Wednesday, April 26, 2006

HOW RELIGIONS, SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS, AND PHILOSOPHIES REINFORCE ADDICTION AND ARROGANCE: THE self-ISHNESS OF PRAYER, Part One

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F.: The unicity is Real but duality is false; therefore, the unicity is true and all that fosters duality is a lie. Nothing fosters more duality than religion and spirituality and even some philosophies, so they are rooted in falsehood and foster lies. Religion and spirituality—and yes, even some philosophies—generate belief in separation and then support the earliest dualities of “good-bad” and “better-worse” and “reward-punishment” and “acceptable vs. to be rejected.” Not only can members of different religions and spiritual movements and philosophies not get along, but members of the same group cannot get along, so 10,000 denominations and sects and subdivisions have been formed.

Not only are religion and spirituality nothing more than stops along a “path”--stops that must be transitioned for the “journey” to be completed--but Advaita Vedanta is also to be transitioned. When a journey is completed, the roadmap is no longer required. Set it aside. Such is the case with Advaita Vedanta or any other methods or systems that can be employed as a roadmap on a trip. This site offers thorns that can be used to remove thorns, but when the final thorn has been removed, toss it all. How can this site exist if all thorns have been tossed? The consciousness speaks and all happens spontaneously. There is no "one" writing...no "one" doing anything. Along with setting aside religion, spirituality, and philosophies, the Realized also set aside all the tools and trappings of the “journey” as well. And there is no tool that is employed by a few Advaitans and by most religious and most spiritual persons that needs to be cast aside more than prayer. Why should it be cast aside? It should be cast aside because it fosters duality and therefore fosters belief in lies and belief in the false; moreover, it fosters selfishness, it reinforces the master addiction of persons to control, it reinforces the secondary addiction of the arrogant who desire to have power in order to control, and it reinforces egotism and ego-states and then supports the beliefs by persons in their false identities.

The master addiction among humans is the desire to control people, places, things, events, weather, wars, whatever. That leads to the secondary addiction which is a desire to have power. Persons want to have a supernatural power at their beck and call; they want economic power; they want personal power; they want political power; they want the power to control everything in “this world” and then the power to determine what happens eternally in some “other world.” And to that end, persons who have been programmed to accept the ancient beliefs about gods, superstitions, myths, and supernatural explanations of natural events use prayer to try to control. Here are some prayers that worshippers have shared, all of which illustrate the pointer.

“Prayers That Result from a Desire to Control Lifespan”
Years ago, a woman said, “I have a two-year old nephew who needs a heart transplant. I want fifty people to pray for a heart for him until a donor becomes available. May I add you to my list?” She never spoke to me again after my refusal and explanation. Certanly her request was noble and well-intentioned, right? Except for four problems: it was totally selfish, totally controlling, totally intended to maintain at least three false identities, and totally in evidence of how she thought she had influence over a supernatural power.

What her prayer really said was: “Almightly God, I know that if 48 people ask you to provide a heart for my nephew, you might not; I also believe that if 49 people ask you to provide a heart, you might still refuse; but I truly believe that the number “50” has some magical significance and that will do the trick. Also, please bless my nephew and extend his life (and protect my ego-state of 'aunt') though I know that this request will necessitate the death of another child who is young enough that its heart will fit in my nephew’s small chest cavity. But for my sake and the sake of my nephew, screw some other two-year old by killing him, and also screw the parents by killing their child. PS: And by the way, God, make sure he dies from a head or stomach injury and protect the chest area so that the heart is in excellent shape after that child dies.”

So the criteria can be tested:

1. Did that prayer foster belief in lies and belief in the false? Yes. The belief is that there is a male god “out there” somewhere who is micro-managing every event “here” and who will do the bidding of persons with personal agendas, even when the agenda involves the pre-meditated murder of a child.

2. Did the prayer fosters selfishness? Yes. “Let someone I care about live...by killing someone I don’t know.”

3. Did it reinforce the master addiction of a person who wanted to control? Absolutely.

4. Did it reinforce the secondary addiction of an arrogant person who wanted power over life and death of others? Yes.

5. Did it reinforce egotism and an ego-state and then support the belief by a persona with a false identity? Yes. How egotistical must a person be to think she/he can determine lifespan, can control who should live, and can affect who should die? The ego-state “aunt” was struggling for its continuity since it could not exist without a “nephew.” “Religious person” and “spiritual giant” were two more ego-states that were being reinforced through the belief of the power over life and death that could be gained via prayer.

Those who have been lulled to sleep by their religious, spiritual or philosophical progamming and conditioning cannot view their beliefs and actions objectively. They believe in the nobility of every aspect of their knowledge, beliefs, worshipping, and actions, but an objective witnessing of what is driving all of that shows how truly self-centered all of those bogus trappings and practices and dogma and beliefs really are. What appeared to be a kind and caring act, when looked at rationally, is seen to be self-serving, controlling, selfish, and arrogant. If any of the above irritates you, you might ask, "WHO feels offended? What ego-state is taking the words above as a personal attack?" Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]TOMMOROW: Not prayers to decide who lives, but prayers to control who dies

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