[FairfieldLife] Quandary
Main Entry: quan·da·ry Pronunciation: 'kwän-d(-)rE Etymology: origin unknown : a state of perplexity or doubt So I've got this friend. (Really...as you'll be able to tell, this isn't one of those It's-really-about- me-but-I'll-pretend-it's-about-a-friend thangs.) In some ways he's a total inspiration and a reminder that one really can get through this life on faith alone. In others he's a reminder of the addictive nature of faith, and the fact that often people other than the addict wind up paying for the latest fix. Basically, this fellow was a TM teacher but I never knew him then. I met K. in the Rama trip and we became buddies. We left the Rama trip at about the same time, at the right time, before everything got really gnarly and the guy offed himself. Since then, we've mainly lived in different places but have kept in touch via email and phone. The inspiring part is that the man lives on faith. Like the recently-mentioned yogis who get their nourishment from the sun, K. hasn't worked at a real, 9-to-5 job that pays actual money since, I think, 1980. He decided at some point that he was going to spend the rest of the incarnation working only for the dharma and trusting in the world to provide for him. The inspiring part is that it has, in the form of other people paying all his bills for him, while he works his butt off helping his various spiritual teachers teach. He's always managed to find a place to live, enough food to get by, traveling expenses to places all over the world, and even a girlfriend who shares his approach to life. It's amazing when you think of it. It just doesn't compute. Another inspiring part is that K. is one of those guys who lives almost entirely in the present. He has to; as far as I can tell he has no memory. We used to joke about his standard movie review line. He walks out of the theater and says, That was the best film I've ever seen in my entire life. And he says this even if the film was a total turkey, and he's telling the truth every time, because as near as I can figure out, he really can't *remember* any other films he's ever seen. Therefore the latest really *is* the best. But that's also the thing that inspires the quandary. K. has this thing about always needing a spiritual teacher in his life. It's the mechanism he uses to keep his faith yang up, and IMO to pull what he needs to get by from the universe. He can't trust in himself as teacher or his path as the path. We've talked about this; he always needs someone else to be the teacher and to provide the path for him. Because of the memory thang, K. really can't remember any of the teachers he's worked with but the latest one, and for the latest one he's totally sold out, as they used to say in the TMO. So every few months I get another email from K. asking for money so that he can go to X country and spend some quality time with Y teacher. For him its' always a new email, one that has no history. But for me, on the receiving end, it's the 23rd. such email I've gotten since we walked away from the Rama trip, and the 23rd. teacher, and the 23rd. adventure he wants someone else to pay for. For him it's the *only* adventure, but I, with less faith than him and with the ability to remember all the adventures that went before, recognize it as only the latest, and probably far from the last. So that's the quandary. Do I send him some money, in honor of his enduring faith and the fact that he still has faith in a faithless world? Or do I not, knowing that from another point of view he's a spiritual teacher addict, and I'm essentially one of the people enabling him to remain an addict by paying for it? You people have been around the block. What do you think? To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' SPONSORED LINKS Religion and spirituality Maharishi mahesh yogi YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group "FairfieldLife" on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[FairfieldLife] Quandary
TorquiseB writes snipped: So that's the quandary. Do I send him some money, in honor of his enduring faith and the fact that he still has faith in a faithless world? Or do I not, knowing that from another point of view he's a spiritual teacher addict, and I'm essentially one of the people enabling him to remain an addict by paying for it? Tom T Trying hard not to sound like a wise guy I can only ask why do you want to remain in an addictive co dependent relationship with these folks. I use the plural as you now have the girlfriend to include in the equation. It must give you some charge so the real reason this continues is you must be getting some emotional payback. The gut issue is why. Figure out the why and you then have the freedom to do or not do without any need for the payback. By the way, good luck, these types of thingys one discovers along the way are what makes this journey a real kick. Tom To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' SPONSORED LINKS Religion and spirituality Maharishi mahesh yogi YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group "FairfieldLife" on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Quandary
on 6/1/06 1:11 AM, TurquoiseB at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So that's the quandary. Do I send him some money, in honor of his enduring faith and the fact that he still has faith in a faithless world? Or do I not, knowing that from another point of view he's a spiritual teacher addict, and I'm essentially one of the people enabling him to remain an addict by paying for it? You people have been around the block. What do you think? The pay-stub idea sounds good, although even then I question whether you should send him money. Is he really doing the world all that much good? There are a lot of things you could do with your money to help the world. Is he the best investment? Are you really helping him by doing that? When I was on Purusha I felt, as do most Purusha, that the world owed me a living. After all, I had chosen the highest dharma and it was appropriate for those who had chosen lesser dharmas to support me. Nonetheless, I hated having to ask people for money. It corrupted my psychology. Like a gunslinger walking into a saloon, I couldn't walk into a room full of TM people without glancing around the room to spot potential donors. It ruined a few friendships. One was with a dear friend to whom I would love to apologize and renew our friendship, but I can't find him. One of the best things about having left the movement is that I have grown out of this dependent way of thinking. You might be doing your friend a bigger favor by helping him to do that than by continuing to support him. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' SPONSORED LINKS Religion and spirituality Maharishi mahesh yogi YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group "FairfieldLife" on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Quandary
TurquoiseB wrote: Main Entry: quan·da·ry Pronunciation: 'kwän-d(-)rE Etymology: origin unknown : a state of perplexity or doubt So I've got this friend. (Really...as you'll be able to tell, this isn't one of those It's-really-about- me-but-I'll-pretend-it's-about-a-friend thangs.) In some ways he's a total inspiration and a reminder that one really can get through this life on faith alone. In others he's a reminder of the addictive nature of faith, and the fact that often people other than the addict wind up paying for the latest fix. Basically, this fellow was a TM teacher but I never knew him then. I met K. in the Rama trip and we became buddies. We left the Rama trip at about the same time, at the right time, before everything got really gnarly and the guy offed himself. Since then, we've mainly lived in different places but have kept in touch via email and phone. The inspiring part is that the man lives on faith. Like the recently-mentioned yogis who get their nourishment from the sun, K. hasn't worked at a real, 9-to-5 job that pays actual money since, I think, 1980. He decided at some point that he was going to spend the rest of the incarnation working only for the dharma and trusting in the world to provide for him. The inspiring part is that it has, in the form of other people paying all his bills for him, while he works his butt off helping his various spiritual teachers teach. He's always managed to find a place to live, enough food to get by, traveling expenses to places all over the world, and even a girlfriend who shares his approach to life. It's amazing when you think of it. It just doesn't compute. Another inspiring part is that K. is one of those guys who lives almost entirely in the present. He has to; as far as I can tell he has no memory. We used to joke about his standard movie review line. He walks out of the theater and says, That was the best film I've ever seen in my entire life. And he says this even if the film was a total turkey, and he's telling the truth every time, because as near as I can figure out, he really can't *remember* any other films he's ever seen. Therefore the latest really *is* the best. But that's also the thing that inspires the quandary. K. has this thing about always needing a spiritual teacher in his life. It's the mechanism he uses to keep his faith yang up, and IMO to pull what he needs to get by from the universe. He can't trust in himself as teacher or his path as the path. We've talked about this; he always needs someone else to be the teacher and to provide the path for him. Because of the memory thang, K. really can't remember any of the teachers he's worked with but the latest one, and for the latest one he's totally sold out, as they used to say in the TMO. So every few months I get another email from K. asking for money so that he can go to X country and spend some quality time with Y teacher. For him its' always a new email, one that has no history. But for me, on the receiving end, it's the 23rd. such email I've gotten since we walked away from the Rama trip, and the 23rd. teacher, and the 23rd. adventure he wants someone else to pay for. For him it's the *only* adventure, but I, with less faith than him and with the ability to remember all the adventures that went before, recognize it as only the latest, and probably far from the last. So that's the quandary. Do I send him some money, in honor of his enduring faith and the fact that he still has faith in a faithless world? Or do I not, knowing that from another point of view he's a spiritual teacher addict, and I'm essentially one of the people enabling him to remain an addict by paying for it? You people have been around the block. What do you think? I have friends that would call him a guru doper. I wouldn't send him the money. Let him work on his next lesson rather than going around in circles on the same one. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' SPONSORED LINKS Religion and spirituality Maharishi mahesh yogi YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group "FairfieldLife" on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
