful and positive piece of music. But to my friends who had seen the film it was quite chilling. The sound and the meaning here were quite adrift. Or consider this. Supposing I decide to offer some gentle relaxation therapy in which I ask patients to settle down, close their eyes and listen to some calming music. Let's say one piece I use is Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte. And let's also assume that none of my patients know anything about this piece (its title in particular!). Are we to suppose that the real (but unknown) meaning of the music will work its way into my patients' consciousness making them depressed rather than relaxed? I hardly think so! And would I be lying to those patients if I said that this is just some nice music and you don't need to know anything more about it (even though there is always more that can be known about it)? Surely not. This I think is the position of the TMO on mantras. But then I guess some will say that mantras are not just sounds (whereas perhaps music is): They have a meaning (and perhaps a sinister one at that if Bronte Baxter is to be believed). But why should that be right? Could it not be like the old analogy of the finger pointing at the moon? It is a mistake to confuse the meaning or concept of a thing with the thing itself.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 1:24 PM, feste37 wrote: Very nice post, Richard. I agree with you completely. When I taught TM I never told people that the mantras were meaningless sounds If I had a dime for every time I heard that, feste... and nor was I ever asked to say that. I told them that the mantras were sounds, the effects of which are known, and that that was what was important, rather than any meaning they might have. Doesn't sound right to me. Your first paragraph is in this respect particularly apt and very well put. I hope you'll post again. We need clear, literate voices on this forum. As opposed, say, to what we usually get? Sal
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Shiring is just a poor transliteration. The Harvard-Kyoto
transliteration (used for Sanskrit) is srIM which would be pronounced
sreeng or often shreeng--the bija of Lakshmi or Shree. In this case
the mantra is so close to Lakshmi's epithet Shree it's pretty
obvious who or what it invokes, at least to many Hindus.
The dental sibilant ('s' in sit) seems to be rather rare in Sanskrit
before a *consonantal* r-sound, followed by an 'i' (Sanskrit has
two r-sounds, a consonantal and a vocalic, which can form
a syllable by itself, as e.g. in 'RSi' [R-Si], or Rgveda).
For some peculiar reason hindoos often seem to
ignore the difference between the dental sibilant 's' and the
palatal sibilant ('sh' in shit), like in Siva for Shiva and
Sankara for Shankara.
In Harvard-Kyoto 'z' is used for 'sh' (and 'S' for the rather
similar sounding retroflex sibilant) in order to present
as many Sanskrit sounds as possible with one Latin character,
I believe.
So, if you enter 'zri' into the Sanskrit field of
CDSL, with the 'prefix' option instead of 'exact' you get lots of
interesting stuff to read, whereas 'sri' gives only five short entries.
But, but, but...if you want to see the word that, IMO, most resembles
one famous biija-mantra ya need to enter 'zrgga'[sic: shRng-ga]. If
anyone wants to know, why, I might try to explain... :0
http://webapps.uni-koeln.de/tamil/
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Gadgetry's Golden Rule?
Richard J. Williams wrote: Bhairitu wrote: Because I got the Harmony remote I needed to finally fix my setup to handle component switching better. For true component switching you'll be needing to get a new Yamaha RX-Z11 reciever. That way, you can use the great Yamaha remote that is included, which switches audio AND video, from Component, HDMI, or S-VHS, with a single remote control device that is illuminated for night vision. Who needs four remote controls sitting on their coffee table? Read more: 11.2-Channel Digital Home Theater Receiver: http://tinyurl.com/4n7p9s Very funny. :D That is almost as much as my whole system cost though it would cost far less to replace these days. Instead go for one of these: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/cl=us,en I have the cheapest ($99 MRSP) which is the XBox remote and it lights up when I enter the room. It was a gift and lacks the page keys which I sorely miss so may get the next one up. I originally wanted the 890 which could also control my $20 light switch but it probably works the way the one I have and I won't always want that remote to turn the light off so I can live with two remotes. As far as I can see the more expensive ones allow for more devices (up to 15), have color screens some of them touch and are rechargeable. But they all work the same.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
I'll add my ditto. Even if we say that the mantras are the names of gods, we shouldn't jump to easy conclusions about how mantra meditation is really a Hindu religious practice. We should first ask a few questions about exactly what is meant by the term gods, especially if we are dealing with an unfamiliar cultural context. MMY once said that the gods were impulses of consciousness. That, to me is an accurate rendering of what St. Thomas Acquinas means in his discussion of angels. We thus could translate the term gods into angels, except for the fact that in modern usage, angels have become exactly what they have become in the popular culture of India: personifications of those impulses. The nature of those personifications are quite different in both cultures. In the West we have these insipid creatures with wings and clad in white nightgowns. In India there is a wild an colorful bunch of gods. The personification develops here, as it does in many cultures, to explain things to the popular mind or the mind that isn't deep enough to experience the impulses directly as what they are. It is accurate to call them sacred, in some sense because they are primary in the sense of being first distinctions from the Absolute. They are also the primary sounds the human speech apparatus is designed to make. --- feste37 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Very nice post, Richard. I agree with you completely. When I taught TM I never told people that the mantras were meaningless sounds and nor was I ever asked to say that. I told them that the mantras were sounds, the effects of which are known, and that that was what was important, rather than any meaning they might have. Your first paragraph is in this respect particularly apt and very well put. I hope you'll post again. We need clear, literate voices on this forum. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Richard M [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Wrong. TM does not require that you know the meaning of your mantra, in fact they want you to believe it's a meaningless sound. But it's simply not true. Why spread lies when we don't have to? This seems a bit harsh and hostile to me. In TM you are given a word that you have probably never heard before and you are not given any meaning to associate with that word (quite the reverse of course). That makes that word meaningless (to that person). The fact that the word may have a meaning attached to it elsewhere, in another context, or by other people seems hardly relevant. Unless that is you add in the Platonic assumption that meanings have a reality and life of their own and it is that reality that is doing the work in the meditation. But why should it be the meaning of the word rather than the sound of the word that has the meditative effect? Take for example the theme to Tubular Bells. When that music came out I loved it - but I had never seen the film The Exorcist. For me it was a really lovely, beautiful and positive piece of music. But to my friends who had seen the film it was quite chilling. The sound and the meaning here were quite adrift. Or consider this. Supposing I decide to offer some gentle relaxation therapy in which I ask patients to settle down, close their eyes and listen to some calming music. Let's say one piece I use is Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte. And let's also assume that none of my patients know anything about this piece (its title in particular!). Are we to suppose that the real (but unknown) meaning of the music will work its way into my patients' consciousness making them depressed rather than relaxed? I hardly think so! And would I be lying to those patients if I said that this is just some nice music and you don't need to know anything more about it (even though there is always more that can be known about it)? Surely not. This I think is the position of the TMO on mantras. But then I guess some will say that mantras are not just sounds (whereas perhaps music is): They have a meaning (and perhaps a sinister one at that if Bronte Baxter is to be believed). But why should that be right? Could it not be like the old analogy of the finger pointing at the moon? It is a mistake to confuse the meaning or concept of a thing with the thing itself. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
The Hindu gods are about as real as the guy in the sky that the Christians believe in. They are analogies. If one believes there are laws of physics then just think of those gods as a analogies to forces at the very low levels of physics. Yup, I know that is the spiel that the TMO gives but they may not be that far off there. Most fundamentalist groups in India may actually want to believe in literal gods and there is a debate that in your own mind often in dream states these forces may manifest as some physical being (I've actually experienced that). Angela Mailander wrote: I'll add my ditto. Even if we say that the mantras are the names of gods, we shouldn't jump to easy conclusions about how mantra meditation is really a Hindu religious practice. We should first ask a few questions about exactly what is meant by the term gods, especially if we are dealing with an unfamiliar cultural context. MMY once said that the gods were impulses of consciousness. That, to me is an accurate rendering of what St. Thomas Acquinas means in his discussion of angels. We thus could translate the term gods into angels, except for the fact that in modern usage, angels have become exactly what they have become in the popular culture of India: personifications of those impulses. The nature of those personifications are quite different in both cultures. In the West we have these insipid creatures with wings and clad in white nightgowns. In India there is a wild an colorful bunch of gods. The personification develops here, as it does in many cultures, to explain things to the popular mind or the mind that isn't deep enough to experience the impulses directly as what they are. It is accurate to call them sacred, in some sense because they are primary in the sense of being first distinctions from the Absolute. They are also the primary sounds the human speech apparatus is designed to make.
[FairfieldLife] advice needed
Dear Abby, I am a 60-year-old woman who is married to a man who acts like he hates me. In public, he pretends he loves me and talks about how wonderful I am. But in private, he shakes his finger in my face and calls me the 'B' word. He constantly tells me how ugly I am without make-up. I've tried everything, including a face-lift, botox treatments, and a chin tuck. I even went on a diet and lost 20 pounds. He left his job a few years ago after having an affair with a woman in his office. He hasn't even looked for another job. We haven't slept together since I confronted him about the affair. He denied it, of course, but everybody knew it. It was humiliating. I believe he is still messing around. While we both want to sell this house, we argue constantly about when to put it on the market. The house we want will be available in a few months. My husband wants to put our house on the market now. I think we should wait a while. He has already started collecting boxes and packing up his stuff. Do you think he is planning to leave me? Signed, Worried in NY. Dear Worried in NY: I doubt it. He wants to move back into the White House as much as you do! Signed, Abby
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
Thanks for adding that to my comment Bhairitu. I thought about mentioning that same thing, but my mind isn't working well due to sleep deprivation. The impulses are real enough, and the personification as gods or angels may be appropriate in the sense that they correspond to Jungian (pashyanti) mythic structures of the human mind. But taking them literally as all fundies do, that is a step away from the reality status that they do, in fact, enjoy. --- Bhairitu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The Hindu gods are about as real as the guy in the sky that the Christians believe in. They are analogies. If one believes there are laws of physics then just think of those gods as a analogies to forces at the very low levels of physics. Yup, I know that is the spiel that the TMO gives but they may not be that far off there. Most fundamentalist groups in India may actually want to believe in literal gods and there is a debate that in your own mind often in dream states these forces may manifest as some physical being (I've actually experienced that). Angela Mailander wrote: I'll add my ditto. Even if we say that the mantras are the names of gods, we shouldn't jump to easy conclusions about how mantra meditation is really a Hindu religious practice. We should first ask a few questions about exactly what is meant by the term gods, especially if we are dealing with an unfamiliar cultural context. MMY once said that the gods were impulses of consciousness. That, to me is an accurate rendering of what St. Thomas Acquinas means in his discussion of angels. We thus could translate the term gods into angels, except for the fact that in modern usage, angels have become exactly what they have become in the popular culture of India: personifications of those impulses. The nature of those personifications are quite different in both cultures. In the West we have these insipid creatures with wings and clad in white nightgowns. In India there is a wild an colorful bunch of gods. The personification develops here, as it does in many cultures, to explain things to the popular mind or the mind that isn't deep enough to experience the impulses directly as what they are. It is accurate to call them sacred, in some sense because they are primary in the sense of being first distinctions from the Absolute. They are also the primary sounds the human speech apparatus is designed to make. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
[FairfieldLife] Re: Every OS Sucks [for musician/computer lovers friends]
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: cardemaister wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig LEnglish5@ wrote: Have you tried Mac OS X in the past few years? and teh UI intergration on Mac computers is still superior to that on Windows or Linux. X- WIndows GUI's are a joke compared to Mac OS X. Lawson In my understanding, Ubuntu (Linux) has a Mac'ish UI. Could you give an example on how exactly it is inferior to Mac OS X? I'm quite satisfied with it, but mainly because the hard drive rattle is much reduced compared to Windows XP. And unlike Windows you'll never have to defrag your drive as the Linux OS doesn't need it. Does Mac require defragging, Lawson? Not that I have noticed. FreeBSD Unix remember? And its an official Unix, unlike Linux, for whatever that is worth, at least with Mac OS X.5 on Intel machines. Lawson
[FairfieldLife] fundamentals of evolution
a little girl asked her mother, How did the human race appear? The mother answered, God made Adam and Eve and they had children and so was all mankind made. Two days later the girl asked her father the same question. The father answered, Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved. The confused girl returned to her mother and said, Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Papa said they developed from monkeys? The mother answered, Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 8:47 AM, Richard J. Williams wrote: traditionally it has no meaning: its just a sound whose effects are known to be good. Vaj wrote: Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Nonsense. Give me your mantra, I'll tell you it's meaning and quote the text it came from. For example: ...another level of the TM mantra Shreeng is Sa (the first letter) indicates Mahalakshmi, Repha (the guttural whirring of the R-sound) indicates dAna (giving, imparting, paying back); ee (I) indicates Tushti, satisfaction and contentment, the Nada indicates Para, the transcendent--that which is beyond; and the Bindu indicates the destroyer of discomforts and uneasiness. Thus shreeng is the Bija or Seed for the worship of Lakshmi. -The mantrarthabhidanam (msg # 164856) This is the significance, the alleged affect the sound of the mantra has. When the TM organization says that the mantras have no meaning, they mean, and are starting to say no intellectual meaning. Assuming your exposition above is correct in some verifiable sense, your term meaning becomes similar to explanationin scientific theories: this is how such things are thought to work, and the existence or non-existence of some god becomes irrelevant, save in philosophical debates, because it is an assumption that these effects are due to the god associated with the effect. One could easily assert that the god is associated with the effect because the effect was observed and some stone-age rationale was created to explain the observation. Lawson Lawson
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, hugheshugo [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, hugheshugo richardhughes103@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Richard J. Williams willytex@ wrote: Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Nonsense. Vaj wrote: Give me your mantra, I'll tell you it's meaning and quote the text it came from. For example: ...another level of the TM mantra Shreeng You idiot! There's no Shreeng TM mantra. Perhaps he means Shiring which is my mantra. Apologies to any TM folk who are upset by me glibly posting my, secret and never to be spoken aloud, mantra here but I'm interested in where it came from. it's actually YOUR problem, not mine. That you don't see WHY it might be your problem, suggests that you, like someone else here, never got TM either, but here's a hint: Just as TM mantras are assigned no *intellectual* meaning, once they are learned, they shouldn't be assigned some external representation either, and for much the same reason: such superficial representations may serve to disrupt the process of letting the mantra wander within. Lawson
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 8:30 AM, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 1:20 AM, sparaig wrote: traditionally it has no meaning: its just a sound whose effects are known to be good. Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Which of course every new TM student has sitting around in the backseat of their car so they can get their full money's worth and figure out how to do the the REAL TM by fully understanding their bija mantra. Right? Wrong. TM does not require that you know the meaning of your mantra, in fact they want you to believe it's a meaningless sound. But it's simply not true. Why spread lies when we don't have to? For the TM meditator, it is a meaningless sound. One of the many controversial statements MMY made was that meaning actually DETRACTS from meditation, which is exactly the opposite of the texts you have cited , say. But that is TM: using a mantra with no intellectual meaning. Assigning a meaning to a TM mantra, risks making it less effective, according to TM theory, just as saying it aloud, or writing it down, or typing it on your computer terminal, does. Lawson
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 3:00 PM, sparaig wrote: it's actually YOUR problem, not mine. That you don't see WHY it might be your problem, suggests that you, like someone else here, never got TM either, but here's a hint: Just as TM mantras are assigned no *intellectual* meaning, once they are learned, they shouldn't be assigned some external representation either, and for much the same reason: such superficial representations may serve to disrupt the process of letting the mantra wander within. And with this, spare writes his 90th(!) post for the week, but who's counting? Obviously, nobody. :) Sal
Re: [FairfieldLife] fundamentals of evolution
Was it an inter-racial marriage? I had a class of college students who told me that white folks were made by God and black folks descended from apes. The same class was about equally divided into two groups. One group believed that Jonah was swallowed by a whale because the Bible said so. The other half said that this was nonsense because whales eat plankton. Moreover, nobody could live in the stomach of another creature for three days. They dismissed the entirety of the Bible based on this one story. There was one creative soul, however, who said that the Bible told the truth, but whales had since then evolved to have better values, and so now, they no longer eat humans. I'm not making any of this up. We're talking about college seniors here. --- matrixmonitor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: a little girl asked her mother, How did the human race appear? The mother answered, God made Adam and Eve and they had children and so was all mankind made. Two days later the girl asked her father the same question. The father answered, Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved. The confused girl returned to her mother and said, Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Papa said they developed from monkeys? The mother answered, Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 1:20 AM, sparaig wrote: traditionally it has no meaning: its just a sound whose effects are known to be good. Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. In the all-new tradition of Transcendental MEditation, which MMY made up out of whole cloth with no reference to his teacher's own words or to any existing tradition, TM mantras have no intellectual meaning. Happy? It is more important to understand what MMY says, then what some book says, if you are going to practice TM. If you no longer wish to practice TM, fine. Lawson
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: When you teach TM you write down the qualities needed for a mantra. One of them is that they are meaningless so the mind is not kept on the surface, and one is that their effects are known to be life supporting. Am I the only teacher who remembers this? Vaj and everyone else knows this, but Vaj believes that what he has read in books is more important than what he was taught by the TM teacher. WHich is fine, but by definition, deliberately assigning [intellectual/semantic] meaning to a mantra is not part of TM and is the antithesis of TM. lawson
[FairfieldLife] Re: to new.morning about the power of myth
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 10:00 AM, new.morning wrote: But Sal, they have TM, direct access to, and are the living embodiment of the Home of All Knowledge, The Source of All the Laws of Nature, are functioning from the Field of All Possibilities, And live in the global center of Coherence and the ME effect. What child would not thrive and become a walking prodigy in that environment.! If the kids are not, they a nimkumpoops in the first place and are not worthy. :) That's it, new. Any kid who can't handle living in the Home of All Knowledge obviously doesn't deserve to. Case closed. Sal What does Detective Conan have to do with this stuff? Lawson
[FairfieldLife] Re: to new.morning about the power of myth
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 12:42 AM, sparaig wrote: Look at the relative success of Maharishi School in Fairfield where school teachers are paid probably 1/5 that, if they are lucky. Its not JUST the quality of the teachers that is important: its the quality of the students they are teaching. What success is that, spare? You must mean 'relative' in a really abstract sense, because just about all of what I've heard is horror stories, and I live here. Well, so yu're saying that the kids don't do well, overall? That 95% of them don't go on to college? That 7 times the national average don't get National Merit Scholarships? Etc? That the website lies? There used to be some good teachers there, but most of them left, as they didn't like getting paid nothing for their efforts, and being treated like potted plants on top of it. As far as the quality of the students goes, the teachers were equally unhappy about that, as many of the kids had/have special needs that weren't/aren't adequately dealt with, or dealt with at all. That's an issue with any private school. They cater to whatever segment they cater to. Special needs kids aren't the focus of that particular private school. Lawson
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Every OS Sucks [for musician/computer lovers friends]
sparaig wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: cardemaister wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig LEnglish5@ wrote: Have you tried Mac OS X in the past few years? and teh UI intergration on Mac computers is still superior to that on Windows or Linux. X- WIndows GUI's are a joke compared to Mac OS X. Lawson In my understanding, Ubuntu (Linux) has a Mac'ish UI. Could you give an example on how exactly it is inferior to Mac OS X? I'm quite satisfied with it, but mainly because the hard drive rattle is much reduced compared to Windows XP. And unlike Windows you'll never have to defrag your drive as the Linux OS doesn't need it. Does Mac require defragging, Lawson? Not that I have noticed. FreeBSD Unix remember? And its an official Unix, unlike Linux, for whatever that is worth, at least with Mac OS X.5 on Intel machines. Lawson Yes I did know that it is based on FreeBSD. I probably would have been based on Linux if it wasn't for the SCO fiasco. Why? Because there would have been even more free engineering for Apple to take advantage of. I believe that operating systems should be free. No way can Microsoft or Apple match the work that has gone into Linux and they know it. The latest thing that is rattling the industry is the low cost flash drive notebooks such as the Eee PC. http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24 These are available with Linux or a flavor of Windows (probably Windows CE). Since most people are buying these for travel to check their email I would recommend Linux since you won't need to worry about viruses. These are considered a threat to the notebook manufacturers as the Sony VAIO head mentioned recently. However HP just decided to release their own (which is the proper way to handle the threat.). In case you didn't notice ASUS makes Apple's motherboards for them.
[FairfieldLife] Re: to new.morning about the power of myth
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 1:50 AM, new.morning wrote: When Maharishi school graduates are among the top tier of those contributing in public service, government, business, the arts -- and are well seeded (or seated) as professors at the top universities, you will have quite a compelling case. It's an interesting and apropos criteria you're suggesting here New Morn IMO: can these kids actually survive in the real world? Of course one of the criticisms of the MSAE is that these kids can have a hard time leaving the TMO let alone functioning in the real world. Do you find evidence of that for the average kid from MSAE? The daughter of Denise and Joseph Gerace is attending Tucson HIgh School, potentially one of the roughest schools in the city for her, being mostly low-income Hispanic, while she is white. She appears to be doing well academically and socially, even though she spent most of her life in the MSAE school. Lawson
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: And with this, spare writes his 90th(!) post for the week, but who's counting? Obviously, nobody. :) I just counted 94, which is a wee bit over the 50 post limit.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [...] And with this, spare writes his 90th(!) post for the week, but who's counting? Obviously, nobody. :) Every time I attempt to use search to count my messages, it returns an error. Are you using a different method? Lawson
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: to new.morning about the power of myth
On Apr 18, 2008, at 3:15 PM, sparaig wrote: What success is that, spare? You must mean 'relative' in a really abstract sense, because just about all of what I've heard is horror stories, and I live here. Well, so yu're saying that the kids don't do well, overall? I guess that would depend on what you mean by do well. That 95% of them don't go on to college? That 7 times the national average don't get National Merit Scholarships? Both of those things are greatly boosted by cheating, ie. stealing kids from other places like the local high school, in their last year by promising free tuition at MUM. There may be other tactics used as well. And a large part of the 95% do go to MUM, which they're pretty much guaranteed acceptance to. Etc? That the website lies? There used to be some good teachers there, but most of them left, as they didn't like getting paid nothing for their efforts, and being treated like potted plants on top of it. As far as the quality of the students goes, the teachers were equally unhappy about that, as many of the kids had/have special needs that weren't/aren't adequately dealt with, or dealt with at all. That's an issue with any private school. They cater to whatever segment they cater to. Special needs kids aren't the focus of that particular private school. That's my whole *point,* spare--they are *not* the focus of that school, yet many of the students there *are* SN kids, more than, it would appear, are not. Sal
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 3:20 PM, Alex Stanley wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: And with this, spare writes his 90th(!) post for the week, but who's counting? Obviously, nobody. :) I just counted 94, which is a wee bit over the 50 post limit. 97 now. Make it an even 100, spare? :) Sal
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 3:26 PM, sparaig wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [...] And with this, spare writes his 90th(!) post for the week, but who's counting? Obviously, nobody. :) Every time I attempt to use search to count my messages, it returns an error. Are you using a different method? Just doing a search in my email client. Sal
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 4:00 PM, sparaig wrote: Just as TM mantras are assigned no *intellectual* meaning, once they are learned, they shouldn't be assigned some external representation either, and for much the same reason: such superficial representations may serve to disrupt the process of letting the mantra wander within. Next time I sneak in to visit friends on Purusha, I'll remind them that they should remove the pictures of their TM mantra devatas they all had in their puja spaces. No, of course I wouldn't do that, because I know they were probably instructed by Maharishi to do so. And also because I understand why it's helpful in their integration of mantra, shakti and consciousness. You sound like someone who's afraid to experiment when you talk like that!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Every OS Sucks [for musician/computer lovers friends]
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [...] Yes I did know that it is based on FreeBSD. I probably would have been based on Linux if it wasn't for the SCO fiasco. Avie Trevanian, chief engineer at NeXT, and later at Apple, helped create the Mach kernel used in FreeBSD, so to go to Linux would have been an absolute insanity on Apple's part. Why? Because there would have been even more free engineering for Apple to take advantage of. I believe that operating systems should be free. No way can Microsoft or Apple match the work that has gone into Linux and they know it. The latest thing that is rattling the industry is the low cost flash drive notebooks such as the Eee PC. http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24 These are available with Linux or a flavor of Windows (probably Windows CE). Since most people are buying these for travel to check their email I would recommend Linux since you won't need to worry about viruses. These are considered a threat to the notebook manufacturers as the Sony VAIO head mentioned recently. However HP just decided to release their own (which is the proper way to handle the threat.). In case you didn't notice ASUS makes Apple's motherboards for them. Which has what to do with FreeBSD? Are you saying that Apple, which has put a variant of MacOS X on iPhones, couldn't manage to put one on a flash-drive laptop? BTW, did you miss the fact that the latest Mac laptop lacks any external media drive? Its all down via wireless, including installing updates, which is how they got it so thin. Lawson
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?
On Apr 18, 2008, at 4:05 PM, sparaig wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 8:30 AM, new.morning wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Apr 18, 2008, at 1:20 AM, sparaig wrote: traditionally it has no meaning: its just a sound whose effects are known to be good. Actually, traditionally, it does have a meaning as is witnessed by the numerous bija dictionaries which define their meanings in some detail. Which of course every new TM student has sitting around in the backseat of their car so they can get their full money's worth and figure out how to do the the REAL TM by fully understanding their bija mantra. Right? Wrong. TM does not require that you know the meaning of your mantra, in fact they want you to believe it's a meaningless sound. But it's simply not true. Why spread lies when we don't have to? For the TM meditator, it is a meaningless sound. One of the many controversial statements MMY made was that meaning actually DETRACTS from meditation, which is exactly the opposite of the texts you have cited , say. Well, actually I agree with him, as the beginning stage. After you have a stable experience of the gap, it's important to venture further IMO. Get to know the sound-petals of your own nervous system and experience the source of all mantras. Awaken the inner light and the inner sound. It's all our birthrights, no one owns it. But it does take courage. But that is TM: using a mantra with no intellectual meaning. Assigning a meaning to a TM mantra, risks making it less effective, according to TM theory, just as saying it aloud, or writing it down, or typing it on your computer terminal, does. Only if you allow yourself to believe that. It may be important for one stage, but not another. Rise to a different level where it can have meaning and see what happens. Once I could feel where my mantra was in my subtle body, it gave me one more level to let go of, like the advanced technique where you learn to let go of the -ing (the chandra-bindu) at the end of the bija, but deeper. Deeper letting go of mantra if you will.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Fairfield Feels the Shake from an Earthquake
Thom Hartmann read this report on his show: http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1091.htm Of course Sorcha Faal doesn't seem to have much credibility but then one wonders. Alex Stanley wrote: Just think of all the property damage and loss of life that would have occurred had there been no pandits in Vedic City! http://www.fairfieldiowaradio.com/news.cfm Fairfield Feels the Shake from an Earthquake Some Jefferson County Residents awoke this morning to the shaking of their homes. The Jefferson County Law Center fielded several calls of tremors in the Fairfield area just after 4:40 a.m. The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the Level 1 earthquake registering a 5.2 was centered 131-miles east of St. Louis, Missouri. The quake struck at 4:36 a.m., and was felt by residents in multiple states, including Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. The USGS web site reports the epicenter of the earthquake was about three miles below ground, 38-miles northwest of Evansville, Indiana. The Jefferson County Law Center reports people felt their homes shaking during the event. As of this morning no damage or injuries had been reported locally, while minor damage has been reported across the Midwest. The USGS says the largest historical earthquake in the region -- magnitude 5.4 -- shook southern Illinois in 1968.
