TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Following eye surgery, clear focusing has not returned and eye strain results from anything other than a brief exposure to a computer screen; moreover, two follow up procedures must be arranged to "fine tune" the effects of the surgery; hence, the postings will be brief for awhile.
2. [See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a retreat on video which includes a detailed discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj]
3. Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that.
4. A new video ("Number Ten: Awakening Together Satsang, March 2018") has now been added in the far right column of this page, offering the opportunity to view a recent 2018 satsang session with Floyd being interviewed by Regina and Jacqueline of "The Awakening Together Group."
The Hidden Agendas of Those Playing the Phony Roles of "The Super Religious One" and / or "The Spiritual Giant"
Since the first day that the first couple handed over their virginal daughter to a priest in order to be sacrificed in the first Communion Service - and continuing right up to this very day - the agenda of humans dealing with gods and goddesses or "The One God" . . . the motive of those dealing with gods and goddesses or "The One God" . . . was to get a payoff.
What was - and is - the perceived payoff? To have their desires met and / or to have their fears alleviated.
Maharaj explained: "The desire for bliss creates pain. Thus bliss becomes the seed of pain. The entire universe of pain is born of desire."
What was feared and what was being desired in the case of the virginal daughter offered up to have sex with a priest and to then have him cut her heart from her body and eat the flesh and drink the blood and then pass the heart through the crowd and let all enter into communion with a particular god by also eating the body and the blood together? What was feared in those earliest cases was crop failure and starvation.
Once persons mastered agricultural skills to some degree, then many previously-nomadic tribes settled into communities. They believed that they would not have to forage for food but could settle down and raise their own food.
When it rained, the community gathered at a temple that usually looked something, like this
and expressed gratitude to the Rain God for the rain which was allowing their corn crop to flourish. ("Attaboy, God. You're doing a great job. Keep it up! Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!! Say what? Flooding out the villages downstream? So what?! To hell with them!")
During times of drought, however, they would gather at the temple and pray to the obviously-angry Rain God or beseech him or whine to him or beg him or plead with him or try to enter into a deal with him to satisfy him in order to appease him and inspire him to bring rain.
The association of "sacrifice" and "god pleasing" is ancient, so the self-appointed priests came up with a plan which was most appealing to them: If a male is angry, what can appease him? Sex, of course.
And since the Rain God was obviously angry and since the priest was the representative on god on earth, then the priest would have sex with a virgin and that should help appease the Rain God, but a sacrifice and communion with god was still required; thus came about the vampirism and cannibalism associated with the earliest communion services and with modern day communion services as well.
Most of the temples had an "inner sanctum" (an especially "holiest among holy places" which only the priest could enter). That was usually where priests had sex with the virgins before bringing them out and placing their bodies on a stone table / altar where their beating heart would be cut from their body. (See the blood red section in the following picture):
Maharaj said: "Desire is the memory of pleasure and fear is the memory of pain. Both make the mind restless."
The experience here has been as Maharaj predicted: "You will receive everything you need when you stop asking for what you do not need."
To the contrary, what - for over 5000 years or more - was wanted and / or feared by those praying to gods or beseeching gods or whining to gods or begging gods or pleading with gods or trying to enter into deals with gods? And what are some of the typical motives nowadays?
The desire to have god intervene for the sake of their business and save the source of their income.
The desire to claim "We are all sinners who are constantly sinning, so we must ask God to forgive our sins and restore our purity in order to assure we receive rewards now and forevermore." (That allows persons to do what they like to other persons and then ask for forgiveness and have their "clean slate restored" and then move on to more sinning, ad infinitum.)
To interrupt the laws of nature and save the lives of friends or relatives whose internal organs are worn out and who are dying.
To send providers, persons who will take care of them and provide food and clothing and shelter so they do not have to do that for themselves.
To control nature and pray away storms which are headed at their communities and redirect them to hit other areas and other people.
To take away their desire to abuse substances which are no longer helping them cope the way those substances seemingly did at certain points in the past.
To allow them to defeat the people or nations identified by political leaders as "the enemy" and to protect their children going off to war against those who are supposedly threatening them.
The primary addiction among humankind is the addiction to control - weather, people, places, circumstances, etc. - and the secondary addiction among humankind is the addiction to power (or to a Power) in order to be able to control.
The items of the list of what persons want to control is infinite, is endless, but Maharaj reminded seekers that . . .
"When desire and fear end, bondage also ends. It is the emotional involvement, the pattern of likes and dislikes which we call character and temperament, that create the bondage. Don't be afraid of freedom from desire and fear. It enables you to live a life so different from all you know, so much more intense and interesting, that truly by losing all you gain all."
More on all that tomorrow.
To be continued.
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Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns.
THE EXPLANATION
If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence.
Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to."
The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly").
Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part.
"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you."
Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on:
"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men."
--Pope John Paul II
"There is no hell."
--Pope Francis, the current pope
[in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari,
a writer used by the Pope to issue off the record
teachings
which become a part of the Papal Magisterium]
Here's
the direct link to the VIDEO VERSION
of the "Awakening Together" satsang session with Regina and Jacqueline referenced earlier, 18 MARCH 2018
If preferred, here's
the direct link to the AUDIO VERSION
of that session.
