Today's Considerations
The elemental plant food brain – along with every cell in
every living thing – is a physical object which stores conscious-energy.
Conversely, the
mind - a section of the brain which stores and recalls memories and things
taught - is actually mental / psychological / emotional rather than physical in its nature.
Nowadays, it is the mind which houses thoughts and memories and learned information which (post-programming,
post-conditioning, etc.) presently amount to a conglomeration of distortions, illusions,
delusions, and what Maharaj called, in general, one’s accumulated “learned ignorance.”
Such has not always been the case regarding the human mind. At one point
in humankind’s evolutionary process, the mind was an asset, storing accurate information
which could be recalled later to assist with the survival of the species.
(The ancient ancestors might have watched a man fall from a cliff and be smashed on the rocks below. The
accurate information which was stored and could be recalled later under a similar
circumstance? “Do not get so close to the edge of a cliff that you might fall
onto the rocks below and be smashed.”)
Now that the Ultimate Sickness is so widespread (along with
its key symptoms identified by Maharaj as the “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity”
which are stored in the mind), that storage section has become a liability, relatively speaking.
And that includes being a liability as a result of not being able to differentiate
between the true and the false; not being able to see the truth; and being incapable of functioning in a sane and
sound and rationale and reasonable and non-self-defeating and non-destructive and non-self-destructive manner.
To that end, Maharaj said: “Everyone creates a world for
himself and lives in it, imprisoned by one’s ignorance. All we have to do is to
deny reality to our prison.”
Finally, after coming to understand completely the actual root of the Sickness,
Maharaj shifted away from sharing religion-based / non-dual pointers and away from
sharing spirituality-based / non-dual pointers and focused on offering a
psychology-based version of the non-dual, Ultimate Medicine, saying that “realisation
is but the opposite of ignorance.”
(Not the opposite of being unholy? No. Not the opposite of having a spiritual malady? No. Simply the opposite of being driven by ignorance? Yes.)
Thus, realization is not about becoming an expert in things Noumenal;
it is not about earning a Ph. D. in the five, basic, non-duality teaching methods which are
used to transmit non-dual pointers (or supposedly non-dual) pointers to seekers; it is
not about becoming an expert in one yoga or another; it is not about going into
and out of samadhi; it is not about living in a way that guarantees a post-mahasamadhi
reward rather than punishment;
it is not about living in a way to escape
imaginary birth-life-death-rebirth cycles; it is not about being detached from “this world” and “things
relative” and abiding in some “other upgraded world” where one can focus on “non-phenomenal
things"; it is not about escaping or avoiding or dissociating; it is not
about replacing false, phenomenal identities with new and improved or great or Special
Noumenal identities;
and it is not about moving mentally into castles in the
air or into some dreamed up, deeply-philosophical, Foo Fool Land (which is often preferred by those who are handicapped by their supposedly-high and unique intellect which convinces them that they should be apart from rather than a part of any mundane relative existence).
Instead, it is about returning to the condition which one enjoyed
prior to programming, conditioning. etc., a condition which was "the
opposite of ignorance."
Moreover, no one who has been rendered ignorant and insane
as a result of ignorant and insane programming needs to be “re-programmed” (as in "the program"). The
masses need to be “de-programmed.”
Additionally, that does not happen by way of being taught
more and learning more. (What they were taught and learned is the root of the problem to start with.) All persons need to be
un-taught; all persons need to un-learn. Should that happen, then one will return to
the Child No-Knowing State and once again be free of ignorance and insanity and
will be able to abide naturally rather than unnaturally or “supernaturally” (that is,
rather than religiously or spiritually or in any of the other ways which program persons to be driven by unquestioning faith in what is taught and to be driven by the resultant magical thinking).
There are computer viruses circulating regularly on the internet
which masquerade as virus-protection programs. They will flash on-screen,
inform you that you are infected with such-and-such a virus, and ask if you
would like that service to remove the contamination. If you click
"Yes," your computer is doomed.
When a visitor using the computer here during a retreat allowed
such a virus to infect the system, the action I took immediately was to
run the "restore" program. The computer was returned to its clean,
pre-contamination state . . . to its original virus-free, sickness-free
condition. That is what the "journey" discussed here is about, and
the full "journey" restores the blocked consciousness to its
original, unadulterated, pre-contamination, pre-Ultimate Sickness state.
Likely, there are still certain malware infections which are hiding in the background of the computer, but the main threat to the system was addressed on that occasion. And that is what this "path" and "journey" are about, so if you only reach the fourth of seven steps and only remove the main threat to your system (namely, belief in the "not-you's" and the fears and desires they generate as well as all of the other nonsensical beliefs that are held), then completion of even four of the seven steps can make the effort worthwhile, relatively speaking.
Likely, there are still certain malware infections which are hiding in the background of the computer, but the main threat to the system was addressed on that occasion. And that is what this "path" and "journey" are about, so if you only reach the fourth of seven steps and only remove the main threat to your system (namely, belief in the "not-you's" and the fears and desires they generate as well as all of the other nonsensical beliefs that are held), then completion of even four of the seven steps can make the effort worthwhile, relatively speaking.
At that point, one of the most common mental infections which
leads to the Sickness – namely, “a belief that false identities are real” –
will be removed. If that happens, then one of the most common sources of misery
and suffering and fighting and chaos and instability (namely, the hidden,
subconscious agendas of personalities which subconsciously control thoughts and
words and actions) will also be removed.
In the end, “Full Realization” comes when all ignorance is
removed, along with all of the distortions, illusions, delusions, and accumulated
“learned ignorance” which accompany programming, conditioning, etc.
The “aim” is not to use the mind to learn and store even more
ignorant and insane ideas and concepts and impressions and theories and views
(a.k.a., “beliefs”) but is to return to the “Child Ignorance Stage” (which
Maharaj described as a “no-mind,” “non-dual,” “zero concepts” state) and then lighten up by discarding the totality of the mind's content which, again, is made up of ignorant and insane ideas and concepts and impressions and theories and views
(a.k.a., “beliefs”).
The invitation: got ahead and take whatever steps are required
for you to “realize,” but only if you understand that realization is nothing
more than “the opposite of ignorance.”
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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