A weird thought about Armageddon

The battle of all battles between the forces of good and the forces of evil is supposed to take place at har Magiddo; at least that's the x-ian fantasy that fuels much of the fundamentalist and militant rhetoric of the reactionary right. Nothing like a bit of fear-mongering to generate some control, eh?

And this has what to do with TM?, you might inquire.

Well, as John has reminded me, we lived with the threat of WWIII all though the "cold" war period. And as John also reminded me, it is important, too, that we keep in mind that Mahesh was no slouch when it came to using fear-mongering to get more and more people to buy into his delusional reality/fantasy that TM and his 'sidhi' bollocks was going to make the world safe from disaster!

Yet, Mahesh was the disaster when it came to individual lives. TM and his cockamamy 'sidhi' conglomeration only made the delusional fantasy-world of Maheshism a nice place for Mahesh

It's just a thought, of course, but I was reminiscing about that moment when Mahesh handed me the piece of paper with the mantras (on that course, by age and gender). I knew at once, obviously, that there was no such thing as the mystical knowledge of assigning the right mantra and that Mahesh's so sweet and clever talk about choosing the right mantra was simply crap. The illusion and the delusion perished, much as that piece of paper would have had I taken a match to it. But, the human brain, even mine, does a lot of calculations almost instantaneously. It comes as no surprise, now, that there was more than that one illusion perishing. Other firmly held conceptualizations (since TM isn't a belief system «smirk», I can't say beliefs, now, can I?) were threatened, were teetering on the brink of distruction. The mind had to wonder, what other convictions (ok, beliefs) did I hold that I hadn't questioned?

Yes, and, well, you mentioned Armageddon???

Isn't this the real Armageddon, the mind itself, where the ultimate battle, the battle to end all battles takes place? and what battle is actually fought there?

One of the things that seems to me to be most responsible for keeping believers believing is the reluctance, the absolute dread and horror if we really must call a spade a spade, of questioning the unquestionable, thinking the unthinkable, speculating, wandering outside the safe boundaries the leader has established - for our own good, of course. Because the fear of straying is so adamentine in the doctrine (in this case, the dogmas of Maheshism), the fear of straying frequently outweighs the obvious conclusions any otherwise rational person might draw. It certainly kept me in line! At least for a little longer.

But the peculiar and unique thing about Maheshism and probably Scientology and the Rosicrucians and possibly those who follow Yogananda, is that there is something more being dangled in the not too distant, soon to come to fruition, future! The what if's set in!

I suspect that confusion of thought, that uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously, that inability to grasp how the magician does his tricks (and what if they aren't tricks but actually magic after all) that is the real Armageddon that most devout TMers are hiding from, buying all the TM stuff they can to buttress their mental fortifications against questioning their own beliefs and having to face that nasty business of one's own mental warfare! [horrors of horrors, what have I done?!?] Then you would have to actually question Mahesh, wouldn't you! Was he really what you imagined? What got you to imagine that in the first place? How did Mahesh manipulate you? Dare you look at what HE achieved, for himself, of course, by manipulating you?

I certainly didn't really question, even when Mahesh handed me that piece of paper. He was so diabolically clever, too. He had me recite those holy, sacred, immaculate, wonderful, special mantras, then he took the piece of paper, folded it, gave it to me and then held my hands in his (he had really huge hands), for several seconds that seemed almost eternal, as he gazed into my eyes and reminded me how important I was to him. (Daddy loves you best! «snork»)

Yet, the battle had started and the forces of Maheshism were already winning.

The real groundwork for that ultimate battle took place during those two years living with Mahesh and his travelling circus of TM courses from Mallorca to Fiuggi and then La Antilla, helping to make the SCI course (oh, why, oh, why, didn't we know about C.S.I.-type thinking then!!!), planning the placement of the microwave towers to broadcast SCI to the whole world and then trying for 9 months to teach it in India.

It's hard to just chuck it all, toss in the towel and walk away when you're on the other side of the planet from home and only have the little spending money Mahesh allowed. But those thoughts were beginning to gain the day.

I finally knew that the clash of mythos and reality was what was ringing the wake up! bell, causing all the racket that certainly wasn't musical. Something HAD to be done and I didn't know what and knew I was shrinking from facing the facts!

Now the forces of my own mind were beginning to see that there were more holes in Maheshism than in a block of Swiss Cheese!

Armageddon is very, very real. Cognitive dissonance is very, very real. The results are, to pull no punches, very difficult to manage, especially the internal, mental one I am talking about here. AND it's such a relief to have got on with it because now I can constantly question myself, my burgeoning beliefs and conceptualizations!

For example, Wow, this is a great book I'm reading, this is a great author! - really? and with whom are you comparing this author, what, I must constantly inquire, is the basis for the argument I am making in favour of gratifying my ego?

And, who knows, some day it may turn out that the right-wing reactionary fundys were right — although that kind of reasoning is like thinking that because you have been beating your head against the wall and finally it rained is a significant cause-effect relationship.

For more useful information relevant to getting free from the mental Armegaddon of TM vs Reality, click on the title at the top.