F.: The nemesis of humankind in this relative existence is ego, and ego only comes about when human knowledge is learned. That results in the most basic learned ignorance, which is the belief that false identities and images are real. All ego results from the arrogance of believing that one’s accumulated knowledge separates him from others and makes him “better.” More sense of separation and more hostility has been generated by claims of spiritual knowledge than any other. Why? Because religious-spiritual knowledge supports all spiritual and religious ego-states and because religious-spiritual ego-states have inspired more breaking of “relationships,” more fighting, more wars and more killing than any other personas.
When knowledge is accumulated in order to parrot it to “others,” then ignorance has also been learned. Having reached “Level Three” of “The Seven Step Journey to Reality,” this space became convinced that all the answers would be found if holy books were studied, especially in their original languages. That resulted in the formation of a rigid, religious ego-state. Later, the belief was that an even “higher,” spiritual level could be reached if enough spiritual knowledge could be accumulated. That only led to the false belief that I needed power in the now; that I was a sacred self; that I needed to formulate some good intentions; that I was an infinite self; that I needed self-empowerment; that I could make spiritual agreements with myself and "others"; that I needed to master love; that I needed to learn the ten spiritual laws; that I needed to learn the eight truths; that I needed to learn the twenty-five spiritual laws; and that I needed to gain infinite knowledge so that all cosmic secrets could be revealed. All of that knowledge came to be a grand accumulation of learned ignorance called “my mind.” It was later seen that each of the authors whom I allowed to “lead me” had grasped one part of the truth but none had the full understanding.
When knowledge is accumulated in order to parrot it to “others,” then ignorance has also been learned. Having reached “Level Three” of “The Seven Step Journey to Reality,” this space became convinced that all the answers would be found if holy books were studied, especially in their original languages. That resulted in the formation of a rigid, religious ego-state. Later, the belief was that an even “higher,” spiritual level could be reached if enough spiritual knowledge could be accumulated. That only led to the false belief that I needed power in the now; that I was a sacred self; that I needed to formulate some good intentions; that I was an infinite self; that I needed self-empowerment; that I could make spiritual agreements with myself and "others"; that I needed to master love; that I needed to learn the ten spiritual laws; that I needed to learn the eight truths; that I needed to learn the twenty-five spiritual laws; and that I needed to gain infinite knowledge so that all cosmic secrets could be revealed. All of that knowledge came to be a grand accumulation of learned ignorance called “my mind.” It was later seen that each of the authors whom I allowed to “lead me” had grasped one part of the truth but none had the full understanding.
Yet my “guru” made clear that he was no guru at all, had nothing to teach, and valued no external knowledge. A jnani never points at anything but the “inner guru,” the “inner resource,” the knowledge within that does not need to be learned because it is known...but forgotten. All knowledge that is learned is ignorance. Only the knowledge already known is truth. Do you know that? Do You know THAT? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
