[Please note: These posting are excerpted from the book “BEYOND Religion and Spirituality,” but no book need be read if seekers will take the considerations and sit in quiet contemplation, far away from their "holy friends" and other “holy” people and their “holy” books and “holy” buildings and “holy” trappings and “holy” rituals. All of those can be a part of the third step on the "journey" to Realization, but to take three of seven steps can only result in the continuation of a sense of separation and the nagging sense of incompletion that so many persons are trying to be free of.]
From a site visitor: “I don’t pray selfish prayers like the ones you’re reporting. I just pray to god, ‘Thy will be done'.”
F.: How happy you must be making your god by giving him your permission for him to do his will or by offering your endorsement of his will being done. Now, to continue:
F.: For those who seek Full Realization, all impediments must be removed. Since being in touch with Reality is sanity, then all things insane are impediments and must be discarded. And what is insane? Believing lies dreamed up by men over the ages who (a) have wanted to control the behavior of people or (b) who arrogantly wanted to impress others with their knowledge.
F.: How happy you must be making your god by giving him your permission for him to do his will or by offering your endorsement of his will being done. Now, to continue:
F.: For those who seek Full Realization, all impediments must be removed. Since being in touch with Reality is sanity, then all things insane are impediments and must be discarded. And what is insane? Believing lies dreamed up by men over the ages who (a) have wanted to control the behavior of people or (b) who arrogantly wanted to impress others with their knowledge.
Rather than saying, “I don’t know,” self-proclaimed “holy” men have assumed the false role of “The Answer Man” for ages:
Q.: “What is that thunderous noise when it rains?”
The Answer Man: “Those are the sounds of angry gods.”
Q.: “Why did that storm hit and destroy my family and home?”
The Answer Man: “The gods are angry because you have not been behaving the way I told you to behave.”
Q.: “Where did I come from?”
The Answer Man: “Uhhh, a god made you.”
Q.: “What happens when I die?”
The Answer Man: “If you behave as I say, and if you never question anything written in our holy book, then you go to heaven and get a reward. If not, you will burn and suffer eternally,” or "If you live as I say, you'll recycle into one higher form after another until you reach a state of perfect peace. If not, you'll suffer. The Dalai Lama made clear that the people in New Orleans, Louisiana called Hurricane Katrina down on themselves as a result of their bad karma."
Q.: “What is that thunderous noise when it rains?”
The Answer Man: “Those are the sounds of angry gods.”
Q.: “Why did that storm hit and destroy my family and home?”
The Answer Man: “The gods are angry because you have not been behaving the way I told you to behave.”
Q.: “Where did I come from?”
The Answer Man: “Uhhh, a god made you.”
Q.: “What happens when I die?”
The Answer Man: “If you behave as I say, and if you never question anything written in our holy book, then you go to heaven and get a reward. If not, you will burn and suffer eternally,” or "If you live as I say, you'll recycle into one higher form after another until you reach a state of perfect peace. If not, you'll suffer. The Dalai Lama made clear that the people in New Orleans, Louisiana called Hurricane Katrina down on themselves as a result of their bad karma."
Until the lies are seen to be lies, and until such nonsense is seen to be nonsense, then truth shall never be found. Until persons see that they have not recovered Self-Awareness, then they will only be aware of what others tell them is truth and will have a relative existence that is cursed because they are being subconsciously driven by the inane programming, conditioning, and enculturation of ignorant persons.
Several tools are used by those who would program or condition or indoctrinate persons. Pavlov demonstrated one of the most commonly used methods: repetition. If a message is repeated over and over enough, persons can eventually accept the most nonsensical concept as fact. Relatedly, longevity is a tool used by those who would indoctrinate. Tales that have been repeated for centuries take hold in the “minds” of persons. And a third tool is the programming and conditioning and indoctrination by “religious authorities” or “spiritual authorities” to convince persons with desires, with perceived needs, or with fears that some "outer resource" is available to intervene in their behalf if they will only pray to that entity.
Only by questioning can any person begin the shift toward freedom from programming and indoctrination; thus, occasionally, some of the indoctrinated can see the insanity enough to say, “Wait a minute—this praying is working no better than his rabbit’s foot or her four-leaf clover.” But the authorities have an answer even for that: “All prayers are answered. Sometimes the answer is ‘No,’ sometimes it’s ‘Yes,’ and sometimes it’s ‘later’.” That usually quiets the dissenters who are thereby re-programmed to accept that a 33% “success rate” regarding their prayers is the “norm” or should be “acceptable.” Because they are so addicted to trying to control, and so arrogant about the beliefs of other persons that they now claim as their own, they will cling to the practice no matter how ineffective their prayers. Recently, the families and friends and pastors of thirteen trapped miners prayed for their safety. Only one survived. Twelve died. Those prayers had an 8.3% success rate. NBC did a special report on “Why the Miracle Miner Survived.” He claims it was because “god shed his grace on him” (but not on the others?) How special. How arrogant. How magical and supernatural the thinking. Whether dealing with life-death issues or with health issues, the arrogant believe they have the power to control:
"The Prayer to Control Healing"
One man e-mailed this week to say, “I believe that prayer can help heal other.” What that really means is: “I think that I am so hooked up with god that I also have the power to influence healing" (contradicting the findings released last week of a five-year study which showed that others' prayers had no affect at all on patients' healing). The prayer also really means, “I believe that, just by asking, god will help those I ask him to help, though he obviously would not have helped them otherwise because my prayers did make a difference. I really believe that based on my requests, god will give preferential care to those I pray for but not to others who are not being prayed for.”
To see the nonsense of prayers is not enough to be free of the influence of your culture and to then be able to sit in the quiet and discover what You have known all along but have forgotten because of programming and conditioning. Persons talk much more than they pray, so far more nonsense can be heard in all the talk that persons talk; therefore, a requirement of those who would continue along the “path” to Realization is that they not only see the nonsense of the prayers as examples of the magical thinking that prevents being in touch with Reality. The requirement is that a filter be activated during all of your waking hours. Unless you see that it is all nonsense, then you will not set aside their beliefs—which you now mistakedly claim are your beliefs—and you will never return to the purity of the no-concepts, Child Ignorance stage, you will never witness objectively, you will never know the At-one-ment that the True Self can realize, and you will never know that which is beyond the beingness and even the non-beingness. And without those understandings, you will neither truly understand the Absolute nor attain The Understanding of the Functioning of the Totality. Those who do not know—but who think they know—shall never know what they do not know. Only by casting aside all knowledge ("learned ignorance") can the truth be revealed. Otherwise, persons on the "journey" will fixate at the third of seven levels and will pass their days believing that they have power when they have none, believing that they can control what they have no influence over whatsoever, and believing that all the false roles which they are playing (including “Super Religious Person” and “Spiritual Giant”) actually define What They Are. They will be trapped in the “I am this” and “I am that” and will never truly realize the I AM, period…much less the I AM THAT. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
