“Since ‘the mind’ is a composite of unnatural and supernatural concepts, then if one cleans away those concepts by seeing that they are rooted in ancient lies and myths and superstitions, then belief in concepts ends and so does their mind which is taken to be one’s own personal mind.”
F.: Are your seatbelts still buckled? Is turbulence being experienced around this discussion of meditation? If so, who is bothered? When a spiritual practice is questioned, only a spiritual persona can react and be “bothered,” revealing that one is "stuck" at the third of seven levels. It has been asked: “But Floyd, didn’t you tell me that during your days of regular meditation that you slowed your heart rate by seventeen beats per minute? That’s got to be healthy.” Of course it’s healthy. I still do the same...when I rest. Natural living is what happened with humankind for millions of years. It is living that is not marred by ideas, emotional intoxication, and beliefs in myths and superstitions. All of that results in unnatural living, marked by unwarranted fears, excessive desires, and unchecked accumulation. Or it leads to an effort by some to try to live supernaturally—to imagine powers that don’t exist, powers that have their own desires and want you to perform rituals and exercises that are needless. Supernatural living leads to magical thinking which convinces persons that they can have access to power that will allow them to control. The master addiction among persons is a desire to control, and the secondary addiction is the addiction to power that they think will allow them to do that. The result among persons is an overwhelming desire to control others, to control their surroundings, to control other nations, and (when they become relgious or spiritual) to use methods to try to control their racing, variable, tortuous “minds.” It cannot happen since what they are trying to control is a mirage. A person cannot control her or his “mind” since the mind is a conglomeration of lies and beliefs and concepts and ideas, an accumulation of mirages and appearances that are taken to be real. Because they did the programming and conditioning that formed that “mind,” persons have no mind of their own to try to control. Persons are trying to control the minds of others, for all minds are theirs. No one has an original mind at “birth.” All have a brain and archetypal influences along with the no-mind purity referred to in From the I to the Absolute : A Seven-Step Journey to Reality as "the Child Ignorance" stage. That purity is soon corrupted by an assault from two groups: (1) those living unnatural lives dominated by fears and desires and (2) those living supernaturally who are dominated by a quest for power that can afford control over people, places, things, weather, cities, states, nations…ad infinitum. The Advaita Teachings invite the seeker to remember, to remember what is naturally known: specifically, what I Am. The Advaita Teachings urge getting rid of, not accumulating more, and that applies first and foremost to getting rid of their mind which is taken to be one’s own personal mind. Efforts to control moods, thoughts, emotional reactions and a racing mind are doomed to failure. One can spend hours a day involved in the task. I certainly tried that for years. But all those efforts provide no more than a temporary respite from the effects of dealing with concepts that are dreamed up by people who unnaturally believe lies or who supernaturally believe in things that result in magical thinking. Either way, a never-ending effort will be required to subdue the “mind” that—with persons—can experience 25,000 to 50,000 thoughts per hour. For those who “choose” to continue that fight, using various methods that they claim are “helping them,” rock and roll. A struggle can have a very calm face, but it’s still a struggle at its core. Natural living is marked by witnessing feelings, yes, but it is not marked by effort after effort after effort to try to force things—including a “mind”—to one’s will. There is an alternative to trying to force a variable mind to be still. See the lies that are generating the troublesome thoughts. A person can never control the “mind.” The appearance of a temporary hold might be taken to be real, but those making such a claim may as well claim that they finally have the desert mirages of the Southwest states under control. How can one use any method to control mirages, to make mirages stand still, to make bothersome mirages stop being so bothersome? The proteges who are led to realization by an Advaitan teacher allow the mind to dissolve once and for all. To see a mirage as a mirage is to ignore the mirage. Since the mind is a composite of unnatural and supernatural concepts, then if one cleans away those concepts by seeing that they are rooted in ancient lies and myths and superstitions, then belief in concepts ends and so does their mind which is taken to be one’s own personal mind. When that mind (which drives persons to emote and behave in a fashion that is dominated by lies) finally come to an end, then the need to try to control the mind ends. Isn’t a goal of those who are practicing meditation religiously to stop the body from racing and to stop the mind from racing? Well, a body can stop. I call it “resting” or I call it “taking a nap” or “having a night of truly restful sleep as a result of the brain cycling at a delta-level.” Of course the mind can stop for short respites by using varied methods, but that’s all short-lived for persons. The alternative is to allow the mind to stop by dissolution. Feelings can still come and go, but emotional intoxication ends, working to rest ends, magical thinking ends, unnatural thinking ends, and then the beingness happens...without effort. That is true rest. That is natural. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued 1 September 2005]
