[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_esq@ wrote: To All: Siddhis are not restricted to the vedic literature. We find similar feats in the gospels and stories of Christian saints. The conclusion is inescapable. Because stories of siddhis exist in these books, siddhis must exist. Similarly, stories of not only siddhis but fantastic creatures like dragons, trolls, etc. exist in other books. These books are often referred to as fairytales or myths. Presumably these stories should be given EXACTLY the same credence as the stories in the vedic literature or in the gospels. After all, there is EXACTLY the same amount of evidence that the stories in the myths and fairytales are true as there is that any of the stories in the vedic literature or gospels are true. Therefore what I think you're trying to make is that if it's a story in a book, it's true. Or did I get that wrong, John? Were you suggesting instead that something is true only if it's a story in *some* books? :-) Just funnin' wit ya, John. But seriously, if you feel like it (or if *anyone* here feels like it), please present a reason why we should consider the Bible or the gospels or the vedic literature any different from myths and fairytales -- or for that matter from any other form of fiction -- in terms of their credence or accuracy. A reason other than Because I believe they are, that is. I'll wait. Barry, Of course we know the difference between fairy tales and wisdom books. The authors of fairy tales tell us that the stories are not literally true. Thank you for your reply, John, and for making my point for me. Two points in response: 1. You have just affirmed that the only reason you believe that certain books contain wisdom and are true is that *someone told you they were*. 2. You're dead wrong about the authors of fairy tales and myths telling us that they are *not* true. I challenge you to produce an instance of this. You will find *no such evidence* for any of the classic myths, and less for fairy tales written before the 20th century and the advent of modern publishing. Most myths are considered by scholars *amplifi- cations of real events*. The authors made them sound better by inventing things to make them sound more interesting. A classic example might be Beowulf, which author Michael Crichton took on as a bet during his college days. He had a classics professor who bet him that he could not tell the story of Beowulf without the magic. Crichton did so, in a month, turning the story into his short novel Eaters Of The Dead, which was then made into the excellent film The 13th Warrior. All that he had to do was take out all the amplification of real events in the original plot of Beowulf and turn them back into real events again. My contention is that the books you call wisdom books are EXACTLY THE SAME THING. The authors, in most cases monks who were sold out to some vision or some teacher they adored, amplified the real events of their lives and *made up stuff* to make those lives sound more wise or profound. The only argument you seem to be able to propose to counter this theory is that these books are literally true because someone told you they are. Cool, I guess...if that's the kind of led- around-by-the-nose-by-other-people's-claims person you want to be. :-) Even if unsaid, tradition or experts in the field tell us that fairy tales are not true. Another appeal to authority, this time in the form of experts. :-) On the other hand, the authors of wisdom books are telling us of their beliefs. And that makes them true, right? You and BillyG have suggested in the past that any man who wastes his ojas by over-indulging in sex loses his personal power and thus guarantees his lack of success in things worldly and spiritual. Tell that to Warren Beatty, who seems to have slept with an estimated 12,775 women in his life, and enjoyed a veritable shitload of success. You clearly *believed* this bullshit about the value of celibacy when you said it. But did that make it true? Only in your mind. Again, this is my point, and the point you seem incapable of getting. Your *beliefs* have nothing whatsoever to do with truth. They are *only* beliefs. Same with the beliefs of the authors of wisdom books. IT DOESN'T MATTER whether the authors of the vedic literature believed what they wrote. And WHY it doesn't matter is that belief has absolutely nothing to do with truth. The narratives may be clothe in figurative language such as those written in the vedic literature or the Judeo- Christian Bible. But some authors are telling us that they actually saw the real thing. And you believe them. Even though you cannot provide me with even a
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Premanand premanandpaul@ wrote: As I understand it from a muslim friend, Hindus take their mythical writings literally. I guess the question is how much we need to buy into the idea that there was once human beings who could do things that seem to defy reason. In today's world the real miracle would be for people to stop trying to convince one another that his or her religion / belief system trumps that of their neighbours. That would be something. Indeed it would. And it's related to other things I've rapped about recently -- the relationship of subjective experience to Truth, and the relationship of belief to Truth. I hold that there *IS* no such relationship. And I hold this speaking as the only person here who has witnessed siddhis being performed. (Unless you believe Nabby, that is.) I witnessed levitation, turning invisible, turning mountains transparent, and many other siddhis numerous times over a period of 14 years. But does that make such things True? Or Truth? Not to me. All it means is that I experienced these things. I've seen hang-in-midair-for-minutes-at-a- time levitation *hundreds* of times, but I would not claim that it exists. My subjective experience tells me that it exists, but that is ONLY my subjective experience. Not Truth. Pontius Pilate once asked: What is truth? It appears that you don't trust your senses to tell you what the world is like. You miss the point entirely. I trust my senses fully to tell me what I have experienced. What I *don't* do is call that experience truth, let alone try to convince others that it's the truth. That's YOUR approach, John, and you do it even when you have NOT experienced the things you believe in, such as levitation. I have actually *experienced* levitation and I would never call its existence truth, but YOU DO. The difference between us seems to be that I do not believe in one size fits all and you do. I do not believe that what I believe constitutes anything resembling truth, and you do.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Cold weather and new YFfers?
Just read that Sweden's running out of electricity because of the cold weather! :0
[FairfieldLife] Re: Cold weather and new YFfers?
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister no_re...@... wrote: Just read that Sweden's running out of electricity because of the cold weather! :0 In the UK the worry is gas: Temperature in Altnaharra in Scottish Highlands dips to -21C, almost on par with south pole, as snow causes more disruption... The prolonged cold weather, which is forecast to continue next week, has led to companies having their gas cut off as the National Grid tries to ensure there is enough gas for households. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/08/uk-coldest-weather-transport-delays-snow Throughout the nation schools have been closed, trains cancelled or delayed, roads impassable for days now. My thermometer read -10C (14F) last night. And being the far South West we're hardly supposed to get frosts!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, WillyTex willytex@ wrote: That would be something. TurquoiseB wrote: It gets even weirder when people claim that things they have NEVER experienced subjectively but have only heard of are Truth. These things aren't even subjective experience; they are pure BELIEF... So, it has been established that you believe in the individual 'soul-monad', that reincarnates over and over in time. But, in fact, this isn't even logical, based on pure reasoning. Where is the 'soul'? Can you tell us where the soul is, or what it looks like? Where did you get the notion that there was a 'Self' or a 'Soul'? There's nothing in sense experience that would indicate that you have anything but a physical body composed of the five senses. So, in fact, you have a very big BELIEF system, and it looks like you're very suggestible to metaphysical notions! Why is that? Good point here. It appears that Barry believes he is right and everybody else is wrong. That is a form of existentialism. Existentialism?! I'm gonna need a new red pen...
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, WillyTex willy...@... wrote: The notion that there exists a 'transcendental state' beyond the senses is a categorical imperative described by Immanuel Kant. The Ultimate Reality can never be known through pure reason alone. Just HAVE to get my red pen out Willy. The categorical imperative was the central plank of Kant's moral philosophy, not epistemology. You're thinking of noumena (things in themselves). In fact we can't really speak of noumena (plural) versus noumenon (singular) - 'cos we just don't know! Good chap Kant. Later echoed by Wittgenstein (Rev.1.0): Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.
[FairfieldLife] Judy's Hair Club For Women (was Re: 'Avatar' arouses conservatives' ire)
This followup to a followup is just for fun, because we all know that Judy is out there somewhere, chomping at the bit to come running back to FFL and call me a LIAR for saying the things below. Let's compare my characterization of her freakout over unkempt hair to her *actual words* on the subject, shall we? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: Just as a followup, doncha think it's fascinating that a supposed feminist throws away several posts 1) picking a nit about another woman's unkempt appearance as if that somehow offended her, and 2) does so by suggesting that it is somehow inauthentic for a woman in any era to wear her hair the way she wants to? Presumably the ideal woman Judy has in mind would submit to what the society she lived in (*especially* other women who bitchily criticized her unkempt appearance) wanted from her, rather than express her own taste in hairstyles. :-) The following -- emphasis mine but the words Judy's -- is what she actually *said* about Mary McDonnell's hair after seeing Dances With Wolves. (*IF* she ever saw it, that is...I think we all know there is a possibility she never did, and is basing these rants purely on what she was told about the film by someone else, as she's done in the past with Apocalypto and other films.) Note the...uh...lack of equanimity in the following quotes. Note that Judy is almost *out of control* with anger at having been forced to view the hairstyle of a slattern (her term) on another woman. Note that this supposed feminist wants the right to impose *her* ideas of a proper hairstyle on another woman. Ponder its meaning and have as much fun laughing at feminist Judy as I have. Doncha get the feeling that someone in her past said all of these things to Judy about *her* hair, and now years later she is still so programmed by that as to feel that she has the right to say them about another woman's? Some feminist. Yeah, but my point was that *her hair was just slovenly looking*. *You'd think if she wanted so badly to belong to the Lakota culture, she'd have found a way to keep it neat*. You can make perfectly good braids with curly hair, and hers wasn't all *that* curly, really just wavy. I don't know, maybe they thought the *messy hair* kept her from looking too glamorous. But she was by far the most prominent woman in the film, and *it gave the impression that she had somehow become wild and savage* She'd been taken in by the tribe when she was a little girl. *I don't think at that point she would have had a cultural identity that would have made her grow up never combing her hair and looking like a slattern*. Her real mother would never have let her look like that. *That made it appear as though she never combed her hair*? What were the filmmakers thinking *to allow her to choose to look slovenly*, in contrast to all the Indian women? Even if they couldn't bring themselves to have her wear braids, there was no other way they could find to style her hair so it looked like she took care of it? Loose and flowing could have worked, but there was no reason for it to be *matted and tangled*. Were they afraid she wasn't a good enough actress to put the character across convincingly as not uptight unless *her hair was a snarled, dirty- looking mess* to convey how unconstrained and spontaneous she was? Even at her wedding to Dunbar, when she's dressed to the nines in gorgeous festive Indian garb, *her hair looks like a rat's nest*.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_...@... wrote: St. Thomas Aquinas was able to levitate as well, although this is not generally known to people within or without the Christian church. I was watching an interesting program about the art of Spain recently (there was a wonderful depiction of Cordoba and what seemed to be it's idyllic and tolerant society in the Muslim early years). In the course of the programme Andrew Graham-Dixon visited the monastery of the levitating nun María de Agreda. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_de_Agreda A devout practitioner of quiet prayer, she was known to experience religious ecstasy after receiving the sacraments... ...even as a young girl she was filled with divine knowledge ...Throughout her life, Maria de Agreda was inclined to the internal prayer or quiet prayer for which the Franciscans are noted. Like her countrywoman St. Teresa of Avila, these prayerful experiences inevitably led to her ecstasies, including witnessed accounts of levitation It would be interesting to know more about her quiet prayer! (The programme The Art Of Spain was very good I thought. But I don't think it's available now on the BBC iPlayer).
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
Actually, most hermits, sadhus and swamis in India are perceived as beggars. In 1967 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi put it like this:- So there is nothing definite in the life of a monk, particularly in India. Here in the west the monks are more organized and the church is there and they take care of it, but in India when one leaves home he doesn't take care of himself, because he has no means to take care. He is out of society; no one asks him to do some work and pays him wages or anything nothing. So now he is all in the faith of God now that he is left with just his faith. So the life of a monk is a very very hard life. - Extract of interview published in International Times, 15 December 1967. Interestingly though, despite his acknowledgement that monks receive no wages, Maharishi himself had a problem with being seen as a beggar:- People had made a rule, that they put some basket there so that people when they come and when they go, they put something in the basket. And I felt very ashamed with that basket on the door and people coming and I said `It is like begging on the door', because it was too odd to me to put a basket in front of my room. - transcript of tape recording. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, nablusoss1008 no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Premanand premanandpaul@ wrote: I once visited an area in the Himalayas closeby Jyotirmath, Tapoban, where siddhas are supposed to live. Other than the shrine of a recently deceased one, Gudri Baba (who was mentioned in Swami Rama's Himalayan Masters book, as I recall) I found no 'siddhas' there. Wold paul be able to distinguish a Siddha from a beggar ? When I pointed this out to an Indian companion back in Joshimath, I was met with, 'well they are invisible unless they wish to be seen...'. Hey ho, there is always a last word Hari isn't there!!! The indian was correct, why would they want to show themselves for a sorry fellow like yourself ?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Premanand premanandp...@... wrote: Actually, most hermits, sadhus and swamis in India are perceived as beggars. In 1967 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi put it like this:- So there is nothing definite in the life of a monk, particularly in India. Here in the west the monks are more organized and the church is there and they take care of it, but in India when one leaves home he doesn't take care of himself, because he has no means to take care. He is out of society; no one asks him to do some work and pays him wages or anything nothing. So now he is all in the faith of God now that he is left with just his faith. So the life of a monk is a very very hard life. - Extract of interview published in International Times, 15 December 1967. Interestingly though, despite his acknowledgement that monks receive no wages, Maharishi himself had a problem with being seen as a beggar:- People had made a rule, that they put some basket there so that people when they come and when they go, they put something in the basket. And I felt very ashamed with that basket on the door and people coming and I said `It is like begging on the door', because it was too odd to me to put a basket in front of my room. - transcript of tape recording. To my knowledge, MMY never claimed he was a Saint, enlightened or even a Guru. I think people need to accept MMY for who he was, based on what he did, not some preconceived notion YOU or ME may have, albeit MMY WAS somewhat of a enigma but that is perhaps where it ends. If anything his constant deflection of praise to his Master Guru Dev suggests to me the message he was sending was that the Guru Dev was the real power house and inspiration behind it all, literally, whether SBS intended it that way or not, MMY certainly did! I've noticed the tmorg has proclaimed him to be Omnipresent, etc. but MMY himself never claimed that, nor do I believe he was. He was a simple Yogi, with a simple message, for simple minded (ignorant) people, perhaps more than they deserved, at least for some!!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
MMY: I preach a simple system of transcendental meditation which gives the
people the insight into life and they begin to enjoy all peace and happiness,
and because this has been the message of all the saints in the past, they call
me saint.
- transcript of recording of Maharishi Aug/Sept 1967
On the issue of begging, Guru Dev's mother told him not to become a
bhikhamangaa sadhu - 'a sadhu begging for alms'. It became a big issue for
him, in fact he later quoted the old (Persian?) proverb that 'Khudaa (God) is
frightened of the mangana ('beggar') too'
But yes, Guru Dev was the 'powerhouse' behind MMY. But, as Guru Dev revealed
the real power is with Paramatma, accessible within us all, always. Just need
to access it, however you do that. The argument is not about TM or faith or
Pajanjali or keeping the teaching pure, it is about letting go of individual
mind and experiencing Paramatma, SatChitAnand.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG wg...@... wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Premanand premanandpaul@ wrote:
Actually, most hermits, sadhus and swamis in India are perceived as
beggars. In 1967 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi put it like this:-
So there is nothing definite in the life of a monk, particularly in India.
Here in the west the monks are more organized and the church is there and
they take care of it, but in India when one leaves home he doesn't take
care of himself, because he has no means to take care. He is out of
society; no one asks him to do some work and pays him wages or anything
nothing. So now he is all in the faith of God now that he is left with
just his faith. So the life of a monk is a very very hard life. - Extract
of interview published in International Times, 15 December 1967.
Interestingly though, despite his acknowledgement that monks receive no
wages, Maharishi himself had a problem with being seen as a beggar:-
People had made a rule, that they put some basket there so that people
when they come and when they go, they put something in the basket. And I
felt very ashamed with that basket on the door and people coming and I said
`It is like begging on the door', because it was too odd to me to put a
basket in front of my room. - transcript of tape recording.
To my knowledge, MMY never claimed he was a Saint, enlightened or even a
Guru. I think people need to accept MMY for who he was, based on what he did,
not some preconceived notion YOU or ME may have, albeit MMY WAS somewhat of a
enigma but that is perhaps where it ends.
If anything his constant deflection of praise to his Master Guru Dev suggests
to me the message he was sending was that the Guru Dev was the real power
house and inspiration behind it all, literally, whether SBS intended it that
way or not, MMY certainly did!
I've noticed the tmorg has proclaimed him to be Omnipresent, etc. but MMY
himself never claimed that, nor do I believe he was. He was a simple Yogi,
with a simple message, for simple minded (ignorant) people, perhaps more than
they deserved, at least for some!!
[FairfieldLife] Judy's Hair Club For Women (was Re: 'Avatar' arouses conservatives' ire)
It's all about Judyagain. Didn't Barry make a formal declaration that she was a non-person? Didn't he vow to not read her posts beyond the message view because he's too cowardly to admit to himself how badly she mops the floor with him EVERY TIME? Now he's cruising for a bruising...again? Pass the popcorn. This is going to be fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myknrlmt1Y4 --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: This followup to a followup is just for fun, because we all know that Judy is out there somewhere, chomping at the bit to come running back to FFL and call me a LIAR for saying the things below. Let's compare my characterization of her freakout over unkempt hair to her *actual words* on the subject, shall we? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: Just as a followup, doncha think it's fascinating that a supposed feminist throws away several posts 1) picking a nit about another woman's unkempt appearance as if that somehow offended her, and 2) does so by suggesting that it is somehow inauthentic for a woman in any era to wear her hair the way she wants to? Presumably the ideal woman Judy has in mind would submit to what the society she lived in (*especially* other women who bitchily criticized her unkempt appearance) wanted from her, rather than express her own taste in hairstyles. :-) The following -- emphasis mine but the words Judy's -- is what she actually *said* about Mary McDonnell's hair after seeing Dances With Wolves. (*IF* she ever saw it, that is...I think we all know there is a possibility she never did, and is basing these rants purely on what she was told about the film by someone else, as she's done in the past with Apocalypto and other films.) Note the...uh...lack of equanimity in the following quotes. Note that Judy is almost *out of control* with anger at having been forced to view the hairstyle of a slattern (her term) on another woman. Note that this supposed feminist wants the right to impose *her* ideas of a proper hairstyle on another woman. Ponder its meaning and have as much fun laughing at feminist Judy as I have. Doncha get the feeling that someone in her past said all of these things to Judy about *her* hair, and now years later she is still so programmed by that as to feel that she has the right to say them about another woman's? Some feminist. Yeah, but my point was that *her hair was just slovenly looking*. *You'd think if she wanted so badly to belong to the Lakota culture, she'd have found a way to keep it neat*. You can make perfectly good braids with curly hair, and hers wasn't all *that* curly, really just wavy. I don't know, maybe they thought the *messy hair* kept her from looking too glamorous. But she was by far the most prominent woman in the film, and *it gave the impression that she had somehow become wild and savage* She'd been taken in by the tribe when she was a little girl. *I don't think at that point she would have had a cultural identity that would have made her grow up never combing her hair and looking like a slattern*. Her real mother would never have let her look like that. *That made it appear as though she never combed her hair*? What were the filmmakers thinking *to allow her to choose to look slovenly*, in contrast to all the Indian women? Even if they couldn't bring themselves to have her wear braids, there was no other way they could find to style her hair so it looked like she took care of it? Loose and flowing could have worked, but there was no reason for it to be *matted and tangled*. Were they afraid she wasn't a good enough actress to put the character across convincingly as not uptight unless *her hair was a snarled, dirty- looking mess* to convey how unconstrained and spontaneous she was? Even at her wedding to Dunbar, when she's dressed to the nines in gorgeous festive Indian garb, *her hair looks like a rat's nest*.
[FairfieldLife] Red State takes on Tiger woods, Brit Hume and Prays ( Hilarious! )
Must see! Jackie and Dunlap at Red State Update talk to Jesus about Buddhists, Tiger Woods and FOX's Christian proselytizer Brit Hume... Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfO_z5JJEjY
[FairfieldLife] Judy's Hair Club For Women (was Re: 'Avatar' arouses conservatives' ire)
Perfect way to end my posting week, by pointing out that the *other* self-proclaimed feminist on this forum seems to *agree* with Judy characterizing another woman as a slut or prostitute *on the basis of her hairstyle*. Look up the word slattern. Note its synonyms: slut and prostitute. Note definitions such as: a pros- titute who attracts customers by walking the streets and a loose woman. This from the two feminists who suggested that me pointing out that IMO Sarah Palin is a very ordinary- looking woman and that the only reason anyone thinks otherwise is because of makeup was misogyny and hatred of women. The two feminists seem to feel that *they* are able to refer to *another woman* as a slattern FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN THAT THEY DON'T LIKE HER HAIRCUT. That's not hatred of women. But pointing out that Sarah Palin has to wear a ton of makeup to look good on camera is. Go figure. Now, having set the stage for the meltdown that will follow today and the early part of next week, I shall again withdraw and allow the two unpersons to make my points for me. Have a nice rest of Friday folks...I'm off to Barcelona for the evening while they sit in their houses and plot their revenge. :-) :-) :-) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, raunchydog raunchy...@... wrote: It's all about Judyagain. Didn't Barry make a formal declaration that she was a non-person? Didn't he vow to not read her posts beyond the message view because he's too cowardly to admit to himself how badly she mops the floor with him EVERY TIME? Now he's cruising for a bruising... again? Pass the popcorn. This is going to be fun. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: This followup to a followup is just for fun, because we all know that Judy is out there somewhere, chomping at the bit to come running back to FFL and call me a LIAR for saying the things below. Let's compare my characterization of her freakout over unkempt hair to her *actual words* on the subject, shall we? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: Just as a followup, doncha think it's fascinating that a supposed feminist throws away several posts 1) picking a nit about another woman's unkempt appearance as if that somehow offended her, and 2) does so by suggesting that it is somehow inauthentic for a woman in any era to wear her hair the way she wants to? Presumably the ideal woman Judy has in mind would submit to what the society she lived in (*especially* other women who bitchily criticized her unkempt appearance) wanted from her, rather than express her own taste in hairstyles. :-) The following -- emphasis mine but the words Judy's -- is what she actually *said* about Mary McDonnell's hair after seeing Dances With Wolves. (*IF* she ever saw it, that is...I think we all know there is a possibility she never did, and is basing these rants purely on what she was told about the film by someone else, as she's done in the past with Apocalypto and other films.) Note the...uh...lack of equanimity in the following quotes. Note that Judy is almost *out of control* with anger at having been forced to view the hairstyle of a slattern (her term) on another woman. Note that this supposed feminist wants the right to impose *her* ideas of a proper hairstyle on another woman. Ponder its meaning and have as much fun laughing at feminist Judy as I have. Doncha get the feeling that someone in her past said all of these things to Judy about *her* hair, and now years later she is still so programmed by that as to feel that she has the right to say them about another woman's? Some feminist. Yeah, but my point was that *her hair was just slovenly looking*. *You'd think if she wanted so badly to belong to the Lakota culture, she'd have found a way to keep it neat*. You can make perfectly good braids with curly hair, and hers wasn't all *that* curly, really just wavy. I don't know, maybe they thought the *messy hair* kept her from looking too glamorous. But she was by far the most prominent woman in the film, and *it gave the impression that she had somehow become wild and savage* She'd been taken in by the tribe when she was a little girl. *I don't think at that point she would have had a cultural identity that would have made her grow up never combing her hair and looking like a slattern*. Her real mother would never have let her look like that. *That made it appear as though she never combed her hair*? What were the filmmakers thinking *to allow her to choose to look slovenly*, in contrast to all the Indian women? Even if they couldn't bring themselves to have her wear braids, there was no other way they could find to style her hair so it looked like she took care of it? Loose and flowing could have worked, but there
[FairfieldLife] How much would you pay to hear Sarah Palin?
Is Palin Getting $100,000 to Speak at the Tea Party National Convention? This morning, I asked whether Sarah Palin's decision to speak at the Tea Party National Convention ... had anything to with money. Conservative blogger Dan Riehl is reporting, based on forwarded communications, that Palin is making at least $75,000 and at most $100,000 for her speech. Tickets for the speech alone are going for $349 tickets for the whole convention are $549. ~~ David Weigel - The Washington Independent http://snipurl.com/u0i83 [washingtonindependent_com]
[FairfieldLife] Is Tea Party.org leader an illiterate racist?
'N-Word' Sign Dogs Would-Be Tea Party Leader Congress = Slaveowner, Taxpayer = Niggar Dale Robertson, a Tea Party activist who operates TeaParty.org, is getting stung for an old photo taken at the Feb. 27, 2009 Tea Party in Houston http://houstontps.org/ in which he holds a sign reading Congress = Slaveowner, Taxpayer = Niggar. After the ResistNet listerv promoted Liberty Concerts to be held by TeaParty.org http://www.teaparty.org/ , a source passed on this photo http://houstontps.org/audio/4995.jpg of Robertson, after the jump. Update: Josh Parker of the Houston Tea Party Society tells me that Robertson was booted out of the event for this sign. [teapartypic] http://snipurl.com/u0ial [washingtonindependent_com]
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Premanand premanandp...@... wrote:
MMY: I preach a simple system of transcendental meditation which gives the
people the insight into life and they begin to enjoy all peace and happiness,
and because this has been the message of all the saints in the past, they
call me saint.
- transcript of recording of Maharishi Aug/Sept 1967
On the issue of begging, Guru Dev's mother told him not to become a
bhikhamangaa sadhu - 'a sadhu begging for alms'. It became a big issue for
him, in fact he later quoted the old (Persian?) proverb that 'Khudaa (God)
is frightened of the mangana ('beggar') too'
But yes, Guru Dev was the 'powerhouse' behind MMY. But, as Guru Dev revealed
the real power is with Paramatma, accessible within us all, always. Just need
to access it, however you do that. The argument is not about TM or faith or
Pajanjali or keeping the teaching pure, it is about letting go of individual
mind and experiencing Paramatma, SatChitAnand.
I appreciate that, but is that all you can find after, what, 50 years?, that
ONE ambiguous quote?, I think my point standsFWIW.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
BillyG, I gave up reseaching Maharishi a long, long time ago. But this quote I
remembered, having included it in my biography of him. I wasn't actually
disputing your comments, and am not now.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG wg...@... wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Premanand premanandpaul@ wrote:
MMY: I preach a simple system of transcendental meditation which gives the
people the insight into life and they begin to enjoy all peace and
happiness, and because this has been the message of all the saints in the
past, they call me saint.
- transcript of recording of Maharishi Aug/Sept 1967
On the issue of begging, Guru Dev's mother told him not to become a
bhikhamangaa sadhu - 'a sadhu begging for alms'. It became a big issue
for him, in fact he later quoted the old (Persian?) proverb that 'Khudaa
(God) is frightened of the mangana ('beggar') too'
But yes, Guru Dev was the 'powerhouse' behind MMY. But, as Guru Dev
revealed the real power is with Paramatma, accessible within us all,
always. Just need to access it, however you do that. The argument is not
about TM or faith or Pajanjali or keeping the teaching pure, it is about
letting go of individual mind and experiencing Paramatma, SatChitAnand.
I appreciate that, but is that all you can find after, what, 50 years?, that
ONE ambiguous quote?, I think my point standsFWIW.
[FairfieldLife] Judy's Hair Club For Women (was Re: 'Avatar' arouses conservatives' ire)
I'm looking forward to the day when we are inclusive and have ceased being EXclusive. The state of the heart is relevant and not the state of hair. Perhaps it is my being an artist, but i like the abstractness of a bedhead. I may even wear sticks, feathers, flowers, or anything that gives me delight in my hair. You may wear your hair anyway you like. It's okay. Really. One day, we will look in our irisses/pupils and see the hearts of entities, and not be so mindful of the outside things. -to that day-*clink*(a toast) Daisy?(peace offering) You can put it in your hair. Love, (to all, the smooth and wiry haired) -M
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
On Jan 8, 2010, at 11:26 AM, BillyG wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Premanand premanandp...@... wrote:
MMY: I preach a simple system of transcendental meditation which gives the
people the insight into life and they begin to enjoy all peace and
happiness, and because this has been the message of all the saints in the
past, they call me saint.
- transcript of recording of Maharishi Aug/Sept 1967
On the issue of begging, Guru Dev's mother told him not to become a
bhikhamangaa sadhu - 'a sadhu begging for alms'. It became a big issue
for him, in fact he later quoted the old (Persian?) proverb that 'Khudaa
(God) is frightened of the mangana ('beggar') too'
But yes, Guru Dev was the 'powerhouse' behind MMY. But, as Guru Dev
revealed the real power is with Paramatma, accessible within us all,
always. Just need to access it, however you do that. The argument is not
about TM or faith or Pajanjali or keeping the teaching pure, it is about
letting go of individual mind and experiencing Paramatma, SatChitAnand.
I appreciate that, but is that all you can find after, what, 50 years?, that
ONE ambiguous quote?, I think my point standsFWIW.
I've heard other quotes of MMY implying or stating that he was enlightened.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
Let's be honest, virtually everything Maharishi convinced many of his audience
that he was a model of 'enlightenment'. He didn't need to come out and say it,
nor did people notice when he didn't.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote:
On Jan 8, 2010, at 11:26 AM, BillyG wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Premanand premanandpaul@ wrote:
MMY: I preach a simple system of transcendental meditation which gives
the people the insight into life and they begin to enjoy all peace and
happiness, and because this has been the message of all the saints in the
past, they call me saint.
- transcript of recording of Maharishi Aug/Sept 1967
On the issue of begging, Guru Dev's mother told him not to become a
bhikhamangaa sadhu - 'a sadhu begging for alms'. It became a big issue
for him, in fact he later quoted the old (Persian?) proverb that
'Khudaa (God) is frightened of the mangana ('beggar') too'
But yes, Guru Dev was the 'powerhouse' behind MMY. But, as Guru Dev
revealed the real power is with Paramatma, accessible within us all,
always. Just need to access it, however you do that. The argument is not
about TM or faith or Pajanjali or keeping the teaching pure, it is about
letting go of individual mind and experiencing Paramatma, SatChitAnand.
I appreciate that, but is that all you can find after, what, 50 years?,
that ONE ambiguous quote?, I think my point standsFWIW.
I've heard other quotes of MMY implying or stating that he was enlightened.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
Let's be honest, Maharishi apparent familiarity with higher states of
consciousness convinced most of his audience he was a model of 'enlightenment'.
He didn't need to come out and say it,
nor did people notice when he didn't.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote:
On Jan 8, 2010, at 11:26 AM, BillyG wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Premanand premanandpaul@ wrote:
MMY: I preach a simple system of transcendental meditation which gives
the people the insight into life and they begin to enjoy all peace and
happiness, and because this has been the message of all the saints in the
past, they call me saint.
- transcript of recording of Maharishi Aug/Sept 1967
On the issue of begging, Guru Dev's mother told him not to become a
bhikhamangaa sadhu - 'a sadhu begging for alms'. It became a big issue
for him, in fact he later quoted the old (Persian?) proverb that
'Khudaa (God) is frightened of the mangana ('beggar') too'
But yes, Guru Dev was the 'powerhouse' behind MMY. But, as Guru Dev
revealed the real power is with Paramatma, accessible within us all,
always. Just need to access it, however you do that. The argument is not
about TM or faith or Pajanjali or keeping the teaching pure, it is about
letting go of individual mind and experiencing Paramatma, SatChitAnand.
I appreciate that, but is that all you can find after, what, 50 years?,
that ONE ambiguous quote?, I think my point standsFWIW.
I've heard other quotes of MMY implying or stating that he was enlightened.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
On Jan 8, 2010, at 12:44 PM, Premanand wrote: Let's be honest, virtually everything Maharishi convinced many of his audience that he was a model of 'enlightenment'. He didn't need to come out and say it, nor did people notice when he didn't. Around 1997, 121 Pundits came to Stroudsburg, PA (Poconos ) to do an 11 day Ati Rudra Maha Yajnam. The center is connected with the Shankaracharya of the South who sent a beautiful swami to represent him. The Swami was tall and with his danda (sp?) pole reminded me of pictures of Guru Dev. A couple of TM Siddhas, friends of mine, had a private audience with the Swami. They asked about MMY. He replied that the only thing he heard was : Apparently MMY visited the Shankaryacharya some time ago. And after MMY had left, the Shankaracharya commented to the Swami that MMY's mind was a complete mess, a supermarket, not quiet at all. It's one thing to talk about silence, it's another to actually embody it.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Cold weather and new YFfers?
cardemaister wrote: Just read that Sweden's running out of electricity because of the cold weather! :0 Just cozy up to the TV and watch a copy of Danny Boyle's Sunshine. :-D
[FairfieldLife] Judy's Hair Club For Women (was Re: 'Avatar' arouses conservatives' ire)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: This from the two feminists who suggested that me pointing out that IMO Sarah Palin is a very ordinary- looking woman and that the only reason anyone thinks otherwise is because of makeup was misogyny and hatred of women. I'm afraid without makeup most Caucasian women look rather like -- as the saying goes at least hereabouts -- grey sparrows. :/ That might not be true in the case, say, Spanish women...
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
The 'Fairey Tales' of Western cultures have nothing to do with Yoga or Transcendental Knowledge, found in the Upanishads and in the Vedanta. Vaj wrote: Actually there are many parallels in Western (and really world) Fairy tales, with Vedic deva- and angiris-lore. The instances you cite have nothing to do with Patanjali's 'Yoga Sutras', in Chapter Three, which describe the 'siddhis'. Apparently nodody in the Western Hemisphere even knew anything about the 'Eightfold Path' until the time of Vivekananda in nineteenth century. Maybe you should ceck the definition for 'Yoga and 'Siddhis'. Also notice the similarity to modern ET abduction experiences, where they are considered spiritual experiences (as opposed to provocations). Siddha Yoga has nothing to do with the intervention of a demi-urge for feats of supernormal power. Siddha Yoga is based on self-knowledge - there is no 'God of Yoga'. The term Yoga implies self-generated, 'transcendental' knowledge. Since you seem to like to read, try reading Rev. Kirk's account of the fairy-lore in Scotland, The Secret Commonwealth. I'd bet you'd enjoy it, if you were open enough? According to Mircea Eliade, only the rudiments of classic Yoga are to be found in the Vedas, and while shamanism and other techniques of ecstasy are documented among other Indo-European people, Yoga is to be found only in India and in cultures influenced by Indian spirituality (102). Works cited: 'Yoga : Immortality and Freedom' by Mircea Eliade Princeton University Press, 1970 'Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy' by Mircea Eliade Princeton University Press; 2004
[FairfieldLife] Religion is science, science is religion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_NEVazvsOk
[FairfieldLife] How much money do you have, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi? January 24, 1985, Washington,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLgpbED-5yMfeature=channel
[FairfieldLife] Who was your hero Maharishi Mahesh Yogi?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sBK1zg6cEofeature=channel
[FairfieldLife] Why haven't we heard of Transcendental Meditation (TM)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE5a017uXe4feature=channel
[FairfieldLife] Help Maharishi School win $100,000 --- Forgive the duplication and cross-posting.
Re: Maharishi School, Fairfield, Iowa!! Please read below and circulate this as widely as possible!! If you have already received this, sorry!! Jai Guru Dev RH From: Joanna Pitt joannap...@gmail.com Sent: Wed, January 6, 2010 11:22:08 AM Subject: School Project Hi All, US Cellular is giving away $100,000 to the 10 schools with the most votes and my school is in the running! There's only one week left of voting so we're trying to rally as much as possible. It only takes a minute to follow the link below and answer a few questions. Please help us out and feel free to pass this one! My students are upset they cannot vote because they're not 18 and would like me to pass on the message: be happy you're old old and vote for us! Thank you so much! Joanna Click the link! http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGo1VnFxQTZBTUVQekFhMlcxa2FPOVE6MA weitergeleitete Nachricht Ende __ Do You Yahoo!? Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. http://mail.yahoo.com
[FairfieldLife] Re: John Stewart his team discuss Tiger Woods' religion
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, seekliberation seekliberat...@... wrote: I don't understand why people feel Tiger needs any help whatsoever, let alone any ridicule. What we have here is a double standard. John F Kennedy cheated on his wife, and people all over the country to this day are still regarding him as one of the most monumental presidents of all time. Bill Clinton helped campaign for Barack Obama, and Bill was cheered on like a big time hero in large crowds of democratic voters in 2008. Obama, Bush, and Clinton have all admitted to or at least been in trouble for the use of illegal drugs at some point in their lives. These are all leaders of our country who make worldwide decisions that impact lives of billions of people. But we don't care, we only care about Tiger. The modern world has become more and more prudish in some ways (especially in America ) I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I don't really know. Its hard to judge the complexities of it. I've never cheated on anyone, but I don't see the big deal. Men are men, and women are women, and the future it seems will be full of men with their balls cut off at an early age? This is the one aspect of modern life I think I am still a more little 'old school' about. What about the morality of all other actors, politicians and sports heros throughout our country? David Letterman seems to be doing fine very shortly after his ordeal. But for some reason we focus on Tiger instead. I thought maybe because he's black. But I think it's more so because everyone thought he was an absolute goody two shoes, and everyone is loving it when they see someone with that image fall from grace. As far as TM and moral reasoning goes, I am fully aware that a few of the heavy hitters within the TMO have slept with other peoples wives, or at least attempted to. Very few per capita though. However, Fairfield had the highest divorce rate in Iowa in the 1990's, but as a friend pointed out, I wonder what the domestic violence rate was outside of Fairfield. -- OffWorld Some of it is only rumor, some of it comes from direct sources I absolutely trust. I don't think TM necessarily causes our moral reasoning to overcome our sex drive. seekliberation --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, dhamiltony2k5 dhamiltony2k5@ wrote: Redeeming Tiger: II.1 Mortification, study and surrendering the fruits of work to God are called Yoga. Well, writing as a conservative meditator, I would remind poor Tiger of the old axiom, Tiger, what you put your attention on certainly grows stronger in life. Not just showing up in the dome or some zen center on whim of high holiday but being a practicing disciplined meditator has the clear scientific benefit of improving traditional `moral reasoning', as John Hagelin does have power point slide charts to show. I'd urge Tiger in his fallen state of being now to directly get right with meditation. To come back to true meditation. Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi. As he may notice his mind is off, then come back to the silence, the Dhyanna, without comment and let the redemptive Samadhi of nature fill this earthly soul. For, `whether pure or impure whoever so opens themselves to the expanded vision of unbounded awareness gains inner and outer purity'. This wisdom of the integration of life is incredibly compassionate, redemptive. Come back to meditation. Please come, take this flower, sit here, and let's close the eyes it will take some work, called spiritual discipline. Surrender yourself, sit with someone who can check your meditation. Dharshan. There is no time like the present. Shake off that faint-heartedness, Come to meditation. Jai Adi Shankara, -Doug in FF John Stewart and The Best F**king Theological Team helps Tiger Woods find forgiveness by recommending the best religion for his redemption: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-4-2010/the-best-f--king-ne\ \ ws-team-ever---tiger-woods--faith http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-4-2010/the-best-f--king-n\ \ ews-team-ever---tiger-woods--faith Hilarious, especially the reporter checking in from Pandora.
[FairfieldLife] Global Chilling
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Snow and blustery winds blew into the already-frigid East on Friday and drivers as far south as Georgia were urged to stay off icy roads. More... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34764240/ns/weather/ And it is raining here and it wasn't even forecast. It can rain all it wants. I want it to rain on the water Nazi's plans to declare a drought. Last year they declared a drought in California and then had to cancel it when late rains ended their parade. I suspect the same thing may happen this year even without late rains. Things should warm up again in 2012 when the sun goes into another storm cycle which could be interesting as we now have much more electronics than the last time and some of those were knocked out.
[FairfieldLife] Now the TSA wants to read your mind
So walk through the airport meditating. That ought to flummox it. ;-) http://rawstory.com/2010/01/tsa-funding-airport-mindreading/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
PaliGap wrote: The categorical imperative was the central plank of Kant's moral philosophy, not epistemology... Yes, I stand corrected, it was Kant's 'theory of knowledge', the thing-in-itself, that I meant to mention, according to Kant in his 'Critique of Pure Reason'. Kant argued that there are synthetic 'a priori' truths. My point is that statements of 'soul' and 'self' mentioned by the Turq, are speculative in nature and so cannot be addressed by the human mind since they are not based on sense perceptions. Apparently the Turq read about the 'reincarnating' 'soul-monad' in a book, or he was told it. He has never seen the 'soul', otherwise he would have been able to describe it and to locate it in space and in time. It doesn't prove causation to relate his experience of being a reincarnated soul-monad, because of the factor of suggestibility. It has already been established by the Turq himself that the 'TM Program' and the 'Rama Program' left him and many others highly suggestible to the point of being almost 'brainwashed'. So, Turq may have 'thought' he saw feats of real levitation and 'thought' he remembered his previous lives when, in reality, the Turq was programmed by his teachers to a very great extent to believe such things.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, PaliGap compost...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_esq@ wrote: St. Thomas Aquinas was able to levitate as well, although this is not generally known to people within or without the Christian church. I was watching an interesting program about the art of Spain recently (there was a wonderful depiction of Cordoba and what seemed to be it's idyllic and tolerant society in the Muslim early years). In the course of the programme Andrew Graham-Dixon visited the monastery of the levitating nun María de Agreda. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_de_Agreda A devout practitioner of quiet prayer, she was known to experience religious ecstasy after receiving the sacraments... ...even as a young girl she was filled with divine knowledge ...Throughout her life, Maria de Agreda was inclined to the internal prayer or quiet prayer for which the Franciscans are noted. Like her countrywoman St. Teresa of Avila, these prayerful experiences inevitably led to her ecstasies, including witnessed accounts of levitation It would be interesting to know more about her quiet prayer! (The programme The Art Of Spain was very good I thought. But I don't think it's available now on the BBC iPlayer). She was an interesting lady, no doubt. I've never heard of her before. We wonder why there appear to be many saints from Spain. Was it the culture at the time that brought it about? Or, was it the Spanish language itself that caused it? Maybe the Castillian pronunciation has a special sound quality for levitation...pero solo conseguin hacerme recordar los tuyos...(guess where this line comes from!)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Global Chilling
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: COLUMBUS, Ohio - Snow and blustery winds blew into the already-frigid East on Friday and drivers as far south as Georgia were urged to stay off icy roads. More... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34764240/ns/weather/ And it is raining here and it wasn't even forecast. It can rain all it wants. I want it to rain on the water Nazi's plans to declare a drought. Last year they declared a drought in California and then had to cancel it when late rains ended their parade. I suspect the same thing may happen this year even without late rains. Things should warm up again in 2012 when the sun goes into another storm cycle which could be interesting as we now have much more electronics than the last time and some of those were knocked out. The sun seems very odd though right now: http://tinyurl.com/y8a7euk
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, WillyTex willy...@... wrote: PaliGap wrote: The categorical imperative was the central plank of Kant's moral philosophy, not epistemology... Yes, I stand corrected, it was Kant's 'theory of knowledge', the thing-in-itself, that I meant to mention, according to Kant in his 'Critique of Pure Reason'. Kant argued that there are synthetic 'a priori' truths. My point is that statements of 'soul' and 'self' mentioned by the Turq, are speculative in nature and so cannot be addressed by the human mind since they are not based on sense perceptions. But as you've just stated, Kant believed in synthetic 'a priori' truths? Translation: non-trivial truths that are not based on sense perceptions. If Kant can do it, why can't I? Or Barry? Apparently the Turq read about the 'reincarnating' 'soul-monad' in a book, or he was told it. He has never seen the 'soul', otherwise he would have been able to describe it and to locate it in space and in time. It doesn't prove causation to relate his experience of being a reincarnated soul-monad, because of the factor of suggestibility. It has already been established by the Turq himself that the 'TM Program' and the 'Rama Program' left him and many others highly suggestible to the point of being almost 'brainwashed'. So, Turq may have 'thought' he saw feats of real levitation and 'thought' he remembered his previous lives when, in reality, the Turq was programmed by his teachers to a very great extent to believe such things.
[FairfieldLife] TM on ABC Nightline TONIGHT
Watch tonight on ABC Nightline at 11:35 p.m. ET! Appears to be quite positive...after the show there may be many comments from everywhere! http://abcnews.go.com/ http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/transcendental-meditation-vedic-city-iowa/st ory?id=9218475 Transcendental Meditation Thrives in Iowa Adherents of Transcendental Meditation Have Called Hawkeye State Home Since '70s By JOHN BERMAN and MAGGIE BURBANK Jan. 8, 2010 - When you think of Iowa, you think of cornfields, you think of caucuses, you think of old-fashioned country-living. Chances are, you don't think of meditation http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/popup?id=7249295 and communal living. Welcome to Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa -- the only city in the country built on the tenets of transcendental meditation http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=7263240 , for meditators, by meditators. Meg and Erik Vigmostad moved here from St. Louis in 1982. We wanted to come to a meditating community, said Meg Vigmostad. We had two children at the time, one of them was an infant, and we felt like it was the best place to bring up our children http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=7263240 . Watch the full story tonight on http://abcnews.go.com/nightline Nightline at 11:35 p.m. ET Vigmostad acknowledged that the couple's families thought they were crazy for making the move. Crazy, because those words, transcendental meditation, sound, well, different. Many people first heard of transcendental meditation, or TM, in the 1960s, when the Beatles started following Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the official founder of TM. Transcendental meditation is a simple technique practiced for about 15-20 minutes sitting comfortably in a chair with the eyes closed, said Bob Roth, a national director of the TM program. It allows the body to get a profound state of rest while the mind just settles down and experiences a state of inner wakefulness, inner calm, inner coherence. The followers of Mahesh Yogi -- mostly from East and West Coast universities -- moved to Iowa en masse in 1974 to set up their own college, the Maharishi University of Management. The group chose Iowa because that is where they could find the land. Now the settlement features two huge domes, one for men and one for women, with residents streaming in to meditate together twice a day. But at the university and in the city, the commitment to Vedic principles of natural law and balance, derived from ancient Sanskrit texts, goes far beyond meditation. The community has banned the sale of nonorganic food within its boundaries. And that's not all. The primary characteristics of Vedic architecture, the most obvious one, is that ideally, buildings face east, the direction of the rising sun, said Jon Lipman, the country's leading Vedic architect. 'Greater Happiness' Lipman says the buildings at the university and most new houses in town are constructed in line with ancient precepts. Just like the organs in the human body, there is a right place for different kinds of functions within a building, Lipman said. And so, a kitchen is typically in one location. A living room in a house is typically in another location. Every Vedic building has a silent core known as a Bramastan, which is lit by a skylight and is never walked on. Lipman claims miraculous effects. The results are that, families find that their lives are improved, that there's greater family harmony, that there is greater financial success, there's greater happiness, said Lipman. There are many many cases where members of a family had disharmony between them, and it dissolved when they moved into a Vedic home. There are many cases where even such things as chronic diseases were abated by moving into a Vedic home. Lipman said it's a real challenge to be poor, unhappy or unhealthy if you live in a Vedic building. The Vigmostads live in a Vedic house, and seem like happy customers. It feels harmonious, it feels orderly, there's a lot of silence here that was definitely not in our other house that we owned, said Meg Vigmostad. The talk of order and inner peace might sound unbelievable. But it is also the work of Vedic City to make it all ... believable. Fred Travis, director of a university facility called the Center for Brain Consciousness and Cognition, demonstrated an EEG monitor of neurological electrical activity that he said shows that TM makes the brain more organized. What this is measuring is the electrical activity of the brain, Travis explained as a member of the community hooked up to the machine sat and meditated. You see this one going up and down? Travis said, pointed to a gauge. Look at the one next to it. It goes up and down in a similar way. This is called coherence. When the similarity of two signatures are very close, it suggests those two parts of the brain are working together. Neurologist Gary Kaplan, a proponent of TM, said such coherence will bring happiness, success -- even world peace.
[FairfieldLife] Bhuutajaya in Vlodrop?
I hope siddhas in Vlodrop next week (12th - 15th) shall use bhuuta-jaya-siddhi, or something, to warm up the weather in Europe at least by about 10 degrees of Celsius... : /
[FairfieldLife] Post Count
Fairfield Life Post Counter === Start Date (UTC): Sat Jan 02 00:00:00 2010 End Date (UTC): Sat Jan 09 00:00:00 2010 412 messages as of (UTC) Fri Jan 08 22:48:56 2010 50 authfriend jst...@panix.com 50 TurquoiseB no_re...@yahoogroups.com 45 WillyTex willy...@yahoo.com 31 Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net 24 PaliGap compost...@yahoo.co.uk 14 dhamiltony2k5 dhamiltony...@yahoo.com 14 John jr_...@yahoo.com 13 Rick Archer r...@searchsummit.com 12 seekliberation seekliberat...@yahoo.com 12 m 13 meowthirt...@yahoo.com 12 cardemaister no_re...@yahoogroups.com 11 nablusoss1008 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 11 azgrey no_re...@yahoogroups.com 11 Hugo richardhughes...@hotmail.com 11 do.rflex do.rf...@yahoo.com 9 raunchydog raunchy...@yahoo.com 9 Premanand premanandp...@yahoo.co.uk 7 off_world_beings no_re...@yahoogroups.com 7 Vaj vajradh...@earthlink.net 7 Mike Dixon mdixon.6...@yahoo.com 7 It's just a ride bill.hicks.all.a.r...@gmail.com 7 BillyG wg...@yahoo.com 5 Jason jedi_sp...@yahoo.com 4 Alex Stanley j_alexander_stan...@yahoo.com 3 nelson nelsonriddle2...@yahoo.com 3 michael vedamer...@yahoo.de 3 eustace10679 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 3 Sal Sunshine salsunsh...@lisco.com 2 shukra69 shukr...@yahoo.ca 2 sgrayatlarge no_re...@yahoogroups.com 2 guyfawkes91 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 2 Becky starvingvet2...@yahoo.com 2 jeff.evans60 jeff.evan...@yahoo.com 1 wayback71 waybac...@yahoo.com 1 pranamoocher bh...@hotmail.com 1 metoostill metoost...@yahoo.com 1 gullible fool ffl...@yahoo.com 1 fflmod ffl...@yahoo.com 1 I am the eternal l.shad...@gmail.com 1 Ghanesh PV ghan...@gmail.com Posters: 40 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] Avatar, as seen through the eyes of Shemp
Wonderful, wonderful movie. I thought it appropriate that the movie came out in the same month as a study that showed the ocean's ability to absorb CO2 has not diminished: http://theresilientearth.com/?q=content/ocean-absorption-co2-not-shrinking Avatar is the story of Gaia, the idea that the Earth is a living organism and, as such, can adjust itself and its equalibrium as the make-up of various elements in its atmosphere change. More CO2? Why, the ecosystem adjusts itself accordingly. Adaptation. Just like the skin on your arm adjusts when it is cut: it heals itself. The Na'Vi represent Gaia. The military represents the catastrophic man-made global warming movement, particularly in the person of Col. Miles Quaritch, who is pro-fear and anti-science. Quaritch personifies Al Gore, the most evil man in America today. Jake Sully represents reason as well as man acknowledging the power and balancing ability of nature. The best parallel to today's situation would be that Sully represents someone like Senator Inhofe. So when Al Gore (the military) tries to upset the natural order of things, it took a brave soul like Sully (Sen. Inhofe) to fight the fear and irrationality of Al Gore and the global warming movement. Good ultimately triumphs over evil.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Walking on Water as a Siddhi
But to claim that something *you haven't even exper- ienced* is Truth because you BELIEVE it is, or because you read it in a book you consider Truth? That's the absolute *absence* of humility. Yes, discernment. By giving up even these powers comes the destruction of the very seed of evil, which leads to Kaivalya. III 51. 11 There is no law of place; wherever the mind is concentrated, there worship should be performed. Remember, a meditator's strength flows from the Transcendent, then strong will thou Be. Jai Adi Shankara, -D in FF
RE: [FairfieldLife] Avatar, as seen through the eyes of Shemp
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of ShempMcGurk Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 6:30 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Avatar, as seen through the eyes of Shemp I thought it appropriate that the movie came out in the same month as a study that showed the ocean's ability to absorb CO2 has not diminished: Google ocean's ability to absorb CO2 and all you see are studies saying that it's ability is diminishing: http://tinyurl.com/yawgtug
[FairfieldLife] Re: Avatar, as seen through the eyes of Shemp
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of ShempMcGurk Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 6:30 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Avatar, as seen through the eyes of Shemp I thought it appropriate that the movie came out in the same month as a study that showed the ocean's ability to absorb CO2 has not diminished: Google ocean's ability to absorb CO2 and all you see are studies saying that it's ability is diminishing: http://tinyurl.com/yawgtug You obviously didn't read the link I supplied. Why are you so eager to see the world destroyed, Rick?
[FairfieldLife] Re: How much would you pay to hear Sarah Palin?
Lets not forget, if Palin had been the front runner candidate for president instead of McCain, she would have been president. Its alright though, because in 2012, she will. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rf...@... wrote: Is Palin Getting $100,000 to Speak at the Tea Party National Convention? This morning, I asked whether Sarah Palin's decision to speak at the Tea Party National Convention ... had anything to with money. Conservative blogger Dan Riehl is reporting, based on forwarded communications, that Palin is making at least $75,000 and at most $100,000 for her speech. Tickets for the speech alone are going for $349 tickets for the whole convention are $549. ~~ David Weigel - The Washington Independent http://snipurl.com/u0i83 [washingtonindependent_com]
[FairfieldLife] Judy's Hair Club For Women (was Re: 'Avatar' arouses conservatives' ire)
Judy's Native American name may indeed be splitting hairs ! --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: Perfect way to end my posting week, by pointing out that the *other* self-proclaimed feminist on this forum seems to *agree* with Judy characterizing another woman as a slut or prostitute *on the basis of her hairstyle*. Look up the word slattern. Note its synonyms: slut and prostitute. Note definitions such as: a pros- titute who attracts customers by walking the streets and a loose woman. This from the two feminists who suggested that me pointing out that IMO Sarah Palin is a very ordinary- looking woman and that the only reason anyone thinks otherwise is because of makeup was misogyny and hatred of women. The two feminists seem to feel that *they* are able to refer to *another woman* as a slattern FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN THAT THEY DON'T LIKE HER HAIRCUT. That's not hatred of women. But pointing out that Sarah Palin has to wear a ton of makeup to look good on camera is. Go figure. Now, having set the stage for the meltdown that will follow today and the early part of next week, I shall again withdraw and allow the two unpersons to make my points for me. Have a nice rest of Friday folks...I'm off to Barcelona for the evening while they sit in their houses and plot their revenge. :-) :-) :-) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, raunchydog raunchydog@ wrote: It's all about Judyagain. Didn't Barry make a formal declaration that she was a non-person? Didn't he vow to not read her posts beyond the message view because he's too cowardly to admit to himself how badly she mops the floor with him EVERY TIME? Now he's cruising for a bruising... again? Pass the popcorn. This is going to be fun. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: This followup to a followup is just for fun, because we all know that Judy is out there somewhere, chomping at the bit to come running back to FFL and call me a LIAR for saying the things below. Let's compare my characterization of her freakout over unkempt hair to her *actual words* on the subject, shall we? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: Just as a followup, doncha think it's fascinating that a supposed feminist throws away several posts 1) picking a nit about another woman's unkempt appearance as if that somehow offended her, and 2) does so by suggesting that it is somehow inauthentic for a woman in any era to wear her hair the way she wants to? Presumably the ideal woman Judy has in mind would submit to what the society she lived in (*especially* other women who bitchily criticized her unkempt appearance) wanted from her, rather than express her own taste in hairstyles. :-) The following -- emphasis mine but the words Judy's -- is what she actually *said* about Mary McDonnell's hair after seeing Dances With Wolves. (*IF* she ever saw it, that is...I think we all know there is a possibility she never did, and is basing these rants purely on what she was told about the film by someone else, as she's done in the past with Apocalypto and other films.) Note the...uh...lack of equanimity in the following quotes. Note that Judy is almost *out of control* with anger at having been forced to view the hairstyle of a slattern (her term) on another woman. Note that this supposed feminist wants the right to impose *her* ideas of a proper hairstyle on another woman. Ponder its meaning and have as much fun laughing at feminist Judy as I have. Doncha get the feeling that someone in her past said all of these things to Judy about *her* hair, and now years later she is still so programmed by that as to feel that she has the right to say them about another woman's? Some feminist. Yeah, but my point was that *her hair was just slovenly looking*. *You'd think if she wanted so badly to belong to the Lakota culture, she'd have found a way to keep it neat*. You can make perfectly good braids with curly hair, and hers wasn't all *that* curly, really just wavy. I don't know, maybe they thought the *messy hair* kept her from looking too glamorous. But she was by far the most prominent woman in the film, and *it gave the impression that she had somehow become wild and savage* She'd been taken in by the tribe when she was a little girl. *I don't think at that point she would have had a cultural identity that would have made her grow up never combing her hair and looking like a slattern*. Her real mother would never have let her look like that. *That made it appear as though she never combed her hair*? What were the filmmakers thinking *to allow her to choose to look slovenly*, in contrast to all the
