Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl01276)

At 07:27 AM 5/23/96 -0400, you wrote:
>>>>>>cut<<<<<<<
>
>Alexis>
>>Joseph G. Miller (San Francisco TSA), who was a legitimate Zen Roshi and
>>an equally legitimate Sufi Murshid; used to tell me: "You can get more
>>stinken from thinken than drinken but to feel is for real"
>
>I like that! A good reminder.

Actually the quotation was I believe originally Samuel Lewis'. He was the
Sufi Murshid who brought Sufism to the West Coast (probably to America) He
Had another great saying: "Metaphysics is a great light, and light all
bright lights, it attracts a lot of bugs".
>
>>I've succeeded, for no one can ever be too experiential for their own good!
>
>Lowering the veil of humour now, I agree, in the sense I believe you mean
>it. Under the smarty-pants layer, I had in mind the misunderstanding and
>isolation it can bring to the person who has experienced something that
>others haven't.
>
>Murray
>Member TI, TSNZ

Murray:

Regarding what you call "the misunderstanding and isolation it can bring to
the person who has experienced something that other's haven't". But that's
not only true regarding Paranormal Experience, it's true regarding all kinds
of experience. Now as regarding Paranormal Experience I have found far more
"togetherness" and acceptance in the Neo-Pagan and Wiccan and other "New
Age" communities than I have in Theosophy which, I believe, "started" the
whole thing. It is only in Theosophy that there are people so anxious to
devalue and reject both the Paranormal and its practitioners. But, and only
basing my remarks on my own experiences, anything that makes a human being
different from his fellows in any way causes some kind of "isolation and
misunderstanding". In my own case my Experience of these things ranges all
the way from the ridiculous to the sublime. Being a top rank fashion model
in my youth gave me a good idea how any kind of celebrity at all isolates a
person. My social position is equally a source of isolation. But the primary
source I experienced and the one that sent me early on into a life of
political activism for human rights is my being a Gay man. You want to
Experience "isolation, misunderstanding, and rejection"? Well that's a
wonderful source of it. I've also experienced the same kind of "isolation"
in my work as an artist etc.I've been told my work is "Elitist" and when I
inquired as to why it was so, I was told: "Because it requires too much
talent and effort". How does one respond to that? But I learned very early
on in my life how to deal with isolation. When I was just a boy, I had a
real problem with being isolated and rejected in school because of my I.Q. I
have a paranormal I.Q. and so the educational authorities regularly sent me
off to be "examined and tested" at places like the Harvard School of
Educational Research and  (most frequently) to the Princeton School for
Advanced Studies. This was to be sure (or so I think) that the last set of
tests wasn't mistaken. This was good and this was bad. It was good because I
got to be pretty good friends with Albert Einstein, it was bad because when
I got back to school, at least one of my teachers (5th grade) would greet my
return to class by announcing to all the students: "Well here's our little
freak, back again." Now that's isolation. As to Shamanism, well for what I
believe are pretty obvious reasons, a Shaman, as a bridge to other levels of
intelligence, is never alone in any way. I guess what I am trying to say is
that Paranormal Experience is probably less isolating than many other forms
of human Experience.

alexis
Member TI, FTSA
>