How could you know the universe had an end, if it's still here? When are you?
Did you mean 'has'?
From: "jr_...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2014 4:58 PM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hawking: 'There
According to the current theories, time and space did not exist before the
universe. Space-time simply emerged. Therefore asking what happened before
makes no sense, because there was no time. And because space did not exist,
there was nowhere for what could not have happened before, to be. But
This is perhaps not a matter of proof. Matter and energy are defined as
physical. They are tokenised by the mind as such. Then the mind can manipulate
them as such. You could just as well tokenise them as consciousness, and see
where that leads in musing about the world. It is not a matter of re
Mathematicians, Physicists, Computer Scientists, and Evolutionists have shown
experimentally that high levels of complexity can arise out of very simple
systems so that the appearance of intelligence can be an emergent property of
simple starting parameters. So it does not appear to be necessary
From: "jr_...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2014 4:29 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hawking: 'There is no God'
Xeno,
The problem with Hawking's approach is that he is hung up with mat
From: "jr_...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2014 7:20 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hawking: 'There is no God'
Xeno,
IMO, Hawking is missing something very substantial that he, as a scien
Barry usually stops posting at about 20:00±1 hour GMT. So I will pipe in until
he returns to the light of European day. There are three scenarios:
1. the universe created itself
2. the universe did not create itself
3. the universe is here, but was never created in the f
Note that one state, in the article cited, West Virginia, had an up-tick in
crime. This is the state where American Purusha has their facility. Earth
shaking results indeed!
'Holder added that "the one state — West Virginia — with the greatest increase
in its incarceration rate actually experie
been shot in the desert that
edge enhancement would probably not be there. Plus folks are now pointing to a
similar scene in a Turkish TV drama which aired a month before the first video
and it was definitely done green screen.
On 09/25/2014 12:20 PM, Xenophaneros Anartaxius anartax...@yahoo.com
[
ideo). By what you say the darker
blue sky and the lighter desert should have edge enhancement but doesn't though
the prisoner and the executioner do.
On 09/24/2014 02:35 PM, Xenophaneros Anartaxius anartax...@yahoo.com
[FairfieldLife] wrote:
>Edge enhancement is greatest where c
s our duty, and, more than
that, because it is our honour.''
-President Francois Hollande, who condemned the killing as "cruel and cowardly".
"As transcendentalists will never cede to the terrorism of ignorance because it
is our duty, and, more than that, because i
Of course, it is too technical for me too, but you can read the abstract and
the conclusion, which tends to be more readable in scientific papers. For
example she said, at the end, 'stars may explode', but the science articles did
not print that qualification. Sometimes there are pretty pictures
Edge enhancement is greatest where contrast is greatest, such as between a dark
object and a light background and vice versa. Where the contrast is less, when
the tones are similar in brightness, the edge effect of sharpening is less, for
a given degree of sharpening. The result is edge artefact
Here is an additional link to the information: Researcher shows that black
holes do not exist
Researcher shows that black holes do not exist
Black holes have long captured the public imagination and been the subject of
popular culture, from Star Trek to Hollywood. They are the ul
These questions occur because life does not fit into neat categories. Whatever
one loves the most, or even just likes the most, inspires devotion to that.
People in basest ignorance can be very devoted. All CC does is create the
impression that consciousness or awareness is separate from thought
@yahoogroups.com"
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 3:00 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi: When one starts TM, cruder values
are replaced by finer values, speech is less sharp
From: "Xenophaneros Anartaxius anartax...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
EMPATHY
EMPATHY: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. If you
have empathy, then you ought to be able to understand and share the feelings by
MJ and Turq, and see their point of view as a valid expression of life.
According to some posters here I have no feelings, so you can skip
Jim, you might be a little premature in this dismissal. Below is some of the
research results on mindfulness from Harris' book. And I have some comments on
my own after that.
Long-term meditation practice is also associated with a variety of structural
changes in the brain. Meditators tend to
I have to head for the hospital in a moment but I am curious. How do you
experience inner versus outer? What is that like for you? If you replay I can
read it later, if there is a later.
From: "fleetwood_macnche...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLife
Yes, I always found the media presentations of the movement made me cringe. A
complete lack of awareness of how ordinary people think, totally unslick. But
then a strong belief system makes one unaware of other viewpoints.
Below, how Pachelbel's Canon probably sounded at the time he wrote it, a
As we have been reviewing a particular book this past day, I went to amazon.com
and looked at the review pages of a number of books. Amazon.com has a five-star
rating system for books. Most books seem to have a large number of five-star
ratings and much smaller numbers of 4, 3, 2, and 2-star rat
I have not yet finished Harris's book, I am in the middle of Chapter 5, so I
cannot say I have read the book, just most of it. I found his analysis of the
precariousness of the guru-disciple relationship more spot on than in the book
The Guru Papers that 'Emily' mentioned some time ago, which br
From: "awoelfleba...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2014 2:29 AM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Good quote from Sam Harris' new book passed
along from a former FFL poster
---In Fairfield
From: "fleetwood_macnche...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2014 11:07 PM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] thoughts on samskaras and enlightenment - CC to UC
I was thinking more about Bhairitu's comment
From: "awoelfleba...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2014 1:30 PM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Good quote from Sam Harris' new book passed along
from a former FFL poster
Xeno, although seemi
Let's pretend I read this. What are the reasons that this statement you made to
Barry does not apply to you, or say to me? Exactly how does one experientially
and empirically parse the statement 'I am enlightened (or not)' versus, say,
'he is enlightened (or not). What is the criterion or criter
My read folder Ann, contains certain posters who tend to not just post one
liners or irrelevant comments. Edg is in the read post. Another criterion for
this folder is a person does not post excessively. As you now have your own
folder it's easy to find your messages. Barry is in the read fold
Ann: OK, I created a folder called Canada. Since you post a lot, I thought it
best to be in your own folder. I am also in my own folder because I don't
normally need to read what I wrote again.
From: "awoelfleba...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLi
Ann, I have been away for a few days and so did not finish my reply to your
comments on my post, but I finally finished it, while the FFL forum has gone on
to whatever else it has gone on to. Comments in the text. I almost missed your
post because it was in the folder with Richard's oeuvre — dif
From: "awoelfleba...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, September 6, 2014 2:58 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Reading or Not Reading Posts
Wow Xeno, for a guy who has seen a few years, transcended a time or two
I found this quite interesting. In retrospect, most of the flashy experiences I
had occurred during a seven-year period prior to and during my first few years
of TM. After that everything moved at a much slower grind. I had deep open
internal experiences, but no longer. At one point the CC exper
Normally I do not talk about my day, but I got an invite for lunch today, and
leaving New York State, ended up sitting on a log and eating a bag lunch in the
State of Connecticut by a lake. I like being near urban areas, but really don't
like to live in them even though I have spent time in larg
Well, you know, travelling in Outer Space for so long leaves you a bit spaced.
So as a technologically advanced civilisation, by the time you get to the hick
planet called Earth, the best you can think of with all that superior
intelligence, knowledge, and technology, is to flatten some plant st
Parroting is one of the ways we learn, but the object of education is to make
the mind more flexible, to learn how to learn. One of the things I found
objectionable about MIU was an emphasis, at least from some instructors, on
saying things the way Maharishi said them. I came into understanding
My sort in Yahoo mail filtered out all the fluff by this morning so I had only
8 e-mails from FFL to peruse, while there were 40 or more in my fluff folder,
mostly from Richard. My Inbox was empty so the sort worked perfectly this time.
I also have a 'maybe' folder which I might look at, and a s
Now that I have mostly completed making filters for FFL in Yahoo Mail, I will
just wait until tomorrow and see how well it sorted the messages, and what
refinements I might have to make to the sort. I am not blocking any address,
but this way I can see the approximate proportion of crap to conte
I have heard he said it many different ways. Maharishi was repetitive; he had
basically the same message for over 50 years. As he said to one teacher
'Haven't you noticed I say the same thing over and over again?'
The subject of reincarnation I find intriguing because, from a spiritual point
Spirit means breath, or wind (the latter of which Richard has plenty). I agree
with Barry here. Spiritual experience is about the nature of experience, about
that rather mysterious quality called consciousness. My spiritual experience
evolved entirely in the absence of a belief in something call
Lawson, was this a tangential reply to me? I am not a former TMer, I still
practice TM. Do you know of any research that compares the EEG of TMers in
unity and say, Buddhists who are in unity? Since both these traditions have
produced people with the unity experience, and they express themselves
Based on ideas that began with the work of mathematicians Benoit Mandelbrot and
John Conway, the physicist Stephen Wolfram has some interesting ideas on the
nature of free will. Wolfram has been investigating simple computational
systems that have very simple starting conditions and very simple
In speaking of long term practice, I am not speaking of the 'CC' experience
which really is rather early in the spiritual experience arc. The 'CC'
experience is attested to by M and I have also heard it referred to in other
language from Zen sources, sometimes even called pure consciousness in t
If my understanding about this is correct:
With mantra yoga, what is minded is the mantra.
With TM, the 'mindfulness' of the mantra as a focus is minimised by the
technique which reduces greatly the tendency to concentrate or effort.
The idea is contact with something or somewhere you are
Buck, it seems to me that the TM generation while still current is past, so I
am wondering what you think the characteristics of its spiritual successors
will be.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
It seems every generation or two, probably all through human time someone
come
http://swisstactical.ch/img/uploads/products/22/66/2012-08-09/22_0.93311900%201344527790.jpg
http://swisstactical.ch/img/uploads/products/22/66/2012-08-09/22_0.93311900%201344527790.jpg
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
I'm taking a short break from work, and thought I'd spend a
I was not speaking of metaphysics except for the mention of theism.
Enlightenment is not about metaphysics.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
Xenosophistry: you can't beat it.
Metaphysical ultimacy = divine simplicity. Being Itself. Doesn't get much
simpler than that.
Quan
One of the signs a new religion is starting to go downhill as far as whatever
spiritual use it may have had is when the message of the founder or his
successors are venerated for themselves more than the message that was brought
by him/her/it. This assumes of course the original message had some
I regard all early states of a religion as basically a cult, from the word
meaning to culture, non-mainstream beliefs compared to what is usual for a
locale. Mental entrapment does not necessarily mean one is forced to do
another's bidding, as the human mind is greatly susceptible to its own
en
Nabby, all of as here have been members of a cult, or at least associated with
one except among regular posters, Emily whose daughter had a brush with one.
You yourself are associated with rather non-typical beliefs in general. It does
not help to accuse one of being party to the same kind of me
depending
on the clarity of one's nervous system, etc.
On Sunday, April 20, 2014 7:06 AM, "anartaxius@..." wrote:
Anything one pulls out of memory is past, is past life. Anything one does
not remember is the same experience as if it were never there. What is the need
to
Anything one pulls out of memory is past, is past life. Anything one does not
remember is the same experience as if it were never there. What is the need to
fine tune what 'sort' of memory it is? Life is now, though it is nice to
remember now and then.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wr
That is an incomplete quote Judy:
'Because gravity shapes space and time, it allows space-time to be locally
stable but globally unstable. On the scale of the entire universe, the positive
energy of the mater can be balanced by the negative gravitational energy, and
so there is no restriction
This is an aside regarding Hawking. I was watching the sitcom 'The Big Bang
Theory' on Blu-ray last night, and in it the main character Dr Sheldon Cooper
is desperately trying to get a meeting with Stephen Hawking to discuss his
paper. He finally gets his meeting and the performer for Stephen Ha
ponder what he saw, or
thought he saw. We all grow out of things, out of understandings we once held,
out of misconceptions we have had.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
On 4/17/2014 3:12 PM, anartaxius@... mailto:anartaxius@... wrote:
Very nice Curtis, to hear you again, even if
Very nice Curtis, to hear you again, even if this is only a one-off drive by.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
In a word, no. Classical theism suffers from the same philosophical problems
in much of classical philosophy, unsupported assumptive premises. Guys like
Plato and Aris
In regard to Share's comments, the transcendent is a metaphorical fiction, a
carrot on a stick, an enticement for meditation. Whatever we may say it is, the
'transcendent' is there all the time, everywhere. But when the mind does not
know this it requires an explanation for a practise like TM so
It is curious that Michael quoted this in the manner he did, I think he misread
its significance. The study, if I recall correctly, came to the conclusion that
the studies on meditation, so far, were of insufficient quality to come to the
conclusion that meditation was a benefit to health. Vario
A slightly reprocessed, retouched version of Barry's portrait of Maya, putting
a bit more emphasis on the subject. Wonderful image.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote (to salyavin808):
1. Remember Gould's phrase, "nonoverlapping magisteria"?
2. What do you mean by "real"? Define it, please.
Perhaps you should also define 'real' and see if the definitions match up
first. In science, real is defined primarily
I was with some children last night. I have no children myself, so it was
rather intriguing watching what interests them. One was about one year old, and
the other about three. The one year old seemed totally fascinated with an empty
aseptic package (Rice milk or something like that). Its whole
This reply is specifically for Judy, not Turq or Salyavin. Alas she cannot
honestly reply, as it would break her word. That is not saying she is
dishonest, please note. We all have honesty glitches, part of the human
condition.
Generally I am not interested in Theism. I'm a post-Theist, the
Hell if I know what a divinity is. I just copied the definition of 'numinous'
from the Google search results for 'define:numinous'. I was discussing the
nature of informed belief, that is belief based on evidence rather than simply
an idea one has in the mind. I was not discussing anything about
Hell if I know what a divinity is. I just copied the definition of 'numinous'
from the Google search results for 'define:numinous'. I was discussing the
nature of informed belief, that is belief based on evidence rather than simply
an idea one has in the mind. I was not discussing anything about
nu·mi·nous = having a strong religious or spiritual quality; indicating or
suggesting the presence of a divinity.
Exactly what is a strong religious quality? Exactly what is a spiritual
quality? How do these two qualities indicate or suggest the presence of a
divinity? If something is indic
Does this mean the average life span will also be the same as it was
thousands of years ago: approx. 25 years?
Dirt roads? No electricity, etc.?
Travel by Ox cart? No supermarkets?
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
A Lifestyle inspired by the Golden age of the Indian Civ
Sure, that is part of the scenario, attempting to dump increasingly worthless
securities based on the US Dollar. Until the security comes due, the lender
(e.g., Japan) can only get rid of the securities by selling them on the open
market. The U.S. would probably not have the resources to call th
The theory here is, because the United States currency is heavily based on
debt, once the the psychology of the US Dollar being a standard currency is
broken, there will be heavy selling of the US Dollar as its true value
equalises with the other currencies, and hyperinflation will result, inter
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
I guess Xeno didn't see my posts about "shooting the messenger." Barry isn't
criticized for bringing unwelcome news regarding TM, because he doesn't bring
any. He's criticized for his extreme and usually dishonest negative spin on
news we already k
'Shooting the messenger' is a metaphoric phrase used to describe the act of
lashing out at the presumably blameless bearer of bad or unwelcome news.
In earlier times, messages were usually delivered in person by a human envoy.
Sometimes, as in war, for example, the messenger was sent from the
The Linda Pearce comments seem to stem from the following article:
http://www.culteducation.com/group/1195-transcendental-meditation-movement/20543-sexy-romps-of-the-beatles-giggling-guru.html
http://www.culteducation.com/group/1195-transcendental-meditation-movement/20543-sexy-romps-of-the-beat
and some have social hierarchies. That
dolphin probably tried another form of meditation.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
From: "anartaxius@..."
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 4, 2014 10:16 PM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Research Shows Absence of Pe
I believe at one time they tried to search for 'soma' at MIU, but the research
led to no result, and if that was the case, it is unlikely the result would
have been publicised. I remember a time when new governors were coming back to
the U.S. from courses. They were eating a lot of white sugar a
There is a lot of research on TM, but the quality of most of that research is
not particularly good, which is one of the reasons it is not taken seriously.
The movement is not interested in scientific truth. It is hard to tell if the
movement is interested in ending suffering at all. While enlig
His Holiness Brahmananda Saraswati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmananda_Saraswati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmananda_Saraswati
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
Umm, forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean by "his time with Saraswati?"
this is the first I have hea
an. He was incredibly consistent looking at the
whole progression as science, spirituality in consciousness, and policy as the
larger spiritual movement built through a span of time and developed to what we
see.
-Buck
Anartaxius writes:
Buck, Maharishi did a lot of interesting things. In th
Correction, Neo dropped the link to the MUM web page quoted below:
http://www.mum.edu/default.aspx?RelId=622793
http://www.mum.edu/default.aspx?RelId=622793
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
I recall the marketing for the TM-Sidhi programme and it was pretty much as
Barry has sa
Correction: Neo dropped out the link to the quote from MUM.edu below
http://www.mum.edu/default.aspx?RelId=622793
http://www.mum.edu/default.aspx?RelId=622793
--
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
I recall
Buck, Maharishi did a lot of interesting things. In the world of science,
however, it is data and confirmation of hypotheses that drive forward. A
scientist that has a successful career is basically working to extend
knowledge, and does so by superseding, by surpassing his mentors, and in
scien
I recall the marketing for the TM-Sidhi programme and it was pretty much as
Barry has said. I found the following on the MUM website (*emphasis added*):
The World Peace Project
*Immediately following the discovery of the Super-Radiance effect in the Fall
off 1978*, Maharishi decided to app
Ann, I think this is probably my favourite Dave Barry piece, because it
highlights the differences in the way different human minds interpret
experience.
, don't read it
----
On Tue, 4/1/14, anartaxius@... mailto:anartaxius@... mailto:anartaxius@...> wrote:
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Fairfield Venture Fund
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday,
MIU. I had
the feeling that a number of the big wigs pulled that a few times when I was
there.
So much for your theory. I am happily not at MIU anymore and I can assure you
if the TMO is ever foolish enough to try to insinuate themselves in the schools
here in SC, they better come load
The path of enlightenment ends in a number of ways. One can get tired of it and
just drop the whole thing out of disinterest. One can die or become mentally
incapacitated. And there are two forms of disillusionment. One is it didn't
work out as expected, with a feeling of grave disappointment re
Hey Nabby, why are you so down on Buddhists? A few sects of this tradition
still produces 'enlightenment', though as with all traditions, there do not
seem to be a lot of successes in this department. It does not seem to me that
Turq is party to any tradition these days. And, for example, what d
ptors would be the words flowing and simple. But I
bet others would choose different words as the best descriptors.
On Friday, March 28, 2014 3:48 PM, "anartaxius@..." wrote:
With regard to effortlessness, exactly what would be regarded as
'effortless'? The definitio
Depending on the context, capitalisation certainly can be used for emphasis,
but in this case it looks like a mistake because the word 'is' is so short. On
a forum that allows some typeface adjustment I would have used 'Is TM an
effortless practice?' In HTML there are elements (tags) and one
With regard to effortlessness, exactly what would be regarded as 'effortless'?
The definition of effortless is 'requiring no physical or mental exertion'. The
word has synonyms easy
offhand
painless
uncomplicated
child's play
cursive
duck soup
facile
flowing
fluent
light
no problem
no
No, I was having fun, but I was unaware of Michael's situation at home. The
first typo is 'IS' instead of 'Is' and the second typo is 'and' instead of
'an'.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
He knows that. He's just being disagreeable. And there's only one typo, not "a
couple" as
Note that the subject of this thread 'IS TM and Effortless Practice' is
nonsensical because of a couple of typos.
The first part 'IS TM' would seem to be asking if there is such as thing as
TM, unless this means there is something called 'IS TM' whose existence is
being questioned.
Maybe
This reminds me of the following story:
When the spiritual teacher and his disciples began their evening meditation,
the cat who lived in the monastery made such noise that it distracted them. So
the teacher ordered that the cat be tied up during the evening practice. Years
later, when the te
I would love to get into this particular discussion but probably could not
devote the time to extended discussion. But I would like to drop a few bombs.
Lawson said:
'...PC is without any kind of perception at all -sensory, thinking, intuition,
whatever.'
Now when I was in the hospital m
But in binary form 60 is 00, the two zeros indicate encroaching senility.
Very propitious. While in a base 4 number system I am 1021 years old. That
makes me older than Methusala, and the 21 means I am still fit to vote in the
United States, and drink beer. 'Auspicious' comes from a Latin ro
Share, I have always wondered about how the human brain resembles cauliflower.
Think of how much Vedic knowledge could be mined from that vegetable. Title:
Veda and Brassica oleracea. I think that would appeal to vegetarians, as unlike
the brain, it is not made of meat.
---In FairfieldLife@ya
Exactly what are the mechanics by which the puja keeps the purity of the
teaching? Simply saying x does y does not show that that actually happens.
Seeing the results of the purity of the teaching here on FFL makes one wonder
more than a bit. What in fact IS the purity of the teaching? What is d
Blog post by Sam Harris:
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-path-between-pseudo-spirituality-and-pseudo-science
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-path-between-pseudo-spirituality-and-pseudo-science
So, what do you make of the first sentence on the page you linked to at the
bottom of your post. If Buddhism is all about enlightenment, what does this
experience represent? Does it indicate that all those commentaries and books,
which presumably discuss enlightenment, might have something wrong
This flattening out is a different animal. It has nothing to do with meditation
at this point. It has to do with the concept of transcendence being part of the
mental illusion from which 'the spiritual path' is constructed.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
To avoid "flattening ou
Thanks.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
Not quite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ecppB4IRFs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ecppB4IRFs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMVd3ycUy60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMVd3ycUy60
dhist model, that there are tens
of thousands of states of attention, *none* of them "the highest," *none* of
them "the best."
From: "anartaxius@..."
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2014 10:45 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Post Count Fri
Response to Barry.
In the TMO, fMRI is not used, but it might throw some light on what is
happening in the brain when a person is experiencing inner silence. In this
'development of consciousness' thing this is a benchmark that I have heard
spoken of in more than one tradition as one of the
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