FROM A SITE VISITOR: Glad I found your site. Maybe you can help with a statement I don’t understand: “You’re not in the world the world is in you.” Thanks Cheryl
F.: Hello, Cheryl. That Advaitin pointer means this, basically: what one non-Realized person takes to be “the world” is nothing like what the next non-Realized person takes “the world” to be.
Further, since all that is perceived by the non-Realized is perceived in error, then there is no such thing as the false “you” which persons take themselves to be. Secondly, to say “the world is in you” is to make clear that “the world” as the non-Realized see it is merely "in you," meaning "in your mind.”
The pointer could as easily be stated this way: “You are not in the world; to the contrary, the world is in you, in your mind” or “You are not in the world; to the contrary, the world that the non-Realized think they see is imaginary, a product of their fiction-filled minds.”
It seems that you might be a newcomer to the teachings. If so, it is suggested that you begin by questioning everything, including every identity that has been assigned to you and every identity that has been assumed by you. As far as “the world” is concerned, the Realized function in an AS IF fashion, not seeking to escape the manifestation but knowing that the world is not at all as perceived and that one can nevertheless function AS IF it is.
Thus, employment might happen, or not; marriage can happen, or not; but no matter what happens, it happens from a position of non-attachment to any false role.
In 2005, a writer named Friedman wrote a book entitled The World Is Flat. To the degree that AS IF living happens among the Realized in what you may currently take to be the world, understand that Friedman’s title could apply to the relative existence of the Realized.
[That does not mean “flat” in the sense of being “monotonous” or “dreary” or without feelings. It means flat in the sense of an absence of fluctuations between extreme peaks and deep valleys, the result of which is the misery of instability.]
For the Realized, the so-called “world” is flat to the degree that the Realized see no differentiation. There are no hierarchies where one is higher than another; where one is better than another; where one is lower than another. It’s all flat, all seemingly “equal” to the Realized but actually not even that.
“Equal” implies duality—this being equal to that. In fact, there is advaita ("not two")...no two to be equal or unequal. There is only one. Understanding that results in a “flat topography” rather than an "up and down existence."
What blocks the understanding of that pointer? Everything listed in the upcoming paragraph. All in the following paragraph (a) marks the relative existence; (b) results in the belief that the relative existence is happening in what person’s see as “the world”…an erroneous perception; and (c) preempts any chance for a stable and even and flat topography that is free of arrogant high’s and disappointing low’s but generates instead an existence marked by up’s and down’s and swings and instability:
Belief in duality and all types of ignorance; prejudice; ego-states and their egotism; bigotry; intolerance; bias; fanaticism; judgmentalism; arrogance; mental and emotional fascism; foolishness; a lack of the formal education which could otherwise provide a basis for scientific and philosophical understandings; religious and/or spiritual intoxication;
inanity; learned ignorance; hatred; learned and/or inherent stupidity; susceptibility to influence; concern with self; self absorption; folly; pride; game-playing; belief in hierarchies in which some think they are on the “higher plane” while believing that others are on the “lower plane;” belief in separation and differentiation;
belief in the multiplicity rather than an understanding of the unicity; revering accumulation; belief in continuity of the body-mind-personality triad; a magical belief in things “supernatural”; belief in god(s); belief in ideas and concepts that have been taught; belief in divergence and division;
thinking; magical thinking; functioning under the influence of programming, conditioning, acculturation, and domestication; taking pride in one's ignorance and showing disdain for anything that is intellectual; dwelling as the unnatural or supernatural as opposed to the natural, original state; living under the auspices of personality; and polarization. The advaita teachings provide the treatment for all of that mental and emotional sickness and delusion.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TODAY’S POST:
TWO OTHER OFFERINGS ARE AVAILABLE:
More and more seekers are requesting an understanding of how a personality formed in childhood is still determining and controlling everything that is thought or said or done in adulthood. Others have inquired about an opportunity to speak one-on-one about the seven-step “path” to Realization.
Thus, two opportunities are being offered from now until Dec 15th at 50% off:
PERSONALITY TYPING:
Here’s what is included in the package that is available for the next two months (the service available to international visitors but these price being only for the Continental U.S.):
A copy of the personality test (B) Priority mailing of the test (C) Analysis of the test results (D) a one-hour telephone session to discuss the results (E) the cost of the telephone conference. Cost is US$95.
ONE-ON-ONE SATSANG VIA TELE-CONFERENCE
For the next two months, a tele-conference to discuss any aspects of the Advaita teachings one-on-one will be offered. [Rich from the
To arrange either package, >Click ARRANGE PACKAGES provide all of the information requested, and in the message box at the bottom, indicate that you want to make arrangements for the PERSONALITY TYPING or for the ONE-ON-ONE ADVAITA SESSION or both.
