Advaita Vedanta

BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Six

2012-01-31T07:12:00.004-05:00

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

As for Maharaj, you will find here some of his early pointers for beginners but some of his later pointers that are for seekers farther along the "path." During his last years, he said of I AM THAT: "That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today" and am "emphasizing different aspects." What he offered later differed considerably from his earlier talks, making clear that the pointers in I AM THAT will take you to the midpoint of "the race" but that his final talks point the way to "the finish line."

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From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: It can be seen, therefore, that attachment to personality is not only fueled by "-ism's"but also reinforced by the ideas and beliefs and concepts that are at the root of all "-ism's."

As long as thoughts and words and deeds are being driven subconsciously by the hidden agendas of false identities and by belief in the concepts that are promulgated by "-ism's," then every aspect of one's relative existence will be tarnished by the insanity of belief in "-ism"-based dualities and will be spoiled by the personality-induced trance that leaves them unawake, unconscious, and unaware.

In that condition, persons will claim that they "really do, most assuredly, have free will" when in fact they are thinking and talking and walking about in their sleep while feeling certain that they are awake. Where in that scenario is there even the slightest chance for "free will" to be exerted?

Maharaj: "In Hinduism, the very idea of 'free will' is non-existent, so there is no word for it. Will is commitment, fixation, bondage."

Maharaj taught, therefore, that the purpose of the teachings is to free persons from their fixations and bondage; is to eliminate mind-driven chaos; is to put to an end once and for all personality-driven instability; is to free persons from the "-ism"-driven volatility that marks their existence.

He taught that the aim of the teachings is to eradicate culture-based ignorance and personality disorders and "stupidity" and "insanity" and "to liberate man from the thraldom of chaos and the burden of sorrow."

How offensive his words were (and are) to those trapped in ego-states and egotism.

How in error they assumed his teachings to be when he reported that they had no free will at all. How deluded the non-Realized are, then, when they believe that they are abiding under the auspices of free will.

With that belief in place, they give themselves "credit" for the "good" things they accomplish via their "free will" or they blame themselves for the "bad" things that happen when they "do not hold their free will" in check.

Or, depending on their programming and conditioning, they will speak of other types of "will" that have been conjured up by their "religious leaders" or "spiritual guides" and which are even more magical and are of a totally fictitious character, namely, "God's will" or "the will of the universe."

The fact is, nothing is unfolding according to the will of any god or goddess. All is energy-matter, and neither can be created nor destroyed; thus, there is no creator at all to exert his / her will. Nor is anything unfolding under the supervision of "the universe." Nothing is happening per the auspices of some "plan" or "divine plan."

To study history and to see mankind's penchant for meanness and cruelty and ignorance and insanity is evidence enough to confirm that if there were someone or Someone planning what is happening on this planet, that plan could never be rightly classified as "divine." It could only be classified as "a very mean and cruel and ignorant and insane plan."

The fact is, instead, that persons are driven by the unconscious fears and desires of their personalities; are driven by the concepts that are promulgated and broadcast by their "-ism's";

are driven by the residual effects of trauma that are stored at a cellular level throughout their bodies; are driven by the learned ignorance that they accumulated via programming, conditioning, domestication, and acculturation; and are driven by the personality disorders that mark and mar their relative existence.

All sorts of processes are going on that determine thoughts and words and that subconsciously drive actions, processes which persons haven't the slightest awareness of:

Maharaj: "A tremendously complex work is going on all the time in your brain and body. Are you conscious of it? Not at all."

Moreover, all thoughts and words and deeds that are driven by the sick "minds" of the non-Realized which - from the age of two years and onward are contaminated with the germs of the Ultimate Sickness - leave persons in a prison while believing that they are free.

The prison is located between their ears, and each bar of the prison is a personality-based fear, a personality-based desire, or an "-ism"-based" concept or belief that is totally false but that is wholeheartedly believed to be true.

What - other than ignorance and insanity - would convince a person in prison that he or she is free or has the "free will" to choose? Again, to be "driven" in a car is to be in the passenger seat, the back seat, or the trunk (boot) but is to be precluded from being behind the steering wheel and freely choosing where one is going to go, how one is going to go, when one is going to go, etc.

"Free will" and "being driven" cannot co-exist. To be driven by entrapment in a personality trance - and to allow "-ism-based" concepts and beliefs to determine thoughts and words and deeds - is to block any chance for free will to manifest.

What - other than ignorance and insanity - would prevent persons from seeing that, according to Maharaj, they "are using things and people for purposes alien to them" and are playing "havoc with the world and yourself."

Such is the way it is when personalities and "-ism's" are in charge: they rob persons of free will, of the ability to consciously choose, of the ability to behave in a sane manner.

And that is why all available tools (including the Enneagram) are employed here to allow seekers to identity the personality types that are driving them and to thereby have a chance to be free.

Only with the completion of the third step on the "path" from identification with the false "I" to understanding the Absolute can seekers move on to the total freedom that comes with the post-belief, post-concept, post-persona, post-personality assumption, post-Full Realization manner of abiding from the position of being fully awake, fully aware, and fully conscious.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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(QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

The work contains quotations and pointers not only from scores of non-duality books and talks but also offers non-duality pointers that have appeared in works of non-fiction, fiction, classic literature, and movies.

The nine parts of this book include the following:

PART ONE provides an introduction.

PART TWO includes quotations that other seekers / readers have indicated that they found to be significant.

PART THREE arranges non-duality quotations and pointers by category and subject matter. The rationale: when offering non-duality quotations, some collections provide key pointers that are offered in no particular order, but here the approach is to group pointers according to subject matter so that a seeker dealing with "body identification issues" can find quotations addressing body identity while a seeker dealing with "being free of the influence of the mind" can find quotations and pointers that offer information on that topic. Other subjects in this part of the book include personality, the child ignorance or no-knowing stage, the two types of witnessing, the Absolute, the Void or the Nothingness, and many more.

PART FOUR continues the offering of non-duality quotations and pointers by category and subject matter but from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj exclusively.

PART FIVE offers quotations and pointers from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj that discuss nisarga yoga and nisarga living.

PART SIX provides miscellaneous non-duality quotations and pointers which are relevant to Advaitins and that have been offered by philosophers and sages and seers of truth from various periods, including Plato, St. Francis of Assisi, Desiderius Erasmus, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Richard E. Lingenfelter; Robert Burton, Daniel H. Boorstin, Gary Zukav, E. Bayda, Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Brad Thor, Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr.; Nelson Mandela, Immanuel Kant, Bruce Lipton, Clive Cussler, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Lewis Thomas, Max Planck, Heinrich Hertz, and others.

PART SEVEN provides certain non-duality pointers that have appeared in the non-fiction writings of Ralph Klein and in the works of such scientists as Barbara McClintock, Erwin Schrodinger, Fritjof Capra, Niels Bohr, David Bohm, Neil deGrasse Tyson. Also, there are selections from the works of Marvin Kaye, S.H. Sharp, Paul Krassner, Ken Kesey, Russell Brand, G.I. Gurdjieff; and a variety of examples of the non-duality messages that are contained in the body of Native American wisdom as well as non-duality pointers that can be found in the book "ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS" (a.k.a., "the A.A. Big Book").

PART EIGHT offers non-duality messages that have appeared in the fictional works of Jack Kerouac, Michael Connelly, Mary Shelley, Victor Hugo, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Abraham "Bram" Stoker and others.

PART NINE deals with the non-duality message as offered in film with a list of over thirty movies that are based in non-duality, including The Matrix (Part One), The 13th Floor, Inception, The Truman Show, Dark City, Existenz, Avatar, and many more.

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BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Five

2012-01-30T08:09:00.008-05:00

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

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From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: So, the dysfunctionalism to which every child is exposed during its earliest years (and onward) triggers the assumption of what will become the child's basic personality type as well as the adoption of other personalities that it will internalize or disintegrate to. The basic type is typically set firmly in place by the age of six, and once personality types are firmly in place, then the assurance of developing personality disorders is also in place.

Next, misunderstanding and learned ignorance will bring about an attachment to personality (i.e., false selves, false identities, the assumption of abiding in imaginary states-of-being-"this" and imaginary states-of-being-"that"). The personalities which are assumed are rooted in (and reinforced by) attachment to "-ism's," and those "-ism's" are the repositories of the counterfeit concepts and false ideas and bogus beliefs that will join with personality to drive thoughts and words and actions.

Both personality styles and "-ism's" will be taught via programming, conditioning, accumulation, and domestication; then, they will support each other, usually for the remainder of one's entire relative existence because so few will ever Realize and be free of the influence of personalities and "-ism's."

It has been noted that the Enneagram test (along with a thorough explanation of what is revealed via the test results by one versed in the use of that instrument) can uncover for a seeker exactly which personalities are driving her or his thoughts, words, deeds, fears and desires. In almost all cases, that must be understood to be completely free of being driven by personality.

Moreover, persons must see which "-ism's" they have been attached to and controlled by if they are ever to be free of the influences of the counterfeit concepts and false ideas and bogus beliefs which every "-ism" erroneously disseminates as "truth" and "fact" and "right" and "best."

No other source has dreamed up more - and spread more - false, duality-based beliefs and ideas and concepts over the last 5,000 years than the source that dreamed up the dualities that are dominant even today: "right vs. wrong"; "good vs. bad"; "moral vs. immoral"; "reward vs. punishment now"; "reward vs. punishment forever"; ad infinitum.

The "-ism's" in that group include:

Judaism; Protestantism / Catholicism / Jesuitism / Anglicism; Islamism; Mormonism; Buddhism; Hinduism; Talmudism; Jainism; Sikhism; Shintoism; Taoism; baptism; clericalism; congregationalism; cultism; Deism; creationism; theism; montheism; polytheism; exorcism; dogmatism; druidism; fundamentalism; paganism; predestinarianism; proselytism; puritanism; revivalism; spiritualism; supernaturalism; evangelism; televangelism; messianism; monasticism; moralism; mullahism; mysticism; moralism; occultism; salvationism; separatism; symbolism; ritualism; and many more.

Those "-ism's" account for much of the false sense of separation and "different-from-ness" and "better-than-ment" because over 6.79 billion of the 7 billion persons on the planet claim affiliation with either an organized, duality-based religion or with some duality-based "spiritual movement" or some duality-based "spiritual program" or with some duality-based "religious-oriented or-spiritually-oriented philosophy."

Alignment with any of those "-ism's" (which give lip-service to "unity" and "love" but which inspire behaviors that expose an underlying sense of pride and superiority that results in a belief in "different-from-ment" and "better-than-ment" ... along with the resultant, duality-based sense that "we are the ones who are most right and the rest are mostly wrong") generates arrogance that also supports these "-ism's": alienism; anthropocentrism; anthropomorphism and separatism.

As the programmed and acculturated child develops into a programmed and acculturated adult, then the cultural and social "-ism's" begin to exert their influence in developing more personalities and more attachments and more beliefs and more driving forces, including,

relativism; charlatanism; activism; ostracism; materialism; traditionalism; vigilantism; dysfunctionalism; opportunism; barbarism; tribalism; biculturalism; multiculturalism; traditionalism; sexism; individualism; institutionalism; intellectualism; irrationalism; ceremonialism; racism; multiracism; colonialism; regionalism; territorialism; more ritualism; sensationalism; conceptualism; conformism; constitutionalism; credentialism; exceptionalism; exclusivism; scapegoatism; reformism; and, of course, dualism.

As more and more personalities are assumed, then more and more personality disorders and psychological disorders manifest and these "-ism's" become driving forces as well:

dysfunctionalism; chauvinism; personalism; radicalism; reformism; divisionism; syncophantism; irrationalism; egocentrism; egoism; egotism; elitism; emotionalism; escapism; ethnocentrism; perfectionism; personalism; fanaticism; radicalism; relativism; utopianism; externalism; extremism; alcoholism; workaholism; more symbolism; more scapegoatism; vegetarianism (even though two-thirds of all people have body types that require a combination vegetarian-protein or a protein-only food plan for all organs to function optimally); idealism; sadism; masochism; sadomasochism; mentalism; narcissism - and that list could go on and on.

Eventually, government-dreamed up and government-inspired "-ism's" exact their toll, those "-ism's" including:

authoritarianism; establishmentarianism; terrorism and antiterrorism or counterterrorism; more territorialism; patriotism; superpatriotism; heroism; nationalism; militarism; xenophobianism; bilateralism and multilateralism; bipartisanism; bolshevism; monarchism and royalism; landlordism; nepotism; medievalism and feudalism; imperialism; republicanism; constitutionalism; cronyism; tzarism; despotism; fascism; factionalism; favoritism; federalism; totalitarianism; pluralism; and many more.

After governments form, they form economies, and economies give rise to these and other "-ism's" that are to be believed in and touted by the populace if they are to earn the labels of "good" and "productive" citizens:

capitalism; commercialism; communism; consumerism; mercantilism; nepotism; socialism; mutualism; corporatism; neo-colonialism; more opportunism; and much more.

Sages for generations have invited seekers to be free of all "-ism-based" beliefs and ideas and concepts as a part of the process of being free of personality and being free of the subconscious agendas of personality and "-ism's" which drive thoughts and words and deeds and which generate usually-baseless fears, often-unmet-and-therefore-frustrating desires, and most of all ... the belief in dualities.

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BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Four

2012-01-29T07:21:00.007-05:00

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

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From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: It was noted earlier that "-ism's" support personality and personality supports belief in (and attachment to) "-ism's." Another example: Sinclair Lewis on one "-ism": "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."

Were Lewis here nowadays, he could point to candidates in 2012 who would be the President of the United States and who are suggesting that women impregnated during a rape or as the result of an act of incest should not have the right to abort but should "make the best of a bad situation"; that homosexual acts - which are banned by state law in many states - should be declared illegal by national law as well;

that birth control should be banned because it is inspiring "unacceptable sexual activities"; and that some persons have the right to marry but that the constitution should be amended to deny others the right to marry. In those cases, note the combination of "flag and the cross / Catholicism"; the cross / Catholicism and flag. Fascism manifesting precisely as predicted. Such is the toll of belief in the arrogance-based concepts perpetuated by "-ism's" and the blind acceptance of the desires of "-ism"-based personality / personalities.

"-Ism's" and personas; personas and "-isms." Each supports the other in an endless cycle that encourages the reinforcement of persona-adoption, followed by a person attaching to the "-ism's" that reinforce the persona, followed by the "-ism's" reinforcing the belief that the persona is an actual identity, etc., etc., etc.

To claim that "I am a patriot" is to create an attachment to the beliefs that any given culture suggests are evidence of one's patriotism, including such statements as:

"We are the greatest country on the planet"; "I am willing to die for my country"; "a real man is willing to sacrifice his life to protect his fellow citizens"; or "I will beat to a pulp anyone who desecrates our flag."

Once the persona / personality of "The Patriot" has been adopted, then the conceptualized "-ism" of "patriotism" becomes sacred, hallowed, revered, and sanctified;

and once the conceptualized "-ism" of "patriotism" becomes sacred, hallowed, revered, and sanctified, then the persona / personality of "The Patriot" is also believed to have the status of being sacred, hallowed, revered, and sanctified and that belief will blindly drive all thoughts and words and deeds.

Thus, those trapped in personality are killing and / or dying for their country; killing and / or dying for their god; killing and / or dying for whatever the popes' desires were during the Crusades;

killing and / or dying for whatever the imam's desires are nowadays; killing and / or dying for whatever the commander-in-chief's desires are; killing and / or dying for whatever the prime minister's desires are, ad infinitum.

Such are the results of the perverted beliefs in false personas and in "-ism's." To be free, the recommendation here is to employ the Enneagram as a tool to begin uncovering the variety of personalities which subconsciously drive thoughts and words and deeds and which, therefore, remove all opportunity to make independent choices.

It was noted yesterday that much can be revealed by understanding the history of the way that the Advaita teachings became necessary and the way that the Enneagram has been used by some teachers of non-duality to expose the personality trance in which the masses live as well as the effects of personality assumption.

That which is real has been forever; all that is not real but is taken to be so has not been forever but has come about at various times as a result of distortion and ignorance. Such is the case with personality / personalities, assumed roles, ego-states, personas, stage characters, false identities ... call them what you will.

The earliest humans or human-like beings, as with modern persons, faced plenty of challenges during the relative existence, but one challenge they did not have to deal with was the nonsense of personality.

Did they desire? Yes, but were the desires natural rather than unnatural or supposedly "supernatural"? Also, yes. Were they afraid at times? Yes, but were the fears natural rather than unnatural or supposedly "supernatural"? Yes, and that did not change until humans began dreaming up supernatural concepts based in magical, nonsensical thinking, in distortion, in ignorance, in myths, in superstitions, and in non-facts. That paved the way for ignorance-based explanations (and ignorance-based belief in ignorance-based explanations):

"Why did the hurricane devastate that city, O Holy One?"

"Because of the negative karma of the people there, my child."

As humans began forming communities, some of the more observant began to notice "individual differences" in the ways that people behaved and reacted alongside patterns of behavior that were common among the members of certain sub-groups in the community.

It was seen that some parents interacted in one way with their offspring, some in other ways that were quite different. It was also seen that children used different coping mechanisms to try to adapt to a variety of family situations, and it was seen that during stressful events, a group of, say, five people all reacted the same way but that another group of five all reacted the same way but in a way that differed from the people in the first group.

The observant began to see that all of the members of the tribe or community consistently revealed certain traits without exception: the prideful were always prideful, no matter what; the avoiders were always avoiding, no matter what; the admiration-seeking, narcissistic performers were always performing, no matter what;

the love-seeking helpers and enablers were always helping and enabling in order to get love, no matter what; the controllers were always trying to control, no matter what; the escapists were always trying to escape, no matter what; the reformers were always judging and trying to reform, no matter what.

The most observant began to see that

(a) those with a similar family situation behaved the same way and that

(b) when stressful situations arose, those who shared in common a dominate trait all showed the same opposite trait as well when strained.

For example, those who lost a father early on were seen to be the seemingly-kind helper types. Though they seemed to be the friendly ones in the community, when they became stressed or were challenged, they showed the same traits as those in the village who were usually the angry, controlling, domineering, power-hungry, lustful types.

[Today, if one understands the Enneagram, she / he will know that what happened in the scenario described above is that a Personality Type Two Helper became stressed and was driven by arrogance to disintegrate to the Personality Type Eight Controller / Boss / "Parent" and to become for awhile an angry, controlling, domineering, power-hungry, lustful type person.]

An understanding among the observant of the fact that stress leads to psychic deterioration (and to totally-predictable behaviors among the mentally and emotionally unhealthy) came into being.

It was also seen by the most observant that people in the community were all being driven by one of nine dominate traits or "passions," that is, by whatever it was that they were seen to be "most passionate about," whether that was about reforming everyone; or about creating or maintaining a phony image; or about trying to dominate everyone else; or about allowing others to dominate them in order to gain something they wanted, etc.

Moreover, it was seen that their behaviors were "textbook" in the way that those behaviors manifested so consistently and unwaveringly and in how unsurprisingly foreseeable and predictable their thoughts and words and deeds were going to be in any given situation, some being passionate about gaining power and leadership roles; some being passionately angry most of the time; some being passionate about performing in ways that generated admiration from the entire community, etc.;

thus, "distinctions" and "dualities" were born with personality. "Differences" and "personal characteristics" were noted, and the attention to one's relativistic, personal passion soon began to displace any former concern for the community as a whole.

That gave rise to "self"-ishness which, in turn, blocked the original sense of Self and sense of Oneness and displaced the earlier all-for-one-and-one-for-all attitude with a passion for fulfilling one's own desires and avoiding one's own fears. Conflict driven by self-absorption became the "norm."

It was Evagrius who discussed the early Greeks' version of the nine passions (or the nine obsessions or nine dominant personality traits). That list included anger, pride, vainglory, envy, greed, incontinence, gluttony, lust and acedia (i.e., boredom; listlessness; apathy; a lack of care or interest; indifference; and laziness).

Because he showed how those passions (i.e., dominant personality traits) distorted human perception and limited the human search for the essence and the Self to the trivial and clichéd and ordinary - especially after religion limited the search to the confines of their buildings and texts only - then Evagrius came under attack from the churches of Rome and Constantinople.

People were dissuaded by their religious leaders from seeking answers scientifically or objectively and told to accept unquestioningly the answers that were provided via dogma and "holy texts" only. New, "good" selves or personas or identities were generated, further eliminating any opportunity among the mostly-religious masses to know the essence and the True Self.

With the few remaining seekers who used the non-duality teachings to uncover the root of all disharmony and emotional instability and chaos, early teachers discussed the way that everyone developed a primary "point of view" from the list of nine possibilities.

It was seen by some that it is those "views" or "passions" or "primary personality traits" that mark and mar the human condition. The patterns of thoughts and words and behaviors associated with the passions now align with the nine personality types of the Enneagram.

What might be called - for the sake of discussion only - "human character" (as exhibited among the Realized) will spring forth from conscious-awareness of the essence and the Real Self and Love, so the Realized will behave in what most might call "the way of love" without having even a single belief about "love vs. hate."

In fact, the Realized are functioning in the non-dualistic, no-concept, no-belief, no-identity manner of True Love that manifests alongside the understanding of the unicity.

In contrast to what can manifest during the AM-ness if there exists a conscious-awareness of the essence and the Real Self and Love, those "separated from Self" who are blindly driven by their dominate and secondary personality types will be ruled by unconscious but habitual responses as well as the hidden agendas of their personality / personalities.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Three

2012-01-28T08:00:00.005-05:00

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From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012) Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: To review:

1. There are those who are truly seeking peace.

2. There are those who are not seeking peace because they are attached to control and are addicted to the excitement of chaos in an effort to relieve a dull existence of its tedium and boredom and depression and monotony.

3. In an effort to escape monotony, both chaos and dualism seem appealing.

4. For those truly seeking peace, it cannot happen unless one is freed from belief in and attachment to any "-ism."

5. Nor can peace happen unless one is freed from belief in any false identity or role or personality or personas because they are the prerequisite for misery and the driving force behind all suffering.

5. The peace / "-ism" dilemma is this: attachment to "-ism's" reinforces attachment to "-ism"-related personas, and "-ism"-related personas reinforce attachment to "-ism's."

Example #1:

"We are a helping, civilizing people when we invade nations with their backwards populations and share our advanced culture with them," which actually means "we have a history of imposing our high cultural standards upon lesser people to our economic advantage." To assume the role of "The Helping, Civilizing People" reinforces attachment to colonialism; colonialism reinforces the false belief that the invaders are "helping" and "civil." That is not unlike the parent who says, "I am disciplining you by whipping you because I love you" while the child is thinking, "Then just stop loving me, you ignorant ass. Your version of 'love' is killing me."

Example #2:

"We (Jews / Christians / Muslims) are the only ones whose beliefs are right" reinforces belief in and attachment to Judaism / Protestantism or Catholicism / Islamism. Attachment to Judaism / Protestantism or Catholicism / Islamism, in turn, reinforces the false belief that "I am a Jew" or "I am a Christian" or "I am a Muslim." Such beliefs, in turn, support duality and a sense of "separation from" and "better-than-ment" and "different-from-ness," and those concepts and false identities and drivers of attachment to "-ism's," in turn, have resulted in more murdering than any other single factor in human history.

6. Attachment to "-ism's" will always nurture duality; distortion; illusion; delusion; learned ignorance; varying degrees of psychic unhealthiness as a result of personality disorders; a variety of neuroses; an assortment of psychoses and full-blown insanity; and the resulting inability to be in touch with reality or Reality either one.

7. So, personality and "-ism's" work hand-in-hand to support each other and to nurture attachments and personality-assumption.

8. Personality-assumption robs persons of the ability to choose thoughts and words and deeds and leaves persons at the mercy of the hidden agendas of personality (which is the root of all usually-unfounded-fears and all unmet-and-thus-frustrating desires).

9. Fears and desires generate misery and suffering and rob persons of any chance of finding peace.

10. To understand personality and which personalities are generating the personality-trance which traps persons in an endless cycle of misery-producing thoughts ("mind"-chatter) and which determines subconsciously all words and actions, the Enneagram provides a tool that can uncover the subconscious drivers of thoughts and words and deeds and can reveal - on an exact scale - the degree to which each assumed personality is driving a person.

Thus, the tool that can assist seekers with seeing which personalities are driving them - and to what degree and with what consequences - was introduced yesterday.

It was noted that Ichazo used Enneagram analysis to show seekers exactly how "the ego begins to develop, [how] there is a transition from objectivity to subjectivity, and [how humans] fall from essence into personality."

Ichazo saw the Enneagram as a tool that can be used to examine specifics about the structure of essence and particularly about the ways in which the qualities of essence "become distorted, or contracted into states of ego."

In developing his Enneagram theories, he drew upon the teachings regarding "the nine divine forms"; the teachings of Plato; the teachings of Plotinus; and teachings by early mystics who focused their studies on "the loss of the divine forms in ego consciousness" (those forms including tolerance, humility, sincerity, gratitude, non-attachment, courage, patience, temperance, and discernment).

Therein lies the core Advaita message: when trapped in "an ego-state / personality consciousness" as opposed to being free as a result of awareness of the essence and the True Self, then tolerance, humility, sincerity, gratitude, non-attachment, courage, patience, temperance, and discernment will never manifest during the AM-ness.

The opposites of the "divine forms," in the course of their travels from Greece to Egypt over the course of a century, became distorted and reduced by religion to "seven deadly sins" which pointed at the means by which "the divine forms" became distorted into the so-called "sins" of anger, pride, envy, avarice, gluttony, lust, and sloth.

Ichazo's non-dual message that was delivered with a focus on personality and "personality-driven defects" also drew from the teachings of the Kabbala, but his key contribution as far as Advaitins are concerned was in discovering how these "divine forms" and their corresponding distortions connected with the already-existing Enneagram symbol and with human thinking, feeling, and instinct.

With that understanding, he showed how a person loses both awareness and the sense of pure presence, falling away from essence into the trance of the personality; how the loss of awareness becomes a person's ego-fixation; how the loss of contact with essence and Self eliminates tolerance, humility, sincerity, gratitude, non-attachment, courage, patience, temperance, and discernment;

and how the loss of contact with the essence and the Self sets the stage for persons to be driven by their "characteristic passion" (or "passions" or "personality traits"), including wrath and resentment and anger; pride; deceit; melancholia and jealousy and envy; greed and avarice; panic and cowardice; conceit and gluttony; lust; and indifference or laziness.

The link with the Advaita message is this: when one loses contact with the essence and with Self and falls into a personality trance, then the combined effects of

(1) that loss of contact with the essence and the Self

and

(2) the subsequent identification with body and mind and personality

become so acute that the person's ego-states become preoccupied with recreating the contact.

It is - at least in some cases - that "acute" search for contact with one's Original (Pure) Nature that drives persons to assume the role of "The Seeker."

That would be fine except for the fact that - without a Realized teacher as a guide or without being in touch with the inner guru - then the search unfolds in a totally futile and self-defeating way.

The masses are engaged in that blind search for their essence and for an awareness of the True Self, but blocked from seeing clearly by the sources of ambiguity and duality (rooted in programming, domestication, conditioning, acculturation, and their personality trance), they know not what they seek;

in most cases, their seeking ends at the third of seven steps on the seven-step "journey" from identification with the false "I" to abidance as the Absolute (the third step being where they assume the false identity of "The Religious One" or "The Spiritual One" or "The Realized One" and where their search becomes focus of seeking control and power);

furthermore, the odds are slim that they will ever cross paths with a Fully Realized teacher that can reveal to them exactly what "that / That" is which they are "missing" and thus seeking; therefore, they will usually seek blindly or will be misled by their "leaders" or "big name teachers" - all of whom are equally blind.

So it is, but so it need not be for those that have come this way and that accept what the Enneagram and the Advaitin teachings combined can reveal.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Two

2012-01-27T06:39:00.006-05:00

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

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From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: To attach to - and to be driven by - the agendas of the "this-ism's" or "that-ism's" catalogued yesterday is to eliminate any chance of "giving peace a chance."

Peace cannot happen unless one is free and - just as a ship attached to a dock is not free and, therefore, cannot fulfill its natural providence - a person cannot function naturally or peacefully if attached to any of the "-ism's" mentioned in that earlier post.

Why? Because, as mentioned, attachment to "-ism's" will always nurture duality; distortion; illusion; delusion; learned ignorance; varying degrees of psychic unhealthiness as a result of personality disorders; a variety of neuroses; an assortment of psychoses and full-blown insanity; and the resulting inability to be in touch with reality or Reality either one.

The same applies when personas are assigned or adopted because persons fall under the blinding spell of the belief that "this" or "that" defines who (or what) they are.

The antidote that some sages have used throughout history to treat belief in the "this-ism's" and "that-ism's" which persons use to identify themselves is the mantra "I AM." The advice is to focus on the “I AM” and to break the habit of allowing any word or label other than “THAT” to ever follow the phrase.

Then, “I am a great husband” and “I am a great wife” and “I am a super employee” and “I am a great lover” all become instead “I AM” ... only, “I AM” ... only, “I AM” ... only, and “I AM" ... only.

An impression based in reality is an intrinsic impression. Prior to having being taught even a single idea or concept, a child (i.e., a space housing newly-manifested consciousness) is aware of its Is-ness. Even the most recently-manifested speck of consciousness is in touch with the intuitive impression that It Is. It intrinsically “knows” I AM.

Were it to later Realize, it could say as another Realized teacher said and as is said here: "Do not speak of me as 'floyd'; speak of me as I AM." Were it to later Realize, the speck would not mistakenly believe that it was born but would say, "Before my 'parents' and even before 'this world,' I AM."

Any impression other than the intrinsic impression that I AM (and, post-Realization, I AM THAT) is merely an idea, a concept. All other impressions are nothing more than learned, acquired, false beliefs.

All man-fabricated religious and spiritual “knowledge,” all ideas, and all concepts are generated from that accumulation of fiction called the “mind” and from fictional identities called personas or personalities or roles or ego-states or stage characters or states-of-being-this or states-of-being-that. How could that which is associated with a mind-mirage and associated with a personality-mirage possibly be real?

Yet such impressions control the thoughts and words and deeds of persons (the non-Realized) across the planet. The result is that persons are unstable and are offensive at times as they are driven by their impressions and are defensive at times when driven by other impressions. Their impressions will also drive them to be aggressive at times and cowering at other times. Instability is guaranteed.

The following pointers are often shared with those trying to understand personality and trying to understand why all sages have advised seekers to take the steps required to be free of personality ... to be free of belief in all of their "this-ism's" and "that-ism's" which they actually think can identify who they are:

Many ask why the enneagram personality inventory tool is offered here along with Advaitin pointers. Consider: at the root of the hundreds of personality disorders that can

a. guarantee a loss of contact with the essence and the True Self and that can

b. generate ignorant or insane thoughts and words and deeds is - of course - personality.

Personality - the belief that "I am this" or "I am that" - must be understood completely in order to be discarded completely as an identity and to be eliminated as the key hidden motivator of dualistic thoughts and words and actions.

Further, Realization cannot happen unless the seeker understands personality; understands how personality drives persons via misery-producing desires and fears; understands the full impact of personality on the relative existence; understands how it generates a sense of dis-ease and separation; understands how personality produces emotional instability; and understands how it blocks any and all opportunity to know the Oneness (reinforcing instead the false belief in "different-from" and "better-than" and "higher than" and "apart from").

One of the most ancient of all methods used to "treat" the sicknesses that are generated by personality is Advaita, and the Advaita-Enneagram connection is ancient as well, though the enneagram or enneagram-like revelations that were a part of the ancient teachings appeared in a variety of versions.

The science-based version used here is relatively new, now offering the ancient understanding with more clarity and validity than ever before and allowing the transitioning beyond personality-identification to happen more quickly and efficiently for many seekers of Full Realization.

That said, the kind of information that is revealed by the testing and personality typing that is employed here is the information that Advaitin teachers have shared for hundreds and thousands of years, making the understanding of one's personality (actually, "personalities") central to the Realization process.

It is one thing to speak of personality in the most general of terms, but when persons are shown on a scale of 1-100 the exact rate of their personality-based anger or pride or lust or laziness, then more awareness seems to come (which allows for many the ability to detach from the personalities that are blocking the "path" to Realization).

To understand the Advaita-Enneagram linkage, consider some of the historical background, with gratitude to the early teachers such as Evagrius and Ichazo and to the more recent instructors that are versed in the use of the Enneagram (called by some "a matrix of personality structures that recognizes nine observable points of view" among persons).

To understand the historical background is to understand how persons become separated from the essence and the Self; how that separation results in passions that generate the most despicable "personality defects" imaginable, relatively speaking; and why the Advaita "path" has become necessary as a means by which persons can "re-connect" with the essence, the Self, and Real Love.

Ichazo, who early on made the link between the non-duality teachings and the understandings that can be revealed via the Enneagram, said:

"We have to distinguish between [humans] in essence [vs. how they are] in ego or personality. In essence, every [human] is perfect, fearless, and in a loving unity with the entire cosmos; there is no conflict within the [human] between head, heart, and stomach or between the [human] and others. Then something happens: the ego begins to develop, there is a transition from objectivity to subjectivity, and [humans] fall from essence into personality."

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part One

2012-01-26T09:04:00.004-05:00

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

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From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: Greetings. Actually, the blockages that are set in place by belief in (and attachment to) "-ism's" have been discussed - though not necessarily using the label of "-ism" - by all Realized teachers since these teachings were first offered.

(That has not, however, stopped some nowadays from distorting the teachings by adding all sorts of "-ism's" to non-duality pointers and promoting more ideas and concepts and beliefs rather than guiding seekers to a "state" of freedom that comes when all ideas and concepts and beliefs are purged from the fiction-filled "mind.")

Moreover, before going any further into a discussion of the subject, understand that here, there are no teachings. There are instances where the consciousness speaks in order for "un-teaching" (and thus "un-learning") to happen.

Persons who have been programmed with learned ignorance do not need "more programming," "re-programming," "the program," "this program" or "that program." Their Ultimate Sickness requires the Ultimate Medicine that de-programs and that leads to de-accumulation (including de-accumulation of all ideas and concepts and beliefs as well as attachment to all sorts of "-ism's").

When cancerous cells are found in a body, the intent of the treatment plan for that illness is for the body to eventually be completely rid of all of the cancerous cells, not to add more cancerous cells or to add a different set of new cancerous cells to replace an old set of cancerous cells. So it is with ideas and concepts and beliefs and attachment to "-ism's" that make up the content of the "mind."

Ninety-seven percent of the persons on the planet report that they are affiliated with one religion or another, and millions more are claiming that they "are not religious but are spiritual." In all of those cases, those persons have assumed the role of "believers." They are taught ideas and concepts and beliefs that they are required to accept by fact-free, inquiry-free faith if they are to avoid the ominous threat of eternal punishment and to be rewarded not only "now" but also "forevermore."

Some others have assumed the role of "non-believers," meaning those who have looked at the ideas and concepts and beliefs

(a) being taught by so-called "faith-based institutions" or "spiritual groups" and

(b) being disseminated by "believers."

The "non-believers" have rejected those beliefs after objective questioning and impartial examination.

By contrast, the Fully Realized - abiding as the no-concept, no-belief, no-identity, non-dual Reality - cannot be said to be either "believers" or "non-believers." For the sake of discussion only, they can be pointed to with the label "no-belief-ers" (though, of course, they accept no labels of any kind at all).

Sages throughout the ages - as well as any truly Realized teachers that are offering pointers nowadays - have invited seekers to realize first and foremost that they have no mind of their own at all.

The "mind" is an accumulation of all of the ideas and concepts and beliefs and "-ism's" that have been dreamed up, accumulated, and then passed on from one generation to the next ... in some cases for centuries and in some cases for thousands of years.

A child that exits a plant-food body in which plant food elements formed its body - and is said to have been "born" - has a brain; however, the child does not initially have anything stored in that part of the brain which will later store and retrieve information and which will be called "a mind."

(As noted here, the brain is rooted in the elements; the "mind" is rooted in the faulty programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation to which the child will be subjected.)

Eventually, that "mind" will be filled with ideas and concepts and beliefs that are not the child's ideas and concepts and beliefs but are the ideas and concepts and beliefs of the child's programmers, conditioners, domesticators and acculturators.

Thus, any talk about "my mind" or "your mind" is flawed, for every "mind" today is actually "their mind" to the degree that "they" have passed along the content of "their minds" to fill a new generation of "minds" with ideas and concepts and beliefs and "-ism's" that can be traced back to ancient myths and superstitions and non-facts and nonsense.

Follow the chain of the transmission of learned ignorance back to "their minds" and see that those were also not really "their minds" but were the "minds" of those who came before them.

The earliest teachers were those who dreamed up all sorts of ignorance-based "-ism's" and ideas and concepts and beliefs and passed those along to their followers, who passed those along to their offspring and to their followers, who passed those along to their offspring and to their followers, over and over and over, from "then" to "now."

Today, there are thousands of "-ism's" that are

(1) the breeding ground of future misery and suffering; that are

(2) the petri dishes where the bacteria flourish that will eventually cause the "The Ultimate Sickness"; and that are

(3) the nesting grounds for the continuation and proliferation and dissemination of the "-ism's" that nurture duality; distortion; illusion; delusion; learned ignorance; varying degrees of psychic unhealthiness as a result of personality disorders; a variety of neuroses; an assortment of psychoses and full-blown insanity; and the resulting inability to be in touch with reality or Reality either one.

How many "-ism's" can you name that you have been attached to at one time or another? Can you see that those "-ism's" planted within the "mind" certain beliefs and ideas and concepts that have since proved to be totally false?

If not, would you at least be willing to look at the "-ism's" that have influenced your thoughts and words and deeds and reevaluate their effects on your relative existence? If so, then the invitation is to make a list of the "-ism's" that you were subjected to or that you adopted and then assess objectively the effects.

TOMORROW: Looking at the plethora of "-ism's" and their Ultimate-Sickness-inducing effects.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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ADVAITIN / NON-DUALITY POINTERS IN LYRICS WRITTEN BY MEMBERS OF "THE BEATLES," Part Twelve

2012-01-25T06:29:00.003-05:00

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Lines from I AM THE WALRUS

[F.: One writer claimed that the song’s opening line is "'The Beatles' most succinct affirmation of the metaphysics of Vedanta which underscores our basic unity.”]

I am he as you are he
as you are me and
we are all together.

(John Lennon with Paul McCartney)

Lines from NOT GUILTY

Not guilty
For getting in your way
While you’re trying to steal the day.

I am not trying to be smart.

Not guilty
For looking like a freak,
Making friends with every sikh.
Not guilty.

I’m really sorry that you’ve been misled.
But like you heard me say:
Not guilty.

(George Harrison)

Lines from All Things Must Pass

Sunrise doesn't last all morning;
a cloudburst doesn't last all day.

All things must pass,
all things must pass away.

Sunset doesn't last all evening.
All things must pass,
all things must pass away.

All things must pass -
none of life's strings can last.

Darkness only stays at nighttime;
in the morning it will fade away.
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time.

All things must pass,
all things must pass away.
All things must pass,
all things must pass away.

(George Harrison)

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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ADVAITIN / NON-DUALITY POINTERS IN LYRICS WRITTEN BY MEMBERS OF "THE BEATLES," Part Eleven

2012-01-24T08:23:00.000-05:00

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F.: George Harrison said that the song "I Me Mine" is "about the ego - the eternal problem."

I Me Mine

All thru' the day: I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
All thru' the night: I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
Now they're frightened of leaving it,
Ev'ryone's weaving it,
Coming on strong all the time,
All thru' the day: I me mine.

I-I-me-me mine,
I-I-me-me mine,
I-I-me-me mine,
I-I-me-me mine.

All I can hear: I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
Even those tears: I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
No-one's frightened of playing it,
Ev'ryone's saying it,
Flowing more freely than wine,
All thru' Your life: I me mine.

[Chorus]

All I can hear: I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
Even those tears: I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
No-one's frightened of playing it,
Ev'ryone's saying it,
Flowing more freely than wine,
All thru' your life I me mine.

(George Harrison)

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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ADVAITIN / NON-DUALITY POINTERS IN LYRICS WRITTEN BY MEMBERS OF "THE BEATLES," Part Ten

2012-01-23T08:39:00.006-05:00

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STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.
It's getting hard to be someone, but it all works out:
It doesn't matter much to me.

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.

No one I think is in my tree - I mean it must be high or low.
That is you can't. you know. tune in ... but it's all right.
That is, I think it's not too bad.

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.

Always know ... sometimes think it's me ... but you know I know, and it's a dream.
I think I know of "thee," ah yes, but it's all wrong.
That is I think I disagree.

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.
Strawberry Fields forever.
Strawberry Fields forever.

(John Lennon, attributed to Lennon / McCartney)

Photographs of the memorial to John Lennon in New York City's Central Park -
the park across the street from The Dakota where he had lived and where he was assassinated at approximately 10:50 P.M. on 8 December 1980.

Lennon and Yoko often walked through the area of the park across the street from their apartment, the area renamed "Strawberry Fields" by the city of New York in 1985.

The city of Napoli (Naples), Italy donated the "Imagine" mosaic
which is now the centerpiece of the memorial.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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ADVAITIN / NON-DUALITY POINTERS IN LYRICS WRITTEN BY MEMBERS OF "THE BEATLES," Part Nine

2012-01-22T09:36:00.004-05:00

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Eleanor Rigby

Ah, look at all the lonely people.
Ah, look at all the lonely people.

Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice
In the church where a wedding has been ...
Lives in a dream.

Waits at the window, wearing the face
That she keeps in a jar by the door.
Who is it for?

All the lonely people.
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people.
Where do they all belong?

Father McKenzie, writing the words
of a sermon that no one will hear.
No one comes near.

Look at him working, darning his socks
In the night when there's nobody there.
What does he care?

All the lonely people.
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people.
Where do they all belong?

Ah, look at all the lonely people.
Ah, look at all the lonely people.

Eleanor Rigby, died in the church
And was buried along with her name.
Nobody came.

Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt
From his hands as he walks from the grave.
No one was saved.

All the lonely people.
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people.
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all belong?

(Paul McCartney, et. al.)

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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ADVAITIN / NON-DUALITY POINTERS IN LYRICS WRITTEN BY MEMBERS OF "THE BEATLES," Part Eight

2012-01-21T08:08:00.001-05:00

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While My Guitar Gently Weeps

I look at you all - see the love there that's sleeping -
While my guitar gently weeps.
I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping.
Still my guitar gently weeps.

I don't know why nobody told you
How to unfold your love.
I don't know how someone controlled you.
They bought and sold you.

I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps.
With every mistake we must surely be learning;
Still my guitar gently weeps.

I don't know how you were diverted.
You were perverted, too.
I don't know how you were inverted.
No one alerted you.

I look at you all - see the love there that's sleeping -
While my guitar gently weeps.
Look at you all ...
Still my guitar gently weeps.

(George Harrison with John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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