Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: King Tony's Pedigree
From what Maharishi said, anyone who attains CC is no longer going to be reincarnated, so, thus far, 17 people who report CC in the first study that Fred Travis did, and the (last I heard) 51 new people who report CC in the new study he's doing, are no longer sufficiently ignorant to reincarnate. Did I understand MMY correctly? Was MMY correct, regardless of my understanding? Are any of the 17 people in the first study or 51 people in teh 2nd study really in CC? /shrugs... L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : MMY also said, "Reincarnation is for the ignorant", which is kind of specious IMHO since everybody is ignorant! (i.e. short of enlightenment), therefore, Reincarnation is for everybody. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : On 10/1/2014 1:41 AM, salyavin808 wrote: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mailto:mjackson74@... wrote : Someone recently told me that Marshy referred to Nader as Ram reincarnated, is that true? It's true that Marshy spoke astounding amounts of crap that, even if any of it was possible, he couldn't possibly have known about. But I never heard him actually say this one. Maybe I just nodded off during the "weight in gold" moment or the 96 hour introduction to his book of "discoveries" about human physiology. >Maharishi selected Maharaja Adhiraj Rajaraam because: "he loves the most" There is some doubt that either of you ever heard or were in the presence of MMY to hear him speak, whether nodded or not. Go figure. >Maharishi selected There is some doubt that either of you ever heard or were in the presence of MMY to hear him speak, whether nodded or not. Go figure.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Fall Of Baghdad
Shrug. We have no idea what American Indian civilization would be like 500+ years later. And certainly, ISIS is a primitive, violent group of thugs by modern standards. My only point is that you don't have to go very far back to see the same kind of behavior from the West, so the sense of smug superiority I get from some people is not particuarly supportable. Certainly, it's not terribly useful. We have to work with moderate Muslims to solve the issues, and the "we're so much better than the ragheads" attitude isn't helping any. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Sounds like you're justifying ISIS's actions. True, that was typical of conquering armies in the past due to the practicality of waging war. However we consider our selves a *bit* more civilized today. We don't target innocent civilians, force them to convert and then kill them anyway, we don't steel supplies, we buy it if we don't bring it and we observe a uniform code of military conduct observed by almost all nations. wrote: Christian Crusaders did the same thing, and don't fool yourself, if Americans ever "conquered" a country, we'd do the same thing too. Ask any American Indian tribe if you need examples. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : They're supplied the same way Mohammed supplied his *army*. They just take whatever they want, wherever they go. Whether it's money from banks, food from stockpiles, or weapons, ammunition and transportation from Iraqi army bases. This is your Islamic *work ethic*. Real work is for mensches. On Saturday, October 11, 2014 2:18 PM, "'Richard J. Williams' punditster@... [FairfieldLife]" wrote: On 10/11/2014 2:42 PM, jr_esq@... mailto:jr_esq@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Something is wrong with the US generals' assessment of ISIS. > There is no good news coming out of the Middle East - the U.S. supports the Saudis who are Shite Muslims; and at the same time Iranians support the Shiite in Baghdad. But, the ISIS are Sunnis who hate everyone, Muslim and infidel alike. Then, there's Assad to deal with. The only bright spot over there is Israel, the only democracy in the whole Middle East. Go figure. > How is it possible for the militants to continue fighting in Iraq and Syria with supposedly only 30,000 fighters? It appears that the militant rebels in or near Baghdad are self-sufficient to fight on their own without help from their Syrian headquarters. So, that means they're getting food, supplies and ammunition within Baghdad itself. I wouldn't be surprised if a secret faction within the ISF is providing the weapons and ammunition to fight the loyal troopers of Iraq. > "Without large numbers of American troops on the ground in Iraq, we lack the ability to choose targets, to rebuild the capacity of the Iraqi Army quickly and successfully, to constrain the Shiite government from pursuing a sectarian agenda. Without large numbers of troops in Syria, we are unable to distinguish between friend and foe, to train and direct non-Qaeda opposition forces, to address the humanitarian crisis, and to prepare for—and hasten—a world without Bashar Assad." 'Only American ground troops can defeat the Islamic State' The Washington Free Beacon: http://freebeacon.com/columns/accept-no-substitutes/ http://freebeacon.com/columns/accept-no-substitutes/ > ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mailto:punditster@... mailto:punditster@... wrote : Our side is suffering serious defeats on the battlefield in Anbar province and Baghdad is ripe for infiltration. Then, it's a guerrilla war in the streets with up close and personal close range fighting. According to President Obama, it's a war against the Islamic State, but who are they? The goal is to roll back the IS in Iraq and contain it in Syria. Soon, Turkey will be pulled into the fight - the ISIS are at the gates today, tomorrow Istanbul and onwards to Rome. "With the outlying suburb of Abu Ghraib teetering on completely falling to ISIS, if the area comes under complete control of the Islamists, the Americans will be within easy range of ISIS artillery." 'ISIS reaches Baghdad suburbs, US troops block the way to BGW Int'l Airport' http://www.examiner.com/article/isis-reaches-baghdad-suburbs-us-troops-block-the-way-to-bgw-int-l-airport http://www.examiner.com/article/isis-reaches-baghdad-suburbs-us-troops-block-the-way-to-bgw-int-l-airport
[FairfieldLife] Re: About Nov. 30
If that were true, they wouldn't be leveraging Maharishi's name for the publicity. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : An organizer asked me to post this. www.30thNovember.com http://www.30thNovember.com Be curious. Be practical. Be yourself. One's perspective on this presentation of Explanations should be focused on "assessing its content" (i.e., whoever the source may be is far less relevant). Ask yourself on November 30th: 1) Is the content valuable and helpful to me now in my life? 2) Does it have a practical benefit? If yes, then take that part and use it. If not, then don't. That should always be the test. On the individual level. For details of how to Reserve a free seat, Live Stream it, or to watch the recording afterwards: www.30thNovember.com http://www.30thNovember.com
[FairfieldLife] Re: About Nov. 30
But one man's cultish nonsense is another man's profoundly spiritual insight... People assume that MMY could never do wrong, and so they always went with his program/project/practice _du jour_ Others assume that when MMY came up something they perceived as off-the-wall, it meant he had gone off teh deep end. My own take is that MMY never had a clue when something was going to work or not until he tried it, and the stuff that "stuck" to the wall, is the stuff that he embraced as valid. In every case (stick-able or not) he had to find an intellectual reason for why he suggested something, and so he made something up to explain things. Sometimes those reasons sounded plausible and sometimes they didn't. Sometimes something he did turned out to be very good, even though he had no idea why it was very good. Example of this last: the Rajas and their golden crowns. Totally crazy, and yet, the schism that resulted occurred BEFORE his death and not after. By the time he died, everywhere in the world outside of India, the TM organization had already restructured itself to work with the new hierarchy of Those Who Wear Crowns, while those who couldn't deal with such craziness had already left. The result was an almost drama-less succession for Good King Tony (outside of India). Brilliant... even though I'm almost positive that MMY hadn't really thought of things that way. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of nablusoss1008 Sent: Monday, October 13, 2014 3:36 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: About Nov. 30 It's part of Rick Archer's long-time strategy to try to split up and weaken the Movement. I have no such strategy. I just forward stuff that’s relevant to FFL. That includes stuff from Hagelin, Orme-Johnson, etc. I wish the movement well. I think it’s doing a lot of good in the world. But it will only thrive if it conducts itself with honesty and integrity and purges itself from cultish nonsense, much of which was introduced by MMY.
[FairfieldLife] Re: About Nov. 30
The Meditation Trust also offers TM teacher training these days, and implies that they are doing the work that MMY authorized them to do, despite him rescinding that authorization quite publicly and in completely explicit terms. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Sal says they do and their web presence speaks to it as well. But I will defer to Sal on this he is in a position to know. It's a good question, there are a few teaching in various places, The Meditation Trust is probably the best known as they were the guys who quit when Marshy put the price up so high it put them out of business. They have a few centres and hold courses in a country house where they teach the TMSP too. The TM official are always taking legal action against them but there isn't much they can do as all the teachers were trained by Marshy. I know people who go on their courses, they always tell me that I musn't mention it to people in the movement, which says it all about the TMO really. The same guy was telling me that someone asked him if it was true that people get brainwashed in the TMO, he said of course not. Anyway, they seem to be doing well and actually making money out of it which is the TM teachers dream, but then they don't have to give half to the TMO. Bad feelings about that too I shouldn't wonder. From: "anartaxius@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, October 13, 2014 10:11 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: About Nov. 30 Michael: note the highlighted part of my post below. A schism requires that the split off group has a coherent organization. I don't know if the initiators in England have this. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : the Movement already split - don't forget the renegade initiators in England From: "anartaxius@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, October 13, 2014 8:56 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: About Nov. 30 Species, Corporations, Religions, Cults, as is the nature of change, always, if they persist, break apart or become extinct. A schism is always eventually in the cards for the TM movement. It is said shortly after his death, the followers of Buddha broke into some two dozen different sects. You can see how Christianity split over time. There seem to be fewer splits among Muslims, perhaps a reflection of the dark ferocity of their memes. The Mormons, barely a religion after 150 years, have split six times. And look at all the different Hindu flavours. It is almost a no-brainer prediction that the TM movement will at some point split. *Already there are many teachers in various countries teaching outside the movement purview.* I would say that movements in which the participants are unable to think for themselves are likely to cohere together longer than those in which mental freedom and expression are given freer reign. Onward Lemmings! Rick does not have to do anything to weaken the movement, it will break naturally of its own accord, it is already frayed around the edges. While you might try to do something to arrest progress, eventually you will fail. That is the nature of evolution. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : It's part of Rick Archer's long-time strategy to try to split up and weaken the Movement. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : An organizer asked me to post this. www.30thNovember.com http://www.30thnovember.com/ Be curious. Be practical. Be yourself. One's perspective on this presentation of Explanations should be focused on "assessing its content" (i.e., whoever the source may be is far less relevant). Ask yourself on November 30th: 1) Is the content valuable and helpful to me now in my life? 2) Does it have a practical benefit? If yes, then take that part and use it. If not, then don't. That should always be the test. On the individual level. For details of how to Reserve a free seat, Live Stream it, or to watch the recording afterwards: www.30thNovember.com http://www.30thnovember.com/
[FairfieldLife] Re: About Nov. 30
What's interesting about your Sexy Sadie comment is that a while back you commented that you were quite amazed that any woman was claiming to have sex with MMY as your personal observation was that he had no sexuality to speak of. Once it became clear that you could get specific people mad by referring to the claims, you started to embrace them, without ever explaining why you came to change your mind about MMY's sexual activities or lack thereof. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : From: feste37 This is just too silly for words. If the emphasis is on "assessing the content," why is it being promoted as being a message from MMY? The truth is that for some weird reason, Hammond is using this ploy to promote his own views. If he just gave a talk himself, no one would be interested. So he has hit on this ludicrous marketing ploy. As I commented earlier, I am astonished that anyone is taking this seriously. While I agree that the whole scenario is too silly for words, what does it say about the incredible gullibility and susceptibility of TMers *that* it's being taken seriously? In what other group would its members actually fall for this? What other group would proactively attempt to squelch it, as "Raja" (that's ludicrous in itself) Hagelin did? This is great theater. I hope *some* reporters actually attend, and write it up or do a TV bit about it. Can't you just imagine the headline/teaser? Leaders Of TM Cult Freak Out Over Advice From Beyond The Grave Sent By Original "Sexy Sadie" Guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Duped into thinking you could fly?
When I learned the TM-Sidhis in 1984, I had to write out, in long-hand, a paragraph dictated to me over the phone from the TM-SIdhis course office, saying that I understood that the TM-Sidhis were for the development of consciousness, and that I understood that no-one was guaranteeing I was going to obtain any kind of special power. Then I had to sign it, date it, and mail it back to them. THEN they would accept me on the TM-Sidhis course. Anyone who learned after doing that has no defensible way to sue on those grounds, I suspect, and of course, that was the point. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : salyavin, let's put it this way: I was pretty coordinated as a sport playing kid and teen and that level of coordination hasn't deteriorated much in 50 years. Also, I notice that I often feel graceful in my actions, even if it's something simply like walking. And definitely less mind chatter! On Monday, October 13, 2014 8:37 AM, salyavin808 wrote: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : salyavin, you're partially right. I learned because of the prediction that mind body coordination would improve. For me that prediction has been spot on. And my first "flight" was pretty powerful, leading me to think that some profound transformation was occurring. I've known I'm no St Joseph Cupertino so haven't minded about no actual levitation. How do you know that your mind-body coordination has improved, anything in particular? I did it for ten years and can't say I noticed any changes anywhere! On Monday, October 13, 2014 1:32 AM, salyavin808 wrote: I think they should also be sued for encouraging littering! I tried one of these energy drinks once, never again. I was frothing at the mouth and babbling all night. Highly speedy. I can't believe they are legal for adults let alone children, and some people knock them back like I drink water! I think a class action suit against the TMO would be workable and lucrative because it's actually taught that the TMSP develops paranormal powers (the clue is in the name) and they even publish "scientific" lectures about how it works to entice the unwary into thinking there's a physical basis for it all. Given the amount of time I spent doing it when I could have been earning a decent crust, I would say that a round figure of £1 million ought to ease the pain of still being held to the ground by gravity. I might want an extra million to compensate me for the embarrassment of having to admit I fell for it too. Now we can watch the TB's claiming they only learnt for self improvement reasons and don;t care that they never developed any magical powers. Insert spluttering protests here: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Did you fall for the hype about being able to levitate? Are you angry about the cash you lost chasing that dream of flying? Do your friends and acquaintances now laugh at you for being so credulous? Good news! You may be entitled to compensation. Energy drink "Red Bull" settled two class-action lawsuits this week, agreeing to pay $13 million because their famous slogan 'Red Bull gives you wings' isn't true. Anyone who bought a drink from January 1, 2002 to October 3, 2014 is eligible to receive a $10 cash payment - regardless of whether there was a receipt for proof. Here's one of the ads they ran. If people can now sue for such obviously idiotic claims it only goes to show what a dumbed-down society we are living in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K31dg86OmuM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K31dg86OmuM
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: About Nov. 30
It's the same crew that accepts as valid the claim that MMY appeared to the woman in her dreams and begged her to publish her "tell all" book. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Like I said before, it is Jerry Jarvis' stamp of approval that is giving this event legitimacy in the eyes of many old time TM'ers - not to mention the penchant of TM'ers to believe unbelievable bullshit - that helps too. From: feste37 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, October 13, 2014 9:57 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: About Nov. 30 This is just too silly for words. If the emphasis is on "assessing the content," why is it being promoted as being a message from MMY? The truth is that for some weird reason, Hammond is using this ploy to promote his own views. If he just gave a talk himself, no one would be interested. So he has hit on this ludicrous marketing ploy. As I commented earlier, I am astonished that anyone is taking this seriously. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : An organizer asked me to post this. www.30thNovember.com http://www.30thnovember.com/ Be curious. Be practical. Be yourself. One's perspective on this presentation of Explanations should be focused on "assessing its content" (i.e., whoever the source may be is far less relevant). Ask yourself on November 30th: 1) Is the content valuable and helpful to me now in my life? 2) Does it have a practical benefit? If yes, then take that part and use it. If not, then don't. That should always be the test. On the individual level. For details of how to Reserve a free seat, Live Stream it, or to watch the recording afterwards: www.30thNovember.com http://www.30thnovember.com/
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: About Nov. 30
over the past 9 years, the DLF claims that they have taught 500,000 kids to meditate for free. In 2012, all of 8,000 adults in the USA learned TM, paying some portion of the full fee while with kids, the lion's share of the fee went straight to the TM teachers. It's not a 50-50 thing as with the adult fee, but more like an 80-20 or even 90-10 split, when kids are taught. This suggests that, unless you think that they're planning on huge revenues 20 years from now from all the kids who learned TM at school, that teh TM organization exists primarily to teach TM, not to make money for its own sake. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : From: "Michael Jackson mjackson74@... [FairfieldLife]" I can't help but see the fact that what the Movement mainly uses TM for is to get more converts to make more money. They are not out there doing anything substantive to improve the quality of life for people - they promote TM to promote TM, not to do anything else. (from my point of view) Absofuckinglutely.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: 50,000 new Flyers now
You may be correct, but Raja Luis seems to be sincere and what little fact-checking I can do seems to corroborate other claims he has made. For example, he says that the Peruvian government wants to extend the pilot project, where 30,000 students practice TM, to 250,000 and have existing school teachers trained as TM teacher so that they will teach TM instead of outsiders. I can't verify the second half, but the first half seems true: Enseñan meditación a 30,000 escolares http://www.elperuano.com.pe/edicion/noticia-ensenan-meditacion-a-3-escolares-19707.aspx#.VD761r4e2Uk http://www.elperuano.com.pe/edicion/noticia-ensenan-meditacion-a-3-escolares-19707.aspx#.VD761r4e2Uk Enseñan meditación a 30,000 escolares http://www.elperuano.com.pe/edicion/noticia-ensenan-meditacion-a-3-escolares-19707.aspx#.VD761r4e2Uk Son las tres de la tarde, suena el timbre y los alumnos de cuarto, quinto y sexto de primaria del colegio César Vallejo, en La Victoria, saben que es el momento de ... View on www.elperua... http://www.elperuano.com.pe/edicion/noticia-ensenan-meditacion-a-3-escolares-19707.aspx#.VD761r4e2Uk Preview by Yahoo El Peruano is the official daily newspaper of the Peruvian government, so the first half checks out, at least. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : I think Turq nailed it some time ago when he said the TMO has never wanted to have a group big enough to do what they claim it will because then the proof will be there - giant group of "yogic flyers" - no world peace - no more donations. I think they are making the same exhortation Marshy used to use to get people to "donate" for a 10,000 group. Since they have asked repeatedly for that number and nothing has ever come of it, they have to make it bigger, make the stakes and the promises bigger to get more donations. And if they aren't hitting people up for money for the big groups now they will. Then they will continue to ask for money even tho the groups never materialize or come up with some other big project to replace this one without ever explaining what happened to the 50,000 for instant peace. Another misdirection technique they learned from the Fraud Master Marshy. From: salyavin808 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2014 10:08 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: 50,000 new Flyers now ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : You are being too kind - Actually, I thought I was being successfully rather sarcastic! I thought it was a really good post, I gave it two stars. Not too shabby, especially as I've got a stinking cold. Maybe double-edged would be a better description than sarcastic. I was serious though, even though I don't believe in it I think it's good that it's being tested again and with so many that it will leave us in no doubt. I can't imagine what the TMO will do when they don't have a leg to stand on regarding the Maharishi Effect. I know they'll just carry on regardless but they should take heed that we'll always be able to point to this and say "what about...". Unless it turns out they are right of course, in which case it'll be humble pie for the sceptics unless we're all too enlightened to care!
Re: [FairfieldLife] Chopra got it right!
MMY said that the ethical, religious, exercise-full life-style of a law-abiding householder in any culture was enough to be counted as simultaneously practicing the other limbs of Yoga that weren't directly addressed by TM practice. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Too bad Marshy was a proven liar and his disciple Deepak, while making a load of money has become his very own brand of spiritual huckster From: wgm4u To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2014 11:13 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Chopra got it right! Deepak Chopra: That’s one school of thought, but not what I learned. I had my spiritual apprenticeship with the Shankara- charya school in India, and my immediate mentor was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who brought Transcendental Meditation to the West. Maharishi was a disciple in turn of the Shankaracharya. That tradition goes back to the ninth century sage Adi Shankara. Their interpretation always has been that the eight limbs of yoga are practiced simultaneously. In that way it is similar to the Eightfold Path in Buddhism. The eight limbs are Niyama, Yama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi and are all actually combined into one discipline. Yama and Niyama are rules of social and personal conduct, so why not include them as things that you do? It’s about the internal shift in attitude that you have to make. Pratyahara and Pranayama are actually forms of Raja yoga, and therefore they are complementary to Asana. Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi are supposed to be the culmination of this practice, but all eight limbs are still part of your daily practice. Wgm says: Even MMY says the same in his BG in the appendix on Yoga! "All limbs were meant to be practiced 'simultaneously", many meditators have this confused, mostly because MMY himself said one thing and wrote another, see for yourself. (Gita Appendix/Yoga)
[FairfieldLife] Re: ISIS Now Has an Air Force
Aren't most of those so old that they are as dangerous for the handlers as for the intended targets? L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Good points Willy. Over 5000 bombs and artillery shells with Sarin and Mustard gas found - so far. Now owned by ISIS - the compassionate, the merciful. Apparently that constitutes a "Lie" for this "shill of the appeasers". That also is true for this"shill of the TMO". Once a shill - forever a shill. Hail to such Great Enlightenment! Shill enlightenment.
[FairfieldLife] Re: TM Free Excerpt
Are you suggesting that people on this forum didn't already realize all these things? L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : A little excerpt from a recent TM Free post: Fairfield residents have been dragging their feet around suicide prevention for years. This is due not only to the American stigma around mental illness. It is also exacerbated by TM official and unofficial doctrine. Just a few of them are: - Maharishi disapproved of Western psychotherapy. - If you saw a psychotherapist, you could be disqualified from attending a TM course. - TM is supposed to make you emotionally healthy, therefore if you report emotional problems, you are making TM look bad. - People with emotional problems have been advised to do more asanas or learn the TM-Sidhis, rather than to seek professional help. - People with emotional problems have been told they are "unstressing" rather than being advised to seek professional help. - When people have had emotional problems (including hospitalizations and suicides), the TM organization has tended to hide the information or blame the person for being too emotionally unstable to begin with. - People with emotional problems have been misdiagnosed by TMers as being in higher states of consciousness.
[FairfieldLife] Re: ISIS Now Has an Air Force
And now has to deal with them. As I said, the aged WMDs are at least as dangerous to the handlers as to the intended targets. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Go read the NYT article. It is a very good piece of writing that discloses the testimony of numerous soldiers chemically exposed while trying to decommission some of those WMD's. Most of what was found was mustard gas but some was Sarin or VX gas. Many of the dual-mix chemicals in the canisters were leaking or simply sloshing around when picked up and carried. Barack Hussein Ebola withdrew our troops, including all those discovery and cleanup troops. As a consequence, ISIS now controls that territory. Their liege-lord, the daimon known as Allah, is now controlling these warheads. Allahu Akbar. One Oath to rule them all, One Oath to find them, One Oath to join them all and in the darkness bind them
[FairfieldLife] Re: Consciousness Is The Ultimate Reality, was Belief in God is a form of mental illness
The way Maharishi explained the "illusion of Maya" is rather different than what a lot of people understand. Consciousness is not an illusion, nor is what most people call "reality." The illusion is that there is a fundamental difference between them. This is the "veil of maya": a thin, non-existent membrane that separates the two which is merely an artifact of our perception of things based on having a nervous system. Full enlightenment is when you can full see on both sides of that non-existent veil. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : This may be above my pay-grade, but if one is a transcendentalist/idealist, then belief in classic cause and effect is incompatible with that belief . . . or one has to significantly qualify what is meant by cause and effect. Many folks who refer to them selves as transcendentalists/idealists are actually dualists, or simply rebranded materialists (I am not suggesting you are) Regarding the 'illusion' - when you pick up an object, like an apple for example, what does your experience tell you?When I pick up an apple, I see it's color and shape, I feel the texture and if pressed with a fingernail - I can sense the sticky juice, I taste the tart sweetness . . . and I remember apple pies and so forth. My experience of the apple is passionate and lively - Where is the illusion? Toss in more awareness and all you get is more passion - there is no illusion. 'Illusion' is just India of old - we don't need no stinking illusion in the 21st century.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Consciousness Is The Ultimate Reality, was Belief in God is a form of mental illness
So you're saying that an enlightened person loses the ability to descriminate between a flower and a duck? Or loses the ability to name things because they see the fundamental unity in the diversity? L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The way Maharishi explained the "illusion of Maya" is rather different than what a lot of people understand. Consciousness is not an illusion, nor is what most people call "reality." The illusion is that there is a fundamental difference between them. This is the "veil of maya": a thin, non-existent membrane that separates the two which is merely an artifact of our perception of things based on having a nervous system. Full enlightenment is when you can full see on both sides of that non-existent veil. I'll go along with that, except for the bit about seeing everything on both sides after enlightenment. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : This may be above my pay-grade, but if one is a transcendentalist/idealist, then belief in classic cause and effect is incompatible with that belief . . . or one has to significantly qualify what is meant by cause and effect. Many folks who refer to them selves as transcendentalists/idealists are actually dualists, or simply rebranded materialists (I am not suggesting you are) Regarding the 'illusion' - when you pick up an object, like an apple for example, what does your experience tell you?When I pick up an apple, I see it's color and shape, I feel the texture and if pressed with a fingernail - I can sense the sticky juice, I taste the tart sweetness . . . and I remember apple pies and so forth. My experience of the apple is passionate and lively - Where is the illusion? Toss in more awareness and all you get is more passion - there is no illusion. 'Illusion' is just India of old - we don't need no stinking illusion in the 21st century.
Re: [FairfieldLife] FFL Hating Turq and Belief in God is a form of mental illness
Oh wow. That makes me happy. I sent her a query via the only email address I have and never got a response. If she responds further, please say hi. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Why? Its enough for me to know your prediction/projection of her demise/ and or serious injury was dead wrong. Calm down gentlemen. I simply asked Judy to respond in some small way to whether she was okay and if she needed something from me as we here at FFL hadn't heard from her for a while. This was over two months ago. She responded with two words, "Don't worry." That is enough for me. If she needed my assistance in some way she would have asked for it. I am not sure her choice to stop posting here should be a platform for whether jyotish is valid or not. We can only deduce a couple of things from this small reply I got and those are: 1) she appears to be alive 2) she can still type. For whatever reason she has taken a powder and good for her.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Consciousness Is The Ultimate Reality, was Belief in God is a form of mental illness
Well, maybe, maybe not. Pure consciousness during TM seems to be very closely aligned with EEG of the preliminary aspect of creativity found in non-meditation research on creativity, and the EEG found in really-long-term TMers (especially those participating in the Invincible America course) seems to be a further enhancement in the same direction. This goes along with the description of Yogic Flying as "creating onesself into the air" which some people interpret as describing teleportation, but I interpret along the above lines. The bottom line (other than providing physicists with a potentially interesting physical problem concerning floating around the room) is that TM-style Unity may well have physiological correlates entirely different than what like behind drug/illness-induced conditions described the same and these correlates, even/especially in the advanced people, may have benefits both for the person and the society (leaving aside ME issues). Imagine, if creativity really IS radically enhanced in people in Unity, what advances in science, technology, public policy and the arts might come from scientists/mathematicians/engineers/politicians/artists, not to mention, fathers and mothers, who happened to be fully enlightened ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : So you're saying that an enlightened person loses the ability to descriminate between a flower and a duck? Or loses the ability to name things because they see the fundamental unity in the diversity? That reads like you've responded to the wrong post. What are you expecting as a reward for all this meditation? What I mean is that things don't change a whole bunch. Sure you get a bit more of something as well as what you've got now but it doesn't change what your senses are capable of perceiving. And this "fundamental unity" may just be a fancy name for a type of perceptive change similar to certain hallucinogenic states. I've experienced both, the TM one is nice but "fundamental" is stretching it as it isn't giving you any secret knowledge, just presenting what we all get a bit differently. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The way Maharishi explained the "illusion of Maya" is rather different than what a lot of people understand. Consciousness is not an illusion, nor is what most people call "reality." The illusion is that there is a fundamental difference between them. This is the "veil of maya": a thin, non-existent membrane that separates the two which is merely an artifact of our perception of things based on having a nervous system. Full enlightenment is when you can full see on both sides of that non-existent veil. I'll go along with that, except for the bit about seeing everything on both sides after enlightenment. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : This may be above my pay-grade, but if one is a transcendentalist/idealist, then belief in classic cause and effect is incompatible with that belief . . . or one has to significantly qualify what is meant by cause and effect. Many folks who refer to them selves as transcendentalists/idealists are actually dualists, or simply rebranded materialists (I am not suggesting you are) Regarding the 'illusion' - when you pick up an object, like an apple for example, what does your experience tell you?When I pick up an apple, I see it's color and shape, I feel the texture and if pressed with a fingernail - I can sense the sticky juice, I taste the tart sweetness . . . and I remember apple pies and so forth. My experience of the apple is passionate and lively - Where is the illusion? Toss in more awareness and all you get is more passion - there is no illusion. 'Illusion' is just India of old - we don't need no stinking illusion in the 21st century.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Belief in God is a form of mental illness
The late Skip Alexander, who used to head the Psychology Dept at MUM, co-edited a book that examined post-maslow development. He wrote the chapter on Vedic Psychology, and prominent mainstream-psychologists wrote chapters on post-Maslow, -post-Piagetian, etc., psychology. _Higher Stages of Human Development_ -Alexander and Langer, ed. May still be in print. [You can't have my autographed copy, sorry] L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : When thinking about why people value certain experiences and do certain activities, I like Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a guideline. IOW, once certain basic needs are met, then a person seeks to satisfy additional needs. Which might not be higher but which might simply involve activating more of the brain. Could it be that we're simply compelled by neural pathways in our brain that want to be activated? Or are we simply physical organisms seeking homeostatis all the time? Today is Mahalakshmi day. There's a big celebration in the Dome. I haven't decided whether I will go or not. Autumn has been so beautiful here. I feel happy enough just glancing up from the computer once and a while, out the window to the trees and the sky, walking to the post office, doing my everyday tasks. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't need to go to the Dome and hopefully get blessings from Mahalakshmi in the form of more money and then feel happier. I am already feeling happy enough. Much much gratitude... On Thursday, October 23, 2014 6:00 AM, "TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife]" wrote: From: "Michael Jackson mjackson74@... [FairfieldLife]" To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com" Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2014 12:04 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Belief in God is a form of mental illness Well said Barry - and I agree with every word It's NOT that I'm saying that seeking spiritual experiences ISN'T valuable. I'm just pointing out that almost no one in history has ever stepped up to the plate and made an objective, scientific case for what that value might be. Most teachers or seekers just *assume* that these experiences they have or claim to have had are valuable, but when called upon to do so, they can't really produce any strong arguments for WHY they are valuable, or WHAT that supposed value is. I'm suggesting that this oversight is epidemic in the world of "spiritual practices," the elephant in the room that no one ever talks about. The people promoting these practices just *assume* that these experiences they're having or seeking are *worth* having or seeking, and debate the supposedly best ways of achieving them. But I don't know of very many who have taken that "step back," beyond the assumption, and have tried to make a case for WHY they're so intent on achieving these things. What is it that they hope to "achieve," and WHY would others want to do so? Answers such as, "Well, I want to have these experiences because Jim Flanegin said that I would be a low-vibe slime until I had them the way he has" do not count. :-) :-) :-) It's the same problem I see with religion in general. The people urging others to join their religions don't seem to ever offer any real-world, payoff-in-this-lifetime reasons for doing so. They just *assume* that there is a payoff, and try to bluff their way through without ever specifying what it is. Millions and millions of seekers over the ages, and almost none of them have ever come up with a real *value* for all this seeking they're devoting their lives to. I'm NOT suggesting that there isn't one, just pointing out that no one ever seems to talk about it if there is. From: "TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife]" To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com" Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2014 4:33 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Belief in God is a form of mental illness From: "Xenophaneros Anartaxius anartaxius@... [FairfieldLife]" From: "TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife]" From: "anartaxius@... [FairfieldLife]" The question for 'spiritually' oriented individuals would be, is there a way to construct a system that gives us these experiences of unboundedness that does not also wreak havoc with this gullibility weakness in the human nervous system. But that would presuppose that there is an actual VALUE to these "experiences of unboundedness." That has not been established, merely assumed by centuries of religious fanatics trying to convince others that its value trumps everything else. I would suggest going back to the starting point and, if you want to invent a better system, make a case for these types of experience having a value in the first place. Most religions have never tried to do this. They just make declarations like Maharishi did, along the lines of "The purpose of life is to achieve these experiences of unboundedness," which then become dogma and ar
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Belief in God is a form of mental illness
A slight nit: in the 40 years that Benson has been publishing his book he never, not even once, published a head-to-head study of TM vs his "Relaxation Response." In fact, the criticisms that were leveled against Keith Wallace's first study apply equally well to Benson's research. And so, for the past 40 years, comparisons of the effects of two different practices were made based on preliminary results of studies that wouldn't be published in today's journals. When the American Heart Association meditation practices, they compared all the research they could find on every practice, including Benson's Relaxation Response. Their conclusion was that only TM had sufficiently GOOD research with sufficiently CONSISTENT effects, to allow them to make a recommendation. All other practices were given a non-passing grade. Remember: that's 40 years of research coming out of HARVARD UNIVERSITY couldn't persuade the AHA to endorse Benson's Relaxation Response. So... to call Benson the "foremost meditation scientist" is pure BS. To say that "TM blew it" by alienating such a "great scientist" is another bit of BS. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Like you Share, I really did not pay attention to the selling points as I had had experiences prior to TM, I was just looking for an easy way to meditate, a natural consequence of being lazy. The sell was there in the introductory and preparatory lectures and in available chart books supposedly showing benefits from the scientific side, but I ignored all that at the time. My first few meditations were really rotten, I almost quit right there. But trying to sell TM to friends who are not really into this kind of thing proved more of a challenge. None of my friends ever learned, except for a couple, and they never finished the course. A few of my family learned, and they all quit too. I did discover that some of my friends who were teachers, when I criticised the quality of the scientific research on TM, would try really had to convince me the research was really true. About 1% of research on meditation in general is of good quality. Part of that seems to lie with the advertising mentality of the TMO. Dr. Lorin Roche wrote the following: The Relaxation Response is the term coined by Herbert Benson, M.D., in 1968 or so when looking at the physiological data he was getting from TM (Transcendental Meditation) meditators who were coming to his lab to be measured. Benson soon got tired of our relentless TM zealotry and the way we (TM teachers who were working for him) would sign official research documents with "Jai Guru Dev." As TM teachers, we wanted to take the results from his lab and instantly use them as part of our advertising and our public lectures. TM at the time had meditation centers in every major city in the United States, and teachers on most every college campus across the country. It was a hugely popular movement. But Benson needed to be able to "clone" TM, make it into a laboratory-standardized technique that could be replicated and measured at other labs. That's what science is. So he decided to de-mystify mantras, and he started telling people to just pick their own mantra, such as the word, "ONE." This scandalized the whole TM movement, but he had to do it. And truth be told, as far as I know, Benson in his 30 years or so of research on the physiology of meditation, publishing hundreds of scientific papers, is probably the greatest meditation scientist ever. I trust his findings. In the late 1960's and early 1970's, TM meditators were the guinea pigs of choice for scientists, because there were hundreds of thousands of them in the United States alone, and tens of thousands in other countries, their training was standardized, and they were so well trained that they could come into a medical lab and actually MEDITATE while the scientists stuck needles in their arms, electrodes on their heads, hands and hearts, and breathe into oxygen-consumption measuring masks. It's hard to find people like that! Think about it. Who in their right mind would take out part of their day to do such a thing? When I used to do this, in the 70's, it meant driving through ugly traffic to UCI Medical School, then going into a lab with a thousand rats in cages just a couple dozen feet away, the smell of ether in the air, and letting the guys in white coats poke me with huge needles and take blood samples while I meditated. TM blew it, by alienating one of the great scientists at work in the field, and by pushing bad science — publishing in their ads the results of trial studies. But the Buddhists, by comparison, played it very smart, and gradually came to be the favorite of physiological researchers. The Buddhists cheerfully cooperated with the needs of scientists, it is a match made in heaven because Buddhism is a very clin
[FairfieldLife] Re: Celebrating Enlightened Leadership
Any more info on that? ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Dilma Rousseff the TM practicing President has been re-elected! great news for projects in Brasil, including one she personally has helped to go forward.
[FairfieldLife] Re: More illegal aliens needed!
You're aware that the rate of illegal voting is down in the double digits for teh entire country, right? In other words, there's less than 100 cases (probably far less) o f illegal voting documented. This could sway an incredibly close eletion at the national level, but would require advanced knowledge that the vote would be within a hundred votes or so in Florida. For any predictable result, there's no chance that the illegal voting has swayed any election more important than dog catcher, and that is being optimistic. IOW, you've traveled far into wingnut territory. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The Democrats are desperate for more illegal immigrants that will eventually vote for them. These undocumented Democrats will sway close races in their favor and eventually cause Major states to go Blue. This will be a great Victory for the Democrats, unfortunately not for America as it continues to grow the entitlement society we are becoming.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: FFL Hating Turq and Belief in God is a form of mental illness
Schneider is certainly a true believer, but why do you call him a "jackass?" L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The fact that they had that jackass Bob Schneider, a cardiologist, doing a lecture on Vedic psychiatry which was primarily more Movement bullshit of think sweet thoughts, don't think negative thoughts, read Hindoo scriptures and do TM - that says what the Movement really thinks and is doing about TM suicides than the community meetings they are participating in ONLY to save face and put on a good show until they can get the people suffering from depression alone to tell them its their fault, their karma, they just aren't pure enough yet, so more TM Siddhi practice and some yagyas as well as a good big fat donation to the Movement will cure them. From: salyavin808 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2014 9:27 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: FFL Hating Turq and Belief in God is a form of mental illness ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Oh no no no no Sal! Haven't you read Share's gushing posts about what a grand effort the TMO is officially putting forth to combat suicides in Fairfield??? They certainly don't need to admit TM isn't the cure for all things. They are doing all SORTS of fabulous things, all created and orchestrated by the magnificent TMO!! I'm sure we'll see whether what they offer officially is of any worth. Seems to me that if they break down the mystique of TM as the single greatest thing for human development then it will only be a matter of time before someone questions the validity of their position on the unified field of consciousness and all that that entails. Maybe they'll even start to wonder about the ME or yagya's, from small acorns can mighty oaks grow. Or the other way round of course! There is no excuse for continuing to preach an all encompassing world view without any evidence to back it up and still call it a science. Shorn of the religious hyperbole the TMO might become a more realistic school of thought and might do more good in the world when it isn't scaring off anyone who doesn't like the sight of crowns and ranks of chanting Hindoo boys and teaching astrology in schools. From: salyavin808 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2014 9:05 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: FFL Hating Turq and Belief in God is a form of mental illness ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : salyavin808 asks: So, what happened at the meeting, who said what and what are they going to do about it? Dateline Fairfield, Iowa. The meeting? It was one in a continuation of working meetings held about mental health in the community that have been ongoing for months now most every Tuesday going under the working banner of the Fairfield Mental Health Alliance. These are working meetings of people who are interested in being activley involved in helping with communal mental health. On alternating Tuesdays are working committee meetings while on the off Tuesdays is the large group meeting where the committees bring their work. The larger meetings are very business like organized by agenda. A lot has been done [accomplished in very tangible ways] over several months to facilitate mental health in to the community. The meetings are open to interested people who would be actively involved. They are not gripe sessions where people just hate, bitch and complain, but working meetings looking for action steps to work on and facilitate. Different aspects have been focused on and worked on within the ongoing previous meeting process. Last month before this last meeting the other night was the presentation and distribution of the campus guideline for psychological health treatment. That was a historic meeting and showed the work of a lot of people. This current meeting the other night was a facilitated meeting getting down to the cultural things that may underlie meditator communal mental health. Everything came on to the table. It was really well facilitated. Evidently it is now time in the process to really consider elements of our culture. There were about 40 people around the room of various ages and rank in the community. The meeting had a cross-section representation of students, graduates of the whole school system, long-term community meditators, campus people, and movement leadership. It was extremely well facilitated lasting within and hour or so such that everyone was asked to speak and participate in a series of rounds around the room where everyone was asked by the facilitator who ran the meeting to respond to particular questions in short and those comments were captured on whiteboard and poster boards by scribes in front of everyone to be kept and read through out the meeting. Starting with a question something like, in only a few limited words and without statement what do y
[FairfieldLife] Re: TM and HIV
Unless, of course, it works, and works well. The webinar is supposed to be talking about new research. Apparently it has been accepted for publication but not yet published. I thought that many journals put an embargo on such discussions once teh research is accepted until such time as it is published, but perhaps this particular journal doesn't have that restriction. If it's just the findings indicated below, I don't see what the fuss is about as those are pretty much what you would expect the effects of TM to be in any severely stressed out population. Perhaps AIDS patients are so unhealthy overall that such improvements are extremely relevant to the community, or perhaps there's some new types of effects that will be revealed. Regardless, since the DLF teaches TM for free to the groups it caters to, I don't see how you can claim they're "a bunch of shameless sons of bitches" -they're not targeting the HIV sufferers, but other people, AND, the DLF is not paying full price for TM instruction, either. And HIV positive means someone has a viral infection. Even if a person is symptom-free, that doesn't mean that they have been cured of HIV and there's no possible way of reading any claim on the DLF website that I could find that says that TM cures HIV. L HIV http://davidlynchfoundation.org/hiv.html http://davidlynchfoundation.org/hiv.html HIV http://davidlynchfoundation.org/hiv.html Our Foundation was established to ensure that any child in America who wants to learn and practice the Transcendental Meditation program ca... View on davidlynchfo... http://davidlynchfoundation.org/hiv.html Preview by Yahoo Scientific research on HIV-positive individuals practicing TM has shown: 51% decrease in HIV-related physical problems 43% increase in vitality 42% improvement in general health 27% decrease in perceived stress 22% improvement in emotional well being 38% reduction in anxiety 36% reduction in anger and hostility 39% decrease in depressive symptom ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : They aren't claiming TM will cure HIV, but they are edging too close for my comfort. Targeting the most vulnerable populations to garner donations from everyone stupid enough to believe their spiel. What a bunch of shameless sons of bitches. http://hiv.davidlynchfoundation.org/ http://hiv.davidlynchfoundation.org/ http://hiv.davidlynchfoundation.org/"; class="ygrps-yiv-676216112link-enhancr-card-urlWrapper ygrps-yiv-676216112link-enhancr-element TRANSCENDING HIV/AIDS http://hiv.davidlynchfoundation.org/ About The Webinar View on hiv.davidlynchfoundatio... http://hiv.davidlynchfoundation.org/ Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: TM and HIV
Eh, so I watched the webinar. Nothing new was discussed. Apparently the traditional embargo about research that is about to be published holds. Perhaps they scheduled things before they realized that, or perhaps some other issue dictated the timing. As it is, we really only learned that 1) Bobby Roth's brother is gay and is a TM teacher and that HE spearheaded the formation of the new HIV branch of the DLF; 2) many people with HIV who have learned TM apparently are enthusiastic about it. It IS significant in one sense though: it puts the DLF and by extension, the TM organization, squarely in the "it's ok if you are gay" camp, which is a huge change the stance the higher ups in the TMO has had for many decades, apparently. They announced a project to have the DLF teach 10,000 people with HIV to meditation, which is also significant, and took a firm stance encouraging research on TM and HIV. Inspirational, I guess, but not earth-shattering. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Unless, of course, it works, and works well. The webinar is supposed to be talking about new research. Apparently it has been accepted for publication but not yet published. I thought that many journals put an embargo on such discussions once teh research is accepted until such time as it is published, but perhaps this particular journal doesn't have that restriction. If it's just the findings indicated below, I don't see what the fuss is about as those are pretty much what you would expect the effects of TM to be in any severely stressed out population. Perhaps AIDS patients are so unhealthy overall that such improvements are extremely relevant to the community, or perhaps there's some new types of effects that will be revealed. Regardless, since the DLF teaches TM for free to the groups it caters to, I don't see how you can claim they're "a bunch of shameless sons of bitches" -they're not targeting the HIV sufferers, but other people, AND, the DLF is not paying full price for TM instruction, either. And HIV positive means someone has a viral infection. Even if a person is symptom-free, that doesn't mean that they have been cured of HIV and there's no possible way of reading any claim on the DLF website that I could find that says that TM cures HIV. L HIV http://davidlynchfoundation.org/hiv.html http://davidlynchfoundation.org/hiv.html HIV http://davidlynchfoundation.org/hiv.html Our Foundation was established to ensure that any child in America who wants to learn and practice the Transcendental Meditation program ca... View on davidlynchfo... http://davidlynchfoundation.org/hiv.html Preview by Yahoo Scientific research on HIV-positive individuals practicing TM has shown: 51% decrease in HIV-related physical problems 43% increase in vitality 42% improvement in general health 27% decrease in perceived stress 22% improvement in emotional well being 38% reduction in anxiety 36% reduction in anger and hostility 39% decrease in depressive symptom ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : They aren't claiming TM will cure HIV, but they are edging too close for my comfort. Targeting the most vulnerable populations to garner donations from everyone stupid enough to believe their spiel. What a bunch of shameless sons of bitches. http://hiv.davidlynchfoundation.org/ http://hiv.davidlynchfoundation.org/ http://hiv.davidlynchfoundation.org/"; class="ygrps-yiv-2132973606ygrps-yiv-676216112link-enhancr-card-urlWrapper ygrps-yiv-2132973606ygrps-yiv-676216112link-enhancr-element TRANSCENDING HIV/AIDS http://hiv.davidlynchfoundation.org/ About The Webinar View on hiv.davidlynchfoundatio... http://hiv.davidlynchfoundation.org/ Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: How Maharishi got HIS title
And Maharishi has said that in response to reporters asking: "it was a title someone used about me and eventually it became kind of a [nick]name." And yet, for many people, it seems an appropriate title, as well. Anoop Chandola: "What about this 'maharishi' who is with the Beatles? Is he legitimate?" Swami Shantananda Saraswati, Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath: "Let me put it to you this way: He would be my first choice as my successor, but they won't allow it due to the caste laws." YYMV as to whether or not you think the guy named in Gurudev's will should have been named, but then you have to ask about Gurudev worthiness, as well. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : All this nonsense of taking issue with the word used by organizations who deal with the arts to refer to their roster reminded me a a great story Maharishi used to tell about how he got his title/name Maharishi. With all the careful parsing of words around here one would expect that the man chosen to be their authoritative master of all things spiritual would have gained his title through some profound process. At the very least one would assume that his own guru, the man who knew his spiritual progress best, would have been the one to give him the title "great rishi." But you would be wrong because Guru Dev went to his watery grave without giving Maharishi any title at all. He was known as Bal Bramachari Mahesh (which basically means he who represses any dhoti tents) and this was how he signed his name on early papers. But then in South India a newpaperman came up with a catchy hook for his story about a guy from the North who had come to the South. By Maharishi's own account he referred to Mahesh as "a great Maharishi from the North" and Mr. Marketing himself, was off and running. He assumed the name the Newspaper gave him, which is a spiritual title usually given by one's master, from the newspaper. That's right,the same guy who came up with: New Police Dog Takes a Bite Out of Crime" and the provocative "Aren't you 'Sari' you Forgot Your Wife's Birthday" gave Maharishi his most important spiritual title. Now I wonder how the World Teacher, got his special name...
[FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi's declining brain functioning
The logical conclusion is that, by Maharishi's theory, Maharishi wasn't perfectly enlightened. Was there still question in your mind about this? I heard him talk about how the consciousness of the world wouldn't support the most refined states of consciousness and automatically assumed that he was giving everyone a subtle message about his own state of consciousness, but apparently many, many people refused to take the implications of MMY's statements seriously and made a mental exception for MMY and Gurudev. In fact, I pointed this implication out to a TM teacher and he explicitly said just that. You get the same thing with Christians asserting the divinity of Jesus in spite of him saying "There is none perfect; no, not one." L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : I was struck by the posted interview between the Aussie and the Maharishi through closed circuit TV where Maharishi was unable to field a question about whether or not he could actually fly by going into "you kids get off of my lawn" mode. What struck me because I have spent quite a bit of time around old people in the last few years and it seemed obvious that Maharishi was clearly suffering from the diminished capacity of age and very likely dementia. He was not well. This observation only matters because at the heart of a lot of the premises in TM is that the state of consciousness in enlightenment transcends the functioning of the brain. This is the premise on which we have claims about witnessing deep sleep for example, and all the conjectural nonsense surrounding what happens after a "conscious" enlightened death. It is stated in different ways as a premise underneath many claims about how a person functions in enlightenment. We saw Maharishi, who in his salad days would have gigglingly swatted away such a direct question calling him on an outrageous claim, completely flummoxed and left with a broom in his hand chasing the local scamps out of his rutabaga patch. How can it be that "consciousness development" can have an effect on the person after their brain stops functioning and rots, when it couldn't even weather the storm of old age for the supposedly most developed person, Maharishi himself? Apparently consciousness development has the same impact as imagination development when it comes to being able to resist the ravages of age. Brain functioning trumps all imagination of it being otherwise. And the difference between Maharishi in old age and my own father can only be seen clearly in the zeros in their bank accounts.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Maharishi's declining brain functioning
Who ever said that Maharishi's consciousness was functioning independently from his brain? Maharishi made it clear ovr and over again that the state of a person's physiology dictated what kind of consciousness they had. As MMY's health declined towards the in, he had, as you pointed out, a diminished capacity to focus. and obviously became very forgetful, easily irritated, etc. That only means he wasn't perfectly enlightened by his definition. Gurudev died from complications from food poisoning, so we can assume that HE wasn't "fully enlightened" according to MMY's definition, either. In fact, as I said, MMY's talk about how the consciousness of the world wouldn't support the most refined states of consciousness pretty much acknowledges (even if MMY wouldn't have admitted it to himself) that Gurudev couldn't have been perfectly enlightened. MMY was a human being. It's perfectly normal for human beings to hold contradictory beilefs simultaneously, even if they can't acknowledge the contradiction. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : His health suffered, but this inflammatory nonsense from Curtis, is just that. M: You don't get it because you were never around the guy. His diminished capacity was a shock to me. Trying to label it inflammatory nonsense doesn't make the problem go away. It isn't his poor health I am commenting on, it is his mental health. The guy was whipped. His brain was whipped. If his consciousness was independent from his brain functioning this should not be the case. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : "What struck me because I have spent quite a bit of time around old people in the last few years and it seemed obvious that Maharishi was clearly suffering from the diminished capacity of age and very likely dementia. He was not well." Um, have you ever actually spent hours at a time with each resident of a nursing home, as in worked there, changing diapers, serving meals, doing bed checks? I have, and the thing that clearly distinguishes Maharishi's response, from that of someone suffering from dementia, is that Maharishi, despite some irritability, retains his focus. The same cannot be said of nursing home patients, with dementia. I don't think he retained any focus, it was awful to watch from my seat. He was rambling a lot in the last few years, and repeating himself. Not to mention making less sense than usual (I never thought he was much of a speaker) and his hands were shaking a lot too. The responses to this among my fellow workers at the academy were many and various. Denial that there was anything wrong was the principle one, beliefs that the amount of stress in the world has wearing him out (or similar attempts to fit it into the "knowledge" so that it wasn't a problem) came a close second. And a few were shocked but didn't say anything as any health problems would contradict everything he'd been telling everyone his whole life. I was angry, because I honestly thought that someone in his condition should not be allowed to appear like that in public without help or any sort of explanation, what were they thinking over in Vlodrop? I thought he should just be propped up in bed on a silk pillow with a big box of chocolates. Forced retirement and let the devotees run it on their own. Quite a stretch, from you, with a little cherry-picked "evidence" as garnish. Seems very similar to the sort of things you have been accusing Nabby of lately, doesn't it? I guess fairness only counts, when *you* are the target. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : I was struck by the posted interview between the Aussie and the Maharishi through closed circuit TV where Maharishi was unable to field a question about whether or not he could actually fly by going into "you kids get off of my lawn" mode. What struck me because I have spent quite a bit of time around old people in the last few years and it seemed obvious that Maharishi was clearly suffering from the diminished capacity of age and very likely dementia. He was not well. This observation only matters because at the heart of a lot of the premises in TM is that the state of consciousness in enlightenment transcends the functioning of the brain. This is the premise on which we have claims about witnessing deep sleep for example, and all the conjectural nonsense surrounding what happens after a "conscious" enlightened death. It is stated in different ways as a premise underneath many claims about how a person functions in enlightenment. We saw Maharishi, who in his salad days would have gigglingly swatted away such a direct question calling him on an outrageous claim, completely flummoxed and left with a broom in his hand chasing the local scamps out of his rutabaga patch. How can it be that "co
[FairfieldLife] Re: When meditation goes bad
I've chatted via email with the woman. A very nice person, trying to make sense of things. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The Dark Night Project at Brown University has been investigating some common psychological issues that can arise with many people who set out on the meditation path. Common problems include those who enjoyed that sense of enhanced sensual awareness on a retreat but then found the sensory overload alarming in everyday life; disorienting experiences of depersonalization; and manic emotional states. As the effects can last for some years the neuroscientists at Brown University are trying to find out why some people find meditation plain sailing while others enter the "dark night". (The link is to the second of two transcripts but it deals more usefully with the problems that can arise following meditation than the first interview which is more background info.) http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/09/bg-232-the-dark-night-project/ http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/09/bg-232-the-dark-night-project/
Re: [FairfieldLife] The More Proper Pronunciation of Maharishi
Professor Anoop Chandola: "What about that 'maharishi' who is with the Beatles? Is he legitimate?" Swami Shantananda Saraswati, hand-picked successor to Swami Brahmanda Saraswati (first Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath in 165 years): "Let me put it to you this way: he would be my first choice as my successor, but they won't allow it due to the caste laws." You may think that MMY was a charlatan, but Gurudev's hand-picked successor did not. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Maharishi is a title he didn't deserve. I call him Mahesh Prasad Varmint. From: "dhamiltony2k5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2014 9:53 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] The More Proper Pronunciation of Maharishi Maharishi; in Sanskrit it is more correctly said, “Ma-ha-ri-shee”. More properly this decidedly is Not pronounced, Mahahorsie Ignorant Americans and many westerners not knowing any better use a hard “s” which is too often flat or broad and wrong. The Vedic is a softer “s”. The Vedic 'r' is retroflex too, which is very unAmerican. However, the seemingly affected version that one may hear around the TM movement which sounds somewhat European is more correct. Now, as like with bija mantras and properly adjusted pronunciation it is also important how you use the mantra. Yet as with the proper mantra but with improper pronunciation also no wonder people go crazy. Care that you not mangle proper names in usage. Jai Guru Dev, -Buck
Re: [FairfieldLife] early book on Maharishi
http://blog.sfusd.edu/2012/09/a-quiet-transformation.html http://blog.sfusd.edu/2012/09/a-quiet-transformation.html According to James Dierke, the transformation in his school, where "Most of the students in our school have a family member who has been shot, who did the shooting, or who saw a shooting," was what led to him receiving the 2008 NASSP Middle School Principle of the Year award. http://www.nassp.org/Content.aspx?topic=56219 http://www.nassp.org/Content.aspx?topic=56219 According to this San Francisco article, despite there being 9 shootings in the neighborhood of the school in the month of December 2013 alone, the school was recently found to be "the happiest school in San Francisco": http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php For THAT school at least, TM DID change their world. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Read it years ago - nothing to write home about - I am more interested in his first book, Meditations of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in which he states very clearly the mantras he gave out are the names of gods, Hindu gods no less. So much for the meaningless sounds. The only meaningless sounds that ever issued forth from his lying mouth were his statements of lifelong celibacy and his predictions of world change from everyone doing TM. From: "srijau@..." To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2014 9:03 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] early book on Maharishi There exists an early book on Maharishi which it seems few people have been aware of. It contains information that contradicts recent accounts of Maharishi early life and the early movement and shows those accounts to be very superficial and biased . It involves first hand accounts from individuals in India. http://www.amazon.com/The-Maharishis-Himalayas-Elsa-Dragemark/dp/B0024Z55RW http://www.amazon.com/The-Maharishis-Himalayas-Elsa-Dragemark/dp/B0024Z55RW
Re: [FairfieldLife] early book on Maharishi
I was responding to this: The only meaningless sounds that ever issued forth from his lying mouth were his statements of lifelong celibacy and his predictions of world change from everyone doing TM. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Thanks for the information, Lawson, but we were talking about the Elsa Dragenmark book in this thread. According to Dragenmark, after the passing of SBS, the Mahesh Yogi went to the Upper Kashi so he could meditate in a cave for awhile. The Way to Maharishi's Himalaya By Elsa Dragmark Privately published, 1971 > On 11/2/2014 10:30 PM, LEnglish5@... mailto:LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: > http://blog.sfusd.edu/2012/09/a-quiet-transformation.html http://blog.sfusd.edu/2012/09/a-quiet-transformation.html According to James Dierke, the transformation in his school, where "Most of the students in our school have a family member who has been shot, who did the shooting, or who saw a shooting," was what led to him receiving the 2008 NASSP Middle School Principle of the Year award. http://www.nassp.org/Content.aspx?topic=56219 http://www.nassp.org/Content.aspx?topic=56219 According to this San Francisco article, despite there being 9 shootings in the neighborhood of the school in the month of December 2013 alone, the school was recently found to be "the happiest school in San Francisco": http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php For THAT school at least, TM DID change their world. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mailto:mjackson74@... wrote : Read it years ago - nothing to write home about - I am more interested in his first book, Meditations of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in which he states very clearly the mantras he gave out are the names of gods, Hindu gods no less. So much for the meaningless sounds. The only meaningless sounds that ever issued forth from his lying mouth were his statements of lifelong celibacy and his predictions of world change from everyone doing TM. From: "srijau@..." mailto:srijau@... mailto:srijau@... To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2014 9:03 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] early book on Maharishi There exists an early book on Maharishi which it seems few people have been aware of. It contains information that contradicts recent accounts of Maharishi early life and the early movement and shows those accounts to be very superficial and biased . It involves first hand accounts from individuals in India. http://www.amazon.com/The-Maharishis-Himalayas-Elsa-Dragemark/dp/B0024Z55RW http://www.amazon.com/The-Maharishis-Himalayas-Elsa-Dragemark/dp/B0024Z55RW
Re: [FairfieldLife] The More Proper Pronunciation of Maharishi
As far as I can tell, the will had been placed with the proper authorities 6 months before SBS died. The history that MJ quotes makes it sound like the will appeared from nowhere, but that isn't the case apparently. And the main political objections came from the group that selected SBS originally becauseTHEY wanted to select SBS' successor, according to Professor Chandola. I assume that this is what his uncle told him. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Lawson, I'm a little curious: were there any politics involved in the choosing of a successor for Guru Dev? From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2014 10:18 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The More Proper Pronunciation of Maharishi Professor Anoop Chandola: "What about that 'maharishi' who is with the Beatles? Is he legitimate?" Swami Shantananda Saraswati, hand-picked successor to Swami Brahmanda Saraswati (first Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath in 165 years): "Let me put it to you this way: he would be my first choice as my successor, but they won't allow it due to the caste laws." You may think that MMY was a charlatan, but Gurudev's hand-picked successor did not. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Maharishi is a title he didn't deserve. I call him Mahesh Prasad Varmint. From: "dhamiltony2k5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2014 9:53 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] The More Proper Pronunciation of Maharishi Maharishi; in Sanskrit it is more correctly said, “Ma-ha-ri-shee”. More properly this decidedly is Not pronounced, Mahahorsie Ignorant Americans and many westerners not knowing any better use a hard “s” which is too often flat or broad and wrong. The Vedic is a softer “s”. The Vedic 'r' is retroflex too, which is very unAmerican. However, the seemingly affected version that one may hear around the TM movement which sounds somewhat European is more correct. Now, as like with bija mantras and properly adjusted pronunciation it is also important how you use the mantra. Yet as with the proper mantra but with improper pronunciation also no wonder people go crazy. Care that you not mangle proper names in usage. Jai Guru Dev, -Buck
Re: [FairfieldLife] The More Proper Pronunciation of Maharishi
Every reference I can find to it online either says its "bogus" or that its not. Those that say it is bogus give no real reason for it other than "it must be." The ones that claim it isn't bogus claim it was filed in the proper way with the proper people months before SBS died. Since I don't have anyway of getting to India and looking at the will myself, that's about as far as I can go with establishing its authenticity. To you have better ways? L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : "As far as I can tell, the will had been placed with the proper authorities 6 months before SBS died" According to who? From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, November 3, 2014 2:42 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The More Proper Pronunciation of Maharishi As far as I can tell, the will had been placed with the proper authorities 6 months before SBS died. The history that MJ quotes makes it sound like the will appeared from nowhere, but that isn't the case apparently. And the main political objections came from the group that selected SBS originally becauseTHEY wanted to select SBS' successor, according to Professor Chandola. I assume that this is what his uncle told him. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Lawson, I'm a little curious: were there any politics involved in the choosing of a successor for Guru Dev? From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2014 10:18 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The More Proper Pronunciation of Maharishi Professor Anoop Chandola: "What about that 'maharishi' who is with the Beatles? Is he legitimate?" Swami Shantananda Saraswati, hand-picked successor to Swami Brahmanda Saraswati (first Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath in 165 years): "Let me put it to you this way: he would be my first choice as my successor, but they won't allow it due to the caste laws." You may think that MMY was a charlatan, but Gurudev's hand-picked successor did not. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Maharishi is a title he didn't deserve. I call him Mahesh Prasad Varmint. From: "dhamiltony2k5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2014 9:53 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] The More Proper Pronunciation of Maharishi Maharishi; in Sanskrit it is more correctly said, “Ma-ha-ri-shee”. More properly this decidedly is Not pronounced, Mahahorsie Ignorant Americans and many westerners not knowing any better use a hard “s” which is too often flat or broad and wrong. The Vedic is a softer “s”. The Vedic 'r' is retroflex too, which is very unAmerican. However, the seemingly affected version that one may hear around the TM movement which sounds somewhat European is more correct. Now, as like with bija mantras and properly adjusted pronunciation it is also important how you use the mantra. Yet as with the proper mantra but with improper pronunciation also no wonder people go crazy. Care that you not mangle proper names in usage. Jai Guru Dev, -Buck
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: He Came Out Of The Himalayas
I'm pretty sure he stayed much, much longer than 10 days. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : On 11/3/2014 10:09 AM, Duveyoung wrote: > He kicked the kid outta her room -- > Get a grip, Edg - the Maharishi's visit with the Olson's in L.A. was just for ten days! You seem to be in a clear case of cognitive dissonance: everyone knows you slept inside a TM Center for five years. It was good for Tina to be kicked out of her room so she wasn't so attached. If you had been kicked out, you might have gotten a life long before working for a cult for a decade and a half. Go figure. > didn't never not hear about him fixing up a shack out back. > You are mistaken. According to Helen Olson, "Maharishi, it seemed, would be with us from the tenth of May to the fifteenth of May. On Tuesday evening, may tenth,an announcement was made at the lecture hall that Maharishi would be staying at433 South Harvard Boulevard" (Olson 42-43). In her book "433" Helen describes a shack in her garden out back where there was an old, unfinished children's playhouse which she offered to Maharishi as his "shrine room" for initiations - so they painted it and fixed it up with rugs and curtains. > The 433 book is my source. > When are you going to read it? You are supposed to read the book BEFORE you post your comments. > Even back then, as a true believer, when I read the book, I was all like "What the fuck? Take kid's room?" > Sounds like you are just unstressing. > Shudda been a tell, but nope, I was polishing my blinkers and proud of it. > You suck as an informant. Work cited: Maharishi at 433: The Story of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's First Visit to the United States by Helena Olsen pp 72-73
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: A Scientist Reviews Three Types of Meditation
Eh, Fred has a PhD in Physiology and has published nearly 50 peer-reviewed studies on meditation. The fact that he doesn't have a neuroscience dept to run doesn't say anything about his research, but is only about what classes are taught at MUM. He's not a bogus scientist simply because he doesn't run a dept that teaches courses in his area of expertise. Head of a dept at a university is an administrative position, not a teaching position. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : In regard to Orme-Jonhson, I was sitting near him once and the discussion he was having with someone had to do with data from the Maharishi Effect research. He mentioned that some other researchers wanted to see the raw data, and it seemed he was not going to give it to them, saying 'You know what they would do with it'. We do indeed know, they'd have a look to see what the hell is going on and blow it out of the water if that's what it deserves. Not letting other researchers look at what it is you've done to reach your conclusions is the very essence of bad science because if it can't be checked there's no reason for anyone to believe it. Especially as it's in such a contentious area. I do remember reading that they'd refused to hand over raw data before but could never find any evidence online, it would have helped in the many arguments I've had about the ME research over the years. Just checking the MUM website, the university does not have a neuroscience department. Fred Travis, for example, is a Professor of Maharishi Vedic Science, not a professor of a scientific discipline that are researching meditation at other universities. Professor of Maharishi Vedic Science? It's like they don't even want to be taken seriously. Vedic Astrology Research http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/vedic-astrology/research.html http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/vedic-astrology/research.html Vedic Astrology Research http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/vedic-astrology/research.html The thousands of individuals enjoying the benefits of the Jyotish and Yagya Programmes provide the best documentation of the Vedic Science of... View on maharishi-program... http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/vedic-astrology/research.html Preview by Yahoo
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: A Scientist Reviews Three Types of Meditation
That's a sticky question. In principle, scientists are supposed to make data available, but personality and agenda can get in the way. A law or regulation was passed about a decade ago requiring that any researchers doing research funded by the NIH would have to make the raw data from such a study easily available to anyone who asked, presumably to address this very issue (personalities and agendas). The requirement also affects data in studies that never get published. That's why the TM researchers are REALLY conservative in asking for NIH funding, I believe. From the most realistic, albeit cynical, perspective, by the time affects have been documented over and over again via private pilot studies, published pilot studies, etc., to the point where pro-TM researchers are pretty darned positive that large-scale studies are going to show that TM works well on some measure, they're willing to apply for NIH funding because they MUST be willing to show the data to anyone who asks. That's why the TM effects on blood pressure seem more robust than on any other topic. They were willing to ask for NIH funding, so they were already pretty darned sure what the outcome was going to be. The same reasons to be skeptical of Big Pharma research apply to TM research is the take-away message -but everyone here already realizes that, I should hope. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Lawson, addressing the issue of raw data disclosure, do peer reviewed publications require this? If they do, then I assume Fred's research was fine in this regard. If they don't, then should they? From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2014 5:18 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: A Scientist Reviews Three Types of Meditation Eh, Fred has a PhD in Physiology and has published nearly 50 peer-reviewed studies on meditation. The fact that he doesn't have a neuroscience dept to run doesn't say anything about his research, but is only about what classes are taught at MUM. He's not a bogus scientist simply because he doesn't run a dept that teaches courses in his area of expertise. Head of a dept at a university is an administrative position, not a teaching position. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : In regard to Orme-Jonhson, I was sitting near him once and the discussion he was having with someone had to do with data from the Maharishi Effect research. He mentioned that some other researchers wanted to see the raw data, and it seemed he was not going to give it to them, saying 'You know what they would do with it'. We do indeed know, they'd have a look to see what the hell is going on and blow it out of the water if that's what it deserves. Not letting other researchers look at what it is you've done to reach your conclusions is the very essence of bad science because if it can't be checked there's no reason for anyone to believe it. Especially as it's in such a contentious area. I do remember reading that they'd refused to hand over raw data before but could never find any evidence online, it would have helped in the many arguments I've had about the ME research over the years. Just checking the MUM website, the university does not have a neuroscience department. Fred Travis, for example, is a Professor of Maharishi Vedic Science, not a professor of a scientific discipline that are researching meditation at other universities. Professor of Maharishi Vedic Science? It's like they don't even want to be taken seriously. Vedic Astrology Research http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/vedic-astrology/research.html http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/vedic-astrology/research.html Vedic Astrology Research http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/vedic-astrology/research.html The thousands of individuals enjoying the benefits of the Jyotish and Yagya Programmes provide the best documentation of the Vedic Science of... View on maharishi-program... http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/vedic-astrology/research.html Preview by Yahoo
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: A Scientist Reviews Three Types of Meditation
Well, research on TM enlightened people is still in its infancy. If you take MMY's words at their most simple, he's saying that enlightened people are the most rigid people in teh world and can never change. Seeing how stress tends to make people more rigid, and less stress tends to make them less rigid, I don't think that MMY's words are being interpreted exactly the way he meant them. If he DID mean them the way everyone is hearing them, then perhaps he was wrong -speaking about people living in isolated caves and monastic communities as though they are what everyone is like who is enlightened. Unlike many hear, I don't believe that enlightened people are perfect. They are lower-stressed and therefore less likely to make mistakes due to being lower stress, but not some font of perfect knowledge that can never be challenged or corrected. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Sounds like MMY, Share.. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : wgm, I heard from a TM teacher friend that Maharishi once said that if you have any habits you want to change, good to do so before CC. Because after CC, you'll simply witness them! From: wgm4u To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, November 10, 2014 6:01 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: A Scientist Reviews Three Types of Meditation Dr. Johnson says-"The TM technique allows your mind to easily and effortlessly settle inward, through quieter levels of thought, until you experience the most silent and peaceful level of your own awareness—pure consciousness." I say-Yes, this is *eventually* true, but in practice it takes many years of dedicated practice to achieve this (pure consciousness) and some say even lifetimes of practice. So what MMY teaches is correct, only, the devil (time) is in the details which MMY conveniently left out or perhaps didn't know himself. He apparently thought after a few years of TM all of your vices would magically disappear and your didn't even have to try to get rid of them..what a joke!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Established in Being, let anger take over
Eh. Obviously they didn't handle the interviewer well. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Absolutely brilliant. I much needed reminder about how crazy cults can be. None of the sanitised videos carefully chosen for youtube, Oh no. Madness, megalomania and dangerous delusion straight from the horses mouth and who can deny it? Loved the reaction from Bevan and king Tony at the end, imagine someone not treating the guru with the same level of grovelling respect that he's used to! Imagine someone actually asking questions! I wish I'd taped the weekly press conferences, I'd have a mass of lectures that would keep a whole conference of psychiatrists busy for years. Both Marshy and Hagelin ranting for hours. And no, I never liked it, I saw the nice old tapes when I was on courses and enjoyed the sentiment even if I raised my eyebrows at the physics, but I believed in the enlightenment. Getting to work with the movement gives you an unfiltered version of what they want people to think it's all about. And the Marshy channel was superb for that, absolutely bonkers and highly worrying if you like to think about things rather than just accept it all as dogma. Probably an unintentionally good way of sorting out the true believers from the merely curious. I think it was probably the "perfect man" course that switched me right off. I'd never encountered anything like it, absolutely no justification for the theories given and no awareness that you have to show the workings out when you are proposing a radical new idea. Of course, to the Reesh and the devoted it was all simply The Truth. And merely by virtue of the fact he'd said it too. Nice to be reminded of what it was all about. Glad I stayed sane unlike poor old Bevan ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Wait for the MMY interview 30 seconds in. Maharishi Exposed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGc1yTDU8Fs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGc1yTDU8Fs Maharishi Exposed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGc1yTDU8Fs This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. View on www.youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGc1yTDU8Fs Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: Established in Being, let anger take over
Last I looked, Bevan's pay was inline with all other MUM faculty beside's Hagelin's: slave wages. And Bevan Morris managed to get to India when he was 18(? 20?) on his own steam around the same time as the Beatles showed up, and MMY recognized his devotion to the cause from that moment on. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : I concur with Edg that MMY seemed pretty grumpy. I chalk that up to old age also. I concur with Fleet that the interviewer had an agenda that he was promoting, and had no interest in trying to present a balanced picture, and his derision was barely concealed. I did enjoy seeing my old friend talking about YF. It seemed like a hack job. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Not come across that video before - excellent! Bevan Morris comes across as a one-man circle jerk. And as for MMY's comment that "Australia is a slave of Britain" . . . has he ever met any Aussies? If I were to walk into an Australian pub here in London and repeat that line to the clientele they'd burst their sides laughing. Priceless. I have never watched Bevan on tape before, or at least I don't remember having watched him. I was watching pretty hard to figure him out from the little I could see. Mostly I was trying to see if he really believed in what he was saying. I was looking for some indicator of real belief and certitude that he might have about it all. I came away unsure if he sticks around because he is so invested and so important in the Movement or because it is all he's got. It can be really hard to be the front man for this kind of thing, this Movement that contends what it does and yet there is so little to show for it in terms of flyers and invincibility and world peace. It must make one doubtful, it must make one question one's faith, for faith is vital on some level here. Does Bevan get tired of it all or is the pay just too darn good to make a run for it? I don't know, but I'd like to have a chat with the man.
Re: [FairfieldLife] thoughts on samskaras and enlightenment - CC to UC
MIndfulness and concentrative practices disrupt the Default Mode Network of the brain, which is highly involved with self-referral processing and sense-of-self. In fact, long-term practices lead to a new style of functioning of the nervous system where the original functioning of the DMN, complete with relaxed, mind-wandering alpha, starts to become a thing of the past. TM, on the other hand, enhances the functioning of the DMN and enhances the brain circuits associated with sense-of-self. Which is better? Research will furnish answers, I am sure, but in the meantime, anyone who says that TM leads to the same place as mindfulness and concentration is full of it... L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : My experience has been that "I" don't exist. It just seems that "I" go through the week as someone just doing something. And it's not weird at all. Like you say it may be a little difficult to fathom intellectually especially if some people have had few experiences even of transcending. It's just at some point you no longer "come out" of meditation and it's not "spaciness" either an issue that David Frawely has tackled in some of his writings about "false" enlightenment. Just do some grounding things and if the experience remains it isn't spaciness. On 09/17/2014 08:47 AM, fleetwood_macncheese@... mailto:fleetwood_macncheese@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: It is an automatic process, Richard. The Self begins to witness in every moment, so that rather than having any attention, on giving up anything, it actually becomes impossible to be attached to anything. This can't be understood in the waking state. Once a person lives in freedom, a person can tackle any situation successfully. Life becomes as simple as we want it to be. Attachment is impossible, so even the most joyful and the most painful moments will pass. Contrary to what the rational mind may think, the witness capability, is not some sort of anesthetic. As Ann and I were discussing, life is so visceral, sensual and alive within itself, that even the witness revels in fullness. Everything is uncovered and seen for what it is. The inside and outside are balanced. Attachment, and its consequent delusion, are impossible, in a life lived in eternal freedom. No need whatsoever, to think about non-attachment. It is automatic, after awhile. -
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Why MMY's Bhagavad Gita will never be a classic.
Hmmm? Vernon Katz was the translator and had no part in the commentary, according to him. In fact, in a video, Vernon says that he would argue with MMY about MMY's choice of words for the translation that overrode Veron's carefully devised scholarly translation, but in the battle of unveiled glances, MMY always won. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Except, as we've heard here many a time, it really wasn't his commentary. He just approved but gave no credit to the scholar who wrote it. So it goes in the big business of cults. On 09/17/2014 03:19 PM, fleetwood_macncheese@... mailto:fleetwood_macncheese@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: I wasn't there, with Shiva, or Parvati, during that discussion, and I just wouldn't take an interpretation, on face value, from a third party. I liked MMY's commentary - but I admit not having read any appreciable amount of it, in years. Perhaps I will pick it up again. PS Anyone can write a commentary. Whether or not people consider it authoritative, is a personal matter, and not given to supposed edicts, from you, or anyone else. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mailto:no_re...@yahoogroups.com wrote : Who is limiting their horizon, here? For decades I thought Mahesh Yogi's commentary was the be all and end all of Bhagavad Gita commentaries. Why? Because the movement said so. Ignorance is Bliss. Lord Shiva's discourse to Goddess Parvati..."Sri Guru Gita" explains who is qualified and who is not. It is clear from this scripture where Mahesh Yogi stood.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Why MMY's Bhagavad Gita will never be a classic.
Vernon Katz was translator and transcriber, not commentator. And MMY would insist that a different word be used in the translation and Katz had to oblige, so even the translation was strictly to MMY's specification even though Katz did all the original translating. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : I am quite sure it is Maharishi's voice, his thoughts, and his truths, though he had someone else expand, and assemble his ideas, for him. All big business is the same. ;-) ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Except, as we've heard here many a time, it really wasn't his commentary. He just approved but gave no credit to the scholar who wrote it. So it goes in the big business of cults. On 09/17/2014 03:19 PM, fleetwood_macncheese@... mailto:fleetwood_macncheese@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: I wasn't there, with Shiva, or Parvati, during that discussion, and I just wouldn't take an interpretation, on face value, from a third party. I liked MMY's commentary - but I admit not having read any appreciable amount of it, in years. Perhaps I will pick it up again. PS Anyone can write a commentary. Whether or not people consider it authoritative, is a personal matter, and not given to supposed edicts, from you, or anyone else. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mailto:no_re...@yahoogroups.com wrote : Who is limiting their horizon, here? For decades I thought Mahesh Yogi's commentary was the be all and end all of Bhagavad Gita commentaries. Why? Because the movement said so. Ignorance is Bliss. Lord Shiva's discourse to Goddess Parvati..."Sri Guru Gita" explains who is qualified and who is not. It is clear from this scripture where Mahesh Yogi stood.
Re: [FairfieldLife] thoughts on samskaras and enlightenment - CC to UC
Exactly. Up until now, all you could go by, as a meditation instructor was the *context* of the answers: how did the student learn in the first place? Hence MMY's extreme insistence on perfect adherence to his teaching methodology. Now, these days, you can look at how the brain is behaving, based on EEG and various imaging technologies, and see that there are indeed differences between people who learn TM, and people who learn mindfulness or samatha practices. I'm not making things up about mindfulness resetting the default mode network in a way that disrupts sense-of-self. That's a pretty normal interpretation of things based on what mindfulness researchers are saying. Nor am I making up the fact that "mind-wandering" (which is how MMY describes TM) is considered to be tied in with sense-of-self. That's what non-TM researchers say about it. In fact, here's a review article talking about the science of mind-wandering: Towards a Neuroscience of Mind-Wandering http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full Towards a Neuroscience of Mind-Wandering http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full Mind wandering is among the most robust and permanent expressions of human conscious awareness, classically regarded by philosophers, clinicians a... View on journal.frontie... http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full Preview by Yahoo MW serves “self” functions As detailed in the context of strategy B1, there are theoretical (Gallagher, 2000), neuroanatomical (Gusnard, 2005; Northoff et al., 2006), and intuitive grounds to claim that MW is a self related cognitive function, which serves to create and maintain an integrated, meaningful sense of self out of various aspects of self-related information and cognition." and of course, the longer you practice mindfulness, the more pronounced the change in how the DMN operates, and along with that, the greater the reduction of sense-of-self. A good thing or a bad thing? Shrug. Research will say what it says. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : L: Research will furnish answers, I am sure, but in the meantime, anyone who says that TM leads to the same place as mindfulness and concentration is full of it... M: You bring up a valid point about the difference between subjective experience and research. I guess the next question would be to get behind the terms we are using like "mindfulness" which is not taught in the same fixed way TM is. Are you confident that you know what I am doing under the umbrella of the term mindfulness and that it is the same thing as what was studied by other people who took completely different paths to their practice? I am also open to the realiy that I will never experience mindfulness without my long association with the conditioning of my TM practice. I once "checked" the mindfulness practice of a friend to see if I could discern any differences in the answers he gave from checking TM. I couldn't. When he described his practice as we would do in 3 days checking I couldn't figure out how we might determine if his internal experience was different from TM people's. The language is too imprecise to make these distinctions. I don't know if the distinctions discovered in the research on particular types of mindfulness practices apply to mine. So without standardization I am left to draw my own conclusions from what I experience. TM and mindfulness practice lead me to a similar internal experience. YMMV and I agree that research will help us sort out the differences in brain states. But it is gunna take a while for the very young science of neuroscience as a whole to describe what these states mean with close to the same confidence you and most TM affiliated researchers put behind your theories. I think your confidence in your interpretation comes from TM triumphalist bias. Time will tell. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : MIndfulness and concentrative practices disrupt the Default Mode Network of the brain, which is highly involved with self-referral processing and sense-of-self. In fact, long-term practices lead to a new style of functioning of the nervous system where the original functioning of the DMN, complete with relaxed, mind-wandering alpha, starts to become a thing of the past. TM, on the other hand, enhances the functioning of the DMN and enhances the brain circuits associated with sense-of-self. Which is better? Research will furnish answers, I am sure, but in the meantime, anyone who says that TM leads to the same place as mindfulness and concentration is full of it... L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : My experience has been that "I" don't exist. It just seems that "I" go through the week
[FairfieldLife] Gut bacteria as devas?
http://universityofcalifornia.edu/news/do-gut-bacteria-rule-our-minds http://universityofcalifornia.edu/news/do-gut-bacteria-rule-our-minds Do gut bacteria rule our minds? People laugh at MMY's lecture on devas and where they consume soma and yet... The gut microbiome is apparently quite influential... L
[FairfieldLife] Re: World and Personal Protection Mantra
Great, and when is his organization going to be able to train enough meditation teachers to each al 45 million school-age kids in Brazil? MMY never claimed that TM was the absolute best thing for everyone, everywhere, but when it comes to distributing meditation education on a scale of millions or even billions of people, I don't think there is any comparison. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : After decades of the TMO mantra, which "has no meaning" I was given this Datta Raksha mantra from Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji. Upon meditating with it, a sense of peace flowed through me that I had never experienced. It has meaning which which appears at the end of the video. Datta Raksha Mantra chanted by Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX384sDqsMc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX384sDqsMc Datta Raksha Mantra chanted by Sri Ganapathy Sachchi... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX384sDqsMc Sri Swamiji's gift of Dattatreya Raksha Mantra for Universal Peace and Personal Protection. 27 repetitions set to video images. Meaning of mantra at the end ... View on www.youtube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX384sDqsMc Preview by Yahoo
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Success in Latin America
All that was claimed about 8,000 (or 7,000) yogic flyers is that they would have the same effect as 1% of the world doing TM. Maharishi specifically claimed that 1% of a society doing TM would be sufficient to cause measurable changes in the entire society. I think you are forgetting that his "Program to Create World Peace" required the creation of: 1) 1 or more permanent groups of Yogic Flyers sufficient in size to affect the whole world; 2) 1 or more permanent groups of Yogic Flyers sufficient to affect a given country, in every country; 3) 1 or more permanent groups of Yogic Flyers sufficient to affect a given city, in every large city. This would be sufficient to bring about the end to terrorism and so on and create a climate for irreversible progress for the world, but that isn't the same as there being no negativity. That's "Heaven on Earth," and the above is merely the first in a long line of things that he said needed to occur for that to happen. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : these things are true, and if not, blame the BBC - otherwise, wise up and realize you are defending a dead horse (the TMO) From: danfriedman2002 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2014 8:06 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Success in Latin America ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Well, just scanning the headlines this morning I see that: A drug lord who was arrested has been set free A tourist boat capsizes in Paraguay Brazil refuses to join a pact with other Latin countries to end deforestation A Mexican federal congressman who was kidnapped has been found dead Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands are fighting over who should have the stuffed body of a giant tortoise Seems like those 8,000 plus flyers Raja Luis loves to brag about just aren't getting the job done! Dear Missing: Quoting headlines will not add anything to your diminished credibility. You were doing better with Wikipedia. Try to find out something that is true. That is something done on your own. Not on a computer.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Jerry email to John sent on Sunday
Eh, anyone who thinks that the Movement is in MORE trouble than it was when Maharishi died is blind. The reduction in the TM fee, combined with the good press from teh DLF, the celebrity endorsements, the [slight] nod from the American Heart Association, and the ongoing phenomenal successes with PTSD, all comnbine tp put the TMO in a much better position, financially, and PR-wise, than it has been in since the Merv Giffith days. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : you sycophants can mock all you like - you are just trying to avoid the obvious - the Movement is a mess and Hagelin is running scared that this Hammond guy's event with Jerry Jarvis's support will seriously damage the Movement's attempt to sanitize its image and make everyone think its all vanilla ice cream. The fact that Jarvis has been a Movement straight arrow all these years and never walked away from Marshy even when the old geezer tossed Jarvis aside and marginalized his position in the TMO, and Jerry now stands behind Hammond's assertion that he is communicating directly with Marshy spells real trouble for the Movement. Missing, We're not "mocking". Quick, lock up your daughters! The Music Man - Trouble... right here in River City! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s60hOgqLFGg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s60hOgqLFGg The Music Man - Trouble... right here in River City! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s60hOgqLFGg My favorite clip from my favorite musical of all time... don't even talk of remakes. Here Robert Preston, as con man par excellence "Professor Harold Hill&... View on www.youtube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s60hOgqLFGg Preview by Yahoo From: danfriedman2002 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, September 26, 2014 11:24 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Jerry email to John sent on Sunday ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : PS bawee reads all posts if simply to keep a tally of how many times his name comes up. Nailed it! - signed woo woo boy Eddie Holman Hey There Lonely Girl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVq5RdLe9hs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVq5RdLe9hs Eddie Holman Hey There Lonely Girl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVq5RdLe9hs Soultry Sounds From Eddie Holman View on www.youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVq5RdLe9hs Preview by Yahoo ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Barry, omniscient as he is, since he doesn't read my posts, knows that I posted something about my personal experiences with Guru Dev, recently, and it completely blows his mind. He cannot cope with the fact that I am enlightened, either. Both facts blow away his world view so completely, it turns him into a jealous, raving lunatic. Sucks to be him. :-) The worst part about it, imo, is that the guy travels the world, yet his mind is stuck in this tiny little closet of prejudices, stories, and fantasies, missing out on the real world, completely. Sigh. I offer a collective "sigh" as well. Shall we also offer pity? If bawee isn't the one experiencing the woo woo then it is damnable woo woo and something to be scoffed at. But as long as he's the one nipping through portals and watching enlightened, afro-haired gurus hovering and surrounded in bliss-filled golden light then it's great. It's so great, in fact, that he will look down on us poor wretches who have failed to 'grok' it all and who, apparently, don't have the spiritual cojones to be worthy of such experiences. I mean, all you can do is laugh and feel a small tweak of empathy for the guy. I mean it. PS bawee reads all posts if simply to keep a tally of how many times his name comes up. There's nothing like a true narcissist to have to read all there is to read about themselves.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Jerry email to John sent on Sunday
What revenue? The David Lynch Foundation is in charge of teaching TM in the public schools. The cost, last time they broke it down, was $300 per student. That's roughly the portion of the standard TM instruction fee that TM tachers normally get for teaching students. Hagelin gets $42K per year from the DLF as the president. Bobby Roth gets $53K as executive director and another $63K for "services," presumably TM initiation fees for going and teaching billionaires and hollywood celebs TM -about 130 per year, apparently. http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/830/830436453/830436453_201306_990.pdf http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/830/830436453/830436453_201306_990.pdf Hagelin also gets $36K as CEO of the Maharishi Foundation, USA http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/043/043196447/043196447_201212_990.pdf http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/043/043196447/043196447_201212_990.pdf Hagelin's main source of income is from MUM, where he gets paid more than any other faculty member for his multiple roles as professor and think-tank director. If anyone is making money from the TM org, it isn't showing up in the IRS forms, that's for sure. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : I would've told "George" to kindly fuck off - End of story. He is a self-promoter, who could've just as easily passed on the results of his "talks", in print, or posted them on Youtube. Instead, he gets the soap opera going, for a Big Reveal in November. Anyone waiting for the results, 1) Needs to get their head examined, and 2) Needs to get a life. Pricks like this are a great test for anyone considering themselves in the Here and Now, but unfortunately after any self examination by those exposed to such a person, the prick remains a prick. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The whole thing is absolutely hilarious. Just when you think the Movement can't provide any entertainment, here they go with their own bona fide Three Ring Circus. The first thing that's amusing to me is the "Private and Confidential for Certified Governors" and here it is for all to see, thanks to Brother Rick, a fact that I am sue will endear Rick to Nabby even more than he is already. I would love to have seen Hagelin dealing with some of these folks who have had "special messages" from Marshy. I can only guess, but I expect its a good guess to assume that Jerry's status in the Movement is over with as a result of his support of this "event." I'm also guessing but I bet anything the Movement will have some kind of spies at the event taking names. I also noticed Hagelin's reference to the "delicate" programs the Movement has with government and schools and so on. He and the other "leaders" are scared shitless this event is going to cut in on their revenue. Can't wait to see the next chapter in this new Three Ring Circus. Kudos to Rick for providing this week's entertainment. From: salyavin808 To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, September 26, 2014 3:30 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Jerry email to John sent on Sunday Sounds like it's going to be a fun conference! Keep it coming. You can see the fear in John Hagelin's letter though, he's right to distance themselves from this stuff, if the general public hears about it they'd think the TMO was barking. But then they keep a lot of the rest of it hidden too for that very reason. The website looks most corporate these days, no mention of levitation or world peace creation there. On a scale, I wonder what level of impossibility John Hagelin has TM core beliefs at compared to Marshy being channeled? I haven't seen a "physics of life after death" video yet so maybe he doesn't believe in it. Marshy did so it ought to fit into the unified field chart somewhere. When did it stop making sense for you? ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : This was sent to me by a friend. I’m not “in the loop” on any of this. Just passing it along. Jerry Jarvis sent this to John Hagelin the day before John posted his thing (Sunday), along with a cover note asking John to consider it and then to call Jerry. John responded, and told Jerry he'd consider it. But he never called Jerry to discuss before he sent out his message on Monday to the Certified Govs. Compare the two documents. Jerry's point is to show people the info and let them decide for themselves. From: George Hammond Sent: Sep 21, 2014 11:25 AM To: Subject: The Concerns Expressed to You Dear Jerry, In light of the concern some of your friends are kindly expressing on your behalf, I'd like to emphasize a few things we've already discussed: 1) The Explanations Maharishi wants me to convey are designed to dispel the fears many of his teachers have developed. These are not in any way designed to make
[FairfieldLife] Re: AoL vs. TM?
Perhaps, but if you check out the actual research, organization, website, etc., there seems to be far less activity for AoL than for TM. I'm not aware of any current presidents or deputy prime ministers of major countries (Brazil, Colombia, UK, and maybe India?) or former such (Mozambique and possibly one or two other African nations) that acknowledge that AoL was/is important to them. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Is it perchance so, that AoL is way more popular nowadays than TM?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Fairfield Iowa Suicide Rate
Here are the conclusions you could draw from this: 1) TM makes you more likely to commit suicide 2) people who do TM who decide to go live in Fairfield, Iowa, tend to self-medicate using TM, rather than seeking professional help for thigns that TM doesn't affect. 3) both of the above. There's no way to tell which conclusion is correct. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : people would like to know how Fairfield rates compare to other communities. Fairfield’s rate is indeed higher than the national average, which is 12.3 cases per population of 100,000, per year (as of 2011, the latest stats available). In Jefferson County, the rate is 19.83 cases per 100,000 as of 2014 (based on 20 suicides in 6 years with a county population of 16,810.) James Moore is correct in saying that the high suicides rate is a community-wide issue. As Matthew and James have pointed out in the comments, around a quarter of the 20 people who have died by suicide practiced TM. However, this does not mean, as James said, that suicide among TM practitioners is half the national average. On the contrary, the rate is actually higher than that of the county, because roughly 3,000 of the county’s nearly 17,000 practice TM. Assuming 5 of the residents who died by suicide were part of the meditating community of 3,000 in the past 6 years, the rate would be 27.75 cases per 100,000, which is more than double the national average. From the author of this piece, in the comments section: http://littlevillagemag.com/suicide-in-fairfield-iowa-town-struggles-with-mental-health-awareness http://littlevillagemag.com/suicide-in-fairfield-iowa-town-struggles-with-mental-health-awareness/?fb_action_ids=10204043010012260&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=[772000562838922]&action_type_map=[%22og.likes%22]&action_ref_map=[]
[FairfieldLife] Re: Fairfield Iowa Suicide Rate
Who says that the ego is destroyed or weakened or you are taken out of it or whatever with TM? Part of the issue is that we try to conflate Freud's terminology with Maharishi's and part of the issue is that we tend to assume that all meditation practices have the same effect, so the fact that mindfulness practices tend to weaken the functionality of the parts of the brain having to do with sense-of-self, combined with the interpretation of some very popular Buddhist sects that sense-of-self is evil, leads to all sorts of confusion. TM practice strengthens "sense of self." Samadhi, or pure consciousness, during TM, also happens to be the point where the relaxed mind-wandering activity of the brain associated in Western science with "sense of self" happens to be greatest. When Fred Travis interviewed the people reporting CC for at least a year continuously, his interview question was: "Describe your self." The people in CC responded along these lines, none of which suggest destruction of ego, in the sense that Freud would have understood, I believe: L1: We ordinarily think my self as this age; this color of hair; these hobbies . . . my experience is that my Self is a lot larger than that. It's immeasurably vast. . . on a physical level. It is not just restricted to this physical environment L2: It's the ‘‘I am-ness.’’ It's my Being. There's just a channel underneath that's just underlying everything. It's my essence there and it just doesn't stop where I stop. . . by ‘‘I,’’ I mean this 5 ft. 2 person that moves around here and there L3: I look out and see this beautiful divine Intelligence. . . you could say in the sky, in the tree, but really being expressed through these things. . . and these are my Self L4: I experience myself as being without edges or content. . . beyond the universe. . . all-pervading, and being absolutely thrilled, absolutely delighted with every motion that my body makes. With everything that my eyes see, my ears hear, my nose smells. There's a delight in the sense that I am able to penetrate that. My consciousness, my intelligence pervades everything I see, feel and think L5: When I say ’’I’’ that's the Self. There's a quality that is so pervasive about the Self that I'm quite sure that the ‘‘I’’ is the same ‘‘I’’ as everyone else's ‘‘I.’’ Not in terms of what follows right after. I am tall, I am short, I am fat, I am this, I am that. But the ‘‘I’’ part. The ‘‘I am’’ part is the same ‘‘I am’’ for you and me ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Actually you can. If TM takes you out of the ego, the sense of personal self, and if it works every time (i.e., you transcend at least once during a sitting), then in 40 years of meditation with some residence courses thrown in, you commit suicide some 30,000 times. If TM goes the distance (which some doubt), then eventually the suicide will be permanent. It won't be permanent in CC because ego is still in the centre of the active part of life in that experience. You need BC to catapult the ego to the periphery of life where it basically is on a short leash and can't run the show. Physical suicide results if TM dredges up something the ego can't deal with, and is more likely to occur in a 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' oppressive environment where help is unavailable by design. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Here are the conclusions you could draw from this: 1) TM makes you more likely to commit suicide 2) people who do TM who decide to go live in Fairfield, Iowa, tend to self-medicate using TM, rather than seeking professional help for thi[ng]s that TM doesn't affect. 3) both of the above. There's no way to tell which conclusion is correct. L
[FairfieldLife] Re: My take on "Waking Up" by Sam Harris
Fred Travis published research on enlightened people. This review paper looks at the research: Transcendental experiences during meditation practice - Travis - 2013 - Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences - Wiley Online Library http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full Transcendental experiences during meditation practice - Travis - 2013 - Annals of the New Yor... http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full 1 Shear, J. 2006. The Experience of Meditation: Experts Introduce the Major Traditions. Princeton, NJ: The Infinity Foundation. 2 Travis, F. & J. Shear. View on onlinelibrary.wiley.com http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full Preview by Yahoo Fred is doing new research on people in CC and will be using more sophisticated EEG analysis, and possibly other measures as well. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : "5. Neurologically speaking, banishing the self must equate to a certain level of unscheduled tinkering with neurotransmitters and receptors, just because we can modulate the potentials of our conscious experience doesn't mean that those states are fidelitous to some input from our external, or physical realities." For a "realized Self" to be invariant, consistent in all circumstances, beyond pain and suffering, "fire cannot wet it, fire cannot burn it", independent of waking sleeping and dreaming, etc, it seems reasonable that it should be invariant to significant shifts in serotonin, dopamine, and other neurotransmitter levels and receptivity. To what extent are classical states described in traditional texts, as well as contemporary non-dual and no-self states dependent upon brain function and levels of neurotransmitters, etc? Stated differently, can and does an exalted self (driven by non-standard levels of neurotransmitters and brain function) become misinterpreted as a realized Self? Is it a "cake-and-eat-it-too" phenomenon to measure and attempt to validate alternative / higher states of consciousness with physiological and brain measurement technology -- while also assuming / claiming such states survive bodily death? Separating brain function from deemed permanent (eternal) states of awareness seems a necessary first step for any discussion of post physical body death of "realized" beings. As well as associated states: to what extent are deep and intense bhakti experiences and modes driven by high serotonin levels (as well as other beyond 2-3 standard deviation levels of other neurotransmitters and other critical brain chemicals)? And /or great "realizations" about the nature of the universe, as well as intense bliss, driven by high dopamine levels, etc.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My take on "Waking Up" by Sam Harris
"He did not even mention CC in his conclusion (above) either." Er, talk about selective quoting. There's no conclusion section, but the discussion section, which you only partially quote, actually starts out talking about the integration of transcendental experiences with waking, dreaming and sleeping (CC). To suggest that he doesn't mention it when its the first line of the first paragraph, is, well, overtly deceptive: Discussion Brain patterns that defined transcendental experiences during TM practice and the integration of transcendental experiences with waking, dreaming, and sleeping were mainly found in frontal brain areas. This suggests that frontal circuits may play a critical role in transcendental experiences and the growth of higher states of consciousness. These states could be called higher states in that (1) the subject/object relationship is different in these states compared to waking, sleeping, and dreaming; (2) the sense of self is more expanded in these states; and (3) the physiological patterns are distinct from those during waking, dreaming, and sleeping. The development of higher states may be an extension of the developmental trajectory that began as a toddler and continued into adulthood, supporting the emergence of adult abstract reasoning. Brain development begins in posterior sensory areas, which myelinate by age four. Posterior areas process sensory experiences and create the concrete present. Activity in posterior areas are associated with the first two stages of cognitive development described by Piaget—the sensorimotor and preoperational stages.[53] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full#nyas12316-bib-0053 The corpus callosum, which connects the left and right hemispheres, myelinates from age 7 to age 10. Now the dominant level of awareness de-embeds from sensory experience and reintegrates at the level of concrete operations—the ability to think about the objects that you see. The last brain circuits to myelinate are connections with frontal executive areas. These circuits begin to myelinate around age 12 and end around age 25.[54] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full#nyas12316-bib-0054 With frontal myelination, the dominant level of awareness de-embeds from thinking and reintegrates at the level of formal operations—the ability to think about thinking. Now the teenager can see consequences; they can generate different reasons to explain observations. Language learning is considered the engine for the development of abstract adult thinking. Language provides a symbolic system to represent objects and so allows a child to mentally manipulate concrete objects.[55] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full#nyas12316-bib-0055 However, we can become stuck in our words and concepts. To develop beyond language-based thinking, we need a technique to transcend language and enable the experience of pure (content-free) consciousness underlying the changing activity of thinking and feeling. The experience of Transcendental Consciousness transcends language and provides a platform for experiencing the world more with repect to inner abstract structures and less with respect to outer, changing concrete objects. This experience of Transcendental Consciousness is not a luxury and should not be isolated to a few individuals transcending during meditation practice. Rather, the experience of Transcendental Consciousness should be available to everyone to allow them to realize their full human birthright. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : But CC really isn't enlightenment, it's just 'glorified ignorance' as M said. You get inner wakefulness and silence along with a deluded mind. So this paper is not about enlightened people. It's about people who have a certain degree of opening to spiritual experience, but far short of the goal. Fred's problem is he does not have access to currently used state-of-the-art equipment in the study of consciousness, and even if he did, he probably would not be allowed by the TMO to use it (fMRI for example), and he is probably under some other research restrictions as well, as he likely would be booted if he published any negative results. Fred: 'The experience of Transcendental Consciousness transcends language and provides a platform for experiencing the world more with re[s]pect to inner abstract structures and less with respect to outer, changing concrete objects. This experience of Transcendental Consciousness is not a luxury and should not be isolated to a few individuals transcending during meditation practice. Rather, the experience of Transcendental Consciousness should be available to everyone to allow them to realize their full human birthright.' He did not even mention CC in his conclusion (above) either. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Fred Travis published research on enlig
[FairfieldLife] Re: Fairfield Iowa Suicide Rate
Spiritual and Material Values "Every experience has its level of physiology, and so unbounded awareness has its own level of physiology which can be measured. Every aspect of life is integrated and connected with every other phase. When we talk of scientific measurements, it does not take away from the spiritual experience. We are not responsible for those times when spiritual experience was thought of as metaphysical. Everything is physical. Consciousness is the product of the functioning of the brain. Talking of scientific measurements is no damage to that wholeness of life which is present everywhere and which begins to be lived when the physiology is taking on a particular form. This is our understanding about spirituality: it is not on the level of faith --it is on the level of blood and bone and flesh and activity. It is measurable." -Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Sigh... Does no-one read my posts? I try to keep them to a minimum these days... Here's a mainstream review article on mind-wandering that I already linked to: Towards a Neuroscience of Mind-Wandering http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full Towards a Neuroscience of Mind-Wandering http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full Mind wandering is among the most robust and permanent expressions of human conscious awareness, classically regarded by philosophers, clinicians a... View on journal.frontie... http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full Preview by Yahoo From the abstract: "...classically regarded by philosophers, clinicians, and scientists as a core element of an intact sense of self." Further in" "MW serves “self” functions As detailed in the context of strategy B1, there are theoretical (Gallagher, 2000 http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full#B20), neuroanatomical (Gusnard, 2005 http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full#B28; Northoff et al., 2006 http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full#B45), and intuitive grounds to claim that MW is a self-related cognitive function, which serves to create and maintain an integrated, meaningful sense of self out of various aspects of self-related information and cognition. Northoff et al. (2006) http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00056/full#B45, for instance, conceptualizes MW as a “psychological baseline,” a form of continuous self-referential processing which is evident during non-task conditions and which ultimately forms our subjective experience of a “continuous stream of subjective experience” or “phenomenal time” where past, present, and future are no longer divided but integrated." Maharishi has always (in my memory) described TM as mind-wandering, allowing the mind to wander in the direction of greatest happiness, which he described as pure consciousness, pure self-referral consciousness, so his descriptions of the process of TM allowing the mind to settle down into its state of least excitation, while saying that that is pure self-referral consciousness, is supported by Western scientific concepts of self. Several studies published over the years have examined the physiological functioning of someone reporting pure consciousness during TM. The very concept of using science to study meditation and spirituality was proposed by Maharishi back as early as 1957. By 1959, _Hermit in My House_ described his students building a dark-room shack in the backyard of the Olson's house so they could photograph TMers in an attempt to catch "subtle glow" from meditator's faces. That never worked out, but the scientific research program on studying the physiology of meditation has been ongoing ever since, especially with the publication of R Keith Wallace's PhD research in Science in 1970. I quoted Maharishi's take on researching meditation at the start of this message. Research on pure consciousness during TM, and so on: Electrophysiologic characteristics of ... [Psychosom Med. 1984 May-Jun] - PubMed - NCBI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6377350 Electrophysiologic characteristics of ... [Psychosom Med. 1984 May-Jun] - PubMed - ... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6377350 PubMed comprises more than 23 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites. View on www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6377350 Preview by Yahoo Autonomic patterns during respiratory suspe... [Psychophysiology. 1997] - PubMed - NCBI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9009807 Autonomic patterns during respiratory suspe... [Psychophysiology.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My take on "Waking Up" by Sam Harris
I should also add that the criteria for being included in the studies that Fred did was having witnessing sleep for a year. THere were several people interviewed who responded in a way that suggested to me (and to Fred also, from what he has said) that they were in GC or UC, but there weren't enough people in each possible sub-group (CC/GC/UC) to do a detailed analysis of what the physiological correlates were for each category of "enlightened response" to the interviewer's request to "Describe your self." Here's examples of the various kinds of responses that Fred got. Does it seem like anyone might be in GC or UC rather than CC? L1: We ordinarily think my self as this age; this color of hair; these hobbies . . . my experience is that my Self is a lot larger than that. It's immeasurably vast. . . on a physical level. It is not just restricted to this physical environment L2: It's the ‘‘I am-ness.’’ It's my Being. There's just a channel underneath that's just underlying everything. It's my essence there and it just doesn't stop where I stop. . . by ‘‘I,’’ I mean this 5 ft. 2 person that moves around here and there L3: I look out and see this beautiful divine Intelligence. . . you could say in the sky, in the tree, but really being expressed through these things. . . and these are my Self L4: I experience myself as being without edges or content. . . beyond the universe. . . all-pervading, and being absolutely thrilled, absolutely delighted with every motion that my body makes. With everything that my eyes see, my ears hear, my nose smells. There's a delight in the sense that I am able to penetrate that. My consciousness, my intelligence pervades everything I see, feel and think L5: When I say ’’I’’ that's the Self. There's a quality that is so pervasive about the Self that I'm quite sure that the ‘‘I’’ is the same ‘‘I’’ as everyone else's ‘‘I.’’ Not in terms of what follows right after. I am tall, I am short, I am fat, I am this, I am that. But the ‘‘I’’ part. The ‘‘I am’’ part is the same ‘‘I am’’ for you and me ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : But CC really isn't enlightenment, it's just 'glorified ignorance' as M said. You get inner wakefulness and silence along with a deluded mind. So this paper is not about enlightened people. It's about people who have a certain degree of opening to spiritual experience, but far short of the goal. Fred's problem is he does not have access to currently used state-of-the-art equipment in the study of consciousness, and even if he did, he probably would not be allowed by the TMO to use it (fMRI for example), and he is probably under some other research restrictions as well, as he likely would be booted if he published any negative results. Fred: 'The experience of Transcendental Consciousness transcends language and provides a platform for experiencing the world more with re[s]pect to inner abstract structures and less with respect to outer, changing concrete objects. This experience of Transcendental Consciousness is not a luxury and should not be isolated to a few individuals transcending during meditation practice. Rather, the experience of Transcendental Consciousness should be available to everyone to allow them to realize their full human birthright.' He did not even mention CC in his conclusion (above) either. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Fred Travis published research on enlightened people. This review paper looks at the research: Transcendental experiences during meditation practice - Travis - 2013 - Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences - Wiley Online Library http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full Transcendental experiences during meditation practice - Travis - 2013 - Annals of the New Yor... http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full 1 Shear, J. 2006. The Experience of Meditation: Experts Introduce the Major Traditions. Princeton, NJ: The Infinity Foundation. 2 Travis, F. & J. Shear. View on onlinelibrary.wiley.com http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full Preview by Yahoo Fred is doing new research on people in CC and will be using more sophisticated EEG analysis, and possibly other measures as well. L
[FairfieldLife] Re: My take on "Waking Up" by Sam Harris
If the formatting was wrong, here's what the interview responses were like from the enlightened test subjects to the question "Describe your self": L1: We ordinarily think my self as this age; this color of hair; these hobbies . . . my experience is that my Self is a lot larger than that. It's immeasurably vast. . . on a physical level. It is not just restricted to this physical environment L2: It's the ‘‘I am-ness.’’ It's my Being. There's just a channel underneath that's just underlying everything. It's my essence there and it just doesn't stop where I stop. . . by ‘‘I,’’ I mean this 5 ft. 2 person that moves around here and there L3: I look out and see this beautiful divine Intelligence. . . you could say in the sky, in the tree, but really being expressed through these things. . . and these are my Self L4: I experience myself as being without edges or content. . . beyond the universe. . . all-pervading, and being absolutely thrilled, absolutely delighted with every motion that my body makes. With everything that my eyes see, my ears hear, my nose smells. There's a delight in the sense that I am able to penetrate that. My consciousness, my intelligence pervades everything I see, feel and think L5: When I say ’’I’’ that's the Self. There's a quality that is so pervasive about the Self that I'm quite sure that the ‘‘I’’ is the same ‘‘I’’ as everyone else's ‘‘I.’’ Not in terms of what follows right after. I am tall, I am short, I am fat, I am this, I am that. But the ‘‘I’’ part. The ‘‘I am’’ part is the same ‘‘I am’’ for you and me ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : But CC really isn't enlightenment, it's just 'glorified ignorance' as M said. You get inner wakefulness and silence along with a deluded mind. So this paper is not about enlightened people. It's about people who have a certain degree of opening to spiritual experience, but far short of the goal. Fred's problem is he does not have access to currently used state-of-the-art equipment in the study of consciousness, and even if he did, he probably would not be allowed by the TMO to use it (fMRI for example), and he is probably under some other research restrictions as well, as he likely would be booted if he published any negative results. Fred: 'The experience of Transcendental Consciousness transcends language and provides a platform for experiencing the world more with re[s]pect to inner abstract structures and less with respect to outer, changing concrete objects. This experience of Transcendental Consciousness is not a luxury and should not be isolated to a few individuals transcending during meditation practice. Rather, the experience of Transcendental Consciousness should be available to everyone to allow them to realize their full human birthright.' He did not even mention CC in his conclusion (above) either. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Fred Travis published research on enlightened people. This review paper looks at the research: Transcendental experiences during meditation practice - Travis - 2013 - Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences - Wiley Online Library http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full Transcendental experiences during meditation practice - Travis - 2013 - Annals of the New Yor... http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full 1 Shear, J. 2006. The Experience of Meditation: Experts Introduce the Major Traditions. Princeton, NJ: The Infinity Foundation. 2 Travis, F. & J. Shear. View on onlinelibrary.wiley.com http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full Preview by Yahoo Fred is doing new research on people in CC and will be using more sophisticated EEG analysis, and possibly other measures as well. L
Re: [FairfieldLife] Tinfoil hat time!
I believe there is a blood test for ebola. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The key word in this quiz is "MIGHT" have ebola. We don't know who has the ebola virus, you can't screen for it - until they show symptoms of being infected. And, you can't get the ebola virus from someone who shows no symptoms. The real problem is that it is the immediate family members that most often becomes infected when the symptoms do show up, and that's when the whole family gets exposed and then infected - and from there it's an exponential pandemic spreading around. > On 10/1/2014 11:31 AM, TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... mailto:turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: > From: "Bhairitu noozguru@... mailto:noozguru@... [FairfieldLife]" mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 1, 2014 6:17 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Tinfoil hat time! Richard sounds really scared! Go figger. On 10/01/2014 04:30 AM, Share Long sharelong60@... mailto:sharelong60@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Richard, conspiracy, terrorism or neither, we now have Patient Zero in the US. Forget Alaska! Yahoo had the following article on page 1 this morning: Topten things you need to do NOW to protect yourself from an uncontrolled Ebola outbreak http://www.naturalnews.com/047078_Ebola_outbreak_preparedness_personal_protection.html Top ten things you need to do NOW to protect yourself fr... Top ten things you need to do NOW to protect yourself from an uncontrolled Ebola outbreak View on www.naturalnews.com Preview by Yahoo On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 11:15 PM, "'Richard J. Williams' punditster@... mailto:punditster@... [FairfieldLife]" mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com wrote: On 9/30/2014 7:46 PM, Share Long sharelong60@... mailto:sharelong60@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Bhairitu,I never thought of PTSD in the context of such events. But of course it makes perfect sense. Plus, spin meisters can use any situation, such as the ebola outbreak, to engender fear in people. > The current Ebola "conspiracy" story is probably being perpetrated by the same group that spun the 9/11 WTC conspiracy story. But, if the WTC was a conspiracy, then the Ebola conspiracy may be true as well, in which case we should probably move to Alaska where there are no people or tall buildings. > On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 10:48 AM, "Bhairitu noozguru@... mailto:noozguru@... [FairfieldLife]" mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com wrote: To me 9-11 appears to be the first "Shock and Awe" operation for the "endless war" campaign. It gave much of the public PTSD. Recently I witnessed a much smaller version of that with the recent earthquake we had here. People were "out-of-sorts" for days. I'm amused at the reactions I'm getting here and after all you started this this thread. :-D >
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: My take on "Waking Up" by Sam Harris
Witnessing sleep isn't directly correlated with "wandering mind.:" The EEG pattern and general location of active brain centers during pure consciousness is similar to normal mind wandering except the EEG is a bit slower, far more coherent and the power in the EEG frequencies that are associated with active thinking and perception are lower. As Maharishi sez, the mind has been allowed to wander towards its level of least excitation. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Turquoise said: "...And someone should add that "witnessing sleep" may not mean shit. ... Such as that there is a subset of patients who complain that they "Never fall asleep." ... When hooked up to machines to monitor their physiology during sleep, these folks *are*, in fact, experiencing all of the classic cycles of sleep, along with their accompanying REM or lack of REM activity" Of the four stages of Non-REM sleep, in Stage 1, upon wakening, one may feel as if he or she has not slept. In Stage 2, muscles relax, we lose consciousness of the environment, etc as a preparation for deep sleep. This is not yet deep sleep and a sense of inner wakefulness in Stage 2 is more likely than in deep sleep. Stages 3 and 4 are the deep sleep states. However, as we age, Stages 3 and 4 become less, often significantly. Stage 1 and 2 of Non REM sleep are more conducive of the experience of being awake / conscious (though not necessarily of the environment). Those past 50 and / or with sleep disorders that reduce or eliminate stage 3 and 4 stage non REM sleep may be more likely to experience "witnessing sleep". Reduction or elimination of Stage 3 and 4 Non REM sleep is not a good thing. A strong Stage 3 and 4 sleep architecture is important for many sleep and waking functions. Lack of sleep (not exclusively stage 3 and 4, however, however weak stage 3 and 4 negatively affect other sleep stages) contributes to lower proficiency in most cognitive functions, including memory consolidation and working memory. Working memory is a highly critical factor in intelligence and performance across a wide span of activities. Lack of adequate sleep also contributes to attention disorders, including the tendency of the mind to wander, not being able to sustain attention on a focussed task. Sparaig points out that the study shows positive correlation of witnessing sleep with wandering mind -- which raises the question of whether (one of many possible hypotheses and models ) the states experienced by the subjects are due to reduced quality of sleep (poor stage 3 and 4 sleep architectured) resulting in attention deficits, reduced working memory capacity, and subsequent reduction of applied intelligence .
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: My take on "Waking Up" by Sam Harris
The subjects self-reported having pure consciousness at all times, including witnessing sleep, as i understand it. And the measures included EEG, not just interview questions. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Lenglish" " I should also add that the criteria for being included in the studies that Fred did was having witnessing sleep for a year." What was the measurement / validation criteria for witnessing sleep? The validity and usefulness of the studies findings correlate with the degree of "witnessing sleep" validation, with simply self-reporting being on the low end of the scale. Problems with self-reporting are extensive. Among them, words and concepts mean different things to different people. Two people have the same experience may rate themselves differently (Yes vs No) due to differences in how they interpret "witnessing sleep". Second, in a sub-culture that places value and status on witnessing sleep, a "me too", "look at me" phenomenon may arise when asked if one witnesses sleep. Third, related to the above, may be wish fulfillment -- the mind takes strands of experience that may relate to witnessing sleep and weaves a satisfying interpretation such that one actual believes they are witnessing sleep when in fact they are not. Fourth, subjects often try to please researchers telling them what they think the researchers want to hear. Many other weaknesses.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: My take on "Waking Up" by Sam Harris
Did you miss that this was a review paper, not a study? and the very definition of CC is "the integration of transcendental experiences with waking, dreaming, and sleeping" so the fact that he doesn't use CC should be taken that he is talking to a mainstream audience, rather than some group of TMers. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The discussion is the conclusion, the typical end of any scientific paper. If this section is missing, what was the point of the paper? This part of the paper tells the reader what the researcher considers the conclusion drawn from the results of the study, often suggesting further lines of research etc. The words 'cosmic consciousness' nor its abbreviation 'CC' does not appear in this summing up of the research, though these terms appear appears prominently earlier in the paper; the abbreviation CC does not appear in the paper. That is rather curious. For the reader not familiar with this terminology, the connexion might not be drawn. I have had awareness during sleep as the result of medications (a long time ago), awareness during sleep might have other causes, so I think Fred down peddled the result in not making more of it at the end. While awareness during sleep is a common phenomenon in spiritual traditions it is so far not a standard way of describing consciousness in scientific circles. Perhaps Fred is not trying to push the envelope here. But not re-mentioning CC as one of the points of the paper and only mentioning it as an 'integration of transcendental experiences' kind of dilutes the effect of states of consciousness he seems to be promoting in the paper. I do not consider any of the states of consciousness as states of consciousness. Consciousness is mysterious and it is integral, always the same, Fred is describing states of the mind, which seem to be the results of the functioning of the brain. Consciousness, while we all know it is there, has no scientific definition, and you cannot define states of something which is undefined. Consciousness is the one undefined and undefinable value of human experience, and I think it will remain outside the purview of research. But we will find out a lot about the brain and its functioning. What Fred is researching is the contents of consciousness, the variable aspects of experience. If consciousness is absolute, it cannot have variable states. The nature of absolute does not really come into experience clearly until BC; until then you have 'reflections' of various states of mind in consciousness. And as I said, Fred probably has his hands tied, since at least while at MUM under the eye of the TMO, he cannot come to too many conclusions that contradict movement philosophy. All the research you cite is a prequel to CC, mostly a foretelling of CC, hinting at CC, so it does not have much relevance to enlightenment, as even UC is unfinished business in the enlightenment realm. And once that business is over, everything is back where you started. Much Ado about Nothing. There have been people who have gone from WC to BC in a flash, so all the intermediate stuff is technically not necessary because enlightenment does not reveal anything that was not already present in WC, although in practice one seems to need to 'do stuff' to come to realisation. All that that happens is certain mistaken thoughts we have about life, go away, finally. And then life goes on, as it always had. From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 1, 2014 9:49 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: My take on "Waking Up" by Sam Harris "He did not even mention CC in his conclusion (above) either." Er, talk about selective quoting. There's no conclusion section, but the discussion section, which you only partially quote, actually starts out talking about the integration of transcendental experiences with waking, dreaming and sleeping (CC). To suggest that he doesn't mention it when its the first line of the first paragraph, is, well, overtly deceptive: Discussion Brain patterns that defined transcendental experiences during TM practice and the integration of transcendental experiences with waking, dreaming, and sleeping were mainly found in frontal brain areas. This suggests that frontal circuits may play a critical role in transcendental experiences and the growth of higher states of consciousness. These states could be called higher states in that (1) the subject/object relationship is different in these states compared to waking, sleeping, and dreaming; (2) the sense of self is more expanded in these states; and (3) the physiological patterns are distinct from those during waking, dreaming, and sleeping. The development of higher states may be an extension of the developmental trajectory that began as a toddler and continued into adulthood, supporting the emergence of adult abstract reas
[FairfieldLife] Research on Cosmic Consciousness... more detail
The criteria the Fred used to find his subjects in CC was that they had to have continuous integration of transcendental experiences (TE) with waking and sleeping for at least 1 year. The "Cont-TE" group. Two other groups were chosen as well: people who intended to learn TM but had not yet started and had rare (less than 1 per year -the "Rare-TE" group) transcendental experiences, and people who had been practicing TM for a while, but did not report frequent transcendental experiences outside of meditation (between 1 and 10 TE per year -the "Occas-TE" group). A semi-structured interview and two measures of TE were used to substantiate subjects’ self-reports of inner experiences. The two measures had been developed by non-TMers to measure frequency of transcendental experiences in the general population: Hood’s M-Scale from [Hood, R.W., 1975. The construction and preliminary validation of a measure of reported mystical experience. Journal of Scientific Study Religion 14, 29-41] and Baruss’s Physical-Transcendent Scale from [Baruss, E., Moore, R.J., 1992. Measurement of beliefs about consciousness and reality. Psychology Reports 71, 59-64] Group means for M-Scale were: Rare-TE:/18.19 +/-6.47; Occas-TE:/39.59 +/-3.15; Cont-TE:/60.79 +/-0.61. Group means for the Physical-Transcendent Scale were: Rare-TE:/35.79 +/-5.21; Occas-TE:/61.49 +/-4.71; Cont-TE:/84.19 +/-2.96. Various EEG and other physical measures were done as well as interview questions. The results were reported in two different papers: http://www.totalbrain.ch/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/brain-integration-progress-report.pdf http://www.totalbrain.ch/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/brain-integration-progress-report.pdf http://www.totalbrain.ch/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/eeg-of-enlightenment.pdf http://www.totalbrain.ch/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/eeg-of-enlightenment.pdf L
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Research on Cosmic Consciousness... more detail
Maharishi suggested that the question "where does the 'enlightened man' go when he dies?" is simply a misunderstanding. Once Self is realized, there is no "going." Unity is where this situation is directly perceived, but even for someone in CC, the question no longer makes sense, as you suggest. Also, while the research papers don't make it clear, I'm told that people who report witnessing sleep also report Witnessing during anesthesia as well. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : On 10/3/2014 10:12 AM, fleetwood_macncheese@... mailto:fleetwood_macncheese@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: BINGO!!! Yes, it is our eternal self, that lives beyond time and space. > Some more minor comments: According to MMY, the "Self" is eternal and transcendental to time and space; the "self" lives inside time and space and the senses. The individual self is an appearance only - a product of the senses. If appearances derived through one sensory channel appear contradictory, it is natural to appeal to other senses for corroboration. The question is, how do we decide between conflicting senses? The transcendentalists who arranged the Upanishads agree that we must transcend the world of sense perception in order to know and understand the world of perception. They all agreed that the indescribable material world is of a self-contradictory nature and that if you want to remove the contradictions you have to transcend the world. Otherwise, a person is just using common sense: thinking that the world of objects is the only existence, that there is nothing beyond or transcendental to the senses. > ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mailto:martyboi@... wrote : I'm not sure what CC is, but if it includes witnessing sleep I don't think any physiological state could stop it. I think it should continue under anesthesia or even drunkenness. Should continue, even when the body "drops" too.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Research on Cosmic Consciousness... more detail
In order for perception to be perception, there must be a physical nervous system. Even for universal consciousness to be "aware of" things (even of Itself), there must be structure --some kind of physiology, even if it is "made of" Universal Consciousness with no defining characteristics besides being Universal Consciousness. Recall though, that Maharishi's words were that "wholeness of life" comes to be appreciated when the nervous system "takes on a certain form" (from memory). The wholeness of life (brahm) exists whether we appreciate it or not. Our appreciation of this wholeness without duality is _samadhi_ and _samadhi_ can occur *because* our nervous system has taken on a certain form (supporting PC or CC or GC or UC, depending). L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Mac said: "Just as it says in the Gita, about pure consciousness being unable to be influenced or destroyed, yes, the witness of pure awareness, continues, through any permutation of awareness the mind is in - sleep, dreaming, intoxicated, awake" "BINGO!!! Yes, it is our eternal self, that lives beyond time and space." What is the role of the brain in Samadhi and higher states? Sparaig recently quoted MMY: "Every experience has its level of physiology, and so unbounded awareness has its own level of physiology which can be measured. … Everything is physical. Consciousness is the product of the functioning of the brain." This implies or opens the door to a model that Samadhi and higher states are achieved via neuroplasticity of the brain -- "culturing" and "refining" it in ways as to enable Samadhi, eventually on permanent basis. That is, the brain is "optimized" via new neural connections, long-term potentiation (persistent increase in synaptic strength following high-frequency stimulation of a chemical synapse) across existing neural pathways, changes in activation potential of long cascades of neurons, modification of mix, availability and persistence of neurotransmitters (NT), changes in NT receptors, etc. Which is a fascinating prospect. And might imply a genetic propensity towards Samadhi in some populations or families relative to others. That is, while everyone could culture Samadhi via systematic neuroplasticity methods, some may have a genetic head start -- the brain is already has some requisite pre-wiring. However, if Samadhi is brain dependent, then established Samadhi would not be sustained upon death of the body. And may not persevere with large changes to brain chemistry or structural changes from accidents or disease such as Alzheimers. And cessation of Samadhi at death would be inconsistent with significant portions of traditional literature, which in turn would then tend to place all statements in traditional literature in question. On the other hand, if Samadhi is not brain dependent, then what are physiological / brain research on meditation / yoga measuring? And why would the body or brain matter in modalities to culture Samadhi? These questions keep me awake at night.
RE: [FairfieldLife] Rick: about your rule
Having a conversation about TM right now with a friend in Brazil. The point I made to him seems relevant. TM has two ways of affecting people (hopefully for the good): 1) rest during TM may make some condition better; 2) the growing stability of the relaxed EEG trait outside of TM may tend to slow the progression of some problem. If a person's problems aren't affected in any way by the above, then there's no obvious way that TM would help their specific problem, personality or physical. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : You make good points, although TM folks haven’t been persecuted the way Jews have, so anti-semitism is a touchier issue, as racism would be too. As with all such things, there’s no clear-cut demarkation. No absolute right or wrong. Hard to judge wisely, especially with my drive-by style of moderating. But again to your point, imagine a White Supremacist were in here spewing outrageous nastiness on a regular basis. I think most all would agree that he should be banned. So it’s a matter of degree, and when someone moves a bit too far in that direction, in my opinion, he should be warned and if he ignores the warning, banned. From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Duveyoung Sent: Friday, October 3, 2014 11:36 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Rick: about your rule H, Rick -- not sure but seems to me there's been plenty of anti-religion to go around -- not just against the Jews. If someone says TM is of the devil etc. with ALL CAPS etcwill you give equal warnings? Free speech allows the negativity addicts to expose themselves for what they are, see? Don't get me wrongly -- I'd toss out about half of the folks posting here regularly for their vile trolling and personal attacks. But that's just me as if it were Edg's Party. If you were throwing an actual real world party and these folks showed up, I'd never come to one of your parties again. But now that they're here, lemonade can be made by pointing out that these broken psyches were never helped by TM -- a strong warning to any who are being sucked into the promised-heavens. Imagine if you'd attended a 1st lecture and Nabby and Willy were there saying, "I'm a long time TMer!" -- would you have started? Ugh, huh? Oh, maybe YOU would, but not meI'd judge the technique by the results. Of course, if your party were "the ideal conversation pit" with everyone being civil, informed, logical -- I wouldn't be allowed, because I love to scream. Sigh..
[FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco
Many people like to bash TM, and want to prevent its use anywhere for any reason. And yet... This opinion piece came out in January of this year: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php Meditation transforms roughest San Francisco schools The company whose data is cited proudly talks about it: http://www.wested.org/using-data-to-find-the-happiest-school-in-san-francisco/ http://www.wested.org/using-data-to-find-the-happiest-school-in-san-francisco/ When certain people claim that any ole meditation can do the same, and probably better, and then work to make sure that TM can't be used in any public school, one has to wonder about them, just a tad... L
[FairfieldLife] David Lynch: BULL****!!!
David Lynch: Transcendental Meditation Helps Schools // SiriusXM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR7mSi0pITI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR7mSi0pITI David Lynch: Transcendental Meditation Helps Schools // ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR7mSi0pITI Sign Up for a Free SiriusXM Trial: http://full.sc/1dYpRxD Connect with SiriusXM Online Visit the SiriusXM Website:http://full.sc/1ibeANg Follow Si... View on www.youtube... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR7mSi0pITI Preview by Yahoo
Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco
The oped and research are from January of this year. Are you saying that TM was banned from Visitacion Valley Middle School AFTER it was found to be the happiest school in San Francisco? BTW, if TM is just so plain awful, what is your explanation for the survey results? Ongoing indoctrination via the 15 minutes morning and evening Quiet Time periods? L. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : that was before they got kicked out of two or three schools in SF - I have been in touch recently with the lady who spearheaded the effort to get them booted - she shared with me some of the Movement's skullduggery on all fronts there - maybe I'll share it when I get time one day. From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, October 3, 2014 4:31 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco Many people like to bash TM, and want to prevent its use anywhere for any reason. And yet... This opinion piece came out in January of this year: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php Meditation transforms roughest San Francisco schools The company whose data is cited proudly talks about it: http://www.wested.org/using-data-to-find-the-happiest-school-in-san-francisco/ http://www.wested.org/using-data-to-find-the-happiest-school-in-san-francisco/ When certain people claim that any ole meditation can do the same, and probably better, and then work to make sure that TM can't be used in any public school, one has to wonder about them, just a tad... L
Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco
Your logic is STILL weak. It is possible, that for SOME people, TM is counter-indicated, for example, with "relaxation induced anxiety" -but that can happen with any relaxation practice, not just TM. Other groups might be counter-indicated as well, but there's no peer-reviewed research showing just which groups to worry about. Even with the statistics provided, that there is a 2x greater chance of a TMer committing suicide in Fairfield, than in the general population, that isn't saying as much as you suggest. In the article I cited earlier, 1 or 2 people every 2 years were found to have serous problems from long-periods of meditation at a single yoga retreat which housed 90 people or thereabouts. The 3000 TMers all presumably practice TM far more than the average outside of Fairfield, but that's 30x as many people as on that yogic retreat, and the statistic was from 6 years, not 2. Even on the most notorious TM retreat in history, where the Beatles stayed, there were no reported deaths or burnouts, despite having dozens, if not hundreds, of reporters hanging around to catch all the gossip. Mia Farrow went on to a 45+ year career as a TM teacher, + getting a PhD in Sanskrit from UC Berkley, and the Beatles wrote a song about how she meditated too much while they were there. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ask the TM'ers who get so mentally/emotionally screwed up they want to commit suicide. From: "Share Long sharelong60@... [FairfieldLife]" To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com" Sent: Saturday, October 4, 2014 11:35 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco MJ, as Mr. Spock might say, "Your logic is weak." For your last sentence one could substitute breathing for TM: if breathing is so good, why are so many breather's lives so screwed up? And OTOH, if TM is supposedly so bad, why is it good for so many people, including people who have suffered great traumas? On Saturday, October 4, 2014 6:11 AM, "Michael Jackson mjackson74@... [FairfieldLife]" wrote: I didn't say it was banned from Visticon Valley - there were at least 2 schools where TM was booted this year, after January. You are obsessed with and inordinately charmed by any "research" coming from the Movement. I am not, especially since most of it upon anything more than a cursory examination proves to be either bogus or deeply flawed. If TM is so good, why are so many TM'ers lives so screwed up? From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, October 4, 2014 2:51 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco The oped and research are from January of this year. Are you saying that TM was banned from Visitacion Valley Middle School AFTER it was found to be the happiest school in San Francisco? BTW, if TM is just so plain awful, what is your explanation for the survey results? Ongoing indoctrination via the 15 minutes morning and evening Quiet Time periods? L. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : that was before they got kicked out of two or three schools in SF - I have been in touch recently with the lady who spearheaded the effort to get them booted - she shared with me some of the Movement's skullduggery on all fronts there - maybe I'll share it when I get time one day. From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, October 3, 2014 4:31 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco Many people like to bash TM, and want to prevent its use anywhere for any reason. And yet... This opinion piece came out in January of this year: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php Meditation transforms roughest San Francisco schools The company whose data is cited proudly talks about it: http://www.wested.org/using-data-to-find-the-happiest-school-in-san-francisco/ http://www.wested.org/using-data-to-find-the-happiest-school-in-san-francisco/ When certain people claim that any ole meditation can do the same, and probably better, and then work to make sure that TM can't be used in any public school, one has to wonder about them, just a tad... L
Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco
TM was "booted?" Or do you mean that teh program never actually started? The DLF has limited funds and will quite cheerfully go to the next school on the list (Rio de Janeiro put all 1000 of its schools on the list a few years ago) rather than fight. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : I didn't say it was banned from Visticon Valley - there were at least 2 schools where TM was booted this year, after January. You are obsessed with and inordinately charmed by any "research" coming from the Movement. I am not, especially since most of it upon anything more than a cursory examination proves to be either bogus or deeply flawed. If TM is so good, why are so many TM'ers lives so screwed up? From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, October 4, 2014 2:51 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco The oped and research are from January of this year. Are you saying that TM was banned from Visitacion Valley Middle School AFTER it was found to be the happiest school in San Francisco? BTW, if TM is just so plain awful, what is your explanation for the survey results? Ongoing indoctrination via the 15 minutes morning and evening Quiet Time periods? L. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : that was before they got kicked out of two or three schools in SF - I have been in touch recently with the lady who spearheaded the effort to get them booted - she shared with me some of the Movement's skullduggery on all fronts there - maybe I'll share it when I get time one day. From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, October 3, 2014 4:31 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco Many people like to bash TM, and want to prevent its use anywhere for any reason. And yet... This opinion piece came out in January of this year: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php Meditation transforms roughest San Francisco schools The company whose data is cited proudly talks about it: http://www.wested.org/using-data-to-find-the-happiest-school-in-san-francisco/ http://www.wested.org/using-data-to-find-the-happiest-school-in-san-francisco/ When certain people claim that any ole meditation can do the same, and probably better, and then work to make sure that TM can't be used in any public school, one has to wonder about them, just a tad... L
[FairfieldLife] Re: Research on Cosmic Consciousness... more detail
To summarize (and probably oversimplify) Fred's research: Samadhi is where a healthy brain is not doing anything, but is still alert. In more detail, during PC during TM, the connectivity of the default mode network (the part of the brain that activates when you're not trying to DO something) becomes very enhanced, while the "doing" aspect of the activity of the brain becomes less. This has the effect of enhancing connectivity between the parts of the brain that have to do with "sense of self." Along with this, the person's reaction to stressful situations becomes less intense. Outside of meditation, as these connections become stronger, the meditator starts to notice the emergence of a strong, uninvolved sense of self. As these connections become even stronger, the sense of self becomes permanent in the sense that it is present at all times, whether waking, dreaming or sleeping. By this point, one no longer sees temporary things like beliefs and emotions as being the "true" self. Along with this, the person's reaction to stressful situations becomes less intense. As the connections become even stronger, the person's reaction to stressful situations becomes less intense. Rinse and repeat. GC and UC seem to be enhancements of this situation but don't just involve connections within the frontal lobes, but with the rest of the brain as well. In UC, I'm guessing, not only are the connections very strong bertween the frontal lobes (sense of self) and the rest of the brain, but the "doing" aspect of electrical activity of the brain has become very much a harmonic sitting on top of the "sense of self" lower alpha frequencies. In a very real, physical, measurable, sense, all perception and activity are now harmonic fluctuations of the "sense of self" highly coherent alpha EEG. Everything is simply fluctuations of Self, as MMY says. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : There does appear to be a physiological correlate to Samahdi, and the permanent witnessing, though it must be more comprehensive than anything western medicine recognizes, because the effect perpetuates, in an unaltered state, no matter what the relative awareness is doing. There are other side effects, too, as I seem to be getting *younger*, and stronger, as the years go by. Several people have remarked on the difference. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Mac said: "Just as it says in the Gita, about pure consciousness being unable to be influenced or destroyed, yes, the witness of pure awareness, continues, through any permutation of awareness the mind is in - sleep, dreaming, intoxicated, awake" "BINGO!!! Yes, it is our eternal self, that lives beyond time and space." What is the role of the brain in Samadhi and higher states? Sparaig recently quoted MMY: "Every experience has its level of physiology, and so unbounded awareness has its own level of physiology which can be measured. … Everything is physical. Consciousness is the product of the functioning of the brain." This implies or opens the door to a model that Samadhi and higher states are achieved via neuroplasticity of the brain -- "culturing" and "refining" it in ways as to enable Samadhi, eventually on permanent basis. That is, the brain is "optimized" via new neural connections, long-term potentiation (persistent increase in synaptic strength following high-frequency stimulation of a chemical synapse) across existing neural pathways, changes in activation potential of long cascades of neurons, modification of mix, availability and persistence of neurotransmitters (NT), changes in NT receptors, etc. Which is a fascinating prospect. And might imply a genetic propensity towards Samadhi in some populations or families relative to others. That is, while everyone could culture Samadhi via systematic neuroplasticity methods, some may have a genetic head start -- the brain is already has some requisite pre-wiring. However, if Samadhi is brain dependent, then established Samadhi would not be sustained upon death of the body. And may not persevere with large changes to brain chemistry or structural changes from accidents or disease such as Alzheimers. And cessation of Samadhi at death would be inconsistent with significant portions of traditional literature, which in turn would then tend to place all statements in traditional literature in question. On the other hand, if Samadhi is not brain dependent, then what are physiological / brain research on meditation / yoga measuring? And why would the body or brain matter in modalities to culture Samadhi? These questions keep me awake at night.
Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco
How would the DLF QUiet Time program "steal furniture?" A regular school teacher already employed by the school learns to ring a bell at the start and end of the Quiet TIme period. TM teachers don't teach at Quiet Time schools, but at the local TM center or at someone's home. Checking is also done at someone's home or at the local TM center. QT is just that 15 minutes at the start and end of the school day where students are told to sit quietly and not talk to each other. What opportunity would anyone from teh DLF or the local group that manages the quiet time program have to walk off with furniture? Why would they do so in the first place? [visions of aTM teacher ending his or her non-existent presnce for 15 minutes by grabbing a desk that a student is sitting in and running with it to the parking lot] Someone is having fun with you, I suspect. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : they did get kicked out of two schools in the same district - when I get time I'll tell you which ones if you like - they stole some furniture according to someone I know at one school too - yeah let 'em sue me for slander and libel over that! From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, October 4, 2014 1:26 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco TM was "booted?" Or do you mean that teh program never actually started? The DLF has limited funds and will quite cheerfully go to the next school on the list (Rio de Janeiro put all 1000 of its schools on the list a few years ago) rather than fight. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : I didn't say it was banned from Visticon Valley - there were at least 2 schools where TM was booted this year, after January. You are obsessed with and inordinately charmed by any "research" coming from the Movement. I am not, especially since most of it upon anything more than a cursory examination proves to be either bogus or deeply flawed. If TM is so good, why are so many TM'ers lives so screwed up? From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, October 4, 2014 2:51 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco The oped and research are from January of this year. Are you saying that TM was banned from Visitacion Valley Middle School AFTER it was found to be the happiest school in San Francisco? BTW, if TM is just so plain awful, what is your explanation for the survey results? Ongoing indoctrination via the 15 minutes morning and evening Quiet Time periods? L. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : that was before they got kicked out of two or three schools in SF - I have been in touch recently with the lady who spearheaded the effort to get them booted - she shared with me some of the Movement's skullduggery on all fronts there - maybe I'll share it when I get time one day. From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, October 3, 2014 4:31 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco Many people like to bash TM, and want to prevent its use anywhere for any reason. And yet... This opinion piece came out in January of this year: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php Meditation transforms roughest San Francisco schools The company whose data is cited proudly talks about it: http://www.wested.org/using-data-to-find-the-happiest-school-in-san-francisco/ http://www.wested.org/using-data-to-find-the-happiest-school-in-san-francisco/ When certain people claim that any ole meditation can do the same, and probably better, and then work to make sure that TM can't be used in any public school, one has to wonder about them, just a tad... L
Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco
That's radically different than the QT descriptions I have read about. Do you have proof of this besides what you heard someone say someone complained about? L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : your assertions on this point are all incorrect - there were TM teachers at at least one school everyday. The pujas were done on site and that was one of the problems. When the TM'ers moved in, they had their own mail slot in the office of the school, and they requested new couches in their room, a room mind you that they completely papered over, all doors and windows covered with opaque paper so no one could see in. They got the couches and when after a few months this lady and her supporters got their asses kicked out, the day after they left, school personnel went into the room to unpaper it - correct they didn't even bother to take it down - and lo and behold the new couches were gone. Now in the interest of fairness, maybe the school principle had gifted the couches to the TM'ers and maybe the TM'ers having had their brains all turned to mush from too many years of doing TMSP just THOUGHT the couches belonged to them and it was an honest mistake. I don't know but the couches were gone. From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, October 4, 2014 2:15 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco How would the DLF QUiet Time program "steal furniture?" A regular school teacher already employed by the school learns to ring a bell at the start and end of the Quiet TIme period. TM teachers don't teach at Quiet Time schools, but at the local TM center or at someone's home. Checking is also done at someone's home or at the local TM center. QT is just that 15 minutes at the start and end of the school day where students are told to sit quietly and not talk to each other. What opportunity would anyone from teh DLF or the local group that manages the quiet time program have to walk off with furniture? Why would they do so in the first place? [visions of aTM teacher ending his or her non-existent presnce for 15 minutes by grabbing a desk that a student is sitting in and running with it to the parking lot] Someone is having fun with you, I suspect. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : they did get kicked out of two schools in the same district - when I get time I'll tell you which ones if you like - they stole some furniture according to someone I know at one school too - yeah let 'em sue me for slander and libel over that! From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, October 4, 2014 1:26 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco TM was "booted?" Or do you mean that teh program never actually started? The DLF has limited funds and will quite cheerfully go to the next school on the list (Rio de Janeiro put all 1000 of its schools on the list a few years ago) rather than fight. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : I didn't say it was banned from Visticon Valley - there were at least 2 schools where TM was booted this year, after January. You are obsessed with and inordinately charmed by any "research" coming from the Movement. I am not, especially since most of it upon anything more than a cursory examination proves to be either bogus or deeply flawed. If TM is so good, why are so many TM'ers lives so screwed up? From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, October 4, 2014 2:51 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco The oped and research are from January of this year. Are you saying that TM was banned from Visitacion Valley Middle School AFTER it was found to be the happiest school in San Francisco? BTW, if TM is just so plain awful, what is your explanation for the survey results? Ongoing indoctrination via the 15 minutes morning and evening Quiet Time periods? L. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : that was before they got kicked out of two or three schools in SF - I have been in touch recently with the lady who spearheaded the effort to get them booted - she shared with me some of the Movement's skullduggery on all fronts there - maybe I'll share it when I get time one day. From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, October 3, 2014 4:31 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco Many people like to bash TM, and want to prevent its use anywhere for any reason. And yet... This opinion piece came out in January of this year: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest-San-Francisco-5136942.php http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Meditation-transforms-roughest
[FairfieldLife] Re: Confusion about Samâdhi and Liberation
Perhaps I've misunderstood, perhaps you have, or perhaps Shankara is simply wrong. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Lawson sez: L: In order for perception to be perception, there must be a physical nervous system. This is contradicted by the Vedanta and Yoga darshana-s, which both assert the casual priority of the subtle body (sukhma sharira). That means there is preservation and continuity of a subtle nervous system of prana-nadis in a subtle body in the subtle realms. L: Even for universal consciousness to be "aware of" things (even of Itself), there must be structure -- some kind of physiology, even if it is "made of" Universal Consciousness with no defining characteristics besides being Universal Consciousness. L: aware of” things (even of itself) Shankara follows the Upanishads in defining the Self as self-luminous (svayamjyotish) & (âtmâ svayam chaitanya jyotis.svabhâvatâ). “Seeing” is the very nature of the Self. It does not require another luminosity to manifest it - any more than the Sun requires another light to illuminate it. It is awareness itself and doesn’t require reflexivity to make it evident. L: … with no defining characteristics This means no structure whatsoever and therefore no possible distinction between perceiver, perception and perceived. That means there can be no functioning physiology which can produce any experience at all. L: Our appreciation of this wholeness without duality is Samadhi and Samadhi can occur *because* our nervous system has taken on a certain form (supporting PC or CC or GC or UC, depending). Shankara never says realization of Brahman (Brahmajñâna) or the Self (Atman) depends upon or is associated with the cultivation of nirvikalpa samâdhi (non-conceptual absorption) in meditative union. In fact, he denies that yogic cessation or suspension of mental activity (citta.vritti.nirodha) is or can be a means to liberation/moksha. (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad Bhasya 1.4.7)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Research on Cosmic Consciousness... more detail
CC doesn't depend on awareness of the outside world, only on self-awareness. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : From: salyavin808 Does "cosmic" consciousness still work when you are under an anaesthetic? I'm guessing not. The jury may be out on this one, because of a somewhat scary phenomenon called "anesthesia awareness." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anesthesia_awareness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anesthesia_awareness) Sounds hideous, but I think that in order to be sure we should get a volunteer in claimed "cosmic" cosnciousness to go under the knife. Just for the science of course... L
[FairfieldLife] Re: Confusion about Samâdhi and Liberation
Do you mean this? Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Shankara Bhashya translated by Swami Madhavananda https://archive.org/stream/Brihadaranyaka.Upanishad.Shankara.Bhashya.by.Swami.Madhavananda#page/n137/mode/2up Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Shankara Bhashya translated by Swami Madhavananda https://archive.org/stream/Brihadaranyaka.Upanishad.Shankara.Bhashya.by.Swami.Madhavananda#page/n137/mode/2up Internet Archive BookReader - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Shankara Bhashya translated by Swami Madhavananda The BookReader requires JavaScript to be enabled. View on archive.org https://archive.org/stream/Brihadaranyaka.Upanishad.Shankara.Bhashya.by.Swami.Madhavananda#page/n137/mode/2up Preview by Yahoo And the definition of "physical" in Shankara's time, and "physical" these days is radically different. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Lawson sez: L: In order for perception to be perception, there must be a physical nervous system. This is contradicted by the Vedanta and Yoga darshana-s, which both assert the casual priority of the subtle body (sukhma sharira). That means there is preservation and continuity of a subtle nervous system of prana-nadis in a subtle body in the subtle realms. L: Even for universal consciousness to be "aware of" things (even of Itself), there must be structure -- some kind of physiology, even if it is "made of" Universal Consciousness with no defining characteristics besides being Universal Consciousness. L: aware of” things (even of itself) Shankara follows the Upanishads in defining the Self as self-luminous (svayamjyotish) & (âtmâ svayam chaitanya jyotis.svabhâvatâ). “Seeing” is the very nature of the Self. It does not require another luminosity to manifest it - any more than the Sun requires another light to illuminate it. It is awareness itself and doesn’t require reflexivity to make it evident. L: … with no defining characteristics This means no structure whatsoever and therefore no possible distinction between perceiver, perception and perceived. That means there can be no functioning physiology which can produce any experience at all. L: Our appreciation of this wholeness without duality is Samadhi and Samadhi can occur *because* our nervous system has taken on a certain form (supporting PC or CC or GC or UC, depending). Shankara never says realization of Brahman (Brahmajñâna) or the Self (Atman) depends upon or is associated with the cultivation of nirvikalpa samâdhi (non-conceptual absorption) in meditative union. In fact, he denies that yogic cessation or suspension of mental activity (citta.vritti.nirodha) is or can be a means to liberation/moksha. (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad Bhasya 1.4.7)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Truth -- the bitterness untouched by TM
Bankers aren't as invested in war as he thinks. They make MORE money during peacetime, these days. Other that that, he's pretty much spot-on, I suspect. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : If you don't agree with every single word of this guy's rant, YOU'RE FUCKED UP IN THE HEAD. Ken O'Keefe Dares To Say What Others Do Not https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESZN_YDE-TU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESZN_YDE-TU Ken O'Keefe Dares To Say What Others Do Not https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESZN_YDE-TU Ken O'Keefe, lays it out perfectly on dinosaur mainstream media, calling out the fraud. Must see, must share! Brilliant! View on www.youtube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESZN_YDE-TU Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: Truth -- the bitterness untouched by TM
He also seems to think that Zionism is the root of all evil. I assume that goes back to his paranoia about bankers. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : If you don't agree with every single word of this guy's rant, YOU'RE FUCKED UP IN THE HEAD. Ken O'Keefe Dares To Say What Others Do Not https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESZN_YDE-TU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESZN_YDE-TU Ken O'Keefe Dares To Say What Others Do Not https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESZN_YDE-TU Ken O'Keefe, lays it out perfectly on dinosaur mainstream media, calling out the fraud. Must see, must share! Brilliant! View on www.youtube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESZN_YDE-TU Preview by Yahoo
Re: [FairfieldLife] Stephen Collins Admits to Molesting Underage Girl
Perhaps TM and TMSP DID help him, but TM is an anti-stress practice. There's no reason (other than Maharishi's most extreme rhetoric) to assume that, in any finite amount of time (at least), it will affect non-stress-related behavioral and health-related issues. Now, you can make the case that virtually every dysfunctional behavior is stress-related to a certain extent, but obviously in Collin's case, TM and TMSP weren't sufficient to change his behavior. After 40 years of TM and 30 years of TMSP, I've found that some of my issues havent' been handled adequately either. OTOH, I've tried western-style therapy and medication for 20 years also, and still have problems. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The thing is, both Collins and the TMO have hyped his practice of TM and TMSP as that which keeps him on a even keel in the entertainment world - they make big claims for his practice doing all kinds of stuff for him. From: "Share Long sharelong60@... [FairfieldLife]" To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com" Sent: Wednesday, October 8, 2014 11:01 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Stephen Collins Admits to Molesting Underage Girl Michael, certainly I have been exposed to the TMO more than most people. I've been in FF for 26 years and lived on campus for the first 14 of those years. I earned both an MA in SCI and an MS in psychology from MUM. During that time I took relationship workshops because I realized that I needed specific knowledge about successfully navigating that often complicated area of life. In large part I left campus 12 years ago because I realized that I had "issues" and that I needed to deal with them with expert help. Maybe I'm just more practical than Stephen Collins! But in almost 40 years, I have only missed between 5 and 10 meditations. And that was due to illness or traveling. And includes the 7 years when I did not have contact with MUM or the TMO. I did my TMSP at home. We don't really know any details about Stephen's TMSP practice. Thus to draw conclusions is not really useful. I see the TMO as part of a world that is constantly evolving. And recently, I see the TMO itself evolving. Take the best and leave the rest! On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 9:45 AM, "Michael Jackson mjackson74@... [FairfieldLife]" wrote: Perhaps that TM is a technique that can be of great benefit to some, and, on its own, not to others. I agree that may be true for some, the problem is that the Old Fraud and his organization, the Movement have always make outrageous unsupportable claims for the efficacy and benefits of of TM for EVERYONE. This gives people who know nothing about TM unreasonable expectations and sets them up for disappointment on many levels. If one reads and listens to the hype about TM and TMSP the existence of a mental/emotional state that would lead one to be a child molester should not be possible in someone who has done TMSP for decades. Yet it happens. If the TMO billed TM for what it actually is, instead of what they claim for it, I would never say a word. It is the fraud, the lies and the misuse of people that makes the TMO a fundamentally corrupt and disgusting organization. And the meditation itself is mediocre - it is not the superlative better than any other technique, superior to all others the Movement does and Marshy did claim that it is. From: "Share Long sharelong60@... [FairfieldLife]" To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com" Sent: Wednesday, October 8, 2014 10:18 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Stephen Collins Admits to Molesting Underage Girl Good day lurking reporters, yes Stephen Collins, who has molested children, has been a TM advocate. So too has Father Gabriel Mejia been a TM advocate. And he has rescued hundreds of Columbian street children with TM central to his efforts. What reasonable conclusions can be drawn from these opposite stories? Perhaps that TM is a technique that can be of great benefit to some, and, on its own, not to others. From my own experience I'd say that TM is necessary for full psychological development. But in some cases, it is not sufficient. Nor is TM sufficient to heal a toothache. Or a broken finger. Or a floundering marriage. Again, in my own experience, I'd say TM is perfect for preparing the ground for healing. And I think of it as my only spiritual practice. What I do to deal with my Attachment Disorder, those I think of as my healing modalities. They are complementary to my TM practice. But they could never replace it. On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 2:04 AM, "TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife]" wrote: From: "Michael Jackson mjackson74@... [FairfieldLife]" To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com" Sent: Tuesday, October 7, 2014 9:59 PM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Stephen Collins Admits to Molesting Underage Girl And where ar
Re: [FairfieldLife] Stephen Collins 40 year banana
What evidence do you hve the Collins had access to ANY of the kids taught TM through the DLF? I've seen no publicity photos of him in schools. And how old is Collins? When I was 21, I was dating 16-year-olds. Their parents were quite aware of our age difference, and were pleased that, immature as I was (to be dating a 16-year-old at 21) I was still obviously a nice guy, unlike their last boyfriend (the fact that her step brother had "gotten her cherry" when they were about 12 and ended up marrying the eldest sister (Jack Mormons, what can you say?) probably had something to do with relieved attitude that she was bringing home a nice boy--me--even if I was too old -at least I wasn't her older step-brother, who apparently had eyes on the younger sister also). L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : From: "srijau@..." the Stephen Collins incidents are 20 to 40 years ago, so he definitely could have grown quite a large banana with TM long since. Also we don't really know the truth from a therapy session tape, as any man who has been married could well imagine what weird things you might say, for whatever reason, especially an actor or other creative person, when at odds with the aggrieved female mind. Oh My God. There really IS such a thing as a TM True Believer so lost in his Believerism that he's willing to try to distract from child molestation by invoking misogyny. For the record, "srijau," the problem is NOT with how large Stephen Collins' banana is, but where he chose to stick it (an underaged girl), and the fact that his efforts for the David Lynch Foundation gave him unfettered access to hundreds of similarly-aged girls. Even "male minds" should be able to get that.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Stephen Collins 40 year banana
OK, reading up on things, he's 8 years older than me, so an incident that happened 42 years ago would have made him in his mid-20s. Also, the incident was not with a 16-year-old he was dating with parent's knowledge, but with an 11-year-old. That's pedaphilia, not merely dating a girl that's too young for him. It's interesting that the press is NOT calling it pedaphilia. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : What evidence do you hve the Collins had access to ANY of the kids taught TM through the DLF? I've seen no publicity photos of him in schools. And how old is Collins? When I was 21, I was dating 16-year-olds. Their parents were quite aware of our age difference, and were pleased that, immature as I was (to be dating a 16-year-old at 21) I was still obviously a nice guy, unlike their last boyfriend (the fact that her step brother had "gotten her cherry" when they were about 12 and ended up marrying the eldest sister (Jack Mormons, what can you say?) probably had something to do with relieved attitude that she was bringing home a nice boy--me--even if I was too old -at least I wasn't her older step-brother, who apparently had eyes on the younger sister also). L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : From: "srijau@..." the Stephen Collins incidents are 20 to 40 years ago, so he definitely could have grown quite a large banana with TM long since. Also we don't really know the truth from a therapy session tape, as any man who has been married could well imagine what weird things you might say, for whatever reason, especially an actor or other creative person, when at odds with the aggrieved female mind. Oh My God. There really IS such a thing as a TM True Believer so lost in his Believerism that he's willing to try to distract from child molestation by invoking misogyny. For the record, "srijau," the problem is NOT with how large Stephen Collins' banana is, but where he chose to stick it (an underaged girl), and the fact that his efforts for the David Lynch Foundation gave him unfettered access to hundreds of similarly-aged girls. Even "male minds" should be able to get that.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Stephen Collins 40 year banana
Hmmm... My original point stands, however: I've seen no evidence that he's been anywhere near any kid taught TM through the DLF. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : That's what acting like a knee-jerk TM defender will get you, Lawson. You look like a complete ass. And not for the first time. Congratulations on having destroyed any hint of objectivity and ethics you might have ever imagined you had w.r.t. to things TM. From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 9, 2014 10:05 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Stephen Collins 40 year banana OK, reading up on things, he's 8 years older than me, so an incident that happened 42 years ago would have made him in his mid-20s. Also, the incident was not with a 16-year-old he was dating with parent's knowledge, but with an 11-year-old. That's pedaphilia, not merely dating a girl that's too young for him. It's interesting that the press is NOT calling it pedaphilia. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : What evidence do you hve the Collins had access to ANY of the kids taught TM through the DLF? I've seen no publicity photos of him in schools. And how old is Collins? When I was 21, I was dating 16-year-olds. Their parents were quite aware of our age difference, and were pleased that, immature as I was (to be dating a 16-year-old at 21) I was still obviously a nice guy, unlike their last boyfriend (the fact that her step brother had "gotten her cherry" when they were about 12 and ended up marrying the eldest sister (Jack Mormons, what can you say?) probably had something to do with relieved attitude that she was bringing home a nice boy--me--even if I was too old -at least I wasn't her older step-brother, who apparently had eyes on the younger sister also). L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : From: "srijau@..." the Stephen Collins incidents are 20 to 40 years ago, so he definitely could have grown quite a large banana with TM long since. Also we don't really know the truth from a therapy session tape, as any man who has been married could well imagine what weird things you might say, for whatever reason, especially an actor or other creative person, when at odds with the aggrieved female mind. Oh My God. There really IS such a thing as a TM True Believer so lost in his Believerism that he's willing to try to distract from child molestation by invoking misogyny. For the record, "srijau," the problem is NOT with how large Stephen Collins' banana is, but where he chose to stick it (an underaged girl), and the fact that his efforts for the David Lynch Foundation gave him unfettered access to hundreds of similarly-aged girls. Even "male minds" should be able to get that.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Stephen Collins 40 year banana
Collins didn't violate statutory rape laws with a consenting 16-year-old with the tacit approval of their parents. 11-year-olds and 16-year-olds are slightly different. And my point still stands: I have seen no evidence that Collins ever went anywhere near any child taught TM via the DLF. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : As I said, congratulations on having destroyed any hint of objectivity and ethics you might have ever imagined you had w.r.t. to things TM. Are we supposed to believe that someone who was willing to violate statutory rape laws *himself* is going to see anything wrong with a TM luminary doing the same thing? Boy, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to Maharishi's students emulating his lack of ethical standards with regard to sex. From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 9, 2014 10:36 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Stephen Collins 40 year banana Hmmm... My original point stands, however: I've seen no evidence that he's been anywhere near any kid taught TM through the DLF. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : That's what acting like a knee-jerk TM defender will get you, Lawson. You look like a complete ass. And not for the first time. Congratulations on having destroyed any hint of objectivity and ethics you might have ever imagined you had w.r.t. to things TM. From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 9, 2014 10:05 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Stephen Collins 40 year banana OK, reading up on things, he's 8 years older than me, so an incident that happened 42 years ago would have made him in his mid-20s. Also, the incident was not with a 16-year-old he was dating with parent's knowledge, but with an 11-year-old. That's pedaphilia, not merely dating a girl that's too young for him. It's interesting that the press is NOT calling it pedaphilia. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : What evidence do you hve the Collins had access to ANY of the kids taught TM through the DLF? I've seen no publicity photos of him in schools. And how old is Collins? When I was 21, I was dating 16-year-olds. Their parents were quite aware of our age difference, and were pleased that, immature as I was (to be dating a 16-year-old at 21) I was still obviously a nice guy, unlike their last boyfriend (the fact that her step brother had "gotten her cherry" when they were about 12 and ended up marrying the eldest sister (Jack Mormons, what can you say?) probably had something to do with relieved attitude that she was bringing home a nice boy--me--even if I was too old -at least I wasn't her older step-brother, who apparently had eyes on the younger sister also). L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : From: "srijau@..." the Stephen Collins incidents are 20 to 40 years ago, so he definitely could have grown quite a large banana with TM long since. Also we don't really know the truth from a therapy session tape, as any man who has been married could well imagine what weird things you might say, for whatever reason, especially an actor or other creative person, when at odds with the aggrieved female mind. Oh My God. There really IS such a thing as a TM True Believer so lost in his Believerism that he's willing to try to distract from child molestation by invoking misogyny. For the record, "srijau," the problem is NOT with how large Stephen Collins' banana is, but where he chose to stick it (an underaged girl), and the fact that his efforts for the David Lynch Foundation gave him unfettered access to hundreds of similarly-aged girls. Even "male minds" should be able to get that.
Re: 399652Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco
Huh. It's not like he tried to hide it, either cwae.org is not hard to find: Executive Team | Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education http://cwae.org/executive_team.php Executive Team | Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education http://cwae.org/executive_team.php Your description View on cwae.org http://cwae.org/executive_team.php Preview by Yahoo Jeff Rice, Director of Operations Mr. Rice has been a business leader and consultant for more than 20 years, specializing in organizational development. He brings his knowledge of successful start-up models in the high tech industry to our developing organization. Mr. Rice also served as a volunteer on several previous initiatives to reduce violence and improve academic performance in Northern California schools through the use of meditation-based stress management. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : TM tears itself down - like Barry once said here, if TM was all its cracked up to be, they wouldn't have to lie to sell it. This goon you are praising didn't even have the balls to give his own name. From: "fleetwood_macncheese@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 9, 2014 4:53 PM Subject: Re: 399652Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco Thank you very much for this program! San Francisco is an amazing city and everything helps keep it that way. Please do not be overly concerned by some self-centered people here, just out to tear down TM, more in keeping with their unsuccessful lives. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : I am the Director of Operations for the school meditation project in San Francisco that uses TM, where the students were found to be the happiest in the city. I would like to try and correct some misunderstandings that may have occurred as a result of certain comments made here recently. 1. There is a post that suggest we 'stole' couches from a one of the high schools we worked in. This is incorrect. We purchase used couches from outside sources, specifically for the Quiet Time program. We own them. 2. That the windows and doors in the rooms we used at a high school were papered over so that no one could see in, and that the school had to remove the papering after we left. A single door to a small room was partially papered only during training sessions to reduce the distraction from other students walking by during passing period. This paper was taken down each day, and was not remaining after the meditation training staff left the school. 3. That we had been kicked out of at least 2 schools in SF since Jan of this year. One school decided to discontinue the Quiet Time program at the end of the spring semester due primarily to a vote from faculty regarding time constraints. There are many schools throughout CA and nationally requesting the program, so we only work with those that are able to fit it into their schedule. After providing this to 7,000 students, teachers, parents and administrators for the last 7 years, we have had over a 90% program satisfaction rating. An extremely small minority of parents, teachers and administrators have had issues with the program, usually because of biases or misunderstandings. 4. That most of the research referenced by the TM organization is "either bogus or deeply flawed" There are over 100 studies on TM published in reputable, peer reviewed scientific journals indicating various positive mental and physical health effects. Research has been done at Stanford, Harvard, University of California and other reputable institutions. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded over 24M worth of research into TM and heart health. In order to be published in peer reviewed journals or to be funded by the NIH, rigorous assessment is performed by highly experienced scientists. If the research was bogus or deeply flawed, the research would not be funded or published.
[FairfieldLife] Sara Palin's Crazy Clown Time...
I don't know which is more bizarre: Palin Clan Brawl: Seven Amazing Moments Revealed By The Police Report http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/palin-brawl-police-report-amazing-moments http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/palin-brawl-police-report-amazing-moments Palin Clan Brawl: Seven Amazing Moments Reveal... http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/palin-brawl-police-report-amazing-moments It may have been the fight of the decade, at least in Alaska. And on Thursday, many of its salacious details were laid bare when Anchorage police finally released t... View on talkingpoint... http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/palin-brawl-police-report-amazing-moments Preview by Yahoo or David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time (Official Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caWXt9lCVrc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caWXt9lCVrc David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time (Official Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caWXt9lCVrc The self-directed video for "Crazy Clown Time," the new single from the multi-talented director and songwriter David Lynch. David Lynch 'Crazy Clown T... View on www.youtube... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caWXt9lCVrc Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: Adi Shankara
Maharishi believed that Shankara lived 2000+ years ago also, and yet, virtually every modern historian puts him in the 8th Century C.E., so talking about his commentary on the Gita being "the oldest extant commentary for two millenia," is, well, being like Maharishi: playing a bit fast with the historical record. Nothing wrong with that when dealing with mystical things, but nothing particularly right about it either. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Neti sez: What did Adi Shankara say was the fastest method to Liberation in this Kali Yuga? Well Neti, you can’t even get a straight answer to a simple question. You might note the comments upon your question. Not one of them quotes Shankara directly because they only know about his tradition. No one here reads him. That even includes Shankara’s Gita commentary – the oldest extant commentary for two millenia. In his various commentaries, Shankara did not talk about yugas. Adi Shankara talked about the reality expounded by the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Gita. That reality is defined as Brahman (literally "The Vast" or "Vastness"). Shankara emphasized the Upanishadic definition of Brahman - satyam, jñânam, anantam. Since “what is” gets reiterated by Shankara as satyam (reality or "isness"), jñânam (awareness) and anantam (limitlessness), his task was to demonstrate what ignorance (avidya) actually is and how it seems to result in the appearance (mithya) of an independent cosmos of cause and effect. Along with that focus, he worked extensively to refute the idea that the performance of Vedic rites was necessary or even accessory to the realization of BrahmÂtman. One variance to note is that when the Gita does talk about the “ages” of Brahma and the universal manifestation, Shankara does comment – all the while following the verses of the text. As expected, he points to the imperishable (aksharam) as the supreme Brahman beyond time. He then amplifies the Gita instructions for attaining that reality which is also known as the supreme person (param purusham) who reposes in the sun as Hiranyagarbha, sustainer of the sense-powers of all beings in the local universe. He calls that entity adhi-daivatam, the divine being and adhi-yajñah (the being of the sacrifice) and specifically calls him Vishnu, the pervader.
[FairfieldLife] Whoever heard of Fairfield, Iowa?
Everyone goes on and on about how good TM marketing is, but seriously, as with all other things TM, there's no real coordinated effort to promote TM. It's all done piecemeal. A professional big-city PR firm could have a field day encouraging people to move to Fairfield as an indirect advertisement of TM, for example… Oprah did a TV show about it called "America's most unusual town”: America's Most Unusual Town http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahs-next-chapter/Oprahs-Next-Chapter-Americas-Most-Unusual-Town http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahs-next-chapter/Oprahs-Next-Chapter-Americas-Most-Unusual-Town America's Most Unusual Town http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahs-next-chapter/Oprahs-Next-Chapter-Americas-Most-Unusual-Town Oprah spends the day in Fairfield, Iowa, one of the safest, greenest and most unusual communities in America. It's the last place you'd expect to find two h... View on www.oprah.com http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahs-next-chapter/Oprahs-Next-Chapter-Americas-Most-Unusual-Town Preview by Yahoo Smithsonian Magazine named it one of [the 20 best small towns to visit in 2013: History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places | Smithsonian http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-20-best-small-towns-to-visit-in-2013-1353277/?page=7 History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places | Smithsonian http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-20-best-small-towns-to-visit-in-2013-1353277/?page=7 Smithsonian Continue to our site » ADVERTISEMENT View on www.smithsonianmag.com http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-20-best-small-towns-to-visit-in-2013-1353277/?page=7 Preview by Yahoo Mother Earth News named it one of 12 Great Places You've Never Heard Of: 12 Great Places: Fairfield, Iowa http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/fairfield-iowa-zmaz06aszraw.aspx#axzz3FlZdnGck http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/fairfield-iowa-zmaz06aszraw.aspx#axzz3FlZdnGck 12 Great Places: Fairfield, Iowa http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/fairfield-iowa-zmaz06aszraw.aspx#axzz3FlZdnGck Don’t overlook Fairfield, Iowa — this small town has thrived since embracing sustainability and adopting ancient Indian principles. View on www.mothere... http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/fairfield-iowa-zmaz06aszraw.aspx#axzz3FlZdnGck Preview by Yahoo BuzzFeed named it one of 11 Coolest Small Cities It’s Time To Road Trip To: 11 Coolest Small Cities It's Time To Road Trip To http://www.buzzfeed.com/fuze/coolest-small-cities-its-time-to-roadtrip-to#ktrxyd http://www.buzzfeed.com/fuze/coolest-small-cities-its-time-to-roadtrip-to#ktrxyd 11 Coolest Small Cities It's Time To Road Trip To http://www.buzzfeed.com/fuze/coolest-small-cities-its-time-to-roadtrip-to#ktrxyd In case you've been planning that quintessential summer road trip! Check out America's awesome hidden gems, and stay refreshed with Fuze flavor ch... View on www.buzzfee... http://www.buzzfeed.com/fuze/coolest-small-cities-its-time-to-roadtrip-to#ktrxyd Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: (399652) The Happiest school in San Francisco
Of course, MMY never advocated "renouncing wealth." In fact, he carefully marketed TM as a technique for householders -people for whom wealth was important because they were interested in physical comfort, raising kids in a comfortable and safe environment, etc. According to theory, the excesses of amassing wealth for its own sake would tend to fade with TM practice, being a symptom of a stressed out nervous system (even the amassing of wealth for its own sake is arguably a stressful thing, making wealth-obession a stress-related illness that TM should help fix directly). L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : http://assets.fundoofun.com/wallpapers/Cartoons/800x600/guru_small.jpg http://assets.fundoofun.com/wallpapers/Cartoons/800x600/guru_small.jpg
Re: 399652Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco
Actually, the NIH is pretty cash-strapped these days and the competition is very fierce for research grants, especially in a non-mainstream field like TM. And $24 million to study TM isn't the same as $200,000, or $800,000. TM researchers are very aware of this, and while privately funded TM pilot studies still get published (the pilot studies on PTSD in Uganda were paid for by teh DLF, for example), when TM researchers go after public funding, they are REALLY careful in how they design the studies. Only the best designs with the most plausible rationale are going to get the money, and since the data from NIH-funded studies, by law, must be made easily available to the public, even if the study never gets published, there's very strong incentive to ONLY use NIH grants for studies where TM researchers are pretty darned positive that TM will shine. Here's an example of a proposed design for a new TM study: Design and rationale of a comparative ef... [Contemp Clin Trials. 2014] - PubMed - NCBI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25066921 Design and rationale of a comparative ef... [Contemp Clin Trials. 2014] - PubMed - NCBI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25066921 PubMed comprises more than 23 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites. View on www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25066921 Preview by Yahoo It will be pretty cool if that study gets funded by the NIH. Of course, I expect TM to do well in treating PTSD, so I am most interested in seeing the results of the genetic analysis component of the study. That is the new darling for TM research, as it could be done for any kind of study--psychological, neurological, cardio, pure consciousness, enlightenment--anything. It is a very 21st Century thing to suspect that there are genetic and epigentic factors that influence how people respond to therapies, including TM. For example, is there a genetic or measurable epigenetic component for why some people show breath suspension during pure consciousness while others don't? Likewise with experience of "bliss" during TM? [I've never had "bliss" the way David Lynch describes, even as the aftermath of what I believe are pure consciousness episodes, and yet he says that every meditation period is extremely blissful] What about Yogic Flying and other TM-SIdhis practice? Is hopping during Yogic Flying predictable on a genetic/epigenetic level? Does YF influence things epigenetically in a measurable way? [any experience or activity almost certainly creates an epigenetic change, so "measurable" needs to be inserted here] Could epigenetic testing help guide recommendations to make TM and Yogic Flying more effective? Could it be used to augment/replace Ayurvedic consultations? Those are questions that could occupy researchers for another 100 years, even if TM research suddenly became even more popular than mindfulness studies. L [By the way, "genital washing" in South Africa might be a REALLY important issue. STDs are rampant throughout Africa due to various social and hygiene issues. Would you object to an $800,000 study on ways to improve health education to help fight the spread of Ebola, even if said study was simply about finding more effective ways of convincing people to wash their hands?] ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Address what I said to him. How is that stupid? I showed quite clearly that he is a liar. The NIH hands out money to just about anyone who can write a grant proposal. You might even be able to get a few million to study why TM'er are more predisposed to become slavish minded dumbasses later in life. But in the final analysis society will be better off studying the way South Africans wash their balls than bullshit studies on TM's weak and non-existent "benefits" - most of TM's modern benefits are lining the TMO's pockets. From: "steve.sundur@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, October 10, 2014 9:29 PM Subject: Re: 399652Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco Michael, Did you become this stupid because you stopped your practice of TM and the TMSP? You brain is addled by TM, but not in the way you think. Try something. I don't know what. But try to develop an interest other than TM. You are sinking into utter idiocy. P.S. Try looking back at some of your more early posts. Occasionally you had something interesting to say. A funny thing happened on the way to forum. But in your case, it's just no so funny! ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : One more note, Mr. Nameless Director of Operations, your assertion on funding by the NIH - "to be funded by the NIH, rigorous ass
Re: 399652Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco
Different meditation traditions have different interpretations of what mantras are, and how they should be used. While I don't have access to either book, I've been able to read excerpts through amazon.com and google books: Ritual and Mantras: Rules without Meaning http://www.amazon.com/Ritual-Mantras-Rules-without-Meaning/dp/8120814118/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1411674554&sr=8-3&keywords=mantra+staal http://www.amazon.com/Ritual-Mantras-Rules-without-Meaning/dp/8120814118/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1411674554&sr=8-3&keywords=mantra+staal Ritual and Mantras: Rules without Meaning http://www.amazon.com/Ritual-Mantras-Rules-without-Meaning/dp/8120814118/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1411674554&sr=8-3&keywords=mantra+staal Ritual and Mantras: Rules without Meaning [Frits Staal] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Rituals and Mantras: Rules without Me... View on www.amazon... http://www.amazon.com/Ritual-Mantras-Rules-without-Meaning/dp/8120814118/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1411674554&sr=8-3&keywords=mantra+staal Preview by Yahoo Understanding Mantras http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Mantras-Harvey-P-Alper/dp/8120807464/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411674614&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Mantras-Harvey-P-Alper/dp/8120807464/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411674614&sr=1-1 Understanding Mantras http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Mantras-Harvey-P-Alper/dp/8120807464/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411674614&sr=1-1 Understanding Mantras [Harvey P. Alper] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Understanding Mantras explores the origin, nature, function, an... View on www.amazon... http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Mantras-Harvey-P-Alper/dp/8120807464/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411674614&sr=1-1 Preview by Yahoo Maharishi's take on how mantras are meaningless is quite traditional--for some people. It's utter nonsense for others, and that is why there is confusion about whether or not Maharishi is "telling the truth" about mantras. There's MANY different traditions, and probably sub-traditions within the traditions. Likewise, keeping a mantra as a mental thing never to be written down or spoken aloud appears to be traditional as well--for SOME traditions, and again, there's variations there as well. Best to think of TM as its own tradition with its own rules, rather than trying to justify every little thing that MMY said. Afterall, MMY himself implied that much of what he taught was via intuition (and/or trial and error). By all accounts, the early courses on the TM-SIdhis were substantially different than how they are taught now, for example. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The biggest problem with TM is though it tried to be secular it is not secular enough. Maharishi goofed by saying that the mantras are meaningless sounds. They are "attributed" to the Hindu pantheon but are really just sounds. The pantheon itself is made up as analogies to forces in nature. It just so happens that those sounds work well and may be better than others. Even my tantra guru thought they were arrived at by trial and error. And as I have mentioned many a time beej mantras can be used by anyone and it doesn't take a puja to activate them. It's long mantras like the Advanced Technique that required special handling. On 10/11/2014 05:16 AM, Michael Jackson mjackson74@... mailto:mjackson74@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Address what I said to him. How is that stupid? I showed quite clearly that he is a liar. The NIH hands out money to just about anyone who can write a grant proposal. You might even be able to get a few million to study why TM'er are more predisposed to become slavish minded dumbasses later in life. But in the final analysis society will be better off studying the way South Africans wash their balls than bullshit studies on TM's weak and non-existent "benefits" - most of TM's modern benefits are lining the TMO's pockets. From: "steve.sundur@... [FairfieldLife]" mailto:steve.sundur@...[FairfieldLife] mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, October 10, 2014 9:29 PM Subject: Re: 399652Re: [FairfieldLife] The Happiest school in San Francisco Michael, Did you become this stupid because you stopped your practice of TM and the TMSP? You brain is addled by TM, but not in the way you think. Try something. I don't know what. But try to develop an interest other than TM. You are sinking into utter idiocy. P.S. Try looking back at some of your more early posts. Occasionally you had something interesting to say. A funny thing happened on the way to forum. But in your case, it's just no so funny! ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mailto:mjackson74
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Fall Of Baghdad
Christian Crusaders did the same thing, and don't fool yourself, if Americans ever "conquered" a country, we'd do the same thing too. Ask any American Indian tribe if you need examples. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : They're supplied the same way Mohammed supplied his *army*. They just take whatever they want, wherever they go. Whether it's money from banks, food from stockpiles, or weapons, ammunition and transportation from Iraqi army bases. This is your Islamic *work ethic*. Real work is for mensches. On Saturday, October 11, 2014 2:18 PM, "'Richard J. Williams' punditster@... [FairfieldLife]" wrote: On 10/11/2014 2:42 PM, jr_esq@... mailto:jr_esq@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Something is wrong with the US generals' assessment of ISIS. > There is no good news coming out of the Middle East - the U.S. supports the Saudis who are Shite Muslims; and at the same time Iranians support the Shiite in Baghdad. But, the ISIS are Sunnis who hate everyone, Muslim and infidel alike. Then, there's Assad to deal with. The only bright spot over there is Israel, the only democracy in the whole Middle East. Go figure. > How is it possible for the militants to continue fighting in Iraq and Syria with supposedly only 30,000 fighters? It appears that the militant rebels in or near Baghdad are self-sufficient to fight on their own without help from their Syrian headquarters. So, that means they're getting food, supplies and ammunition within Baghdad itself. I wouldn't be surprised if a secret faction within the ISF is providing the weapons and ammunition to fight the loyal troopers of Iraq. > "Without large numbers of American troops on the ground in Iraq, we lack the ability to choose targets, to rebuild the capacity of the Iraqi Army quickly and successfully, to constrain the Shiite government from pursuing a sectarian agenda. Without large numbers of troops in Syria, we are unable to distinguish between friend and foe, to train and direct non-Qaeda opposition forces, to address the humanitarian crisis, and to prepare for—and hasten—a world without Bashar Assad." 'Only American ground troops can defeat the Islamic State' The Washington Free Beacon: http://freebeacon.com/columns/accept-no-substitutes/ http://freebeacon.com/columns/accept-no-substitutes/ > ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mailto:punditster@... mailto:punditster@... wrote : Our side is suffering serious defeats on the battlefield in Anbar province and Baghdad is ripe for infiltration. Then, it's a guerrilla war in the streets with up close and personal close range fighting. According to President Obama, it's a war against the Islamic State, but who are they? The goal is to roll back the IS in Iraq and contain it in Syria. Soon, Turkey will be pulled into the fight - the ISIS are at the gates today, tomorrow Istanbul and onwards to Rome. "With the outlying suburb of Abu Ghraib teetering on completely falling to ISIS, if the area comes under complete control of the Islamists, the Americans will be within easy range of ISIS artillery." 'ISIS reaches Baghdad suburbs, US troops block the way to BGW Int'l Airport' http://www.examiner.com/article/isis-reaches-baghdad-suburbs-us-troops-block-the-way-to-bgw-int-l-airport http://www.examiner.com/article/isis-reaches-baghdad-suburbs-us-troops-block-the-way-to-bgw-int-l-airport
[FairfieldLife] Brazilian TM project for 45 million school kids edging closer to reality?
http://www.maharishichannel.in/archives/2012_video_files/01_2012/2012_play.php http://www.maharishichannel.in/archives/2012_video_files/01_2012/2012_play.php A little award ceremony for the Brazilian congressman, Alex Canziania Silveira, who proposed the project and apparently has managed to get it approved. The fact that he and his wife are willing to be seen in public amongst Those Who Wear Gold Crowns™ is suggestive... either that he's a total loon, or that he's gained enough political capital to push the proposal through -impossible to say which for sure at this point. It will be interesting to see if progresses to the implementation stage. Logically, the first place it would be implemented is the City of Rio de Janeiro, which has already gone on record officially asking the David Lynch Foundation to provide free TM instruction to all 1 million students in the Rio school system. If THAT happens, then the rest of it might also. L
Re: [FairfieldLife] Fwd: FP's Situation Report: WH backing away from airstrikes for now; Baghdad's fight against ISIS online; Few details on the Benghazi suspect captured; An FP report sparks a UN inv
The article is written by Dick (I know where the WMDs are) Cheney. Need I say more? L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The problem with air strikes is collateral damage. And, drones can't be used for sustained attack like war planes can. Sure you can strike a column of Sunni insurgents forming a convoy on the highway or out in the open, but once they get into the towns and villages and Baghdad itself, you've got a grappling situation. That's when you need the Special Forces to move in. Apparently there are over 5,000 personnel to evacuate from Baghdad and a protection force of just 250 U.S. soldiers. That's not nearly enough to guard such a large embassy compound - the evacuation may have already started. If the Americans don't get safely there's going to be hell to pay in Washington D.C. "The fall of the Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Tikrit, Mosul and Tel Afar, and the establishment of terrorist safe havens across a large swath of the Arab world, present a strategic threat to the security of the United States. Mr. Obama's actions—before and after ISIS's recent advances in Iraq—have the effect of increasing that threat." 'The Collapsing Obama Doctrine' Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/collapsing-obama-doctrine/ > On 6/18/2014 7:29 AM, wleed3 WLeed3@... mailto:WLeed3@... [FairfieldLife] wrote:
[FairfieldLife] Re: What would a cool spiritual teaching be like?
That's just "not cool," Judy, as it automatically casts dispersions on Unc's way of doing things. You gotta add an "Unc exception" to that. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : My contribution: * It respects other traditions and beliefs. One may disagree with the teachings of other spiritual traditions, but one refrains from criticizing or mocking the teachers, teachings, or practitioners.of those traditions. It's considered extremely low-vibe to do so and not at all reflective of or conducive to one's spiritual growth. The terms "cult," "cultist," and "cult apologist" are not to be used under any circumstances. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Work for the week finished, I thought I'd sit in this canalside cafe and rap a bit about some of the attributes I think would be refreshing to find in a spiritual trip. It's NOT that I'm looking for one, you understand. It's just that it struck me as a fun idea to write about some of the things I'd *like* to find, as opposed to what I often *do* find. * It's free. That is, all teaching is either supported by the people doing it, or by donations that are actually donations. No one would ever be pressured to contribute, whether it be for talks, or instruction. People who are trying to lay a spiritual trip on others should pay their audiences for the privilege, not vice-versa. * It's fun. This is one of the most important criteria I would look for in a spiritual trip. If the people participating in it don't look like they're having FUN, what possible interest could it have for me? The very concept of FUN should be respected as what it is -- an indicator that you're doing something right, spiritually. * Teachers as fellow travelers. Your teacher or teacher can be your friend or fellow seeker. There is no sense of distance between teacher and student. You hang out together and talk freely to each other, as equals. No ranks, no hierarchy -- either stated or encouraged wordlessly by the way that students interact with the teacher or teachers. No hierarchy for the students, either -- no "belt rankings" that allow them to think they're on a higher level than others around them. * No sacrosanct dogma. Oh, of course the trip can have theories about How The World Works, and present them. But IMO these theories should be presented *as* theories, not truth, or no-God forbid, Truth. * Everything is fair game for questions. The students have the right to challenge anything the teacher or teachers say. Anything. No saying is "holy" in the sense that it becomes "sacred" and thus exempt from questioning. No claim has the right to be accepted if someone asks for it to be documented. * No cult roles or sex roles. The students should not be encouraged (verbally or nonverbally) to act a certain way or dress a certain way. One of the coolest things ever said about the Rama students came from the staff of the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in L.A. They'd seen *everything*, because the seekers from every tradition ever known all came to buy books at their store. And they'd grown adept at "nailing" which path any customer followed, just by watching them. It became a kind of game for them, and they rarely missed. The only students they couldn't "nail" were the folks who studied with Rama, because they were all different. In a similar vein, there should ideally be no perceived status associated with one's sex -- men and women should be treated pretty much the same. * No restrictions on thinking or action. No "Thou shalt not see other teachers." See who you bloody want. No "Thou shalt not read Off The Program books." There should be no "program" to be off of. People should be encouraged to treat their curiosity about other spiritual teachers or teachings as what it is -- a desire to learn more. * Parties. Really. Too many spiritual trips have gatherings that can only be described as SERIOUS. They're gathering to meditate together, or chant together, or hear a dharma talk together, or have a "celebration" that isn't one. My ideal spiritual trip would be more like the better days of the Rama trip -- we'd go out to movies, to dinner, to places of power, and to discos. We'd actually (Buck, look away) DANCE. And we'd have actual parties, at which the only spiritual objective was to have FUN. It gives more of a community feeling to the community. * Road Trips. Every so often, the entire group would just Get The Fuck Out Of Dodge, and take their act on the road. It could be a day trip to a nearby place of worship or power, or longer trips overnight to cool places. Taking the group consciousness out of its normal (and thus ignored) environment can do wonders for sparking spiritual experience. * No shakti myths. Even if the teacher or teachers have some phwam! and can shift other people's states of attention and get them high, IMO this ability is better presented as a form of recognition rather
[FairfieldLife] Re: Unofficial Group Meditations in Fairfield
While mos people here appear to believe that your stance on the TM-Sidhis makes perfect sense, I'm actually kind of bewildered... Why on Earth haven't you and your wife become Sidhas? Is it really that difficult to believe that engaging in a mental process which leads to [more or less] spontaneous physical activity might actually stabilize pure consciousness during activity? The published research on EEG during the TM-Sidhis (not just during Yogic Flying) certainly supports Maharishi's claims on the topic, TM-SIdhis instruction can be virtually free if you are able to qualify for the available scholarships, there's a huge need for TM teachers right now if you speak languages like Spanish, Portuguese or any major African language. The David Lynch Foundation has potential contracts with refugee organizations that may require many 10's of thousands of new TM teachers. What keeps you from learning? L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Hi Folks. My spouse and I are visiting FF in a couple of weeks. We both were involved in the TM movement throughout the 80's to about 1994 (in Fairfield from about 1989-1994), but have had zero involvement with the movement since then. We have continued with TM (not the sidhis) over the past 20 years as we raised a family, ran a business, and such. Anyway, we are now at that time when family are on their own and we're thinking of what's next for us. From what we've read about Fairfield, it seems that it might be worth checking out (thus our upcoming visit). My question for anyone here who might have some information: Is there any 'unofficial' group meditation program (TM) in Fairfield on a regular basis? We're assuming that 1) because we have no-one to recommend us (which at least was the way it used to be way back when) and 2) because we are both TM teachers who don't practice the sidhis, we will never be allowed to join any 'official' movement group meditations. Also, for many years we have been practicing 40 minutes of TM twice a day (not 20 minutes). Any information or leads would be appreciated. Since I found this group a week ago, I've been browsing here and there. There seems to be quite a range of opinions about TM/the movement/the politics, etc. (to put it mildly...:). We left all of that many years ago so we have no interest in those conversations, but we appreciate what Maharishi gave us and are very happy with TM. Best, Jim
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Unofficial Group Meditations in Fairfield
As I pointed out, the EEG research on the TM-SIdhis shows that it has the same effects on EEG as TM does, but more-so, so if you think that the EEG effects of TM practice are beneficial, it makes sense that you should be thinking that the EEG effects of practicing the TM-Sidhis might be beneficial as well. That's only common sense, right? L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : I would say they have plain old common sense. From: "LEnglish5@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, June 23, 2014 12:19 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Unofficial Group Meditations in Fairfield While mos people here appear to believe that your stance on the TM-Sidhis makes perfect sense, I'm actually kind of bewildered... Why on Earth haven't you and your wife become Sidhas? Is it really that difficult to believe that engaging in a mental process which leads to [more or less] spontaneous physical activity might actually stabilize pure consciousness during activity? The published research on EEG during the TM-Sidhis (not just during Yogic Flying) certainly supports Maharishi's claims on the topic, TM-SIdhis instruction can be virtually free if you are able to qualify for the available scholarships, there's a huge need for TM teachers right now if you speak languages like Spanish, Portuguese or any major African language. The David Lynch Foundation has potential contracts with refugee organizations that may require many 10's of thousands of new TM teachers. What keeps you from learning? L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Hi Folks. My spouse and I are visiting FF in a couple of weeks. We both were involved in the TM movement throughout the 80's to about 1994 (in Fairfield from about 1989-1994), but have had zero involvement with the movement since then. We have continued with TM (not the sidhis) over the past 20 years as we raised a family, ran a business, and such. Anyway, we are now at that time when family are on their own and we're thinking of what's next for us. From what we've read about Fairfield, it seems that it might be worth checking out (thus our upcoming visit). My question for anyone here who might have some information: Is there any 'unofficial' group meditation program (TM) in Fairfield on a regular basis? We're assuming that 1) because we have no-one to recommend us (which at least was the way it used to be way back when) and 2) because we are both TM teachers who don't practice the sidhis, we will never be allowed to join any 'official' movement group meditations. Also, for many years we have been practicing 40 minutes of TM twice a day (not 20 minutes). Any information or leads would be appreciated. Since I found this group a week ago, I've been browsing here and there. There seems to be quite a range of opinions about TM/the movement/the politics, etc. (to put it mildly...:). We left all of that many years ago so we have no interest in those conversations, but we appreciate what Maharishi gave us and are very happy with TM. Best, Jim
[FairfieldLife] Re: UK Schools finally enter the 19th century!
When was the teaching of creationism banned in all public schools in the USA? L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Hard to believe they've only just done this now... Teaching Creationism As Science Now Banned In All UK Public Schools http://richarddawkins.net/2014/06/teaching-creationism-as-science-now-banned-in-all-uk-public-schools/ http://richarddawkins.net/2014/06/teaching-creationism-as-science-now-banned-in-all-uk-public-schools/ Teaching Creationism As Science Now Banned In All ... http://richarddawkins.net/2014/06/teaching-creationism-as-science-now-banned-in-all-uk-public-schools/ By George Dvorsky In what's being heralded as a secular triumph, the UK government has banned the teaching of creationism as science in all existing... View on richarddawkins.net http://richarddawkins.net/2014/06/teaching-creationism-as-science-now-banned-in-all-uk-public-schools/ Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: How to tell if you are awakened...
21 ways to tell if you're special: 1) you're like me. 2) you're like me. 3) you're like me. 4) you're like me. 21) you're like me. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : ...apparently. http://thespiritscience.net/2014/06/23/21-traits-of-an-awakening-soul/ http://thespiritscience.net/2014/06/23/21-traits-of-an-awakening-soul/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Jerry Says So
Well, Saddam Hussein obviously can't be blamed for how violent Iraq was, either. You CAN blame the Brits (?) for inventing the country in the first place, but they liked to merge tribes into countries in a way that kept them warring with each other rather than rebelling against the Brits, so that's nothing new. L ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : "The leaders of a country are not to be blamed for conditions in his country, or for decisions that affect other countries," Jarvis patiently explained. "The people determine the atmosphere of their nation, while the leaders are mere slaves." Quote from Jerry Jarvis from the article I just posted.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The dark knight of the soul
My response: Different practices have different effects. Most practices have the effect of fragmenting how the brain operates, as can be seen in the title of this 2010 paper, http://www.amaye.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/med-connectivity-EEG-tomog.pdf "Reduced functional connectivity between cortical sources in five meditation traditions detected with lagged coherence using EEG tomography" From the abstract: "The globally reduced functional interdependence between brain regions in meditation suggests that interaction between the self process functions is minimized, and that constraints on the self process by other processes are minimized, thereby leading to the subjective experience of non-involvement, detachment and letting go, as well as of all-oneness and dissolution of ego borders during meditation." In other words, these practices reduce "sense of self," which is celebrated as a good thing by many sects of Buddhism, which take the self s being Bad, Very Bad™. On the other hand, certain forms of meditation lead to the exact opposite effect, a higher level of integration of various "cortical sources, *most especially* those having to do with sense of self. Transcendental Meditation, for example, has the exact opposite effect on EEG patterns in almost every respect when compared to mindfulness and concentration practices, and the very nature of "enlightenment," as defined within TM-theory, has to do with first strengthening sense-of-self, and eventually integrating that sense with the overall activity of the brain. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./nyas.12316/full Transcendental experiences during meditation practice While one can practice TM for too much, and "too much" is different for different people (for certain psychological disorders, "any at all" might be "too much"), the radical differences in how the brain operates during TM as compared to virtually all other meditation practices, suggests that a one-size-fits-all approach to explaining any observed adverse effects due to meditation is doomed to failure. For many Buddhists, TM's effect of strengthening "sense of self" during and after practice is repugnant, even appalling: the very opposite of spirituality. For TMers, practices that have the effect reducing connectivity and sense-of-self are considered to be damaging the nervous system on a subtle level, and are literally anti-enlightenment. Any attempt to conflate possible ill-effects from various practices without examining what the practices are actually meant to do, is doomed from the start. The very nature of the two approaches to spirituality are so opposed to each other, that fundamentally, what one approach calls "best" the other calls "worst." ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The Dark Knight of the Soul http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/the-dark-knight-of-the-souls/372766/ http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/the-dark-knight-of-the-souls/372766/ The Dark Knight of the Soul http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/the-dark-knight-of-the-souls/372766/ For some, meditation has become more curse than cure. Willoughby Britton wants to know why. View on www.theatlantic.com http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/the-dark-knight-of-the-souls/372766/ Preview by Yahoo I am just reading this now and I have heard her talk before. Sounds quite interesting. I will admit that I had a very negative reaction (trying) to watch Jim Carrey's speech to the yellow hat crowd. I got 7 minutes into his talk and I started to feel sick so I shut it off. I then spent a few days just being overly emotional about my past in TM and it brought up bad feelings. It did not linger but my reactions caught me quite by surprise. Britton's work is about this experience and more.
