SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part Eight

“Nature is made better by no means.”—William Shakespeare

F.: There are those who are driven by their fears, their greed, and the other traits of their corrupted consciousness and who believe that they can manipulate nature and make it better. In the U.S. and other countries, certain of those types of persons are injecting beef, pork, turkey and chicken—all intended for human consumption—with hormones, growth stimulants, antibiotics, flavorings, preservatives, colorings, tenderizers, steroids, and other chemicals. During processing, other additives and by-products are also included. Plants intended for consumption are being equally contaminated. Those producers claim that nature is being improved on by their means. What is being improved on is the quantity but not the quality. Larger quantities translate to more profit, so they might be improving their bottom line but they are not improving their product. They are, in fact, providing a product that is destroying the integrity of nature rather than making it better.

The result is increased sales and profits along with an unnatural effect on those who consume their products. Recent studies show that the consumption of hormones is creating in humans a hormone inbalance which is directly impacting sexual identity and sexual preferences. The consumption of antibiotics is negatively impacting the immune systems of humans. Chemicals are building up in humans and resulting in the accumulation of toxins in bodies. Nature is made better by no means.

What does any of that have to do with Advaita’s cautions against accepting personas as true identities? Persons are always in some degree of fear. Fear can then manifest in many forms, including economic fear and its traveling partner, unchecked greed. Those will inspire persons to care not a wit about harming “others” in the relative existence. Too, persons are driven by their various ego-states which all have perceived needs. In a capitalistic culture, persons always address those needs with money, so there is always an element of fear and greed combined with a willingness to generate harm in the relative existence in an effort to have those imagined needs met. Therefore, at the root of the bastardization of the food supply is an effort that is supposedly intended to make nature better but is really intended to increase profits without regard for negative impact on humans. Behind the efforts are ego-states and fears and greed that always accompany false identities. To understand completely the conduct of persons in this relative existence requires an understanding of false personas and their effects.

Finally, it can be understood why natural living is preferred to unnatural living and to supernatural living. Using unnatural foods to try to sustain a food-body cannot be beneficial for the physical state; nor can using supernatural, magical thinking be beneficial for the mental or emotional state. Nature can be made better by no means, whether the means involves bastardizing the food supply or the means involves bastardizing the consciousness with tales of supernatural, magical concepts. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
UPCOMING TOPICS AFTER THE SHAKESPEARE SERIES:
The Moment of Realization

How Religion “Normalizes” Murder and Genocide

False Absolutes and the Peripetia

SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part Seven

“To thine own Self be true and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” —William Shakespeare

F.: The poet’s pointer, rooted in Advaita teachings, is accurate; yet as long as persons are bent on believing the false and believing in the illusions they see without questioning them at all, then persons can—and will—be false to “any man,” to all persons, and to themselves. Because persons are not true to their own Self, they will be false to all, they will believe all lies, and they will naively believe that the images being shown to them are real. They will even believe that their own personal images are real. And taking false images to be the real will generate desires, fears and ignorance. Misery and suffering will follow.

Like a child screaming at the top of its lungs as it watches a horror movie on a screen and takes the images to be real, such will be the way of the relative existence of persons as they watch the images of their imaginary world passing across the screen of their consciousness. Persons of all ages will experience at times the horror of unmet desires, devastating disappointments, and paralyzing fears as they look at the bizarre images of their "world" and take them to be real. They will, however, experience what they call “wonderful highs” on other occasions, mixed in between those “miserable lows.” Conditioned to believe that's normal or "just the way it is," they will profess that such an arbitrary and unstable existence is “really okay” and that they are “Doing fine, thanks. And you?” Lost in the “Dream of the Planet,” trapped on the stage of the “Drama of the Lie,” they never find the middle ground of sanity and stability and reason.

Eventually, some will claim that “The world is insane” and that “People are nuts” and they will never realize that they are merely projecting their own insanity onto “others” who are nothing more than reflections of their own false self (and false selves). The result: images seeing images and taking those imaginings to be real. Some will describe "others" as “really good at heart,” accepting a false image as real while being completely unaware of the brutal conduct they exhibit behind closed doors. High vs. low. Evil vs. good. Wonderful vs. miserable. Believing in images vs. knowing the reality. Duality upon duality upon duality. There is no AS IF existence for the non-Realized. There is only the constant shifting between highs and lows; there is the continuous chaos; and and there are the unending efforts to escape the insanity via more insanity: the use of harmful substances or the denial of reality. Such is the cost of buying into the lies of enculturation and accumulation. The belief in the false can only be escaped when to thy own Self You are true. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
UPCOMING TOPICS AFTER THE "SHAKESPEARE-THE-ADVAITAN" SERIES, including answers to inquiries regarding the following (with thanks for your patience...your inquiries will be addressed):
The Moment of Realization

How Religion "Normalizes" Murder and Genocide

False Absolutes and the Peripetia

SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part Six

"I say there is no darkness but ignorance"—William Shakespeare

F.: Persons live in such darkness that they cannot see…that they cannot reason…that they cannot even figure out who they are. P.T. Barnum said that “there’s a sucker born every minute.” Not true. No human is born a sucker. Suckers and idiots and fools are made, not born. No one is born at all. Pure consciousness manifests but is soon warped by the programming and conditioning offered by ignorant persons moving about in the darkness of bastardized consciousness. Why is it so difficult to eliminate the darkness? Why is it almost impossible to eradicate ignorance? Why will so few persons ever reach a state of enlightenment?

1. Persons become programmed and conditioned to live in darkness and ignorance because they are as easily fooled as any animal.

2. Persons cannot see the truth even in the light of clear evidence that their perceptions are distorted and false.

3. Persons are so egotistical that they refuse to admit that their perceptions have been wrong and will, therefore, steadfastly refuse to abandon their belief in the false images that they took to be the real. They will cling to their false images even when Reality is laid out before their very eyes.

Three examples that appeared in the U.S. media in the last few days will serve as examples:

1. Persons become programmed and conditioned to live in darkness and ignorance because they are as easily fooled as any animal:
A news item from Seattle, Washington reported that “Shellie White was arrested for abducting her two children from their father's custody in Arizona, changing her appearance and assuming his identity. She even went so far as to tell her children, aged 6 and 8, that she was their father.” How easily can persons be programmed and conditioned? The Federal Marshals Service spokesperson said, “When she was arrested, the children asked, ‘Why are you arresting our daddy?’”

2. Persons cannot see the truth even in the light of clear evidence that their perceptions are distorted and false:
A news item from Seattle, Washington reported that “a man opened fire on partygoers over the weekend, killing six, wounding two others, and then killed himself.” Even after that act was made known to the killer’s apartment manager, the manager said that he was surprised since his tenant was “a teddy bear" and was “the kindest, sweetest, gentlest person you could know.”

3. Persons are so egotistical that they refuse to admit that their perceptions have been wrong and will, therefore, steadfastly refuse to abandon their belief in the false images that they took to be the real. They will cling to their false images even when Reality is laid out before their very eyes.
A news item from Selmer, Tennessee reported that “Mary Weinker, the wife of an evangelical preacher who was the father of their three children, murdered her husband with a shotgun blast to the back.” What did the members of his church say, even after learning that the wife had killed her husband?:

"Listen, the Mary we knew didn't do this."

"She was a wonderful person."

"She was real nice.”

"I've seen them out in the park, holding hands. You couldn't ask for no better."

“Mary Winkler was…the perfect wife."

“She and her husband were an ideal couple.”

They were a happy, loving couple.”

Now this is all relative existence stuff, so ultimately it means nothing; however, since persons must live and suffer in this relative existence until the consciousness is freed, maybe more understanding is indicated to alleviate the misperceptions and the misery and the darkness and the ignorance. So in regards to this murder, what the parishioners are saying is that…

…the Mary they knew did not commit the murder, and the Mary who confessed to the murder is “a different Mary.” According to them, the authorities have the wrong person in custody. They also believe that a woman can kill her husband—the father of their three children—and still be “wonderful” and "nice.” Too, according to these persons interviewed, it can get “no better” than to be in a marriage in which you’re killed; a “perfect wife” is one that will kill you; and, finally, with “ideal, happy, loving couples,” one spouse will kill the other. Darkness. Ignorance. Unbelievable ignorance, pathetically clinging to their images as if children, unable to reason or to be logical, unable to reprocess their bogus beliefs, incapable of differentitating true from false.

The masses walk in darkness, and there is no darkness but ignorance. The truth is within, but it can only be found if one begins to question everything that is external, decides to stop parroting the masses, and refuses to follow the crowds in a sheep-like manner any longer. Persons cannot hear their own “self” (or “selves”) talking. Persons cannot hear the ignorance coming from their own mouths as they merely parrot what they have heard before, as they prefer image to reality. Because so few ever realize, the masses will always be trapped in their personas. The path of darkness and ignorance is broad. The path to the light, on the other hand, is narrow…traveled by so few. So it is. But how shall it be with you…with You? Darkness…or Light? Ignorance...or awareness? Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part Five-E

“Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”
and
“Much ado about nothing”—William Shakespeare

F.: Yesterday’s post ended with this pointer: Relief is as close as Realization. Yet none of the pointers offered over the last several days can be understood unless it is first understood that All is merely happening, merely cycling. Wherefore any “significance”? (It is the understanding that accompanied Realization which now allows “my life” to happen without any requirement of “my” attendance. Beingness preempts doership, yet all that is necessary for the meeting of the basic physical needs happens nevertheless.)

In the early stages of manifestation, the consciousness can experience beingness for a time; later, the consciousness can be corrupted and persons then experience their states-of-being for a time (thinking they are being “this role” or being “that role”); either way, consciousness will eventually unmanifest and will transition into non-beingness, and then all that remains is the unmanifested conscious-energy that has returned to the universal pool of consciousness from which it manifested originally. Then, all there is is “the Void of the Nothingness of the Absolute,” which is beyond both beingness and non-beingness. Now, I Am; ultimately I Am That which is beyond beingness and non-beingness, and the I AM and the I AM THAT are “not two.”

All who are trapped in the illusions of corrupted consciousness are being fooled and are also trapped in the idiocy of the lies of enculturation. All who become free of the bastardized consciousness via the taking of the seven-steps to Reality will understand completely the Functioning of the Totality and will (a) never be fooled again and will (b) never suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous idiocy again and will (c) be freed of the sound and fury of the illusory existence called “life.” Instead, the realized know that—rather than involving meaning and significance—this thing called “life” is really much ado about nothing, signifying nothing. To Realize all of that is to be free of ego-states, egotism, and the sound and fury that ego generates.

All of their tales, their sounds and their fury are used as persons try to convince you that this life (if lived the way they would have you live it) signifies something, that they know what that something is, and that belief in their beliefs will assure you that you will experience the significance that they claim is real. It is all, as the Realized poet said, much ado about nothing, but their sounds and fury convince programmable persons that it is all very important, very relevant, and very significant. Why? Because the egotism that supports all ego-states has convinced them that they are important, relevant, and significant.

How to be free, once and for all? Realize. Realize that everything you’ve ever been told about what your life should be like is a tale told by an idiot. Realize that everything you’ve ever been told about how you should live your life is a tale told by an egotistical, controlling idiot. Realize that every story you’ve ever been told about “what life is” is just a fictional tale told by an idiot. Realize that every tale you’ve ever been told about life being significant and how and why you should make yours significant is an idiot’s tale. All happenings can happen without a persona trying to make it happen. All happenings can happen without your being controlled or manipulated by persons. AS IF living really can happen. For more on AS LIVING, see
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_18.html and then, please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part Five-D

“Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”
and
“Much ado about nothing”—William Shakespeare

F.: Silence and serenity are the by-products of Realization but sound and fury are the by-products of the ego-producing bastardized consciousness that leads persons to believe that their personas and images and appearances are real. The challenge facing persons has a Catch-22-element: sound and fury preclude the silence required for Realization, and the absence of Realization produces more sound and fury. That leaves personas so thoroughly trapped in their ego-states that one jnani predicted that only one-in-a-million will ever escape the foolishness and idiocy of self-delusion and of being completely fooled by "others."

Sound and fury are the tools of the ego…sound used to attract the attention that ego wants and fury used to demand the respect and honor that ego thinks it is due. “Truth,” the Realized poet said, “has a quiet breast.” Silence and serenity reveal the Self; sound and fury reveal the arrogance and egotism of “idiots” or “fools” who haven’t a clue who they are but who fight to preserve the images and appearances that they are not. Have you not dealt with personas and seen that the sounds coming out of their mouths reveal that the poet is right and that they are truly “idiots”? Have you not dealt with personas and seen that the fury they exhibit reveals that they are truly “fools”? Have you ever emitted senseless sounds or behaved furiously, only to see later that you were behaving in a foolish or idiotic manner on those occasions? Or have you not realized that yet? Does the question itself offend you? If so, WHO does it offend?

It should be seen that there is only (A) the reality of Pure Consciousness or (B) the fiction (the tales told by idiots) that result in self-consciousness...in only being conscious of the false self or selves and having no consciousness of the True Self.

Pure Consciousness allows the knowing of the True Self and That which is beyond; corrupted consciousness results in the belief that the false self or false selves are real and define who you are.

The re-purification of the corrupted consciousness leads to the elimination of being fooled by "their" tales (that is, to the elimination of beliefs, concepts, lies and false identities), and the elimination of belief in those tales leads, in turn, to the end of sound and fury. How much of your life is evidence that it has been driven by believing in the fictional tales told by your culture? How many of your experiences would suggest that someone would be a “fool” or an “idiot” if he/she had consciously chosen a life to go the way it has gone? If trapped in ego, your answer will be “none.” If beginning to awaken to the truth, your answer might be “some.” If you are at the point of realization, the answer might be “Oh…my…gosh! My entire life I’ve allowed myself to be fooled by listening to the tales told by idiots and believing them. They were telling me what makes a ‘good life’ and what makes a ‘bad life' and what makes me 'good' and what makes me 'bad,' and really all the tales they told were all just dualistic, relativisitic nonsense. Yes…anyone who would have made those self-destructive choices would have to have been a fool or an idiot.” If that is the case, how unburdening to know that you never choose any of that. You had no ability to choose anything as long as you were under the influence of the false personas that were driving you and under the influence of "their" programming and conditioning; however, relief is as close as Realization. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part Five-C

“Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”
and
“Much ado about nothing”—William Shakespeare

F.: Only in the absence of sound—only in the total silence—does the consciousness reveal to itself all of the false beliefs that have been programmed into a "mind." Thereafter, the pure consciousness will ignore the false and realize the final, unspeakable truth. Since that can only happen in the total silence, wherefore the needs for the sound of voices or chants or bells or humming or messages or sharings for those who would Realize fully? Conversely, the ego expresses (sometimes with sound and sometimes with fury) all of the false beliefs it believes and that it would force on “others” and would have them believe. (Why sometimes with sound and at other times with fury? The adoption of personas as identities produces charming actors who would be in control. If they can control "others" with the sounds of their charming ways and feigned kindness, they will try that tact; if that does not work, they can be mean and vile and try to force their control over people with fury. Persons want power in order to control, and they will do all that is required for them to gain it; once acquired, they will then use their power to force the desires of their self-will on others. Some personas will be content to control those in the home; others want to control those at work; others want to control all of those in their communities, in lines, in traffic, at checkout counters; some want to control their nation; some want to control all of the peoples of the entire planet. Personas—being ego-based as they are—will want as many as possible to think as they think and believe as they believe and act as they act, and they are willing to destroy all those who refuse. They want to go to the four corners and influence all “others” to be a reflection of them. In furthering that goal, everything observed ends up being a reflection, a play in light…nothing more than one image after another.)

The instant that a person accepts an ego-state as an identity, ego-defense mechanisms are simultaneously activated. Those mechanisms are used by personas to maintain their false images. Truth is about reality; ego and sound and fury are about the lie, so the poet makes clear that the tales that they tell about life are also lies...tales told by idiots. The ego is the tool used by personas to maintain their image; the pure consciousness is that which dissolves images and appearances and personas and thereby eliminates the egotism that uses both sound and fury. Find noise…find the non-Realized. Find quiet…find Your Self.

How is it that sound and fury are both by-products of the ego and never accompany the pure consciousness? WHO is furious when cut off in traffic? WHO are the personas that are so furious that they become willing to destroy marriages and families, in the relative existence, because they think that their partners are not “honoring” them enough? WHO is furious enough to physically attack “others,” whether persons or nations? WHO are the persons who believe that their physical appearance entitles them to have the expense of their physical needs met by “others”? WHO wants a life that signifies something? WHO are the personas that are flattered by having lives of magnificent “meaning”? WHO becomes furious when others do not recognized how meaningful and significant they are? WHO are the persons who are furious when, instead of being given special consideration, must pay their own way? WHO is furious when they are treated in the same fashion as all others are treated? And in all cases, how much sound is produced by those egomaniacs who are furious that they are not getting the special treatment that they are convinced by egotism that they deserve?

Sound is the tool of the ego—used by those caught up in the false belief that their ego-states are real—in order to attract the attention that ego-states need in order to feed their insatiable appetite for attention, reputation, respect, admiration and honor. Is it not obvious, the connection between (1) ego-states—and the arrogance that they generate—and (2) the sound and the fury that personas exhibit? Is it clearer now why the Realized are free of fury and why the Realized become very quiet? Consciousness only speaks to consciousness; ego, conversely, speaks to every persona who will listen. To believe that a persona—a fake and phony image—is actually real is to be trapped in the depths of insanity. As the two Advaitans being quoted point out, it is an “idiot” or a “fool” who believes in false images and tells tales about how life signifies something very meaningful. According to the Advaitan teachers being quoted (Krishna and Shakespeare) what are two additional ways to detect foolishness and idiocy…or, better yet, their opposites? Which would be an indicator of sanity…of being in touch with reality: (A) sound and fury, or (B) silence and serenity? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part Five-B

“Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"—William Shakespeare

and
“Much ado about nothing”—William Shakespeare

F.: To be sane is to be free of both sound and fury. Truth is uncovered in the absence of sound, not in the presence of sound. The Realized realize in the quiet, and then they become very quiet. No fury is experienced after Realization since there are no persons to experience fury. Egomaniacs (persons assuming ego-states as identities and then using ego-defense mechanisms to preserve their image) love to hear their own sounds. They love to sing before audiences and then play back their performances and listen to the sounds being emitted from their mouths. They love to talk at meetings or gatherings or before large crowds; they love to listen to the sounds coming from their mouths; and they love to listen to the playback of their sounds. They love the spotlight and the applause that their sounds receive. They are performers who require a captive audience or play-actors who manipulate circumstances so that their own sounds can be heard, and all who are performing are merely playing out their false roles “on stage.” In fact, those loving their own sounds and those loving the sounds of others are both “fools” and/or “idiots” (per the qualifications set forth by the two Advaitans being quoted above) because they are all reinforcing the false belief in ego-states or false identities or assumed roles.

Persons who suggest that “truth can be found by listening to them,” to the sounds coming from their mouths, are actually removing your opportunity to know truth. Why listen to the sounds coming from any person(a)? All persons who are living in the false ego-state of “the one who has knowledge that you need” will be full of sound. And if you do not listen to them and follow their instructions, they will also be full of fury. What need for sound when the truth cannot be stated? Are you seeking to escape the foolishness and the idiocy of “life” as lived by persons on this planet by attending daily meetings where sound dominates? Are you going to a place once a week to hear the sounds in your effort to escape the idiocy and the foolishness? Is so, have you not yet seen their inherent contradictions that are exposed via the sounds that come from personas during those daily or weekly meetings? Do you think you are “more spiritual” if you hear the sound of a bell or the sound of humming or the sound of chanting or the sound of singing or the sound of the "preachings" offered by self-proclaimed “leaders” who earn salaries to tell you that you need the knowledge they have? So you believe that you are more religious or more spiritual if you join voices with those who are furious that people are not living according to their rules and dogma? Do you really believe that such "leaders" are so special and so different that "The Truth" is being delivered directly to them but cannot be known directly by you?

No Realized Advaitan will ever suggest you learn what she/he knows. No Realized Advaitan will ever suggest that any sound emanating from a space can give you the answer. You have the answer. It is within. You need learn nothing; however, you do need to unlearn much, namely, your belief in the lies that block you from seeing the unspoken and unspeakable truth. Advaitans do not offer knowledge and they never solicit a commitment to attend anything regularly in order to listen to them or to their sounds. If it is suggested that you read anything, it will not be a “holy” book. It will be a book that ends the need to read all books. Book studies are for personas who are trapped in ego-states. If you read the “right” book at the “right time”—meaning that "the readiness is all"—then truth will explode into consciousness, you’ll set down the book, and all seeking will end. Spiritual workaholism will end. Spiritual intoxication will end. Believing that you need more knowledge will end. The Realized invite you to enter the silence, to contemplate, to reject all knowledge, to find all the lies, to know less and less until you finally reject it all (after which the unspoken, unspeakable truth will spring into consciousness).

Too, the poet makes clear that (1) the more fury witnessed in a person, the more idiocy you will also observe and that (2) the more idiocy you observe in a person, the more sounds you will hear and the more fury you will also observe.

Finally, those who claim that their life has meaning and signifies something (and that they can give “your life” meaning and significance) are also idiots, according to the poet. If you do not want to be an idiot, do not believe idiots who tell stories (fictional tales) about “life,” about what it is, about what it means, about how significant it should be, and about why you should think as they think and believe as they believe. Peace only comes in the belief-free state. They will tell you that it is much ado about something, but it is all just much ado about nothing…nothing more than a tale being told by an idiot. Who would listen to an idiot, other than a fool or another idiot? Do not believe idiots who tell you that you need more knowledge in order to know how to live “life.” The Realized poet Shakespeare explains that they are offering you nothing more nor less than a tale being told by an idiot.

Imagine: human-like beings have walked the planet for 14.5 million years and have made it just fine—continuing a line which evolved into homo sapiens 200,000 years ago and which survives to this day—but now there are those who would tell you that you need to add (to all that you already know) their special knowledge in order to know how to live your “life.” Intuitive motivations, sixth-sense clarity, and the absence of frontal-brain “stuff” (such as beliefs and ideas and concepts and distorted memories) allowed 14.5 million years of natural living, but now those are no longer workable? Really? There are priests and medicine men and gurus and jnanis and preachers and “life coaches” and spiritualists ad infinitum who would distract your attention from the only real guru (the inner guru) and have you believe that they know the secret to life. They will tell you a tale, explaining that they alone know the way that “life” should be lived (and their methods are always based in information contained in their “holy” or “special” text which needs to be “studied”). Their tales are also based in their misunderstanding of what Realized teachers were really explaining. (For example, how many Christians understand and can explain the actual teachings of Christ when he said, “When you speak of me, speak of me as I AM” and “Before Abraham was, I AM”? And how many truly understand that “the THAT” referenced by Krishna is beyond both being and non-beingness?)

Only the Realized will suggest that you need nothing more and that you need far less. Only the Realized will admit that you need no significance. Of all the sounds to be heard, only the ego will shout with fury that you need more and more and more; and conversely, only the Pure Consciousness will “speak” in the “sound of silence” and reveal that you need nothing more than to remember the truth that is already within. All that you need to "get" in order to begin the “journey” to Realization is the following: that which has separated you from You is nothing more than years and years of programming and conditioning that have been rooted in idiocy and sounds and fury. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part Five-A

“Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”
and
“Much ado about nothing”—William Shakespeare

F.: [Before beginning this multi-part series on the two quotes above, it should be pointed out that, during all the years of offering the Advaita teachings, it has been noticed that persons have reacted most to discussion of three subjects more than any other: One is their religious and/or spiritual personas which they take to be so sacred that they think even mention of those false identities should be avoided. The second is a discussion of the arrogance that accompanies all of their egotism-supported ego-states. The third is any talk which reveals how they meet Krishna’s definition of being “fools.” Now, add to that Shakespeare's definition of behaving as an "idiot." If “you” feel offended by any pointers offered in the postings over the next few days, the suggestion is that you find WHO thinks she/he is being attacked, find the falsity of that persona, and then move on…or not.]

A recent posting asked: (1) Do you think everything that glitters is gold, or have you come to understand that whatever glitters is only fool’s gold? and (2) Are you still being fooled on occasion? If so, how often are you being fooled by “others,” and how often are you just fooling yourself? As you conduct your day-to-day activities, do you cross paths with some people whom you take to be fools? Do you cross paths with some persons whom you take to be idiots? Do you find yourself using the phrase, "Look at that idiot!" more and more? Only persons—the non-Realized—can be fooled. Only persons—the non-Realized—can behave as idiots. How did Krishna define "a fool”? How did Shakespeare define "an idiot”?

Krishna said, “Those alone who understand that I, the Absolute, am beyond the states of being and non-being realize my true nature, and all others are fools.” So Krishna suggested that fools can be known by these facts:

1. Fools do not understand that states-of-being (of believing that they are being “this” or being “that” and playing roles and accepting them as a true identity) are false.

2. Fools do not know that, post-manifestation, there is no beingness or even non-beingness. There is no false self that will be; nor is there any Self that will be, so there is not any Infinite Self or Supreme Self that will be either. Nothing with an identity or shape or defined space will be. No selfness or Selfness exists. Only That which is beyond both beingness and non-beingness shall remain. All that there will be is the unmanifested energy in the universal pool, and those who do not understand that truth are fools (that is, they are persons who have been fooled by taking the dreamed up beliefs of other humans as gospel. One famous social critic said, "There is no belief that has been dreamed up by men that is worth believing").

Reviewing Shakespeare’s quote above, one can see he suggests that "idiots" can be known by these facts:

1. They tell tales about “life” and they believe that “life” is real and is exactly as they perceive it.

2. They are full of sound and fury (because egotism—which is generated by taking ego-states to be true identities—always loves the sound of being heard and because the frustration of ego-states’ unlimited fears, unmet desires and unreasonable expectations always generates fury in persons. Hell hath no fury like any egomaniac assuming an ego-state and imagining that it is being scorned or not being shown due "honor").

3. They do not know that it all signifies nothing (that is, that “it don’t mean a thing” and that only fools make mountains out of molehills and then live in the darkness of the valleys they create).

To be sane is to be in touch with reality. To be sane is to not be a fool. To be sane is to not think or act like an idiot. To be sane is to know what is real and what is not. This “life” is not the real. What persons call “life” is nothing more than a chain of perceptions made by uninformed observers, and no two observers will perceive it the same way. Thus, that which is supposedly observed is not real at all but is illusion instead. When you “die,” the world ends. When you "die," I "die." Why? Because “anyone” you think you know is only a perception in your “mind,” an image you have formed that is not real. When you “die,” the image of me, or all others, ends. Thus, the world as you perceive it is an image that is unique to you. No other person perceives the world exactly as you do, so it is an image. "The world" is never anything more than a view that varies from one person to the next. There is no “one” who is “in the world.” The world is in you, in your “mind.” When you die, the image ends. All is subject to relative interpretation and distorted perception, so it cannot be real. To not know that makes persons foolish and drives them to behave in idiotic ways. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part Four

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”—William Shakespeare

F.: Yesterday’s considerations included these two questions: (1) Do you take the multiplicity to be real? (2) Do you know what That is which is the unicity beyond the seeming multiplicity?

How is it that the “one touch of nature” can make “the whole” kin? Because that most basic ingredient in nature that makes all manifestation possible is but One. The whole is One. All is One. Understand how everything on this planet evolved from only one single atom (and how this entire universe evolved from one single atom) and you’ll begin to grasp the understanding of the Functioning of the Totality. Even “kin” goes too far because of its implication of duality, as if this thing or person is “kin” to that thing or person. There is no “relationship,” ever, since all is One. Nothing is “relating.” All just is, and all is just One. So why do persons always eventually end up feeling “torn” or feeling as if they are being “shattered into a million pieces”? (A) Because they have been programmed that way, to believe that they are many things and because (B) everything they think they are—even role assumed as an identity—has multiple agendas and perceived needs and demanding expectations and unmet demands and (C) because every one of those roles has dozens of requirements and needs and (D) because each has a "voice" that constantly "talks" to you about all its needs. That means that persons are constantly exposed to the sounds of hundreds and hundreds of internal voices and the pressures of hundreds and hundreds of perceived needs being generated by each false role. That leads persons to give credibility to all those voices and thus feel shattered into many pieces. The insanity is that persons believe that dozens and dozens of roles can actually define who they really are. They believe that multiple personas can equal one true identity. They believe that multiplicity can equal unicity.

Persons are taught to believe that they are many things instead of one thing. They are told that they are a baby, a child, a pre-teen, a teen, an adult, a senior, a spouse, a homeowner, an employee or an employer, an acquaintance, a friend, a helper, a lover, a husband, a wife, an enemy, a mortal enemy, a bill payer, a Jew or Christian or Advaitan or Mormon or Muslim (ad infinitum), a spiritual giant, a good religious person, an invalid, an alcoholic, an addict, a leader, a farmer, a car owner, a provider, a citizen, a devotee, a Realized person, a teacher, a good person, a guru, a bad person, a jnani, a knower, a seeker, the knowledgeable one, the answer man, the savior, a prostitute, a saint, a gift from god, a special one, a guide, a father, a mother, an aunt, a cousin, a sister, a brother, an American, a Frenchman, an Afghan, an Iranian, a Syrian, a North Korean, etc., etc., etc. And it is the erroneous belief that all of those assumed identities can actually define Who You really Are that also generates a sense of separation as well as egotism and hatred. Those, in turn, provide the platform from which all fighting and war is launched.

The understanding of that “one touch of nature” eradicates all misperceptions of separation and duality. It is that one touch of nature, a touch that never amounts to anything more than an act of friction, that allows nature to function the way nature functions in its totality. Whether that act of friction happens between two humans, two bird, two snakes, two gnats, or any of the pairings that can pair, fertilization happens and that one touch allows conscious-energy to manifest. All is That (and is nothing more), and that touch has been happening repeatedly and will continue to happen repeatedly. Only the variance in vibrational patterns accounts for the “appearance” which That seems to take. Only the variance in the pulsation of the manifested conscious-energy allows subjects to perceive objects as being different when they are in fact all the same. Do you understand that one touch? Do you understand that the whole really is…whole? Please enter the silence of contemplation.

SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part Three

“O what a goodly outside falsehood hath.”—William Shakespeare
and
“All that glitters is not gold.” —William Shakespeare

F.: Shakespeare often addressed in his plays the lie of “appearance” vs. the truth of reality. He warned against accepting the “outside” as an indicator of what the “inside” was like. The lie—the “falsehood”—is always based in an outer appearance, in an outer power, in an outer resource. In fact, he saw that the "outside" (the physical body) and the "inside" (the supposed "mind") were both lies. The trophy wife—not unlike the trophy—might glitter on the “outside,” but what (via closer inspection) does one discover is on the inside…within the trophy? The dominant male—often believed to be a great catch before the acquiring—can prove to be something quite different after the acquiring.

How many persons have you thought to be one way in the early going, only to find later on that they were quite different from the image being shown? How many have thought you to be one way in the early going, only to find later on that you were quite different from the image being shown?

A man named Bill Wilson wrote, "It is being constantly revealed, as mankind studies the material world, that outward appearances are not inward reality at all." Just as what appears to be a steel beam to the naked eye can be seen to be something quite different when observed via an electron microscope, so it is with persons, so it is with trees, so it is with cars, so it is with everything observable: nothing is as it appears. Everything is something quite different from its appearance. The Realized are aware that everything is only one thing, so all the varied appearances have to be illusions. Do you take the multiplicity to be real? Do you believe that appearances have anything to do with truth? Do you think everything that glitters is gold, or have you come to understand that whatever glitters is only fool’s gold? Do you know what That is which is the unicity beyond the seeming multiplicity? Are you consistently able to see past the “goodly outside” and past the glitter and see the reality instead, or are you still being fooled on occasion? If so, how often are you being fooled by “others,” and how often are you just fooling yourself? Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued tomorrow]

COMING THIS WEEKEND: As for those references to being fooled, how did Krishna define "a fool”? How did Shakespeare define "an idiot”?

SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part Two

“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”—William Shakespeare

F.: Consider this actual scenario:

A.: “I got a job.”
B.: “That’s good.”
A.: “No, it wasn’t—the job was unbelievably stressful and paid very little.”
B.: “That was bad.”
A.: “Not really because I met a very attractive woman there.”
B.: “That was good.”
A.: “Actually, no. We had an affair at the office and I got fired.”
B.: “Well, that was bad.”
A.: “Not really—there’s only god’s will and he opened the door to a better job. I am now a very wealthy man.”
B.: “Well that was good.”
A.: “No, it was bad. When I was poor, no one bothered me and I didn't worry because I had nothing to lose. Now, I’m making a fortune and people are lining up to sue me for money.”

Do you see (via the actual example above) how relative and capricious and inconsistent any definition of “good” or “bad” is? Do you see that anything that is variable and changeable cannot possibly define truth? Do you see, therefore, that anything that is constantly changing is always a lie, is always an illusion...be it a role, a body, a “mind,” perceptions, thoughts, beliefs, concepts, views…anything and everything of this relative existence?

That which is real cannot vary. That which is real and true is always What It Is and is never subject to relativistic interpretation or inconsistency. It is Absolute instead, and no absolutes apply in the relative existence.

“Good” and “bad” are among the earliest dualities (that is, among the earliest "false absolutes") that are programmed into children, and belief in the "good-bad" duality will inspire a lifetime of inconsistency: “We do not judge people; however, we do know when they are not behaving in a good way and we can show them how they are bad and we can teach them what they should do and think and believe.” Persons will take that “good-bad” duality into adulthood and behave as children, trapped in a lifetime of trying to be a pleaser, trying to get praise, never feeling enough "love," and always feeling "apart from" as a result. That mindset makes persons judgmental separatists, moralizing zealots, arrogant abusers and hate-filled destroyers of whatever they choose to annihilate after applying the “bad” label to it.

And as Shakespeare pointed out, all of that labeling—and its subsequent destruction and separation and arrogance and hatred—results from thinking: “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” And what is thinking? Nothing more than the incessant movement of contaminated consciousness which results in persons being convinced that the contents of the “mind” are accurate (when, in fact, the “mind” is actually nothing more than the accumulation of all the lies, beliefs, concepts and dogma that is programmed into persons). Thinking generates the lack of peace that individuals suffer; thinking generates the conflicts that occur among persons and within nations; thinking produces the wars that occur between nations. Thinking is the curse of persons, the blight of humanity, and the source of all dis-ease in the relative existence. The curse of the "mind" ends only when realization happens. Simultaneously--at that moment of peripetia when it is seen that one has been fooled all along--in that instant all the lies are seen, the “mind” is seen for the cesspit that it is and is abandoned, and pure consciousness springs forth with the realization of all that was false and of the only thing that is true. And in abandoning the “mind,” the dualities of “good” and “bad” (as well as all other dualities) vanish. There is no such thing as “peace of mind.” There is only “peace before the mind” and “peace after the mind.” Until the “mind” is discarded and the natural brain re-engages, thinking will happen. And when thinking happens, persons will believe that they know what is “good” and what is “bad,” their beliefs will perpetuate a sense of separation, they will experience a disconnect with Self and "others," and dis-ease as well as chaos will prevail.

Are you tired of chaos? Are you tired of feeling disconnected and not even having a clue about Who You Are? Are you tired of all the thinking and tired of that incessant chatter of a thousand monkeys that is going on in your “mind”? Are you tired of fighting over what is “good” and what is “bad”? Are you tired of judging and tired of trying to change others to behave and think and feel and behave in your way—the “good” way? If not, you’ll continue with your addiction to power and control and chaos. But if you are tired enough to give up on all those efforts to control and to try to make others over into your image, then you have an opportunity to take the seven steps to realization and then relax and take it easy (and finally let those around you also relax and take it easy). Please enter the silence of contemplation.

SHAKESPEARE’S ADVAITA POINTERS, Part One

From a site visitor: "I first heard about Advaita from some people I met after moving into a new apartment last August. I only found your site recently and went back to the beginning and am reading all the postings. You quote Shakespeare several times and as an English/Social Studies teacher in a middle school, I find that interesting. Was he aware of Advaita and is this something I could add when I teach Shakespeare with my students?"

F.: Let me be direct before you generate some relative existence problems for yourself:

1. Advaita teachers are generally in agreement that the Advaita teachings are to be offered in private forums rather than presented to the public in general. Few will ever find this forum, for example, and all face-to-face sessions I conducted were offered in small meeting rooms or in my home.

2. Advaita teachers are generally in agreement that the Advaita teachings should not be offered to the young. If they live, they will have physical needs that must be met. Those needs must be met—inheritances notwithstanding—by working and by playing the money games that most have to play to meet their physical needs. Typically, youth are not ready for Realization, though many young have realized. Most have been set on a course that cannot be interrupted, and most will have to play their roles and most will have to have their “experiences” (and the resulting misery that all the nonsense generates) before they are truly ready to begin their own “journey.”

3. You didn’t mention where you live, but it sounds as if you’re teaching in the U.S. If you’re in a state that is dominated by narrow-minded persons who are provincial and insular, then introducing the Advaita teachings in a classroom will inspire a lynch mob mentality. [When Christ said that "no one will ever see heaven because it's within" and that "heaven and earth shall fade away" and that they should "speak of him as the I AM," they killed him.] If you need your job to meet your basic physical needs of food and shelter, it is recommended that you discuss Advaita with your new acquaintances rather than with your students. All that said, what happens will happen, and in the end, it’s all “much ado about nothing” anyway.

Those suggestions aside, as far as there being any documented evidence or historical proof that Shakespeare studied Advaita, none exists; however, there is proof in his writings that he was aware and realized. Because you wrote to express an interest, and because his words offer Advaita pointers for all, a few postings will be dedicated to reviewing some of the Advaita-based points offered in his writings:

“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”—William Shakespeare

[The 27 December 2005 posting on this site addressed this pointer. Here’s part of that posting:]

The Drama of the Lie: What persons think they are seeing and what they believe is happening in "this world" is nothing more than a play or a false drama. Persons, being asleep and thus unaware, take the play to be real and take their roles to be real when in fact it’s all nothing more than an illusion or appearance. They are living the “Drama of the Lie.” Persons "live" on stage, constantly playing one role after another and taking their roles to be their real identity. Just as an actor can take his part too seriously and internalize the role as an identity, so too can programmed and conditioned persons act out their roles so often and so seriously that they take the drama that they are a part of to be the real.

Persons are performers, always “on stage,” always acting instead of being real. To the detriment of any opportunity to realize, they believe their own act. It has been reported on this site that enneagram Type Threes are performers and that the U.S. is the nation given most often as the best example of a “Type Three Nation” (Britain and Germany and Italy being the other three mentioned most often). It was reported that…

…they have the greatest propensity for “getting lost in the play,” motivated by a desire to create an image, enhance an image, or restore an image. If you live in the U.S., you have a greater chance of being programmed and conditioned to behave as an actor, you have a greater chance of "getting lost in the play," and you face a far greater task in terms of setting aside the images and becoming fully in touch with reality.

Persons strut about the stage playing their assumed roles of “leader” or “religious zealot” or “spiritual giant” or "wonderful helper" or "victim" or “boss,” so they are all lost in the false identities of their assumed ego-states and are all thus driven by levels of egotism of a degree that reinforces their false beliefs in duality and separation. Do you appreciate the full import of Shakespeare’s pointer that “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players”? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued tomorrow]

THE SEVEN-STEP “JOURNEY” TO REALITY

From a site visitor: "Thank you for yesterday’s post. I finally got it! (Or should I say, “It has finally been gotten”?!) I have always been confused by what seemed to be contradictions in the teachings with talk of “subject-object witnessing” and “Pure Witnessing.” The confusion blocked the understanding. Thank you very much!"

F.: You’re welcome. There are seven-steps on the “journey” to Realization. The witnessing stages are two of the final “degrees of separation from reality” that must be transitioned, and both the witness and the Pure Witness must be “experienced.” However, it is a necessity to transition each of “the seven degrees of separation.” Most on any "path" stop at the third stage (the "religious persona stage" or the "spiritual persona stage") and never complete the journey to the full understanding. What drives persons to those two ego-states, and what prevents transitioning beyond them?

Some are programmed to accept one or both of those false identities from childhood. Others turn to one or both of those ego-states as a refuge after all their perceived "failures" and "painful experiences." But both personas are only ego-states. What prevents transitioning beyond them? First, the belief that the relief found in the refuge is permanent. After all the contradictions of the religious or spiritual teachings are seen, the ego-states are sometimes abandoned and the search continues. For other persons, the promise of "cleansing" and "renewal" and the "return to favor" are also accompanied with a promise for a reward...for the "best reward" and an "eternal reward." Those have no desire to move on and find the truth. For others who think they have found all the answers (and can now pass on to others all the answers) that newly-acquired "knowledge" has an appeal that the ego-states enjoy. But to fixate in either of those two ego-states is merely to substitute a new ego-state for an old ego-state. Either way, a lie is being lived. Fixated in either or both of those ego-states, persons miss the remaining four steps that lead to the full understanding that provides true relief and true freedom.

Visitors are invited, therefore, to re-read the vision, sit in the quiet, and try to identity everything that separates persons from Reality. Find all seven stages as revealed via the vision. Here's the link to the vision: http://floydhenderson.com/article1.htm .

After reading the description of the vision, please enter the silence of contemplation.

[For more on the seven steps—or the seven degrees of separation from Reality—you can visit http://floydhenderson.com/iamabsolute.htm .]

An earlier post mentioned that the book was sold out. A shipment of the Third Edition has now arrived and includes new information as well as a complete "Glossary of Terms" that has been added in the back. Most books in the last shipment were used to fill back orders but a few remain in stock. If you want your own copy or want the newest version, please visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm .

THE “WITNESS” and the “PURE WITNESS”

From a site visitor: “You mentioned the Pure Witness last week. What is the difference in witnessing and Pure Witnessing?”

F.: Pause for a few moments to read a description of the vision at the following link and find the three birds in the vision: http://floydhenderson.com/article1.htm . Now, consider the eagle (which represents the witness). What is it witnessing? How is it witnessing?

What it is witnessing are all of those illusory “things” of the relative “world” below. It is the consciousness that can objectively witness those things of the relative existence and can “see” that it—the consciousness—is not the body, not the mind, not the religious or spiritual roles formerly played (represented by the raven) and that it is not even the Child Ignorance (represented by the gull). Subject-object witnessing is happening as it sees all that it is not (i.e., “I see that I am not that”; however, it does not see What It Truly Is. It does not see its True Self. All of the false must be seen before the truth can be seen. All that you are not must be seen before You can see What You Truly Are). How is it witnessing? Objectively, without attachment. The witness is seeing the lie of duality as it discards each former identity that was false.

As the consciousness purifies and shifts the focus away from the relative and toward the Absolute, note what the True Self (the Pure Witness) is [a] not witnessing and what it [b] is witnessing. First, it is not witnessing anything that dealt with the relative existence. It has “turned its back on all that” and has “left behind all that dealt with the relative.” It has “turned” and is looking toward the light. It is no longer looking at the false but is seeing the truth. It is witnessing its Oneness with all, so no subject-object witnessing remains at the True Self level. It is witnessing That Which It Truly Is. That is Pure Witnessing—devoid of subject-object observations and thus devoid of duality. The witness can see what it is not; the Pure Witness sees That Which It Truly Is…both in manifested space and as it approaches the unmanifested state. The witnessing stage allows the consciousness that is being re-purified to realize what is not; the Pure Witness stage allows the Pure Consciousness to know What Was, What Is and What shall forever Be. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

TRIPS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO COMPLETE THE "JOURNEY"

From site visitor Karen: “I wrote last fall before going to India to tell you I thought you were totally wrong about something. I’m not even sure right now what it was, but I remember your response angered me even more than what I wrote about in the first place. I was sure if I went to India I’d find what I was looking for. I also thought I was happy and just wanted to be “even happier” or “even more at peace.” I read a few of your postings about people being unhappy or miserable and thought none of that applied to me. I came back feeling high for weeks, but then I crashed. Everything started falling apart. Several months ago, a friend suggested I visit her therapist to see if she might be able to help me. I was diagnosed with depression and D.I.D. and have been getting some help. I think I deserve to be happy. I’m not even sure why I’m writing again, except maybe to admit that you were partly right. I didn’t find the answer in India, so I guess you’ll like hearing that.

F.: Hello Karen, I remember your e-mail about plans to visit India, but there is no “one” who can “like hearing” that “he was right.” The reason I did not endorse your trip was based in several facts: (1) A jnani offered satsang in a loft in his house in Bombay for decades, releasing persons—via his pointers—from the bondage of body and mind and personality identification. On the street behind his home were the buildings housing local prostitutes who were trapped in body identification, as were their customers. They were in India and could have walked one block to find release…but didn’t. Thousands came from elsewhere to sit at his feet, but millions already there in India ignored him. You were misled to believe that India today is a nation of the “Realized.” (2) I had traveled as widely in my search for the "answers," for more knowledge (learned ignorance), only to eventually learn one thing: no one needs to travel anywhere to Realize. A few transcriptions of pointers offered in satsang combined with a vision I had, and Realization sprang forth then and there...without leaving the house. That’s why two items are offered on my other site: first, transcriptions of talks [From the I to the Absolute] during sessions in which some proteges Realized, and second, a detailed recounting of the vision.

(3) Because I had to go nowhere for Realization to happen, I knew that no trip to anywhere was required of you. In fact, trips and going and doing and zooming prevent the Realization from happening. (4) Another reason I gave little credibility to any long-lasting results from your trip to India was based in the fact that not only are there as few Realized there as anywhere else but also there are many “professional spiritualists” in that country. You spent thousands of dollars and traveled around the globe and failed to get what you could have attained for $20 in your own home. Finally, (5) you are limitless, as limitless as the space. Freed of labels and conditioning, you are as the space, so what is the use of going anywhere to seek anything? Does the space in India differ from the space anywhere else? What is “there” is what is “here” as well as what is “everywhere.” You Are That which you seek. You need no knowledge. You Are whatever knowledge there is.

As far as “deserving to be happy,” there is no one to deserve happiness and there is no one to deserve misery. Misery is the guaranteed by-product of the programming and conditioning and enculturation that corrupts the formerly pure consciousness. It is not a matter of misery or depression being deserved or not. Both are the unavoidable consequence of being subjected to enculturation and to insane values and beliefs and dogma.

What can be endorsed at this point is your seeking of professional help which might provide a tool for solving the enigma you’re facing. Know that you are far ahead of most persons in admitting to your depression. Most are in complete denial. Too, understand that all persons (all not Realized) have multiple personalities though all don’t suffer from D.I.D. That is not to minimize the seriousness of D.I.D. in the relative existence but is mentioned merely to point out that the assumption of various personalities is common to the human population worldwide. There is nothing “wrong” with seeking assistance from those who are trained to treat the disorders you mentioned, just as there is nothing “wrong” when those who are suffering from body-mind-personality mis-identification seek assistance on their “journey.”

Also, if you are not following the proper food plan for your body type (and there are three different types that each need one of three different plans) then there can be a physiological impact upon your mental-emotional state as well, not unlike the imbalances involving the gunas and food plans that have been addressed for ages. (It should be understood that—in contrast to the ancient teachings around the gunas—yes, all can survive on a sattvic diet, but only 1/3 can prosper by following that plan. Modern research reveals that 1/3 prosper by following a rajasic plan and 1/3 prosper by following a tamasic plan. Note that this information is based in scientific evidence and has nothing to do with any god or gods that care about what you eat or don’t eat.) For now, I would suggest you stay the course you’re on, following the advice being offered by the professional since you said you have “been getting some help.” Neither depression nor D.I.D. should be ignored. They never just “go away.” The site will be here should you want to visit at a later date. Best regards.

For other site visitors, the severity of those two conditions aside, do you understand that all persons who have assumed varied personalities to define “who they are” will also suffer and will also be miserable? Do you understand that enculturation always results in being separated from reality? Do you understand that you need not travel the world to find that which is as close as the "inner resource" that you can tap into in order to find out Who or What you Truly Are and then be free? Please enter the silence of contemplation.

THE “ULTIMATE STATE”

From a site visitor: “I’m re-reading some of the entries on your site, and I did sit in the silence of contemplation the way you said, but I cannot grasp how it is that the I AM will not be known when the consciousness enters what you called on Feburary 22nd the universal pool of consciousness. Please explain. Thank you.”

F.: And as long as you are identified with a body, you’ll never grasp the truth. In the deep sleep state, what are you conscious of? Nothing. You are not even conscious of yourself. In the universal pool of energy, conscious-energy cannot be conscious of anything, including itself. Some ask, “Well then, what is the 'Ultimate State' while manifested?” It is the state of being free of continued misery and endless effort, and since those are driven by a sense of neediness (which results from being programmed to accumulate endlessly) it is also the state of being free of all sense of need and being free of that incessant drive to get more and more and bigger and bigger. As long as you remain identified with body and mind, however, then only in your deep sleep will you be free of the discomforting sense of need. You will long for sleep in order to escape the miserable sensations of lack and need and unmet desires that you experience during every "waking" hour, but you have not taken all the steps required to be truly free of that (and all other) perceptions. Conscious but not Realized, you will suffer from all sorts of perceived needs. By way of contrast, if you abandon your identification with body and mind and your programming and concepts, then you will have no needs (meaning that if you are freed of body and mind identification and if you stop buying into the beliefs of “others,” then you will no longer believe that you really need the things that your culture says you need).

That is “the ultimate state,” whether manifested or not. Nothing is needed, so nothing is of any use. Nothing is known, so there is no knowledge (or learned ignorance). But only if the consciousness is manifested in a body can the consciousness be aware of itself. In the pool of universal consciousness, no bodies or "minds" exist so nothing is known. To attain nirvana, know only the Void, NOW. Also, that nirvana—that total emancipation or liberation—can only be sensed in the manifest state. The liberation from body and mind will happen when (1) the consciousness unmanifests and is re-absorbed into the universal pool of consciousness or it can happens while (2) the consciousness is yet manifested...if identification with body and mind is abandoned. You and I are both that principle which preceded this universe’s being, but you don't understand that since you're attached to “your” own beingness. Presently, there is a food-body that is aware of the I AM, but when that food-body no longer is, then all self-consciousness and all consciousness of self (and even of Self) shall end. If you Realize, that can happen now and then peace will happen now as well, but either way…all self-consciousness and all consciousness of self (and even of Self) will happen. It's only a matter of “when.” If it happens "now," You'll know it; if it happens "later," no "you" or "You" will exist to know anything. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

CHRIST AND THE ADVAITA MESSAGE

From a site visitor: “My wife ordered one of your books on Christians and I disagree with you completely. You say that most Christians don’t have a clue what Christ was talking about. What do you think you know that He was talking about that we don’t know?”

F.: First, if you had read the entire book instead of reacting to a pointer, you would know the answer to your question. The only reason your query is being addressed on this site is because it concerns the teachings of an Advaitan who offered 2000 years ago the very same message that is being offered on this site today. Next, I haven’t a clue what you know or what you think you know, but I do know that most who accept the label “Christian” don’t have a clue what Christ was talking about...

...if they think his later teachings did not contradict his earlier teachings
...if they think he said anything that had not already been said by many others
...if they think he spoke of people going to heaven or hell after “death”
...if they think he claimed that he came to bring peace
...if they think he taught “family values”
...if they think his message was a message of “love”
...if they think his ministry was anything other than an offering of the ancient Advaita teachings that had come to the Middle East from the Far East
...if they think his talk of the “I AM” is best addressed by current ministerial claims that “some parts of his teachings are presented in mysterious ways and we cannot understand it all at this time, but we will understand it all someday.”

His early teachings were from what the Jews considered their “holy” writings and were offered via the venue of organized religion and in their “holy” buildings; his later teachings abandoned all “holy” writings, were offered outside any “holy” buildings, and were nothing more nor less than the ancient Advaita teachings. He abandoned organized religion, he spoke of the Advaita teachings that were beyond any “holy texts,” he made no effort to create a new organized religion, and—as with any Realized Advaitan—he would not have supported the establishment of any religion organized in his name and supposedly based in “his words” or in any written text. Advaitans know that nothing he said during his three-year ministry from age 30 to age 33 was “his words” at all but were the words of an Advaitan who obviously taught him during his years in the desert. To show how different modern “Christian” teachings are from the Advaita teachings that Christ offered, the following can be studied:

He said that heaven and earth shall fade away. (When? When the consciousness that dreamed up such ideas or that believes in such ideas “fades away,” that is, unmanifests.)

He said that no one would ever see the kingdom of heaven because it is within. (If heaven is "within" and is not a geographic place "out there somewhere," then there is no place where any god could be waiting for you to die so he can judge you.)

He spoke of “Gehanna,” not “hell.”

He said that he did not come in peace but came with a sword. He said that he came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. (In other words, he invited the dissolution of all ego-states. Too, on one occasion he struck a friend causing serious injury and on another took up a whip and beat people. Not very "peaceful.")

He did not speak of the "family values" or “the value of family” but spoke instead of the lack of value of families, pointing out that “a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.” (Why? Because family members are the ones who most warp the consciousness as they provide much of the programming, the conditioning and the bastardization of the pure consciousness. Children are taught to “beware of strangers,” but the facts show that most will be harmed far more by “relatives” or “friends.”)

He said that you must hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters. (All roles and attachments to false identities have to go, according to him.)

What he was really teaching was the ancient “I AM THAT I AM” message of non-duality, a term discussed for thousands of years before Moses plagiarized it and assigned it to a burning bush. Christ said, “When you speak of me, speak of me as I AM” and “Before Abraham was, I AM.” During his “Lost Years” between the time he moved to the desert and later returned to Jerusalem, he was instructed by an Advaitan teacher. How is that known? Because he repeated Jewish teachings before going to the desert but he offered the Advaita teachings after he returned. His final three years (the thousand days of his actual "ministry") were an offering of the non-duality message: there is no geographic heaven or hell where bodies with minds spend eternity; all ego-states and attachments to false identities should be abandoned; and the only thing that can said with any validity in this manifestation is “I AM.”

So, back to your comments and question: Did you know he said all that? Did you have a clue what he was really talking about when he said all that? Do you now understand what he meant when he said all that? Do you now see how different his message was from what is currently being taught? Do you see how programmed you are to defend anything deemed "Christian" before finding out the facts? Do you see that you haven't had a clue as to what Christ was really talking about? If the message of Christ is not about family values, not about working to be "saved," and not about seeking heaven or avoiding hell, then what was his message to "you"/You? Is it time to abandon what "they" told you and to go into the silence and find out what You know but have forgotten? Isn't it time to forget Christ and to remember Your Self? Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: “I’m re-reading some of the entries on your site, and I did sit in the silence of contemplation the way you said, but I cannot grasp how it is that the I AM will not be known when the consciousness enters what you called on Feburary 22nd the universal pool of consciousness. Please explain. Thank you.”

WARNING LABELS FOR PERSONAS, PROGRAMMING, CONDITIONING

F.: In yesterday’s post, it was mentioned that many products come with warning labels; unfortunately, no warnings come with the labels that are assumed by persons as false identities. Programming and conditioning should also come with warning labels, but the programmers and conditioners have their agendas—often hidden from themselves—so they will never offer any truth that might undo the effects of the lies that they taught as truth. Thus, the following are offered as the warnings that should come with the fraud of false personas, with the fraud of faulty programming, and with the fraud of flawed conditioning.

Warning: The acceptance of false personas as identities, and the unquestioning acceptance of programming and conditioning, will be hazardous to your health in the relative existence.

Precautions: All three frauds typically result in drowsiness, sleepwalking, distorted vision or blindness; they always lead to a lack of consciousness as well as to problems in perception which can become so severe that persons cannot differentiate true from false.

Other Side Effects: Include restlessness, discomfort, irritability, discontentment and delusional thinking. The effects are so severe that unless realization happens, the sufferer will end up not even knowing who he/she is.

Behavioral Alert Regarding Events and Fatalities Associated with the Belief in the Three Frauds: The belief in “ego” (in the “I”-ness) may result in murder (59% of all women killed and 41% of all men killed in urban areas are killed during a breakup as the personas of “lover” or “spouse” believe they are actually being threatened with death and think they must retaliate in order to preserve their false ego-states.)

Other Risks: Include the breaking of “relationships,” road rage, fighting, arguing and—in extreme cases—murder, genocide, and war.

ANTIDOTE TO THE THREE FRAUDS: The result of de-programming, de-conditioning, and realization include an understanding of the following: [quoted from the “Glossary of Terms” in the back of the book FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE--A Seven-Step Journey to Reality @ http://floydhenderson.com/iamabsolute.htm ] :

If you Realize, you will be able to differentitate the true from the false and you will come to understand the following: “How this universe and all prior universes came to be; how consciousness manifests in space containing a nervous system; where You Were prior to consciousness and manifestation; what is relative and What Is Absolute; why no external power exists and why no truth can be found except within; why You Were never born and cannot die; what happens when consciousness is no longer manifested; how all cycles; how the enculturation process puts persons to sleep even as they are certain they are awake; the beginninglessness and the expanse of infinity; the limitlessness; bliss via desirelessness; the source of all suffering; freedom from the pursuit of meaning; Infinite Cause; the link between mind and fear; why "the mind" is a total illusion, and therefore why all perceived via "a mind" is false and is illusion; why you must be out of your mind to be sane; why all knowledge is nothing more than learned ignorance; why time and timelines are illusions; how illusions are taken to be real by persons; what the Oneness Truly Is; what you are not; and who/What You Truly Are…to name but a portion of what becomes known.” Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: “My wife ordered one of your books on Christians and I disagree with you completely. You say that most Christians don’t have a clue what Christ was talking about. What do you think you know that He was talking about that we don’t know?”

UNDERSTANDING THE FRAUD OF PERSONAL NEEDS, BODY CONTINUITY, AND MIND CONTINUITY, Part Six

F.: In addition to accepting false roles as true identities and in addition to accepting the body as an identity, each person is also blocked from knowing Who—or What—she or he Truly Is as a result of believing in another fraud that has been perpetuated on persons: that they have their own “mind” and that the mind is the tool to be used to realize or to find "peace of mind.” In truth, (1) the “mind” is a conglomeration of illusions and delusions and (2) there is no such thing as “peace of mind.” The “mind” is that which prevents peace from happening.

All “thoughts” are based in false perceptions and in erroneous beliefs which humans began to experience after the development of the forebrain in the species. Originally, the brain consisted only of the parts that are now called the “hindbrain” and the “midbrain," which have always controlled natural processes. As the species developed communication skills and as a “forebrain” developed, supernatural thinking and unnatural behavior followed. The cerebrum sits at the topmost part of the brain and is the source of the “intellectual activities” of the brain. It holds your memories and enables you to imagine and think. All suffering is rooted in memories, which are totally distorted. (How could the memory of "an incident" or "a period" be accurate when the original perspective of the incident or period was warped and distorted?) Thus it is the forebrain which allows a “mind” to perpetuate supernatural and unnatural behaviors, all of which are driven by conditioning and programming and incessant thinking and distorted memories. How could a “mind”—which is incessantly thinking, constantly cycling distorted memories, and driven by faulty programming and perverse conditioning—possibly be a tool that could be used to create “peace of mind”?

The evolutionary development of a part of the brain that allowed humans to “store” memories and enabled them to imagine and think was a survival mechanism originally. As more and more programming and conditioning resulted in greater warping of the consciousness, the ability of the forebrain to store faulty memories, misconceptions, and warped perspectives happened simultaneously. How? When one loses the ability to see clearly and takes the false for the true and then “stores” that in memory, what develops is a “mind”—a conglomerate of false perceptions and false imaginings and warped thinking. Totally fallacious concepts among persons are now unquestioning taken to be “truth.” As men came forth who desired to control other men and women (and their bodies and their minds and their behaviors), then concepts based in superstition and ignorance emerged and were also taken to be the truth.

Because generation after generation of persons have spread dreamed-up lies and outrageous superstitions as “gospel,” more and more generations have emerged that have no ability to differentiate the true from the false. The result is a planet populated primarily by fools (that is, those who have been fooled and don’t even know that they have been fooled). And since warning labels only come with certain products in the U.S., the warnings that should come with all labeling and personas and programming is only offered by certain Advaitans or by professionals who try to help neurotic or psychotic persons to get back in touch with reality. What is the actual origin of “your” beliefs? Have you ever considered the possibility that you have no beliefs but have accepted their beliefs...the beliefs fabricated by men who dreamed up ideas thousands of years ago? Is it possible that those fallacious ideas and misconceptions and superstitions have merely been handed down from generation to generation? Have you ever traced back to their roots all the things that you were told in order to discover how all of those ideas were rooted in ignorance and myths and superstitions? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued tomorrow]

TOMORROW: WARNING LABELS FOR PERSONAS, PROGRAMMING, AND CONDITIONING

UNDERSTANDING THE FRAUD OF PERSONAL NEEDS, BODY CONTINUITY, AND MIND CONTINUITY, Part Five

F.: Your programmers and conditioners completely fooled you about who/what you are—which in turn robbed from you the memory of Who (or What) You Truly Are and thereby deprived you of much happiness. In addition to the fraud of dreamed-up personas and their imaginary, personal needs, your programmers also set you up for tremendous misery and limitation by convincing you that you are your body. Pretend for a moment: if you knew someone had been a cat for twenty years and then a dog for twenty years and then at age forty became a human, would you say that person has been a human for all forty years? No. Then why speak of a “baby” and then a “child” and then a “teen” and then a “young adult” and then an “adult” and then a “senior” and suggest that the current senior human is the same human that was referred to as ”child”?

It should have been seen during the postings dealing with the man who was (and is) suffering as result of playing “husband” that the “me” who took itself to be “husband” was a fraud…was a false identity. The “me” who looks at pictures of itself as “baby” and then “child” and then “teen” and then “young adult” and then “adult” and then “senior” and believes that those are all the same body is glaringly unobservant and as blatantly mistaken as that man playing "husband." If you were to lay out pictures of each of those bodies and ask any child (who had not yet been totally programmed) if those were all the same person, he would deny it immediately. The differences are obvious to any objective observer, and only the third fraud (based in the belief in a continuous mind along with a major misunderstanding of science) could so confuse persons that they believe in body continuity. Yet it is from that confusion that all religions have developed and that all beliefs have evolved among persons that they have “one body on earth” which will be “the one, same body that will exist forever” in one of an assortment of dualities: Valhalla or Hifhel; the Elysian Fields or Hades; heaven or hell; Paradise or Hell; the light or the darkness; or the clouds or the fire, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

However, there has never been one body with continuity, and there will never be a body with continuity (whether talking about pre-manifestation, manifestation or post-manifestation). The human body is constantly replacing and regenerating cells to maintain proper and efficient function. Cells such as blood cells, skin cells, and bone cells are being replaced at different rates. (If you spend ten minutes reading this post and considering the content, during that time you will have shed 250,000 skin cells and those will have been replaced by 250,000 different cells. Not one cell of the billions of skin cells that came about during the last twenty-eight days is now present. From one month to the next, your body in not even “enclosed” in the same skin! The basal cells will divide in order to insure a certain skin thickness. If the outer layers of dead skin peel away more frequently, the basal cells on the inside will divide more frequently to make up for