Received Wednesday from Pennsylvania, U.S.A.: “I was up all night writing, frustrated, seeking answers. How do I find the meaning of life? How do I find my purpose? I cannot believe that the universe would put me here, give me the ability to ask the question, and then not give me the ability to know the answer.”
F.: The simple answer is: believe it. Believe that you don’t have the ability to know the answer, but for reasons you won’t even suspect at this point. In upcoming postings, you might see…
(a) that the “price” of seeking more knowledge (being up all night and being frustrated) is a needless price to pay;
(b) that such knowledge is not necessary and that the knowledge you’ve already acquired is false;
(c) that no universe put you here, and you might learn exactly how elements cycle to form “bodies” and how the manifested consciousness came to be;
(d) that no universe (or any magical power) exists that hands out ability or answers;
(e) that everything you think you already know actually needs to be discarded, and you might find that everything you really need to know was already known at one point but has merely been forgotten as a result of having been “programmed out of you”;
(f) that those who tell you answers need to be ignored and that attention should only be paid to those who invite you to question it all;
(g) that you do not need more but that you need far less instead;
(h) that you can become free enough to ignore those who would have you seek power from without and pay more attention to those who invite you to realize that you already have all that is needed...within;
(i) that you can ignore all those who tell you they have the answers and pay attention to those who tell you that the only answers you need are already within;
(j) that all concepts, including “purpose” and “meaning,” are dead weight that need not be dragged around;
(k) and that the ego, which drives all ego-states, is the engine pushing your search.
Upcoming postings will discuss each of those pointers.
F.: The simple answer is: believe it. Believe that you don’t have the ability to know the answer, but for reasons you won’t even suspect at this point. In upcoming postings, you might see…
(a) that the “price” of seeking more knowledge (being up all night and being frustrated) is a needless price to pay;
(b) that such knowledge is not necessary and that the knowledge you’ve already acquired is false;
(c) that no universe put you here, and you might learn exactly how elements cycle to form “bodies” and how the manifested consciousness came to be;
(d) that no universe (or any magical power) exists that hands out ability or answers;
(e) that everything you think you already know actually needs to be discarded, and you might find that everything you really need to know was already known at one point but has merely been forgotten as a result of having been “programmed out of you”;
(f) that those who tell you answers need to be ignored and that attention should only be paid to those who invite you to question it all;
(g) that you do not need more but that you need far less instead;
(h) that you can become free enough to ignore those who would have you seek power from without and pay more attention to those who invite you to realize that you already have all that is needed...within;
(i) that you can ignore all those who tell you they have the answers and pay attention to those who tell you that the only answers you need are already within;
(j) that all concepts, including “purpose” and “meaning,” are dead weight that need not be dragged around;
(k) and that the ego, which drives all ego-states, is the engine pushing your search.
Upcoming postings will discuss each of those pointers.
For now and for the next few days, the focus is to be on the WHO that wants meaning and purpose. When the comment was made about wanting purpose and meaning, two questions were asked: “WHO wants to know his meaning?” and “WHO wants to have a purpose in life?” The response offered was, “I do.” The desire for purpose and meaning can only be sought by the “I” since the “I” is the conglomerate of all the false identities—of all the ego-states—that have been collected along the way as a result of the distorted programming and the faulty conditioning that work in conjunction with the egotism that fuels all ego-states. Since that “I” does not exist except in the contaminated consciousness of a fictional “mind,” then a false, assumed ego is really speaking from behind the “I” mask. That persona might be “The Religiously-Raised Person,” “The Spiritual Giant,” “The Answer Man” (who loves to share his spirituality and spiritual knowledge with “others”), “The Deep Thinker,” “The One Who Has to Know Everything” or any of the other roles that are played by people who are stuck at Stage Three (the religious or spiritual stage) of the seven-step "path" to Realization. The title of the book From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality) suggests how far removed the “I” is from Reality. It is as far removed as is possible. Nothing is farther from the Absolute truth than the belief that “I” identifies THAT Which You Truly Are. So when the Advaitan asks: “WHO wants meaning and purpose,” the correct answer is never, “I do.” So what is the accurate response?
WHO (that is, what ego-state) desires or wants purpose? WHO (that is, what ego-state) desires or wants meaning? WHO (that is, what ego-state) desires to accumulate more and more knowledge instead of less and less as a result of failing to see the inaccuracy of all his currently-held knowledge and beliefs and ideas and concepts? And WHO (what ego-state) will then likely want to share that spiritual knowledge, and all the other revelations that he thinks have come to him, once he thinks he has found "it"? The “WHO” is always a person (a persona, a false identity, an ego-state) that has assumed a limiting identification with a physical body and with a fictional “mind.” To be at peace during the day and to sleep calmly and restfully throughout the night, find each of the religious and/or spiritual ego-states that are driving your desires (and fears) so strongly that, instead of giving you the peace that “they” promise but never deliver, they are actually inspiring frustration and are keeping you awake all night. What a person does speaks far louder than what he says. Tout the benefits of the “religious or spiritual place you’re in,” but the wise ignore all promised bounties and only count what has actually been harvested. Ego-states always use denial to ignore the abundance of chaff and always exaggerate the limited quantities of grain. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
