ex-l wrote:Unlike, say, Pink Panther who sees them as something universal or can overcome them and have other experiences, I see them as something very specific to BKism and consequently it has remained a barrier to me attempting other religious meditation practises.
OK, just to clarify, what I have said is universal are the ”motherhood” statements around virtues and some practices - peace, humility, paying attention to one’s thoughts and actions, sitting quietly and giving oneself time for reflection, taking care to cook proper food etc. That would benefit a lot of people, can be doen and is doen by people of all different ”faiths”.
As you have said yourself ex-l, anyone who is looking for a change in their life who adopts a different routine that sees them rising early, meditating, studying a new set of ideas, changing away from old bad habits, meeting a new network of people, such a person will feel enthused and benefit from it.
What happens over the longer term however is any imbalance starts to impact. And with the BKs it’s what is not universal that creates the imbalance. It's what makes them BKs and not anything else; the artificial constructs of their theology, history, values.
All humans are
meditative at different times in their lives. BK meditation is about ignoring what is happening in the world, or to you physically, emotionally and mentally, and to stay focused on BK affirmations. As I've said, BK culture is that if life is going wrong it must be your fault for not understanding or practicing properly, not enough BK-ing. It's a bind.
And, unfortunately, it is very hard to find any organised practice or group, even in the secular fields of life, where there is not a group dynamic that seeks to pull you and make you an adherent. And any meditation practice is also going to remind you of what you did as a BK. I was fortunate in that I was meditating before I met BKs so I was able to go back to that fork in the road and start again.
For anyone who’s been a BK for any length of time to sit around in 2019 and listen to Suraj’s revisionist Gyan uncritically, without question or concern as to why ”The Knowledge” is so different nowadays compared to the original teachings or the teachings before 1976 or the teachings before 2000 etc, has to be pulling the wool over their own eyes.