Bill et al,

Actually I haven't had to delete any posts at all recently except a couple of 
obvious commercial spams...

The members here are generally quite responsible compared to other groups I've 
moderated....

Edgar



On Sep 9, 2012, at 4:34 AM, Bill! wrote:

> Merle,
> 
> Actually the way it works out is that Edgar does most of the sifting and 
> sorting (reviewing and approving or deleting).  I think that's because of the 
> time zone difference.  I'm the one who eventually goes in and changes the 
> membership to allow un-moderated, immediate posting.  That is after I'm sure 
> the new member is not a pyscho-killer, militant Mulsim or fundamentalist 
> Christian.
> 
> ...Bill!
> 
> --- In [email protected], Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@...> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Â ah ha..big job for you bill...sifting and sorting? merle
>> 
>> 
>> Â  
>> Merle,
>> 
>> We both are moderators...
>> 
>> New member's posts have to be sent to moderators to be approved which causes 
>> a delay but that approval period doesn't last very long. I've not had to 
>> approve any posts in the last week or so.
>> 
>> The delays are most likely just because people post responses from different 
>> time zones on the other side of reality.
>> 
>> When I post something it usually appears in my inbox almost immediately...
>> 
>> Edgar
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Sep 8, 2012, at 12:59 AM, Merle Lester wrote:
>> 
>> Â  
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Â  bill you are the moderator or edgar?..merle
>>> Â  
>>> Everyone,
>>> 
>>> I just wanted everyone to know that we have many members on this form from 
>>> all over the world.  I live in Thailand.  Merle lives in Australia and 
>>> Anthony lives in Singapore (I think).  Most of you do live in the USA.
>>> 
>>> The good part about all this is we get a GREAT cross-section of topics and 
>>> discussions.  The bad part is some of the replies are delayed as Bill 
>>> complains about below.
>>> 
>>> I don't know anyway to fix this.  We'll just have to learn to live with it.
>>> 
>>> ...Bill! 
>>> 
>>> --- In [email protected], William Rintala <brintala@> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Merle:
>>>> 
>>>> I'm not sure why you are asking that.  One of my biggest 
>>>> problems with this 
>>>> email group is the time delay between posts and responses. 
>>>> 
>>>> My original question was :   "is madness a precursor to 
>>>> enlightenment?"
>>>> 
>>>> To which Bill! responded :  That depends on how you define 'madness'.
>>>> 
>>>> So I needed the time to research the original scenerios that prompted my 
>>>> question. Rereading the sections of the book " Be Love Now" that 
>>>> told tales of 
>>>> these Hindu saints took me some time.  The behavior seemed so bizarre 
>>>> that I 
>>>> felt if similar scenes were acted out here in the United States these 
>>>> people 
>>>> would have been heavily medicated.  Epilepsy, Anorexia, 
>>>> Psychosis/Schizophrenia, 
>>>> Pica... . These people are revered as realized beings, of having done 
>>>> what we 
>>>> are speaking about, albeit, not in a Zen fashion. The author goes on to 
>>>> say that 
>>>> "Indians put up with such behavior within the context of divine madness, 
>>>> the 
>>>> unpredictable nature of someone beyond body consciousness.". 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>  Bill 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Find what makes your heart sing…and do it! 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ________________________________
>>>> From: Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@>
>>>> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
>>>> Sent: Fri, September 7, 2012 6:01:18 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [Zen] Re: Be Love Now
>>>> 
>>>>   
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>  and killing people for a cause is not madness...????? merle
>>>>   
>>>> Madness: 
>>>> 
>>>> Anandamayi Ma - would be found rolling around on the floor of her kitchen 
>>>> while 
>>>> the food she was preparing burned. For a long time she only ate 9 grains 
>>>> of rice 
>>>> a day.
>>>> 
>>>> Ramana Maharshi - became so oblivious of his body the he didn't wash, 
>>>> his hair 
>>>> grew matted, his finger nails curled over and he only ate if someone put 
>>>> food in 
>>>> his hands. 
>>>> 
>>>> Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa - became obsessed with the Godess Kali and 
>>>> would not 
>>>> eat or sleep.  He had a vision that took over his normal waking 
>>>> consciousness. 
>>>> Uncertain whether he was living in a hallucination.  He felt burning 
>>>> sensations 
>>>> all over his body and his health began to fail. 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Bhagawan Nityananda - was seen following a cow and as the cow defecated he 
>>>> would 
>>>> catch the poop and eat it.
>>>> 
>>>> I'm just saying that these behaviors would get you locked up or 
>>>> hospitalized here in the States.  
>>>> 
>>>>  Bill 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Find what makes your heart sing…and do it! 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ________________________________
>>>> From: Bill! <BillSmart@>
>>>> To: [email protected]
>>>> Sent: Wed, September 5, 2012 10:16:42 PM
>>>> Subject: [Zen] Re: Be Love Now
>>>> 
>>>>   
>>>> Bill,
>>>> 
>>>> That depends on how you define 'madness'.
>>>> 
>>>> Severing your attachment to logic/reason/rationality is a precursor to 
>>>> experiencing Buddha Nature, and I think it is also a requirement.
>>>> 
>>>> ...and that's what I've been saying for the past 30 or so posts!
>>>> 
>>>> ...Bill!
>>>> 
>>>> --- In [email protected], William Rintala <brintala@> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> I've read, all that I have been able to find, everything written by Ram 
>>>>> Dass 
>>>>> (born, Richard Alpert), from "Be Here Now" through "The Only 
>>>>> Dance There Is" 
>>>>> to 
>>>>> 
>>>>> his most recent book "Be Love Now".  His work "Be Here 
>>>>> Now", 40 years 
>>>>> ago, was 
>>>>> 
>>>>> my starting point on the journey that has lead me to this 
>>>>> forum.  His new 
>>>>> book 
>>>>> 
>>>>> rehashes a lot of stuff that was in his earlier works. What's new 
>>>>> is the last 
>>>> 
>>>>> section where he presents the lives of several Hindu Saints. In each case 
>>>>> the 
>>>>> Saint displayed behavior that I think would get most of us locked 
>>>>> up in a 
>>>>> padded 
>>>>> 
>>>>> cell or admitted to an ICU and put on heavy doses of medications. 
>>>>>  It seems, 
>>>>> however, that this crisis was essential for the Saint to become 
>>>>> fully 
>>>>> realized.  
>>>>> 
>>>>> In reading about them I am reminded of the story of 
>>>>> Eckhart Tolle's biography 
>>>>> 
>>>>> where " For the best part of two years in the early 1980s a man 
>>>>> in his mid-30s 
>>>>> 
>>>>> would sit on a park bench in Russell Square, central London, and in a 
>>>>> state of 
>>>> 
>>>>> deep bliss watch the world go by."  Descriptions sound almost as 
>>>>> if he had had 
>>>>> a 
>>>>> 
>>>>> schizophrenic break.  
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> My question to the Forum is "is madness a precursor to enlightenment?"
>>>>> 
>>>>> Bill not Bill! 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Find what makes your heart sing…and do it!
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
> 
> 



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