[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- shempmcgurk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, matrixmonitor matrixmonitor@ wrote: I believe the Blue Pearl bindu is mentioned in the Markandeya Purana. MMY's book The Play of Consciousness was first called The Blue Pearl. M. describes out he was able to travel out of his body riding the Blue Pearl. Also, M. stated that the Blue Pearl offered him a Siddhi of immediately discerning the level (meditation level in terms of experience, Kundalini, etc) of persons who came before him. Since I bowed directly before him on numerous occasions, I wonder what his Blue Pearl told him. Probably not much!. (maybe it was silent - that would be an interesting twist). I also persuaded Charlie Lutes to visit Muktananda when the latter was in Santa Monica; but I seriously doubt that Charlie would bow all the way to the ground before M. I'd be very curious to know: has anyone on this forum had an experience of the Blue Pearl? Yes. We had a discussion about it several years ago. The blue pearl is a bindu. A point of entry into some sort of loka of consciousness. Brilliant blue spark in awareness that opens up with golden light pouring out surrounded by a blue rim. When it completely opens there's an entire celestial creation inside. Another world filled with interesting looking dudes and dudettes. The bindu is simply the entry point of your attention entering that level of creation. Iron chains or golden chains, there both chains! A few years ago, I was leafing through a psychology book which discussed a concept called hynogogia. This was supposed to be a state between the dreaming and waking consciousness. Although the book was not about meditation, the book describes some of the attributes of the hynogogic state. It may the same as to what you just described. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] __ __Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos more. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC
[FairfieldLife] Re: A different explanation of stress release
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Robert Gimbel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Robert Gimbel babajii_99@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, qntmpkt qntmpkt@ wrote: ---Yea...Swami Muktananda - it appears from available evidence that he was quite adept at molesting underage Daughters of his disciples. And Bill Clinton brutally raped Juanita Broderick. So what? Whether it's true or untrue regarding what Clinton or Muktananda or Maharishi did, we won't know for sure until said gentlemen are brought to trial for these alleged crimes (assuming they are still alive). In the meantime we can take the positive stuff they said and did and dwell on that. Yes, and even Jesus now gets accused of all kinds of stuff regarding Mary Magdalene- there's just now end to this kind of gossipy thingy. Uh, with all due respect, the only thing Jesus has ever been accused of, and in some of the Gospels excised from the Bible, no less, was that he was *married* to Mary Magdalene. Which, of course, would have been perfectly acceptable for a rabbi. One should be careful not to project one's modern hangups about sex onto a period of history in which they are inappropriate. As far as I can tell, the myth of Jesus' celibacy was made up long after his death by uptight men to justify their own inability to relate to half of the human race. Yeah, but, Ms. Magdalene was considered to be a whore, and I'm not sure that anyone would respect a Rabbi who married a whore. Robert, again no disrespect intended, but you should get a few books on the Bible and read up before you spout off. There is not ONE WORD in the Bible that characterizes Mary Magdalene as a whore. Not one. There is even less in the other Gospels that were carefully excised from the Bible. In ALL of them she is characterized as a woman of high character, on whom Jesus bestowed a great deal of attention. She is often portrayed as his favorite, the one to whom he gave certain teachings FIRST. The crap about her being a whore was added *centuries* later, by woman-hating Paulists who were looking for yet another excuse to put down women and portray them as less evolved than a man. As for his marriage to Magdalene, that is not stated overtly in even the excised Gospels, but can be inferred because he acted *publicly* towards her in a manner that would have been considered *inappropriate* at the time for a rabbi who was not married to the woman he was diaplaying this behavior with, but that would have been perfectly appropriate if he had been married to her. Which...again...would have been not only appropriate for a rabbi of the period, but expected of him. It would have been more unusual and inappropriate for a rabbi to remain *unmarried* than it would have for one to be married. I'm not ragging on you...you're just repeating lies that have been carefully introduced into the Catholic dogma for centuries, as if they were true. But, as far as scholars can tell, they are not. There is a *strong* case to be made for Jesus being a *normal* rabbi of his times, and being married, and an even stronger case to be made for the person he was married to being Mary of Magdala. You remember that in that period of history, her fate would have been death, if Jesus had not intervened. Possibly true, if it applied to Magdalene. It doesn't. She wasn't the woman in the Bible whom Jesus saved from stoning. Later misogynist priests of the Catholic Church promoted the idea that the two women were the same, again, in an attempt to put down women and characterize them as fallen and not worthy. Much like the women of Islam who would suffer the same fate, in this period of history, if anyone of them committed the same 'crime'. Again, true, but again, irrelevant. We're talking about the stories of the Bible. You will be unable to find any such stories characterizing Magdalene *IN* the Bible. They were all made up much later and added to the dogma of the Church. They are NOT present in the Bible itself. Are we clear now?
[FairfieldLife] Re: A different explanation of stress release
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: Uh, with all due respect, the only thing Jesus has ever been accused of, and in some of the Gospels excised from the Bible, no less, was that he was *married* to Mary Magdalene. Which, of course, would have been perfectly acceptable for a rabbi. One should be careful not to project one's modern hangups about sex onto a period of history in which they are inappropriate. As far as I can tell, the myth of Jesus' celibacy was made up long after his death by uptight men to justify their own inability to relate to half of the human race. Which brings us back to the theme of the Da Vinci Code. I believe the author was trying to imagine the possibility of the divine and humans, a product of the earth or matter, coming together as one. Then, their descendants will perpetuate a new race of people here on earth. Either that or the author (whom I do not defend and who I don't think a lot of as an author, and who stole all the material he based his book upon from other researchers) believes, as I do, that Christ was never divine. That is, he was not in any way an avatar. He was Just Another Human who realized the full potential of being human. I know that many people don't like to consider this, and find some comfort or inspiration in believing that Christ was NOT human, and that he was somehow divine and the literal Son Of God. I don't find that inspiring. Where is the impetus for someone to follow his example if Christ only got to where he got to, consciousness-wise, because he was special. I find inspiration in the idea that he was Just Another Human, just like me and you. If he could do the things he did *as* a human, then so can we. If the only reason that he could do them was because he was special, then we *can't* aspire to doing those things. Natch, I feel the same way towards those seekers who project specialness or avatarhood onto their modern-day teachers, whether those teachers be Maharishi or Mother Meera or whomever. I do *understand* the desire to believe that your teacher is special and be inspired by that thought, but I think that seekers are depriving themselves of a potentially *greater* source of inspiration by taking that route. If the teacher is cool because he or she is special, that's one level of inspir- ation. But if the teacher is Just Another Human, just like us, and achieved cool *anyway*, then so can we.
[FairfieldLife] Re: A different explanation of stress release
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yeah, but, Ms. Magdalene was considered to be a whore, and I'm not sure that anyone would respect a Rabbi who married a whore. You remember that in that period of history, her fate would have been death, if Jesus had not intervened. Much like the women of Islam The mary magdalene as whore lie was started by pope gregory long ago without any support from the bible in an effort to denigrate women. the catholic church apologized for this false accusation though not until sometime last century as it served many of their purposes. There would not have been any problem with jesus marrying mary magdalene - in fact a rabbi being an unmarried celebate is what would have been considered weird at the time.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: A different explanation of stress release
On May 25, 2007, at 6:36 PM, qntmpkt wrote: ---Vaj, I know you're heavily into tradition but there's something called new knowledge; And you feel the blossoming of new knowledge isn't part of or hasn't happened in a tradition before? There's little new under the sun. Tradition is merely an authentic line of transmission, that's all, a river of transmission, it's not static. Don't think it means nothing new or unique happens. Something new or unique *always* happens as each person, unique in their own ways, awakens. but ultimately, the idea is to seek the truth, whether from tradition, authorities, Scriptures, one's own experience, heresay evidence;...better yet, everything together with one's own experience at the top of the list. This separates the true Gnostics from the TB. I see no reason to separate karma from stress and say it's only karma. Why not get rid of the bad karma AND the stress, on all levels. It's not an either/or proposition, unless one's Guru is only adept at helping you one one level and not another. I was not objecting to karma in my remarks but the insistence on stress release and the purification of the physical nervous system.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
On May 26, 2007, at 9:51 PM, shempmcgurk wrote: I'd be very curious to know: has anyone on this forum had an experience of the Blue Pearl? Yes, it's rather common.
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: A different explanation of stress release
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of boo_lives Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 6:46 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: A different explanation of stress release --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com , John [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yeah, but, Ms. Magdalene was considered to be a whore, and I'm not sure that anyone would respect a Rabbi who married a whore. You remember that in that period of history, her fate would have been death, if Jesus had not intervened. Much like the women of Islam The mary magdalene as whore lie was started by pope gregory long ago without any support from the bible in an effort to denigrate women. the catholic church apologized for this false accusation though not until sometime last century as it served many of their purposes. There would not have been any problem with jesus marrying mary magdalene - in fact a rabbi being an unmarried celebate is what would have been considered weird at the time. Also, the woman whom Jesus saved from death by stoning (Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.) was a different woman - an accused adulterer - not Mary Magdalene.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
On May 26, 2007, at 10:50 PM, Rory Goff wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'd be very curious to know: has anyone on this forum had an experience of the Blue Pearl? When the thousand-petalled lotus first appeared over my head on a TM- sidhis prep course in about '78, it looked much like a huge white- golden parachute with a dark blue center hole -- which may have been the blue pearl -- from which threads of light issued down into the heart. At that time I was still doing a lot of astral-body travel, before I came to realize everything was actually inside this bodymind. Since then electric-blue lights have manifested on numerous occasions, most recently in people's heads here in FF. I have never been too drawn to the whole blue-pearl phenomenon, though, and couldn't say for sure if any of these experiences are equivalent to it. While it does vary from system to system, the blue bindu is like a gateway to the maha-bindu beyond the sahasara. At that point, the maha-bindu, you are beyond the mind. Until then, everything will appear to be inside the bodymind, like someone in a car looking out at the passing scenery.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Anti-TM Fundies' Dilemma
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On May 23, 2007, at 9:37 PM, off_world_beings wrote: Below is the Anti-TM Fundies' Dilemma that drives them crazy, so they ignore it and go off making crappy jokes to each other, or changing the subject to Cajun Cooking Tips or some other nonsense: There will never come a time when Science (research published in peer- reviewed scientific journals) will be superceded by New Age self-agrandizing dribble. This is the reality of life. This is the modern world. You need to accept this new realization to become liberated . If this is indeed the case (I suspect it is not) then you should expect to see TM and the TMSP fade from view. Recent scientific studies on meditation show the results of meditators in actual samadhi and show a profound level of gamma coherence, one of the primary markers for samadhi. These same markers are not present in TM. Also deep meditators show a market decrease in metabolic rate 5-6 times deeper than relaxation techniques like TM. It could just be that legitimate science will make inferior methods a thing of the past as spiritual consumers actually choose methods which really do work. Great. I'm all for it ! If something comes along and gets much better and more verified published results than TM, and can produce better health benifits long-term, and can show how it helps schoolchildren as good or better than TM, then I am all for it. As it stands right now, the US National Institutes for Health have given over 20 million dollars in research grant money to research TM based on previous studies efficacy, a non-meditating judge in Missouri is trying to study the effects of TM to have it intordueced as a court option, research is ongoing on TM in at least 5 major US state universities, and there are over 200 studies published in peer- reviewed scientific journals worldwide on TM and TM-Sidhis. For a different meditation there are maybe one or two studies, and very little interest by serious scientific or other bodies. It will take 30 years for any other meditation to reach the level TM is at, so good luck to them. I am all for it and if something shows efficacy, it should be studied further, not ignored. Problem with the Buddhist study you spoke of is the EEG showed intense effort, whereas TM shows effortlessness. But maybe 30 years from now something with even better results than TM will have become as broadly establishedbut what a waste of time waiting for it. OffWorld
[FairfieldLife] The perils of translation utilities
I had lunch with some friends today at a little bistro
in Anduze, and the menu there was just a howl. We all
enjoyed it very much, because the owners -- in the
interest of globalization, of course -- had gone to
the trouble of translating most of the items into
English. The only trouble was, it looked as if they
had used Google Translate or some other translation
utility to do so, with the following hilarious
results, just in the salad section:
The Original: Tatare de saumon, cocktail de crevettes,
avocat, et salade verte.
The Translation: Tartare of salmon, shrimp, lawyer,
and green salad. (The word 'avocat' in French applies
to both 'avocado' and 'lawyer.')
The Original: Eventail de melon accompangné de cartagène,
salade verte, et pétals du jambon cru.
The Translation: Range of melon accompanied by cartagène,
green salad, and believed ham petal. ('Eventail' connotes
a fan-shaped arrangement, thus the 'petals' at the end;
'jambon cru,' or aged ham, has been confused with the past
tense of 'croire,' or 'to believe.')
The Original: Subtil assortement de charcuterie de Pays,
bien sur !!
The Translation: Subtle set of pork butchery of Country,
of course !! (The common meaning of 'charcuterie' is to
refer to a selection of meats, not the process by which
they were created; 'de Pays' is a way of saying 'country
style,' and doesn't refer to a 'Country.'
I've just started compiling these wonderful mistranslations.
If I find more I'll share them with you. Some are even funnier
than these...
[FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I don't think that love and critical faculties are mutually exclusive. One should never abdicate one's critical faculties. If a spiritual teacher tells you to do so, head for the door. I couldn't agree more, and find the assertion to the opposite -- that one should believe that one's spiritual teacher is perfect -- very curious indeed. The *same* people who say this blithely about their spiritual teacher would never in a million years say something similar about their parents or their wives or husbands or anyone else they loved. They would never consider these people perfect, and yet they love them anyway. And yet, they'll claim that anyone who believes that their spiritual teacher is less than perfect doesn't love them. Go figure. . . . your facts are not facts at all, That's your fundamentalist speaking. You're rejecting out of hand things that you haven't even looked at. And, in my opinion, are terrified *to* look at. The fear involves more than the knowledge that they risk excommunication from the TM movement *for* looking at things critically. As potent and powerful that possibility is, what I think this fellow and his ilk are afraid of is at a much deeper level than that. They're afraid that critical examination might reveal that they were wrong, and wrong for decades. To many people, facing that possibility is one of the worst things they can imagine. Whereas for those of us who have *no problem* with having been wrong in the past, it's no biggie.
[FairfieldLife] A Challenge For Shemp
Shemp, You've been very LOUD in wanting us all to believe that the Global Warming concept is bogus. I've challenged you to give us a statement about the pollution aspects of the Global Warming debate, and you've not responded. If you want me to read your posts, you've got to be honest and communicative -- I asked you, publicly and privately, to answer me, but nothing came. So, on the theory that you're a good guy, I'm going to try again -- a little louder, and, yes, a little more harshly. First of all, I'll admit that it's definitely NOT your job to do anything for me. But when I see your impact on the discussions here, I'm counting them as distractions at best and, usually, an odd sort of churlish jingoism, and I'm wanting that to stop, so perforce, I must confront you. I know I'm getting personal here when, obviously, I don't know you. My grievences against your concepts are not necessarily proof of your having personality defects. I don't know your background, age, etc., so I'm just guessing where you're really coming from. I don't know if you're just stupid and loud or much worse, a fucking Internet Troll who thinks it's fun trying to incite anger and general negativity. I hope a cascade of posters here will correct me if my take on you is way off base. Maybe my own stupidity is projecting, maybe you have ten thousand followers who buy your used underwear on eBay. You could be a saint in disguise and I've failed the eyesight test. Here's your challenge, Shemp. Read the below article. It's the top 25 news stories that didn't make the headlines -- stories that BigMedia ignored. I've seen this kind of list every year for what seems like two decades now, and, year after year, it's always the same thing: Evil Forces Are Afoot and it rhymes with MONEY. http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm This list is ENOUGH TO START A CIVIL WAR in most countries. It is so obvious that our cultures are being systematically manipulated to insure profits for Big Money. Read the list, Shemp. Do some research. Google down. I like your energy, but, man, you gotta do some homework -- your posts here are strong evidence that you have a logical brain, and your energy indicates a big passion for life. I'm guessing you'd be a righteous dude if you notched up your information banks. You almost certainly won't end up agreeing with me on many things, but we'll both be on the same page in terms of what's what. But, if, for instance, you don't think that there's 30,000 toxic dump sites in the USA that are pumping our aquifers with poisons, then that's a fact that can be disputed, but if you're unwilling to even examine the facts, then you're being intellectually worthless. But most of all, I want you to respond about the concept Big Money's moral culpability for the human misery on the planet. Shemp, consider this a love letter. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2004399,00.html Good! Now we'll have some balance to the 10s of billions of dollars spent annually with the express purpose of trying to fraudulently prove that there IS catastrophic man-made global warming.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: I don't think that love and critical faculties are mutually exclusive. One should never abdicate one's critical faculties. If a spiritual teacher tells you to do so, head for the door. I couldn't agree more, and find the assertion to the opposite -- that one should believe that one's spiritual teacher is perfect -- very curious indeed. To me, the notion that Rick is reducing Maharishi to a relative personality, with flaws like all of us is utterly bizarre. Reducing? As if MMY or any other of the 6.5 billion humans on earth is somehow *not* a relative personality with flaws like all of us? Rick's friend sounds like he'd be shocked to learn that MMY also pees from a dick and shits out of an asshole.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The perils of translation utilities
TurquoiseB wrote:
I had lunch with some friends today at a little bistro
in Anduze,
So, you had lunch at a little bistro in Anduze today.
and the menu there was just a howl. We all
enjoyed it very much, because the owners -- in the
interest of globalization, of course -- had gone to
the trouble of translating most of the items into
English. The only trouble was, it looked as if they
had used Google Translate or some other translation
utility to do so, with the following hilarious
results, just in the salad section:
The Original: Tatare de saumon, cocktail de crevettes,
avocat, et salade verte.
The Translation: Tartare of salmon, shrimp, lawyer,
and green salad. (The word 'avocat' in French applies
to both 'avocado' and 'lawyer.')
The Original: Eventail de melon accompangné de cartagène,
salade verte, et pétals du jambon cru.
The Translation: Range of melon accompanied by cartagène,
green salad, and believed ham petal. ('Eventail' connotes
a fan-shaped arrangement, thus the 'petals' at the end;
'jambon cru,' or aged ham, has been confused with the past
tense of 'croire,' or 'to believe.')
The Original: Subtil assortement de charcuterie de Pays,
bien sur !!
The Translation: Subtle set of pork butchery of Country,
of course !! (The common meaning of 'charcuterie' is to
refer to a selection of meats, not the process by which
they were created; 'de Pays' is a way of saying 'country
style,' and doesn't refer to a 'Country.'
I've just started compiling these wonderful mistranslations.
If I find more I'll share them with you. Some are even funnier
than these...
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
On May 26, 2007, at 10:42 PM, Rick Archer wrote: You don't deserve that treatment Tom. Uh, oh, Ricky, you blew it here. Revealing this guy's name undoubtedly shows your true hidden agenda, passive-aggressive nature, and general fundamentalist way of thinking. And don't tell us you didn't mean to. Think we'd believe that? After all, anyone who dares to imply MMY is a mere human being with human flaws like everyone else is obviously seriously deluded and will stop at nothing, as you imply over and over on that smarmy website of yours. It's perfectly obvious most of those posts were written by you. And frankly, I don't care if they were or weren't, I know what I know and I know why I know it and that's good enough for me. So take your website and... Sal
[FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Alex Stanley [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: I don't think that love and critical faculties are mutually exclusive. One should never abdicate one's critical faculties. If a spiritual teacher tells you to do so, head for the door. I couldn't agree more, and find the assertion to the opposite -- that one should believe that one's spiritual teacher is perfect -- very curious indeed. To me, the notion that Rick is reducing Maharishi to a relative personality, with flaws like all of us is utterly bizarre. Reducing? As if MMY or any other of the 6.5 billion humans on earth is somehow *not* a relative personality with flaws like all of us? Rick's friend sounds like he'd be shocked to learn that MMY also pees from a dick and shits out of an asshole. Personally, I think the guy is more worried that liquids other than pee have issued from Maharishi's dick, and in the direction of a vagina. :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
I don't think that love and critical faculties are mutually exclusive. One should never abdicate one's critical faculties. If a spiritual teacher tells you to do so, head for the door. TurquoiseB wrote: I couldn't agree more, and find the assertion to the opposite -- that one should believe that one's spiritual teacher is perfect -- very curious indeed. This seems to me to be a contradiction in terms - if someone has a spiritiul teacher it would seem that they would have to leave their critical faculties at the door. Otherwise, why would anyone want to have a spiritual teacher in the first place - they could just have a critical faculties teacher, or take a course in logic at a secular college. So, how, exactly, could an avowed athiest have a spiritual teacher, and for what purpose? The *same* people who say this blithely about their spiritual teacher would never in a million years say something similar about their parents or their wives or husbands or anyone else they loved. They would never consider these people perfect, and yet they love them anyway. And yet, they'll claim that anyone who believes that their spiritual teacher is less than perfect doesn't love them. Go figure. . . . your facts are not facts at all, That's your fundamentalist speaking. You're rejecting out of hand things that you haven't even looked at. And, in my opinion, are terrified *to* look at. The fear involves more than the knowledge that they risk excommunication from the TM movement *for* looking at things critically. As potent and powerful that possibility is, what I think this fellow and his ilk are afraid of is at a much deeper level than that. They're afraid that critical examination might reveal that they were wrong, and wrong for decades. To many people, facing that possibility is one of the worst things they can imagine. Whereas for those of us who have *no problem* with having been wrong in the past, it's no biggie.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- Rory Goff [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'd be very curious to know: has anyone on this forum had an experience of the Blue Pearl? When the thousand-petalled lotus first appeared over my head on a TM- sidhis prep course in about '78, it looked much like a huge white- golden parachute with a dark blue center hole -- which may have been the blue pearl -- from which threads of light issued down into the heart. At that time I was still doing a lot of astral-body travel, before I came to realize everything was actually inside this bodymind. Since then electric-blue lights have manifested on numerous occasions, most recently in people's heads here in FF. I have never been too drawn to the whole blue-pearl phenomenon, though, and couldn't say for sure if any of these experiences are equivalent to it. *L*L*L* The blue pearl is just a relative phenomenon. Neat, cool, groovy, whatever, but it is still an object of experience. You're just as bound whether you stare at porno or experience the blue pearl. Ultimately it is meaningless in the context of Realization. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos more. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Richard J. Williams Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 9:53 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th I don't think that love and critical faculties are mutually exclusive. One should never abdicate one's critical faculties. If a spiritual teacher tells you to do so, head for the door. TurquoiseB wrote: I couldn't agree more, and find the assertion to the opposite -- that one should believe that one's spiritual teacher is perfect -- very curious indeed. This seems to me to be a contradiction in terms - if someone has a spiritiul teacher it would seem that they would have to leave their critical faculties at the door. Otherwise, why would anyone want to have a spiritual teacher in the first place - they could just have a critical faculties teacher, or take a course in logic at a secular college. So you're suggesting that critical thinking and spiritual development are mutually exclusive?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Home Loan Alternative
new morning wrote: You still don't get the most fundamental concept of finance: the time value of money. This is amazing! You're saying that some people take out home loans and without understanding the most fundamental concept of finance? That must be why a lot of folks took out A.R.M.s. I'm not a very smart person but I took Business Math two years ago at my school and learned all about an amortization table. This is not rocket science by any means. But what is amazing to me is that this is the first thread on a TM newsforum that I've read, in seven years, where a TMer even suggested that they were a homeowner. Here we've got Uncle Tantra renting shacks over in France and Spain, and folks up in Fairfield renting trailer houses, but nobody seems to have progressed to a point where they can afford to own their own home? What's wrong with this picture? Doesn't anyone on these groups have a retirement plan or at least a savings plan? Apparently, Barry doesn't even pay into U.S. Social Security anymore. Shemp seems to be in a good place financialy and Steve Perino claimed to have purchaed a house out in Cedar Park - I'm sure there are a few others, so I may be talking out my ass here. Go figure. From what I've read, the faculty at MUM get paid only a few thousand dallars a year, with Bevan making the lowest salary of just about any college president in the U.S. I wouldn't be surprised if not a single MUM faculty own their own home. The retirement plan for MUM faculty, if there is one, would problabe pay them all of $300 a month after working there for 20 years. One thing that I've noticed about TMers from the first few years of my involvement with the TMO is that a lot of TMers just aren't very interested in making any money, except to charge poor students and then sending the money to the Marshy's relatives in India. It must be pretty scary for some people when they realize that after believing they would get enlightened in 5-7 years, that all they'll get is a bed at a government nursing home, after living in a trailer house for ten years, just so they could enjoy the good vibes in Fairfield. Call me a materialist if you want to, but I just feel better knowing that I have a few bucks in the bank to fall back on in my old age. My question is: what is it about the TM program that makes it so that so many people are so broke after having practiced the program for so many years? Wouldn't it have been more sensible to have continued school, graduated, got a good job, saved some money and THEN spend 6 months at a TTC, or a few years working for the TMO? I guess I just don't get it. I guess my point is: why is it that people like the Marshy and Mukta and Sai and Osho and Trungpa make all these millions of dollars, but most of their followers are mere paupers? I must be screwed up! I'll probably die without reaching enlightenment and my grand kids will get all my money and spend it on games and TV sets or give it all to some spiritual teacher like the Sogyal. Money has a cost. Its like you are renting money. the rent on 120,000 at 6% interest = (6% /12)* 120,000 = $600 / month. that is not arbitrary. Its the monthly cost on the money you loaned. You can pay as much byond that as you like to pay down the principal. You can pay back as much principal as you want AFTER you pay the rent (aka interest)due on the loan each month. If you want to pay the principal down -- and reduce subsequent interest payments, pay 2600 each month. $600 which you owe for renting $120,000 and 2000 principal pay down. After a year of doing that, you would have 96,000 principal due, and your interest would fall to .5% x 96,000 = $480. Study the spreadsheet a little. Look at column D and how the interst is calculated each month. its 6%/12 * the remaning principal each month. There is NOTHING arbitrary about this arrangment. If you want your loan structured so that interest and principal are equal, then (for a 30 year loan) you would have an interst deficit each month. Just like past rent due, you eventually have to pay it. How is that done? The unpaid interest is added to your principal. So you reduce interest by say $400 each mnth by paying equal principal and you now owe $400 in past interest due. That will be added to your principal. You ahve gained nothing except some extra paper work. If you don't like how banks structure their loans, if you really feel its a rip off -- why be ripped off (even ifs only all in your mind). Why not just rent? You either rent property, or you rent money to buy property. And in the first case, your landlord rents the money for the property. And part of your rent is paying him back for his rent on the money to buy the house you rent.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The blue pearl is a bindu. A point of entry into some sort of loka of consciousness. Brilliant blue spark in awareness that opens up with golden light pouring out surrounded by a blue rim. When it completely opens there's an entire celestial creation inside. Another world filled with interesting looking dudes and dudettes. The bindu is simply the entry point of your attention entering that level of creation. Iron chains or golden chains, there both chains! Just because they are chains, I find it often more satisfying for me to chain myself and then watch the gradual process of escape or transmutation of the chains occur, than to avoid such a phenomenon because someone has warned about the possibility of bondage. Using that old analogy, how do we find out the snake is a string unless we are resolute enough to confront it by turning on the light? If we continually run away at the imagined fear of snake-bite, the string will never be revealed. :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On May 26, 2007, at 10:50 PM, Rory Goff wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: I'd be very curious to know: has anyone on this forum had an experience of the Blue Pearl? When the thousand-petalled lotus first appeared over my head on a TM- sidhis prep course in about '78, it looked much like a huge white- golden parachute with a dark blue center hole -- which may have been the blue pearl -- from which threads of light issued down into the heart. At that time I was still doing a lot of astral-body travel, before I came to realize everything was actually inside this bodymind. Since then electric-blue lights have manifested on numerous occasions, most recently in people's heads here in FF. I have never been too drawn to the whole blue-pearl phenomenon, though, and couldn't say for sure if any of these experiences are equivalent to it. While it does vary from system to system, the blue bindu is like a gateway to the maha-bindu beyond the sahasara. At that point, the maha-bindu, you are beyond the mind. Until then, everything will appear to be inside the bodymind, like someone in a car looking out at the passing scenery. An interesting take on it. To me, everything had always appeared *outside* the bodymind, like someone in a car looking out at the passing scenery, before I realized the scenery -- the stars, the universes, all beings, past and future -- were in me. Then there was no need to leave the body in so-called subtler bodies to visit other timespaces and realms, as the other realms were already always available inside/outside, with a moment's pinpoint of attention. Are we saying the same thing, from opposite angles? *L*L*L*
[FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
I don't think that love and critical faculties are mutually exclusive. One should never abdicate one's critical faculties. If a spiritual teacher tells you to do so, head for the door. TurquoiseB wrote: I couldn't agree more, and find the assertion to the opposite -- that one should believe that one's spiritual teacher is perfect -- very curious indeed. This seems to me to be a contradiction in terms - if someone has a spiritiul teacher it would seem that they would have to leave their critical faculties at the door. Otherwise, why would anyone want to have a spiritual teacher in the first place - they could just have a critical faculties teacher, or take a course in logic at a secular college. Rick Archer wrote: So you're suggesting that critical thinking and spiritual development are mutually exclusive? Well, I guess it all depends on what you mean by spiritual. In Barry's case, he is an avowed athiest, so where is the spiritual in that? If you are a New-ager, everything is probably spiritual in some sense. Have you ever taken a logic class where the teacher instructs you to believe in spirits or said that that the dead have spiritual bodies? The term spiritual itself defies logic: are there spirits that fly around in the sky? Hegal used to write immense tomes about spirits and once was the pride of German philosophy, but was later proved to be just full of it. But thousands, maybe millions, of people believed what he said. I wonder what happened to their critical faculties? My point is that, if you are going to follow a spiritual teacher, you must suspend your critical faculties - that's what being spirtual is, otherwise you're just playing a word game with yourself. There's a lot of difference between being a dilettante and being a devotee. A devotee believes in the words of his spiritual teacher - that's faith. A skeptic is a doubter who retains critical faculties. Almost all so-called spiritual teachers who have oroginated in India have suspended their critical faculties, with the exceptinion of maybe Krishnamurti and Osho. For example, a lot of things said by Marshy seem logical, but at the same time I'm convinced that Marshy believes in Creation Science, the Transcendental Person, and that Guru Dev was a Jivanmukti.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
A few years ago, I was leafing through a psychology book which discussed a concept called hynogogia. This was supposed to be a state between the dreaming and waking consciousness. Although the book was not about meditation, the book describes some of the attributes of the hynogogic state. It may the same as to what you just described. This is an excellent point. It also points out that humans have learned a few things about states of consciousness since classical Vedic times. I have spent a lot of time in this state and taking the content of experiences in that state may not be the best way to understand what there states mean. Even though we are still just beginning to understand human consciousness, I think it is important to include what people have learned in modern times and not approach the subject as if it was already completely understood in the past in some magical Vedic civilization. I would think that a serious understanding of consciousness should also include what is known from hypnosis instead of just dismissing one type of hypnosis as if there is only one type. Ancient traditions of meditation add a lot to the party. But assessing what the states mean may not be best understood from the perspective of cultures who were relying on metaphors more than empirical data. Posturing from a position of complete knowledge only hurts the growth of understanding. Science is still fumbling with the basic terms for hypnotic states and this is appropriate. I think this humility would serve spiritual traditions as well concerning what they know about human consciousness. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter drpetersutphen@ wrote: --- shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, matrixmonitor matrixmonitor@ wrote: I believe the Blue Pearl bindu is mentioned in the Markandeya Purana. MMY's book The Play of Consciousness was first called The Blue Pearl. M. describes out he was able to travel out of his body riding the Blue Pearl. Also, M. stated that the Blue Pearl offered him a Siddhi of immediately discerning the level (meditation level in terms of experience, Kundalini, etc) of persons who came before him. Since I bowed directly before him on numerous occasions, I wonder what his Blue Pearl told him. Probably not much!. (maybe it was silent - that would be an interesting twist). I also persuaded Charlie Lutes to visit Muktananda when the latter was in Santa Monica; but I seriously doubt that Charlie would bow all the way to the ground before M. I'd be very curious to know: has anyone on this forum had an experience of the Blue Pearl? Yes. We had a discussion about it several years ago. The blue pearl is a bindu. A point of entry into some sort of loka of consciousness. Brilliant blue spark in awareness that opens up with golden light pouring out surrounded by a blue rim. When it completely opens there's an entire celestial creation inside. Another world filled with interesting looking dudes and dudettes. The bindu is simply the entry point of your attention entering that level of creation. Iron chains or golden chains, there both chains! A few years ago, I was leafing through a psychology book which discussed a concept called hynogogia. This was supposed to be a state between the dreaming and waking consciousness. Although the book was not about meditation, the book describes some of the attributes of the hynogogic state. It may the same as to what you just described. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] __ __Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos more. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC
[FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Behalf Of Richard J. Williams I don't think that love and critical faculties are mutually exclusive. One should never abdicate one's critical faculties. If a spiritual teacher tells you to do so, head for the door. TurquoiseB wrote: I couldn't agree more, and find the assertion to the opposite -- that one should believe that one's spiritual teacher is perfect -- very curious indeed. This seems to me to be a contradiction in terms - if someone has a spiritiul teacher it would seem that they would have to leave their critical faculties at the door. Otherwise, why would anyone want to have a spiritual teacher in the first place - they could just have a critical faculties teacher, or take a course in logic at a secular college. So you're suggesting that critical thinking and spiritual development are mutually exclusive? In a qualified sense of in the moment and for the (short) time being, in terms of interacting, being around a teacher, I suggest that it is -- with more qualifications to come. One comes to a teacher to have ones boundaries broken. They may use all sorts of methods to break those boundaries. Methods that may seem irrational to us. If they all were rational and deducible, one would figure them out on their own. I suggest that to take full advantage of a teacher, come with an open mind and heart. Willing to give it a try for some perioid. Without second guessing and critally thinking and evaluating each instruction or teachers action. After some time, or at regular intervals, it IS good to step back and evaluate how things are going. Are there benefits? Is there a down side? Are there ethical issues? Is more time spent with this teacher of value? If so, then go back to total open mindedness for a while. Then re-evaluate. A further qualification is that one can and should use one's critical facilties, during this openness period, to better understand the fine distinctions the teacher may be making. In most love/surrender relation, critical faculties need to take a rest at times. When ones spouse is stressed out, venting, worried, frustrated, etc, saying you are just being irrational ahd here is why may be a true evaluation of the situation. But it often is highly unproductive at that moment.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- Rory Goff [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: I'd be very curious to know: has anyone on this forum had an experience of the Blue Pearl? When the thousand-petalled lotus first appeared over my head on a TM- sidhis prep course in about '78, it looked much like a huge white- golden parachute with a dark blue center hole -- which may have been the blue pearl -- from which threads of light issued down into the heart. At that time I was still doing a lot of astral-body travel, before I came to realize everything was actually inside this bodymind. Since then electric-blue lights have manifested on numerous occasions, most recently in people's heads here in FF. I have never been too drawn to the whole blue-pearl phenomenon, though, and couldn't say for sure if any of these experiences are equivalent to it. *L*L*L* The blue pearl is just a relative phenomenon. Neat, cool, groovy, whatever, but it is still an object of experience. You're just as bound whether you stare at porno or experience the blue pearl. Ultimately it is meaningless in the context of Realization. Yes, it's worth appreciating, like anything, but I don't think it's worth chasing, like anything :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A few years ago, I was leafing through a psychology book which discussed a concept called hynogogia. This was supposed to be a state between the dreaming and waking consciousness. Although the book was not about meditation, the book describes some of the attributes of the hynogogic state. It may the same as to what you just described. FWIW, MMY said this gap was TC and that EVERYONE transcends, if only for seconds, every night. So when you were nodding off in class, you were being very spiritual :)
[FairfieldLife] Building Height Envy
INCHEON, South Korea On a stretch of reclaimed land, near where Gen. Douglas MacArthur's forces came ashore during the Korean War, this city will build a towering monument to its rising ambitions: twin skyscrapers reaching 2,013 feet into the sky, higher than the tallest building in the world today. Developers in neighboring Seoul responded by increasing the height of a skyscraper they were planning by 66 feet. In December, the chief of a Seoul ward announced an even more grandiose plan to erect a 220-story building that, at almost 3,200 feet, would be twice as high as the Sears Tower in Chicago. NYTimes Perhaps they are closet TMers.
[FairfieldLife] Will the Real Fairfield Life Please Stand Up?
http://fairfieldlife.blogspot.com/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajranatha@ wrote: While it does vary from system to system, the blue bindu is like a gateway to the maha-bindu beyond the sahasara. At that point, the maha-bindu, you are beyond the mind. Until then, everything will appear to be inside the bodymind, like someone in a car looking out at the passing scenery. On May 26, 2007, at 10:50 PM, Rory Goff wrote: An interesting take on it. To me, everything had always appeared *outside* the bodymind, like someone in a car looking out at the passing scenery, before I realized the scenery -- the stars, the universes, all beings, past and future -- were in me. Then there was no need to leave the body in so-called subtler bodies to visit other timespaces and realms, as the other realms were already always available inside/outside, with a moment's pinpoint of attention. Are we saying the same thing, from opposite angles? And then again, I think I may see where you're coming from; I've more recently seen there is also a way to physically accelerate through the love-light-bliss-barrier of this whole creation back into the Great Blue Being who is beyond/behind creation. Is this more like what you're speaking of? *L*L*L*
Re: [FairfieldLife] The perils of translation utilities
In the US you can have this kind of fun just going to a Chinese
restaurant and reading the menus. There are often hilarious
misspellings and grammatical errors to be found. :)
Movie tip of the day: Fay Grim -- Hal Hartley's sequel to Henry Fool
and well worth the watch (or multiple watches).
TurquoiseB wrote:
I had lunch with some friends today at a little bistro
in Anduze, and the menu there was just a howl. We all
enjoyed it very much, because the owners -- in the
interest of globalization, of course -- had gone to
the trouble of translating most of the items into
English. The only trouble was, it looked as if they
had used Google Translate or some other translation
utility to do so, with the following hilarious
results, just in the salad section:
The Original: Tatare de saumon, cocktail de crevettes,
avocat, et salade verte.
The Translation: Tartare of salmon, shrimp, lawyer,
and green salad. (The word 'avocat' in French applies
to both 'avocado' and 'lawyer.')
The Original: Eventail de melon accompangné de cartagène,
salade verte, et pétals du jambon cru.
The Translation: Range of melon accompanied by cartagène,
green salad, and believed ham petal. ('Eventail' connotes
a fan-shaped arrangement, thus the 'petals' at the end;
'jambon cru,' or aged ham, has been confused with the past
tense of 'croire,' or 'to believe.')
The Original: Subtil assortement de charcuterie de Pays,
bien sur !!
The Translation: Subtle set of pork butchery of Country,
of course !! (The common meaning of 'charcuterie' is to
refer to a selection of meats, not the process by which
they were created; 'de Pays' is a way of saying 'country
style,' and doesn't refer to a 'Country.'
I've just started compiling these wonderful mistranslations.
If I find more I'll share them with you. Some are even funnier
than these...
[FairfieldLife] Re: A Challenge For Shemp
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Shemp, You've been very LOUD in wanting us all to believe that the Global Warming concept is bogus. I've challenged you to give us a statement about the pollution aspects of the Global Warming debate, and you've not responded. I either didn't see it or, if I did, ignored it if it contained insults. Please feel free to reference that particular post by number and I'll revisit it. If you want me to read your posts, Who says I want you to read my posts? Half the time I post to let off steam. I post for me, not you. As for my anti-Catastrophic-man-made-global-warming posts, you can blame whomever it was on this forum who introduced me to The Great Global Warming Swindle. Although I was a non-believer BEFORE seeing it, watching that show succeeded in making me a born-again. I've since been able to secure a Region 1 (USA compatible) DVD version of the documentary (something few people in the US have at this time) and have shown it in at least 4 different living rooms of friends. One particular satisfying experience was showing to my friend down the block WHO MADE ME SIT THROUGH AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, which is probably the single-most evil, vile film ever made. Well, once I had Swindle on disc, I could insist that she reciprocate and sit through it. And she did. And she totally turned around from being a believer in global-warming to hating Al Gore for the phony and fear-monger that he is. you've got to be honest and communicative -- I asked you, publicly and privately, to answer me, but nothing came. So, on the theory that you're a good guy, I'm going to try again -- a little louder, and, yes, a little more harshly. First of all, I'll admit that it's definitely NOT your job to do anything for me. But when I see your impact on the discussions here, I'm counting them as distractions at best and, usually, an odd sort of churlish jingoism, and I'm wanting that to stop, I suggest you ask yourself why it's so important for you to want my posts to stop. What's so difficult, once you see my name on the FFL list of postings, to just ignore and skip over my name? How long could that take...like, 1/3rd of a second for each glimpse of my name and for you to move your cursor down to the next name? No, I think there's something else that's bothering you other than the fact that I'm posting. And I think it's something as simple as: my attempts to show you that there IS another side to this debate moves you out of your comfort zone. You're so convinced that it's the way the Al Gore types say it is, that you have built up a wall of intolerance for dissenting points of view. My posts chip away at that wall...and that's, understandably, uncomfortable for you. But it shouldn't be. Indeed, you should be on your hands and knees wishing for anyone to convince you that it is not as bad as Gore paints it out to be. That would be the rational, logical response to anyone that demonstrates to you that the bad things that you've been led to believe will befall you is incorrect. Say, you were diagnosed with terminal cancer. You're devastated by the news and you've become convinced by the doctor's news that you've only got 6 months to live. But being the astute and wise person that you are, you go to a second doctor for a second opinion and he tells you after examining you: I have good news! The first opinion you got was flawed. It's a common mistake for your condition and cancer is often misdiagnosed in your condition. It's not cancer but indigestion which a roll of Tums will cure in a day or two. You're going to live until you're 90! I think it's safe to say that, at the most, you'd be estatic at the news the second doctor gave you and, at the least, you'd be cautiously optimistic. But that is not what happens when global-warming advocates are given news that their dire predictions of doom for the world may be unfounded. No. Almost universally, they get resentful and angry when you suggest to them that melting polar ice caps on Mars suggests that there are other reasons for Earth's current warming period...or present evidence that for the past 5 or 6 years we've started a cooling period. Why is that? I suggest that, perhaps, the reason for their totally irrational response is that global-warming advocates have another agenda and they don't really give a shit about the environment. In many cases, it is because they are anti-capitalists, like yourself, and since the total collapse of socialism and communism in the past 20 years, they've been forced to shift their anti-Americanism and anti-capitalism to another area because they can't focus on the usual targets because they've been proven completely wrong. so perforce, I must confront you. I know I'm getting personal here when, obviously, I don't know you. My grievences
[FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Alex Stanley [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: I don't think that love and critical faculties are mutually exclusive. One should never abdicate one's critical faculties. If a spiritual teacher tells you to do so, head for the door. I couldn't agree more, and find the assertion to the opposite -- that one should believe that one's spiritual teacher is perfect -- very curious indeed. To me, the notion that Rick is reducing Maharishi to a relative personality, with flaws like all of us is utterly bizarre. Reducing? As if MMY or any other of the 6.5 billion humans on earth is somehow *not* a relative personality with flaws like all of us? Rick's friend sounds like he'd be shocked to learn that MMY also pees from a dick and shits out of an asshole. When I first started meditating when I was 18, the friend who introduced me to TM (and who subsequently went off to TTC like I did and became a teacher) told me that when Maharishi goes to the bathroom, it comes out as butterflies. And I actually believed him until I was about 28. But then again, my mother had told me when I was about 5 that chocolate milk came from brown cows and I believed that until I was 35 and mentioned it in front of a large group of people. By the way, the friend who started me on TM quit meditating around '84.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- Rory Goff [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: I'd be very curious to know: has anyone on this forum had an experience of the Blue Pearl? When the thousand-petalled lotus first appeared over my head on a TM- sidhis prep course in about '78, it looked much like a huge white- golden parachute with a dark blue center hole -- which may have been the blue pearl -- from which threads of light issued down into the heart. At that time I was still doing a lot of astral-body travel, before I came to realize everything was actually inside this bodymind. Since then electric-blue lights have manifested on numerous occasions, most recently in people's heads here in FF. I have never been too drawn to the whole blue-pearl phenomenon, though, and couldn't say for sure if any of these experiences are equivalent to it. *L*L*L* The blue pearl is just a relative phenomenon. Neat, cool, groovy, whatever, but it is still an object of experience. You're just as bound whether you stare at porno or experience the blue pearl. Ultimately it is meaningless in the context of Realization. Not according to Muktananda: The blue Pearl stands for the fourth body, and pure consciousness lies beyond. To have a vision of the blue Pearl is absolutely essential. Only by the grace and aid of the Blue Pearl, can we enter into supreme consciousness. The Blue Pearl is not really different from supreme consciousness. You have to pass through te Blue Pearl to experience the supreme consciousness beyond it. (Satsand with Baba, Volume V, p. 197 and p.198, respectively) Hardly the same as experiencing porn. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] __ __Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos more. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC
[FairfieldLife] Re: The perils of translation utilities
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
In the US you can have this kind of fun just going to a Chinese
restaurant and reading the menus. There are often hilarious
misspellings and grammatical errors to be found. :)
In Montreal, you see it quite often when francophones are in charge
of translating a menu or an explanation of an exhibit at a museum.
Despite the availability of about 500,000 of their fellow citizens
whose mother tongue is Englisha nd who live within the surrounding 25
mile radius of where they are, they would rather maintain what we
call in Quebec The Two Solitudes and NOT consult them and come up
with a silly non-grammatically-correct English translation.
Movie tip of the day: Fay Grim -- Hal Hartley's sequel to Henry
Fool
and well worth the watch (or multiple watches).
TurquoiseB wrote:
I had lunch with some friends today at a little bistro
in Anduze, and the menu there was just a howl. We all
enjoyed it very much, because the owners -- in the
interest of globalization, of course -- had gone to
the trouble of translating most of the items into
English. The only trouble was, it looked as if they
had used Google Translate or some other translation
utility to do so, with the following hilarious
results, just in the salad section:
The Original: Tatare de saumon, cocktail de crevettes,
avocat, et salade verte.
The Translation: Tartare of salmon, shrimp, lawyer,
and green salad. (The word 'avocat' in French applies
to both 'avocado' and 'lawyer.')
The Original: Eventail de melon accompangné de cartagène,
salade verte, et pétals du jambon cru.
The Translation: Range of melon accompanied by cartagène,
green salad, and believed ham petal. ('Eventail' connotes
a fan-shaped arrangement, thus the 'petals' at the end;
'jambon cru,' or aged ham, has been confused with the past
tense of 'croire,' or 'to believe.')
The Original: Subtil assortement de charcuterie de Pays,
bien sur !!
The Translation: Subtle set of pork butchery of Country,
of course !! (The common meaning of 'charcuterie' is to
refer to a selection of meats, not the process by which
they were created; 'de Pays' is a way of saying 'country
style,' and doesn't refer to a 'Country.'
I've just started compiling these wonderful mistranslations.
If I find more I'll share them with you. Some are even funnier
than these...
[FairfieldLife] Re: A Challenge For Shemp
A good challenge, Edg, and one I'll be interested in seeing Shemp's reply to. Here's my take on the syndrome, not about Shemp per se, but about the phenomenon itself. In Net parlance, it's called trolling. From my mystical perspective, I call it trolling for attention. The Net is full of trolls. But what is it that they are trolling *for*? In my opinion (and again, that's all it is...NOT a declaration that anything I specu- late about here is true, or truth), those who have a consistent pattern of posting provocative material on controversial topics, topics that they *know* will push buttons in the other readers, are usually trolling for two things. The first is to see who among the readers is silly enough to get into the game of Defending One's Beliefs. I mean...they're *just* beliefs, right? Everybody's got 'em, just like everybody's got an asshole. Having beliefs doesn't make one any more special than having an asshole, *whatever* the beliefs may be. However much one tries to assert the truth of one's beliefs, in the end they remain beliefs. However much one tries to defend one's beliefs, or to refute seemingly contradictory beliefs, they remain beliefs. And yet. Some people consistently can be sucked into the game of defending their beliefs, or refuting the beliefs of others. While I admit that this might be appropriate for matters of fact, like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin ( Everybody! knows that the answer to this one is 42! ), I don't really see how it's terribly appropriate when it comes to beliefs, except as a way to have fun. You see this exception here on Fairfield Life a lot, and it always warms the cockles of my heart ( what the hell *are* heart cockles, anyway? ) every time I see it. Someone will ask a provocative question or make a provocative statement, hoping for an emotional, button-pushed reaction, and someone will reply to it FOR FUN, without any emotion in their response but humor. They'll take the provocative post and *run with it*, have FUN with it, take it to places that the original poster/troll never imagined. Rory is great at this, as is Tom T., as are Marek and Curtis and Rick and a host of others. They are giving the trollbait *attention*, but only the attention of bliss and humor and light. And then there are the non-exceptions to the rule, the ones who fall for the troll's bait almost every time, and who put their *attention* into acting out the fact that their buttons got pushed. They're investing their attention in the trollbait as well, but ( in the term- inology I'm used to using ) from a different state of attention, a state of attention characterized by strong emotion and aversion and a seeming need *to* defend the beliefs that the small s self has characterized as truth. In the former case, the troll has been foiled. Instead of suckering the respondant into reacting from an ego- bound state of attention, the respondant uses the bait to transcend, to a *less* ego-bound state of attention. In the latter case, the troll wins Stage One of the Trolling Game, because he ( they're almost always 'he's ) has suckered the respondant into locking themselves *into* an ego-bound state of attention. Stage Two of the Trolling Game is just to troll for attention, period. The troll might just be lonely, and desperate for someone -- anyone -- to react to them and talk to them. ( I honestly think that's why Richard Williams does his trolling. ) In some cases, the troll might be hoping for a strong reaction because he or she is consciously trying to bring other people down. ( That's a rarer phenomenon, and one that I don't think we see here on FFL very much. ) And in a few rare cases that I've encountered on the Internet, trolls troll for attention because they *get off* on sucking other people's attention, the psychic hit they get when they can get other people to focus their attention on them. ( Some schools of mystical thought refer to such individuals as vibe vampires. ) Whatever the reason the troll trolls, the reader and potential victim of the trolling ( uh...would that be 'For whom the troll tolls?' ) has several choices as to how to react. He/she could react by not reacting, either by reading the post and not replying, or by not bothering to read the posts of known trolls in the first place. Or he/she could react by reacting strongly, and getting heavily into the defend/refute game. OR, as suggested above, he/she could take the attention field of the trollpost and transmute it alchemically and HAVE FUN with it. Me, these days, I generally go for Door Number One with the people I've come to regard as Mainly Trolls. I read their posts, but click Next the instant they slam any- one here, and I never REWARD low-energy troll posts -- and the trolls themselves -- by responding to them. UNLESS I can think of a funny way to do so. I haven't been able to think up too many funny replies to Shemp's posts lately, so I haven't been replying to
[FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Alex Stanley [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: Rick's friend sounds like he'd be shocked to learn that MMY also pees from a dick and shits out of an asshole. How do you know ?
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
On May 27, 2007, at 12:14 PM, Rory Goff wrote: While it does vary from system to system, the blue bindu is like a gateway to the maha-bindu beyond the sahasara. At that point, the maha-bindu, you are beyond the mind. Until then, everything will appear to be inside the bodymind, like someone in a car looking out at the passing scenery. An interesting take on it. To me, everything had always appeared *outside* the bodymind, like someone in a car looking out at the passing scenery, before I realized the scenery -- the stars, the universes, all beings, past and future -- were in me. Then there was no need to leave the body in so-called subtler bodies to visit other timespaces and realms, as the other realms were already always available inside/outside, with a moment's pinpoint of attention. Are we saying the same thing, from opposite angles? I'm not sure, but I also see both as seamless sameness.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm not sure, but I also see both as seamless sameness. Nicely put :-)
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
On May 27, 2007, at 1:06 PM, shempmcgurk wrote: The blue pearl is just a relative phenomenon. Neat, cool, groovy, whatever, but it is still an object of experience. You're just as bound whether you stare at porno or experience the blue pearl. Ultimately it is meaningless in the context of Realization. Not according to Muktananda: The blue Pearl stands for the fourth body, and pure consciousness lies beyond. To have a vision of the blue Pearl is absolutely essential. Only by the grace and aid of the Blue Pearl, can we enter into supreme consciousness. The Blue Pearl is not really different from supreme consciousness. You have to pass through te Blue Pearl to experience the supreme consciousness beyond it. Yes. The transcendent is the bindu beyond the blue bindu-window of the upper sahasara. It's the window of pure consciousness. You probably also remember Baba's experience of the bindu shattering in the sahasara. If someone awakens the kundalini shakti via mantra AND the path it takes is within the central channel, one will begin to see photistic phenomenon like the bindu if two things occur: one reaches the nadanta, the end of sound, where the mantras subtlemost sound ends and converts into light and if She awakened in the central channel and approaches the head chakras. This process is actually represented in mantric lettering (a variation on plain devanagari) with the chandra or moon-like crescent which appears on all the TM mantras, and it's dot, the bindu.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Alex Stanley j_alexander_stanley@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: I don't think that love and critical faculties are mutually exclusive. One should never abdicate one's critical faculties. If a spiritual teacher tells you to do so, head for the door. I couldn't agree more, and find the assertion to the opposite -- that one should believe that one's spiritual teacher is perfect -- very curious indeed. To me, the notion that Rick is reducing Maharishi to a relative personality, with flaws like all of us is utterly bizarre. Reducing? As if MMY or any other of the 6.5 billion humans on earth is somehow *not* a relative personality with flaws like all of us? Rick's friend sounds like he'd be shocked to learn that MMY also pees from a dick and shits out of an asshole. When I first started meditating when I was 18, the friend who introduced me to TM (and who subsequently went off to TTC like I did and became a teacher) told me that when Maharishi goes to the bathroom, it comes out as butterflies. And I actually believed him until I was about 28. But then again, my mother had told me when I was about 5 that chocolate milk came from brown cows and I believed that until I was 35 and mentioned it in front of a large group of people. By the way, the friend who started me on TM quit meditating around '84. Sounds like he got tired of waiting for the butterflies...:-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Home Loan Alternative
In Colorado it's easy to buy a home. Homes are cheap and there are more mortgage companies willing to give you money than money itself. It's true that Colorado has the second highest foreclosure rate in the US but this is because money is easy to get. You do have to be careful because a good number of mortgage companies are crooked with fraudulent appraisers giving phony values on homes in order for the mortgage companies to shell out more money. Most people are not financial wizards and many get stuck with the wrong loan, i.e., ARM, interest only, etc. Most people do NOT read the docs they sign in the excitement of getting through the front door of a home just purchased. If you stick with reputable mortgage companies or banks such as Wells Fargo or Countrywide Home Loan, you'll be ok and will not get ripped off with closing costs. Interest rates are still low, around 6% so a fixed 30 year loan is a good way to go. There are homes here for as little as $150,000. The market is saturated with homes. It's a buyers market. You can even get into a home with no down payment if you've got any kind of credit history. For the price of the Vastu homes in Fairfield, you can have a beautiful home here in Fort Collins, Colorado. I had multiple mortgage companies running after me to give me money for a home. I first went with Countrywide Home Loan but when I ended up with Wells Fargo, Countrywide ran after me to match Wells Fargo closing costs and interest rates. The only home loan doc I read was how much the closing costs were. The rest of the docs are in my closet somewhere, a home loan with a good rate, 5.875%. By the way, everything new.morning said about interest payments is correct and I wanted to say thanks for the explanation. Mark --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Richard J. Williams [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: new morning wrote: You still don't get the most fundamental concept of finance: the time value of money. This is amazing! You're saying that some people take out home loans and without understanding the most fundamental concept of finance? That must be why a lot of folks took out A.R.M.s. I'm not a very smart person but I took Business Math two years ago at my school and learned all about an amortization table. This is not rocket science by any means. But what is amazing to me is that this is the first thread on a TM newsforum that I've read, in seven years, where a TMer even suggested that they were a homeowner. Here we've got Uncle Tantra renting shacks over in France and Spain, and folks up in Fairfield renting trailer houses, but nobody seems to have progressed to a point where they can afford to own their own home? What's wrong with this picture? Doesn't anyone on these groups have a retirement plan or at least a savings plan? Apparently, Barry doesn't even pay into U.S. Social Security anymore. Shemp seems to be in a good place financialy and Steve Perino claimed to have purchaed a house out in Cedar Park - I'm sure there are a few others, so I may be talking out my ass here. Go figure. From what I've read, the faculty at MUM get paid only a few thousand dallars a year, with Bevan making the lowest salary of just about any college president in the U.S. I wouldn't be surprised if not a single MUM faculty own their own home. The retirement plan for MUM faculty, if there is one, would problabe pay them all of $300 a month after working there for 20 years. One thing that I've noticed about TMers from the first few years of my involvement with the TMO is that a lot of TMers just aren't very interested in making any money, except to charge poor students and then sending the money to the Marshy's relatives in India. It must be pretty scary for some people when they realize that after believing they would get enlightened in 5-7 years, that all they'll get is a bed at a government nursing home, after living in a trailer house for ten years, just so they could enjoy the good vibes in Fairfield. Call me a materialist if you want to, but I just feel better knowing that I have a few bucks in the bank to fall back on in my old age. My question is: what is it about the TM program that makes it so that so many people are so broke after having practiced the program for so many years? Wouldn't it have been more sensible to have continued school, graduated, got a good job, saved some money and THEN spend 6 months at a TTC, or a few years working for the TMO? I guess I just don't get it. I guess my point is: why is it that people like the Marshy and Mukta and Sai and Osho and Trungpa make all these millions of dollars, but most of their followers are mere paupers? I must be screwed up! I'll probably die without reaching enlightenment and my grand kids will get all my money and spend it on games and TV sets or give it all to some spiritual teacher like
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The perils of translation utilities
shempmcgurk wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In the US you can have this kind of fun just going to a Chinese restaurant and reading the menus. There are often hilarious misspellings and grammatical errors to be found. :) In Montreal, you see it quite often when francophones are in charge of translating a menu or an explanation of an exhibit at a museum. Despite the availability of about 500,000 of their fellow citizens whose mother tongue is Englisha nd who live within the surrounding 25 mile radius of where they are, they would rather maintain what we call in Quebec The Two Solitudes and NOT consult them and come up with a silly non-grammatically-correct English translation. What? Did you move back to Canada from Phoenix?
[FairfieldLife] Morons Who Think Everyone Should Have Children
This morning I was listening to the local talk station and the topic was about having children. The woman temp host is in her 40's and no children and arguing with some imbeciles who were calling in calling her selfish and talking about having children, not just a couple but many, as if children are like puppies or kittens. The host was firm in telling them that she was not interested in having children and didn't make the income to support them anyway. Our planet is way overcrowded now for it's infrastructure. We really don't need more people and to make the environment better we need humane population reduction programs such as couples have only one or two children. In third world countries the idea was to have enough children so that some would survive to take care of you in old though most of the large families were probably more due to ignorance and lack of birth control. I think many of them believe that having children will guarantee them a body to reincarnate into down the road. Perhaps that is why many enlightened people don't have children nor even marry. There's just no need.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Lynch's daughter makes films too
Not far from the tree? The only difference is that David unlike his daughter is talented. s. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The apple certainly didn't fall too far from the tree: An elaborate metaphor about male oppression and female sexual power, Boxing Helena concerns an obsessive surgeon (Julian Sand) who cuts off the arms and legs of the woman he loves (Sherilynn Fenn). Not exactly a date movie. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/movies/27ande.html
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of shempmcgurk Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 11:58 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: My response to a friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about th --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com , Alex Stanley [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com , TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com , Rick Archer rick@ wrote: I don't think that love and critical faculties are mutually exclusive. One should never abdicate one's critical faculties. If a spiritual teacher tells you to do so, head for the door. I couldn't agree more, and find the assertion to the opposite -- that one should believe that one's spiritual teacher is perfect -- very curious indeed. To me, the notion that Rick is reducing Maharishi to a relative personality, with flaws like all of us is utterly bizarre. Reducing? As if MMY or any other of the 6.5 billion humans on earth is somehow *not* a relative personality with flaws like all of us? Rick's friend sounds like he'd be shocked to learn that MMY also pees from a dick and shits out of an asshole. When I first started meditating when I was 18, the friend who introduced me to TM (and who subsequently went off to TTC like I did and became a teacher) told me that when Maharishi goes to the bathroom, it comes out as butterflies. Haven't you ever heard of Butterfly Pee (Pea)? It's in many of the Ayurvedic formulas. And I actually believed him until I was about 28. So if you live to be 90 you may, by then, believe that the global warming scientists were right.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
Comment below: ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: **snip** Yes. The transcendent is the bindu beyond the blue bindu-window of the upper sahasara. It's the window of pure consciousness. You probably also remember Baba's experience of the bindu shattering in the sahasara. If someone awakens the kundalini shakti via mantra AND the path it takes is within the central channel, one will begin to see photistic phenomenon like the bindu if two things occur: one reaches the nadanta, the end of sound, where the mantras subtlemost sound ends and converts into light and if She awakened in the central channel and approaches the head chakras. This process is actually represented in mantric lettering (a variation on plain devanagari) with the chandra or moon-like crescent which appears on all the TM mantras, and it's dot, the bindu. **end** That last paragraph reminded me of a section in Heinrich Zimmer's Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization where he does this wonderful deconstruction on the image of Kali standing astride the reposed forms of Shiva/Shava and how that relationship is just one fractal of the meta relationship it alludes to and how another fractal is the devanagari transformation of Shava into Shiva. As I remember it, the image of Ma Kali, resplendent as all of Nature in her extraordinary fecundity and ferocity, birthing and annhilating with equal abandon, stands over, and in contact with the form of Shiva who, though inactive, has an erect phallus, a smile on his face, and open eyes. He is white with the ashes of the cremation grounds but he is glowing with vigor. Shiva's figure rests on another figure in the same pose who is Shava, the corpse. This figure, which is not in contact with the feet of the Divine Shakti, looks the same as Shiva but has closed eyes, no erection, and no expression. He, too, is covered in ashes but rather than a brilliant white like Shiva, he is pallid and without life. The philosophical decoction of the image is, of course, the Absolute (Shava) which is wholly transcendent and quiescent comes alive (as it were) to Itself (Shiva) when it comes into contact or awareness of its own Shakti, and It's reflection in That (Ma Kali) is the expression of Divinity in the world, the Divine Mother. When Consciousness becomes Conscious, then Intelligence becomes Intelligent. Zimmer points out that the transformation in devanagari script from Sha-va to Shi-va is the addition of an element that changes it without really changing anything. The same philosophical point, but now expressed in rules of grammar. He says it much better, of course, but that's what I remember of it and your comment (above) reminded me of it. Thanks, Vaj. Marek
[FairfieldLife] The discipline of letting go (of TM)
Every so often this daily meditation practice feels like an addiction. I find myself structuring the events of my day so that I can get my afternoon session in, or changing plans to I will have time in the morning. If I miss a sitting, I feel lethargic and dull. Sometimes I have to sneek off to a staircase or a closet for my TM. I wonder if a habit so ingrained is healthy. So about three weeks ago I decided to stop for a while to see what would happen. The first week was very difficult. I have had headaches and had to battle the desire to sit. At one point I had a job interview and realized I needed to do my TM before the interview to keep my calm. At this point I still feel I am missing the practice. My consciousness is in a semi-fog. Is this the way the rest of the world feels? s.
[FairfieldLife] Re: A Challenge For Shemp
Shemp, You did make me squirm with shame on at least one issue. But first, I'll have at you and see if I can make you squirm too. For starters, I'm not sure Global Warming is due to humans, and I don't think I've said otherwise, but it sure is a theory that rings true to me. I will keep reading. Stay tuned. If you want to post about Al Gore's duplicity, go ahead, but pollution is another issue, and I don't think you've made a statement about the Big Money connection to it. And the sin of Big Money is so bad, that if you're not yelling about it, you're on their side. These are the posts in which I rant about Big Money: 139558, 139478, 139274, 139278. Your name is mentioned in several of them. Yes, rant -- which means I've got goofy-assed psychological clockworks that have yet to find a way to deal with the emotions that the concepts in the above posts trigger in me -- my bad for the negativity, my good though -- perhaps -- for shining a light on an issue. I'm not wanting to get into a long back-and-forthing with you on the below -- simply cuz it's so tiresome to try to find the new parts to read. So I'll just write and you can see if you want to respond again. My reason for confronting you is that I think you have a sense of honor and fair play -- otherwise, I would just not read your posts. That's what bothers me -- how can you seem sane on one hand and SEEMINGLY utterly bereft of compassion for the downtrodden masses on the other hand? You say that I'm an anti-capitalist. I'm not. I'm anti-people-who-take-advantage-of-a-system. And capitalism, communism, and every other ism I've ever known the least about is obviously exploitable by the scoundrels. The TM movement is an excellent example of such exploitation, yes? I'm a business person and am comfortable taking money for value given in return, but pollution in America, Russia, China -- don't matter where -- is exploitation of the worst kind: the future is fucked over for a dime, and every child born today may see a day without polar bears in their world and have to face a clean up task that will take an entire generation's best efforts to even take control of the mess. What would the price of gas be if the oil companies actually tried to stop their pollution? It'd be high, right? How high -- dunno, google it, but for sure you and I cannot afford pollution free gas, and we'd all be riding bikes. You seem to think that their pollution is a small price to pay, but I've driven by their places of business and not seen even a dandelion growing. And under their grounds is a toxic plume spreading out. It's head-in-the-sand EVIL, and I think you're siding with it. Tell me I'm wrong, please, I'm begging you. For instance, you could tell us all that you were joking when you posted this as if it were wisdom: Money is the root of all good -- Ayn Rand. I think you were joking, just to pull my chain, but see? -- that's the deal, you're not communicating -- you're fumigating maybe. As for my insults, yes, on the whole, bad form on my part, and to explain it, all I have to say is that you have not responded to my challenges to you in the past, so I upped the energy, and voila, it worked, you finally respond. If you're not a fucking jerk, I apologize, but ignoring pollution and even deriding those who would shine a light on the issue makes you a fucking jerk in my opinion. If Al Gore's what you say he is, fine, tell us, but to ignore pollution and Big Money and instead yell about an ex-politician is serving the forces of evil -- you're bitching about a paper cut while Big Money's shotgun is removing your head. And I'm of the opinion that no one is smarter than anyone else, but that's a very long book I'm going to write. Stay tuned, but at least be aware that I don't think you're stupid, but when you say stupid things, I gotta wonder what went wrong -- to me, you're misinformed mostly. I don't see any depth of scholarship in your posts. You could get educated in short order -- that's me saying you are smart -- but to me it's a moral obligation to get that education, or stop making a fool of oneself. I haven't done enough scholarship about Global Warming -- in my opinion -- to have an opinion of much merit, so I'm circumspect about it. You seem to think that two movies watched make you an expert enough to publish your opinion as truth. Am I wrong about this? Have you done a ton of googling on it at least? Do you or don't you think that you're an expert on this issue -- not that you know everything, but do you think that you know enough to stop studying the matter? And now about the big point you scored. GUILTY AS CHARGED. I am a consumer, and without consumers, Big Money would not bother drilling for oil and polluting everything. Yes, I can vote with my dollar, and I do -- at least a little. My addictions to cheap goods is a very big problem of mine. I try to consume as little as possible, drive a nine year old car, buy
[FairfieldLife] Re: A Challenge For Shemp
Shemp, You did make me squirm with shame on at least one issue. But first, I'll have at you and see if I can make you squirm too. For starters, I'm not sure Global Warming is due to humans, and I don't think I've said otherwise, but it sure is a theory that rings true to me. I will keep reading. Stay tuned. If you want to post about Al Gore's duplicity, go ahead, but pollution is another issue, and I don't think you've made a statement about the Big Money connection to it. And the sin of Big Money is so bad, that if you're not yelling about it, you're on their side. These are the posts in which I rant about Big Money: 139558, 139478, 139274, 139278. Your name is mentioned in several of them. Yes, rant -- which means I've got goofy-assed psychological clockworks that have yet to find a way to deal with the emotions that the concepts in the above posts trigger in me -- my bad for the negativity, my good though -- perhaps -- for shining a light on an issue. I'm not wanting to get into a long back-and-forthing with you on the below -- simply cuz it's so tiresome to try to find the new parts to read. So I'll just write and you can see if you want to respond again. My reason for confronting you is that I think you have a sense of honor and fair play -- otherwise, I would just not read your posts. That's what bothers me -- how can you seem sane on one hand and SEEMINGLY utterly bereft of compassion for the downtrodden masses on the other hand? You say that I'm an anti-capitalist. I'm not. I'm anti-people-who-take-advantage-of-a-system. And capitalism, communism, and every other ism I've ever known the least about is obviously exploitable by the scoundrels. The TM movement is an excellent example of such exploitation, yes? I'm a business person and am comfortable taking money for value given in return, but pollution in America, Russia, China -- don't matter where -- is exploitation of the worst kind: the future is fucked over for a dime, and every child born today may see a day without polar bears in their world and have to face a clean up task that will take an entire generation's best efforts to even take control of the mess. What would the price of gas be if the oil companies actually tried to stop their pollution? It'd be high, right? How high -- dunno, google it, but for sure you and I cannot afford pollution free gas, and we'd all be riding bikes. You seem to think that their pollution is a small price to pay, but I've driven by their places of business and not seen even a dandelion growing. And under their grounds is a toxic plume spreading out. It's head-in-the-sand EVIL, and I think you're siding with it. Tell me I'm wrong, please, I'm begging you. For instance, you could tell us all that you were joking when you posted this as if it were wisdom: Money is the root of all good -- Ayn Rand. I think you were joking, just to pull my chain, but see? -- that's the deal, you're not communicating -- you're fumigating maybe. As for my insults, yes, on the whole, bad form on my part, and to explain it, all I have to say is that you have not responded to my challenges to you in the past, so I upped the energy, and voila, it worked, you finally respond. If you're not a fucking jerk, I apologize, but ignoring pollution and even deriding those who would shine a light on the issue makes you a fucking jerk in my opinion. If Al Gore's what you say he is, fine, tell us, but to ignore pollution and Big Money and instead yell about an ex-politician is serving the forces of evil -- you're bitching about a paper cut while Big Money's shotgun is removing your head. And I'm of the opinion that no one is smarter than anyone else, but that's a very long book I'm going to write. Stay tuned, but at least be aware that I don't think you're stupid, but when you say stupid things, I gotta wonder what went wrong -- to me, you're misinformed mostly. I don't see any depth of scholarship in your posts. You could get educated in short order -- that's me saying you are smart -- but to me it's a moral obligation to get that education, or stop making a fool of oneself. I haven't done enough scholarship about Global Warming -- in my opinion -- to have an opinion of much merit, so I'm circumspect about it. You seem to think that two movies watched make you an expert enough to publish your opinion as truth. Am I wrong about this? Have you done a ton of googling on it at least? Do you or don't you think that you're an expert on this issue -- not that you know everything, but do you think that you know enough to stop studying the matter? And now about the big point you scored. GUILTY AS CHARGED. I am a consumer, and without consumers, Big Money would not bother drilling for oil and polluting everything. Yes, I can vote with my dollar, and I do -- at least a little. My addictions to cheap goods is a very big problem of mine. I try to consume as little as possible, drive a nine year old car, buy
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
On May 27, 2007, at 2:55 PM, Marek Reavis wrote: That last paragraph reminded me of a section in Heinrich Zimmer's Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization where he does this wonderful deconstruction on the image of Kali standing astride the reposed forms of Shiva/Shava and how that relationship is just one fractal of the meta relationship it alludes to and how another fractal is the devanagari transformation of Shava into Shiva. As I remember it, the image of Ma Kali, resplendent as all of Nature in her extraordinary fecundity and ferocity, birthing and annhilating with equal abandon, stands over, and in contact with the form of Shiva who, though inactive, has an erect phallus, a smile on his face, and open eyes. He is white with the ashes of the cremation grounds but he is glowing with vigor. Shiva's figure rests on another figure in the same pose who is Shava, the corpse. This figure, which is not in contact with the feet of the Divine Shakti, looks the same as Shiva but has closed eyes, no erection, and no expression. He, too, is covered in ashes but rather than a brilliant white like Shiva, he is pallid and without life. The philosophical decoction of the image is, of course, the Absolute (Shava) which is wholly transcendent and quiescent comes alive (as it were) to Itself (Shiva) when it comes into contact or awareness of its own Shakti, and It's reflection in That (Ma Kali) is the expression of Divinity in the world, the Divine Mother. When Consciousness becomes Conscious, then Intelligence becomes Intelligent. Zimmer points out that the transformation in devanagari script from Sha-va to Shi-va is the addition of an element that changes it without really changing anything. The same philosophical point, but now expressed in rules of grammar. He says it much better, of course, but that's what I remember of it and your comment (above) reminded me of it. Thanks, Vaj. You're welcome! Thanks for the wonderful story. When I studied with a Patanjali pundit and yogi years ago, he taught us that a number of tantric sayings had hidden yogic meanings (the twilight language). The old adage you allude to, 'Shiva is shava without shakti' was one of them and is said to refer to the yogas to master samadhi which are the yogas and 75 variants of shavasana, the corpse pose. It is only when the two are united that it becomes the mahashakti, the transcendent power. It's the same with any bija-mantra. The death of samadhi/deep sleep and the death of sound are all fractal likenesses.
Re: [FairfieldLife] The discipline of letting go (of TM)
Stu wrote: Every so often this daily meditation practice feels like an addiction. I find myself structuring the events of my day so that I can get my afternoon session in, or changing plans to I will have time in the morning. If I miss a sitting, I feel lethargic and dull. Sometimes I have to sneek off to a staircase or a closet for my TM. I wonder if a habit so ingrained is healthy. So about three weeks ago I decided to stop for a while to see what would happen. The first week was very difficult. I have had headaches and had to battle the desire to sit. At one point I had a job interview and realized I needed to do my TM before the interview to keep my calm. At this point I still feel I am missing the practice. My consciousness is in a semi-fog. Is this the way the rest of the world feels? s. Maybe you need a better technique. TM is probably only just enough to keep you clear better two settings a day. Other systems are strong enough that if you miss a day or two or even a week the mind is still clear and sharp as well as the perception of the transcendent in activity (MMY's CC). In fact in other systems it's no great crime if you miss some meditations. I even asked my guru to comment on why an enlightened person would even continue meditating since it seems superfluous as once there the awareness of the transcendent keeps growing even without meditation. - Bhairitu Check out my anti-war music video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fxHbirAKKR4
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- shempmcgurk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- Rory Goff [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: I'd be very curious to know: has anyone on this forum had an experience of the Blue Pearl? When the thousand-petalled lotus first appeared over my head on a TM- sidhis prep course in about '78, it looked much like a huge white- golden parachute with a dark blue center hole -- which may have been the blue pearl -- from which threads of light issued down into the heart. At that time I was still doing a lot of astral-body travel, before I came to realize everything was actually inside this bodymind. Since then electric-blue lights have manifested on numerous occasions, most recently in people's heads here in FF. I have never been too drawn to the whole blue-pearl phenomenon, though, and couldn't say for sure if any of these experiences are equivalent to it. *L*L*L* The blue pearl is just a relative phenomenon. Neat, cool, groovy, whatever, but it is still an object of experience. You're just as bound whether you stare at porno or experience the blue pearl. Ultimately it is meaningless in the context of Realization. Not according to Muktananda: The blue Pearl stands for the fourth body, and pure consciousness lies beyond. To have a vision of the blue Pearl is absolutely essential. Only by the grace and aid of the Blue Pearl, can we enter into supreme consciousness. The Blue Pearl is not really different from supreme consciousness. You have to pass through te Blue Pearl to experience the supreme consciousness beyond it. (Satsand with Baba, Volume V, p. 197 and p.198, respectively) Hardly the same as experiencing porn. Well, porn is quite rajasic and the blue pearl, as it were, very satvic. But any object of experience has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with Pure Consciousness. You seem to hold a strong mental concept regarding the BP. Experience it and you'll eventually say ho hum too. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] __ __Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos more. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool. http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/
Re: [FairfieldLife] The discipline of letting go (of TM)
In a message dated 5/27/2007 3:59:12 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Stu wrote: Every so often this daily meditation practice feels like an addiction. I find myself structuring the events of my day so that I can get my afternoon session in, or changing plans to I will have time in the morning. If I miss a sitting, I feel lethargic and dull. Sometimes I have to sneek off to a staircase or a closet for my TM. I wonder if a habit so ingrained is healthy. So about three weeks ago I decided to stop for a while to see what would happen. The first week was very difficult. I have had headaches and had to battle the desire to sit. At one point I had a job interview and realized I needed to do my TM before the interview to keep my calm. At this point I still feel I am missing the practice. My consciousness is in a semi-fog. Is this the way the rest of the world feels? s. Maybe you need a better technique. TM is probably only just enough to keep you clear better two settings a day. Other systems are strong enough that if you miss a day or two or even a week the mind is still clear and sharp as well as the perception of the transcendent in activity (MMY's CC). In fact in other systems it's no great crime if you miss some meditations. I even asked my guru to comment on why an enlightened person would even continue meditating since it seems superfluous as once there the awareness of the transcendent keeps growing even without meditation. For me, meditation does clear me out and center me. But its not about me after 30 years, its about the collective. Many TM's are stuck on themselves to acquire CC or claim they are in CC. You don't really have to give anything of yourself to acquire CC. But, if you want GC you would need to develop service to others. This is why most meditators in the TMO are selfish and unable to see past there nose and will lie in order to keep their place on the foam in the dome. For me-it is about the collective madness. Until the violence calms down I recommend everyone to continue their TM practice or any other meditation or prayer practice. By thinking of the world in regards to the benefits of TM or other forms of meditation we are looking beyond our own personal ego for benefits. Instead our heart becomes involved when we start thinking about what it can do for the world-for others. And by thinking of benefiting others we fulfill the spiritual quest of giving up our little minds to a bigger mind and gaining a larger heart. Otherwise we feel stuck in our own self absorption of consciousness that we develop in our practice because we are not thinking beyond our own needs. God wants us to give up our thoughts and feelings and meditate for others who are suffering. They can use some of the energy that is generated. The time to stop meditating will be when the violence in the world calms down. When that happens there will always be those few people who are more committed in order to maintain a less stressful environment. Love and Light. Lsoma. - Bhairitu Check out my anti-war music video: _http://youtube.http://youhttp://youtub_ (http://youtube.com/watch?v=fxHbirAKKR4) ** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A few years ago, I was leafing through a psychology book which discussed a concept called hynogogia. This was supposed to be a state between the dreaming and waking consciousness. Although the book was not about meditation, the book describes some of the attributes of the hynogogic state. It may the same as to what you just described. This is an excellent point. It also points out that humans have learned a few things about states of consciousness since classical Vedic times. I have spent a lot of time in this state and taking the content of experiences in that state may not be the best way to understand what there states mean. From the vedic science point of view, this state of consciousness could be interpreted as the experience of going to another loka or world, or recalling of past life experiences from another time and universe. Even though we are still just beginning to understand human consciousness, I think it is important to include what people have learned in modern times and not approach the subject as if it was already completely understood in the past in some magical Vedic civilization. I would think that a serious understanding of consciousness should also include what is known from hypnosis instead of just dismissing one type of hypnosis as if there is only one type. For the scientifically inclined, yes this discovery is a new revelation to human psychology. But for my taste, one still cannot exclude the interpretations from the vedic civilization, albeit magical or otherwise. Is it possible that this state of consciousness is really a window to an individual's past or future lives? Or, is this state the vision from the third eye which is mentioned from various yoga books? Ancient traditions of meditation add a lot to the party. But assessing what the states mean may not be best understood from the perspective of cultures who were relying on metaphors more than empirical data. Posturing from a position of complete knowledge only hurts the growth of understanding. Science is still fumbling with the basic terms for hypnotic states and this is appropriate. I think this humility would serve spiritual traditions as well concerning what they know about human consciousness. Yes, very true. There is a lot to be learned as to why these visions appear without the direct influence from the experiencer. From the scientific point of view, it could represent the mind's capacity to perceive other dimensions in the universe. At the very least, one can say that the mind is the ultimate biological machine to explore the vast frontier of the universe. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_esq@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter drpetersutphen@ wrote: --- shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, matrixmonitor matrixmonitor@ wrote: I believe the Blue Pearl bindu is mentioned in the Markandeya Purana. MMY's book The Play of Consciousness was first called The Blue Pearl. M. describes out he was able to travel out of his body riding the Blue Pearl. Also, M. stated that the Blue Pearl offered him a Siddhi of immediately discerning the level (meditation level in terms of experience, Kundalini, etc) of persons who came before him. Since I bowed directly before him on numerous occasions, I wonder what his Blue Pearl told him. Probably not much!. (maybe it was silent - that would be an interesting twist). I also persuaded Charlie Lutes to visit Muktananda when the latter was in Santa Monica; but I seriously doubt that Charlie would bow all the way to the ground before M. I'd be very curious to know: has anyone on this forum had an experience of the Blue Pearl? Yes. We had a discussion about it several years ago. The blue pearl is a bindu. A point of entry into some sort of loka of consciousness. Brilliant blue spark in awareness that opens up with golden light pouring out surrounded by a blue rim. When it completely opens there's an entire celestial creation inside. Another world filled with interesting looking dudes and dudettes. The bindu is simply the entry point of your attention entering that level of creation. Iron chains or golden chains, there both chains! A few years ago, I was leafing through a psychology book which discussed a concept called hynogogia. This was supposed to be a state between the dreaming and waking consciousness. Although the book was not about meditation, the book describes some of the attributes of the hynogogic state. It may the same as to what you just described. To
[FairfieldLife] Re: The discipline of letting go (of TM)
I think I can speak for the non-meditating world by saying that we are not walking around in a semi-fog because we do not practice meditation. (even when practiced in a closet). But I can also speak for the rest of the world in wondering what's up with the buttsplicer email Stu? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Stu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Every so often this daily meditation practice feels like an addiction. I find myself structuring the events of my day so that I can get my afternoon session in, or changing plans to I will have time in the morning. If I miss a sitting, I feel lethargic and dull. Sometimes I have to sneek off to a staircase or a closet for my TM. I wonder if a habit so ingrained is healthy. So about three weeks ago I decided to stop for a while to see what would happen. The first week was very difficult. I have had headaches and had to battle the desire to sit. At one point I had a job interview and realized I needed to do my TM before the interview to keep my calm. At this point I still feel I am missing the practice. My consciousness is in a semi-fog. Is this the way the rest of the world feels? s.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: A few years ago, I was leafing through a psychology book which discussed a concept called hynogogia. This was supposed to be a state between the dreaming and waking consciousness. Although the book was not about meditation, the book describes some of the attributes of the hynogogic state. It may the same as to what you just described. FWIW, MMY said this gap was TC and that EVERYONE transcends, if only for seconds, every night. So when you were nodding off in class, you were being very spiritual :) Or, it could be that you have gone to another universe where no humans have ever gone before. From the vedic literature, the rishis have gone to other worlds filled with beautiful people such as the Gandharvas who can sing heavenly music and Apsaras who can dance thousands of times more graceful than a ballet dancer here on earth. However, ultimately one has to wake up and get on with the business of human living. :)
Re: [FairfieldLife] Morons Who Think Everyone Should Have Children
In a message dated 5/27/07 1:30:44 P.M. Central Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Our planet is way overcrowded now for it's infrastructure. We really don't need more people I guess that's why we need illegal aliens. Somebody has to pay for our SS. ** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Lynch's daughter makes films too
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Stu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Not far from the tree? The only difference is that David unlike his daughter is talented. s. *** Well, she says she's off the sauce now, so maybe she'll get more organized -- I didn't think Boxing Helena was so bad (despite its nauseating premise), but I guess most people did: http://imdb.com/title/tt0106471/#comment --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante no_reply@ wrote: The apple certainly didn't fall too far from the tree: An elaborate metaphor about male oppression and female sexual power, Boxing Helena concerns an obsessive surgeon (Julian Sand) who cuts off the arms and legs of the woman he loves (Sherilynn Fenn). Not exactly a date movie. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/movies/27ande.html
[FairfieldLife] Buddhism in Fairfield
Having just joined the group, I would like to say Hi. Recently I searched the many posts in the group for Buddhist connections. Here and there I find individuals who have received various levels of Buddhist teaching but not much in the way of information about active groups or visiting Buddhist teachers. Anyone aware of Buddhist activities in Fairfield? If any that is. Konchok
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, matrixmonitor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I believe the Blue Pearl bindu is mentioned in the Markandeya Purana. MMY's book The Play of Consciousness This book was not MMY's but Muktananda's. You are getting them all mixed up in this post. was first called The Blue Pearl. M. describes out he was able to travel out of his body riding the Blue Pearl. Also, M. stated that the Blue Pearl offered him a Siddhi of immediately discerning the level (meditation level in terms of experience, Kundalini, etc) of persons who came before him. Since I bowed directly before him on numerous occasions, I wonder what his Blue Pearl told him. Probably not much!. (maybe it was silent - that would be an interesting twist). I also persuaded Charlie Lutes to visit Muktananda when the latter was in Santa Monica; but I seriously doubt that Charlie would bow all the way to the ground before M.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Swindle out on DVD in 2-3 weeks
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Shemp, Shemp, Shemp, You continue to write as if the corporate world is not dumping toxins anywhere they damned well please. Could you just do me a favor and google pollution and see if you can read even five minutes before you puke. You seem -- SEEM -- to believe that the industrial revolution's pollution has been insignificant -- socially, environmentally, financially, psychologically, and spiritually. Am I right about that or am I getting a completely wrong take on you? Shemp, listen to me. Once, I drove in a car for over an hour in Indonesia along a canal. Next to that canal, for an hour's drive remember, was every manner of cardboard-shack housing imaginable, and that canal was where they got their water, washed and dumped their filth. Toddlers playing in muck, old women over tiny fires with rusted pots, and blight in all directions. The smell alone would knock you to your knees, Shemp. I don't know how many people I passed that hour, but it was in the tens or even hundreds of thousands. All living in squalor of such hideousness that the entire Indonesian government should be hung for crimes against humanity. Hung without due process, without a trial -- this village of the damned was prima facie evidence that would have any jury making up their minds and voting for the death penalty while walking to the juryroom. Respect the sovereignty of nations. If Indonesia wants to kill its population by pollution, let them go ahead and do it, just as many on this forum respected the sovereignty under Saddam Hussein to slaughter and torture Iraqis...WITHOUT interference from an invading American army. That, Shemp, is the true face of the industrial revolution, and it's been going on without end since it started. It's not just about airborne soot from China, it's about the human misery we're all turning a blind eye towards. Shemp, Shemp, Shemp, what don't you understand about black lung disease, sweat shops, migrant labor, apartheid, Darfur cleansings, World War II Japanese internment camps in California, fixed elections, gerrymandering, elitism, fascism, Big Brother, and the Dresden Firebombing? The fact that global warming may or may not be connected to this pollution is not the issue -- it is merely a cause célèbre, a calling to arms, a rallying flag for the Greens who see pollution and globalism and human rights as the core issues -- not saving water front properties in Florida from the ocean rising 20 feet due to, you know, all of Antarctica melting. Shemp, you seem to be on the side of the bad guys. Say it ain't so. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, FeyLyla@ wrote: Oh, Gosh!! I love controversy. Even for it's own sake, once in a while. Here's one of the dimmest ideas in a long time. Intelligent Design. I think of it as the liars doctrine of perfectly sensible rational for doing the same goddam dumb things over and over again until Darwin DOES the grande effect of changing what doesn't work. Global warming an issue? Right. The sun is getting hotter. Are you talking about the one that revolves around US? That MIGHT account for the sheer genius of neutering science and placing a recovered coke and alcohol abuser in the most important position in the world. Yes, the world. We do need to get over ourselves, yes. But we lead not by economics as GW thinks. We lead by example. I don't care if profuse farting is the cause of Global warming. The LEAST we should do is acknowledge that it's happening and it began with the industrial revolution. ...and whomever it was that lead you to believe that last piece of bullshit should be bound, smothered with honey, and thrown onto a phantom ice floe populated by a dozen hungry polar bears. Geez, you guys could inspire me to new heights of cantankerousness! FeyLyla ** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The perils of translation utilities
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: shempmcgurk wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozguru@ wrote: In the US you can have this kind of fun just going to a Chinese restaurant and reading the menus. There are often hilarious misspellings and grammatical errors to be found. :) In Montreal, you see it quite often when francophones are in charge of translating a menu or an explanation of an exhibit at a museum. Despite the availability of about 500,000 of their fellow citizens whose mother tongue is Englisha nd who live within the surrounding 25 mile radius of where they are, they would rather maintain what we call in Quebec The Two Solitudes and NOT consult them and come up with a silly non-grammatically-correct English translation. What? Did you move back to Canada from Phoenix? No, still in Phoenix.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brief comment on Muktananda's Blue Pearl.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- shempmcgurk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter drpetersutphen@ wrote: --- Rory Goff rorygoff@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcgurk@ wrote: I'd be very curious to know: has anyone on this forum had an experience of the Blue Pearl? When the thousand-petalled lotus first appeared over my head on a TM- sidhis prep course in about '78, it looked much like a huge white- golden parachute with a dark blue center hole -- which may have been the blue pearl -- from which threads of light issued down into the heart. At that time I was still doing a lot of astral-body travel, before I came to realize everything was actually inside this bodymind. Since then electric-blue lights have manifested on numerous occasions, most recently in people's heads here in FF. I have never been too drawn to the whole blue-pearl phenomenon, though, and couldn't say for sure if any of these experiences are equivalent to it. *L*L*L* The blue pearl is just a relative phenomenon. Neat, cool, groovy, whatever, but it is still an object of experience. You're just as bound whether you stare at porno or experience the blue pearl. Ultimately it is meaningless in the context of Realization. Not according to Muktananda: The blue Pearl stands for the fourth body, and pure consciousness lies beyond. To have a vision of the blue Pearl is absolutely essential. Only by the grace and aid of the Blue Pearl, can we enter into supreme consciousness. The Blue Pearl is not really different from supreme consciousness. You have to pass through te Blue Pearl to experience the supreme consciousness beyond it. (Satsand with Baba, Volume V, p. 197 and p.198, respectively) Hardly the same as experiencing porn. Well, porn is quite rajasic and the blue pearl, as it were, very satvic. But any object of experience has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with Pure Consciousness. You seem to hold a strong mental concept regarding the BP. Experience it and you'll eventually say ho hum too. Not eventually but from the get-go. I've seen a bead of blue light every day for pretty much the last 30 years and if it is, indeed, the blue pearl it has never been much of a Baroque experience; it has been pretty much of a ho hum from the first time I saw it (always outside of meditation). In fact when it first started coming into my vision, I went to an eye doctor and asked him about it and he found nothing wrong with me and just told me to enjoy it if it wasn't interfering with my vision. Now, the blue lights I see WITHIN the period of TM seem to be, each time I experience it (which is at least once a week) another shade or aspect of blue that I hadn't previously seen. The last time it happened, it was such an intense experience and so beautiful that I actually audibly gasped. However, I haven't ever associated the experience of these light with the mantra, although it almost always happens during meditation (and sometimes during sleep). I mention this because the last time I got an advanced technique, one of the questions that they ask on the form is something to the effect of: does your mantra ever become light (not light as in weight but light as in vision light)? And I had to answer no because I never associated the lights with the mantra although perhaps that is indeed what it was: the mantra at a subtler level. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] __ __Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos more. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] __ __Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool. http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/
[FairfieldLife] Re: The discipline of letting go (of TM)
It's funny that you should talk about this because I'm going through exactly the same thing but mainly because I'm too lazy to get up in the early morning to do the morning program. When I do, it's great. The evening program is done where ever I can get it in, in my car while waiting for my son to finish his gym workout, up in the hills or if I'm lucky, at home. Some of my best TM is in my SUV parked somewhere quiet. But the best program is up in the Rockies. But I find that if I'm regular, same place, same time every day, then things really work out good. My biggest problem is overcoming the laziness to keep it regular. Mark --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Stu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Every so often this daily meditation practice feels like an addiction. I find myself structuring the events of my day so that I can get my afternoon session in, or changing plans to I will have time in the morning. If I miss a sitting, I feel lethargic and dull. Sometimes I have to sneek off to a staircase or a closet for my TM. I wonder if a habit so ingrained is healthy. So about three weeks ago I decided to stop for a while to see what would happen. The first week was very difficult. I have had headaches and had to battle the desire to sit. At one point I had a job interview and realized I needed to do my TM before the interview to keep my calm. At this point I still feel I am missing the practice. My consciousness is in a semi-fog. Is this the way the rest of the world feels? s.
[FairfieldLife] Re: A Challenge For Shemp
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Giant Snip Profits must be had even if children drink milk with strontium 90, water with MTBE, and, of course, Kool Aid which is about as nutritious as Styrofoam. Whoa! Thanks for pouring your energy into this post. I need to reflect and study some of this issue. Really an awesome post. lurk
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buddhism in Fairfield
No, not much in FF. Buddhism as a spiritual meditation practice was pretty much trumped in the presentation of the early TM 'peer-review' research. May be some martial arts in the meditating community with that Buddist 'Eastern' connection over the years. Though, our TMorg Scientific charts and explaination such showed TM vs. Buddhism, with the Buddhist practices then a 'concentration method' without much result by comparison. Hence a strong cultural bias here against Buddist meditation as a practice. Is just the way it was told and marketed and the way it went. Is a void of Buddism here generally. -Doug in FF --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, konchokosel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Having just joined the group, I would like to say Hi. Recently I searched the many posts in the group for Buddhist connections. Here and there I find individuals who have received various levels of Buddhist teaching but not much in the way of information about active groups or visiting Buddhist teachers. Anyone aware of Buddhist activities in Fairfield? If any that is. Konchok
[FairfieldLife] friend's suggestion that we engage in a discussion about the movement
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, dhamiltony2k5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: But I think that you know (and, like me, have probably seen it happen) that even if the legal system found some- thing dreadfully illegal about the TMO's activities, or about Marharishi's activies, there are people who would *refuse* to believe a word of it. Their trust in their existing beliefs is stronger than their trust in the legal system. So, again, why even *bother* to try to sway those beliefs? We can talk about the things we believe here, and they can talk about the things they believe in the groups they hang with. No harm, no foul, no need for either side to try to convince the other that it's right. To do so just seems like an awful waste of time and energy to me. Yeah, that Bonhoeffer guy for instance, he could have saved himself a lot of trouble and probably have saved his neck if he just would have, kept his mouth shut. http://www.dbonhoeffer.org/ A real negativist. What was with him anyway, moralist fool. Huh? You enjoying France now? What i am reading here in what you write now is the urging that, we should not be divided on moral cause about how we do things? An advitan newage-ie thing, be one, are all one and... Yet people do have a sense of what is fair. With MMY, TM and the TMorg, there are just a few hundreds left and many who have walked away. -Doug in Iowa Yes, that is fine Turq on one level, except that practically, you live in France and we live here, with a 300lbs gorrilla on the loose in the neighborhood. People here judge the situation personally, all the time. That is also in a reality of practical things of the living of the thing. Is part of the fun and also is what makes the whole story the interesting human material that it is. Have a nice day, -Doug in FF
[FairfieldLife] Re: A different explanation of stress release
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Richard J. Williams [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Robert Gimbel wrote: Yeah, but, Ms. Magdalene was considered to be a whore, and I'm not sure that anyone would respect a Rabbi who married a whore. You remember that in that period of history, her fate would have been death, if Jesus had not intervened. Much like the women of Islam who would suffer the same fate, in this period of history, if anyone of them committed the same 'crime'. You don't seem to be very familiar with the New Testament, Robert. Mary of Magdala was not a whore unless you think that she had sexual a relationship with Jesus. However, this is not stated to be so in the Bible. So, where, exactly, did you get the idea that Mary of Magdala was a whore who had sex with Jesus? From a Gnostic source? If so, which one? There are two people here: you mention Mary of Magdala, This is a different person than Mary Magdalene. From the New Testament, you know the story of Jesus saving Mary Magdalene from death by stoning. I used the word whore for effect, but nonetheless, as the story goes, in the New Testament, she was sleeping with many men, as a prostitute. From readings and other sources, through the years, I just have come to the conclusion, that Jesus had a very close relationship with Mary Magdalene... Whether or not there was a sexual connection is not important to me. And having a relationship with Jesus, would certainly not make her a 'whore'. A whore to me is someone who has sex, for the sake of sex, or for money- sex without love, that's all. Sex without love is not the same, as making love with someone you truely love. Sex is a part of being human. And I was just attempting to tweak the notion a bit: The notion that one can be spiritual and feel sexual too, yes?
[FairfieldLife] Clarion call from AyurVeda
'Maharishi said ... all that there is in the world, everything, is Brahm [Totality]. ... There is nothing other than that reality. No second thing. What we see through the senses is just a limited version of reality.' 'Own that level of cosmic intelligence on the level of your own Transcendental Consciousness ... why not be in Transcendental Consciousness, and then it will only be necessary to push a switch. You will have command of the master switch of the universe... to accomplish anything.' 'So this is what we have in our system of education in our own system of Transcendental Being, we can think anything and we can do anything, by having this universal switch board. All possibilities, easily, quickly, naturally, available to everyone ' 'This is the clarion call from Ayur-Vedaall invested in the single Atma, the Self of everyone. So these are the days for all the bubbles of different sizes to come up, but they all belong to the same water. All phases of activity in the world belong to the same eternal, non- changing Unified Field, the unified state of Being.'
