terry wrote:The only reason they can fool anyone is if they want to be fooled, or are ready to be fooled.
Really, you cannot use the term "only" in this sentence. You can say, "two reasons they can fool are ..." but not limit matters to your understanding.
For example, I would add another two immediately, and those are a simple matter of power differentials and plain lying and misleading others. In your school of thought, you suggest that "fools want to be fooled". The way I see it, vulnerable people are abuse against their will, simple individuals abuse by those slight more intelligent and wordly-wise. The numbers equation comes into play, e.g. if there are 3 or 4 people, its easier to overcome one person etc. The riposte that "otherwise they could fool everyone" is a fairly common logical fallacy as well.
Its strange terry but you seem to feel a need to "normalise" the BKs and the BKWSU experience, and apologise for them. I would have to disagree with you on that. Skillfully, you would probably misuse whatever concepts you have picked up and reply, "well, that's because its obvious you have a need to feel the BKWSU is something extraordinary". To which I would answer, "no, let's look at this objectively, be specific about what you are talking about, and analyse it".
For years (I guess), you sat and watch some Senior Sister going into deep trance and have visions or "disincarnate herself" every Thursday morning to offer food to their god, and attended mass seances with a channeled entity and so on, a channeled entity which speaks and says, "I enter into my (adherents) and work through them" ... in how many other groups before and after the Brahma Kumaris did you, or others, really experience all that?
I am sorry but unless you specifically state which others meditation teachers and what experiences, it all sounds so vague and as if you are just attempting to bolster your current point of view. I think would be cautious about putting yourself and your learned opinion in a position of being superior and able to understand all these things now where others cant.
For example, what does "there's an old Nepalese saying" mean? Does my 'Ancient Chineseman' trump your 'Medieval Greek Orthodox' racially or chronologically? Or is one old Nepalese worth more than 300 young and middle aged Sindis ... .
Are the old or Nepalese particularly wise or wonderful? 80% of old Nepalese are saying, "I wish I did not live below the poverty line"; 60% are saying, "I wish my kid went to school"; and 50% say, "I wish I could read" (... and don't start me on child trafficking or organ theft). These are fairly reliable statistics. Acceptable "facts" about Nepal. Please, show me yours. Nepal is a nation steeped in spiritualism.
So, please, once more ... could I ask for a little more precision here and a little less BK-style romantic blur around the edges? (And, as for "consciously malicious", let's ask the center-in-charge that locks the door on the unwanted BK coming to morning class, the accountant that advises fiddling the taxes etc ... Perhaps it is just force of habit in some cases?).