Today's Considerations
Maharaj: "Insanity is universal. Sanity is rare.”
A child arrives with "a blank tablet" rather than with "a mind with nonsense written all over it."
What is written on the tablet to form a mind is "written" via faulty programming, conditioning, etc.
So what fills a mind is faulty, and it is all of that which
is faulty which determines what one believes.
What one believes, in turn, determines the thoughts which constantly
race about inside the mind, whether awake or asleep.
Relatedly, one of the traits which is unique to the human species
is that eventually, a human cannot distinguish between those two states, so a
human can believe that she or he is awake though actually asleep and can actually be
asleep while believed to be awake and moving about and talking and doing all sorts
of things.
So what persons are taught determines what they believe;
what they believe controls their perspectives; their perspectives reinforce
what they believe and determine what they say; and what they say leads to what they
do.
And that's why a proper perspective is called for and why seekers
are invited to be free of all of their warped perspectives which were taught
and which now control them unless they realize (which means, per Maharaj,
being free of ignorance as well as free of insanity, both of which are key symptoms
of the Ultimate Sickness).
Here, early on, the perspective was a very different perspective,
meaning one which was different from the perspective of those among the masses
who were – and are – driven by the symptoms of the Sickness; therefore, early
on, that different perspective triggered the innate BS detector which all Personality Type Fours have early on and which inspires “rebellious children”
to challenge the nonsense they are being taught, first in the home, next in
religious venues, next in schools, and finally throughout one’s culture as a
whole.
Here, by the age of 5 or 6, where did more of the challenging take
place than anywhere else? Where more nonsense is spread than anywhere else. In the case here, that was in an ultra-conservative, ultra-ignorant Southern Baptist
Church, especially where Ms. Myrtle was using the materials provided to her to
be used to teach the young boys and girls in her First Grade Sunday School Class. And what was taught? Ignorant
and insane myths which were taken to be “The Gospel Truth.”
BS was seen to be BS. Over the years, the forces that are operative in all cultures combined to deactivate that BS Detector, allowing clarity and authenticity and logic and reason to be rendered dormant and allowing the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness to manifest.
Extreme levels of chaos followed, allowing previously unimaginable depths of misery and suffering to manifest. The result: a "journey" back to that earlier state of being in touch with both reality and Reality was inspired. Eventually, a "trip" along a "path" was taken in order to return to that original, clear-perspective state.
It was soon understood - again - that all of the myths of pagan
religions (a.k.a., “their dogma”) which were dreamed up and passed down
became the myths which are also being taught now by the modern religions (which are nothing more than
modern versions of the ancient pagan religions which thousands of years
ago taught their ignorant
and insane and myth-based beliefs to ignorant and insane people who then became ignorant and insane “Believers” of ignorant and insane myths). Those same ignorant and insane teachings are still being taught in organized venues to more than 97% of the people all around the globe to this very day.
Unlike the "rebellious Type Fours" (such as Maharaj), many of the non-challenging persons are among the 50% of
the planet’s population who are Personality Types Sixes who are devoutly
devoted to all authority figures and who unquestioningly accept with blind
faith whatever they are told by the authorities running religious and political
institutions as well the very largest business venues.
They are the ones who were labeled early
on “the good little boys and girls.” Later on during their adult years, their cultures continued to label
them as such as they "fell into line" (as still happens now) and as they sought out jobs in the armed forces, with police forces, with
security companies, with other government jobs, in the “justice” system, in the
corporate world if they could associate with those deemed to be “winners” and “the
big shots of industry,” or in any of the other authoritarian institutions or establishments which give fear-based, dependent, and codependent persons a sense of power and security and which meet persons' needs
for clothing, housing, medical care, food, etc. in a “cradle-to-grave” manner.
The mafia’s appeal to Type Sixes – who became their enforcers
and hit men - was rooted in the fact that the mob paid livable wages to those
willing to take up arms and to use their guns to kill people they don’t even
know but whom their leaders identified as “the enemy.” (Compare those hit men with the current members
of any of the armed forces operating all around the globe nowadays.)
The power of the mob was reduced by governments’ wars on
crime. Eliminating the mobs resulted in governments being able to take over
the mobs' numbers rackets (now, “the state lottery”); to take over the mobs’ prostitution business, now involving governments (see the legal and taxed brothels in Nevada,
in Amsterdam, and in cities all around the globe);
to take over the mobs’
alcohol sales in some cases (with many Southern states in the U.S. owning
liquor stores after prohibition was repealed and with many law enforcement officers
taking bribes from those engaged in illegal alcohol production and sales); as well as to take over certain
parts of the mobs’ drug operations (many drugs including pot and even heroin in
some nations) now being provided by governments. So the government became the new mob.
The other result of governments restricting mob activity and taking over their business enterprises? Governments
set the stage for far-less-disciplined street gangs to come into existence. The
mobs organized and divided up their separate territories; when they killed, it
was done more often in an up-close, accurate, bullet-in-the-back-of-the-head
manner.
Street gangs, by contrast, have begun to flourish, and rather than putting a bullet in
the back of a mob member’s head, the street gangs most often use drive-by shootings, so
their killings come with far less discipline and discrimination; hence, while thousands
of adults in Chicago have been killed in the last few years as their street gangs
fight for control of the drug trade, hundreds of children standing
near targeted adults have also been gunned down during indiscriminate drive-by
shootings.
Now, to the role that dualistic, warped perspectives played in all that:
The perspective in the U.S. was this: “J. Edgar Hoover is a hero. He’s taking on the mobsters and wiping them out and eliminating crime and making us all safe.”
A
different perspective might be: “BS. Governments have never been able to
legislate morality and will never be able to do so, and for all the government's efforts, mob-style crime has not been reduced but has steadily increased. And the money from what was formerly known as 'mob crimes' now often goes into the coffers of the governmental agencies that took over the mobs' enterprises.”
Another perspective in the U.S. has been: “We can use our
military forces to get rid of foreign leaders who don’t do business with us the
way we like; to build nations with replacement leaders who will work with us
as we advance our economic interests; and to put into power leaders who will let us take their nations' resources for a
pittance of what they are worth so that we can reap huge profits.”
A different perspective might be: “BS.
From Vietnam in the 60’s and 70’s to the Middle East to this very day, we have
failed miserably in every instance where we have intervened militarily and have tried to control others in order to satisfy our own greediness.”
Those are dualistic perspectives (“us vs. them”) which deal
with national and international subjects. Next, what of dualistic perspectives which
deal with subjects "closer to home,” such as,
(1) “I am in constant fear of dying”
and
(2) “I am in constant fear of what is going to happen after I
die?”
Andy Gugar, Jr., in his “Note from the Editor” introduction to
several non-dual anthologies, tells a story which addressed #1 above in as clear a way as can be provided:
Before I found the Advaita teachings, both my seeking and my
life were totally disorganized.
It became clear that - in my case - I required a teacher that
could be available to answer my many questions along the way.
I began googling "Advaita" and found a blog site
where Floyd Henderson was offering daily postings of non-dual pointers.
I began investigating this guy, wondering who he thought he
was to be posting pointers about Advaita. He was not even from the Far East.
Worse, my investigations uncovered the fact that this guy lived in Texas.
Being yet embroiled in ego, I asked, "Who does this guy
living outside of Houston, Texas think he is . . . acting like he 'knows it all'
about these teachings?" I concluded, "Heck, I live in Texas. I
guarantee I already know as much about non-duality as any other person living
in Texas. Who from Texas could offer anything about this eastern
philosophy?"
Then I clicked the link for the retreats he offered and saw
that, of even greater offense, he wanted to charge a fee for retreats where he
teaches non-duality
A year would pass, and more and more searching continued,
but at least once a week, the name "Floyd Henderson" came into the
forefront of consciousness.
As much as I tried to ignore the name, it would not leave
me, so after a year of continued seeking even after having first found his name
and websites, I finally went back to his Advaita blog site, looked at the cost
of a retreat with him, and concluded, differently this time, "Well,
actually it really is only a nominal fee he is charging, and he does have to
pay his bills."
So it came to me, "What if this guy just might have
what you've been looking for all of your life?" I determined that I might
as well spend a few dollars - a small amount really in comparison to the
fortune I had already spent during decades of seeking and searching . . . all
with no permanent results at all.
Right now, it is giving me cold chills just reflecting on
that decision and what happened afterwards. I had reached a point where I felt
as if I were going to pop right out of my skin from all of the suffering and
misery and anxiety and stress that had characterized my existence.
For me, it had to get so bad that I became willing and ready
- ready to give up all of the ideas and beliefs that had served me not at all
and to seek the Truth that was obviously beyond all of the concepts I had ever
taken to be the truth.
Eventually, I went to a retreat at Floyd's home and left three
days later having found that I was not only willing to give up all of those
concepts but had become willing to give up this fear-based "Andy" that
had been at the root of my problems.
Now, I look back and laugh. Before the time spent in Floyd's
home, I hated to wake up in the morning. Now, I can't wait to get up and enjoy
every day.
I went to Floyd's that first time with a considerable fear
of death (rooted, I would learn, in body and mind and personality identification).
He suggested that if I was so afraid of death that the best thing I could do
would be to "go ahead and die now."
Of course that was an anger-invoking, shocking comment to
hear, but before I left, I understood that I could not die because I was not
born - that what he was saying is that my ego(s) and my egotism must
"die."
I understood after that retreat that I cannot truly live
until this ego - this illusion - dies. To that point, I was entering Floyd's
house one morning through the door he leaves open while he is preparing
breakfast for participants.
As I entered, I shouted, "Knock knock . . . anybody
home?" He yelled back, "No." I got it . . . I knew exactly what
he meant, and that understanding has remained and I have since enjoyed the
freedom every day of knowing I am no body . . . nobody.
So, the perspective of most is, “I am in constant fear of
dying.”
A different perspective might be: “Then go ahead and die
now. Die the death of body-identification and the die the death of ego and egotism and then be free.”
As for “B” above, the perspective of most is, “I am in constant
fear of what is going to happen after I die.”
A different perspective might be:
"If Andy Gugar, Jr. was trapped in his fears and was shown how to be free of
those, then maybe I’ll try what he did. Maybe I’ll seek out the understanding
he received and then realize that ‘I am no body . . . nobody.’ Then I’ll not
stop seeking until I understand what he came to understand, including understanding the
fact that both he and I are ‘no body . . . nobody';
"and understanding how he came
to understand that he was not born and cannot die; and understanding what actually
happens when the assumed ‘I’ supposedly ‘dies’ by understanding that I – and all
humans - are mere composite unities made up of plant food elements, air and temporarily-manifested
conscious energy;
and understanding the universal pools of elements, air, and energy
to which those temporarily-combined parts shall return; and thereby come to understand
that there is no 'one' or 'soul' or anything else which exists post-manifestation
and why there is, therefore, no justification for any concern at all about what
happens after the parts of a composite unity are no longer combined.
"Furthermore,
if I take the steps necessary to understand all of that, then I will understand
that there is no 'later' to desire or dread. That understanding, in turn, will
allow me to truly and fully appreciate NOW and to understand that happiness or
peace or bliss or anything else can only be known and experienced now, even in
the absence of a belief in any 'Experiencer'.”
Whether on a national level, an international level, or
a level which is “far closer to home,” the typical perspectives of humans are
totally warped.
What is required, if freedom and peace and happiness and
stability would be found, is a totally different perspective from that which is held by
the masses. And that is why beginners who would enter onto "the path" and who come this way have been advised the following for decades:
"Take your first thought or belief or perspective about anything. Turn that around 180-degrees. Once you find that totally opposite perspective, go with that perspective until you realize fully."
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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