TM-Free Blog is very pleased to welcome our newest editor/author, Paul Mason.
Paul is best known for his well-received biography, The Maharishi: the Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World. Paul brings a new perspective to TM-Free Blog with his wealth of knowledge about the Maharishi, and a particular interest in the actual teachings of "Guru Dev," the Maharishi's purported master, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati.
We look forward to his contributions contrasting the Maharishi's teaching with traditional Indian spiritual thought -- including Guru Dev's known teachings. Paul also joins several of our editors in honoring the tradition of meditation, while steadfastly questioning the Maharishi's methods, policiies, and actions.
Please join us in welcoming this exciting new editor on our Blog!
7 comments:
I asked Paul some questions in the Comments section of his maiden post, but he preferred not to respond because they were, he said, off-topic.
But I figured they wouldn't be off-topic as comments on the post announcing that he was joining TMFree as an editor, so here they are again:
Say, Paul, are you still practicing TM? As of August 2006, you claimed you'd been practicing it continuously for the past 30 years.
Also, just curiously, do you still believe what you said on the Yahoo group Fairfield Life back then?
"If none of the women who allege shenanigans with MMY wish to talk openly, then I believe he deserves better than for people to be gossiping about his alleged sex life..."
--and--
"For the record, I suspect that most if not all the material currently circulating about MMYs alleged sexuality has been put about solely to discredit MMY, simple as that, a rather ramshackle attempt at cocking a snoot at him, rather than an orchestrated attack, but perhaps a mixture of both."
You've made some other interesting comments in the past. I'd be interested to have your take on them now. These are from spring-summer 2005:
"Had I wanted to malign MMY or make a name for myself I have been offered ample opportunity."
"You are most incorrect in saying I have a campaign against MMY."
"You assume that I have an aggenda [sic] of disparaging MMY. This perception is erroneous..."
"I have no links with anyone I know to be an 'enemy' of MMY."
In your current post you write:
"But, then that would be to sacrifice the effects of the mantra, which some apparently find charming and enjoyable in itself."
Back in 2005, however, you wrote:
"In order to test the claims about TM I experimented along the lines you
mention. But you have left out the conclusion to my experimentation
which appeared alongside the other information on a Google posting. My
conclusion was that the TM mantra brings light to the meditation."
The quote from today's post seems to indicate that you do *not* find the effects of the mantra charming and enjoyable; but less than two years ago, you had concluded that the mantra "brings light to the meditation."
What caused you to change your mind between then and now?
This post was not posted by Paul Mason...
If you're referring to the quotes in my post above, they most certainly are from Paul Mason's posts. If you like, I can give you links to each one.
[ Posted once before, but it didn't 'take.' I hope this is not a repeat. ]
It is worth noting that the above comments, clearly attempting to call Paul Mason's integrity into question, were posted by Judy Stein.
A little history of Judy Stein is in order, because it will help lurkers here understand why a site such as this arises to comment on the sometimes insane antics of the TM movement and its adherents.
Judy -- not a TM teacher -- has spent the last 12 years of her life stalking critics of TM, the TM organization, Maharishi, and TMers themselves from forum to forum to forum on the Internet. That is just what she does.
In this case, she has followed Paul Mason now across three forums, running the same number on him every time.
That 'number' -- her modus operandi -- is to attempt to discredit anything he says by calling his integrity and motives into question. It's what Judy does with almost all critics of TM. She's famous for doing this, on at least six Internet forums that I can think of.
This is an open forum, and she is certainly entitled to post any comment she wants here. I think it's healthy that she's finally signing these comments [in another thread], and is no longer hiding behind 'Anonymous.'
But I think it's a reflection on Maharishi, TM, and the TM movement that such a person -- with such an agenda -- exists. Judy's first response when a well spoken individual says anything critical of Things TM is to destroy them, to cast aspersons on their character, to attempt to discredit them. And in her mind, this is actually spiritual behavior.
I feel sad for you here that she's stalked yet another of her victims to this blog. You're stuck with her now. Be compassionate. This is a very sad old woman with nothing of her own to say. She exists only in 'reflection,' bouncing off of the words of the people she considers her enemies, engaging in character assassination as an art form.
If this is the legacy of Maharishi and TM, sites like this one aren't even necessary.
-- Barry Wright
A little history of Barry Wright is in order: Barry is a chronic liar, something that's been extensively documented on the Google group alt.meditation.transcendental and the Yahoo group FairfieldLife.
Of course I'm not a "stalker." This is a notion Barry has dreamed up out of whole cloth to attempt to discredit me.
Barry has a vendetta against me not so much because I'm a TM supporter, but because (along with others) I've repeatedly exposed his dishonesty and the shallowness and sloppiness of his thinking.
Just as one very easily verifiable example among the many in Barry's comment:
I feel sad for you here that she's stalked yet another of her victims to this blog.
I was reading and posting comments to this blog for two weeks before Paul Mason ever showed up. Barry is well aware of this, so his claim that "stalking" Paul Mason was my motivation for coming here is a knowing untruth.
Oh, heck, one more:
In this case, she has followed Paul Mason now across three forums, running the same number on him every time.
In fact, as Barry knows, in every forum but one in which Paul and I both have participated, I was there well before Paul was. Maybe he's stalking me. (That's a joke, Barry.)
And Barry cites six TM-related forums I've been on. I can think of only five--alt.meditation.transcendental, FairfieldLife, the Yahoo groups TMNews and TMControversy, and this one. What's the sixth, Barry?
Enough of Barry. I think I've made my point. Nothing he says about me in his comment is any more true than the two items I dispensed with above.
I was frankly surprised to find Paul had joined the editors here because of some of his past comments, including those in which he spoke out strongly against entertaining rumors about MMY's sexuality, saying he suspected they had all been made up solely for the purpose of discrediting MMY. If he was so disapproving of such rumors, why would he support a blog that had just devoted a huge amount of space to furthering them and that prominently advertised that material?
Likewise, in the recent past he said he had found that the TM mantra "brings light to the meditation," yet his first post here denigrated the TM mantras. I was also interested to know if Paul was still practicing TM, as he had claimed he was on another forum back in August.
So I asked him about these apparent inconsistencies. Seems to me they are very relevant, given Paul's status as an authority on TM, the TMO, and Maharishi and his new role here as critic. There could be good explanations for all of them, but unfortunately Paul has declined to comment.
Finally, if credibility is an issue with MMY and the TMO, to claim that somehow it should not be an issue with critics of MMY and the TMO is simply rank hypocrisy. How else do we get to the facts?
I was surprised to see the material formerly known as the 'Sexy Sadie' file at TM-Free. But from what I can gather, the contents have been reproduced without alteration, so TM-Free is only making the material available to those unable to locate it elsewhere.
With regard to a remark about the mantra 'brings light to the meditation' or some such phrase - well, as we are informed, the mantras have associated deities, who are called devas 'the shining ones'.
I was surprised to see the material formerly known as the 'Sexy Sadie' file at TM-Free. But from what I can gather, the contents have been reproduced without alteration, so TM-Free is only making the material available to those unable to locate it elsewhere.
If you don't approve of such material in general, why would you approve it when it's reproduced without alteration? Why would you want to increase access to it? That makes no sense.
Judy Stein
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