[FairfieldLife] Re: Dan Brown's next novel is based on the TM movement
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: snip This particular rap is probably not universal, in that people who have not paid their dues in the TM movement would think that I was making up stuff like enormous ice elephants and yogic flying and yagyas performed to impulses of creative intelligence that are really Hindu gods and goddesses, much less a bunch of people dressed up in robes and crowns considering them- selves the Rajas and King of an imaginary Global Country Of World Peace. It's just so weird that most people would not believe it could be true. One of the reasons I wrote this rap, though (besides the purging-Dan-Brown's-vibe thang) is that a lot of hanger-on TM True Believers manage to put this stuff out of sight, out of mind. They continue to defend TM as if it were *only* TM that was being sold and marketed, and as if this craziness at the top didn't exist. Or because they don't think the craziness at the top affects the value of the techniques. It exists. It is arguably weirder than any other cult on the planet Um, except maybe Hinduism? guffaw
[FairfieldLife] Re: Dan Brown's next novel is based on the TM movement
This is truly hilarious. Got a good laugh. I also linked it elsewhere, where discussions of problems in guru/disciple relationships have been going hot: http://groups.gaia.com/integralislands/conversations/view/493328#493603 Here is another more profound decent discussion on this topic: http://groups.gaia.com/ii/conversations/view/488429 Irmeli --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: As one of the weirdest Forrest Gumpisms in my meetings-with-remarkable-men of a life, I learned yesterday that my agent knows Dan Brown's agent, and has been given access to an advance copy of a treatment describing Brown's next novel. I pass it along for your consideration and edification. The Lost Angelic Towers Of Inscrutability Code In the quiet town of Vlodrop, Netherlands all heck is about to break loose. The body of a pencil-necked geek who was a minor functionary in a secret inter- national cult whose ultimate aim is to take over the governing of the world is found crushed to death under an enormous ice sculpture of an elephant. It appears to be an accident except that the letters OTP have been branded on his forehead. Local police, knowing that they will only be stone- walled by the robe- and crown-wearing leaders of the cult, call in Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon to investigate. The leaders of the cult, especially the Grand Poobah who leads its imaginary country of whirled peas, resent the investigation and resent his presence among them because he's not a vegetarian. But after some research they reluctantly allow him within their ranks after finding out that he, like them, has made a fortune by turning everyday New Age crapola into money and that he's never once gotten laid during any of his previous exploits. Langdon wanders through the cult compound, seeing with his own eyes things he's only heard about as rumors over the years. He sees esoteric practices like yogurt flying, which involves eating far too much yogurt and mashed vegetables and then bouncing around on one's butt as the body tries desperately to expel the flatulence such a culinary disaster causes. He witnesses occult ceremonies called yogyas, in which tubs of yogurt and plates of mashed peas are offered to portraits of guys and gals he recognizes from his studies as Hindu deities but whom the cultists refer to as impulses of creative flatulence. He thinks he's onto a clue to the murder when he finds the first of many obelisks labeled Towers Of Inscrutability, but eventually learns that they're just part of ordinary, everyday phallus worship, not beacons to extraterrestrials as he'd originally thought. As he investigates, Langdon pontificates and spews facts so much that he bores even the cultists, who are used to sitting in front of televisions for hours at a time having similarly useless facts spewed at them. He is given an award by the cult leaders for his achievement. After all of his investigations, Langdon finally discovers that the murder wasn't one at all. The poor victim was not killed by any of the cultists. He took his own life by toppling the enormous sculpture onto himself in a fit of shame after having been branded (a normal practice, it turns out) as Off The Program for the mortal sin of eating ice cream. Not able to live with the shame, he... uh...takes himself to tusk by impaling himself with an ice elephant. As for the hints of plans of world domination and evil cult machinations that he thought he'd uncovered during his inves- tigation, Langdon decides that they're not worth worrying the authorities with because any cult this ludicrous couldn't find its ass with both hands, much less fart its way to world domination. He drops the case and runs off with a cute but frustrated girl from the cult's Mother Divine brigade, and both of them have the first sex they've had in years.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Dan Brown's next novel is based on the TM movement
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sudenkorento2000 irmeli.matts...@... wrote: This is truly hilarious. Got a good laugh. Cool. That was my intention. I just read the latest Dan Brown book and my way of getting the bad taste out of my mind was by imagining what he would do with the TM organization as the inspiration for his next book. The whole rap took 20 minutes, from first morning-coffee- fueled-inspiration to pressing the Send button. I felt much lighter afterwards. :-) I also linked it elsewhere, where discussions of problems in guru/disciple relationships have been going hot: http://groups.gaia.com/integralislands/conversations/view/493328#493603 Here is another more profound decent discussion on this topic: http://groups.gaia.com/ii/conversations/view/488429 Irmeli This particular rap is probably not universal, in that people who have not paid their dues in the TM movement would think that I was making up stuff like enormous ice elephants and yogic flying and yagyas performed to impulses of creative intelligence that are really Hindu gods and goddesses, much less a bunch of people dressed up in robes and crowns considering them- selves the Rajas and King of an imaginary Global Country Of World Peace. It's just so weird that most people would not believe it could be true. One of the reasons I wrote this rap, though (besides the purging-Dan-Brown's-vibe thang) is that a lot of hanger-on TM True Believers manage to put this stuff out of sight, out of mind. They continue to defend TM as if it were *only* TM that was being sold and marketed, and as if this craziness at the top didn't exist. It exists. It is arguably weirder than any other cult on the planet, minus the group suicide factor of the Heaven's Gateists. Jim Jones' People's Temple was *mainstream* by comparison to people dressing up in robes and crowns and erecting enormous phalluses in honor of the person who convinced them to never use their own. All I did was trip on what the master of co-opting secret societies and cults for a buck would make of it all. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: As one of the weirdest Forrest Gumpisms in my meetings-with-remarkable-men of a life, I learned yesterday that my agent knows Dan Brown's agent, and has been given access to an advance copy of a treatment describing Brown's next novel. I pass it along for your consideration and edification. The Lost Angelic Towers Of Inscrutability Code In the quiet town of Vlodrop, Netherlands all heck is about to break loose. The body of a pencil-necked geek who was a minor functionary in a secret inter- national cult whose ultimate aim is to take over the governing of the world is found crushed to death under an enormous ice sculpture of an elephant. It appears to be an accident except that the letters OTP have been branded on his forehead. Local police, knowing that they will only be stone- walled by the robe- and crown-wearing leaders of the cult, call in Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon to investigate. The leaders of the cult, especially the Grand Poobah who leads its imaginary country of whirled peas, resent the investigation and resent his presence among them because he's not a vegetarian. But after some research they reluctantly allow him within their ranks after finding out that he, like them, has made a fortune by turning everyday New Age crapola into money and that he's never once gotten laid during any of his previous exploits. Langdon wanders through the cult compound, seeing with his own eyes things he's only heard about as rumors over the years. He sees esoteric practices like yogurt flying, which involves eating far too much yogurt and mashed vegetables and then bouncing around on one's butt as the body tries desperately to expel the flatulence such a culinary disaster causes. He witnesses occult ceremonies called yogyas, in which tubs of yogurt and plates of mashed peas are offered to portraits of guys and gals he recognizes from his studies as Hindu deities but whom the cultists refer to as impulses of creative flatulence. He thinks he's onto a clue to the murder when he finds the first of many obelisks labeled Towers Of Inscrutability, but eventually learns that they're just part of ordinary, everyday phallus worship, not beacons to extraterrestrials as he'd originally thought. As he investigates, Langdon pontificates and spews facts so much that he bores even the cultists, who are used to sitting in front of televisions for hours at a time having similarly useless facts spewed at them. He is given an award by the cult leaders for his achievement. After all of his investigations, Langdon finally discovers that the murder wasn't one at all. The poor victim was not killed by any of the cultists. He took his own life by toppling the enormous sculpture onto himself
[FairfieldLife] Re: Dan Brown's next novel is based on the TM movement
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: This particular rap is probably not universal, in that people who have not paid their dues in the TM movement would think that I was making up stuff like enormous ice elephants and yogic flying and yagyas performed to impulses of creative intelligence that are really Hindu gods and goddesses, much less a bunch of people dressed up in robes and crowns considering them- selves the Rajas and King of an imaginary Global Country Of World Peace. It's just so weird that most people would not believe it could be true. I think it was pretty universal in many ways. Maybe not the external forms, but the underlying structure of it is.And especially the OTP, Off the Program part. I read a while ago the book Enlightenment Blues by Andre van der Braak,an ex-disciple of Andrew Cohen. Cohen is marketing himself as an evolutionary, and a renewer of the role of a guru. To my shock I found out that in his relationship to his disciples there were many pathological features similar as in TM-organization, maybe even worse in certain respects. Cohen uses cruel methods of punishing his disciples if they show signs of own independent thinking. They are shamed by being relegated down in the hierarchy, by being put Off The Program. Irmeli
[FairfieldLife] Re: Dan Brown's next novel is based on the TM movement
TurquoiseB wrote: This particular rap is probably not universal, in that people who have not paid their dues in the TM movement... So, upon what authority do you assume for having 'paid your dues'? I've seen no evidence that you were authorized to teach Vedanta for the Swamis of the Shankaracharya Tradition. Or, for that matter, I've seen no evidence that you were made a Zen Master or given any kind of authotity such as Dharma Transmission. You can't even speak or understand Japanese! Do you have any higher education degrees? You're probably going to have to accomplish more than taking a Yoga course in Spain, in order to have people think you've paid any kind of dues. Being initiated downtown in Los Angeles by a clerk from the scribal caste in India just doesn't seem to be very impressive, no matter how many Dan Brown books you've read.
