[FairfieldLife] Re: Avocadoes
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: I love avocadoes and am apt to eat at least one a day. But over the past 5 or so years I'm having a lot of trouble finding good ones. First of all, for every 10 I buy, it seems I have to throw out 5, which are bruised or unedible inside. They are almost always the Haas variety. One of the reasons for this is that unlike, say, 20 years ago, avocadoes do not come individually wrapped and sitting in their own separate cubby hole in a packaging tray; they are all thrown into a box and then, at the shelf, thrown on to the shelf. The clerk doesn't seem to care because the bruising is invisible and is only noticible once the product is at the consumer's home and he has cut into it. Secondly, I suspect farming techniques are being done that are big on production but small on quality because too many that I buy are just not tasty inside. Thirdly, it seems that only Haas is available. Haas used to be my favorite variety but now I'd like to be able to buy the smooth skinned variety. Is anyone else having bad avocado buying and consuming experiences as I am? *** If you buy them hard enough, then put them in a dark drawer til they ripen (transferring to a refrigerator at that point if you need to), you shouldn't have any bruising problem. A lot of the problem is that customers who want ripe avocados RIGHT NOW will squeeze the fruit and leave rejects, which you then buy and find to be blemished and inedible after they completely ripen. Possibly you could ask the produce guy to go get some hard ones from his back storeroom (he wants to get rid of the ripe stuff, but be firm) There are stores which I never buy avos from at any price (Wild Foods)because of frequent spotting problems not due to customer squeezing, and stores which almost always have good avos (Safeway, Vons) I need to find such stores. Although for pretty much everything else Sprouts does a great job, I've seen their produce workers literally throwing the avocadoes onto the shelves and bins where they are displayed. but you still have to deal with squeezed fruit -- take your time looking through the bin, recognizing that the produce guy is going to put the ripe or semiripe ones on top. Another place to buy (small) avos is Fresh n Easy, which sells a bag of 4 Calavo at a low price, and people don't seem to squeeze these bagged ones. I have a Fresh and Easy down the block from me and, yes, I've seen their 4-count bags of avocadoes...I think I'll give 'em a try! Thanks for the tip! Chain stores don't mess with other than Haas, which are the easiest to handle because they are not thinskinned, but you can find the delicious other varieties at farmer's market type of places: http://www.avocado.org/about/varieties
[FairfieldLife] Re: 'Would Jesus Be For Universal Health Care'
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcg...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Robert babajii_99@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Mike Dixon mdixon.6569@ wrote: Jesus did provide health care to all those that needed it and came to him for it. He didn't tell them to take their problems to Rome and demand they solve them. He taught people to be self sufficient and to help others by blessing them with your good fortunes, which brought more blessings on those that blessed others.Although he said to give unto Ceasar that which is Ceasar's,he was accused by the Pharasies in his trial,before Pilot,of being against Roman taxes. When somebody forcibly takes something from you and gives it to another, you get no spiritual credit and the person recieving only becomes dependant on the robber. But I will agree with you that we,as a nation,are moving further and further away from his teachings and becoming more like Rome,if not Babylon. ~ It's just a mockery, of his Teachings, when the 'Christian Right', and others, use his name so conveniently, when it suits them, but really do the opposite, when it comes to action. And as we are becoming more like Rome and Babylon, then where are we headed? r.g. and you come off as an absolutist, born-again fundamentalist Christian who has the only legitimate interpretation of Christ's teaching. I happen to think that M Dixon's observations are way more in tune with Christ's thinking than your take on it. (snip) Ok, I guess you know more than me... I just thought Jesus was teaching love, forgiveness, and taking care of one another... I guess got it all wrong...
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2...@... wrote: The tea bag fringe might be on to something tho in their protesting. Herein, some famous people who favored gun control. Hitler Castro Qaddafi Stalin Idi Amin Mao Tse-tung Pol Pot Kim Jong-IL And, probably a few more you could think of. With their combined governments, the number of people that have been exterminated must run into the billions. As we talk, it is still happening although not well covered in the news. Some few people here see that as a problem and are speaking up. I would favor the Swiss outlook on the subject. The scientific study I would like to see done is to do a correlation of gun ownership with fear. Very simple study. Take large segments of the population. Ask them whether they own guns and if so how many. Then give those same people standardized psychological tests that pinpoint a fear index -- how much fear they live with on a daily basis. My bet -- based on the gun owners I've known -- is that there would be a one-to-one correlation. That is, Own a gun, live in fear. ( In reality, of course, it works the other way around -- Live in fear, feel the need to own a gun. ) The one statistic I'm pretty sure would show up in the study, however, is at the high end of gun ownership. Anyone who owns more than three guns would score off the charts on the fear index, nigh unto certifiable paranoia.
[FairfieldLife] File - FFL Acronyms
BC - Brahman Consciousness BN - Bliss Ninny or Bliss Nazi CC - Cosmic Consciousness GC - God Consciousness MMY - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi OTP - Off the Program - a phrase used in the TM movement meaning to do something (such as see another spiritual teacher) considered in violation of Maharishi's program. POV - Point of View SBS - Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, Maharishi's master SCI Science of Creative Intelligence SOC - State of Consciousness SSRS - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Pundit-ji) SV - Stpathya Ved (Vedic Architecture) TB - True Believer (in TM doctrines) TNB - True Non-Believer TMO - The Transcendental Meditation organization TTC TM Teacher Training Course UC - Unity Consciousness WYMS - World Youth Meditation Society later changed to World Youth Movement for the Science of Creative Intelligence was founded by Peter Hübner in Germany, as a national TM outlet competing with SIMS, Students International Meditation Society YMMV = Your Mileage may vary To subscribe, send a message to: fairfieldlife-subscr...@yahoogroups.com 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:fairfieldlife-dig...@yahoogroups.com mailto:fairfieldlife-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: fairfieldlife-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Spiritual Slavery (was Re: Space/Time Foam)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: On Behalf Of TurquoiseB Some of us prefer to live our own lives, the way we choose to live them. I wish you well with living yours the way other people tell you to live it. I'm the one who's gotta die when it's time for me to die. So let me live my life the way I want to. - Jimi Hendrix - Axis, Bold as Love Exactly. Why I brought it up is that I have been noticing lately the number of people like John (jr_esq) who have been brainwashed to believe certain things for so long that they no longer seem to know they *are* brainwashed. For example, Needing a guru. There seems to be no question that John accepts this as a given about life. He speaks often on this forum about how he feels everyone should live their life according to the things said in the vedic literature, and according to people like Maharishi who claim to represent this vedic literature. What he never seems to realize is that he is describing a life of slavery. He is describing as ideal a life in which people have been as convinced as he seems to be that they should obey the writings of a bunch of people who lived thousands of years ago, as if they were authorities or gurus. He is describing as ideal a life in which one assumes that one's guru is by definition correct or true and thus does exactly what that guru tells them to do. He is describing a life in which he assumes that he does NOT know enough to live on his own, and that he NEEDS someone else to tell him what to think and what to believe and what to do and not do. He is describing himself as a slave. I am sure that John has convinced himself that doing this is a kind of freedom -- freedom from the ego. He LIKES being told what to do and what to believe; it takes all the pressure off of him and eliminates the need to do any thinking of his own. It's like the credo of the guru followers is, Why think for yourself when someone has already done all the hard thinking for us? Just do what they say and we will be OK. If that lifestyle and belief system makes him and people like him happy, so be it. Me, I'm never going to buy into the lifestyle of spiritual slavery ever again.
[FairfieldLife] Re: 'Would Jesus Be For Universal Health Care'
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. wg...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Robert babajii_99@ wrote: Would Jesus want health care for everyone, who needed it? Of course he would... That's the part I don't get... We're supposed to be a 'Christian Country', right? We're not really a Christian Country... There's nothing about this country, that even comes close to his teachings. Matter of fact, its the same old Rome, isn't it really? r.g. If Jesus walked the World today, he'd probably be a hillbilly!...and drivin' a Chevrolet!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBET5iUHAuY And this is probably how he'd air-condition the Chevy... :-) [tifi-airconditioned]
[FairfieldLife] Re: 'Thomas Jefferson's Farce'
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcg...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Robert babajii_99@ wrote: All *men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights... *Except for woman, blacks, Native Americans, and other non-Europeans... You forgot whites who didn't own property. This went on until something like the 1820s? I'm going on memory here but in municipal elections in Montreal where I'm from, even in the 1960s you couldn't vote unless you owned property (and paid property taxes). Actually, Jefferson was writing more to be one up the British... It was written to be read by the King, more than anything else... Because Jefferson owned slaves, he must of known, that most of it was just a bunch of bull...because he obviously wasn't an ignorant man... It was written for the Brits, and to get the French to sympathize with the cause of 'Liberty', which the French are so fond of... r.g. r.g.
[FairfieldLife] 114-year-old nude on a wine label too much for Alabamans
This article caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, I'm a fan of Belle Epoche art (also called Art Nouveau), and own an original copy of the 1895 poster that this wine label was based on. Second, the very idea that some uptight prig or prigs in Alabama thought this image showed a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner just makes me roll my eyes. What is WRONG with Americans that they are so terrified of the human body...and by extension, their OWN bodies? Third, the very idea that these prigs thought that they had to ban the sale of the wine carrying this label TO ADULTS (who, after all, are the only people allowed buy wine in Alabama) is stores and restaurants is mind-boggling. Have Americans completely lost their minds? Winery's Nude Nymph Causes State Ban Winery says they will not be changing its label [storyImage1] For some wine lovers a nude nymph is artistic expression while for others it is offensive trash. A wine label showing a nude nymph is too much for Alabama http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Alabama 's liquor control agency, which has told restaurants and stores not to sell the product. The label on Cycles Gladiator wine, produced by Hahn Family Wines in Soledad http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Soledad , Calif., shows a vintage 1895 advertising poster for Cycles Gladiator bicycles. The French poster features a nude nymph flying beside a winged bicycle. Bob Martin http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Bob+Martin , staff attorney for the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Alabama+Alcoholic+Beverage+Co\ ntrol+Board , said the board's license bureau rejected the label last year as inappropriate for sale in the state. Early this month, a citizen sent a bottle of the wine to the board's enforcement bureau to show it was being sold in stores, he said. The board then sent a letter to stores and restaurants reminding them that sale of the product is prohibited, he said Friday. Alabama's liquor regulations prohibit labels with a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner, Martin said. Hahn President Bill Leigon said Friday the company had been selling its product in Alabama since 2006 until it ran into problems with the label. It is not pornographic, he said. There have been no problems in the other 49 states where it is sold, he said. He said the wine had remained available in Alabama after the label was rejected last year because he was unaware of the rejection. He said that when the ABC Board http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=ABC+Board 's letter went out, all the wine was picked up from stores and restaurants. The problem with the label were first reported Friday by the Mobile Press-Register. Leigon could change the label and resume sales in Alabama, but he said he won't. It is a gorgeous piece of work, he said.
[FairfieldLife] Re: 114-year-old nude on a wine label too much for Alabamans
Challenge : You must drive across Alabama without getting shot... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HPZpYKCpwY They nearly didn't make it. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: This article caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, I'm a fan of Belle Epoche art (also called Art Nouveau), and own an original copy of the 1895 poster that this wine label was based on. Second, the very idea that some uptight prig or prigs in Alabama thought this image showed a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner just makes me roll my eyes. What is WRONG with Americans that they are so terrified of the human body...and by extension, their OWN bodies? Third, the very idea that these prigs thought that they had to ban the sale of the wine carrying this label TO ADULTS (who, after all, are the only people allowed buy wine in Alabama) is stores and restaurants is mind-boggling. Have Americans completely lost their minds? Winery's Nude Nymph Causes State Ban Winery says they will not be changing its label [storyImage1] For some wine lovers a nude nymph is artistic expression while for others it is offensive trash. A wine label showing a nude nymph is too much for Alabama http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Alabama 's liquor control agency, which has told restaurants and stores not to sell the product. The label on Cycles Gladiator wine, produced by Hahn Family Wines in Soledad http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Soledad , Calif., shows a vintage 1895 advertising poster for Cycles Gladiator bicycles. The French poster features a nude nymph flying beside a winged bicycle. Bob Martin http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Bob+Martin , staff attorney for the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Alabama+Alcoholic+Beverage+Co\ ntrol+Board , said the board's license bureau rejected the label last year as inappropriate for sale in the state. Early this month, a citizen sent a bottle of the wine to the board's enforcement bureau to show it was being sold in stores, he said. The board then sent a letter to stores and restaurants reminding them that sale of the product is prohibited, he said Friday. Alabama's liquor regulations prohibit labels with a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner, Martin said. Hahn President Bill Leigon said Friday the company had been selling its product in Alabama since 2006 until it ran into problems with the label. It is not pornographic, he said. There have been no problems in the other 49 states where it is sold, he said. He said the wine had remained available in Alabama after the label was rejected last year because he was unaware of the rejection. He said that when the ABC Board http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=ABC+Board 's letter went out, all the wine was picked up from stores and restaurants. The problem with the label were first reported Friday by the Mobile Press-Register. Leigon could change the label and resume sales in Alabama, but he said he won't. It is a gorgeous piece of work, he said.
[FairfieldLife] Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
Recent talk of needing a guru here has reminded me of a phenomenon that many TB TMers are either unaware of (because they started TM so much later than others here and thus missed the earlier teachings) or they have blotted out the earlier teachings from their minds (because they don't want to deal with the fact that Maharishi completely reversed himself). I call this phenomenon the Maharishi Flip-Flop. It's where Maharishi started his career as a spiritual teacher teaching one thing -- emphatically -- and then LATER flip-flopped and began teaching or doing *exactly the opposite* of what he had said/taught before. The most famous example of this, of course, is the siddhis. In courses throughout the late 60s, Maharishi was clear to the point of being emphatic that they were dangerous and should *not* be pursued by spiritual seekers. The whole capture the fort analogy was *invented* as a reply to students who asked about the siddhis and how to achieve them. MMY's teaching *at that time* was that it was safer to capture the fort, and allow such siddhis to blossom on their own, if they did. He definitely *discouraged* people from ever trying to achieve the siddhis. Of course, we all know how that turned out. And a number of us here probably now feel that his earlier teaching -- before the flip-flop -- was more correct. But for me, the Maharishi Flip-Flop teaching that has had the most debilitating effect on students, and has thus incurred the most negative karma, is the flip-flop he made on gurus and whether one should rely on them when it comes to advice on how to live one's life. I remember Maharishi clearly addressing this issue in response to a question from the audience, the first time I ever saw him, in 1967. The person asked him for advice on how to resolve a quandary or problem in his life. In effect, the questioner was asking Maharishi to make the decision for him -- tell him what to do, give him the right answer. Maharishi categorically refused to do so, and explained why. He said, If I tell you what to do...what decision to make ...what happens the *next* time you need to make a decision? You'll come running to me asking me to make it for you. He then went on to give a long talk on how the idea of gurus telling their students what to do and how to live was a *mistake*, because It makes the students weaker. As they become dependent on the guru or teacher to make decisions for them, they lose the ability to make decisions themselves. At this point, as he always did, Maharishi segued into a discussion of TM, and how theoretically it would enable the student to become stronger and more able to make his OWN decisions, and not need anyone to make them for him. Cut to only a few years later, and how Maharishi began to treat the meditators and TM teachers who had signed on to the TM movement. It was a complete and total flip-flop. He began to dictate what they should wear and not wear, what they should eat and not eat, what they should believe and not believe, and who they should hang around with and not hang around with. It is not unfair to say that on courses *every* aspect of a TM student's life was dictated to him; every minute of every day was *literally* being told what to do, by the guru. And soon this being told what to do began to creep over into the lives of the TM teachers when they were *not* on courses as well. And I think that most here have seen the debilitating effects of coming to rely on Maharishi to tell them what to do. Tens of thousands of TM teachers literally *lost their ability* to think for themselves and make their own decisions for many, many years. Some still have never regained their ability to think for themselves and make their own decisions, and to this day fall back on quoting scripture or quotes from Maharishi's old talks as the basis for all of their own decisions. I suggest that this flip-flop had far more of a karmic effect -- and a negative karmic effect -- than the flip- flop about the siddhis. As with the siddhis, Maharishi was IMO more correct in his original teaching. And what supports that opinion is taking that early teaching -- that it will eventually make the students weaker, not stronger -- and applying it to what most of us have actually seen happening to thousands of TM teachers. TELLING THEM WHAT TO DO AND MAKING THEIR DECISIONS FOR THEM HAS MADE THEM WEAKER. MANY ARE TO THIS DAY INCAPABLE OF MAKING THEIR OWN DECISIONS, AND HAVE TO RELY ON SOMEONE ELSE TO MAKE THEM FOR THEM. IMO Maharishi should have stuck with his original insights and his original teachings, both about the siddhis and about telling people what to do and making their decisions for them. Imagine how different the history of the TM movement might have been if he had.
[FairfieldLife] Re: 114-year-old nude on a wine label too much for Alabamans
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, guyfawkes91 no_re...@... wrote: Challenge : You must drive across Alabama without getting shot... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HPZpYKCpwY They nearly didn't make it. This is hilarious to me, because to some extent I grew up in the American South and saw such stuff around me every day. Back in 1967, before the hippie revolution had made it to the mainstream media, I returned home from college to my parent's house in Georgia sporting hair that hung almost to my waist. The reaction *at that time* was interesting. It was more quizzical than negative. I was viewed as more curious than anything else. Yeah, I heard a few Are you a girl or a boy? comments, but on the whole nothing terribly threatening or violent ever went down. Cut to only one year later, after Life magazine and others had done their best to make the hippie thing an everyday term for all Americans and link it in the minds of conservative Americans to anti- Americanism. I still had the same long hair, but the reactions were completely different. Beer bottles were thrown at my car as I was driving, guys yelled stuff at me and demanded that I pull over so they could beat the crap out of me (I didn't, even though at the time I had been winning karate contests for several years, and most likely could have beaten the crap out of them). Bottom line from my perspective, having spent too many years of my life living in the South, is that Southerners AREN'T VERY SMART. Whether its the product of genetics (Georgia is, after all, a former prison colony, and most of the people who founded its gene pool were murderers, thieves, and rapists exported from Britain) or inbreeding or whatever, *on the whole* American Southerners seem to have a self image based on the notion of We're dumb, and we're proud of it. They tend to believe what they are told to believe. So if the things they watch on television tell them to believe that longhaired hippies threaten their way of life, they *believe* it, and act out accordingly. These days, if someone tells them that Barack Obama is gonna take all their guns away and turn America into a commie nation, they'll believe that, too. These British guys had no idea of the mindset they were fucking with when chose to perform this little stunt. The woman in the gas station was trying to do them a favor and keep them from getting killed. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: This article caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, I'm a fan of Belle Epoche art (also called Art Nouveau), and own an original copy of the 1895 poster that this wine label was based on. Second, the very idea that some uptight prig or prigs in Alabama thought this image showed a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner just makes me roll my eyes. What is WRONG with Americans that they are so terrified of the human body...and by extension, their OWN bodies? Third, the very idea that these prigs thought that they had to ban the sale of the wine carrying this label TO ADULTS (who, after all, are the only people allowed buy wine in Alabama) is stores and restaurants is mind-boggling. Have Americans completely lost their minds? Winery's Nude Nymph Causes State Ban Winery says they will not be changing its label [storyImage1] For some wine lovers a nude nymph is artistic expression while for others it is offensive trash. A wine label showing a nude nymph is too much for Alabama http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Alabama 's liquor control agency, which has told restaurants and stores not to sell the product. The label on Cycles Gladiator wine, produced by Hahn Family Wines in Soledad http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Soledad , Calif., shows a vintage 1895 advertising poster for Cycles Gladiator bicycles. The French poster features a nude nymph flying beside a winged bicycle. Bob Martin http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Bob+Martin , staff attorney for the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Alabama+Alcoholic+Beverage+Co\ ntrol+Board , said the board's license bureau rejected the label last year as inappropriate for sale in the state. Early this month, a citizen sent a bottle of the wine to the board's enforcement bureau to show it was being sold in stores, he said. The board then sent a letter to stores and restaurants reminding them that sale of the product is prohibited, he said Friday. Alabama's liquor regulations prohibit labels with a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner, Martin said. Hahn President Bill Leigon said Friday the company had been selling its product in Alabama since 2006 until it ran into problems with the label. It is not pornographic, he said. There have been no problems in the other 49 states where it is sold, he said. He said
[FairfieldLife] Directory of Spiritual Practice Groups in FF
Spiritual Practice Groups of Fairfield Directory of Active Fairfield Spiritual Practice Groups Outside of Fairfield, people intently ask, What is going on in Fairfield? The spiritual, utopian side of Fairfield is something they are wondering about. Fairfield has become recognized as a spiritual Mecca of sorts, ranking with Sedona, Arizona, Boulder and Crestone, Colorado, Ashville, North Carolina and the like. Within these past three decades, Fairfield spiritual practice groups have matured, giving this community a rich, new face. The long-time Fairfield meditating community today is its own center for spiritual practice. The breadth of spiritual practice groups in Fairfield is now a unique feature of our town in the 21st Century. ___Alphabetical: A Course in Miracles, Mondays 7:30 pm. Local contact: 472-7148. The Afternoon Satsang, at Revelations Coffee Shop. North room 2:30pm most days. Spiritual experience and understanding. Ammachi Fairfield Satsang Ammachi Fairfield weekly schedule of meditation, chanting, and bhajans. http://amma-fairfield.org/ contact: 472-8563 or 472-9336 Art of Living Foundation -Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Meditation and program schedule in Fairfield. 472-9892 http://us.artofliving.org/index.html Babaji Group: Local contact: 472-9952 Bapuji Group Shri Avadoot, better known as ³Bapuji². Local contact: 472-9260 Chalanda Sai Maa Satang in Fairfield Group meditations based on the teachings of Chalanda Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi. First and third Monday of the month at 7:30 PM. Call for location information: 641-919-5223 or email directly at: fairfieldsai...@humanityinunity.org http://www.humanityinunity.org Circle of Sophia a holy order for women at St. Gabriel and All Angels, the Liberal Catholic Church. Original worship celebration, written from sources in ancient Christianity, enlivens the Feminine Divine for both men and women. Celebrations monthly. 300 E. Burlington. www.stgabe.org Contact 472-1645 Deeksha Darshan and teachings of Bhagavan Kalki Padmavati Amma Fairfield contact for local program: 472-6948 Divine Mother Church in Fairfield `We don¹t talk about God, we commune with God'. Interfaith Service: Sundays 11 AM; 51 North Court, East Entrance Contact 641.209.9900 Eckankar Local meetings, lectures and meditation Bringing speakers from the regional and national movement http://www.eckankar.org Fairfield Vedic Pujas, Yagyas and Ceremonies Scheduled public events always open to interested persons. By Vedic Scholar and Priest, Pandit Dhruv Narain Sharma: 630-240-3368 http://yagya108.org/default.aspx Fellowship of the Holy Spirit in Fairfield `Consciousness, Joy, and Devotion: Christianity that works.' Sundays, 11 AM, 51 North Court. 472-8737. Gangaji Group Local contact: 472-9476. Golden Shield Qi Gong Fairfield practice: 641-919-3913. Golden Shield Qi Gong www.jingui.com 641-472-5998 Hatha Yoga classes. Sue Berkey: 472-6577 Henry Hertzberger Chanting, Pujas Yagyas. Mahaganapati Temple Schedule: Fairfield Shri Karunamayi Satsang Fairfield Group Meditation and Program. 472-8422 http://www.karunamayi.org/tour/2008Fairfield.shtml Liberal Catholic Church in Fairfield St Gabriel and all Angels, 300 E. Burlington. Contact, 472-1625www.stgabe.org Manavata Mandir Vedic Temple 800 W. Burlington in Fairfield. 469-6041. Master Spiritual Healer John Douglas Biannual visits to Fairfield Workshops, meetings, meditation. http://www.spirit-repair.com/ Mother Meera: 641.472.5149 http://www.mothermeera-fairfield.com/default.jsp Quaker Meeting Fairfield Society of Friends (Conservative Un-programmed) silent meeting for worship. 472-8422. St. Germain Meditation. Two active groups meeting for meditation weekly http://www.reiki-seichem.com/germain.html http://saintgermainfoundation.com/ Saniel Bonder, `Waking Down' in Fairfield. Sittings calendar: call 472-2001. http://wakingdowninfairfield.com/ Scalar Group Meditation Programs facilitated by Lilli Botchis. A unique opportunity as a group to research in mind/body consciousness the universal themes of pure energy and manifestation potential of HHFe Scalar wave regeneration system. Programs designed to clear, balance and open the chakra system. Contact, 472-0129. http://earthspectrum.com/ http://www.timeportalpubs.com/index.htm Shivabalayogi Group All are welcome. There is never any charge for Swamiji's blessings. For further information, contact: 641-233-1025. Svaroopa Yoga (641) 472-7499. Tetra Building Meditation Room. Daily morning and afternoon meditation facility for the practice of the TM-Sidhi meditation. A quiet, clean and convenient and unaffiliated place, `to do program'. Contact David Hawthorne for use and membership information: 472-3799. Transcendental Meditation Programs: TMmovement: 472-1174 Transformational Prayer in Fairfield For information on Fairfield activities, call 472-0662. Wednesday Night Satsang - Every Wednesday
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rf...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sgrayatlarge no_reply@ wrote: You indeed protesteth too much.. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: [http://www.bartcop.com/birthers-aint-stupid.jpg] It appears that it's the fringe secessionist 'Teabaggers who are doing the protesting too much. The 'South' will rise again? The tea bag fringe might be on to something tho in their protesting. Herein, some famous people who favored gun control. Hitler Castro Qaddafi Stalin Idi Amin Mao Tse-tung Pol Pot Kim Jong-IL And, probably a few more you could think of. With their combined governments, the number of people that have been exterminated must run into the billions. As we talk, it is still happening although not well covered in the news. Some few people here see that as a problem and are speaking up. I would favor the Swiss outlook on the subject. Who's trying to confiscate the Teabagger's guns? What are you talking about? As I understand it, the only thing that's happened recently is the gun worshippers failed to pass legislation 'expanding' gun rights to include carrying concealed weapons across state lines. Most of the crew in DC is in favor of restricting gun ownership almost totally. A little research on the subject will turn up some very disturbing facts. Only if you get your 'facts' from the crackpot fringe wingnut conspiracy loons. Obama has stated plainly that he fully supports the 2nd Amendment. There is NO congressional support to do anything like you're suggesting and neither are there any plans from the White House to propose any such thing. Amazing observation- evidently people with this point of view haven't been following the issue very closely.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Space/Time Foam
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, dhamiltony2k5 dhamiltony...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of TurquoiseB Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 2:35 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Space/Time Foam Some of us prefer to live our own lives, the way we choose to live them. I wish you well with living yours the way other people tell you to live it. I'm the one who's gotta die when it's time for me to die. So let me live my life the way I want to. - Jimi Hendrix - Axis, Bold as Love Om yeah, unalienable Freedom an liberty `til you hurt somebody else. And those non-meditators! The science is pretty evident we really got to look out for them for every one's life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Theirs included. We simply and directly got to do something about non-meditators that non-meditation in the world. In the long progression of humankind, this comes the noble cause that has come to hand in these times. Science says. JGD. Bring it to pass, -D in FF Maybe the non meditating people have their own system that is not official and will be ok anyway?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: The tea bag fringe might be on to something tho in their protesting. Herein, some famous people who favored gun control. Hitler Castro Qaddafi Stalin Idi Amin Mao Tse-tung Pol Pot Kim Jong-IL And, probably a few more you could think of. With their combined governments, the number of people that have been exterminated must run into the billions. As we talk, it is still happening although not well covered in the news. Some few people here see that as a problem and are speaking up. I would favor the Swiss outlook on the subject. The scientific study I would like to see done is to do a correlation of gun ownership with fear. Very simple study. Take large segments of the population. Ask them whether they own guns and if so how many. Then give those same people standardized psychological tests that pinpoint a fear index -- how much fear they live with on a daily basis. My bet -- based on the gun owners I've known -- is that there would be a one-to-one correlation. That is, Own a gun, live in fear. ( In reality, of course, it works the other way around -- Live in fear, feel the need to own a gun. ) The one statistic I'm pretty sure would show up in the study, however, is at the high end of gun ownership. Anyone who owns more than three guns would score off the charts on the fear index, nigh unto certifiable paranoia. Many sided issue- Need to keep the coyotes from eating the sheep, Collectors prize the detailed artwork, target shooters enjoy competition events, I wouldn't think the people in most of the owner categories would have to be motivated by fear.
[FairfieldLife] Re: FFL Post Count Meditator Status
`yes'= Meditator posting status. Posters: 99 `Yes' = meditators Fairfield Life Post Counter, Meditator Status: 50 authfriend jstein@ `Yes' 50 TurquoiseB no_re...@yahoogroups.com `Yes' 45 Vaj vajradhatu@ `Yes' 44 nablusoss1008 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 32 grate.swan no_re...@yahoogroups.com `Yes' 31 Bhairitu noozguru@ 29 sparaig LEnglish5@ 27 ruthsimplicity no_re...@yahoogroups.com 27 Richard J. Williams willytex@ `yes' 24 Robert babajii...@... 22 off_world_beings no_re...@yahoogroups.com `Yes' 22 dhamiltony2k5 dhamiltony2k5@ 21 enlightened_dawn11 no_re...@yahoogroups.com `Yes' 20 Rick Archer rick@ `Yes' 20 Duveyoung no_re...@yahoogroups.com 18 do.rflex do.rflex@ 17 bob_brigante no_re...@yahoogroups.com 16 Sal Sunshine salsunshine@ `Yes' 15 BillyG. wgm4u@ 13 Richard M compost1uk@ `Yes' 12 shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ 'Yes' 10 satvadude108 no_re...@yahoogroups.com `Yes' 10 raunchydog raunchydog@ 10 lurkernomore20002000 steve.sundur@ 9 cardemaister no_re...@yahoogroups.com 8 WLeed3@ 8 Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ 7 geezerfreak geezerfreak@ 3 drpetersutphen drpetersutphen@ 3 William108 william108wm@ 3 Dick Richardson somerset_2@ `Yes' 3 Dick Mays dickmays@ `Yes' 3 Alex Stanley j_alexander_stanley@ 2 sgrayatlarge no_re...@yahoogroups.com 2 scienceofabundance no_re...@yahoogroups.com 2 beno beno mynameisbeno@ 2 Tom azgrey@ 2 Marek Reavis reavismarek@ 2 Hugo richardhughes103@ 1 uns_tressor uns_tressor@ 1 tkrystofiak krysto@ 1 pranamoocher bhrma@ 1 nelson lafrancis nelsonriddle2001@ 1 metoostill metoostill@ 1 Peter drpetersutphen@ 1 Paul Mason premanandpaul@ 1 Patrick Gillam jpgillam@ 1 Mike Doughney mike@ 1 Mike Dixon mdixon.6569@ 1 Joe Smith msilver1951@ 1 Barbara Thomas barbara_thomas73@ 1 min.pige min.pige@ 1 wayback71 waybac...@... 1 jyouells2000 john_youe...@... 1 shukra69 shukra69@ 1 sanosh2002 sanosh2002@ `Yes' 1 Zoran Krneta krneta.zoran@ 1 John jr_esq@ `Yes' 1 enpai en...@... 2 Jason jedi_sp...@... 2 tomwalsh23 tomwals...@... 2 It's just a ride bill.hicks.all.a.r...@... 3 kaladevi93 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 2 Stu buttspli...@... 6 Ben brbenjaminass...@... 1 kuldip jhala kulls2...@... 1 ve...@... 1 ultrarishi no_re...@yahoogroups.com 1 sanosh2002 sanosh2...@... 1 horashastra ve...@... 1 feste37 fest...@... 1 emptybill emptyb...@... 1 wle...@... yes' 1 Dick Mays dickm...@... 1 Devanath Saraswati devna...@... 1 uns_tressor uns_tres...@... 1 jimjim5886 jimjim5...@... 1 Darrylle darryst...@... 1 Thomas Walsh tomwals...@... 1 ffl...@... `yes' 1 bhawani_shank2000 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 1 jim_falkenstern jimfalkenst...@... `yes'=meditator 1 at_man_and_brahman at_man_and_brah...@... 1 curtisdeltablues curtisdeltabl...@... 4 It's just a ride bill.hicks.all.a.r...@... 4 I am the eternal l.shad...@... 1 gullible fool ffl...@... 1 vedamer...@... 3 metoostill metoost...@... 1 alex52556 alex.at.52...@... 1 Randy Meltzer rm...@... 1 claudiouk claudi...@... Posters: 99 Don't meditate? At all? Not close. Sorry. Turq's list of FFL's TMer writers. list of people who (to the best of my knowledge) have both: 1) identified themselves as regular practitioners of the TM technique and *only* the TM technique for many years, and 2) have consist- ently supported the claims made *about* TM and its supposed benefits by Maharishi and the TM organization and encouraged others to practice it. That list consisted of: shukra69 authfriend (Judy Stein) off_world_beings nablusoss1008 WillyTex (Richard Williams) bill_hicks_ride (It's just a ride) babajii_99 (Robert) shempmcgurk bob_brigante wgm4u (BillyG) jr_esq (John) Raunchydog of what long-term practice of the TM technique produces, and as a measure with which to judge whether it delivers on its claimed benefits. My apologies for leaving her off the list earlier, but I wasn't sure that she had claimed in the past to have been a regular practitioner of TM for many years. Now that she has complained about being left off the list and proudly wants to be, I oblige. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/message/223166 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/message/223166 --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, FFL PostCount ffl.postco...@... wrote: Fairfield Life Post Counter === Start Date (UTC): Sat Jul 25 00:00:00 2009 End Date (UTC): Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 2009 586 messages as of (UTC) Fri Jul 31 19:56:16 2009 50 nablusoss1008 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 50 authfriend jst...@... 48 shempmcgurk shempmcg...@... 44 WillyTex no_re...@yahoogroups.com 41 Vaj vajradh...@... 41 TurquoiseB no_re...@yahoogroups.com 40 do.rflex do.rf...@... 28 raunchydog raunchy...@... 27
[FairfieldLife] Spiritual Slavery (was Re: Space/Time Foam)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: On Behalf Of TurquoiseB Some of us prefer to live our own lives, the way we choose to live them. I wish you well with living yours the way other people tell you to live it. I'm the one who's gotta die when it's time for me to die. So let me live my life the way I want to. - Jimi Hendrix - Axis, Bold as Love Exactly. Why I brought it up is that I have been noticing lately the number of people like John (jr_esq) who have been brainwashed to believe certain things for so long that they no longer seem to know they *are* brainwashed. For example, Needing a guru. There seems to be no question that John accepts this as a given about life. He speaks often on this forum about how he feels everyone should live their life according to the things said in the vedic literature, and according to people like Maharishi who claim to represent this vedic literature. What he never seems to realize is that he is describing a life of slavery. He is describing as ideal a life in which people have been as convinced as he seems to be that they should obey the writings of a bunch of people who lived thousands of years ago, as if they were authorities or gurus. He is describing as ideal a life in which one assumes that one's guru is by definition correct or true and thus does exactly what that guru tells them to do. He is describing a life in which he assumes that he does NOT know enough to live on his own, and that he NEEDS someone else to tell him what to think and what to believe and what to do and not do. He is describing himself as a slave. I am sure that John has convinced himself that doing this is a kind of freedom -- freedom from the ego. He LIKES being told what to do and what to believe; it takes all the pressure off of him and eliminates the need to do any thinking of his own. It's like the credo of the guru followers is, Why think for yourself when someone has already done all the hard thinking for us? Just do what they say and we will be OK. If that lifestyle and belief system makes him and people like him happy, so be it. Me, I'm never going to buy into the lifestyle of spiritual slavery ever again. Thinking isn't for everyone- causes fear.
[FairfieldLife] Re: 114-year-old nude on a wine label too much for Alabamans
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: snip Back in 1967, before the hippie revolution had made it to the mainstream media, I returned home from college to my parent's house in Georgia sporting hair that hung almost to my waist. The reaction *at that time* was interesting. It was more quizzical than negative. I was viewed as more curious than anything else. Yeah, I heard a few Are you a girl or a boy? comments, but on the whole nothing terribly threatening or violent ever went down. Cut to only one year later, after Life magazine and others had done their best to make the hippie thing an everyday term for all Americans and link it in the minds of conservative Americans to anti- Americanism. I still had the same long hair, but the reactions were completely different. Beer bottles were thrown at my car as I was driving, guys yelled stuff at me and demanded that I pull over so they could beat the crap out of me (I didn't, even though at the time I had been winning karate contests for several years, and most likely could have beaten the crap out of them). Bottom line from my perspective, having spent too many years of my life living in the South, is that Southerners AREN'T VERY SMART. Actually, of course, long hair in the late '60s and early '70s was *widely* seen as threatening, not just in the South. There was a famous incident in New York City in which a group of hardhats waded into a peace demonstration (on Wall Street, no less) and beat up the protesters: http://chnm.gmu.edu/hardhats/bloody.html And then there were the police riots in Chicago during the 1969 Democratic convention. People weren't very smart (i.e., held views different from Barry's) all over the country during that period. Both sides of the cultural/ social/political divide felt threatened by the other. Whether its the product of genetics (Georgia is, after all, a former prison colony, and most of the people who founded its gene pool were murderers, thieves, and rapists exported from Britain) Actually, of course, the idea of a U.S. state having a gene pool doesn't make much sense. Americans are too mobile, especially in the urban centers. You could make a case for a gene pool in some of the mountain and backwoods rural areas, perhaps, but that probably isn't where Barry's father was based. snip These British guys had no idea of the mindset they were fucking with when chose to perform this little stunt. Also, it's not true that Georgia was originally a penal colony; this is a persistent myth. The Brits *did* send some of their convicts to the colonies before the Revolution, but not just to Georgia, and on an ad hoc basis. The Brits *considered* sending some of the population of their debtors' prisons (i.e., not murderers, thieves, and rapists but otherwise respectable poor people) to found settlements in Georgia, hoping they would be able to make a better life there. But this plan was never carried out. Bottom line: The notion that Barry ran into trouble in Georgia with his long hair in the late '60s because the state's population is descended from criminals is nonsense, on several different counts. (Caveat: None of the above is to disagree with the premise that the South seems increasingly isolated culturally and politically from the rest of the country. I'm just pointing out instances of Barry's typical sloppiness with facts. One might also note his elitist attitude toward Southerners, this from the person who claims to despise elitism.) Finally, because Alabama's liquor control agency has banned the sale of a wine with a label featuring an illustration of a nude, Barry exclaims rhetorically: Have Americans completely lost their minds? But apparently he overlooked this statement from the article: There have been no problems in the other 49 states where it is sold
[FairfieldLife] Spiritual Slavery (was Re: Space/Time Foam)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: snip Why I brought it up is that I have been noticing lately the number of people like John (jr_esq) who have been brainwashed to believe certain things for so long that they no longer seem to know they *are* brainwashed. Note that according to Barry's Rules, the definition of brainwashed is: Anybody who believes something other than what Barry believes. This applies, of course, especially to TMers. In Barry's World, it's not possible for anybody who thinks for themselves to hold beliefs he doesn't share. Barry thinking is *the* standard for thinking for oneself.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: The scientific study I would like to see done is to do a correlation of gun ownership with fear. Very simple study. Take large segments of the population. Ask them whether they own guns and if so how many. Then give those same people standardized psychological tests that pinpoint a fear index -- how much fear they live with on a daily basis. My bet -- based on the gun owners I've known -- is that there would be a one-to-one correlation. That is, Own a gun, live in fear. ( In reality, of course, it works the other way around -- Live in fear, feel the need to own a gun. ) The one statistic I'm pretty sure would show up in the study, however, is at the high end of gun ownership. Anyone who owns more than three guns would score off the charts on the fear index, nigh unto certifiable paranoia. Many sided issue- Need to keep the coyotes from eating the sheep, Collectors prize the detailed artwork, target shooters enjoy competition events, I wouldn't think the people in most of the owner categories would have to be motivated by fear. Have to be? Absolutely not. But -- as verified by standardized psychological tests designed to detect levels of fear in the subjects -- tends to be would be more than enough to make my point, if such a test were conducted. My bet -- having been both a gun owner and a gun-owner-tormentor -- is that anyone who owns more than three *non- collector guns* is a fuckin' wacko. I say this while counting a number of fucking wackos among my close personal friends. :-) Many of them -- especially some I met in Santa Fe -- are very, very nice people. One of the nicest is a guy who literally graduated with a degree in theology from a recognized-for-its-scholarship-not-its-nutbaggery Christian university, writes and sings folks songs, has a lovely wife and daughter, and who owns (last I saw him) 74 guns. At any given point he only has a fraction of them at home. The rest are buried, wrapped in oilcloth and protective wrappings) at secret places in the desert around his home. I've known this guy for years, and love him dearly. Over the years we have *both* learned to (unless we think we can have fun with the argument) deftly avoid philosophical and gun-related topics in our conversations. The dude is sweet as all get-out...talk to him about Jeezus and you'd think from the things he was saying that he was there with the Dude in Bethlehem, and still jizzed up from the exper- ience. He talks a *great* Christian talk. But then get him onto the subject of another Christian (and yes, I specified that the character in the following scenario was not only a Christian, but a member of his Church) breaking into his house and stealing something (the item specified was his guitar) and my friend catch- ing him in his front yard, trying to get away, and you get a very, very different version of Christ. My friend said that what he would do in such a situation was shoot the fellow Christian Church member in the stom- ach to incapacitate him, then drag him back inside the house and shoot him several more times there, to make it look as if all of the shooting took place inside the house. He saw *absolutely nothing wrong with this behavior*. He considered it not only Christian, but pragmatic and in line with the principles espoused by the Constitution of the United States of America. I knew a few people in Santa Fe who were into collector guns. They'd have an original Winchester lever action rifle or an original Colt six-shooter in the house. But these guns would be displayed above the mantle, and the owners never felt a bit safer because they were in the house. They were investments, nothing more. These people, even though they may have owned dozens of guns, would probably score way low on a standardized psychological test designed to measure levels of fear. The Christian with 74 guns, 2/3 of which he keeps buried in the desert at all times to keep them from being confis- cated by the Feds? This person, as much as I love him, would score in the highest possible percentiles on a standardized psychological test designed to measure levels of fear. So, in a sense, I *agree* with you about guns and gun ownership being a many sided issue. I just don't think that there are as many sides as you do. I'm sorry, but the guy who lives in the suburbs and has 17 guns and who tries to convince me that he needs them to keep the coyotes from eating the sheep is LYING. I'm sorry, but the guy who has four Pakistani AK-47s in the house, all of which have been carefully converted to full auto, and who says that he is keeping them around because of the detailed artwork, and how that increases their collector value is LYING. I'm sorry, but the guy who has never participated in a competitive
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: snip Most of the crew in DC is in favor of restricting gun ownership almost totally. A little research on the subject will turn up some very disturbing facts. Only if you get your 'facts' from the crackpot fringe wingnut conspiracy loons. Obama has stated plainly that he fully supports the 2nd Amendment. There is NO congressional support to do anything like you're suggesting and neither are there any plans from the White House to propose any such thing. Amazing observation- evidently people with this point of view haven't been following the issue very closely. Nelson, when you refer to the crew in DC, are you thinking of the federal government (the administration and Congress), or the local government *of DC*? There may be some confusion on this point because DC itself does not have the same degree of control over its affairs as the states. It does have local government, but Congress has the power to overrule what the local government does, because DC is not a state but a federal district. The local DC government is very much in favor of handgun control in the city because of the high degree of violent crime associated with guns in the city. It had a strong ban on handguns, but the ban was challenged in court, and the Supreme Court ruled last year that the ban was unconstitutional. Congresscritters held forth at the time on both sides of the issue; there were proposals to override the ban with legislation, but ultimately Congress took no action. Obama flip-flopped on whether the ban was constitutional. Anyway, I'm wondering whether you have DC the city confused with DC the federal gummint. There are no moves to impose gun control on a federal level currently; it's simply not politically feasible.
[FairfieldLife] Benjamin Creme talks about the 'star' and Maitreya, July 31
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JihYJhfAs4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7M1TncdvMwfeature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNlH9zLzot4feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZWCv4ompDcfeature=related
[FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: From an audio recording (No 2) made in Hochgurgelin in 1962 - (Thanks to Jörg Schenk) Question: I have the feeling that the state of restful alertness (during TM) is concentrated in the forehead... Maharishi: Some day in the first week of the course, I think I have said, that the whole brain matter becomes illuminant. Illuminant means nothing remains inactive and nothing remains active. A state of all the experiencing nerves between talamus and cortex, they are neither active nor passive. Just ready to be either active or passive. In that state of pure consciousness, in that glow... Question: Can this state of suspension be prolonged indefinite and if so, what is the effect on the brain cells? Maharishi: Yes, it can be prolonged indefinite. If it is held for very long time, the body will become alkaline. Because, not to decay is the quality of alkaline body. And as long as the individual mind gets to that universal consciousness, the body has to be intact.. In order that it remains intact, it becomes alkaline. If the body is acidic, more of acid in the system, then the oxygen going in becomes carbondioxide. If the body is acidic, more carbondioxide is produced. To throw it out, the exhalations become deeper, heavier. When the exhalations become heavier, inhalations become correspondingly heavier also. So the breath flows heavy when the system is acidic. Opposite to this, when the acidity becomes less then the breath becomes slow. That is why during meditation the breath becomes slow, the body becomes less acidic, more alkaline. This is the reason why the body lasts longer for those who meditate, long life. With meditation the blood chemistry changes, becomes less acidic, more alkaline... ...taking into consideration the slowing of the breath during meditation we conclude without even experimenting and without even testing that the system becomes less acidic... Very interesting, I've never read this before, thanks for posting this Rick ! I wonder what Amma would say about these topics, if anything ? Overall, did you ever ask her an interesting question on this level at all ? If so, what what was the question/answer ? Why did you have to sit in full Lotus in front of Amma rescently Rick, would not a half-lotus or even just plainly sitting there do ? Did you not simply want show off what you learned during your assosciation with Maharishi ? If so you are a coward; on the one hand you brag about your association with Saints, with the other hand you use the dagger. Just like paul.m.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sgrayatlarge no_reply@ wrote: You indeed protesteth too much.. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: [http://www.bartcop.com/birthers-aint-stupid.jpg] It appears that it's the fringe secessionist 'Teabaggers who are doing the protesting too much. The 'South' will rise again? The tea bag fringe might be on to something tho in their protesting. Herein, some famous people who favored gun control. Hitler Castro Qaddafi Stalin Idi Amin Mao Tse-tung Pol Pot Kim Jong-IL And, probably a few more you could think of. With their combined governments, the number of people that have been exterminated must run into the billions. As we talk, it is still happening although not well covered in the news. Some few people here see that as a problem and are speaking up. I would favor the Swiss outlook on the subject. Who's trying to confiscate the Teabagger's guns? What are you talking about? As I understand it, the only thing that's happened recently is the gun worshippers failed to pass legislation 'expanding' gun rights to include carrying concealed weapons across state lines. Most of the crew in DC is in favor of restricting gun ownership almost totally. A little research on the subject will turn up some very disturbing facts. Only if you get your 'facts' from the crackpot fringe wingnut conspiracy loons. Obama has stated plainly that he fully supports the 2nd Amendment. There is NO congressional support to do anything like you're suggesting and neither are there any plans from the White House to propose any such thing. Amazing observation- evidently people with this point of view haven't been following the issue very closely. The natural thing for you to do is to specifically back up in a credible way your claim that almost total gun restriction is somehow ACTUALLY going to be implemented by the Obama administration. Please show specific documents, official proposals and/or specific legislation to back up your claim. Also, present only verifiable objective evidence. Mere assertion from wingnut conspiracy propagandists is NOT credible evidence. = Your rhetoric sounds like the crackpot claims from nutbags like Glenn Beck that Obama is setting up vast FEMA concentration camps for his political enemies and that he's about to implement mandatory public service camps for young people where they will somehow be subject to re-education brainwashing. It's partly because of the right wing fringe wackos and crackpots like that that the GOP has become so marginalized and impotent politically. The only people who buy into that crap are the uneducated, easily manipulated discontents of society that the right wing media panders to. The American people as a whole, reject such irrational fear-mongering political nonsense and the primitive, hostile mob mentality it generates.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: snip Most of the crew in DC is in favor of restricting gun ownership almost totally. A little research on the subject will turn up some very disturbing facts. Only if you get your 'facts' from the crackpot fringe wingnut conspiracy loons. Obama has stated plainly that he fully supports the 2nd Amendment. There is NO congressional support to do anything like you're suggesting and neither are there any plans from the White House to propose any such thing. Amazing observation- evidently people with this point of view haven't been following the issue very closely. Nelson, when you refer to the crew in DC, are you thinking of the federal government (the administration and Congress), or the local government *of DC*? There may be some confusion on this point because DC itself does not have the same degree of control over its affairs as the states. It does have local government, but Congress has the power to overrule what the local government does, because DC is not a state but a federal district. The local DC government is very much in favor of handgun control in the city because of the high degree of violent crime associated with guns in the city. It had a strong ban on handguns, but the ban was challenged in court, and the Supreme Court ruled last year that the ban was unconstitutional. Congresscritters held forth at the time on both sides of the issue; there were proposals to override the ban with legislation, but ultimately Congress took no action. Obama flip-flopped on whether the ban was constitutional. Anyway, I'm wondering whether you have DC the city confused with DC the federal gummint. There are no moves to impose gun control on a federal level currently; it's simply not politically feasible. I was thinking of the federal level- where many advocate a total ban.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
Yes TurquoiseB, I would have to say A-um to that, for that is what happened. It was quite a mystery. I mean, it was Maharishi's whole thing that TM did not need any adjuncts, nothing extra to gain the benefits of any other system of practice or philosophy. Then it was a whole turnabout and it was time to sign up for walking through walls, materialising fruit and lift off. And most importantly, virtually the whole of the TM philosophy did a somersault. So, necessarilly, those who indulge in Maharishi-speak find themselves not only frog-hopping on their butts but doing wierd contortions in their minds in order to defend his thinking. Not necessary when dealing with his original teachings, only necessary in order to deal with the 'other' Maharishi teaching. Mind you I think his original philosophy was a bit far-fetched too, in that meditation is an end in itself, clarity of consciousness, it does not need to prove itself of benefit elsewhere. And it anything but proved that it does benefit anyone else but the practitioner, that it pure speculation. Personally, I find meditation cleans the windscreen of the mind, but beyond that, in practical terms I would not make any further claims for it. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: Recent talk of needing a guru here has reminded me of a phenomenon that many TB TMers are either unaware of (because they started TM so much later than others here and thus missed the earlier teachings) or they have blotted out the earlier teachings from their minds (because they don't want to deal with the fact that Maharishi completely reversed himself). I call this phenomenon the Maharishi Flip-Flop. It's where Maharishi started his career as a spiritual teacher teaching one thing -- emphatically -- and then LATER flip-flopped and began teaching or doing *exactly the opposite* of what he had said/taught before. The most famous example of this, of course, is the siddhis. In courses throughout the late 60s, Maharishi was clear to the point of being emphatic that they were dangerous and should *not* be pursued by spiritual seekers. The whole capture the fort analogy was *invented* as a reply to students who asked about the siddhis and how to achieve them. MMY's teaching *at that time* was that it was safer to capture the fort, and allow such siddhis to blossom on their own, if they did. He definitely *discouraged* people from ever trying to achieve the siddhis. Of course, we all know how that turned out. And a number of us here probably now feel that his earlier teaching -- before the flip-flop -- was more correct. But for me, the Maharishi Flip-Flop teaching that has had the most debilitating effect on students, and has thus incurred the most negative karma, is the flip-flop he made on gurus and whether one should rely on them when it comes to advice on how to live one's life. I remember Maharishi clearly addressing this issue in response to a question from the audience, the first time I ever saw him, in 1967. The person asked him for advice on how to resolve a quandary or problem in his life. In effect, the questioner was asking Maharishi to make the decision for him -- tell him what to do, give him the right answer. Maharishi categorically refused to do so, and explained why. He said, If I tell you what to do...what decision to make ...what happens the *next* time you need to make a decision? You'll come running to me asking me to make it for you. He then went on to give a long talk on how the idea of gurus telling their students what to do and how to live was a *mistake*, because It makes the students weaker. As they become dependent on the guru or teacher to make decisions for them, they lose the ability to make decisions themselves. At this point, as he always did, Maharishi segued into a discussion of TM, and how theoretically it would enable the student to become stronger and more able to make his OWN decisions, and not need anyone to make them for him. Cut to only a few years later, and how Maharishi began to treat the meditators and TM teachers who had signed on to the TM movement. It was a complete and total flip-flop. He began to dictate what they should wear and not wear, what they should eat and not eat, what they should believe and not believe, and who they should hang around with and not hang around with. It is not unfair to say that on courses *every* aspect of a TM student's life was dictated to him; every minute of every day was *literally* being told what to do, by the guru. And soon this being told what to do began to creep over into the lives of the TM teachers when they were *not* on courses as well. And I think that most here have seen the debilitating effects of coming to rely on Maharishi to tell them what to do. Tens of thousands of TM teachers literally *lost their ability* to think for themselves and
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
New York Times columnist David Brooks has cited research finding conservatives are more alert to potential threats. I would imagine that alertness to threat translates to fear in some individuals. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB wrote: The scientific study I would like to see done is to do a correlation of gun ownership with fear. Very simple study. Take large segments of the population. Ask them whether they own guns and if so how many. Then give those same people standardized psychological tests that pinpoint a fear index -- how much fear they live with on a daily basis. My bet -- based on the gun owners I've known -- is that there would be a one-to-one correlation. That is, Own a gun, live in fear. ( In reality, of course, it works the other way around -- Live in fear, feel the need to own a gun. ) The one statistic I'm pretty sure would show up in the study, however, is at the high end of gun ownership. Anyone who owns more than three guns would score off the charts on the fear index, nigh unto certifiable paranoia.
[FairfieldLife] Re: 114-year-old nude on a wine label too much for Alabamans
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, guyfawkes91 no_re...@... wrote: Challenge : You must drive across Alabama without getting shot... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HPZpYKCpwY They nearly didn't make it. This clip was also from the South and doesn't have such a positive ending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMc-T6z0YyM --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: This article caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, I'm a fan of Belle Epoche art (also called Art Nouveau), and own an original copy of the 1895 poster that this wine label was based on. Second, the very idea that some uptight prig or prigs in Alabama thought this image showed a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner just makes me roll my eyes. What is WRONG with Americans that they are so terrified of the human body...and by extension, their OWN bodies? Third, the very idea that these prigs thought that they had to ban the sale of the wine carrying this label TO ADULTS (who, after all, are the only people allowed buy wine in Alabama) is stores and restaurants is mind-boggling. Have Americans completely lost their minds? Winery's Nude Nymph Causes State Ban Winery says they will not be changing its label [storyImage1] For some wine lovers a nude nymph is artistic expression while for others it is offensive trash. A wine label showing a nude nymph is too much for Alabama http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Alabama 's liquor control agency, which has told restaurants and stores not to sell the product. The label on Cycles Gladiator wine, produced by Hahn Family Wines in Soledad http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Soledad , Calif., shows a vintage 1895 advertising poster for Cycles Gladiator bicycles. The French poster features a nude nymph flying beside a winged bicycle. Bob Martin http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Bob+Martin , staff attorney for the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=Alabama+Alcoholic+Beverage+Co\ ntrol+Board , said the board's license bureau rejected the label last year as inappropriate for sale in the state. Early this month, a citizen sent a bottle of the wine to the board's enforcement bureau to show it was being sold in stores, he said. The board then sent a letter to stores and restaurants reminding them that sale of the product is prohibited, he said Friday. Alabama's liquor regulations prohibit labels with a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner, Martin said. Hahn President Bill Leigon said Friday the company had been selling its product in Alabama since 2006 until it ran into problems with the label. It is not pornographic, he said. There have been no problems in the other 49 states where it is sold, he said. He said the wine had remained available in Alabama after the label was rejected last year because he was unaware of the rejection. He said that when the ABC Board http://www.nbclosangeles.com/topics?topic=ABC+Board 's letter went out, all the wine was picked up from stores and restaurants. The problem with the label were first reported Friday by the Mobile Press-Register. Leigon could change the label and resume sales in Alabama, but he said he won't. It is a gorgeous piece of work, he said.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rf...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sgrayatlarge no_reply@ wrote: You indeed protesteth too much.. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: [http://www.bartcop.com/birthers-aint-stupid.jpg] It appears that it's the fringe secessionist 'Teabaggers who are doing the protesting too much. The 'South' will rise again? The tea bag fringe might be on to something tho in their protesting. Herein, some famous people who favored gun control. Hitler Castro Qaddafi Stalin Idi Amin Mao Tse-tung Pol Pot Kim Jong-IL And, probably a few more you could think of. With their combined governments, the number of people that have been exterminated must run into the billions. As we talk, it is still happening although not well covered in the news. Some few people here see that as a problem and are speaking up. I would favor the Swiss outlook on the subject. Who's trying to confiscate the Teabagger's guns? What are you talking about? As I understand it, the only thing that's happened recently is the gun worshippers failed to pass legislation 'expanding' gun rights to include carrying concealed weapons across state lines. Most of the crew in DC is in favor of restricting gun ownership almost totally. A little research on the subject will turn up some very disturbing facts. Only if you get your 'facts' from the crackpot fringe wingnut conspiracy loons. Obama has stated plainly that he fully supports the 2nd Amendment. There is NO congressional support to do anything like you're suggesting and neither are there any plans from the White House to propose any such thing. Amazing observation- evidently people with this point of view haven't been following the issue very closely. The natural thing for you to do is to specifically back up in a credible way your claim that almost total gun restriction is somehow ACTUALLY going to be implemented by the Obama administration. Please show specific documents, official proposals and/or specific legislation to back up your claim. Also, present only verifiable objective evidence. Mere assertion from wingnut conspiracy propagandists is NOT credible evidence. = Your rhetoric sounds like the crackpot claims from nutbags like Glenn Beck that Obama is setting up vast FEMA concentration camps for his political enemies and that he's about to implement mandatory public service camps for young people where they will somehow be subject to re-education brainwashing. It's partly because of the right wing fringe wackos and crackpots like that that the GOP has become so marginalized and impotent politically. The only people who buy into that crap are the uneducated, easily manipulated discontents of society that the right wing media panders to. The American people as a whole, reject such irrational fear-mongering political nonsense and the primitive, hostile mob mentality it generates. Mr. Holder for one filed an amicus brief in the DC gun ban case in favor of total hand gun ban and ban on the use of any firearm for self defense in the home. Self defense is not legal? what a concept.
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body [1 Attachment]
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of nablusoss1008 Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 10:29 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body I wonder what Amma would say about these topics, if anything ? Overall, did you ever ask her an interesting question on this level at all ? If so, what what was the question/answer ? I've asked her a bunch of questions over the years. None related to this. Why did you have to sit in full Lotus in front of Amma rescently Rick, would not a half-lotus or even just plainly sitting there do ? I've been sitting in full lotus since I was a child. It's very comfortable for me. I think you're referring to the attached photo, which was posted on Karunamayi website and was taken during a group meditation when she visited Fairfield. Did you not simply want show off what you learned during your assosciation with Maharishi ? Nope. I was sitting in lotus at least 10 years before I met Maharishi (which I did when I was 18). It's just the most comfortable way for me to sit on a hard floor. If so you are a coward; on the one hand you brag about your association with Saints, with the other hand you use the dagger. When did I brag about my association with saints? Dig deeper Nabby. There are explanations for things - sometimes much more innocent ones - other than the ones your accusatory little brain is capable of dredging up.
Re: [FairfieldLife] 114-year-old nude on a wine label too much for Alabamans
TurquoiseB wrote: This article caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, I'm a fan of Belle Epoche art (also called Art Nouveau), and own an original copy of the 1895 poster that this wine label was based on. Second, the very idea that some uptight prig or prigs in Alabama thought this image showed a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner just makes me roll my eyes. What is WRONG with Americans that they are so terrified of the human body...and by extension, their OWN bodies? Third, the very idea that these prigs thought that they had to ban the sale of the wine carrying this label TO ADULTS (who, after all, are the only people allowed buy wine in Alabama) is stores and restaurants is mind-boggling. Have Americans completely lost their minds? It's Alabaman's who have lost their minds not Americans. Porn companies have watch that they don't sell anything to anyone in Alabama. That state has some very uptight laws put their by brain dead krischuns. Probably a good place to avoid visiting though I have seen one horror movie that was shot there. Er, maybe it was a documentary. ;-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
The only people who buy into that crap are the uneducated, easily manipulated discontents of society that the right wing media panders to. The American people as a whole, reject such irrational fear-mongering political nonsense and the primitive, hostile mob mentality it generates. -I see and of course you are content,highly educated,wise beyond your years,fearless, rational,non hostile,anti mob,non primitive, beyond manipulation,and crap free? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rf...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sgrayatlarge no_reply@ wrote: You indeed protesteth too much.. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: [http://www.bartcop.com/birthers-aint-stupid.jpg] It appears that it's the fringe secessionist 'Teabaggers who are doing the protesting too much. The 'South' will rise again? The tea bag fringe might be on to something tho in their protesting. Herein, some famous people who favored gun control. Hitler Castro Qaddafi Stalin Idi Amin Mao Tse-tung Pol Pot Kim Jong-IL And, probably a few more you could think of. With their combined governments, the number of people that have been exterminated must run into the billions. As we talk, it is still happening although not well covered in the news. Some few people here see that as a problem and are speaking up. I would favor the Swiss outlook on the subject. Who's trying to confiscate the Teabagger's guns? What are you talking about? As I understand it, the only thing that's happened recently is the gun worshippers failed to pass legislation 'expanding' gun rights to include carrying concealed weapons across state lines. Most of the crew in DC is in favor of restricting gun ownership almost totally. A little research on the subject will turn up some very disturbing facts. Only if you get your 'facts' from the crackpot fringe wingnut conspiracy loons. Obama has stated plainly that he fully supports the 2nd Amendment. There is NO congressional support to do anything like you're suggesting and neither are there any plans from the White House to propose any such thing. Amazing observation- evidently people with this point of view haven't been following the issue very closely. The natural thing for you to do is to specifically back up in a credible way your claim that almost total gun restriction is somehow ACTUALLY going to be implemented by the Obama administration. Please show specific documents, official proposals and/or specific legislation to back up your claim. Also, present only verifiable objective evidence. Mere assertion from wingnut conspiracy propagandists is NOT credible evidence. = Your rhetoric sounds like the crackpot claims from nutbags like Glenn Beck that Obama is setting up vast FEMA concentration camps for his political enemies and that he's about to implement mandatory public service camps for young people where they will somehow be subject to re-education brainwashing. It's partly because of the right wing fringe wackos and crackpots like that that the GOP has become so marginalized and impotent politically. The only people who buy into that crap are the uneducated, easily manipulated discontents of society that the right wing media panders to. The American people as a whole, reject such irrational fear-mongering political nonsense and the primitive, hostile mob mentality it generates.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sgrayatlarge no_reply@ wrote: You indeed protesteth too much.. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: [http://www.bartcop.com/birthers-aint-stupid.jpg] It appears that it's the fringe secessionist 'Teabaggers who are doing the protesting too much. The 'South' will rise again? The tea bag fringe might be on to something tho in their protesting. Herein, some famous people who favored gun control. Hitler Castro Qaddafi Stalin Idi Amin Mao Tse-tung Pol Pot Kim Jong-IL And, probably a few more you could think of. With their combined governments, the number of people that have been exterminated must run into the billions. As we talk, it is still happening although not well covered in the news. Some few people here see that as a problem and are speaking up. I would favor the Swiss outlook on the subject. Who's trying to confiscate the Teabagger's guns? What are you talking about? As I understand it, the only thing that's happened recently is the gun worshippers failed to pass legislation 'expanding' gun rights to include carrying concealed weapons across state lines. Most of the crew in DC is in favor of restricting gun ownership almost totally. A little research on the subject will turn up some very disturbing facts. Only if you get your 'facts' from the crackpot fringe wingnut conspiracy loons. Obama has stated plainly that he fully supports the 2nd Amendment. There is NO congressional support to do anything like you're suggesting and neither are there any plans from the White House to propose any such thing. Amazing observation- evidently people with this point of view haven't been following the issue very closely. The natural thing for you to do is to specifically back up in a credible way your claim that almost total gun restriction is somehow ACTUALLY going to be implemented by the Obama administration. Please show specific documents, official proposals and/or specific legislation to back up your claim. Also, present only verifiable objective evidence. Mere assertion from wingnut conspiracy propagandists is NOT credible evidence. = Your rhetoric sounds like the crackpot claims from nutbags like Glenn Beck that Obama is setting up vast FEMA concentration camps for his political enemies and that he's about to implement mandatory public service camps for young people where they will somehow be subject to re-education brainwashing. It's partly because of the right wing fringe wackos and crackpots like that that the GOP has become so marginalized and impotent politically. The only people who buy into that crap are the uneducated, easily manipulated discontents of society that the right wing media panders to. The American people as a whole, reject such irrational fear-mongering political nonsense and the primitive, hostile mob mentality it generates. Mr. Holder for one filed an amicus brief in the DC gun ban case in favor of total hand gun ban and ban on the use of any firearm for self defense in the home. Self defense is not legal? what a concept. It's my understanding that that case applied to Washington DC where they had ALREADY outlawed handguns. You still haven't backed up in a credible way your claim that almost total gun restriction is somehow ACTUALLY going to be implemented by the Obama administration. Please show specific documents, official proposals and/or specific legislation to back up your claim. And please consider again that there is NO support for, NOR ANY POSSIBILITY for any such legislation to pass in Congress.
Re: [FairfieldLife] 114-year-old nude on a wine label too much for Alabamans
Bhairitu wrote: TurquoiseB wrote: This article caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, I'm a fan of Belle Epoche art (also called Art Nouveau), and own an original copy of the 1895 poster that this wine label was based on. Second, the very idea that some uptight prig or prigs in Alabama thought this image showed a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner just makes me roll my eyes. What is WRONG with Americans that they are so terrified of the human body...and by extension, their OWN bodies? Third, the very idea that these prigs thought that they had to ban the sale of the wine carrying this label TO ADULTS (who, after all, are the only people allowed buy wine in Alabama) is stores and restaurants is mind-boggling. Have Americans completely lost their minds? It's Alabaman's who have lost their minds not Americans. Porn companies have watch that they don't sell anything to anyone in Alabama. That state has some very uptight laws put their by brain dead krischuns. Probably a good place to avoid visiting though I have seen one horror movie that was shot there. Er, maybe it was a documentary. ;-) Article on the Obama administration and their backing off the Bush era porn prosecution: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25622.html Excerpt: “This is a substantial change of position,” said Louis Sirkin, an attorney who has represented many in the pornography industry, including Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. “The new administration has come in there and made a new determination….It certainly is different than what we have seen in the past.” To subscribe, send a message to: fairfieldlife-subscr...@yahoogroups.com 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:fairfieldlife-dig...@yahoogroups.com mailto:fairfieldlife-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: fairfieldlife-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: snip Most of the crew in DC is in favor of restricting gun ownership almost totally. A little research on the subject will turn up some very disturbing facts. Only if you get your 'facts' from the crackpot fringe wingnut conspiracy loons. Obama has stated plainly that he fully supports the 2nd Amendment. There is NO congressional support to do anything like you're suggesting and neither are there any plans from the White House to propose any such thing. Amazing observation- evidently people with this point of view haven't been following the issue very closely. Nelson, when you refer to the crew in DC, are you thinking of the federal government (the administration and Congress), or the local government *of DC*? There may be some confusion on this point because DC itself does not have the same degree of control over its affairs as the states. It does have local government, but Congress has the power to overrule what the local government does, because DC is not a state but a federal district. The local DC government is very much in favor of handgun control in the city because of the high degree of violent crime associated with guns in the city. It had a strong ban on handguns, but the ban was challenged in court, and the Supreme Court ruled last year that the ban was unconstitutional. Congresscritters held forth at the time on both sides of the issue; there were proposals to override the ban with legislation, but ultimately Congress took no action. Obama flip-flopped on whether the ban was constitutional. Anyway, I'm wondering whether you have DC the city confused with DC the federal gummint. There are no moves to impose gun control on a federal level currently; it's simply not politically feasible. I was thinking of the federal level- where many advocate a total ban. I don't think so. I doubt anyone in Congress advocates a total ban on guns. Many are in favor of various types of gun control, but not a total ban by any stretch. And there are at least as many in Congress who vigorously oppose most if not all gun-control measures.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of nablusoss1008 Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 10:29 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body I wonder what Amma would say about these topics, if anything ? Overall, did you ever ask her an interesting question on this level at all ? If so, what what was the question/answer ? I've asked her a bunch of questions over the years. None related to this. Any question/answer of particular interest you would like to share ? Why did you have to sit in full Lotus in front of Amma rescently Rick, would not a half-lotus or even just plainly sitting there do ? I've been sitting in full lotus since I was a child. It's very comfortable for me. I think you're referring to the attached photo, which was posted on Karunamayi website and was taken during a group meditation when she visited Fairfield. Did you not simply want show off what you learned during your assosciation with Maharishi ? Nope. I was sitting in lotus at least 10 years before I met Maharishi (which I did when I was 18). It's just the most comfortable way for me to sit on a hard floor. At 8 you sat in full Lotus ? Very good and congratulations ! If so you are a coward; on the one hand you brag about your association with Saints, with the other hand you use the dagger. When did I brag about my association with saints? Dig deeper Nabby. There are explanations for things - sometimes much more innocent ones - other than the ones your accusatory little brain is capable of dredging up. I'm comfy with having an accusatory little brain thank you very much. One day perhaps it also could understand how your activities can be called innocent.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
Barry is, of course, completely correct in his analysis below. As I've written here many times, the change of course that MMY took was what was responsible for the death of the TM Movement...AND IT CONTINUES TO THIS DAY. And I remember that, ironically, it was Charlie Lutes who warned MMY (I'm sure there must have been dozens more!) that coming out with the Sidhis and the flying in the way he did would destroy the movement. I think that's either in Paul Mason's book or Nancy Cooke de Herrera's book, ironically titled Beyond Gurus, which is what TM was SUPPOSED to be about. Back in '76 before the change took place, the TMO was on track to initiating millions. That ALL came to a grinding halt with the sidhis and the flying. One wonders where we'd be today if things had been done differently...or, rather, by the same formula that got them the original success. My big complaint is that as one who subscribes to the ORIGINAL TM path, that there is virtually no support for people like me in the TMO. And I suppose that's okay because it's supposed to be a do it yourself program. But it sure is lonely here. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: Recent talk of needing a guru here has reminded me of a phenomenon that many TB TMers are either unaware of (because they started TM so much later than others here and thus missed the earlier teachings) or they have blotted out the earlier teachings from their minds (because they don't want to deal with the fact that Maharishi completely reversed himself). I call this phenomenon the Maharishi Flip-Flop. It's where Maharishi started his career as a spiritual teacher teaching one thing -- emphatically -- and then LATER flip-flopped and began teaching or doing *exactly the opposite* of what he had said/taught before. The most famous example of this, of course, is the siddhis. In courses throughout the late 60s, Maharishi was clear to the point of being emphatic that they were dangerous and should *not* be pursued by spiritual seekers. The whole capture the fort analogy was *invented* as a reply to students who asked about the siddhis and how to achieve them. MMY's teaching *at that time* was that it was safer to capture the fort, and allow such siddhis to blossom on their own, if they did. He definitely *discouraged* people from ever trying to achieve the siddhis. Of course, we all know how that turned out. And a number of us here probably now feel that his earlier teaching -- before the flip-flop -- was more correct. But for me, the Maharishi Flip-Flop teaching that has had the most debilitating effect on students, and has thus incurred the most negative karma, is the flip-flop he made on gurus and whether one should rely on them when it comes to advice on how to live one's life. I remember Maharishi clearly addressing this issue in response to a question from the audience, the first time I ever saw him, in 1967. The person asked him for advice on how to resolve a quandary or problem in his life. In effect, the questioner was asking Maharishi to make the decision for him -- tell him what to do, give him the right answer. Maharishi categorically refused to do so, and explained why. He said, If I tell you what to do...what decision to make ...what happens the *next* time you need to make a decision? You'll come running to me asking me to make it for you. He then went on to give a long talk on how the idea of gurus telling their students what to do and how to live was a *mistake*, because It makes the students weaker. As they become dependent on the guru or teacher to make decisions for them, they lose the ability to make decisions themselves. At this point, as he always did, Maharishi segued into a discussion of TM, and how theoretically it would enable the student to become stronger and more able to make his OWN decisions, and not need anyone to make them for him. Cut to only a few years later, and how Maharishi began to treat the meditators and TM teachers who had signed on to the TM movement. It was a complete and total flip-flop. He began to dictate what they should wear and not wear, what they should eat and not eat, what they should believe and not believe, and who they should hang around with and not hang around with. It is not unfair to say that on courses *every* aspect of a TM student's life was dictated to him; every minute of every day was *literally* being told what to do, by the guru. And soon this being told what to do began to creep over into the lives of the TM teachers when they were *not* on courses as well. And I think that most here have seen the debilitating effects of coming to rely on Maharishi to tell them what to do. Tens of thousands of TM teachers literally *lost their ability* to think for themselves and make their own decisions for many, many years. Some still have never regained
[FairfieldLife] The Domes Effect: FF has 13 registered sex offenders
http://tinyurl.com/kk53gl Quite a good number for such a small town in the land of the blessed. -- The Code Cult of the CPU Guru: http://www.ex-cult.org/Groups/Rama/wired What a sad, funny, pathetic story. It explains so much. Several have been driven to suicide, lost their minds, or disappeared mysteriously, without a trace. And others have fled to another country and dare not step foot in the US again. Instead of responding to the charges, current Lenz followers sent me a thick notebook of affidavits detailing the personal lives of the people making them and alleging their mental instability. Sounds exactly like Barry, who repeats the same attacks against people here time and time again like he's memorized the attacks. Barry does this for the good of the individual or readers of FFL so they can make up their mind about TM. Yeah, sure. He's fixated with FFL and many of its members, pure and simple. The intended effect was achieved: Dazed and confused from hunger and exhaustion, the disciples felt an even stronger loyalty to their teacher. Yup, Stockholm Syndrome. This explains why Barry is so full of hate, which he denies motivates his button pushing and his unending snide caricatures of people.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sgrayatlarge no_re...@... wrote: The only people who buy into that crap are the uneducated, easily manipulated discontents of society that the right wing media panders to. The American people as a whole, reject such irrational fear-mongering political nonsense and the primitive, hostile mob mentality it generates. -I see and of course you are content,highly educated,wise beyond your years,fearless, rational,non hostile,anti mob,non primitive, beyond manipulation,and crap free? Sen. Voinovich (R-OH) : Southern Republicans are sinking GOP Republicans have become more rural and less educated The high education areas Obama carried -- 78 of the 100 counties with the highest education. McCain carried 88 of the 100 counties with the lowest education. As we move to cultural politics, that's been the shift. In an interview on Hardball, former Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) followed up on recent comments made by Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) about how the Republican party is losing its appeal. Said Davis: Politics has been defined by culture over the last few cycles, and we've become a rural party and a Southern party. We've been losing inner suburbs and the like. A lot of this was the policies of the Bush administration. Furthermore, as the GOP increased its focus on cultural issues, it also caused a widening education gap. Davis added: The high education areas Obama carried -- 78 of the 100 counties with the highest education. McCain carried 88 of the 100 counties with the lowest education. As we move to cultural politics, that's been the shift. Here's the clip: http://www.gawkk.com/voinovich-southern-republicans-sinking-the-gop/discuss = = Birthers are mostly Republican and Southern Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 7/27-30. All adults. MoE 2% (No trend lines) Do you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not? Yes 77 No 11 Not sure 12 So 11 percent of Americans are Obama-hating conspiracy theorists. How do they break down? Yes No Not sure Dem 9343 Rep 42 28 30 Ind 8389 Northeast 9343 South 47 23 30 Midwest 9064 West 8776 Once again, Republicans find themselves outside the American mainstream. And reality. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/31/760087/-Birthers-are-mostly-Republican-and-Southern = = With an increasingly fringe GOP, the more moderates who leave the GOP, the more conservative and extreme the GOP becomes, and the more the party will pick people like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee in their primaries - people who can't win a general election. http://www.americablog.com/2009/07/cnn-palin-is-another-huckabee-party.html ~~~ The Incredible Shrinking GOP: Only 20 Percent Self-Identify As Republican ~~~ Earlier this week a Washington Post poll made a big splash because it found that only 21 percent self-identify as Republicans. The abysmally low number got pundits and reporters talking about whether the GOP is shrinking to the point of irrelevance. Now we have another poll that finds that the number of self-identified Republicans has dropped even lower: 20 percent. Here are the key numbers, buried in the internals of the new NBC/WSJ poll: Thirteen percent identify themselves as a strong Republican; seven percent as a not very strong Republican. Total: Twenty percent. http://snipurl.com/ohe7c [theplumline_whorunsgov_com] [snip to end]
[FairfieldLife] Spiritual Slavery (was Re: Space/Time Foam)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: snip Why I brought it up is that I have been noticing lately the number of people like John (jr_esq) who have been brainwashed to believe certain things for so long that they no longer seem to know they *are* brainwashed. Note that according to Barry's Rules, the definition of brainwashed is: Anybody who believes something other than what Barry believes. This applies, of course, especially to TMers. In Barry's World, it's not possible for anybody who thinks for themselves to hold beliefs he doesn't share. Barry thinking is *the* standard for thinking for oneself. Judy, Excellent point. That's the reason why I don't like to respond to any of his anti-TM comments. It appears that we are talking to a brick wall when you discuss reason with the guy. That's the reason why he carries a lot of inertia to clear thinking, which is against the wisdom of this forum.
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of nablusoss1008 Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 11:48 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body Nope. I was sitting in lotus at least 10 years before I met Maharishi (which I did when I was 18). It's just the most comfortable way for me to sit on a hard floor. At 8 you sat in full Lotus ? Very good and congratulations ! I remember playing around with some friends, trying to contort our bodies into various positions, and I discovered lotus. Won a prize at a birthday party once for doing it. I'm comfy with having an accusatory little brain thank you very much. One day perhaps it also could understand how your activities can be called innocent. Here's a hint: I try not to have an agenda. I'm not trying to sell or defend a point of view. My point of view can be more accurately described as a points of view. That's why you'll find me posting very positive things about MMY/TM and then posting other things that might be construed as negative. I don't see them as negative so much as things that appear to have happened. I find it useful to try to accommodate the good, the bad, and the ugly in one brain. In other words, to not argue with reality. If I accept that a negative thing happened, that doesn't make me incapable of accepting the positive things, and vice versa. Besides, negative and positive, right and wrong, are very subjective judgments. Very much determined by cultural conditioning and very hard to ascribe any sort of absolute value to.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rf...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sgrayatlarge Also, present only verifiable objective evidence. Mere assertion from wingnut conspiracy propagandists is NOT credible evidence. snip The only people who buy into that crap are the uneducated, easily manipulated discontents of society that the right wing media panders to. The American people as a whole, reject such irrational fear-mongering political nonsense and the primitive, hostile mob mentality it generates. Mr. Holder for one filed an amicus brief in the DC gun ban case in favor of total hand gun ban and ban on the use of any firearm for self defense in the home. Self defense is not legal? what a concept. It's my understanding that that case applied to Washington DC where they had ALREADY outlawed handguns. +++ That is right, they were outlawed and,Mr. Holder was protesting the law being overturned. You still haven't backed up in a credible way your claim that almost total gun restriction is somehow ACTUALLY going to be implemented by the Obama administration. Please show specific documents, official proposals and/or specific legislation to back up your claim. And please consider again that there is NO support for, NOR ANY POSSIBILITY for any such legislation to pass in Congress. Check congresswoman McCarthy and her views, also, R Emanuel E holder Ms. Pelosi Ted Kennedy D Feinstein Kerry H. Koh Joe Biden- who wrote the Clinton assault weapons ban which, upon official investigation proved to be virtually useless. As an ironic aside, Ms. Fienstein, I beliieve, has a CCP but doesn't believe you are entitled to one. Mr. Obamma, has promised to reinstate the Clinton gun ban. Not being a typist nor being responsible for your enlightenment, you may have the last word but, at this point, I don't see how it will be an informed one.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rf...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: snip Mr. Holder for one filed an amicus brief He signed it, along with others; he didn't file it. in the DC gun ban case in favor of total hand gun ban and ban on the use of any firearm for self defense in the home. No, it required that other firearms be kept unloaded or with a trigger lock. It didn't ban possession or use. Self defense is not legal? what a concept. It's my understanding that that case applied to Washington DC where they had ALREADY outlawed handguns. That's correct. Handguns had been outlawed in D.C. since 1975 because of the high level of handgun violence in the city. When the challenge to the ban went to the Supreme Court, a majority of members of Congress signed an amicus brief in favor of the court overruling the ban (55 in the Senate, 250 in the House). The Bush Justice Department *opposed* overruling the ban. And remember your original claims, Most of the crew in DC is in favor of restricting gun ownership almost totally, and then Many [in the federal government] advocate a total ban. Holder signing the amicus brief in D.C. v. Heller is hardly enough to support those claims. Nelson, John's right on this, and you're wrong. I don't know where you've been getting this stuff, but it's simply incorrect. Here's an article from ReasonOnline, a libertarian publication, that will give you an accurate picture of where things stand now: http://www.reason.com/news/show/131352.html The writer is obviously not a knee-jerk Obamabot like John, so he should have some credibility with you; but he isn't a right-wing gun nut, either, so his report is fact-based and his analysis sober and straightforward.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcg...@... wrote: Barry is, of course, completely correct in his analysis below. As I've written here many times, the change of course that MMY took was what was responsible for the death of the TM Movement...AND IT CONTINUES TO THIS DAY. And I remember that, ironically, it was Charlie Lutes who warned MMY (I'm sure there must have been dozens more!) that coming out with the Sidhis and the flying in the way he did would destroy the movement. I think that's either in Paul Mason's book or Nancy Cooke de Herrera's book, ironically titled Beyond Gurus, which is what TM was SUPPOSED to be about. Back in '76 before the change took place, the TMO was on track to initiating millions. That ALL came to a grinding halt with the sidhis and the flying. One wonders where we'd be today if things had been done differently...or, rather, by the same formula that got them the original success. My big complaint is that as one who subscribes to the ORIGINAL TM path, that there is virtually no support for people like me in the TMO. And I suppose that's okay because it's supposed to be a do it yourself program. But it sure is lonely here. Without a social foundation the tmorg will wither and die, look at how old most of the Raja's are. A prosperous thriving institution must have social outlets where like minds can meet, marry and further the goals of the institution. I think MMY was more interested in conquering the World with his message of Yoga-lite for modernity; (I think he even said he was in a hurry) his mission was perhaps macrocosmic in scope and not targeted towards the individual like a Sat-Guru's would be! Never the less, Yoga-lite is better than NO TM/Yoga at all!! by far! TM, as taught, is introductory Yoga for the masses.. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: Recent talk of needing a guru here has reminded me of a phenomenon that many TB TMers are either unaware of (because they started TM so much later than others here and thus missed the earlier teachings) or they have blotted out the earlier teachings from their minds (because they don't want to deal with the fact that Maharishi completely reversed himself). I call this phenomenon the Maharishi Flip-Flop. It's where Maharishi started his career as a spiritual teacher teaching one thing -- emphatically -- and then LATER flip-flopped and began teaching or doing *exactly the opposite* of what he had said/taught before. The most famous example of this, of course, is the siddhis. In courses throughout the late 60s, Maharishi was clear to the point of being emphatic that they were dangerous and should *not* be pursued by spiritual seekers. The whole capture the fort analogy was *invented* as a reply to students who asked about the siddhis and how to achieve them. MMY's teaching *at that time* was that it was safer to capture the fort, and allow such siddhis to blossom on their own, if they did. He definitely *discouraged* people from ever trying to achieve the siddhis. Of course, we all know how that turned out. And a number of us here probably now feel that his earlier teaching -- before the flip-flop -- was more correct. But for me, the Maharishi Flip-Flop teaching that has had the most debilitating effect on students, and has thus incurred the most negative karma, is the flip-flop he made on gurus and whether one should rely on them when it comes to advice on how to live one's life. I remember Maharishi clearly addressing this issue in response to a question from the audience, the first time I ever saw him, in 1967. The person asked him for advice on how to resolve a quandary or problem in his life. In effect, the questioner was asking Maharishi to make the decision for him -- tell him what to do, give him the right answer. Maharishi categorically refused to do so, and explained why. He said, If I tell you what to do...what decision to make ...what happens the *next* time you need to make a decision? You'll come running to me asking me to make it for you. He then went on to give a long talk on how the idea of gurus telling their students what to do and how to live was a *mistake*, because It makes the students weaker. As they become dependent on the guru or teacher to make decisions for them, they lose the ability to make decisions themselves. At this point, as he always did, Maharishi segued into a discussion of TM, and how theoretically it would enable the student to become stronger and more able to make his OWN decisions, and not need anyone to make them for him. Cut to only a few years later, and how Maharishi began to treat the meditators and TM teachers who had signed on to the TM movement. It was a complete and total flip-flop. He began to dictate what they
[FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: Here's a hint: I try not to have an agenda. I'm not trying to sell or defend a point of view. My point of view can be more accurately described as a points of view. That's why you'll find me posting very positive things about MMY/TM and then posting other things that might be construed as negative. I don't see them as negative so much as things that appear to have happened. I find it useful to try to accommodate the good, the bad, and the ugly in one brain. In other words, to not argue with reality. If I accept that a negative thing happened, that doesn't make me incapable of accepting the positive things, and vice versa. Besides, negative and positive, right and wrong, are very subjective judgments. Very much determined by cultural conditioning and very hard to ascribe any sort of absolute value to. Well said. And I agree completely with your self-assessment, and with the way I see you present yourself on this forum. What the TBs cannot understand -- because, IMO, of their brainwashing -- is that one can *easily* hold one POV on Maharishi that embraces his positive image and *at the same time* embrace another that is completely comfortable with a more negative image. They were taught that this is not possible, that focusing on negativity was BAD. If one indulges in it, there is only one justifiable punishment -- total and complete banishment. By even *thinking* negatively about Maharishi, one has forfeited the right to hang with those who never have. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was a man. End of story. As such, he did things that were nice, and things that were shitty. Those who try to convince us that he only did the nice things and never did any of the shitty ones are probably going to try to convince us of the same thing about themselves. We are free to laugh at them as they try.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2...@... wrote: snip Check congresswoman McCarthy and her views, also, R Emanuel E holder Ms. Pelosi Ted Kennedy D Feinstein Kerry H. Koh Joe Biden- who wrote the Clinton assault weapons ban which, upon official investigation proved to be virtually useless. As an ironic aside, Ms. Fienstein, I beliieve, has a CCP but doesn't believe you are entitled to one. Mr. Obamma, has promised to reinstate the Clinton gun ban. None of these people are advocating a total gun ban, contrary to your original claims. They advocate various types of gun-control measures designed to make gun possession safer. And as the ReasonOnline article notes, while there are a few such measures currently sitting in committee, that's all they're doing, sitting. Nobody's interested in acting on them.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sgrayatlarge Also, present only verifiable objective evidence. Mere assertion from wingnut conspiracy propagandists is NOT credible evidence. snip The only people who buy into that crap are the uneducated, easily manipulated discontents of society that the right wing media panders to. The American people as a whole, reject such irrational fear-mongering political nonsense and the primitive, hostile mob mentality it generates. Mr. Holder for one filed an amicus brief in the DC gun ban case in favor of total hand gun ban and ban on the use of any firearm for self defense in the home. Self defense is not legal? what a concept. It's my understanding that that case applied to Washington DC where they had ALREADY outlawed handguns. +++ That is right, they were outlawed and,Mr. Holder was protesting the law being overturned. You still haven't backed up in a credible way your claim that almost total gun restriction is somehow ACTUALLY going to be implemented by the Obama administration. Please show specific documents, official proposals and/or specific legislation to back up your claim. And please consider again that there is NO support for, NOR ANY POSSIBILITY for any such legislation to pass in Congress. Check congresswoman McCarthy and her views, also, R Emanuel E holder Ms. Pelosi Ted Kennedy D Feinstein Kerry H. Koh Joe Biden- who wrote the Clinton assault weapons ban which, upon official investigation proved to be virtually useless. As an ironic aside, Ms. Fienstein, I beliieve, has a CCP but doesn't believe you are entitled to one. Mr. Obamma, has promised to reinstate the Clinton gun ban. Not being a typist nor being responsible for your enlightenment, you may have the last word but, at this point, I don't see how it will be an informed one. Who are you trying to fool? ...besides yourself? You have provided NOTHING to objectify what your list of people ACTUALLY think or said that indicates they indeed ARE going to ACTUALLY introduce legislation for almost total gun restriction. And the fact remains that you STILL haven't backed up in a credible way your claim that almost total gun restriction is somehow ACTUALLY going to be implemented by the Obama administration. Nor have you shown specific documents, official proposals and/or specific legislation to back up that claim. And please consider again that there is NO support for, NOR ANY POSSIBILITY for any such legislation to pass in Congress.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: I was thinking of the federal level- where many advocate a total ban. I don't think so. I doubt anyone in Congress advocates a total ban on guns. Many are in favor of various types of gun control, but not a total ban by any stretch. And there are at least as many in Congress who vigorously oppose most if not all gun-control measures. We have a Mr. Koh involved who is a globalist that thinks we should be run by the UN. The UN has some bizzare ideas on soverin nations. The international CIFTA treaty which has some support here is a total disaster in the making. If the majority of Americans were informed, we would already be living in post revolution times.
[FairfieldLife] Right-Wing Harassment Strategy Against Dems
Right-Wing Harassment Strategy Against Dems Detailed In Memo: `Yell,' `Stand Up And Shout Out,' `Rattle Him' http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/31/recess-harassment-memo/ This morning, Politico reported that Democratic members of Congress are increasingly being harassed by angry, sign-carrying mobs http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25646.html and disruptive behavior at local town halls. For example, in one incident, right-wing protesters surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and forced police officers to have to escort him to his car for safety. This growing phenomenon is often marked by violence and absurdity http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/21/castle-townhall/ . Recently, right-wing demonstrators hung Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) in effigy http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/28/dem-effigy-afp/ outside of his office. Missing from the reporting of these stories is the fact that much of these protests are coordinated by public relations firms and lobbyists http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/pr20090415 who have a stake in opposing President Obama's reforms. The lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which orchestrated the anti-Obama tea parties http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/lobbyists-planning-teaparties/ earlier this year, are now pursuing an aggressive strategy http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/07/lawmakers_will_face_tea_parties\ _and_more_in_august.php to create an image of mass public opposition to health care and clean energy reform. A leaked memo http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/townhallactionmemo.\ pdf from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer http://teapartypatriots.ning.com/profile/BobMacGuffie with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress: [Tea Bagger Memo] Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington. Be Disruptive Early And Often: You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep's presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep's statements early. Try To Rattle Him, Not Have An Intelligent Debate: The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions. The memo above also resembles the talking points http://www.freedomworks.org/files/FW_July%204%20Recess%20Action%20Kit_6\ -26-09.pdf being distributed by FreedomWorks for pushing an anti-health reform assault all summer. Patients United, a front group maintained by Americans for Prosperity, is currently busing people all over the country http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_go\ vtpolitics/article/BUSS23_20090722-222402/281595/ for more protests against Democratic members. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the NRCC, has endorsed the strategy, telling the Politico the days of civil town halls are now over http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25646_Page2.html . Meanwhile, AHIP, the trade group and lobbying juggernaut representing the health insurance industry is sending staffers to monitor town halls http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124891353497192109.html and other right-wing front groups are stepping up their http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/07/30/the-looming\ -ad-war-over-health-care-reform.aspx ad campaign to smear reform efforts. The strategy for defeating reform recently outlined by an influential lobbyist to the Hill newspaper as delay then kill http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/28/kyl-pretends-notobstructing/ is becoming apparent. By delaying a vote until after the August recess, lobbyists are now seizing upon recess town halls http://recessrally.com/ as opportunities to ambush lawmakers and fool them into believing there is wide opposition to reform. http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/31/recess-harassment-memo/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: snip What the TBs cannot understand -- because, IMO, of their brainwashing -- is that one can *easily* hold one POV on Maharishi that embraces his positive image and *at the same time* embrace another that is completely comfortable with a more negative image. Said, astonishingly, without a *trace* of irony. Again, anyone whose view of MMY is different from Barry's must hold that view because they've been *brainwashed*. Barry is incapable of understanding that there can be more than one legitimate point of view about MMY. The question is, who brainwashed Barry?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Awkward Questions about Jesus
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcg...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Paul Mason premanandpaul@ wrote: An intro to 'Outnumbered'... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQak6ng0RXQ That's one of the most precious things I've ever seen. A must for all spiritual seekers... I was so taken with this clip that I emailed the link to several friends on my email list. I sent it with the message that seeing the following four minute video will answer all your most pressing spiritual questions. That was a mistake. One of my recipients emailed me back thinking that the clip was serious and she, in turn, is now trying to convert me to her brand of Christianity. So I've learned a big lesson here: my brand of humor is not the same as everyone else's, especially when it comes to religion. Anyway, if you want to see a really well-crafted bit of comedy, see the clip.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: snip Mr. Holder for one filed an amicus brief He signed it, along with others; he didn't file it. in the DC gun ban case in favor of total hand gun ban and ban on the use of any firearm for self defense in the home. No, it required that other firearms be kept unloaded or with a trigger lock. It didn't ban possession or use. Self defense is not legal? what a concept. It's my understanding that that case applied to Washington DC where they had ALREADY outlawed handguns. That's correct. Handguns had been outlawed in D.C. since 1975 because of the high level of handgun violence in the city. When the challenge to the ban went to the Supreme Court, a majority of members of Congress signed an amicus brief in favor of the court overruling the ban (55 in the Senate, 250 in the House). The Bush Justice Department *opposed* overruling the ban. And remember your original claims, Most of the crew in DC is in favor of restricting gun ownership almost totally, and then Many [in the federal government] advocate a total ban. Holder signing the amicus brief in D.C. v. Heller is hardly enough to support those claims. Nelson, John's right on this, and you're wrong. I don't know where you've been getting this stuff, but it's simply incorrect. Here's an article from ReasonOnline, a libertarian publication, that will give you an accurate picture of where things stand now: http://www.reason.com/news/show/131352.html The writer is obviously not a knee-jerk Obamabot like John, so he should have some credibility with you; but he isn't a right-wing gun nut, either, so his report is fact-based and his analysis sober and straightforward. Good link- Thank you.
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of TurquoiseB Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 12:46 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body What the TBs cannot understand -- because, IMO, of their brainwashing -- is that one can *easily* hold one POV on Maharishi that embraces his positive image and *at the same time* embrace another that is completely comfortable with a more negative image. They were taught that this is not possible, that focusing on negativity was BAD. If one indulges in it, there is only one justifiable punishment -- total and complete banishment. By even *thinking* negatively about Maharishi, one has forfeited the right to hang with those who never have. There's a lot of truth in that. I and others got kicked out of the TM movement for beginning to think independently without worrying about the possible consequences. A while after this happened to me, I was chatting on the phone with a fellow who at one time had been my best friend. I was expressing this ambivalent, all possibilities attitude about Maharishi - that there was no need to take all his pronouncements as absolutes, that much of what he said and did may have been expressions of cultural conditioning and personal idiosyncrasies rather than cosmic perspectives. If we had been meeting in person, I'm sure I would have seen the color drain from his face. His voice sounded ashen and he quickly terminated the call. He hasn't returned a phone call or an email since then.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: snip What the TBs cannot understand -- because, IMO, of their brainwashing -- is that one can *easily* hold one POV on Maharishi that embraces his positive image and *at the same time* embrace another that is completely comfortable with a more negative image. Said, astonishingly, without a *trace* of irony. Again, anyone whose view of MMY is different from Barry's must hold that view because they've been *brainwashed*. Barry is incapable of understanding that there can be more than one legitimate point of view about MMY. The question is, who brainwashed Barry? Barry can make some good points about MMY and the TMO, as he did earlier in the day. But Judy's point shouldn't be lost: who brainwashed Barry? I suggest that Barry is sucseptible to brainwashing and that he was, indeed, brainwashed by...the TMO! I myself have always held the cynical but respectful view of this teaching (I think it's the greatest thing since apple pie but believe the TMO is full of crap) pretty much since I first started getting involved with them. But Barry must have fell for it hook, line, and sinker...or else why does he think the way he does? Of course, there are always going to be the Nabby's of every organisation; you can't help that. But to define MY experience with TM and the TMO by holding up Nabby, Barry, is not only wrong but unfair. Give me some credit for being able to think for myself, please.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: snip Check congresswoman McCarthy and her views, also, R Emanuel E holder Ms. Pelosi Ted Kennedy D Feinstein Kerry H. Koh Joe Biden- who wrote the Clinton assault weapons ban which, upon official investigation proved to be virtually useless. As an ironic aside, Ms. Fienstein, I beliieve, has a CCP but doesn't believe you are entitled to one. Mr. Obamma, has promised to reinstate the Clinton gun ban. None of these people are advocating a total gun ban, contrary to your original claims. They advocate various types of gun-control measures designed to make gun possession safer. And as the ReasonOnline article notes, while there are a few such measures currently sitting in committee, that's all they're doing, sitting. Nobody's interested in acting on them.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: snip Check congresswoman McCarthy and her views, also, R Emanuel E holder Ms. Pelosi Ted Kennedy D Feinstein Kerry H. Koh Joe Biden- who wrote the Clinton assault weapons ban which, upon official investigation proved to be virtually useless. As an ironic aside, Ms. Fienstein, I beliieve, has a CCP but doesn't believe you are entitled to one. Mr. Obamma, has promised to reinstate the Clinton gun ban. None of these people are advocating a total gun ban, contrary to your original claims. Hoping it turns out well, not overconfident though. They advocate various types of gun-control measures designed to make gun possession safer. And as the ReasonOnline article notes, while there are a few such measures currently sitting in committee, that's all they're doing, sitting. Nobody's interested in acting on them.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: I was thinking of the federal level- where many advocate a total ban. I don't think so. I doubt anyone in Congress advocates a total ban on guns. Many are in favor of various types of gun control, but not a total ban by any stretch. And there are at least as many in Congress who vigorously oppose most if not all gun-control measures. We have a Mr. Koh involved who is a globalist that thinks we should be run by the UN. Well, not exactly. The UN has some bizzare ideas on soverin nations. The international CIFTA treaty which has some support here is a total disaster in the making. It'll never pass the Senate. And you still haven't come close to backing up your original claims.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 1:27 PM, Rick Archer r...@searchsummit.com wrote: There's a lot of truth in that. I and others got kicked out of the TM movement for beginning to think independently without worrying about the possible consequences. A while after this happened to me, I was chatting on the phone with a fellow who at one time had been my best friend. I was expressing this ambivalent, all possibilities attitude about Maharishi - that there was no need to take all his pronouncements as absolutes, that much of what he said and did may have been expressions of cultural conditioning and personal idiosyncrasies rather than cosmic perspectives. If we had been meeting in person, I'm sure I would have seen the color drain from his face. His voice sounded ashen and he quickly terminated the call. He hasn't returned a phone call or an email since then. I never thought independently that Maharishi was a god or spoke the truth of the gods. It was the initiators, in advanced lectures and on residence courses who told us that Maharishi spoke from the home of all the laws of nature and therefore spoke only the truth, that which is true on every level of creation, as perceived from every state of consciousness. How did it all start, this business that Maharishi could speak only the truth, that which was true at every level, from every vantage point? Was it Maharishi himself who said this and encouraged his belief or was it his BN followers? Art imitates life. I remember the reporter from the Village Voice telling Alfie in Annie Hall that people consider Maharishi God. That millions of people would crawl on their hands and knees across the country merely to be able to touch the hem of his garment. My meditator friends and I laughed and laughed when we saw that scene. While my friends and I were laughing, it appears the hardcore TMers were going off to TTC and Six Month courses to be with He they believed were God. Is that the way it is? Would TM have been better if Maharishi didn't have all of these BN initiators?
[FairfieldLife] 'The Peace of God'
And while the nails, were pounded into his flesh...and the blood squirted out, onto the dirt in Jerusalem...He ached hard and fast...No one could watch, The body twitched...Time stood still, for quite a while, then:He came to Peace...And then he passed on. R.G.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
I tend to agree with you Shemp and would be interested in reading the arch of your involvement in the TMO. I believe you have mentioned your TTC several times. Did you then teach full-time? Did you take the Sidhis course? One of the early ones? If so, did you practice them for a long period of time and what led to your ending that practice? What, if anything, led to your leaving The Movement? I'm not interested in hacking on you and don't wish to come across as a stalker. I just find it interesting to hear peoples stories about those things. It seems that Barry was tending toward an exit and that his decision was perhaps was assisted by his experiences with an early Sidhis course. I never attended TTC and it seems the design of the early Sidhi courses was a typical movement throw it at the wall and see what sticks. My own Sidhis CIC course was one of the later '80s ones in which the instruction had been clearly codified and streamlined. I had observed, anecdotally, very uneven results and experiences with earlier courses among people I knew. I had very clear experiences and never felt short changed by the instruction. I discontinued my TMSP, but continued TM, when I was not enjoying the effect on my day to day life. The increasingly refined perception was annoying at best. I never felt compelled to share with the TMO my exposure to other paths I encountered over the years. So many were readily available in the USA in the 70's and 80's. Sufi meditation with Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, kundalini and White Tantra with Yogi Bhajan, various practices at Naropa when Chögyam Trungpa was still kickin' and drinkin', and Zen. A few others that I haven't dusted off in what seems like decades. Never had the pleasure of encountering Mr. Lenz as I always got a very bad vibe there. No one ever told me, and I didn't ask, but I alway thought that the half dozen TM advanced techniques I received over the years might not have been available to me had I been advertising involvement in various things. Never really felt like being a joiner and being a devotee ain't my thang. I figure I did my time as an altar boy in the '60s and enjoyed looking around. I consider myself defrocked. :-) TM experiences were good and definitely seemed enhanced by the advanced techniques, with the exception of the last. They got more expensive as the years went on but that was never a great burden. My last two were after my CIC course. When I took instruction in Mindfullness meditation in '07 I arbitrarily decided to discontinue my TM. The seeds of the old brainwashing still have some life I guess. A few months ago, about a year after Mindfullness instruction, I began TM again. Practicing them both is neither a strain nor a conflict and I realize now that a hiatus of one to learn the other was completely unnecessary. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something very complimentary about TM and mindfullness/vipassana practice. As I continue my practice I expect that my feelings about that will clarify itself. I am glad I have both. Given the behavior and trajectory of the TMO for quite a few years I have found it impossible to recommend it as a place to go for meditation instruction. I do, however, heartily recommend what groups like InsightLa, the Insight Meditation Society, and Jon Kabat-Zinn's MBSR are doing. I saw enough weirdness with Chögyam Trungpa and others in his organization in the 70's to find it hard to take the Shambala folks seriously. I say that in spite of the fact that they are held in high regard by some folks who I hold in high regard. Go figure. I chalk it up to a cultural thang akin to my not being convinced that being whacked by a keisaku/kyosaku is compassionate. Maybe I had severe Inos, but that makes me wanna gassho myowndamnself outta there. I tell yas these rambling tales Shemp just to show you I am interested in hearing your TMSP experiences and what led you to distance yourself from the Movement. Hearing it from someone still satisfied with their is always interesting. Think cool thoughts Shemp. It makes summer in Arizona bearable. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcg...@... wrote: Barry is, of course, completely correct in his analysis below. As I've written here many times, the change of course that MMY took was what was responsible for the death of the TM Movement...AND IT CONTINUES TO THIS DAY. And I remember that, ironically, it was Charlie Lutes who warned MMY (I'm sure there must have been dozens more!) that coming out with the Sidhis and the flying in the way he did would destroy the movement. I think that's either in Paul Mason's book or Nancy Cooke de Herrera's book, ironically titled Beyond Gurus, which is what TM was SUPPOSED to be about. Back in '76 before the change took place, the TMO was on track to initiating millions. That ALL came to a grinding halt with the sidhis and the flying. One
[FairfieldLife] Re: Awkward Questions about Jesus
Anyway, if you want to see a really well-crafted bit of comedy, see the clip. It's a classic. Have you seen the others in the series? Satan is everywhere http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3xKS4EPzCANR=1 Is it just muslims that blow up planes? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-vybA54BF4feature=related No holds barred comedy.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Domes Effect: FF has 13 registered sex offenders
http://tinyurl.com/kk53gl Quite a good number for such a small town in the land of the blessed. * http://snipurl.com/oht9p [www_sun-sentinel_com] comparison of Iowa/FL laws on sex offenders
[FairfieldLife] Re: Awkward Questions about Jesus
No holds barred comedy. OMG, OMG, OMG!! I can barely breath this is so funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al3CCSEl-fMNR=1 .. if it goes to hell it can have cheese on toast Followed by this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ZdXr--4QAfeature=related In sickness#65279; or in health. May the force be with you..because you're worth it I think I'd die of laughter if I watched a whole show.
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of It's just a ride Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 3:00 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body I never thought independently that Maharishi was a god or spoke the truth of the gods. It was the initiators, in advanced lectures and on residence courses who told us that Maharishi spoke from the home of all the laws of nature and therefore spoke only the truth, that which is true on every level of creation, as perceived from every state of consciousness. How did it all start, this business that Maharishi could speak only the truth, that which was true at every level, from every vantage point? Was it Maharishi himself who said this and encouraged his belief or was it his BN followers? Maharishi often spoke of getting in tune with his thinking. The idea, sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit, was that he saw things clearly and that if you differed with him, you weren't seeing things as clearly. In his commentary on the Gita, Maharishi talks about putting aside one's own petty ways of thinking and feeling and attuning ones thoughts and feelings to the enlightened mind of the Master. This has always been an underlying guideline in the TMO. If you didn't buy into East-facing houses, world's tallest buildings, Nader getting his weight in gold, etc., you were out of tune with MMY's thinking. You wouldn't advance far in the organization and your very evolution was in peril. So consequently, TB's buy into all these ideas, in some cases try to concoct a rational explanation for them, but failing that, take them on faith and assume that they will understand them someday when their perspective has become sufficiently cosmic.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Benjamin Creme talks about the 'star' and Maitreya, July 31
nablusoss1008 wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JihYJhfAs4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7M1TncdvMwfeature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNlH9zLzot4feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZWCv4ompDcfeature=related Nabby, seems like that organization has been talking about Maitreya will soon make himself known to the world since I first picked up on of their newsletters that they were handing out back in the 1970s.
[FairfieldLife] More on the incredible clips from the Outnumbered TV series
I'll tell you what I love about the 3 clips I've seen so far. Firstly, there's no laugh track which more often than not absolutely kills any comedy for me (and a laugh track is to be differentiated from the laughing from a live studio audience DURING the taping of a show). Secondly, this is NOT slap-your-knee funny; it is situational funny, for lack of a better term. I much prefer this kind of comedy. The best example of it that I know is the movie Flirting with distaster with Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette. Thirdly, the kids who are the actors -- as well as the adults -- are not TRYING to play funny; they are reading and acting their lines quite sincerely and it is the situation itself and the script which is just incredibly hilarious. There is an axiom in Hollywood that if you're an actor doing a comedy, you don't try and play funny; you do the lines and your role as seriously and sincerely as possible, the funny will automatically come. And that's why I think this works. In the Awkward questions about Jesus clip, everyone in it is doing that perfectly from the Vicar (who's wonderful) to all of the kids. This is a gem of a series and I can't wait until it is available on DVD in the States! Of course, the series could be shit and we are just seeing the absolute best of it...but somehow I doubt it. Perhaps Paul Mason who is ensconced in Jolly Old England sees the series? Could he please tell us whether the series is as good as the clips? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, guyfawkes91 no_re...@... wrote: No holds barred comedy. OMG, OMG, OMG!! I can barely breath this is so funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al3CCSEl-fMNR=1 .. if it goes to hell it can have cheese on toast Followed by this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ZdXr--4QAfeature=related In sickness#65279; or in health. May the force be with you..because you're worth it I think I'd die of laughter if I watched a whole show.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, satvadude108 no_re...@... wrote: [snip] I tell yas these rambling tales Shemp just to show you I am interested in hearing your TMSP experiences and what led you to distance yourself from the Movement. Hearing it from someone still satisfied with their is always interesting. Think cool thoughts Shemp. It makes summer in Arizona bearable. [snip] What makes me different from Barry, satvadude, I think is the fact that I still do TM. With the exception of a few periods in my life when I wasn't regular, I've pretty much done TM twice a day since I started in April 1973. I went to TTC a year later. And I must tell ya' I pretty much was uncomfortable with the Movement from my first contact with them at TTC. It seemed filled with vindictive, unhappy people who, for the most part, did NOT reflect what TM is supposed to create in its practitioners. I'm talking here of the people running the thing, not the course participants and yes, of course, there were certainly the Nabby types but mostly good, decent people. And, again, I suspect, unlike Barry, I didn't conclude that TM didn't work because of the schmucks I met running the TMO. I put that down to the fact that an organisation claiming to be able to solve your problems is probably going to attract a disproportionate percentage of nutcases and -- voila! -- here they are around MMY. To date, I haven't been dissuaged from that assessment. Here's another way I am different from Barry: there are, literally, thousands of paths, techniques and ways to get to the goal. TM is one of them. Barry believes that unless one tries other methods one cannot claim that TM is the best way. Perhaps he is right. I certainly haven't tried many others other than TM so I certainly can't say anything in that regard. But with all the methods out there I would, literally, have to try at least one a day for the rest of my life in order to rationally and fairly say that TM is the best. And I don't think Barry has tried all the methods either (or he wouldn't have the time that he devotes to pulling Judy's pigtails everyday here on this forum). So unless ALL methods are tried, no one is in a position to say this one or that one is the best. TM attracted me because of (1) its simplicity and ease and universality which, despite what Barry tells you, IS most definitely unique to TM (except for those teachers that teach techniques that they themselves learned from the TMO and MMY); (2) whether they're ultimately legit or not, the TMO had the technique tested scientifically...AND boldly dare the public at large and the scientific community to study it; and (3) no change in lifestyle, religion, or whatever was required to do it (at least that was the way TM was taught back in the day...now, of course, it's different and that's the subject of what we're discussing here, isnt' it?). Numerous times on this forum I have reproduced the 1974 Belgium discourse by MMY (it's about 30 seconds long) in which he says: just do TM twice a day and then go about your business; indeed, you can do hundreds of different meditations if you want as long as you do TM twice a day. This discourse is so important to me because, in an albeit extreme way, it epitomizes what TM is supposed to be all about. But back to your original question, above. I find the TMO filled with people who really are not on the same path as me...and these are people that I dearly love, who I consider great friends, and whom I've known now for decades and worked alongside in the TMO and/or went to MIU with. But they are on an entirely different path than me; they are on the TM Guru path whereas I am on the TM Program path. And you know what? The two paths ARE 180 DEGREES DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER AND THEY ARE INCOMPATIBLE WITH EACH OTHER. And I have been shunned, ostracized, and isolated for being on the TM Program and adhering and sticking to it. Am I bitter? Yes, I am. And I am angry at the TMO for taking the path that they have...and for shutting people like me out. God bless them all if they want to do yagyas, ayurveda, architecture, start political parties and all that stuff...BUT IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE TM PROGRAM; IT IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE TM PROGRAM. Indeed, as I mentioned before, the interference of their path into MY path has destroyed the TMO and ruined any chance for the successful dissemination of the TM Program throughout the world. I am especially bitter towards those who were fortunate enough to be around MMY and had the chance of telling him that he was going about things the wrong way. Gosh, it wasn't rocket science to know things would turn out the way they did. But instead of being useful to him by NOT being Yes-Men, they enabled him by being vampires and sucking the life-blood out of him and telling him what they thought he wanted here. It was their dharma -- yes, their dharma
Re: [FairfieldLife] More on the incredible clips from the Outnumbered TV series
shempmcgurk wrote: I'll tell you what I love about the 3 clips I've seen so far. Firstly, there's no laugh track which more often than not absolutely kills any comedy for me (and a laugh track is to be differentiated from the laughing from a live studio audience DURING the taping of a show). Secondly, this is NOT slap-your-knee funny; it is situational funny, for lack of a better term. I much prefer this kind of comedy. The best example of it that I know is the movie Flirting with distaster with Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette. Thirdly, the kids who are the actors -- as well as the adults -- are not TRYING to play funny; they are reading and acting their lines quite sincerely and it is the situation itself and the script which is just incredibly hilarious. There is an axiom in Hollywood that if you're an actor doing a comedy, you don't try and play funny; you do the lines and your role as seriously and sincerely as possible, the funny will automatically come. And that's why I think this works. In the Awkward questions about Jesus clip, everyone in it is doing that perfectly from the Vicar (who's wonderful) to all of the kids. This is a gem of a series and I can't wait until it is available on DVD in the States! Of course, the series could be shit and we are just seeing the absolute best of it...but somehow I doubt it. Perhaps Paul Mason who is ensconced in Jolly Old England sees the series? Could he please tell us whether the series is as good as the clips? So far it has not been on BBC America. Fox is going to do an America version. Oh boy, can't wait to see how they butcher it. Maybe Stu will edit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outnumbered
Re: [FairfieldLife] More on the incredible clips from the Outnumbered TV series
Bhairitu wrote: shempmcgurk wrote: I'll tell you what I love about the 3 clips I've seen so far. Firstly, there's no laugh track which more often than not absolutely kills any comedy for me (and a laugh track is to be differentiated from the laughing from a live studio audience DURING the taping of a show). Secondly, this is NOT slap-your-knee funny; it is situational funny, for lack of a better term. I much prefer this kind of comedy. The best example of it that I know is the movie Flirting with distaster with Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette. Thirdly, the kids who are the actors -- as well as the adults -- are not TRYING to play funny; they are reading and acting their lines quite sincerely and it is the situation itself and the script which is just incredibly hilarious. There is an axiom in Hollywood that if you're an actor doing a comedy, you don't try and play funny; you do the lines and your role as seriously and sincerely as possible, the funny will automatically come. And that's why I think this works. In the Awkward questions about Jesus clip, everyone in it is doing that perfectly from the Vicar (who's wonderful) to all of the kids. This is a gem of a series and I can't wait until it is available on DVD in the States! Of course, the series could be shit and we are just seeing the absolute best of it...but somehow I doubt it. Perhaps Paul Mason who is ensconced in Jolly Old England sees the series? Could he please tell us whether the series is as good as the clips? So far it has not been on BBC America. Fox is going to do an America version. Oh boy, can't wait to see how they butcher it. Maybe Stu will edit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outnumbered Or maybe not. It was supposed to be part of 2008 line-up: http://www.fox.com/programming/shows/new/outnumbered.htm Then there are some articles on the web saying 2009.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: I was thinking of the federal level- where many advocate a total ban. I don't think so. I doubt anyone in Congress advocates a total ban on guns. Many are in favor of various types of gun control, but not a total ban by any stretch. And there are at least as many in Congress who vigorously oppose most if not all gun-control measures. We have a Mr. Koh involved who is a globalist that thinks we should be run by the UN. Well, not exactly. The UN has some bizzare ideas on soverin nations. The international CIFTA treaty which has some support here is a total disaster in the making. It'll never pass the Senate. And you still haven't come close to backing up your original claims. OK, I'll try to weasel out of it by saying that I should have said that was my impression from what I had read rather than an absolute fact.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
On Aug 1, 2009, at 12:55 PM, shempmcgurk wrote: Barry is, of course, completely correct in his analysis below. As I've written here many times, the change of course that MMY took was what was responsible for the death of the TM Movement...AND IT CONTINUES TO THIS DAY. And I remember that, ironically, it was Charlie Lutes who warned MMY (I'm sure there must have been dozens more!) that coming out with the Sidhis and the flying in the way he did would destroy the movement. I think that's either in Paul Mason's book or Nancy Cooke de Herrera's book, ironically titled Beyond Gurus, which is what TM was SUPPOSED to be about. Back in '76 before the change took place, the TMO was on track to initiating millions. That ALL came to a grinding halt with the sidhis and the flying. One wonders where we'd be today if things had been done differently...or, rather, by the same formula that got them the original success. My big complaint is that as one who subscribes to the ORIGINAL TM path, that there is virtually no support for people like me in the TMO. And I suppose that's okay because it's supposed to be a do it yourself program. Have you checked the aluminum foil on that southern door lately? It sounds like it may be a bit loose, and causing your MIU brainwashing to get a tad dirty!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Wingnuts take a stand !
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Nelson nelsonriddle2001@ wrote: I was thinking of the federal level- where many advocate a total ban. I don't think so. I doubt anyone in Congress advocates a total ban on guns. Many are in favor of various types of gun control, but not a total ban by any stretch. And there are at least as many in Congress who vigorously oppose most if not all gun-control measures. We have a Mr. Koh involved who is a globalist that thinks we should be run by the UN. Well, not exactly. The UN has some bizzare ideas on soverin nations. The international CIFTA treaty which has some support here is a total disaster in the making. It'll never pass the Senate. And you still haven't come close to backing up your original claims. OK, I'll try to weasel out of it by saying that I should have said that was my impression from what I had read rather than an absolute fact. OK, happens to the best of us! Hopefully you won't be quite so trusting of the sources that gave you that impression in the future...
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
On Aug 1, 2009, at 11:28 AM, nablusoss1008 wrote: Very interesting, I've never read this before, thanks for posting this Rick ! I wonder what Amma would say about these topics, if anything ? Overall, did you ever ask her an interesting question on this level at all ? If so, what what was the question/answer ? I'm not sure if I have this exact, but I can remember two things Rick has commented on that Amma has said, one in general, another more specific. The first one was that gurus who were involved in scandals (money mishandling, sex with students, etc.); none of these gurus were jivan-muktis, that is, enlightened or liberated. Another time he asked her what was her opinion of MMY and she said she would tell him, but he would have to promise to never repeat what she said to anyone else. It may be fair to assume therefore, since she did NOT want it repeated and based on her previous remark, her opinion is not a very high one.
[FairfieldLife] Re: More on the incredible clips from the Outnumbered TV series
Are the clips a true representation of what 'Outnumbered' is like? Hugh Dennis appears on comedy quiz programs quite a lot, and is part of a generation of very funny gifted comedians here, there seems to be a glut of them, we are very lucky. I came across 'Outnumbered' by chance and found it to be totally gripping, but I can't define why. It isn't as cerebral as Monty Python, Not the Nine O'clock News or any of the other greats, but it has its own power to put our lives on parade. From what I understand, the cast is left to improvise quite a lot, so perhaps that is why the material feels so fresh? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcg...@... wrote: I'll tell you what I love about the 3 clips I've seen so far. Firstly, there's no laugh track which more often than not absolutely kills any comedy for me (and a laugh track is to be differentiated from the laughing from a live studio audience DURING the taping of a show). Secondly, this is NOT slap-your-knee funny; it is situational funny, for lack of a better term. I much prefer this kind of comedy. The best example of it that I know is the movie Flirting with distaster with Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette. Thirdly, the kids who are the actors -- as well as the adults -- are not TRYING to play funny; they are reading and acting their lines quite sincerely and it is the situation itself and the script which is just incredibly hilarious. There is an axiom in Hollywood that if you're an actor doing a comedy, you don't try and play funny; you do the lines and your role as seriously and sincerely as possible, the funny will automatically come. And that's why I think this works. In the Awkward questions about Jesus clip, everyone in it is doing that perfectly from the Vicar (who's wonderful) to all of the kids. This is a gem of a series and I can't wait until it is available on DVD in the States! Of course, the series could be shit and we are just seeing the absolute best of it...but somehow I doubt it. Perhaps Paul Mason who is ensconced in Jolly Old England sees the series? Could he please tell us whether the series is as good as the clips? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, guyfawkes91 no_reply@ wrote: No holds barred comedy. OMG, OMG, OMG!! I can barely breath this is so funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al3CCSEl-fMNR=1 .. if it goes to hell it can have cheese on toast Followed by this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ZdXr--4QAfeature=related In sickness#65279; or in health. May the force be with you..because you're worth it I think I'd die of laughter if I watched a whole show.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, It's just a ride bill.hicks.all.a.r...@... wrote: On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 1:27 PM, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: There's a lot of truth in that. I and others got kicked out of the TM movement for beginning to think independently without worrying about the possible consequences. A while after this happened to me, I was chatting on the phone with a fellow who at one time had been my best friend. I was expressing this ambivalent, all possibilities attitude about Maharishi - that there was no need to take all his pronouncements as absolutes, that much of what he said and did may have been expressions of cultural conditioning and personal idiosyncrasies rather than cosmic perspectives. If we had been meeting in person, I'm sure I would have seen the color drain from his face. His voice sounded ashen and he quickly terminated the call. He hasn't returned a phone call or an email since then. I never thought independently that Maharishi was a god or spoke the truth of the gods. It was the initiators, in advanced lectures and on residence courses who told us that Maharishi spoke from the home of all the laws of nature and therefore spoke only the truth, that which is true on every level of creation, as perceived from every state of consciousness. How did it all start, this business that Maharishi could speak only the truth, that which was true at every level, from every vantage point? Was it Maharishi himself who said this and encouraged his belief or was it his BN followers? Art imitates life. I remember the reporter from the Village Voice telling Alfie in Annie Hall that people consider Maharishi God. That millions of people would crawl on their hands and knees across the country merely to be able to touch the hem of his garment. My meditator friends and I laughed and laughed when we saw that scene. While my friends and I were laughing, it appears the hardcore TMers were going off to TTC and Six Month courses to be with He they believed were God. Is that the way it is? Would TM have been better if Maharishi didn't have all of these BN initiators? Charlie Lutes was the anecdote! :-) He wasn't too popular either. Charlie was always, 'just Charlie' and spoke mostly from his experience. He was a straight shooter, whereas MMY, well, I think he sugar coated the truth a lot. I guess he thought it would be much more palatable to us ignorant Westerners...
[FairfieldLife] Spiritual Slavery (was Re: Space/Time Foam)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: snip Why I brought it up is that I have been noticing lately the number of people like John (jr_esq) who have been brainwashed to believe certain things for so long that they no longer seem to know they *are* brainwashed. Note that according to Barry's Rules, the definition of brainwashed is: Anybody who believes something other than what Barry believes. This applies, of course, especially to TMers. In Barry's World, it's not possible for anybody who thinks for themselves to hold beliefs he doesn't share. Barry thinking is *the* standard for thinking for oneself. Judy, Excellent point. That's the reason why I don't like to respond to any of his anti-TM comments. It appears that we are talking to a brick wall when you discuss reason with the guy. More like talking to a bowl of melting Jell-O. He'll say whatever he thinks he has to to win a point or bash one of his enemies; doesn't matter if it contradicts what he's said the day before, or the post before, or even the paragraph before; doesn't matter if it makes no sense. Doesn't matter if it's contrary to fact, either. That's the reason why he carries a lot of inertia to clear thinking, which is against the wisdom of this forum. He's always been an incredibly sloppy thinker, but his writing is so glib and he's so assertive, people frequently don't realize how screwy the content is.
[FairfieldLife] The Idea That We Only Use 10% Of Our Brains Is A Myth
DO PEOPLE ONLY USE 10 PERCENT OF THEIR BRAINS? By Robynne Boyd Scientific American February 7, 2008 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=people-only-use-10-percent- of-brain The human brain is complex. Along with performing millions of mundane acts, it composes concertos, issues manifestos and comes up with elegant solutions to equations. It's the wellspring of all human feelings, behaviors, experiences as well as the repository of memory and self-awareness. So it's no surprise that the brain remains a mystery unto itself. Adding to that mystery is the contention that humans only employ 10 percent of their brain. If only regular folk could tap that other 90 percent, they too could become savants who remember ¼ to the twenty-thousandth decimal place or perhaps even have telekinetic powers. Though an alluring idea, the 10 percent myth is so wrong it is almost laughable, says neurologist Barry Gordon at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. Although there's no definitive culprit to pin the blame on for starting this legend, the notion has been linked to the American psychologist and author William James, who argued in The Energies of Men that We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources. It's also been associated with to Albert Einstein, who supposedly used it to explain his cosmic towering intellect. The myth's durability, Gordon says, stems from people's conceptions about their own brains: they see their own shortcomings as evidence of the existence of untapped gray matter. This is a false assumption. What is correct, however, is that at certain moments in anyone's life, such as when we are simply at rest and thinking, we may be using only 10 percent of our brains. It turns out though, that we use virtually every part of the brain, and that [most of] the brain is active almost all the time, Gordon adds. Let's put it this way: the brain represents three percent of the body's weight and uses 20 percent of the body's energy. The average human brain weighs about three pounds and comprises the hefty cerebrum, which is the largest portion and performs all higher cognitive functions; the cerebellum, responsible for motor functions, such as the coordination of movement and balance; and the brain stem, dedicated to involuntary functions like breathing. The majority of the energy consumed by the brain powers the rapid firing of millions of neurons communicating with each other. Scientists think it is such neuronal firing and connecting that gives rise to all of the brain's higher functions. The rest of its energy is used for controlling other activities -- both unconscious activities, such as heart rate, and conscious ones, such as driving a car. Although it's true that at any given moment all of the brain's regions are not concurrently firing, brain researchers using imaging technology have shown that, like the body's muscles, most are continually active over a 24-hour period. Evidence would show over a day you use 100 percent of the brain, says John Henley, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Even in sleep, areas such as the frontal cortex, which controls things like higher level thinking and self-awareness, or the somatosensory areas, which help people sense their surroundings, are active, Henley explains. Take the simple act of pouring coffee in the morning: In walking toward the coffeepot, reaching for it, pouring the brew into the mug, even leaving extra room for cream, the occipital and parietal lobes, motor sensory and sensory motor cortices, basal ganglia, cerebellum and frontal lobes all activate. A lightning storm of neuronal activity occurs almost across the entire brain in the time span of a few seconds. This isn't to say that if the brain were damaged that you wouldn't be able to perform daily duties, Henley continues. There are people who have injured their brains or had parts of it removed who still live fairly normal lives, but that is because the brain has a way of compensating and making sure that what's left takes over the activity. Being able to map the brain's various regions and functions is part and parcel of understanding the possible side effects should a given region begin to fail. Experts know that neurons that perform similar functions tend to cluster together. For example, neurons that control the thumb's movement are arranged next to those that control the forefinger. Thus, when undertaking brain surgery, neurosurgeons carefully avoid neural clusters related to vision, hearing and movement, enabling the brain to retain as many of its functions as possible. What's not understood is how clusters of neurons from the diverse regions of the brain collaborate to form consciousness. So far, there's no evidence that there is one site for consciousness, which leads experts to believe that it is truly a collective neural effort. Another mystery hidden within our crinkled cortices is that out of all the
[FairfieldLife] Hard Times Are Jamming The Ashrams
HARD TIMES ARE JAMMING THE ASHRAMS By Sara Eckel The New York Times July 16, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/fashion/16yoga.html Shortly after Steven Odnoha lost his job at Intel, he drove three days from Rio Rancho, N.M., to the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, Pa. For months, Mr. Odnoha had been wondering how he could get the time off to join a yearlong meditation program at the nonprofit yoga retreat. His pink slip, in September 2007, provided the answer. ³I figured if I stayed for a year, the economy would be warming up by then, and I could head back and see what¹s available for a semiconductor manufacturing technician,² said Mr. Odnoha, 40, as he picked wild thyme from a small garden outside the institute¹s kitchen. Obviously, the economy didn¹t cooperate, but Mr. Odnoha doesn¹t mind. Now he spends his days on the Himalayan Institute¹s 400-acre wooded campus, practicing hatha yoga and meditation, studying spiritual texts, biking, walking and preparing meals in the institute¹s kitchen. In exchange for his cooking duties and an annual fee of $3,000, he gets a private room, three vegetarian meals a day and unlimited access to the institute¹s classes, seminars and other events. The Himalayan Institute is one of many retreats where cash-strapped spiritual seekers can participate in work-study programs in which they pay typically $300 to $900 a month in exchange for a few hours a day of service, like washing dishes, cleaning rooms or weeding gardens. As the unemployment rate has risen and people have sought refuge from the harsh economy, these work-exchanges have become a hot commodity. The Himalayan Institute received twice as many applications for its summer work-study programs this year as last -- its August session is full, with 22 people, compared with 11 last year -- and so did two similar retreats, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in Carmel Valley, Calif., and Satchidananda Ashram in Buckingham, Va. (which is better known as Yogaville). The people who run these programs say there seems to be a link between the troubled job market and the rising popularity of yoga retreats. Todd Wolfenberg, director of marketing at the Himalayan Institute, said he has seen an increase in applications from recent college graduates and people with professional careers. ³I suspect that is due to the fact that they haven¹t been able to find a job after college or are leaving a job,² he said. The center has traditionally attracted people whose lives permit extended time off, like writers and entrepreneurs. Yoga retreat programs can be as short as an overnight visit to Ananda Ashram in Monroe, N.Y., or can last for months or even years. The long-term residencies usually begin with a monthlong foundational program in which participants commit to a full schedule of classes and meditation. At the Himalayan Institute¹s 28-day self-transformation program, the day begins with a 6 a.m. meditation and continues with a full roster of hatha yoga classes, breathing and relaxation practicums and about four hours of light chores, like making beds and chopping vegetables. The program costs $825, and participants receive a private room and three vegetarian meals a day. ³It¹s designed for individuals who are between jobs, on leave or sabbatical, or just burned out and have the ability to take time out,² Mr. Wolfenberg said. On a recent Monday afternoon, 11 participants sat in the institute¹s cafeteria chopping cucumbers, red peppers and Swiss chard for the next day¹s lunch. Among those sitting side-by-side with bandanas worn headband- or kerchief-style, were a recent college graduate, a chef, the owner of a telecommunications company and the founder of a nongovernmental organization. While some were return visitors, several had never even taken a yoga class before. ³This is not my normal scene,² said Jeffrey Webb, 52, from Augusta, Ga., as he julienned a cucumber. Mr. Webb, who owns a wheel repair business, said he wanted to learn how to slow down. ³I¹m going all the time,² he said. ³So this is an experiment in the alternative-lifestyle adventure.² Across the table, Laurie Smith, a bartender and waitress from Naples, Fla., explained that she didn¹t want to spend her vacation sitting in a beach chair. ³I thought I might as well do something that isn¹t just lying around and spending money,² said Ms. Smith, 36, who was taking a 10-day course. ³I might as well get something out of it.² Like her cohorts, Ms. Smith said she didn¹t mind spending a substantial portion of her vacation chopping vegetables, washing dishes and making beds, pointing out that in a place dedicated to quiet contemplation, these simple tasks provide an easy outlet for conversation. ³You¹re not interrupting someone¹s quiet time,² she said. ³You don¹t always want to be alone, so you can do the work and hang out at the same time.² Yehnemsah Oneha, work-study coordinator at Ananda Ashram, says that while cost-cutting and ice-breaking are nice benefits, the
[FairfieldLife] Re: More on the incredible clips from the Outnumbered TV series
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Paul Mason premanandp...@... wrote: Are the clips a true representation of what 'Outnumbered' is like? Hugh Dennis appears on comedy quiz programs quite a lot, and is part of a generation of very funny gifted comedians here, there seems to be a glut of them, we are very lucky. I came across 'Outnumbered' by chance and found it to be totally gripping, but I can't define why. It isn't as cerebral as Monty Python, Not the Nine O'clock News or any of the other greats, but it has its own power to put our lives on parade. From what I understand, the cast is left to improvise quite a lot, so perhaps that is why the material feels so fresh? Well, the kids are incredibly and if, indeed, the kids are ad-libbing, they are masters at it. The little boy and little girl are perfect. And it's their sincerity that does it; they aren't trying to be cutesy-wootsy or funny. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: I'll tell you what I love about the 3 clips I've seen so far. Firstly, there's no laugh track which more often than not absolutely kills any comedy for me (and a laugh track is to be differentiated from the laughing from a live studio audience DURING the taping of a show). Secondly, this is NOT slap-your-knee funny; it is situational funny, for lack of a better term. I much prefer this kind of comedy. The best example of it that I know is the movie Flirting with distaster with Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette. Thirdly, the kids who are the actors -- as well as the adults -- are not TRYING to play funny; they are reading and acting their lines quite sincerely and it is the situation itself and the script which is just incredibly hilarious. There is an axiom in Hollywood that if you're an actor doing a comedy, you don't try and play funny; you do the lines and your role as seriously and sincerely as possible, the funny will automatically come. And that's why I think this works. In the Awkward questions about Jesus clip, everyone in it is doing that perfectly from the Vicar (who's wonderful) to all of the kids. This is a gem of a series and I can't wait until it is available on DVD in the States! Of course, the series could be shit and we are just seeing the absolute best of it...but somehow I doubt it. Perhaps Paul Mason who is ensconced in Jolly Old England sees the series? Could he please tell us whether the series is as good as the clips? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, guyfawkes91 no_reply@ wrote: No holds barred comedy. OMG, OMG, OMG!! I can barely breath this is so funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al3CCSEl-fMNR=1 .. if it goes to hell it can have cheese on toast Followed by this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ZdXr--4QAfeature=related In sickness#65279; or in health. May the force be with you..because you're worth it I think I'd die of laughter if I watched a whole show.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Awkward Questions about Jesus
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, guyfawkes91 no_re...@... wrote: Anyway, if you want to see a really well-crafted bit of comedy, see the clip. It's a classic. Have you seen the others in the series? Yes, they're great! Satan is everywhere http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3xKS4EPzCANR=1 Is it just muslims that blow up planes? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-vybA54BF4feature=related No holds barred comedy.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Aug 1, 2009, at 12:55 PM, shempmcgurk wrote: Barry is, of course, completely correct in his analysis below. As I've written here many times, the change of course that MMY took was what was responsible for the death of the TM Movement...AND IT CONTINUES TO THIS DAY. And I remember that, ironically, it was Charlie Lutes who warned MMY (I'm sure there must have been dozens more!) that coming out with the Sidhis and the flying in the way he did would destroy the movement. I think that's either in Paul Mason's book or Nancy Cooke de Herrera's book, ironically titled Beyond Gurus, which is what TM was SUPPOSED to be about. Back in '76 before the change took place, the TMO was on track to initiating millions. That ALL came to a grinding halt with the sidhis and the flying. One wonders where we'd be today if things had been done differently...or, rather, by the same formula that got them the original success. My big complaint is that as one who subscribes to the ORIGINAL TM path, that there is virtually no support for people like me in the TMO. And I suppose that's okay because it's supposed to be a do it yourself program. Have you checked the aluminum foil on that southern door lately? It sounds like it may be a bit loose, and causing your MIU brainwashing to get a tad dirty! Which brainwashing, specifically, are you referring to, Vaj?
[FairfieldLife] Free Online Book: 'Stripping The Gurus'
There's a chapter on MMY STRIPPING THE GURUS By Geoffrey D. Falk Read the entire book online: http://www.strippingthegurus.com/ Ramakrishna was a homoerotic pedophile. His chief disciple, Vivekananda, visited brothels in India. Krishnamurti carried on an affair for over twenty years with the wife of a good friend. Chögyam Trungpa drank himself into an early grave. One of Adi Da's nine wives was a former Playboy centerfold. Bhagwan Rajneesh sniffed laughing gas to get high. Andrew Cohen, guru and publisher of What Is Enlightenment? magazine, by his own reported admission sometimes feels like a god. These are typical of the wizened sages to whom otherwise-sensible people give their devotion and unquestioning obedience, surrendering their independence, willpower, and life's savings in the hope of realizing for themselves the same enlightenment as they ascribe to the perfect, God-realized master. Why? Is it for being emotionally vulnerable and brainwashed, as the anti-cultists assert? Or for being willingly psychologically seduced, as the apologists unsympathetically counter, confident that they themselves are too smart to ever fall into the same trap? Or have devotees simply walked, with naïvely open hearts and thirsty souls, into inherent dynamics of power and obedience which have showed themselves in classic psychological studies from Milgram to Zimbardo, and to which each one of us is susceptible every day of our lives? Like the proud Rude Boy Cohen allegedly said, with a laugh, in response to the nervous breakdown of one of his devoted followers: It could happen to any one of you. Don't let it happen to you. Don't get suckered in. Be prepared. Be informed. Find out what reportedly goes on behind the scenes in even the best of our world's spiritual communities. You can start by reading this book: http://www.strippingthegurus.com/ . REVIEWS: Armed with wit, insight, and truly astonishing research, Geoffrey Falk utterly demolishes the notion of the enlightened guru who can lead devotees to nirvana. This entertaining and yet deadly serious book should be read by everyone pursuing or thinking of pursuing the path of guru devotion. -- John Horgan, author of Rational Mysticism Stripping the Gurus is superb -- one of the best books of its kind I have ever read. The research is meticulous, the writing engaging, and the overall thesis: devastatingly true. A stellar book. -- Dr. David C. Lane, California State University This gripping and disturbing book should be read by anyone who finds themselves revering a spiritual teacher. -- Susan Blackmore, author of The Meme Machine Geoffrey Falk's delightful but disturbing unmasking of religious prophets and preachers who command a vast following is a welcome contribution to the literature on the gurus and god-men of all religions. -- Dr. Narasingha P. Sil, Western Oregon University No one involved in contemporary spirituality can afford to ignore this book. It exposes the darker side of modern spiritual movements, those embarrassing -- sometime vicious or criminal -- reports which the leaders of these movements prefer to hide. With wit and humility, and without abandoning the verities of religion, Falk has provided a corrective critique of groups that peddle enlightenment and transcendence. A must! -- Len Oakes, author of Prophetic Charisma NHNE Wavemaker News List: Send Some Green Love To NHNE: http://www.nhne.org/DONATE/tabid/398/Default.aspx To subscribe, send a message to: nhnenews-subscr...@yahoogroups.com mailto:nhnenews-subscribe%40yahoogroups.com To unsubscribe, send a message to: nhnenews-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com mailto:nhnenews-unsubscribe%40yahoogroups.com To review current posts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages http://www.nhne.org/tabid/1044/Default.aspx Visit NHNE's Mother Ship: http://www.nhne.org/ Visit NHNE's Online Community: http://nhnecommunity.ning.com/ Visit Integral NHNE: http://integralnhne.ning.com/ Sunfellow NHNE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sunfellow Published by David Sunfellow NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) eMail: n...@nhne.org mailto:nhne%40nhne.org Phone: (928) 257-3200 Fax: (815) 642-0117 P.O. Box 2242 Sedona, AZ 86339
[FairfieldLife] Post Count
Fairfield Life Post Counter === Start Date (UTC): Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 2009 End Date (UTC): Sat Aug 08 00:00:00 2009 101 messages as of (UTC) Sat Aug 01 23:04:37 2009 14 Nelson nelsonriddle2...@yahoo.com 11 shempmcgurk shempmcg...@netscape.net 10 authfriend jst...@panix.com 8 TurquoiseB no_re...@yahoogroups.com 8 do.rflex do.rf...@yahoo.com 7 bob_brigante no_re...@yahoogroups.com 7 Rick Archer r...@searchsummit.com 5 Robert babajii...@yahoo.com 5 Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net 4 dhamiltony2k5 dhamiltony...@yahoo.com 3 nablusoss1008 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 3 guyfawkes91 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 3 BillyG. wg...@yahoo.com 2 Vaj vajradh...@earthlink.net 2 Paul Mason premanandp...@yahoo.co.uk 2 It's just a ride bill.hicks.all.a.r...@gmail.com 1 yifuxero yifux...@yahoo.com 1 sgrayatlarge no_re...@yahoogroups.com 1 seekliberation seekliberat...@yahoo.com 1 satvadude108 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 1 Patrick Gillam jpgil...@yahoo.com 1 John jr_...@yahoo.com 1 FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Posters: 23 Saturday Morning 00:00 UTC Rollover Times = Daylight Saving Time (Summer): US Friday evening: PDT 5 PM - MDT 6 PM - CDT 7 PM - EDT 8 PM Europe Saturday: BST 1 AM CEST 2 AM EEST 3 AM Standard Time (Winter): US Friday evening: PST 4 PM - MST 5 PM - CST 6 PM - EST 7 PM Europe Saturday: GMT 12 AM CET 1 AM EET 2 AM For more information on Time Zones: www.worldtimezone.com
[FairfieldLife] Tolle Carrey Headline The Global Alliance For Transformational Entertainment
JIM CARREY AND FRIENDS OPT FOR CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING OVER LAKERS By James Rainey Los Angeles Times June 5, 2009 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/06/jim-carrey-and -friends-hollywood-lose-your-mind.html Some might say that spirituality and Hollywood go together like sensitivity and pro wrestling. But that¹s just the kind of habitual/stereotypical thinking that more than 500 entertainment industry types vowed to vanquish at a conference Thursday night as they came together for the first meeting of the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment (GATE). Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle and movie star/seeker Jim Carrey headlined the more-than-three-hour session at an auditorium on the Fox lot in Century City. Along with singer Melissa Etheridge and several other speakers, they urged their colleagues in film, television, music and other media to transcend the tawdry and mundane with higher-minded fair. It must have been important to those packed into the meeting. They missed the Lakers' opening championship-round game to be there. Producer John Raatz, who formed the organization, said the time is ripe in the entertainment industry for an ³up-leveling of consciousness² that, in turn, would lead to more work delving into the spiritual and divine. Many attending the session and pledging to join in future work follow the teachings of Tolle, the best-selling author of ³The Power of Now² and other books. The German-born Tolle echoes the Buddhist view that most of humanity is captive to the mind and obsessive thinking, patterns that can be broken through meditation and other techniques. Participants said they hoped their own spiritual practices would free them from the mundane and prurient and lead them to projects with high aspirations, like combating hunger. HBO executive Scott Carlin told the gathering -- which included Garry Shandling, Billy Zane and Jackson Browne -- that audiences were yearning ³for the sense of being nourished deeply.² When he took the stage near the end of the evening, Carrey both embraced and satirized his nascent guru role. In a short film clip introducing his appearance, he cast a beatific gaze on the audience, delivering the message: ³I¹m Jim Carrey and I¹ve come to free the world from sin.² The actor said he had become locked in his own thoughts in part because of a childhood spent trying to entertain his terribly ill mother. Later in life he had the epiphany that most suffering came from fixating on one's own thoughts, while ³heaven² could be found all around, by living in the present moment. After making that breakthrough, Carrey said, ³I want to take as many people with me as I can.² Tolle¹s remarks closed the evening. While he encouraged GATE to do more, the teacher said he had already found transcendent moments ones that could help people ³get out of the box of their minds² in a fair number of films. He cited ³Groundhog Day,² ³Titanic,² ³The Horse Whisperer² and ³American Beauty² as movies that incorporated important spiritual themes such as impermanence, stillness and the beauty of everyday things. Yes, Tolle said, film can raise consciousness, if only for a moment. NHNE Wavemaker News List: Send Some Green Love To NHNE: http://www.nhne.org/DONATE/tabid/398/Default.aspx To subscribe, send a message to: nhnenews-subscr...@yahoogroups.com mailto:nhnenews-subscribe%40yahoogroups.com To unsubscribe, send a message to: nhnenews-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com mailto:nhnenews-unsubscribe%40yahoogroups.com To review current posts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages http://www.nhne.org/tabid/1044/Default.aspx Visit NHNE's Mother Ship: http://www.nhne.org/ Visit NHNE's Online Community: http://nhnecommunity.ning.com/ Visit Integral NHNE: http://integralnhne.ning.com/ Sunfellow NHNE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sunfellow Published by David Sunfellow NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) eMail: n...@nhne.org mailto:nhne%40nhne.org Phone: (928) 257-3200 Fax: (815) 642-0117 P.O. Box 2242 Sedona, AZ 86339
[FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Aug 1, 2009, at 8:05 PM, shempmcgurk wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Aug 1, 2009, at 12:55 PM, shempmcgurk wrote: Barry is, of course, completely correct in his analysis below. As I've written here many times, the change of course that MMY took was what was responsible for the death of the TM Movement...AND IT CONTINUES TO THIS DAY. And I remember that, ironically, it was Charlie Lutes who warned MMY (I'm sure there must have been dozens more!) that coming out with the Sidhis and the flying in the way he did would destroy the movement. I think that's either in Paul Mason's book or Nancy Cooke de Herrera's book, ironically titled Beyond Gurus, which is what TM was SUPPOSED to be about. Back in '76 before the change took place, the TMO was on track to initiating millions. That ALL came to a grinding halt with the sidhis and the flying. One wonders where we'd be today if things had been done differently...or, rather, by the same formula that got them the original success. My big complaint is that as one who subscribes to the ORIGINAL TM path, that there is virtually no support for people like me in the TMO. And I suppose that's okay because it's supposed to be a do it yourself program. Have you checked the aluminum foil on that southern door lately? It sounds like it may be a bit loose, and causing your MIU brainwashing to get a tad dirty! Which brainwashing, specifically, are you referring to, Vaj? The core ideas and ideals that were unique to the TM Org and were inculcated at MIU; those which constitute the core of the TM cultus. I was not being specific. Was there some that you felt specifically like talking about? Which ones have you been able to stand back from objectively? Vaj, you're the one who made the observation/accusation. Therefore, the onus is on YOU to come up with examples of what you are referring to. If you can't, then put up or shut up.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Idea That We Only Use 10% Of Our Brains Is A Myth
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: DO PEOPLE ONLY USE 10 PERCENT OF THEIR BRAINS? By Robynne Boyd Scientific American February 7, 2008 it composes concertos, issues manifestos and comes up with elegant solutions to equations. It's the wellspring of all human feelings, behaviors, experiences as well as the repository of memory and self-awareness. So it's no surprise that the brain remains a mystery unto itself. snip, What's not understood is how clusters of neurons from the diverse regions of the brain collaborate to form consciousness. So far, there's no evidence that there is one site for consciousness, which leads experts to believe that it is truly a collective neural effort. Another mystery hidden within our crinkled cortices is that out of all the brain's cells, only 10 percent are neurons; the other 90 percent are glial cells, which encapsulate and support neurons, but whose function remains largely unknown. Ultimately, it's not that we use 10 percent of our brains, merely that we only understand about 10 percent of how it functions. snip, I would believe that conciousness exists with or without the brain and so is not a function of it. A lot of the discussion here would seem to support that theory.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
On Aug 1, 2009, at 9:37 PM, shempmcgurk wrote: Which brainwashing, specifically, are you referring to, Vaj? The core ideas and ideals that were unique to the TM Org and were inculcated at MIU; those which constitute the core of the TM cultus. I was not being specific. Was there some that you felt specifically like talking about? Which ones have you been able to stand back from objectively? Vaj, you're the one who made the observation/accusation. Therefore, the onus is on YOU to come up with examples of what you are referring to. If you can't, then put up or shut up. Well you've ALREADY told us (numerous times) that some of the adjuncts to TM that M. insisted we all use to enliven our experience of Pure Consciousness, many (all?) of these you felt were unessential additions (Ayurvedic remedies, herbal purification regimes, Vedic architecture, jyotish, yagyas, etc., etc.). What had staying power in your SCI/Unified field-based college education and what did not? Do other old TB grads still talk to you after you have expressed you TM purist ideas or do you avoid rejecting aspects of M's teaching in front of them for fear they might (as Rick recently described) sever all contact with you? I'm curious how an old time MIU'er integrates that part of old-time, hay day TM Org thinking and indoctrination with their current life. I've always found your TM/mantra-yoga purism nicely refreshing and positive. What were you able to take with you from you SCI/Quantum mechanical/Vedic science indoctrinations that were at the same level as your appreciation for pure TM practice...and what was not useful? Perhaps this is too personal a question.
[FairfieldLife] People Who Meditate Have Bigger Brains
BUILD A BIGGER BRAIN WITH MEDITATION By DK Howe Examiner July 30, 2009 http://www.examiner.com/x-8760-Las-Vegas-Yoga-Examiner~y2009m7d30-Build-a-bi gger-brain-with-meditation People who meditate have bigger brains than those who don¹t, say researchers at UCLA. Using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of meditators and non-meditators, they found that those who meditated showed significantly larger volumes of the hippocampus and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus -- all regions known for regulating emotions. ³We know that people who consistently meditate have a singular ability to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability and engage in mindful behavior,² said Eileen Luders, lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging. ³The observed differences in brain anatomy might give us a clue why meditators have these exceptional abilities.² Study participants included 22 control subjects and 22 people who had practiced meditation from five to 46 years. Most meditated between 10 and 90 minutes every day. Because the areas that increased in volume are closely linked to emotion, Luders said, ³these might be the neuronal underpinnings that give meditators the outstanding ability to regulate their emotions and allow for well-adjusted responses to whatever life throws their way. It should be pointed out, however, that since the study did not track those who meditated from their pre-meditation days, that it¹s possible they already had more gray matter and volume in specific areas and that may have been what attracted them to meditation in the first place. There have been studies though that have shown that environmental enrichment has been show to change brain structure. NHNE Wavemaker News List: Send Some Green Love To NHNE: http://www.nhne.org/DONATE/tabid/398/Default.aspx To subscribe, send a message to: nhnenews-subscr...@yahoogroups.com mailto:nhnenews-subscribe%40yahoogroups.com To unsubscribe, send a message to: nhnenews-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com mailto:nhnenews-unsubscribe%40yahoogroups.com To review current posts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages http://www.nhne.org/tabid/1044/Default.aspx Visit NHNE's Mother Ship: http://www.nhne.org/ Visit NHNE's Online Community: http://nhnecommunity.ning.com/ Visit Integral NHNE: http://integralnhne.ning.com/ Sunfellow NHNE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sunfellow Published by David Sunfellow NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) eMail: n...@nhne.org mailto:nhne%40nhne.org Phone: (928) 257-3200 Fax: (815) 642-0117 P.O. Box 2242 Sedona, AZ 86339
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 6:14 PM, Vajvajradh...@earthlink.net wrote: On Aug 1, 2009, at 11:28 AM, nablusoss1008 wrote: I'm not sure if I have this exact, but I can remember two things Rick has commented on that Amma has said, one in general, another more specific. Another time he asked her what was her opinion of MMY and she said she would tell him, but he would have to promise to never repeat what she said to anyone else. It may be fair to assume therefore, since she did NOT want it repeated and based on her previous remark, her opinion is not a very high one. It would be bad for business if Rick went around telling people that Amma admits she's much ado about nothing and Maharishi is the real thing.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Aug 1, 2009, at 9:37 PM, shempmcgurk wrote: Which brainwashing, specifically, are you referring to, Vaj? The core ideas and ideals that were unique to the TM Org and were inculcated at MIU; those which constitute the core of the TM cultus. I was not being specific. Was there some that you felt specifically like talking about? Which ones have you been able to stand back from objectively? Vaj, you're the one who made the observation/accusation. Therefore, the onus is on YOU to come up with examples of what you are referring to. If you can't, then put up or shut up. Well you've ALREADY told us (numerous times) that some of the adjuncts to TM that M. insisted we all use to enliven our experience of Pure Consciousness, many (all?) of these you felt were unessential additions (Ayurvedic remedies, herbal purification regimes, Vedic architecture, jyotish, yagyas, etc., etc.). What had staying power in your SCI/Unified field-based college education and what did not? Did you read my entire post? I answered that already. See the three points I gave as to why I think TM is great and why I started. Do other old TB grads still talk to you after you have expressed you TM purist ideas or do you avoid rejecting aspects of M's teaching in front of them for fear they might (as Rick recently described) sever all contact with you? Again, I answered that. Read the post. I'm curious how an old time MIU'er integrates that part of old-time, hay day TM Org thinking and indoctrination with their current life. I meditate twice a day and then go into activity...and do what I want to do, eat what I want, and take political positions that I want...NOT what the TMO dictates. Can't say that's true for the TBers. I've always found your TM/mantra-yoga purism nicely refreshing and positive. What were you able to take with you from you SCI/Quantum mechanical/Vedic science indoctrinations that were at the same level as your appreciation for pure TM practice...and what was not useful? Perhaps this is too personal a question. The SCI stuff was reasonably useful, although most of it was common sense that was covered in 3 days checking and follow-up courses AND was just common sense. The quantum mechanical stuff, again, was obvious and didn't do much for me because it was just analogies and they never seemed to go past that. MIU was a nice experience in that all the students were really lively intellectually and the fact that they all meditated -- as well as faculty and staff -- I genuinely feel created an atmosphere of learning that was pretty great. Compared to other schools I went to and the learning atmospheres compared, MIUM was, hands down, superior to other places I attended. But I did NOT like the block system, which I believe is a total failure and should be dropped at once by MUM, and I don't think the SCI application to everything is very useful, either. That should all happen automaticly. That is, definitely take the primary SCI course (although its twice as long and twice as boring as it has to be) and that along with regular TM practise should be enough for the student to apply to ANY subject he is studying, whether at MIU or any other school. And, yes, I did feel stifled and held back from questioning my teachers in the way I would have done at another school. But this was more a function of the fact that I was a TM teacher and, as such, felt obligated to uphold a certain behaviour. In hindsight, it was wrong of me to do that. I should have questioned any and all things. In that vein, one of the most liberating things that has happened to me in the past decade was when MMY started that whole recertification thing. Well! It was like a load off my shoulders in a sense. You don't want ME? fine with me, now I'll wear jeans whenever I want and, indeed, go to TM functions WITHOUT a tie!
[FairfieldLife] Re: People Who Meditate Have Bigger Brains
My brain, ego, and penis are bigger because I meditate. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: BUILD A BIGGER BRAIN WITH MEDITATION By DK Howe Examiner July 30, 2009 http://www.examiner.com/x-8760-Las-Vegas-Yoga-Examiner~y2009m7d30-Build-a-bi gger-brain-with-meditation People who meditate have bigger brains than those who don¹t, say researchers at UCLA. Using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of meditators and non-meditators, they found that those who meditated showed significantly larger volumes of the hippocampus and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus -- all regions known for regulating emotions. ³We know that people who consistently meditate have a singular ability to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability and engage in mindful behavior,² said Eileen Luders, lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging. ³The observed differences in brain anatomy might give us a clue why meditators have these exceptional abilities.² Study participants included 22 control subjects and 22 people who had practiced meditation from five to 46 years. Most meditated between 10 and 90 minutes every day. Because the areas that increased in volume are closely linked to emotion, Luders said, ³these might be the neuronal underpinnings that give meditators the outstanding ability to regulate their emotions and allow for well-adjusted responses to whatever life throws their way. It should be pointed out, however, that since the study did not track those who meditated from their pre-meditation days, that it¹s possible they already had more gray matter and volume in specific areas and that may have been what attracted them to meditation in the first place. There have been studies though that have shown that environmental enrichment has been show to change brain structure. NHNE Wavemaker News List: Send Some Green Love To NHNE: http://www.nhne.org/DONATE/tabid/398/Default.aspx To subscribe, send a message to: nhnenews-subscr...@yahoogroups.com mailto:nhnenews-subscribe%40yahoogroups.com To unsubscribe, send a message to: nhnenews-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com mailto:nhnenews-unsubscribe%40yahoogroups.com To review current posts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/messages http://www.nhne.org/tabid/1044/Default.aspx Visit NHNE's Mother Ship: http://www.nhne.org/ Visit NHNE's Online Community: http://nhnecommunity.ning.com/ Visit Integral NHNE: http://integralnhne.ning.com/ Sunfellow NHNE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sunfellow Published by David Sunfellow NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) eMail: n...@... mailto:nhne%40nhne.org Phone: (928) 257-3200 Fax: (815) 642-0117 P.O. Box 2242 Sedona, AZ 86339
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 3:11 PM, satvadude108no_re...@yahoogroups.com wrote: When I took instruction in Mindfullness meditation in '07 I arbitrarily decided to discontinue my TM. The seeds of the old brainwashing still have some life I guess. A few months ago, about a year after Mindfullness instruction, I began TM again. Practicing them both is neither a strain nor a conflict and I realize now that a hiatus of one to learn the other was completely unnecessary. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something very complimentary about TM and mindfullness/vipassana practice. As I continue my practice I expect that my feelings about that will clarify itself. I am glad I have both. IMO Mindfullness meditation is a bit like the first Chopra technique, the one where the mantra comes out of the heart and then during lie down you feel the bliss in the body. After having meditated and performed TMSP for a long time, the habit of taking it as it comes and going back to the mantra/self is firmly ingrained. From there you just have to decide if you're going to think the mantra/be aware of the self (TM/TMSP) or be mindful and pull yourself back when you get pulled away from being mindful. Being an expert in TM/TMSP technique, mindfulness comes so easily and naturally. Mindfullness does complement TM/TMSP. You're always trying to get away from yourself and drop into the Self with TM/TMSP. TM/TMSP is all about constriction. It's refreshing to just be, just let sensations, thoughts and emotions be.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
On Aug 1, 2009, at 10:14 PM, shempmcgurk wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Aug 1, 2009, at 9:37 PM, shempmcgurk wrote: Which brainwashing, specifically, are you referring to, Vaj? The core ideas and ideals that were unique to the TM Org and were inculcated at MIU; those which constitute the core of the TM cultus. I was not being specific. Was there some that you felt specifically like talking about? Which ones have you been able to stand back from objectively? Vaj, you're the one who made the observation/accusation. Therefore, the onus is on YOU to come up with examples of what you are referring to. If you can't, then put up or shut up. Well you've ALREADY told us (numerous times) that some of the adjuncts to TM that M. insisted we all use to enliven our experience of Pure Consciousness, many (all?) of these you felt were unessential additions (Ayurvedic remedies, herbal purification regimes, Vedic architecture, jyotish, yagyas, etc., etc.). What had staying power in your SCI/Unified field-based college education and what did not? Did you read my entire post? I answered that already. See the three points I gave as to why I think TM is great and why I started. Yes I did read it. Do other old TB grads still talk to you after you have expressed you TM purist ideas or do you avoid rejecting aspects of M's teaching in front of them for fear they might (as Rick recently described) sever all contact with you? Again, I answered that. Read the post. You said they were 180 degrees apart and you had been ostracized. I guess I'm to take it that they won't even talk to you any more? How childish. You're one of the few reasonable TM folks on this list. I'm curious how an old time MIU'er integrates that part of old-time, hay day TM Org thinking and indoctrination with their current life. I meditate twice a day and then go into activity...and do what I want to do, eat what I want, and take political positions that I want...NOT what the TMO dictates. Can't say that's true for the TBers. It is a sad thing. Politics should be left up to the individual. I've always found your TM/mantra-yoga purism nicely refreshing and positive. What were you able to take with you from you SCI/Quantum mechanical/Vedic science indoctrinations that were at the same level as your appreciation for pure TM practice...and what was not useful? Perhaps this is too personal a question. The SCI stuff was reasonably useful, although most of it was common sense that was covered in 3 days checking and follow-up courses AND was just common sense. The quantum mechanical stuff, again, was obvious and didn't do much for me because it was just analogies and they never seemed to go past that. MIU was a nice experience in that all the students were really lively intellectually and the fact that they all meditated -- as well as faculty and staff -- I genuinely feel created an atmosphere of learning that was pretty great. Compared to other schools I went to and the learning atmospheres compared, MIUM was, hands down, superior to other places I attended. Well it probably had a lot to do with the caliber of people it attracted, and what they were capable of excepting a part of their reality. But I did NOT like the block system, which I believe is a total failure and should be dropped at once by MUM, and I don't think the SCI application to everything is very useful, either. That should all happen automaticly. That is, definitely take the primary SCI course (although its twice as long and twice as boring as it has to be) and that along with regular TM practise should be enough for the student to apply to ANY subject he is studying, whether at MIU or any other school. I'm surprised at this. I assume you mean the one course at a time thing. Personally I found the trimester superior to the semester, so I always thought that the one course at a time thing would be superior to either of the above. I HATE having had to take more than one thing at a time: give it all to me, as quickly as you can, as soon as you can. Anything less than that is inferior. To me it seemed like MIU was providing the best learning method out there, esp. given my image of TM as increasing attention span (at the time, late 70's). And, yes, I did feel stifled and held back from questioning my teachers in the way I would have done at another school. But this was more a function of the fact that I was a TM teacher and, as such, felt obligated to uphold a certain behaviour. In hindsight, it was wrong of me to do that. I should have questioned any and all things. Of course you also recognized the fact that you would have been kicked out if you had...and you needed to get a degree. Your parents were paying a lot of money, etc. You do what you have to do. In
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
On Aug 1, 2009, at 10:30 PM, It's just a ride wrote: On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 3:11 PM, satvadude108no_re...@yahoogroups.com wrote: When I took instruction in Mindfullness meditation in '07 I arbitrarily decided to discontinue my TM. The seeds of the old brainwashing still have some life I guess. A few months ago, about a year after Mindfullness instruction, I began TM again. Practicing them both is neither a strain nor a conflict and I realize now that a hiatus of one to learn the other was completely unnecessary. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something very complimentary about TM and mindfullness/vipassana practice. As I continue my practice I expect that my feelings about that will clarify itself. I am glad I have both. IMO Mindfullness meditation is a bit like the first Chopra technique, the one where the mantra comes out of the heart and then during lie down you feel the bliss in the body. After having meditated and performed TMSP for a long time, the habit of taking it as it comes and going back to the mantra/self is firmly ingrained. From there you just have to decide if you're going to think the mantra/be aware of the self (TM/TMSP) or be mindful and pull yourself back when you get pulled away from being mindful. Being an expert in TM/TMSP technique, mindfulness comes so easily and naturally. Mindfullness does complement TM/TMSP. You're always trying to get away from yourself and drop into the Self with TM/TMSP. TM/TMSP is all about constriction. It's refreshing to just be, just let sensations, thoughts and emotions be. Well of course mindfulness of mantra or 'waiting for the mantra' is a natural and important part of TM. IMO what has squelched the development of mindfulness in TM is NOT the lack of mindfulness in the technique, but instead the institutionalization of the fear of not being effortless. Of course it's also important to point out that mindfulness and calmness/transcendence/shamatha are different meditative processes and different ways of working with consciousness/mind. From the POV of Buddhist meditation, they are not ultimately separate and definitely not exclusive but can actually be unified--the union of transcendence and mindfulness--which for some paths is the perfect gateway to a nondual pointing-out.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Idea That We Only Use 10% Of Our Brains Is A Myth
Yeah...but all brains are not created equal, some have more loops than others. The evolution of the brain is an interesting subject and one I know nothing about! :-) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: DO PEOPLE ONLY USE 10 PERCENT OF THEIR BRAINS? By Robynne Boyd Scientific American February 7, 2008 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=people-only-use-10-percent- of-brain The human brain is complex. Along with performing millions of mundane acts, it composes concertos, issues manifestos and comes up with elegant solutions to equations. It's the wellspring of all human feelings, behaviors, experiences as well as the repository of memory and self-awareness. So it's no surprise that the brain remains a mystery unto itself. Adding to that mystery is the contention that humans only employ 10 percent of their brain. If only regular folk could tap that other 90 percent, they too could become savants who remember ¼ to the twenty-thousandth decimal place or perhaps even have telekinetic powers. Though an alluring idea, the 10 percent myth is so wrong it is almost laughable, says neurologist Barry Gordon at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. Although there's no definitive culprit to pin the blame on for starting this legend, the notion has been linked to the American psychologist and author William James, who argued in The Energies of Men that We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources. It's also been associated with to Albert Einstein, who supposedly used it to explain his cosmic towering intellect. The myth's durability, Gordon says, stems from people's conceptions about their own brains: they see their own shortcomings as evidence of the existence of untapped gray matter. This is a false assumption. What is correct, however, is that at certain moments in anyone's life, such as when we are simply at rest and thinking, we may be using only 10 percent of our brains. It turns out though, that we use virtually every part of the brain, and that [most of] the brain is active almost all the time, Gordon adds. Let's put it this way: the brain represents three percent of the body's weight and uses 20 percent of the body's energy. The average human brain weighs about three pounds and comprises the hefty cerebrum, which is the largest portion and performs all higher cognitive functions; the cerebellum, responsible for motor functions, such as the coordination of movement and balance; and the brain stem, dedicated to involuntary functions like breathing. The majority of the energy consumed by the brain powers the rapid firing of millions of neurons communicating with each other. Scientists think it is such neuronal firing and connecting that gives rise to all of the brain's higher functions. The rest of its energy is used for controlling other activities -- both unconscious activities, such as heart rate, and conscious ones, such as driving a car. Although it's true that at any given moment all of the brain's regions are not concurrently firing, brain researchers using imaging technology have shown that, like the body's muscles, most are continually active over a 24-hour period. Evidence would show over a day you use 100 percent of the brain, says John Henley, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Even in sleep, areas such as the frontal cortex, which controls things like higher level thinking and self-awareness, or the somatosensory areas, which help people sense their surroundings, are active, Henley explains. Take the simple act of pouring coffee in the morning: In walking toward the coffeepot, reaching for it, pouring the brew into the mug, even leaving extra room for cream, the occipital and parietal lobes, motor sensory and sensory motor cortices, basal ganglia, cerebellum and frontal lobes all activate. A lightning storm of neuronal activity occurs almost across the entire brain in the time span of a few seconds. This isn't to say that if the brain were damaged that you wouldn't be able to perform daily duties, Henley continues. There are people who have injured their brains or had parts of it removed who still live fairly normal lives, but that is because the brain has a way of compensating and making sure that what's left takes over the activity. Being able to map the brain's various regions and functions is part and parcel of understanding the possible side effects should a given region begin to fail. Experts know that neurons that perform similar functions tend to cluster together. For example, neurons that control the thumb's movement are arranged next to those that control the forefinger. Thus, when undertaking brain surgery, neurosurgeons carefully avoid neural clusters related to vision, hearing and movement, enabling the brain to retain as many of its functions as possible. What's not understood
[FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: snip Well of course mindfulness of mantra or 'waiting for the mantra' is a natural and important part of TM. Goodness only knows where you came up with that. Waiting for the mantra has never been a part of the TM practice I was instructed in.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: snip Well of course mindfulness of mantra or 'waiting for the mantra' is a natural and important part of TM. Goodness only knows where you came up with that. Waiting for the mantra has never been a part of the TM practice I was instructed in. I think she's got ya there Vaj, where did you get the idea that TM involved 'waiting for the mantra'? On the contrary whenever you realize you're not repeating the mantra (during meditation) you effortlessly come back to it, you don't wait for IT to starthu.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Which Maharishi Flip-Flop Teaching has the worst karma?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. wg...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: snip Well of course mindfulness of mantra or 'waiting for the mantra' is a natural and important part of TM. Goodness only knows where you came up with that. Waiting for the mantra has never been a part of the TM practice I was instructed in. I think she's got ya there Vaj, where did you get the idea that TM involved 'waiting for the mantra'? On the contrary whenever you realize you're not repeating the mantra (during meditation) you effortlessly come back to it, you don't wait for IT to starthu. He's said it before, several times. And he claims to have been a TM teacher.
[FairfieldLife] Global warming = mental spoon bending
from nationalreview.com Thursday, July 30, 2009 Re: Chemists in Excited State [Edward John Craig] Navy Bob doesn't hold back in reacting to this Greg Pollowitz post: The revolt by American Chemical Society members is one of the most important pieces of good news ever in the saga of anthropogenic global warming. When real scientists finally get a chance to vent their opposition to global warming mythology, and more importantly, to have it published in a widely read publication, it's the beginning of the end of the alarmists' stranglehold. Once the debate is truly joined, there will be so many holes revealed in standard AGW orthodoxy that it will sink without a trace alongside cold fusion, polywater and mental spoon bending. The ACS revolt also illustrates the classic divide between the views of the members of many large national organizations, who are generally normal people scattered across the heartland, and their leaders, who more often than not these days are housed in Washington, DC, and positioned far to the left of their constituents. The classic example is AARP, with a membership of generally conservative elderly folk and a leadership made up of flaming Maoists. The American Chemical Society's headquarters is at 16th and M Streets, NW across the street from the National Geographic Society, in the middle of the belly of the liberal beast. It's filled from top to bottom with hand-wringing, knee-jerking, affirmative-acting Democrats who are probably all as shocked as the editor at the visceral outpouring against his absolutely ho-hum (to them) platitudes about the looming disaster of global warming and the implacable evil of those who would deny it. The carefully stacked cards are starting to fall. 07/30 01:15 PMShare
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Vaj Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 6:15 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on meditation and alkaline body On Aug 1, 2009, at 11:28 AM, nablusoss1008 wrote: Very interesting, I've never read this before, thanks for posting this Rick ! I wonder what Amma would say about these topics, if anything ? Overall, did you ever ask her an interesting question on this level at all ? If so, what what was the question/answer ? I'm not sure if I have this exact, but I can remember two things Rick has commented on that Amma has said, one in general, another more specific. The first one was that gurus who were involved in scandals (money mishandling, sex with students, etc.); none of these gurus were jivan-muktis, that is, enlightened or liberated. Another time he asked her what was her opinion of MMY and she said she would tell him, but he would have to promise to never repeat what she said to anyone else. It may be fair to assume therefore, since she did NOT want it repeated and based on her previous remark, her opinion is not a very high one. I have only asked her questions in public. I have never heard her say anything negative about Maharishi or any other guru. She's very careful not to do so. But she did say to a friend that charging money for meditation is like a mother charging her baby for breast milk - something to that effect.
