TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS
This was shared years ago:
There are people in certain programs who speak regularly of being "happy, joyous, and free" (everything in their demeanor and conduct testifying to the opposite).
That is just one example of the evidence which reveals the way that the masses talk in their sleep as a result of denial, dissociation, and not even being awake to what they are feeling and doing and saying and thinking . . . and why.
Yet a pointer can be taken from their statement. Happy. Joyous. Free. It should be understood by all seekers that those three must appear in a different order if one would "realize fully." The order in which those must occur for the seeker to truly "find" is this: joyous and then free must happen first, in that order. Only after those two have happened in that order can happy manifest.
Consider: two wayfarers are wandering through a desert, near death from days in the heat without water. As with the masses, they have seen one mirage after another, convinced that an oasis is near, convinced that a mirage can make them happy, only to find that their misery returns when the mirage is seen to be a mirage.
Just seeing that a mirage is a mirage does not provide relief from misery and suffering. Seeing mirages alone cannot bring freedom or peace. So their search continued.
Finally, they see a real oasis and begin running toward it. At that point, are they happy, joyous and free? No. In fact, at that point, they are only joyous. They are caught up in the emotional intoxication of a "pink cloud" moment.
The same happens with miserable and suffering people who walk into a program or a church or similar place and become caught up in the emotionalism that is typical in those venues.
They suddenly have great hope that they have found exactly what they have been looking for and believe that they will never need to search for anything again.
Soon, their hopes are smashed when the pink clouds fade away, when the emotional intoxication subsides - as it always will - and when they see that what was promised is not happening for them and when they see that it actually is not happening for those making the promises, either.
So it is with the two in the desert: they were joyous momentarily, but the joy of finding water does nothing to relieve their misery. They must drink of the water. When they actually drink the water (or in Advaita terms - taste the "nectar" or swallow the "Ultimate Medicine") only then will they be free . . . free of their thirst.
Joyous. Then free.
And only after those two manifest, in that order, can peace and happiness manifest. She / He who is not totally free can never be at peace. (And the fact is, most are afraid of being totally independent and do not really want that "total" version at all. So it is.)
For those who might be seeking the total independence which is required for unconditional happiness to manifest, consider that there is an order in which liberation can only come if preceded by two other happenings in a specific order.
The necessary order must be: enlightenment and then realization, and then liberation and freedom. Only when all of that happens - in order - can unconditional happiness / bliss manifest.
Consider the person in the ancient non-dual example who walks into a dimly-lit barn, sees a rope coiled on the ground near his feet, and jumps back in fear, certain that the rope is a snake about to strike and inject venomous poison into his body. That person is not free of fear and is not free of the desire for body continuity (and note that all fears and desires are rooted in body, mind, personal identifications).
Only if light is cast onto the rope can the truth be revealed: what was initially mistaken for a snake is actually nothing more than a harmless length of rope. Because the distortion, the falsehood, the misperception and the misconception resulted because of the darkness which did not allow for clear seeing and understanding, then "lightenment" - shining light onto what is being erroneously perceived - is required for the person to even begin to be free of fear and deception; however, light alone is not enough.
The ignorant (those suffering from the Ultimate Sickness) can - according to Maharaj - be standing in the morning light and supposedly able to see quite a bit. Yet, Maharaj said, their distortion is that they think they are standing in the full light of the noonday sun. Quite ignorant, yes? So what is required next? Realization.
Realization, according to Maharaj, is nothing more than "freedom from ignorance."
Wait a minute. Realization is not some supernaturally-based happening which comes from being religious or from being a spiritual giant?
It is not some awareness that is sent from above after having been hidden in some noumenal storeroom and then sent down by a Power or by "the Universe" or via some sense-perception which is beyond the five phenomenal senses?
It is not some lofty, superior, supercilious, towering, soaring, grand, exalted, noble, distinguished awareness or understanding or set of elevated principles which can only come from "another world" or "Special Beings" or "A Supreme Self"?
Not according to Maharaj.
It is merely that which results when persons are freed from the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (three of the key symptoms of that Sickness - according to Maharaj - being "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity") and then "see the light" . . . or more specifically, see what can be seen if the false beliefs stored in mind are seen to be false.
Non-duality has long focused on inviting persons to be free of the effects of three of the most significant false beliefs, those involving body identification, mind identification, and personality identifications. It is the latter which generates desires and fears and thereby prevents freedom and happiness. Removing the personality identifications is the prerequisite for liberation.
[Maharaj: "Your own little body too is full of mysteries and dangers, yet you are not afraid of it, for you take it as your own. What you do not know is that the entire universe is your body, and you need not be afraid of it. You may say you have two bodies: the personal and the universal. The personal comes and goes; the universal is always with you."]
The man in the barn must allow light to be cast upon that which is not being seen clearly and which is, as a result, generating fear and desire. Then, he must realize that he was being affected by a belief besed in ignorance (namely, that what was just a harmless rope was believed to be a dangerous snake).
His body identification (which had led to fear) and his improperly-functioning mind (which had reinforced his fear) and his identifying with several false personas / identities (which had led to even more fear) must all end via enlightenment and realization if he is ever to be free of fear (which can only come if he is fully awake, aware and conscious of the truth regarding his snake vs. rope misperception).
Tomorrow: "Being Trapped in Personality vs. Being Realized and Free"
To be continued
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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