E-MAILS REGARDING GLOSSARY ENTRIES—“Memories”

From a site visitor: “You said the memories that cause the most misery involve the most assumed identities. How about an example. And what about pleasant memories? I have plenty of those.”

F.: The Advaita “path” leads to understanding, to seeing clearly what things really are and the way things really are (that is, "the way the totality functions"). Understanding and seeing clearly eliminate distortion. All memories are distortions, whether “pleasant” or painful. Even the “pleasant” ones can generate tremendous pain among persons who look back on the “good” days or the “good” times and long for them, trapping persons in the illusions of “past” and robbing them of the bliss of NOW. Persons often overly-idealize “past” events or persons from “the past.” If events or persons were not seen clearly then—and personas can never see clearly—then who would believe that an event not seen clearly originally is now seen clearly as a memory? That said, the example you requested about the link between degree of misery and multiple assumed identities will be offered. Consider the memories around two events that involved cutting a tree.

Pretend that there was a time when a child cut down a tree in the woods to build a fort. Imagine that as an adult he recalls the memories of that event fondly and no misery results during the recall. On the occasion that the tree was cut, the child was not being driven by a false identity. The child was just being, even as it appeared that the child was doing. If a happening is recalled that involved merely being and that did not involve an ego-state, one might certainly label that “pleasant” if it triggers no longing or unhappiness.

On the other hand, suppose a child with a father and mother cut down a tree in the woods every year on the day after Thanksgiving and took it home to decorate. Imagine that was done for a dozen years without fail. Imagine that it was a “family tradition” to go into the woods and spend half a day just walking through the woods together, selecting the most shapely tree available, trimming the tree into a more symmetrical form, and then dragging the tree back home and decorating it. Then imagine that the next year a divorce happened as the mother left, as the child was taken from its original home to another house, as the family no longer existed so no more family trips to the woods took place, as the child was sad on that same day every year, and as a protective parent watched a child suffer through the misery of the season each year.

Imagine also that every year around Thanksgiving the father’s memory of those events were triggered as he watched his child crying while remembering what once was but no longer is, experiencing year after year the perceived loss of home and family and traditions. What roles are at play around the “memories” that are rooted in the father’s former ego-states? They include the assumed identities of “the parent,” “the protective parent,” “the father,” “the homeowner,” “the family man,” “the grieving dad,” “the parent frustrated with an inability to ‘protect’ his child,” “the traditionalist,” “the romantic,” “the husband,” “the lover,” “the home provider,” etc. The list can be very long, so here again is the pointer offered originally: the longer that the list is of the roles that were assumed on the occasion of the original happening, the greater the misery will seem to be when memories of the happening are recalled. While a memory of a happening that involved no ego-states might certainly be labeled a “pleasant” memory, the recall of a happening that involved several ego-states will likely be labeled a “painful” memory by persons. The more ego-states that are “at play” in the memory, the more painful the memory will seem to be to the person thinking about "the past" and about former identities that can no longer be assumed.

Memories can also be called “recollections.” Why? Because persons are re-collecting all their false roles and are sensing a loss of all those re-collected roles. Collecting false identities from the “past” and bringing them to the present—which is the only true “time” that exists—also brings with the re-collecting all of the desires/fears, all of the unmet expectations, all the sense of “loss,” and all of the illusions that originally accompanied the assumption of roles. Happiness cannot happen when illusions are taken to be the real. Creaks and cracks in the illusion always surface and result in misery. Often belief in the illusion resumes as a result of denial, but the lack of reality to any dream will surface again and again. The following happy-miserable cycle can begin and repeat itself over and over, leaving persons in an overall state of chaos and instability: an illusion is taken to be real; glimpses of the lie being lived will surface; misery will manifest; the truth will be denied; persons can then lapse back into the dream, convincing themselves that “things are okay…the crisis has passed…everything is fine now”; and then a new cycle will begin again as the person lapses back into the illusion.

Memories are always illusions. Why? “Things” were never the way that a false self thought they were, and they were never the way that any person imagined them to be. If one could not see clearly when things were happening, why believe that the recollection could be accurate now? That which was a lie and distortion “then” is a lie and distortion now. Ignorance is not bliss. Bliss happens consistently only with the sane—with those in touch with reality—and never happens consistently when out of touch reality as a result of taking illusions to be real and accepting distortions as the truth. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: Why Advaita for you, specifically? Why for me?

E-MAILS REGARDING GLOSSARY ENTRIES—“Death”

From a site visitor: In the glossary entry on death, you wrote, "The only thing that can be said to die (that is, that can be ‘given up') is the assumption that roles and appearances are real.’ I don’t get that. Please clarify.”

F.: I Am consciousness. You Are consciousness. Compare that to any "form" that energy might take: wave form, particle form, etc. Regardless of the "form," the energy was not created and cannot be destroyed. Energy was, is, and shall be. Consciousness was, is, and shall be. It manifests, but it is not "born." It manifests only temporarily, but that does not suggest that it "dies." Those are the Absolute facts. Now to the misconceptions in the relative about persons and roles that seem to come and go: all persons and all roles are only assumptions and are not real. What can "die"--what can be given up--is the notion that an assumed role can define That Which You Truly Are.

For example, consider persons who were married and divorced. They imagined that “spouse” really identified who they were. But for that (false) identity to exist, another person was required to complete the assumed role. But That Which They Truly Are is real, depends on nothing else and no one else for its existence, and never changes. What They Truly Are, They Were That prior to a court officer signing a document and after a court officer signed another document. Court officers, like all persons, deal in lies and illusions and assumptions that false identities are real.

A document cannot create You; a document cannot destroy You. It can inspire a false belief that a dependent role can define who you are. How grand is the lie? Take the fictional Thomas Smith as an example. He married Jane Jones and a man in a robe told her that she was now Mrs. Thomas Smith. She assumed that new identity and all the fears and expectations and desires that came with it. But her fears were realized when Thomas left her for Mary Martin. In a court, a man in a robe told Jane Jones/Mrs. Thomas Smith that she was no longer Mrs. Thomas Smith but could once again be Miss Jane Jones; shortly after that event, another man in a robe told Mary Martin that she was Mrs. Thomas Smith. She assumed that new identity and all the fears and expectations and desires that came with it. But her fears were realized when Thomas left her for Patty Prentiss. In a court, a man in a robe told Mary Martin/Mrs. Thomas Smith that she was no longer Mrs. Thomas Smith but could once again be Miss Mary Martin; shortly after that event, another man in a robe told Patty Prentiss that she was Mrs. Thomas Smith. Do you see the insanity of assuming identities? "Mrs. Thomas Smith" was a role assumed by three different persons, and all three really believed that they were who and what their culture told them that they were. But the culture told three different persons that they were the same person. In the remote past, Jane was Mrs. Thomas Smith; in the past Mary was Mrs. Thomas Smith; in the present, Patty is Mrs. Thomas Smith. One can guess that in the future, Patty will not be Mrs. Thomas Smith. From this example, isn’t it clear that any assumption of any persona as a real identity is an insane case of mistaken, false identity? Are you assuming any false identities as real identities? Are you unconsciously listening to all the persons in your culture who haven't a clue as to Who They Truly Are yet unconsciously allowing them to tell you who or what you are? Then you'll also unconsciously accept all the fears and desires and expectations that come with roles and guarantee misery in the relative existence. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

E-MAILS REGARDING GLOSSARY ENTRIES—The Drama of the Lie

From a site visitor concerning abandonment of the drama: “I’ve tried it all--religions, programs, spirituality, philosophy, etc. and now conclude that this life is so crazy, I might as well get lost in the play. You asked why not abandon it. I ask why not get lost in it?”

F.: Escapism and denial are two of the more popular tools used by persons to “avoid reality.” In fact, it is the condition of not being in touch with reality that persons are trying to escape. They are trying to escape the misery that comes from being out of touch with reality (that is, “being insane”), but the methods used in those efforts only generate more insanity. The methods make the U.S. culture #1 in many areas in statistical studies:

#1 in the number of persons addicted to something in an effort to escape, to “get lost,” as you call it
#1 in the number of persons in “relationships” who eventually kill each other as a result of “getting lost in the play”
#1 in the number of persons who tried to "get lost in the play" but who eventually kill themselves to try to escape the insanity

The list could continue, but the pointer is offered: getting "lost in the play" prevents blissful, AS IF living and produces a miserable relative existence. In terms of the relative vs. the Absolute, none of those relative existence stats mean a thing, but for those who will allow the manifestation of the consciousness to run its course, why will most never run the course sanely? Because persons—being out of touch with Reality—are addicted to chaos, to the lie, and to the mental games whereby they can put a “spin” on their experiences and ignore the truth of the patterns of their behaviors that result in occasional moments of happiness that are eventually interrupted by one miserable experience after another. They can even deny that the misery exists, but denial does not eliminate the unhappiness. Yet your concept is commonly-held. Most in this culture will continue to try to "get lost in the drama." It goes with the culture and it goes with the personality type that is most dominant in the U.S., with what the Sufis called “Personality Type Three—The Performer.”

Use of that tool might help you see what you were up against in this culture when you were making an effort (studying "religions, programs, spirituality, philosophy, etc.") to try to overcome the culture’s influence and to be restored to the sanity of purified consciousness. The Sufis offered an "enneagram method" of personality analysis with nine personality types and their three “centers” (compare with the Advaita “gunas”). Among enneagram scholars, the U.S. is used most often as an example of a “Personality Type Three Nation”: one in which image is king, in which the drama is most frequently taken to be the real, and in which the fewest ever awaken. Of the nine personality types, Types Fives are ranked at the top as those who have the greatest chance of reaching Full Realization because they are most willing to question what they have been told rather than accept it all on blind faith. Type Threes are ranked at the bottom and have the least chance among the nine types of reaching Realization. (Those with a “Three-Wing”—Type Twos and Type Fours—are also handicapped to a degree in terms of seeing the false, seeing the truth, and eventually realizing fully. A correlation exists that might interest you, or not: Two's, Three's, and Four's--being the "heart centered group"--account for a greater than expected number of those with addictions. The heart-centered types--all influenced by the over-powering Three--are also the self-centered types. They are emotion based, they are image conscious, and they are often busy doing rather than merely being. Thus, these three types are more susceptible to becoming dependent on the "bad" addictions of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs as well as the "good" addictions of "religions, programs, spirituality, and philosophies.") Threes are the actors and the performers and the achievers among the nine personality types, and they have the greatest propensity for “getting lost in the play.” Everything said by a Three and every action taken by a Three is motivated by a desire to create an image, enhance an image, or restore an image. (And the desire to create an image, enhance an image, or restore an image is also based in one or more fears.) If you live in the U.S., you have a greater chance of being programmed and conditioned to behave as a Type Three, you have a greater chance of "getting lost in the play," and you face a far greater task in terms of setting aside the images and becoming fully in touch with reality. Your faulty thinking has convinced you that escapism is the easier route; however, you might find (if you invited objective feedback from an impartial source who has available all the facts concerning the actual results of your efforts to escape) that you’ve always put a type of “spin” on all of your personal experiences which has distorted the truth about the actual facts surrounding those events. That spin might include, “My suffering produces benefits in the long run” or “All these things I keep doing that are resulting in chaos and misery are opportunities”; or “There’s an overall plan and I’m being guided along so I don’t need to be concerned with accepting responsibility, seeking greater enlightenment, or abandoning the fraud generated by my personas.”

All that said, you can see what persons in the U.S. (and in similar Western cultures) are up against in any effort to realize: readily-available tools for escape; a culture that endorses image over reality, chaos over stability, and putting a spin on facts rather than accepting the truth; and a preponderance of persons in the population who have a personality type that is the most likely to work at fostering images, that is the least likely to want to get in touch with reality, and that is least likely to realize fully by abandoning completely all personas and all false images. As far as the Absolute goes, none of the above matters a wit. As far as the relative goes, all of the above results in misery for those "lost in the play" as well as for all of those who must deal with those lost in the play. Thanks for writing. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: A response to an e-mail regarding the glossary entry on “death”

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Fourteen

The Drama of the Lie (con’t.): Yesterday, visitors were invited to consider why they might not want to enter into the drama and take it seriously. Watching a play can be amusing, but watching the same play day after day can interrupt the natural flow of the energy. Identifying with the characters and actions in the play can be traumatizing and can result in emotional intoxication. Assuming a role in the play can be even more trying. Attempts to direct, control, and finance the play can be downright draining. Being lost in the play can prevent persons from meeting responsibilities in the relative existence. Paying the price of admission for those to whom a person is attached can be debilitating. It often requires a fulltime job, or a second job, or even a third job in order to be “The Provider” (which automatically becomes “the Super Provider” as soon as that ego-state is assumed to be real). Does that mean that no one can really enjoy a play, ever? Any play can be enjoyed when witnessed from a position of neutrality. Knowing that “it’s just a play” will prohibit loss of energy, traumatization, emotional intoxication, being trapped in efforts to control and manipulate, and being caught up in the drama and in the role-playing (which always—in the relative—exacts a heavy toll mentally, emotionally, financially, and physically on persons caught up in the “Drama of the Lie.” Often, some become so caught up in the drama that when their roles are threatened, they strike out and kill any person they take to be a threat to their false identities).

What drives persons to take illusions and appearances to be real? Enculturation, programming and conditioning which are used to pass on the learned ignorance that sets persons up to assume that lies are truth and that play-acting is real. In the cultures that assume the most roles and in which the majority are playing out their roles as if they are real, the elders in the “Drama” model the lie to the young. The young play the roles and participate in the Drama of the Lie into adulthood and thereby model for the next generation the same lies. The process leaves entire populations within such cultures in a state of believing that the play is real, that their bodies define who they are, and that the lines being spoken by persons who are immersed in the drama are truth when they are actually lies. To find the truth when among persons, seek the opposite of every thought or belief expressed until you reach the no-thought and no-belief and no-concept level of beingness.

Does any of the above suggest that one must abandon the play and never enjoy the feelings that can be felt during the play? Of course not. The Realize feel; they simply do not emote. Satisfied with less, the Realized do not try to buy the theater and the theatrical company and gain control of all aspects of the production. The Realized can witness, can enjoy the play, and can feel if they feel. But they are free of all the drawbacks that persons suffer if they take the false to be the real. They are freed of the efforts exerted by persons to use every instant either to "create" an image" or to "build" an image or to "reconstruct" an image that has been exposed as false. Persons absorbed in the play and their roles cannot relax and take it easy. While the reasons not to become lost in the drama and the roles are clear, persons will ignore the reasons and will continue to stay absorbed in their play, in their roles, and in their sleep. Few there are that want to be awakened. So it is. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
UPCOMING: For now, that’s plenty for you and any other newcomers to process. For those who have been sending in questions during the time required to post the glossary entries, your inquiries have not been lost. Tomorrow, responses to all the questions will begin, including one on “Death,” one on “Memories,” and one asking “Why Advaita?”

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Thirteen

Cycling: Existing elements can combine, "un-combine," and re-combine automatically, so nothing has ever been created, nothing was born, nothing can ever be destroyed, and nothing has ever died. Only the seeming appearance of what is taken to be a “new space” happens. Only the disappearance of what was taken to be one thing (which was not that thing at all) has happened. Elements are simply cycling. The elements cannot be created nor destroyed, but in "minds" with consciousness that has been contaminated by programming and conditioning, the combinations of elements can be taken by persons to be different things when in truth they are only One thing. So, too, can consciousness cycle and re-cycle in spaces that have a nervous system. With the constant cyclings of the spaces called “humans,” elements, breath and consciousness combine temporarily. Later, the elements return to the pool of universal elements, the breath returns to the universal pool of air, and the consciousness returns to the universal pool of consciousness-at-rest. The cyclings happen automatically and spontaneously, free of any "guidance" or "intervention" or any other magical factors that only personas believe.
Plant Body: A term used to make clear that what persons take to be “themselves”—their bodies—is really nothing more than plant food organized into a space that is circulating breath and temporarily "housing" the manifested consciousness which is the real. Plants are the vehicle through which non-usable energy from the sun is converted into a useable form on earth, allowing elements to combine in a way that results in a space (mistakenly called “a human body” or “an animal body” by persons) and allowing for the temporary manifestation of consciousness.
The Five Stages: An overview that shows how persons are programmed and what is required to reach Realization and AS IF living. To paraphrase the explanation offered in The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders (http://floydhenderson.com/twicestolen.htm): Stage One includes ages 1-20 when person are conditioned, indoctrinated, and programmed to accumulate, to get. Stage Two is ages 20-40 when persons unconsciously do what they were programmed to do, repeating what they were programmed to say, and believing what they were programmed to believe. Most never transcend that stage. For those who undertake “the journey” and follow the Advaita “path,” they enter a Third Stage and begin Self-Inquiry. Some say, ‘This life is shallow, hollow, unfulfilling. There must be more. I don’t even know who I am—who am I?’ If they find their True Self, they begin to de-accumulate in the Fourth Stage. De-accumulation is the mark of one becoming free of the programming. After that, one can live AS IF, as if this life is the real, and can then enjoy whatever remains of this life, free for the first time—free of educational indoctrination, free of spiritual indoctrination, free of religious indoctrination, free of political indoctrination, free of economic indoctrination. Free. Independent. Period. AS IF living means that the Realized know that this relative existence should be taken as nothing more than an amusement, not as anything that is really serious. Anything offered on this site is posted as a pastime, as an amusement, but never seriously as the Real.

The Drama of the Lie: Advaitans who teach by use of the original Sanskrit employ the term “lila," which means “play.” Other definitions of the word “lila” include “pastime” or “amusement.” The term “lila” is often used in conjunction with the word “maya” (meaning “appearance” or “illusion”) in order to make the point that what persons take to be real is not. What persons think they are seeing and what they believe is happening in "this world" is nothing more than a play or a false drama. (Shakespeare made reference to the fact that persons sleepwalk through life and simply play the roles assigned to them by their culture when he said, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women, merely players.”) Persons, being asleep and thus unaware, take the play to be real and take their roles to be real when in fact it’s all nothing more than an illusion or appearance. They are living the “Drama of the Lie.” (Shakespeare later provided the antidote: “To thine own Self be true and it must follow as the night the day: thou canst not then be false to any man.”) The Realized know that the entire manifestation in nature is nothing but an illusion (an appearance, a play, a drama) while also realizing that the absolute consciousness is the only reality. Persons "live" on stage, constantly playing one role after another and taking their roles to be their real identity. Just as an actor can take his part too seriously and internalize the role as an identity, so too can programmed and conditioned persons act out their roles so often and so seriously that they take the drama that they are a part of to be the real. That drama is really the “Drama of the Lie,” wherein persons are behaving as if the play-acting they are engaged in is not play-acting at all; as if the roles they are playing actually define who they are; and as if the roles being played by others truly define who they are. It’s all a lie. (One method used by some teachers to awaken those who are asleep to the truth is a psychodrama-type exercise called “The Theater of the Lie” in which a teacher will provide an opportunity for protégés to see all of the false roles they are playing, how their relative existence is nothing but an illusory drama, and how divesting themselves of all the ego-states they’re using as assumed identities can clear the path for them to abandon the false self/selves and to know the True Self. Meet one such teacher who is highly skilled at using the “Theater of the Lie” to assist persons in seeing all the false roles they have assumed which prevent them from living naturally. He is available for workshops on the subject: http://www.markdhouston.com/ ). The question for consideration today is, “Why not become absorbed in the drama?” Please enter the silence of contemplation. [to be continued]
Wednesday: The completion of the discussion of “The Drama of the Lie” and the end of the glossary entries.
Thursday: Postings begin that answer the various e-mails with questions about pointers offered during the glossary postings, including one query on “Death,” another on “Memories,” and one asking, “Why Advaita?”

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Twelve

An Act of Friction: A vigorous act of physical union (practiced by a male and a female pairing among the various species) which can result in the release of male sperm with the potential of fertilizing an egg in a female. The act (if fertilization happens) begins another cycling of elements that persons wrongly take to be an “act of creation” (as in, “We made a baby.” Magical thinkers claim, “We and the Creator worked together to make a baby” or “God sent us this precious gift.”) In fact, the process is natural and automatic and is limited to only two contributing participants. The last thing on the minds of a human couple at the moment of ejaculation was the specific "child" that followed, and among the thousands and thousands of other species that enter into acts of friction, they certainly have no mind at all and are merely engaging in an act of friction that is inspired by a natural drive of attraction, pleasure-seeking, and release.
No Creation: One survey of U.S. adults revealed that 87% do not know “how babies are made.” 87% do not believe that the process involves only two entities—a male and a female—but believe that a third party in another realm also plays a direct and active part in the process. Some believe in a physical intervention in which an other-worldly-male guides the swim-path of 40,000,000 sperm per second on this planet as well as the movements of all the eggs in females engaged in acts of friction. Some believe that entity provides a supernatural element while intervening and controlling the process and inserts some non-physical parts. So it is in a culture dominated by magical thinkers who have been conditioned to ignore the simple facts surrounding acts of friction.
No Creators: Why is nothing being created? All the elements involved in what persons take to be “creations and births” already existed on the planet, along with the air that will eventually be called “breath.” Of the trillions of trillions of “humans” that have supposedly “come and gone”—and of the trillions and trillions of other life-forms that have seemingly “come and gone”—nothing really came and nothing really went. Every element involved in all those temporary cyclings was present on the planet then and is still present on the planet now. Appearances that are labeled "babies, children, adults, etc." are assumed to be something other than what they are. By comparison, a steel girder's appearance is taken to be what it really is, but looking at the beam under an electron microscope makes clear that it is not at all what it appears to be. So it is with all appearances. The only factor in the process of all the cyclings that arrives from outside the earth’s closed system is the “energy.” No creation or destruction happened. Neither energy nor matter can be created nor destroyed. No part of anything that has every manifested has left the earth’s closed system, save the conscious-energy. Thus, there is no “birth” and there is no “death.” Elements, air, and consciousness merely cycle. At the moment of what persons call "birth," the recycled elements' appearance is taken to be a body when in fact it is mainly space, and the form appears to change throughout the length of its manifestation because billions of cells are constantly being replaced along with a supply of conscious-energy, all via the intake and digestion of plants or via the intake and digestion of animals that have eaten plants. Nothing mystical, magical, or supernatural is involved with a very simple, natural process that unfolds automatically. Among humans alone, 40,000,000 sperm cells per second are being released (20,000,000 per instance of friction that results in an ejaculation) and two eggs are being fertilized per second as one sperm cell per instance “wins” the race to the eggs. Among all species, trillions and trillions of sperm cells are being released every second and billions of eggs are being fertilized every second. No “Prime Causer” or “Creator” is guiding trillions and trillions of sperm cells per second. It happens automatically, and nothing is being created. No creation equals no creator, including those assuming the roles of proud “parents.” They merely entered into acts of friction that resulted in another cycling of elements, air, and consciousness.

All that happens when an egg is fertilized happens automatically as long as the female consumes the plant-food that provides the elements and conscious-energy required for development of a space that will "house" consciousness. What persons call a “new-born” is simply a reorganization of the already-existing elements on earth into what is nothing more than a plant-food body/space with temporarily manifested consciousness. As with the eight-legged ancestors of “humans” that emerged from the water and later began to breath the oxygen in the air, the “new-born” that was in water in a womb will walk the surface of the planet and breath air until the consciousness is no longer manifested. Nothing mystical or magical or supernatural is involved in the totally natural process which begins with an act of friction that can trigger another cycling of three components—the elements, the air, and the consciousness—in combination, temporarily. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Eleven

F.: I’m holding all e-mail that contains questions about various terms or phrases in the glossary and will respond to each in upcoming postings, but this one was received yesterday and calls for an answer now (on what many are labeling “Christmas Day.” This entry will be the longest ever, but site visitors will soon see why.)
Received 12-24-05 from a site visitor: “Tomorrow is Christmas and I’m going to be alone. My wife divorced me and got custody of our child. Both of my parents died during the breakup, my health has gone south, and problems at work are constant. My ‘ex’ married another man and he and the ‘ex’ and my child are now living in the home I bought. They are participating in all of the same events that were traditional for my family for many years. She took away my house, retirement funds, cash, other investments, but most of all my family and my child. She’s plugged another man into the slot I once filled with her and my daughter. I suspect you’ll want to offer some Advaita pointer that might relieve me of the hurt and anger, but the pain is overwhelming and after months of trying to detach by using the postings on your site, I need something else. In fact, having written that, I really don’t know why I’m even writing to you because more of the same that has not worked cannot help. But I knew no one else that I could talk to about all this so openly who might understand. Can you say anything I haven’t yet heard that might help me make it through this season?”
F.: Maybe something will come via today’s glossary entry, but first, I’ll remind you again of the response I sent to you yesterday: if you feel suicidal, go to the nearest emergency room and tell someone there what you’re thinking. (There is a suicide every eighteen minutes in the U.S. The numbers peak going into the New Year’s holiday when so many things can trigger memories around former ego-states. Consciousness might as well be allowed to run its natural course, but that’s another topic for another day. Now, to move on after that cautionary point.)

Above all, I encourage you first to accept some credit. 59% of the women killed in urban areas in U.S. cities are killed during just such a breakup. (41% of males die at the hands of a mate during a breakup.) The fact that you have not taken such drastic action to retaliate tells me that you are not totally absorbed in false identities and can make it beyond these events that are so painful to you right now. Feelings still happen after realization, and I can assure you that your pain is not being felt by you alone at this moment. This site has regular visitors on all continents, and I suspect your pain is being felt by many across the globe who know the Oneness and thus feel for you. They also know that you can move beyond this nightmarish challenge. I join them.

Now, I cannot ignore the Advaita lessons, but I will offer more, as you asked. To separate this day called “Christmas” from the other 364 per year (and to suggest that one day is different from others) is illusion, but after years of programming and conditioning, detachment does not come easily. To assume lost roles as actual identities (in your case, ‘husband,” “lover,” “parent,” “homeowner,” “victim,” “son,” “employee,” “healthy man,” etc.) might be illusory, but the misery you are feeling certainly seems real enough, doesn’t it? Remember the point made last Thursday about memories?

Memories are recollections based in illusion. The “memories” that allow persons to experience the most misery are those involving the most assumed identities.

You had dozens of identities that were smashed in a single blow with her departure and re-marriage. It is understandable that misery is manifesting for you now. Much of your identity in the past was linked to the events that are celebrated during this month when so much talk is about “family.” [In truth, with a 62% divorce rate in the U.S., “family” does not apply as much as “faux family,” persons typically taking the same vows over and over again nowadays.]

Next, even as recently as the days when my teacher was offering the Advaita message, persons did not face all of the additional obstacles to Realization that persons must face today. For example, labs that have been tracking the functioning of the hypothalamus in the general population have data which show that its functioning has deteriorated significantly among persons over the last several decades. If that organ (which helps differentiate true from false) is under-functioning, it will deter the efforts of the most devoted Advaitan student to see the false, to discard it, and to realize the truth. Where the Advaita message might have once offered the entire solution, today some persons need additional treatment as a result of the bastardization of the food chain with chemicals, hormones, pesticides, growth stimulants, etc. that cause vital organs to under-function. The point is, do not be hard on yourself today if you haven’t “gotten” the Advaita teaching completely and if you're feeling pain, for other factors may need addressing. [For additional information on the options in that area, visit http://www.marielachney.com/faqs.php ]. Next, I recently addressed the fact that “humanity” is not nearly as noble as the egos of many persons would like to believe. Among animals that kill other animals to survive, the kill is fast and clean and never intentionally cruel. Among persons, the “kill” can be slow and vicious and is often intentionally cruel, and you’re experiencing that.

All that having been said, only the totally Realized could undergo without emotional intoxication what you have experienced. Do not be hard on yourself at this point. [Later, you’ll be hard enough on your self/selves for them to dissolve, but you’ve made clear you need more than that right now.] Thus, today’s glossary term, which was to be discussed on the last day of the postings, is being moved to today for your consideration (and for consideration by all those who—contrary to the notion that this is the “most wonderful time of the year”—might be experiencing something that is far from “wonderful”). This might offer something for consideration that is different from what you’ve read on the site and that might provide an insight that brings with it a respite from your pain.

Some have gained freedom when they see why the type of experiences you’ve undergone were visited upon your relative existence by someone that you believe, at this point, chose to harm you and chose to hurt you and chose to be cruel and chose to be intentionally vicious in the process. Consider this: if your former wife had accidently backed a car over a neighbor’s child and killed it, would the neighbors be more forgiving than if she’d chosen to kill their child intentionally? I suspect the hurt would be there, but I suspect that something done without intention or conscious choice might engender less anger and hatred of the type you might well be feeling today. So, let’s consider the next subject in the glossary, namely, “responsibility,” and see if some relief might come.

Responsibility in Light of No Single Causer and No Single Cause: Some Advaita teachings are more difficult to grasp than others, including beginninglessness, the borderline between beingness and non-beingness, and responsibility with (a) no single causer that can be identified and without (b) a self that is responsible. As difficult as those pointers are to grasp, however, an understanding of the latter in this relative existence can be tremendously freeing. Maybe you remember this example from the posting on December 22nd:

“…a man remained miserable for years after his wife left him. The woman had been raised by a cold, abusive father and by a mother who repressed all feelings and raised her daughter to do the same. Now more than fifty years old, the woman has never been told by either parent that they love her. The family has a "no-hugging" rule. Their daughter is therefore also incapable of loving unconditionally. The man involved with her lost his role as “husband” when she left. He mourned the loss of that ego-state for years, miserable in his HOPE that the woman would suddenly be able to love. He DREAMED of a tight-knit home and family. His hopes and dreams left him dependent on her image as “lover” and “wife” and “the key to fulfilling his dreams” and "creating a family." His misery did not end until he realized the truth: there is no hope that the woman will ever learn to love uncondtionally, and if she does, he’ll not be the object. His misery did not end until he realized that his dream was just that—a dream, the complete opposite of reality. While many tout the wonderful benefits of having hopes and dreams, the examples above illustrate that both are only beneficial to perpetuating false identities and continuing misery.

The last thing that man wanted to concede when we first talked was that there was “no self that could be responsible.” In his “mind,” she was responsible for breaking up a family and stealing all he’d worked for. Some relief came to him when he realized that a woman conditioned not to love, not to hug, not to care, and to manipulate did not choose to not love him, did not choose not to hug him, did not choose to not care about him, and did not choose to manipulate him. She did not choose to be so absorbed in her ego-states (and so driven by the ego-defense mechanisms that try to protect those states) that she behaved in such an ego-driven manner. (You never chose to adopt all those identities that you are mourning the loss of right now, either.) Like the computer you’re using to read this posting, it can do nothing that it has not been programmed to do. And it cannot fail to do what it is programmed to do (glitches notwithstanding). It cannot decide anything beyond its programming. So it is with your “ex.” Might you feel some degree of freedom if you realize that all her actions which you are taking personally were not personal at all except to your own assumed personas? Consider: if a child is raised not to hug, not to even hug the people in her family and the people she thinks she loves, why would you take it personally that she could not hug you or be intimate with you? Is she choosing not to hug you? Is she responsible for not being the type to hug? And if now she is suddenly hugging another, does that have to do with “love” or does it likely have more to do with manipulation, per earlier conditioning?

Might you feel some degree of freedom if you realize that her behavior was not caused by you (or by her) but resulted from her programming and from every prior experience she has experienced as a person from the time her parents began warping her consciousness with their insane programming? Might you feel some relief if you realize the things she said that you believe were vicious were words that came from programming that was put into her long before you ever laid eyes on her? Might you experience some relief if you realize that she was set up, long before she knew you, to take the actions she took that you believe to be so cruel? Often, the pain you are experiencing can be diminished—even prior to full Realization—by an awareness of the infinite links in the chain of causation that led to her behavior. Is this an effort to minimize your pain or to minimize the significance of her actions as they impacted you and your child in this relative existence? No. But an effort is being made to cast light on the long chain of events that drive persons to behave in the insane and destructive and unnatural ways that make them seem to be far more cruel than any animal engaged in a hunt and kill. If this entire culture seems to be more and more irresponsible each day, it is because more and more false identities are being assumed. More and more there is a false self that is unconsciously driving persons in this culture. (The same is happening with you right now as a result of perceptions of loss around all those former roles that you can no longer play.)

To suggest that “no self exists that is responsible” does not mean that “responsibility” cannot happen. In the Reality of Oneness, harm in the relative cannot be instigated without also being experienced. Too, the Realized can “respond” without reacting from a state of emotional intoxication. For example, the Realized might take action—might take the responsibility—to act if they observe someone damaging the environment which is required for the continuation of the manifestation of the consciousness.

In the meantime, may you find some peace via an understanding that releases some of the anger in the way that parents might respond if they lose a child by accident as opposed to losing a child that was murdered intentionally. Your home is gone as far as you’re concerned. Your child seems gone as far as you are concerned. More freedom will come when you see who that “you” is that is concerned.

Finally, no person ever took any actions (of the type which "I" also thought at one time were harmful) and did intentionally what they did. Those who are asleep might walk in their sleep and talk in their sleep, but they're still asleep, even if they appear to be awake and choosing. Persons play out their assumed roles according to the programming that has left them without any freedom of choice. Their scripts were written long ago and they are now players strutting across the stage, engrossed in "The Drama of the Lie." You can exert all the energy you want to try to be "The Director" and change the conduct of the actors, but those absorbed in their roles will not listen. Better for you, then, is to know that upon full Realization, you’ll also see that no actions you believed were harmful actually had any effect on YOU—the Real You—at all. Peace can then come.

In the meantime, best regards, and may we continue the “journey” together to the very end of the selves that experience pain. Stick around for that ending. I felt your pain last night, I feel your pain today, and conscious people worldwide are feeling your pain. Please keep me and the site visitors posted in regards to your movement along the “path.” May you find any other treatments you might need, and may you pass beyond the pain of the many “dying” personas to the bliss of full Realization and an enjoyable AS IF life. Love, Light and Peace to You, f. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [Glossary entries to be continued tomorrow.]

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Ten

The End of Seeking: In cultures of accumulation, no peace can exist because the seeking of more is unending, unless Realization happens. The only possible result for persons who are programmed and conditioned to seek more is a guaranteed that they will never be convinced that they have enough. Persons never convinced that they have enough—enough money, enough respect, enough praise, enough “love,” enough things—will never be content with whatever it is that they do have. Seeking produces misery, no matter how much is “gained” in the search. Peace comes via Realization, via the knowing that what one has is enough. In fact, Realization often reveals that--as persons--they already had too much and so de-accumulation begins. Then AS IF living happens. The Italians have a phrase used in a scene from the novel The Board of Directors of Wars (http://floydhenderson.com/boardofdirectors.htm):

Kirk then felt the peace that manifests when one knows “The Sweet Void,” as he called it, when one can truly taste il dolce di fare niente—“the sweetness of doing nothing.” Kirk even gained the level beyond that, experiencing what he called il dolce di Niente—not “the sweetness of doing nothing” but more simply “the sweetness of Nothing,” period.

The Realized “live” between nowhere and nowhere, aware that what They Truly Are is the conscious-energy that is currently but temporarily abiding in the “I-Amness,” devoid of all need.

The End of Identity: Via Pure Consciousness, the illusions of ego and personality dissolve. A multiplicity of ego-states are taken by persons to make up their identity. The illusions of ego, ego-states, separation and “separates” end with the awareness that comes when Realization happens. Realization is the purification of the consciousness that was contaminated by enculturation. Realization brings about an end to the assumption of false identities and to the beliefs and ideas that accompany them. As the assumption of false identities ends, those trapped in the level-three personas of “religious person” or “spiritual person” break free of those ego-states as they stop identifying with a super power, take the remaining steps on the "journey" to Full Realization, and live an AS IF life of authenticity as a result of the understanding that comes via pure consciousness. Misery ends and bliss begins.
Pure Consciousness: Unconditioned consciousness; consciousness not yet conditioned via enculturation or consciousness returned to its originally pure state after Realization removes all the contamination that results from enculturation.
Enculturation: The process whereby persons in various cultures contaminate consciousness by teaching knowledge (learned ignorance). A result of enculturation is an illusory “mind”—the conglomeration of the lies, ideas, concepts and beliefs of the persons in any given culture. The “mind,” in turn, blocks conscious contact with Reality which is the source of all misery. Reality (the truth) can never be seen when persons are trapped in their "minds" (all the false believed).
Infinite Potentiality: Prior to this universe was an infinite potentiality that was unmanifested. From that unmanifested potentiality, a field of consciousness became the original manifestation in this universe and from that field all else manifested. Yet any manifestation is fleeting. The manifested consciousness becomes more and more limited when exposed to more and more programming. The limited state ends when the manifest becomes unmanifested or when the purified manifested consciousness comes to know Itself as the manifested consciousness and as the unmanifest, the Absolute, the Reality. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Nine

Manifesting: The act of conscious-energy/consciousness entering into (manifesting in) something with a nervous system. As for human forms on earth, the conscious-energy “moves” from plants to humans or from plants to animals to humans. While the consciousness is eternal, the manifestation of consciousness is always temporary and will eventually unmanifest from the space (the plant or the plant-food body of insects, animals, humans, whatever) in which it is manifested.
Unmanifesting: The movement of consciousness (which was temporarily manifested into a space) back into that "field of conscious-energy" from which it came. Some speak of three bodies to help students picture the movement. Consider the gross body to be the space housing manifested consciousness; take the subtle body to represent something shifting beyond the personal, gross body; and take the causal body to correspond to the transpersonal stage that precedes total transcendence to the Unmanifest, to the no-body and no-mind Reality. (The erroneous beliefs in ghosts, angels, spirits, and an eternal life with a body were first given credence when the consciousness that was still manifested in some gross body became aware of subtle or causal stage manifestations of consciousness in the transition stage of unmanifesting. A woman who looked as if she'd seen a ghost approached me and told me her grandmother had just appeared to her and told her "everything is going to be OK." Fifteen minutes later, a call came that her grandmother had died fifteen minutes earlier. That event was nothing more than manifested consciousness being aware of unmanifesting consciousness. Rather than suggesting that some "magical world" exists out there or that "bodies last forever," that event merely illustrated that consciousness can know consciousness NOW. In fact, only NOW can consciousness know consciousness. Unmanifested from a space with a nervous system, consciousness is at rest in the "field of consciousness," and no exact same "cluster" of consciousness will ever remanifest in the same "clustering" again.) Only use the "three body stages" to help you picture consciousness not unmanifesting in a micro-second but fading out of the manifestation and into the unmanifest. Then, see beingness not ending in the flash of a micro-second but fading from a state of beingness, shifting beyond beingness, and striking a non-being state for a brief period until even non-beingness is transcended into the Unmanifest. [Some claim the weight of the consciousness-energy to be 21 grams, released at the time that consciousness unmanifests. That is probably more detail than is needed. Many persons claim that consciousness is "the soul" and that the soul will go to another world and remanifest there into the same body it was in on earth--along with the same "mind" it had at the "time" of "death." Of course that is impossible since dust does not regroup and since "the mind" was a complete illusion...the storehouse of all illusions.]

To understand how the manifesting and the unmanifesting “fits into” the Functioning of the Totality, consider the following regarding the consciousness that has been manifesting and unmanifesting in the space called “humans” for millions of years: the formation of this universe happened over 14 billion years ago. On this planet in this universe, “human-like beings”—capable of making tools—roamed about at least 700,000 years ago. In fact, "human-like beings" have moved across the surface of the earth for something close to 14 million years (not the 6000 years that some claim). The manifestation of consciousness in what persons call “life-forms” began at the depths of the oceans where certain organisms thrive by obtaining their energy from thermal vents rather than sunlight. Over millions of years, the surface environment of the planet evolved in a manner that allowed for the formation of plants. The sunlight’s interaction with plants led to the process of photosynthesis which results in the separation of water molecules, the production of oxygen and glucose, and a means by which energy can manifest in organisms that obtain their energy indirectly rather than directly. Plant-eaters acquire their energy by consuming plants. Carnivores receive their energy by consuming animals that ate plants. But since the earliest forms evolved at the ocean’s depths, energy-consciousness first manifested there as far as earth's life-forms are concerned. Eight-legged forms--still the most common on the planet--left the water for brief periods until they were able to live above the surface as easily as below. On the surface, they thrived on the oxygen produced by plants and photosynthesis. Eventually, following one mutation after another, one especially-mutated branch of those eight-legged forms with outer shells evolved into four-appendage forms with inner shells (skeletal structures) and eventually came to be called "humans." Those who decry the suggestion that humans evolved from apes have not gone back nearly far enough to know that the earliest ancestors of “humans” were crustaceans. Humans are, in fact, the epitome of mutation, far from being the “glorious creation” that the ego and modern cultures would have persons believe. Rather than "O what a glorious piece of work is man," the fact is that "man" is the epitome of mutation and distortion...the most mutated and distorted of all forms in the history of the planet. No "creature" is farther removed from its original, natural form. His beliefs now make man not only the most physically distorted "creature" walking the planet but also the most mentally distorted. Thus, no creature is farther removed from living a natural existence with pure consciousness manifested, and "humankind" today is living with a level of consciousness more corrupted than ever before. Persons now live unnaturally and/or supernaturally as a result of the extent of all the distorting of consciousness. It is that corruption that drives persons to accept the ideas and beliefs of others that, in turn, always generate emotional intoxication and misery. Why know this? Only the re-purification of consciousness--via taking all seven steps of the "journey" from a belief in the false "I" as a real identity to knowing the Absolute That You Are can eliminate the misery. Awareness of humankind's actual status as the most distorted and corrupted form on the planet might facilitate the elimination of ego and ego-states that result in all the misery on the planet.

The main pointer here is, energy-consciousness has been manifesting and unmanifesting in life-forms in general for billions of years but in human-like forms for at least one million years and possibly up to fourteen million years. The manifesting and unmanifesting of conscious-energy has been happening on this planet for millions of years, and the cyclings will happen until the sun expands to a point whereby it consumes this planet. Yet even then, the conscious-energy will continue, and it will continue to cycle…manifesting and unmanifesting eternally. Such is the Functioning of the Totality. Most significantly, know that What I Am and THAT Which We both Truly Are is beyond both the beingness and the non-beingness. Anyone believing otherwise has been fooled. If You Realize, You'll never be fooled again (by anybody or anything). Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Eight

"Sleeping aids" are used by persons unconsciously as a result of programming and conditioning and enculturation. The "aids"--actually deterrents to awakening--keep persons asleep and prevent them from being awake, aware, and conscious. Most will never know Reality. Only a few will discover that Realization provides the solution to their relative problems. They will continue along the path that one described recently when he sent an e-mail saying, “I can’t really take much reality at a time. I can only take a small dose at a time. I have to escape from reality and fantasize and daydream.” He did not have a clue that what he's actually trying to escape from is not Reality but is the nightmare of his miserable experiences as a result of being out of touch with Reality.

Following a recent accident in which the body suffered the breaking of eight major bones, countless fractures, displacement of the shoulders and hips, and abrasions over many parts of the body, it can be reported that the pain experienced by the body seems less severe when asleep than when fully awake. In truth, the pain is the pain. Being asleep might provide what seems to be a respite, but being asleep is not really a respite, the pain is there, it does not end because of being asleep, and sleep does not eliminate the cause of the pain.

Why are most living their lives in a similar fashion? Depressed people seldon know, much less admit, that they are depressed. After being depressed for years, depression seems “normal.” Most persons are offended if a professional asks to test them for depression or anxiety disorders and take offense at any who suggest their lives are marred by misery. Most will claim, “I have a pretty darn good life, really,” though inventory would show the truth: few are truly happy and free. Some of the reasons include the following that block Realization:

Sleeping Aids—Memories: Recollections based in illusion. The “memories” that allow persons to experience the most misery are those involving the most assumed identities. Why do some “illusions of the past” seem to trigger more misery than others, if they are all illusions? Because some “memories” involve “recollections” of happenings that involved more false identities than others. Too, memories are distortions at their core. Persons did not see rightly in "the past" so they cannot possibly perceive "the past" correctly in the present.
Sleeping Aids—Hopes and Dreams: In a nation that refers to what it has to offer as “The American Dream,” most consider it a sacrilege to address the illusions involved with taking dreams and hopes to be real. It is impossible for either to be real. In ignoring that truth, misery results. Hoping is about the future; dreaming is about the past or the future. Both past and future are illusions, and no one “living” in the past or the future has ever been happy in the present. Hoping and dreaming deal with wishing and wanting and desiring. Wishing and wanting and desiring are linked to fear, and no one being driven by wishes, hopes, dreams or fears can possibly be at peace, much less happy. Bliss can only happen in the NOW. Here are two recent examples that reveal why Advaitan teachers invite their students to give up the dream and see the real. First, an intelligent man said recently that he really had everything he needed but was still unhappy and asked for an Advaitan explanation. Several conversations revealed that a father with a doctor’s degree and a successful practice had withheld praising his son, criticizing him for not earning higher degrees, for not being smart enough as a result, and for not having a job of the status of the father’s. The father sent signals to the son all his life that he was not bright enough and not good enough. Of course the father’s ego could only “love” someone who was an exact reflection of him. As in all cases, those assuming ego-states as identities can only “love” “others” who are an exact image or replica of them. Four decades later, the son is miserable. Why? The Advaita teaching makes clear: the son has a HOPE that the father will finally give a sign of love and acceptance of the son as He Is. He has DREAMED all his life that he could have that kind of acceptance from his father. The son will remain trapped in misery until he realizes that his hope that a father who is incapable of loving unconditionally will suddenly love unconditionally. He will be trapped in his misery as long as he clings to the dream that a father whose ego forces him to withhold praise and acceptance (and who can only “love” self) will suddenly know the Oneness and change his conduct when around the son. A father who does not know Who He Is cannot possibly know That Which The son Is and be at one with him. A father living in so many ego-states will automatically create a sense of "separation." In a second case, a man remained miserable for years after his wife left him. The woman had been raised by a cold, abusive father and by a mother who repressed all feelings and raised her daughter to do the same. Now more than fifty years old, the woman has never been told by either parent that they love her. The family has a "no-hugging" rule. Their daughter is therefore also incapable of loving unconditionally. The man involved with her lost his role as “husband” when she left. He mourned the loss of that ego-state for years, miserable in his HOPE that the woman would suddenly be able to love. He DREAMED of a tight-knit home and family. His hopes and dreams left him dependent on her image as “lover” and “wife” and “the key to fulfilling his dreams” and "creating a family." His misery did not end until he realized the truth: there is no hope that the woman will ever learn to love uncondtionally, and if she does, he’ll not be the object. His misery did not end until he realized that his dream was just that—a dream, the complete opposite of reality. While many tout the wonderful benefits of having hopes and dreams, the examples above illustrate that both are only beneficial to perpetuating false identities and continuing misery. Hope involves desire, and desire involves a perception of having unmet needs. Wrongly believing that one has unmet needs generates a false sense of fear. Desire and fear are never separate, and fear and peace never happen together. The examples above show clearly the fact that the failure to see reality—while believing in dreams and holding out for false hopes to happen—is the cause of misery in the relative existence. Hoping and dreaming always put the person hoping and dreaming at the mercy of “others” and dependent on “others” for fulfillment. If waiting for "another" to fulfill hopes and dreams, if trying to manipulate "others" to fulfill hopes and dreams, or if trying to force "others" to fulfill hopes and dreams, then peace cannot come. Focusing on hopes, dreams, and "others" fosters a belief in duality, and peace can never happen as long as persons cling to the illusion that dualities can be real. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Seven

Teaching Aids-“Clay in the Pot”: When Advaitans speak of “the clay in the pot,” the pointer being offered is that one can take a quantity of clay and shape it into a pot, a ball, a bowl, a vase, etc. Yet no matter what outward appearance or form the clay might take, the appearance or form is not what that really is which is supposedly being observed. Regardless of the appearance, it’s just clay. So it is when consciousness manifests in what appears to be various forms: humans, animals, plants, things, “husbands,” “wives,” “teachers,” "spiritual persons," etc. The outward form or appearance is never the real. It’s a temporary form only. That which is forever is the consciousness. The pot, ball, bowl, and vase shall eventually disappear. The clay will remain. Similarly, humans, animals, plants, things, husbands, wives, teachers, spiritual persons will all disappear from the view of those who believe they are seeing those things correctly...but are not. Images and illusions will disappear. THAT which is unseen is real and shall BE forever, just as it IS and ALWAYS HAS BEEN. Realization allows the images and the wrong-seeing to disappear now and allows for the knowing of the Real to happen, now.
Teaching Aids-“Thorns Used to Remove Thorns”: The Advaita teacher repeatedly extends invitations to protégés to cast aside ideas, emotional intoxication, beliefs, and concepts once and for all, yet the Advaitan teacher uses concepts during the entire process of guiding students along the seven-step “path” to Realization. How to resolve the seeming contradiction? Advaitans draw upon the ancient practice of using thorns to remove thorns to make the point. After a pain-causing thorn was removed from a hand, that thorn and the one used to remove it were both tossed aside. So it is with concepts used by Advaitans to remove the pain-causing concepts of persons. Use the Advaita concepts offered as pointers during the teaching process, but once the persons are Realized and thus freed of all concepts, then the teacher’s concepts are to be among those tossed aside as well.
Teaching Aids-“Snake in the Rope”: This analogy is used to help illustrate the notions of “perceiving wrongly” and of “images taken to be real” or of “seeing a thing as being other than what it truly is” or of how “enlightenment” works. Imagine students walking into a dimly-lit area and seeing a rope coiled up in a corner. Imagine them believing with all their heart that what they are seeing is truly a snake. Imagine the fear, the over-reacting to a mistaken image, and the emotional intoxication that seeing wrongly can inspire. So it is with concepts, with not seeing the truth but believing in something false. Now imagine the effect if a teacher takes the students back into the room and turns on the light ("enlightenment") and shows them that what was believed to be the truth was false. Upon seeing that the belief was false—that there was no threatening snake but only a coiled rope—imagine how quickly all the fear, the over-reacting, the belief in images, and the emotional intoxication will disappear. Realization springs forth that quickly when the light is cast on all false beliefs. Peace happens that quickly. When light is cast upon the false—making way for the truth to be seen—then all deception ends, reality is seen, and happiness begins.
Teaching Aids-Rope in the Snake: This is one I offer as another antidote to a miserable life in the relative existence when persons do not see clearly. As marred by misery as life is when imagining that every coiled rope is a snake, a relative existence can be equally miserable if one sees a rope in a snake. To deal with persons absorbed in their ego-states without seeing that they are projecting an image is to ignore a snake by thinking it’s just a rope. The Realized do not take ropes for snakes or snakes for ropes and thus live an AS IF existence, free of the slings and arrows of living an outrageous life that happens when persons do not see the false, when they develop dependencies on persons who are asleep, and when they also fail to see the truth. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
TOMORROW: Sleeping Aids

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Six

“Death”: A concept dreamed up by persons to label inaccurately the happening when something they thought they were observing is no longer observable. A concept dreamed up by persons who also believe that they (or others) have “created something” and “given birth to something” when elements simply combined in a process that happened automatically after an act of friction. In fact, what they thought they were seeing—regarding both “birth” and “death” and the “disappearance of other persons”—is not what was happening at all in reality. [Two examples: (a) Have you ever thought you really knew certain persons, only to find out that they were each showing the world a phony image and that image was not them at all? (b) Look at a steel beam with the naked eye, and then look at it with an electron microscope that allows you to see “below the surface” and see what’s happening at an atomic level. The beam initially appeared to be one thing to you, but upon further investigation you can realize that it was not what it appeared to be at all.] Since nothing is created, nothing can be destroyed. Following the unmanifestation of the consciousness, the elements of a “human body” will return to dust; the breath shall return to the pool of universal air; the consciousness shall return to the pool of universal consciousness at rest. Nothing died in that process. All perceived forms merely returned to their original “state.” The only thing that can be said to die (that is, that can be “given up”) is the assumption that roles and appearances are real. To allow each belief in an ego-state to dissolve might be called “the death of ego” or “the end of belief in a false identity,” but the identity was only imagined anyway, so no ego-state really dies either. All that is imagined or dreamed up by persons is false, a result of misunderstanding, programming, and not seeing clearly, as happens with the snake in a rope. “Snake in a rope” will be discussed in an upcoming post.]
Knowing the Unification/The Great Union—I AM THAT I AM: The Realized understand that the "I Am” and the “I Am THAT” are “not two.” The “I Am” is the expression of manifested consciousness while “THAT” is the consciousness not manifested or at-rest. Some speak of “The Great Union” to point to that unification. Others speak of the manifest and unmanifest “at the borderline,” but THAT is beyond both the “beingness” and the “non-beingness” (that is, beyond any “self-ness” or “Selfness”).
True Self: Pure Consciousness, manifested; the Pure Witness, aware of Reality and the Oneness. Some teachers used the term to refer to "THAT," but the use inspires many Advaita students to assume that a "self" or "Self" or "Supreme Self" with "some kind of form" will remain post-manifestation.
self: (note the lower case “s”): The false self. Persons take the body to be the True Self when it is merely the false self. Beyond that physical aspect, the false self/selves also have a mental aspect since, in the “mind” of persons, the roles they assume as false identities also define “their self” or “who they think they are.” The (false) self can also be referred to as the persona, the person, the personality, the ego-states, the roles, or the false identities. The false self is the false identity that results in persons being trapped in memories, timelines, ideas, emotions, beliefs, dogma, ritual, the misery of unfulfilled hopes and dreams, etc. The false self is so dominated by ego that it will believe in “others” and “others that are not as good as me” or “others that just aren’t good enough.” Those who have reached the third level of the “journey” to reality will claim that being religious or spiritual has given them humility to replace their ego, but “the religious person” or “the spiritual person” are merely two additional ego-states: the religious persona or the spiritual persona. Both, as with all ego-states, ultimately inspire persons to behave in a manner that “separates” them from all who they claim are not as “good” as they are, who do not believe what they believe, who do not behave as they behave, who refuse to accept their dogma or ideology, or who do not think as they think. Freed of all ego-states, no persona remains to think or judge or reject or believe that any can be “separate” from “others.” Knowing the Oneness ends the delusional belief in separation and eliminates all the judgments and beliefs and thoughts that personas imagine to be true. Belief that the false self/an ego-state is a true identity is always accompanied by arrogance and ego to defend the role’s image and to fight to give a sense of credibility to the false identity. That arrogance/ego generates self-consciousness (and prevents Self-Consciousness). In the relative existence, ego also inspires self-seeking; self-glorification; self-aggrandizement; self-centeredness; self-deception; self-destruction; self-indulgence; self-interest; self-will; and self-absorption. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Five

The Beginninglessness: Scientists in labs have now been able to reproduce the events that unfolded as this universe began: in a vacuum, a particle can simply manifest; other particles also form and then they all interact…being conscious of other particles. Eventually, in the case of this universe, the pace of their interactions resulted in an explosion of unimaginable force, followed within seconds by the formation of the first atoms (hydrogen and helium, which are still the most prevalent atoms in a universe that is like any body...mainly space). Those two interacted (atoms being conscious of other atoms) and began the chain of events that resulted in what is called “this universe.” The particles had existed infinitely since neither matter nor energy can be created nor destroyed. Since no creation ever occurred, no creator could exist. Since All has always been, infinitely, no beginning happened and no end will happen. Infinity is infinity and was “as infinite” before the manifestation of the consciousness That You Are as it will “be infinite” following the unmanifestation of the consciousness That You Are.
The Expanse of Infinity: Many persons can easily imagine “infinity” after their “death” while at the same time ignoring the reality of infinity prior to, prior to all they perceive now. Infinite is infinite, not merely a “post-something infinity.”
Infinite Cause: Persons seek to assign blame to one person or event or to one cause for "this" or for "that," pointing to a single cause. Those persons absorbed in magical thinking also want to claim the existence of a “Single or Prime Cause or Causer.” The fact is that all happenings are caused by the accumulation of all prior happenings.
Discontinuity: Persons look one way on the outside (the image) but feel another way on the inside; persons feel “torn into pieces” and thus suffer the misery of discontinuity which happens when they try to combine the real with image. No image is real but is taken by persons to be real as a result of “not being true to Self.” The illusion of discontinuity is especially taken to be real when a form that was once observable is no longer observable, such as happens when persons claim someone “died”; in fact, nothing was created and nothing was destroyed. All that seems observable is not what it appears to be at all. All appearance is illusion. The belief by persons that “appearances are real” will set the stage for persons to be trapped in the illusion of discontinuity and thus fail to know the unicity. From that perspective, persons will wrongly perceive that they are split, disconnected, separate and apart from. Sensing that they are disjointed and not whole, they will assume that they are in need of someone to make them feel whole or connected. Needs and wants and desires that always accompany fears will begin to drive persons. Destructive behaviors—that erroneously appear to persons in the relative to be constructive—will happen.
Infinite Continuity: Infinite continuity points toward a universe or universes that are limitless, unmanifested reality in which mass, events, and concepts like "time" seem to appear and seem to be real as the result of a belief in duality whereby imagined distinctions are assumed to be real. Infinite continuity makes clear that all is one, that reality/consciousness is all there is, and that nothing exists separate and apart from That Reality. There are no parts that are connected or interrelated. There are no parts at all. Nothing is relating. Conscious-energy is All there Is. The Realized, knowing that truth, only know the continuity; persons, not knowing the continuity, are trapped in their perspectives of duality and believe in separation and the judgment that always accompanies the belief that they are apart from. The result of the belief in being apart from is (a) the misery of feeling disconnected or (b) the ego/arrogance of being "good" or "better" and eventually "the best." Ego inspires more misery and all that persons call "relationship problems" in the relative. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Four

The Space: That grouping of elements that persons take to be "the body" and their "self"; the grouping in which the consciousness-energy manifests for a period. [To appreciate that what most take to be the body is actually mainly space, note the size of an urn that can contain all the remains after cremation.]

AS IF Living: The style of living that the Realized exhibit, seemingly living like persons but without persons' attachments, delusions, and emotional intoxication; the manner in which the Realized "finish out" the manifestation, meeting “responsibilities” and providing for the space while knowing full well that “this world” is nothing more than an imagining in the distorted perceptions of persons; a lifestyle that is unencumbered with attachment and emotional intoxication and belief in the lies of the culture; a lifestyle free of game playing and image perpetuation; a lifestyle unmarred by the emotions and emotional intoxication experienced by persons; a lifestyle during which the Realized can witness feelings rise and fall without any emotional intoxication, reacting, over-reacting, or setting off a chain of reactions (as happens with persons); a lifestyle free of the misery that is generated by the desire/fears of personas.
Emoting vs. Feeling: The Realized can feel without attachment and without a chain of reactions that result from emotional intoxication. Emoting, on the other hand, is what happens with persons—living in their false roles and ego-states—as they are perpetually intoxicated emotionally and constantly reacting and over-reacting to what they take to be "personal experiences" that are driven by desires/fears.
Desire/Fear: Two emotions experienced by persons that only appear to be different but always "appear" as one pair; both are based in illusion and both are actually the same, in fact. [To desire a mate is to fear aloneness or economic problems; to fear someone leaving is to desire that a false identity like “spouse” can be perpetuated. According to recent survey of 2000 recently-married men and women, the men married "because they were tired of the dating scene" and because "they thought they'd have more sex without the chase." Women listed as their top reasons, "He had a good job and income" and "His future prospects looked bright." Based in those answers, additional examples of the desire/fear link are seen: To desire a “wife” is to fear that the misery of “the dating scene” will continue; to desire a “wife” is to fear that too little sex will be experienced; to desire a husband is to fear their economic security will not happen or to fear they'll always have to provide that economic security for themselves; to desire a husband is to fear that one’s economic future will not be secured. PS: Don’t kill the messenger…just reporting the results of a survey that asked about “Why Men and Women Said They Married.”] Thus, it can be seen that “desire” and “fear” are not two different emotions experienced by persons but are, in fact, inexorably linked. One will never manifest without the other, and neither will manifest without an ego-state having first been assumed; desire/fear is also one of the major roots of all co-dependency.
Co-dependencies: Co-dependencies are fostered when roles are assumed (since no role can stand alone). “Employee” needs an “employer” to exist. “Spouse” needs a “spouse” to exist. All role-assumption is accompanied by co-dependencies because no role can "stand alone" but must have another person assuming a counter role in order to sustain both roles; another source of unhappiness since persons with any dependency cannot be independent (free); thus, role assumption and its accompanying co-dependency rob persons of freedom and of happiness (and thereby are a main cause of misery as experienced by persons).
Understanding the Functioning of the Totality: “Functioning” refers to how all in this universe, and how all that is in all universes, has functioned and is functioning and will always function. “Totality” refers to every happening that has happened, is happening, and will happen infinitely. Upon Full Realization, the complete understanding comes of how all has happened and how all happens and how all will forever happen. How inclusive is that understanding? Among all that is understood are:
***How this universe and all prior universes came to be;
***How consciousness manifests in space containing a nervous system;
***Where You Were prior to consciousness and manifestation;
***What is relative and What Is Absolute;
***Why no external power exists and why no truth can be found except within;
***Why You Were never born and cannot die;
***What happens when consciousness is no longer manifested;
***How all cycles;
***How the enculturation process puts persons to sleep even as they are certain they are awake;
***The beginninglessness and the expanse of infinity;
***The limitlessness;
***Bliss via desirelessness;
***The source of all suffering;
***Freedom from the pursuit of meaning;
***Infinite Cause;
***The link between mind and fear;

***Why "the mind" is a total illusion, and therefore

***Why all perceived via "a mind" is false and is illusion;
***Why you must be out of your mind to be sane;
***Why all knowledge is nothing more than learned ignorance;
***Why time and timelines are illusions;
***How illusions are taken to be real by persons;
***What the Oneness Truly Is;
***What you are not; and
***Who/What You Truly Are…to name but a portion of what becomes known.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

An e-mail received yesterday: "Thanks for the glossary. It's really helping me understand the points you've offered. Do you have an index of past entries? That would also be beneficial." Reply: If you look at the top left side of the site's homepage, you'll see an option for searching this blog. For example, if you type in "Buddhism" and then search, you'll find two entries and the dates that questions about Buddhism were addressed. Thx for writing.

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Three

Unnatural living: Living that is driven by the imagined fears/desires of persons who have taken their ego-states to be their real identity; in an effort to preserve their false identities, persons behave in self-destructive and destructive fashions in the relative existence; while That Which One Truly Is was never created and cannot be destroyed, persons are driven (though usually unconsciously) to destroy their false selves, those mental ego-states they take as their phony identities, and thus behave in a way that is contrary to the natural instinct to survive; among persons, the drive is for the false self to survive until the phony role playing results in so much misery that persons become driven to try to destroy the self (which can happen via Realization but more often happens through attack upon the body-mind that is playing the roles).
Self-destructive behaviors: Since persons take their bodies to be at the core of "who they are," and since they use their bodies to play out the false roles they accept as self-identification, it is the body that is usually attacked when persons become sick and tired of the phony roles and all the misery they generate; on occasion, the attack against the body is conscious and violent (as with suicides) but typically the attack is more subtle as persons try to destroy the body slowly with harmful habits, harmful foods, drinks, drugs, eating disorders, impulsive actions and risky behavior; self-destructive behaviors are also those behaviors that are typical of persons who are absorbed in false roles, who foster false images, and who sometimes know on some level that it is their assumption of their false identity and phony roles that is the major contributor to their misery. In truth, the false self can be abandoned (via the Advaita "path" to Realization) if one sees clearly it is false and then uncovers the Real, but most do not and thus try to destroy the body-mind that "houses" the false self; the desire to escape the false roles and all the chaos that they generate makes ego-states/ego a key source of addictive behavior that has at its core the desire to elude or shake off the misery of living the lies that all ego-states are and that all ego inspires.
Body-mind-personality triad: A triad is anything with three parts. Among persons, the three parts that they are conscious of (using their impure consciousness) are the physical body, the mind, and the personality (or personalities…the personas or roles that they are playing and take to be their true identity); believing in their "three-ness," they fail to know the unicity (that is, their Oneness with All); fixed in the delusion of a three-fold triad and not knowing the Oneness, persons believe in the multiplicity.

Multiplicity: The perception among persons that the world and the universe are made of multiple components rather than the one true THAT; the belief in the concepts of separate and different which, in turn, inspire judgment and separation, ego, superiority and inferiority, good and bad, right and wrong, better/best, and all dualistic thinking and wrong perceiving that prevents persons from knowing the unicity and being aware of the at-one-ment of all.
Unicity: The opposite of multiplicity; persons mistakenly perceive a multiplicity of things that supposedly make up “this world”; in fact, all in this world is imagined, wrongly perceived. To understand unicity, understand the prefix “uni” ("one”). The universe is but One. All that exists is the one, single THAT; all does not have THAT in common but, instead, is in common.
Meditation (or contemplation): Originally, not the act of seeking the no-mind state but of seeking a quiet place and time to consider thoroughly any and all pointers offered by a teacher; it is during that act that all the false can be seen, all the truth can be known, the lie of duality can be seen, and truth of the unicity can come to light.
Duality: The great lie, the belief in separation (a belief that is rooted in false identity and the ego that always accompanies the assumption of ego-states as identities); the arbitrary and imagined division of all (which is actually One) into fictitious groups. For example, duality—taken only by persons to be real—results in a perception of separation based in superficial judgment followed by the cataloguing of all people and behaviors and things and events and places as either “good or bad,” "right or wrong," "OK or not OK," "enough or not enough." Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR THIS SITE, Part Two

[Continued from 15 December 2005]

Witness: That impartial, objective observer that witnesses all happenings in the relative existence without attachment or reaction or emoting; in the early going, object-subject observation can happen. At the True Self level, Pure Witnessing happens without any subject-object delusions, with full knowledge of the lies of the relative eixstence, and with full awareness of the truth of the Absolute and the Oneness of all.
Subject-Object: A dualistic perception, believing that separates exist and can be seen, such as, “I” (subject) see “you” (object). The Realized, aware of the Oneness, see no separates and know that all is One.
Relative existence: The existence that persons take to be the real; unlike the Absolute that is completely pure and unadulterated and unchanging, all in the relative is marked by change and instability and misperception; persons taking the relative to be real live with a limited, three-dimensional perspective, focused only on five-sense experiences; persons in the relative live with no conscious contact with Reality and with no awareness of the sixth sense.
Absolute: The Ultimate Reality or the Great Reality, meaning simply…that which is real; that "field" in which consciousness is at rest; that "field" from which consciousness has been drawn into manifestation; that "field" to which consciousness returns once no longer manifested; THAT Which All Is; the conscious-energy Itself; that purest, unadulterated "whatever" that All Is; that lowest, tiniest common "something" which All in this universe and all universes IS, without beginning and without end...never-changing; the conscious-energy that All Is, whether manifested or not.
Manifestation: Conscious-energy-light can be reflected off objects without a nervous system or absorbed (manifested) into something with a nervous system; on earth, the consciousness-bearing energy is absorbed into plants that can be consumed by humans/animals that are merely a space in which the consciousness manifests temporarily.
Programming and conditioning: The process whereby pure consciousness, manifested in what is primarily space but is called a "human" or "person" by the non-Realized, is contaminated with ideas, concepts, dogma, teachings, preachings, ad infinitum, all of which are false; the process whereby the ignorance of the masses (which they call their "knowledge") becomes the learned ignorance of their offspring.
The mind: The storehouse of those contaminants of the originally pure consciousness; humans are born with a brain but not with a mind; the mind is that storehouse of all the lies and concepts and knowledge/ignorance that persons accumulate; once filled with the nonsense that persons dream up, it becomes the source of all misery, constantly in movement, constantly imagining desires/fears as a result of programming and conditioning. Persons each believe that they have what they call "my mind," but there is only "their mind," the mind that is created by programmers who pass along their ideas, their beliefs, and their concepts that the programmed then take to be their own.
Natural living: Living that happens without agenda, unfolding from a position of neutrality; it is the type of existence that unfolds for the Realized since they are free of all false identities and ego-states and thus are not driven to manipulate, to accumulate, or to control (or to seek and manipulate imaginary, supernatural power in an effort to control).
Supernatural living: Living that is based in magical thinking rather than fact, marked by constant attempts to bargain with or manipulate or appeal to an external power that they believe can grant their wishes or share power with them in their efforts to control; living marked by spiritual and emotional intoxication of the type that only ego-states can experience; the lifestyle followed by persons, so dominated by desires/fears and efforts to control people, places, things, and events that an imagined power (created in the imagination and the image of men) is endlessly sought and petitioned; a life lived by persons who are out of touch with reality; a life lived by persons who believe the Great Reality is a person (with supernatural powers); that which can be a transitional "stage," not quite halfway along the seven-step "journey" to Reality that can move persons from their belief that the "I" is real to knowing the Absolute Which Truly Is the Real; a lifestyle adopted by the masses during times of greatest fear or perceived attack; a lifestyle marked by rigidity and closure to alternative explanations; the type living that prohibits questioning and thus locks persons into believing in all of the false teachings of their culture; the type of living marked by beliefs that leave persons unaware of their inner resource and inspires dependency, especially on imaginary outer resources.

Magical thinking: Thinking based in non-fact, superstition, myth and belief in other-worldly powers; the belief that a micro-managing power in another realm (usually conceived as male in gender) is the single cause of all happenings on the planet; thinking inspired via religious or “spiritual” programming; thinking often inspired by abuse and trauma suffered in such a degree that a desire for rescue by some external power is wished or hoped for; thinking inspired by ego that wants control and therefore also wants a power at one’s beck and call that can grant wishes; the fanciful thinking that leads persons to believe that they can petition a power in another realm that can then grant them control over people, places, things, weather, and all events; the type thinking that believes disasters are not events in nature but are punishments or signs delivered by an angry, other-worldly power; the type thinking that dismisses scientific facts and endorses blind, unquestioning faith; the type thinking that blocks all awareness of Reality and imprisons persons in the confines of the false concepts of "a mind." Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]