F.: So, the Advaita teachings are first for those who…
1. have met the age requirement and
2. have played the play as if it were the real and
3. have tired of the play or been removed from the play (willingly or unwillingly) and
4. have been seeking (really seeking) and
5. begun to doubt those “experts” whose words were taken to be “the truth” and
6. are ready to abandon the roles if that is the “price” of freedom, happiness and eventual bliss.
Much of the readiness happens as a result of having interacted with far too many actors, spoken far too many lines, played far too many roles, and been paired with far too many other actors who have been far too difficult to deal with. ALL actors are egotistical; ALL are narcissistic; and ALL demand the single spotlight for themselves. Being on stage with them, and being one of them yourself, is the formula for conflict because there's only ONE spotlight but hundreds who are in your play and demanding that the focus be on them and not on you. Of course conflict results with so many egomaniacs crammed into your limited space as you play your limiting roles and they play their limiting roles. [That Which I Am and That Which You Are is limitless. The roles you play are that which makes your five-sense, three-dimensional character seem so limited.]
1. have met the age requirement and
2. have played the play as if it were the real and
3. have tired of the play or been removed from the play (willingly or unwillingly) and
4. have been seeking (really seeking) and
5. begun to doubt those “experts” whose words were taken to be “the truth” and
6. are ready to abandon the roles if that is the “price” of freedom, happiness and eventual bliss.
Much of the readiness happens as a result of having interacted with far too many actors, spoken far too many lines, played far too many roles, and been paired with far too many other actors who have been far too difficult to deal with. ALL actors are egotistical; ALL are narcissistic; and ALL demand the single spotlight for themselves. Being on stage with them, and being one of them yourself, is the formula for conflict because there's only ONE spotlight but hundreds who are in your play and demanding that the focus be on them and not on you. Of course conflict results with so many egomaniacs crammed into your limited space as you play your limiting roles and they play their limiting roles. [That Which I Am and That Which You Are is limitless. The roles you play are that which makes your five-sense, three-dimensional character seem so limited.]
The readiness is not prompted by being sick and tired of traffic, a job, or a mortgage. The readiness is prompted by being sick and tired of the roles assumed while dealing with persons (and your own personas) in traffic, while dealing with persons (and your own personas) at a job, while dealing with persons (and your own personas) as bill payments are being demanded endlessly on the "stuff" your personas have accumulated. No wonder the Realized pass more time in solitude, revel in the quiet, and delight in the process of de-accumulation.
Misery never flows from the endless list of "things" that persons complain about. It only flows from the endless number of roles assumed and the endless number of other actors that your own personas engage while in the effort to find the co-dependent counterparts that are always required to sustain false roles. Co-dependency on anything is dependency, any dependency eliminates independence, and the elimination of independence robs all persons of freedom. Misery flows from believing the lie that "B" is the source of one's misery when in fact it is "A." Persons haven't a clue as to what the true source of their unhappiness is, and most will never find the source since most are even denying the presence of the misery of the boredom and the drama and the chaos and the stress of assuming so many roles in the play. It is not the "things" of the culture that produce stress. It is only the personas played (and the personas you've played with) that generate the misery. It is believing the lies and buying into "others' concepts" that set persons up for misery and boredom. And it is misery that triggers a search for happiness and it is boredom that makes chaos appear to be so appealing. And all of the misery and eventual boredom stem only from actors and their acting. Conversely, all happiness and bliss stem from leaving the drama company, giving up the roles, and moving away from the phony actors and then finding the genuine, the real, the truth.
The readiness for the Advaita "journey" happens when persons see that during their “Drama of the Lie,” they loved another actor well but not wisely; or that they feel as if they trusted and loved another actor foolishly and feel as if they have “lost their very life”; or that they fell for one of three types of actors in the “Drama of the Lie”: (a) actors of the type that seem passionate and intelligent but were just showing an image and in their lack of stability are bent toward hugging one day but slugging the next; or (b) one of those types who appeared to be gentle and vulnerable but in the end proved to have a vicious penchant for total destruction; or (c) one of those who played the role with seeming charm but proved by play’s end to be a calculating predator. To be ready, a person must have played the many roles perfectly and still been fooled by one of those types or by one of the many other types that project an image but are completely the opposite in truth. To be ready, persons must have been fooled by all of those other sleepwalking persons who influenced them earlier: parents, teachers, preachers, priests, bosses, sages, medicine men, sponsors, guides, lovers, spouses, governmental leaders, speechwriters, speechmakers, etc. ad infinitum.
So, what about your standing, your level of readiness? Are you still absorbed in the drama and believing it’s real? Are you still unable to see what your play-acting partner is really about? Are you still unable to see what your play-acting is really about? Are you not yet tired of the games and the roles and the play-acting and the interacting with all those playing those phony roles? Are you still up to trying another act or two and a few more dramatic scenes that might get the things that a false body-mind identity wants and desires as a result of perceived fears? Do you still believe the lie that finding another actor to be dependent on can really give happiness and freedom? Then you’re not yet ready. Have you experienced 1-6 above? Do you see where absorption in the play has cost you peace and happiness? Are you tired of the unending action and the constant doing of strutting back and forth across the stage and being bombastic about this or overly-dramatic about that? Does a faint memory remain within (at some level of consciousness) of the joy of beingness as opposed to the rigors of doingness? Then you may be ready to complete all seven steps of the “journey” from believing in the false "I" to knowing the Absolute. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
TOMORROW: The prerequisites of Having Doubts and Being Tired
