[FairfieldLife] Re: Siddha Yoga
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_...@... wrote: We welcome your comments about these matters, Barry. You provide the opposite end of the argument. That was, in fact, my intention. :-) So, it keeps everybody honest and thinking. Personally, I believe that these stories are written in symbolic codes, aside from the apparent drift of the story. One has to interpret the meaning of these symbols in order to understand the true message. I would say instead, One *can* interpret the meaning of things one perceives in stories as symbols. One certainly does not have to. To suggest that one has to is neither honest nor thinking. Nor is suggesting that the story has a true meaning that only you and a few other select perceivers understand. Some of us are content with leaving the stories as what they are -- stories. They need no ego-fluff to make them better or more meaningful. The interpretations may vary for us now. But the ancient writers may have intended them that way. They may have. I will honestly admit that. But does that give the stories any more worth or meaning? Some guru traditions interpret the stories literally. There are others who don't. And, just to provide that opposite end of the argument you were talking about, *why* should the interpretation of a guru tradition inter- est anyone any more than the interpretation of anyone else? Do the guru traditions inherently have more insight or truth to them? More important, do the symbols that they per- ceive in these stories have any validity? What I was poking a little fun at in your original post was that you told the story of this fellow from the vedic texts who is still alive today, *as if that story were fact*. You seemed to assume that because of the source, it *was* true. Below I rewrite your original post a bit, using a different text or source story. As a serious question, why isn't it as valid an interpretation of symbols as your interpretation of the vedic texts? Why isn't it possibly as true and thus as eligible to be presented by you as fact as the story you related? Could it possibly be that one of the stories has a myth surrounding it that causes some people to believe that it *IS* fact, and the other story doesn't? To All: According to certain ancient texts, a person who wears the One Ring can live an extraordinarily long time. In fact, one such person by the name of Bilbo who wore the One Ring lived well past the ripe old age of leventy-leven, and is still living today somewhere in the Western Lands, along with Frodo and Gandalf. According to the text, they may return at some point to revive the lineages and greatness of Middle Earth. Get the point? I have pasted your original post below, in case you don't. What you were doing in it IMO was presenting fiction as if it were fact. I merely did the same thing. See how silly it sounds when you don't assume things about the possible factual nature of the source story? To All: According to certain vedic texts, an adept in yoga can live forever by controlling the inhalation and exhalation of the breath. One of Ramachandra's descendant by the name of Maru, who was born thousands of years ago, is supposedly still alive today and is living somewhere in India. According to the text, he will revive the lineage of the Sun dynasty sometime in the future.
[FairfieldLife] The Fascination With Miracles
When I read stuff like JohnR's recent post about the guy from the vedic texts living forever, or hear someone saying, I'd believe in Maharishi's other claims if I could just see someone levitate, or read the talk here about ancient or modern yogis doing this miraculous thing or that miraculous thing as if it these things were really...uh...miraculous, or terribly meaningful, I sometimes find myself wondering what's wrong with me that I'm not impressed by this shit. Some of my lack-of-impressed-ness comes from the fact that I've actually seen and experienced a lot of this shit. Whether you believe it or not doesn't matter, but to quote Blade Runner I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. I've seen levitation, going invisible, projecting the double, filling rooms with golden light, celestial/astral/whatever non-physical beings, doorways opening into other dimensions, and lots of other nifty miracle stuff. Big whoop. Although they were neat *to* see, and definitely expanded my mind about what is possible and not pos- sible in the world, none of these things ever really did shit for me. Or for anyone else. They were just miracles. Did witnessing real hang-there-in-mid-air levitation ever *do* anything for the self realization of the hundreds of people witnessing the guy do it? Did watch- ing the guy go invisible *help* them in any way? Did seeing someone fly through the air with the greatest of ease ever help someone to do it themselves, and thus avoid commuter traffic and pollution? Or help them realize their own enlightenment? Not as far as I can tell. It was just flash. So on that level I just don't *get* the enduring fascination with miracles. Witnessing any of this shit doesn't do much for the person witnessing it, just as being *able* to do this shit doesn't really seem to do much that is worthwhile for the world. On another level, W H Y should witnessing someone do this stuff have any relationship to that person's cred- ibility or believability? I've heard many people say that it does. They say stuff like, Well, if Maharishi had just demonstrated levitation, I would believe him about the Maharishi Effect. W H Y ? What does one thing have to do with the other? If George W. Bush had been able to demonstrate the siddhi of walk- ing across an enormous tank of yogurt, and did it on camera, would that have made his economic policies or his claims that there were WMDs in Iraq more believable? Someone who believes that seeing someone perform a miracle or siddhi means that you can *trust* the things that person says please explain to me why you believe this. I don't see any relationship at all. It's like a caveman believing that the guy from the future who can make fire using a magical device called a Zippo is to be believed when he tells him that this means that he gets to have sex with the caveman's wife and daughters. Is the quest for fire so important to some people that they're willing to throw away all common sense once they've seen fire?
[FairfieldLife] savyaapasavyo hastash ca?
Lately, during meditation, I been occasionally tapping my knees in tabla-style, just to test how practising boogie woogie has improved the control of my fingers, or whatevah. This morning engaging in the above mentioned activity, I had a bit weird feeling, that my left hand didn't know what my right hand was doing. The feeling was not very strong but, anyhoo. In the Latin (Matthew 6:3)... 3 te autem faciente elemosynam nesciat sinistra tua quid faciat dextera tua and Greek sou de poyountos ele-aymosouen me gnoto he aristera sou ti poyei he dexia sou (ad hoc transliteration!) ,,,'hand' isn't mentioned at all. How cool is that? (Well, in both cases 'hand' is prolly understood, so to speak...)
[FairfieldLife] What is the nature of attachment? (Re: All of Patanjali's 8 limbs )
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, enlightened_dawn11 no_re...@... wrote: a gangbang on Vaj? that's rich. howabout people here are just fed up with his arrogance and pinning all of his woes on the Maharishi? how about people calling it like it is. OK, Dawn. How *about* people calling it like it is. You started this. Now live with it. You talk about what you perceive as arrogance in Vaj? Well, here is one of YOUR recent quotes, in which you are possibly...uh...arrogant enough to claim to be enlightened: in my own practice, for example, i have found that real guru/God (dess) devotion has furthered my progress in a way that the basic knowledge i first gained from the TMO never could. this devotional learning and experience though, instead of being a contradiction of my earlier learning, has instead revealed a fullness and liveliness to the basic teaching that the Maharishi brought out, and completed an experiential understanding of enlightenment, that continues to grow, and grow and grow. and given the limitless experience of enlightenment, i don't see or concieve of any end in sight. Now let's follow this quote up with a few other quotes of yours. These quotes IMO indicate more about what the nature of your brand of enlight- enment is LIKE, and how an enlightened being such as yourself ACTS in daily life. The first quote is from only one day earlier than the one above: who said anything about me being enlightened? i haven't. obviously your years of meditation have not improved your ability to read Notice a slight contradiction there? And now a few other quotes to show what an enlightened_being such as enlightened_dawn11 considers enlightened_action, and how such an enlightened_one as yourself *treats* other presumably not_quite_as_enlightened human beings on this forum: you know your overly intellectualized approach is garbage, just like your over intellectualized understanding of the Self. HA HA-- that was very funny, and something that shut you up good! . . . the reason you attack what i write is that it is just experience, incomprehensible experience which you cannot contain, explain or understand with your weak and small mind, dumbo. . . . i thought it [Dzogchen] was a dog turd, but whatever, different strokes, right?:) . . . keep guessing, and if you do it often enough, it may even fill that great big empty hole you call a life . . . i refer to you as a monkey king because monkeys chatter, chatter, chatter about subjects they know nothing about ... and for that, you and others in your troupe are chattering away, flinging poo, and hopping from branch to branch. . . . what is wrong with you people? are you so injured and traumatized by your time in the tmo and your association with Maharishi that you run like frightened children, hiding behind the furniture, screaming epithets to ward off anything TM or the Maharishi, lest you shit your pants in fear? i think i have a pretty balanced view of my years of practicing TM. I don't look down upon those who don't do TM ... . . . what a bunch of fuckin' second graders - grow up, you're embarassing the rest of us. . . . maybe it has been so long that your cemented and entrenched and arrogant ego has blinded you to the basic knowledge of life. 3 more words for you: get a clue, and stop spreading your dis-ease. . . . vaj is not here to change anyone's mind-- he is just here defending his petrified dinosaur shit. . . . i think its kind of cool that it bugs you so much ... just shows us what an officious little dork you can be. And let us not forget your *first words* on this group, which if not true mean that Ms. I have completed an experiential understanding of enlightenment ED11 *started her FFL presence with a lie*, and then went downhill from there: I am new on this group... And finally, may I present for your entertainment the ultimate enlightened enlightened_dawn11 pronouncement about enlightenment itself, contradicting the teachings of Maharishi himself: who needs a teacher once the state of CC is permanent? Who, indeed? Do you have anything to say about any of this, Dawn? Surely if the above quotes are an example of what a person who has attained the state of CC (I have com- pleted an experiential understanding of enlightenment), is LIKE, and what such a person turns into *without* a teacher, why would anyone want or need one? As you say of your own experience, i don't see or concieve of any end in sight. Nor do I. I see jiveass bullshit as far as the eye can see. Can you explain to me what I'm missing in this picture of the experiential understanding of enlight- enment?
[FairfieldLife] Ever have a spontaneous dance moment?
I always wished I'd been born a better dancer, so that I could just spontaneously burst into dance in public the way that Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly did in their movies. Or maybe like Tom Cruise did in Risky Business. Well, this is a video of a Celtics fan in the Superdome who gets so carried away with one of his favorite songs appearing on the sound system that he has his own Tom Cruise moment. Why you get to watch it is that the cameramen at the Superdome noticed him, and put it up on the Jumbotron screen. It's really very spontaneous and sweet. :-) http://celtics.fandome.com/video/109548/Amazing-Dance-Caught-On-The-Jumbotron/?q=c or http://tinyurl.com/cbhkuz The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad. - Salvador Dali
[FairfieldLife] Maharishi and The Beatles in Rishikesh
http://tinyurl.com/cvgy88
[FairfieldLife] Plane Crash: Life Short Call Now in Clarence Center, NY
[ I pass this along for your edification. It is a post made to the Bruce Cockburn discussion list I'm a part of. Life Short Call Now is the name of Bruce's last album, and some of the other quotes in David's piece are similar quotes from his lyrics, if you don't catch the references. I'm passing it along because I think he caught something about life in this piece. My reply to him on the group follows his story. ] Thursday, February 12th This is an example of a non-normative event, or possibly a normative history-graded event (a future topic for the lifespan development course I teach). I intellectualize to modify deep emotion. A professorial coping strategy. I am transformed, moved, disturbed. Hearing a loud rip in the sky and then tear open our bedroom curtains to a massive bloom of fire less than a football field away. A virtual video of strange recurrent childhood dream. It came true. Half dressed, running into the chilling drizzle and slush. Panicking and panting as we approach what appears to be our good friends house- a young couple settling into their second year of marriage. Our friends. Loved ones. Fire, heat, explosions. It can't be! Jesus! Frantic prayers to Lord of the starfields, Maker of days. Speaking in strange tongues because there are no correct words for this moment. Hoping tragedy onto strangers, We realize it is the house to the left. Just like that, tragedy shifts next door. We see our friends running, safe. Alive. Thank you. Only to find out that 49 fliers and one neighbor vanished moments ago in a flower of flame outside our bedroom window. Surreal I keep muttering. Surreal I hear echoed through cries and moans, walking past dazed neighbors. White suffocating cotton smoke causing moments of zero visibility. We move inside for air. Hours later FBI and TV crews knocking on doors - it is 3:30am - looking for clues, looking for stories. Lights, action, trauma. We have stories, we have pictures. But not for TV eyes and radio ears. Friday, February 13th Did you have to show me that accident scene? Didn't I get enough shaking up? Tonight I'm flying headlong to meet the dark red edge of dawn. I know somebody will be crying, and somebody will be gone. (Bruce Cockburn) Today, a sick calm. No civilian traffic. Just the hum of generators, water hoses, fire trucks, police cars, and people chatter. Out-of-town media sluts approaching anyone who looks local, and ready for a little action. Our neighborhood is sealed off for the most part. Can't even cross the street to sooth (and be soothed by) grieving friends without threats of being arrested. Words do no justice for my clear emotion. As a coping strategy I try to excuse the angry yells of adrenaline-induced young cops. Works briefly, then tourette-like bursts of expletives. I'm pissing them off. Traumatized neighbors feeling violated by a sudden police state. Feels unjust, but we try to understand the perspective of cops who need a refresher course on sensitivity training. This isn't working. I better go inside before my throat bleeds. What am I thinking? Displacing my trauma. Our hearts are warn out by shock and disbelief. Our throats are raw from desperate cries and the thick sickening slurry of jet fumes, dust, and lost souls. Jesus! Life short, call now. David Merlo. Clarence Center (My Hometown) ** Excellent tale, David, and very well written. As I'm sure do many others here, I relate well to the inclusion of quotes from Bruce. He, too has an enduring fascination with the Tantric juxtaposition of the extraordinary and the ordinary, the everyday and those events that remind us that every day is FAR from everyday, and in fact could easily be our last day. From my point of view, the enduring value of such realizations as yours lies not in the moment of realization, but in how long we can keep them active in our minds. We step off the curb and someone pulls us back onto the side- walk just in time to keep the oncoming bus from turning us into roadkill. And we have a moment of realization about how short and how precious life is, and that we should not waste a moment of it. Our first impulse may be to call our loved ones and tell them how precious they are to us. But how long *after* that phone call is over do these realizations last? How long until we start forgetting the preciousness of life and start getting caught up in its same old same old mind-numbing ruts again? That's why writing these things down is so important. This story is something that you can store not in a drawer hidden away somewhere but on your bedside table, to be read often before you go to sleep, to remind you that there is a possibility that you will never awaken, and to remind you to say your thanks for all the waking moments now, while you still have a chance. And that's what Bruce does in the songs we all love so much. He has moments of realization like we do, but he writes them down and shares them
[FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi and The Beatles in Rishikesh
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, nablusoss1008 no_re...@... wrote: http://tinyurl.com/cvgy88 http://tinyurl.com/2wktme
[FairfieldLife] My Gwad, Ruth...
You asked if I was someone named Tim Guy posting to Space City Skeptics, claiming that our writing styles and background are similar. http://spacecityskeptics.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/how-to-design-a-positive-study- meditation-for-childhood-adhd/#comment-296 http://tinyurl.com/copqlw Do you really perceive my style and background as the same as, or even similar to, Mr Guy's? Goodness. I mean, we both appear to be native English speakers, but beyond that? Seriously. L
[FairfieldLife] FDR in 1936 on his foes, I welcome their hatred
FDR in 1936 on his foes, I welcome their hatred http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9yoZHs6PsU --On the same day that House Republicans unanimously rejected President Obama's economic recovery plan, it's worth stepping back in time to recall FDR's words when confronted with the very same kind of partisan obstruction. Excerpted from his 1936 campaign speech in Madison Square Garden, Roosevelt said: For twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing Government. The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent. For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up. We had to struggle with the old enemies of peacebusiness and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for meand I welcome their hatred. Full speech here: http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3307
[FairfieldLife] From wonder into wonder life will open
I've just come back from my Saturday morning walk along the ocean with my dogs. It's a warm, sunny day here in Sitges, with many of the hundreds of people along the boardwalk wearing only sweaters, and occasionally just T-shirts or tank tops. And for some reason the exper- ience has left me wondering about wonder. One of my favorite Bruce Cockburn lines ( Yes, *him* again! :-) is his reworking of the Lao-tzu quote from the Tao Te Ching that is the Subject line of this post. If we can sing with the wind song Chant with thunder Play upon the lightning Melodies of wonder Into wonder Life will open What has me pondering the word wonder this morning is the curious phenomenon of the different places that human beings *find* wonder -- how open and unlimited some of these places are, and how limited and constricted other such places are. Take this discussion group, for example. Face it...we are pretty much all wonder junkies here. Even if we are no longer on an overt spiritual path, we love those moments of wonder that we stumble upon that zap! some- thing in our brains or our hearts and make us wake up! for just a moment and re-experience the wonder we felt about life in our youth. For some, those moments of wonder are found in rooms sitting with their eyes closed, in reading scripture or tales of power from the past, in the words of their spiritual teacher, or by focusing on him or her one-pointedly. For others, they seem to find similar moments of wonder that inspire them in just the weirdest, most everyday places -- in movies and TV, in a funny YouTube clip or a ribald joke, in a favorite song, or in catching a glimpse of a beautiful woman or a handsome man. Some would have you believe that the former moments of wonder are qualitatively better or higher than the latter moments. The argument goes, Because we are focus- ing on something 'higher,' something 'more refined' and 'less worldly,' our moments of wonder are cooler than yours, and more spiritual. My response would have to be an unqualified Bah! Wonder is wonder, wherever one finds it, and from what- ever source of inspiration. The inspiration itself -- if it lifts you out of the same old same old and into a mental or emotional space that reminds you of wonder itself and the joy of life -- is the same, whatever inspires it. That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it. When folks sug- gest that me finding wonder and inspiration in a beautiful girl walking by is somehow lesser than them finding wonder in a book of scripture or in thoughts of God, I emulate Dogbert by raising my paw and saying, Bah! On my walk today by the ocean, I saw dozens of things that, for me, inspired wonder. Each of these things uplifted me and made me feel spiritual in a way that I'm not sure I would ever have achieved by sitting at home and reading the highest scripture. YMMV. Some of this morning's moments that inspired wonder for me: * The beautiful young mother pushing her baby along the boardwalk in a stroller, feeling her long blonde hair toss in the wind and enjoying the sensual nature of it, then noticing me noticing and smiling, and smiling back. * The two-year-old toddling along, still somewhat unsure about this walking stuff, and noticing my dogs...toddling up to one of them and getting his first dog hug...my dog tolerating it gracefully, but with a look on his face that made me LOL. * A seagull with Johnathon Livingston Seagull aspirations doing loop-do-loops above us, occasionally swooping down to grab morsels of food held out by admiring humans. * A teenager overcome with a need to not only walk along the boardwalk on a sunny Saturday morning, but to *dance* along it, doing a creditable pàs de deux with the wind...stopping, noticing the passersby not being as appreciative as she'd thought they might be, frowning...noticing me watching her and smiling big-time...laughing, and doing one last pirouette and curtsy in my direction before walking on. I could go on and on. So many moments of wonder, each of them opening me to even more. While I may understand that people find wonder in the same old same old places they've found it for years -- in meditation, on rounding courses, in pujas and yagyas and celebrations, in thinking about or discussing intellectual models for enlight- enment or self discovery, I think they might be missing some- thing if they believe those are the *only* places they can find it. Wonder is all around us, on every street or boardwalk. If we don't notice it, and hurry home to search for wonder in a book, IMO that's not the wonder-on-the-street's fault.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: BSG
--- On Sat, 2/14/09, jyouells2000 john_youe...@comcast.net wrote: From: jyouells2000 john_youe...@comcast.net Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: BSG To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Saturday, February 14, 2009, 12:15 AM --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter drpetersutp...@... wrote: Any fans out there? It is all coming together in such an amazing way. My guess, there are no humans left, everybody is a Cylon! Nah, looks like there are a few more twists and turns left ... The Five -- very Vedic ;) JohnY John,,how are ya...five tattwas; foundational energies of creation. To subscribe, send a message to: fairfieldlife-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: BSG
Turq, I agree with you about Dee. One of the major players offs herself and that's it? I think she'll loop back into the plot when they find or make a new resurrection ship. Turq, you are in for a treat with this new episode. If these writers are making it up as they go along, they are a fine coherent group compared to the Lost clowns who seem to smoke crack or something. --- On Sat, 2/14/09, TurquoiseB no_re...@yahoogroups.com wrote: From: TurquoiseB no_re...@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: BSG To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Saturday, February 14, 2009, 2:35 AM --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter drpetersutp...@... wrote: Any fans out there? It is all coming together in such an amazing way. My guess, there are no humans left, everybody is a Cylon! Big fan, but my latest episode is still downloading, so I can't comment on last night's revelations. :-( Your theory has been mine ever since the first episode in this season, when Dee croaked herself and Kara found out she had been somehow reincarnated. My theory is that Dee (like the Final Four) had some flashbacks while on Earth of her previous time there and realized the truth and couldn't live with it. But that's just a theory, and the writers of the series have said clearly that they make it up as they go along, with no present plan in mind, so anything could happen. Note: although this discussion has a few spoilers in it, I don't think we have to worry, because no one who isn't already a fan is going to bother to go back and watch five seasons of BSG from the start and have anything ruined for them. All I can say is that I hope Dee comes back because she was a babe. South African actress, gorgeous in that way that only mixed-race humans can be gorgeous. There is something magical about throwing a bunch of genes into a blender and seeing what happens. My fave blend is the Maori royalty, a blend of New Zealand Maori and 17th-century Scottish immigrants. Takes human beauty to new levels. To subscribe, send a message to: fairfieldlife-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Re: Scroll in windows w/o focus
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante no_re...@... wrote: http://snipurl.com/buy4r [antibody-software_com] Wow, thanks Bob! That used to be a built-in feature of the Logitech mouse software, and they did away with it a long time ago. It took me forever to get used to having to click on a window before scrolling. It's so sweet having that feature back, after all these years!
Re: [FairfieldLife] Ever have a spontaneous dance moment?
He's no Gene Kelly, but it's funny sure nuf. He's probably already a maskot cause he handles people like an old hand. - Original Message - From: TurquoiseB no_re...@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 4:18 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Ever have a spontaneous dance moment? I always wished I'd been born a better dancer, so that I could just spontaneously burst into dance in public the way that Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly did in their movies. Or maybe like Tom Cruise did in Risky Business. Well, this is a video of a Celtics fan in the Superdome who gets so carried away with one of his favorite songs appearing on the sound system that he has his own Tom Cruise moment. Why you get to watch it is that the cameramen at the Superdome noticed him, and put it up on the Jumbotron screen. It's really very spontaneous and sweet. :-) http://celtics.fandome.com/video/109548/Amazing-Dance-Caught-On-The-Jumbotron/?q=c or http://tinyurl.com/cbhkuz The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad. - Salvador Dali To subscribe, send a message to: fairfieldlife-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Re: From wonder into wonder life will open
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: snip Take this discussion group, for example. Face it...we are pretty much all wonder junkies here. Face it? Do you mean to suggest we're all in denial about it? Or is that just an empty phrase that you think will somehow make what you're about to say more powerful, despite its having nothing to do with the participants on FFL? Use no unnecessary words. Use no unnecessary words. Use no unnecessary words. --Strunk and White, Elements of Style snip For some, those moments of wonder are found in rooms sitting with their eyes closed, in reading scripture or tales of power from the past, in the words of their spiritual teacher, or by focusing on him or her one-pointedly. For others, they seem to find similar moments of wonder that inspire them in just the weirdest, most everyday places -- in movies and TV, in a funny YouTube clip or a ribald joke, in a favorite song, or in catching a glimpse of a beautiful woman or a handsome man. Some would have you believe that the former moments of wonder are qualitatively better or higher than the latter moments. The argument goes, Because we are focus- ing on something 'higher,' something 'more refined' and 'less worldly,' our moments of wonder are cooler than yours, and more spiritual. Whose argument goes this way, exactly? Even given that this is (presumably) a paraphrase laced with scare quotes, I can't recall ever having seen anyone here (or anywhere else, for that matter) make an argument like this. Maybe I've just missed it. Could you refer me to a post or two? Or is your entire post, perhaps, based on a sort of straw man, an argument you've invented for the occasion, designed to make yourself look all, you know, exalted and spiritual by contrast? snip While I may understand that people find wonder in the same old same old places they've found it for years -- in meditation, on rounding courses, in pujas and yagyas and celebrations, in thinking about or discussing intellectual models for enlight- enment or self discovery, I think they might be missing something if they believe those are the *only* places they can find it. Wonder is all around us, on every street or boardwalk. If we don't notice it, and hurry home to search for wonder in a book, IMO that's not the wonder-on-the-street's fault. Why do you need to bookend your account of some lovely moments with putdowns anyway? Why not just let us appreciate the accounts on their own terms? Why surround them with a sermon about how some (apparently imaginary) people are missing out on something wonderful, unlike your deeply sensitive self?
[FairfieldLife] What is the nature of attachment? (Re: All of Patanjali's 8 limbs )
Do you have anything to say about any of this, Dawn? you quoted me accurately...what would you like me to say? you have plenty of your own conclusions. if you are ok with 'em, me too. Surely if the ... quotes are an example of what a person who has attained the state of CC (I have com- pleted an experiential understanding of enlightenment), is LIKE, and what such a person turns into *without* a teacher, why would anyone want or need one? a good question-- do you have an answer for yourself yet? you left out a quote which i have made three or four times here-- i am not out to change your mind, nor do i care what you think of me, or not of me, nor whether you even read my stuff. As you say of your own experience, i don't see or concieve of any end in sight. Nor do I. I see jiveass bullshit as far as the eye can see. ok...and please let us know when you are done calling the kettle black... Can you explain to me what I'm missing in this picture of the experiential understanding of enlight- enment? explain to you? no one is ever able to explain anything to you that you haven't already reached a conclusion on, including me. in other newsHappy Valentine's Day!
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: From wonder into wonder life will open
From: authfriend jst...@panix.com Why do you need to bookend your account of some lovely moments with putdowns anyway? Why not just let us appreciate the accounts on their own terms? Why surround them with a sermon about how some (apparently imaginary) people are missing out on something wonderful, unlike your deeply sensitive self?
[FairfieldLife] What is the nature of attachment? (Re: All of Patanjali's 8 limbs )
i am enjoying the de facto title of this post; what is the nature of attachment? especially in light of Barry's latest post to me, in which he attempts to pin down my perspective and identity, to verify...what? what if there is really nothing there? and that is what my post is about- how dynamics on a forum are different than what we look for in other printed material. none of us here is much more than a composite of what we say we are, how we express ourselves, and what others think of it and us as a result. i may claim all sorts of things about myself, and others, that trigger thoughts in others about what i have said. or not. and that's it. no one has a past or future here, or is any more valid than anyone else here. like ruth was asking, why are we here? me, i enjoy swapping energy here. that is what this place is for me; swapping energy. it is all about the energy of the moment, that last post. or someone may look for patterns in what we post, and decide to reach a conclusion about it, and call us out on that conclusion, which we then may respond to, or not, and if we do, we may be further challenged, or believed, or ignored altogether. it is a far different dynamic than reading the news, or a book. no one, or very few anyway, actually reads this forum sequentially like a book, and learns from it in that way. it is more like a scrolling effect, moving through time, with the present center exposed and the past endlessly rolled up and forgotten, the future anticipated, expected, and unknown.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Amma's healing presence
sounds like someone needs a hug.:) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: From a friend for the life of me, I do not know why I'm doing this, however I have this strong urge to share the following with you all.. Ok, here I sit reading Swami Ramakrishnan's Racing Along the Razor's Edge. I'm on Chapter Five: The Importance of Having a Guru and the subsection is titled - Healing Presence. Swami starts this off by describing how people with what may seem to be huge problems in their lives, as they come up to Amma for darshan seems the problems become insignficant, they just melt away as it were. The following, after I read it, I reflected on an incident that I witness at DFW (Dallas/Ft Worth airport). Then this strong urge came up to share this and why I don't know but here goes... When Amma was in Chicago in 1993 at the Parliament of World's Religions Centennial, She was requested to give the closing prayers and message. The devotees brought the car close to the stage door so that Amma would be able to get to the car as quickly as possible when the function was over; otherwise, people would crowd around Her. As the Dalai Lama and some other important celebrities were also on the stage along with Amma, there was tight security. Because of this, it was diffuuclt to get permission to park the car near the stage door. Amma finished Her prayer and message and was walking out the stage door toward the car when She saw a security guard arguing with a devotee. The guard's face was red with anger and his voice was escalating. Amma walked straight up to the guard, stroked his chest and gave him a hug. He was totally taken aback by this unexpected loving and soothing embrace. The guard, who had been insisting that due to security reasons they should move the car and bring Amma only through the designated gate and not through any other door, was now escorting Amma to the car and opening the door for Her! Just one touch was enough to change him. Next year when Amma came to Chicago, he was the first person in the darshan line. I was there and I remember standing way in the back of this open arena. It was nightfall, and so happend I was standing next to another Amma devotee. When it was Amma's turn to come up to the podium, all we both could see from the angle we were at, was Her nose ring shining brilliantly. We both could not believe how radiant it shined! Just a certain way She would turn Her head and the stage lights would hit that ring and it was like all of a sudden seeing a bright light from a lighthouse beaming out and it this instance this dazzling, sparkling, radiant divine brilliance shining forht. It was truly remakable. Sometime in the early 90's I went to see Amma at DFW as She was leaving to go to Chicago. As She was walking to the gate She would stop and either embrace or stroke a person's chest. Devotee or a passerby! It was remarkable to see how She would so naturally come up to a stranger and embrace them. One very sweet moment, for me was when She walked up to an American Airline employee, a young African American male, and just completely showered him with so much affection. You could tell at first he was a bit bewildered, but then completely accepting and grateful what just happened to him. The following year he showed up for darshan there in Dallas. So there you have it, like I said don't know what came over me to write this, but its done and hope you enjoyed the story(s). Happy Valentines Charles
[FairfieldLife] Re:BSG
I've mainlined it since it started. Love the questions it raises and refuses to answer in a doctrinare fashion. This is scifi at its best - glorifying ultimate questions in a high manner - torture, jihad, revelation, genocide, species annihilation, human nature as such. The list goes on and it would all be television bull except for the witnessing non-position it takes. I've heard various claims about the final story but none seem accurate yet. I just wanna watch and be amazed.
[FairfieldLife] Cows rescue a piss poor economy
Grazing bucolic the cows unsuspecting Their lucrative urine profits projecting Globalized income saving the earth If cows only knew their actual worth Would they object to harvesting piss Or would they required dues for your bliss? Cows would unite to rescue the planet Toast to good health and naturally can it They'll piss in a bottle And sell it full throttle No need to panic It's purely organic No warning label Contents are stable From lowe of cow moo To tail of cow poo It isn't surprising Cows enterprising Cash of the hoof Wealth through the roof Cows refine mellow Rivers of yellow Cows organize Cows globalize Healing mankind Fortune's goldmine Cookies with cream Or so it would seem A natural snack Takes me way back But new on the scene Better than cream Burfi and piss Guaranteed bliss raunchydog http://tinyurl.com/bqay3p
[FairfieldLife] Happy Birthday I Am The Eternal!
Today's the day. Have a good one.
[FairfieldLife] YouTube - Angelic Human Race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4JPx0eZdJQ
Re: [FairfieldLife] BSG
Peter wrote: Any fans out there? It is all coming together in such an amazing way. My guess, there are no humans left, everybody is a Cylon! Hilarious! The latest episode has the I'm a PC guy from the Apple commercials playing a doctor! And being just as wacky as he is in those ads.
[FairfieldLife] Whining Rich Republican Throws Stimulus Bill on Floor
This video just shows how childish the Republican terrorists are now that they aren't getting their way. Listen to his rant. Does he once ever mention exactly what he and his cronies had it mind? Somewhere towards the end he mentions something about letting Americans keep their money. He left out a word there because the Republican terrorists solution is to let the rich Americans keep their money. It's just the same old shit they've been dishing out for 30 years, trickle down or pee on the public economic. The Republicans hate us for our freedoms and they love to take them away along with our money. What a load of garbage from Boehner's mouth: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/GOP_leader_tosses_stimulus_bill_on_0213.html I guess Boehner doesn't think that turn about is fair play. :-D
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig lengli...@... wrote: You asked if I was someone named Tim Guy posting to Space City Skeptics, claiming that our writing styles and background are similar. http://spacecityskeptics.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/how-to-design-a- positive-study- meditation-for-childhood-adhd/#comment-296 http://tinyurl.com/copqlw Do you really perceive my style and background as the same as, or even similar to, Mr Guy's? Goodness. I mean, we both appear to be native English speakers, but beyond that? Seriously. Unbelievable. Apparently she thinks this because Tim Guy makes a couple of the same points you have. Of course, there couldn't possibly be *two* people who have looked at the research in question and come to the same conclusions independently, now, could there? An interesting feature of the discussion, BTW, is that while Vaj accuses Tim Guy of horrors being a TMer (and therefore incapable of either honesty or objectivity), Vaj fails to identify himself as a former TMer-turned-TM-critic, leaving the highly misleading impression that he is simply an independent outside observer with no axe to grind. This is particularly ironic when he makes one claim after another about how TM research has been conclusively debunked, when the *most* that can be said is that some of it has been called in question. Also fascinating that, as Tim Guy points out, Vaj confuses the hypotheses about EEG coherence with the ME hypothesis--and Ruth actually backs Vaj up!
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re:BSG
Some of the best drama, ever. --- On Sat, 2/14/09, billy jim emptyb...@yahoo.com wrote: From: billy jim emptyb...@yahoo.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re:BSG To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Saturday, February 14, 2009, 11:22 AM I've mainlined it since it started. Love the questions it raises and refuses to answer in a doctrinare fashion. This is scifi at its best - glorifying ultimate questions in a high manner - torture, jihad, revelation, genocide, species annihilation, human nature as such. The list goes on and it would all be television bull except for the witnessing non-position it takes. I've heard various claims about the final story but none seem accurate yet. I just wanna watch and be amazed.
[FairfieldLife] Enlightenment: Benefit or Disorder? (was nature of attachment)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, enlightened_dawn11 no_re...@... wrote: i am enjoying the de facto title of this post; what is the nature of attachment? I changed it. My bad. :-) [ I'm going to reply as if you were serious in this post, and not just evading. BTW, I don't give a frak about your identity behind your screen name...that is a given as far as I am concerned. What I am interested in pinning down is how that identity thinks. ] especially in light of Barry's latest post to me, in which he attempts to pin down my perspective and identity, to verify...what? what if there is really nothing there? What if? I mean, wouldn't it be *nice* if there were no one there behind your screen name and identity here on this forum? Then you wouldn't have to care about your actions, and whether they were remembered, and whether they had consequences. No karma. Just say shit, and assume that everyone else has forgotten it as soon as it is out of your mouth, the way you seem to. That would be cool, wouldn't it? The ultimate Get Out Of Jail Free card. No cares, no responsibility. Why I'm saying this is that this is *exactly* many people on this forum's issue with the real-world actions of spiritual teachers and others who have in the past claimed enlightenment. They acted out in the real world what you seem to want to act out here in cyberspace. With sometimes less than positive results. I'm trying to pin down what the thinking is that leads people to do this -- announce their enlight- enment and then act as if the Big E gives them a Karmic Get Out Of Jail Free card, and that they no longer have any responsibility for their actions from that point onwards. It really ISN'T about picking on you at all. I'm more curious about the larger issue, because it seems to pervade not just the TM movement but many other spiritual movements, both now and in the past. I'm curious as to whether enlightenment is a benefit or a disorder. and that is what my post is about- how dynamics on a forum are different than what we look for in other printed material. none of us here is much more than a composite of what we say we are, how we express ourselves, and what others think of it and us as a result. i may claim all sorts of things about myself, and others, that trigger thoughts in others about what i have said. or not. and that's it. While there is some truth to the notion that a dif- ferent set of dynamics are in place on cyberforums ( they have been documented and studied and discussed often among scientists and sociologists ), still cyberspace is an interaction of *human beings*. Human beings act. Beings in cyberspace act. In the real world, the actions of human beings generate karma. In cyberspace, the actions of composites generate karma. Your first paragraph above ( and some of your composite's behavior on this forum ) leads me to believe that it believes that, for whatever reason, it has no more karma. It no longer needs to be concerned about what it said yesterday, or did yesterday. And it certainly isn't responsible for anything it did yesterday. If I were describing a mental patient, I think that you might agree with me that this patient is a few cans short of an ethical and moral and conceptual six-pack. Right? So what makes a cyberspace composite any different than the mental patient? And, to turn the conversation back to my real point again, what are the implications when a spiritual teacher or one of their followers seems to believe that now that they are enlightened they are not responsible for any of their actions? no one has a past or future here, or is any more valid than anyone else here. Uh...excuse me? Did you really say that? Go back and read it again. And then, after you do, skim back up and read the paragraph about mental patients again. I'm sorry, but *everyone* here has a past and a future. So do all of the enlightened beings in the world today. What makes many of us question the *value* of enlight- enment is that many of these supposedly enlightened beings say stupid shit like We don't have a past or a future, and ACT that way in terms of refusing to acknowledge any responsibility for the things they do and say. like ruth was asking, why are we here? me, i enjoy swapping energy here. that is what this place is for me; swapping energy. Cool. That is why I'm here, too. And most of us. But to be honest, I don't think you hear too many of the rest of us claiming that we have no past or future. Or responsibility for our actions. You yourself have been recently giving Vaj a shitload of grief for his past actions. Howcum he has a past and a need to be held accountable for it and you don't? :-) it is all about the energy of the moment, that last post. I am fairly certain that you're being honest here, and would like to believe that this is true. But it isn't. Cyberspace is a lot like life -- a *succession* of moments, one
[FairfieldLife] What is the nature of attachment? (Re: All of Patanjali's 8 limbs )
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: snip It's funny, whenever someone brings up a topic and I comment honestly--not based on image or a publicity--this truth seems to rankle some who hold onto the image. Or, some of us don't think (a) you're commenting honestly or (b) that what you say is truth (or both). I think we should try to see our teachers and practices as they really are and that may vary from how they are hyped or advertised. You see the same thing whenever Paul Mason or John Knapp post here. Because their descriptions vary from the airbrushed image and the sales brochure people just fly off the handle. It's as if painting a true and honest picture must be resisted at all costs. We must keep the illusion going. Most of us here are objective enough to have recognized long since that our teachers and/or practices haven't always matched up to the hype. What some of us object to is the constant propaganda from the other end of the spectrum, in which Photoshop has been employed to insert horns and a tail on top of the airbrushed image, where *every* positive or even neutral comment from one of us evokes a knee-jerk negative response (often a profoundly dishonest one; often an ignorant one). Both ends of the spectrum, of course, are illusionary; the true and honest picture is somewhere in between. The pro-TMers here, as noted, have come a good part of the way toward that picture in the middle, while the TM critics seem permanently and volubly stuck to the dark end.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Enlightenment: Benefit or Disorder? (was nature of attachment)
how i think: i don't care whether you judge my actions, or reach conclusions, or not. i honestly and frankly do not care. sorry, you'll have to be content with the conclusions you reach about me. i am not about to try and change them. as for my history and karma as a result of my postings, yes, like you and the other billions on the planet, i must live with those facts of life. oh well. like i said, this place is all about swapping energy. to exhaustively and selectively catalog my postings and then indict me with them gets you zip. or less. the moment has passed. you missed the bus. for now, until it rolls around again. its the moment that counts. unless it doesn't...that is how i think. like it love it hate it or forget it. am i enlightened? unmistakably YES. am i enlightened? unmistakably NO. your choice. enjoy your day! :) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, enlightened_dawn11 no_reply@ wrote: i am enjoying the de facto title of this post; what is the nature of attachment? I changed it. My bad. :-) [ I'm going to reply as if you were serious in this post, and not just evading. BTW, I don't give a frak about your identity behind your screen name...that is a given as far as I am concerned. What I am interested in pinning down is how that identity thinks. ]
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Enlitenment: Benefit or Disorder? (was nature of attachment)
and well said! how i think: i don't care whether you judge my actions, or reach conclusions, or not. i honestly and frankly do not care. sorry, you'll have to be content with the conclusions you reach about me. i am not about to try and change them. as for my history and karma as a result of my postings, yes, like you and the other billions on the planet, i must live with those facts of life. oh well. like i said, this place is all about swapping energy. to exhaustively and selectively catalog my postings and then indict me with them gets you zip. or less. the moment has passed. you missed the bus. for now, until it rolls around again. its the moment that counts. unless it doesn't...that is how i think. like it love it hate it or forget it. am i enlightened? unmistakably YES. am i enlightened? unmistakably NO. your choice. enjoy your day! :) --- In FairfieldLife@ yahoogroups. com, TurquoiseB no_re...@.. . wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@ yahoogroups. com, enlightened_ dawn11 no_reply@ wrote: i am enjoying the de facto title of this post; what is the nature of attachment? I changed it. My bad. :-) [ I'm going to reply as if you were serious in this post, and not just evading. BTW, I don't give a frak about your identity behind your screen name...that is a given as far as I am concerned. What I am interested in pinning down is how that identity thinks. ]
[FairfieldLife] Re: Enlightenment: Benefit or Disorder? (was nature of attachment)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, enlightened_dawn11 no_re...@... wrote: how i think: i don't care whether you judge my actions, or reach conclusions, or not. i honestly and frankly do not care. sorry, you'll have to be content with the conclusions you reach about me. i am not about to try and change them. as for my history and karma as a result of my postings, yes, like you and the other billions on the planet, i must live with those facts of life. oh well. like i said, this place is all about swapping energy. to exhaustively and selectively catalog my postings and then indict me with them gets you zip. or less. the moment has passed. you missed the bus. for now, until it rolls around again. its the moment that counts. unless it doesn't...that is how i think. like it love it hate it or forget it. am i enlightened? unmistakably YES. am i enlightened? unmistakably NO. your choice. enjoy your day! :) Thank you for answering my question. Disorder. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, enlightened_dawn11 no_reply@ wrote: i am enjoying the de facto title of this post; what is the nature of attachment? I changed it. My bad. :-) [ I'm going to reply as if you were serious in this post, and not just evading. BTW, I don't give a frak about your identity behind your screen name...that is a given as far as I am concerned. What I am interested in pinning down is how that identity thinks. ]
[FairfieldLife] Re: Enlightenment: Benefit or Disorder? (was nature of attachment)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: snip Dawn, I am sure you'd like to *believe* that the past is forgotten. And that we have no idea what to predict in the future from you, based on your past behavior. But that's just not how cyberspace works. It works the same way real life works. Your actions DO have consequences. People DO remember. And based on those memories, if you've done less-than-positive or less-than-honest things in the past, people have a right to expect similar less-than-positive or less- than-honest things from you in the future. Oh, lord, the belly-laughs are starting early this week. I wish I had a nickel for every time Barry's expressed outrage when I've pointed out that a record of past dishonesty gives folks good reason to distrust current claims. Better cross that particular bash off the playbook, Bar, because I'm saving this quote.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Whining Rich Republican Throws Stimulus Bill on Floor
Bingo!! --- On Sat, 2/14/09, Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net wrote: This video just shows how childish the Republican terrorists are now that they aren't getting their way. Listen to his rant. Does he once ever mention exactly what he and his cronies had it mind? Somewhere towards the end he mentions something about letting Americans keep their money. He left out a word there because the Republican terrorists solution is to let the rich Americans keep their money. It's just the same old shit they've been dishing out for 30 years, trickle down or pee on the public economic. The Republicans hate us for our freedoms and they love to take them away along with our money. What a load of garbage from Boehner's mouth: http://rawstory. com/news/ 2008/GOP_ leader_tosses_ stimulus_ bill_on_0213. html I guess Boehner doesn't think that turn about is fair play. :-D
Re: [FairfieldLife] YouTube - Angelic Human Race
Rick, you've outed me. Shame on you! 2009/2/14 Rick Archer r...@searchsummit.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4JPx0eZdJQ
[FairfieldLife] British women pay the price(getting raped) for increasing Muslim population
http://theopinionat or.typepad. com/my_weblog/ 2009/02/british- women-girls- pay-high- price-for- multiculturalism .html http://www.freedomofspeech.netfirms.com/
[FairfieldLife] Amma darshan: a sip of cow urine instead of a hug!
Earlier, Rick Archer made two posts here on FairFieldLife, back-to- back: one was a personal experience of hugging that a fellow devotee of Amma had forwarded him and Rick felt he just had to share with the rest of us (see http://tinyurl.com/avv6zc ); the second one was a link to a media story on a Hindu group developing a cow urine beverage to be marketed to the masses in India (see http://tinyurl.com/bj5le6 ). I suppose it was the odd juxtaposition of the two that got me thinking: instead of offering hugs in her darshan sessions what if Amma would offer sips of cow urine? There would be the same line-ups to the podium. But instead of hugging each of the aspirants and clinging them to her chest or shoulder (which can't be very sanitary from the looks of the photographs I've seen of her), she would offer up a cup of urine that the devotee would sip from. I mean, in the final analysis, what would be the difference? Whether she offers a hug or a sip of cow urine, why in heaven's name would there be any different outcome to the person partaking in the experience? If she is, indeed, enlightened, the hugging business is of course only just a gimmick; a means to an end...an avenue through which to express, manifest, and communicate her universality to whomever she is coming into contact with. If anything, I imagine that switching to cow urine would provide a booster shot, so to speak, to the experience. Why? With the hugging gimmick, any Tom, Dick, or Harry can get in line -- believer or skeptic alike -- and get a hug just to see what the experience is going to be. Hey, you could even be a complete cynic like me who would show up at the darshan hall just to see what the hell was going on and check out whether Amma was a fraud or not. And if truth be told not everyone that goes up and is on the receiving end of the old touchy-feely from Amma gets the Baroque experience that her hard-core devotees are always most eager to share with us. No bells and whistles, no conversion. No tickee, no washee. But if all she was offering was urine, then you'd pretty much have to have a leap of faith to even show up, let alone get in line. I'd say the switch to urine would start separating the wheat from the chaff; all the skeptics, marginals, and low-lifes who, for the most part, are not good potential devotee material would be automatically filtered out and, instead, those willing to get in line for a sip of the old bovine elixir will henceforth be heavily skewered to the true- believer demographic. And that's the stuff from which profitable, going-concerns of a cult are made from. Hey, isn't that one of the reasons the TM organisation upped their fee for learning the technique from $75.00 back in '75 to the $2,500.00 it is today? We want only the serious aspirants now, not like back in the old days when anybody could show up and get initiated, TM teachers will tell you in order to justify the current exhorbitant fee. Charging $2,500.00 means that the person showing up is going to take it seriously. I'd say that the carrot of darshan or bliss or whatever it is that Amma huggees get from being cleaved to her bosum for those 3 or 4 seconds would be replaced by a new carrot provided by the offering of holy Amma-blessed cow urine... which would elicit the added benefit to the Amma organisation of upping the true believer factor exponentially. Certainly, adopting this new marketing approach would, initially, dramatically reduce those in the darshan line-up, let alone people showing up at the auditorium. But I'm confident that the percentage of devotees that would result would at least be the same under the hugging angle, if not more. And the profit margin would necessarily be higher: the organisation would no longer have to rent out large halls, always a risky undertaking in the guru business. This would save an incredible amount in expenses. Plus, I can only imagine that after hugging those many millions Amma must want to give that right shoulder a break. Another benefit: if the new age business has learned anything it's that the front man (or woman, as the case may be) must continually reinvent themselves if they want to avoid the risk going stale in the consumers' minds. I guarantee you that the move to cow urine from hugging will result in a completely new set of headlines worldwide and publicity the likes of which only a double murder in Brentwood could possibly hope to match. Perhaps we're on to something here. My only reservation is that I've gone public without first sharing the idea with Amma and her people privately. That way I could have sent her an invoice for services rendered.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig LEnglish5@ wrote: You asked if I was someone named Tim Guy posting to Space City Skeptics, claiming that our writing styles and background are similar. http://spacecityskeptics.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/how-to-design-a- positive-study- meditation-for-childhood-adhd/#comment-296 http://tinyurl.com/copqlw Do you really perceive my style and background as the same as, or even similar to, Mr Guy's? Goodness. I mean, we both appear to be native English speakers, but beyond that? Seriously. Unbelievable. Apparently she thinks this because Tim Guy makes a couple of the same points you have. Of course, there couldn't possibly be *two* people who have looked at the research in question and come to the same conclusions independently, now, could there? Thing is, Ruth claimed that our writing styles were similar. I guess I could write like Mr. Guy. It wouldn't be that hard. All I would need to do is type properly. Then I would need to write in short sentences with no commas. Or very few. Actually, it's harder than it looked: I have a tendency to think parenthetically, and trying to marshal my words in a way that duplicates his style, really cramps mine, I found. Not to mention that my arguments would have more meat to them, seeing that I've argued with Skeptics on their home turf before, and know the language they use. An interesting feature of the discussion, BTW, is that while Vaj accuses Tim Guy of horrors being a TMer (and therefore incapable of either honesty or objectivity), Vaj fails to identify himself as a former TMer-turned-TM-critic, leaving the highly misleading impression that he is simply an independent outside observer with no axe to grind. Well, had the subject been Buddhist meditation research, Vaj's handle would have evoked a response. Skeptics are great at being mono-thematic when discussing things. This is particularly ironic when he makes one claim after another about how TM research has been conclusively debunked, when the *most* that can be said is that some of it has been called in question. Also fascinating that, as Tim Guy points out, Vaj confuses the hypotheses about EEG coherence with the ME hypothesis--and Ruth actually backs Vaj up! What leapt out at me was Ruth using silly arguments to counter some of the same points about the Cambridge Handbook that I've made in this forum. I may be mistaken but I don't recall her responses being quite as simplistic and full of holes as they were in the Skeptics forum. Ruth: surely you can see that TIm Guy and I are not the same person? Or do you REALLY assume that anyone who disagrees with you on a different forum, despite the different rhetorical style, must be the same person because there can't be more than one semi-erudite pro-TM research poster? BTW, to claim that we have similar backgrounds is rather odd. I am a massive underachiever: taught myself Calculus when I was 15 by reading a book. Surely you had to notice that our respective perspectives concerning the Science were at two levels of sophistication? Or, again, perhaps you simply assume that anyone who disagrees with you must be ineddicated. Sheesh. L
Re: [FairfieldLife] Cows rescue a piss poor economy
Bull Market for Cow piss! Good promotion!! --- On Sat, 2/14/09, raunchydog raunchy...@yahoo.com wrote: Grazing bucolic the cows unsuspecting Their lucrative urine profits projecting Globalized income saving the earth If cows only knew their actual worth Would they object to harvesting piss Or would they required dues for your bliss? Cows would unite to rescue the planet Toast to good health and naturally can it They'll piss in a bottle And sell it full throttle No need to panic It's purely organic No warning label Contents are stable From lowe of cow moo To tail of cow poo It isn't surprising Cows enterprising Cash of the hoof Wealth through the roof Cows refine mellow Rivers of yellow Cows organize Cows globalize Healing mankind Fortune's goldmine Cookies with cream Or so it would seem A natural snack Takes me way back But new on the scene Better than cream Burfi and piss Guaranteed bliss raunchydog http://tinyurl. com/bqay3p
[FairfieldLife] Re:BSG
Well, the writing wasn't as tight, but its from a different era, and honestly, there have been other Sci-Fi shows of similar calibre-at least for their time. EG, Babylon 5. And, while the nuances get lost in translation , the best anime series go at least as in-depth into these issues. Oh, but its a cartoon, so it can't really be good drama. L. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter drpetersutp...@... wrote: Some of the best drama, ever. --- On Sat, 2/14/09, billy jim emptyb...@... wrote: I've mainlined it since it started. Love the questions it raises and refuses to answer in a doctrinare fashion. � This is scifi�at its best -�glorifying ultimate questions in a high manner - torture, jihad, revelation, genocide,�species annihilation, human nature�as such. The list goes on and it would all be television bull except for the witnessing non- position it takes. � I've heard various claims about the final story but none seem accurate yet. I just wanna watch and be amazed. � �
[FairfieldLife] Re: YouTube - Angelic Human Race
Didn't really cover any new ground that I could see. Glad I didn't spend over a minute on it. 12 strand DNA. Okay, tell me something I don't know. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4JPx0eZdJQ
[FairfieldLife] Fairfield Issue: Cell Tower Update
It has come to our attention that a cell phone tower is being constructed on Depot Street at the business location of Whtney Monuments. This location is the business of Kent Whitney This location is near to a residentail neighborhood, Orchard Village, the many residences within 4 blocks of Depot , as well as Lincoln School This is of deep concern to our neighborhood, and already most families I've talked to who will be within 1600 feet of the tower say they will feel compelled to put their homes on the market rather than live under the tower. There is a vast amount of awareness now of the damaging potential to human health which living near a cell tower presents Here is a link to an article citing the damage potential to children exposed to cell towers , based upon one that was proposed in another town, near a high school Also there is a good deal of research and institutions quoted here If you could kindly look this over, as we are gathering a concerned group Of residents and parents, and we only hope it is soon enough to try to halt this project, which is already underway Please write to your councilman and the mayor of your concern to stop this construction Thank you so much Most Sincerely Kathryn Seranduc, http://www.cyburban.com/~lplachta/safeweb2.htm
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re:BSG
If you've listened to the commentaries they make the show up as they go along. There was no grand scheme. And I applaud them for not just driving the series into the ground whereupon the 9th season it might have been canceled. There have been some bottle episodes however. The one the pissed the fans off the most was the boxing episode. They couldn't figure what it had to do with anything. We suspect the same idiocy that put wrestling on the Sci-Fi Network (sorry wrong demographic for that Ms. CEO). After the series is over I may not have a reason to keep Sci-Fi in my lineup. I'll have to see if Comcast keeps it in the package or not. I was supposed to get it in HD on a less costly package but they put it in the Extended Basic digital preferred tier because apparently in some parts of the Bay Area Sci-Fi is part of Extended Basic but not here. Apparently the woman who heads up the Sci-Fi network doesn't understand science fiction and keeps wanting to put stuff there (like a lot of fantasy) the network fans don't like. sparaig wrote: Well, the writing wasn't as tight, but its from a different era, and honestly, there have been other Sci-Fi shows of similar calibre-at least for their time. EG, Babylon 5. And, while the nuances get lost in translation , the best anime series go at least as in-depth into these issues. Oh, but its a cartoon, so it can't really be good drama. L.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Fairfield Issue: Cell Tower Update
So how is cellular reception in Fairfield? Who has the best coverage? After analog TV goes of (now lamely pushed out to June 12th -- bad move for the Obama admin) those may be other frequencies not so dangerous (like VHF-TV frequencies). Rick Archer wrote: It has come to our attention that a cell phone tower is being constructed on Depot Street at the business location of Whtney Monuments. This location is the business of Kent Whitney This location is near to a residentail neighborhood, Orchard Village, the many residences within 4 blocks of Depot , as well as Lincoln School This is of deep concern to our neighborhood, and already most families I've talked to who will be within 1600 feet of the tower say they will feel compelled to put their homes on the market rather than live under the tower. There is a vast amount of awareness now of the damaging potential to human health which living near a cell tower presents Here is a link to an article citing the damage potential to children exposed to cell towers , based upon one that was proposed in another town, near a high school Also there is a good deal of research and institutions quoted here If you could kindly look this over, as we are gathering a concerned group Of residents and parents, and we only hope it is soon enough to try to halt this project, which is already underway Please write to your councilman and the mayor of your concern to stop this construction Thank you so much Most Sincerely Kathryn Seranduc, http://www.cyburban.com/~lplachta/safeweb2.htm
[FairfieldLife] Will Durst : 'Tax Cut Zombies {Republicans] From The Planet No!'
In a courageous attempt to find common ground, Barack Obama risked infection from the mindless drones, meeting them en masse; yet not a single soul was able to summon the will to escape from the voodoo spell placed by Rep. John Boehner (R- Hell). He's a powerful sorcerer who fuels his entranced hordes by reading aloud fragments of the sacred ancient texts of Ronald Reagan. No one knows how these pitiable wretches slid into these depths of depravity. It might have been their penchant for playing hardball and a simultaneous refusal to wear helmets. Repelled by light and logic and with no thought for food, water or self- preservation through long- range sustainable employment opportunities via shovel- ready infrastructure investment, the dull unthinking mindless drones sense their strength is in numbers and clutch together in a pack through media land marching to the beat of a non- existent drummer. The most frightening thing is not the glee they take in their current state, but how good they are at it. Like they were born to drag their feet. -Read whole quote here: 'Tax Cut Zombies From The Planet No!' by Will Durst http://leftrightnews.com/oped/republicans-tax-cut-zombies-from-the-planet-no
[FairfieldLife] Re: Enlightenment: Benefit or Disorder? (was nature of attachment)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, enlightened_dawn11 no_reply@ wrote: how i think: i don't care whether you judge my actions, or reach conclusions, or not. i honestly and frankly do not care. sorry, you'll have to be content with the conclusions you reach about me. i am not about to try and change them. as for my history and karma as a result of my postings, yes, like you and the other billions on the planet, i must live with those facts of life. oh well. like i said, this place is all about swapping energy. to exhaustively and selectively catalog my postings and then indict me with them gets you zip. or less. the moment has passed. you missed the bus. for now, until it rolls around again. its the moment that counts. unless it doesn't...that is how i think. like it love it hate it or forget it. am i enlightened? unmistakably YES. am i enlightened? unmistakably NO. your choice. enjoy your day! :) Thank you for answering my question. Disorder. wow- what a shocking conclusion coming from you- really blew me away! at least you still are convinced i am enlightened, and that counts for something, huh?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Enlightenment: Benefit or Disorder? (was nature of attachment)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jst...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: snip Dawn, I am sure you'd like to *believe* that the past is forgotten. And that we have no idea what to predict in the future from you, based on your past behavior. But that's just not how cyberspace works. It works the same way real life works. Your actions DO have consequences. People DO remember. And based on those memories, if you've done less-than-positive or less-than-honest things in the past, people have a right to expect similar less-than-positive or less- than-honest things from you in the future. Oh, lord, the belly-laughs are starting early this week. I wish I had a nickel for every time Barry's expressed outrage when I've pointed out that a record of past dishonesty gives folks good reason to distrust current claims. Better cross that particular bash off the playbook, Bar, because I'm saving this quote. he sounds like a scoutmaster or someone's dad-- i don't think that walk on the beach full of wonder that he described for us all lasted very long...poor schmuck.
RE: [FairfieldLife] Fairfield Issue: Cell Tower Update
More on this: Call Kathryn at 469-4571 for latest update. We need townspeople, not just meditators to show up for this meeting. Contact Kathryn for details. Subject: URGENT Cell Tower under construction on Depot Dear Resident It has come to our attention that a cell phone tower is being constructed on Depot Street at the business location of Whtney Monuments, owned by Kent Whitney. This location is close to Orchard Village,Carpenter Ave, Lowe, Merrill, W Stone, Kirkwood as well as Lincoln School.( please see article below on effects of cell towers on children as well as attached articles on health related issues and cell towers) http://www.cyburban.com/~lplachta/safeweb2.htm ( Effects of proximity of cell phone towers on children) http://www.articlesbase.com/cell-phones-articles/children-effected-by-cell-t owers-and-mobile-masts-418280.html This is of deep concern to our neighborhood and anyone within a 2 mile range. Families who understand the health risks involved, and live near to the tower ( encompassing at least 10 blocks of residential area) will likely leave or sell their homes if possible. There is a growing amount of research globally and in the US , and growing awareness now of the damaging potential to human health which living or working near a cell tower presents. It is not fast burn radiation like Chernobyl, but considered slow burn, having the same effects on blood and DNA over a longer time ( see research in above mentioned articles) There are a vast number of physical symptoms resulting from proximity of cell towers, and no thinking person would choose to take the risk to themselves or their families. Clearly, this tower should not be built in proximity to residential areas, and children schools. Our goal is to get a law grandfathered in , forbidding a cell tower to be built within a certain amount of mileage from any residential neighbood . The problem is one of time, as this one cell tower on Depot, right in the middle of town, is underway. the ground is dug and contract is made between the Whitney family and cell phone company. Please come for more information on Sunday 2:00 PM to 502 West Carpenter Ave ( yellow house, 2nd to last on left ) There will also be a meeting open to the town at the Fairfield Library , day to be announced. PLEASE INFORM ALL LOCAL RESIDENTS AS THERE IS LITTLE TIME TO ACT. Sincerely kathryn Seranduc 641 469-4571 .
Re: [FairfieldLife] Fairfield Issue: Cell Tower Update
On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 1:40 PM, Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net wrote: So how is cellular reception in Fairfield? Who has the best coverage? It sucks big time. The cell towers are way out of town. Lots of dropped calls. When you call to complain in Vedic City you're told that you're in a dead zone so don't even bother calling to complain. US Cellular is popular. Most people I know have gone from carrier to carrier in disappointment.
[FairfieldLife] Re: British women pay the price(getting raped) for increasing Muslim population
So Islam is not compatible with Western social values. Is that it? Or is there some other point you wanted to make by providing this link? Any muslim who is a real muslim is a jihadist. Jihad is not an option for a muslim but a definitional requirement since it is one of the five pillars of Islam. The Sharia zones now being carved out of Europe and Great Britan are a jihad virus spreading across the Western world. These Sharia no-go zones forbid normal citizens passage unless they have an muslim escort. This is the beginning of a full formal attack on Western society's essential foundations. I suppose that the point of the article was to stir citizens to do something. Maybe this is because we assume that muslims are fellow citizens. While this could be true of any particular randomly selected muslim it is a false view in general. To the degree that these muslims are real muslims - although living among the kifir (non believers) - they are not and cann not be true western citizens. No doubt there are many good people who are muslim. However someone who is a real muslim is an unconditional enemy of every person or society which is outside of Dar-as-salam (region of Islam). Thus the question - why express outrage anymore? We are in the midst of a total war. No one bothers expressing outrage in the midst of total war. This is a war of subjegation and annihilation. For a true muslim, whatever is non-muslim must be sujugated. Whatever cannot be subjugated must be destroyed. This is how Islam has alway behaved. We only need to recognize this and then act accordingly. Total war requires total destruction. Nothing else we really need to know. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, arhatafreespe...@... wrote: http://theopinionat or.typepad. com/my_weblog/ 2009/02/british- women-girls- pay-high- price-for- multiculturalism .html http://www.freedomofspeech.netfirms.com/
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: British women pay the price(getting raped) for increasing Muslim population
http://www.freedomofspeech.netfirms.com/Islam is a threat to the rising of consciousness anywhere and NOT compatible with human growth. --- On Sat, 2/14/09, emptybill emptyb...@yahoo.com wrote: So Islam is not compatible with Western social values. Is that it? Or is there some other point you wanted to make by providing this link? Any muslim who is a real muslim is a jihadist. Jihad is not an option for a muslim but a definitional requirement since it is one of the five pillars of Islam. The Sharia zones now being carved out of Europe and Great Britan are a jihad virus spreading across the Western world. These Sharia no-go zones forbid normal citizens passage unless they have an muslim escort. This is the beginning of a full formal attack on Western society's essential foundations. I suppose that the point of the article was to stir citizens to do something. Maybe this is because we assume that muslims are fellow citizens. While this could be true of any particular randomly selected muslim it is a false view in general. To the degree that these muslims are real muslims - although living among the kifir (non believers) - they are not and cann not be true western citizens. No doubt there are many good people who are muslim. However someone who is a real muslim is an unconditional enemy of every person or society which is outside of Dar-as-salam (region of Islam). Thus the question - why express outrage anymore? We are in the midst of a total war. No one bothers expressing outrage in the midst of total war. This is a war of subjegation and annihilation. For a true muslim, whatever is non-muslim must be sujugated. Whatever cannot be subjugated must be destroyed. This is how Islam has alway behaved. We only need to recognize this and then act accordingly. Total war requires total destruction. Nothing else we really need to know. --- In FairfieldLife@ yahoogroups. com, arhatafreespeech@ ... wrote: http://theopinionat or.typepad. com/my_weblog/ 2009/02/british- women-girls- pay-high- price-for- multiculturalism .html http://www.freedomo fspeech.netfirms .com/
[FairfieldLife] Simons Cat (real life)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gknp-8ltmE
[FairfieldLife] [FairfieldLife] What is the nature of attachment? (Re: All of Patanjali's 8 limbs )
--- InFairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@...> wrote:snip>It's funny, whenever someone brings up atopic and I comment honestly--not based onimage or a publicity--this truth seems to rankle some who hold onto the image.Or, some of us don't think (a) you'recommenting honestly or (b) that what you sayis "truth" (or both).I think we should try to see our teachersand practices as they really are and thatmay vary from how they are hyped oradvertised.You see the same thing whenever Paul Masonor John Knapp post here. Because theirdescriptions vary from the airbrushed imageand the sales brochure people just fly offthe handle. It's as if painting a true andhonest picture must be resisted at allcosts. We must keep the illusion going.Most of us here are objective enough to haverecognized long since that our teachers and/orpractices haven't always matched up to thehype.What some of us object to is the constantpropaganda from the other end of the spectrum,in which Photoshop has been employed to inserthorns and a tail on top of the airbrushedimageI can't imagine what Judy could possibly have inmind with such an appalling charge. I mean,nobody here would *ever* think of doing sucha thing.
[FairfieldLife] Re: British women pay the price(getting raped) for increasing Muslim population
Arhata, You cat-shit loving dog. Eh, let's see what is in history that might be on the minds of the Islamic World when they consider our western culture. White Christians killed off the native Americans and stole the children from the few they didn't kill. White Christians killed off the native South Americans. White Christians invaded and ruled all of India. White Christians to this very moment are raping Africa and historically have a 200+ years long era of using/killing slaves and openly hanging any African American that they targeted. White Christians have allowed the merchant class to import 10,000,000 Mexican slaves. White Christians attacked and/or invaded dozens of sovereign nations in the last 50 years. White Christians killed a million Arabs in the last five years. White Christians are almost singlehandedly responsible for the 30,000 children that die every single day. That's over 10,000,000 per year. White Christians sniffed and looked the other way when Chinese paid assassins chopped a million mothers and babies to death. White Christians killed 200,000 Japanese in a mere two attacks, and imprisoned, without cause, all the Japanese Americans they could find. White Christians killed 100,000+ artisans when they burned a peaceful town of Dresden to the ground. White Christians have over 500 military bases around the world and out-spend the all the other countries combined on evolving their war machines. White Christians have built an internment camp network that may shortly be put to use incarcerating the rioters who have had their homes and livelihoods evaporated by the elites. White Christians have a network of secret rendition/torture camps. If you were born into Islam, and your leaders only told the above true facts, that alone would be enough to form the Islamic world as it is today. Who would want their children to integrate with white Christian genocidal, rapists, murderers, torturing thugs, and global financial marauders who in the last six months sucked half the world's wealth into a few white Christian coffers? There's never a good reason for anyone to hate and fear any nationality, creed, race, etc., but in all the annals of history, never has one group been such a scourge upon the planet that it is entirely understandable that other groups would do everything in their power to keep their kids safe from white Christians. Oh, now someone can trot out all the shit that others have done, but explain to me how that makes America White Christian Sin acceptable? Arhata, your spirituality mask is made of Saran Wrap -- through that laughable veneer we see the maliciousness of a rabid dogexcept, you know, the dog can't help itself. Your espousal of hate literature, your inserting it into our community here -- surely you have no friends except skin heads, serial killers, and Michael Vick. This is all I can write, because, you know, I've taken a deep and serious vow to speak the sweet, kind and necessary truth. And, since you must have some serious brain injury, shame on me for banging on ya, but for GAWD's sake, get some help. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, arhatafreespe...@... wrote: http://theopinionat or.typepad. com/my_weblog/ 2009/02/british- women-girls- pay-high- price-for- multiculturalism .html http://www.freedomofspeech.netfirms.com/
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig lengli...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig LEnglish5@ wrote: You asked if I was someone named Tim Guy posting to Space City Skeptics, claiming that our writing styles and background are similar. http://spacecityskeptics.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/how-to-design-a- positive-study- meditation-for-childhood-adhd/#comment-296 http://tinyurl.com/copqlw Do you really perceive my style and background as the same as, or even similar to, Mr Guy's? Goodness. I mean, we both appear to be native English speakers, but beyond that? Seriously. Unbelievable. Apparently she thinks this because Tim Guy makes a couple of the same points you have. Of course, there couldn't possibly be *two* people who have looked at the research in question and come to the same conclusions independently, now, could there? Thing is, Ruth claimed that our writing styles were similar. I guess I could write like Mr. Guy. It wouldn't be that hard. All I would need to do is type properly. Then I would need to write in short sentences with no commas. Or very few. Actually, it's harder than it looked: I have a tendency to think parenthetically, and trying to marshal my words in a way that duplicates his style, really cramps mine, I found. Not to mention that my arguments would have more meat to them, seeing that I've argued with Skeptics on their home turf before, and know the language they use. An interesting feature of the discussion, BTW, is that while Vaj accuses Tim Guy of horrors being a TMer (and therefore incapable of either honesty or objectivity), Vaj fails to identify himself as a former TMer-turned-TM-critic, leaving the highly misleading impression that he is simply an independent outside observer with no axe to grind. Well, had the subject been Buddhist meditation research, Vaj's handle would have evoked a response. Skeptics are great at being mono-thematic when discussing things. This is particularly ironic when he makes one claim after another about how TM research has been conclusively debunked, when the *most* that can be said is that some of it has been called in question. Also fascinating that, as Tim Guy points out, Vaj confuses the hypotheses about EEG coherence with the ME hypothesis--and Ruth actually backs Vaj up! What leapt out at me was Ruth using silly arguments to counter some of the same points about the Cambridge Handbook that I've made in this forum. I may be mistaken but I don't recall her responses being quite as simplistic and full of holes as they were in the Skeptics forum. Ruth: surely you can see that TIm Guy and I are not the same person? Or do you REALLY assume that anyone who disagrees with you on a different forum, despite the different rhetorical style, must be the same person because there can't be more than one semi-erudite pro-TM research poster? BTW, to claim that we have similar backgrounds is rather odd. I am a massive underachiever: taught myself Calculus when I was 15 by reading a book. Surely you had to notice that our respective perspectives concerning the Science were at two levels of sophistication? Or, again, perhaps you simply assume that anyone who disagrees with you must be ineddicated. Sheesh. L Pardon me. You both appear to have some insider knowledge about some studies and both have made similar arguments. So I was curious if you were him. I am not a mind reader so I asked. I certainly meant no insult and I inquired via pm in any event. I've tired of all of the back and forth so I won't bother to ask you to outline what you found silly about my arguments. However, the one thing that bugged me about both you and Tim Guy was the assumption, contrary to what was said by the authors, that evidence in the last 20 years was ignored. They only reported what they found relevant but they read all the studies.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Will Durst : 'Tax Cut Zombies {Republicans] From The Planet No!'
do.rflex wrote: In a courageous attempt to find common ground, Barack Obama risked infection from the mindless drones, meeting them en masse; yet not a single soul was able to summon the will to escape from the voodoo spell placed by Rep. John Boehner (R- Hell). He's a powerful sorcerer who fuels his entranced hordes by reading aloud fragments of the sacred ancient texts of Ronald Reagan. No one knows how these pitiable wretches slid into these depths of depravity. It might have been their penchant for playing hardball and a simultaneous refusal to wear helmets. Repelled by light and logic and with no thought for food, water or self- preservation through long- range sustainable employment opportunities via shovel- ready infrastructure investment, the dull unthinking mindless drones sense their strength is in numbers and clutch together in a pack through media land marching to the beat of a non- existent drummer. The most frightening thing is not the glee they take in their current state, but how good they are at it. Like they were born to drag their feet. -Read whole quote here: 'Tax Cut Zombies From The Planet No!' by Will Durst http://leftrightnews.com/oped/republicans-tax-cut-zombies-from-the-planet-no It is funny that what Boehner is complaining about is exactly what the Republicans did to the Demcrats over the last 8 years. Now the Dems are doing it to them and they don't find it so funny. I hope they raise taxes on the rich at least back to the rates during the Clinton years. They'll keep the ceiling high and the majority won't have much to worry about and maybe folks making under $50K should get some breaks. The increases are more likely to occur on those making over $250K and probably not enough to bother all but the most greedy. During the Clinton years they took advantage of tax breaks they got for in-house innovation which brought us a boom in technology and more jobs. But remember this has been going on for over 200 years since the founding of the country. Those who thought we needed to have an aristocracy are today's Republicans. We need to send them to FEMA camps for re-education.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
One thing I have learned by this little exchange and others is that apparently it is fine with the culture here to dis someone in public based on a personal message. Okie dokie.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ruthsimplicity no_re...@... wrote: [...] Pardon me. You both appear to have some insider knowledge about some studies and both have made similar arguments. So I was curious if you were him. I am not a mind reader so I asked. I certainly meant no insult and I inquired via pm in any event. I've tired of all of the back and forth so I won't bother to ask you to outline what you found silly about my arguments. However, the one thing that bugged me about both you and Tim Guy was the assumption, contrary to what was said by the authors, that evidence in the last 20 years was ignored. They only reported what they found relevant but they read all the studies. And you know this because,,,? ALthough, I'm told the authors are aware of the studies they omitted, but they won't discuss them because they don't have a theoretical framework to put them in and therefore they can't be of any value. Lawson
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
On Feb 14, 2009, at 4:08 PM, ruthsimplicity wrote: Pardon me. You both appear to have some insider knowledge about some studies and both have made similar arguments. So I was curious if you were him. I am not a mind reader so I asked. I certainly meant no insult and I inquired via pm in any event. I've tired of all of the back and forth so I won't bother to ask you to outline what you found silly about my arguments. However, the one thing that bugged me about both you and Tim Guy was the assumption, contrary to what was said by the authors, that evidence in the last 20 years was ignored. They only reported what they found relevant but they read all the studies. It turns out many TM research TB's do talk like that. So even though it sounds like L., you do hear similar or identical patterns of denial from other TM TB's. It's eerie. Many TM folks simply believed what they told and never really looked into the matters objectively--I certainly know that I didn't for decades. And most have no real background in science, statistics, physiology or research. It was very exciting to believe that the claims were all true and that you were part of this imaginary exalted tradition. It's not easy or even believable when you find out different and the tenacity of the denial seems proportional to the ego-investment and attachment we have to the technique. The fact is, it's never good to be attached to ANY technique. It's also difficult to admit to ourselves that an org that put out some of the most beautiful presentations, advertisements and publications--often painstakingly executed--is not really interested in using science as a tool of truth, but just gold-gilding it.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig lengli...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ruthsimplicity no_reply@ wrote: [...] Pardon me. You both appear to have some insider knowledge about some studies and both have made similar arguments. So I was curious if you were him. I am not a mind reader so I asked. I certainly meant no insult and I inquired via pm in any event. I've tired of all of the back and forth so I won't bother to ask you to outline what you found silly about my arguments. However, the one thing that bugged me about both you and Tim Guy was the assumption, contrary to what was said by the authors, that evidence in the last 20 years was ignored. They only reported what they found relevant but they read all the studies. And you know this because,,,? ALthough, I'm told the authors are aware of the studies they omitted, but they won't discuss them because they don't have a theoretical framework to put them in and therefore they can't be of any value. Lawson They said that they reviewed them. Who told you that they don't have the theoretical framework?
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ruthsimplicity no_re...@... wrote: One thing I have learned by this little exchange and others is that apparently it is fine with the culture here to dis someone in public based on a personal message. Okie dokie. Um, feeling defensive are we? Fact is, you asked a question sincerely and I answered it sincerely but I was so stunned by the difference in writing style between Tim Guy and myself that I felt a need to bring it to everyone's attention. Yes, technically revealing the content of a private email is a no-no, but seriously, are you upset because I revealed your private email, or merely because I let everyone see how strange your question was in the first place. There is NO WAY (as far as I can see) that you could have gotten the impression that we were the same person based on our writing styles. I can only conclude, as Judy has suggested, that you assume that there can't be more than one person who makes the same arguments, regardless of the rhewtorical style used to make them. THAT was what I was dissing you for: even entertaining for a moment the thought that we were the same person based on our writing styles ... Not to mention that he is a far better (or at least more accurate) typist them I am. L.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Enlightenment: Benefit or Disorder? (was nature of attachment)
On Feb 14, 2009, at 1:06 PM, TurquoiseB wrote: I'm trying to pin down what the thinking is that leads people to do this -- announce their enlight- enment and then act as if the Big E gives them a Karmic Get Out Of Jail Free card, and that they no longer have any responsibility for their actions from that point onwards. From both a Buddhist/Abhidharma perspective and an Advaita Vedanta perspective it appears to be a confusion and/or failure to experientially grok the Two Truths, the relative and the absolute. It's quite common IME to see claimants of E. fall into extremes, i.e. become absolutists or nihilists. It is often what makes it clear they're holding a false view (of reality). It's like having a booger on your face and bragging about how good looking you are.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig lengli...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig LEnglish5@ wrote: You asked if I was someone named Tim Guy posting to Space City Skeptics, claiming that our writing styles and background are similar. http://spacecityskeptics.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/how-to-design-a- positive-study- meditation-for-childhood-adhd/#comment-296 http://tinyurl.com/copqlw Do you really perceive my style and background as the same as, or even similar to, Mr Guy's? Goodness. I mean, we both appear to be native English speakers, but beyond that? Seriously. Unbelievable. Apparently she thinks this because Tim Guy makes a couple of the same points you have. Of course, there couldn't possibly be *two* people who have looked at the research in question and come to the same conclusions independently, now, could there? Thing is, Ruth claimed that our writing styles were similar. I guess I could write like Mr. Guy. It wouldn't be that hard. All I would need to do is type properly. Then I would need to write in short sentences with no commas. Or very few. Actually, it's harder than it looked: I have a tendency to think parenthetically, and trying to marshal my words in a way that duplicates his style, really cramps mine, I found. Not to mention that my arguments would have more meat to them, seeing that I've argued with Skeptics on their home turf before, and know the language they use. An interesting feature of the discussion, BTW, is that while Vaj accuses Tim Guy of horrors being a TMer (and therefore incapable of either honesty or objectivity), Vaj fails to identify himself as a former TMer-turned-TM-critic, leaving the highly misleading impression that he is simply an independent outside observer with no axe to grind. Well, had the subject been Buddhist meditation research, Vaj's handle would have evoked a response. Skeptics are great at being mono-thematic when discussing things. This is particularly ironic when he makes one claim after another about how TM research has been conclusively debunked, when the *most* that can be said is that some of it has been called in question. Also fascinating that, as Tim Guy points out, Vaj confuses the hypotheses about EEG coherence with the ME hypothesis--and Ruth actually backs Vaj up! What leapt out at me was Ruth using silly arguments to counter some of the same points about the Cambridge Handbook that I've made in this forum. I may be mistaken but I don't recall her responses being quite as simplistic and full of holes as they were in the Skeptics forum. Ruth: surely you can see that TIm Guy and I are not the same person? Or do you REALLY assume that anyone who disagrees with you on a different forum, despite the different rhetorical style, must be the same person because there can't be more than one semi-erudite pro-TM research poster? BTW, to claim that we have similar backgrounds is rather odd. I am a massive underachiever: taught myself Calculus when I was 15 by reading a book. Surely you had to notice that our respective perspectives concerning the Science were at two levels of sophistication? Or, again, perhaps you simply assume that anyone who disagrees with you must be ineddicated. Sheesh. L Vaj did not confuse EEG coherence with the ME hypothesis. He spoke briefly but he isn't confused. However, the ME hypothesis is somewhat confusing and you can be fed slightly different stuff in different places. But: http://www.vedicknowledge.com/yogic_flying.html Research has also established that the TM-Sidhi Programme cultures a profound integration of brain functioning (EEG coherence), promoting an optimal state of brain functioning that provides the basis for the unfoldment of an individual's full creative intelligence. During Yogic Flying individuals experience significant positive correlations between the abundance of alpha EEG coherence in four regions of the brain and the experience of self-referral consciousness. This coherence and integration of brain functioning is maximum at the moment the body lifts up into the air. When Yogic Flying is practised collectively, the coherence of brain functioning creates a positive and harmonious influence in the environment, reducing negative tendencies and promoting positive, harmonious trends throughout the whole society.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Feb 14, 2009, at 4:08 PM, ruthsimplicity wrote: Pardon me. You both appear to have some insider knowledge about some studies and both have made similar arguments. So I was curious if you were him. I am not a mind reader so I asked. I certainly meant no insult and I inquired via pm in any event. I've tired of all of the back and forth so I won't bother to ask you to outline what you found silly about my arguments. However, the one thing that bugged me about both you and Tim Guy was the assumption, contrary to what was said by the authors, that evidence in the last 20 years was ignored. They only reported what they found relevant but they read all the studies. It turns out many TM research TB's do talk like that. So even though it sounds like L., you do hear similar or identical patterns of denial from other TM TB's. It's eerie. Many TM folks simply believed what they told and never really looked into the matters objectively--I certainly know that I didn't for decades. And most have no real background in science, statistics, physiology or research. It was very exciting to believe that the claims were all true and that you were part of this imaginary exalted tradition. It's not easy or even believable when you find out different and the tenacity of the denial seems proportional to the ego-investment and attachment we have to the technique. The fact is, it's never good to be attached to ANY technique. It's also difficult to admit to ourselves that an org that put out some of the most beautiful presentations, advertisements and publications--often painstakingly executed--is not really interested in using science as a tool of truth, but just gold-gilding it. Which has nothing to do with the points I made about Ruth's mistaking me for Tim Guy, and certainly, pot, kettle, black. applies here as far as your defense of the Buddhist meditation studies you constantly cite, goes. Ruth's own defense appears to be that she can't conceive of the possibility that any OTHER group of meditation practitioners might have biases that creep into evaluating and/or producing a body of resarch and since she is already biased against TM research, anyone who criticizes it or comes to contrary conclusions about it must be a good guy, unlike Mr. Tim. L.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ruthsimplicity no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig LEnglish5@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ruthsimplicity no_reply@ wrote: [...] Pardon me. You both appear to have some insider knowledge about some studies and both have made similar arguments. So I was curious if you were him. I am not a mind reader so I asked. I certainly meant no insult and I inquired via pm in any event. I've tired of all of the back and forth so I won't bother to ask you to outline what you found silly about my arguments. However, the one thing that bugged me about both you and Tim Guy was the assumption, contrary to what was said by the authors, that evidence in the last 20 years was ignored. They only reported what they found relevant but they read all the studies. And you know this because,,,? ALthough, I'm told the authors are aware of the studies they omitted, but they won't discuss them because they don't have a theoretical framework to put them in and therefore they can't be of any value. Lawson They said that they reviewed them. Who told you that they don't have the theoretical framework? Well, privledged email information slipping out again but its obvious from the fact that 20 years research was ignored that they don't have a theoretical framework to put it in, or are you seriously suggesting that every single EEG study published by the TMO in the past 20 years can be dismissed by citing a psychological study in 1986 and claiming there is no physiological evidence to support the proposed theory? L
[FairfieldLife] Re: British women pay the price(getting raped) for increasing Muslim population
I love it. It is alway fun to have a racially motivated neo-marxist in a forum like this. Rewritting history is a victors game which Edg gets to play for free - no costs, just the spoils. Edg is himself one of the spoils of European victory. The only reason this forum can exist is because the destroying muslim armies were stopped outside of Budpest 325 years ago. If not for that Edg would be sitting and rocking side to side chanting the sword suras from the Koran. With the fanatical disposition he demonstrates here he would be the first to kill us for a glorious place in paradice and for the satisfaction of his god. Go blow yourself up somewhere. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_re...@... wrote: Arhata, You cat-shit loving dog. Eh, let's see what is in history that might be on the minds of the Islamic World when they consider our western culture. White Christians killed off the native Americans and stole the children from the few they didn't kill. White Christians killed off the native South Americans. White Christians invaded and ruled all of India. White Christians to this very moment are raping Africa and historically have a 200+ years long era of using/killing slaves and openly hanging any African American that they targeted. White Christians have allowed the merchant class to import 10,000,000 Mexican slaves. White Christians attacked and/or invaded dozens of sovereign nations in the last 50 years. White Christians killed a million Arabs in the last five years. White Christians are almost singlehandedly responsible for the 30,000 children that die every single day. That's over 10,000,000 per year. White Christians sniffed and looked the other way when Chinese paid assassins chopped a million mothers and babies to death. White Christians killed 200,000 Japanese in a mere two attacks, and imprisoned, without cause, all the Japanese Americans they could find. White Christians killed 100,000+ artisans when they burned a peaceful town of Dresden to the ground. White Christians have over 500 military bases around the world and out-spend the all the other countries combined on evolving their war machines. White Christians have built an internment camp network that may shortly be put to use incarcerating the rioters who have had their homes and livelihoods evaporated by the elites. White Christians have a network of secret rendition/torture camps. If you were born into Islam, and your leaders only told the above true facts, that alone would be enough to form the Islamic world as it is today. Who would want their children to integrate with white Christian genocidal, rapists, murderers, torturing thugs, and global financial marauders who in the last six months sucked half the world's wealth into a few white Christian coffers? There's never a good reason for anyone to hate and fear any nationality, creed, race, etc., but in all the annals of history, never has one group been such a scourge upon the planet that it is entirely understandable that other groups would do everything in their power to keep their kids safe from white Christians. Oh, now someone can trot out all the shit that others have done, but explain to me how that makes America White Christian Sin acceptable? Arhata, your spirituality mask is made of Saran Wrap -- through that laughable veneer we see the maliciousness of a rabid dogexcept, you know, the dog can't help itself. Your espousal of hate literature, your inserting it into our community here -- surely you have no friends except skin heads, serial killers, and Michael Vick. This is all I can write, because, you know, I've taken a deep and serious vow to speak the sweet, kind and necessary truth. And, since you must have some serious brain injury, shame on me for banging on ya, but for GAWD's sake, get some help. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, arhatafreespeech@ wrote: http://theopinionat or.typepad. com/my_weblog/ 2009/02/british- women-girls- pay-high- price-for- multiculturalism .html http://www.freedomofspeech.netfirms.com/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Scroll in windows w/o focus
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Alex Stanley j_alexander_stan...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante no_reply@ wrote: http://snipurl.com/buy4r [antibody-software_com] Wow, thanks Bob! That used to be a built-in feature of the Logitech mouse software, and they did away with it a long time ago. It took me forever to get used to having to click on a window before scrolling. It's so sweet having that feature back, after all these years! ** Those intelligent Mac users had it all the time :)
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
On Feb 14, 2009, at 4:34 PM, sparaig wrote: Which has nothing to do with the points I made about Ruth's mistaking me for Tim Guy, and certainly, pot, kettle, black. applies here as far as your defense of the Buddhist meditation studies you constantly cite, goes. Well that's your false assumption. You're assuming I defend all Buddhist meditation studies, but in fact I generally only discuss ones I find valuable or interesting and scientifically viable. Many do not interest me. And my interest actually extends to all types of meditation research that I consider either interesting or noteworthy and which adhere to a certain amount or scientific rigor and whose researchers are credible. I'm particularly interested in bona fide research on higher states of consciousness, esp. the higher meditative absorptions and rapture states. Ruth's own defense appears to be that she can't conceive of the possibility that any OTHER group of meditation practitioners might have biases that creep into evaluating and/or producing a body of resarch and since she is already biased against TM research, anyone who criticizes it or comes to contrary conclusions about it must be a good guy, unlike Mr. Tim. Well, it sounds like mind reading to me Lawson. You'd like to think this is what Ruth believes, but is it really? I'd hold off on that 1-900 number for now.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Enlightenment: Benefit or Disorder? (was nature of attachment)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Feb 14, 2009, at 1:06 PM, TurquoiseB wrote: I'm trying to pin down what the thinking is that leads people to do this -- announce their enlight- enment and then act as if the Big E gives them a Karmic Get Out Of Jail Free card, and that they no longer have any responsibility for their actions from that point onwards. From both a Buddhist/Abhidharma perspective and an Advaita Vedanta perspective it appears to be a confusion and/or failure to experientially grok the Two Truths, the relative and the absolute. This is my opinion as well. Well said. The failure to take responsibility is often based, IMO, on an actual *disdain* for the relative. It isn't real. It's Maya. Who the fuck *cares* about these figments of the imag- ination we encounter in the world that they laughingly call real? That is the larger point I was hoping to get into with Dawn, but she bailed. This distinction between the Two Truths. IMO (and O is all that it is), when one has become so enamored of a philosophy as to believe the dogma of that philosophy over one's everyday experience, and over common sense, a boundary may have been crossed. What else could one call the belief that the world around us, the relative world we interact with daily and touch and feel and around whose events we plan our lives, is not real? And yet, that is the core belief driving many of the people who post to this group, as far as I can tell. It all goes back to the distinction between hierarchical and relational thinking I rapped about last week. If one believes that the description of the relative world as Maya, as illusion, is higher or more true than the description of that world as real, then one has effectively written the relative world and its cares and responsibilities out of the equation. At the lowest level of one's belief system, those who believe this have bought into the belief that the relative world is on a lower plane. After all, it doesn't really exist. And we know this because the POV that our teacher told us was highest says that it doesn't really exist. Therefore, how much credence should we pay to its puny rules and regulations? All these other beings out there don't really exist. Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke and realize that they don't exist, and only we do.
[FairfieldLife] Re: British women pay the price(getting raped) for increasing Muslim population
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, emptybill emptyb...@... wrote: I love it. It is alway fun to have a racially motivated neo-marxist in a forum like this. Rewritting history is a victors game which Edg gets to play for free - no costs, just the spoils. Edg is himself one of the spoils of European victory. The only reason this forum can exist is because the destroying muslim armies were stopped outside of Budpest 325 years ago. If not for that Edg would be sitting and rocking side to side chanting the sword suras from the Koran. With the fanatical disposition he demonstrates here he would be the first to kill us for a glorious place in paradice and for the satisfaction of his god. Yes, but he would surely emote about it at great length. Go blow yourself up somewhere. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_reply@ wrote: Arhata, You cat-shit loving dog. Eh, let's see what is in history that might be on the minds of the Islamic World when they consider our western culture. White Christians killed off the native Americans and stole the children from the few they didn't kill. White Christians killed off the native South Americans. White Christians invaded and ruled all of India. White Christians to this very moment are raping Africa and historically have a 200+ years long era of using/killing slaves and openly hanging any African American that they targeted. White Christians have allowed the merchant class to import 10,000,000 Mexican slaves. White Christians attacked and/or invaded dozens of sovereign nations in the last 50 years. White Christians killed a million Arabs in the last five years. White Christians are almost singlehandedly responsible for the 30,000 children that die every single day. That's over 10,000,000 per year. White Christians sniffed and looked the other way when Chinese paid assassins chopped a million mothers and babies to death. White Christians killed 200,000 Japanese in a mere two attacks, and imprisoned, without cause, all the Japanese Americans they could find. White Christians killed 100,000+ artisans when they burned a peaceful town of Dresden to the ground. White Christians have over 500 military bases around the world and out-spend the all the other countries combined on evolving their war machines. White Christians have built an internment camp network that may shortly be put to use incarcerating the rioters who have had their homes and livelihoods evaporated by the elites. White Christians have a network of secret rendition/torture camps. If you were born into Islam, and your leaders only told the above true facts, that alone would be enough to form the Islamic world as it is today. Who would want their children to integrate with white Christian genocidal, rapists, murderers, torturing thugs, and global financial marauders who in the last six months sucked half the world's wealth into a few white Christian coffers? There's never a good reason for anyone to hate and fear any nationality, creed, race, etc., but in all the annals of history, never has one group been such a scourge upon the planet that it is entirely understandable that other groups would do everything in their power to keep their kids safe from white Christians. Oh, now someone can trot out all the shit that others have done, but explain to me how that makes America White Christian Sin acceptable? Arhata, your spirituality mask is made of Saran Wrap -- through that laughable veneer we see the maliciousness of a rabid dogexcept, you know, the dog can't help itself. Your espousal of hate literature, your inserting it into our community here -- surely you have no friends except skin heads, serial killers, and Michael Vick. This is all I can write, because, you know, I've taken a deep and serious vow to speak the sweet, kind and necessary truth. And, since you must have some serious brain injury, shame on me for banging on ya, but for GAWD's sake, get some help. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, arhatafreespeech@ wrote: http://theopinionat or.typepad. com/my_weblog/ 2009/02/british- women-girls- pay-high- price-for- multiculturalism .html http://www.freedomofspeech.netfirms.com/
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Scroll in windows w/o focus
On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 4:03 PM, bob_brigante no_re...@yahoogroups.com wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Alex Stanley j_alexander_stan...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante no_reply@ wrote: http://snipurl.com/buy4r [antibody-software_com] Wow, thanks Bob! That used to be a built-in feature of the Logitech mouse software, and they did away with it a long time ago. It took me forever to get used to having to click on a window before scrolling. It's so sweet having that feature back, after all these years! I didn't download this yet because I try to keep as few tasks and services running as possible. Tell me. Does this just change input focus to whatever you're mousing over or does this allow you to scroll what you're mousing over without losing input focus on the last thing to left clicked on?
[FairfieldLife] Islamic Terror and Sexual Mutilation
FrontPage Magazine* http://www.freedomofspeech.netfirms.com/
[FairfieldLife] Re: British women pay the price(getting raped) for increasing Muslim population
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, satvadude108 no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, emptybill emptybill@ wrote: I love it. It is alway fun to have a racially motivated neo-marxist in a forum like this. Rewritting history is a victors game which Edg gets to play for free - no costs, just the spoils. Edg is himself one of the spoils of European victory. The only reason this forum can exist is because the destroying muslim armies were stopped outside of Budpest 325 years ago. If not for that Edg would be sitting and rocking side to side chanting the sword suras from the Koran. With the fanatical disposition he demonstrates here he would be the first to kill us for a glorious place in paradice and for the satisfaction of his god. Yes, but he would surely emote about it at great length. Go blow yourself up somewhere. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_reply@ wrote: snip, Given that there have been many eras of inhumane history in the past, does it validate it going on in the present?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Siddha Yoga
Senor Barry y todos: Personally, I believe that these stories are written in symbolic codes, aside from the apparent drift of the story. One has to interpret the meaning of these symbols in order to understand the true message. I would say instead, One *can* interpret the meaning of things one perceives in stories as symbols. One certainly does not have to. To suggest that one has to is neither honest nor thinking. Nor is suggesting that the story has a true meaning that only you and a few other select perceivers understand. Some of us are content with leaving the stories as what they are -- stories. They need no ego-fluff to make them better or more meaningful. The point being addressed is the fact that human beings in search of the truth are continually assessing the information available from the ancient writers to determine the validity of the stories or messages therein. Leaving the stories as they are would not be sufficient to satisfy anyone's intelligence and would leave a huge vacuum of doubts, as you have already shown. If anyone is to prove or disprove any of these stories, he or she would have to spend the time to research the data and make careful assesments to come up with a responsible conclusion. In other words, you can't bullshit anyone and get away with it. To this end, many scholars in any of the religious traditions have spent their lifetime researching the available historical records to satisfy their own thirst for meaning. The interpretations may vary for us now. But the ancient writers may have intended them that way. They may have. I will honestly admit that. But does that give the stories any more worth or meaning? Of course it does. The ancient writers were assuming that the readers today and in generations to come are intelligent enough to understand the message they are delivering. Actually, from their perspective, they were probably spoon feeding us the information in order to get it. The vedic texts indicate that the people from the prior yugas were very intelligent and could assimilate the information given to them by hearing them alone. However, Vyasa and others found through their intuitive knowledge that the succeeding generations, particularly those in Kali Yuga today, would not be intelligent enough to understand the truth. As such, they wrote the vedic texts in increments to make sure that the knowledge is passed down for generations to come. Some guru traditions interpret the stories literally. There are others who don't. And, just to provide that opposite end of the argument you were talking about, *why* should the interpretation of a guru tradition inter- est anyone any more than the interpretation of anyone else? Do the guru traditions inherently have more insight or truth to them? Yes, they do matter. All of us would want to learn the true message. We don't to learn it from distractors like you. More important, do the symbols that they per- ceive in these stories have any validity? What I was poking a little fun at in your original post was that you told the story of this fellow from the vedic texts who is still alive today, *as if that story were fact*. You seemed to assume that because of the source, it *was* true. I cited the source of my information. The readers can decide whether to believe it or not. Otherwise, the readers will question my authority for providing the information. Below I rewrite your original post a bit, using a different text or source story. As a serious question, why isn't it as valid an interpretation of symbols as your interpretation of the vedic texts? Why isn't it possibly as true and thus as eligible to be presented by you as fact as the story you related? Could it possibly be that one of the stories has a myth surrounding it that causes some people to believe that it *IS* fact, and the other story doesn't? Based on the information provided, the readers would question the text because you wrote it. You appear to agree with Campbell (the author who appeared with Bill Moyers on a PBS show several years) that the stories in many religious traditions are myths. They may be myths, but they do convey valuable knowledge, which can be termed as spiritual or religious principles. To All: According to certain ancient texts, a person who wears the One Ring can live an extraordinarily long time. In fact, one such person by the name of Bilbo who wore the One Ring lived well past the ripe old age of leventy-leven, and is still living today somewhere in the Western Lands, along with Frodo and Gandalf. According to the text, they may return at some point to revive the lineages and greatness of Middle Earth. Get the point? I have pasted your original post below, in case you don't. What you were doing in it IMO was presenting fiction as if it were fact. I merely did the same thing.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Scroll in windows w/o focus
I am the eternal wrote: On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 4:03 PM, bob_brigante no_re...@yahoogroups.com wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Alex Stanley j_alexander_stan...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante no_reply@ wrote: http://snipurl.com/buy4r [antibody-software_com] Wow, thanks Bob! That used to be a built-in feature of the Logitech mouse software, and they did away with it a long time ago. It took me forever to get used to having to click on a window before scrolling. It's so sweet having that feature back, after all these years! I didn't download this yet because I try to keep as few tasks and services running as possible. Tell me. Does this just change input focus to whatever you're mousing over or does this allow you to scroll what you're mousing over without losing input focus on the last thing to left clicked on? And of course is just part of Ubuntu.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig lengli...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ruthsimplicity no_reply@ wrote: One thing I have learned by this little exchange and others is that apparently it is fine with the culture here to dis someone in public based on a personal message. Okie dokie. Um, feeling defensive are we? Defensive is not the word. It is the fact that there is not enough of a level of trust between us that I can't even ask a private question off hand without you using it as a gotcha on the public forum.Personally, I never disclose what people say to me in a pm unless they make a disclosure first. Some people here have shared private information with me, including who they are in real life. I hope people here see now how risky that could be if you share with the wrong person.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ruthsimplicity no_re...@... wrote: snip [I wrote:] Also fascinating that, as Tim Guy points out, Vaj confuses the hypotheses about EEG coherence with the ME hypothesis--and Ruth actually backs Vaj up! (Note that it was I who pointed out Vaj's confusion here, yet Ruth can't bring herself to respond to my post, she has to do it indirectly via her exchange with Lawson. Funny.) [Ruth wrote:] Vaj did not confuse EEG coherence with the ME hypothesis. I didn't say he confused EEG coherence with the ME hypothesis (see above); it's not possible to confuse an EEG feature with a hypothesis. What I said was that he confused the EEG *hypotheses* with the ME hypothesis. Minor point, but typical of Ruth's sloppiness. He spoke briefly but he isn't confused. However, the ME hypothesis is somewhat confusing and you can be fed slightly different stuff in different places. But: http://www.vedicknowledge.com/yogic_flying.html Research has also established that the TM-Sidhi Programme cultures a profound integration of brain functioning (EEG coherence), promoting an optimal state of brain functioning that provides the basis for the unfoldment of an individual's full creative intelligence. During Yogic Flying individuals experience significant positive correlations between the abundance of alpha EEG coherence in four regions of the brain and the experience of self-referral consciousness. This coherence and integration of brain functioning is maximum at the moment the body lifts up into the air. When Yogic Flying is practised collectively, the coherence of brain functioning creates a positive and harmonious influence in the environment, reducing negative tendencies and promoting positive, harmonious trends throughout the whole society. And here's what Vaj wrote (briefly, according to Ruth, and I haven't quoted all of even this one post!): A popular claim of TM researchers is that EEG alpha-coherence is produced by TM and the TM-Sidhi Program and when done with many people, this coherence spreads to the surrounding area, making people more peaceful and that it has the potential to lead to world peace. Note the difference: The quote from the TM site does not say the EEG coherence spreads from the meditators to the population, but rather that the meditators' coherence has a harmonious influence in the environment. Vaj continues: This claim is debunked in the recent neuroscience textbook, The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness, which includes a detailed paper on meditation research in general. The paper is entitled 'Meditation and the Neuroscience of Consciousness' and can be found in pre-press PDF format on the web. Note that this paper does not address the ME hypothesis at all, so it can hardly be said to debunk the claims for the ME. Here it is: http://brainimaging.waisman.wisc.edu/publications/2006/Lutz.Meditation Intro.Chapter.InPress.pdf http://tinyurl.com/aotjqx Vaj goes on: The paper rather succinctly points out that the type of alpha coherence found in TM meditators is really no different than the ranges normally found in humans. So therefore any claims about the uniqueness of the TM [sic] and 'the claim that alpha oscillations and alpha coherence are desirable or are linked to an original and higher state of consciousness seem [sic] quite premature.' Completely different set of claims than those for the ME. Moreover, the study the authors reference to support what Vaj quotes is from *1977* and has nothing to do, again, with the Maharishi Effect or even the TM-Sidhis; it deals only with plain-vanilla TM. Finally, note that seem [sic] quite premature hardly constitutes a debunking even of the claim it does reference. Here's the final paragraph of that post of Vaj's: The overall impression I'm left with in regards to TM research is one a of pseudoscience 'marketing cult' where 'sciencey' sounding claims are used to foster a false sense of product superiority. Note the attempt to portray himself as a disinterested observer. He pretty much blows that carefully designed pose in later posts in the discussion, though. And finally finally, the section of the Handbook study Vaj quotes from includes this gem: ...The initial claim that TM produces a unique state of consciousness different than sleep has been refuted by several EEG meditation studies which reported sleeplike stages during this technique with increased alpha and then theta power (Pagano, Rose, Stivers, Warrenburg, 1976; Younger, Adriance, Berger, 1975). I've pointed out before several times here that this reveals rather astounding ignorance of what TM actually claims on the part of the researchers. TM does *not* claim a unique state of consciousness different than sleep exists *throughout* a TM meditation session, such that the finding of sleeplike stages would constitute not just a rebuttal but a *refutation*, for heaven's sake. TM researchers (and virtually
[FairfieldLife] Re: Enlightenment: Benefit or Disorder? (was nature of attachment)
make no mistake, i take the world seriously and don't feel i am above it at all. i take all of my relationships here seriously. i just don't take you seriously, Barry. see the difference? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Feb 14, 2009, at 1:06 PM, TurquoiseB wrote: I'm trying to pin down what the thinking is that leads people to act as if they have no responsibility for their actions...
[FairfieldLife] Re: Scroll in windows w/o focus
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, I am the eternal l.shad...@... wrote: On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 4:03 PM, bob_brigante no_re...@yahoogroups.com wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Alex Stanley j_alexander_stanley@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante no_reply@ wrote: http://snipurl.com/buy4r [antibody-software_com] Wow, thanks Bob! That used to be a built-in feature of the Logitech mouse software, and they did away with it a long time ago. It took me forever to get used to having to click on a window before scrolling. It's so sweet having that feature back, after all these years! I didn't download this yet because I try to keep as few tasks and services running as possible. Tell me. Does this just change input focus to whatever you're mousing over or does this allow you to scroll what you're mousing over without losing input focus on the last thing to left clicked on? ** It's a small download, shouldn't be any problem even if you are using a smallish solid state memory. This program makes focus irrelevant for scrolling, but probably you would still have to click to fill out a form.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Feb 14, 2009, at 4:34 PM, sparaig wrote: Which has nothing to do with the points I made about Ruth's mistaking me for Tim Guy, and certainly, pot, kettle, black. applies here as far as your defense of the Buddhist meditation studies you constantly cite, goes. Well that's your false assumption. You're assuming I defend all Buddhist meditation studies False. Look at what Lawson wrote: He refers to your defense of the Buddhist meditation studies you constantly cite.
[FairfieldLife] British women pay the price(getting raped) for increasing Muslim population
My response to someone who thinks I'm stpid! Stop defending Islam, Edg We all know about the curse of Christianity, sis is the leading spokesperson in the world about that garbage and behind all religions. Islam is the 'shitter of the idiots' - Any questions, be glad to consider an answer! Arhata Arhata, You cat-shit loving dog. Eh, let's see what is in history that might be on the minds of the Islamic World when they consider our western culture. White Christians killed off the native Americans and stole the children from the few they didn't kill. White Christians killed off the native South Americans. White Christians invaded and ruled all of India. White Christians to this very moment are raping Africa and historically have a 200+ years long era of using/killing slaves and openly hanging any African American that they targeted. White Christians have allowed the merchant class to import 10,000,000 Mexican slaves. White Christians attacked and/or invaded dozens of sovereign nations in the last 50 years. White Christians killed a million Arabs in the last five years. White Christians are almost singlehandedly responsible for the 30,000 children that die every single day. That's over 10,000,000 per year. White Christians sniffed and looked the other way when Chinese paid assassins chopped a million mothers and babies to death. White Christians killed 200,000 Japanese in a mere two attacks, and imprisoned, without cause, all the Japanese Americans they could find. White Christians killed 100,000+ artisans when they burned a peaceful town of Dresden to the ground. White Christians have over 500 military bases around the world and out-spend the all the other countries combined on evolving their war machines. White Christians have built an internment camp network that may shortly be put to use incarcerating the rioters who have had their homes and livelihoods evaporated by the elites. White Christians have a network of secret rendition/torture camps. If you were born into Islam, and your leaders only told the above true facts, that alone would be enough to form the Islamic world as it is today. Who would want their children to integrate with white Christian genocidal, rapists, murderers, torturing thugs, and global financial marauders who in the last six months sucked half the world's wealth into a few white Christian coffers? There's never a good reason for anyone to hate and fear any nationality, creed, race, etc., but in all the annals of history, never has one group been such a scourge upon the planet that it is entirely understandable that other groups would do everything in their power to keep their kids safe from white Christians. Oh, now someone can trot out all the shit that others have done, but explain to me how that makes America White Christian Sin acceptable? Arhata, your spirituality mask is made of Saran Wrap -- through that laughable veneer we see the maliciousness of a rabid dogexcept, you know, the dog can't help itself. Your espousal of hate literature, your inserting it into our community here -- surely you have no friends except skin heads, serial killers, and Michael Vick. This is all I can write, because, you know, I've taken a deep and serious vow to speak the sweet, kind and necessary truth. And, since you must have some serious brain injury, shame on me for banging on ya, but for GAWD's sake, get some help. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@ yahoogroups. com, arhatafreespeech@ ... wrote: http://theopinionat or.typepad. com/my_weblog/ 2009/02/british- women-girls- pay-high- price-for- multiculturalism .html http://www.freedomo fspeech.netfirms .com/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Fairfield Issue: Cell Tower Update
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: So how is cellular reception in Fairfield? Who has the best coverage? After analog TV goes of (now lamely pushed out to June 12th -- bad move for the Obama admin) those may be other frequencies not so dangerous (like VHF-TV frequencies). Rick Archer wrote: It has come to our attention that a cell phone tower is being constructed on Depot Street at the business location of Whtney Monuments. This location is the business of Kent Whitney This location is near to a residentail neighborhood, Orchard Village, the snip, Hey Rick, Where is Orchard village? My shop is on the next street and I never heard of it. Whitney is next the tracks (main line) and, on the other side of that, it is industrial property-(aluminum foundry etc). It is curious as it looks like more of an industrial setting than an elite housing development. I am not on one side or the other of the issue but if the tower goes up, I hope it doesn't increase my level of brain damage any. N.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Enlightenment: Benefit or Disorder? (was nature of attachment)
Vaj wrote: On Feb 14, 2009, at 1:06 PM, TurquoiseB wrote: I'm trying to pin down what the thinking is that leads people to do this -- announce their enlight- enment and then act as if the Big E gives them a Karmic Get Out Of Jail Free card, and that they no longer have any responsibility for their actions from that point onwards. From both a Buddhist/Abhidharma perspective and an Advaita Vedanta perspective it appears to be a confusion and/or failure to experientially grok the Two Truths, the relative and the absolute. It's quite common IME to see claimants of E. fall into extremes, i.e. become absolutists or nihilists. It is often what makes it clear they're holding a false view (of reality). It's like having a booger on your face and bragging about how good looking you are. I think it is okay for people to say that they are experiencing enlightenment but stupid or wrong to say they are enlightened. Most people who have working meditation techniques should be experiencing enlightenment. They should be starting to see a bigger picture. Often that comprehension goes beyond the boundaries of the comprehension of the average person. You might start seeing that many laws and morals were nothing but a form of mind programming to keep masses under control down through the centuries. But if you point that out to the average individual who has not thought about it that way they think you are either crazy or dangerous. :-D
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Fascination With Miracles
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: When I read stuff like JohnR's recent post about the guy from the vedic texts living forever, or hear someone saying, I'd believe in Maharishi's other claims if I could just see someone levitate, or read the talk here about ancient or modern yogis doing this miraculous thing or that miraculous thing as if it these things were really...uh...miraculous, or terribly meaningful, I sometimes find myself wondering what's wrong with me that I'm not impressed by this shit. In the Catholic Church, the pope would consider nominations for sainthood by researching the life and works of the person involved. This is done by a person who in the end will try to present arguments against the potential saint. This person is called the Devil's Advocate. You appear to fit this role naturally. On another level, W H Y should witnessing someone do this stuff have any relationship to that person's cred- ibility or believability? I could sell you the Brooklyn Bridge then if you're not interested in questioning anything. W H Y ? Why not? It's like a caveman believing that the guy from the future who can make fire using a magical device called a Zippo is to be believed when he tells him that this means that he gets to have sex with the caveman's wife and daughters. It's more likely that the guy stole the Zippo from its owner to get laid. Is the quest for fire so important to some people that they're willing to throw away all common sense once they've seen fire? No, especially if you're going to screw his wife.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig lengli...@... wrote: Well, privledged email information slipping out again but its obvious from the fact that 20 years research was ignored that they don't have a theoretical framework to put it in, or are you seriously suggesting that every single EEG study published by the TMO in the past 20 years can be dismissed by citing a psychological study in 1986 and claiming there is no physiological evidence to support the proposed theory? L No point in us arguing this. We disagree as to their conclusions. Apparently you can't believe that they have the background to conclude that the studies they excluded from their report were either not sufficiently rigorous or did not report anything of significant interest. It is, however, the TM researcher's job to specifically show what the theoretical framework is for their work.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Amma darshan: a sip of cow urine instead of a hug!
ROTFLMAO! Thanks, Shemp, that's one of the funniest things I've ever read! --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk shempmcg...@... wrote: Earlier, Rick Archer made two posts here on FairFieldLife, back-to- back: one was a personal experience of hugging that a fellow devotee of Amma had forwarded him and Rick felt he just had to share with the rest of us (see http://tinyurl.com/avv6zc ); the second one was a link to a media story on a Hindu group developing a cow urine beverage to be marketed to the masses in India (see http://tinyurl.com/bj5le6 ). I suppose it was the odd juxtaposition of the two that got me thinking: instead of offering hugs in her darshan sessions what if Amma would offer sips of cow urine? There would be the same line-ups to the podium. But instead of hugging each of the aspirants and clinging them to her chest or shoulder (which can't be very sanitary from the looks of the photographs I've seen of her), she would offer up a cup of urine that the devotee would sip from. I mean, in the final analysis, what would be the difference? Whether she offers a hug or a sip of cow urine, why in heaven's name would there be any different outcome to the person partaking in the experience? If she is, indeed, enlightened, the hugging business is of course only just a gimmick; a means to an end...an avenue through which to express, manifest, and communicate her universality to whomever she is coming into contact with. If anything, I imagine that switching to cow urine would provide a booster shot, so to speak, to the experience. Why? With the hugging gimmick, any Tom, Dick, or Harry can get in line -- believer or skeptic alike -- and get a hug just to see what the experience is going to be. Hey, you could even be a complete cynic like me who would show up at the darshan hall just to see what the hell was going on and check out whether Amma was a fraud or not. And if truth be told not everyone that goes up and is on the receiving end of the old touchy-feely from Amma gets the Baroque experience that her hard- core devotees are always most eager to share with us. No bells and whistles, no conversion. No tickee, no washee. But if all she was offering was urine, then you'd pretty much have to have a leap of faith to even show up, let alone get in line. I'd say the switch to urine would start separating the wheat from the chaff; all the skeptics, marginals, and low-lifes who, for the most part, are not good potential devotee material would be automatically filtered out and, instead, those willing to get in line for a sip of the old bovine elixir will henceforth be heavily skewered to the true- believer demographic. And that's the stuff from which profitable, going-concerns of a cult are made from. Hey, isn't that one of the reasons the TM organisation upped their fee for learning the technique from $75.00 back in '75 to the $2,500.00 it is today? We want only the serious aspirants now, not like back in the old days when anybody could show up and get initiated, TM teachers will tell you in order to justify the current exhorbitant fee. Charging $2,500.00 means that the person showing up is going to take it seriously. I'd say that the carrot of darshan or bliss or whatever it is that Amma huggees get from being cleaved to her bosum for those 3 or 4 seconds would be replaced by a new carrot provided by the offering of holy Amma-blessed cow urine... which would elicit the added benefit to the Amma organisation of upping the true believer factor exponentially. Certainly, adopting this new marketing approach would, initially, dramatically reduce those in the darshan line-up, let alone people showing up at the auditorium. But I'm confident that the percentage of devotees that would result would at least be the same under the hugging angle, if not more. And the profit margin would necessarily be higher: the organisation would no longer have to rent out large halls, always a risky undertaking in the guru business. This would save an incredible amount in expenses. Plus, I can only imagine that after hugging those many millions Amma must want to give that right shoulder a break. Another benefit: if the new age business has learned anything it's that the front man (or woman, as the case may be) must continually reinvent themselves if they want to avoid the risk going stale in the consumers' minds. I guarantee you that the move to cow urine from hugging will result in a completely new set of headlines worldwide and publicity the likes of which only a double murder in Brentwood could possibly hope to match. Perhaps we're on to something here. My only reservation is that I've gone public without first sharing the idea with Amma and her people privately. That way I could have sent her an invoice for services
[FairfieldLife] Re: Siddha Yoga
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_...@... wrote: Senor Barry y todos: Personally I believe that these stories are written in symbolic codes, aside from the apparent drift of the story. One has to interpret the meaning of these symbols in order to understand the true message. I would say instead, One *can* interpret the meaning of things one perceives in stories as symbols. One certainly does not have to. To suggest that one has to is neither honest nor thinking. Nor is suggesting that the story has a true meaning that only you and a few other select perceivers understand. Some of us are content with leaving the stories as what they are -- stories. They need no ego-fluff to make them better or more meaningful. The point being addressed is the fact that human beings in search of the truth ... Stop there. IS there such a thing as the truth? A truth that is true for all beings, in whatever state of consciousness that they find themselves in? If not, is there such a thing as the highest truth, that truth that trumps state of consciousness, and wins no matter what? These are some of the unaddressed assumptions that I see underlying your posts. Just sayin'. ...are continually assessing the information available from the ancient writers to determine the validity of the stories or messages therein. Leaving the stories as they are would not be sufficient to satisfy anyone's intelligence and would leave a huge vacuum of doubts, as you have already shown. Why not? I don't think I've shown any such thing. I think instead that doubt is the human condition, and that it sets the human condition FREE, and that the notion of truth, in contrast, is the thing that tends to make the human condition misery. If anyone is to prove or disprove any of these stories, he or she would have to spend the time to research the data and make careful assesments to come up with a responsible conclusion. In other words, you can't bullshit anyone and get away with it. To this end, many scholars in any of the religious traditions have spent their lifetime researching the available historical records to satisfy their own thirst for meaning. And? You kinda left that hanging. And? The interpretations may vary for us now. But the ancient writers may have intended them that way. They may have. I will honestly admit that. But does that give the stories any more worth or meaning? Of course it does. *Of course it does?* Sounds kinda absolutist to me. How do you KNOW this? I keep asking you this question, by the way, and you keep failing to respond. I'd pay attention to that if you want to initiate a real conversation. And I'm enjoying this one so far, so I really hope that that's what you want. The ancient writers were assuming that the readers today and in generations to come are intelligent enough to understand the message they are delivering. Actually, from their perspective, they were probably spoon feeding us the information in order to get it. And you know this exactly HOW? ( This is a variant of How do you KNOW this? if you didn't get that. ) The vedic texts indicate that the people from the prior yugas were very intelligent and could assimilate the information given to them by hearing them alone. And this should mean something to me because the sentence started with, The vedic texts indicate...? Get real. However, Vyasa and others found through their intuitive knowledge that the succeeding generations, particularly those in Kali Yuga today, would not be intelligent enough to understand the truth. As such, they wrote the vedic texts in increments to make sure that the knowledge is passed down for generations to come. So the story you put so much credence in -- the one about the guy who is still alive and kicking from Vedic times -- is from a book you are defining as Knowledge For Dummies? :-) Some guru traditions interpret the stories literally. There are others who don't. And, just to provide that opposite end of the argument you were talking about, *why* should the interpretation of a guru tradition inter- est anyone any more than the interpretation of anyone else? Do the guru traditions inherently have more insight or truth to them? Yes, they do matter. W H Y ? All of us would want to learn the true message. No, all of us do NOT want to know some comforting fiction presented as truth or the true message. Some of us only want to keep on seeking, forever, without ever finding *anything* we can pin down as truth. The fact that you do not understand this is illustri- tave of the gulf that exists between our two points of view. We don't to learn it from distractors like you. And I am a distractor. W H Y ? Could it possibly have something to do that my opinion differs from yours, which isn't even yours? As far as I can tell, yours was
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
On Feb 14, 2009, at 6:00 PM, ruthsimplicity wrote: No point in us arguing this. We disagree as to their conclusions. Apparently you can't believe that they have the background to conclude that the studies they excluded from their report were either not sufficiently rigorous or did not report anything of significant interest. It is, however, the TM researcher's job to specifically show what the theoretical framework is for their work. Interesting because one of the researchers is probably the most qualified man in the world to comment on EEG, having been the section editor of the state of the art work on Human electroencephalography, esp. electroencephalography and meditation. Davidson's also the man who's systematically mapped the correlates of alpha. These guys ain't no slouchers. ;-) But I agree, it's probably not worth discussing without someone willing to be honest and objective. Fundamentalists aren't likely to change their beliefs, but they will do whatever they can to obfuscate and misdirect, a form of dishonesty common in fundamentalists of many sorts.
[FairfieldLife] What Really Motivates Islamic Radicals? Hint:Not Religion
In a groundbreaking project to understand what the world's 1.3 million billion Muslims really think, Gallup World Poll conducted a massive, multiyear research and conducted tens of thousands of interviews in 35 countries with predominantly Muslim (or have significant Muslim) populations. The result is this book: Who Speaks for Islam? by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed - and here are some of its most counterintuitive findings, as pertaining to terrorism and religious radicals: Among the Muslims surveyed, 7 percent condoned the 9/11 attacks. The study terms these the politically radicalized. When asked why they supported the attacks, the radicals gave political rather than religious reasons. They have a sense of political frustration and feel humiliated and threatened by the West. Those who opposed the attacks often gave religious reasons for doing so. The radicals, on average, are not the down-and-out people in society. They are more educated than moderates, and two-thirds of radicals have average or above-average income. Forty-seven percent supervise others at work. They are more optimistic about their own lives than are moderates (52 percent to 45 percent). Radicals are no more religious than the general population and do not attend mosque more frequently. ~~ Much more information at links here - Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0517/p12s04-wogi.html
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Feb 14, 2009, at 6:00 PM, ruthsimplicity wrote: No point in us arguing this. We disagree as to their conclusions. Apparently you can't believe that they have the background to conclude that the studies they excluded from their report were either not sufficiently rigorous or did not report anything of significant interest. It is, however, the TM researcher's job to specifically show what the theoretical framework is for their work. Interesting because one of the researchers is probably the most qualified man in the world to comment on EEG, having been the section editor of the state of the art work on Human electroencephalography, esp. electroencephalography and meditation. Davidson's also the man who's systematically mapped the correlates of alpha. These guys ain't no slouchers. ;-) But I agree, it's probably not worth discussing without someone willing to be honest and objective. Fundamentalists aren't likely to change their beliefs, but they will do whatever they can to obfuscate and misdirect, a form of dishonesty common in fundamentalists of many sorts. Yes, there is no way to even talk about it. Instead, vague accusations of not having the proper theoretical framework are made. I hope some other posters here read the article as it is worth reading. For the record, Vaj and I are not always in agreement. Vaj is a mystic and I am not. Oh well, this all makes me tired. The more I read actual TM studies the more put off I am. Here, we just talk about people who talk about the studies. Rarely do we actually talk about a particular study, which is the only thing of relevance. When I first was on this board I had not looked at TM research for years and years and was a bit interested to see how things had developed. I am starting to lose interest. I am also frustrated that so many journals publish crap. Not just TM crap, but crap in general. The signal to noise ratio is way off. Part of the problem is NCCAM. It needs to be tossed in the garbage. Instead of spending time here I should be working to abolish NCCAM. Which will be on my list of things to participate in over the next few months.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Feb 14, 2009, at 6:00 PM, ruthsimplicity wrote: No point in us arguing this. We disagree as to their conclusions. Apparently you can't believe that they have the background to conclude that the studies they excluded from their report were either not sufficiently rigorous or did not report anything of significant interest. It is, however, the TM researcher's job to specifically show what the theoretical framework is for their work. Interesting because one of the researchers is probably the most qualified man in the world to comment on EEG, having been the section editor of the state of the art work on Human electroencephalography, esp. electroencephalography and meditation. Davidson's also the man who's systematically mapped the correlates of alpha. These guys ain't no slouchers. ;-) Bias in a specific field of interest is orthogonal to expertise. Well, not exactly, the greater the level of expertise, the more likely a researcher has biases, just because. But I agree, it's probably not worth discussing without someone willing to be honest and objective. Fundamentalists aren't likely to change their beliefs, but they will do whatever they can to obfuscate and misdirect, a form of dishonesty common in fundamentalists of many sorts. Pot, kettle black time again, Vaj. L.
[FairfieldLife] Post Count
Fairfield Life Post Counter === Start Date (UTC): Sat Feb 14 00:00:00 2009 End Date (UTC): Sat Feb 21 00:00:00 2009 114 messages as of (UTC) Sun Feb 15 00:00:51 2009 11 TurquoiseB no_re...@yahoogroups.com 8 enlightened_dawn11 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 8 Arhata Osho arhatafreespe...@yahoo.com 7 sparaig lengli...@cox.net 7 ruthsimplicity no_re...@yahoogroups.com 7 Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net 6 authfriend jst...@panix.com 6 Rick Archer r...@searchsummit.com 5 Vaj vajradh...@earthlink.net 5 Peter drpetersutp...@yahoo.com 4 do.rflex do.rf...@yahoo.com 3 shempmcgurk shempmcg...@netscape.net 3 emptybill emptyb...@yahoo.com 3 bob_brigante no_re...@yahoogroups.com 3 arhatafreespe...@yahoo.com 3 Nelson nelsonriddle2...@yahoo.com 3 Kirk kirk_bernha...@cox.net 3 I am the eternal l.shad...@gmail.com 2 yifuxero yifux...@yahoo.com 2 raunchydog raunchy...@yahoo.com 2 nablusoss1008 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 2 John jr_...@yahoo.com 1 satvadude108 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 1 off_world_beings no_re...@yahoogroups.com 1 lurkernomore20002000 steve.sun...@sbcglobal.net 1 jyouells2000 john_youe...@comcast.net 1 cardemaister no_re...@yahoogroups.com 1 billy jim emptyb...@yahoo.com 1 Sal Sunshine salsunsh...@lisco.com 1 Robert babajii...@yahoo.com 1 Duveyoung no_re...@yahoogroups.com 1 Barbara Thomas barbara_thoma...@yahoo.com 1 Alex Stanley j_alexander_stan...@yahoo.com Posters: 33 Saturday Morning 00:00 UTC Rollover Times = Daylight Saving Time (Summer): US Friday evening: PDT 5 PM - MDT 6 PM - CDT 7 PM - EDT 8 PM Europe Saturday: BST 1 AM CEST 2 AM EEST 3 AM Standard Time (Winter): US Friday evening: PST 4 PM - MST 5 PM - CST 6 PM - EST 7 PM Europe Saturday: GMT 12 AM CET 1 AM EET 2 AM For more information on Time Zones: www.worldtimezone.com
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ruthsimplicity no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Feb 14, 2009, at 6:00 PM, ruthsimplicity wrote: No point in us arguing this. We disagree as to their conclusions. Apparently you can't believe that they have the background to conclude that the studies they excluded from their report were either not sufficiently rigorous or did not report anything of significant interest. It is, however, the TM researcher's job to specifically show what the theoretical framework is for their work. Interesting because one of the researchers is probably the most qualified man in the world to comment on EEG, having been the section editor of the state of the art work on Human electroencephalography, esp. electroencephalography and meditation. Davidson's also the man who's systematically mapped the correlates of alpha. These guys ain't no slouchers. ;-) But I agree, it's probably not worth discussing without someone willing to be honest and objective. Fundamentalists aren't likely to change their beliefs, but they will do whatever they can to obfuscate and misdirect, a form of dishonesty common in fundamentalists of many sorts. Yes, there is no way to even talk about it. Instead, vague accusations of not having the proper theoretical framework are made. I hope some other posters here read the article as it is worth reading. For the record, Vaj and I are not always in agreement. Vaj is a mystic and I am not. Oh well, this all makes me tired. The more I read actual TM studies the more put off I am. Here, we just talk about people who talk about the studies. Rarely do we actually talk about a particular study, which is the only thing of relevance. When I first was on this board I had not looked at TM research for years and years and was a bit interested to see how things had developed. I am starting to lose interest. I am also frustrated that so many journals publish crap. Not just TM crap, but crap in general. The signal to noise ratio is way off. Part of the problem is NCCAM. It needs to be tossed in the garbage. Instead of spending time here I should be working to abolish NCCAM. Which will be on my list of things to participate in over the next few months. Rather than abolish NCCAM, why not require it to have more stringent peer review? L
[FairfieldLife] Re: What Really Motivates Islamic Radicals? Hint:Not Religion
So how many jihad terrorist do you think Gallup interviewed? Must have been many for how else could Gallup present these results as conclusive. That must mean Gallup was able to accurately assay the actual percentage of jihad terrorists composing that particular population sub-group. This means they had to interview them. That is the only way to calculate a correct sample size. So who is claiming they conducted interviews determining the specific islamic beliefs of jihad terrorists? I believe the FBI and Homeland Security might want to located some of these people. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, do.rflex do.rf...@... wrote: In a groundbreaking project to understand what the world's 1.3 million billion Muslims really think, Gallup World Poll conducted a massive, multiyear research and conducted tens of thousands of interviews in 35 countries with predominantly Muslim (or have significant Muslim) populations. The result is this book: Who Speaks for Islam? by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed - and here are some of its most counterintuitive findings, as pertaining to terrorism and religious radicals: Among the Muslims surveyed, 7 percent condoned the 9/11 attacks. The study terms these the politically radicalized. When asked why they supported the attacks, the radicals gave political rather than religious reasons. They have a sense of political frustration and feel humiliated and threatened by the West. Those who opposed the attacks often gave religious reasons for doing so. The radicals, on average, are not the down-and-out people in society. They are more educated than moderates, and two-thirds of radicals have average or above-average income. Forty-seven percent supervise others at work. They are more optimistic about their own lives than are moderates (52 percent to 45 percent). Radicals are no more religious than the general population and do not attend mosque more frequently. ~~ Much more information at links here - Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0517/p12s04-wogi.html
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
On Feb 14, 2009, at 7:15 PM, sparaig wrote: Interesting because one of the researchers is probably the most qualified man in the world to comment on EEG, having been the section editor of the state of the art work on Human electroencephalography, esp. electroencephalography and meditation. Davidson's also the man who's systematically mapped the correlates of alpha. These guys ain't no slouchers. ;-) Bias in a specific field of interest is orthogonal to expertise. Well, not exactly, the greater the level of expertise, the more likely a researcher has biases, just because. I don't see that. These guys who are at the forefront of their fields have their reputations on the line with every study they publish. It behooves them to uphold the highest standards of practice.
Re: [FairfieldLife] What Really Motivates Islamic Radicals? Hint:Not Religion
http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=253 LINK On Feb 14, 2009, at 6:53 PM, do.rflex wrote: In a groundbreaking project to understand what the world's 1.3 million billion Muslims really think, Gallup World Poll conducted a massive, multiyear research and conducted tens of thousands of interviews in 35 countries with predominantly Muslim (or have significant Muslim) populations. The result is this book: Who Speaks for Islam? by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed - and here are some of its most counterintuitive findings, as pertaining to terrorism and religious radicals: •Among the Muslims surveyed, 7 percent condoned the 9/11 attacks. The study terms these the politically radicalized. •When asked why they supported the attacks, the radicals gave political rather than religious reasons. They have a sense of political frustration and feel humiliated and threatened by the West. Those who opposed the attacks often gave religious reasons for doing so. •The radicals, on average, are not the down-and-out people in society. They are more educated than moderates, and two-thirds of radicals have average or above-average income. Forty-seven percent supervise others at work. They are more optimistic about their own lives than are moderates (52 percent to 45 percent). •Radicals are no more religious than the general population and do not attend mosque more frequently. ~~ Much more information at links here - Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0517/p12s04-wogi.html
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig lengli...@... wrote: Rather than abolish NCCAM, why not require it to have more stringent peer review? L Peer review alone is not going to cut it. Instead, far more rigorous methodologies have to be required before funding. Interestingly, Orme-Johnson on his site acknowledges that MUM researchers tend towards favoring type 2 error rather than type 1. So, there will be more false positives. I think in general we are getting way too many false positives in research and especially in research where you simply can't double blind. Plus, controlling for the placebo effect of meditation is difficult. After all, to do TM you have to go through the lectures and the puja, all done by true believers. Simply saying sit and relax for 20 minutes is not going to control for placebo. Nor is health education (which in my experience people find boring and tune out or scary and tune out). It is a tough problem to get your hands around. But I digress. I think NCCAM has to go because too much money is going to pseudo-science. After spending a billion dollars no important results have come out of NCCAM research. NCCAM has endorsed nothing as a result of the research. Too much money going to waste on stuff that simply is not scientific. For example, prayer is not scientific, it doesn't have a scientific basis on which to hang a theory. NCCAM was supposed to help sort out pseudo-science from science but instead is giving an illusion of respectability to pseudo-science. For those who are interested, Orme-Johnson says: I would say that the faculty of Maharishi University of Management tend to be in the Type 2 camp with regard to the Transcendental Meditation program. They came to the university because of their own personal experiences that the program benefited of them, and they will tend to see it as a good thing. Therefore, in the research process, they will be reluctant to declare a finding as negative before they have examined it in many different ways and thought a great deal about alternative interpretations or experimental factors which may have explained the outcome. On the other hand, those who have not had the same experiences and intuition may be demand more stringent tests. Just because the researchers at Maharishi University of Management may have a Type 2 attitude does not mean that they less objective than anyone else. The research practices in place at the university listed above provide a strong set of checks and balances making sure that the research stays on track according to the highest standards of science. In the long-run, the scientific method and objectivity will win out over the inevitable diverse subjective propensities of individual researchers. I have an interesting survey study for MUM to do at very little cost. Teach 100 people to do TM in the US over the course of a year. Check back for each participant in a year, in two years and in five years to see if they are still meditating. I'll finance the research. It will be blinded with no one knowing which of all the meditators taught are part of the study. Teacher's wont even be informed of the study. Surveyors will be independent. I really would like to see them research unstressing.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Gwad, Ruth...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Feb 14, 2009, at 7:15 PM, sparaig wrote: Interesting because one of the researchers is probably the most qualified man in the world to comment on EEG, having been the section editor of the state of the art work on Human electroencephalography, esp. electroencephalography and meditation. Davidson's also the man who's systematically mapped the correlates of alpha. These guys ain't no slouchers. ;-) Bias in a specific field of interest is orthogonal to expertise. Well, not exactly, the greater the level of expertise, the more likely a researcher has biases, just because. I don't see that. These guys who are at the forefront of their fields have their reputations on the line with every study they publish. It behooves them to uphold the highest standards of practice. So the fact that Davidson literally wrote teh book on the significance of EEG asymmetry doesn't imply he's more likely bound to theories that support his published work, as opposed to theories and research that call into question his work? Jujst about every philsopher of science I'm familiar with from Kuhn to Lakatos points out the exact opposite: established figures in a field tend to be the least open-minded about theories and studies that conflict with their own theories and findings. Of course, it goes both ways: TM researchers have an extreme emotional attachment to studies that confirm MMY's theories. Lawson
[FairfieldLife] Dollhouse
So. I'm currently watching the first episode of Joss Whedon's new TV series, Dollhouse. And yes, if you're wondering, I got it from the Pirate Bay, which means that it was distributed free to us eyepatch-wearing evildoers out here in cyberspace before it was ever shown on American television. This is the world you live in. Love it or leave it. So, in the first few moments of this new series, the statement of fact proposed to Echo to get her to join the Dollhouse, have her memories wiped clean and start over with a clean slate, is that she has no other choice. Actions have consequences, Adelle Dewitt says to girl-who-did-something-bad Echo. Later in the same scene, Echo echoes her statement of fact back to Adelle, Actions have consequences. What if they didn't? says Adelle. Is this my kinda series, or what? Is this the same conversation I tried to initiate with enlightened_dawn11 today, or what? What is the *appeal* of having no past and no future, and living completely in the present? Well, duh. It's the having no responsibility thang: What if your actions had no consequences? Echo is being offered Some People's Idea Of Enlightenment. She is being given an opportunity to wipe the past away, to start over with a clean slate, and ignore Anything That Went Before. The question for spiritual seekers who believe that this is an accurate description of enlightenment and for potential viewers of the TV series Dollhouse is, Can you erase the past? Can you erase the imprints that the past has made on your soul? Can you effectively erase your soul's past by living completely in the present? Can you erase memory, and the echoes of the past? Echo is the name of the main character in this series. I somehow do not think that this is an accident. I am going to swim against the stream of reviewer opinion on this series, and say that I think it's just smokin'. Hot as hell. Spiritual three-alarm chili. Dollhouse rocks. It's got the potential for great philosophical television. Whether it has the story line and the characterization to make it salable philosophical television is yet to be seen. The whole series rides on the shoulders of Eliza Dushku, and she is not everyone's C-cuppa tea. But because he has displayed seeing before in casting with Morena Baccarin and with Summer Glau, I'm going to trust in Joss Whedon here, and think as he does that she has the range to pull it off. At the end of the first episode, I'm left with a memory of two of Echo's handlers in the Dollhouse looking down at her as she walks, *completely* free of past and future, in the no-less-binding atrium of a false present. One of the handlers says, Look at Echo. Not a care in the world. She's living the dream. The other one, the more thoughtful one, says, Whose dream? Good question.
