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Date Posted: Sat, 01/25/03 10:47pm
Author: sunny
Subject: Re: A little about me
In reply to: earthw7 's message, "A little about me" on Thu, 01/23/03 10:22am

>I was hoping that this site would be a place where we
>could be comfortable in telling a little about
>ourselves and share some of our history with each
>other.....

Thanx earthwoman, this was a good idea and I've really appreciated the stories folks have shared :o).

Had to think about it a while, tho ...... which "me" ??
There's the public 'me' that did very well in school, married her supervisor on her first job out of college (health planning), went back to graduate school at his urging and got a PhD in sociology, and a tenure-track prof's job at an Ivy League school. Then lost her husband 'cause he claimed she'd abandoned him when he went to a new University for a research fellowship and she didn't leave her job to follow him [as if, since it was temporary, we hadn't both agreed that commuting was best :o((( ]. Well, that put an end to the possibility of kids, and the Reagan admin. put an end to the joy in my work (full-employment policy, poverty studies, inequality/income
distribution, wage & job discrimination, etc. -- all hopelessly politicized by that time), so I thought I'd go back and do something useful again. So back to health planning for another 8 yrs or so, then that program was
"de-funded" in NYS, and I decided to take an early retirement option, and I've been working part-time as a deli-chef in a health food store ever since -- Right Livelihood at last !! :o)))

Then there's the private 'me' that's been searching all along for something, community spirit or spiritual depth or
something, and just not finding [or not ready to find ?] the right 'fit', until I came across a book by Shree Rajneesh, or Osho as he is now called. Well, either the time was right, or this was just the right person, or what, but my sceptiscism for all those years finally collapsed, and I've been a devoted disciple of this man for about 18 years now -- hard to believe its been that long, sheeeesh ! Not too demanding really, just meditation to greet the day and again in the evening, and trying to stay AWARE throughout the day whatever comes along -- sounds simple, but it has changed my life so deeply I hardly recognize my old self anymore [except when I start obsessing about building a new website or something, LOL :o)) ].

There's a poem written by another sannyasin after Osho died that pretty much says it all for me:

OSHO
On January 19, 1990, Osho left His body.
He was described in the Boston Globe as The Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh,
a guru who preached a blend of Eastern religion, pop psychology,and free love
• deported from the United States in 1985 •
• pled guilty to violating federal immigration laws •-
• red-clad followers who toiled 12 hours a day and showered the guru with jewels and rolls-royces •
• agreed not to return to the US for five years •
• for six months he roamed the world in search of a home but was turned away from 21 countries •
That was my Master; a criminal, a charlatan. It must be true because it's right there in print.
I must have been blind.
[snip]
With millions of others around the world I celebrated His leaving of the body
Along with the celebration, I cried
I couldn't help it
I rejoiced that he left His body
but, still I cried because I could never see His smile again
What did He give me?
The answer is simple.
My hands were once closed in fists of rage
now they are open!
— Chintan


And here's a quote from Osho in 1986 that I thought you might enjoy:

"The whole world has forgotten completely that the real Americans are the red Americans who are living in reservations in the forests. They have been forced to live almost in concentration camps, an American version of the German concentration camps -- far better, because the German concentration camp was barbed wire, guns all around, very crude. The American concentration camp is very sophisticated -- no barbed wire, no guards, you cannot say that this is a concentration camp. But this is a concentration camp -- of a higher order, of a more subtle and delicate quality. What they have done is to give every red Indian a pension -- because America belongs to them, it is their country. They don't have any work, but they get enough pension...... Salary for nothing, salary for remaining silent about the fact that America belongs to them, that the people who are known as Americans are not Americans. Somebody is from England, somebody is from Italy, somebody is from France, somebody is from Holland, somebody is from Germany, somebody is from Switzerland -- from all the European countries, but nobody is an American. They are all foreigners.

And my first conflict with the government was that I told it exactly the same way I am telling you: that the American president is as much a foreigner as I am a foreigner. The only difference is that he has been here perhaps for two generations, three generations -- he is a two hundred year-old foreigner. I am fresh. And the fresh is always better than the old and rotten. I told them: Neither does the land belong to you nor does the land belong to us. And we purchased the land, we paid money; you invaded the land, you killed people, innocent people. You are criminals. If anybody needs permission to live in America, it is you -- from the American president to the last American beggar. And if you really mean what you say in your constitution -- that you are for democracy, for freedom -- if you are sincere and honest, then give the country back to the red
Indians. It belongs to them. And apply for your green cards. If they want you here, you can be here; otherwise go home. And you have killed, you have invaded, you are criminals. We have simply purchased.
[snipped for length]

Because I said it clearly.... And because the land we purchased had belonged to an ancient red Indian tribe which
lived just nearby in a forest.... And they had a prophecy from the old days: that a man from the East, with his
followers wearing red clothes, would come to this land and free them from the slavery imposed on them by the invaders. By coincidence, my people were wearing red clothes; by coincidence, I was coming from the East. And red Indians started coming, saying that "We have been waiting -- because this prophecy we have heard for generations." These were the fears the government would ever talk about. They wanted to destroy me and the commune as quickly as possible.

-- "Beyond Enlighenment", Chidvials Foundation, Inc. 1986
(Cap.32 "Truth has to Wait.... But Not to Wait Forever")

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