[FairfieldLife] Re: New England sanity...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com , Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: ...not that crazy bible-belt shit. From the Bernie Sanders newsletter: Hundreds of Vermonters strongly in favor of health care reform packed town meetings. We proved something that makes us all very proud. We live in a state where people can have different points of view and yet we can listen to each other and treat each other with respect, the senator said. The meetings were a stark contrast to the scenes of angry, shouting hecklers disrupting meetings elsewhere. To read about the Vermont town meetings in The Burlington Free Press, click here. To watch brief excerpts, click here. To watch the latest Sanders Unfiltered on health care reform, clickhere. To take our latest poll on health care reform, click here. Thanks Bernie. Yep. Everywhere is downhill from Vermont as far as I am concerned. OffWorld
[FairfieldLife] Obamas Trust Problem
A backlash in the progressive base which pushed President Obama over the top in the Democratic primary and played a major role in his general election victory has been building for months. The fight over the public option involves real policy substance, but it's also a proxy for broader questions about the president's priorities and overall approach Meanwhile, on such fraught questions as torture and indefinite detention, the president has dismayed progressives with his reluctance to challenge or change Bush administration policy. And then there's the matter of the banks. I don't know if administration officials realize just how much damage they've done themselves with their kid-gloves treatment of the financial industry, just how badly the spectacle of government supported institutions paying giant bonuses is playing. But I've had many conversations with people who voted for Mr. Obama, yet dismiss the stimulus as a total waste of money. When I press them, it turns out that they're really angry about the bailouts rather than the stimulus but that's a distinction lost on most voters. PAUL KRUGMAN August 20, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/opinion/21krugman.html?_r=1partner=rssnytemc=rss
[FairfieldLife] Re: Newsweek: We Are All Hindus Now
The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says this: Truth is
One,
but the sages speak of it by many names.
That *might* be from the famous(?) asyavaamasya-suukta (Rgveda I 164,
by RSi Diirghatamas), whose 39th verse begins like this:
Rco akSare parame vyoman yasmin devaa adhi vishve niSeduH.
pada-paaTha (word-reading, without sandhis or euphonic combination
of words):
á¹caḥ | aká¹£are | parame | vi-oman | yasmin | devÄḥ
| adhi | vi´sve | ni-seduḥ |
Verse number 46 goes like this:
indraM mitraM varuNam agnim Ahur atho divyaH sa suparNo garutmAn |
ekaM sad viprA bahudhA vadanty agniM yamaM mAtarishvAnam AhuH ||
pada-paaTha :
indram | mitram | varuá¹am | agnim | ahuḥ | atho iti |
divyaḥ | saḥ | su-pará¹aḥ | garutman | ekam |
sat | viprÄḥ | bahu-dha | vadanti | agnim | yamam |
matari´svanam | ahuḥ //
Ralph T. H. Griffith's translation:
46 They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuá¹a, Agni, and he is heavenly
nobly-winged Garutman.
To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama,
Matari´svan.
If that's the same verse, we think to what is one is a way more
accurate
translation than truth is one, because 'sat' seems to be the present
participle
neuter singular nominative/accusative form from the verb 'as' (to be).
The word 'vipra' (= sage; nominative plural: vipraaH) is intriguing,
because its
etymological meaning seems to be something like 'inwardly excited':
vipra mf(%{A})n. stirred or excited (inwardly) , inspired , wise (said
of men and gods , esp. of Agni , Indra , the As3vins , Maruts c. ; cf.
%{paNDita}) RV. AV. VS. S3Br. [973,1] ; learned (esp. in theology) TS.
S3Br. ; a sage , seer , singer. poet , learned theologian RV. VS.
Although Monier-Williams doesn't seem to mention it, it seem quite
likely
that 'vipra' is derived from the root 'vip':
vip 1 (or %{vep}) cl. 1. A1. (Dha1tup. x , 6) %{vepate} (ep. also %{-ti}
; p. %{vipAna4} RV. ; pf. %{vivepe} Gr. ; %{vivipre} RV. ; aor.
%{avepiSTa} Br. ; fut. %{vepitA} , %{vepiSyate} Gr. ; inf. %{vepitum}
ib.) , to tremble , shake , shiver , vibrate , quiver , be stirred RV.
c. c. ;
A rather synonymous word, paNDita, is thought by some scholars to have
originally been 'spandita', which would prolly be derived from the root
'spand':
spand (often confounded with %{syand}) cl. 1. A1. (Dha1tup. ii , 13)
%{spandate} (rarely %{-ti} ; only in pres. base and inf. %{spanditum} ;
Gr. also pf. %{paspande} ; fut. %{spanditA} , %{spandiSyate} ; aor.
%{aspandiSTa}) , to quiver , throb , twitch , tremble , vibrate , quake
, palpitate , throb with life , quicken (as a child in the womb)
Pa1rGr2. Car. MBh. c. ; to kick (as an animal) Br. A1s3vS3r. ; to make
any quick movement , move , be active Hariv. ; to flash into life , come
suddenly to life BhP.: Caus. %{spandayati} (aor. %{apaspandat}) , to
cause to quiver or shake MBh. ; to move (trans.) A1s3vS3r.: Desid.
%{pispandiSate} Gr.: Intens. , see %{paniSpada4}. [Cf. Gk. $ ; perhaps
also 382800[1268 ,1] Lat. {pendo} , {pondus}.]
I guess it's anybody's guess, whether 'vipra' and '(s)pandita' are, at
least slightly,
from the Vedantic POV, derogatory words... :D
[FairfieldLife] Usama and Usain??
(NB: according to Wikipedia, the Arabic language has three vowels, a, i and u. So, the spelling Osama for Usama seems a bit substandard, or stuff...) Usama bin Ladin USA map in lad, in! Usain Bolt USA (athletics) in bolt??
[FairfieldLife] Re: Usama and Usain??
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister no_re...@... wrote: (NB: according to Wikipedia, the Arabic language has three vowels, a, i and u. So, the spelling Osama for Usama seems a bit substandard, or stuff...) Usama bin Ladin USA map in lad, in! Usain Bolt USA (athletics) in bolt?? Barack Usain Ubama? Ubama, Ubama bo Bama Bonana fanna fo Fama fee fy mo Mama, Ubama!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Obamas Trust Problem
You may as well be a wingnut. I write to another list that's very right wing and find that there is more aggressive attacking from you about Obama [on anything at all you can dig up about him to attack him with] than any individual wingnut there - with the exception of a few clearly mentally challenged extremist sociopaths. My guess is it's quite apparent to most readers here except maybe for a couple of the resident right wingers that you have a personal grudge problem, Ms Dog with regard to your Champion Hillary losing to an inadequate black man [the latter in quotes is from from a frothing woman Obama hater after Obama was chosen over Hillary to run for president]. You'd fit right in with the current crop of fringe wingnut losers. Obama IS going to get a decent health care reform bill passed and the economy IS starting to gradually turn around despite your self-revealing and self-defeating incessant bitter carping. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, raunchydog raunchy...@... wrote: A backlash in the progressive base which pushed President Obama over the top in the Democratic primary and played a major role in his general election victory has been building for months. The fight over the public option involves real policy substance, but it's also a proxy for broader questions about the president's priorities and overall approach Meanwhile, on such fraught questions as torture and indefinite detention, the president has dismayed progressives with his reluctance to challenge or change Bush administration policy. And then there's the matter of the banks. I don't know if administration officials realize just how much damage they've done themselves with their kid-gloves treatment of the financial industry, just how badly the spectacle of government supported institutions paying giant bonuses is playing. But I've had many conversations with people who voted for Mr. Obama, yet dismiss the stimulus as a total waste of money. When I press them, it turns out that they're really angry about the bailouts rather than the stimulus but that's a distinction lost on most voters. PAUL KRUGMAN August 20, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/opinion/21krugman.html?_r=1partner=rssnytemc=rss
[FairfieldLife] Re: FW: It was good enough for Senators Obama and Biden...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, nelsonriddle2001 nelsonriddle2...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, raunchydog raunchydog@ wrote: This goes to my earlier question. Is it reasonable to ask: Was my niece asking for it? Was she provoking it? The blame always seems to be on the woman. Choose a better partner. Shut up and don't talk back. What did you do to piss him off? Geez, why is it so difficult to say misogyny is wrong and men are the perpetrators of violence against women instead of blaming the women? Seems there are many factors leading up to the present levels of profound ignorance we see. From a creationist point of view it should be noted that the women were the final outstanding work and, should be treated as such. From the evolutionary point of view it should be noted that without the women, humanity would cease to exist after one generation. I guess it must be an older pov,maybe chauvinist?,that women should be protected and cared for. The present state of affairs is indeed sad. Protection is not a chauvinist concept. It's what loving families and and societies do for each other. Overprotection of a woman in some societies is a problem if it stifles a woman's sense of freedom. On the other hand, violence against women increases when the chaos of warw leave women unprotected. The usual protections of family and society for women do not exist in war. My niece didn't have the protection of family in her relationship with her boyfriend. My brother and her mother had drug problems and divorced. They didn't structure a safe, self-affirming environment for her that would have given her a foundation for a loving relationship. In her boyfriend's Muslim culture, she is considered his property to do with as he pleases, and he did. When family cannot protect a woman from violence she has to rely on the protections of society otherwise an abusive boyfriend would not be in jail. Women still deal with sexism and misogyny in our country. We rely of the good conscience of men and women to recognize demeaning behavior, in words and deeds toward women and speak out against it. If it's common place to insult women, it becomes common place to turn a blind eye to violence. Thank you, Nelson, for thinking about this.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: [snip] What strikes me as uncool is feeling that a cool thing attributable to Buddhism must somehow be countered because it isn't attributable to TM. What strikes 'me' as uncool is your assumption that my post had anything at all to do either with Buddhism OR TM. It's simply ANOTHER look at what makes people happy. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: What Makes Us Happy? The job isn't conforming, it isn't keeping up with the Jones'. It is playing and working and loving. And loving is probably the most important. Happiness is love. Full stop. I guess I agree. And the *object* of love can be practically anything... Yes. I would say that it's easy to love this or that. That's how easy love is. And that love, the substance of that love is the substance of God. Love happens in the heart, and one finds God in one's heart. -God is Love Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 1 John 7-8 Having become a devotee of God one can never remain unhappy. This is our experience. ~ Swami Brahmananda Saraswati [Guru Dev]
[FairfieldLife] Lincoln
there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny. - Abe Lincoln
[FairfieldLife] Re: Obamas Trust Problem
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rf...@... wrote: snip My guess is it's quite apparent to most readers here except maybe for a couple of the resident right wingers that you have a personal grudge problem, Ms Dog with regard to your Champion Hillary losing Funny thing, though, how so many of Obama's most fervent progressive supporters (and Hillary-haters) are making the same criticisms as Raunchy. It's way, WAY past time to quit accusing Obama's critics on the left of Obama-hatred, as increasing numbers of his supporters are publicly voicing their disappointment in him. It's just a cheap way to delegitimize that criticism and avoid addressing it on its own terms. to an inadequate black man [the latter in quotes is from from a frothing woman Obama hater after Obama was chosen over Hillary to run for president]. For the record, that comment wasn't made after Obama had won the nomination; it was made after the Democratic Rules Committee meeting at which some rules were unconscionably bent so as to ultimately give him the nomination. How quickly we forget...
[FairfieldLife] Re: FW: It was good enough for Senators Obama and Biden...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, raunchydog raunchy...@... wrote: snip I comfort my mother and pray for my brother. Violence against women isn't so far away. It's in our homes, quietly hidden in families too afraid or ashamed to tell anyone about it. I'm talking and it's damn painful. I don't have the any answers for my niece, but I do have a responsibility to speak on her behalf and tell her story, here and now just to see if I'm alone in the echo chamber or resonating with someone out there I don't know. Raunchy, your niece's story makes my heart hurt. I hope she'll be getting psycholgical counseling as well as medical treatment to help her get past this awful trauma and get on with her life.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Newsweek: We Are All Hindus Now
Like the great GK Chesterton said- When you don't believe in God, it's not that you believe in nothing, you believe in anything --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: Subject: Newsweek: We Are All Hindus Now By Lisa Miller | NEWSWEEK Published Aug 15, 2009 From the magazine issue dated Aug 31, 2009 http://www.newsweek http://www.newsweek ..com/id/212155 America is not a Christian nation. We are, it is true, a nation founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of us continue to identify as Christian (still, that's the lowest percentage in American history). Of course, we are not a Hindu-or Muslim, or Jewish, or Wiccan-nation, either. A million-plus Hindus live in the United States, a fraction of the billion who live on Earth. But recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, our selves, each other, and eternity. The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says this: Truth is One, but the sages speak of it by many names. A Hindu believes there are many paths to God. Jesus is one way, the Qur'an is another, yoga practice is a third. None is better than any other; all are equal. The most traditional, conservative Christians have not been taught to think like this. They learn in Sunday school that their religion is true, and others are false. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life No one comes to the Father except through me. Americans are no longer buying it. According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 65 percent of us believe that many religions can lead to eternal life-including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone. Also, the number of people who seek spiritual truth outside church is growing. Thirty percent of Americans call themselves spiritual, not religious, according to a 2009 NEWSWEEK Poll, up from 24 percent in 2005. Stephen Prothero, religion professor at Boston University, has long framed the American propensity for the divine-deli- cafeteria religion as very much in the spirit of Hinduism. You're not picking and choosing from different religions, because they're all the same, he says. It isn't about orthodoxy. It's about whatever works. If going to yoga works, great-and if going to Catholic mass works, great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist retreat works, that's great, too. Then there's the question of what happens when you die. Christians traditionally believe that bodies and souls are sacred, that together they comprise the self, and that at the end of time they will be reunited in the Resurrection. You need both, in other words, and you need them forever. Hindus believe no such thing. At death, the body burns on a pyre, while the spirit-where identity resides-escapes. In reincarnation, central to Hinduism, selves come back to earth again and again in different bodies. So here is another way in which Americans are becoming more Hindu: 24 percent of Americans say they believe in reincarnation, according to a 2008 Harris poll. So agnostic are we about the ultimate fates of our bodies that we're burning them-like Hindus-after death. More than a third of Americans now choose cremation, according to the Cremation Association of North America, up from 6 percent in 1975. I do think the more spiritual role of religion tends to deemphasize some of the more starkly literal interpretations of the Resurrection, agrees Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion at Harvard. So let us all say om. Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions - RIG VEDA
[FairfieldLife] Re: Obamas Trust Problem
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rflex@ wrote: snip My guess is it's quite apparent to most readers here except maybe for a couple of the resident right wingers that you have a personal grudge problem, Ms Dog with regard to your Champion Hillary losing Funny thing, though, how so many of Obama's most fervent progressive supporters (and Hillary-haters) are making the same criticisms as Raunchy. From Bob Herbert's NYTimes column today (in the primary, he was an Obama supporter and a Hillary critic): ...It's still early, but people are starting to lose faith in the president. I hear almost daily from men and women who voted enthusiastically for Mr. Obama but are feeling disappointed. They feel that the banks made out like bandits in the bailouts, and that the health care initiative could become a boondoggle. Their biggest worry is that Mr. Obama is soft, that he is unwilling or incapable of fighting hard enough to counter the forces responsible for the sorry state the country is in. More and more the president is being seen by his own supporters as someone who would like to please everybody, who is naïve about the prospects for bipartisanship, who believes that his strongest supporters will stay with him because they have nowhere else to go, and who will retreat whenever the Republicans and the corporate crowd come after him Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/opinion/22herbert.html?_r=1ref=opinion http://tinyurl.com/noogxs BTW, many of those who did *not* support Obama in the primary had *precisely* the suspicions Herbert says are now being voiced by his supporters. Many of us supported Hillary because we didn't think she was similarly afflicted.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Lincoln
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, dhamiltony2k5 dhamiltony...@... wrote: there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny. - Abe Lincoln Sounds like he's describing *acorn*: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6968
[FairfieldLife] Re: Willytex is on Medicare, so is Shemp.
Willytex is on Medicare... Medicare is for sick people. raunchydog wrote: Medicare is an insurance plan in case you get sick, it's not just for sick people. I'm enrolled in the government plan, almost everyone around here is, since it's an automatic payroll deduction. But I'm on an employee group plan provided by my employer. I make a small co-pay, but I'm not sick, so I don't use the plan very much. You can't use both at the same time. I like to pay out-of-pocket for most services - I like to manage my own health care, whenever possible.
[FairfieldLife] The Bagpiper's Story
This was posted on another board. I forward it just as it was there, for your amusement: As a bagpiper, I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man who had no family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a cemetery in the remote countryside and this man would be the first to be laid to rest there. As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost and, being a typical man, did not stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late. I saw the backhoe and the crew who were eating lunch but the hearse was nowhere in sight. I apologized to the workers for my tardiness and stepped to the side of the open grave where I saw the vault lid already in place. I assured the workers I would not hold them up for long but this was the proper thing to do. The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch. I played out my heart and soul. As I played the workers began to weep. I played and I played like I'd never played before, from Going Home and The Lord Is My Shepherd to Flowers of the Forest . I closed the lengthy session with Amazing Grace and walked to my car. As I was opening the door and taking off my coat, I overheard one of the workers saying to another, Sweet Jeezuz, Mary'n Joseph, I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Lincoln
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wgm4u wg...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, dhamiltony2k5 dhamiltony2k5@ wrote: there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny. - Abe Lincoln Sounds like he's describing *acorn*: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6968 Actually, a lot of it sounds like he's describing the people who wrote the right-wing myth-filled anti-ACORN screed you cite. Have a look at this. It's from ACORN's own perspective, so the truth is most likely somewhere in between. But at least you'll know what the issues are: http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=17855
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: New Scientist analyzes Healthcare in America.
WillyTex wrote: Bhairitu wrote: Reveals that the problem with American healthcare is the cluster fuck known as capitalism. Who said you had any health care? Is that what you call the 'free clinic' out there? Speaking of capitalistic 'cluster fucks', how did you work around that ComCast outrage today? LOL! Free clinics are cool. Maybe we should call them open clinics along the spirit of open source? Let's open everything. As for Comcast? Simple, Comcast isn't my ISP.
[FairfieldLife] Texas to Revise History in Textbooks?
Texas to revise history textbooks: liberals out, Limbaugh and Gingrich in. http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/21/texas-history-gingrich/ Earlier this year, a panel of right-wing experts produced a report urging the committee to remove biographies of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Stephen F. Austin, César Chávez, and instead add history about the motivational role the Bible and the Christian faith played in the settling of the original colonies. The Texas State Board of Education review committee is preparing to vote on a draft of proposed standards for history textbooks. Noting that the draft has nothing about liberals http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6581189.html , the Houston Chronicle reported: The first draft for proposed standards in United States History Studies Since Reconstruction says students should be expected to identify significant conservative advocacy organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly and the Moral Majority. [...] Others have proposed adding talk show host Rush Limbaugh and the National Rifle Association. The 15-member committee, stacked with 10 Republicans http://www.newsday.com/panel-suggests-texas-students-study-conservative\ s-1.1384597 , is expected to vote along party lines. http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/21/texas-history-gingrich/
Re: [FairfieldLife] Lincoln
On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 8:09 AM, dhamiltony2k5 dhamiltony...@yahoo.comwrote: there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny. - Abe Lincoln Most rewarding is a study of American history and the history of American politics. One sees that booms and busts have been part of the American scene. That immorality, illegality, lack of respect for law and order. All of these have been here. Witch hunts. If it wasn't religion, it was race. If it wasn't race it was demon rum or vile slavery. It was the Italian immigrants, the German immigrants, the Irish immigrants. Today its smoking and sex offenders. Sex offenders are retried (and convicted) for the same and single crime over and over again, even if the crime was merely to relieve onself off a bit too much urine in a place that was less than opportune. These individuals are continuously hunted down. Banned from social sites, ban from towns, having to announce their presence wherever they go. All of the laws surrounding sex offenders and their new limitations are passed after the person has been tried, convicted and service his/her time. It never ends. It's just the same old, same old, based on different issues, different circumstances.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
On Aug 21, 2009, at 10:39 PM, raunchydog wrote: Then how come, Frontal alpha coherence is not reported in other meditation practices? It isn't considered important because it's low integration and common. Usually meditation will only briefly stay in alpha until it goes to deeper levels of absorption. As one of the primary experts on EEG Barbara Brown said about alpha Concluding anything about alpha is perilous. All it means in the case of TM you are listening to a faint sound, a mantra, you're nicely relaxed or both. But you can poise yourself as is listening to ANY faint noise and alpha will shoot up. Big whoop. Many things can get you into the alpha state, but in deep meditation alpha is passed by. interesting findings seem to be coming from high-amplitude gamma coherence which was originally found in Patanjali tradition yogis who could go into samadhi at will. In Buddhists that EEG coherence, which oddly connects the part of the brain associated with integration, continues even when these yogis are not meditating. And that's the way it is, as Walter Cronkite used to say. Well, that's the way Vaj says it is. What strikes me as uncool is feeling that a cool thing attributable to TM must somehow be countered because it isn't attributable to Buddhism. If that's what's happening, that would be uncool. But that's not what's happening. What's happening is meditation researchers who are reputable have gained considerable wisdom in different ways of looking at the brain, and EEG is one we know a lot about already. When the leading researchers on the planet say TM's claims are exaggerated and premature (among other things), it would bade well to find out why. Since I had heard rumors of the exaggeration by old staff who had worked with Maharishi in the original disappointing findings way back in the 80's, the researchers were basically told go with the alpha. They had no choice. They did what Maharishi insisted was significant. Forcing researchers to report a finding as significant that they felt (and knew) was insignificant is always bound to catch up with you. And IMO that's exactly what has happened. Boy, was I disappointed when I first heard that. Wake up call!
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists May Help Biotechies Solve Big Mental Health Woes,
On Aug 21, 2009, at 5:39 PM, nablusoss1008 wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: Buddhists May Help Biotechies Solve Big Mental Health Woes, Vaj is back from yet another Buddhist retreat. Meanwhile thousands of Buddhist monks are learning TM, real meditation, as taught by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Thailand and Cambodia. Vaj's pitta is on the rise ! Nabby, they've been reporting that thousands of Cambodians have learned TM for years. Always ambiguous numbers, never in a specific location. I think it's kinda funny how people keep repeating it, as if it's new. What's it been, three years since this allegedly happened? And of course you ignore the fact that they would no longer really be Buddhists. Converts to Hinduism is what they'd be. But thanks for worrying about my pitta, I just have some cool drinks and I'm cool as a cucumber...and it's been wonderful swimming weather here.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
On Aug 21, 2009, at 11:11 PM, WillyTex wrote: Vaj wrote: Ah yes, James Austin. Good stuff! Ah yes, James Austin, the same James Austin that cites Herbert Benson, who as everyone knows, first published the results of TM with Keith Wallace. According to Austin, scientists have mapped the relaxation response in TM meditation. Makes one wonder if all that stuff you said about TM was true. You love your strawmen too Willy, don't you? I've always known and accepted that TM invokes the relaxation response. In fact I just recently sat with HHDL and Herbert Benson at Harvard and heard him say what 8 common meditations can elicit the relaxation response. TM is one of many. Of course that would not include people who are unstressing most likely. ;-)
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Obamas Trust Problem
On Aug 22, 2009, at 7:48 AM, do.rflex wrote: You may as well be a wingnut. I write to another list that's very right wing and find that there is more aggressive attacking from you about Obama [on anything at all you can dig up about him to attack him with] than any individual wingnut there - with the exception of a few clearly mentally challenged extremist sociopaths. My guess is it's quite apparent to most readers here except maybe for a couple of the resident right wingers that you have a personal grudge problem, Ms Dog with regard to your Champion Hillary losing to an inadequate black man [the latter in quotes is from from a frothing woman Obama hater after Obama was chosen over Hillary to run for president]. You'd fit right in with the current crop of fringe wingnut losers. Obama IS going to get a decent health care reform bill passed and the economy IS starting to gradually turn around despite your self- revealing and self-defeating incessant bitter carping. Amen. It's clearly become a personal issue for rd, she's basically lost all self-control or sense of perspective as far as Obama is concerned. Sal
[FairfieldLife] Common Sense 2009
Common Sense 2009 by Larry Flynt The American government -- which we once called our government -- has been taken over by Wall Street, the mega-corporations and the super-rich. They are the ones who decide our fate. It is this group of powerful elites, the people President Franklin D. Roosevelt called economic royalists, who choose our elected officials -- indeed, our very form of government. Both Democrats and Republicans dance to the tune of their corporate masters. In America, corporations do not control the government. In America, corporations are the government. This was never more obvious than with the Wall Street bailout, whereby the very corporations that caused the collapse of our economy were rewarded with taxpayer dollars. So arrogant, so smug were they that, without a moment's hesitation, they took our money -- yours and mine -- to pay their executives multimillion-dollar bonuses, something they continue doing to this very day. They have no shame. They don't care what you and I think about them. Henry Kissinger refers to us as useless eaters. Read the rest: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-flynt/common-sense-2009_b_264706.html I'm all for a national strike, BTW.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Willytex is on Medicare, so is Shemp.
WillyTex wrote: Willytex is on Medicare... Medicare is for sick people. raunchydog wrote: Medicare is an insurance plan in case you get sick, it's not just for sick people. I'm enrolled in the government plan, almost everyone around here is, since it's an automatic payroll deduction. But I'm on an employee group plan provided by my employer. I make a small co-pay, but I'm not sick, so I don't use the plan very much. You can't use both at the same time. I guess that makes you a hypocrite or at least a very selfish person. You're saying I've got mine, but I don't want anyone else to have it.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Obamas Trust Problem
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine salsunsh...@... wrote: On Aug 22, 2009, at 7:48 AM, do.rflex wrote: snip Obama IS going to get a decent health care reform bill passed and the economy IS starting to gradually turn around despite your self-revealing and self- defeating incessant bitter carping. Amen. It's clearly become a personal issue for rd, she's basically lost all self-control or sense of perspective as far as Obama is concerned. Actually, Raunchy (and I) had the sense of perspective way back during the primary that Obama's supporters are only now beginning to wake up to. From Bob Herbert's column today: ...It's still early, but people are starting to lose faith in the president. I hear almost daily from men and women who voted enthusiastically for Mr. Obama but are feeling disappointed. They feel that the banks made out like bandits in the bailouts, and that the health care initiative could become a boondoggle. Their biggest worry is that Mr. Obama is soft, that he is unwilling or incapable of fighting hard enough to counter the forces responsible for the sorry state the country is in. More and more the president is being seen by his own supporters as someone who would like to please everybody, who is naïve about the prospects for bipartisanship, who believes that his strongest supporters will stay with him because they have nowhere else to go, and who will retreat whenever the Republicans and the corporate crowd come after him Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/opinion/22herbert.html?_r=1ref=opinion http://tinyurl.com/noogxs
Re: [FairfieldLife] Lincoln
Doug... are you trying to tell us that you're a child molster that just needs to be accepted? --- On Sat, 8/22/09, It's just a ride bill.hicks.all.a.r...@gmail.com wrote: From: It's just a ride bill.hicks.all.a.r...@gmail.com Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Lincoln To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Saturday, August 22, 2009, 6:04 PM On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 8:09 AM, dhamiltony2k5 dhamiltony2k5@ yahoo.com wrote: there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny. - Abe Lincoln Most rewarding is a study of American history and the history of American politics. One sees that booms and busts have been part of the American scene. That immorality, illegality, lack of respect for law and order. All of these have been here. Witch hunts. If it wasn't religion, it was race. If it wasn't race it was demon rum or vile slavery. It was the Italian immigrants, the German immigrants, the Irish immigrants. Today its smoking and sex offenders. Sex offenders are retried (and convicted) for the same and single crime over and over again, even if the crime was merely to relieve onself off a bit too much urine in a place that was less than opportune. These individuals are continuously hunted down. Banned from social sites, ban from towns, having to announce their presence wherever they go. All of the laws surrounding sex offenders and their new limitations are passed after the person has been tried, convicted and service his/her time. It never ends. It's just the same old, same old, based on different issues, different circumstances.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Common Sense 2009
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: Common Sense 2009 by Larry Flynt The American government -- which we once called our government -- has been taken over by Wall Street, the mega-corporations and the super-rich. They are the ones who decide our fate. It is this group of powerful elites, the people President Franklin D. Roosevelt called economic royalists, who choose our elected officials -- indeed, our very form of government. Both Democrats and Republicans dance to the tune of their corporate masters. In America, corporations do not control the government. In America, corporations are the government. This was never more obvious than with the Wall Street bailout, whereby the very corporations that caused the collapse of our economy were rewarded with taxpayer dollars. So arrogant, so smug were they that, without a moment's hesitation, they took our money -- yours and mine -- to pay their executives multimillion-dollar bonuses, something they continue doing to this very day. They have no shame. They don't care what you and I think about them. Henry Kissinger refers to us as useless eaters. Read the rest: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-flynt/common-sense-2009_b_264706.html I'm all for a national strike, BTW. These people don't care because they have no conscious, they are psychopaths...
[FairfieldLife] Re: Usama and Usain??
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, raunchydog raunchy...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister no_reply@ wrote: (NB: according to Wikipedia, the Arabic language has three vowels, a, i and u. So, the spelling Osama for Usama seems a bit substandard, or stuff...) Usama bin Ladin USA map in lad, in! Usain Bolt USA (athletics) in bolt?? Barack Usain Ubama? Ubama, Ubama bo Bama Bonana fanna fo Fama fee fy mo Mama, Ubama! Many fine leaders have been mocked, so Barack Obama is in good company... They mocked Jesus, Maharishi, Socrates, Early Followers of Jesus sent to Rome to be mocked and killed, Anyone who challenges the status quo, is guaranteed to be mocked... R.g.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: Boy, was I disappointed when I first heard that. Wake up call!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Obamas Trust Problem
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine salsunsh...@... wrote: On Aug 22, 2009, at 7:48 AM, do.rflex wrote: You may as well be a wingnut. I write to another list that's very right wing and find that there is more aggressive attacking from you about Obama [on anything at all you can dig up about him to attack him with] than any individual wingnut there - with the exception of a few clearly mentally challenged extremist sociopaths. My guess is it's quite apparent to most readers here except maybe for a couple of the resident right wingers that you have a personal grudge problem, Ms Dog with regard to your Champion Hillary losing to an inadequate black man [the latter in quotes is from from a frothing woman Obama hater after Obama was chosen over Hillary to run for president]. You'd fit right in with the current crop of fringe wingnut losers. Obama IS going to get a decent health care reform bill passed and the economy IS starting to gradually turn around despite your self- revealing and self-defeating incessant bitter carping. Amen. It's clearly become a personal issue for rd, she's basically lost all self-control or sense of perspective as far as Obama is concerned. Sal We also forget, what happened to Hillary, back in '93... We lose perspective on how pervasive the money interests are, and how many psychopathic personalities, are running the Corporations, the CIA, and so forth... They are hitting back with everything they have... Mexico apparently has had it with U.S. psychopathic drugs laws, which only pump up the violence... President Obama is taking this one step at a time, in order that the 'People', take some responsibly to push back on the money/power interests... The only real way to fight these bastards, is for people, who are aware, take some action, any action, to further their agenda... Because the other side, is working 24/7 for their manipulations... R.g.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Lincoln
On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 2:31 PM, Mike Dixon mdixon.6...@yahoo.com wrote: Doug... are you trying to tell us that you're a child molster that just needs to be accepted? --- On Sat, 8/22/09, It's just a ride bill.hicks.all.a.r...@gmail.com wrote: I'd not be surprised if Doug is a child molester. But he'll never be accepted. But I'm not Doug. I am Bill Hicks (deceased). I am saying that we repeat the same comedies and tragedies over and over again throughout American History. The cursed. The hunted. The vile drink/weed/drug/dance. The panics, the booms, the depressions. Today it's the oil, pharma and insurance companies. Before that it was steel, the railroads, the cotton mills, the confiscatory tariff on Southern goods to pay for railroads and canals that didn't go through the South. The many companies which robbed the Union/North blind providing weapons, goods and services during the War of Northern Aggression. I'm on a rag about sex offenders because I know a few. They are haunted, hounded. A 17 y/o boy got it on with a 13 y/o girl and the boy is ruined for life. In many states registered sex offenders have to go to dumpy trailer parks to live because that's the only place they can live. We keep on passing new after the fact laws which effectively impose new penalties on people who have already been tried, convicted and paid their debt to society. And the sex offenders registery only lists the sex offenders THAT WE KNOW ABOUT. It's against the Bill of Rights, but then all excesses in American History (and we've had nothing but excesses in our history) are against the Bill of Rights or at least common decency.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: Boy, was I disappointed when I first heard that. Wake up call! Pity then that you didn't wake up but joined, or perhaps you've been there all along, Buddhism; perhaps the most stagnated and formalized of all the major and dry religions on earth.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists May Help Biotechies Solve Big Mental Health Woes,
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: Meanwhile thousands of Buddhist monks are learning TM, real meditation, as taught by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Thailand and Cambodia. Vaj's pitta is on the rise ! Nabby, they've been reporting that thousands of Cambodians have learned TM for years. Always ambiguous numbers, never in a specific location. I think it's kinda funny how people keep repeating it, as if it's new. What's it been, three years since this allegedly happened? And of course you ignore the fact that they would no longer really be Buddhists. Converts to Hinduism is what they'd be. Hindus in a Buddhist monestary ? Well, please tell that to the Lamas running these monestaries; you are now a Hindu ! They would laugh so hard you would take to the nearest street for an all american Coke. While on Purusha I met several Lamas that proclaimed us to be real monks, complaining that their own monks was masturbating so much that their glow was non-present. All these Lamas do is adding a TM meditation practise that works, contrary to their old stuffy prayers and meditations that have no effect.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Obamas Trust Problem
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine salsunsh...@... wrote: On Aug 22, 2009, at 7:48 AM, do.rflex wrote: You may as well be a wingnut. I write to another list that's very right wing and find that there is more aggressive attacking from you about Obama [on anything at all you can dig up about him to attack him with] than any individual wingnut there - with the exception of a few clearly mentally challenged extremist sociopaths. My guess is it's quite apparent to most readers here except maybe for a couple of the resident right wingers that you have a personal grudge problem, Ms Dog with regard to your Champion Hillary losing to an inadequate black man [the latter in quotes is from from a frothing woman Obama hater after Obama was chosen over Hillary to run for president]. You'd fit right in with the current crop of fringe wingnut losers. Obama IS going to get a decent health care reform bill passed and the economy IS starting to gradually turn around despite your self- revealing and self-defeating incessant bitter carping. Amen. It's clearly become a personal issue for rd, she's basically lost all self-control or sense of perspective as far as Obama is concerned. Sal Geez Sal, Pick up a newspaper and read it once in a while. Don't you know that Paul Krugman is no slouch just shooting off his mouth (like some people we know)? He won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2008. He is a respected writer for the New York Times. He has a better understanding of the political players in Washington than just about anybody at the Times. Wikipedia: As of 2006, Krugman has written or edited in excess of 25 books, over 40 scholarly articles and 750 columns at The New York Times dealing with current economic and political issues. When Paul Krugman speaks, I listen and you should at least take notice.
[FairfieldLife] ‘Corporate Psychopaths Love Mocking the Pre sident’
‘Corporate Psychopaths Love Mocking the President’ We all sure like to hate them... The right-wing psychos... The Rush-bo’s, Shawn-bo’s and Cheney-bo’s... But who are the people, behind them? Well, they are the ‘Corporate Thieves’... Stealing America’s Soul... Piece by piece, year after year...more and more, there's never enough for their greedy, murderous hands... The one's at the top of the 'Trickle Down Heap'... They are psychopaths, can you just say: 'No' = Conscious'... They have sold their souls, and have absolutely no moral center, at all... Just view their work on the mass media, and it’s very clear to see When it comes to soul, where is it? They will mock the one, who leads with soul and fortitude... Just as the same one's did...2,000 years ago... ~Roberto De Madison, Verona, WI
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Aug 21, 2009, at 10:39 PM, raunchydog wrote: Then how come, Frontal alpha coherence is not reported in other meditation practices? Travis isn't talking about just alpha which anyone can demonstrate doing biofeedback, listening to music, daydreaming etc. He's talking specifically about alpha coherence in the frontal lobes of the brain, which no one has found in other forms of meditation or in people just relaxing. He's comparing three types of meditation techniques and TM is the only one that produces frontal alpha coherence. Since relaxation and other forms of meditation can't reproduce it, it must be unique to TM. The fact that we don't know what it means doesn't negate its uniqueness, maybe it just means something good is happening. Meditation in the Tibetan Buddhism tradition has been generally described as: Reasoned deconstruction of the reality of objects experienced in meditation, as well as concentrative practices to create moods such as pure compassion, loving kindness; or no self. This involves focused attention, and control of the mind. It involves concentration. Mindfulness Meditation is described by Paul Grossman as: Systematic procedure to develop enhanced awareness of moment-to-moment experiences. Mindfulness includes two meditation practices: - with eyes closed: attention on breath. - with eyes open: dispassionate observation of body, senses and environment. This meditation involves intention or directing of attention to physiological rhythms, inner thoughts, sensations or outer objects. Transcendental Meditation technique is a process of effortless transcending... As a working hypothesis, let's accept that TM is effortless, and then generate testable hypotheses. One of these testable hypotheses, is: If TM is effortless, then people should quickly master the practice of transcending. Research supports this hypothesis. In the next slide, we see EEG during TM in students of the same age, but with very different levels of time practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique. The one on the left just learned the TM technique, as a new student at Maharishi University of Management. The one on the right has been meditating since he was 10 years old. http://www.fredtravis.com/talk.html It isn't considered important because it's low integration and common. Usually meditation will only briefly stay in alpha until it goes to deeper levels of absorption. As one of the primary experts on EEG Barbara Brown said about alpha Concluding anything about alpha is perilous. All it means in the case of TM you are listening to a faint sound, a mantra, you're nicely relaxed or both. But you can poise yourself as is listening to ANY faint noise and alpha will shoot up. Big whoop. Many things can get you into the alpha state, but in deep meditation alpha is passed by. interesting findings seem to be coming from high-amplitude gamma coherence which was originally found in Patanjali tradition yogis who could go into samadhi at will. In Buddhists that EEG coherence, which oddly connects the part of the brain associated with integration, continues even when these yogis are not meditating. And that's the way it is, as Walter Cronkite used to say. Well, that's the way Vaj says it is. What strikes me as uncool is feeling that a cool thing attributable to TM must somehow be countered because it isn't attributable to Buddhism. If that's what's happening, that would be uncool. But that's not what's happening. What's happening is meditation researchers who are reputable have gained considerable wisdom in different ways of looking at the brain, and EEG is one we know a lot about already. When the leading researchers on the planet say TM's claims are exaggerated and premature (among other things), it would bade well to find out why. Since I had heard rumors of the exaggeration by old staff who had worked with Maharishi in the original disappointing findings way back in the 80's, the researchers were basically told go with the alpha. They had no choice. They did what Maharishi insisted was significant. Forcing researchers to report a finding as significant that they felt (and knew) was insignificant is always bound to catch up with you. And IMO that's exactly what has happened. Boy, was I disappointed when I first heard that. Wake up call!
[FairfieldLife] Re: FW: It was good enough for Senators Obama and Biden...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, raunchydog raunchydog@ wrote: snip I comfort my mother and pray for my brother. Violence against women isn't so far away. It's in our homes, quietly hidden in families too afraid or ashamed to tell anyone about it. I'm talking and it's damn painful. I don't have the any answers for my niece, but I do have a responsibility to speak on her behalf and tell her story, here and now just to see if I'm alone in the echo chamber or resonating with someone out there I don't know. Raunchy, your niece's story makes my heart hurt. I hope she'll be getting psycholgical counseling as well as medical treatment to help her get past this awful trauma and get on with her life. Thanks, Judy. She's living with a girlfriend. Her two youngest kids are with her. She's on antidepressants. Psychological counseling is an unbelievably remote possibility considering her circumstances. She's unemployed and on foodstamps. My mother, brother and I send her some money to get by, but that's about it. She has a case worker through social services, but I don't know how much good that will do. As shocking as this may sound, her previous caseworker tried to force her to give him a blow job. She filed a police report. Since it was just he-said she-said, they didn't do anything about it. He still has his job. That gives you an idea of how impoverished social services have become in Michigan. We don't know if the boyfriend is still in jail. I hope he stays in there long enough that she doesn't feel tempted to go back to him. As crazy as that sounds, it happens all the time. Abused women have so few resources, they become dependent on the abuser.
[FairfieldLife] Ganesha Chaturthi - Birthday of Ganesha - Sunday, August 23rd [22 Attachments]
- Weitergeleitete Mail Von: Hubert hubert012@ Gesendet: Samstag, den 22. August 2009, 21:34:39 Uhr Betreff: Fwd: Ganesha Chaturthi - Birthday of Ganesha - Sunday, August 23rd Thanks to Graham for this message The Puja is at 2.45 p.m. European time, Sunday, August 23rd on Maharishi Channel 3! Ganesha Chaturthi - Birthday of Ganesha Sunday, August 23rd
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
On Aug 22, 2009, at 4:04 PM, nablusoss1008 wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: Boy, was I disappointed when I first heard that. Wake up call! Pity then that you didn't wake up but joined, or perhaps you've been there all along, Buddhism; perhaps the most stagnated and formalized of all the major and dry religions on earth. Actually, the first thing I did was go to the Shankaracharya and someone from Guru Dev's direct line for further teachings. I was far from disappointed! Nice try though. ;-)
[FairfieldLife] The Difference Between Bush Lincoln'
One's face showed the pain of war, and the stoic sense of purpose... The other one's face, showed no remorse, no depth, nothing is there at all! Well, maybe still the arrogance... R.g.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
On Aug 22, 2009, at 4:28 PM, raunchydog wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Aug 21, 2009, at 10:39 PM, raunchydog wrote: Then how come, Frontal alpha coherence is not reported in other meditation practices? Travis isn't talking about just alpha which anyone can demonstrate doing biofeedback, listening to music, daydreaming etc. He's talking specifically about alpha coherence in the frontal lobes of the brain, which no one has found in other forms of meditation or in people just relaxing. He's comparing three types of meditation techniques and TM is the only one that produces frontal alpha coherence. Since relaxation and other forms of meditation can't reproduce it, it must be unique to TM. The fact that we don't know what it means doesn't negate its uniqueness, maybe it just means something good is happening. Sorry, not buying it. It's no wonder Travis is viewed at with suspicion as this is total BS. Meditation in the Tibetan Buddhism tradition has been generally described as: Reasoned deconstruction of the reality of objects experienced in meditation, as well as concentrative practices to create moods such as pure compassion, loving kindness; or no self. This involves focused attention, and control of the mind. It involves concentration. Wow, what a horrible description of the literally hundreds---probably thousands--of meditation techniques in Tibetan Buddhism alone. If this is his description, it certainly, clearly shows the guy doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. Mindfulness Meditation is described by Paul Grossman as: Systematic procedure to develop enhanced awareness of moment-to-moment experiences. Mindfulness includes two meditation practices: - with eyes closed: attention on breath. - with eyes open: dispassionate observation of body, senses and environment. This meditation involves intention or directing of attention to physiological rhythms, inner thoughts, sensations or outer objects. Transcendental Meditation technique is a process of effortless transcending... As a working hypothesis, let's accept that TM is effortless, and then generate testable hypotheses. One of these testable hypotheses, is: If TM is effortless, then people should quickly master the practice of transcending. If we know about the metaphysics of meditation, we know that meditation with objects can never be truly effortless--a fine distinction, but a crucial one. So we should avoid saying things we know to be false, as if repeating the lie over and over, someone will believe it. Perhaps this is why MMY went to such lengths to point that TM involved a small amount of effort at Estes Park... Research supports this hypothesis. In the next slide, we see EEG during TM in students of the same age, but with very different levels of time practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique. The one on the left just learned the TM technique, as a new student at Maharishi University of Management. The one on the right has been meditating since he was 10 years old. http://www.fredtravis.com/talk.html I'm familiar with the spiel. It's kinda disappointing now that that MMY is gone, they don't at least TRY to be more honest.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Willytex is on Medicare, so is Shemp.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com , WillyTex no_re...@... wrote: Willytex is on Medicare... I like to pay out-of-pocket for most services - I like to manage my own health care, whenever possible. Until the shit hits the fangod forbid. OffWorld
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: FW: It was good enough for Senators Obama and Biden...
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of raunchydog Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 3:29 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: FW: It was good enough for Senators Obama and Biden... Thanks, Judy. She's living with a girlfriend. Her two youngest kids are with her. She's on antidepressants. Psychological counseling is an unbelievably remote possibility considering her circumstances. She's unemployed and on foodstamps. My mother, brother and I send her some money to get by, but that's about it. She has a case worker through social services, but I don't know how much good that will do. As shocking as this may sound, her previous caseworker tried to force her to give him a blow job. She filed a police report. Since it was just he-said she-said, they didn't do anything about it. He still has his job. That gives you an idea of how impoverished social services have become in Michigan. We don't know if the boyfriend is still in jail. I hope he stays in there long enough that she doesn't feel tempted to go back to him. As crazy as that sounds, it happens all the time. Abused women have so few resources, they become dependent on the abuser. I was listening to Eckhart Tolle talk about the pain body today in his book, A New Earth, and the discussion made me think of your niece. If you like, I'll lend you the CD's.
[FairfieldLife] 50% tax is not 50% of income dumbass----------- was/// Obama uses faith
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com , WillyTex no_re...@... wrote: So, Off, you live in Britain where you get over 30% of your paycheck deducted for taxes. Off wrote: You are completely brain-washed. It is about 1-3%. Well, I thought your earnings were a little greater than $100.00 or $300.00 per month. LOL! Alistair Darling announced in the 2009 budget (22 April 2009) that, from April 2010 there would be a new 50% income tax rate for those earning more than £150,000... Income tax is not health care tax you dumbass. Health care is a very small part of it. And for those earning more than $250,000 (£150,000) as you quoted, they will have a higher tax bracket, but that is only on PROFIT over $250,000 you dumbass. So, if you make $500,000 PROFIT, then you will take home at least $400,000 in your pocket you dumbass, and you will not pay health insurance for you or ANY of your immediate family who does not work. Nor will you pay for dental, and you will pay only a very small amount for all your college education for your kids. Dumbass. OffWorld
[FairfieldLife] The true meaning of the *only begotten*.
Christ is God's Infinite Intelligence that is present in all creation, the Infinite Christ is the 'only begotten son' of God the Father, the only pure Reflection of Spirit in the created realm. That Universal Intelligence, the Kutastha Chaitanya or Krishna Consciousness of the Hindu scriptures, was fully manifested in the incarnation of Jesus, Krishna, and other divine ones; and it can be manifested also in your consciousness. Swami Paramahansa Yogananda The Yoga of Jesus Pragya' (intellect) is anchored to 'Kutastha', (the immovable, the rocklike) this is the 'steady intellect' in the state of nitya-samadhi, Cosmic Consciousness. MMY Gita CHII vs55 *Nitya=eternal.
[FairfieldLife] Is Willytex a complete idiot or not? ----------------- was////Obama uses faith
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com , WillyTex no_re...@... wrote: off_world_beings wrote: You are an idiot. So, Off, where you live, you get lots of government handouts but you have to pay really high payroll and other taxes, but I'm an idiot Put this in your stupid head once and for all Willytex. In America, YOU PAY MORE TAXES OVERALL than in Britain when you count it all up. Do you remember I said that before? ... but you get A LOT less for it. In Britain, income tax pays for all your kids to go through ALL of college or technical school (the trades), and for all your family (even if they don't work) to get healthcare, and for all your families dental costs. It pays for cheap and abundant public transport. If you have a disabled kid - like Sarah Palin's kid for example - if the person gets to 16 and over, and she can drive ok, she gets a free NEW car provided by the government every 3 years. If she cannot drive she gets all the public transport paid for (and public transport is abundant in Britain.) She also gets specially built facilites in her apartment, and free nurse/assistant visits if needed, to name but a few of the benifits of the system. Do you have kids Willytex? PS. I live in socialist Vermont by the way. Best state in the country. Its all downhill from Vermont. OffWorld
[FairfieldLife] Who is Tom Barlow ------------- was////Willytex is on Medicare
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com , WillyTex no_re...@... wrote: off_world_beings wrote: Willytex is on Medicare... Medicare is for sick people. How ironinc. I'll tell you what's ironic, Off. You're probably laid-off, but I'm still working, and on a group medical insurance plan. I work for myself in Vermont. I cannot be fired. I cannot loose work in a recession. I pay for my own health insurance through Blue-Cross/Blue-Shield. I have more self-sufficiency in money-making than you have ever had Willytex. You are a slave from my point of view. I will never ever work for the Man. I am an independent, and I can never be laid off, nor can I stop making money. Its almost impossible. I am also a landlord on the side. I have the varied skills to work almost anywhere I choose in America, and I have a passport to live in 15 countries in Europe if I please. I am 47 years old. I swim 80 lengths of butterfly most days - that is when I am not literally running up mountains, or cross-country skiing at the lodge. In winter, I drive to the lodge, ski for about 3 hours, then work in a local cafe for about 4-5 hours, then go ski or swim for about 1-2 hours, then go home or go out with friends. But that's just me. How 'bout you Willytex - sounds like you are an endentured slave compared to me. Enjoy your commute and slaveman day on Monday - Lol. OffWorld
[FairfieldLife] PLEASE ASK SENATOR GRASSLEY if he has Healthcare paid for by the Taxpayer.
PLEASE ASK SENATOR GRASSLEY of Iowa if he has Healthcare paid for by the Taxpayer. OffWorld
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
Vaj wrote: On Aug 21, 2009, at 10:39 PM, raunchydog wrote: Then how come, Frontal alpha coherence is not reported in other meditation practices? It isn't considered important because it's low integration and common. Usually meditation will only briefly stay in alpha until it goes to deeper levels of absorption. As one of the primary experts on EEG Barbara Brown said about alpha Concluding anything about alpha is perilous. All it means in the case of TM you are listening to a faint sound, a mantra, you're nicely relaxed or both. But you can poise yourself as is listening to ANY faint noise and alpha will shoot up. Big whoop. Many things can get you into the alpha state, but in deep meditation alpha is passed by. interesting findings seem to be coming from high-amplitude gamma coherence which was originally found in Patanjali tradition yogis who could go into samadhi at will. In Buddhists that EEG coherence, which oddly connects the part of the brain associated with integration, continues even when these yogis are not meditating. And that's the way it is, as Walter Cronkite used to say. Well, that's the way Vaj says it is. What strikes me as uncool is feeling that a cool thing attributable to TM must somehow be countered because it isn't attributable to Buddhism. If that's what's happening, that would be uncool. But that's not what's happening. What's happening is meditation researchers who are reputable have gained considerable wisdom in different ways of looking at the brain, and EEG is one we know a lot about already. When the leading researchers on the planet say TM's claims are exaggerated and premature (among other things), it would bade well to find out why. Since I had heard rumors of the exaggeration by old staff who had worked with Maharishi in the original disappointing findings way back in the 80's, the researchers were basically told go with the alpha. They had no choice. They did what Maharishi insisted was significant. Forcing researchers to report a finding as significant that they felt (and knew) was insignificant is always bound to catch up with you. And IMO that's exactly what has happened. Boy, was I disappointed when I first heard that. Wake up call! Cleaning house the other day I came across my copy of The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation the 1988 book by Michael Murphy and Steven Donovan published by Esalen Institute. I'm going to have to thumb through some of those studies again. ;-)
[FairfieldLife] TIME on food production
Good article. IMO, the things that make us unhealthy (obesity adds $147 billion a year to our doctor bills) should be taxed in proportion to the extent they do so, and that should pay for health care. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1917458-1,00.html
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
On Aug 22, 2009, at 5:59 PM, Bhairitu wrote: Vaj wrote: On Aug 21, 2009, at 10:39 PM, raunchydog wrote: Then how come, Frontal alpha coherence is not reported in other meditation practices? It isn't considered important because it's low integration and common. Usually meditation will only briefly stay in alpha until it goes to deeper levels of absorption. As one of the primary experts on EEG Barbara Brown said about alpha Concluding anything about alpha is perilous. All it means in the case of TM you are listening to a faint sound, a mantra, you're nicely relaxed or both. But you can poise yourself as is listening to ANY faint noise and alpha will shoot up. Big whoop. Many things can get you into the alpha state, but in deep meditation alpha is passed by. interesting findings seem to be coming from high-amplitude gamma coherence which was originally found in Patanjali tradition yogis who could go into samadhi at will. In Buddhists that EEG coherence, which oddly connects the part of the brain associated with integration, continues even when these yogis are not meditating. And that's the way it is, as Walter Cronkite used to say. Well, that's the way Vaj says it is. What strikes me as uncool is feeling that a cool thing attributable to TM must somehow be countered because it isn't attributable to Buddhism. If that's what's happening, that would be uncool. But that's not what's happening. What's happening is meditation researchers who are reputable have gained considerable wisdom in different ways of looking at the brain, and EEG is one we know a lot about already. When the leading researchers on the planet say TM's claims are exaggerated and premature (among other things), it would bade well to find out why. Since I had heard rumors of the exaggeration by old staff who had worked with Maharishi in the original disappointing findings way back in the 80's, the researchers were basically told go with the alpha. They had no choice. They did what Maharishi insisted was significant. Forcing researchers to report a finding as significant that they felt (and knew) was insignificant is always bound to catch up with you. And IMO that's exactly what has happened. Boy, was I disappointed when I first heard that. Wake up call! Cleaning house the other day I came across my copy of The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation the 1988 book by Michael Murphy and Steven Donovan published by Esalen Institute. I'm going to have to thumb through some of those studies again. ;-) Probably mostly out of date. Check out the meditation research section of The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness if you want a state of the art view.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Who is Tom Barlow ------------- was////Willytex is on Medicare
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, off_world_beings no_re...@... wrote: [snip] I am 47 years old. I swim 80 lengths of butterfly most days - [snip] I must say that's pretty impressive. Twice a week I swim about a mile in the lake (mostly breaststroke). I can do about one half stroke of butterfly and then I am exhausted...plus, my head doesn't even make it out of the water when I do.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Who is Tom Barlow ------------- was////Willytex is on Medicare
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com , shempmcgurk shempmcg...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com , off_world_beings no_reply@ wrote: [snip] I am 47 years old. I swim 80 lengths of butterfly most days - [snip] I must say that's pretty impressive. Twice a week I swim about a mile in the lake (mostly breaststroke). I can do about one half stroke of butterfly and then I am exhausted...plus, my head doesn't even make it out of the water when I do. A mile in the lake is impressive too (I trained and competed as a swimmer 6 days a week for about 3 hours a day from 12 to 16 years of age.) I don't recommend butterfly unless you were trained in it. Its heart attack stuff if you don't know what your doing.) OffWorld
[FairfieldLife] Cubic Centimeters Of Chance
This vacation has been good for me. I'm sitting here tonight at a friend's computer, long after the friend has gone to bed, pondering the changes brought about by small moments during this particular vacation. I would count as such small moments the times I realized that I didn't know it all, and realized that, blessedly, I was still capable of learning new things. Interestingly, the moments that caused such realizations, at least subjectively, have all been small, in the sense that they would create no blips on anyone's radar. They just happened, and I happened to be in a place where I could appreciate them happening. Moments like: * Watching a seven-month-old girl go completely through the learning-to-crawl thang, start to finish. Awesome. * Finding a wine at the local Super U market and being incapable of passing it by because of its name (Very Limoux), buying a couple of bottles for 6 Euros and change, and discovering that it was a wine one could describe as memorable, almost epic. And then discovering, after the fact, that it won a gold medal in Paris in 2007, and that I am far from alone in my appreciation. * Discovering anew that the product that has delivered by far the highest ROI (Return On Investment) for me in this lifetime is now officially my 20-year-old pair of Vasques hiking boots. These boots somehow enable me to walk forever, without fatigue, and have since the day I bought them. * Real food and water. Most of the food I have eaten since I've been here has been picked from the garden of the house I am staying in. The water Ive drunk comes from the tap, and the well. Both exceed anything I have associated with the words food and water in recent years. Mmm. * Families. Possibly because I am vacationing with one, I have been reminded on this Road Trip of the magic of the family unit. I am vacationing with a unit that is oddly composed of two wives, one husband, one young (and very lovely) daughter, two cats (theirs), two dogs (mine), myself, and a couple of ladyfriends of mine who have visited when they could get away from work. It's made me appreciate the wonderful variety of, and the unvarying magic of, the other families we've run into. * Meditating in a thought-free environment. That's been a veritable small moment in itself, living in an area in which if I close my eyes I just go away into deep and profound Silence. It's been reminding me how close I must be to going away altogether all the time if all that I require to remember the Silence is to close my eyes. And often not even that. * Reading Fairfield Life selectively. Ever since my own computer's screen died, I've been having to borrow one of my friends' computers to check in here. As a result, not wanting to hog bandwidth from nerds who seem more in need of it than I have been, I've been limiting my FFL-reading sessions to scanning the Message List and determining who and what I want to bother with and then restricting myself to reading only those posts. As a result, FFL now requires less than ten minutes of my day. And if that's not a positive sign, I don't know what is... :-)
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
Vaj wrote: Cleaning house the other day I came across my copy of The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation the 1988 book by Michael Murphy and Steven Donovan published by Esalen Institute. I'm going to have to thumb through some of those studies again. ;-) Probably mostly out of date. Check out the meditation research section of The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness if you want a state of the art view. I'm aware of the current research but thought it would be interesting to see what was published back then.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Who is Tom Barlow ------------- was////Willytex is on Medicare
On Aug 22, 2009, at 5:54 PM, off_world_beings wrote: I am 47 years old. I swim 80 lengths of butterfly most days - that is when I am not literally running up mountains, or cross-country skiing at the lodge. In winter, I drive to the lodge, ski for about 3 hours, then work in a local cafe for about 4-5 hours, then go ski or swim for about 1-2 hours, then go home or go out with friends. God, are you a little Vata or what?
[FairfieldLife] Obama May Abandon Effort to Reach Health Deal With Republicans
Obama May Abandon Effort to Reach Health Deal With Republicans By Edwin Chen [220] Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Barack+Obamasite=wnewsclient=wne\ wsproxystylesheet=wnewsoutput=xml_no_dtdie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8filter=pge\ tfields=wnnissort=date:D:S:d1 is likely in September to end Democratic efforts to work with Republicans on health-care legislation and press for a party-line vote if the stalemate on the issue in the U.S. Senate persists, a person close to the White House said. The president and his advisers have started devising a strategy to pass a measure by relying only on the Democratic majority in each house of Congress, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In a separate interview, former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Tom+Daschlesite=wnewsclient=wnew\ sproxystylesheet=wnewsoutput=xml_no_dtdie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8filter=pget\ fields=wnnissort=date:D:S:d1 said Obama is losing patience with negotiations between three Democrats and three Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, the only congressional panel seeking a bipartisan consensus on a plan to remake the nation's health- care system. He's waited and waited, Daschle said yesterday after meeting with the president. He has indicated, much to the chagrin of people in his party, that virtually everything's on the table. And he's gotten almost nothing in return for it. A move by Democrats to seek a partisan bill may provoke a backlash from Republicans and weaken public support for the health-care overhaul, Obama's top domestic priority. It might also result in watered-down legislation. Former Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Bob+Dolesite=wnewsclient=wnewsp\ roxystylesheet=wnewsoutput=xml_no_dtdie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8filter=pgetfie\ lds=wnnissort=date:D:S:d1 told reporters earlier this summer that while he believed the Democrats could pass a bill on a party-line vote, it would be a mistake. If there's not a Senate Republican vote for the package, then the American people are going to be very skeptical, Dole said. Pressing for Legislation Obama, who declared Aug. 20 we're going to get this done one way or another, is pressing the lawmakers to revamp a health-care system that accounts for about a sixth of the nation's economy and leaves about 46 million people uninsured. The effort has been stalled by debates over whether to create a government-run insurance program to compete with private insurers, mandate that employers cover workers, and impose potentially unpopular new taxes, from a surtax on the richest Americans to a levy on the most-generous health plans. While three House committees and one Senate panel have passed legislation, talks among the so-called Gang of Six negotiators on the Senate Finance Committee have dragged on for months. Senate Democrats such as Charles Schumer http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Charles+Schumersite=wnewsclient=\ wnewsproxystylesheet=wnewsoutput=xml_no_dtdie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8filter=p\ getfields=wnnissort=date:D:S:d1 of New York have said that if the negotiators can't strike a deal by Sept. 15, the party may go it alone. Holding Out Hope Daschle said the president continues to hope that Republican Senators Charles Grassley http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Charles+Grassleysite=wnewsclient\ =wnewsproxystylesheet=wnewsoutput=xml_no_dtdie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8filter=\ pgetfields=wnnissort=date:D:S:d1 of Iowa, Mike Enzi http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Mike+Enzisite=wnewsclient=wnews\ proxystylesheet=wnewsoutput=xml_no_dtdie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8filter=pgetfi\ elds=wnnissort=date:D:S:d1 of Wyoming and Olympia Snowe http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Olympia+Snowesite=wnewsclient=wn\ ewsproxystylesheet=wnewsoutput=xml_no_dtdie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8filter=pg\ etfields=wnnissort=date:D:S:d1 of Maine will support his agenda, as a result of their talks with finance panel chairman Max Baucus http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Max+Baucussite=wnewsclient=wnews\ proxystylesheet=wnewsoutput=xml_no_dtdie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8filter=pgetf\ ields=wnnissort=date:D:S:d1 , a Montana Democrat. Yet Daschle said, there's a realization that we have to be prepared for a Plan B -- a legislative maneuver known as reconciliation. That process allows the Senate to pass, with 51 votes instead of 60 typically needed for contentious legislation, measures intended to cut the federal budget deficit either through spending cuts or tax increases. While the Democrats control 60 seats in the Senate, enough to quash Republican efforts to block action on the bill, they can't rely on all those votes because of the illnesses of two lawmakers, Senator Edward Kennedy http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Edward+Kennedysite=wnewsclient=w\ newsproxystylesheet=wnewsoutput=xml_no_dtdie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8filter=p\ getfields=wnnissort=date:D:S:d1 of Massachusetts, and Robert Byrd
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists May Help Biotechies Solve Big Mental Health Woes,
On Aug 22, 2009, at 4:21 PM, nablusoss1008 wrote: Hindus in a Buddhist monestary ? Well, please tell that to the Lamas running these monestaries; you are now a Hindu ! They would laugh so hard you would take to the nearest street for an all american Coke. While on Purusha I met several Lamas that proclaimed us to be real monks, complaining that their own monks was masturbating so much that their glow was non-present. All these Lamas do is adding a TM meditation practise that works, contrary to their old stuffy prayers and meditations that have no effect. Please keep posting Nabby, you just keeping be smiling! Please don't stop writing here! BTW, monks of all persuasions, have all wanted to masturbate, or have masturbated, throughout history. I'm pretty sure on that one, even without any scientific evidence. This is simply commonsense. Human nature. But I got a good laugh on that one. Did you know Maharishi is rumored to have trained in Tibetan Tummo (Skt.: chandali-yoga) at a Tibetan monastery? He was considered a fast sheet dryer, I was told, which means actually he was a good yogi at some level. But yogis do fall.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Who is Tom Barlow ------------- was////Willytex is on Medicare
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com , Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Aug 22, 2009, at 5:54 PM, off_world_beings wrote: I am 47 years old. I swim 80 lengths of butterfly most days - that is when I am not literally running up mountains, or cross-country skiing at the lodge. In winter, I drive to the lodge, ski for about 3 hours, then work in a local cafe for about 4-5 hours, then go ski or swim for about 1-2 hours, then go home or go out with friends. God, are you a little Vata or what? No, I just love life, unlike you who spends all day posting about how life might be if only you were a Buddhist. OffWorld
[FairfieldLife] Post Count
Fairfield Life Post Counter === Start Date (UTC): Sat Aug 22 00:00:00 2009 End Date (UTC): Sat Aug 29 00:00:00 2009 84 messages as of (UTC) Sat Aug 22 23:54:34 2009 9 raunchydog raunchy...@yahoo.com 9 off_world_beings no_re...@yahoogroups.com 9 Vaj vajradh...@earthlink.net 8 WillyTex no_re...@yahoogroups.com 6 It's just a ride bill.hicks.all.a.r...@gmail.com 6 do.rflex do.rf...@yahoo.com 5 authfriend jst...@panix.com 5 Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net 4 shempmcgurk shempmcg...@netscape.net 4 babajii_99 babajii...@yahoo.com 3 nablusoss1008 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 2 wgm4u wg...@yahoo.com 2 cardemaister no_re...@yahoogroups.com 2 TurquoiseB no_re...@yahoogroups.com 2 Robert babajii...@yahoo.com 2 Rick Archer r...@searchsummit.com 1 sgrayatlarge no_re...@yahoogroups.com 1 michael vedamer...@yahoo.de 1 gullible fool ffl...@yahoo.com 1 dhamiltony2k5 dhamiltony...@yahoo.com 1 Sal Sunshine salsunsh...@lisco.com 1 Mike Dixon mdixon.6...@yahoo.com Posters: 22 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] Science of Abundance Hymn
Om, Jai Guru Dev. A beautiful meditation hymn and powerful lesson. The Science of Abundance Hymn Come, Transcendence, come With energy divine, And on this poor, benighted soul With beams of mercy shine. Melt, melt this frozen heart; That stubborn will subdue; Each evil passion overcome, And form us all anew. Mine will the profit be, But Thine shall be the praise; And unto Thee will I devote The remnant of my days. To the tune of Abbeville http://shapenote.net/33b.htm
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Aug 22, 2009, at 4:28 PM, raunchydog wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Aug 21, 2009, at 10:39 PM, raunchydog wrote: Then how come, Frontal alpha coherence is not reported in other meditation practices? Travis isn't talking about just alpha which anyone can demonstrate doing biofeedback, listening to music, daydreaming etc. He's talking specifically about alpha coherence in the frontal lobes of the brain, which no one has found in other forms of meditation or in people just relaxing. He's comparing three types of meditation techniques and TM is the only one that produces frontal alpha coherence. Since relaxation and other forms of meditation can't reproduce it, it must be unique to TM. The fact that we don't know what it means doesn't negate its uniqueness, maybe it just means something good is happening. Sorry, not buying it. It's no wonder Travis is viewed at with suspicion as this is total BS. I'm not asking you to buy anything. Just answer the question. Why do researchers find frontal alpha coherence in TM'ers and not in people simply relaxing or in other meditation techniques? No answer implies you either don't know the difference between alpha brainwaves in relaxation and frontal alpha coherence in TM or you are afraid to admit you're the one pedaling BS and not Travis. If you ever had to own up to the fact that TM produces EEG brainwaves not achievable in other techniques, your raison d'être would crumble and we would see a lot less of you, your Buddhist mumbojumbo and continuous attempts to discredit TM. For what? Why do you have such an axe to grind? If you think you're going to save the world from dangerous TM and evil Maharishi by posting on FFLife, you're just pissing in a tiny pot of little consequence. Boring, boring, boring. Meditation in the Tibetan Buddhism tradition has been generally described as: Reasoned deconstruction of the reality of objects experienced in meditation, as well as concentrative practices to create moods such as pure compassion, loving kindness; or no self. This involves focused attention, and control of the mind. It involves concentration. Wow, what a horrible description of the literally hundreds---probably thousands--of meditation techniques in Tibetan Buddhism alone. If this is his description, it certainly, clearly shows the guy doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. If you know the first thing about research you should know that you minimize your variables. Obviously, Travis couldn't pick a thousand different techniques for his study, so he picked one. If there are a thousand techniques in Buddhism, it stands to reason that a least one of them is practiced as Travis describes. By the way, I have yet to hear you pick one Buddhist meditation technique and define it as precisely as Travis did. You're always kind of fuzzy on describing a Buddhist technique so how could anyone listening to you figure out how to structure a research model to compare TM with other techniques? Now there's the ticket. Describe for us one, just one, Buddhist meditation technique that sets clear parameters for a research model comparing it to TM and Mindfulness. Things to consider: How many minutes? How many years of practice? Reasoned deconstruction of the reality of objects experienced in meditation? Concentrative practices to create moods such as pure compassion, loving kindness or no self? What would you add to the mix? What's missing? Mindfulness Meditation is described by Paul Grossman as: Systematic procedure to develop enhanced awareness of moment-to-moment experiences. Mindfulness includes two meditation practices: - with eyes closed: attention on breath. - with eyes open: dispassionate observation of body, senses and environment. This meditation involves intention or directing of attention to physiological rhythms, inner thoughts, sensations or outer objects. Transcendental Meditation technique is a process of effortless transcending... As a working hypothesis, let's accept that TM is effortless, and then generate testable hypotheses. One of these testable hypotheses, is: If TM is effortless, then people should quickly master the practice of transcending. If we know about the metaphysics of meditation, we know that meditation with objects can never be truly effortless--a fine distinction, but a crucial one. So we should avoid saying things we know to be false, as if repeating the lie over and over, someone will believe it. Perhaps this is why MMY went to such lengths to point that TM involved a small amount of effort at Estes Park... Well, I think Travis' idea of a testable hypotheses is perfectly acceptable. In fact people DO transcend right away.
[FairfieldLife] Transcendental Vaipassanaic Meditation, TVM
Satsang Fairfield, the Middle Way: Notes: The purpose of doing this type of vaipassana, which is not the classic way, what's done over the years, is to amalgamate the TM practice and vaipassana practice so that you're dealing with the transcendent and you're also dealing with observation, and getting yourself into a position where you can balance observation and transcendence. When we do TM the whole purpose of doing TM is transcending, so we don't pay attention to the mind. When you do vaipassana the idea is to get into the mind. They're coming from completely different places. What we want to do is observe the process of transcending, how you're going from just thinking and gradually collapsing back toward the transcending process. It's similar to TM advanced techniques where they said we'd be able to sit up above the transcendent so everything wouldn't just go into a black hole of the transcendent. That's the level that we're looking at. What you learn to do is discipline the consciousness so it can stay in certain levels, certain strata of consciousness. Application, Between these two video clips. Dan Siegel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr4Od7kqDT8 Dr. Dan Siegel, MD, father of modern attachment psychiatry and meditation researcher on Google Tech Talks Personal Growth Series speaks on the new science of personal transformation. And Hagelin. about the unified field. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrcWntw9juMfeature=related Xxoo --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, dhamiltony2k5 dhamiltony...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: Typically vipashyana but it ranges from vipashyana (insight meditation) to shamatha (samadhi meditation) to nondual 'resting in the natural state' or the union of vipashyana and shamatha. Roughly speaking, you can divide these into two styles: Open Presence meditation or Fixed Attention meditation. That is interesting. Is there anyone teaching a middle way between these two? Like combining the mindful with open presence transcending. Sort of like mindful technique of Patanjali in practice, just may be not that nomenclature. Is there a secular version being taught in the middle way of both orthodox Eastern meditation practices; between Buddhist mindfulness-insight practices on the one hand and TM type transcending on the other. (?) Yes, both orthodoxy are known to go crazy in the comparison with the other. However, is there anything formulating like the TMSP practiced out of Patanjali in a form like a mindfulness transcending. Anybody incorporating the two descriptions in teaching a technique? Mindfulness with transcending? In practice is possibly how Hagelin, Travis, Siegel, and even Herb Bensen can talk the similar inter disciplinary research points and get to the same policy place in their thinking. Are some of these techniques in the middle effectively the same but with different clothing from the proprietary ones of orthodoxy on either side? Just wondering, -Doug in FF On Jul 27, 2009, at 9:04 AM, dhamiltony2k5 wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr4Od7kqDT8 Dr. Dan Siegel, MD, father of modern attachment psychiatry and meditation researcher on Google Tech Talks Personal Growth Series speaks on Mindsight, the new science of personal transformation. Of the different settings that are using these techniques that they are studying, who teaches the techniques? Depends on who's doing the research and where. Sometimes it's monks, sometimes it might be a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction instructor (MBSR), etc. What is the array of techniques and who are they taught? Typically vipashyana but it ranges from vipashyana (insight meditation) to shamatha (samadhi meditation) to nondual 'resting in the natural state' or the union of vipashyana and shamatha. Roughly speaking, you can divide these into two styles: Open Presence meditation or Fixed Attention meditation. Led group meditations? Lay instructors, therapist ounselors, bring in non-secular ordained or certified people,, classroom teachers otherwise, or health clinic staffs like who teach the various techniques that are like TM. Individual instruction, classroom instruction? Learned and practiced by led meditations? ala quiet time meditations structured in to the work or school days. Sounds like Siegel is following a number of settings and finding similar results. Just wondering. xxoo
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Who is Tom Barlow ------------- was////Willytex is on Medicare
On Aug 22, 2009, at 7:54 PM, off_world_beings wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Aug 22, 2009, at 5:54 PM, off_world_beings wrote: I am 47 years old. I swim 80 lengths of butterfly most days - that is when I am not literally running up mountains, or cross-country skiing at the lodge. In winter, I drive to the lodge, ski for about 3 hours, then work in a local cafe for about 4-5 hours, then go ski or swim for about 1-2 hours, then go home or go out with friends. God, are you a little Vata or what? No, I just love life, unlike you who spends all day posting about how life might be if only you were a Buddhist. Thanks Off for that Vata-vignette. Love ya. -V.
[FairfieldLife] Re: PLEASE ASK SENATOR GRASSLEY if he has Healthcare paid for by the Taxpayer.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, off_world_beings no_re...@... wrote: PLEASE ASK SENATOR GRASSLEY of Iowa if he has Healthcare paid for by the Taxpayer. OffWorld We know what the answer to that question... The real question with Grassley, is what aspect of creative intelligence is he reflecting... What aspect of the collective consciousness is he reflecting... I would expect more from a Senator from Iowa, when we have all of the meditation and stuff, going on in Fairfield... I guess Mr.Grassley, has been in Washington D.C. too long... Brainwashed? or just ignorant? r.g.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
Hi RD: On Aug 22, 2009, at 8:50 PM, raunchydog wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Aug 22, 2009, at 4:28 PM, raunchydog wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Aug 21, 2009, at 10:39 PM, raunchydog wrote: Then how come, Frontal alpha coherence is not reported in other meditation practices? Travis isn't talking about just alpha which anyone can demonstrate doing biofeedback, listening to music, daydreaming etc. He's talking specifically about alpha coherence in the frontal lobes of the brain, which no one has found in other forms of meditation or in people just relaxing. He's comparing three types of meditation techniques and TM is the only one that produces frontal alpha coherence. Since relaxation and other forms of meditation can't reproduce it, it must be unique to TM. The fact that we don't know what it means doesn't negate its uniqueness, maybe it just means something good is happening. Sorry, not buying it. It's no wonder Travis is viewed at with suspicion as this is total BS. I'm not asking you to buy anything. Just answer the question. Why do researchers Whoa. Let's stop you right there. Not researchers, but TM zealot researchers, claiming independent views but espousing zig heil TM movement sputum. All I'm getting is 'should I angle my sputum-bucket closer to the Unified Field of TM or the patient? Oh, I'm sorry...the patient? find frontal alpha coherence in TM'ers and not in people simply relaxing or in other meditation techniques? No answer implies you either don't know the difference between alpha brainwaves in relaxation and frontal alpha coherence in TM or you are afraid to admit you're the one pedaling BS and not Travis. No, not at all, I'm familiar with brain measurements and neuroscience, so this type of begging argument just doesn't effect me like it does the 'willing believers'. I learned a long time ago not to trust these folks, and it's sad to say: I see the same patterns even after MMY croaked. If you ever had to own up to the fact that TM produces EEG brainwaves not achievable in other techniques, your raison d'être would crumble and we would see a lot less of you, your Buddhist mumbojumbo and continuous attempts to discredit TM. For what? Well that's an interesting statement. I'm sad to say, I do not believe it is a supportable argument my dear. One needs to be able to objectively and scientifically observe phenomenon for which we credit so-called research. The observations and syllogisms seem almost childish to me: to render some thing available, now, to me. Childish. Just to own up here: Zen students were able to quickly master the alpha challenge and we know what the concomitants are of alpha. It's not appropriate to continuously putsch bizarrely countervening ideals. It very strange to other legit scientists...cultish at best... Why do you have such an axe to grind? I don't have any axe and I have nothing to grind RD. I'm really just a science fan, when it comes to the realties of everyday AND meditative (or contemplative) life I just take them as they are. I don't confuse Vedic science fiction and science fact--and I have honest reasons for that. If you think you're going to save the world from dangerous TM and evil Maharishi by posting on FFLife, you're just pissing in a tiny pot of little consequence. Boring, boring, boring. Well thanks for that. Meditation in the Tibetan Buddhism tradition has been generally described as: Reasoned deconstruction of the reality of objects experienced in meditation, as well as concentrative practices to create moods such as pure compassion, loving kindness; or no self. This involves focused attention, and control of the mind. It involves concentration. Wow, what a horrible description of the literally hundreds--- probably thousands--of meditation techniques in Tibetan Buddhism alone. If this is his description, it certainly, clearly shows the guy doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. If you know the first thing about research you should know that you minimize your variables. Obviously, Travis couldn't pick a thousand different techniques for his study, so he picked one. If there are a thousand techniques in Buddhism, it stands to reason that a least one of them is practiced as Travis describes. Well that would presume you consider Travis to be objective. I don't-- by any shot consider Travis nowhere near objective. He was bought and sold ages ago my child. Wake the fuck up. By the way, I have yet to hear you pick one Buddhist meditation technique and define it as precisely as Travis did. Travis did not define any Buddhist technique precisely at all. What Travis did was pick a TB stance and then try to shoot 'blanks' at other techniques. I'm not only
[FairfieldLife] Re: FW: It was good enough for Senators Obama and Biden...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, raunchydog raunchy...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, raunchydog raunchydog@ wrote: snip I comfort my mother and pray for my brother. Violence against women isn't so far away. It's in our homes, quietly hidden in families too afraid or ashamed to tell anyone about it. I'm talking and it's damn painful. I don't have the any answers for my niece, but I do have a responsibility to speak on her behalf and tell her story, here and now just to see if I'm alone in the echo chamber or resonating with someone out there I don't know. Raunchy, your niece's story makes my heart hurt. I hope she'll be getting psycholgical counseling as well as medical treatment to help her get past this awful trauma and get on with her life. Thanks, Judy. She's living with a girlfriend. Her two youngest kids are with her. She's on antidepressants. Psychological counseling is an unbelievably remote possibility considering her circumstances. She's unemployed and on foodstamps. My mother, brother and I send her some money to get by, but that's about it. She has a case worker through social services, but I don't know how much good that will do. As shocking as this may sound, her previous caseworker tried to force her to give him a blow job. She filed a police report. Since it was just he-said she-said, they didn't do anything about it. He still has his job. That gives you an idea of how impoverished social services have become in Michigan. We don't know if the boyfriend is still in jail. I hope he stays in there long enough that she doesn't feel tempted to go back to him. As crazy as that sounds, it happens all the time. Abused women have so few resources, they become dependent on the abuser. It is a shame, if she can't get the proper resources to help her... In a society based on the buck...the buck is all powerful... Besides the buck, what is it about this poor girl, that attracts men to her, that are overly aggressive and macho? Why does she need validation from these men... And why is she having babies, when she is obviously not even able to take care of herself...? She needs to grow up, and take some responsibility, of who she decides she is going to give her body, and the motivation behind giving her body to someone, who is capable of such vile violence... You can go murder this guy, but, then will she just find another guy to take this fool's place? r.g.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Willytex is on Medicare, so is Shemp.
I'm enrolled in the government plan, almost everyone around here is, since it's an automatic payroll deduction. But I'm on an employee group plan provided by my employer. I make a small co-pay, but I'm not sick, so I don't use the plan very much. You can't use both at the same time. Bhairitu wrote: I guess that makes you a hypocrite or at least a very selfish person. You're saying I've got mine, but I don't want anyone else to have it. You still don't seem to get it - we want to expand the Medicare to cover everyone AND bring down the cost of health care. Everybody is on the government plan, - there's no opt-out, it's an automatic payroll deduction. When you reach your full retirement age, you get Medicare.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Willytex is on Medicare, so is Shemp.
I like to pay out-of-pocket for most services - I like to manage my own health care, whenever possible. off_world_beings wrote: Until the shit hits the fangod forbid. Right, I'm fully vested, so never mind the bollocks. LOL!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Who is Tom Barlow ------------- was////Willytex is on Medicare
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, off_world_beings no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com , shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com , off_world_beings no_reply@ wrote: [snip] I am 47 years old. I swim 80 lengths of butterfly most days - [snip] I must say that's pretty impressive. Twice a week I swim about a mile in the lake (mostly breaststroke). I can do about one half stroke of butterfly and then I am exhausted...plus, my head doesn't even make it out of the water when I do. A mile in the lake is impressive too (I trained and competed as a swimmer 6 days a week for about 3 hours a day from 12 to 16 years of age.) I don't recommend butterfly unless you were trained in it. Its heart attack stuff if you don't know what your doing.) OffWorld No danger of that as I find it just too hard. My exercise of choice is hiking. However, for the 4 months a year when the temperatures in the Phoenix area are 100 degrees plus, hiking is not possible except in early morning. So, instead, I swim in the lake which is a half hour drive from my house. It is one of three man-made lakes created about 100 years ago as reservoirs for various hydro-electric facilities. The water can be very warm which means that there is virtually no difference between the outside air and climatizing oneself as one dunks in the water. Other times, after being in the water for an hour, we can get out and shiver...even though its 110 degrees out! Where else can you shiver in 110 degree heat? Not sure what it is...perhaps the combination of the water on the skin plus a breeze or something. What's nice is I get to see a lot of interesting wildlife. For example, on Wednesday we saw 9 turkey vultures on the shore (near where we were swimming towards) picking at some sort of carcass. On approaching them, it turned out to be a dead, rotting fish, which surprised me because I didn't think vultures ate fish. But I suppose the operative word is rotting and they'll pretty much eat anything in that state. After the incident I went online at home to read about turkey vultures and learnt that they have been known to spray-vomit towards humans that approach them so, in hindsight, we were lucky that didn't happen as we did approach them while they were eating.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
This exchange illustrates perfectly what I've been saying for some time now. When Vaj is challenged, instead of rising to the challenge, he fades...and dances...and sings...and stands on his head...and twists and turns...and wiggles his ears...and thumbs his nose...but he NEVER RESPONDS TO THE CHALLENGE. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: Hi RD: On Aug 22, 2009, at 8:50 PM, raunchydog wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Aug 22, 2009, at 4:28 PM, raunchydog wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Aug 21, 2009, at 10:39 PM, raunchydog wrote: Then how come, Frontal alpha coherence is not reported in other meditation practices? Travis isn't talking about just alpha which anyone can demonstrate doing biofeedback, listening to music, daydreaming etc. He's talking specifically about alpha coherence in the frontal lobes of the brain, which no one has found in other forms of meditation or in people just relaxing. He's comparing three types of meditation techniques and TM is the only one that produces frontal alpha coherence. Since relaxation and other forms of meditation can't reproduce it, it must be unique to TM. The fact that we don't know what it means doesn't negate its uniqueness, maybe it just means something good is happening. Sorry, not buying it. It's no wonder Travis is viewed at with suspicion as this is total BS. I'm not asking you to buy anything. Just answer the question. Why do researchers Whoa. Let's stop you right there. Not researchers, but TM zealot researchers, claiming independent views but espousing zig heil TM movement sputum. All I'm getting is 'should I angle my sputum-bucket closer to the Unified Field of TM or the patient? Oh, I'm sorry...the patient? find frontal alpha coherence in TM'ers and not in people simply relaxing or in other meditation techniques? No answer implies you either don't know the difference between alpha brainwaves in relaxation and frontal alpha coherence in TM or you are afraid to admit you're the one pedaling BS and not Travis. No, not at all, I'm familiar with brain measurements and neuroscience, so this type of begging argument just doesn't effect me like it does the 'willing believers'. I learned a long time ago not to trust these folks, and it's sad to say: I see the same patterns even after MMY croaked. If you ever had to own up to the fact that TM produces EEG brainwaves not achievable in other techniques, your raison d'être would crumble and we would see a lot less of you, your Buddhist mumbojumbo and continuous attempts to discredit TM. For what? Well that's an interesting statement. I'm sad to say, I do not believe it is a supportable argument my dear. One needs to be able to objectively and scientifically observe phenomenon for which we credit so-called research. The observations and syllogisms seem almost childish to me: to render some thing available, now, to me. Childish. Just to own up here: Zen students were able to quickly master the alpha challenge and we know what the concomitants are of alpha. It's not appropriate to continuously putsch bizarrely countervening ideals. It very strange to other legit scientists...cultish at best... Why do you have such an axe to grind? I don't have any axe and I have nothing to grind RD. I'm really just a science fan, when it comes to the realties of everyday AND meditative (or contemplative) life I just take them as they are. I don't confuse Vedic science fiction and science fact--and I have honest reasons for that. If you think you're going to save the world from dangerous TM and evil Maharishi by posting on FFLife, you're just pissing in a tiny pot of little consequence. Boring, boring, boring. Well thanks for that. Meditation in the Tibetan Buddhism tradition has been generally described as: Reasoned deconstruction of the reality of objects experienced in meditation, as well as concentrative practices to create moods such as pure compassion, loving kindness; or no self. This involves focused attention, and control of the mind. It involves concentration. Wow, what a horrible description of the literally hundreds--- probably thousands--of meditation techniques in Tibetan Buddhism alone. If this is his description, it certainly, clearly shows the guy doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. If you know the first thing about research you should know that you minimize your variables. Obviously, Travis couldn't pick a thousand different techniques for his study, so he picked one. If there are a thousand techniques in Buddhism, it stands to reason that a least one of
[FairfieldLife] John Douglas
From a friend: Hi Rick Here's the info on John Douglas. http://www.spirit-repair.com/ The website doesn't do him justice. In his seminars (if you go to workshops, you'll get a better idea) he explains the principles and procedures much more clearly. His cd's are expensive but they last a life-time: I play them 24/7. The location repair clears the home, vehicle, hotel room. and fills the environment with God's light. Really. The Spirit Repair does the major work on restoring balance in the entire field of the body: causal, mental and astral bodies included. Psychological Repair allows us to specify what needs fixin. Douglas recommends we hear these 3 daily. Then subconscious repair cd at least once a week. Instead of our asking, the healing is done for us. This man was chosen before birth to receive some special gifts, as in receiving permission from the Lord of Karma to remove karmas from the causal body . Douglas explains that the reason why we find people who have been meditating and living a very pure life for 25 -30 years dying from cancer is due to these karmas stored in the causal body awakening. Remove the karmas, and see what happens. He is a medical intuitive who can see the prana fluctuations. This is the field that he operates from. Can work from a distance. No space/ time issue. He can see micro-organisms growing on cells. He has cured lyme disease (literally cured), stopped the progression of ms, corrected incorrect diagnoses of autism and schizophrenia, finding misalignment of the skull and spine and FIXING it right then and there, helped people with chronic depression to not only feel better but come off of medication completely and still feel great; to find the source of some severe arthritic conditions to actually be due to blood infections and removing the source of the infection right then and there. He has a climate crisis cd for healing the planet; and his cd on power development, wow. Now, it's not new stuff. It's just made available in an easy way to use. Yes, absolutely this knowledge is elsewhere: only here it's condensed and available to everyone. Douglas has no intention of being a guru. His job is simply to make available the healing procedures so that WE can take care of ourselves. He travels extensively, coming to the U.S. several times a year. He is expected in Fairfield this September. Jeanine Fellmer is his representative here in Fairfield. He loves Fairfield and seems to have good rapport with the University. The University and Douglas are engaged in several studies to determine Douglas' effectiveness as a healer. Vaidyas take the pulse before and just after the healing and have no choice but to confirm the positive changes. Occasionally a bit of jealousy pops up, but the changes are definitely there. I hear he plans to do another study on lupus. Douglas comes from Australia, so he speaks quite clearly and intelligently. And it's not expensive to attend his seminars:: $250.00 or less for the public seminars that take place in the Library. Last time about 200 people showed up. Each seminar lasts about 3 hours and includes a healing. The healing is for everyone at the same time, but it's really powerful. Personally, I was in deep deep depression when my husband lost his job. My husband felt that it was important for me to attend the seminars last April, so we forked over the money. I went from depressed, angry and really down to actually happy in just a few hours. I am ok now. Amazing. The cd's keep the healing alive and well. Old habits just fall off. It's glorious to have this opportunity to get bad habits fixed, new habits established and strength of character, of body and mind regenerated. That's my story.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhists 'really are happier'
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: Hi RD: On Aug 22, 2009, at 8:50 PM, raunchydog wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Aug 22, 2009, at 4:28 PM, raunchydog wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Aug 21, 2009, at 10:39 PM, raunchydog wrote: Then how come, Frontal alpha coherence is not reported in other meditation practices? Travis isn't talking about just alpha which anyone can demonstrate doing biofeedback, listening to music, daydreaming etc. He's talking specifically about alpha coherence in the frontal lobes of the brain, which no one has found in other forms of meditation or in people just relaxing. He's comparing three types of meditation techniques and TM is the only one that produces frontal alpha coherence. Since relaxation and other forms of meditation can't reproduce it, it must be unique to TM. The fact that we don't know what it means doesn't negate its uniqueness, maybe it just means something good is happening. Sorry, not buying it. It's no wonder Travis is viewed at with suspicion as this is total BS. I'm not asking you to buy anything. Just answer the question. Why do researchers Raunchydog wrote: I'm not asking you to buy anything. Just answer the question. Why do researchers find frontal alpha coherence in TM'ers and not in people simply relaxing or in other meditation techniques? No answer implies you either don't know the difference between alpha brainwaves in relaxation and frontal alpha coherence in TM or you are afraid to admit you're the one pedaling BS and not Travis. Whoa. Let's stop you right there. Not researchers, but TM zealot researchers, claiming independent views but espousing zig heil TM movement sputum. What a cop-out. For the second time Vaj has not answered my question. Instead of simply saying, Yes, TM produces frontal alpha coherence in TM'ers and does not compared to Buddhist or Mindfullness meditation and is therefore unique, he snips my question and makes up some BS saying he doesn't have to answer because he objects to the word researchers when in fact I was citing research by Travis. He can't answer the question honestly because he would have to admit that TM uniquely produces frontal alpha coherence. I'm not saying TM is better than any technique he wants to do, just that it appears to be unique if no other technique can produce frontal alpha coherence. He poses as a man of science but he is not open to a discussion of frontal alpha coherence and why it is only found in TM'ers. All I'm getting is 'should I angle my sputum-bucket closer to the Unified Field of TM or the patient? Oh, I'm sorry...the patient? Vaj is derogatory about TM as usual. No axe to grind? Ha! find frontal alpha coherence in TM'ers and not in people simply relaxing or in other meditation techniques? No answer implies you either don't know the difference between alpha brainwaves in relaxation and frontal alpha coherence in TM or you are afraid to admit you're the one pedaling BS and not Travis. No, not at all, I'm familiar with brain measurements and neuroscience, so this type of begging argument just doesn't effect me like it does the 'willing believers'. I learned a long time ago not to trust these folks, and it's sad to say: I see the same patterns even after MMY croaked. Although Vaj poses as a man of science, he still won't answer the question. Does he think there is no such thing as frontal alpha coherence and it has never been observed in TM'ers? Travis presents his proof that it exists uniquely in TM. Where's Vaj's proof that it doesn't? So Vaj has trust issues with the TM folks. Fine. Why would that prevent him from answering my question? He's copping out, pretending he's so above it all that he doesn't have to stoop to answer. Cop-out. If you ever had to own up to the fact that TM produces EEG brainwaves not achievable in other techniques, your raison d'être would crumble and we would see a lot less of you, your Buddhist mumbojumbo and continuous attempts to discredit TM. For what? Well that's an interesting statement. I'm sad to say, I do not believe it is a supportable argument my dear. One needs to be able to objectively and scientifically observe phenomenon for which we credit so-called research. The observations and syllogisms seem almost childish to me: to render some thing available, now, to me. Childish. What a condescending putz. I can almost feel him looking down his patronizing nose at us. If he is so objective, you'd think he'd at least be curious about frontal alpha coherence and why it's so unique to TM. Just to own up here: Zen students were able to quickly master the alpha challenge and we know what the
[FairfieldLife] Inglourious basterds and subtitles
I saw the movie today and thoroughly enjoyed it. What surprised me is that Pitt and the American actors only have supporting roles. The real stars and the ones who have most of the screen time are the German and French actors: Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent, and the excellent Christoph Waltz who is the main star of the movie. What ALSO surprised me is that the filmmakers allowed 80% of the dialogue to be in either French or German, with English subtitles. American movie-goers are notorious for hating sub-titles and success of a movie is often dependent upon dialogue being conducted in English and American English, preferrably. Recall Texas governor Ma Ferguson's observation back in the '20s that If English was good enough for Jesus Christ it's good enough for me. English is the center of the universe for most Americans. Not so here. And I fully expected an English-speaking movie because in the opening scene the German and French protagonists switch to English because, as it was explained by the character, it was a language they could both understand, causing me to think that this would set the stage for the entire movie to be spoken in English, which didn't happen. In the silly and asinine Scarface by Brian DePalma such a trick was employed when early on in the film the Al Pacino character says Hey, we must practise our English so from now on, no more Spanish. And then the whole movie of which 90% involved interactions between Latinos was implausably conducted entirely in English. Bravo to Tarantino et al for not falling into this trap.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Who is Tom Barlow ------------- was////Willytex is on Medicare
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcg...@... wrote: My exercise of choice is hiking. However, for the 4 months a year when the temperatures in the Phoenix area are 100 degrees plus, hiking is not possible except in early morning. *** http://snipurl.com/qrben [www_sears_com] treadmill $314 I use an exercise bike $200 with a wide bench type seat so as not to cramp the package.
