Steve Briggs, Took His MBA to the Himalayan Yogis And Discovered… |452|

Dr. Schwartz' findings do not resonate with me. Gabriel also happens to be the 'patron' of writers so I feel an affinity for him. I'm not speaking from direct experience on this one, but as I understand it, Gabriel is an Archangel which is among the highest levels of angelic beings along with Elohim.

I consider you extremely fortunate to have AA Gabriel as a guide. That is truly wonderful!

Gabriel is one of the blessings that keep me going.

Gary S. and others were amazed and gratified that He showed up in Gary's experiment. Is it the unlikeliness of this that does not resonate with you?

I have no problem with Gary's finding that Gabriel is one of your guides. My reservation is that you indicated that Swartz' findings revealed that Gabriel is a discarnate spirit. It's entirely possible that he and I have totally different definitions of what constitutes a discarnate spirit. It's also possible that he's referring to a different Gabriel, but that seems unlikely.

Would it help if I sent a link to the experiment?

I read up on nagas briefly and found much of what you say here. Does the Vedic literature state that beings of such an ambivalent nature are responsible for the boundary keeping demons out? If so, what is their incentive??

It's more a matter of assignment than incentive. It's the role they play in creation the way nature spirits guide the growth of forests, gardens... I do not know what their big picture evolutionary path is... probably very different from humans although I suspect there is the possibility that a naga could incarnate as a human and visa versa.

I delved into esoteric Islam (Rene Guenon) for a time. His was the only reference I have seen in the Western tradition to a boundary keeping demons out. He claimed that the world religions, despite their flaws, kept that boundary quite secure until the secularization following the Enlightenment. With the demise of religion, the demons were free to swarm across the barricade, contributing to the last and worst phase of the Kali Yuga. Oi vey, so many viewpoints! (Guenon also equated jinn with demonic entities globally--he would not use any other word for them!)

In Kali Yuga, all hell literally breaks loose. Think about that phrase for a moment. Jinn, or more commonly Djinn, is an Urdu term. It's quite commonly used in India because many Urdu terms have made their way into Hindi. Djinn's are spirits or demons of a certain class, but a much milder class of being than Rakshasas/Asuras which are considered the most powerful/darkest in the Hindu tradition.
 
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What is the main premise of this book? We should return to traditionalism?

What you might take away from the incredibly complicated book is... for you to choose, Chris7. It is for you to decide what might ring true or not for you. And I think you know this and so I am surprised you even ask. Anyways, you found what works for you in ACIM, enjoy!

Just understand, I don't suggest what you or anyone "should" do. I recognize its becoming a trend for people to tell others what they should do. But I have no interest in such. I just share ideas, share information and share my sources of such.

As for Upton's book, it is information. And what I appreciated about what I read was that throughout the book Upton traverses the tenets of the perennial philosophy and emphasizes (as others who have written about the same) that they are found at the heart of all mystical traditions known on this Earth at this time - we are talking deep metaphysics here. And it is actually not complicated, in fact, not at all... one just has to wrap their head around paradox. Sadly, too few care to (or have the capacity to) at this stage of their soul journey. Traditionalism simply places an emphasis on this deep metaphysical "truths." Why I put the word "truths" in quotes is because what may be true, or not, is, IMO, for each individual to come upon... to chose to recognize as truth (or not).

Alex branded my spirituality as "spiritual Jiu Jitsu" and here it is all wrapped up in a simple nutshell -

Either you are born, live and die and that's it or there's more. I won't tell you which is true but what I do point out is... if the former is true, then what does any of this matter anyways? But if the latter is true, why waste a life? And equal to that, what's to be afraid of? So, I live, live with gusto, live my truth, always striving to refine what that truth may be. And live with the operational assumption I am a soul and by so doing what I just described, I might increase the integrity of my soul and that can only be good for us all.

Simple actually. But this seems not so easy for so many here on Earth at this time.
 
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Thanks Chester. I was just asking out of curiosity...I was into the Perennial Philosophy in the past so I was curious about what the premise of the book was. There are so many books I want to read so I try to see if they would interest me.
 
just in case you wanted a little more :)

How a New Book Exposes the Dark Side of Transcendental Meditation

Claire Hoffman’s ‘Greetings From Utopia Park’ delves into her early experiences with TM movement and reclaiming her spiritual journey



Most people might remember the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as the guru who hosted the Beatles, Mia Farrow and Mike Love, among others, on their ill-fated excursion to India in 1967. But for Claire Hoffman, a Rolling Stone contributor and author of the memoir Greetings From Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood, the Maharishi was the all-powerful leader of the Midwestern community where she was born and raised — albeit a figurehead she’d never met. “He was always this Wizard of Oz-type character,” she says from her home in Los Angeles, where she now lives with her husband and two young children. “He was this giant broadcast face speaking do us in the dome.”

The Golden Domes she remembers were giant edifices for group meditation, the centerpieces of Maharishi International University (now Maharishi University of Management), located on a sprawling campus in Fairfield, Iowa, that had once been home to a Presbyterian college. The Maharishi had taken it over as his center of western operations in the 1970s, a place to host thousands of visiting followers in group meditation — which, they believed, might bring about world peace — and a permanent home to hundreds of others.




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But as Hoffman recounts, Transcendental Meditation, which had begun as a movement that propagated twice-daily, 20-minute meditations as a way to tune out the frantic aspects of modern American life, developed into a top-down organization that recommended expensive classes, house-brand vitamins and moving into Utopia Park, a trailer encampment near campus. In return for their devotion and sacrifice, the Maharishi’s followers — mostly disaffected youth of the 1960s, like Hoffman’s parents — would attain “200 percent of life”: absolute spiritual happiness and material success.

Of course, this didn’t usually happen. In her memoir, Hoffman describes her initial fascination with TM. Her earliest memories are of keeping out of her mother’s way while she meditated, and, as a child, learning to meditate herself. “Meditation for me at the time was a subtle alternate reality to which I liked to escape,” she writes. “A small secret door that would take me away from the world around me.”

rs-243741-utopia-park.jpg


But the realities of her early life were often harsh: an alcoholic father that left five-year-old Hoffman, her mother and her brother with less than $50 in New York City; a mother struggling to support the family on hourly wages from the natural food store after their return to Fairfield; a community so trusting they allowed the neighborhood kids to congregate at the home of a pedophile while the parents attended evening meditation; parents forced to choose between expensive tuition at the Maharishi’s private school, or to let their children be teased and bullied at the public school in town.


Claire is one heck of a journalist/writer. While writing for the Rolling Stone or possibly LA Times, Claire co-authored an expose on Scientology that had a record number of reads. She grew up in "Utopia Park," a 200 unit mobile home park adjacent to the MIU campus. The mobile home park was hastily built in 1985 to accommodate some of the 8,000 people who gathered in Fairfield to attend the "Taste of Utopia," course (hence the name Utopia Park). I believe the entire park was assembled in something like 3 or 4 weeks. People came from all over the world. The January weather was outrageous with minus 30-40 windchill on several days. However, the course went smoothly. The mobile homes are still in use after 35 years. I have many friends who live there; some are well off and could afford something better while other residents are just getting by.
 
Thanks Chester. I was just asking out of curiosity...I was into the Perennial Philosophy in the past so I was curious about what the premise of the book was. There are so many books I want to read so I try to see if they would interest me.

OK, Chris7, my response was a bit charged and we have developed some history... with that said, I wanted to make sure I conveyed that my approach to information strives not to look at anything as "a should." It might consider "mights" but not "shoulds." Because old habits die heard (and I am referring to an old habit of telling myself and others what I, they should do), I have developed a vigilance towards not doing that, particularly with others.

With regards to the book I mentioned, it is a complex read. Upton can write a very intricate sentence (I am not alone in mentioning this) and I had to take it in very small bites, sometimes consider a short passage for the rest of a day or beyond.
Thanks Chester. I was just asking out of curiosity...I was into the Perennial Philosophy in the past so I was curious about what the premise of the book was. There are so many books I want to read so I try to see if they would interest me.

Chris7 - see this post. I hope to be able to provide the answer to your original question... and soon... essentially, directly from Mr. Upton.
 
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Gabriel is one of the blessings that keep me going.

Gary S. and others were amazed and gratified that He showed up in Gary's experiment. Is it the unlikeliness of this that does not resonate with you?

I have no problem with Gary's finding that Gabriel is one of your guides. My reservation is that you indicated that Swartz' findings revealed that Gabriel is a discarnate spirit. It's entirely possible that he and I have totally different definitions of what constitutes a discarnate spirit. It's also possible that he's referring to a different Gabriel, but that seems unlikely.

Would it help if I sent a link to the experiment?

I read up on nagas briefly and found much of what you say here. Does the Vedic literature state that beings of such an ambivalent nature are responsible for the boundary keeping demons out? If so, what is their incentive??

It's more a matter of assignment than incentive. It's the role they play in creation the way nature spirits guide the growth of forests, gardens... I do not know what their big picture evolutionary path is... probably very different from humans although I suspect there is the possibility that a naga could incarnate as a human and visa versa.

I delved into esoteric Islam (Rene Guenon) for a time. His was the only reference I have seen in the Western tradition to a boundary keeping demons out. He claimed that the world religions, despite their flaws, kept that boundary quite secure until the secularization following the Enlightenment. With the demise of religion, the demons were free to swarm across the barricade, contributing to the last and worst phase of the Kali Yuga. Oi vey, so many viewpoints! (Guenon also equated jinn with demonic entities globally--he would not use any other word for them!)

In Kali Yuga, all hell literally breaks loose. Think about that phrase for a moment. Jinn, or more commonly Djinn, is an Urdu term. It's quite commonly used in India because many Urdu terms have made their way into Hindi. Djinn's are spirits or demons of a certain class, but a much milder class of being than Rakshasas/Asuras which are considered the most powerful/darkest in the Hindu tradition.


To be fair to Gary, pls let me clarify that it was I who referred to Gabriel as a "disincarnate spirit." Let me amend that to Angelic Being, Archangel.

Also it was not Gary who discerned that Gabriel is one of my guides, it was I. Gary's experiment had nothing to do with me. He did a well designed experiment using effects on photon light to detect the presence of spirits, followed by their identification through a medium.
 
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Thanks for another interesting interview. I'm, as usual, a tad late to the party as I'm lagging behind on my podcast listening. Anyhow, I want to chime in on the quote:
> "Evil is taking away other people's free will"

I believe this is a tad too simplistic, unfortunately.
  • If I stop a stranger from jumping in front of a train, am I evil?
  • If I stop my child from eating too much sugar, am I evil?
  • If I stop my friend from doing a massive dose of LSD at a bar all by herself, am I evil?

Personally, I really like The Law of Cardamom:

One shall not bother others,
one shall be nice and kind,
otherwise one may do as one pleases.


But then again, you can always discuss what it means "to bother" and to "be kind". Some people force their will on others saying that they do this in kindness.
 
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Thanks for another interesting interview. I'm, as usual, a tad late to the party as I'm lagging behind on my podcast listening. Anyhow, I want to chime in on the quote:
> "Evil is taking away other people's free will"

I believe this is a tad too simplistic, unfortunately.
  • If I stop a stranger from jumping in front of a train, am I evil?
  • If I stop my child from eating too much sugar, am I evil?
  • If I stop my friend from doing a massive dose of LSD at a bar all by herself, am I evil?

Personally, I really like The Law of Cardamom:

One shall not bother others,
one shall be nice and kind,
otherwise one may do as one pleases.


But then again, you can always discuss what it means "to bother" and to "be kind". Some people force their will on others saying that they do this in kindness.
agreed. Over simplified. I keep coming back to the "intentional soul crushing" part... not as the only, but as clearly line crossing.
 
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