F.: Today’s posting will discuss suggestions “h” through “k” on the original list [see 7 January 2006].
“Purpose” and “meaning” are more of the stuff that dreams are made of, and dreams are unreal…nothing more than reflections of the ego among persons identified with body. WHO—what ego-state—could want meaning and purpose if it is understood that what is real has never even lived? How could any “life” be thought to have meaning if it is realized that You—That Which You Truly Are—Are beyond the cyclings of elements (via acts of friction) and Are beyond “death” by virtue of being beyond “birth”?
To return to the jungle tribe used as an example in an earlier post: all of the members of the tribe were engaged in beingness, not in doingness. That is a sign of contentment. They have no words in their language for “stress,” “restless,” “discontented,” “clock,” “work,” “purpose,” “meaning,” “irritation,” “rush,” “speed,” “hurry,” “busy,” “business” (“busy-ness”), “noble,” or “important.” Film of their daily activities showed every member smiling no matter what was happening though they have no mode of transportation other than their feet or a canoe, no air conditioning, no electronic devices, no stoves or microwaves, no cellphones with their constant ringing and chatter, no electricity…nothing, in fact, that most persons in the West believe to be so essential. If someone in the West “loses power” for three days, his life is in shambles. The villagers have never had power for a day and are not seeking any power at all. They are merely being.
When they were shown a film of persons in the West that revealed the lifestyle here, they could not believe such could be happening or would be happening. When offered an opportunity to travel to the West and see first-hand what was happening in this culture, they could not imagine why anyone would even consider so senseless a trip. That which a jungle-bound human with no formal education rejected outright in a matter of seconds is exactly what the masses in this culture are absorbed in trying to gain. Yet deep within, is there not a sense that what they have should be far more sought after?
Of course most cannot literally “drop out” and move to the jungle and live so carefree a life. But all can drop out of the insanity and move to a peaceful state. How? By giving up all extra and unnecessary effort and work and by being free of ego in order to be free, period.
All stress among persons is ego-generated and is therefore based in a lie and need not be experienced. Stress is nature’s natural reaction to actual threat. If those in the jungle are wading into a river to fish and see a crocodile moving toward them, they become stressed and inspired to take defensive action and move away from the threat. Having removed themselves from the threat, a sense of calm returns. In the West, stress results as an unnatural reaction to perceived, but not real, threats. Assuming false roles to be a true identity, anything that challenges a person's image will be taken as a threat and will result in a sensation of stress. Persons have no way to remove themselves from a sense of threat because they believe that a threat to expose their roles is an actual assault. Believing a false threat to be real prevents any possibility for calm to return. Whereas a fisherman living in the jungle can physically remove himself from a real threat, those trapped in their false identities can never mentally or emotionally remove themselves from perceived threats against their ego-states. If “wife” is leaving, “husband” can no longer exists. That ego-state will feel threatened, will believe that the threat is real no matter how many friends or counselors offer a contrary opinion, will feel stress, will be driven to defend itself, and will therefore lash out at whatever or whoever the false role believes is the source of a life-threatening action. Life-threatening? Yes. Once the false identity of “husband” is taken to be real, it cannot exist without the co-dependent partner that all ego-states require for their (false) “existence.” It is that illusion—believing that a threat to an ego-state is an actual threat—that results in a revealing statistic: in urban areas, 59% of all women killed are killed by a partner during a breakup; 41% of all men that are killed are murdered under the same circumstances. No wonder the detectives in a murder investigation go first to a partner or spouse as the key suspect.
And it is the same delusional thinking that drives persons to want additional ego-states that can only exist if they have “meaning” and “purpose.” Once Realized, You can live with peace in the busiest environment and can engage in an occupation that others find stressful while remaining unattached to the fray. The chaos generated by persons can be swirling all about You, but You will only witness the insanity rather than being pulled into it. Free of all ego and ego-states, no false threats—and therefore no unjustified stress—can be experienced. That Which You Are will not experience all the threats that persons seem to experience. The tasks of your job can happen…or not, and no false threat will be perceived. You may not be able to join the idyllic community of a remote jungle tribe, and you probably have no desire to do so, but You can move from your culture’s chaos to that jungle’s type of peace by purifying the consciousness That You Are of all the contaminates of programming and conditioning that resulted in a “mind” that believes the lies of your culture. Be free of the lies and you’ll be free of their fooling you; and when they can no longer fool you with their concepts, You will be free. You will then be free enough to ignore those who would have you seek power from without and you can pay more attention to those who invite you to realize that you already have all that is needed...within; that all concepts, including “purpose” and “meaning,” are dead weight that need not be dragged around; and that the ego, which drives all ego-states, is the engine pushing your search. You will give up the search, knowing that what you seek is an illusion of your culture. You would not race up and down the highways of New Mexico trying to catch a mirage. Why race up and down “the highways of your existence,” trying to do the same?
To fail to know the True Self will leave persons absorbed with the busy-ness of their false self or selves. Absorbed in the illusion of self, and trying to find a purpose for something that is false to begin with, will leave one feeling useless and will drive the “mind” in a way that creates in the head a sound like the chatter of a thousand monkeys. That chatter is the chatter of each false identity screaming for you and the world to believe it’s real. When the chatter becomes unbearable, many use a gun to try to stop the noise once and for all. That can be the result of believing in “meaning,” not finding “meaning,” feeling empty as a result, and then ending the body as a result of thinking one’s life is hollow, meaningless, and without purpose. Yet it was only when the Realization came that “my” life needed no noble meaning or egotistical purpose that the next step to true freedom was revealed. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
“Purpose” and “meaning” are more of the stuff that dreams are made of, and dreams are unreal…nothing more than reflections of the ego among persons identified with body. WHO—what ego-state—could want meaning and purpose if it is understood that what is real has never even lived? How could any “life” be thought to have meaning if it is realized that You—That Which You Truly Are—Are beyond the cyclings of elements (via acts of friction) and Are beyond “death” by virtue of being beyond “birth”?
To return to the jungle tribe used as an example in an earlier post: all of the members of the tribe were engaged in beingness, not in doingness. That is a sign of contentment. They have no words in their language for “stress,” “restless,” “discontented,” “clock,” “work,” “purpose,” “meaning,” “irritation,” “rush,” “speed,” “hurry,” “busy,” “business” (“busy-ness”), “noble,” or “important.” Film of their daily activities showed every member smiling no matter what was happening though they have no mode of transportation other than their feet or a canoe, no air conditioning, no electronic devices, no stoves or microwaves, no cellphones with their constant ringing and chatter, no electricity…nothing, in fact, that most persons in the West believe to be so essential. If someone in the West “loses power” for three days, his life is in shambles. The villagers have never had power for a day and are not seeking any power at all. They are merely being.
When they were shown a film of persons in the West that revealed the lifestyle here, they could not believe such could be happening or would be happening. When offered an opportunity to travel to the West and see first-hand what was happening in this culture, they could not imagine why anyone would even consider so senseless a trip. That which a jungle-bound human with no formal education rejected outright in a matter of seconds is exactly what the masses in this culture are absorbed in trying to gain. Yet deep within, is there not a sense that what they have should be far more sought after?
Of course most cannot literally “drop out” and move to the jungle and live so carefree a life. But all can drop out of the insanity and move to a peaceful state. How? By giving up all extra and unnecessary effort and work and by being free of ego in order to be free, period.
All stress among persons is ego-generated and is therefore based in a lie and need not be experienced. Stress is nature’s natural reaction to actual threat. If those in the jungle are wading into a river to fish and see a crocodile moving toward them, they become stressed and inspired to take defensive action and move away from the threat. Having removed themselves from the threat, a sense of calm returns. In the West, stress results as an unnatural reaction to perceived, but not real, threats. Assuming false roles to be a true identity, anything that challenges a person's image will be taken as a threat and will result in a sensation of stress. Persons have no way to remove themselves from a sense of threat because they believe that a threat to expose their roles is an actual assault. Believing a false threat to be real prevents any possibility for calm to return. Whereas a fisherman living in the jungle can physically remove himself from a real threat, those trapped in their false identities can never mentally or emotionally remove themselves from perceived threats against their ego-states. If “wife” is leaving, “husband” can no longer exists. That ego-state will feel threatened, will believe that the threat is real no matter how many friends or counselors offer a contrary opinion, will feel stress, will be driven to defend itself, and will therefore lash out at whatever or whoever the false role believes is the source of a life-threatening action. Life-threatening? Yes. Once the false identity of “husband” is taken to be real, it cannot exist without the co-dependent partner that all ego-states require for their (false) “existence.” It is that illusion—believing that a threat to an ego-state is an actual threat—that results in a revealing statistic: in urban areas, 59% of all women killed are killed by a partner during a breakup; 41% of all men that are killed are murdered under the same circumstances. No wonder the detectives in a murder investigation go first to a partner or spouse as the key suspect.
And it is the same delusional thinking that drives persons to want additional ego-states that can only exist if they have “meaning” and “purpose.” Once Realized, You can live with peace in the busiest environment and can engage in an occupation that others find stressful while remaining unattached to the fray. The chaos generated by persons can be swirling all about You, but You will only witness the insanity rather than being pulled into it. Free of all ego and ego-states, no false threats—and therefore no unjustified stress—can be experienced. That Which You Are will not experience all the threats that persons seem to experience. The tasks of your job can happen…or not, and no false threat will be perceived. You may not be able to join the idyllic community of a remote jungle tribe, and you probably have no desire to do so, but You can move from your culture’s chaos to that jungle’s type of peace by purifying the consciousness That You Are of all the contaminates of programming and conditioning that resulted in a “mind” that believes the lies of your culture. Be free of the lies and you’ll be free of their fooling you; and when they can no longer fool you with their concepts, You will be free. You will then be free enough to ignore those who would have you seek power from without and you can pay more attention to those who invite you to realize that you already have all that is needed...within; that all concepts, including “purpose” and “meaning,” are dead weight that need not be dragged around; and that the ego, which drives all ego-states, is the engine pushing your search. You will give up the search, knowing that what you seek is an illusion of your culture. You would not race up and down the highways of New Mexico trying to catch a mirage. Why race up and down “the highways of your existence,” trying to do the same?
To fail to know the True Self will leave persons absorbed with the busy-ness of their false self or selves. Absorbed in the illusion of self, and trying to find a purpose for something that is false to begin with, will leave one feeling useless and will drive the “mind” in a way that creates in the head a sound like the chatter of a thousand monkeys. That chatter is the chatter of each false identity screaming for you and the world to believe it’s real. When the chatter becomes unbearable, many use a gun to try to stop the noise once and for all. That can be the result of believing in “meaning,” not finding “meaning,” feeling empty as a result, and then ending the body as a result of thinking one’s life is hollow, meaningless, and without purpose. Yet it was only when the Realization came that “my” life needed no noble meaning or egotistical purpose that the next step to true freedom was revealed. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
TOMORROW: Functioning Even While Enjoying the Freedom of "No Purpose or Meaning"
