From a site visitor: “What is with some Advaitans who talk of human misery and suffering? I use the teachings to detach from it all and move on. I take my adversities and make opportunities of them. If people have problems, they need to find solutions instead of wallowing in misery. Make clear to people that we are Brahman. We have the power to turn failures into success and move on.”
F.: You remind me of a current “world leader” who was born on third base but who lives in the delusional belief that he is there because he hit a double and then stole third. Your egocentrism has reduced the entire planet to the area of your body and your mind only. Why speak of suffering? After all, that is just a relative existence concept, in the end. Why speak of misery?
In your case, you don’t see either so, of course, you won’t speak of either. If you live in the U.S., then the majority of the children you see are overweight, but most children worldwide are suffering malnutrition. For every 2.43 seconds that you spent writing about what works for you, another child on the planet starved to death. If you took three minutes to write about your success, three women in the U.S. were raped as you expounded your beliefs about overcoming your problems. Between the time of this posting and tomorrow’s, forty-five people will have been murdered in the U.S. and hundreds or thousands will have to process the relative impact of those murders. Annually, genocide is killing hundreds of thousands (and creating hundreds of thousands of orphans) across the globe. There are 46,000,000 U.S. citizens who have no access to medical care. For each 43 seconds you spent writing about your accomplishment of pulling your self up by your bootstraps, another child was born into poverty in the wealthiest country on the planet. One estimate is that 95% of the U.S. population is addicted to something, and their addictions are merely the symptom—not the problem. The problem is widespread misery and depression (and a desire to escape the misery and depression). While much attention is focused on the loss of families and homes along the Gulf Coast, 62% of all children in the country will lose their families and homes as a result of divorce. And you want to know why Advaitans talk of suffering and misery? Well, actually, Advaitans do not talk of suffering and misery. The Realized—that manifested, pure consciousness—speaks of misery and depression as a result of knowing the Oneness. Even the non-Realized who are logical would speak of misery and depression, knowing that there is a bonding matrix of these prevailing conditions, knowing that there is no separation, and knowing that whatever conditions prevail anywhere will seep into the fabric of existence everywhere.
Even as the lyrics you’re singing are “And I think to myself…what a wonderful world,” humans planet-wide are suffering from experiences that do not parallel your own. And they have no voice of their own either, but if they did, they would be singing a different tune from yours. Why talk of suffering and misery? Because in the relative existence it is too often the prevailing human condition and because that condition could be transcended if enlightenment prevailed and ego ended. The Realized speak of abandoning ego-states in order to abandon ego. What role does ego play in human misery and suffering? The central role. Find a people who are suffering and miserable and you shall also find an egomaniac impacting their existence; he will be openly displaying his propensity for abuse of power, his desire to control, and his unchecked arrogance. And that same type of abuse can be found throughout all nations, in states, in cities, in workplaces, and, maybe, in your own home.
As with those mentioned earlier who suffer addictions, the Realized Advaitan knows that misery and suffering is but the symptom. The problem is always the personality—those ego-states that generate personas and the use of ego-defense mechanisms that they always generate. The Advaita teaching offers an invitation to put an end to ego and arrogance in the relative existence by ending all false beliefs in ego-states. You may be “detached” and thus able to “move on,” but among the homeless and the disenfranchised, among the women raped, among the families deserted, among the people living in poverty and among those suffering as a result of not receiving needed medical care, among the people being bombed or maimed or tortured or murdered, and among the children with bloated stomachs who are starving…how many of them are likely to have the same chance you’ve had to turn “adversities into opportunities?” That which you are so proud of for your self, most humans on earth will never experience. And that which you are so proud of for your self also precludes your knowing the Oneness and thus prevents you from understanding that the bell tolls for “you” as much as for “them.” Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be completed tomorrow]
F.: You remind me of a current “world leader” who was born on third base but who lives in the delusional belief that he is there because he hit a double and then stole third. Your egocentrism has reduced the entire planet to the area of your body and your mind only. Why speak of suffering? After all, that is just a relative existence concept, in the end. Why speak of misery?
In your case, you don’t see either so, of course, you won’t speak of either. If you live in the U.S., then the majority of the children you see are overweight, but most children worldwide are suffering malnutrition. For every 2.43 seconds that you spent writing about what works for you, another child on the planet starved to death. If you took three minutes to write about your success, three women in the U.S. were raped as you expounded your beliefs about overcoming your problems. Between the time of this posting and tomorrow’s, forty-five people will have been murdered in the U.S. and hundreds or thousands will have to process the relative impact of those murders. Annually, genocide is killing hundreds of thousands (and creating hundreds of thousands of orphans) across the globe. There are 46,000,000 U.S. citizens who have no access to medical care. For each 43 seconds you spent writing about your accomplishment of pulling your self up by your bootstraps, another child was born into poverty in the wealthiest country on the planet. One estimate is that 95% of the U.S. population is addicted to something, and their addictions are merely the symptom—not the problem. The problem is widespread misery and depression (and a desire to escape the misery and depression). While much attention is focused on the loss of families and homes along the Gulf Coast, 62% of all children in the country will lose their families and homes as a result of divorce. And you want to know why Advaitans talk of suffering and misery? Well, actually, Advaitans do not talk of suffering and misery. The Realized—that manifested, pure consciousness—speaks of misery and depression as a result of knowing the Oneness. Even the non-Realized who are logical would speak of misery and depression, knowing that there is a bonding matrix of these prevailing conditions, knowing that there is no separation, and knowing that whatever conditions prevail anywhere will seep into the fabric of existence everywhere.
Even as the lyrics you’re singing are “And I think to myself…what a wonderful world,” humans planet-wide are suffering from experiences that do not parallel your own. And they have no voice of their own either, but if they did, they would be singing a different tune from yours. Why talk of suffering and misery? Because in the relative existence it is too often the prevailing human condition and because that condition could be transcended if enlightenment prevailed and ego ended. The Realized speak of abandoning ego-states in order to abandon ego. What role does ego play in human misery and suffering? The central role. Find a people who are suffering and miserable and you shall also find an egomaniac impacting their existence; he will be openly displaying his propensity for abuse of power, his desire to control, and his unchecked arrogance. And that same type of abuse can be found throughout all nations, in states, in cities, in workplaces, and, maybe, in your own home.
As with those mentioned earlier who suffer addictions, the Realized Advaitan knows that misery and suffering is but the symptom. The problem is always the personality—those ego-states that generate personas and the use of ego-defense mechanisms that they always generate. The Advaita teaching offers an invitation to put an end to ego and arrogance in the relative existence by ending all false beliefs in ego-states. You may be “detached” and thus able to “move on,” but among the homeless and the disenfranchised, among the women raped, among the families deserted, among the people living in poverty and among those suffering as a result of not receiving needed medical care, among the people being bombed or maimed or tortured or murdered, and among the children with bloated stomachs who are starving…how many of them are likely to have the same chance you’ve had to turn “adversities into opportunities?” That which you are so proud of for your self, most humans on earth will never experience. And that which you are so proud of for your self also precludes your knowing the Oneness and thus prevents you from understanding that the bell tolls for “you” as much as for “them.” Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be completed tomorrow]
