[FairfieldLife] Re: Weird and charming stuff from cyberspace

[TurquoiseB]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu  wrote:
>
> TurquoiseB wrote:
> > Edg will love this. Facebook is trying to fix me up.
> >
> > Today on in the pane that lists your "Suggested Friends"
> > in its main News Feed window, my #1 "Suggested Friend"
> > was Traci Lords, former porn star turned mainstream
> > actress (sort of).
> >
> > http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=705563104&ref=pymk
> 
> Heads up, Traci stars in tonights Syfy movie "Princess of Mars" 
> based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs tale.  May be a hoot. May be 
> a snore:
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1531911/

Thanks for the heads-up. I've never seen any of 
Traci Lords' old pornos, only her mainstream stuff.
That didn't inspire me to want to see her...uh...
other talents. But I'll give this flick a shot
because I always love to see what Hollywood does
with Edgar Rice Burroughs.

> BTW, just got a new desktop computer to replace the one I've been 
> using for video editing and some development for years.  The new 
> one is an Acer Asprice MX3300 with 6 GB of RAM, 1 TB hard drive, 
> AMD 64-bit 4 core processor, ATI HD3200 graphics chipset, Windows 
> 7.  The thing screams.  

I'm very happy with my Acer laptop. Even though I
bought it because of the low power consumption 
chipset, and thus the ability to sit at cafes for
up to eight hours without a recharge, it too just
*screams* performance-wise. Them Chinese know how
to build a computer.

What I'm fascinated by lately are the "tech wars,"
in which Microsoft seems to have been relegated to
the position of a minor player (Internet Explorer
now has less than 6% of the browser market), and
the major players are Google and Apple. Both of the
latter, while arguably engaged in an ego-battle that
resembles a soap opera more than it does business,
are positioning themselves to displace Windoze from
its position as the OS du jour on the planet. I'll
be interested to see what happens when Android 
becomes available as a laptop and desktop OS. And
the other day I saved a link to an article about how
to install Mac OSX on a store-bought PC. Just for fun, 
I might actually buy a $200 PC and give it a try.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

[TurquoiseB]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck"  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
> >
> > This repost is for Buck. I wrote it just before the
> > news about Dan hit the fan, and since it was one of
> > my rare attempts at "prescriptive" writing about the
> > TMO, I always wondered what Buck, who seems to like
> > that sorta thing, thought about it. Everyone else 
> > can disregard it. 
> 
> Thanks, I like the video.  Especially the last two minutes on 
> "purpose".
> 
> Great summary of the
> decline of TM in its mission, moral code and all.
> Very well done and pertinent.
> 
> In those two minutes it explains the long diaspora
> of the old meditating community and why they
> can't now get the numbers they would really like
> to have in the domes.
> 
> As in the video comments, 'Purpose' obviously deviated and became 
> deviant at points along the way for TM.  Is an interesting
> story in human nature and character.  The video hits it good in 
> two minutes.
> 
> They'd proly have to back up searching toward early less 
> blemished time in the TM movement to recast things now. Reaching 
> to Jerry Jarvis is that.  

I disagree. I see the putting of "TM's glorious
past" on a pedestal as just one more example of
ostrich-like head-in-the-sand-ism. "Focus on the
'good old days' so that we don't have to deal
with the present, and the future."

All I'm saying is that if you are trying to rally
people to your stated Purpose, walk the fucking
walk of it, don't just talk it. The "glorious 
history" of the TM movement was just as lost in
feeling that talking the talk and feeling that
talking the talk is *enough* as its present is.

> But oh the bad characters are still the ones there doing the 
> same stuff. 

IMO, the "bad characters" are the ones who keep 
on keepin' on in the glorification of a lie. It
doesn't matter to me whether they are at the top
of the "lie pyramid" or way, way at the bottom
of it. Feeling autonomous while not only living
within narrow boundaries but *glorifying* those
boundaries and trying to justify them strikes me
as the kind of thing that a person devoid of any
kind of creative thought does. 

If one can't even *conceive* of doing something 
considered "off the program" because they're too 
dull or complacent to conceive of it, that doesn't 
strike me as autonomy, merely dullness. Reserving
the concept of Mastery for a state of enlightenment
*that the organization you are part of has NEVER
certified in even one of its members* does not
strike me as supportive of the idea of Mastery. 
And talking the talk about a glorious Purpose while
never being willing to pay for it oneself does not
strike me as being consistent with the stated 
Purpose, only with hypocrisy.

My issue with the TM movement is not a bunch of 
"bad guys" at the top, but the sense of complacency 
with which people below them in the organizational 
hierarchy have *settled*. 

On one of my long rounding courses, we were served
brussel sprouts every night for six weeks. The TMO
obviously got a screamin' deal on them, so they
became the "vegetable du jour," tous les jours. I
was the only person who complained, and asked for
a little more variety in my diet. 

> They could always start in with 'purpose' anew anytime. Like 
> considering old time virtue by example to help themselves.
>
> Om, they need help.

Can't happen, for many reasons, not the least of 
which is the precedent of Maharishi's inability to
ever admit that anything he ever did was a mistake.
That was part and parcel of one of his key "myths
of enlightenment," that *anything* done by a 
supposedly-enlightened being was perfect. To change
direction would be to admit the...uh...less-than-
perfection-ness of past directions. Won't happen.

I wrote the other day about "spiritual inertia."
I see THAT as the main problem, and the main issue.
When the allegiance to concepts and dogma becomes
stronger than the allegiance to reality, the train
of spirituality has not only taken a wrong turn 
IMO, but has gone off the tracks. 

The fundamental assumption that prevents the TM
organization from ever becoming relevant again is
IMO that one needs an organization to teach medi-
tation and self discovery. Once one buys into that, 
the perpetuation of the organization becomes more 
important than its professed goal. That was as true
in the "good old days" as it is today.

Anyone who ever learned how to teach TM could do
so today. That they do not is the issue, not what
they claim about what is preventing them from 
doing so.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Spirit a priori

[Buck]

There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign,
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.
Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood
Stand dressed in living green,
So to the Jews old Canaan stood,
While Jordan rolled between.

O could we make our doubts remove,
Those gloomy doubts that rise,
And see the Canaan that we love
With unbeclouded eyes.
Could we but climb where Moses stood,
And view the landscope o'er,
Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood
Should fright us from the shore. 

http://shapenote.net/66.htm



> > >
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Amritanandamayi teaches a spiritual path that 
> > > consists of understanding the scriptures in 
> > > the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad 
> > > Gita. 
> > > 
> > > Amma advocates meditation, karma yoga, and 
> > > devotional service. According to Amma, the 
> > > cultivation of blissful consciousness reveals 
> > > the non-dual, transcendental absolute, leading 
> > > to 'jivanmukti' - fully realized while yet 
> > > living.
> > >
> 
> Cool that reads as, Transcendental Meditation.
> 
>  
> > > "There is one Truth that shines through all of 
> > > creation. Rivers and mountains, plants and 
> > > animals, the sun, the moon and the stars, you 
> > > and I — all are expressions of this one 
> > > Reality." - Amma
> > >
> 
> This reads sounding like a 'Unified Field' Chart.
> 
> > 
> > Yes, that is succinct.  She's a transcendentalist.
> >
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

[Buck]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
>
> This repost is for Buck. I wrote it just before the
> news about Dan hit the fan, and since it was one of
> my rare attempts at "prescriptive" writing about the
> TMO, I always wondered what Buck, who seems to like
> that sorta thing, thought about it. Everyone else 
> can disregard it. 
> 

Thanks, I like the video.  Especially the last two minutes on "purpose".

Great summary of the
decline of TM in its mission, moral code and all.
Very well done and pertinent.

In those two minutes it explains the long diaspora
of the old meditating community and why they
can't now get the numbers they would really like
to have in the domes.

As in the video comments, 'Purpose' obviously deviated and became deviant at 
points along the way for TM.  Is an interesting
story in human nature and character.  The video hits it good in two minutes.

They'd proly have to back up searching toward early less blemished time in the 
TM movement to recast things now. Reaching to Jerry Jarvis is that.  But oh the 
bad characters are still the ones there doing the same stuff. They could always 
start in with 'purpose' anew anytime.  Like considering old time virtue by 
example to help themselves.

Om, they need help.

-Buck  


> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
> >
> > I went back today and re-watched the RSAnimate video I
> > thought was so brilliant when I first saw it, and found
> > it even more so on a second viewing. If you haven't seen
> > it, you won't be able to follow this rap, so I repost
> > the link below. If you have no *desire* to follow this
> > rap, this would be a good place to click Next instead
> > of this link:
> > 
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
> > 
> > In this second viewing, I found myself (as is my wont)
> > relating my impressions of its insights on What Motivates
> > Us to recent posts here on FFL, and some of the things
> > we have been collectively fascinated with. Call me crazy,
> > but I think that there is a connection. 
> > 
> > Take Buck, with his impassioned and I'm sure passionately-
> > felt raps about what's wrong with the TMO, and how it 
> > could/should change to redress those wrongs. Take the 
> > issue of how to present the concept of enlightenment in
> > a realistic way, one that motivates people to pursue it
> > for its real-life coolness, not only its mythical coolness.
> > Take the issue of spiritual teaching itself, and how best
> > -- if you have taken upon yourself the hubris-heavy burden
> > of wanting to share with others some of the things you 
> > have found spiritually valuable in life -- to present what
> > you have learned in ways in which it motivates, not 
> > de-motivates. 
> > 
> > I'm thinkin' this morning in this beachside cafe that the
> > three issues pinned down in this video as key to motivating
> > people in a business setting are relevant to how to motivate
> > them in a spiritual setting.
> > 
> > Those three issues are Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. The
> > video makes a compelling case for their value and their actual
> > bottom-line value in a business setting. One of the strongest
> > such cases is made by including the story of Linux, which is
> > a product created entirely by people *who have other jobs*,
> > but who *work for free* 20 to 30 additional hours per week
> > to invent and improve an operating system that they then
> > *give away for free*. Linux now powers one out of every four
> > corporate servers. 
> > 
> > WHY do people do this, in a business environment? Autonomy, 
> > Mastery and Purpose. Watch the video.
> > 
> > WHY can't the "spiritual environment" get the stick out of
> > its collective-consciousness butt and realize the same thing?
> > 
> > How do you motivate someone spiritually? Well, in my not-so-
> > humble opinion a good place to start might be by creating
> > a "spiritual environment" that nurtures Autonomy, Mastery
> > and Purpose instead of suppressing them.
> > 
> > I'm sorry, but as a newbie spiritual aspirant or a long-term
> > one, you just don't feel fuckin' Autonomous if you're in an
> > environment in which every single moment is mapped out for
> > you, and from whose Grand Plan you must not deviate, on peril
> > of expulsion. Like a TMO residence course. Can you say, "Duh?"
> > I think you can.
> > 
> > And I'm sorry, but I don't think Mastery is terribly supported
> > by an environment in which every small achievement you make
> > towards the goalposts is met by moving those goalposts further
> > away. 
> > 
> > And I'm sorry, but I don't think an overriding sense of Purpose
> > is achieved by forcing those who identify with that Purpose
> > to lie to themselves about the nature of the world around them
> > to continue pursuing that Purpose.
> > 
> > None of these three motivators are IMO antithetical to the
> > TM movement. ALL could be introduced into the TM environment
> > today.
> > 
> > Stop running the TM moveme

[FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[Buck]

Turq, thanks.  Thoughtful and sensitive replies on the thread,
 is it possible to have good
meditations and be on anti-D's?  

Wondering now too if
any the buddhas at the gas pump might have insight
in their experience on this.  Awakened while on
anti-D's?  By experience.  Would be helpful
in the community to know it could be okay.

> > >
> > > I have no reason to believe that taking anti-depres-
> > > sants is "bad for one's spiritual progress." I have
> > > a few friends whose spiritual well-being and sense
> > > of balance skyrocketed after having them prescribed
> > > for them. Shocking -- from full-blown manic-depressive
> > > to a balanced, happy individual in the space of a week.
> > > These people have reported to me that their meditations
> > > became subjectively better and deeper as well.
> > 
> > This more particularly is the kind of report I was wondering 
> > about, the spiritual practice component related to taking 
> > anti-D's.  
> 
> Please understand that this is very much a second-
> hand report. As I said before, I have never suffered
> any period of depression that lasted very long, so I
> would never have been tempted to take such drugs. FYI,
> the person who showed such a rapid and radical shift
> from (IMO, as his long-time friend) unstable and 
> chronically depressed to downright normal and happy 
> is himself a former psychologist who had to give up
> his practice because he'd himself become untreatably
> manic-depressive. He'd tried a number of anti-Ds over
> the years, all with minimal effect. Then he was given
> a new drug to try, and the shift was instantaneous 
> and radical enough to have been remarked on by his
> friends.
> 
> It was also his reporting that his meditations and
> other aspects of his spiritual practice had deepened
> rather than become hazy or dulled. 
> 
> I can only imagine that one's reaction to any partic-
> ular anti-depressant medication is as individual as
> one's reaction to a meditation technique. One size
> doth not fit all IMO. But I pass the story along
> as counterpoint to the attitude you speak of below,
> which I have seen not only in the TMO but in some
> other Newage (you know how to pronounce it) trips.
> 
> > In this particular spirirtual village because of the real 
> > administrative repurcussions on participation there is a 
> > hesitancy towards admitting that one is feeling off, even 
> > if only slightly and not even the full blown. Particualrly 
> > in the morass of administration, it is not a safe place to 
> > talk about what your experiences are because of the 
> > consequence of access.
> 
> This is precisely why I wrote my little "answer song"
> rant to Edg's, on the subject of "circling the wagons."
> I do not believe that this is a spiritually Good Thing.
> It can lead to environments such as you describe, in
> which deviating from the stereotype of what is expected
> of a member of that environment is perceived as either
> weakness or heresy. 
> 
> My rant was really not to dump on Edg. I thought parts
> of his rant were right on, especially the part railing
> against concepts when they take on a life of their own,
> and are perceived as more important than the reality 
> the concepts are metaphors for. Mistaking the map for
> the territory is IMO Dumb Spiritual Practice.
> 
> > That is that side, the other side is the cultural notion that 
> > allopathy is about putting sand in the workings of a motor.
> > 
> > Either of these ways, people here can tend to not seek help or 
> > use help. There is a communal disposition here these ways that 
> > relates to mental health generally and then asking about 
> > community prevention programs. Hence this (meditator) boy 
> > by example.
> 
> I am done talking about Dan. I didn't know him, and 
> have no feeling one way or another whether his action 
> was "right" or "wrong" in some cosmic sense. I'm a 
> pragmatic relativist -- I was merely reacting to the
> effect I knew from experience his decision would have 
> on some of the people in the community he lived in.
> 
> In a community such as you describe, in which it is
> *punishably* unacceptable to deviate from the image of
> the healthy, happy, fulfilled TMer by even *discussing*
> it, what, thought I would be the reaction to having 
> that kind of deviance act itself out, big-time? My 
> feeling was that it would lead to some other kinds 
> of acting out. I was not disappointed.
>

Re: [FairfieldLife] Weird and charming stuff from cyberspace

[gullible fool]

 
I will be giving that movie a try. I noticed it on the program guide a half 
hour ago and set it up to record on the DVR. It said Mars and I like 
interplanetary sci-fi...that's enough to see if it's worth watching. It 
starts in 8 minutes, here on the east coast.
 
"Love will swallow you, eat you up completely, until there is no `you,' only 
love." 
 
- Amma  

--- On Sat, 6/5/10, Bhairitu  wrote:


From: Bhairitu 
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Weird and charming stuff from cyberspace
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, June 5, 2010, 8:33 PM


TurquoiseB wrote:
> Edg will love this. Facebook is trying to fix me up.
>
> Today on in the pane that lists your "Suggested Friends"
> in its main News Feed window, my #1 "Suggested Friend"
> was Traci Lords, former porn star turned mainstream
> actress (sort of).
>
> http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=705563104&ref=pymk
> 

Heads up, Traci stars in tonights Syfy movie "Princess of Mars" based on 
the Edgar Rice Burroughs tale.  May be a hoot.  May be a snore:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1531911/

BTW, just got a new desktop computer to replace the one I've been using 
for video editing and some development for years.  The new one is an 
Acer Asprice MX3300 with 6 GB of RAM, 1 TB hard drive, AMD 64-bit 4 core 
processor, ATI HD3200 graphics chipset, Windows 7.  The thing screams.  
Encodes HD MPEG-2 video files to AVCHD almost real time.  The cost with 
a 18.5" monitor: $549. Also has HDMI out so I'm going see what happens 
if I want to play something from Hulu going into the TV. ;-)







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Re: [FairfieldLife] Weird and charming stuff from cyberspace

[Bhairitu]

TurquoiseB wrote:
> Edg will love this. Facebook is trying to fix me up.
>
> Today on in the pane that lists your "Suggested Friends"
> in its main News Feed window, my #1 "Suggested Friend"
> was Traci Lords, former porn star turned mainstream
> actress (sort of).
>
> http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=705563104&ref=pymk
> 

Heads up, Traci stars in tonights Syfy movie "Princess of Mars" based on 
the Edgar Rice Burroughs tale.  May be a hoot.  May be a snore:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1531911/

BTW, just got a new desktop computer to replace the one I've been using 
for video editing and some development for years.  The new one is an 
Acer Asprice MX3300 with 6 GB of RAM, 1 TB hard drive, AMD 64-bit 4 core 
processor, ATI HD3200 graphics chipset, Windows 7.  The thing screams.  
Encodes HD MPEG-2 video files to AVCHD almost real time.  The cost with 
a 18.5" monitor: $549. Also has HDMI out so I'm going see what happens 
if I want to play something from Hulu going into the TV. ;-)

[FairfieldLife] Post Count

[FFL PostCount]

Fairfield Life Post Counter
===
Start Date (UTC): Sat Jun 05 00:00:00 2010
End Date (UTC): Sat Jun 12 00:00:00 2010
51 messages as of (UTC) Sat Jun 05 22:29:03 2010

10 authfriend 
 8 TurquoiseB 
 4 Bhairitu 
 3 merudanda 
 3 Joe 
 3 Hugo 
 2 shukra69 
 2 parsleysage 
 2 nablusoss1008 
 2 WillyTex 
 2 Mike Dixon 
 1 wayback71 
 1 merlin 
 1 jpgillam 
 1 gullible fool 
 1 ditzyklanmail 
 1 cardemaister 
 1 anatol_zinc 
 1 Rick Archer 
 1 Buck 
 1 "martin.quickman" 

Posters: 21
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[FairfieldLife] Re: Galactic Federation of Light - Norway Spiral Over Australia (JUNE 5TH 2010)

[wayback71]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, nablusoss1008  wrote:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdZ0aFY20Jw
>
Nabby, the newsclip from Australian TV says they contacted scientists and they 
are quite certain that  it was a sighting of a spacecraft launched from CApe 
Canaveral an hour earlier. At the time of the sightings in Australia, this 
rocket was right over Australia's coast and spiraling and still low enough to 
see.  Not aliens.

[FairfieldLife] Are there dangers in being 'spiritual but not religious'?

[Rick Archer]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/personal/06/03/spiritual.but.not.religious/?h
pt=C1

[FairfieldLife] Heaven On Earth-Dispatches From the Spiritual Frontier

[Joe]

I had heard there was a great chapter on Fairfield in this book by Michael 
D'Antonio but I had no idea it was so on point!

Even though the book was written in 1992, it might as well have been yesterday, 
at least as far as the chapter on Fairfield is concerned. D'Antonio utterly 
captures the inbred nature of the TMO at its core. He spends a week at what was 
then called MIU and gains some notoriety for openly questioning the Unified 
Field Theory at an MIU sponsored press conference.

D'Antonio's story of the attempt by MIU high ups to "re-program" him while he 
was in town is hilarious and disturbing.

Heaven On Earth-Dispatches From America's Spiritual Frontier by Michael 
D'Antonio

Highly recommended

I picked up a used copy cheap on Amazon.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[authfriend]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu  wrote:
>
> authfriend wrote:
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu  wrote:
> > 
> >   
> >> They actually have little idea how these work but have some
> >> "effect" mainly on raising the bottom line for pharmaceutical
> >> companies.  Lithium was brought up here
> >
> > Bad example. Lithium is a naturally occurring substance
> > and can't be patented. Pharmaceutical companies don't 
> > make much profit on it; they manufacture it only because
> > it's the gold standard for treatment of bipolar disorder,
> > so there's a significant demand for it.
> >
> >> and a friend who was given that wound up with 
> >> diabetes insipidus due to the drug's damaging effect on
> >> the kidneys.
> >
> > The negative side effects of lithium are well known and
> > have been for a long time. Anyone taking it has to have
> > blood levels and thyroid and kidney function checked
> > frequently.
> 
> Thank you, Dr. Stein.  FYI, this happened to my friend back
> in the 1970s when the effects probably weren't well known.

They've been known since the late 19th century, actually.
Because of them, lithium wasn't approved by the FDA to
treat bipolar disorder until 1970, although it had been
used in Europe for that purpose since the mid-20th century.
You could look it up.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[cardemaister]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo"  wrote:
>
> 
> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo"  wrote:
> >
> > 
> > 
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck"  wrote:
> > >
> > > 
> > > Is it possible to be on anti-D's & have nice
> > > meditations?  Anybody have experience with that?
> > 
> > 
> > Yes, but you need to be stable on them. What this 
> > means is that when you start taking an SSRI (strategic
> > seratonin re-uptake inhibitors-works by preventing your
> > brain from absorbing the happy chemicals and so you need
> > less to feel good) it can be like sandblasting your 
> > mind so that sad thoughts can't survive there, Some like
> > the feeling as it can initially make you hyperactive and
> > confident (much like cocaine) it can also make you tense
> > anxious and potentially suicidal (what goes up really must
> > come down eventually).
> > 

Seem to recall it's a bit of a "mystery" (or at least was a
couple of years back) that the French drug Stablon, which 
is a selective serotonin re-uptake *enhancer*, seems to
be equally effective as SSRI's in treatment of depression...

[FairfieldLife] Re: You can't take the sky from me

[authfriend]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
 
> Meanwhile, I sit here in the sun, sipping my drink,
> pondering their ability *to* define the future for
> me and outlaws like myself who do not respect their
> presumed authority. Like Mal and his crew of outlaws
> on "Firefly," I don't buy it. I aim to misbehave.

Personally, I put folks who feel the need to wave a big
banner declaring "I'm an Outlaw!" in the same bin as
those who feel the need to wave a big banner declaring
"I'm Enlightened!"

Doesn't have anything to do with who one is; it has to
do with one's need to be admired.

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[Bhairitu]

authfriend wrote:
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu  wrote:
> 
>   
>> They actually have little idea how these work but have some
>> "effect" mainly on raising the bottom line for pharmaceutical
>> companies.  Lithium was brought up here
>> 
>
> Bad example. Lithium is a naturally occurring substance
> and can't be patented. Pharmaceutical companies don't 
> make much profit on it; they manufacture it only because
> it's the gold standard for treatment of bipolar disorder,
> so there's a significant demand for it.
>
>   
>> and a friend who was given that wound up with 
>> diabetes insipidus due to the drug's damaging effect on
>> the kidneys.
>> 
>
> The negative side effects of lithium are well known and
> have been for a long time. Anyone taking it has to have
> blood levels and thyroid and kidney function checked
> frequently.

Thank you, Dr. Stein.  FYI, this happened to my friend back in the 1970s 
when the effects probably weren't well known.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[authfriend]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu  wrote:

> They actually have little idea how these work but have some
> "effect" mainly on raising the bottom line for pharmaceutical
> companies.  Lithium was brought up here

Bad example. Lithium is a naturally occurring substance
and can't be patented. Pharmaceutical companies don't 
make much profit on it; they manufacture it only because
it's the gold standard for treatment of bipolar disorder,
so there's a significant demand for it.

> and a friend who was given that wound up with 
> diabetes insipidus due to the drug's damaging effect on
> the kidneys.

The negative side effects of lithium are well known and
have been for a long time. Anyone taking it has to have
blood levels and thyroid and kidney function checked
frequently.

[FairfieldLife] A MESSAGE FROM GOD TO YOU > update

[merlin]

 
Guru Dev said to Maharishi:
'The Department of the Almmighty takes care of it . . . . 

His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi always saying:
Jai Guru Dev Vijayante Taram!!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zaQmzRABzg

--

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[Bhairitu]

TurquoiseB wrote:
> These drugs are powerful psychotropics. They replace
> or supplement the endorphins that allow us to feel
> good -- about ourselves, about life, about everything.
> But as far as I can tell from my limited reading,
> the body is lazy, and when these endorphins are 
> supplied artificially, it stops producing its own.
> And it takes some time for the *ability* to produce
> its own to come back.

They actually have little idea how these work but have some "effect" 
mainly on raising the bottom line for pharmaceutical companies.  Lithium 
was brought up here and a friend who was given that wound up with 
diabetes insipidus due to the drug's damaging effect on the kidneys.   
They also found a few years ago that the tranquilizers could make it 
difficult for one to lose weight years after they had been given the 
drug even for a short time.

Pharmaceutical medicine is the new kid on the block and often very crude 
in its effect.  Sometimes, like Valium, they even mock the effects of an 
herb.  I think herbs could be used successfully in a lot of these cases 
and this may be an area where ayurveda could shine.  But you would wind 
up with a lot of pharmaceutical execs needing their own product if that 
became the case. ;-)

Re: [FairfieldLife] You can't take the sky from me

[Bhairitu]

TurquoiseB wrote:
> This cafe rant takes its title not from the T-shirt
> I'm wearing right now, even though it does say that,
> but from the lyrics of the theme of "Firefly," my
> favorie TV series:
>
> Take me out to the black
> Tell 'em I ain't comin' back
> Burn the land and boil the sea
> You can't take the sky from me
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbAaMbxdKG8
> 
>
> Across town here in Sitges a number of people who
> consider themselves (and even privately refer to
> themselves as) "The Masters Of The Universe" are
> locked down behind a cordon of inpenetrable security.
> There are literally hundreds of policemen, carrying
> weapons of kickass destruction, protecting these
> guys from protesters as they plan the economic and
> social future of the Alliance. Ooops, I mean the
> planet Earth.
>
> Meanwhile, I sit here in the sun, sipping my drink,
> pondering their ability *to* define the future for
> me and outlaws like myself who do not respect their
> presumed authority. Like Mal and his crew of outlaws
> on "Firefly," I don't buy it. I aim to misbehave.
>
> Yes, these people have the money and the power to
> burn the land and boil the sea, and seem intent on
> doing just that. But there are still places on the
> planet where I can go out at night and see the sky,
> and dance beneath it as free as any man in history
> has ever been. The Bilderberg Club, as powerful as
> they think of themselves as being, really *can't*
> take the sky from me.
>
> Neither can their counterparts within the organized
> world of spirituality.
>
> I personally see little difference between the
> Bilderberg Club meeting behind a cordon of storm
> troopers to define reality for me and a bunch of
> Cardinals and Bishops meeting in the Vatican to do
> the same thing. Have you ever *seen* the weapons
> that the Swiss Guards carry? We're talking Uzis
> here. Or their more politically-correct submachine
> gun Catholic equivalent.
>
> I do not see a difference between the Bilderbergers
> and a bunch of mullahs and ayatollahs attempting the
> same redefinition of what life "should be." And I
> *certainly* see no difference between the Bilder-
> bergers and Maharishi's crown-wearing crossdressers
> doing the same thing.
>
> To me, they all represent the Alliance, and I say to
> them the same thing Jayne might have said in "Firefly,"
> "My muscular buttocks you define reality for me!"
>
> The Bilderbergers may have the power and the money to
> define the outer aspect of that reality, and even to
> turn it into a living Hell. But they can't keep me
> from whistling in that Hell, like this guy, who
> clearly has a Bad Attitude:
>
>  
> [http://notreligious.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e3404e8833010535e142b7970c-8\
> 00wi]
>
> I have a Bad Attitude.
>
> And that 'tude extends to anyone who tries to define
> my inner path in life. Catch a humility clue, people.
> Peddle the visions of your perfect worlds elsewhere,
> to people who are willing to settle for them and join
> your club. Like St. John of the Cross's solitary bird,
> I do not suffer for company, not even of my own kind.
> And like that solitary bird, I aim my beak to the skies.
>
> Posture all you want. You can't take the sky from me.

Yup, we can ignore them like a line on water but they still can heavily 
influence stuff in the world.  They just have way too much money for the 
health the planet.  The best thing that could happen would be if a bunch 
of Robin Hoods stole it from them.  Most of them got it by hook, crook 
or family lineage anyway.

So what do the locals think of all this or do they just ignore it all?  
Perhaps they just write off the "counts" and "dukes" of Europe as a 
bunch of eccentrics?

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Sieze BP

[Bhairitu]

You should know by now that Willy NEVER has any sense or is it cents?  ;-)

Mike Dixon wrote:
> BIG mistake! Sorry if it's true. Hope he at least has a pension. However 
> killing capitalism will also kill all those wonderfully under funded pension 
> programs since most are heavily invested in the stock market.
>
>
>
> 
> From: WillyTex 
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Fri, June 4, 2010 12:24:44 PM
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Sieze BP
>
>   
> Bhairitu said he owns no stock - he is depending
> on Social Security for his retirement income.
>
> Mike Dixon:
>   
>> Might be a good time to buy BP stock. Buy low, 
>> sell high, too big to fail! 
>>
>> 
>>> How is your BP stock, Mike? 
>>>   
>
>
>
>
>
>   
>   

[FairfieldLife] Re: You can't take the sky from meOR Jimi Hendrix sez....

[parsleysage]

'Cuuuse me
while i kiss the SKY!

(enter guitar riff here)

hooray for you 

and


another song says if given the chance to sit it out, or dance...
I HOPE YOU DANCE!

enjoy your dancing under the lovely sky
may we all dance with you under our sky


I think this is a Daisy Award too

I even like the cartoon. 
May we all be that guy with the wheelbarrow, whistling.
OR 
may we all be as the lotus flower , that blooms even amongst the mucky water


~* ...

Daisy Award for pointing out the lovely



--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
>
> This cafe rant takes its title not from the T-shirt
> I'm wearing right now, even though it does say that,
> but from the lyrics of the theme of "Firefly," my
> favorie TV series:
> 
> Take me out to the black
> Tell 'em I ain't comin' back
> Burn the land and boil the sea
> You can't take the sky from me
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbAaMbxdKG8
> 
> 
> Across town here in Sitges a number of people who
> consider themselves (and even privately refer to
> themselves as) "The Masters Of The Universe" are
> locked down behind a cordon of inpenetrable security.
> There are literally hundreds of policemen, carrying
> weapons of kickass destruction, protecting these
> guys from protesters as they plan the economic and
> social future of the Alliance. Ooops, I mean the
> planet Earth.
> 
> Meanwhile, I sit here in the sun, sipping my drink,
> pondering their ability *to* define the future for
> me and outlaws like myself who do not respect their
> presumed authority. Like Mal and his crew of outlaws
> on "Firefly," I don't buy it. I aim to misbehave.
> 
> Yes, these people have the money and the power to
> burn the land and boil the sea, and seem intent on
> doing just that. But there are still places on the
> planet where I can go out at night and see the sky,
> and dance beneath it as free as any man in history
> has ever been. The Bilderberg Club, as powerful as
> they think of themselves as being, really *can't*
> take the sky from me.
> 
> Neither can their counterparts within the organized
> world of spirituality.
> 
> I personally see little difference between the
> Bilderberg Club meeting behind a cordon of storm
> troopers to define reality for me and a bunch of
> Cardinals and Bishops meeting in the Vatican to do
> the same thing. Have you ever *seen* the weapons
> that the Swiss Guards carry? We're talking Uzis
> here. Or their more politically-correct submachine
> gun Catholic equivalent.
> 
> I do not see a difference between the Bilderbergers
> and a bunch of mullahs and ayatollahs attempting the
> same redefinition of what life "should be." And I
> *certainly* see no difference between the Bilder-
> bergers and Maharishi's crown-wearing crossdressers
> doing the same thing.
> 
> To me, they all represent the Alliance, and I say to
> them the same thing Jayne might have said in "Firefly,"
> "My muscular buttocks you define reality for me!"
> 
> The Bilderbergers may have the power and the money to
> define the outer aspect of that reality, and even to
> turn it into a living Hell. But they can't keep me
> from whistling in that Hell, like this guy, who
> clearly has a Bad Attitude:
> 
>  
> [http://notreligious.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e3404e8833010535e142b7970c-8\
> 00wi]
> 
> I have a Bad Attitude.
> 
> And that 'tude extends to anyone who tries to define
> my inner path in life. Catch a humility clue, people.
> Peddle the visions of your perfect worlds elsewhere,
> to people who are willing to settle for them and join
> your club. Like St. John of the Cross's solitary bird,
> I do not suffer for company, not even of my own kind.
> And like that solitary bird, I aim my beak to the skies.
> 
> Posture all you want. You can't take the sky from me.
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: LOVE is the only solution, the only true religion !

[parsleysage]

TRUTH!


 ~* ...


-Daisy Award-

thanks for this post

Let us all savor these words
full of beauty 
digest completely and let it nourish us

-M

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "anatol_zinc"  wrote:
>
> LOVE is the only solution, the only true religion !
> 
> Amma replies that Her religion is Love when asked what her religion  is.
> Also, it seems to me that Love is what Christ, Buddha, Krishna and  many
> saints lived and taught; they did not directly create Christianity, 
> Buddhism, Hinduism, etc, the followers did.
> 
> However, what we see in the world is selfishness leading to what…it 
> seems the whole world is bent on a suicide mission with thousands of 
> harmful chemicals, processed foods, wars, mindless technological 
> ambitions, careless use of Mother Earth's resources, "health
> care" for  profit, hypocrisy, everything for profit…
> 
> The following is my attempt at understanding Love from my own 
> experiences, from Amma and others in view of what is happening in the 
> world. Bear in mind that this is merely my POV at this time and I 
> believe that each one of us( 7 billion ) has a unique POV sort of like 
> no two snowflakes are alike; on the other hand, there is commonality in 
> what is called the universal eternal spiritual principles which I want 
> to focus on here:
> 
> it is said that "there is nothing but  God and that God is Love"
> and that LOVE is what we really are
> 
> LOVE is our essential nature, our real identity
> 
> if this is not our experience, at least some glimpses here and there,
> there must be something blocking that
> 
> it is the mind that either can be used as a tool to search for TRUTH 
> which is
> LOVE
> 
> or, the mind can be misused to veil and block LOVE
> This happens when the intellect has decided that it is capable of 
> knowing TRUTH without LOVE
> which is not possible because LOVE is TRUTH
> 
> it seems to me: LOVE is the highest truth; not facts, not science
> 
> no matter how clever, no matter how scientific,
> no matter how clear and true intellectual knowledge seems to be,
> no matter what the "facts" seem to be,
> without LOVE, FEAR will be present
> FEAR veils LOVE and blocks LOVE from flowing
> 
> without a firm resting in the heart, it is simply the nature of 
> mind-intellect-ego, as a continuous stream of thoughts in the head, to 
> create more and more knowledge, perhaps with the best of intellectual 
> intentions,  until complexity, confusion, and all sort of frustrating 
> problems arise; then the intellect is engaged in trying to solve the 
> problems which it helped to create in the first place; meanwhile many 
> catch 22 situations arise and intellectual/scientific solutions are 
> never enough; as is obvious from world events, all this seems to be 
> heading in the direction of self-destruction …
> 
> you are indeed fortunate if your mind gets exhausted, takes a break, 
> leaves the head, and rests in the peacefulness of your heart where there
> are no thoughts; then perhaps it will dawn on you that "Love" is
> the  only solution for all the problems that the mind has created
> 
> Amma says "A one word solution to all  the problems the world is
> facing today is Compassion [Love ]."
> 
> Even Einstein said that the rational  mind is a terrible master, but
> can be very useful as a servant [of Love].  The mind is very powerful,
> it creates the world as I understand it, it  is Maya and needs to be
> used with the greatest of create in service to  Love
> 
> here, we are talking about Unconditioned Love which we call God
> and about Unconditioned Truth which we also call God
> 
> or we can call it "peaceful spacious loving awareness"
> 
> we are not talking about emotionalism,
> although positive emotions do have their own proper functionality,
> 
> God's Love is Presence and Energy
> or as Robert Adams said "the current that knows the way"
> Amma says God will take care of us when ego is surrendered
> also Jesus and all mahatmas say that there is a universal force of  Love
> that will sustain us and function through us to the extent we allow  it
> by getting our egos out of the way
> 
> in order for the heart to open so that real unconditioned love may be 
> experienced,
> it may be necessary to  do some selfless-service, take care of a 
> relative or friend, help a  homeless person, feel the suffering of the 
> world, pray, meditate on the heart center, read some or many spiritual 
> books, contemplate spiritual aphorisms, go for a walk and gaze at the 
> sky, gaze at the stars, go within, rest in the peacefulness of the 
> heart, and do some self-inquiry  such as ~ What is love? What is truth? 
> What is God? What am I? What is permanent? What is temporary? Who am I? 
> Who is Amma?
> 
> To jumpstart your spiritual quest or to enhance it significantly, 
> getting a hug from Amma can be a very pleasant unimagined surprise. Amma
> is currently touring America and will end in C

[FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[Hugo]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend"  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo"  wrote:
> > 

> > The big question for us is why are so many people who 
> > meditate regularly having to take mind altering drugs? 
> > Or seeking other talk-based help. I say 'so many' because
> > I knew a lot of TMers engaged in therapy or on anti-
> > depressants it seemed like a theme to me, are people
> > attracted to TM and then disappointed with the results 
> > or does TM de-stabilise a worrying amount of practitioners.
> > And are the boys at MUM about to make this a research 
> > priority?
> 
> Research would definitely be required, otherwise the
> conclusion that "many people" who meditate have to take
> mind-altering drugs is merely anecdotal.

I'm sure they would all say there is no "merely" about it. 

[FairfieldLife] Re: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

[merudanda]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "WillyTex"  wrote:
>
> > > Bravissimo [:x]
> >
> > Molte grazie!
> >
> "Omne malum nascens facile opprimitur, inveteratum
> fit plerumque robustius." - Cicero

"Verum praeterita omittamus"
ditto
>

[FairfieldLife] What the Market's 'Big Red Flag' Is Telling Us

[gullible fool]

 
http://seekingalpha.com/article/208120-what-the-market-s-big-red-flag-is-telling-us
 

Since July 2009, I’ve been harping about high frequency trading programs 
(HFTPs) and the risks inherent in letting the financial markets be dominated by 
computer trading (as if October 1987 and the Long Term Capital Crisis didn’t 
prove this point already).
 
If you’re unfamiliar with HFTPs, for starters you should know that most indexes 
or exchanges offer a 1/4 of a penny rebate for broker dealers who put in 
orders. So simply putting in an order, even if there’s no profit to be made, 
can make a 1/4 of a penny in profit.
 
The way these trading programs work is as follows. Let’s say an institutional 
investor has put in an order to buy 15,000 shares of XYZ company between $10.00 
and $10.07. The institution’s buy program is designed to make this order 
without pushing up the stock price, so it buys the shares in chunks of 100 or 
so (often it also advertises to the index how many shares are left in the 
order).
 
First it buys 100 shares at $10.00. That order clears, so the program buys 
another 200 shares at $10.01. That clears, so the program buys another 500 
shares at $10.03. At this point an HFTP will recognize an institutional 
investor is putting in a large staggered order.
 
The trading program then begins front-running the institutional investor. So it 
puts in an order for 100 shares at $10.04. Whoever was selling shares to the 
institutional investor would obviously rather sell at a higher price (even if 
it’s just a penny). So this investor sells his or her shares to the trading 
program at $10.04. The trading program turns around and sells its shares to the 
institutional investor for $10.04 (which was the institution’s next price 
anyway).
 
In this way, the trading program makes 1/2 a penny (one 1/4 for buying and one 
1/4 for selling) AND makes the institutional trader pay a penny more on the 
shares. It doesn’t seem like much, but do this billions of times a day and 
you’ve got some serious profits.

 
As Goldman (GS) and JP Morgan’s (JPM) latest trading records show (both had 
flawless quarters without a single losing day), this activity can be absurdly 
profitable. However, for those on the other end of these trades (everyone), 
this is essentially stealing. The only reason that it is tolerated is because 
HFTPs are supposedly supplying liquidity to the markets.
 
How’d that work out on May 6, 2010?
 
As far as I can see it, there are two core problems with HFTPs (aside from the 
stealing, 
front-running, and other illegal activity that is permitted with impunity). 
They are:

There is no requirement for them to remain active in the markets. 
Because they’re based on correlations, they inevitably will blow up.
Regarding #1, HFTPs publicly claim that they provide the benefit of liquidity 
to the market. But the reality is that there is no law that requires them to 
stay “in the game.” So when the market dives and their algorithms blow up, 
these guys can simply pull the plug, resulting in a bid-less market: a market 
in which no buy orders are issued.
A market like this:

Regarding #2, ultimately HFTP algorithms (no matter how complicated) are based 
on correlations (the relationships between various investment classes). That 
is, these programs are based on linear thinking (if A, then B type thinking). 
Because of this, invariably they all blow up because at some point or another, 
the correlations they follow decouple and they end up on the wrong side of the 
trade.
 
When this happens, you begin to see wild volatility with massive up and down 
days. We saw this in August 2007 when the credit markets jammed up. And we’re 
seeing it again lately.

Look at the massive spikes and collapses in the S&P 500 futures markets in the 
last week.
 
We’re talking about 3-5% moves occurring almost on a daily basis. This is 
exactly the kind of market action we saw back in mid-to-late 2007 when the 
markets began to move wildly as various quant funds got caught on the wrong 
side of trades and were forced to buy or sell entire chunks of the market 
wholesale.
 
This, taken along with what happened on May 6, 2010, should be a BIG RED FLAG 
to all market participants. You don’t get 3-5% moves every day based on 
fundamentals. You get this when the market is busted, overrun by parasitic 
trading programs whose correlation-based algorithms are blowing up.
 
In light of this, the following are clear:

Volatility is not going away any time soon. 
The market has very likely entered Round Two of the Financial Crisis. 
Long-only investors should seriously consider taking their money off the table.
For those of you who are passive investors (the long-term buy and hold), it is 
very likely a good time to be moving to cash or high quality blue chip 
holdings. The insane rally of 2009-early 2010 should be seen for what it is: a 
gift from Ben Bernanke before the second wave of deflation takes us back to the 
March 2009

[FairfieldLife] LOVE is the only solution, the only true religion !

[anatol_zinc]

LOVE is the only solution, the only true religion !

Amma replies that Her religion is Love when asked what her religion  is.
Also, it seems to me that Love is what Christ, Buddha, Krishna and  many
saints lived and taught; they did not directly create Christianity, 
Buddhism, Hinduism, etc, the followers did.

However, what we see in the world is selfishness leading to what…it 
seems the whole world is bent on a suicide mission with thousands of 
harmful chemicals, processed foods, wars, mindless technological 
ambitions, careless use of Mother Earth's resources, "health
care" for  profit, hypocrisy, everything for profit…

The following is my attempt at understanding Love from my own 
experiences, from Amma and others in view of what is happening in the 
world. Bear in mind that this is merely my POV at this time and I 
believe that each one of us( 7 billion ) has a unique POV sort of like 
no two snowflakes are alike; on the other hand, there is commonality in 
what is called the universal eternal spiritual principles which I want 
to focus on here:

it is said that "there is nothing but  God and that God is Love"
and that LOVE is what we really are

LOVE is our essential nature, our real identity

if this is not our experience, at least some glimpses here and there,
there must be something blocking that

it is the mind that either can be used as a tool to search for TRUTH 
which is
LOVE

or, the mind can be misused to veil and block LOVE
This happens when the intellect has decided that it is capable of 
knowing TRUTH without LOVE
which is not possible because LOVE is TRUTH

it seems to me: LOVE is the highest truth; not facts, not science

no matter how clever, no matter how scientific,
no matter how clear and true intellectual knowledge seems to be,
no matter what the "facts" seem to be,
without LOVE, FEAR will be present
FEAR veils LOVE and blocks LOVE from flowing

without a firm resting in the heart, it is simply the nature of 
mind-intellect-ego, as a continuous stream of thoughts in the head, to 
create more and more knowledge, perhaps with the best of intellectual 
intentions,  until complexity, confusion, and all sort of frustrating 
problems arise; then the intellect is engaged in trying to solve the 
problems which it helped to create in the first place; meanwhile many 
catch 22 situations arise and intellectual/scientific solutions are 
never enough; as is obvious from world events, all this seems to be 
heading in the direction of self-destruction …

you are indeed fortunate if your mind gets exhausted, takes a break, 
leaves the head, and rests in the peacefulness of your heart where there
are no thoughts; then perhaps it will dawn on you that "Love" is
the  only solution for all the problems that the mind has created

Amma says "A one word solution to all  the problems the world is
facing today is Compassion [Love ]."

Even Einstein said that the rational  mind is a terrible master, but
can be very useful as a servant [of Love].  The mind is very powerful,
it creates the world as I understand it, it  is Maya and needs to be
used with the greatest of create in service to  Love

here, we are talking about Unconditioned Love which we call God
and about Unconditioned Truth which we also call God

or we can call it "peaceful spacious loving awareness"

we are not talking about emotionalism,
although positive emotions do have their own proper functionality,

God's Love is Presence and Energy
or as Robert Adams said "the current that knows the way"
Amma says God will take care of us when ego is surrendered
also Jesus and all mahatmas say that there is a universal force of  Love
that will sustain us and function through us to the extent we allow  it
by getting our egos out of the way

in order for the heart to open so that real unconditioned love may be 
experienced,
it may be necessary to  do some selfless-service, take care of a 
relative or friend, help a  homeless person, feel the suffering of the 
world, pray, meditate on the heart center, read some or many spiritual 
books, contemplate spiritual aphorisms, go for a walk and gaze at the 
sky, gaze at the stars, go within, rest in the peacefulness of the 
heart, and do some self-inquiry  such as ~ What is love? What is truth? 
What is God? What am I? What is permanent? What is temporary? Who am I? 
Who is Amma?

To jumpstart your spiritual quest or to enhance it significantly, 
getting a hug from Amma can be a very pleasant unimagined surprise. Amma
is currently touring America and will end in Canada  on July 22nd
http://amma.org/tours/amma-tours/n_america.html



Here is a short video by our friend Stuart explaining Love beautifully 
in English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFFkACy0tcg


"let everyone be right… because they are…what can you do?...
everyone's POV  is the right one……underneath it all, is only
Love…the  Love, it cures all…t

[FairfieldLife] Re: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

[WillyTex]

> > Bravissimo [:x]
> 
> Molte grazie!
>
"Omne malum nascens facile opprimitur, inveteratum 
fit plerumque robustius." - Cicero

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Sieze BP

[Mike Dixon]

I guess when you're tired of eating golden eggs, that goose can look mighty 
tasty.





From: WillyTex 
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sat, June 5, 2010 6:16:24 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Sieze BP

  


Mike Dixon:
> BIG mistake! 
>
No doubt - the 'fall of capitalism' would
probably mean mass starvation and World 
War III - total planetary destruction; 
anarchy. 

> Sorry if it's true. Hope he at least 
> has a pension. However killing capitalism 
> will also kill all those wonderfully 
> under funded pension programs since most 
> are heavily invested in the stock market.
> 
No Social Security! No personal income.





  

[FairfieldLife] Re: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose :Impromptu Opera in Valencia

[jpgillam]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend"  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, merudanda  wrote:
> 
> > Last month at the central market in Valencia, Spain, opera
> > singers disguised as shopkeepers were selling produce at the 
> > various stalls there. Suddenly Verdi's Il Travatore starts
> > playing over the loudspeakers & they burst into song. None
> > of the shoppers has a clue what's going on. Sort of like
> > candid camera but completely charming.
> > Click on this  watch and enjoy the music
> > 
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds8ryWd5aFw
> 
> Oh, que divertido! Magnifico!

I second that. What a blast!

[FairfieldLife] Re: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

[authfriend]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, merudanda  wrote:
>
> Bravissimo [:x]

Molte grazie!

[FairfieldLife] Re: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose :Impromptu Opera in Valencia

[authfriend]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, merudanda  wrote:

> Last month at the central market in Valencia, Spain, opera
> singers disguised as shopkeepers were selling produce at the 
> various stalls there. Suddenly Verdi's Il Travatore starts
> playing over the loudspeakers & they burst into song. None
> of the shoppers has a clue what's going on. Sort of like
> candid camera but completely charming.
> Click on this  watch and enjoy the music
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds8ryWd5aFw

Oh, que divertido! Magnifico!

[FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[authfriend]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo"  wrote:
> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck"  wrote:
> > 
> > Is it possible to be on anti-D's & have nice
> > meditations?  Anybody have experience with that?
> 
> Yes, but you need to be stable on them. What this 
> means is that when you start taking an SSRI (strategic
> seratonin re-uptake inhibitors

FWIW, the first "S" is for "selective," not "strategic";
or alternatively, the two "S's" are for "serotonin-
specific."


> It has been claimed that Prozac and the other SSRIs 
> aren't actually very good anti-depressants in that 
> the placebo effect takes care of most of the mood 
> problems but if that was the case surely they wouldn't
> be *so* difficult a habit to break.

Not sure that follows. The withdrawal symptoms indicate
that the drugs *have a real effect*, but it may or may
not be a positive effect on mood. Some common symptoms
(e.g., "brain zaps") have nothing to do with mood.

> Weaning yourself off is absolutely essential.

Preferably under the supervision of a physician
with expertise in using SSRIs.


> The big question for us is why are so many people who 
> meditate regularly having to take mind altering drugs? 
> Or seeking other talk-based help. I say 'so many' because
> I knew a lot of TMers engaged in therapy or on anti-
> depressants it seemed like a theme to me, are people
> attracted to TM and then disappointed with the results 
> or does TM de-stabilise a worrying amount of practitioners.
> And are the boys at MUM about to make this a research 
> priority?

Research would definitely be required, otherwise the
conclusion that "many people" who meditate have to take
mind-altering drugs is merely anecdotal.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

[merudanda]

Bravissimo [:x]
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend"  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote:
> 
> > > I'm sorry, but as a newbie spiritual aspirant or a long-term
> > > one, you just don't feel fuckin' Autonomous if you're in an
> > > environment in which every single moment is mapped out for
> > > you, and from whose Grand Plan you must not deviate, on peril
> > > of expulsion. Like a TMO residence course. Can you say, "Duh?"
> > > I think you can.
>
> Speak for yourself. Duh!
>
> Autonomy has two aspects, external and internal. "Feeling
> autonomous" is internal. The person who is genuinely
> internally autonomous can consent to a lack of external
> autonomy (e.g., having one's day mapped out for one)
> without its affecting their internal feeling of autonomy.
>
> That consent is a function of internal autonomy in the
> first place. And willingly giving up a degree of external
> autonomy ties directly in to a sense of purpose.
>
> I never felt a lack of internal autonomy on TM residence
> courses. My purpose was to get the most out of the
> opportunity to round and (secondarily) to hear more of
> Maharishi's teaching. It was and is my perception that
> most of the restrictions of external autonomy on those
> courses facilitated that purpose. And those that didn't
> were so trivial it seems absurd that anyone could get
> upset over them.
>
> And the restrictions were hardly that onerous. Most
> obviously, they were only temporary. Plus which, there
> was a degree of leeway: if you felt sleepy, you could
> stay in your room and sleep rather than attend the
> lectures, or sit in the lectures and sleep; you could
> choose your buddy; and nobody checked on you to make
> sure you were doing your rounds or went to bed on time.
>
> Granted, for people who lack internal autonomy to start
> with, or whose sense of autonomy is so insecure that
> any external restrictions make them feel as if they've
> lost control, the residence course schedule could have
> a negative effect on their psyches. But that's
> essentially their problem. The TMO didn't create it.
>
> > > And I'm sorry, but I don't think Mastery is terribly supported
> > > by an environment in which every small achievement you make
> > > towards the goalposts is met by moving those goalposts further
> > > away.
> 
> > > Stop reserving the idea of Mastery for enlightenment and
> > > above. Start allowing people to feel good about their
> > > *daily lives* and their everyday achievements, without
> > > trying to make them feel bad because they haven't achieved
> > > the "highest goal."
>
> Again, speak for yourself. I never felt the "goalposts"
> were being moved as a function of my achievements, nor was
> I ever made to feel bad about my daily life or my everyday
> achievements, nor about not having achieved the "highest
> goal."
>
> 
> > > Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Me, I'm gonna grow and flourish
> > > in an environment -- business or spiritual -- that allows me
> > > to experience those things.
>
> Guess what? *It isn't the environment* that allows you to
> experience these things. Ironically, ceding to the
> environment the power to determine your experience of them
> is represents a *massive* surrender of your internal
> autonomy, far more so than consenting to the external
> restrictions imposed by that environment.
>
>  I'm not going to stick around in
> > > an environment that not only does not nurture these things,
> > > but actively seeks to suppress them.
>
> If one has a strong personal sense of internal autonomy,
> one can grow and flourish in *any* environment. There were
> even people who grew and flourished spiritually as
> prisoners in concentration camps during the Holocaust--
> extreme cases, no question, but a sort of psychic Proof of
> Concept.
>
> Finally, it's been my distinct and continuing experience
> that practice of the TM techniques in and of itself has
> significantly deepened my sense of internal autonomy.
> Whatever TMO restrictions on my external autonomy I've
> given in the interests of furthering my development never
> impinged on it.
>Bravissimo [=D>] 

[FairfieldLife] Re: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

[authfriend]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:

> > I'm sorry, but as a newbie spiritual aspirant or a long-term
> > one, you just don't feel fuckin' Autonomous if you're in an
> > environment in which every single moment is mapped out for
> > you, and from whose Grand Plan you must not deviate, on peril
> > of expulsion. Like a TMO residence course. Can you say, "Duh?"
> > I think you can.

Speak for yourself. Duh!

Autonomy has two aspects, external and internal. "Feeling
autonomous" is internal. The person who is genuinely
internally autonomous can consent to a lack of external
autonomy (e.g., having one's day mapped out for one)
without its affecting their internal feeling of autonomy.

That consent is a function of internal autonomy in the
first place. And willingly giving up a degree of external
autonomy ties directly in to a sense of purpose.

I never felt a lack of internal autonomy on TM residence
courses. My purpose was to get the most out of the
opportunity to round and (secondarily) to hear more of
Maharishi's teaching. It was and is my perception that
most of the restrictions of external autonomy on those
courses facilitated that purpose. And those that didn't
were so trivial it seems absurd that anyone could get
upset over them.

And the restrictions were hardly that onerous. Most
obviously, they were only temporary. Plus which, there
was a degree of leeway: if you felt sleepy, you could
stay in your room and sleep rather than attend the
lectures, or sit in the lectures and sleep; you could
choose your buddy; and nobody checked on you to make
sure you were doing your rounds or went to bed on time.

Granted, for people who lack internal autonomy to start
with, or whose sense of autonomy is so insecure that
any external restrictions make them feel as if they've
lost control, the residence course schedule could have
a negative effect on their psyches. But that's
essentially their problem. The TMO didn't create it.

> > And I'm sorry, but I don't think Mastery is terribly supported
> > by an environment in which every small achievement you make
> > towards the goalposts is met by moving those goalposts further
> > away. 
 
> > Stop reserving the idea of Mastery for enlightenment and 
> > above. Start allowing people to feel good about their 
> > *daily lives* and their everyday achievements, without 
> > trying to make them feel bad because they haven't achieved 
> > the "highest goal."

Again, speak for yourself. I never felt the "goalposts"
were being moved as a function of my achievements, nor was
I ever made to feel bad about my daily life or my everyday
achievements, nor about not having achieved the "highest
goal."


> > Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Me, I'm gonna grow and flourish
> > in an environment -- business or spiritual -- that allows me
> > to experience those things.

Guess what? *It isn't the environment* that allows you to
experience these things. Ironically, ceding to the
environment the power to determine your experience of them
is represents a *massive* surrender of your internal
autonomy, far more so than consenting to the external
restrictions imposed by that environment.

 I'm not going to stick around in
> > an environment that not only does not nurture these things,
> > but actively seeks to suppress them.

If one has a strong personal sense of internal autonomy,
one can grow and flourish in *any* environment. There were
even people who grew and flourished spiritually as
prisoners in concentration camps during the Holocaust--
extreme cases, no question, but a sort of psychic Proof of
Concept.

Finally, it's been my distinct and continuing experience
that practice of the TM techniques in and of itself has
significantly deepened my sense of internal autonomy.
Whatever TMO restrictions on my external autonomy I've
given in the interests of furthering my development never
impinged on it.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose :Impromptu Opera in Valencia

[merudanda]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB 
wrote:Spain is one of the
> > hardest-hit countries in Europe economically, but I
> > don't see people walking around all mopey and
> > depressed about it. I see them instead finding
> > opportunities to enjoy their lives wherever they
> > can find them, and in ways they can still afford.
> > I do *not* see the imminent signs of "Kali Yuga"
> > that you guys are talking about..

How about :Just do not call it "Kali Yuga" 
...as most "ordinary folks" do:
Impromptu Opera in Valencia ,
this song are dedicated to the ladies only  and all other hardworking
shoppers on the FFL hang jury!
( hope you do not mind the bystander)



Last month at the central market in Valencia, Spain, opera singers
disguised as shopkeepers were selling produce at the various stalls
there.
Suddenly Verdi's Il Travatore starts playing over the loudspeakers &
they burst into song. None of the shoppers has a clue what's going on.
Sort of like candid camera but completely charming.
Click on this  watch and enjoy the music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds8ryWd5aFw

And for the traveler amongst You

More than 200 dancers were performing their version of "Do Re Mi"-"The
Sound of Music",
in the Central Station of Antwerp. with just 2 rehearsals they created
this amazing stunt! Those 4 fantastic minutes started the 23 of march
2009,08:00 AM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k&NR=1

[FairfieldLife] Re: Sieze BP

[WillyTex]

Mike Dixon:
> BIG mistake! 
>
No doubt - the 'fall of capitalism' would
probably mean mass starvation and World 
War III - total planetary destruction; 
anarchy. 

> Sorry if it's true. Hope he at least 
> has a pension. However killing capitalism 
> will also kill all those wonderfully 
> under funded pension programs since most 
> are heavily invested in the stock market.
> 
No Social Security! No personal income.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[Hugo]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo"  wrote:
>
> 
> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck"  wrote:
> >
> > 
> > Is it possible to be on anti-D's & have nice
> > meditations?  Anybody have experience with that?
> 
> 
> Yes, but you need to be stable on them. What this 
> means is that when you start taking an SSRI (strategic
> seratonin re-uptake inhibitors-works by preventing your
> brain from absorbing the happy chemicals and so you need
> less to feel good) it can be like sandblasting your 
> mind so that sad thoughts can't survive there, Some like
> the feeling as it can initially make you hyperactive and
> confident (much like cocaine) it can also make you tense
> anxious and potentially suicidal (what goes up really must
> come down eventually).
> 
> It has been claimed that Prozac and the other SSRIs 
> aren't actually very good anti-depressants in that 
> the placebo effect takes care of most of the mood 
> problems but if that was the case surely they wouldn't
> be *so* difficult a habit to break. Weaning yourself
> off is absolutely essential.
> 
> So how does one get settled and have good meditations?
> I would say that the brain gets used to the new levels
> of seratonin and starts to feel normal but (hopefully)
> not plagued by depression anymore. Spiritual progress
> can then continue as normal, or can it? Maybe a chemically
> altered mind doesn't meditate in quite the same way but
> the deep rest staying with you into activity, which is
> what seems like the progress part of TM continues to 
> happen.
> 
> The big question for us is why are so many people who 
> meditate regularly having to take mind altering drugs? 
> Or seeking other talk-based help. I say 'so many' because
> I knew a lot of TMers engaged in therapy or on anti-
> depressants it seemed like a theme to me, are people
> attracted to TM and then disappointed with the results 
> or does TM de-stabilise a worrying amount of practitioners.
> And are the boys at MUM about to make this a research 
> priority?
> 

Just in case you don't know, the TMO claims that TM is a 
superior form of therapy for all manner of psychological
problems. Check out the Science of Being book and their
numerous papers on this subject.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[Hugo]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck"  wrote:
>
> 
> Is it possible to be on anti-D's & have nice
> meditations?  Anybody have experience with that?


Yes, but you need to be stable on them. What this 
means is that when you start taking an SSRI (strategic
seratonin re-uptake inhibitors-works by preventing your
brain from absorbing the happy chemicals and so you need
less to feel good) it can be like sandblasting your 
mind so that sad thoughts can't survive there, Some like
the feeling as it can initially make you hyperactive and
confident (much like cocaine) it can also make you tense
anxious and potentially suicidal (what goes up really must
come down eventually).

It has been claimed that Prozac and the other SSRIs 
aren't actually very good anti-depressants in that 
the placebo effect takes care of most of the mood 
problems but if that was the case surely they wouldn't
be *so* difficult a habit to break. Weaning yourself
off is absolutely essential.

So how does one get settled and have good meditations?
I would say that the brain gets used to the new levels
of seratonin and starts to feel normal but (hopefully)
not plagued by depression anymore. Spiritual progress
can then continue as normal, or can it? Maybe a chemically
altered mind doesn't meditate in quite the same way but
the deep rest staying with you into activity, which is
what seems like the progress part of TM continues to 
happen.

The big question for us is why are so many people who 
meditate regularly having to take mind altering drugs? 
Or seeking other talk-based help. I say 'so many' because
I knew a lot of TMers engaged in therapy or on anti-
depressants it seemed like a theme to me, are people
attracted to TM and then disappointed with the results 
or does TM de-stabilise a worrying amount of practitioners.
And are the boys at MUM about to make this a research 
priority?



 
> > > Does taking Anti-depressants preclude spiritual experience?
> > > 
> > > Just wondering given the recent experience of exulted experiences and 
> > > suicide.
> > > 
> > > Exulted transcendental experiences and depressed.  Does taking 
> > > anti-depressants also shut off the spiritual experience?  Get in the way 
> > > of transcending?
> > > 
> > > I don't know.  I'm just wondering given the recent example.  Spiritual 
> > > experiences and anti-D's?  Anybody got real experience to relate to?  Dr. 
> > > Pete, what do you know?
> > > 
> > > Acedia as spiritual depression, is there a place for anti-D's in 
> > > spiritual depression?  Should meditators be afraid of taking anti-D's?  
> > > Thanks in advance,
> > > 
> > > -Buck
> > >
> > 
> > I was wondering about anti-D's in particular.  Folks can go through 
> > doldrums and be discouraged in their spiritual practice, triggered or 
> > different from other more common depression.
> > 
> > Is there a place for anti-D's for the spiritual depression of Acedia?  Or 
> > do those drugs while being as physiological mood-elevators dull spiritual 
> > experience?
> > 
> > Anybody got experience that way with it?   Seems there is a lot prescribing 
> > of anti-D's.  For all ages.  What is its (the anti-D drugs) impact on 
> > spiritual experiences aside from the depression?
> > 
> > Just wondering,
> > -Buck
> >
>

[FairfieldLife] Galactic Federation of Light - Norway Spiral Over Australia (JUNE 5TH 2010)

[nablusoss1008]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdZ0aFY20Jw

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Sieze BP

[Mike Dixon]

BIG mistake! Sorry if it's true. Hope he at least has a pension. However 
killing capitalism will also kill all those wonderfully under funded pension 
programs since most are heavily invested in the stock market.




From: WillyTex 
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, June 4, 2010 12:24:44 PM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Sieze BP

  
Bhairitu said he owns no stock - he is depending
on Social Security for his retirement income.

Mike Dixon:
> Might be a good time to buy BP stock. Buy low, 
> sell high, too big to fail! 
> 
> > How is your BP stock, Mike? 





  

[FairfieldLife] Re: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

[TurquoiseB]

This repost is for Buck. I wrote it just before the
news about Dan hit the fan, and since it was one of
my rare attempts at "prescriptive" writing about the
TMO, I always wondered what Buck, who seems to like
that sorta thing, thought about it. Everyone else 
can disregard it. 

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
>
> I went back today and re-watched the RSAnimate video I
> thought was so brilliant when I first saw it, and found
> it even more so on a second viewing. If you haven't seen
> it, you won't be able to follow this rap, so I repost
> the link below. If you have no *desire* to follow this
> rap, this would be a good place to click Next instead
> of this link:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
> 
> In this second viewing, I found myself (as is my wont)
> relating my impressions of its insights on What Motivates
> Us to recent posts here on FFL, and some of the things
> we have been collectively fascinated with. Call me crazy,
> but I think that there is a connection. 
> 
> Take Buck, with his impassioned and I'm sure passionately-
> felt raps about what's wrong with the TMO, and how it 
> could/should change to redress those wrongs. Take the 
> issue of how to present the concept of enlightenment in
> a realistic way, one that motivates people to pursue it
> for its real-life coolness, not only its mythical coolness.
> Take the issue of spiritual teaching itself, and how best
> -- if you have taken upon yourself the hubris-heavy burden
> of wanting to share with others some of the things you 
> have found spiritually valuable in life -- to present what
> you have learned in ways in which it motivates, not 
> de-motivates. 
> 
> I'm thinkin' this morning in this beachside cafe that the
> three issues pinned down in this video as key to motivating
> people in a business setting are relevant to how to motivate
> them in a spiritual setting.
> 
> Those three issues are Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. The
> video makes a compelling case for their value and their actual
> bottom-line value in a business setting. One of the strongest
> such cases is made by including the story of Linux, which is
> a product created entirely by people *who have other jobs*,
> but who *work for free* 20 to 30 additional hours per week
> to invent and improve an operating system that they then
> *give away for free*. Linux now powers one out of every four
> corporate servers. 
> 
> WHY do people do this, in a business environment? Autonomy, 
> Mastery and Purpose. Watch the video.
> 
> WHY can't the "spiritual environment" get the stick out of
> its collective-consciousness butt and realize the same thing?
> 
> How do you motivate someone spiritually? Well, in my not-so-
> humble opinion a good place to start might be by creating
> a "spiritual environment" that nurtures Autonomy, Mastery
> and Purpose instead of suppressing them.
> 
> I'm sorry, but as a newbie spiritual aspirant or a long-term
> one, you just don't feel fuckin' Autonomous if you're in an
> environment in which every single moment is mapped out for
> you, and from whose Grand Plan you must not deviate, on peril
> of expulsion. Like a TMO residence course. Can you say, "Duh?"
> I think you can.
> 
> And I'm sorry, but I don't think Mastery is terribly supported
> by an environment in which every small achievement you make
> towards the goalposts is met by moving those goalposts further
> away. 
> 
> And I'm sorry, but I don't think an overriding sense of Purpose
> is achieved by forcing those who identify with that Purpose
> to lie to themselves about the nature of the world around them
> to continue pursuing that Purpose.
> 
> None of these three motivators are IMO antithetical to the
> TM movement. ALL could be introduced into the TM environment
> today.
> 
> Stop running the TM movement like it was a Nanny and its 
> members naughty children. Start giving them some fuckin' 
> RESPECT and Autonomy, the right to make their own decisions 
> about things.
> 
> Stop reserving the idea of Mastery for enlightenment and 
> above. Start allowing people to feel good about their 
> *daily lives* and their everyday achievements, without 
> trying to make them feel bad because they haven't achieved 
> the "highest goal."
> 
> Stop equating Purpose with *your* Purpose, which does not
> seem to match your Stated Purpose. That is, if as a spiritual
> organization your Stated Purpose is to save the world, and you
> believe that achieving a certain number of Yogic Flyers would
> do that, PAY FOR IT YOURSELVES. You *have* the money. 
> To do otherwise is to declare in no uncertain terms that your 
> Stated Purpose is not your Real Purpose, and no one is going
> to be able to continue to identify with that Faux Purpose
> over time.
> 
> Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Me, I'm gonna grow and flourish
> in an environment -- business or spiritual -- that allows me
> to experience those things. I'm not going to stick around in
> an environment th

[FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[TurquoiseB]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck"  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
> >
> > I have no reason to believe that taking anti-depres-
> > sants is "bad for one's spiritual progress." I have
> > a few friends whose spiritual well-being and sense
> > of balance skyrocketed after having them prescribed
> > for them. Shocking -- from full-blown manic-depressive
> > to a balanced, happy individual in the space of a week.
> > These people have reported to me that their meditations
> > became subjectively better and deeper as well.
> 
> This more particularly is the kind of report I was wondering 
> about, the spiritual practice component related to taking 
> anti-D's.  

Please understand that this is very much a second-
hand report. As I said before, I have never suffered
any period of depression that lasted very long, so I
would never have been tempted to take such drugs. FYI,
the person who showed such a rapid and radical shift
from (IMO, as his long-time friend) unstable and 
chronically depressed to downright normal and happy 
is himself a former psychologist who had to give up
his practice because he'd himself become untreatably
manic-depressive. He'd tried a number of anti-Ds over
the years, all with minimal effect. Then he was given
a new drug to try, and the shift was instantaneous 
and radical enough to have been remarked on by his
friends.

It was also his reporting that his meditations and
other aspects of his spiritual practice had deepened
rather than become hazy or dulled. 

I can only imagine that one's reaction to any partic-
ular anti-depressant medication is as individual as
one's reaction to a meditation technique. One size
doth not fit all IMO. But I pass the story along
as counterpoint to the attitude you speak of below,
which I have seen not only in the TMO but in some
other Newage (you know how to pronounce it) trips.

> In this particular spirirtual village because of the real 
> administrative repurcussions on participation there is a 
> hesitancy towards admitting that one is feeling off, even 
> if only slightly and not even the full blown. Particualrly 
> in the morass of administration, it is not a safe place to 
> talk about what your experiences are because of the 
> consequence of access.

This is precisely why I wrote my little "answer song"
rant to Edg's, on the subject of "circling the wagons."
I do not believe that this is a spiritually Good Thing.
It can lead to environments such as you describe, in
which deviating from the stereotype of what is expected
of a member of that environment is perceived as either
weakness or heresy. 

My rant was really not to dump on Edg. I thought parts
of his rant were right on, especially the part railing
against concepts when they take on a life of their own,
and are perceived as more important than the reality 
the concepts are metaphors for. Mistaking the map for
the territory is IMO Dumb Spiritual Practice.

> That is that side, the other side is the cultural notion that 
> allopathy is about putting sand in the workings of a motor.
> 
> Either of these ways, people here can tend to not seek help or 
> use help. There is a communal disposition here these ways that 
> relates to mental health generally and then asking about 
> community prevention programs. Hence this (meditator) boy 
> by example.

I am done talking about Dan. I didn't know him, and 
have no feeling one way or another whether his action 
was "right" or "wrong" in some cosmic sense. I'm a 
pragmatic relativist -- I was merely reacting to the
effect I knew from experience his decision would have 
on some of the people in the community he lived in.

In a community such as you describe, in which it is
*punishably* unacceptable to deviate from the image of
the healthy, happy, fulfilled TMer by even *discussing*
it, what, thought I would be the reaction to having 
that kind of deviance act itself out, big-time? My 
feeling was that it would lead to some other kinds 
of acting out. I was not disappointed.

[FairfieldLife] Faeries - also known as fairies

[martin.quickman]

this is not what you think ! It's a nice article about our other-worldly 
inhabitants who live with us. 
http://childrenofimmortality.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/doyle-on-fairies/

[FairfieldLife] Re: Acedia & Fairfield

[Buck]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
>
> 
> 
> 
> I have no reason to believe that taking anti-depres-
> sants is "bad for one's spiritual progress." I have
> a few friends whose spiritual well-being and sense
> of balance skyrocketed after having them prescribed
> for them. Shocking -- from full-blown manic-depressive
> to a balanced, happy individual in the space of a week.
> These people have reported to me that their meditations
> became subjectively better and deeper as well.
> 

This more particularly is the kind of report I was wondering about, the 
spiritual practice component related to taking anti-D's.  

In this particular spirirtual village because of the real administrative 
repurcussions on participation there is a hesitancy towards admitting that one 
is feeling off, even if only slightly and not even the full blown. Particualrly 
in the morass of administration, it is not a safe place to talk about what your 
experiences are because of the consequence of access.

That is that side, the other side is the cultural notion that allopathy is 
about putting sand in the workings of a motor.

Either of these ways, people here can tend to not seek help or use help.  There 
is a communal disposition here these ways that relates to mental health 
generally and then asking about community prevention programs.  Hence this 
(meditator) boy by example.

[FairfieldLife] Very nice story -- "Building my father's coffin"

[TurquoiseB]

I love this story from Salon.com+. It's told with a kind of Zen
simplicity by the son of writer William Manchester, about the last favor
his father asked him to perform for him. I think his telling of the
story is as good as any of his father's work.

Building  my father's coffin
My dad spent his life writing books. His
final,  impractical request gave us a story like no other By
John Manchester
In his last years my father, the writer William  Manchester
 ,
told me, "When I die. I want you children to build my  coffin." He'd
gotten the idea sometime in the '70s, when a Wesleyan  chemistry
professor died, and his sons, following a Catalan custom,  spent the
night before the funeral building his coffin in their  basement. My dad
explained, "It will give you and your sisters a focus  for your grief."

I nodded and held my tongue. It was pointless to explain what he 
already knew: My sisters had never done any carpentry, and my own modest
skills had diminished since I'd become afflicted by carpal tunnel 
syndrome.

It was a focus, all right, not for grief but for worry. How were we 
going to build it? In the last spring of his life, as he declined, I 
prayed he would just forget about it.

But the morning after he died I found a list of instructions on his 
desk. No. 5: "My body is to be placed in a plain pine box. I would like 
my children to make the box."

Fuck. We really had to build it.

Down at the funeral home, I explained to the director how we  planned to
build the coffin. I felt awkward asking, but there were  questions only
he could answer. What were the interior measurements  needed to
accommodate the body? He told me, and I wrote them down. What  about
securing the lid? He would screw it onto the box. Good. As we  spoke, I
remembered my father telling me how funeral homes make their  money
selling fancy coffins, and wondered why this guy wasn't trying to  sell
me one. But then he told me about one homemade coffin he'd  encountered.
"The family made it years ahead of time, and by the time  the person
died, it had warped." He gave me a look: You don't want  to know the
details. There was his sales pitch, and I was tempted  to go with it.

* Continue  reading


I had also heard a story about a funeral where the homemade coffin 
disintegrated as the pallbearers carried it, and the body fell out. My 
worst fear. That's what made me determined that ours would be the 
sturdiest, most reliable casket since Napoleon's seven-layered 
sarcophagus beneath the Invalides in Paris.

How were we going to build it? I called my older son, Shawn, who  was an
engineering major. He was already far more competent with his  hands
than my father, sisters and me combined. Home for the weekend from 
college, he devised a plan for the box. I vetted it with a friend of 
mine, a master cabinetmaker. It seemed up to snuff, but we still
didn't  have tools.

I called my sister, who was living in Florida. She was busy working  and
would have to scramble just to get to the funeral. So she'd join us  in
the coffin-building only in spirit.

I called my other sister, who was in Connecticut for the summer,  and
discussed the coffin. She explained that her mother-in-law's  partner,
David, would be happy to help us. "He's a professional. He  teaches
carpentry. He has a fully equipped workshop in his garage."

David invited us down to his place in Connecticut the following 
Saturday. It was only a two-hour drive from our house in Massachusetts. 
By the time we got off the phone, I felt relieved: We had Shawn's plan, 
good tools, and David to help us.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

My wife, Judy, and I pulled into the driveway. David and Shawn  stood in
front of the garage around a couple of sawhorses with some  boards on
top.

Judy said, "Thank God they've already started."

I agreed.

It was one of those perfect days, the kind that comes only once or 
twice a year in New England. I smiled, remembering my father telling me,
"One of the crucial things in my writing is my use of irony." He would 
have enjoyed the irony of this task on this day. It was in striking 
contrast to what I'd pictured all those years — us building the
coffin  in my father's gloomy basement storeroom.

For years I had a vision of me and my sisters making the coffin on  top
of our sad, warped Ping-Pong table, up to our waists in the tens of 
thousands of pages of his papers that filled the room.

I heard the bang of a hammer, looked over at Shawn and David around  the
sawhorse, and remembered why I was here. David looked at my worried 
face, rubbed his hands together, and gave me a smile that said, "This 
is going to be fun." His only question was how to do it.

He looked at Shawn's plan, nodded hi