[Buddha-l] FW: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies

[jkirk]

It's amazing how easy a model catches on. Our brain is not a radio, that
picks its info from waves out of the sky. And even then: if everybody
listens to ABC, it doesn't make it more likely for an individual with his
own radio to tune in to the same station, unless someone tells him to. It is
true of course that one angry person can cause an angry mob, but this is
caused by perceptible signs. A holy person is supposed to have this benign
effect on his envirinment in many religions. In a recent documentary on the
BBC, called 'Extreme Pilgrimage', a guy stays 20 days in a recluse's cave in
Egypt. His instructor tells him to pray all day. He asks why. The answer is
that he prays for all humanity and if he doesn't humanity will go to hell.
Is this holy arrogance? 

Erik
===============
One angry person can also try hard but not cause an angry mob--context in
this case is 
seminal.
>From what's known about group, or "mass," psychology, seems to me that
someone secluded in a cave praying continually can only influence himself
and perhaps his teacher who sent him there--unless there's a huge crowd
outside the cave, waiting for him to emerge and proclaim or prophesy. Even
then, as Festinger found out, cognitive dissonance will no doubt mess with
the lack of results, even if belief is postponed, or not, to another day.  
"Holy arrogance?"  
Rather, I see it as the constant tendency humans have--refuse to let go --
for magical thinking--another term for wishful thinking, aka delusion. All
the folks praying for Terry Schiavo didn't change her brain scans one bit. 

Joanna

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