TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
Some persons - endorsing their religious concept of "confession" and encouraging their listeners to make continuous use that "sacrament"- tell people that "you are only as sick as your darkest secret." Maybe. Maybe not.
Certainly there are some really sick politicians who are keeping secrets from their constituents and who are involved in all sorts of battles to keep it that way.
And true, there is no employee who is not keeping some secret from her or his employer, and vice-versa.
Certainly, also, there is no one in "a relationship" who is not keeping something secret from his or her mate, partner, spouse, etc.
Secrets. Secrets. Secrets.
Google "secrets" and you'll find over a half billion instances where the word is being used in one way or another.
However, if persons were to understand
1. all of the ramifications of personality identification
and were to understand that
2. the Ultimate Sickness is solely and exclusively a mental sickness
and were to understand
3. the way that personality disorders can generate grave mental disorders which can lead to
4. debilitating personality disorders, neuroses and psychoses,
then it would be clear that the masses are being made sick by certain mental conditions which have effects that result in far greater consequences than any secret.
A "non-dual teacher" could paraphrase the statement above and say accurately, "you are only as sick as the darkest (i.e., most unfounded and bogus) of your beliefs."
But Google "false beliefs" and only about 1% as many hits will popup as there are for "secrets."
That might suggest that "secrets" are indeed the greater concern for humanity than "false beliefs"; or, while far from scientific, it might inspire one to at least wonder if it might be possible that persons are 100 times more concerned with keeping their secrets hidden from others than they are in finding - and being rid of - their false beliefs. Here, it is suspected that the number is actually far higher.
Some who have come this way have truly been able to apply to some degree the recommendation to "de-accumulate the nonsense which has been stored in your mind." They have discarded so many beliefs and - in the process - moved so much closer to realization (which Maharaj said is nothing more than the state persons reach when they are "free of all learned ignorance").
When Maharaj explained that complete relief from the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness requires complete abandonment all of the content of the mind and requires "reaching a state of zero concepts," what was he referring to, specifically, which had to go?
Not just concepts and their cousins - notions, perspectives, perceptions, ideas, thoughts, theories, conceptions, views, etc. What he was referring to is what, in the end, boils down to . . . beliefs.
First, among "the planet's non-realized masses" (that is, per Maharaj, among those "living in ignorance," which pretty-much means "nearly everyone") two of the most commonly-accepted and never-questioned concepts which the masses cling to involve . . .
. . . "my mind"
and
"my beliefs."
In fact, neither is real.
It's explained this way in the book entitled FREEDOM FROM BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")
What there is among "the not-fully-realized" is what is not really "your mind" but is actually "their mind" ("their" referring to all persons who have taught you any belief or idea or concept that is presently stored in the section of the brain called "the mind"); thus, it is the content of "their mind" which has been passed down and transferred and is always taken in error to be "your mind." Why is it "their mind"?
Because whatever is in "your mind," you did not put there. "They" put it there. Who are "they"? The members of your family of origin, relatives, friends, teachers, religious and / or spiritual influencers, political leaders, and all who were in positions of "authority" during your childhood and who exposed you to their ideas and concepts and beliefs which you have adopted as "your own" and who continue even now - into your adult age years - to do the same.
The "mind" has been filled with fiction; with beliefs that are based not at all in fact; with beliefs that have never been questioned;
and with beliefs that have been accepted with no evidence at all but have been accepted on "blind faith" alone.
Among the masses, the contents of the "mind" are now held in such esteem that people are willing to fight for those beliefs or - in some cases - even willing to die in a fight over those beliefs. They are, in fact, willing to act in ways that are diametrically-opposite to their own relative interest for the sake of their beliefs and "values."
In non-duality, there can be no "Believer" vs. "Non-Believer" pairings. Among "the realized, the closest to truth that could be stated is that - as a result of "their minds" having been purged of all beliefs - they are functioning as "No-Belief-ers."
That understanding is what allowed Maharaj to assert,
"There is no such thing as a mind"
and to report accurately that
"I have no mind . . . ."
Same here, and reaching that "zero concepts, "no-mind" state was easy once it was understood that the only thing required to enter into that state is to abandon all beliefs. That process then renders one notion-free, perspective-free, perception-free, idea-free, theory-free, concept-free, view-free, and . . . free, period.
Because the mind and its belief-based contents function like a cancer, aggravating the already-incapacitating symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, it is imperative that the entire mind and the entire body of beliefs stored therein much go. With cancer, it is not enough to purge past of the cancerous cells. They must all be eliminated. Same with the beliefs which are at the root of the Ultimate (Mental) Sickness.
So, seeing that the problems of humanity are all centered in the mind, let us review once more what Maharaj had to say regarding the mind and its contents:
"There is no such thing as peace of mind. Mind means disturbance. Restlessness itself is mind."
“Don’t rely on your mind for liberation. It is the mind that brought you into bondage. Go beyond it altogether.”
"Distrust your mind, and go beyond."
“The death of the mind is the birth of wisdom.”
"All illness begins in the mind."
"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which your mind creates."
" . . . The mind obscures and distorts."
"Beyond the mind there is no suffering.”
[Note the distinction between “pain” on one hand and "misery and suffering" on the other: pain is rooted in the body; misery and suffering are rooted in the mind.]
His advice:
"Stop making use of your mind and see what happens."
"There is no such thing as mind. There are ideas . . . ."
[Here the point is that ideas, concepts, notions, perceptions, values, etc. can all be clustered into one single group or classification: beliefs; thus, it would be said here that “There is no such thing as mind. There is only a conglomeration of beliefs; moreover, those are not 'your beliefs' but are actually just 'their beliefs' which have been accepted on blind faith without any logical or reasonable or objective questioning at all.”]
To continue:
Maharaj:
"To know that you are a prisoner of your mind - that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation - is the dawn of wisdom."
So what was the state which ultimately freed him and led to the birth of his wisdom? It was a no-mind state:
"There is no such thing as a mind."
"I have no mind . . . ."
"Reach a state of zero-concepts."
"As to my mind, I have no such thing. There is consciousness in which everything happens."
"I find I have lost the mind irretrievably."
So the question for all seekers is, "What are the remaining beliefs which you are clinging to?"
Those clinging to even a single belief - and those who are focused fanatically on a single issue - can change the course of human history in one fell swoop.
Analysis of the voting patterns in the recent presidential election in the U.S. show that the outcome was decided by two groups of believers (with overlapping memberships), namely, white supremacists and religious fanatics.
Consider the dysfunctional workings of the minds and the belief systems of persons who claim, "I am a Christian. Christ is my Lord and Savior and that makes me an anti-abortionist, so I will vote for the anti-abortion candidate even though he admitted that . . .
he walked into changing areas in his beauty pageants in order to see teenage girls in the nude;
revealed time and again that he is sexually-attracted to his daughter;
admitted that he has sexually-assaulted women and "grabbed them by the pussy";
said
“My fingers are long and beautiful, as - it has been well-documented - are various other parts of my body";
and said,
“You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass on your arm.”
Now typically, any one of those comments might be enough to repulse a "Christian value voter," but the typical attitude instead was: "We moral Christians are determined to stop all abortions, even the ones for women who are pregnant because of rape or incest, so he's our man."
Now typically, any one of those comments might be enough to repulse a "Christian value voter," but the typical attitude instead was: "We moral Christians are determined to stop all abortions, even the ones for women who are pregnant because of rape or incest, so he's our man."
Is it any wonder that "Jesus wept"? Is it any wonder that the current pope said, "It is better to be an atheist than a hypocrite."
The relevant point: For those that understand non-duality, it's clear that the pope was spot on with that point because without beliefs (that is, if one is functioning as a "no-belief-er") then one cannot be a hypocrite.
More to the point, though, is this: "Has there ever been a more urgent call for a different perspective?"
See, the key point about blind faith is that its real danger - relatively speaking - lies not as much in the "faith" part as in the "blind" part which always manifests with the acceptance of any belief based in blind faith.
And the real danger - relatively speaking - of the fanaticism of persons driven by a fixation on any single issue is that they will be trapped in the chaos and insanity of the Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder which is presently more prevalent than ever.
As for white supremacists, it is often pointed out here that when dualistic beliefs prevail, there will be a notion that "I am different from others and that difference actually makes me better than them."
If there is to be freedom from the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness which Maharaj identified as "ignorance, stupidity and insanity,"
and
if there is to be any internal peace,
then
it is not enough to abandon most beliefs.
Instead, all beliefs must go because all chaos and ignorance and stupidity and insanity always begin with one single belief.
So much for "Ah, he is such a wonderful man, so dedicated to his beliefs." Really? Was that not also true of Hitler?
So much for "Ah, she is a really good woman, so dedicated to her beliefs." Really? Was that not also true for Mary I of England (a.k.a., "Bloody Mary") who was very true to her Catholic beliefs?
The wise can review the history of human existence and see that personality-based fears and desires, along with mind-based beliefs, have been the key relative curse of humankind. No wonder the sages for ages have invited persons to be free of all body and mind and personality identification.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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