It could be said (no, it has been said) that if
religionworked
(which is to say if
the originalintention
of
religion
were realized), then
this work of
transformation
would be redundant, if not unnecessary. Alongside
religions
are the teachings of countless great
masters,
both women and men, who have walked
our planet,
many of whom have made
contributions
to the seminal inquiry into what it is to be
human,
or if you extend the inquiry to include being, into the possibility
of being for
human being.
Given their compassion, it is also in their
nature
to seek to alleviate the suffering which seems to be an inevitable
part of life's experience (or, if you will, an inevitable part of
life's predicament). And notice when I say that, I'm emphasizing
the phrase "seems to be ..." (if I
use
more definitive verbiage, it cements suffering in place).
Ultimately what
causes
the most confusion around the
freedom
inherent in all
religions
and other teachings, western and eastern, isn't the material itself.
Rather it's us, and it's twofold: one, we neglect to differentiate
between what's
true,
and what we
believe
to be
true;
and two, we're convinced it's not all
OK the way it is,
when in fact
it's OK exactly
the way it is
(and exactly
the way
it isn't) and it may not always look like it. In other
words,
there's a certain
rigor
we lack, a certain relying on
belief
and ritual instead of
direct experience.
It results in us in being convinced life is meant to be lived in the
dark, then
wonderingwhy
we keep bumping into things.
Before I made these distinctions ie before I tried them on as
possibilities for my life, I looked into
ways
of outsmarting life's predicament for myself. One such way (or
path if you will) of those I experimented with, led me to
MMY ie
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
I traveled with him. I studied with him. I
meditated
with him. I prepared his meals, assisting his
personal
chef Hari Har Khan, and
served
him. That gave me access to many private audiences with him. I've
initiated hundreds of people into
TM ie
Transcendental Meditation,
the system he
created.
I
meditate
these days - not earnestly, and not on schedule, sometimes daily. I
include
meditation
in my hygiene and health regimen, along with brushing my teeth, and
exercise. I've let all of the other significance around it go from my
life. And I don't require the
cosmiccontext.
In the end, I realize what's probably
true
is even our most
beloved
and revered
religious
and spiritual
masters
(yes, there is a difference) can only hint at what
Werner
articulates as his
natural Self-expression,
giving us access to our
natural Self-expression.
I'd like that to sound as
ordinary
and as
bland
as possible. Adding significance to it eclipses the
blandness
of it, detracting from its potency. In my era of experimenting in ie
during my
intersections
with
religions
and other teachings, western and eastern, I was
clear
it required a lot of practice to
get "IT".
Me being
clear
about it, didn't mean it was
the truth.
It just meant I was
clear
about it in my own
way.
I was
clear
I'd
get itsomeday
ie soon. I was also
clear
I didn't have it today ie yet. That's
how,
given
the way
I was being, I got in the
way
of all those
intersections.
I would have
loved
to register
MMY
in the
Landmark Forum
or in any other iteration of
Werner's work,
not because it's better than
TM
(you can't compare those two: comparing those two isn't even like
comparing apples and oranges - it's like comparing apples and
zebras) but simply because he was a great
guy,
and it would have been great to share such a great thing with such a
great
guy.
He was one of a kind. After he was born,
God
broke the mold.
Imagine
you could foresee an impending apocalypse, and in preparation
for the end of
the world,
you had to quickly choose only one
human being
from any chapter in history, with whom you would live out the rest of
your life on a desert island. If you knew him,
MMY
would be one of those people on your short list of such candidates. He
was an
extraordinary
trailblazer.
Now that real, live, thrilling
transformation
is an
ever-present
possibility for
our planet,
I am grateful to and respectful of him and all other trailblazers on my
short list.