F.: So, to review: Realization does not produce “robots.” The Realized, being the unicity and understanding the unicity, empathize with sufferers more than the non-Realized ever will. The realized do not, therefore, “lose the ability to feel” as some have claimed or feared. (By way of comparison, if two persons have the same physical injury, would the pain of that injury be felt more by the one who is awake or the one who is asleep…by one who is conscious or by one who is unconscious?) Next, any sense of “loss” is always preceded by the assumption of personas as identities and by the “desires, wants, or perceived needs” that assumption of ego-states always generates. Furthermore, for a “loss” to be taken as real, a persona must also believe in the concept of “ownership” and claim possession of both things and people.
Once persons have been programmed by their culture to imagine that they can own and to believe that perceived needs are real, the stage is set for persons to believe in the concept of “loss.” Thereafter, there are degrees to which persons “handle or don’t handle loss,” all dependent upon the degree to which they are asleep or Realized. First are those persons who are so unaware of the unicity that they are constantly angered by a sense of perceived loss and by their perception that they are not getting the respect they (their various ego-states) deserve. They are so self-absorbed that they have no ability to empathize with those who are suffering from truly miserable conditions, relatively speaking. Their ego-states (and the accompanying egotism) only allow them to see the false “I,” leaving them completely unaware of the misery of humans across the planet. Absorbed with self, or selves, they exaggerate the personal offense they experience while ignoring or minimizing the suffering and misery of other humans. Persons driven by such levels of corrupted consciousness are usually referred to as “hard-hearted” or “cold-blooded” or “egomanias.” The later term is appropriate to the degree that their “mania” is driven by “ego,” by their belief in the false “I,” by the perceived desires and wants of the false “I,” and by their distortions that lead them to assume ownership. They imagine constantly that they "have lost a great deal" but never consider that other humans have "lost" anything.
Secondly, there are persons who have no ability at all to “handle” what is considered a “loss.” For them, as for all personas, perceived loss becomes the blight of the human condition. The illusion called “memory”—which gives them a false sense that “they” have experienced some continuity of body and “mind”—drives the constant cycling and recycling of “thoughts” that are generated by the “thinking mind.” When that happens, then “memory” will prevent “loss” from ever being “handled.” (See
Once persons have been programmed by their culture to imagine that they can own and to believe that perceived needs are real, the stage is set for persons to believe in the concept of “loss.” Thereafter, there are degrees to which persons “handle or don’t handle loss,” all dependent upon the degree to which they are asleep or Realized. First are those persons who are so unaware of the unicity that they are constantly angered by a sense of perceived loss and by their perception that they are not getting the respect they (their various ego-states) deserve. They are so self-absorbed that they have no ability to empathize with those who are suffering from truly miserable conditions, relatively speaking. Their ego-states (and the accompanying egotism) only allow them to see the false “I,” leaving them completely unaware of the misery of humans across the planet. Absorbed with self, or selves, they exaggerate the personal offense they experience while ignoring or minimizing the suffering and misery of other humans. Persons driven by such levels of corrupted consciousness are usually referred to as “hard-hearted” or “cold-blooded” or “egomanias.” The later term is appropriate to the degree that their “mania” is driven by “ego,” by their belief in the false “I,” by the perceived desires and wants of the false “I,” and by their distortions that lead them to assume ownership. They imagine constantly that they "have lost a great deal" but never consider that other humans have "lost" anything.
Secondly, there are persons who have no ability at all to “handle” what is considered a “loss.” For them, as for all personas, perceived loss becomes the blight of the human condition. The illusion called “memory”—which gives them a false sense that “they” have experienced some continuity of body and “mind”—drives the constant cycling and recycling of “thoughts” that are generated by the “thinking mind.” When that happens, then “memory” will prevent “loss” from ever being “handled.” (See
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2006/03/understanding-fraud-of-personal-needs_13.html
for more on the illusion of memory and its relation to the illusion of body continuity.)
Third, some who have moved along “the path” to the third level use their religious beliefs or spiritual beliefs to minimize perceived “losses.” That can seemingly “work” for some absorbed in such personas, but the fact is that the effects of trauma remain at a cellular level and a “sense of loss” will continue to impact their relative existence. To have an attachment, and a sense of loss around an attachment, is not “treated” by minimizing it, by ignoring it, or by requesting that it be magically removed. Full Realization can free persons of a sense of loss by seeing that one cannot “own” a mirage so one cannot “lose” a mirage.
Fourth, there are those who have moved along the “path” and have come to an understanding that what they thought they "lost" was not really that at all. Though not completely free of all sense of loss at all times, they are able to witness their feelings rise, able to avoid attachment to any illusion in that regard, and then able to witness their feelings fall. They know freedom with only occasional interruption.
Finally, there are the Fully Realized who abide as the Absolute and understand that there is no one to “have” so there is no one to “not have.” Loss is the stuff of duality and human experiences, not of the Absolute. That Which You Truly Are is beyond personas and perceptions and humanity and experience, including the experience of “owning” and therefore the experience of “losing.” Please enter the silence of contemplation. [Tomorrow: The Conclusion]
