Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
I like it. It's way better than change what you want to become :) --- On Tue, 9/6/11, whynotnow7 whynotn...@yahoo.com wrote: From: whynotnow7 whynotn...@yahoo.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 3:31 PM Saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said something like, become the change that you want in the world. Works for me. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Denise Evans dmevans365@... wrote: Happy birthday! I have come to the conclusion that engaging in Dems vs Republican's is a waste of time. Watching Obama struggle and cave, over and over, is a wake-up call to all. The real fight is people vs corporate structure. Both political parties are enslaved to corporate power that we created. We need to redefine and support the Democratic party to one that fights the correct fight. Currently, the GOP more blatantly represents corporate interests, but I think Obama's actions (which are not consistent with the books he wrote or the platform he was voted in on) are also reflecting a truth we should take seriously. He isn't operating in isolation or in a vacuum. We should never underestimate the power of the current agenda or assume that one Democratic administration can turn the tide. We need to reset government, our ideas of public vs private, our concept of quality of life, our own subjugation to the almighty dollar and our tacit acceptance of its rules of engagement, etc. We need a revolution..a non-violent revolution. It is far easier to let our egos self-righteously and self-centeredly run the show, and distractedly amuse ourselves by wading through the endless variations and weeds of opposing points, then pull up and re-examine the bigger picture and our progress to that end in the context of humanity on the planet. I feel the same about all the religious movementsthey all are divined and interpreted by humans. If one pulls up far enough to actually look at the original messages - they are all the same. We've lost the original intent of the messageas humans, over and over throughout time and multiple attempts at civilization, we continue to exemplify how ego separates itself from spirit. I loved the view of earth and the galaxy through the light years that Rick posted and the similar viewpoints of astronauts and space travelers that iterate the planet as one family. I am fully guilty and stuck in this race around the gerbil wheel as well. I ask myself what will it take to make a change...simple steps and a willingness to let go is what I'm coming down to. --- On Mon, 9/5/11, raunchydog raunchydog@... wrote: From: raunchydog raunchydog@... Subject: [FairfieldLife] What Democrats can do about Obama To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, September 5, 2011, 7:24 PM Â Obama has ruined the Democratic Party. The 2010 wipeout was an electoral catastrophe so bad you'd have to go back to 1894 to find comparable losses. From 2008 to 2010, according to Gallup, the fastest growing demographic party label was former Democrat. Obama took over the party in 2008 with 36 percent of Americans considering themselves Democrats. Within just two years, that number had dropped to 31 percent, which tied a 22-year low. If would be one thing if Obama were failing because he was too close to party orthodoxy. Yet his failures have come precisely because Obama has not listened to Democratic Party voters. He continued idiotic wars, bailed out banks, ignored luminaries like Paul Krugman, and generally did whatever he could to repudiate the New Deal. The Democratic Party should be the party of pay raises and homes, but under Obama it has become the party of pay cuts and foreclosures. Getting rid of Obama as the head of the party is the first step in reverting to form. http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/09/04/favoritesonsanddaughters Take the Obama vs. Hillary Clinton poll for Democrats. In 2012, Democrats should nominate for president... Barack Obama Hillary Clinton View Results If Obama loses the poll above, will he lose his job? If Obama loses to Clinton in that poll (above), is he sure to ... lose the nomination lose reelection lose his temper all of the above View Results http://orangepunch.ocregister.com/2011/09/02/obama-fading-hillary-rising-primary-challenge-looming/48871/
[FairfieldLife] Fwd: Video: This is why we fight
From: listmana...@joemiller.info To: wle...@aol.com Sent: 9/6/2011 4:25:47 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time Subj: Video: This is why we fight Joe Miller: Restoring Liberty Palin Assails Hoffa 'Thuggery' for SOB Swipe at Tea Party By Newsmax Wires Sarah Palin lashed out at Teamster President James Hoffa’s “thuggery” in maligning tea partyers as “sons of bitches” as he introduced President Barack Obama at a Labor Day rally in Detroit. Hoffa called members of the conservative grouping “sons of bitches” during his intro to the president at the Motor City event. _Read The Full Story_ (http://joemiller.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=6997488e8b068662717031ba2id=2b6351c1e5e=d4fd441ff7) Video of the Day: This Is Why We Fight (http://joemiller.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=6997488e8b068662717031ba2id=efc00e7f94e=d4fd441ff7) _Watch and Comment on Video:_ (http://joemiller.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6997488e8b068662717031ba2id=3affb8604ce=d4fd441ff7) Three Fall Guys Won't Make Fast and Furious Go Away By AWR Hawkins Human Events On Tuesday, Aug. 30, Kenneth Melson, then-acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), was reassigned because of his involvement in the gunrunning operation known as Fast and Furious. At the same time, it was announced that Dennis Burke, the U.S. attorney in Phoenix, was resigning his post due to his involvement in Fast and Furious, and that federal prosecutor Emory Hurley would be moved from “the criminal division in the U.S. attorney's office in Phoenix” to the civil division. In other words, after 2,500 guns were bought with illegal intent, transferred to various criminals of one type or another, and used to kill well over 1,100 people to date, the Department of Justice announces that they’re going to deal firmly with three people who were involved in the operation by reassigning them and/or accepting their resignations. _Read The Full Story_ (http://joemiller.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=6997488e8b068662717031ba2id=0cc7a6d7fce=d4fd441ff7) Obama’s pride in Jimmy Hoffa emboldens hate mongers everywhere By Judi McLeod, Canada Free Press Blame Barack Obama for the vitriol and hatred pouring in to letters to the editors and comment sections overnight for news sites like Canada Free Press (CFP). Thuggish Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa told Obama over the weekend: “ President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let’s take these son of bitches out and give America back to where we belong.” _Read The Full Story:_ (http://joemiller.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6997488e8b068662717031ba2id=aeb7f348ffe=d4fd441ff7) JoeMiller.US PO Box 83440 Fairbanks, AK 99708 Privacy Policy: We take your privacy very seriously and will never sell, rent or otherwise share your email address with third parties. You are receiving this newsletter because you expressly asked to receive information from us at the Joe Miller website. If this newsletter no longer suits your needs, please use the option below to cancel your subscription. Sent to wle...@aol.com — _why did I get this?_ (http://joemiller.us2.list-manage.com/about?u=6997488e8b068662717031ba2id=065b6c381ce=d4fd441ff7c=147 c449032) _unsubscribe from this list_ (http://joemiller.us2.list-manage2.com/unsubscribe?u=6997488e8b068662717031ba2id=065b6c381ce=d4fd441ff7c=147c449032) | _update subscription preferences_ (http://joemiller.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=6997488e8b068662717031ba2id=065b6c381ce=d4fd441ff7) JoeMiller.US · 8230 Catbird Circle · 302 · Lorton, Virginia 22079
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
I keep saying let's wait and see. They won't pass anything without as many sucker punches as they can get in first if past behavior is any predictor of future behavior (blah, blah, blah). I think the issue that has really annoyed me and is tipping me over the edge are the flagrant dismissals of environmental protection. Bush did everything in his power to gut everything, every agency, all the funding, all the jobs, all the regulation, etc. put in place to protect us over the last 50 years and Obama should be taking a hard stance on all of it in my mind, which he isn't. He's caving badly to throw a hail mary pass to corporate on the jobs issue - begging. If I were a Republican, I'd vote for Obama any day. He accepts abuse like nobody's business with minimal complaint, caves like a gentlemen every time, and it is his job to keep the Dem's in line. I agree with the line of thought that the corporate strategist groups (ALEC is one I had never heard of) don't really want any of the loose cannons campaigning as Republican's to win anyhow. Putting any of those candidates in office might truly spark a revolution they don't want that. The need the masses oppressed and misinformed and blaming the Democrats, while still sucking at the money tit. And extremist personalities who are also representatives of God's will carry a high risk of being hard to control. I haven't heard a single logical statement yet. If I were to hope for a miracle or that he's putting together some kind of master game plan, I'd hope that if re-elected, he'd be able to rally those that elected him and educate the masses on what is really going on and push for more of what he promised in the first place - start the revolution of tidal change! He's only got one more term anyhow...might as well go for broke. I do think that it is these corporate/political merger think tanks...the silent ones with the billions of dollars that need mainstream exposure on a regular basis, so that us ill-informed masses start to really understand what's at stake and how we are puppets on a string. I keep seeing David H Koch come across the screen as a new funder of PBSworries me that they are controlling the content. --- On Tue, 9/6/11, John jr_...@yahoo.com wrote: From: John jr_...@yahoo.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 9:33 PM Hanging marbles is an odd choice for an idiom. Methinks Obama put all his eggs in one basket and now hangs by a thread. Egad! He's losing his marbles. Anyway, fat chance. Surely you have noticed the Tea Party House refuses to pass anything that will help Obama win an election. They know Obama will cave to their demands, which he does quite regularly, either out of weakness or willfulness, I'm not sure which. When I was a child, I used to play with marbles with friends. So, I found the analogy to be appropriate with American politics, or any other kind of politics for that matter. But NO! Obama is not that weak as you may think. I think he purposely gave in to some of the issues to the Republicans in exchange for passing the job stimulus package. Actually, it would be political suicide for any of the Tea Party Republicans in the House to vote against it. Now that we have a mandated Super Congress pitting the social safety net, Social Security and Medicare,(which I refuse to call the disparaging term entitlements) against defense spending, guess who's going to be on the losing end of the deal? Grandma gets dumped on the street in her wheelchair on a cold winter night and both parties, including Obama, will hold themselves blameless. Both parties are competing for the same 2012 corporate money. Since the bankers hate Obama for even hinting at regulations, it appears the corporate money now flows to Rick Perry, God help us. To figure that out, all you have to do is watch the propaganda machine, the mighty Wurlitzer we call news who gives Perry all the love and criticizes Obama if he farts crossways. http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0820/Bank-of-America-ready-to-help-Rick-Perry-VIDEO Rick Perry would be a loser for the national election. IMO, he's too far to the right. He may strike a chord in Texas. But he will have few fans over here in California.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
That was a great clipthe good ol boys wheelin and dealin. Does anyone think Hillary would have enough activist left in her to take on the important issues and get the nomination? Is she too rank and file? Hillary vs Palin; Hillary vs Bachmannh. She's got an in on the state of our foreign relations. --- On Tue, 9/6/11, raunchydog raunchy...@yahoo.com wrote: From: raunchydog raunchy...@yahoo.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 8:28 PM --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_esq@... wrote: It appears that Obama is hanging all of his political marbles on the passage of a job stimulus package in Congress. If it passes, he could get reelected again next year. Hanging marbles is an odd choice for an idiom. Methinks Obama put all his eggs in one basket and now hangs by a thread. Egad! He's losing his marbles. Anyway, fat chance. Surely you have noticed the Tea Party House refuses to pass anything that will help Obama win an election. They know Obama will cave to their demands, which he does quite regularly, either out of weakness or willfulness, I'm not sure which. Now that we have a mandated Super Congress pitting the social safety net, Social Security and Medicare,(which I refuse to call the disparaging term entitlements) against defense spending, guess who's going to be on the losing end of the deal? Grandma gets dumped on the street in her wheelchair on a cold winter night and both parties, including Obama, will hold themselves blameless. Both parties are competing for the same 2012 corporate money. Since the bankers hate Obama for even hinting at regulations, it appears the corporate money now flows to Rick Perry, God help us. To figure that out, all you have to do is watch the propaganda machine, the mighty Wurlitzer we call news who gives Perry all the love and criticizes Obama if he farts crossways. http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0820/Bank-of-America-ready-to-help-Rick-Perry-VIDEO
[FairfieldLife] Re: Moving to LA..
Curtis, I'm going to just respond to your last paragraph, since I am not really interested in debating issues rather than challenging or provoking, neither have I a solution to any problem. I'll describe my predicament below - you are smart and intelligent and I'll let you draw your own conclusions. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: big ass snip The natural progression of a bleeding heart liberal is to internalize the pain, become enlightened,be a healer, a shaman. Am I assuming too much if I say that you are claiming that you are in this state? So what about that girl getting pimped. Let's get back to her for a second. We have been so focused on our own perception of reality that we are forgetting her aren't we? How has your state of mind improved her situation, more than say laws that protect her from being discriminated against if she tries to get a legitimate job. And how does a shaman heal exactly? What is the mechanism of that healing that takes their internal state of mind and improves the situation of a person who has their own identity outside that mind. You know, the rest of the world. Have you actually improved the suffering of others in the world, or have you created a nice cushy internal buffer so it all bothers you less? And I am not saying that a life must be lived in service to others or that you have to focus on suffering people to help them. We all find our balance. But if you make the claim that guys like MLK did little to really help suffering people and that enlightened people do more, I would like you to explain how you imagine that happens. I contemplated the whole day about how I could best articulate my feelings and this is how I would describe. I have to come to the realization that I have created the Universe, the love, the hate, the day, the night, the misery, the bliss. I can't recall how exactly I created it. I admire all the interesting characters I created - Ravi, Curtis, Jim, Rory, Rick, Judy, Barry, Steve etc. However the problem is I also became a part of it as well. Now I'm stuck in it, with no way to get out. However I also know it's my creation and it will end one day but don't know when exactly. I admire my creation and become totally get blissed out at the beauty and marvel of it. I also get filled with intense grief at the pain and suffering that I created, I would love to get rid of all of it but I feel totally lost on how to. I just go into intense sadness and imagine I'm sucking the entire negativity and converting into positivity. Yet I spend the day in playful, detached indulgence while playing my part, because I know very well it's all my creation. People around me enjoy the carefree, playful humor, they also like my seriousness at my work, I try my best to help others around me. I also display other emotions such as anger, albeit rarely. I do my best at playing my part. I laugh at the ridiculousness of all of it. No wonder my Guru laughed when I asked her if she was my Guru, she found it funny that I created ignorance, then created her as my Guru to get out of it and then had the stupidity to ask my own creation if she was my Guru. I just went to the airport to pick up a friend. A cop of my creation yelled at me to get out of the way and I profusely apologized and moved out the way, all the while laughing at my predicament. The marvel, the joy, the pain, the intense anguish, my playful indulgence continues and repeats every day. I'm very proud of my creation and totally in love with it, yet very humble because of my inability to really do anything about it. Yet I know it will surely end and I indulge in it in a playful, detached way. No wonder I get branded with various labels such as bipolar, paranoid schizophrenic, manic, grandiose, equal opportunity racist, narcissistic enlightened asshole. Guilty as charged, all I can do is beg for your forgiveness at creating this Universe. Your persistence at a solution is admirable, but I don't believe the problem has any solution. I just playfully indulge with bouts of intense bliss and pain, waiting for my creation and the problem to end.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
Thanks, I will read these. --- On Tue, 9/6/11, authfriend jst...@panix.com wrote: From: authfriend jst...@panix.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 9:19 PM --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, raunchydog raunchydog@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Denise Evans dmevans365@ wrote: Happy birthday! Belated happy birthday, Raunchy. snip The real fight is people vs Libertarian propaganda fueled by the Koch brother's CATO Institute, conservatism media and ALEC American Legislative Exchange Council. These people are fascists. Jeez, why have I never heard of ALEC before? Beyond Influence: Buying US Law http://tinyurl.com/4ypdw5r Just ghastly. Everybody needs to read this. Why libertarians apologize for autocracy http://tinyurl.com/3vuuq83 This too. Thanks for these links.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Moving to LA..
Thanks Rory, enjoyed your beautiful response. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, RoryGoff rorygoff@... wrote: Beautifully put, Ravi. Until we internalize absolutely everything in our creation, take full responsibility for all of it, we are in a sense just attempting to whitewash the jail cell. That's why I like to point out that being beyond the three gunas means being beyond *all three gunas*, not just beyond rajas and tamas. It is a natural stage to want everything to be sattvic, but again, that is just whitewashing the jail cell. On the other hand, if the cell is whitewashed enough, it does actually dissolve, as the octopus or Cosmic Cephalopod remembers that all of that lovely/horrible camouflage is really Us! So favoring sattva does (or may) eventually clarify the intellect enough for it to recognize its own transparency, allowing the camouflagey distinctions to surrender back into our own blanched-out mindskin! Again, many thanks, Denise -- what a video that is! :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmDTtkZlMwM --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Ravi Yogi raviyogi@ wrote: Steve, I'm very well aware of the progress made by blacks. I'm not here to debate social issues. My point was that all social changes are superficial, of the accidental, of the samsaara, of the maya. Regardless of what the prevailing social conditions are we are masters at creatinglimitations and feeling oppressed. It's laughable at the level of pain, misery and oppression I felt in my marriage. I was a worse bleeding heart than the run-of the-mill liberals like Curtis. When I was in the housing projects I would help the people there despite being broke myself as a student, in spite of knowing well that my money would be used for cheap wine or drugs. It was carried over from my time in India when I used to cry at the poor people, a scene where I saw someone eating from the garbage. I also tried to give advice to the people at the housing projects even at the age of 22 but I was too young to articulate myself well. I am totally indifferent to conservatives, my audience is the liberals. Conservatives rarely have the feeling heart, they judge every issue using heartless moral, legal and ethical standards. Liberals OTOH are very sensitive and feel the pain of others. This is awesome and a good start. I have myself gone through these typical stages. Typical childhood stressors, resulted in carrying the infantile pain well into my adulthood. The ability to really empathize with the poor and suffering, manifested in my teens as revenge for the oppressors, interest in guns, Communism, Marxism. Once I became an adult it manifested as social, political utopia. But due to the grace of my Guru I realized that I could only truly empathize with others once I heal myself, till then it was projection of my own inner wounds on to others. A bleeding heart liberal stuck in false worship of pseudo spiritual icons is such a waste. The natural progression of a bleeding heart liberal is to internalize the pain, become enlightened,be a healer, a shaman. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, seventhray1 steve.sundur@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Ravi Yogi raviyogi@ wrote: Just for curiosity sake what is that you found excellent in his reply? Good questions. See below: curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Now I hope this is not a prelude for an analysis of a whole racial group by its poorest members. This is the tactic of those groups I was telling you about who share your disdain for MLK but would never admit you because of your excessive brownness. Do you think I should take time spent with the slumdogs of your own country as an indication of the potential and the basic nature of all Indian people? Subsidized housing and food stamps is one of the things our tax dollars pay for so every street intersection is not populated with a woman thrusting her baby at your car and crying baksheesh. It is one of our social services, which although not perfect, is not a way anyone is being oppressed. It is a lifeline. I know people who escaped those conditions due to that leg up. You should take some time to hang out in Appalachia to understand how all white people are. Where I live we have ghettos, but we also have an African American as the president of the United States. We have a rich community of African Americans in the middle and upper classes whose situation I interact daily in my school work. They don't casually dismiss the work MLK did to transform their lives. I felt that these were pretty good points. I would like to say that the forced busing was a good point, but I don't want to be a hypocrite. I was present when that debate went full bore in my community, and I had
[FairfieldLife] Hale Columbia
Collective consciousness once again saves us! Again a hurricane is turned from our shores. Our Nation's capitol spared. !Om Jai Columbia Namaha, -Buck http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at2+shtml/083815.shtml?gm_track#contents
[FairfieldLife] Blissy vs. Happy
Still pondering my reaction to the videos of Adyashanti I've watched recently, I have a question for those who have seen him in person. Is he always this serious, and (dare I say it) seemingly joyless? While I think that much of the content of what he said was interesting, I found *him* almost completely uninter- esting. If I had to put my finger on why I felt that way, it's that there seemed to be very little happy there. Blissy, maybe. Non-attached, maybe. But for me the only thing that would attract me to a spiritual teacher is if they seem genuinely, no-artifice, no-bullshit happy, much of the time. Adya seems to come across more like other Zennists I've met -- so serious that one is tempted to mistake it for depression. Think Leonard Cohen. Part of the reason I feel this way is that, unlike many in the TMO, I place very little value on being able to talk the talk of spirituality. As Curtis has pointed out, almost anyone who gets the lingo down can do that. What is tougher is to walk the walk. For me Adyanshanti didn't walk the walk. Call me spoiled by Rama -- at least in the early days of his teaching -- but I'm just not attracted to serious. Nothing in me wants to achieve more seriousness. My gut reaction to both Rick's video and better quality videos of Adyashanti was, If this is enlightenment, I don't want it. No offense intended to those who like him, and I understand that it may just be an issue of personality, but I don't find myself able to identify with an image of enlightenment or realization or awakening that isn't cracking up all the time because life is just so funny.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Moving to LA..
I gotta say, that was the best post I've read here in a while. Thanks for a nice break in the action Ravi! --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Ravi Yogi raviyogi@... wrote: I'm going to just respond to your last paragraph, since I am not really interested in debating issues rather than challenging or provoking, neither have I a solution to any problem. I'll describe my predicament below - you are smart and intelligent and I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
[FairfieldLife] Re: From Maharishi to Yoga Nation | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: Alternate titles for this post include: Jealousy: A Whine In 1,430 Words Why Is This Guy Famous And I'm Not? No One Is Paying Any Attention To Me So I'll Suck Up To A Few People Hoping They'll Fall For It And Focus On ME :-) snippity doo dah ...What I want to know is: Since you have caught me red-handedand so early in the day, thus prejudicially influencing all would-be readers of my postis there some way that I can repudiate the pettiness (and insincerity) of my deed so that I finally make an impression upon you which bring out the love rather than the cruel truthfulness of yet another put-down? Relax. There is nothing you can do. I just don't DO attention vampires. You might give Ravi a try. As they say, like likes like. :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: From Maharishi to Yoga Nation | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: Alternate titles for this post include: Jealousy: A Whine In 1,430 Words Why Is This Guy Famous And I'm Not? No One Is Paying Any Attention To Me So I'll Suck Up To A Few People Hoping They'll Fall For It And Focus On ME :-) snippity doo dah ...What I want to know is: Since you have caught me red-handedand so early in the day, thus prejudicially influencing all would-be readers of my postis there some way that I can repudiate the pettiness (and insincerity) of my deed so that I finally make an impression upon you which bring out the love rather than the cruel truthfulness of yet another put-down? Relax. There is nothing you can do. I just don't DO attention vampires. You might give Ravi a try. As they say, like likes like. :-) RESPONSE: Then you leave me with no alternative, turquoise: I must continue to suck up to Rick, Curtis, and Judy. Had you attempted to really help me in my predicament I could have conceived of apologizing to Adyashanti (and Rick)by writing a retractionand then it would have been a win-win situation. As it is, I am just going to pretend (yeah, I've kind of reversed course hereyou have no one to blame but yourself, turquoise) that my original letter to Rick about Adyashanti is more telling and true than your negative reaction to it. My letter, then, about Adyashanti, goes deeper than your snub of me. Hey, I already feel so much better. My gratitude to you, Lord, who I know is arranging all this in your perfect providence. Let me tell you this, turquoise: I love you. Jo Calderone
[FairfieldLife] Re: Moving to LA..
This was a splendid post Ravi (in response to Curtis). It reminds me of something I read some days ago about the 1970s est training concocted by Werner Erhard. It was the est mission statement which was 'The purpose of est is to transform one's ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself.' That is actually not saying anything except there is a change of perspective about the nature of life. Life remains the same as it always has been. As the experience settles in, maybe things will smooth out a bit as it becomes more familiar to experience life this way, with this perspective; the main thing is not trying to suppress the experiences you have, suppressing is the thing that would keep experiences of roughness in a holding pattern. You may be in a really good state because at some point the ability to suppress experiences about the past get fatally crippled, and it just starts to come out. I have to come to the realization that I have created the Universe, the love, the hate, the day, the night, the misery, the bliss. I can't recall how exactly I created it. I admire all the interesting characters I created - Ravi, Curtis, Jim, Rory, Rick, Judy, Barry, Steve etc. However the problem is I also became a part of it as well. Now I'm stuck in it, with no way to get out. However I also know it's my creation and it will end one day but don't know when exactly. I admire my creation and become totally get blissed out at the beauty and marvel of it. I also get filled with intense grief at the pain and suffering that I created, I would love to get rid of all of it but I feel totally lost on how to. I just go into intense sadness and imagine I'm sucking the entire negativity and converting into positivity. Yet I spend the day in playful, detached indulgence while playing my part, because I know very well it's all my creation. People around me enjoy the carefree, playful humor, they also like my seriousness at my work, I try my best to help others around me. I also display other emotions such as anger, albeit rarely. I do my best at playing my part. I laugh at the ridiculousness of all of it. No wonder my Guru laughed when I asked her if she was my Guru, she found it funny that I created ignorance, then created her as my Guru to get out of it and then had the stupidity to ask my own creation if she was my Guru. I just went to the airport to pick up a friend. A cop of my creation yelled at me to get out of the way and I profusely apologized and moved out the way, all the while laughing at my predicament. The marvel, the joy, the pain, the intense anguish, my playful indulgence continues and repeats every day. I'm very proud of my creation and totally in love with it, yet very humble because of my inability to really do anything about it. Yet I know it will surely end and I indulge in it in a playful, detached way. No wonder I get branded with various labels such as bipolar, paranoid schizophrenic, manic, grandiose, equal opportunity racist, narcissistic enlightened asshole. Guilty as charged, all I can do is beg for your forgiveness at creating this Universe. Your persistence at a solution is admirable, but I don't believe the problem has any solution. I just playfully indulge with bouts of intense bliss and pain, waiting for my creation and the problem to end.
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@... wrote: Saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said something like, become the change that you want in the world. Works for me. Sounds like We are the ones we've been waiting for, we are the change that we seek, a line from one of Obama's campaign speeches.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Fwd: Video: This is why we fight
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, WLeed3@... wrote: snip Thuggish Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa told Obama over the weekend: President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to where we belong. Well, sorta. This is what he actually said: President Obama, this is your army, we are ready to march. But everybody here's got to vote. If we go back, and keep the eye on the prize, let's take these son-of-a-bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong. Not the most elegant language, but what's interesting is how the right wingers quote the Let's take these son-of- a-bitches out part, even show it in a video clip, without the Everybody here's got to vote part, then shriek that Hoffa was advocating violence against the Tea Party. Obviously take out meant take out of office by voting, not take out as in kill.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Blissy vs. Happy
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: Still pondering my reaction to the videos of Adyashanti I've watched recently, I have a question for those who have seen him in person. Is he always this serious, and (dare I say it) seemingly joyless? While I think that much of the content of what he said was interesting, I found *him* almost completely uninter- esting. If I had to put my finger on why I felt that way, it's that there seemed to be very little happy there. Blissy, maybe. Non-attached, maybe. But for me the only thing that would attract me to a spiritual teacher is if they seem genuinely, no-artifice, no-bullshit happy, much of the time. Adya seems to come across more like other Zennists I've met -- so serious that one is tempted to mistake it for depression. Think Leonard Cohen. Part of the reason I feel this way is that, unlike many in the TMO, I place very little value on being able to talk the talk of spirituality. As Curtis has pointed out, almost anyone who gets the lingo down can do that. What is tougher is to walk the walk. For me Adyanshanti didn't walk the walk. Call me spoiled by Rama -- at least in the early days of his teaching -- but I'm just not attracted to serious. Nothing in me wants to achieve more seriousness. My gut reaction to both Rick's video and better quality videos of Adyashanti was, If this is enlightenment, I don't want it. No offense intended to those who like him, and I understand that it may just be an issue of personality, but I don't find myself able to identify with an image of enlightenment or realization or awakening that isn't cracking up all the time because life is just so funny. RESPONSE: Didn't see this until now, turquoise. You're getting harsher on Adyashanti than I was. Leonard Cohen? He writes beautiful poetry and songs, doesn't he? And besides that, he's a Canadian. LC, as far as I know, has never pretended to be a spiritual teacher. His sense of irony never leaves him. Poor comparison I think. His intelligence (if RA ever got to interview him on BatGap: after all he spent years with a Zen Roshi) would take the spiritual talk on FFL to a completely different levelalthough I always find CDB up to the mark. LC would enjoy *his* posts. (Just sucking up there, turquoise.) For meare you there, turquoise?the context for true religious awakening no longer exists in the universe (you read carefully all those previous concise posts of mine, right?). It died before I was born. Which is why, in this century, believing in Christ in some fundamental way is almost a source of embarrassment. It is as if God killed Christ (and he didn't resurrect). But let me leave you with the testimony of a saint from the 19th century*who really got it* (IMOand, I believe, in God's as well). *It doesn't work now* of courseand seems quaint and almost ridiculous. But at the time in the universe when it was said (written) it is as true and beautiful and real as anything that has ever been said. Now that truly is my opinionI won't speak on behalf of God in this instance. Here goes, turquoise. Take it in: I felt born within my heart a *great desire* to suffer, and at the same time the interior assurance that Jesus reserved a great number of crosses for me. I felt myself flooded with consolations so *great* that I look upon them as one of the *greatest* graces of my life. Suffering became my attraction; it had charms about it which ravished me without my understanding them very well. Up until this time, I had suffered without *loving* suffering, but since this day I have felt a real love for it. I also felt the desire of loving only God, of finding my joy only in Him. Often during Communions, I repeated these words of the Imitation [The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis]: 'Oh Jesus, unspeakable *sweetness*, change all the consolations of this earth into *bitterness* for me.' I love this. And I love her (whoever it is that I am quoting: she told me to keep her name out of this). Jo Calderone
[FairfieldLife] Movie mini-review: X
This is an Australian movie that was made a couple of years ago but only released recently. It's not great but it may have value for you if you enjoy looking at naked or near-naked women. It might even have more value for you if you watched Spartacus and enjoyed the Ilythia character played by Viva Bianca. She's the entire reason I tracked down this movie. I really liked her work on Spartacus, and looking at her didn't exactly hurt, either. You get to look at her a lot in this movie as well, because she plays an upscale call girl during her last night on the job. She made a vow years ago to retire at age 30, and tomorrow is her 30th birthday. Naturally, or there wouldn't be much of a plot or dramatic tension, fate does not exactly have the same plans for her last night on the job that she does. Things get very gritty, as the tales of two hookers -- one jaded and retiring, the other only 17 and in her first night on the job -- become entertwined, and they become hunted by a person they witnessed committing a murder. Like I said, it's gritty stuff, and not for everyone. But Viva Bianca does again prove that she's not just a pretty face and body, and that she probably deserved the Best Actress award she won in her Performing Arts school back when she was just starting out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA_PLMaB7wo
[FairfieldLife] Re: From Maharishi to Yoga Nation | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@... wrote: http://onpoint.wbur.org/2008/02/07/from-maharishi-to-yoga-nation Thanks for posting that Rick, enjoyed it...
[FairfieldLife] Re: From Maharishi to Yoga Nation | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@... wrote: snip And I apologize to you, too, Jo Calderone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QMchMgokCI
[FairfieldLife] Re: Moving to LA..
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Xenophaneros Anartaxius anartaxius@... wrote: This was a splendid post Ravi (in response to Curtis). It reminds me of something I read some days ago about the 1970s est training concocted by Werner Erhard. It was the est mission statement which was 'The purpose of est is to transform one's ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself.' That is actually not saying anything except there is a change of perspective about the nature of life. Life remains the same as it always has been. As the experience settles in, maybe things will smooth out a bit as it becomes more familiar to experience life this way, with this perspective; the main thing is not trying to suppress the experiences you have, suppressing is the thing that would keep experiences of roughness in a holding pattern. You may be in a really good state because at some point the ability to suppress experiences about the past get fatally crippled, and it just starts to come out. RESPONSE: And the est training turns you into an idiot, even while conferring upon you the infallible sense of confidence that you are connected to the secret context inside reality. It is seductive, it is powerful, and it is false. My opinion from speaking personally with WE, and interviewing one of his trainers, and many of his graduates. Landmark Education (I had it out earlier this year with one of WE's acolytes who, briefly, began posting on FFLon behalf of this very metaphysic you quote: she retired from the scene. You might have a look at those posts.) reconditions one's consciousness such that one entirely forgets what it was like to be the me (inside all the suffering and tension and complexity of existential lifeas served up to one by one's Creator) one was before one took the training (attended Landmark Education; before that The Forum; and before this: est). It is one of the most tragic and unspeakable things to speak to someone who is under the mystical tyranny of Werner Erhard's system. Although, to repeat, the experience is profound and unforgettableand it *works*. The transformation does in fact occur. But that transformation confuses and deceives the soul. It is a great evil. A human being who has got it according to Werner, has got it *at the very expense of reality itself*. I have never encountered a person more subtly screwed up by anythingincluding every New Age religion or cultthan someone who has passed throughsuccessfullythe experience that is waiting for one if one signs up for Landmark Education. Your very consciousness becomes an evangelist for Werner Erhardwithout any say in this. Whew! I hope you think before you act upon what you construe as the wisdom of Werner's words. It (est, The Forum, Landmark Education) is the biggest mind f*** in existence. Mind f***? As in: It will alter your whole experience of self and reality such that you can't recapture any objectivity to reflect upon your previous and perhaps mostly implicit personal metaphysic [before you took the training]. Werner truly gives one a born-again experiencebut at the cost of sacrificing the essential integrity of who you are as a person. You are born into Werner's universe. Just giving you my opinion, Xenophaneros Anartaxius. I have to come to the realization that I have created the Universe, the love, the hate, the day, the night, the misery, the bliss. I can't recall how exactly I created it. I admire all the interesting characters I created - Ravi, Curtis, Jim, Rory, Rick, Judy, Barry, Steve etc. However the problem is I also became a part of it as well. Now I'm stuck in it, with no way to get out. However I also know it's my creation and it will end one day but don't know when exactly. I admire my creation and become totally get blissed out at the beauty and marvel of it. I also get filled with intense grief at the pain and suffering that I created, I would love to get rid of all of it but I feel totally lost on how to. I just go into intense sadness and imagine I'm sucking the entire negativity and converting into positivity. Yet I spend the day in playful, detached indulgence while playing my part, because I know very well it's all my creation. People around me enjoy the carefree, playful humor, they also like my seriousness at my work, I try my best to help others around me. I also display other emotions such as anger, albeit rarely. I do my best at playing my part. I laugh at the ridiculousness of all of it. No wonder my Guru laughed when I asked her if she was my Guru, she found it funny that I created ignorance, then created her as my Guru to get out of it and then had the stupidity to ask my own creation if she was my Guru. I just went to the airport to pick up a friend. A cop of my creation yelled at
[FairfieldLife] Re: From Maharishi to Yoga Nation | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@ wrote: snip And I apologize to you, too, Jo Calderone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QMchMgokCI RESPONSE: Thanks, Judy. Jo Calderone was more real than anyone at the VMA. (He's also the Oracle at Delphi.)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Blissy vs. Happy
Here's what I observed. I saw him in a local burrito place with his wife. He is a very noticeably healthy in person...that is he appears to have a lot personal vitality the way an athlete might. I watched him go up to the soda fountain to get a drink. He arrived at the fountain at the same time as a very sour-faced old curmudgeon. When he saw the old fellow, he opened up into a very broad and natural smile, stepped back, and let him fill up first. Unfortunately, the old guy walked away grumbling to himself as if determined to be even more sour. There was a lot of power in that smile as it was very real and genuine, it actually sort of rolled across the entire restaurant. I felt sorry for that old guy, as that smile felt like a gift refused.
[FairfieldLife] Re: why MMY not use kleem beeja mantra? (kleem or Kleeng ?)
Marcio: and the advanced techniques First you get yourself initiated by a guru and you get the bija mantra. After that you can meditate on the bija, at least twice a day, for about twenty minutes. Then a little later, you can get some more advanced techniques. It's like a garden. You get the seed-syllable and plant it in your mind. Then, you water the root with deep meditation, and later maybe add a little fertilizer. Just sit quietly and meditate on your bija mantra. Just Be. It's that simple!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Blissy vs. Happy
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, martyboi martyboi@... wrote: Here's what I observed. I saw him in a local burrito place with his wife. He is a very noticeably healthy in person...that is he appears to have a lot personal vitality the way an athlete might. I watched him go up to the soda fountain to get a drink. He arrived at the fountain at the same time as a very sour-faced old curmudgeon. When he saw the old fellow, he opened up into a very broad and natural smile, stepped back, and let him fill up first. Unfortunately, the old guy walked away grumbling to himself as if determined to be even more sour. There was a lot of power in that smile as it was very real and genuine, it actually sort of rolled across the entire restaurant. I felt sorry for that old guy, as that smile felt like a gift refused. Interesting moment, martyboi. Thanks for sharing it.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Moving to LA..
Very funny claims you've made. Glad you've reclaimed your sense of humor. It is one of the most tragic and unspeakable things to speak to someone who is under the mystical tyranny of Werner Erhard's system. The transformation does in fact occur. But that transformation confuses and deceives the soul. It is a great evil. About this something that you title unspeakable you've said a lot and even called it a great evil. So do you call Forum training more evil or slightly less evil than Pol Pot, Mousey Dong, Der Fuerer, or Joe Stalin? Since you proclaim yourself to be a christian, you must think these guys are the chosen slaves of Satan. So was Erhard employed by Satan while formulating the EST/Forum training? Did he fill out a job application and maybe even have a personal interview? Even more important, did the two of them shake hands on the deal? Ain't no deal if you don't shake on it. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Xenophaneros Anartaxius anartaxius@ wrote: This was a splendid post Ravi (in response to Curtis). It reminds me of something I read some days ago about the 1970s est training concocted by Werner Erhard. It was the est mission statement which was 'The purpose of est is to transform one's ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself.' That is actually not saying anything except there is a change of perspective about the nature of life. Life remains the same as it always has been. As the experience settles in, maybe things will smooth out a bit as it becomes more familiar to experience life this way, with this perspective; the main thing is not trying to suppress the experiences you have, suppressing is the thing that would keep experiences of roughness in a holding pattern. You may be in a really good state because at some point the ability to suppress experiences about the past get fatally crippled, and it just starts to come out. RESPONSE: And the est training turns you into an idiot, even while conferring upon you the infallible sense of confidence that you are connected to the secret context inside reality. It is seductive, it is powerful, and it is false. My opinion from speaking personally with WE, and interviewing one of his trainers, and many of his graduates. Landmark Education (I had it out earlier this year with one of WE's acolytes who, briefly, began posting on FFLon behalf of this very metaphysic you quote: she retired from the scene. You might have a look at those posts.) reconditions one's consciousness such that one entirely forgets what it was like to be the me (inside all the suffering and tension and complexity of existential lifeas served up to one by one's Creator) one was before one took the training (attended Landmark Education; before that The Forum; and before this: est). It is one of the most tragic and unspeakable things to speak to someone who is under the mystical tyranny of Werner Erhard's system. Although, to repeat, the experience is profound and unforgettableand it *works*. The transformation does in fact occur. But that transformation confuses and deceives the soul. It is a great evil. A human being who has got it according to Werner, has got it *at the very expense of reality itself*. I have never encountered a person more subtly screwed up by anythingincluding every New Age religion or cultthan someone who has passed throughsuccessfullythe experience that is waiting for one if one signs up for Landmark Education. Your very consciousness becomes an evangelist for Werner Erhardwithout any say in this. Whew! I hope you think before you act upon what you construe as the wisdom of Werner's words. It (est, The Forum, Landmark Education) is the biggest mind f*** in existence. Mind f***? As in: It will alter your whole experience of self and reality such that you can't recapture any objectivity to reflect upon your previous and perhaps mostly implicit personal metaphysic [before you took the training]. Werner truly gives one a born-again experiencebut at the cost of sacrificing the essential integrity of who you are as a person. You are born into Werner's universe. Just giving you my opinion, Xenophaneros Anartaxius. I have to come to the realization that I have created the Universe, the love, the hate, the day, the night, the misery, the bliss. I can't recall how exactly I created it. I admire all the interesting characters I created - Ravi, Curtis, Jim, Rory, Rick, Judy, Barry, Steve etc. However the problem is I also became a part of it as well. Now I'm stuck in it, with no way to get out. However I also know it's my creation and it will end one day but don't know when exactly. I admire my creation and become totally get blissed out at the beauty and marvel of it. I also get filled with intense grief at
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
Thanks, missed it first time around. I'll have a look at these links as well. It's hard to decide which is the worst piece of legislation these cockroaches have gotten passed, they're all so awful; but this is the one that makes me see blazing red. From your earlier link: In Arizona, an investigative report by NPR found that ALEC significantly helped one of its clients, the Corrections Corporations of America (CCA), influence the state's new immigration law. The CCA is a for-profit prison company whose 'executives believe immigrant detention is their next big market,' and thought that a law which 'could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants' to prison would 'mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.' As a dues-paying member of ALEC, the CCA was able to write, present and lobby Arizona policymakers for a draconian immigration bill at an ALEC-hosted conference. 'Four months later, that model legislation became, almost word for word, Arizona's immigration law,' and many of the bill's cosponsors later received significant campaign contributions from the CCA. ALEC also helped the CCA by pushing 'truth in sentencing' laws that restrict parole eligibility for felons, and consequently increase the number of prisoners. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, raunchydog raunchydog@... wrote: Judy, I forgot that I posted about ALEC #286832. What do breaded chicken patties, office chairs and cruise missiles used in Libya have in common? http://www.thenation.com/video/162587/how-alec-turned-prisoners-corporate-americas-cheap-labor-force The Nation's link is dead but I found the author, Mike Elk in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. New Exposé Tracks ALEC-Private Prison Industry Effort to Replace Unionized Workers with Prison Labor http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/5/new_expos_tracks_alec_private_prison See also, Secretive Corporate-Legislative Group ALEC Holds Annual Meeting to Rewrite State Laws http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/5/secretive_corporate_legislative_group_alec_holds
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
H, I didn't read it that way. Instead of feeling as a chosen one to change the world, the expression says to me that if I want to change the world, it is synonymous with changing myself, so that rather than being in opposition to anything in the world, I change myself to come to terms with it. The end goal is fully integrating myself with all of the world's actions, vs. opposing the bad in the world and ticking off victories as my opposition continues. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: Saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said something like, become the change that you want in the world. Works for me. Sounds like We are the ones we've been waiting for, we are the change that we seek, a line from one of Obama's campaign speeches.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Moving to LA..
As usual, after a fashion, we arrive at a sincere place. Thanks for your response. I keep thinking that we might be able to arrive here quicker without the provocation of calling me a Buddhist or pain-projecting liberal or that I have made a random list of people my idols. Perhaps not. Maybe it is the weird dynamic of bringing my name into a conversation with some label I reject that makes our conversations possible. But I appreciate that through the storm I am usually left with a feeling of connection across the abyss of the Internet. I suspect your provocative style would play better in person with accompanying visual rapport signals. But I end up liking you in the end Ravi. As for the content of your claim, I have no reason to doubt that this is your experience and that it has a solid physiological basis. We would differ in its value and purpose and how we are to interpret the perspective it gives you. As you know I reject that the ancient systems of spirituality have these states of mind figured out reliably. I believe we have to integrate our current knowledge of how the brain functions to understand the meaning and value of these states. But the fact that you are in the grip of a compelling experience that has transformed your relationship with the rest of the world, that seems pretty clear. And you seem self aware enough to understand that from outside, I am unlikely to assume my identity as a product of your creation. I have over 5 decades of hard work behind me to create the person I am today. I can't give you credit for any of that. So we are a left with the fact that humans have a capacity for the kind of experience you describe, but we must all seek out an understanding of them that makes our lives function. It is the human condition with or without spiritual labels. We are complex, busy creatures with a marvelous capacity for imagination. We are also a creature who is capable of hideous self-delusion concerning our place in the world. And both you and I have to make our own judgement calls on how well we are managing that tendency. I can only wish you well on your journey, and empathize with your challenges of being presented with a dramatic shift of awareness to integrate. Life is full of challenges for all of us. I have my own crosses to bear, inner and outer. But to follow up on the idea that you have created the universe...I just want to put in a little request. You see the drains in my old VW Jetta have apparently been plugged up by the leaves of the trees you created. Now since you created the German bastards who have diabolically hidden these internal rain channel drains when building my car so it is hard to find and clear them, I am left with puddles on the passenger side of my car with all the rain you have been dropping on my ass lately. OK so here is the request. Till I can figure out how to clear these drains, is there any chance you can hold off on your mildew creatures setting up an outpost in my car? I know they are some of your most beloved creations due to the insanely high numbers of their family living on our planet, but can you steer them away from the black Jetta GT here in Alexandria for a while? I hope it isn't too much to ask. And please send a vision to one of those German mystics to tell them to stop using the phrase German engineering as if it is something to brag about. This is a design flaw pure and simple and they don't deserve those bragging rights. (And yes, I've owned a Mercedes and they still don't have a case.) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Ravi Yogi raviyogi@... wrote: Curtis, I'm going to just respond to your last paragraph, since I am not really interested in debating issues rather than challenging or provoking, neither have I a solution to any problem. I'll describe my predicament below - you are smart and intelligent and I'll let you draw your own conclusions. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: big ass snip The natural progression of a bleeding heart liberal is to internalize the pain, become enlightened,be a healer, a shaman. Am I assuming too much if I say that you are claiming that you are in this state? So what about that girl getting pimped. Let's get back to her for a second. We have been so focused on our own perception of reality that we are forgetting her aren't we? How has your state of mind improved her situation, more than say laws that protect her from being discriminated against if she tries to get a legitimate job. And how does a shaman heal exactly? What is the mechanism of that healing that takes their internal state of mind and improves the situation of a person who has their own identity outside that mind. You know, the rest of the world. Have you actually improved the suffering of others in the world, or have you created a nice cushy internal buffer so it all
[FairfieldLife] Joan Tollifson: New Interview on Buddha at the Gas Pump - 09/07/2011
blog updates from Buddha at the Gas Pump http://gallery.mailchimp.com/e709a491029b04e745834d34d/images/star.gif published 09/07/2011 086. Joan Tollifson http://batgap.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=46388cb659e=16e07f16fe Sep 06, 2011 06:45 pm | Rick Joan Tollifson writes and talks about the ever-changing, ever-present aliveness of Here / Now, that which is obvious, unavoidable and impossible to doubt. She has an affinity with Advaita, Buddhism and radical nonduality, but she belongs to no tradition or … Continue reading http://batgap.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=c6e549ae59e=16e07f16fe → http://batgap.us2.list-manage.com/images/mime-type/mp3.png 086_Joan_Tollifson.mp3 http://batgap.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=4356959e44e=16e07f16fe 48.2 MB comments http://batgap.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=6d04886166e=16e07f16fe | read more http://batgap.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=ee11602f1ae=16e07f16fe http://batgap.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=477dfdd542e=16e07f16fe Like 086. Joan Tollifson on Facebook http://batgap.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=949a548967e=16e07f16fe share on Google Buzz http://batgap.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=b6d910708be=16e07f16fe share on Twitter http://gallery.mailchimp.com/e709a491029b04e745834d34d/images/frond.gif Elsewhere · http://batgap.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=61308bdb59e=16e07f16fe Visit My Blog · http://us2.forward-to-friend2.com/forward?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=4945d3f22be=16e07f16fe Share This with a friend · http://batgap.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=9d1faf6738e=16e07f16fe Follow me on Twitter · http://batgap.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=cc684fc906e=16e07f16fe RSS feed http://gallery.mailchimp.com/e709a491029b04e745834d34d/images/shim.gif view email in a browser http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=4945d3f22be=16e07f16fe Regular announcement of new interviews posted at http://batgap.com. Buddha at the Gas Pump 1108 South B Street Fairfield, Iowa 52556 Add us to your address book http://batgap.us2.list-manage1.com/vcard?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=b0e5d0d53a Copyright (C) 2011 Buddha at the Gas Pump All rights reserved. http://batgap.us2.list-manage.com/track/open.php?u=62b7e50ba8598f35e2edf91d5id=4945d3f22be=16e07f16fe _ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1392 / Virus Database: 1520/3880 - Release Date: 09/06/11
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@... wrote: Thanks, missed it first time around. I'll have a look at these links as well. It's hard to decide which is the worst piece of legislation these cockroaches have gotten passed, they're all so awful; but this is the one that makes me see blazing red. From your earlier link: In Arizona, an investigative report by NPR found that ALEC significantly helped one of its clients, the Corrections Corporations of America (CCA), influence the state's new immigration law. The CCA is a for-profit prison company whose 'executives believe immigrant detention is their next big market,' and thought that a law which 'could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants' to prison would 'mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.' As a dues-paying member of ALEC, the CCA was able to write, present and lobby Arizona policymakers for a draconian immigration bill at an ALEC-hosted conference. 'Four months later, that model legislation became, almost word for word, Arizona's immigration law,' and many of the bill's cosponsors later received significant campaign contributions from the CCA. ALEC also helped the CCA by pushing 'truth in sentencing' laws that restrict parole eligibility for felons, and consequently increase the number of prisoners. Rush Limbaugh calls illegal immigrants, 'undocumented democrats', so how does it feel to be in illustrious company Judy? And why do illegal immigrants vote for democrats?, because the democrats pander better and give away the public treasury at a moments notice for their vote, that's why. (And there goes the American culture as well).
[FairfieldLife] Re: From Maharishi to Yoga Nation | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
I've been meaning to discuss her appearance. It seemed as if she is no stranger to the work of our own Andy Kaufman and his alter ego. It will be interesting to see how far she pushes her artistic drama of the absurd. It was a tricky line for Andy to walk. I suspect we are in for some fantastic entertainment mixed with some spectacular failures in her future. This schtick ain't easy! I got to see Andy before he became famous in my first year at MIU. He rocked our world. To be in the room and under his expert mind-f--k massage was an experience that I remember vividly to this day. He was into something profound about how we construct our consensual reality. He hacked into it and with impish delight sent us reeling. I am curious about whether or not your own dramatic work with people had any parallels. Glad to see you're posting again. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@ wrote: snip And I apologize to you, too, Jo Calderone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QMchMgokCI RESPONSE: Thanks, Judy. Jo Calderone was more real than anyone at the VMA. (He's also the Oracle at Delphi.)
[FairfieldLife] Re: why MMY not use kleem beeja mantra? (kleem or Kleeng ?)
Bhairitu: There is a PDF article on mantras available there. Great, but you can't learn tantra yoga from a PDF. In fact, a 'bija mantra' is a bija mantra only when given in an initiation by a guru. You failed to give a definition of bija mantra. Definition of mantra: A mantra is a quasi-morpheme or a series of quasi-morphemes, or a series of mixed genuine and quasi-morphemes, arranged in conventional patterns, based on codified esoteric traditions, and passed on from one preceptor to one disciple in the course of a prescribed initiation ritual... Works cited: The Tantric Tradition by Swami Ageananda Bharati Rider, 1965
[FairfieldLife] Re: Blissy vs. Happy
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, martyboi martyboi@... wrote: Here's what I observed. I saw him in a local burrito place with his wife. He is a very noticeably healthy in person...that is he appears to have a lot personal vitality the way an athlete might. I watched him go up to the soda fountain to get a drink. He arrived at the fountain at the same time as a very sour-faced old curmudgeon. When he saw the old fellow, he opened up into a very broad and natural smile, stepped back, and let him fill up first. Unfortunately, the old guy walked away grumbling to himself as if determined to be even more sour. There was a lot of power in that smile as it was very real and genuine, it actually sort of rolled across the entire restaurant. I felt sorry for that old guy, as that smile felt like a gift refused. RESPONSE: Another interpretation of this event is possible other than the one you have given. First off: His personal vitality is a big plus for me. But here's where a different perspective enters innot that yours is not the correct one; but it does not necessarily exclude the possibility of the following read-out: that the sour-faced curmudgeon felt condescension and a certain arbitrariness in this exhibition of charity on the apart of Adyashantinot necessarily consciously, but somewhere in his being he acted in the benefit of knowing that someone had just given way to him on the basis of an assumed sense of being awakened and him the old guy, not being awakened. The universe itself, then, acted through the sour-faced curmudgeon by demonstrating to Adyashanti that he was too contrived, too affected, too pre-determined in his response to the contesting of positions at the soda fountain. Had Adyashanti *discovered* in the moment what was the appropriate (cosmically suave and aesthetically right) response to the situation [or *context* within which to act out his impulse], perhaps the old fellow would have not doubled-downed on his sourpuss-ness. As for the smile, it sounds greatreal and genuine as you say. But even the obligatory smile from the enlightened man may have robbed even Adyashanti of a more spontaneous, subtle, and truthful experience. I don't disagree then with what you say here. I only provide an alternate explanation in order not to categorically rule out the possibility that the curmudgeon may have, unwittingly, acted more authentically than did Adyashanti. It is more likely you are right; nevertheless I don't want it to seem that the old guy is refused a hearing. And I have given him one. And, if I may say it, a hearing to the pre-enlightened [or de-enlightened!] Adyashantito which the sour-faced curmudgeon may not have reactedeven if Adyashanti performed essentially the same overt act.
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
raunchydog: He continued idiotic wars... Like joining in a civil war in Libya? Unlike the Iraq invasion where Congress almost unanimously supported President Bush' initiative, this military action was begun by Obama entirely on his own initiative. Remember that, because I'd be surprised if the media reminds anyone... http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/09/04/libyan-rebels-round-up-black-africans/
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
Regardless of Adya's personality, you have made this argument before, that you wouldn't go for enlightenment if it was based on the personalities of Maharishi, or Adya, or some of the posters here. You've also said that you have not awakened to enlightenment, and that the only teacher that you liked in that regard was Lenz. It leads me to conclude that you aren't all that interested in liberation. The expression where there is a will, there is a way comes to mind. However you seem determined to make your lack of liberation other people's fault, based on their inability to model enlightenment successfully for you - not good enough, too boring, control freak, abberant personality, not enough fun, etc. Your excuses seem endless and self-serving. Your business is your own, in every domain. Its just that you seem to have constructed the perfect out for yourself regarding your lack of progress towards liberation. Reminds me in a small way of my mental process yesterday upon arriving home and seeing a lot of dishes to wash. First I began to think up an excuse to tell my wife, and then I realized I was already spending energy not washing the dishes, so I just turned that energy into productive action and washed them. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: Still pondering my reaction to the videos of Adyashanti I've watched recently, I have a question for those who have seen him in person. Is he always this serious, and (dare I say it) seemingly joyless? While I think that much of the content of what he said was interesting, I found *him* almost completely uninter- esting. If I had to put my finger on why I felt that way, it's that there seemed to be very little happy there. Blissy, maybe. Non-attached, maybe. But for me the only thing that would attract me to a spiritual teacher is if they seem genuinely, no-artifice, no-bullshit happy, much of the time. Adya seems to come across more like other Zennists I've met -- so serious that one is tempted to mistake it for depression. Think Leonard Cohen. Part of the reason I feel this way is that, unlike many in the TMO, I place very little value on being able to talk the talk of spirituality. As Curtis has pointed out, almost anyone who gets the lingo down can do that. What is tougher is to walk the walk. For me Adyanshanti didn't walk the walk. Call me spoiled by Rama -- at least in the early days of his teaching -- but I'm just not attracted to serious. Nothing in me wants to achieve more seriousness. My gut reaction to both Rick's video and better quality videos of Adyashanti was, If this is enlightenment, I don't want it. No offense intended to those who like him, and I understand that it may just be an issue of personality, but I don't find myself able to identify with an image of enlightenment or realization or awakening that isn't cracking up all the time because life is just so funny.
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
Saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said something like, become the change that you want in the world. Works for me. authfriend: Sounds like We are the ones we've been waiting for, we are the change that we seek, a line from one of Obama's campaign speeches. Apparently only 22% of polled Americans are waiting for the changes sought by Obama. Obviously bumper stickers aren't working very well. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 22% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of - 22... http://tinyurl.com/5tnd2b
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@... wrote: Regardless of Adya's personality, you have made this argument before, that you wouldn't go for enlightenment if it was based on the personalities of Maharishi, or Adya, or some of the posters here. ... It leads me to conclude that you aren't all that interested in liberation. Seeing as how I've said this explicitly many times, that's some real highfalootin' seeing on your part, Jim. :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Blissy vs. Happy
I felt a real integrity and naturalness at that moment. His smile made me happy! So I stole it form myself.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: why MMY not use kleem beeja mantra? (kleem or Kleeng ?)
On 09/07/2011 08:33 AM, richardwillytexwilliams wrote: Bhairitu: There is a PDF article on mantras available there. Great, but you can't learn tantra yoga from a PDF. In fact, a 'bija mantra' is a bija mantra only when given in an initiation by a guru. You failed to give a definition of bija mantra. Definition of mantra: A mantra is a quasi-morpheme or a series of quasi-morphemes, or a series of mixed genuine and quasi-morphemes, arranged in conventional patterns, based on codified esoteric traditions, and passed on from one preceptor to one disciple in the course of a prescribed initiation ritual... Works cited: The Tantric Tradition by Swami Ageananda Bharati Rider, 1965 Don't be so dense. I've said all along one can't learn tantra from books and that it should be learned from a master of the path.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Fwd: Video: This is why we fight
Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa... authfriend: Well, sorta... Take the S.O.B.s out on a 'date' - I don't think so. People don't vote someone out in the middle of a war with an army! Hoffa should resign! So, most of the mainstreet media missed Hoffa's comments, but the L.A. Times is now a right wingers paper? Go figure. http://tinyurl.com/3w22p47 At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all the ails of the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do, it's important for us to pause for a moment, make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds. - Barack Obama
[FairfieldLife] Re: Blissy vs. Happy
turquoiseb: Call me spoiled by Rama -- at least in the early days of his teaching -- but I'm just not attracted to serious... If you enjoyed the funny with the Zen Master Rama, you must have been absolutly in love with the laughing and giggling Maharishi Mahesh Yogi! Obviously, you are a real bliss-ninny! LoL!
[FairfieldLife] Re: From Maharishi to Yoga Nation | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: I've been meaning to discuss her appearance. It seemed as if she is no stranger to the work of our own Andy Kaufman and his alter ego. It will be interesting to see how far she pushes her artistic drama of the absurd. It was a tricky line for Andy to walk. I suspect we are in for some fantastic entertainment mixed with some spectacular failures in her future. This schtick ain't easy! I got to see Andy before he became famous in my first year at MIU. He rocked our world. To be in the room and under his expert mind-f--k massage was an experience that I remember vividly to this day. He was into something profound about how we construct our consensual reality. He hacked into it and with impish delight sent us reeling. I am curious about whether or not your own dramatic work with people had any parallels. Glad to see you're posting again. RESPONSE: Yeah, but your post to Ravi is the best post of the day*so far*. Stunningly apposite and disarming. I learned something in reading this response. I am incapable of mastering such a situation. The humour at the end, well it started to kill me. Excellent parallel with Andy Kaufman; however, AK was more stingingly satiric, more in-your-face absurd, more I'm-going-to-break-you-down. Andy stretched the metaphysical boundaries more extremely and provocatively than does Jo Calderone. The reality, the integrity, the pushing-against-reality of Jo Calderone is a more artistic and beautiful (if ironically beyond most persons' comprehension: *it is intended to be this*) thing than is Andy Kaufman's schtick. AK, as you say was into something profound about how we construct our consensual reality. Jo Calderone, as Jo Calderone is more real than LG. Or rather Stefani Germanotta can, in being Jo Calderone, express her intensity, her isolation, her unique place in the universeher singular vibrationmore potently than even in her art. Or even in her person as the real lover of the Nebraska boy. What LG is doing in being Jo Calderone, then, is demonstrating the utmost-ness of her incredible sincerity, intensity, love, and devotion: by putting herself so truthfully into this character Jo Calderone she, through this persona, gets to expressbehind this maskmore of who she really is as a person. Jo Calderone exists, performs, in order to confront each person's sense of how real their experience isof themselves and what is actually going on in the moment. With Andy Kaufman on the other hand, his final intention is to mock, undermine, blow apart the sense of space one has metaphysically constructedwithout providing, implicitly, in this performance 'any alternative'. LG is not nihilistic like this: her idealism, her self-sacrifice (which is abundantly displayed in her art: her music, her fashion, her 'message') is concentrated in the juxtaposition of someone having to apprehend Jo Calderone knowing that it is really Lady Gaga, who is really Stefani Germanotta. Andy Kaufman's brilliant irony was not a religious act; Lady Gaga's is a religious actalthough perhaps only a few of us (Tony Bennett, as far as I know, was the only one who really got what Jo Calderone was) really appreciate this. Maybe even Gaga herself isn't quite sure what she is doing; she only knows: *I have to do this, and do this within an inch of my life*. For me, in being familiar with theatre, I consider her Jo Calderonehold it: you will not agree with me, Curtisperformance as truthful as I have ever seen in my lifetime. Of course she is pulling this off within an entirely different context than mere make-belief. But Robert Duval (one of my favourite actors) could not better her in this effort. Lady Gaga was coiled up so powerfully inside Jo Calderone that she was able to say and do things (and produce an effect) that even her art can't do. Andy Kaufman (it must have been something to see him live) is awesomely, preternaturally strange in what he does and in the effect he produces. But his final statement (the why of it): that seems to me to be inscrutable, and it died with Andy). Andy used a silent anger and sense of extreme self-isolation to fuel his art. Lady Gaga (or Stefani Germanotta) uses only her heart and souland I, for one, feel that heart and soul to be good, to be, in some metaphorical sense, blessed. The beautiful woman and person that is Lady Gaga is found in the perfect distortion and vividness of Jo Calderone. It is her most serious and anguished cry for justice and truth that I can ever imagine. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@ wrote: snip And I apologize to you, too, Jo Calderone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QMchMgokCI RESPONSE:
[FairfieldLife] Re: why MMY not use kleem beeja mantra? (kleem or Kleeng ?)
There is a PDF article on mantras available there... Great, but you can't learn tantra yoga from a PDF. Bhairitu: Don't be so dense. I've said all along one can't learn tantra from books and that it should be learned from a master of the path. So, why did you send Marcio to a David Frawley PDF?
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
Ha Ha! Yeah, guess so. So why bother assessing teachers and others in terms of sdomething you have no interest in? Sort of like owning a bicycle and constantly finding fault with auto mechanics. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: Regardless of Adya's personality, you have made this argument before, that you wouldn't go for enlightenment if it was based on the personalities of Maharishi, or Adya, or some of the posters here. ... It leads me to conclude that you aren't all that interested in liberation. Seeing as how I've said this explicitly many times, that's some real highfalootin' seeing on your part, Jim. :-)
Re: [FairfieldLife] Kevin Smith's Red State
On 09/03/2011 10:00 AM, Bhairitu wrote: At least from the trailer it looks like Kevin Smith has knocked another one out of the ball park. It's got a great cast. And it's available now before theatrical release VOD on YouTube, Vudu and I suspect Comcast too. http://www.youtube.com/movie?v=OKVCKHCz-1Q Last night I watched a 1975 film called God Told Me To. Now off the top of your head without looking it up what is the TM connection to this film? Not a bad film for the time, sort of NY indie with a good cast. Watched it on DVD from Netflix. Sadly whoever has the rights didn't release it in widescreen but full frame instead. The theatrical showings may have been matted as the full frame didn't look PS. A further note is that Vudu has the making of Red State available as a free rental. Though I noted from the credits that it was shot with Red cameras, I also noticed some footage that looked like it was shot with a Digital SLR camera and indeed Smith confirmed it in the making of. Smith goes into detail about making movies without studios and distributing it yourself. Well maybe with a little help from Lionsgate which Smith once declared on a DVD commentary where your movie winds up when nobody else wants it.
[FairfieldLife] Re: From Maharishi to Yoga Nation | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
She should just pay you for writing this Robin! She must be something to deserve a fan like you. Really excellent analysis and I had a blast reading it. I am not as sure of Andy's posture of mocking. He seemed so personally vulnerable to me, fragile almost. There was something sweet about him too. The difference I see is that Gaga comes off as much more physiologically stable and less tormented by the demons Andy was fighting in himself. I'm not sure the perfectionist enlightenment standard pitched by Maharishi did him any favors. But since I never had a one one discussion with him I am not sure if there was any there, there. He might have been fighting a pathology along with his artistic sense. It wouldn't be the first time for an artist. But I agree that Gaga is a heart-centered well-wisher and she projects a wind beneath the wings of anyone who digs her art. I just wish she would lose the club beat more often, I found her last CD a one listen only effort. I can't wait to hear she is doing an unplugged CD, I'll be first in line. No actually second. I know who will be first. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: I've been meaning to discuss her appearance. It seemed as if she is no stranger to the work of our own Andy Kaufman and his alter ego. It will be interesting to see how far she pushes her artistic drama of the absurd. It was a tricky line for Andy to walk. I suspect we are in for some fantastic entertainment mixed with some spectacular failures in her future. This schtick ain't easy! I got to see Andy before he became famous in my first year at MIU. He rocked our world. To be in the room and under his expert mind-f--k massage was an experience that I remember vividly to this day. He was into something profound about how we construct our consensual reality. He hacked into it and with impish delight sent us reeling. I am curious about whether or not your own dramatic work with people had any parallels. Glad to see you're posting again. RESPONSE: Yeah, but your post to Ravi is the best post of the day*so far*. Stunningly apposite and disarming. I learned something in reading this response. I am incapable of mastering such a situation. The humour at the end, well it started to kill me. Excellent parallel with Andy Kaufman; however, AK was more stingingly satiric, more in-your-face absurd, more I'm-going-to-break-you-down. Andy stretched the metaphysical boundaries more extremely and provocatively than does Jo Calderone. The reality, the integrity, the pushing-against-reality of Jo Calderone is a more artistic and beautiful (if ironically beyond most persons' comprehension: *it is intended to be this*) thing than is Andy Kaufman's schtick. AK, as you say was into something profound about how we construct our consensual reality. Jo Calderone, as Jo Calderone is more real than LG. Or rather Stefani Germanotta can, in being Jo Calderone, express her intensity, her isolation, her unique place in the universeher singular vibrationmore potently than even in her art. Or even in her person as the real lover of the Nebraska boy. What LG is doing in being Jo Calderone, then, is demonstrating the utmost-ness of her incredible sincerity, intensity, love, and devotion: by putting herself so truthfully into this character Jo Calderone she, through this persona, gets to expressbehind this maskmore of who she really is as a person. Jo Calderone exists, performs, in order to confront each person's sense of how real their experience isof themselves and what is actually going on in the moment. With Andy Kaufman on the other hand, his final intention is to mock, undermine, blow apart the sense of space one has metaphysically constructedwithout providing, implicitly, in this performance 'any alternative'. LG is not nihilistic like this: her idealism, her self-sacrifice (which is abundantly displayed in her art: her music, her fashion, her 'message') is concentrated in the juxtaposition of someone having to apprehend Jo Calderone knowing that it is really Lady Gaga, who is really Stefani Germanotta. Andy Kaufman's brilliant irony was not a religious act; Lady Gaga's is a religious actalthough perhaps only a few of us (Tony Bennett, as far as I know, was the only one who really got what Jo Calderone was) really appreciate this. Maybe even Gaga herself isn't quite sure what she is doing; she only knows: *I have to do this, and do this within an inch of my life*. For me, in being familiar with theatre, I consider her Jo Calderonehold it: you will not agree with me, Curtisperformance as truthful as I have ever seen in my lifetime. Of course she is pulling this off within an entirely different context than mere make-belief. But Robert
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Denise Evans dmevans365@... wrote: I keep saying let's wait and see.  They won't pass anything without as many sucker punches as they can get in first if past behavior is any predictor of future behavior (blah, blah, blah). IMO, the Republicans would not have much to say agains the job stimulus package since it would come under as a bipartisan initiative. For this reason, Obama will get the credit for getting the much needed legislation for reviving the US economy. I think the issue that has really annoyed me and is tipping me over the edge are the flagrant dismissals of environmental protection.  Bush did everything in his power to gut everything, every agency, all the funding, all the jobs, all the regulation, etc. put in place to protect us over the last 50 years and Obama should be taking a hard stance on all of it in my mind, which he isn't. He's caving badly to throw a hail mary pass to corporate on the jobs issue - begging.  Environmental issues are important. But the more pressing issues are related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the national debt, and the economy which includes more jobs for Americans. If I were a Republican, I'd vote for Obama any day.  He accepts abuse like nobody's business with minimal complaint, caves like a gentlemen every time, and it is his job to keep the Dem's in line.  I agree with the line of thought that the corporate strategist groups (ALEC is one I had never heard of) don't really want any of the loose cannons campaigning as Republican's to win anyhow.  Putting any of those candidates in office might truly spark a revolution they don't want that.  The need the masses oppressed and misinformed and blaming the Democrats, while still sucking at the money tit.  And extremist personalities who are also representatives of God's will carry a high risk of being hard to control.  I haven't heard a single logical statement yet. Obama is trying to appeal to the so-called Reagan Democrats to vote for him in the next election. I don't believe he can convince any of the Tea Party sympathizers to listen to any of his ideas. If I were to hope for a miracle or that he's putting together some kind of master game plan, I'd hope that if re-elected, he'd be able to rally those that elected him and educate the masses on what is really going on and push for more of what he promised in the first place - start the revolution of tidal change!  He's only got one more term anyhow...might as well go for broke. In American politics, all a candidate has to do is have 51 percent of the voters to elect him. I do think that it is these corporate/political merger think tanks...the silent ones with the billions of dollars that need mainstream exposure on a regular basis, so that us ill-informed masses start to really understand what's at stake and how we are puppets on a string.  I keep seeing David H Koch come across the screen as a new funder of PBSworries me that they are controlling the content.  It all depends on how one looks at life. If you still believe MMY, then you can understand how a person in cosmic consciousness can transcend the machinations of people to influence politics and the economy. IOW, if one is in bliss, life goes on wonderfully inspite of what the karmis do in the world. --- On Tue, 9/6/11, John jr_esq@... wrote: From: John jr_esq@... Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 9:33 PM  Hanging marbles is an odd choice for an idiom. Methinks Obama put all his eggs in one basket and now hangs by a thread. Egad! He's losing his marbles. Anyway, fat chance. Surely you have noticed the Tea Party House refuses to pass anything that will help Obama win an election. They know Obama will cave to their demands, which he does quite regularly, either out of weakness or willfulness, I'm not sure which. When I was a child, I used to play with marbles with friends. So, I found the analogy to be appropriate with American politics, or any other kind of politics for that matter. But NO! Obama is not that weak as you may think. I think he purposely gave in to some of the issues to the Republicans in exchange for passing the job stimulus package. Actually, it would be political suicide for any of the Tea Party Republicans in the House to vote against it. Now that we have a mandated Super Congress pitting the social safety net, Social Security and Medicare,(which I refuse to call the disparaging term entitlements) against defense spending, guess who's going to be on the losing end of the deal? Grandma gets dumped on the street in her wheelchair on a cold winter night and both parties, including
[FairfieldLife] Movie Review: The Tree Of Life
Because it's all New Age and thoughtful and all, I suspect most here will see Terence Malick's The Tree Of Life no matter what I say or anyone else says about it. That's good, because it's gonna polarize both critics and audiences. At Cannes, the film was alternately applauded and booed during its first showing. It went on to be awarded the Palme d'Or. I would suggest that the reason for this is that Cannes is a French film festival, and the French are given to pondering. If a film spends much of its time pondering heavy subjects, they are willing to overlook the fact that it's ponderous. The Tree Of Life is ponderous. At times it makes the Biblical Book Of Job look like a comedy; even the music is ponderous. There are certainly beautiful moments in The Tree Of Life. Much of it is literally a National Geographic special, full of beautiful and awe-inspiring images from nature, complete with dinosaurs. These segments are punctuated by the pondering, much of it disembodied voiceovers. There ARE people in the film, but in many ways they're almost an afterthought; they appear in fits and spurts as we move forwards and backwards in time, but seem to be there only so that they can ponder. Sean Penn has himself complained publicly that he does not see the emotion he saw in the script up on the screen. That said, he is very good in this film, as are Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain. Maybe this film would have been more meaningful to me if I were a believer in God. Much of it is spent pondering His inscrutable ways, and asking questions of Him that are never answered. But I'm not. For others it may evoke memories of their own childhoods, as it did for Roger Ebert -- he gave it four stars and called it a masterpiece. But for me it didn't. Personally, as ponderings of the meaning of life go, I have to think that Alan Ball managed a better one in Lester Burnham's last speech in American Beauty. That was a voiceover moment as well, but it only took 30 seconds instead of 140 minutes, and IMO it said more about the meaning of life: I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn't a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time... For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars... And yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined our street... Or my grandmother's hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper... And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new Firebird... And Janie... And Janie... And... Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: why MMY not use kleem beeja mantra? (kleem or Kleeng ?)
On 09/07/2011 09:17 AM, richardwillytexwilliams wrote: There is a PDF article on mantras available there... Great, but you can't learn tantra yoga from a PDF. Bhairitu: Don't be so dense. I've said all along one can't learn tantra from books and that it should be learned from a master of the path. So, why did you send Marcio to a David Frawley PDF? For some information on beej mantras. The article doesn't teach tantra. I bet you didn't even read it, did you? Stop being a pest. I know FFL is boring for you and probably too many liberals for your taste and I'm only going to indulge trolls like you once in a while. How's the smoke anyway?
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
Just weighing in on the interview, I just watched most of it. Funny how the metaphor for Rick looking so clear in the video and him being fuzzy kind of expressed how I felt a lot of the time. I am left with the impression that these guys require you to meet them a bit more than half way on the assumptions train. And he is perpetuating the assumptions his own teacher ran on him which he bought into. The big elephant in the room is the question of why we should confer on this guy any more or less of a status of knowing more about reality or truth than we already to in order to place ourselves into the relationship with him as teacher which he is inviting us to assume. Interestingly enough this is precisely the conditions of conferring authority on someone else that oils the wheels for a hypnotic session. Not to say he is hypnotizing his audience in some sideshow obvious way. But his language is the language analyzed in NLP as hypnotic in nature in that it invites the listener to take the rather vague non sensory phrases, and find something in themselves that fits or makes sense. The difference from this and poetry which uses some of the same linguistic patterns is the context that he has a deeper insight from the beginning than you do. And if you are sort of unconfident about your view of reality or are just unhappy with your internal state, this might have more appeal than it had for me. I found little to buy into about what he was talking about since I couldn't find any evidence for his view of reality being an improvement on my own. So I am not a candidate and surely people into this kind of thing would caulk it up to my lack of spiritual sensitivity. Fair enough. One point I found a bit disturbing in his definition of awakening was his lack of integration of known psychological problems like depersonalization and dissociative disorders. I believe it is going to be necessary for this information to be addressed to make some distinctions between these states for them to be taken more seriously by cretins like me. In India they seem to take you at your word that you are divinely inspired because you say you are, and no attempt is made to see if a bit of brain chemical balancing is in order. And I know big Pharm had become trigger happy with these drugs but I personally know success stories of people who got the right dose of the right stuff and are now living much happier functional lives because of them. In any case its omission is glaring. How does he distinguish awakening from pathology? So I guess if you get into the room with him with all the assumptions about him in place, and let him float his river of nonsensory based words over you, it can bring you to a shift in your awareness. And if it is also supported by a whole cluster of beliefs about how the world really is in its nondual glory, you can expand into that as your reality. Been there. I still believe we can do better these days than to assume that this state is an improvement. But then we all are left to make that determination for ourselves. I'm taking the neurology route right now. Until I know all the hardware capacities we have discovered, it is hard for me to take his software instillation at face value. (Hint: it may be all about the temporal lobe.) So I am trying on another version of nondualism which involves a bit of reductionism that labels the mind body split as an illusion, an artifact of how our brain operates. It is pretty much the opposite of the direction of Adyashanti's teaching. But Rick's recording his perspective is still fascinating to me and I applaud your project Rick. You are giving them all a chance to make their case. And for the person who finds it compelling, I know it is a wonderful ride. I got my ticket punched too and am glad I did. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@... wrote: Ha Ha! Yeah, guess so. So why bother assessing teachers and others in terms of sdomething you have no interest in? Sort of like owning a bicycle and constantly finding fault with auto mechanics. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: Regardless of Adya's personality, you have made this argument before, that you wouldn't go for enlightenment if it was based on the personalities of Maharishi, or Adya, or some of the posters here. ... It leads me to conclude that you aren't all that interested in liberation. Seeing as how I've said this explicitly many times, that's some real highfalootin' seeing on your part, Jim. :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
WilliamG: And there goes the American culture as well... Let foul-mouthed Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa and Vice President Joe Biden know that you won't be intimidated. Purchase your own SOB T-Shirt: http://tinyurl.com/3mz35qu http://tinyurl.com/3mz35qu http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/09/let-jimmy-hoffa-know-you-wont-b\ e-intimidated-buy-an-sob-t-shirt/
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
Yep, while not a Maharishi person, I do think it gets back to that concept of becoming the change you want in the world...or at least, trying a little harder to exemplify it. At least that is what I tell myself. --- On Wed, 9/7/11, John jr_...@yahoo.com wrote: From: John jr_...@yahoo.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, September 7, 2011, 9:39 AM --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Denise Evans dmevans365@... wrote: I keep saying let's wait and see.  They won't pass anything without as many sucker punches as they can get in first if past behavior is any predictor of future behavior (blah, blah, blah). IMO, the Republicans would not have much to say agains the job stimulus package since it would come under as a bipartisan initiative. For this reason, Obama will get the credit for getting the much needed legislation for reviving the US economy. I think the issue that has really annoyed me and is tipping me over the edge are the flagrant dismissals of environmental protection.  Bush did everything in his power to gut everything, every agency, all the funding, all the jobs, all the regulation, etc. put in place to protect us over the last 50 years and Obama should be taking a hard stance on all of it in my mind, which he isn't. He's caving badly to throw a hail mary pass to corporate on the jobs issue - begging.  Environmental issues are important. But the more pressing issues are related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the national debt, and the economy which includes more jobs for Americans. If I were a Republican, I'd vote for Obama any day.  He accepts abuse like nobody's business with minimal complaint, caves like a gentlemen every time, and it is his job to keep the Dem's in line.  I agree with the line of thought that the corporate strategist groups (ALEC is one I had never heard of) don't really want any of the loose cannons campaigning as Republican's to win anyhow.  Putting any of those candidates in office might truly spark a revolution they don't want that.  The need the masses oppressed and misinformed and blaming the Democrats, while still sucking at the money tit.  And extremist personalities who are also representatives of God's will carry a high risk of being hard to control.  I haven't heard a single logical statement yet. Obama is trying to appeal to the so-called Reagan Democrats to vote for him in the next election. I don't believe he can convince any of the Tea Party sympathizers to listen to any of his ideas. If I were to hope for a miracle or that he's putting together some kind of master game plan, I'd hope that if re-elected, he'd be able to rally those that elected him and educate the masses on what is really going on and push for more of what he promised in the first place - start the revolution of tidal change!  He's only got one more term anyhow...might as well go for broke. In American politics, all a candidate has to do is have 51 percent of the voters to elect him. I do think that it is these corporate/political merger think tanks...the silent ones with the billions of dollars that need mainstream exposure on a regular basis, so that us ill-informed masses start to really understand what's at stake and how we are puppets on a string.  I keep seeing David H Koch come across the screen as a new funder of PBSworries me that they are controlling the content.  It all depends on how one looks at life. If you still believe MMY, then you can understand how a person in cosmic consciousness can transcend the machinations of people to influence politics and the economy. IOW, if one is in bliss, life goes on wonderfully inspite of what the karmis do in the world. --- On Tue, 9/6/11, John jr_esq@... wrote: From: John jr_esq@... Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 9:33 PM  Hanging marbles is an odd choice for an idiom. Methinks Obama put all his eggs in one basket and now hangs by a thread. Egad! He's losing his marbles. Anyway, fat chance. Surely you have noticed the Tea Party House refuses to pass anything that will help Obama win an election. They know Obama will cave to their demands, which he does quite regularly, either out of weakness or willfulness, I'm not sure which. When I was a child, I used to play with marbles with friends. So, I found the analogy to be appropriate with American politics, or any other kind of politics for that matter. But NO! Obama is not that weak as you may think. I think he purposely gave in to some of the issues to the
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
(And there goes the American culture as well) (btw, how do I get snip to show up...do I type it in?) H...which culture would that be? Where are your ancestors from? Are you Native American? Descended from British invaders? From 0ther immigrants escaping religious persecution or systemic poverty? How do you define this American culture? --- On Wed, 9/7/11, WilliamG wg...@yahoo.com wrote: From: WilliamG wg...@yahoo.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, September 7, 2011, 8:27 AM --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@... wrote: Thanks, missed it first time around. I'll have a look at these links as well. It's hard to decide which is the worst piece of legislation these cockroaches have gotten passed, they're all so awful; but this is the one that makes me see blazing red. From your earlier link: In Arizona, an investigative report by NPR found that ALEC significantly helped one of its clients, the Corrections Corporations of America (CCA), influence the state's new immigration law. The CCA is a for-profit prison company whose 'executives believe immigrant detention is their next big market,' and thought that a law which 'could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants' to prison would 'mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.' As a dues-paying member of ALEC, the CCA was able to write, present and lobby Arizona policymakers for a draconian immigration bill at an ALEC-hosted conference. 'Four months later, that model legislation became, almost word for word, Arizona's immigration law,' and many of the bill's cosponsors later received significant campaign contributions from the CCA. ALEC also helped the CCA by pushing 'truth in sentencing' laws that restrict parole eligibility for felons, and consequently increase the number of prisoners. Rush Limbaugh calls illegal immigrants, 'undocumented democrats', so how does it feel to be in illustrious company Judy? And why do illegal immigrants vote for democrats?, because the democrats pander better and give away the public treasury at a moments notice for their vote, that's why. (And there goes the American culture as well).
[FairfieldLife] Re: From Maharishi to Yoga Nation | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: RESPONSE: Yes, she (LG) needs to break free of the rut she is in. Many of her most discerning Little Monsters are telling her this. I felt the truth of your judgment of that last CD. You realize, I am more in love with the person than the art, although her earlier music was sublimeand we both agree about her performance on Howard Stern. All that you say about her here goes to the truth about LG. And I appreciate your awareness of the quality of my experience of LG. As for Andy Kaufman, I agree about him being so personally vulnerable. . . fragile almostand you're right: TM could not touch where he was shut up inside his own world. That vulnerability and fragility, it was almost too much to bear even for those who were close to himeven for someone who did not know him (like me), but who watched his performances, which were almost suicidal in their bizarre self-controlled magnificence. Did he do his Elvis at MIU? No, Andy was beyond the reach of everyone, and it even seemed (I am speculating perhaps imprudently here) his own self-hatred was a kind of integrityAndy was unknowable; which is to say, he himself had some idea of who he was but I doubt anyone else didand he wanted it this way. I feel his relationship to Maharishi and TM itself always held within itself the full ironic potential of his performance, and that even when he was turned away from courses towards the end of his lifewhen he had contracted the fatal cancerhe subconsciously relished this dramatic rejection, even as it appeared to crush him outwardly. No, Andy Kaufman for me remains a terrible mystery, and even the origins of his art are not disclosable to anyone, other than himself. His art never became objective; or rather his subjectivity was so perfectly hidden and controlled that he could, as it were, do his schtick and yet remain utterly sincere and serene inside himself. As if his act was going on in the company only of himself. He was a ruthless, death-defying performer; his every performance extended towards the possibility of self-extinction. Even in his death he seemed to be determined to maintain the same context. An amazing person, but died inside a kind of exiled mystery of selfhoodIt even seemed his Creator would have a hard time figuring out Andy. Andy acted on some level as if he was banished from creationand he liked it this way. He could never become consciously tragic, because this was the context out of which he found his humour and his strategies for survival. But all this is said by way of intuition only; I would have liked to have seen him live as you did. As you say, LG is a more wholesome type. The only problem with her music is she has to let go of some of her artistic team in order to break out of her present mould. And she is too kind-hearted and loyal to do this. She would rather lose her status as a world-class artist than betray (for this is what she could find it to be) her friends, for example, her choreographer. But she will reemerge as an artist. And alwaysas proven by Jo Calderoneshe is unconquerable and fearless: she is accidentally and purposefully nearer to reality than any artist that I know of. Although I must admit, those choreographers and judges on So You Think You Can Dance come mighty close to equalling Gagabut straight up, as human beings: Not quite. Stefani, she is one lovely girl, even as she cannot possibly see herself truthfully inside the context that is her present fate. You remember when Nirvana did that unplugged CDlive concert? Hers will be better. But thanks always for the hit of energy and intelligence and truth-telling that drives into me when I read one of your posts. CDB wrote: She should just pay you for writing this Robin! She must be something to deserve a fan like you. Really excellent analysis and I had a blast reading it. I am not as sure of Andy's posture of mocking. He seemed so personally vulnerable to me, fragile almost. There was something sweet about him too. The difference I see is that Gaga comes off as much more physiologically stable and less tormented by the demons Andy was fighting in himself. I'm not sure the perfectionist enlightenment standard pitched by Maharishi did him any favors. But since I never had a one one discussion with him I am not sure if there was any there, there. He might have been fighting a pathology along with his artistic sense. It wouldn't be the first time for an artist. But I agree that Gaga is a heart-centered well-wisher and she projects a wind beneath the wings of anyone who digs her art. I just wish she would lose the club beat more often, I found her last CD a one listen only effort. I can't wait to hear she is doing an unplugged CD, I'll be first in line. No actually second. I know who will be first. --- In
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_esq@... wrote: snip In American politics, all a candidate has to do is have 51 percent of the voters to elect him. 270 electoral votes, actually. Depending on which candidate won in each state, one candidate could have 51 percent of the popular vote but fewer than 270 electoral votes, in which case the other candidate would win.
[FairfieldLife] Re: From Maharishi to Yoga Nation | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@... wrote: snip Excellent parallel with Andy Kaufman; however, AK was more stingingly satiric, more in-your-face absurd, more I'm- going-to-break-you-down. Andy stretched the metaphysical boundaries more extremely and provocatively than does Jo Calderone. The reality, the integrity, the pushing- against-reality of Jo Calderone is a more artistic and beautiful (if ironically beyond most persons' comprehension: *it is intended to be this*) thing than is Andy Kaufman's schtick. This is no doubt too simplistic, but based on my very limited experience of both Kaufman and Calderone, it strikes me that the main difference between the two is that Kaufman pushed you away, whereas Calderone invites you in.
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: Just weighing in on the interview, I just watched most of it. Funny how the metaphor for Rick looking so clear in the video and him being fuzzy kind of expressed how I felt a lot of the time. I am left with the impression that these guys require you to meet them a bit more than half way on the assumptions train. And he is perpetuating the assumptions his own teacher ran on him which he bought into. The big elephant in the room is the question of why we should confer on this guy any more or less of a status of knowing more about reality or truth than we already to in order to place ourselves into the relationship with him as teacher which he is inviting us to assume. Interestingly enough this is precisely the conditions of conferring authority on someone else that oils the wheels for a hypnotic session. Not to say he is hypnotizing his audience in some sideshow obvious way. But his language is the language analyzed in NLP as hypnotic in nature in that it invites the listener to take the rather vague non sensory phrases, and find something in themselves that fits or makes sense. The difference from this and poetry which uses some of the same linguistic patterns is the context that he has a deeper insight from the beginning than you do. And if you are sort of unconfident about your view of reality or are just unhappy with your internal state, this might have more appeal than it had for me. I found little to buy into about what he was talking about since I couldn't find any evidence for his view of reality being an improvement on my own. So I am not a candidate and surely people into this kind of thing would caulk it up to my lack of spiritual sensitivity. Fair enough. One point I found a bit disturbing in his definition of awakening was his lack of integration of known psychological problems like depersonalization and dissociative disorders. I believe it is going to be necessary for this information to be addressed to make some distinctions between these states for them to be taken more seriously by cretins like me. In India they seem to take you at your word that you are divinely inspired because you say you are, and no attempt is made to see if a bit of brain chemical balancing is in order. And I know big Pharm had become trigger happy with these drugs but I personally know success stories of people who got the right dose of the right stuff and are now living much happier functional lives because of them. In any case its omission is glaring. How does he distinguish awakening from pathology? So I guess if you get into the room with him with all the assumptions about him in place, and let him float his river of nonsensory based words over you, it can bring you to a shift in your awareness. And if it is also supported by a whole cluster of beliefs about how the world really is in its nondual glory, you can expand into that as your reality. Been there. I still believe we can do better these days than to assume that this state is an improvement. But then we all are left to make that determination for ourselves. I'm taking the neurology route right now. Until I know all the hardware capacities we have discovered, it is hard for me to take his software instillation at face value. (Hint: it may be all about the temporal lobe.) So I am trying on another version of nondualism which involves a bit of reductionism that labels the mind body split as an illusion, an artifact of how our brain operates. It is pretty much the opposite of the direction of Adyashanti's teaching. But Rick's recording his perspective is still fascinating to me and I applaud your project Rick. You are giving them all a chance to make their case. And for the person who finds it compelling, I know it is a wonderful ride. I got my ticket punched too and am glad I did. RESPONSE: Readers at FFL, you have heard the truth. And, thank God, I can say that without irony. This is a brilliant analysis of Adyashanti, and I believe it is, essentially, unanswerable. By which I believe if you ignore the points that Curtis has made, you are deceiving yourself. This piece has the strength, the quietness, the virility even, of truththe kind of truth, that, is, which one must put before one in order to know what is really going on here in watching this video. Where is there any *opinion* here, or prejudice, or bias? What Curtis has done is find his way through his experience, and sensibly and rationallyand yet sympathetically,comment upon what he observes as he tracks what is happening to him in watching and listening to Adyashanti. Where, pray tell, is there evidence of someone who *wants the truth to be a certain way*? Where is the evidence that Curtis is closing himself off to any reality? I am afraid, on the contrary,
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
That's correct. I just wanted to make a convenient statement for dramatic effect. Talking about the intricacies of the electoral college would have been too verbose, or boring IOW. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_esq@ wrote: snip In American politics, all a candidate has to do is have 51 percent of the voters to elect him. 270 electoral votes, actually. Depending on which candidate won in each state, one candidate could have 51 percent of the popular vote but fewer than 270 electoral votes, in which case the other candidate would win.
[FairfieldLife] Re: From Maharishi to Yoga Nation | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@ wrote: snip Excellent parallel with Andy Kaufman; however, AK was more stingingly satiric, more in-your-face absurd, more I'm- going-to-break-you-down. Andy stretched the metaphysical boundaries more extremely and provocatively than does Jo Calderone. The reality, the integrity, the pushing- against-reality of Jo Calderone is a more artistic and beautiful (if ironically beyond most persons' comprehension: *it is intended to be this*) thing than is Andy Kaufman's schtick. This is no doubt too simplistic, but based on my very limited experience of both Kaufman and Calderone, it strikes me that the main difference between the two is that Kaufman pushed you away, whereas Calderone invites you in. RESPONSE; Ah hah! someone has discerned *the* difference. For me, Judy, this is a perfect perception. And, if you will permit me to say it, proof of the capacity of your heart to be objective. [I say that about anyone who agrees with me.]
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: Just weighing in on the interview, I just watched most of it. Funny how the metaphor for Rick looking so clear in the video and him being fuzzy kind of expressed how I felt a lot of the time. Bingo. I am left with the impression that these guys require you to meet them a bit more than half way on the assumptions train. Bingo again. And he is perpetuating the assumptions his own teacher ran on him which he bought into. The big elephant in the room is the question of why we should confer on this guy any more or less of a status of knowing more about reality or truth than we already to in order to place ourselves into the relationship with him as teacher which he is inviting us to assume. That's part of what struck me about martyboi's story of the restaurant encounter. We'll never know what was going through his head, of course, but if *he* was thinking that his smile was a gift, it might have been an unwanted one. Interestingly enough this is precisely the conditions of conferring authority on someone else that oils the wheels for a hypnotic session. Not to say he is hypnotizing his audience in some sideshow obvious way. But his language is the language analyzed in NLP as hypnotic in nature in that it invites the listener to take the rather vague non sensory phrases, and find something in themselves that fits or makes sense. I agree. Interestingly, for me, his rap in satsangs and in these interviews would probably not work on those who hadn't paid their dues for years listening to similar cadences and suggestions. The difference from this and poetry which uses some of the same linguistic patterns is the context that he has a deeper insight from the beginning than you do. And if you are sort of unconfident about your view of reality or are just unhappy with your internal state, this might have more appeal than it had for me. I found little to buy into about what he was talking about since I couldn't find any evidence for his view of reality being an improvement on my own. Bingo. Especially because he didn't seem to actually *interact* strongly with Rick. I got the feeling of Every question is the perfect opportunity for the answer we have already prepared.
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
So I am trying on another version of nondualism which involves a bit of reductionism that labels the mind body split as an illusion, an artifact of how our brain operates... maskedzebra: Am I all alone in exclaiming how beautifully wise and sober and acute this analysis is? Well, it hasn't been established that the world of the senses is an illusion - that may be an assumption. If this world we experience is just a dream, an illusion, then what is the constructed character of knowing? Are we each dreaming the same dream - it would seem so, since we all agree that a table is a table and a door is a door. There is a lot to be said about accepting the mind-body duality as reality. It makes a lot more sense to accept the duality rather than accept that events are an illusion and therefore, not real. Who in their right mind would climb to the top of a red ant hill on fire and shout I don't exist - it's all just an illusion! Adyashanti: Get rid of all of your illusions and what's left is the truth. You don't find truth as much as you stumble upon it when you have cast away your illusions.
[FairfieldLife] Anyone know why MMY not advise the mantra om
OM OM Anyone know why MMY not advise the mantra om in their meditation practice? or as part of advanced techniques?
[FairfieldLife] Re: why MMY not use kleem beeja mantra? (kleem or Kleeng ?)
So, why did you send Marcio to a David Frawley PDF? Bhairitu: For some information on beej mantras... Who said David Frawley was a 'master' empowered to give out any bija mantra information on the internet? You don't seriously believe that the bija mantras are ten thousand years old and came 'out of India' with the Sanskrit language, instead of the Aryan speakers going 'into India' from Iran, do you? I didn't think so. If Frawley is wrong about this, what credence would you give to him that he knows anything about the origin of the bija mantras? Briefly stated, the autochtonous hypothesis proposes that the Aryan speaking people originated in India where they composed the Vedas and then spread out from Kurukshetra over a long period of time beginning in 8000 BCE, to found all the European, Middle Eastern and Mediteranean cultures. Read more: Subject: Out of India? Author: Willytex Newsgroups: alt.meditation.transcendental Date: December 30, 2002 http://tinyurl.com/3q6nyfy
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, richardwillytexwilliams willytex@... wrote: So I am trying on another version of nondualism which involves a bit of reductionism that labels the mind body split as an illusion, an artifact of how our brain operates... maskedzebra: Am I all alone in exclaiming how beautifully wise and sober and acute this analysis is? Well, it hasn't been established that the world of the senses is an illusion - that may be an assumption. If this world we experience is just a dream, an illusion, then what is the constructed character of knowing? Are we each dreaming the same dream - it would seem so, since we all agree that a table is a table and a door is a door. There is a lot to be said about accepting the mind-body duality as reality. It makes a lot more sense to accept the duality rather than accept that events are an illusion and therefore, not real. Who in their right mind would climb to the top of a red ant hill on fire and shout I don't exist - it's all just an illusion! Adyashanti: Get rid of all of your illusions and what's left is the truth. You don't find truth as much as you stumble upon it when you have cast away your illusions. RESPONSE: I should have stipulated that my praise of Curtis's analysis of Adyashanti applies only to the videoand not to Curtis's recent assumption about the mind body split as an illusion. I completely disagree with Curtis here; I am an orthodox dualist all the waythe physical and the metaphysical are not made of the same thing. But let me stop right here: I do think that the disposition in Curtis to go the reductionist neurological route is an appropriate and heuristic corrective to his submission to the Hindu mysticism he absorbed into his mind at MIU, and then in proselytizing on behalf of TM as chairperson of the TM Center in Washington. Of course he will deny that his present tendencies intellectually are in any way driven by his past association with the TM Movement (and its religious beliefs). But for me, his interest in, even his belief in, eliminative materialism (if he will accede to that description of his belief system) is the perhaps necessary antidote for clearing out all the mystical deceit lodged in his and bodyor just in his memoryfrom being a teacher of TM and a follower of Maharishi. I think he is doing all of us a favour by so scrupulously sticking to the scientific and naturalistic model of reality. It means HE CAN'T GET DECEIVED. So, even as I can't go there with him (and hold out for a much more complex and post-Catholic reading of the universe and the selfI think of myself as a Mysterian, with a difference), I nevertheless find his way of seeing reality the (as Wallace Stevens might say) necessary angel for seeing through someone like Adyashanti.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: why MMY not use kleem beeja mantra? (kleem or Kleeng ?)
On 09/07/2011 12:27 PM, richardwillytexwilliams wrote: So, why did you send Marcio to a David Frawley PDF? Bhairitu: For some information on beej mantras... Who said David Frawley was a 'master' empowered to give out any bija mantra information on the internet? You don't seriously believe that the bija mantras are ten thousand years old and came 'out of India' with the Sanskrit language, instead of the Aryan speakers going 'into India' from Iran, do you? I didn't think so. If Frawley is wrong about this, what credence would you give to him that he knows anything about the origin of the bija mantras? Briefly stated, the autochtonous hypothesis proposes that the Aryan speaking people originated in India where they composed the Vedas and then spread out from Kurukshetra over a long period of time beginning in 8000 BCE, to found all the European, Middle Eastern and Mediteranean cultures. Read more: Subject: Out of India? Author: Willytex Newsgroups: alt.meditation.transcendental Date: December 30, 2002 http://tinyurl.com/3q6nyfy Frawely studied with a tantric master. However I wouldn't give much credence to what the FFL Village Idiot Willytex has to say on the subject. You shot your credibility here a long, long time ago. Did you even read Frawley's article?
[FairfieldLife] Self narrative and belief
If there is no self-narrative, there can be no belief. Even identified realistically as formlessness, we continue to operate in the world, voice opinions, act and react, think and feel, recount experiences, but there are no beliefs, simply being in the moment. When the self-narrative unravels and the mind is left blank, unto itself, there is no need for the burden of a belief system, which was constantly reinforced by a self-narrative. Get rid of the self-narrative and our beliefs vanish, yet in the moment it is amazing how the bodymind continues as our specialized vehicle for discovery. Not only does the bodymind continue its functioning in the absence of beliefs, it also functions more dynamically, healthier, and free of the wrappings of a cumbersome and annoying self-narrative. It is free, and yet fully synchronized with that which makes up the sum of its parts, expanding its storehouse of experience and conclusion, in service to its universal self, without beliefs.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Anyone know why MMY not advise the mantra om
Marcio: Anyone know why MMY not advise the mantra om in their meditation practice? Yes. The mono-syllable 'OM', by definition, isn't a bija mantra at all, except by courtesy. OM is not esoteric in any way - it's just used as fertilizer, just like 'phat' or any other auspicious utterance. OM does not appear in the Soundaryalahari composed by the Adi Shankaracharya. So, since OM isn't mentioned there, MMY decided to follow the Sri Vidya tradition of not including it in TM practice - OM is not supported by any Siddha tradition and was not given to any student by SBS. OM is just a literary device - not suitable for householders to use for deep meditation. OM is just a nonsense phrase you read about in books or on the internet or in a PDF. It's a place-holder for the actual bija you get when you are initiated. The meaning assigned to bijas or syllables by the faithful has no direct bearing on the actions and mechanics of TM bija mantra usage. It may be true that many mantras and bija mantras have been assigned exoteric meanings by devotees, however, true transcending meditation has been demonstrated to be effective when non-ideational mnemonic devices are used. This is because ideational thought patterns tend to keep the meditator on the concious thinking level, and to thus inhibit effortless transcending.
[FairfieldLife] Re: why MMY not use kleem beeja mantra? (kleem or Kleeng ?)
Briefly stated, the autochtonous hypothesis proposes that the Aryan speaking people originated in India where they composed the Vedas and then spread out from Kurukshetra over a long period of time beginning in 8000 BCE, to found all the European, Middle Eastern and Mediteranean cultures... Bhairitu: Frawely studied with a tantric master... Look, Moron - the Sanskrit speakers DID NOT come 'out of India' ten thousand years ago with the bija mantras - I don't care what 'tantric master' David Frawley studied with in India, or how many PDFs Frawley puts up on the internet. Subject: Out of India? Author: Willytex Newsgroups: alt.meditation.transcendental Date: December 30, 2002 http://tinyurl.com/3q6nyfy
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
And Bingo was his name-oh! Hey Barry, I appreciate you wanting to talk cars, since all the cool guys do, but stick with bicycles for awhile. Getting involved with the internal combustion engine right off the bat is clearly taxing you. You are better off first understanding stuff like frames, wheels, chains, spokes and pedals, the basics, rather than trying to keep up with the rest of us auto mechanics in the FFL Garage. Then if you've learned a thing or two, we'll let you into the shop. But as someone who isn't interested in cars right now, go ride your bike for awhile, OK kid? :-) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Just weighing in on the interview, I just watched most of it. Funny how the metaphor for Rick looking so clear in the video and him being fuzzy kind of expressed how I felt a lot of the time. Bingo. I am left with the impression that these guys require you to meet them a bit more than half way on the assumptions train. Bingo again. And he is perpetuating the assumptions his own teacher ran on him which he bought into. The big elephant in the room is the question of why we should confer on this guy any more or less of a status of knowing more about reality or truth than we already to in order to place ourselves into the relationship with him as teacher which he is inviting us to assume. That's part of what struck me about martyboi's story of the restaurant encounter. We'll never know what was going through his head, of course, but if *he* was thinking that his smile was a gift, it might have been an unwanted one. Interestingly enough this is precisely the conditions of conferring authority on someone else that oils the wheels for a hypnotic session. Not to say he is hypnotizing his audience in some sideshow obvious way. But his language is the language analyzed in NLP as hypnotic in nature in that it invites the listener to take the rather vague non sensory phrases, and find something in themselves that fits or makes sense. I agree. Interestingly, for me, his rap in satsangs and in these interviews would probably not work on those who hadn't paid their dues for years listening to similar cadences and suggestions. The difference from this and poetry which uses some of the same linguistic patterns is the context that he has a deeper insight from the beginning than you do. And if you are sort of unconfident about your view of reality or are just unhappy with your internal state, this might have more appeal than it had for me. I found little to buy into about what he was talking about since I couldn't find any evidence for his view of reality being an improvement on my own. Bingo. Especially because he didn't seem to actually *interact* strongly with Rick. I got the feeling of Every question is the perfect opportunity for the answer we have already prepared.
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
Thanks for clarifying. I already figured that despite your very kind support for my post. I am giving Michael Shermer a chance to make his point in The Believing Brain. He is an unabashed reductionist and I am still making up my mind. But I know that I need to input his arguments and the information about our neurology as a step in forming my own opinion. I hope it will provide some good fodder for future discussions. There are two sets of issues. One is how can we approach our best understanding of reality. And secondly, does it make any difference in how we approach our lives. I do not believe that an understanding that our brain activity IS our mind is going to change that much for how I live. It is just an understanding of how our machinery of perception works. And so far it have become clear to me that not accounting for the specific way that our different brain parts communicate with one another and the mechanics of our perceptual machinery, creates a hole you can drive a bus through. With guys like Adyashanti at the wheel pointing our all the high points of reality for us. Ladies and gentlemen, if you look out of the right side of the bus you may feel a tendency or desire to collapse the contradictory nature of the non dual using the habitual patterns of a life lived in duality, and if you just allow yourselves a moment to connect inside again with that part of you that has always known who you are inside beyond the activity of the mind and the yearnings your individual hearts, into the reality that is behind that activity, the being of all that is or could be imagined in this state of our true natures unified with that same quality in everyone and everything around us and it may give way to a feeling of coming home to our center, to our true nature and once realized the infinite work can begin as we find ourselves enjoying the growing levels of awakening and the paradox that it has always been this way and that we have so much more to grow beyond the infinite oops that's timethat does it for this session, please get your credit cards out if you want to purchase any of my lecture series on your way out, if you don't have any of them yet I can recommend I Know You Don't Know You are Broke, That is Why The Universe Sent ME To Fix You. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, richardwillytexwilliams willytex@ wrote: So I am trying on another version of nondualism which involves a bit of reductionism that labels the mind body split as an illusion, an artifact of how our brain operates... maskedzebra: Am I all alone in exclaiming how beautifully wise and sober and acute this analysis is? Well, it hasn't been established that the world of the senses is an illusion - that may be an assumption. If this world we experience is just a dream, an illusion, then what is the constructed character of knowing? Are we each dreaming the same dream - it would seem so, since we all agree that a table is a table and a door is a door. There is a lot to be said about accepting the mind-body duality as reality. It makes a lot more sense to accept the duality rather than accept that events are an illusion and therefore, not real. Who in their right mind would climb to the top of a red ant hill on fire and shout I don't exist - it's all just an illusion! Adyashanti: Get rid of all of your illusions and what's left is the truth. You don't find truth as much as you stumble upon it when you have cast away your illusions. RESPONSE: I should have stipulated that my praise of Curtis's analysis of Adyashanti applies only to the videoand not to Curtis's recent assumption about the mind body split as an illusion. I completely disagree with Curtis here; I am an orthodox dualist all the waythe physical and the metaphysical are not made of the same thing. But let me stop right here: I do think that the disposition in Curtis to go the reductionist neurological route is an appropriate and heuristic corrective to his submission to the Hindu mysticism he absorbed into his mind at MIU, and then in proselytizing on behalf of TM as chairperson of the TM Center in Washington. Of course he will deny that his present tendencies intellectually are in any way driven by his past association with the TM Movement (and its religious beliefs). But for me, his interest in, even his belief in, eliminative materialism (if he will accede to that description of his belief system) is the perhaps necessary antidote for clearing out all the mystical deceit lodged in his and bodyor just in his memoryfrom being a teacher of TM and a follower of Maharishi. I think he is doing all of us a favour by so scrupulously sticking to the scientific and naturalistic model of reality. It means HE CAN'T GET
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
whynotnow7: And Bingo was his name-oh! Hey Barry, I appreciate you wanting to talk cars, since all the cool guys do, but stick with bicycles for awhile. Bingo! In fact, the Cathars are derived from Bogumils; Bogomils are derived from Paulicans; Paulicans from Manicheans; Manicheans from Gnostics. Thus, the Cathars are derived from Gnostics. = __o \`, = (*) % (*) ~
[FairfieldLife] Re: Anyone know why MMY not advise the mantra om
look at http://www.aypsite.org/188.html OM is paired with SHREE for a reason, and it is second instead of first for a reason. It is paired to maintain polarity between the crown (SHREE) and the rest of the nervous system resonating with OM. This is another dimension of the shiva-shakti balanced relationship, in this case between the crown and the medulla oblongata. It is a more dynamic and far-reaching manifestation of the shiva-shakti pairing than I AM (which also continues). OM is placed after SHREE for more longevity in the vibration of OM. SHREE OM is coming into the body, and OM SHREE is leaving the body. It is a distinction with a noticeably positive difference in effect when seen through the inner senses of ecstatic conductivity. Finally, NAMAH is added for its syllables and as a traditional transition in mantra repetitions. It resonates ecstatically in the heart, cultivating bhakti, and has a purifying effect throughout the nervous system. you know any advanced technique MMY .. that uses the OM after shree Sheree om Aing namah or something? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, richardwillytexwilliams willytex@... wrote: Marcio: Anyone know why MMY not advise the mantra om in their meditation practice? Yes. The mono-syllable 'OM', by definition, isn't a bija mantra at all, except by courtesy. OM is not esoteric in any way - it's just used as fertilizer, just like 'phat' or any other auspicious utterance. OM does not appear in the Soundaryalahari composed by the Adi Shankaracharya. So, since OM isn't mentioned there, MMY decided to follow the Sri Vidya tradition of not including it in TM practice - OM is not supported by any Siddha tradition and was not given to any student by SBS. OM is just a literary device - not suitable for householders to use for deep meditation. OM is just a nonsense phrase you read about in books or on the internet or in a PDF. It's a place-holder for the actual bija you get when you are initiated. The meaning assigned to bijas or syllables by the faithful has no direct bearing on the actions and mechanics of TM bija mantra usage. It may be true that many mantras and bija mantras have been assigned exoteric meanings by devotees, however, true transcending meditation has been demonstrated to be effective when non-ideational mnemonic devices are used. This is because ideational thought patterns tend to keep the meditator on the concious thinking level, and to thus inhibit effortless transcending.
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
That's part of what struck me about martyboi's story of the restaurant encounter. We'll never know what was going through his head, of course, but if *he* was thinking that his smile was a gift, it might have been an unwanted one. It appeared to me to be an ordinary, natural moment without pretense, just like you or me going to get a drink at the fountain. It was just that the contrast between the person who appeared happy and the person who appeared unhappy was so stark. Neither of those fellows probably remember it. I am the one who perceived it as a gift...but that's just my take on smiles: In a perfect world, smiles bounce back. And yes, I have had the experience of not needing anyone's damn positivity. Haven't we all? How dare you disrupt my gloom biyatch!
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
I Know You Don't Know You are Broke, That is Why The Universe Sent ME To Fix You. Ha-Ha! Funny, Curtis! Though Adyashanti doesn't strike me that way at all. He is there for folks who have legitimate questions, and answers them the best he can. The guy seems genuine enough for what he does. He is useless as a doctor for a healthy person, but so are all the other doctors. You are right that there are a lot of assumptions that have to be made to feel as if his teaching is helpful to us, but he doesn't seem like a shyster. I didn't get enough from his interview to listen to the whole thing. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: Thanks for clarifying. I already figured that despite your very kind support for my post. I am giving Michael Shermer a chance to make his point in The Believing Brain. He is an unabashed reductionist and I am still making up my mind. But I know that I need to input his arguments and the information about our neurology as a step in forming my own opinion. I hope it will provide some good fodder for future discussions. There are two sets of issues. One is how can we approach our best understanding of reality. And secondly, does it make any difference in how we approach our lives. I do not believe that an understanding that our brain activity IS our mind is going to change that much for how I live. It is just an understanding of how our machinery of perception works. And so far it have become clear to me that not accounting for the specific way that our different brain parts communicate with one another and the mechanics of our perceptual machinery, creates a hole you can drive a bus through. With guys like Adyashanti at the wheel pointing our all the high points of reality for us. Ladies and gentlemen, if you look out of the right side of the bus you may feel a tendency or desire to collapse the contradictory nature of the non dual using the habitual patterns of a life lived in duality, and if you just allow yourselves a moment to connect inside again with that part of you that has always known who you are inside beyond the activity of the mind and the yearnings your individual hearts, into the reality that is behind that activity, the being of all that is or could be imagined in this state of our true natures unified with that same quality in everyone and everything around us and it may give way to a feeling of coming home to our center, to our true nature and once realized the infinite work can begin as we find ourselves enjoying the growing levels of awakening and the paradox that it has always been this way and that we have so much more to grow beyond the infinite oops that's timethat does it for this session, please get your credit cards out if you want to purchase any of my lecture series on your way out, if you don't have any of them yet I can recommend I Know You Don't Know You are Broke, That is Why The Universe Sent ME To Fix You. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, richardwillytexwilliams willytex@ wrote: So I am trying on another version of nondualism which involves a bit of reductionism that labels the mind body split as an illusion, an artifact of how our brain operates... maskedzebra: Am I all alone in exclaiming how beautifully wise and sober and acute this analysis is? Well, it hasn't been established that the world of the senses is an illusion - that may be an assumption. If this world we experience is just a dream, an illusion, then what is the constructed character of knowing? Are we each dreaming the same dream - it would seem so, since we all agree that a table is a table and a door is a door. There is a lot to be said about accepting the mind-body duality as reality. It makes a lot more sense to accept the duality rather than accept that events are an illusion and therefore, not real. Who in their right mind would climb to the top of a red ant hill on fire and shout I don't exist - it's all just an illusion! Adyashanti: Get rid of all of your illusions and what's left is the truth. You don't find truth as much as you stumble upon it when you have cast away your illusions. RESPONSE: I should have stipulated that my praise of Curtis's analysis of Adyashanti applies only to the videoand not to Curtis's recent assumption about the mind body split as an illusion. I completely disagree with Curtis here; I am an orthodox dualist all the waythe physical and the metaphysical are not made of the same thing. But let me stop right here: I do think that the disposition in Curtis to go the reductionist neurological route is an appropriate and heuristic corrective to his submission to the Hindu
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
I think of myself as a Mysterian As in Question Mark and the Mysterians? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgfnCTp3p7U --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, richardwillytexwilliams willytex@ wrote: So I am trying on another version of nondualism which involves a bit of reductionism that labels the mind body split as an illusion, an artifact of how our brain operates... maskedzebra: Am I all alone in exclaiming how beautifully wise and sober and acute this analysis is? Well, it hasn't been established that the world of the senses is an illusion - that may be an assumption. If this world we experience is just a dream, an illusion, then what is the constructed character of knowing? Are we each dreaming the same dream - it would seem so, since we all agree that a table is a table and a door is a door. There is a lot to be said about accepting the mind-body duality as reality. It makes a lot more sense to accept the duality rather than accept that events are an illusion and therefore, not real. Who in their right mind would climb to the top of a red ant hill on fire and shout I don't exist - it's all just an illusion! Adyashanti: Get rid of all of your illusions and what's left is the truth. You don't find truth as much as you stumble upon it when you have cast away your illusions. RESPONSE: I should have stipulated that my praise of Curtis's analysis of Adyashanti applies only to the videoand not to Curtis's recent assumption about the mind body split as an illusion. I completely disagree with Curtis here; I am an orthodox dualist all the waythe physical and the metaphysical are not made of the same thing. But let me stop right here: I do think that the disposition in Curtis to go the reductionist neurological route is an appropriate and heuristic corrective to his submission to the Hindu mysticism he absorbed into his mind at MIU, and then in proselytizing on behalf of TM as chairperson of the TM Center in Washington. Of course he will deny that his present tendencies intellectually are in any way driven by his past association with the TM Movement (and its religious beliefs). But for me, his interest in, even his belief in, eliminative materialism (if he will accede to that description of his belief system) is the perhaps necessary antidote for clearing out all the mystical deceit lodged in his and bodyor just in his memoryfrom being a teacher of TM and a follower of Maharishi. I think he is doing all of us a favour by so scrupulously sticking to the scientific and naturalistic model of reality. It means HE CAN'T GET DECEIVED. So, even as I can't go there with him (and hold out for a much more complex and post-Catholic reading of the universe and the selfI think of myself as a Mysterian, with a difference), I nevertheless find his way of seeing reality the (as Wallace Stevens might say) necessary angel for seeing through someone like Adyashanti.
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
I have no reason to challenge his sincerity. Making a buck doesn't always mean a person is a shyster. But one definition of a guru that does hold up is the the money flow is always one way. I think of him as an entertainer and he is giving people something they value, so win win. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@... wrote: I Know You Don't Know You are Broke, That is Why The Universe Sent ME To Fix You. Ha-Ha! Funny, Curtis! Though Adyashanti doesn't strike me that way at all. He is there for folks who have legitimate questions, and answers them the best he can. The guy seems genuine enough for what he does. He is useless as a doctor for a healthy person, but so are all the other doctors. You are right that there are a lot of assumptions that have to be made to feel as if his teaching is helpful to us, but he doesn't seem like a shyster. I didn't get enough from his interview to listen to the whole thing. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Thanks for clarifying. I already figured that despite your very kind support for my post. I am giving Michael Shermer a chance to make his point in The Believing Brain. He is an unabashed reductionist and I am still making up my mind. But I know that I need to input his arguments and the information about our neurology as a step in forming my own opinion. I hope it will provide some good fodder for future discussions. There are two sets of issues. One is how can we approach our best understanding of reality. And secondly, does it make any difference in how we approach our lives. I do not believe that an understanding that our brain activity IS our mind is going to change that much for how I live. It is just an understanding of how our machinery of perception works. And so far it have become clear to me that not accounting for the specific way that our different brain parts communicate with one another and the mechanics of our perceptual machinery, creates a hole you can drive a bus through. With guys like Adyashanti at the wheel pointing our all the high points of reality for us. Ladies and gentlemen, if you look out of the right side of the bus you may feel a tendency or desire to collapse the contradictory nature of the non dual using the habitual patterns of a life lived in duality, and if you just allow yourselves a moment to connect inside again with that part of you that has always known who you are inside beyond the activity of the mind and the yearnings your individual hearts, into the reality that is behind that activity, the being of all that is or could be imagined in this state of our true natures unified with that same quality in everyone and everything around us and it may give way to a feeling of coming home to our center, to our true nature and once realized the infinite work can begin as we find ourselves enjoying the growing levels of awakening and the paradox that it has always been this way and that we have so much more to grow beyond the infinite oops that's timethat does it for this session, please get your credit cards out if you want to purchase any of my lecture series on your way out, if you don't have any of them yet I can recommend I Know You Don't Know You are Broke, That is Why The Universe Sent ME To Fix You. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, richardwillytexwilliams willytex@ wrote: So I am trying on another version of nondualism which involves a bit of reductionism that labels the mind body split as an illusion, an artifact of how our brain operates... maskedzebra: Am I all alone in exclaiming how beautifully wise and sober and acute this analysis is? Well, it hasn't been established that the world of the senses is an illusion - that may be an assumption. If this world we experience is just a dream, an illusion, then what is the constructed character of knowing? Are we each dreaming the same dream - it would seem so, since we all agree that a table is a table and a door is a door. There is a lot to be said about accepting the mind-body duality as reality. It makes a lot more sense to accept the duality rather than accept that events are an illusion and therefore, not real. Who in their right mind would climb to the top of a red ant hill on fire and shout I don't exist - it's all just an illusion! Adyashanti: Get rid of all of your illusions and what's left is the truth. You don't find truth as much as you stumble upon it when you have cast away your illusions. RESPONSE: I should have stipulated that my praise of Curtis's analysis of Adyashanti applies only
[FairfieldLife] Re: why MMY not use kleem beeja mantra? (kleem or Kleeng ?)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, richardwillytexwilliams willytex@... wrote: Briefly stated, the autochtonous hypothesis proposes that the Aryan speaking people originated in India where they composed the Vedas and then spread out from Kurukshetra over a long period of time beginning in 8000 BCE, to found all the European, Middle Eastern and Mediteranean cultures... Bhairitu: Frawely studied with a tantric master... Look, Moron - the Sanskrit speakers DID NOT come 'out of India' ten thousand years ago with the bija mantras - I don't care what 'tantric master' David Frawley studied with in India, or how many PDFs Frawley puts up on the internet. Subject: Out of India? Author: Willytex Newsgroups: alt.meditation.transcendental Date: December 30, 2002 http://tinyurl.com/3q6nyfy Yo! Uh. Bling-bling Mantra!
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
Yeah, agreed about this, and the money flow. I guess the question becomes does he entertain enough to earn the bucks he does? Maybe a question of unlocking his creative potential. Is he always entertaining his audience with cover tunes, or coming out with some greatest hits of his own, and jamming on the audience's live energy? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: I have no reason to challenge his sincerity. Making a buck doesn't always mean a person is a shyster. But one definition of a guru that does hold up is the the money flow is always one way. I think of him as an entertainer and he is giving people something they value, so win win. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: I Know You Don't Know You are Broke, That is Why The Universe Sent ME To Fix You. Ha-Ha! Funny, Curtis! Though Adyashanti doesn't strike me that way at all. He is there for folks who have legitimate questions, and answers them the best he can. The guy seems genuine enough for what he does. He is useless as a doctor for a healthy person, but so are all the other doctors. You are right that there are a lot of assumptions that have to be made to feel as if his teaching is helpful to us, but he doesn't seem like a shyster. I didn't get enough from his interview to listen to the whole thing. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Thanks for clarifying. I already figured that despite your very kind support for my post. I am giving Michael Shermer a chance to make his point in The Believing Brain. He is an unabashed reductionist and I am still making up my mind. But I know that I need to input his arguments and the information about our neurology as a step in forming my own opinion. I hope it will provide some good fodder for future discussions. There are two sets of issues. One is how can we approach our best understanding of reality. And secondly, does it make any difference in how we approach our lives. I do not believe that an understanding that our brain activity IS our mind is going to change that much for how I live. It is just an understanding of how our machinery of perception works. And so far it have become clear to me that not accounting for the specific way that our different brain parts communicate with one another and the mechanics of our perceptual machinery, creates a hole you can drive a bus through. With guys like Adyashanti at the wheel pointing our all the high points of reality for us. Ladies and gentlemen, if you look out of the right side of the bus you may feel a tendency or desire to collapse the contradictory nature of the non dual using the habitual patterns of a life lived in duality, and if you just allow yourselves a moment to connect inside again with that part of you that has always known who you are inside beyond the activity of the mind and the yearnings your individual hearts, into the reality that is behind that activity, the being of all that is or could be imagined in this state of our true natures unified with that same quality in everyone and everything around us and it may give way to a feeling of coming home to our center, to our true nature and once realized the infinite work can begin as we find ourselves enjoying the growing levels of awakening and the paradox that it has always been this way and that we have so much more to grow beyond the infinite oops that's timethat does it for this session, please get your credit cards out if you want to purchase any of my lecture series on your way out, if you don't have any of them yet I can recommend I Know You Don't Know You are Broke, That is Why The Universe Sent ME To Fix You. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, richardwillytexwilliams willytex@ wrote: So I am trying on another version of nondualism which involves a bit of reductionism that labels the mind body split as an illusion, an artifact of how our brain operates... maskedzebra: Am I all alone in exclaiming how beautifully wise and sober and acute this analysis is? Well, it hasn't been established that the world of the senses is an illusion - that may be an assumption. If this world we experience is just a dream, an illusion, then what is the constructed character of knowing? Are we each dreaming the same dream - it would seem so, since we all agree that a table is a table and a door is a door. There is a lot to be said about accepting the mind-body duality as reality. It makes a lot more sense to accept the duality rather
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
People are obviously voting yes to the guy with their time and dollars. And I am not writing off the possibility that he has a lot of human empathy that allows him to help them feel better or gain a better perspective. It is just for me on this exposure, it seems that his main skill is the master of a linguistic form. I guess I don't buy in to the premise that I am lacking something he is offering. To each his own. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@... wrote: Yeah, agreed about this, and the money flow. I guess the question becomes does he entertain enough to earn the bucks he does? Maybe a question of unlocking his creative potential. Is he always entertaining his audience with cover tunes, or coming out with some greatest hits of his own, and jamming on the audience's live energy? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: I have no reason to challenge his sincerity. Making a buck doesn't always mean a person is a shyster. But one definition of a guru that does hold up is the the money flow is always one way. I think of him as an entertainer and he is giving people something they value, so win win. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: I Know You Don't Know You are Broke, That is Why The Universe Sent ME To Fix You. Ha-Ha! Funny, Curtis! Though Adyashanti doesn't strike me that way at all. He is there for folks who have legitimate questions, and answers them the best he can. The guy seems genuine enough for what he does. He is useless as a doctor for a healthy person, but so are all the other doctors. You are right that there are a lot of assumptions that have to be made to feel as if his teaching is helpful to us, but he doesn't seem like a shyster. I didn't get enough from his interview to listen to the whole thing. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Thanks for clarifying. I already figured that despite your very kind support for my post. I am giving Michael Shermer a chance to make his point in The Believing Brain. He is an unabashed reductionist and I am still making up my mind. But I know that I need to input his arguments and the information about our neurology as a step in forming my own opinion. I hope it will provide some good fodder for future discussions. There are two sets of issues. One is how can we approach our best understanding of reality. And secondly, does it make any difference in how we approach our lives. I do not believe that an understanding that our brain activity IS our mind is going to change that much for how I live. It is just an understanding of how our machinery of perception works. And so far it have become clear to me that not accounting for the specific way that our different brain parts communicate with one another and the mechanics of our perceptual machinery, creates a hole you can drive a bus through. With guys like Adyashanti at the wheel pointing our all the high points of reality for us. Ladies and gentlemen, if you look out of the right side of the bus you may feel a tendency or desire to collapse the contradictory nature of the non dual using the habitual patterns of a life lived in duality, and if you just allow yourselves a moment to connect inside again with that part of you that has always known who you are inside beyond the activity of the mind and the yearnings your individual hearts, into the reality that is behind that activity, the being of all that is or could be imagined in this state of our true natures unified with that same quality in everyone and everything around us and it may give way to a feeling of coming home to our center, to our true nature and once realized the infinite work can begin as we find ourselves enjoying the growing levels of awakening and the paradox that it has always been this way and that we have so much more to grow beyond the infinite oops that's timethat does it for this session, please get your credit cards out if you want to purchase any of my lecture series on your way out, if you don't have any of them yet I can recommend I Know You Don't Know You are Broke, That is Why The Universe Sent ME To Fix You. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, richardwillytexwilliams willytex@ wrote: So I am trying on another version of nondualism which involves a bit of reductionism that labels the mind body split as an illusion, an artifact of how our brain operates... maskedzebra: Am I all alone in exclaiming how
[FairfieldLife] Ovi downloads vs. Apple downloads?
http://mynokiablog.com/2011/09/07/nokia-ovi-store-apps-downloaded-160-more-than-ios-apps/ Ovi (Finnish) = door! :D
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: Just weighing in on the interview, I just watched most of it. Funny how the metaphor for Rick looking so clear in the video and him being fuzzy kind of expressed how I felt a lot of the time. I am left with the impression that these guys require you to meet them a bit more than half way on the assumptions train. And he is perpetuating the assumptions his own teacher ran on him which he bought into. The big elephant in the room is the question of why we should confer on this guy any more or less of a status of knowing more about reality or truth than we already to in order to place ourselves into the relationship with him as teacher which he is inviting us to assume. Interestingly enough this is precisely the conditions of conferring authority on someone else that oils the wheels for a hypnotic session. Not to say he is hypnotizing his audience in some sideshow obvious way. But his language is the language analyzed in NLP as hypnotic in nature in that it invites the listener to take the rather vague non sensory phrases, and find something in themselves that fits or makes sense. The difference from this and poetry which uses some of the same linguistic patterns is the context that he has a deeper insight from the beginning than you do. What are non sensory phrases? Cn you give a few exmples?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Anyone know why MMY not advise the mantra om
Marcio: you know any advanced technique MMY..that uses the OM after shree... No. No 'OM' in TM practice; no 'OM' in Sri Vidya tradition; no 'OM'; OM not good for being married house-holder; no. No OM. Not good. Not bija. OM only for dilettantes or readers of online PDFs. OM is made-up nonsense gibberish; not for real yogis or siddhas. No OM, good. Anyone know why MMY not advise the mantra om in their meditation practice? Yes. The mono-syllable 'OM', by definition, isn't a bija mantra at all, except by courtesy. OM is not esoteric in any way - it's just used as fertilizer, just like 'phat' or any other auspicious utterance. OM does not appear in the Soundaryalahari composed by the Adi Shankaracharya. So, since OM isn't mentioned there, MMY decided to follow the Sri Vidya tradition of not including it in TM practice - OM is not supported by any Siddha tradition and was not given to any student by SBS. OM is just a literary device - not suitable for householders to use for deep meditation. OM is just a nonsense phrase you read about in books or on the internet or in a PDF. It's a place-holder for the actual bija you get when you are initiated. The meaning assigned to bijas or syllables by the faithful has no direct bearing on the actions and mechanics of TM bija mantra usage. It may be true that many mantras and bija mantras have been assigned exoteric meanings by devotees, however, true transcending meditation has been demonstrated to be effective when non-ideational mnemonic devices are used. This is because ideational thought patterns tend to keep the meditator on the concious thinking level, and to thus inhibit effortless transcending.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: why MMY not use kleem beeja mantra? (kleem or Kleeng ?)
On 09/07/2011 01:02 PM, richardwillytexwilliams wrote: Briefly stated, the autochtonous hypothesis proposes that the Aryan speaking people originated in India where they composed the Vedas and then spread out from Kurukshetra over a long period of time beginning in 8000 BCE, to found all the European, Middle Eastern and Mediteranean cultures... Bhairitu: Frawely studied with a tantric master... Look, Moron - the Sanskrit speakers DID NOT come 'out of India' ten thousand years ago with the bija mantras - I don't care what 'tantric master' David Frawley studied with in India, or how many PDFs Frawley puts up on the internet. You're certainly free to believe whatever you want. Whatever rocks your boat. But unless you have a time machine no one knows about there is no way of knowing when and where the system of beej mantras arose. Someone just mentioned that Marcio should read some of Frawley's books and I remembered he has a web site so directed them to it as well as his article including the one on beej mantras. Now in his tradition they use the 'm' ending and in mine we use the 'ng'. I already mentioned this controversy. There's no harm in people reading the information but Frawley does mention using the mantras with care. He also mentions that it takes about 100,000 repetitions to get any benefit. There's where the guru also comes in because with practice of a guru mantra the repetitions necessary to get benefit are dramatically reduced.
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
I agree, and I think these spiritual teachers gain a momentum that sustains them. I don't know about the linguistic form thing. Perhaps I will listen to his interview again with that in mind. All I took away from Rick's interview was that Adya was describing states of mind, and the problems they cause, that I do not experience anymore and don't want to. Maybe that is similar to what you are saying. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: People are obviously voting yes to the guy with their time and dollars. And I am not writing off the possibility that he has a lot of human empathy that allows him to help them feel better or gain a better perspective. It is just for me on this exposure, it seems that his main skill is the master of a linguistic form. I guess I don't buy in to the premise that I am lacking something he is offering. To each his own. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: Yeah, agreed about this, and the money flow. I guess the question becomes does he entertain enough to earn the bucks he does? Maybe a question of unlocking his creative potential. Is he always entertaining his audience with cover tunes, or coming out with some greatest hits of his own, and jamming on the audience's live energy? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: I have no reason to challenge his sincerity. Making a buck doesn't always mean a person is a shyster. But one definition of a guru that does hold up is the the money flow is always one way. I think of him as an entertainer and he is giving people something they value, so win win. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: I Know You Don't Know You are Broke, That is Why The Universe Sent ME To Fix You. Ha-Ha! Funny, Curtis! Though Adyashanti doesn't strike me that way at all. He is there for folks who have legitimate questions, and answers them the best he can. The guy seems genuine enough for what he does. He is useless as a doctor for a healthy person, but so are all the other doctors. You are right that there are a lot of assumptions that have to be made to feel as if his teaching is helpful to us, but he doesn't seem like a shyster. I didn't get enough from his interview to listen to the whole thing. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Thanks for clarifying. I already figured that despite your very kind support for my post. I am giving Michael Shermer a chance to make his point in The Believing Brain. He is an unabashed reductionist and I am still making up my mind. But I know that I need to input his arguments and the information about our neurology as a step in forming my own opinion. I hope it will provide some good fodder for future discussions. There are two sets of issues. One is how can we approach our best understanding of reality. And secondly, does it make any difference in how we approach our lives. I do not believe that an understanding that our brain activity IS our mind is going to change that much for how I live. It is just an understanding of how our machinery of perception works. And so far it have become clear to me that not accounting for the specific way that our different brain parts communicate with one another and the mechanics of our perceptual machinery, creates a hole you can drive a bus through. With guys like Adyashanti at the wheel pointing our all the high points of reality for us. Ladies and gentlemen, if you look out of the right side of the bus you may feel a tendency or desire to collapse the contradictory nature of the non dual using the habitual patterns of a life lived in duality, and if you just allow yourselves a moment to connect inside again with that part of you that has always known who you are inside beyond the activity of the mind and the yearnings your individual hearts, into the reality that is behind that activity, the being of all that is or could be imagined in this state of our true natures unified with that same quality in everyone and everything around us and it may give way to a feeling of coming home to our center, to our true nature and once realized the infinite work can begin as we find ourselves enjoying the growing levels of awakening and the paradox that it has always been this way and that we have so much more to grow beyond the infinite oops that's timethat does it for this session, please get your credit cards out if you want to purchase any of my lecture series on your way out, if you don't have any of them yet I can recommend I
[FairfieldLife] Re: Self narrative and belief
I tell myself this all the time : -) Do you think the self-narrative is gone or just ignored? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@... wrote: If there is no self-narrative, there can be no belief. Even identified realistically as formlessness, we continue to operate in the world, voice opinions, act and react, think and feel, recount experiences, but there are no beliefs, simply being in the moment. When the self-narrative unravels and the mind is left blank, unto itself, there is no need for the burden of a belief system, which was constantly reinforced by a self-narrative. Get rid of the self-narrative and our beliefs vanish, yet in the moment it is amazing how the bodymind continues as our specialized vehicle for discovery. Not only does the bodymind continue its functioning in the absence of beliefs, it also functions more dynamically, healthier, and free of the wrappings of a cumbersome and annoying self-narrative. It is free, and yet fully synchronized with that which makes up the sum of its parts, expanding its storehouse of experience and conclusion, in service to its universal self, without beliefs.
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
My response to Robin before the oops was my attempt at the form. If you want a more in depth look check out anything Jone Ginder or Richard Bandler wrote about their modeling work on Milton Erickson. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, noah wayback71@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Just weighing in on the interview, I just watched most of it. Funny how the metaphor for Rick looking so clear in the video and him being fuzzy kind of expressed how I felt a lot of the time. I am left with the impression that these guys require you to meet them a bit more than half way on the assumptions train. And he is perpetuating the assumptions his own teacher ran on him which he bought into. The big elephant in the room is the question of why we should confer on this guy any more or less of a status of knowing more about reality or truth than we already to in order to place ourselves into the relationship with him as teacher which he is inviting us to assume. Interestingly enough this is precisely the conditions of conferring authority on someone else that oils the wheels for a hypnotic session. Not to say he is hypnotizing his audience in some sideshow obvious way. But his language is the language analyzed in NLP as hypnotic in nature in that it invites the listener to take the rather vague non sensory phrases, and find something in themselves that fits or makes sense. The difference from this and poetry which uses some of the same linguistic patterns is the context that he has a deeper insight from the beginning than you do. What are non sensory phrases? Cn you give a few exmples?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Self narrative and belief
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, martyboi martyboi@... wrote: I tell myself this all the time : -) Ha Ha! Good one! Do you think the self-narrative is gone or just ignored? If it exists, it cannot be ignored. However our self-narratives are very clever, and I suppose we could even invent a story of denial about our self-narrative not existing and work that into our belief system or identity. I don't know - having a truly settled mind seems to be the key. Otherwise it seems the tapes play over and over again, regardless. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: If there is no self-narrative, there can be no belief. Even identified realistically as formlessness, we continue to operate in the world, voice opinions, act and react, think and feel, recount experiences, but there are no beliefs, simply being in the moment. When the self-narrative unravels and the mind is left blank, unto itself, there is no need for the burden of a belief system, which was constantly reinforced by a self-narrative. Get rid of the self-narrative and our beliefs vanish, yet in the moment it is amazing how the bodymind continues as our specialized vehicle for discovery. Not only does the bodymind continue its functioning in the absence of beliefs, it also functions more dynamically, healthier, and free of the wrappings of a cumbersome and annoying self-narrative. It is free, and yet fully synchronized with that which makes up the sum of its parts, expanding its storehouse of experience and conclusion, in service to its universal self, without beliefs.
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
Should read John Ginder and one of their intro books is: Trance-Formations: Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Structure of Hypnosis --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: My response to Robin before the oops was my attempt at the form. If you want a more in depth look check out anything Jone Ginder or Richard Bandler wrote about their modeling work on Milton Erickson. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, noah wayback71@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Just weighing in on the interview, I just watched most of it. Funny how the metaphor for Rick looking so clear in the video and him being fuzzy kind of expressed how I felt a lot of the time. I am left with the impression that these guys require you to meet them a bit more than half way on the assumptions train. And he is perpetuating the assumptions his own teacher ran on him which he bought into. The big elephant in the room is the question of why we should confer on this guy any more or less of a status of knowing more about reality or truth than we already to in order to place ourselves into the relationship with him as teacher which he is inviting us to assume. Interestingly enough this is precisely the conditions of conferring authority on someone else that oils the wheels for a hypnotic session. Not to say he is hypnotizing his audience in some sideshow obvious way. But his language is the language analyzed in NLP as hypnotic in nature in that it invites the listener to take the rather vague non sensory phrases, and find something in themselves that fits or makes sense. The difference from this and poetry which uses some of the same linguistic patterns is the context that he has a deeper insight from the beginning than you do. What are non sensory phrases? Cn you give a few exmples?
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
I am typing poorly on an ipad, sorry. Last time: John Grinder. Damn! --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: Should read John Ginder and one of their intro books is: Trance-Formations: Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Structure of Hypnosis --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: My response to Robin before the oops was my attempt at the form. If you want a more in depth look check out anything Jone Ginder or Richard Bandler wrote about their modeling work on Milton Erickson. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, noah wayback71@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Just weighing in on the interview, I just watched most of it. Funny how the metaphor for Rick looking so clear in the video and him being fuzzy kind of expressed how I felt a lot of the time. I am left with the impression that these guys require you to meet them a bit more than half way on the assumptions train. And he is perpetuating the assumptions his own teacher ran on him which he bought into. The big elephant in the room is the question of why we should confer on this guy any more or less of a status of knowing more about reality or truth than we already to in order to place ourselves into the relationship with him as teacher which he is inviting us to assume. Interestingly enough this is precisely the conditions of conferring authority on someone else that oils the wheels for a hypnotic session. Not to say he is hypnotizing his audience in some sideshow obvious way. But his language is the language analyzed in NLP as hypnotic in nature in that it invites the listener to take the rather vague non sensory phrases, and find something in themselves that fits or makes sense. The difference from this and poetry which uses some of the same linguistic patterns is the context that he has a deeper insight from the beginning than you do. What are non sensory phrases? Cn you give a few exmples?
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
You forgot to add, sent from my i-Pad at the bottom of your post...I think I'll add a signature line on all my emails that says, Not sent from my i-Phone since I don't own one. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: I am typing poorly on an ipad, sorry. Last time: John Grinder. Damn! --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Should read John Ginder and one of their intro books is: Trance-Formations: Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Structure of Hypnosis --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: My response to Robin before the oops was my attempt at the form. If you want a more in depth look check out anything Jone Ginder or Richard Bandler wrote about their modeling work on Milton Erickson. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, noah wayback71@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Just weighing in on the interview, I just watched most of it. Funny how the metaphor for Rick looking so clear in the video and him being fuzzy kind of expressed how I felt a lot of the time. I am left with the impression that these guys require you to meet them a bit more than half way on the assumptions train. And he is perpetuating the assumptions his own teacher ran on him which he bought into. The big elephant in the room is the question of why we should confer on this guy any more or less of a status of knowing more about reality or truth than we already to in order to place ourselves into the relationship with him as teacher which he is inviting us to assume. Interestingly enough this is precisely the conditions of conferring authority on someone else that oils the wheels for a hypnotic session. Not to say he is hypnotizing his audience in some sideshow obvious way. But his language is the language analyzed in NLP as hypnotic in nature in that it invites the listener to take the rather vague non sensory phrases, and find something in themselves that fits or makes sense. The difference from this and poetry which uses some of the same linguistic patterns is the context that he has a deeper insight from the beginning than you do. What are non sensory phrases? Cn you give a few exmples?
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, WilliamG wgm4u@... wrote: Rush Limbaugh calls illegal immigrants, 'undocumented democrats', so how does it feel to be in illustrious company Judy? And why do illegal immigrants vote for democrats?, because the democrats pander better and give away the public treasury at a moments notice for their vote, that's why. (And there goes the American culture as well). ...and there goes the neighborhood. This is what bigoted old fossils say who prefer segregation to freedom. The Hispanic population will double by 2050. Too bad WillyG will probably be dead by then and miss an opportunity to vote a Latina for president. Dagnabbit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
Will check out Grinder etc. i agree with you in many ways and do expect that neuroscience is going to figure out just what is going on and where in the brain it goes on when people are enlightened or awakened. That does not necessarily mean that the change in functioning was caused by the brain. It could, ooga booga-wise, be something from outside the confines of the nervous system that triggers that shift in functioning. For example, the energy emitted by someone else nearby (darshan), a magnetic field you walk through, an illness that radically disrupts your typical style of brain activity. Either way, the other question for me is if this shift to some sort of all-time awareness that matches up with descriptions of Enlightenment or Awakening is a good thing, beneficial, preferred, better. I wonder how a person would really feel about being Enlightened if they had no context for the experience whatsoever - no idea of God, evolution, the soul, gurus, sages, no name for it. And if they could go back and forth between Enlightenment and normal everyday unawakened being, what would they choose and for how long? And how would their family and peers rate them in both states, if they did not know which was which? When I was in the midst of the TM thing, I always just assumed that there was this evolutionary flow toward a better state: Enlightenment. And I still pretty much assume that, but I do wonder, given that it might be only brain functioning if this a better state. Often there is a reason in nature for things to exist - and what would be the purpose of having brains capable of having Enlightenment? Or is it a form of brain dysfunction? And perhaps being in that state pushes a person to use non sensory language - either out of necessity in describing something so inexplicable, or maybe due to brain changes. My own experiences have been too brief to get a handle of this. When they faded, after a few hours, I felt diminished and sad to see that infinite identity shrink. Adyshanti, imo, does a good job of presenting what it is like to be in this Awakened state, and it sounds pretty identical to those descriptions of most of the gurus and writings down the ages. I believe he is trying to make it accessible to people in his descriptions. He seems to have done way with all the promises of perfection in action, the trappings and dos and don'ts. I think that is good and that he is genuine. I am not interested in the roundabout descriptions of the state any more, having had my fill from all these years. I get that part intellectully and from some experiences. What I don't have is this enlightened experience of a shift in identity all the time. Is that state better than what I have? I am not certain. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: I am typing poorly on an ipad, sorry. Last time: John Grinder. Damn! --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Should read John Ginder and one of their intro books is: Trance-Formations: Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Structure of Hypnosis --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: My response to Robin before the oops was my attempt at the form. If you want a more in depth look check out anything Jone Ginder or Richard Bandler wrote about their modeling work on Milton Erickson. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, noah wayback71@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Just weighing in on the interview, I just watched most of it. Funny how the metaphor for Rick looking so clear in the video and him being fuzzy kind of expressed how I felt a lot of the time. I am left with the impression that these guys require you to meet them a bit more than half way on the assumptions train. And he is perpetuating the assumptions his own teacher ran on him which he bought into. The big elephant in the room is the question of why we should confer on this guy any more or less of a status of knowing more about reality or truth than we already to in order to place ourselves into the relationship with him as teacher which he is inviting us to assume. Interestingly enough this is precisely the conditions of conferring authority on someone else that oils the wheels for a hypnotic session. Not to say he is hypnotizing his audience in some sideshow obvious way. But his language is the language analyzed in NLP as hypnotic in nature in that it invites the listener to take the rather vague non sensory phrases, and find something in themselves that fits or makes sense. The difference from this and poetry which uses some of the same linguistic patterns is the context that he has a deeper
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
Is this what you saw? Be the change you wish to see in the world. It's usually attributed to Gandhi, but it's a misquote. Here's what he actually said: If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards himWe need not wait to see what others do. Just happened to see a story about famous misquotes on Yahoo News, and this was among them. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@... wrote: H, I didn't read it that way. Instead of feeling as a chosen one to change the world, the expression says to me that if I want to change the world, it is synonymous with changing myself, so that rather than being in opposition to anything in the world, I change myself to come to terms with it. The end goal is fully integrating myself with all of the world's actions, vs. opposing the bad in the world and ticking off victories as my opposition continues. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: Saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said something like, become the change that you want in the world. Works for me. Sounds like We are the ones we've been waiting for, we are the change that we seek, a line from one of Obama's campaign speeches.
[FairfieldLife] Origin of bija mantras
For what it is worth, the most trusted yoga scholar I know is Dr. Georg Feurstein and according to him bija mantras are first found in the brahmanas, where they are associated with specific deities (Georg Feurstein, Tantra: Path of Ecstasy, 16.)
[FairfieldLife] Excuses for avoiding liberation? [was Re: Blissy vs. Happy]
if they could go back and forth between Enlightenment and normal everyday unawakened being, what would they choose and for how long? And how would their family and peers rate them in both states, if they did not know which was which? Great questions! The first one is so obvious, as I remember clearly before waking up, I always had so many stories in my head and a persistent feeling of alienation. I guess everyone's state of ignorance is different but I wouldn't return to it for anything, and I mean anything. Such a waste of time and energy compared to my life now. Its not like everything is dreamy and groovy now. Same challenges, perhaps even tougher ones, but at least there is a freshness and immediacy to everything. Someone described it as getting out of our own way, which sounds like a win/win at first until you realize there is no fallback to anything. Freedom is a one way ticket. Still, despite the fleeting insecurity of knowing I am formless and universal, I wouldn't trade this ongoing perspective on my life and living for anything. Going back to that past would be hellish and weird, and basically incomprehensible. After all how can someone reconnect with a patently false identity? Regarding family and peers, I get along great with them, despite very trying circumstances sometimes. Probably because I have no reason to judge others, and categorize them, and make up stories about their lives and motivations. Like I said, perhaps other people don't do this much anyway. I did, and so the change is striking. As for being awake without the knowledge of god and gurus and whatever, I can't really say, except that rather than devoting myself to something I cannot experience with my senses, I experience everything directly now. Thanks for asking.
[FairfieldLife] Post Count
Fairfield Life Post Counter === Start Date (UTC): Sat Sep 03 00:00:00 2011 End Date (UTC): Sat Sep 10 00:00:00 2011 436 messages as of (UTC) Thu Sep 08 00:14:46 2011 31 Yifu yifux...@yahoo.com 28 whynotnow7 whynotn...@yahoo.com 28 Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net 27 turquoiseb no_re...@yahoogroups.com 27 richardwillytexwilliams willy...@yahoo.com 23 curtisdeltablues curtisdeltabl...@yahoo.com 22 obbajeeba no_re...@yahoogroups.com 22 authfriend jst...@panix.com 19 Ravi Yogi raviy...@att.net 17 Denise Evans dmevans...@yahoo.com 14 maskedzebra no_re...@yahoogroups.com 13 Marcio tmer1...@gmail.com 12 seventhray1 steve.sun...@sbcglobal.net 12 Robert babajii...@yahoo.com 11 raunchydog raunchy...@yahoo.com 11 Sal Sunshine salsunsh...@lisco.com 11 RoryGoff roryg...@hotmail.com 11 Rick Archer r...@searchsummit.com 11 Buck dhamiltony...@yahoo.com 10 John jr_...@yahoo.com 8 emptybill emptyb...@yahoo.com 8 Alex Stanley j_alexander_stan...@yahoo.com 5 nablusoss1008 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 5 cardemaister no_re...@yahoogroups.com 5 Marcelo rosa tmer1...@gmail.com 4 sparaig lengli...@cox.net 4 martyboi marty...@yahoo.com 4 WilliamG wg...@yahoo.com 4 P Duff pd...@microcephalic-endeavors.com 4 do.rflex do.rf...@yahoo.com 3 noah waybac...@yahoo.com 3 Xenophaneros Anartaxius anartax...@yahoo.com 3 Mike Dixon mdixon.6...@yahoo.com 2 seekliberation seekliberat...@yahoo.com 2 William G wg...@yahoo.com 1 wgm4u wg...@yahoo.com 1 marekreavis reavisma...@sbcglobal.net 1 krysto kry...@natel.net 1 jpgillam jpgil...@yahoo.com 1 anitaoak...@att.net, UNEXPECTED_DATA_AFTER_ADDRESS@.SYNTAX-ERROR. 1 Yifu Xero yifux...@yahoo.com 1 WilliamG anitaoak...@att.net 1 William ameradi...@yahoo.com 1 wle...@aol.com 1 Sharalyn Pliler homeonthef...@iowatelecom.net 1 Paulo Barbosa tprob...@terra.com.br 1 Bill Coop williamgc...@gmail.com Posters: 47 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] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
Yep, that was the one, and it *was* attributed to Gandhi, written in that calligraphy style of brown characters on parchment white that is meant to denote individual artistic effort vs. cold, mass-produced thought - lol. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@... wrote: Is this what you saw? Be the change you wish to see in the world. It's usually attributed to Gandhi, but it's a misquote. Here's what he actually said: If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards himWe need not wait to see what others do. Just happened to see a story about famous misquotes on Yahoo News, and this was among them. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: H, I didn't read it that way. Instead of feeling as a chosen one to change the world, the expression says to me that if I want to change the world, it is synonymous with changing myself, so that rather than being in opposition to anything in the world, I change myself to come to terms with it. The end goal is fully integrating myself with all of the world's actions, vs. opposing the bad in the world and ticking off victories as my opposition continues. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: Saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said something like, become the change that you want in the world. Works for me. Sounds like We are the ones we've been waiting for, we are the change that we seek, a line from one of Obama's campaign speeches.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Origin of bija mantras
On 09/07/2011 05:09 PM, William wrote: For what it is worth, the most trusted yoga scholar I know is Dr. Georg Feurstein and according to him bija mantras are first found in the brahmanas, where they are associated with specific deities (Georg Feurstein, Tantra: Path of Ecstasy, 16.) What else have you studied on tantra?
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama
(btw, how do I get snip to show up...do I type it in?) Yep. Like this: snip, or snippus gigantis, or snippity-snip-snip --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Denise Evans dmevans365@... wrote: (And there goes the American culture as well) Â (btw, how do I get snip to show up...do I type it in?) H...which culture would that be? Â Where are your ancestors from? Â Are you Native American? Â Descended from British invaders? From 0ther immigrants escaping religious persecution or systemic poverty? Â How do you define this American culture? --- On Wed, 9/7/11, WilliamG wgm4u@... wrote: From: WilliamG wgm4u@... Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What Democrats can do about Obama To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, September 7, 2011, 8:27 AM Â --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: Thanks, missed it first time around. I'll have a look at these links as well. It's hard to decide which is the worst piece of legislation these cockroaches have gotten passed, they're all so awful; but this is the one that makes me see blazing red. From your earlier link: In Arizona, an investigative report by NPR found that ALEC significantly helped one of its clients, the Corrections Corporations of America (CCA), influence the state's new immigration law. The CCA is a for-profit prison company whose 'executives believe immigrant detention is their next big market,' and thought that a law which 'could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants' to prison would 'mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.' As a dues-paying member of ALEC, the CCA was able to write, present and lobby Arizona policymakers for a draconian immigration bill at an ALEC-hosted conference. 'Four months later, that model legislation became, almost word for word, Arizona's immigration law,' and many of the bill's cosponsors later received significant campaign contributions from the CCA. ALEC also helped the CCA by pushing 'truth in sentencing' laws that restrict parole eligibility for felons, and consequently increase the number of prisoners. Rush Limbaugh calls illegal immigrants, 'undocumented democrats', so how does it feel to be in illustrious company Judy? And why do illegal immigrants vote for democrats?, because the democrats pander better and give away the public treasury at a moments notice for their vote, that's why. (And there goes the American culture as well).
Re: [FairfieldLife] Origin of bija mantras
Not too muchm sadly. I am still learning everything I can about MMY and TM. The only other interesting thing I found out that most do not know is that according to Donovan, the singer who was there with the Beatles in India (as I know you know already), MMY divided up longer mantras to reduce it is basic easy bija mantras for Western people, who were not inclined to the religion of Hinduism. This makes sense, since every time I see TM mantras they are indeed part of larger whole mantras, e.g., Om klim hrim...Sawastri...etc. (as claimed in the book, Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual Musical Journey of George Harrison, pg. 127.) And also, Frawley claims that the long I in shakti mantras designates shakti, but the short I vowel sound is supposed to designate Siva or static consciouness. So that makes me wonder why we all use the short I vowel sound in MMY versions of the bija mantras (i.e., hrim, instead of the normative hreem pronunciation, to cite but one example). Might it be because MMY thought the so-called shakti mantras were too powerful for Western minds? In any event, Feurstein is a very respected scholar and I trust his research and acumen. From: Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, September 7, 2011 5:25 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Origin of bija mantras On 09/07/2011 05:09 PM, William wrote: For what it is worth, the most trusted yoga scholar I know is Dr. Georg Feurstein and according to him bija mantras are first found in the brahmanas, where they are associated with specific deities (Georg Feurstein, Tantra: Path of Ecstasy, 16.) What else have you studied on tantra?
