[FairfieldLife] Hitopadesha: can women ever be won over?
na daanena, na maanena,
naarjavena (na + aarjavena), na sevayaa,
na shastrena, na shaastrena --
sarvathaa viSamaaH striyaH.
Neither with gifts (daanena) nor with respect (maanena),
neither with sincerity (aarjavena) nor with flattery (sevayaa),
neither with weapons (shastrena) nor
with knowledge (shaastrena) can women (striyaH)
ever be won over [seems like a bit eupheministic translation...]
Women are viSama-s:
viSama mf(%{A})n. (fr. %{vi} + %{sama}) uneven , rugged , rough MBh. Hariv.
Ka1v. c. ; unequal , irregular , dissimilar , different , inconstant Br.
S3a1n3khGr2. Mn. c. ; odd , not even (in numbers c.) Var. Ka1vya7d. ; that
which cannot be equally divided (as a living sheep among three or four persons)
Mn. ix , 119 ; hard to traverse , difficult , inconvenient , painful ,
dangerous , adverse , vexatious , disagreeable , terrible , bad , wicked (ibc.
` terribly ' S3is3.) Mn. MBh. c. ; hard to be understood Gol. Ka1v. ;
unsuitable , wrong Sus3r. Sarvad. ; unfair , dishonest , partial Mn. MBh. ;
rough , coarse , rude , cross MW. ; odd , unusual , unequalled
[FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
I guess what I am concluding is that far from having confidence in perceptions involving life after death; I'm thinking that I am an idiot to ever drive while talking on my cell phone. Sweet rivers of redeeming love Lie just before mine eye, Had I the pinions of a dove, I'd to those rivers fly; I'd rise superior to my pain, With joy outstrip the wind, I'd cross o'er Jordan's stormy waves, And leave the world behind. PIPPIN: I didn't think it would end this way. GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. (Pippin listens intently) The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back and all turns to silvered glass. And then you see it. PIPPIN:What? Gandalf? See what? GANDALF: White shores and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise. (He smiles at Pippin.) PIPPIN:Well, (he smiles back) that's not so bad. GANDALF: No. No it isn't.
[FairfieldLife] The Maharishi Effect is kicking in . . .
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/15/think_again_war?page=full
[FairfieldLife] Re: Mantra Meditation
Children, you can find the secret of bliss when you think of the nature of the Self. The waves of the mind will subside. Everything is there in you already. -Amma Dear children, when you sit for meditation, do not think that you can still your mind immediately. At first, you should relax all parts of your body. Loosen your clothes if they are too tight. Make sure that the spine is erect. Then close your eyes and concentrate your mind on your breath. You should be aware of your inhalation and exhalation. We should become aware of the process. Then the mind will be wakeful. As you sit like that for a while, your mind will become calm. You can continue the meditation by focusing attention on your breath. Or you can start meditation on the form of your beloved deity. Worship becomes easy when we assign a specific form to Brahman (Absolute Reality), Manasa Puja (mental worship). -Ammachi It is always advisable to obtain a mantra from a Self-Realized Master (Sat-Guru). Until then we may use one of the mantras of our beloved deity like Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, Om Namo Narayanaya, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hari Om, Om Parashaktyai Namaha, Om Shivashaktyaikya Rupinyai Namaha or even the names of Christ, Allah or Buddha. -Ammachi Amma stresses that you need to have the conviction that there is nothing greater than remembering God. Then you will find the time even in the midst of all your work to do meditation. As soon as you get up, meditate for ten minutes. After your bath, meditate again for half an hour. In the beginning, it is enough to meditate for a short time. After that, you can do your chores. Any work you do with japa and constant remembrance of God is also meditation. -Ammachi Amma says that the purpose of mantra japa(chanting) is to lead us to the ultimate silence of the Self, from where all sounds and forms arise. Further, in the present age of materialism, chanting the mantra (japa), is the easiest way for us to obtain inner purification and concentration. -Ammachi Each syllable of a divine name - such as Krishna or Jesus - has vibrations which change the atmosphere. Any object that we think about repeatedly generates its own vibration. Even though mantras are strong and powerful, we may not feel the effects immediately but results will come. One can feel the differences in the vibrations of words. Using the word, one can make things change. -Mother Meera Close your eyes and sit in silence and do japa on any divine name. -Mother Meera Find a position to sit, on the floor or in a chair, that you will be comfortable in for an entire session. Use a position that will allow you to keep your backbone straight, with your head and neck aligned with your spine. When we sit upright with a straight spine, the energy generated by meditation can circulate freely throughout our body without being blocked. -Karunamayi As you start your meditation, Amma recommends that you can use a mantra to help silence and focus your mind. If you are accustomed to using only a particular mantra during meditation and would like to continue with that, please feel free to do so. -Karunamayi If you wish to continue with your mantra, it is not necessary to ask Amma if you should use it or Saraswati or Gayatri Mantra or not. Divine Mother has blessed you with abundant powers of intellect and spiritual discrimination. You are welcome to use your discrimination to decide which mantra you feel is best. -Karunamayi What ever you decide, it is important to come to meditation without any doubts or questions. -Karunamayi If you have been using a particular meditation mantra and you have obtained good results from it, you are welcome to continue with your technique. Amma teaches certain mantras for meditation because She has personally experienced the tremendous benefits that they bring. My sweet child, meditate. Experience your true self. Silence is elegance. My baby, be silent and hear the voice of the soul
[FairfieldLife] Ancient Indian Technological Sophistication
Full video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcQd3GjFNLQ Trailer video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsXwJdaHZ8g
[FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bob Price bobpriced@... wrote: Thanks Curtis, much appreciated. More below. I am overcoming a reluctance to get into long discussions here because this one seems not only interesting, but as if it could go somewhere. From: curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... I am reading a fascinating book called Incognito, the Secret Lives of the Brain by David Engleman a neuroscientist. What has struck me so far in the book is how much perception is shaped by our beliefs. And how poorly we are able to distinguish between inner and outer vision. There is a phenomenon among stroke victims where they become blind, but their mind constructs such a detailed visual world,they don't realize it. It is only over time when the inner vision and outer vision collide that they can be convinced that they are not seeing the actual outer world. Response: Does this mean perception is like a limb that remains in sense memory after we've lost it? I'm curious to know an example of the collision you mention above? Me, too. It strikes me that we all have developed a confidence that the perceptions we are having depict an ontological reality outside our mind. It is so strong that it even causes you to have a confidence about what happens after death. I suspect that it is the compelling nature of the experiences that is the basis for this confidence. Response: You could be right. I'm not sure I'm confident, all the time, in my perceptions. Me, either. :-) As a businessman I'm motivated by results (profit that can be measured in numerous ways) and fault on the side of simplicity. I start with an objective and if, overtime, my perception brings me closer to my objective I hold on to my perception. If on the other hand, my perceptions stop serving my objective I reconsider and quite possibly adopt a new perception that I originally considered incapable of serving my objective. I consider this the competitive part of who I am. Although profit is a prime metric of commerce-competiton is much more what motivates me and I believe many other business types. Although the metaphor can be over simplified, IMO-business is most like sports and in sports velocity can reduce some of the editorializing of reality you are describing. If a tennis ball or a baseball is coming at me at 100mph my thought and emotions have to surrender to my body to react effectively. I believe in this surrender there is a nowness that transcends:) the yoke of perception you are describing. I'm guessing as a musician, sound does something similar for you? I'm not sure about how music might have done this for Curtis, but I'm pretty sure that studying martial arts would have. A tennis ball or baseball coming at you at that speed is one thing; you've got a racquet or a glove with which to catch the sucker. But when it's a fist or a foot coming for your face at that speed, there really isn't enough time to construct a terribly sophisticated inner perceptual vision of the incident. After years of martial arts study, your body reacts far faster than your mind, and if you're any good, effectively. In contests I would have blocked the punch or kick and have gotten off a couple of my own before my conscious mind ever perceived that something was going down. How would Eagleman characterize this? What relation- ship to perception shaped by beliefs would such a situation have? Does he deal with body memory, as we know it from studying martial arts or any art that involves performing the same moves over and over for years or decades, so much so that they become more a function of the autonomic nervous system than the somatic nervous system? I am taking myself in a completely opposite direction. I am trying to uncover all the areas where my subjective influence interferes with my perception, shapes it, nudges it in the direction that my mind desires to support its beliefs. Not to have an objective ability for perception, that is not possible, but to limit some of the areas of error that I can. In a way, what you're describing is my reaction after I read my first book about advertising theory. Up to then, as much as I would tell myself that I was never affected by ads, they had me by the gnarblies. When I became aware of the techniques ads employed, and what beliefs in me they pandered to, I set about trying to challenge -- and, if necessary -- change those beliefs. For example, as hooked on shiny toys as I was (at the time I owned a Lexus two-seater that was way fun but way impractical when dealing with the kinds of dirt roads I wanted to drive in New Mexico), so I traded it in for a good, reliable 4X4. I stopped falling for the advertising meme that said Driving this car will make you young and sexy, and traded up to the meme, But driving this funky desert wagon will
[FairfieldLife] Re: Mantra Meditation
Children, you can find the secret of bliss when you think of the nature of the Self. The waves of the mind will subside. Everything is there in you already. -Amma I've decided to boycott the statements of any other adult who tries to call me one of her children. I am too old for that assumptive jiu-jitsu concerning our development. You were born 4 years ahead of me, and the last 5 decades has leveled that playing field really well. While you have been hugging, I have been reading. Sorry Amma, you are not old enough to be my mother and I am too old to be your child. The disparity in our knowledge base is not represented by a mother and her child, although you seem determined to sell that POV. If you are an expert in your field you can address me the way any other expert in other fields addresses me, with the adult respect that implies I'm OK, you're OK and we are both adults here. You can make your pitch for your expertise as one adult to another. I pay someone way too much money to come to my home to feed me my baba and change my diddies when I have been a dirty boy to hear this routine from you. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Buck dhamiltony2k5@... wrote: Children, you can find the secret of bliss when you think of the nature of the Self. The waves of the mind will subside. Everything is there in you already. -Amma Dear children, when you sit for meditation, do not think that you can still your mind immediately. At first, you should relax all parts of your body. Loosen your clothes if they are too tight. Make sure that the spine is erect. Then close your eyes and concentrate your mind on your breath. You should be aware of your inhalation and exhalation. We should become aware of the process. Then the mind will be wakeful. As you sit like that for a while, your mind will become calm. You can continue the meditation by focusing attention on your breath. Or you can start meditation on the form of your beloved deity. Worship becomes easy when we assign a specific form to Brahman (Absolute Reality), Manasa Puja (mental worship). -Ammachi It is always advisable to obtain a mantra from a Self-Realized Master (Sat-Guru). Until then we may use one of the mantras of our beloved deity like Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, Om Namo Narayanaya, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hari Om, Om Parashaktyai Namaha, Om Shivashaktyaikya Rupinyai Namaha or even the names of Christ, Allah or Buddha. -Ammachi Amma stresses that you need to have the conviction that there is nothing greater than remembering God. Then you will find the time even in the midst of all your work to do meditation. As soon as you get up, meditate for ten minutes. After your bath, meditate again for half an hour. In the beginning, it is enough to meditate for a short time. After that, you can do your chores. Any work you do with japa and constant remembrance of God is also meditation. -Ammachi Amma says that the purpose of mantra japa(chanting) is to lead us to the ultimate silence of the Self, from where all sounds and forms arise. Further, in the present age of materialism, chanting the mantra (japa), is the easiest way for us to obtain inner purification and concentration. -Ammachi Each syllable of a divine name - such as Krishna or Jesus - has vibrations which change the atmosphere. Any object that we think about repeatedly generates its own vibration. Even though mantras are strong and powerful, we may not feel the effects immediately but results will come. One can feel the differences in the vibrations of words. Using the word, one can make things change. -Mother Meera Close your eyes and sit in silence and do japa on any divine name. -Mother Meera Find a position to sit, on the floor or in a chair, that you will be comfortable in for an entire session. Use a position that will allow you to keep your backbone straight, with your head and neck aligned with your spine. When we sit upright with a straight spine, the energy generated by meditation can circulate freely throughout our body without being blocked. -Karunamayi As you start your meditation, Amma recommends that you can use a mantra to help silence and focus your mind. If you are accustomed to using only a particular mantra during meditation and would like to continue with that, please feel free to do
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Battle of Evermore - Najma Akhtar
LOL...yes, I was a child of the 70's...at one point it all started to sound the same however. Grew up with no TV and no radio - only classical and opera, so had to depend on my friends to listen to the rock and roll - luckily they were all full-on stoners. Led Zeppelin was my favorite back then. Didn't discover the Beatles or Crosby, Stills, Nash or Jefferson Airplane or a host of others, until I hit U of Colorado. Didn't discover RB or Jazz until my 30's. Didn't discover bluegrass until my 40's. Didn't discover UTube until my daughters showed it to me fairly recently. I've always been a step or two behind :). --- On Mon, 8/15/11, seventhray1 steve.sun...@sbcglobal.net wrote: From: seventhray1 steve.sun...@sbcglobal.net Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Battle of Evermore - Najma Akhtar To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, August 15, 2011, 7:01 PM My taste's go more along these lines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZyVZFJGX5g --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Denise Evans dmevans365@... wrote: 1994 live with the Egyptian Ensemble and the London Metropolitan Orchestra http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4axrTFBV3cUfeature=related
[FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
First great thoughtful response Bob. I'll intersperse my comments on Barry's reply. -- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bob Price bobpriced@ wrote: Thanks Curtis, much appreciated. More below. I am overcoming a reluctance to get into long discussions here because this one seems not only interesting, but as if it could go somewhere. From: curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ I am reading a fascinating book called Incognito, the Secret Lives of the Brain by David Engleman a neuroscientist. What has struck me so far in the book is how much perception is shaped by our beliefs. And how poorly we are able to distinguish between inner and outer vision. There is a phenomenon among stroke victims where they become blind, but their mind constructs such a detailed visual world,they don't realize it. It is only over time when the inner vision and outer vision collide that they can be convinced that they are not seeing the actual outer world. Response: Does this mean perception is like a limb that remains in sense memory after we've lost it? I'm curious to know an example of the collision you mention above? Me, too. The collision is furniture, really. The person keeps running into things that are not in their visual field. The book's point is that our brain creates our visual experience out of a severely fractured input system of our eyes. You know about the huge blind spot our corneas have. Why don't we see it? Because our brain uses the Photoshop cloning tool and manufactures a seamless apparition of reality for us. It is not that vision remains in sense memory. It is that the mind has been creating the experience all along and as we know in dreams, it does fine without any outer vision at all. It strikes me that we all have developed a confidence that the perceptions we are having depict an ontological reality outside our mind. It is so strong that it even causes you to have a confidence about what happens after death. I suspect that it is the compelling nature of the experiences that is the basis for this confidence. Response: You could be right. I'm not sure I'm confident, all the time, in my perceptions. Me, either. :-) Nor I. But people with visions like Jim is having are often supremely confident that this is an accurate insight into reality. I believe it is an insight into how vision and our minds interact to construct our visual field. I believe that the casket was actually there but that the dead person was an inner construction in the mind. A mind that is very poor at distinguishing inner and outer visions if they are compelling enough. As a businessman I'm motivated by results (profit that can be measured in numerous ways) and fault on the side of simplicity. I start with an objective and if, overtime, my perception brings me closer to my objective I hold on to my perception. If on the other hand, my perceptions stop serving my objective I reconsider and quite possibly adopt a new perception that I originally considered incapable of serving my objective. I consider this the competitive part of who I am. Although profit is a prime metric of commerce-competiton is much more what motivates me and I believe many other business types. Although the metaphor can be over simplified, IMO-business is most like sports and in sports velocity can reduce some of the editorializing of reality you are describing. If a tennis ball or a baseball is coming at me at 100mph my thought and emotions have to surrender to my body to react effectively. I believe in this surrender there is a nowness that transcends:) the yoke of perception you are describing. I'm guessing as a musician, sound does something similar for you? I'm not sure about how music might have done this for Curtis, but I'm pretty sure that studying martial arts would have. A tennis ball or baseball coming at you at that speed is one thing; you've got a racquet or a glove with which to catch the sucker. But when it's a fist or a foot coming for your face at that speed, there really isn't enough time to construct a terribly sophisticated inner perceptual vision of the incident. After years of martial arts study, your body reacts far faster than your mind, and if you're any good, effectively. In contests I would have blocked the punch or kick and have gotten off a couple of my own before my conscious mind ever perceived that something was going down. How would Eagleman characterize this? What relation- ship to perception shaped by beliefs would such a situation have? Does he deal with body memory, as we know it from studying martial arts or any art that involves performing the same moves over and over for years or decades,
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Battle of Evermore - Najma Akhtar
And, for the record, my friends and I only tried pot once, and we didn't inhale, and we were never paranoid...and I am willing to swear to this on a stack of Bobavaghitas :) --- On Mon, 8/15/11, seventhray1 steve.sun...@sbcglobal.net wrote: From: seventhray1 steve.sun...@sbcglobal.net Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Battle of Evermore - Najma Akhtar To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, August 15, 2011, 7:01 PM My taste's go more along these lines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZyVZFJGX5g --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Denise Evans dmevans365@... wrote: 1994 live with the Egyptian Ensemble and the London Metropolitan Orchestra http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4axrTFBV3cUfeature=related
[FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: snip How would Eagleman characterize this? What relation- ship to perception shaped by beliefs would such a situation have? Does he deal with body memory, as we know it from studying martial arts or any art that involves performing the same moves over and over for years or decades, so much so that they become more a function of the autonomic nervous system than the somatic nervous system? Moves per se are always a function of the somatic nervous system, never the autonomic nervous system, just for the record, even though they may seem automatic and even involuntary. The autonomic system may help by increasing heart rate, etc., but it's never in control of moving the muscles one would use for martial arts or playing a musical instrument.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
Just something to bear in mind: No matter how fallible our perceptions may be, they've served us well evolutionarily. We wouldn't be here if they hadn't supported our survival as a species. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: First great thoughtful response Bob. I'll intersperse my comments on Barry's reply. -- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bob Price bobpriced@ wrote: Thanks Curtis, much appreciated. More below. I am overcoming a reluctance to get into long discussions here because this one seems not only interesting, but as if it could go somewhere. From: curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ I am reading a fascinating book called Incognito, the Secret Lives of the Brain by David Engleman a neuroscientist. What has struck me so far in the book is how much perception is shaped by our beliefs. And how poorly we are able to distinguish between inner and outer vision. There is a phenomenon among stroke victims where they become blind, but their mind constructs such a detailed visual world,they don't realize it. It is only over time when the inner vision and outer vision collide that they can be convinced that they are not seeing the actual outer world. Response: Does this mean perception is like a limb that remains in sense memory after we've lost it? I'm curious to know an example of the collision you mention above? Me, too. The collision is furniture, really. The person keeps running into things that are not in their visual field. The book's point is that our brain creates our visual experience out of a severely fractured input system of our eyes. You know about the huge blind spot our corneas have. Why don't we see it? Because our brain uses the Photoshop cloning tool and manufactures a seamless apparition of reality for us. It is not that vision remains in sense memory. It is that the mind has been creating the experience all along and as we know in dreams, it does fine without any outer vision at all. It strikes me that we all have developed a confidence that the perceptions we are having depict an ontological reality outside our mind. It is so strong that it even causes you to have a confidence about what happens after death. I suspect that it is the compelling nature of the experiences that is the basis for this confidence. Response: You could be right. I'm not sure I'm confident, all the time, in my perceptions. Me, either. :-) Nor I. But people with visions like Jim is having are often supremely confident that this is an accurate insight into reality. I believe it is an insight into how vision and our minds interact to construct our visual field. I believe that the casket was actually there but that the dead person was an inner construction in the mind. A mind that is very poor at distinguishing inner and outer visions if they are compelling enough. As a businessman I'm motivated by results (profit that can be measured in numerous ways) and fault on the side of simplicity. I start with an objective and if, overtime, my perception brings me closer to my objective I hold on to my perception. If on the other hand, my perceptions stop serving my objective I reconsider and quite possibly adopt a new perception that I originally considered incapable of serving my objective. I consider this the competitive part of who I am. Although profit is a prime metric of commerce-competiton is much more what motivates me and I believe many other business types. Although the metaphor can be over simplified, IMO-business is most like sports and in sports velocity can reduce some of the editorializing of reality you are describing. If a tennis ball or a baseball is coming at me at 100mph my thought and emotions have to surrender to my body to react effectively. I believe in this surrender there is a nowness that transcends:) the yoke of perception you are describing. I'm guessing as a musician, sound does something similar for you? I'm not sure about how music might have done this for Curtis, but I'm pretty sure that studying martial arts would have. A tennis ball or baseball coming at you at that speed is one thing; you've got a racquet or a glove with which to catch the sucker. But when it's a fist or a foot coming for your face at that speed, there really isn't enough time to construct a terribly sophisticated inner perceptual vision of the incident. After years of martial arts study, your body reacts far faster than your mind, and if you're any good, effectively. In contests I would have blocked the punch or kick and have gotten off a couple
[FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@... wrote: Just something to bear in mind: No matter how fallible our perceptions may be, they've served us well evolutionarily. We wouldn't be here if they hadn't supported our survival as a species. I don't doubt that this value includes our overconfidence in our ability to perceive reality. Like many holdovers from our more primitive past, like our fight or flight response, what has served us so well in the past may need to be compensated for in our present world. Let's throw into the mix of confusion for our brains internal vision and outer vision the whole super compelling images like my HD TV. I have noticed a stronger reaction in my body to scary films or graphic violence from this more immersive experience. But despite the evolutionary value, primitive societies all over the world also suffer from superstitious based priest cultures. One member claims to have visions (and he may) and somehow parlays this into a type of leadership. Without modern medicine the faith healing of a witch doctor may be the best you can do. But we can do better now. Theoretically that is. With the healthcare mess we are in due to monkey power struggles access may make our advances a moot point and we may have to head back to faith healing! --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: First great thoughtful response Bob. I'll intersperse my comments on Barry's reply. -- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bob Price bobpriced@ wrote: Thanks Curtis, much appreciated. More below. I am overcoming a reluctance to get into long discussions here because this one seems not only interesting, but as if it could go somewhere. From: curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ I am reading a fascinating book called Incognito, the Secret Lives of the Brain by David Engleman a neuroscientist. What has struck me so far in the book is how much perception is shaped by our beliefs. And how poorly we are able to distinguish between inner and outer vision. There is a phenomenon among stroke victims where they become blind, but their mind constructs such a detailed visual world,they don't realize it. It is only over time when the inner vision and outer vision collide that they can be convinced that they are not seeing the actual outer world. Response: Does this mean perception is like a limb that remains in sense memory after we've lost it? I'm curious to know an example of the collision you mention above? Me, too. The collision is furniture, really. The person keeps running into things that are not in their visual field. The book's point is that our brain creates our visual experience out of a severely fractured input system of our eyes. You know about the huge blind spot our corneas have. Why don't we see it? Because our brain uses the Photoshop cloning tool and manufactures a seamless apparition of reality for us. It is not that vision remains in sense memory. It is that the mind has been creating the experience all along and as we know in dreams, it does fine without any outer vision at all. It strikes me that we all have developed a confidence that the perceptions we are having depict an ontological reality outside our mind. It is so strong that it even causes you to have a confidence about what happens after death. I suspect that it is the compelling nature of the experiences that is the basis for this confidence. Response: You could be right. I'm not sure I'm confident, all the time, in my perceptions. Me, either. :-) Nor I. But people with visions like Jim is having are often supremely confident that this is an accurate insight into reality. I believe it is an insight into how vision and our minds interact to construct our visual field. I believe that the casket was actually there but that the dead person was an inner construction in the mind. A mind that is very poor at distinguishing inner and outer visions if they are compelling enough. As a businessman I'm motivated by results (profit that can be measured in numerous ways) and fault on the side of simplicity. I start with an objective and if, overtime, my perception brings me closer to my objective I hold on to my perception. If on the other hand, my perceptions stop serving my objective I reconsider and quite possibly adopt a new perception that I originally considered incapable of serving my objective. I consider this the competitive part of who I am. Although profit is a prime metric of commerce-competiton is much more what
Re: [FairfieldLife] Buffett says Tax the Rich
Oh good God Bhairitu, Warren has to say that, so some rich hating asshole will *love* him. From: Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 9:00 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Buffett says Tax the Rich I've told the cracker barrel polemicists here that some of the rich agree with taxing themselves more: Buffett wrote his opinions in an article for The New York Times in which he called on Congress to structure a proper budget that would force the top 0.3% of income earners to accept shared sacrifice. More here: http://www.thestreet.com/story/11220534/1/buffett-tax-the-rich.html But I suppose our FFL pseudo-billionaires will start whining. And for those cracker barrel polemicists who think I'm mean to the poor little big corporations read this book for free online http://www.truthout.org/thom-hartmann-unequal-protection Then maybe, just maybe you may get it.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
Thank you both. In addition to a post that requires a little thinking I have to compliment you for the chutzpah of placing it in one of the seasons political threads. Have you ever noticed if you stop consuming the news for six months it seems no time has pasted when you start consuming again? The wife describes it as: As useless as a time machine that travels in real time. More below From: curtisdeltablues curtisdeltabl...@yahoo.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 8:50:31 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama First great thoughtful response Bob. I'll intersperse my comments on Barry's reply. -- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bob Price bobpriced@ wrote: Thanks Curtis, much appreciated. More below. I am overcoming a reluctance to get into long discussions here because this one seems not only interesting, but as if it could go somewhere. From: curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ I am reading a fascinating book called Incognito, the Secret Lives of the Brain by David Engleman a neuroscientist. What has struck me so far in the book is how much perception is shaped by our beliefs. And how poorly we are able to distinguish between inner and outer vision. There is a phenomenon among stroke victims where they become blind, but their mind constructs such a detailed visual world,they don't realize it. It is only over time when the inner vision and outer vision collide that they can be convinced that they are not seeing the actual outer world. Response: Does this mean perception is like a limb that remains in sense memory after we've lost it? I'm curious to know an example of the collision you mention above? Me, too. The collision is furniture, really. The person keeps running into things that are not in their visual field. The book's point is that our brain creates our visual experience out of a severely fractured input system of our eyes. You know about the huge blind spot our corneas have. Why don't we see it? Because our brain uses the Photoshop cloning tool and manufactures a seamless apparition of reality for us. It is not that vision remains in sense memory. It is that the mind has been creating the experience all along and as we know in dreams, it does fine without any outer vision at all. Response II: The collision is furniture, really. This reminds me of the compulsive analysis of something we have no control over, say politics? And of course it could be explained with that definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It strikes me that we all have developed a confidence that the perceptions we are having depict an ontological reality outside our mind. It is so strong that it even causes you to have a confidence about what happens after death. I suspect that it is the compelling nature of the experiences that is the basis for this confidence. Response: You could be right. I'm not sure I'm confident, all the time, in my perceptions. Me, either. :-) Nor I. But people with visions like Jim is having are often supremely confident that this is an accurate insight into reality. I believe it is an insight into how vision and our minds interact to construct our visual field. I believe that the casket was actually there but that the dead person was an inner construction in the mind. A mind that is very poor at distinguishing inner and outer visions if they are compelling enough. Response II: I wonder if they can measure confidence bio-chemically in small animals? If they could would it be interesting to measure the confidence levels of lemmings prior to their embracing the air just over the cliff? As a businessman I'm motivated by results (profit that can be measured in numerous ways) and fault on the side of simplicity. I start with an objective and if, overtime, my perception brings me closer to my objective I hold on to my perception. If on the other hand, my perceptions stop serving my objective I reconsider and quite possibly adopt a new perception that I originally considered incapable of serving my objective. I consider this the competitive part of who I am. Although profit is a prime metric of commerce-competiton is much more what motivates me and I believe many other business types. Although the metaphor can be over simplified, IMO-business is most like sports and in sports velocity can reduce some of the editorializing of reality you are describing. If a tennis ball or a baseball is coming at me at 100mph my thought and emotions have to surrender to my body to react effectively. I believe in this surrender there is a nowness that transcends:) the yoke of perception you
Re: [FairfieldLife] Buffett says Tax the Rich
What did I say? I suppose our FFL pseudo-billionaires will start whining. Why do you care, Mike, if the billionaires pay a little more in taxes? What have the billionaires ever done for you? I remember the days where most cities and towns had locally owned businesses and few chains? There were plenty of jobs for everyone then. And the top tax rate was 91%. Put that in your chillum and smoke it. On 08/16/2011 11:20 AM, Mike Dixon wrote: Oh good God Bhairitu, Warren has to say that, so some rich hating asshole will *love* him. From: Bhairitunoozg...@sbcglobal.net To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 9:00 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Buffett says Tax the Rich I've told the cracker barrel polemicists here that some of the rich agree with taxing themselves more: Buffett wrote his opinions in an article for The New York Times in which he called on Congress to structure a proper budget that would force the top 0.3% of income earners to accept shared sacrifice. More here: http://www.thestreet.com/story/11220534/1/buffett-tax-the-rich.html But I suppose our FFL pseudo-billionaires will start whining. And for those cracker barrel polemicists who think I'm mean to the poor little big corporations read this book for free online http://www.truthout.org/thom-hartmann-unequal-protection Then maybe, just maybe you may get it.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bob Price bobpriced@... wrote: Response II: Or how bout coming back as Tenzing, knowing full well you had to carry that lout the last half mile. I also wonder what exercises everyone uses to test their perceptions. I personally like to test the process rather than the content. One exercise I practise is staring at women from different distances. I've noticed that many women who are attractive close up are also attractive at a distance and that many women who are not so desirable close up can also look great far away. This could mean different things, although the wife's favourite is maybe its time for a visit to the optometrist. I would propose -- as merely an alternative theory, not in any way a challenge to the wife -- that another explanation is that at our age, when we see women at a distance, what we're really seeing is their auras. The auras are often far more attractive than the women themselves are up close.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bob Price bobpriced@ wrote: Response II: Or how bout coming back as Tenzing, knowing full well you had to carry that lout the last half mile. I also wonder what exercises everyone uses to test their perceptions. I personally like to test the process rather than the content. One exercise I practise is staring at women from different distances. I've noticed that many women who are attractive close up are also attractive at a distance and that many women who are not so desirable close up can also look great far away. This could mean different things, although the wife's favourite is maybe its time for a visit to the optometrist. I would propose -- as merely an alternative theory, not in any way a challenge to the wife -- that another explanation is that at our age, when we see women at a distance, what we're really seeing is their auras. The auras are often far more attractive than the women themselves are up close. BTW Bob, I'm actually fairly serious about this. The aura -- whether we consciously see it or not -- in my view encapsulates the full multi-incarnational profile of the person in question. The aura, to paraphrase Walt Whitman, contains multitudes. The face and body, on the other hand, contain primarily only the successes and samskaras from This Time Around. Boring. I find myself these days far more interested in the full incarnational profile of women I find attractive than I am in just the latest model. To come back to my earlier mention of Isabelle Adjani, she has mentioned in interviews that her decision to portray Queen Margot and Camille Claudel was partially based on the suspicion that she might have actually been those women. In a less beautiful woman I'd write that off as self importance and ego, but with her, based on once having seen her aura at a distance on a Paris street, I'm willing to cut her a break. :-)
Re: [FairfieldLife] Buffett says Tax the Rich
I care because if I were a billionaire, I wouldn't invest any of my money in an economy that was going to keep demanding that I keep subsidizing poverty.When the government subsidizes something, you usually get more of it. I would invest my dollars where I could make a reasonable return on my investment. Billionaires created the company that gave me my first financial break in life, United Parcel Service. That job provided me a very comfortable living for twenty-eight years and a retirement pension that they also guarantee for the first seven years. After that, I'm at the mercy of the Teamsters who will then *manage* my pension. As for I suppose our 'FFL pseudo-billionaires' will start whining comment, nice try at inoculating yourself against your own stupidity. However, I'm neither a billionaire nor even a pseudo-billionaire, I just don't covet other peoples property, nor was I *whining*, just reading between the lines. From: Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 11:34 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Buffett says Tax the Rich What did I say? I suppose our FFL pseudo-billionaires will start whining. Why do you care, Mike, if the billionaires pay a little more in taxes? What have the billionaires ever done for you? I remember the days where most cities and towns had locally owned businesses and few chains? There were plenty of jobs for everyone then. And the top tax rate was 91%. Put that in your chillum and smoke it. On 08/16/2011 11:20 AM, Mike Dixon wrote: Oh good God Bhairitu, Warren has to say that, so some rich hating asshole will *love* him. From: Bhairitunoozg...@sbcglobal.net To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 9:00 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Buffett says Tax the Rich I've told the cracker barrel polemicists here that some of the rich agree with taxing themselves more: Buffett wrote his opinions in an article for The New York Times in which he called on Congress to structure a proper budget that would force the top 0.3% of income earners to accept shared sacrifice. More here: http://www.thestreet.com/story/11220534/1/buffett-tax-the-rich.html But I suppose our FFL pseudo-billionaires will start whining. And for those cracker barrel polemicists who think I'm mean to the poor little big corporations read this book for free online http://www.truthout.org/thom-hartmann-unequal-protection Then maybe, just maybe you may get it.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buffett says Tax the Rich
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Mike Dixon mdixon.6569@... wrote: Oh good God Bhairitu, Warren has to say that, so some rich hating asshole will *love* him. Right, Mike, there's nothing Warren yearns for more than to have the love of rich-hating assholes. He can hardly sleep at night, he's in such pain thinking of how they hate him.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buffett says Tax the Rich
Judy, even billionaires want to be *loved* and when the President of the United States demonizes them and says that billionaires don't pay *their fair share*, I guess some will say just about anything to deflect that criticism. Poor rich Warren, provides so much for so many and can't get the respect he deserves from those 47% that don't pay jack-sh*t in income tax and want him to pay more. Nothing is stopping Buffett from writing an extra check for hundreds of millions to the Treasury of the USA. From: authfriend jst...@panix.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 12:19 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Buffett says Tax the Rich --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Mike Dixon mdixon.6569@... wrote: Oh good God Bhairitu, Warren has to say that, so some rich hating asshole will *love* him. Right, Mike, there's nothing Warren yearns for more than to have the love of rich-hating assholes. He can hardly sleep at night, he's in such pain thinking of how they hate him.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Buffett says Tax the Rich
On 08/16/2011 12:14 PM, Mike Dixon wrote: I care because if I were a billionaire, I wouldn't invest any of my money in an economy that was going to keep demanding that I keep subsidizing poverty.When the government subsidizes something, you usually get more of it. I would invest my dollars where I could make a reasonable return on my investment. So how much do you invest weekly in the lottery which is the only way you'll ever be rich? I think you are confused, the government doesn't subsidize poverty. Now the corporations may want that because they want a bunch of slaves to work their war machine factories. So are you a neo-liberalist? Are you a communist? You probably don't know what the first is and you will say no to the second but neo-liberalism is essentially corporate communism. From your attitude you sound like a shill for neo-liberalism. Billionaires created the company that gave me my first financial break in life, United Parcel Service. Two teenagers founding American Messenger Service in 1907 in Seattle which became UPS. They borrowed $100 to start. Some billionaires, eh? Looks like you don't know much about the company you worked for. :-D That job provided me a very comfortable living for twenty-eight years and a retirement pension that they also guarantee for the first seven years. After that, I'm at the mercy of the Teamsters who will then *manage* my pension. I think the Teamsters want to make sure you actually get your pension rather than getting robbed of it. As for I suppose our 'FFL pseudo-billionaires' will start whining comment, nice try at inoculating yourself against your own stupidity. Why do you think I'm stupid? You're not doing too well in that area yourself. Must be the water in Texas or all the Chrischuns who follow Parry (misspellings intentional). You certainly as predicted rose to the occasion. However, I'm neither a billionaire nor even a pseudo-billionaire, I just don't covet other peoples property, nor was I *whining*, just reading between the lines. Sounds like you're whining. Billionaires covet other people's property so why do you support them? From: Bhairitunoozg...@sbcglobal.net To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 11:34 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Buffett says Tax the Rich What did I say? I suppose our FFL pseudo-billionaires will start whining. Why do you care, Mike, if the billionaires pay a little more in taxes? What have the billionaires ever done for you? I remember the days where most cities and towns had locally owned businesses and few chains? There were plenty of jobs for everyone then. And the top tax rate was 91%. Put that in your chillum and smoke it. On 08/16/2011 11:20 AM, Mike Dixon wrote: Oh good God Bhairitu, Warren has to say that, so some rich hating asshole will *love* him. From: Bhairitunoozg...@sbcglobal.net To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 9:00 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Buffett says Tax the Rich I've told the cracker barrel polemicists here that some of the rich agree with taxing themselves more: Buffett wrote his opinions in an article for The New York Times in which he called on Congress to structure a proper budget that would force the top 0.3% of income earners to accept shared sacrifice. More here: http://www.thestreet.com/story/11220534/1/buffett-tax-the-rich.html But I suppose our FFL pseudo-billionaires will start whining. And for those cracker barrel polemicists who think I'm mean to the poor little big corporations read this book for free online http://www.truthout.org/thom-hartmann-unequal-protection Then maybe, just maybe you may get it.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
From: turquoiseb no_re...@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 12:01:39 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bob Price bobpriced@ wrote: Response II: Or how bout coming back as Tenzing, knowing full well you had to carry that lout the last half mile. I also wonder what exercises everyone uses to test their perceptions. I personally like to test the process rather than the content. One exercise I practise is staring at women from different distances. I've noticed that many women who are attractive close up are also attractive at a distance and that many women who are not so desirable close up can also look great far away. This could mean different things, although the wife's favourite is maybe its time for a visit to the optometrist. I would propose -- as merely an alternative theory, not in any way a challenge to the wife -- that another explanation is that at our age, when we see women at a distance, what we're really seeing is their auras. The auras are often far more attractive than the women themselves are up close. BTW Bob, I'm actually fairly serious about this. The aura -- whether we consciously see it or not -- in my view encapsulates the full multi-incarnational profile of the person in question. The aura, to paraphrase Walt Whitman, contains multitudes. The face and body, on the other hand, contain primarily only the successes and samskaras from This Time Around. Boring. I find myself these days far more interested in the full incarnational profile of women I find attractive than I am in just the latest model. To come back to my earlier mention of Isabelle Adjani, she has mentioned in interviews that her decision to portray Queen Margot and Camille Claudel was partially based on the suspicion that she might have actually been those women. In a less beautiful woman I'd write that off as self importance and ego, but with her, based on once having seen her aura at a distance on a Paris street, I'm willing to cut her a break. :-) This makes complete sense to me and although Isabelle Adjani is truly stunning I'm more interested in all the lives of Eva Green, particularly the one where I was her plumber lover. I don't see time and matter as being very certain, why would I if I believe in something as fantastic as reincarnation---not to mention seeing dead people. My conviction of the reality of transmigration of the soul has a certain 'Billy Pilgrim favour to it. I believe when I die I will become unstuck and heaven knows what time I might end up in. Thats why I run like hell the other way if a woman tells me she was Anne Boleyn in a past life---God knows if it was in her past or just around the corner.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buffett says Tax the Rich
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Mike Dixon mdixon.6569@... wrote: I care because if I were a billionaire, I wouldn't invest any of my money in an economy that was going to keep demanding that I keep subsidizing poverty. The stronger the economy, the less poverty there will be to subsidize. It's called enlightened self-interest. When the government subsidizes something, you usually get more of it. I would invest my dollars where I could make a reasonable return on my investment. It'll take awhile because things are so drastically unbalanced now, but if they ever do get back in balance, you'll start seeing a more than reasonable return on your investment in the economy (i.e., taxes). In any case, if you were a billionaire, after you'd paid your fair share of taxes, you'd have plenty of money left to invest directly in money-making opportunities. Buffet says: Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends. I didn't refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what's happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html?src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB http://tinyurl.com/22kzs You really ought to read the whole thing. It's pretty hard to argue with.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
Well put! Funny how simply getting out of our own way leads to an entirely new vision of life. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, RoryGoff rorygoff@... wrote: Quite so! I suspect that most humans throughout history didn't know they weren't supposed to be able to access multidimensional reality. Today of course we know better, so most of us have the common courtesy to ignore the inevitable anomalies. Amazing, the minutiae that we start to notice when we give up believing and politely pretending we can't perceive them :-) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: Great! I have listened to a lot of people over the years and the things I experience with regard to subtle senses aren't that unusual except possibly wrt consistency. Everybody experiences such things. They aren't as rare as some would believe, nor is the world as small and predictable as many would like to believe.:-) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Ravi Yogi raviyogi@ wrote: Thanks for sharing these experiences Jim :-), I have really enjoyed them. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: To address another assumption of yours, I never have spoken with those I see who have passed on, nor they to me. It is all visual so far. I also do not try to communicate with them - it is a very quiet and subtle experience. Anyway, just wanted to clear that up. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: Hi, I don't consider any of my experiences in terms of what they might look like to others, or from a historical or statistical perspective. That would be a strange way to live, wouldn't it? Always comparing our experience to some sort of cosmic guinness book of world records? What a trap. What a prison. So you find my experiences unusual? OK, I don't. I enjoy sharing such things because they can be commonplace for any of us, and part of my intent is to show that there is nothing special about them, at all. I would never attempt to contact your mom. It is a violation of life to do such a thing, treating her as part of a parlor trick vs. the wonderful kind and perceptive person you have described her to be. You on the other hand could probably get in touch with her directly quite easily, imo. I have nothing to prove. Life is a wonderful and fantastic mystery and will remain so, no matter how much we know. Sure I know about lift and airfoils and step motors and piezoelectric transducers and how they work, and yet I find flight much more fascinating than being with those who have passed on. Maybe that wouldn't be the case if I were a pilot.:-) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: I wanted to investigate a word you used possibly without thinking, to characterize the experience I mentioned before, that of death being an obvious illusion. The word is 'profound'. I absolutely do not consider my experiences of those who have passed on to be 'profound'. Out of the ordinary perhaps, but profound? No way. It has been happening for too long to amaze me. I can understand how this could become common enough to be considered as ordinary, but in the context of human knowledge, a first person account, if credible, of life after death is more than just merely profound. It would be the single most significant revelation of human history. What an experience like this represents is something beyond just a religious belief in an afterlife, but the beginning of an insight born of direct knowledge from perception. The key to confirming it would have to come from some of the other principles of solid epistemology. If I had 5 minutes conversation with my dear old Mom from beyond the grave, I could confirm to my own satisfaction the truth of life beyond death. And each of us would have the ability with a loved one we knew well to verify this kind of perception. Or actually it would require another step because I could easily persuade myself that I was verifying the information I knew myself. So we would need another step. I would tell you a question to ask my mom and she would tell you. Then you would tell me having had written the answer down and put in the hands of someone else beforehand. Houdini wanted to set this type of verification up with his wife, but never contacted her. What I DO consider a *profound* experience is something like what I saw when filling up at a new gas station across from the airport today, a fully loaded 737 landing with absolute precision, and one taking off the same way! That always fills me with awe and wonder, that I am witnessing a profound miracle.:-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buffett says Tax the Rich
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Mike Dixon mdixon.6569@... wrote: Judy, even billionaires want to be *loved* and when the President of the United States demonizes them and says that billionaires don't pay *their fair share*, I guess some will say just about anything to deflect that criticism. Buffet's been saying the same thing for years, Mike. Poor rich Warren, provides so much for so many and can't get the respect he deserves from those 47% that don't pay jack-sh*t in income tax and want him to pay more. They don't make enough money to owe anything in income tax. Of course, they do pay payroll taxes, state tax, sales tax, etc. Wages have been flat for some time. Eighty percent of American workers' wages have risen only 1 percent, adjusted for inflation, since 1979, while productivity has risen 60 percent. But corporate profits are soaring. You want people to earn enough money to pay income tax, start paying them decent wages. Nothing is stopping Buffett from writing an extra check for hundreds of millions to the Treasury of the USA. That's your idea of fair, let Buffet pay it all?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buffett says Tax the Rich
Bhairitu: Must be the water in Texas or all the Chrischuns who follow Parry... Don't you just hate all those 'Chrischuns' who follow Parry!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Fwd: Removing Deep Ama: August MAPI Newsletter
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wleed3 WLeed3@... wrote: Removing Deep Ama By Mark Toomey, Ph.D. Director of Maharishi Ayurveda Programs at The Raj : http://www.theraj.com . Â Â Â Â The original Sanskrit texts of ayurveda make a powerful, wonderful point. It is a secret of health. The texts state that one should: Â âChikitsatam vyadhikaram pathyam sadharanam aushadam prayshitam prakritisthapanprashanam itaman.â Â Oh shucks! They should let someone more proficient in Sanskrit proofread those texts before publishing them... :/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Battle of Evermore - Najma Akhtar
Denise Evans: And, for the record, my friends and I only tried pot once, and we didn't inhale, and we were never paranoid... Maybe so, Denise, but most people get paranoid when they get some pot, because it's illegal in most states, whether or not you inhale it. Some friends just get paranoid when you mention on a public form that you smoked pot with them. Go figure.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Iowans thought they were voting for Batman
Bhairitu: Exit polls taken after the Iowa straw poll... So, that's the issue you want to debate - 'universal hair care for all Americans'. Not government, jobs, the economy, tax reform, defense, or health care. Go figure.
[FairfieldLife] How Not to Start a Campaign
Rick Perry did it by criticizing Bernanke, the Fed Chairman. http://news.yahoo.com/rick-perry-wants-ugly-ben-bernake-053900247.htm
Re: [FairfieldLife] Buffett says Tax the Rich
On Aug 16, 2011, at 3:14 PM, Mike Dixon wrote: I care because if I were a billionaire, I wouldn't invest any of my money in an economy that was going to keep demanding that I keep subsidizing poverty. What ya should be dewin is goin' to Texas and praying to Jaysus witt Goobernor Purry. Jaysus controls this unified field thingy everyone knows. Hell how do ya think santa claws travels faster than light? It's the power of Jaysus and the unified fielders.
[FairfieldLife] Southern Traffic Stop
This is the reverse of what I receive in the South. I am treated with the utmost of respect. Even last Sunday when an officer came by as I was taking a whiz on the shoulder of the Interstate. This happened to be in Chester, South Carolina. Those Southerners have a way with words! * These are actual comments made by South Carolina Troopers that were taken off their car videos: 1. You know, stop lights don't come any redder than the one you just went through. 2. Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch after you wear them a while. 3. If you take your hands off the car, I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document. 4. If you run, you'll only go to jail tired. 5. Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? Because that's the speed of the bullet that'll be chasing you. (LOVE IT) 6. You don't know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket, huh? 7. Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I'm the shift supervisor? 8. Warning! You want a warning? O.K, I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket. 9. The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog? 10. Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy and corn dogs and step in monkey poop. 11. Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven. 12. In God we trust; all others we run through NCIC. ( National Crime Information Center ) 13. Just how big were those 'two beers' you say you had? 14. No sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we can. 15. I'm glad to hear that the Chief (of Police) is a personal friend of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail. AND THE WINNER IS * 16. You didn't think we give pretty women tickets? You're right, we don't. Sign here.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Democratic Base Solidly Behind Obama
Thanks Curtis too! --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: Hi, I don't consider any of my experiences in terms of what they might look like to others, or from a historical or statistical perspective. That would be a strange way to live, wouldn't it? Not for me. I think of it as a natural product of education. Always comparing our experience to some sort of cosmic guinness book of world records? What a trap. What a prison. I'm not sure what that would mean but I guess the idea might be to seek a more complete understanding. At least that is how I live with all the experiences I have had including spiritual ones. So you find my experiences unusual? OK, I don't. I enjoy sharing such things because they can be commonplace for any of us, and part of my intent is to show that there is nothing special about them, at all. Downplaying their effect on you makes sense. Not seeing that they represent something outside the norm doesn't to me. I would never attempt to contact your mom. I wasn't suggesting that. May she rest in peace. I was just speculating on what it would take for me to share your beliefs in what your experience means. Knowing what I know about human fallibility in knowledge it would take more than seeing her was my point. It is a violation of life to do such a thing, treating her as part of a parlor trick vs. the wonderful kind and perceptive person you have described her to be. It wouldn't necessarily be so. If she was contactable as a person now she might be fascinated with the project. You on the other hand could probably get in touch with her directly quite easily, imo. I am happy with the memories of her in life. I don't believe she exists outside that and I am at peace with that. I have nothing to prove. Life is a wonderful and fantastic mystery and will remain so, no matter how much we know. We're just talk' here. I wasn't trying to make you feel as if you have to prove anything. Of course you don't this is your personal experience and interpretation of what it means. Sure I know about lift and airfoils and step motors and piezoelectric transducers and how they work, and yet I find flight much more fascinating than being with those who have passed on. Maybe that wouldn't be the case if I were a pilot.:-) Hopefully it would be more so, I mean if I were in the plane with you in the cockpit! Great rap, thanks. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, whynotnow7 whynotnow7@ wrote: I wanted to investigate a word you used possibly without thinking, to characterize the experience I mentioned before, that of death being an obvious illusion. The word is 'profound'. I absolutely do not consider my experiences of those who have passed on to be 'profound'. Out of the ordinary perhaps, but profound? No way. It has been happening for too long to amaze me. I can understand how this could become common enough to be considered as ordinary, but in the context of human knowledge, a first person account, if credible, of life after death is more than just merely profound. It would be the single most significant revelation of human history. What an experience like this represents is something beyond just a religious belief in an afterlife, but the beginning of an insight born of direct knowledge from perception. The key to confirming it would have to come from some of the other principles of solid epistemology. If I had 5 minutes conversation with my dear old Mom from beyond the grave, I could confirm to my own satisfaction the truth of life beyond death. And each of us would have the ability with a loved one we knew well to verify this kind of perception. Or actually it would require another step because I could easily persuade myself that I was verifying the information I knew myself. So we would need another step. I would tell you a question to ask my mom and she would tell you. Then you would tell me having had written the answer down and put in the hands of someone else beforehand. Houdini wanted to set this type of verification up with his wife, but never contacted her. What I DO consider a *profound* experience is something like what I saw when filling up at a new gas station across from the airport today, a fully loaded 737 landing with absolute precision, and one taking off the same way! That always fills me with awe and wonder, that I am witnessing a profound miracle.:-) I assume you have seen the wonder of flight even longer than you have perceived people who have died standing somewhere. I
[FairfieldLife] Michelle Bachmann: Maybe time travel is possible (back to middle ages!)
Despite having some conservative views towards fiscal issues and other political issues, this woman scares me. According to the link below, she believes in 'submission' to her husband. She has also gone on some scary anti-gay speeches. Regarding submission issues, perhaps her husband is wise and all knowing (though I doubt it). But she's obviously not aware that there are some rather incompetent and unwise men out there that should never be obeyed under any circumstances. I saw her on TV being confronted about her stance on submission and gays/lesbians. She did a very amateur job of disguising what she really meant (IMO). A lot of people I know say she's a breath of fresh air compared to Sarah Palin because of her intellect. My reply is that is what makes her much more dangerous than Palin. http://thenevadaview.com/?p=1170
[FairfieldLife] Re: Battle of Evermore - Najma Akhtar
In California the law was amended by our Governor after the attempt to legalize marijuana a year ago, so that now the only thing that happens if someone is caught with an ounce or less is they are issued a $100 ticket - no record, no misdemeanor, no court appearance and certainly no jail. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, richardwillytexwilliams willytex@... wrote: Denise Evans: And, for the record, my friends and I only tried pot once, and we didn't inhale, and we were never paranoid... Maybe so, Denise, but most people get paranoid when they get some pot, because it's illegal in most states, whether or not you inhale it. Some friends just get paranoid when you mention on a public form that you smoked pot with them. Go figure.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Michelle Bachmann: Maybe time travel is possible (back to middle ages!)
Yabut, she has great eyes: http://bachmanneyezed.tumblr.com/ --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, seekliberation seekliberation@... wrote: Despite having some conservative views towards fiscal issues and other political issues, this woman scares me. According to the link below, she believes in 'submission' to her husband. She has also gone on some scary anti-gay speeches. Regarding submission issues, perhaps her husband is wise and all knowing (though I doubt it). But she's obviously not aware that there are some rather incompetent and unwise men out there that should never be obeyed under any circumstances. I saw her on TV being confronted about her stance on submission and gays/lesbians. She did a very amateur job of disguising what she really meant (IMO). A lot of people I know say she's a breath of fresh air compared to Sarah Palin because of her intellect. My reply is that is what makes her much more dangerous than Palin. http://thenevadaview.com/?p=1170
[FairfieldLife] Re: Michelle Bachmann: Maybe time travel is possible (back to middle ages!)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, seekliberation seekliberation@... wrote: Despite having some conservative views towards fiscal issues and other political issues, this woman scares me. According to the link below, she believes in 'submission' to her husband. She has also gone on some scary anti-gay speeches. Regarding submission issues, perhaps her husband is wise and all knowing (though I doubt it). But she's obviously not aware that there are some rather incompetent and unwise men out there that should never be obeyed under any circumstances. I saw her on TV being confronted about her stance on submission and gays/lesbians. She did a very amateur job of disguising what she really meant (IMO). A lot of people I know say she's a breath of fresh air compared to Sarah Palin because of her intellect. My reply is that is what makes her much more dangerous than Palin. Palin's actually smarter than many people give her credit for. She just doesn't *speak* coherently, especially compared to Bachmann. I wouldn't give Bachmann smart points over Palin. Smarts aside, Bachmann is basically a nutcase. Her positions are *much* more extreme than Palin's, and a lot of the time she really doesn't know what the hell she's talking about-- again, more so than Palin, even. See here for a sampling: http://factcheck.org/2011/06/bachmanns-waterloo/ It's often not clear whether people like Bachmann are confused or deluded, or are deliberately telling falsehoods. Whichever is the case, she tells a boatload of 'em. She gives so many people the collywobbles, including some Republicans, that I don't think she has much chance of winning the Republican nomination. It's almost too bad, because if she did, she'd be just about guaranteed to lose the election (although she might end up as the VP candidate if Perry were to win the presidential nomination). As to your friends who say she's a breath of fresh air, it's hard to know how to respond. What have they been breathing up till now, mustard gas?
[FairfieldLife] Alan Watts giving a demonstration of Zen in the art of flower arranging . . .
... rather annoyingly breaks into this delightful performance by Sylvie Vartan of La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser. You can see why John Lennon had the hots for her. The most seductive performance you'll see on YouTube. Hair to die for. http://alturl.com/uh6rr
[FairfieldLife] Ed Schultz outright lies on MSNBC
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/08/16/msnbcs_ed_schultz_selectively_edits_video_to_make_perry_look_racist.html
[FairfieldLife] Post Count
Fairfield Life Post Counter === Start Date (UTC): Sat Aug 13 00:00:00 2011 End Date (UTC): Sat Aug 20 00:00:00 2011 460 messages as of (UTC) Tue Aug 16 23:52:39 2011 49 authfriend jst...@panix.com 37 Yifu yifux...@yahoo.com 37 Denise Evans dmevans...@yahoo.com 33 Tom Pall thomas.p...@gmail.com 26 whynotnow7 whynotn...@yahoo.com 24 curtisdeltablues curtisdeltabl...@yahoo.com 24 Bob Price bobpri...@yahoo.com 23 seventhray1 steve.sun...@sbcglobal.net 23 RoryGoff roryg...@hotmail.com 21 turquoiseb no_re...@yahoogroups.com 19 Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net 18 Ravi Yogi raviy...@att.net 13 obbajeeba no_re...@yahoogroups.com 12 Buck dhamiltony...@yahoo.com 10 richardwillytexwilliams willy...@yahoo.com 10 Vaj vajradh...@earthlink.net 10 do.rflex do.rf...@yahoo.com 9 cardemaister no_re...@yahoogroups.com 8 nablusoss1008 no_re...@yahoogroups.com 7 wgm4u wg...@yahoo.com 6 Mark Landau m...@sky5.com 5 Alex Stanley j_alexander_stan...@yahoo.com 4 sparaig lengli...@cox.net 4 raunchydog raunchy...@yahoo.com 4 emptybill emptyb...@yahoo.com 4 wle...@aol.com 4 Mike Dixon mdixon.6...@yahoo.com 3 Seraphita s3raph...@yahoo.com 2 wleed3 wle...@aol.com 2 merlin vedamer...@yahoo.de 2 Rick Archer r...@searchsummit.com 2 John jr_...@yahoo.com 1 seekliberation seekliberat...@yahoo.com 1 Xenophaneros Anartaxius anartax...@yahoo.com 1 Sal Sunshine salsunsh...@lisco.com 1 Robert babajii...@yahoo.com 1 Bill Coop williamgc...@gmail.com Posters: 37 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] NSFW
by J. Kukowski http://www.museumsyndicate.com/images/5/47645.jpg
[FairfieldLife] Port
by J. Jerka. Is this the port people arrive at after crossing the Sea of Samsara? http://www.surrealizm.ovh.org/jacek_yerka/Jacek_Yerka_port.html
[FairfieldLife] 'The real dark dude who shot JFK'...
'Why is this relevant, if this is 'ancient history?'... Because if Kennedy's Assassination was a 'Coup'...by the 'Military Industrial Drug Empire' Then this proves a conspiracy(because the 'official view' is that it was a 'lone assassin' theory of what happened, dah!') And, because these same forces now running our country, more or less... They killed Kennedy, made a mockery of Carter, attempted to destroy President's Clinton and now President Barack Obama... And now, these guys and girls...are making their 'last stand' in order to preserve thier financial power over the entire world. As well as pressuring President Obama to do 'as they say'... http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/confession2.htm
[FairfieldLife] Wiosna
by J. Yerka Wiosna: (possibly a weird planet populated by Swans?) http://www.surrealizm.ovh.org/jacek_yerka/Jacek_Yerka_wiosna.html
[FairfieldLife] Web O' Sin
Shows an evolutionary stage in the development of David Sandlin on his way to becoming the Swamp Preacher. He gets caught up in a Web O' Sin but then learns how to feast on the sins, making himself stronger. http://www.laluzdejesus.com/shows/previousshows/2008/sandlin/sandlin7.jpg
[FairfieldLife] Sandlin's birth as the Swamp Preacher
Depicts Sandlin's rebirth, fulfilling his true Nature as the incipient Swamp Preacher.: http://www.laluzdejesus.com/shows/previousshows/2008/sandlin/sandlin10.jpg
[FairfieldLife] Re: Mantra Meditation
Amma says true meditation is a state of the mind, an experience. Those who pray to God [the Unified Field} and meditate on Him [It} sincerely will not feel a shortage of anything that is essential. That is God's resolve. It is Amma's own experience. Constant thought directed to God [] is meditation, like the flow of a river. Meditation is good even for small children. Their intelligence will become clear, memory will increase and they will learn well. Children, you can find the secret of bliss when you think of the nature of the Self. The waves of the mind will subside. Everything is there in you already. -Amma Dear children, when you sit for meditation, do not think that you can still your mind immediately. At first, you should relax all parts of your body. Loosen your clothes if they are too tight. Make sure that the spine is erect. Then close your eyes and concentrate your mind on your breath. You should be aware of your inhalation and exhalation. We should become aware of the process. Then the mind will be wakeful. As you sit like that for a while, your mind will become calm. You can continue the meditation by focusing attention on your breath. Or you can start meditation on the form of your beloved deity. Worship becomes easy when we assign a specific form to Brahman (Absolute Reality), Manasa Puja (mental worship). -Ammachi It is always advisable to obtain a mantra from a Self-Realized Master (Sat-Guru). Until then we may use one of the mantras of our beloved deity like Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, Om Namo Narayanaya, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hari Om, Om Parashaktyai Namaha, Om Shivashaktyaikya Rupinyai Namaha or even the names of Christ, Allah or Buddha. -Ammachi Amma stresses that you need to have the conviction that there is nothing greater than remembering God. Then you will find the time even in the midst of all your work to do meditation. As soon as you get up, meditate for ten minutes. After your bath, meditate again for half an hour. In the beginning, it is enough to meditate for a short time. After that, you can do your chores. Any work you do with japa and constant remembrance of God is also meditation. -Ammachi Amma says that the purpose of mantra japa(chanting) is to lead us to the ultimate silence of the Self, from where all sounds and forms arise. Further, in the present age of materialism, chanting the mantra (japa), is the easiest way for us to obtain inner purification and concentration. -Ammachi Each syllable of a divine name - such as Krishna or Jesus - has vibrations which change the atmosphere. Any object that we think about repeatedly generates its own vibration. Even though mantras are strong and powerful, we may not feel the effects immediately but results will come. One can feel the differences in the vibrations of words. Using the word, one can make things change. -Mother Meera Close your eyes and sit in silence and do japa on any divine name. -Mother Meera Find a position to sit, on the floor or in a chair, that you will be comfortable in for an entire session. Use a position that will allow you to keep your backbone straight, with your head and neck aligned with your spine. When we sit upright with a straight spine, the energy generated by meditation can circulate freely throughout our body without being blocked. -Karunamayi As you start your meditation, Amma recommends that you can use a mantra to help silence and focus your mind. If you are accustomed to using only a particular mantra during meditation and would like to continue with that, please feel free to do so. -Karunamayi If you wish to continue with your mantra, it is not necessary to ask Amma if you should use it or Saraswati or Gayatri Mantra or not. Divine Mother has blessed you with abundant powers of intellect and spiritual discrimination. You are welcome to use your discrimination to decide which mantra you feel is best. -Karunamayi What ever you decide, it is important to come to meditation without any doubts or questions. -Karunamayi
[FairfieldLife] Re: Transcendental meditation gaining momentum
Subject: Re: Meditation Nation: Critical Eye : Details FW: I have such mixed emotions about this...it's almost like practicing yoga asana for the sole purpose of having a nice ass. Yogananda says that unless you are concentrating on God in meditation it is only concentration, not meditation. Does the mantra make it about God and the meditator not know it? Even still, is it still really meditation? I have trouble with the fact that Howard Stern can still have women masturbating on the radio for pure entertainment and claim the benefits of meditation. Does meditation become a way of just easing his (anyone's) consciousness? Much like a friend of mine takes communion at church... --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shukra69 shukra69@... wrote: Transcendental meditation is gaining momentum as models, actors and entrepreneurs flock to classes to receive their mantra. http://www.vogue.com.au/beauty/beauty+insider/the+transcendental+path+to+relaxation,13665
[FairfieldLife] 'Values of the 'Tea Party Republicans'...
These are 'Tea Party Values: 'Arrogance'='My way or the Highway'... 'Lies and Decieit'... 'Compassion-Less'.. 'Gold'='God' 'Food Stamps?'= 'Let them eat Cake!'...
[FairfieldLife] Re: Fwd: Holes - and a whole lot of truth!
Yeah, but how big is the Universe? How big is space? How huge is 'Akasha'... AAA KKAASH --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wleed3 WLeed3@... wrote: These holes are not only amazing, but some are really terrifying! The sheer scale of these holes reminds you of just how tiny we are. Kimberley Big Hole - South Africa unknown.jpg Apparently the largest ever hand-dug excavation in the world, this 1097 meter deep mine yielded over 3 tons of diamonds before being closed. Glory Hole - Monticello Dam, California unknown_1.jpg A glory hole is used when a dam is at full capacity and water needs to be drained from the reservoir. It is the largest spillway of this type in the world and consumes 14,400 cubic feet of water every second. Great Blue Hole , Belize unknown_2.jpg This incredible geographical phenomenon known as a blue hole is situated 60 miles off the mainland of Belize . There are numerous blue holes around the world, but none as stunning as this one. Sinkhole in, Guatemala unknown_3.jpg These photos are of a sinkhole that occurred in Guatemala . The hole swallowed 2 dozen homes and killed at least 3 people. Washington D.C. unknown_4.jpg Regardless if you are Republican or Democrat. This hole swallows trillions and trillions of U.S. Dollars annually! The money that falls into this hole is never heard from again, nor do we see any good come from it. It is reported to be filled with hundreds of ass holes.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Fwd: Holes - and a whole lot of truth!
http://www.startlingart.com/Viewer.asp?ImageSource=fine_artFileName=Cosmic_Kitchen --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Robert babajii_99@... wrote: Yeah, but how big is the Universe? How big is space? How huge is 'Akasha'... AAA KKAASH --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wleed3 WLeed3@ wrote: These holes are not only amazing, but some are really terrifying! The sheer scale of these holes reminds you of just how tiny we are. Kimberley Big Hole - South Africa unknown.jpg Apparently the largest ever hand-dug excavation in the world, this 1097 meter deep mine yielded over 3 tons of diamonds before being closed. Glory Hole - Monticello Dam, California unknown_1.jpg A glory hole is used when a dam is at full capacity and water needs to be drained from the reservoir. It is the largest spillway of this type in the world and consumes 14,400 cubic feet of water every second. Great Blue Hole , Belize unknown_2.jpg This incredible geographical phenomenon known as a blue hole is situated 60 miles off the mainland of Belize . There are numerous blue holes around the world, but none as stunning as this one. Sinkhole in, Guatemala unknown_3.jpg These photos are of a sinkhole that occurred in Guatemala . The hole swallowed 2 dozen homes and killed at least 3 people. Washington D.C. unknown_4.jpg Regardless if you are Republican or Democrat. This hole swallows trillions and trillions of U.S. Dollars annually! The money that falls into this hole is never heard from again, nor do we see any good come from it. It is reported to be filled with hundreds of ass holes.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Transcendental meditation gaining momentum
Mixed emotions is understandable. If one is famous with money, the rules go out the door. If one is a step away from those items of definition, one must behave, themselves or face a back turning order, in particular to the idolization for fundraising needs, if you don't have the extra dough, don't come a knockin and keep your nose clean. The need is there to raise money, but at what cost? How many are turned away for living their lives in spontaneous right action or is spontaneous right action supposed to be approved first? Open the domes for those who have been sent away for minor offenses, like reading a book of another Guru, seeing another Guru or writing a book about a subject that is universally known in the universe, applying too much vata oil to your dome blankey, and snoring? lol Tight butts are fad! Get with the program, will ya? ; ) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Buck dhamiltony2k5@... wrote: Subject: Re: Meditation Nation: Critical Eye : Details FW: I have such mixed emotions about this...it's almost like practicing yoga asana for the sole purpose of having a nice ass. Yogananda says that unless you are concentrating on God in meditation it is only concentration, not meditation. Does the mantra make it about God and the meditator not know it? Even still, is it still really meditation? I have trouble with the fact that Howard Stern can still have women masturbating on the radio for pure entertainment and claim the benefits of meditation. Does meditation become a way of just easing his (anyone's) consciousness? Much like a friend of mine takes communion at church... --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shukra69 shukra69@ wrote: Transcendental meditation is gaining momentum as models, actors and entrepreneurs flock to classes to receive their mantra. http://www.vogue.com.au/beauty/beauty+insider/the+transcendental+path+to+relaxation,13665
[FairfieldLife] Re: Secular Spirituality
good critique Turq that gets at a problem. Right up there along with with that economic short-selling one of yours before too. Original. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: Today I found myself remembering something Vaj said -- that one of the reasons mindfulness is making inroads into PC-sensitive environments such as publicly-funded schools, in which other techniques such as TM might encounter difficulties, is that mindfulness can be completely secularized. It can be divorced from its origins in a tradition that can be seen as religious and presented without any of its original trappings in Buddhism. You don't even need a Buddhist to teach it; any layman or teacher or therapist can learn its principles and teach them to others. It's the spiritual equivalent of open source software. The debate between secularists and religious believers is now hopelessly out of date and obscures a much more important perspective in contemporary religious culture. This new perspective is best described as spiritual but not religious, or holistic. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/mar/02/holistic-religious-atheist-census In comparison, TM is very much proprietary source software. It cannot really ever be completely divorced from its origins in Hindu (or, if you prefer, Vedic) trappings. To teach it, a person has to not only be specially trained by the organization that holds the copyrights (literally) to the source code of its tradition, he or she has to perform rituals that can easily be construed as religious, prior to imparting mantras that can just as easily be construed as being the names of gods and goddesses. You can argue that this isn't true all you want, but I suspect that even the arguers will admit that there is a strong case to be made for a 1-to-1 link being present between TM and an established religious tradition. That creates problems in some environments. The dedicated people in those environments -- teachers, therapists, health care professionals and even law enforcement or prison officials -- are DYING for techniques that would help the people they're dedicated to helping. But many of these people are also very Politically Correct savvy, and realize that if they introduce a technique or set of techniques into their environment that is PC-controversial, the controversy is pretty much guaranteed to hit the fan. That's just the nature of the times we live in. All of this thinking about Vaj's mention of this idea of a secularized spiritual practice got me to thinking up questions, which I pass along to Vaj or to anyone else here: What would a completely secularized set of meditation and self-development techniques LOOK LIKE? If you were to design one or speculate about one, what would it involve and not involve? Which elements from traditional spiritual practices would you preserve, and which would you not? If the meditation practices you suggest use mantras, where would they come from? If the meditation practices don't involve mantras, what would they be? For example, some techniques rely on visualization, either inwardly or with the eyes open, on certain designs (yantras, mandalas) or individuals (gods, goddesses, saints). Would you use these same objects of focus, or others? If others, what would they be? How would you make this technique or set of techniques attractive to people who could benefit from them without relying on the appeal to 'lineage' or 'tradition?' Do you feel that such a secularized spiritual practice would be a Good Thing or a Bad Thing? Would one approach be inherently better or more effective and the other...uh...less? And if so, WHY? I have no easy answers. If you do, fire away. I am interested both as a spiritual sociologist and as a fan of science fiction. Writers in the SF genre have speculated about secularized spirituality for decades. Heck, one SF author even went out and created his own version of one, and has gazillions of followers. But in the process he copped out and called it a religion. What would you come up with if you were trying to do the opposite?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Transcendental meditation gaining momentum
Mixed emotions are understandable. If one is famous with money, the rules go out the door. If one is a step away from those items of definition, one must, behave themselves or face a back turning order, in particular to the idolization for fundraising needs, if you don't have the extra dough, don't come a knockin and keep your nose clean. The need is there to raise money, but at what cost? How many are turned away for living their lives in spontaneous right action who donate a good portion of their regular living dough? Is spontaneous right action supposed to be approved first? Open the domes for those who have been sent away for minor offenses, like reading a book of another Guru, seeing another Guru or writing a book about a subject that is universally known in the universe, applying too much vata oil to your dome blankey, or snoring? lol Tight butts are fad! Get with the program, will ya? ; ) Yes, I deleted the other post and reposted. LOL Late night, long day. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Buck dhamiltony2k5@... wrote: Subject: Re: Meditation Nation: Critical Eye : Details FW: I have such mixed emotions about this...it's almost like practicing yoga asana for the sole purpose of having a nice ass. Yogananda says that unless you are concentrating on God in meditation it is only concentration, not meditation. Does the mantra make it about God and the meditator not know it? Even still, is it still really meditation? I have trouble with the fact that Howard Stern can still have women masturbating on the radio for pure entertainment and claim the benefits of meditation. Does meditation become a way of just easing his (anyone's) consciousness? Much like a friend of mine takes communion at church... --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shukra69 shukra69@ wrote: Transcendental meditation is gaining momentum as models, actors and entrepreneurs flock to classes to receive their mantra. http://www.vogue.com.au/beauty/beauty+insider/the+transcendental+path+to+relaxation,13665
[FairfieldLife] Re: Michelle Bachmann: Maybe time travel is possible (back to middle ages!)
http://www.therightscoop.com/sarah-palin-talks-to-cnn-at-the-fair/ --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, seekliberation seekliberation@... wrote: Despite having some conservative views towards fiscal issues and other political issues, this woman scares me. According to the link below, she believes in 'submission' to her husband. She has also gone on some scary anti-gay speeches. Regarding submission issues, perhaps her husband is wise and all knowing (though I doubt it). But she's obviously not aware that there are some rather incompetent and unwise men out there that should never be obeyed under any circumstances. I saw her on TV being confronted about her stance on submission and gays/lesbians. She did a very amateur job of disguising what she really meant (IMO). A lot of people I know say she's a breath of fresh air compared to Sarah Palin because of her intellect. My reply is that is what makes her much more dangerous than Palin. http://thenevadaview.com/?p=1170 What intellect? A measure of Bachmann's intellect would be her ability to give a non-scripted interview that isn't riddled with Tea Party talking points. Her speeches and interviews are robotic. Spontaneity and a sense of humor is not the strong suit of a religious zealot. Palin is much smarter than Bachmann. At the Iowa State Fair, Palin recently gave a terrific impromptu interview IMO. There's no pretense. She is who she is, take it or leave it. Her naturalness and down home style is quite charming. It's easy to see why people are attracted to her. Reporters asked her about Bachmann's submission to her husband comment. Watch the ease with which Palin handles the question 07:25. http://www.therightscoop.com/sarah-palin-talks-to-cnn-at-the-fair/
[FairfieldLife] I'm not a big I toll ya so guy
But! John Stewart just said that Obama's slogan is I thought I could, but it turns out that the other guys are assholes! I called the other guys, is all I'm say'n.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Michelle Bachmann: Maybe time travel is possible (back to middle ages!)
What intellect? A measure of Bachmann's intellect would be her ability to give a non-scripted interview that isn't riddled with Tea Party talking points. Her speeches and interviews are robotic. Spontaneity and a sense of humor is not the strong suit of a religious zealot. Palin is much smarter than Bachmann. At the Iowa State Fair, Palin recently gave a terrific impromptu interview IMO. There's no pretense. She is who she is, take it or leave it. Her naturalness and down home style is quite charming. It's easy to see why people are attracted to her. Reporters asked her about Bachmann's submission to her husband comment. Watch the ease with which Palin handles the question at 07:25. http://www.therightscoop.com/sarah-palin-talks-to-cnn-at-the-fair/ --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, seekliberation seekliberation@... wrote: Despite having some conservative views towards fiscal issues and other political issues, this woman scares me. According to the link below, she believes in 'submission' to her husband. She has also gone on some scary anti-gay speeches. Regarding submission issues, perhaps her husband is wise and all knowing (though I doubt it). But she's obviously not aware that there are some rather incompetent and unwise men out there that should never be obeyed under any circumstances. I saw her on TV being confronted about her stance on submission and gays/lesbians. She did a very amateur job of disguising what she really meant (IMO). A lot of people I know say she's a breath of fresh air compared to Sarah Palin because of her intellect. My reply is that is what makes her much more dangerous than Palin. http://thenevadaview.com/?p=1170
[FairfieldLife] Re: Michelle Bachmann: Maybe time travel is possible (back to middle ages!)
What intellect? A measure of Bachmann's intellect would be her ability to give a non-scripted interview that isn't riddled with Tea Party talking points or Jesus. Her speeches and interviews are robotic. Spontaneity and a sense of humor is not the strong suit of a religious zealot. Palin is much smarter than Bachmann. At the Iowa State Fair, Palin recently gave a terrific impromptu interview IMO. There's no pretense. She is who she is, take it or leave it. Her naturalness and down home style is quite charming. It's easy to see why people are attracted to her. Reporters asked her about Bachmann's submission to her husband comment. Watch the ease with which Palin handles the question 04:20. http://www.therightscoop.com/sarah-palin-talks-to-cnn-at-the-fair/ --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, seekliberation seekliberation@... wrote: Despite having some conservative views towards fiscal issues and other political issues, this woman scares me. According to the link below, she believes in 'submission' to her husband. She has also gone on some scary anti-gay speeches. Regarding submission issues, perhaps her husband is wise and all knowing (though I doubt it). But she's obviously not aware that there are some rather incompetent and unwise men out there that should never be obeyed under any circumstances. I saw her on TV being confronted about her stance on submission and gays/lesbians. She did a very amateur job of disguising what she really meant (IMO). A lot of people I know say she's a breath of fresh air compared to Sarah Palin because of her intellect. My reply is that is what makes her much more dangerous than Palin. http://thenevadaview.com/?p=1170
[FairfieldLife] Re: Buffett says Tax the Rich
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, richardwillytexwilliams willytex@... wrote: Bhairitu: Must be the water in Texas or all the Chrischuns who follow Parry... Don't you just hate all those 'Chrischuns' who follow Parry! Is Rick Perry the 'Current Form of the Anti-Christ'... Standing for everything 'corporate' and against everything that Jesus Christ taught us all... What do you think? Come on don't be shy? Speak up or forever hold your peace...
[FairfieldLife] 'Coke, Pepsi or Triclele Down Blues'..
The Trickle Down Blues.. I heard the Republicans had a Tea Party... And now want to elect their current version of Ronald the Reagan... In the form of Richard Perry, of Texas... Now you all have a short memory span, I must say, You Amerikans, you too, Dallas... You Amerikans must have a really short sort of short-curcuited memory eraser span..? 'Because ya'll must have forgot our most recent experiences with two of your fellow Amerikans, Namely the good [ol' boys from Texarcana Way, by the way of LBJ, and Good ol' boy, our down homey himself, Georgie W...daddy's little boy toy... Sad, you Amerikans, can't see the forest for the treess Think you got to put all that money in gold... Gotta pull the rug from under the poor and disadvantaged just to hold onto a little more egoic power, which will never really be fulfilled...right? You too Mr. Murdoch, maybe your day is coming a soon too... Hope so. Keep hope alive, Elect President Obama for a Second Term... Defeat the sleezey right wing facist Republican Party Nominee,] whomever they may be]
[FairfieldLife] Re: Michelle Bachmann: Maybe time travel is possible (back to middle ages!)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, seekliberation seekliberation@... wrote: snip A lot of people I know say she's a breath of fresh air compared to Sarah Palin because of her intellect. My reply is that is what makes her much more dangerous than Palin. You know, in that interview video raunchy linked to, Palin makes a point I'm embarrassed to say didn't even occur to me when I wrote my earlier response. I suppose it's natural to compare the two women in what has been up to now almost exclusively a men's field, but if you think about it, it's actually pretty sexist. Why wouldn't one ask, for example, whether Bachmann is a breath of fresh air compared to Romney, or whether she's more dangerous than Perry? How does her intellect compare to Santorum's? (Palin really is charming in that interview, BTW, totally unself-conscious. It's a real drag she's so wrong about so many things. Did like her response to the submission issue, though.) That's 50 and out for me this week; see yez next.
[FairfieldLife] Washington Post on Perry's Christian prayer summit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/jesus-please-fix-texas-because-governor-perry-cant/2011/07/13/gIQAZZ2OCI_blog.html
[FairfieldLife] 'JFK II' follow up to Oliver Stone's version'
Traces how the Bush family was involved in the JFK thingy... http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/JFK2.htm
[FairfieldLife] Re: 'JFK II' follow up to Oliver Stone's version'
Also describes Bush's nazi party affiliation and how it has influenced events then and now... --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Robert babajii_99@... wrote: Traces how the Bush family was involved in the JFK thingy... http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/JFK2.htm
[FairfieldLife] Re: Secular Spirituality
Always had the old school name:Non-reader --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Buck dhamiltony2k5@... wrote: good critique Turq that gets at a problem. Right up there along with with that economic short-selling one of yours before too. Original. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: Today I found myself remembering something Vaj said -- that one of the reasons mindfulness is making inroads into PC-sensitive environments such as publicly-funded schools, in which other techniques such as TM might encounter difficulties, is that mindfulness can be completely secularized. It can be divorced from its origins in a tradition that can be seen as religious and presented without any of its original trappings in Buddhism. You don't even need a Buddhist to teach it; any layman or teacher or therapist can learn its principles and teach them to others. It's the spiritual equivalent of open source software. The debate between secularists and religious believers is now hopelessly out of date and obscures a much more important perspective in contemporary religious culture. This new perspective is best described as spiritual but not religious, or holistic. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/mar/02/holistic-religious-atheist-census In comparison, TM is very much proprietary source software. It cannot really ever be completely divorced from its origins in Hindu (or, if you prefer, Vedic) trappings. To teach it, a person has to not only be specially trained by the organization that holds the copyrights (literally) to the source code of its tradition, he or she has to perform rituals that can easily be construed as religious, prior to imparting mantras that can just as easily be construed as being the names of gods and goddesses. You can argue that this isn't true all you want, but I suspect that even the arguers will admit that there is a strong case to be made for a 1-to-1 link being present between TM and an established religious tradition. That creates problems in some environments. The dedicated people in those environments -- teachers, therapists, health care professionals and even law enforcement or prison officials -- are DYING for techniques that would help the people they're dedicated to helping. But many of these people are also very Politically Correct savvy, and realize that if they introduce a technique or set of techniques into their environment that is PC-controversial, the controversy is pretty much guaranteed to hit the fan. That's just the nature of the times we live in. All of this thinking about Vaj's mention of this idea of a secularized spiritual practice got me to thinking up questions, which I pass along to Vaj or to anyone else here: What would a completely secularized set of meditation and self-development techniques LOOK LIKE? If you were to design one or speculate about one, what would it involve and not involve? Which elements from traditional spiritual practices would you preserve, and which would you not? If the meditation practices you suggest use mantras, where would they come from? If the meditation practices don't involve mantras, what would they be? For example, some techniques rely on visualization, either inwardly or with the eyes open, on certain designs (yantras, mandalas) or individuals (gods, goddesses, saints). Would you use these same objects of focus, or others? If others, what would they be? How would you make this technique or set of techniques attractive to people who could benefit from them without relying on the appeal to 'lineage' or 'tradition?' Do you feel that such a secularized spiritual practice would be a Good Thing or a Bad Thing? Would one approach be inherently better or more effective and the other...uh...less? And if so, WHY? I have no easy answers. If you do, fire away. I am interested both as a spiritual sociologist and as a fan of science fiction. Writers in the SF genre have speculated about secularized spirituality for decades. Heck, one SF author even went out and created his own version of one, and has gazillions of followers. But in the process he copped out and called it a religion. What would you come up with if you were trying to do the opposite?
