DavidXW:

Dr. Masaru Emoto has been discredited.

See [www.is-masaru-emoto-for-real.com]

Emoto appeared in the controversial film "What the Bleep," a widely derided independent film produced and directed by devoted followers of purported "cult" leader J.Z. Knight. A woman who claims to speak for a 35,000 year old dead general from Atlantis named "Ramtha."

See [www.culteducation.com]

Reviews of "What the Bleep" have referred to the film as little more than "mumbo jumbo" and "quantum quackery."

Some experts included claimed their interviews were unfairly edited and their views misrepresented.

Emoto is a self-published author of books that promote his claims, which have not appeared in any credible, peer reviewed and widely accepted mainstream scientific journals.

See [answers.google.com]

"The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine," which is your single citation regarding the supposed credibility of Emoto as a peer-reviewed author of a scientific paper does no focus upon objectively proven scientific accepted facts.

See [www.liebertpub.com]

Instead as the publication Web site states, "The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine includes observational and analytical reports on treatments outside the realm of allopathic medicine which are gaining interest and warranting research to assess their therapeutic value."

The second paper you cite once again is published by an alternative medicine journal, "Explore Journal of Science and Healing" and is not hard science based upon widely accepted and scientifically proven facts.

D Radin, G Hayssen have been associated with Emoto's discredited and scientifically unproven theories, which can be seen through the links of listed papers within the Web site run by the "Institute of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma, CA."

Once again, the "Institute of Noetic Sciences," rather than being a mainstream scientific institution describes itself as, "a nonprofit membership organization...that conducts and sponsors leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness—including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition...exploring phenomena that have been largely overlooked by mainstream science."

See [www.noetic.org]

IHM Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan is apparently run by Masaru Emoto

See [www.equilibra.uk.com]

Note that the photographs on this page supposedly demonstrating Emoto's theories are provided "courtesy of Masaru Emoto and his staff at the IHM Research Institute..."

You have completely failed to prove any of your claims, which in the end are based upon faith, rather than scientifically proven facts.

You cite no objective scientifically proven evidence, which has been subjected to any meaningful objective peer-review process and then published by a credible mainstream scientific journal.

Instead you offer discredited theories agreed upon by like minded believers concerned with alternative medicine and offer their corresponding cottage industry of publications, essentially used for "preaching to the choir."

And your purpose on this thread seems to be little more than preaching and proselytizing, which is against the rules.





See

Quote

...the controversial film "What the Bleep," a widely derided independent film produced and directed by devoted followers of purported "cult" leader J.Z. Knight. Reviews of "What the Bleep" have referred to the film as little more than "mumbo jumbo" and "quantum quackery."

Well, I have never heard of J. Z. Knight, and will research them, but to say 'What the bleep' was widely derided is wrong and misleading. The reviews were mixed - some were positive about the film and some were negative. You seem to be only showing two negative reviews and then claiming that represents all the reviews. Not true.

Quote

See [answers.google.com]

There is no way that you can expect me to take Google Answers as a reliable source.

You do however make some interesting points about Dr. Emoto, and I will research him and his research further. I apologise for any misunderstandings. Like I said, I will do further research, as it is important that any faith is based on a well-grounded research basis. Taakatism actively discourages blind faith.

Quote

And your purpose on this thread seems to be little more than preaching and proselytizing, which is against the rules.

Please understand that I am in no way here to preach. I am merely replying to questions asked about Taakatism. Speaking of which, let's get back to discussing Taakatism, not Dr. Emoto and 'What the bleep', which have no connection to the religion of Taakatism whatsoever.

I wish all the happiness in the world to both yourself and all creatures.

DavidXW:

Confusing faith claims with scientific facts is what you did.

You certainly should do some more research.

FYI--The focus of this message board is much more about behavior than beliefs.

That is, how do certain groups hurt people based upon their group behavior?

Beliefs may arise as an issue when they directly support destructive behavior, for example the sexual exploitation of members, denial of medical care, etc.

So the question for those participating is--does Taakatism hurt people?

What, if any, behaviors inherent and mandated within the group are specifically harmful?

What beliefs within Taakatism, if any, support destructive behavior specifically?

As far as I'm aware, Taakatism does not support any 'destructive behaviour'. I have taken your examples above, and compared Taakatism with these examples. I hope this is of use in your understanding of Taakatism.

* Sexual exploitation
This would be against the 1st of the 3 ethics, "We undertake to never hurt another living being". The Taakatist teachings also state "We are [...] all one. In every face you can in fact see yourself!" This is similar to the Christian saying to "treat others as you would like to be treated". Sexual exploitation or abuse is in direct contradiction to this. The Taakatist teachings also state "All life is sacred".

* Denial of medication
The 2nd ethic "We undertake to avoid recreational drugs" purposely states recreation drugs only. This does not include medicines. We are a religion, not doctors, and therefore do not practice medicine or overrule any doctor's advice. I myself have been on prescription medications on and off for a couple of years due to medical problems that I do not feel comfortable disclosing here for privacy's sake, and I have never had any problems or had any medicine denied to me. They have not even asked me what the medication was or what it was for. It is not important or even relevant to the Taakatist path. The state of the physical body does not have any impact upon one's ability to progress spiritually.

A common question asked is what the practice of massage entails. This is entirely optional and there is no pressure to give or receive a massage if not desired. It is purely for spiritual and healing purposes and does not involve any 'intimate' massage.

I cannot think of anything else that may be an issue. If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask.

I wish all the happiness in the world to both yourself and all creatures.

Quote
rrmoderator
DavidXW:

Dr. Masaru Emoto has been discredited.

................

See

owned!

It is important to note that due to the inherent freedom within Taakatism my views are my own and do not necessarily represent those of Taakatism.

I wish all the happiness in the world to both yourself and all creatures.

If you want a great parody of this power of positive thinking (cultic milieu) stuff, go read
this essay, The Secret Saved My Life.

[www.google.com]

If positive thinking by enough people got the desired longed for results, everyone would be rich and we'd have cures for the heart breaking diseases out there.

The people we love would be alive and healthy and with us.

The heat wave on the East Coast of the US and in Europe would stop.

The forest fires in Russia would stop.
The floods in Pakistan would stop and the BP oil rig woulda been plugged in just a few hours and the Dow Jones would be doing one helluva lot better.

If the search URL given above doesnt work, try this one

[www.google.com]

Forgive my ignorance, but what on earth has a somewhat bizarre story about prison violence have to do with the religion of Taakatism?

I wish all the happiness in the world to both yourself and all creatures.

Quote
DavidXW
Forgive my ignorance, but what on earth has a somewhat bizarre story about prison violence have to do with the religion of Taakatism?

I wish all the happiness in the world to both yourself and all creatures.

I'm afraid your ignorance is unforgivable. Sorry.

I strongly recommend everyone click on Corboy's link-- it leads to one of the funniest pieces of writing on the web. If someone doesn't get it--- well, whatever that person's been doing, you want to do the opposite.

One of the most interesting things about this thread, DavidXW, is how quickly you found it-- 9 days after Kate started it. I've observed that the subjects of many threads on this board have been swooping in to defend themselves much more quickly than they used to. Not sure what that means, but it interests me.