Highest regards to all

[Omprem]

Just joined PDfSP because in doing some research for another book project, I came across this group and was impressed by the sincere interest of most of the participants in expressing their true views openly without defensiveness or proselytizing (the topic was defining spirituality).

I have been practicing, teaching and writing about Sivananda Yoga, meditation, spirituality, religion, and living as one's authentic Self for 25 years.

My initial reservations about this group include the labeling of participants as senior, junior, etc, as if length of time as a member implies anything about the quality of posts.

Another reservation is the use of the term 'Smart' in the title of the forum, which suggests intellect is the supreme governing characteristic of one's personality (and, by extention, one's worth.) My choice would have been Open and Curious.

The third reservation is the judgmental and unfriendly admonition to newbies to introduce themselves, "You won't grow very much as a human being if...it anyway."

But we shall see how it goes.

[aleph null]

Hi Omprem,

I just joined today too.
I wouldn't worry about those concerns. As cool as this site is, it's still the internet. You still have to weed out trolls and such.
Congrats to both of us.

[Parthon]

Welcome to the forums Omprem!

There's heaps of awesome spirituality topics here, and definitely a lot of various kinds of Yoga practitioners of all kind. I hope you enjoy yourself here and find whatever it is you are looking for.

Just to address your reservations in a hope that you'll feel more relaxed here:
1) The titles are just a throwback to forum software where people are given titles based on post count. I'm sure if such labels are discomforting they can be easily ignored. They don't mean anything after all
2) Steve chose that title on purpose in fact. He has mentioned that it encourages and attracts people are are interested in personal development and consider themselves smart enough to be able to grasp it well. Those who have an issue with it often find a growth experience for themselves without realising it. It's almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy
3) We've seen many people join, do nothing, and then leave. When they introduce themselves and receive many greetings and 'how do you do?'s then they feel more at home and welcome and are then more likely to participate.

[Omprem]

Hello Parthon

With regard to the term 'smart': it still smacks of intellect and while intellect is useful for spiritual development it is also a barrier to spiritual realization. The process of spiritual development is a process of developing other, more effective and necessary means of spiritual awareness, i.e. spiritual intuition, and of weaning oneself away from a dependence on intellect.

Intellect entails separation. There is always a subject and an object. Spiritual realization is initially connection and then merger so that there is no longer a subject and object. The spiritual adept identifies as the divine consciousness that supports the universes.

So, the use of the term 'smart', aside from being elitist, could encourage some to adhere stubbornly to a methodology so that it becomes a dead end for them.

With regard to the request to share one's background: it is not the request to share that is the problem. It is the condescending way the request was made that is the problem. If, as you say, the idea is to encourage them to mix with the population, the use of condescension is counterproductive. I'm sure a case could be made that the comment is intended to be light-hearted and coaxing but in reality to someone who is shy it could be considered argumentative and daunting. Perhaps the early departures you mention are due to the implicit challenge in the supposedly warm welcome. It would be a simple matter to rewrite it to achieve its intention and to avoid its current edge.

Looking forward to contributing to some of the threads.