Excerpt from "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom
"I figure its like in the Bible, the Adam & Eve deal?" the Captain said. "Adam's first night on earth? When he lays down to sleep? He thinks it's all over right? He doesn't know what sleep is. His eyes are closing and he thinks he's leaving the world, right?
"Only he isn't. He wakes up the next morning and he has a fresh new world to work with, but he has something else too. He has his yesterday."
Monday, March 10, 2008
Addendum to NLT, Landmark, et al post...
"Shodhishee Manava,
Rauli, Mandiri,
Naandto Dev ha
Aapulya Antari"
- Sant Tukaram
Two of my most important points of contention-
1. Why should anyone have to pay huge amounts of money for learning the non-material richness/ "possibilities" in life. If X cannot afford to pay for a course conducted by ABC, why should Y who has attended it pay on behalf of X? Why can Y not simply "pay it forward". In other words, pass on what you have learnt to others, and spread the knowledge exponentially. You becoming a teacher is also a "possibility", right?
2. Why should the "possibilities" of my life depend on these kind of forums? Does the forum to teach me to be happy without being depended or addicted to only their way of life? Hypothtetically, if what happens in the past are my "stories"/ "rackets" that affect my "possibilities", then the forum I took yesterday is also in the past now. It will affect my "possibilities" in the future. If it stops me in the future from turning to a different philosophy, then it is for all practical purposes a "racket".
It's a bit like drug addiction. You start with small doses because your friends tell you that it will relieve symptoms. The drug only relieves symptoms, but the underlying cause is not addressed. You grow dependent on it, till it begins to take control of your life...
Quoted from www.skepdic.com :Research has shown that the feelings of having benefited greatly from participation in an LGAT do not correspond to beneficial changes in behavior (Michael Langone, "Large Group Awareness Training Programs," Cult Observer, v. 15, n. 1, 1998).
Rauli, Mandiri,
Naandto Dev ha
Aapulya Antari"
- Sant Tukaram
Two of my most important points of contention-
1. Why should anyone have to pay huge amounts of money for learning the non-material richness/ "possibilities" in life. If X cannot afford to pay for a course conducted by ABC, why should Y who has attended it pay on behalf of X? Why can Y not simply "pay it forward". In other words, pass on what you have learnt to others, and spread the knowledge exponentially. You becoming a teacher is also a "possibility", right?
2. Why should the "possibilities" of my life depend on these kind of forums? Does the forum to teach me to be happy without being depended or addicted to only their way of life? Hypothtetically, if what happens in the past are my "stories"/ "rackets" that affect my "possibilities", then the forum I took yesterday is also in the past now. It will affect my "possibilities" in the future. If it stops me in the future from turning to a different philosophy, then it is for all practical purposes a "racket".
It's a bit like drug addiction. You start with small doses because your friends tell you that it will relieve symptoms. The drug only relieves symptoms, but the underlying cause is not addressed. You grow dependent on it, till it begins to take control of your life...
Quoted from www.skepdic.com :Research has shown that the feelings of having benefited greatly from participation in an LGAT do not correspond to beneficial changes in behavior (Michael Langone, "Large Group Awareness Training Programs," Cult Observer, v. 15, n. 1, 1998).
Sunday, March 09, 2008
NLP, Landmark, Scientology, Art of Living... What is Learning?
Sam attended his first course of LAndmark education (Fees- Rs.5500/-) and promptly signed up for the next level of the same (at a WHOPPING Rs.10,000/-)... !
Why do educated, sophisticated, otherwise intelligent people with good family support and dedicated friend circles, need to resort to these New Age courses?
Worse still, why should they PAY THROUGH THEIR NOSES to be able to acheive peace?
Is peace, well-being and happy fulfilling life, not the right of the poor? Do we need more peace than people in countries ravaged by war, like Afghanisatan, Iraq, Vietnam? Do these New Age philosophies reach out to such people and do this for free?
I completely agree, that
1. Our mind should be open to coaching... (coachable!), but that does not mean allowing ourself to get brain-washed. We should be allowed to think that we can lead happy lives, without signing up for expensive courses.
2. Facts are different from interpretation, but there is no one single fact in life. It is, was, and will aleays be interpretations. Language, History, Science, Maths, Morality & Ethics, everything we learned, is proof that interpretations abound !
3. It is touching to see people open out about their deepest fears, humiliations, et al. But it should also make us aware that in our lives we also have people who have cried to us, who have been angry with us, but just never did it on a stage/ podium. And we have done all this as well. All societies & religions have some ethics inclining towards 'empathy' and 'sympathy'. We're taught this/ we learn on our own as kids. And we *DO* practice it in life, unconsciously.
4. We are partially responsible for everything that has happened to us. But the percentage of partiality varies between 1-100. We ARE and ARE NOT responsible for everything that happens in the world. There is a Zen theory- the butterfly effect. A tiny butterfly flapping its wings at one end of the universe may lead to a typhoon/ tornado in another part of the world. So should the butterfly apologise for flapping it's wings? Should it not flap them ever again?
The problem with most of these courses is that it takes advantages of people's lack of reading and philiosophical awareness. Books have always been my best friends. People equate books with bookish-ness, with learning by rote. But I've always learnt so much, I have questioned so much from them.
I have come to believe, that there is no ONE GURU, no ONE FORMULA, no ONE RELIGION... the world & the God entity in all its complexity, are TOO BIG to fit into any ONE... I m a believer of multitudes. All of us are gurus and shishyas, and everywhere we go is a Jeevan ki Paathshala...
Why do educated, sophisticated, otherwise intelligent people with good family support and dedicated friend circles, need to resort to these New Age courses?
Worse still, why should they PAY THROUGH THEIR NOSES to be able to acheive peace?
Is peace, well-being and happy fulfilling life, not the right of the poor? Do we need more peace than people in countries ravaged by war, like Afghanisatan, Iraq, Vietnam? Do these New Age philosophies reach out to such people and do this for free?
I completely agree, that
1. Our mind should be open to coaching... (coachable!), but that does not mean allowing ourself to get brain-washed. We should be allowed to think that we can lead happy lives, without signing up for expensive courses.
2. Facts are different from interpretation, but there is no one single fact in life. It is, was, and will aleays be interpretations. Language, History, Science, Maths, Morality & Ethics, everything we learned, is proof that interpretations abound !
3. It is touching to see people open out about their deepest fears, humiliations, et al. But it should also make us aware that in our lives we also have people who have cried to us, who have been angry with us, but just never did it on a stage/ podium. And we have done all this as well. All societies & religions have some ethics inclining towards 'empathy' and 'sympathy'. We're taught this/ we learn on our own as kids. And we *DO* practice it in life, unconsciously.
4. We are partially responsible for everything that has happened to us. But the percentage of partiality varies between 1-100. We ARE and ARE NOT responsible for everything that happens in the world. There is a Zen theory- the butterfly effect. A tiny butterfly flapping its wings at one end of the universe may lead to a typhoon/ tornado in another part of the world. So should the butterfly apologise for flapping it's wings? Should it not flap them ever again?
The problem with most of these courses is that it takes advantages of people's lack of reading and philiosophical awareness. Books have always been my best friends. People equate books with bookish-ness, with learning by rote. But I've always learnt so much, I have questioned so much from them.
I have come to believe, that there is no ONE GURU, no ONE FORMULA, no ONE RELIGION... the world & the God entity in all its complexity, are TOO BIG to fit into any ONE... I m a believer of multitudes. All of us are gurus and shishyas, and everywhere we go is a Jeevan ki Paathshala...
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