READINGS FOR SEPTEMBER 24-OCTOBER 19

VACATION READINGS
Prior to leaving for Europe for several weeks, the following suggestions for daily readings are being posted. Each term listed is taken from the site glossary. (Some entries are for those protégés who are at the wet charcoal stage, some are for those at the dry charcoal stage, and some are for those who have reached the gunpowder stage.) Find each day’s date in the list below and click on that day’s link; then, after the site page opens, scroll down to find in bold white print the word that is offered for that day. (For example, on September 24th, scroll down until you find “Witness.”) After reading the entry, please enter the silence for contemplation:

Reading for September 24th: Witness
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_16.html

Reading for September 25th: Relative Existence
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_16.html

Reading for September 26th: The “Mind”
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_16.html

Reading for September 27th: Natural Living
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_16.html

Reading for September 28th: Supernatural Living
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_16.html

Reading for September 29th: Magical Thinking
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_16.html

Reading for September 30th: Person
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part.html

Reading for October 1st: Realization
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part.html

Reading for October 2nd: Persona
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part.html

Reading for October 3rd: Ego-State
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part.html

Reading for October 4th: Ego
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part.html

Reading for October 5th: I AM
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part.html

Reading for October 6th: Atonement
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part.html

Reading for October 7th: Unnatural Living
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_17.html

Reading for October 8th: Meditation
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_17.html

Reading for October 9th: AS IF Living
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_17.html

Reading for October 10th: Emotions vs. Feelings
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_17.html

Reading for October 11th: Understanding the Functioning of the Totality
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_17.html

Reading for October 12th: The Space
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_17.html

Reading for October 13th: The Beginninglessness
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_18.html

Reading for October 14th: Infinite Cause
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_18.html

Reading for October 15th: Discontinuity
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_18.html

Reading for October 16th: Infinite Continuity
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_18.html

Reading for October 17th: “Death”
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_20.html

Reading for October 18th: self
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_20.html

Reading for October 19th: Self
http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/12/glossary-of-terms-for-this-site-part_20.html

MISSING THE POINTS, Part Two

From a site visitor: “It seems to me that by touting natural living and discounting all of the spiritual work that some people do, you might end up discouraging people from doing some of the things they need to do along the way. My mind is almost always racing, but it stops when I my friends and I meet to do our morning meditation. I know I’m being helped by doing meditation and using some of my spiritual accouterments. For example, the bell I ring at the beginning of a session automatically resets our minds to a different level of consciousness and prepares us for entering the no-thought state. If I miss a session, my mind races all day, and to encourage anyone to give up something that deprives them of that kind of benefit is not in their best interest.”

To continue from yesterday with pointers offered in response to excerpts from the above e-mail:

I know I’m being helped by doing meditation and using some of my spiritual accouterments. For example, the bell I ring at the beginning of a session automatically resets our minds to a different level of consciousness and prepares us for entering the no-thought state.

First, there is no one to be helped. Next, as far as your endorsement of the use of a bell, can you explain how so many were able to grasp The Original Understanding prior to the invention of the bell? In fact, can you explain how any person ever grasped The Original Understanding before the invention of all the “accouterments” that you refer to and that religious and spiritual personas use?

A person claiming that his time in a particular ashram had “changed his life” sent a solicitation requesting a monetary contribution to help fund the ahsram so it could continue to provide a place for people to visit and to experience “spiritual growth.” He enclosed a picture with his guru who had penned a warning that “false advaita is becoming popular.” The picture showed the two seated on a special rug. Surrounding them were special candles, a special crystal, burning incense, and a special bowl on a special pillow with a special mallet nearby for striking the bowl. They were wearing special saffron robes, had special food nearby, and a special bell. And above such a scene, that pair felt they could sensibly print on their mailer the words, “Beware of Fake Advaitans”? Physicians, heal thyself. Persons, claim not that you sit in the noon-time sun when the dawn is just now breaking.

The Original Understanding was grasped, and can still be grasped, without accounterments. In fact, the use of accounterments reinforces the assumption of religious or spiritual personas as false identities. Though the playing of those roles is the third of seven steps to Realization, anything that encourages fixation in that role-playing, rather than transitioning those roles, thereby delays the "journey" to Realization. As a result of understanding That Which Is Real, the Realized see all of the nonsense shown in the picture described above as that which is actually fake. The Original Understanding happened pre-rugs, pre-candles, pre-crystals, pre-incense, pre-bowls, pre-pillows, pre-mallets, pre-robes, pre-holy foods, and pre-bells.

Relatedly, last June, during a walk through a wooded area in central Louisiana, two women were seen setting up their crystal collection next to a body of water. They reported that their collection, which had cost $100,000, was being arranged to take advantage of planet alignments "in order to increase consciousness on earth." It would have been useless to offer the pointer that they could not "increase consciousness" since consciousness can neither be created nor destroyed nor increased nor decreased. (Their belief in that concept is as insane as believing that a person can take a cup of water from the ocean and increase the H2O.) Witnessing objectively what is really revealed via (1) a money request from an ashram, via (2) a photo showing two persons proudly displaying all their "spiritual" accounterments, and via (3) the beliefs of two women who spent $100,000 on a crystal collection might help you see the insanity of the belief that accumulations are required in order to understand teachings about de-accumulation!

Next, to your comment that

the bell I ring at the beginning of a session automatically resets our minds to a different level of consciousness and prepares us for entering the no-thought state

there are no “different levels of consciousness.” Advaita teaches that there are no differences, no dualities, and no “two.” There is only the “not two.” Consciousness is consciousness. It does not come in levels. It can be contaminated, just as a river can be contaminated, but the water of the river and the water of the ocean and the water of the sky are all just H2O.

As for the “no-thought state” you mentioned, that is a temporary condition. The “thought state” will re-emerge unless the “no-mind state” is reached. If you want a “goal” to aim for, let that be “the target.” The suggestion for you is to set aside your meetings with all your "spiritual fellows" for a time since those activities have obviously not led any of you to Realization. Furthermore, set aside your bell, sit in the quiet alone, contemplate these pointers, and see if a glimpse of The Original Understanding might come (whereby the Realized--when on the "path"--came to understand all that they were not and thereafter sensed intuitively Who/What They Truly Were, Are, and Shall Forever Be). Please enter the silence of contemplation.

MISSING THE POINTS, Part One

From a site visitor: “It seems to me that by touting natural living and discounting all of the spiritual work that some people do, you might end up discouraging people from doing some of the things they need to do along the way. My mind is almost always racing, but it stops when my friends and I meet to do our morning meditation. I know I’m being helped by doing meditation and using some of my spiritual accouterments. For example, the bell I ring at the beginning of a session automatically resets our minds to a different level of consciousness and prepares us for entering the no-thought state. If I miss a session, my mind races all day, and to encourage anyone to give up something that deprives them of that kind of benefit is not in their best interest.”

F.: Ah, where to even begin a response. Maybe at the beginning:

It seems to me that by touting natural living and discounting all of the spiritual work that some people do, you might end up discouraging people from doing some of the things they need to do along the way.

If you read the entries on the site with awareness, you know that no claim is made that the shift from belief in the “I” to residing as the Absolute happens as a single step. The “way” is a process that requires completion of seven steps, not one. Natural living happens after all “Seven Degrees of Separation from Reality” have been transitioned, and the invitation is to complete all of the steps. Never is there any discouragement from completing all seven steps which amount to "doing all the things" proteges "need to do along the way." [The pointers offered about “doing some of the things you need to do” is this: after completing all of those steps and Realizing Fully, there is no more “doing”; it is understood that there is no do-er; there are no more “needs”; and there is no more “you.”] Never have persons been encouraged to abandon "doing the things they need to do along the way." To the contrary, this pointer was offered earlier this month:

“…pray all the prayers that you think you need to pray; knell, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate as much as you think you need to kneel, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate; read all the “holy” books that you think you need to read; visit all the “sacred” sites or “sacred” men that you think you need to visit; chant or hum every chant or hum you think you need to chant or hum; ring every bell you think you need to ring; and burn every stick of incense that you think you need to burn. But when you are done with all of that, realize that you--and all persons who are fixated in a stage and are playing their religious or spiritual roles--are mistaking the dawn for the noon.”

“The way” you referenced is a multi-step “journey,” and never has anyone been encouraged to skip any of the steps along the “path.” The opposite point has been offered: no step can be skipped if one would Realize Fully. The religious or spiritual roles have to be played, but they are not the noon-time that you seek (and that you likely believe you have found). They are but the dawn.

My mind is almost always racing, but it stops when my friends and I meet to do our morning meditation.

Consciousness—being energy—will always be in motion, but if meditation is employed as intended (to provide a quiet setting for considering pointers in a way that leads to understanding the Teachings and to Full Realization and then to AS IF living) then the consciousness that moves will be the pure consciousness, not the contaminated consciousness. The result will be that you will have no remaining “mind” to do its racing, and the stillness will not be a temporary morning respite; instead, the stillness will be the more typical condition during the remainder of the manifestation. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

THERE IS NO "BETTER" AND THERE IS NO "FUTURE"

From a site visitor: “It's fine to say enjoy the ‘now’ and not let thoughts of the future bother you. In other words, if you are feeling good now, no matter what might happen, don't let anything bother you. But, let's say you aren't feeling good. Maybe you’re in severe pain from your accident. Seems you need the thought of a better future to get you through the ‘now’.”

F.: Since all "thoughts" are fictional, how can any “thought” help? "Thoughts" are generated by the “mind” which is nothing more than an illusion—the storehouse of all lies and concepts. Since there is no one to be helped, how can anything help? Since "the future" is a figment of the imagination of the “mind,” there is no future to be better or worse. If you give up your fictional belief in the future, the thoughts of the future also dissolve. There is no feeling “good” or “bad” now. There is only now. As Grandfather told Tom Brown, he does not complain about the weather because “when it’s cold it’s cold and when it’s hot it’s hot.”

Yes, the body is still experiencing pain from the accident last October 31st, but that has nothing to do with Me. The suggestion is to live as the deer lives. The deer takes action, if threatened, in order to address the threat, but that usually involves taking a defensive action like moving away from the danger. The deer does not cling to any fear about whether or not the threat will happen in "the future." It does not spend its days after a fright in eternal fear. It lives naturally, having no burdensome concepts (including the concept of a “future”) so it knows no future threats and has no worries about the future. The same can be the case with you, but you do not believe that because of programming and conditioning and your desire for body-mind-personality continuity. See that such continuity would not be a “reward” but would be a "punishment," take the steps required to re-purify the consciousness, and then live AS IF for the remainder of the manifestation of the consciousness…free of the burden of belief in any concepts. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

“IDENTITY CRISIS”

From a site visitor: “As you know, I ordered several of your books recently. After I read them, I started having a major identity crisis and it’s still going on. I think I’m worse off now than I’ve ever been. What do I do?”

F.: Actually, you were in crisis before you read the books, not after. You just weren’t aware of the true extent of madness that has been marking your relative existence as a result of your “Crisis of False Identity.” (What could be more insane than one who does not even know who she/he is?) All crises are self-imposed, meaning imposed by accepting a false self—by accepting false personas—as actual identities. As with all personas, you have accepted from persons in your culture the many false identities that they have assigned to you as they tried to define, erroneously, “who you are.” The supposed crisis you claim to be having is being made to seem real as the ego—the false “I”—fights a fictitious battle for its fictitious "life." The greater the number of ego-states that you have accepted as identities, the more egotism will manifest to try to defend each false identity.

In the readings, you were invited to question the false teachings of your culture as well as the false roles that you have accepted as identities. For the first time in your life, your phony ego-states have been called into question and your analytical “mind” is now asking, “Well if that’s not who I am, Who am I?” The more that you question your false identities, the more that the ego will try to exert its influence and keep you in denial, driving you to cling to false identities rather than abandoning belief in those personas so that You can become aware of What You Truly Are.

All of the ego-defense mechanisms that are available to the warped consciousness will activate during the early stages of this “journey” to try to support the lies that you have believed in for so long and that now seem so familiar. Ego is fed by fear, fear hates the unfamiliar, and what you are unfamiliar with is the awareness of What You Are. Because you have not found the answer to Who (What) You Truly Are, you are in that uncomfortable, unfamiliar middle ground between giving up your phony roles but not yet having found Who (What) You Truly Are, and it is that unfamiliarity that is giving your false self its perceived, imaginary sense of “crisis.”

That is not a crisis. To be free of your belief in both false identities as well as in the lie that you’re in a crisis, you’re invited to complete all seven steps of a seven-step “journey.” From what you shared, you have been at the third step for some time, having first adopted a religious identity and then subsequently assumed a spiritual identity. Your former programmers taught you that you are your body and your “mind” and you personality (or multiple personalities). Your more recent programmers in your “spiritual program” have convinced you that you are some “Spiritual Giant,” some “human being having a spiritual experience.” Whereas the consciousness needed de-programming, they merely re-programmed you. Now, that spiritual role that you assume to be real has been challenged via the readings, so you think you’re in a crisis. You are not. You are at a point where you can now transition beyond belief in all of the nonsense that must be left behind if you are to move farther along the “path” to realizing What You Truly Are.

You did not order From the I to the Absolute. If you would complete the journey, you might consider reading that since it is the guide for the remainder of your “journey” www.floydhenderson.com/order.htm .

To be in that “no man’s land” where “the man” or “the woman” do not exist but where the consciousness has not been purified enough to begin to see What You Truly Are can seem very crisis-like. It’s not. Ego-states are merely jousting with windmills, trying to attack perceived threats to their identification with the body-mind-personality. Consciousness is speaking through the words you read, and consciousness is not threatening You (the Real You) at all. It is pointing out the deceit involved with that which you take to be “you” but that is really the “not You.” How could anything involving that which you are not have any impact on You...on That Which You Truly Are? It cannot.

So “what do you do”? You realize that there is no do-er, you transition that notion that there is a do-er who must do something, you take the pointers being offered into quiet consideration, and then you allow the awareness of the truth that can only be tapped into from within to happen. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

"IMAGINE," The Conclusion

To continue with the Teachings as offered in the lyrics of John Lennon’s “Imagine”:

Imagine no possessions.
I wonder if you can.
No need for greed or hunger…
A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world.

In the book The Essence of the Teachings [ www.floydhenderson.com/theessence.htm ], the “Five Stages” from “Stage One Programming” to “Stage Five AS IF Living” are detailed. It is at the fourth stage where the attachment to possessions and de-accumulating happens, so it is that stage that the poet invites listeners to imagine. The shift that transitions persons into Stage Four Detachment from Possessions is a prerequisite for Stage Five AS IF Living to happen. That shift should not be confused with past cases where religious or spiritual leaders have encouraged people to liquidate their possessions and turn assets over to some movement. Rather, the de-accumulation might simply take the form of “less” replacing “more.”

For example, an act of de-accumulation happened with “floyd” reached a stage where the five-bedroom, two-story Tudor home that was extravagantly-furnished and that was seated on a large piece of land was exchanged for a small condo that is modestly-furnished. What preceded the shift? The abandonment of the ego-states and the accompanying egotism that all believed they needed “more” to exist and to feel fulfilled. Where “floyd” thought he possessed a home and had to work an extra job in order to maintain it, the home and the jobs actually "owned" him. The “less-ness” that accompanied Stage Four de-accumulation also resulted in less work, less maintenance, less anxiety, and less imaginary "need" as a result of fewer possessions. As the re-purification of the consciousness happened, the ego-state “The Owner” disappeared along with “The Possessor” of anything.

The poet invites you to imagine a different life, an AS IF life, and to imagine what that might look like if you got free of the programming and enculturation that drive the desire for accumulations. Some say, "The two happiest days involving my boat were the day I bought it and the day I sold it." The poet suggests using that perspective to test each "possession" and to see if there are cases where de-accumulating or "lessening" might apply.

Sometimes the “more” was never attained but was rejected when offered: Maharaj was offered huge sums of money to build a lavish ashram and to move there from his tiny home in the backstreets of Mumbai (called “Bombay” at that time). In that case, the accumulation never happened so “less” remained the standard; however, prior to full Realization, he did own twelve shops in Bombay. Post-realization, he owned one. The poet invites the listener to imagine what changes would happen in her/his relative existence if de-accumulation began to happen. What new levels of freedom would manifest if you had a house of a size you could pay for rather than one so monstrous that it seems to own you? He who Realizes that there is no longer anything to lose thereafter loses no sleep in worry about the supposed possessions that various personas think they “own.” Just as there is no do-er, so there is no possessor.

All persons—all false identities—are rooted in one fashion or another in a belief in the ability to “possess.” Why? Because there is first a belief in the lie that a “possessor” exists. In the planet’s cultures of accumulation, a message of "getting" is conveyed early on by programmers, a message which leads to the belief that there is a “getter”—an accumulator. “Get a good education so you can get a good job so you can get a good home and get good things to fill it and get a good spouse and get a good family and get your offspring a good education so they can get as well.” And so the programming goes. In such cultures of accumulation, a dualistic belief in separation becomes a given, the “garbage man” being worth less (“worthless”) in comparison to the CEO.

Then, ego-states begin to multiply from the belief that “The Possessor” exists. There's talk about "my car," “my house,” “my spouse,” “my children,” “my company,” ad infinitum; thus, it becomes obvious that all false identities are rooted in the concepts of “possession” and “ownership.” Yet the poet does not advise abandoning motivation to work to meet the basic need. The birds are free, but they still forage or hunt each day. Unlike persons, though, their hunting or foraging is not marked by greed or excessive “hunger for accumulations.” The pointer offered by the poet is simply that the gathering process is natural; the process of excessive accumulation is unnatural. Watch birds sharing and see that such is also natural; see that hoarding is unnatural.

All of the lyrics offered by the poet point ultimately to the de-accumulation stage that must happen before peaceful, AS IF Living can happen. He invites the listeners to consider what it would be like if they de-accumulate dualistic concepts such as “heaven vs. hell”; such as “past vs. future”; such as “our country vs. their country”; such as “things to live for vs. things to kill or die for”; such as “The Successful Possessors vs. The Losers or The Failures”; such as all identities and all desires and needs that are dreamed up by ego-states. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: The Myth of “Identity Crisis”

“IMAGINE,” Part Three

To continue with the Teachings as offered in the lyrics of John Lennon’s “Imagine”:

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one.

Why will so few people (persons) ever Realize and "live in peace"? Recall the last time that your brain was cycling at the theta level and you were having a vivid dream. Has a frightening dream ever seemed so real that you actually began screaming and someone came to you and began shaking you and trying to wake you to tell you that you were only dreaming? Dreams can seem to be so real that they can make a person believe he’s being harmed and threatened when he isn’t; can make a person think he’s making love when he isn’t; can make a person think he’s having conversations that seem completely real but are not; can make a person believe that he’s in a relationship that he isn’t; can make a person believe that he is doing something that he’s really not; or can make a person believe that he is in a particular place that he is not. And even when one comes to tell the person that he is merely dreaming, the dreamer has a difficult time in accepting that.

So it is with many persons who suggest that the Advaitan who sees the dream is nothing more than a dreamer himself/herself who does not see reality, and that is why so few will ever Realize. Even those who take themselves to be the most practical are as caught up in their dream as any and will ignore anyone who invites them to consider that they are, indeed, just dreaming...just buying into the lies that they were taught and that are contained in the Dream of the Planet.

Then the poet references the Oneness—the unicity—which comes on the heels of his invitation in the prior verse to “imagine no religion.” [See the posting for 17 September 2006] The pointer he made is that, while religion gives lip service to unity and peace, the unicity can truly only be realized if belief in the dogma of religion is transcended. Topical examples offer more proof that—contrary to stated goals and assumptions—religion divides rather than unites: the pope of a religion that in its history has murdered millions criticizes another religion for being violent. The members of the criticized religion respond to the charge that they are violent with…violence. A national leader who proudly proclaims his affiliation with another denomination claims that he talked to his “heavenly Father” and explains that his God told him to bomb and invade another nation. When godly people believe in a violent god, and when they then take themselves to be godly, then of course they will behave in the manner modeled in the written accounts of their violent god.

Any belief or concept which prevents the understanding of the unicity is insane, insanity is the result of being out of touch with reality (with not being Realized), not being Realized inspires disharmony and chaos and prevents peace, and preferring chaos and fighting to peace is just more insanity. Then, insane thinking and insane beliefs inspire insane behavior, and insane behavior inspires more attachment to insane thinking and insane beliefs, and that is the cycle of insanity in which dreamers/persons are trapped. Being trapped in their dream—in believing that their imagined beliefs and their false perceptions are real—persons have little chance of having the consciousness re-purified, of being restored to sanity, of being in touch with reality, of being awakened, and of being free of the relativistic effects of the Dream of the Planet.

The dreamers are asleep, foolishly believing that their imagined lies are true while claiming that those who tell them that they are dreaming are the real fools. With the level of programming and conditioning and enculturation that have resulted in widespread, warped consciousness and in the corrupt “minds” that are driving the persons of earth, the validity of the original Advaitan approach is seen: these Teachings are not offered via pulpits or to huge audiences. The awareness comes to “individuals”—not in large group gatherings and not in settings where the masses are being addressed.

The understanding comes after certain pointers are received and then taken into the quiet for focused consideration. It is only then, after the consciousness has been re-purified, that the Realized can live in peace even if the masses do not; it is only then that the dreaming ends as the Dream of the Planet is abandoned; it is only then that the Realized are “as one,” having Realized the lie of the multiplicity and then being fully aware of the truth of the unicity. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

“IMAGINE,” Part Two

Yesterday began a discussion of the Advaita Teachings as presented by the Realized Poet Lennon. To continue:

Imagine all the people
Living for today.

The Realized are aware that “time,” “past,” and “future” are concepts that came to be believed in by persons only after the understanding of the cycles was lost and only after men dreamed up timelines. This exchange was shared in August:

VISITOR: “The 'spontaneous living in the NOW' or 'being' is a movement closer to reality?”
F.: Yes and no. Along the "path," proteges are invited to focus on the NOW in order to free them of the illusions of such concepts as "the past" and "the future" and "time." Ultimately, though, even the NOW is an illusion. To know that You Are the Absolute is to know that That Which You Are has always been and always shall be, so even the NOW ends up an illusion. The realized understand that there is no such thing as “time.” They understand the circular reality of cycles as opposed to the lie of linear "time."

But the intermediate step for protégés on the “path” is to ignore concepts such as “the past” and “the future” and focus on the NOW. That’s the invitation from the poet in the lines above. Then, he continued:

Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do…
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too.

It has been said that there are two kinds of people: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don’t. The Realized don’t, having understood the unicity. The non-Realized do, believing in all their sets of dualities and dividing their imagined world by race (“the supposedly superior Anglo-Saxons as opposed to those of color”); by religion (“those who adhere to the principles of my religion and those who don’t”); by country boundaries (“the nations of good people and the nations of bad people” or "this is the greatest country in the world"); by forms of government (“the democracies as opposed to the dictatorships or monarchies”); by economic systems (“the capitalists vs. the communists or socialists”), ad infinitum.

Considering the poet’s implication about “countries,” persons can begin to understand what many Advaitans realize, namely, the role that the marking of "boundaries" and the identification of "countries" has played in generating division, conflict, and wars. Prior to the European invasion of the Americas, there were no boundaries or maps or countries on the continent. The people living on that undivided land had no words in their vocabularies for “divide” or “divisions” or “ownership.” The land existed for the use of all. When agricultural skills developed and the nomadic lifestyle began to disappear, did those peoples eventually become territorial, as do the animals in nature? Of course, but there were still no countries on the continent and no flags to defend with war, so there was no participation in world wars or in civil wars. Those concepts were imported by the European invaders who had long before divided their continent into “countries” which had, in turn, fought wars with each other for hundreds and hundreds of years because of their national divisions and their religious divisions.

Then as now, in many countries, much homage is paid to those willing to kill and die for their country. Across the globe, similar homage is paid to those willing to kill or die for their various religions. The poet invites persons to imagine another possibility: imagine there are no countries to kill or die, and imagine there are no religions to kill or die for. Of course that possibility will never happen for most persons on the planet, but have you considered what an AS IF existence could be like for You if You had no attachment to beliefs about countries or religions? What would it be like to have nothing to kill or die for?

Imagine the altered outcome if someone leading one country said, “Hey, let’s shock and awe that other country with its other religion by bombing it and invading it!” and the people said, “No. There’s nothing to kill or die for over there.” Since the masses on the whole will never Realized, what if, at least, a few of the Realized responded in that fashion by way of example and inspiration to others? Imagining that is also a part of the invitation from the poet. How erroneous the charge by some that the teachings of the Advaita philosophy have no practical application in the relative existence. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

"IMAGINE," Part One

Yesterday, a person who stopped by the residence looked at the word “Imagine” written on the front of a tee shirt being worn. He asked, laughingly, “So why would a guy wear a shirt with that word on it if he recommends that people be in touch with reality and give up all imaginings?”

It was pointed out that the word refers to a favorite song with lyrics by the Realized poet John Lennon and it was then suggested that he go find the lyrics and consider their pointers:

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try…
No hell below us
Above us only sky.
Imagine all the people
Living for today.
Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do…
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too.
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one.
Imagine no possessions.
I wonder if you can.
No need for greed or hunger…
A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world.
You may say that I'm a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

Have you ever considered how succinctly the poet offered the Advaita Teaching through those few lines?

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try…
No hell below us
Above us only sky.

The song begins with an invitation to question one of the most widely-circulated dualities, that of “heaven vs. hell.” If you can abandon belief in that duality, then you’ll automatically abandon belief in “good vs. bad,” “right vs. wrong,” and “us vs. them.” And if you automatically abandon belief in those dualities, then—automatically—judging will disappear, moralizing and criticizing will end, and all conflict would have to end since belief in opposing forces (and the fear that always generates) would end. Then, peace would automatically have to happen. Admittedly, too few persons will ever reach the level of re-purified consciousness necessary for “peace on earth” to happen; however, the odds of enjoying peace can increase for You if You abandon belief in dualities. If you have been programmed and conditioned to believe in a geographic heaven, in a geographic hell, and in a body-mind-personality that will last eternally and will experience either an everlasting reward or an everlasting punishment, can you imagine the level of freedom that would mark the remainder of your relative existence if all those concepts were abandoned? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INSANITY: Why the Teachings Must Evolve, The Conclusion

F.: Therefore, when humans do not follow the specific food plan designed for their specific body type, unstable emotions and insane behavior and reduced effectiveness will result, but several other problems exists: (1) even if a person knows his body type, which few do, and (2) even if one follows the food plan for his type, which most don’t, (3) there is still the fact that most food is contaminated, and (4) there is still the fact that the food which is not contaminated still provides less nutritional value than needed; therefore, natural, nutritional supplements as prescribed by a licensed professional are required by most. [Please note: No e-mails to the contrary will be answered. After years of discussing this topic, the ego level of many teachers, gurus, preachers, priests, step-workers, and spiritual advisors has been observed as they protest and claim that their method alone is all that is needed. Seeing the scientific facts and seeing thousands of laboratory results to the contrary prove otherwise.]

Next, there is no argument with those who point out that treating the body is all relative existence “stuff.” So was allowing doctors to treat the multiple fractures sustained in a motorcycle accident in October of 2005. In touch with reality, it was a sane decision to accept treatment for the body. While such "tending to the needs of body organs" is the stuff of relativity, as long as the consciousness is manifested and as long as persons are attempting to get back into touch with reality, this aspect cannot be ignored if persons want to find and address everything that contributes to misery and suffering in the relative. Why?

Most believe that insanity deals only with mental components. Fewer understand that there is a physiological component to insanity and to what professionals call “mental and emotional disorders.” To review, the pointer is this: there is a physiological as well as a mental-emotional component to instability and/or insanity…to being out of touch with reality. For specific examples, the following conditions that are taken by most persons to be “mental” are actually a result of “physical,” nutritional deficiencies:

**If a thyroid is not receiving all it requires from a food plan, one effect can be a tendency toward depression and a lessened ability to make clear decisions or to take constructive actions.
**If the adrenal medulla is under-active as a result of nutritional deficiencies, then motivation will be lacking.
**If the adrenal cortex is under-functioning, it can rob one of a sense of serenity, can cause a sense of feeling overwhelmed, and can cause one to lose the ability to cope with stressors.
**If the hypothalamus is under-active, that can cause persons to believe that false fears are real threats, can prevent differentiating the true from the false, can cause one to be unnecessarily anxious, can cause an inability to make choices and adhere to them, can cause an inability to follow through on decisions, and will deprive persons of the ability to differentiate important stressors from insignificant or mild stressors.
**Other physical imbalances and/or chemical imbalances and/or nutritional deficiencies can cause persons to be restless, irritable, discontent, hostile, obsessive, self-destructive.

**Other physiological imbalances can result in such conditions as being bi-polar, ADD or ADHD, OCD, or anxious.

If all of that sounds too unfamiliar to be believable, then one need only observe how a male or a female who is in "high spirits" can eat food at lunch that is high in alkaline properties and then becomes moody or "down" after lunch. Or one can look at the physical changes that take place in females each month and be reminded of how those physical changes affect the mental-emotional state of some.

In conclusion, while persons might understand that the insanity of programming and conditioning and enculturation contribute to many of the conditions of insanity or instability among persons, few are aware of the physiological components involved with insanity and with being unstable and with being out of touch with reality. Thus, the teachings must evolve to include a holistic approach to Realization since the bastardization of the plant food supply has, in turn, bastardized the plant-food body. Forget “spiritual” food plans which demand that one not eat pork, that one only eat vegetables, that one only eat this food on “this day” but not that food on “that day.” Food choices should be determined by an awareness of your specific body type, not by any spiritual or religious advisor who is telling you what you should and should not eat without even the slightest grasp of the scientific principles that should actually determine what you consume and what you do not consume. The effects on you are too significant to forfeit control of your dietary decisions to the untrained or to those driven by magical rather than scientific thinking.

Another step on the path to being restored to sanity always includes the rejection of all nonsensical beliefs, including those that try to link diet with religious or spiritual beliefs. Because of the current state of the food supply and because there are three different body types that require different food plans, most humans require a professionally-designed program of a specific food plan combined with natural, nutritional supplements to allow the body to function optimally and thereby remove another obstacle to being stable and sane and living an AS IF existence until the consciousness is no longer manifested. Persons can visit as many gurus as they choose and seek Realization with an unlimited degree of dedication, but if they are not addressing the fact that their body organs can be contributors to conditions such as depression, bi-polar disorder, ADD or ADHD, OCD, anxiety, or an inability to differentiate true from false, then that which is being sought will never be fully found. [For those interested in more information, visit http://www.marielachney.com/ and click on “FAQ’s.”] Please enter the silence of contemplation.

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INSANITY: Why the Teachings Must Evolve, Part Four

F.: An evolution in the Teachings, therefore, has been necessitated by an evolution in the relativistic predicament faced by those who would (a) Realize and then (b) be able to live an AS IF existence. For thousands of years, humankind’s predicament was, for the most part, unilateral: persons were exposed to programming and/or conditioning and/or enculturation and—as a result—believed lies to be true, remained out of touch with reality, assumed false personas as identities, identified only with the body-mind-personality, and hadn’t a clue about “Who” (actually “What”) They Truly Were, Are, and Shall Forever Be. The consciousness was bastardized, but the Teachings alone were able to re-purify the consciousness and thus allow AS IF living to happen. Then, a totally new and unique obstacle came into existence: the bastardization of the food supply and the subsequent impact on the mental and emotional states of humans.

The food supply has been corrupted, and the body is nothing more than a space formed as a result of elements and energy being cycled via the consumption of food, specifically, via consumption of edible plants (or via consumption of animals that hare eaten plants). A corrupted food supply can only produce a corrupted body, and it is now known that a corrupted body corrupts the mental and emotional state. That is why not only the bastardization of the consciousness but also the bastardization of the food supply must be considered nowadays. Scientists have learned that there exists (1) an organic basis to mental malfunctioning among humans and (2) an organic basis to emotional malfunctioning among humans. For those who would Realize and be totally free of all relative existence malfunctioning, then not only must the Teachings address the programming and conditioning and enculturation but they must also offer protégés a holistic awareness. The full understanding must now include an awareness of the organic component which also exacerbates the conditions that the Teachings originally addressed unilaterally.

So what has gone wrong with the plants? The soil has been so depleted that the nutritional value of the plants has been diminished; therefore, the value of the organs in the body has been diminished and the quality of the functioning of the organs in the body have been diminished. Next, the plants have been contaminated with insecticides, unnatural fertilizers, bio-engineering, genetic-engineering, chemically-altered food stocks, and accidental and intentional contamination. One can claim to be following a food plan that appears to be “wisely-planned” and still not provide the organs with what they require for optimal functioning. Few know their body type so few know why they should be following a food plan that differs from what 2/3's of the population should eat for optimal organ performance.

Yes, three very different body types exist. Only about 1/3 of the earth’s population needs what the government calls a “balanced diet” with its vegetable/meat combination. Two-thirds will not function optimally if they follow that plan. One-third of the planet’s population will function best with an all-vegetable plan whereas one-third function optimally if they follow an all-meat plan. The next obstacle is that persons place themselves under the influence of priests, gurus, spiritual advisors, rabbis are others who are presumptuous enough to tell people what to eat and what not to eat without having been properly trained to identity the different body types and identity which of the three food plans any given individual should be following.

For those who are “balanced types” or “meat types” but choose to follow a “vegetarian diet” (often for some “spiritual purpose”) they are damaging their organs, inducing insanity, and destroying their bodies from the inside out. That applies to any who are following “Plan A” when their body type requires the specific offerings of “Plan B or C” in order for their organs to function properly. But “inducing insanity?” Yes, there is a physiological component to insanity. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INSANITY: Why the Teachings Must Evolve, Part Three

F.: So, to review:

1. Contrary to "government recommendations," there is no single food plan that is "best" for all humans;

2. Three different body types exist and each type requires a different food plans if the body organs are to functioning optimally;

3. If the specific food plan which each different type requires is not followed, then the organs cannot function optimally;

4. Physical body organs that are under-nourished will negatively impact the mental and emotional states of persons in spite of all their Advaita work, their religious work, or their spiritual work;

5. There is no such thing as a "spiritual diet" and religious or spiritual advisors who dictate one food plan for all persons are revealing that their dietary demands or recommendations should be ignored;

6. Advaitan protégés or any other persons can undertake all of the self-improvement efforts or SELF-Awareness studies or religious work or spiritual exercises they want; however, if they do not address this fairly modern problem of the bastardized food supply and its link to the bastardization of the body organs, then those persons can experience one or more of the following: restlessness, irritability, dissatisfaction, depression, OCD, bi-polar conditions, anxiety, an inability to differentiate true from false, and many other conditions. In the past, all of those conditions could have been addressed via the re-purification of the consciousness that the Teachings provided. Now, a new element has been introduced onto the planet—the corruption of the food supply. Since the body is a plant food body, then the Teachings must evolve to address holistically the varied components of the predicament that humanity now faces in the relative existence. Why?

7. Science has proven that there is a physiological component--as much as a mental component--that determines how humans think and emote and that can affect the level of sanity or insanity.

8. The manifestation of consciousness happens in association with a plant food body. That is all this “space” is: constantly-"renewing," constantly-cycling groups of elements through which oxygen cycles and which provides a “vehicle” for the temporary manifestation of conscious-energy. That conscious-energy supply is also cycling as well, being replenished constantly via consumption of plant food (or via consumption of animals that ate plants). It is the combination of plant food being cycled, of oxygen being cycled, and of elements being cycled that sustain the plant food body. But if something goes wrong with the supply of plants, then how could something not also go wrong with the plant food body and all associated with the plant food body? It is a given. If an interruption of the plant supply was able to wipe out the dinosaur population, imagine the effect on humans when the quality of that plant supply is interrupted and contaminated.

9. Since this physical space is the “vehicle” that allows the consciousness to continue to manifest for a particular period, that plant food body would seemingly warrant some consideration, relatively speaking. Unfortunately, among persons, it is given far more attention than warranted in terms of the seeking of relative existence gratification and far less attention than warranted in terms of care and maintenance. WHO cares? some purists may ask. The response is that behaving in a constructive fashion is far more in line with sane, AS IF living than destructive behavior, relatively speaking. So what has “gone wrong” with plants that has now caused this need for protégés to process considerations that were not even an issue in the past as far as the plant food body was concerned? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INSANITY: Why the Teachings Must Evolve, Part Two

F.: When the “I AM THAT” is understood, abidance happens as the Absolute for the remainder of the manifestation. Prior to that, when the “I AM” is understood, abidance happens as the re-purified consciousness. And for millions and millions of years, humankind survived by living within the framework of that Original Understanding and by eating and behaving naturally. For those millions and millions of years, humankind survived with no need at all for dentists, doctors, pharmacists, therapists, self-help groups, self-help books, spiritual movements, religion, or step programs. How? They functioned quite well by behaving naturally and by eating plant foods that provided proper nutrition that prevented the type of organ-malfunctioning that today generates OCD, bi-polar conditions, anxiety, depression, and the host of other disorders that underfunctioning organs produce or contribute to. They functioned quite well by knowing intuitively what should be eaten and what should not be eaten. They functioned quite well by not having a lifestyle that required working so much that prepared foods were thought to be necessary. How effectively was humankind able to live under the auspices of the brain, The Original Understanding, and the intuitive, sixth sense only? Well enough to survive for millions and millions of years without schooling, without instructional texts, without "holy" texts, without "how-to" manuals, without attending daily or weekly meetings to get this or get that, without seeking meaning or purpose, and without an unquenchable desire to accumulate.

The intuitive sense was so developed that a human could close his/her eyes, could be handed a plant, and could know whether it was edible or poisonous. I only know two humans who are in touch with their intuitive sense to that degree today. Today, most hold poisonous foods in their hands throughout the day and they eat that food throughout the day without any regard for the negative impact on bodily organs which, when harmed as a result of eating such poison, negatively impact the organism physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Again, since the Advaita teaching begins with an invitation to dis-identify with the body, why discuss taking care of the body? Because it is a natural function if the consciousness is manifested. Would one suggest that birds should stop flying away from the threatening presence of humans entering their environment, or is that just a natural function that should be seen as totally natural? This discussion is consistent with all of the Advaita teachings that are set forth via the Nisarga (Natural) Yoga understanding which points out that being in touch with reality allows all things to happen naturally. If in touch with reality—if truly sane—eating also happens in a natural fashion. “Eating disorders”—eating unnaturally and behaving unnaturally around food—are totally modern.

Imagine trying to explain this scenario to a family living on a veldt several hundred thousand years ago: “The men worked diligently today to capture game and brought it home for us to eat. The rest of us foraged for green plants and berries to accompany the meat. We worked hard to get our food, we worked to prepare the food, we enjoyed eating our food, and now we know that the sustenance we longed for will guarantee that we shall be nourished for several days. The only thing left for me to do now is to go gag myself and puke.” Only when concepts have been introduced, only when enculturation warps the pure consciousness, and only when images are given more value then truth does insane, unnatural conduct happen. And when insane, unnatural conduct happens, only then do some come forth with magical and supernatural approaches that are supposed to treat the unnatural conduct.

Is it becoming clear, just how much insanity is involved with food choices and food-related behaviors? Is it becoming clear why Realization is (1) about being restored to sanity, why it is (2) about being in touch with reality, why it (3) leads to the abandonment of unnatural thinking and unnatural living, why it (4) leads to the abandonment of supernatural (magical) thinking and supernatural living and why it (5) results in natural living instead? Is it becoming clear that all manifestation of the conscious-energy involves plant food? Is it clearer that the body is nothing more than an arrangement of elements that happens in conjunction with eating plant food (or eating animals that ate plants)? Is it becoming clear, therefore, why being in touch with reality also results in eating—and behaving—in a natural fashion, whether that means eating natural plants or eating meat that has not been bastardized with additives? Is it becoming clearer why those seeking peace and sanity must not only focus on being free of the faulty programming and conditioning that bastardize the consciousness but must also address the bastardization of foods that corrupt the body organs which affect not only the physiological functioning of the body but also impact the mental and emotional states as well? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INSANITY: Why the Teachings Must Evolve, Part One

F.: When most persons hear that someone has been diagnosed as being “insane” or “emotionally unstable,” they think that that person has certain mental problems. While some realize the impact that programming and conditioning have on human behavior, most believe that conditions such as depression, being bi-polar, suffering obsessive-compulsive disorder, being lethargic, being anxious or irritable, being inordinately stressed, or suffering from ADD are mental conditions. Few realize that all of those can also be triggered by a physical component. Some of the early Advaitan teachers talked about the chemical nature of the elemental space, the physical body. Now it is known that many conditions that are labeled as "mental" or "emotional" in origin may be rooted in physio-chemical imbalances instead. Neither the Advaitan teachings or any other philosophy, religion, or spiritual movements can address those components.

Spinoza over 350 years ago understood the impact that body organs have on "the mind" and on behavior, but most humans today still lack that understanding. He said:

“Whatever increases, decreases, limits or extends the body’s power of action (also) increases, decreases, limits or extends the mind’s power of action. And whatever increases, decreases, limits or extends the mind’s power of action, also increases, decreases, limits or extends the body’s power of action.”

Humans at one point in their evolutionary process knew intuitively what to eat and what not to eat, as most animals do today. Because of the effects of conditioning and enculturation, humans have been programmed to eat what they should not. Humans have so completely lost their sane and natural eating habits that they are not only following food plans that are negatively impacting their health but are eating in ways that generate insane emotions and insane behaviors. A few, made aware of the impact that the bastardized food supply is having, are modifying their food plans without counsel and are eating foods they believe are “healthy” but that are retarding the proper functioning of their organs. Others, just as persons have done for thousands of years, are accepting dietary advice and restrictions as set forth by religious or spiritual advisors who haven’t a clue that their advice is often retarding the proper functioning of the physical organs of their protégés. The end result is that most people either

(1) are blindly eating what their cultures are programming them to eat, or

(2) are self-prescribing food plans that have no logical basis, or

(3) are believing in the nonsense of allowing a religious or spiritual advisor with no nutritional training at all to determine what should and should not be eaten, or

(4) are following governmental recommendations (that actually meet the needs of only 1/3 of the general population), or

(5) are following one fad diet after another which, again, can only meet the nutritional needs of 1/3 of the general population.

Why discuss any of this in relation to attaining the Advaita understanding and Full Realization? Because there was a time prior to the bastardization of the food supply when the organs functioned properly and did not impact mental-emotional states. There was a time when the teachings needed only to address the faulty programming and conditioning and enculturation in order to allow persons to be in touch with reality, to function in a sane and natural manner, and to live sanely and soundly…AS IF. Today, that is not enough. An Advaita protégé, or any other person, so do all the spiritual or religious exercises he wants, can read all the self-help books he wants, can seek out all of the professional counseling he wants, can seek out the most effective Advaitan teacher he wants, but he will often still not be able to function sanely and normally and naturally because of body organs that are malfunctioning (and thereby negatively impacting the mental and emotional states).

New obstacles on the “path” to Full Realization and to AS IF living require that the Teachings evolve. The Teachings early on were the single, holistic solution (relatively speaking) for those who were suffering as a result of being out of touch with reality and for those who were suffering the subsequent effects of their illusory “minds.” Because humans are a plant food body and truly are what they eat, and because the food supply nowadays has been bastardized and cannot provide what is needed for proper functioning of the organs, and because—as Spinoza pointed out—the plant food body affects behavior and mental and emotional conditions, the teachings must be expanded if they are to once again provide the holistic solution to the relativistic problems that humans face. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

DISTORTION BREEDS FEAR AND FEAR BREEDS DISTORTION, The Conclusion

VISITOR: “And I do know we act and react because of what we have put into our minds. I just can‘t break the hold of the mind.”

F.: Understand that there is no such thing as “peace of mind.” There is only peace post-mind. Peace can only come after you abandon the beliefs that are inspiring the chatter in that “mind,” that are generating all that “mind-noise,” and that have a “hold” on you. (When something has "a hold" on you, your freedom is either restricted or entirely forfeited. To be free, you must be free of that which you have identified as having a hold on you.) Your brain has always been phenomenal, but your mind has always been your enemy; likewise, your body has been an enemy of peace, afflicted as it has been—like mine—with cancer.

Yet you still want to cling to both that debilitating “mind” and the ever-weakening body. When you give up your attachment to both via Realization, the result is not the end of “life”; it is, instead, the beginning of AS IF living which can continue until the consciousness unmanifests. Avoid that forfeiture of body-mind-personality and you'll continue to abide with the masses who only have a series of “death in life experiences” rather than abiding as the Absolute.

Realize the facts in regards to what does cycle and what does not, see that you have been attached to a mirage, and then be done with it all. If you were to realize the facts and understand the functioning of the totality, what could there be to fear? And if you see that it is that very act of realization that results in the abandonment of your distorted beliefs and concepts (which are, in turn, inspiring your illusory fears), how could you believe that such realization would be a sacrifice or a “giving up” of anything?

Accept that the form of the body will not last and that the content of the “mind” will not last and that your personality (and all the roles being played by your assumed personas) will not last. So what? As one U.S. pundit says, "I hate to tell you people, but you're going to die. Every one of you. It's on your schedule, in ink." That is, the elements will return to the elements, the breath will rejoin the pool of universal air, and the consciousness will merge into the universal pool of energy. Understanding the facts preempts any “need” to “accept” the effects of a terminal illness or to “accept” the idea of “death” itself. To the contrary, belief in the concept of death also ends with Realization.

Though the poet John Donne was not realized, his words “death, thy shalt die” do capture the essence of the pointer. If you realize that there is no “one” to die, no “mind” that will extend into “another life,” and no “one” to ever be rewarded or punished post-manifestation, then the distortions you have accepted as truth will fade away. Then, fear of death will fade away, fear of punishment (or dread of an intolerably-boring reward) will fade away, and fear of losing the roles you have been playing will fade away. That having happened, the illusions that have a “hold on your mind” (which—more accurately—are the “mind”) will fade away, You will function as an objective witness, and You’ll be able to live in an AS IF fashion for the remainder of the manifestation. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

TOMORROW: THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INSANITY: Why the Teachings Must Evolve

DISTORTION BREEDS FEAR AND FEAR BREEDS DISTORTION, Part Three

From a site visitor: “After discussions with you and a good bit of reading before then, I am still right where I started - fearful. Almost as fearful as when I would sit in the doctor’s office, waiting to take my 3-month checkup for bladder cancer and get so scared I would almost hyperventilate and pass out. My mind on one hand tells me logically not to imagine the worse and all that but I guess my mind on the other hand unleashes fears that probably came from my dad. And you know what, as I observe others, it doesn‘t get better with age. It gets worse. People age 80 worry more about health than when they were young. I will admit, though, I do not want to give up duality in the sense that I like to enjoy things, feel good about winning at the slots, good about maybe some good work, etc. One thing I have learned that has stuck is that I am not my body or my mind. I do know that. And I do know we act and react because of what has been put into our minds. I just can‘t break the hold of the mind.”

[Each part shall be addressed]

VISITOR: “I am still right where I started - fearful.”
F.: Of course. You still have not abandoned the belief that you are your body. You still want eternal continuity for a temporary arrangement of elements.

VISITOR: “I would almost hyperventilate and pass out. My mind on one hand tells me logically not to imagine the worse and all that but I guess my mind on the other hand unleashes fears that probably came form my dad.”

F.: The fears do not come from your dad. They came from him, from your mom, and from an entire culture that has filled you with false beliefs about an afterlife of potential punishment as well as attachment to the body that generates wants, desires and fears. Because they taught you to believe in the "good vs. bad" duality and its impact on your fate in "a next life," you've believed in the acceptance-unacceptable duality in "this life." That belief system has generated a lifetime of fear of not being good enough in your career, of not being acceptable to bosses who could end your career and cause you to lose your job and money and accumulations, of not having enough to support a six-person family, and of tension as you worked to be considered “acceptable” and worked to avoid being “rejected.” Those fears in this relative existence you have then projected onto some "future existence," which is all distortion.

VISITOR: “And you know what, as I observe others, it doesn‘t get better with age. It gets worse.”

F.: Of course it "doesn't get better" when trapped in illusory fears. The longer persons are trapped in their personas, are thinking they have been “bad,” and are focused on their limited body identification, then the more miserable they become as they dread what they take to be their pending eternal punishment. For other persons who are trapped in their personas, are thinking they have been “good,” and are focused on their limited body identification, then the more they long for death and their pending eternal reward. Both groups are living in distortion. Neither is willing to detach and witness whatever happens as it happens, and neither is able to live in an AS IF fashion because they have bought into the nonsense being taught in their culture.

VISITOR: “I will admit, though, I do not want to give up duality in the sense that I like to enjoy things, feel good about winning at the slots, good about maybe some good work, etc.”

F.: You've obviously missed the point entirely. Being free of duality is only about giving up lies and nonsense and wrong-thinking. A dual-minded man is unstable in all ways. The insanity of this culture cannot be compartmentalized. Insane in one area is insane in all areas. Being in touch with reality requires the "giving up" of nothing but your belief in distorted concepts and their subsequent fears.

VISITOR: “One thing I have learned that has stuck is that I am not my body or my mind. I do know that.”

F.: Everything else in your e-mail contradicts that claim. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [Tomorrow: The Conclusion]
COMING SOON: THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INSANITY: Why the Teachings Must Evolve

DISTORTION BREEDS FEAR AND FEAR BREEDS DISTORTION, Part Two

From a site visitor: “I just finished reading the August archives and have some questions that came up—why do you tie fear and lies together? If I’m getting you right, you think no one should be afraid of anything but I think there are fears that are justified. If you want to talk about getting real and being sane, anyone living in my country nowadays (United States) would have to be crazy not to be in some fear. There are people who want to destroy our economy and kill us and ultimately destroy us. That’s reality.”

[Continued from yesterday]

F.: As far as “justified fears,” there are none, but there are natural responses to some threats. Certain responses do happen automatically as a result of archetypal influence: a startled deer or a frightened bird will react and move away from potential physical harm; persons who look over the unprotected edge of a skyscraper or a cliff might feel an automatic response in the gut…a natural warning of potential physical danger; one being physically attacked might automatically raise his/her arms to shield the body. The suggestion to you is to distinguish between those “logical” responses in nature and the “insane” responses that are triggered by faulty conditioning in cultures.

In addition to the reverse-thinking examples from yesterday, look at another fear-stimulating illustration, specifically, “the end is near” concept that has been circulated for at least 2000 years. It is part of the fiction that persons believe in if they have been conditioned to believe in the false theory of a timeline (with its “creation-beginning-middle-end-judgment-an eternity that is dualistically either good or bad”) as opposed to understanding the cycling. Yes, the particular configuration of elements will “end” as the body returns to dust, but the air that cycled through the body will not end; nor will the conscious-energy end. The concepts of “self” and “Self” will disappear since no body or “mind” will survive once the consciousness is no longer manifested. Knowing that reality can result in “The Great So What?” as well as the understanding of the Advaita query, “WHO Cares?”

Realization is about getting back into touch with reality. Distortion is about shifting further away from reality. Fear is about shifting farther into identification with the body-mind-personality triad and farther into the acceptance of false roles as “real identities.” The only fear is the illusory fear of “death” (which is usually equated by persons with “loss”): “death” of a relationship, “death” of the spouse role after a divorce, “death” of the business person role after a venture fails, etc. Both “death” and “loss” are illusions that are made to seem real by ego-states and their belief systems which drive persons to think and emote and behave as they do. Realization results after it is understood that there is no “death,” no “one” to die, no “one” to lose anything or anyone, and therefore no "one" to fear anything. When a desert mirage disappears at sunset, it did not "die" or "end"; it never existed to begin with. It was only an appearance, perceived wrongly by persons who take illusions to be real. The same applies to fears.

Furthermore, all emotions that are “experienced” by personas are some form of illusory fear, including supposed anger, supposed jealousy, supposed outrage, and all other supposed emotions. They are, indeed, nothing more than fear draped in a cloak of some other sentiment. That pointer has been challenged in the past with such arguments as these:

THE CLAIM: “No, Floyd. That’s wrong. My child misbehaved in school and was suspended and I most assuredly was very angry.”
THE RESPONSE: No. That was fear...fear that “Super Parent” was “dying.” What is required for that role to be sustained? A “Super Child.” The ego (the false “I”) felt embarrassed and offended.

THE CLAIM: “But what about jealousy. I am tired of coming home after a hard day’s work and seeing my neighbor in our drive, talking to my wife. I admit…I’m jealous and that’s what I’m really feeling.”
THE RESPONSE: No. That’s fear. “The Husband” fears the “death” of his role since that role cannot exist without the co-dependent counterpart of “wife.” The dread of "loss" is always equated with the "death" of some role among persons.

THE CLAIM: “But what about outrage? My boss called me in and added some unwarranted criticisms into my file. I was outraged, believe me.”

THE RESPONSE: No, that was fear. What was happening in that case was that many ego-states were in fear of “dying”…of coming to an end: “Employee” was in fear of dying; “Provider” was in fear of dying; “Homeowner” could not survive without income, so that role was in fear of dying; “The Money Man” was in fear of dying.

In fact, once money and an ego-state become associated, the intensity of the degree to which ego-states will emote always increases dramatically. For example, someone might be playing the role of “The Religious Person,” which is soon elevated to "The Super Religious Person" by the arrogance that always accompanies an assumed identity. But if that person accepts employment in a religious institution, the power of that assumed role to influence behavior and thought and perception increases not arithmetically but increases geometrically instead. The “need” to sustain a role increases when it is not being used merely to try (a) to get love, esteem or a sense of actualization but when it is also being used (b) to provide money for the basic requirements of food, clothing, and shelter. If you would be free of fear and distortion, be free of false roles. To be free of false roles, see what false roles are being played.

Have you ever set aside twenty minutes in the quiet to take up pen and paper and to list every role that you have assumed or been assigned by your culture? What might that reveal, if you were to undertake that task? Many persons who are honest and thoughtful have listed fifty or sixty assumed roles in only a few minutes of consideration. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
COMING SOON: THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INSANITY: Why the Teachings Must Evolve

DISTORTION BREEDS FEAR AND FEAR BREEDS DISTORTION, Part One

From a site visitor: “I just finished reading some of the August archives and have some questions that came up—why do you tie fear and lies together? If I’m getting you right, you think no one should be afraid of anything but I think there are fears that are justified. If you want to talk about getting real and being sane, anyone living in my country nowadays (United States) would have to be crazy not to be in some fear. There are people who want to destroy our economy and kill us and ultimately destroy us. That’s reality.”

F.: Thanks for writing. First, many reside in the U.S., many are not crazy, and yet they do not experience the fear you mention. In fact, it is because they are sane that they are not living in the fear you are. Should you travel farther along the “path” to Realization, you’ll be able to look back at your words and see the distortion of the beliefs regarding some “one” who should be afraid and the fears you think are “justified.” That said, your comments offer an opportunity to discuss the conditioning that you’ve obviously been exposed to…the effects of which you can be free of via Realization.

Conditioning is as old as the first concept dreamed up by one person and passed on to another through use of repetition. It is one of the major tools used by persons to bastardize the consciousness. Typically, specific examples of current relative happenings are avoided in order to focus on eternal actualities, but your comments provide an opportunity to discuss the way that conditioning creates distortions and how distortions generate fears that result in persons being out of touch with reality; therefore, your topical examples will be addressed since many persons can likely relate to them presently. Notice how you and many persons in the U.S. are being conditioned and how distortion and fear follow. Conditioning requires repetition, so if someone tells persons often enough that the greatest threat to their physical safety and economic well-being is a foreigner and a terrorist, then many will accept that lie as truth.

The antidote for conditioning is Realization, which would allow You to realize that there is no “one” to fear what persons “in your country nowadays” fear and would also allow You to understand that, if your economic or bodily fears were “justified,” you would not fear what you do fear and, conversely, you would fear what you do not. Meaning?

Since you reside in the U.S., the facts are that…

…statistically, there is a far greater chance that you will be killed by someone whom you think loves you than by someone whom you think hates you;

…statistically, there is a far great chance that—instead of your economic welfare being harmed by some terrorist that you think hates you—your money is more likely to be taken away by your own government or by someone you think loves you;

…statistically, there is a far greater chance of your being killed by incompetence in a U.S. hospital than in a terrorist attack;

…statistically, there is a far greater chance of your being killed by someone living in your house than by someone breaking into your house; and,

…statistically, there is an astronomically-greater chance of your being killed by a fellow U.S. citizen than by an invader from a foreign country.

2,800+ people were killed in the 9/11 attack by foreigners who sneaked into the country, but since then (a) over 85,000 have been murdered in the U.S. by people who already live here and (b) between 800,000 and 1.6 million people have been killed because of incompetence while seeking medical care in U.S. hospitals.

Your body identification is driving you to fear for the safety of your body, but you do not understand what the greater threats to your body really are. Why? Conditioning and distorted thinking:

Conditioning: “They are the people who hate you and they want to kill you. There is no greater threat to you and your economic well-being.”

Distorted thinking: “These are the people in government who will protect me, and these others are the people in my life who love me and who would never do anything to harm me.”

Note how distorted the thinking is among those who have been conditioned by leaders—both now and historically—to believe that Source A is a threat when Source B is far more likely to impact the relative existence. Note how distortions always result in misplaced fears. Note how those who want to manipulate and to control always use programming and conditioning to put reason on hold. Notice how they use fear-generating rhetoric to put listeners into a state of emotional intoxication.

Look to your own childhood and see if you can recall any of those “I have a good mind to kill you” stares from an angry parent; or look back to threats you heard about "eternal punishment in hell"; or look back to those “I hate you” or “I’ll ruin you” or “I’ll abandon you” or “You’re not good enough” looks or words from someone threatening to abandon you. Can you recall one or more of those types of events? If so, then you can see the force of programming and conditioning, the emotional intoxication that they can generate, and why misery and suffering in the relative existence always follow conditioning and/or programming. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

REALIZATION: Beyond Spirituality

From a site visitor: “I read yesterday’s entry and it seems you think religion plays no role in life’s spiritual journey to Realization. For me, it has played a huge role.”

F.: So, again, a site where consciousness speaks is contacted by a religious persona that would speak. If you search the archives, you will find that it has been made clear many times on this site that religious or spiritual roles are a necessary step on the “path” to Realization; however, all of the following must be understand in order to reach Full Realization:

1. Religious/spiritual personas are exactly as you stated: they are roles, and roles are played by persons, and neither the roles nor the persons being played are real;

2. The “journey” to Realization is not a “spiritual” journey;

3. It is a “journey” that can be completed only if all that is assumed to be “spiritual” (or “religious”) is transitioned;

4. Neither religion nor spirituality have played a “huge role” for you; instead, it is you (your false self) that has been playing a huge role.

So the pointer is, pray all the prayers that you think you need to pray; knell, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate as much as you think you need to kneel, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate; read all the “holy” books that you think you need to read; visit all the “sacred” sites or “sacred” men that you think you need to visit; chant or hum every chant or hum you think you need to chant or hum; ring every bell you think you need to ring; and burn every stick of incense that you think you need to burn.

But when you are done with all of that, realize that you--and all persons who are fixated in a stage and are playing their religious or spiritual roles--are mistaking the dawn for the noon. Realize that praying and knelling and bending over and stooping and lying prostrate and reading and visiting and chanting and humming and ringing and burning (and every other external thing you try to use to be more spiritual or to try to demonstrate how spiritual you are) will actually block you from finding the truth which can only be found within after certain pointers are taken into quiet and solitary consideration. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

QUESTIONING IT ALL AND FINDING THE LIES, Part Two

[Continued from yesterday]

From a site visitor: “I found your site several months ago and now I read your daily posts as part of my regular morning routine but this is the first time I’ve written to you. (Sometimes in the evening, I go back through your archives too). Anyway, my question is about you saying to question everything. I know you’ve discussed this before and maybe you don’t want to go over it again, but aren’t there some things that just can’t be questioned? If I add 10 and 3, it’s thirteen every time. Why question that? It’s a fact----it’s not a lie, so how do I find the lies you talk about and get rid of them and not be concerned with facts that shouldn’t be questioned? Thank you very much, Eddie.”

F.: Next, Eddie, there are some specific tools that you can use which can assist you in finding many of the commonly-held lies. Be aware of them and it becomes easy to know when you are about to hear a falsehood. In conversation, lies are introduced by certain phrases:

“Here’s what I believe about that….”
“My view on that topic is that….”
“My faith alone is all I need to know for a fact that….”

Why is any statement that follows those introductory words always a lie? No person today has come up with any belief. There is no such thing as “your” beliefs. All beliefs have been adopted from persons who have expressed “their” beliefs which you take to be “your” beliefs. And “their” beliefs are not “their” beliefs, either. They are beliefs that were dreamed up thousands of years ago by ignorant men, that have been handed down over the years, and that are now accepted as truth by persons today—many of whom are intelligent but who have been conditioned to accept as truth the lies that are being passed on by authority figures. If you want to find the lies to reject, see those being spread by authority figures in politics, in religion, and in business (which were in the past three separate entities but which have now been morphed into one mega-influential entity across the globe). If you really want to ferret out the lies that are having the most negative impact in the relative existence and that are inspiring fighting and separation and disharmony, then look objectively at the concepts that are being espoused by leaders and followers associated with those three institutions.

Some would say, “That’s all relative existence stuff. Why even discuss it? Freedom comes with abidance as the Absolute.” The Advaita teaching is summarized in the ancient phrase, “I AM THAT; I AM.” Some would have you focus on the I AM THAT and ignore the I-AMNESS, but as long as the consciousness is temporarily manifested, to ignore either part of the truth of “I AM THAT; I AM” would be more evidence of insanity. Why?

1. The “freedom” mentioned by them can only be known during the I-AMNESS anyway.

2. Post-manifestation, there is no “one” to understand anything or to be impacted by anything or to be freed from anything, including the misery generated by believing in lies.

3. By distorting that truth, by ignoring the “I AM” part of the teachings, and by advancing the dualistic falsehood of heaven-hell, one of the grander lies has been circulated that has mesmerized trillions over the centuries. That lie is often expressed thusly: “This life is a travail, but it is in the afterlife where the reward and the pleasures come…unless you are ‘bad’ and then even greater pain will come.” [How attached are the programmed to their belief in that dualistic heaven-hell lie? When Pope John Paul II declared that, “We must correct the geography of Gehanna: there is no literal heaven or hell…they are mental states, and you are in one or the other right now,” the Catholic News Service immediately sent a wire worldwide telling Catholics not to take that literally. Even when a very rare occurrence happens and a leader finally admits to the "flock" that they have been lied to, "the shepherd’s” truth is rejected by "the sheep.”]

Full Realization turns that lie on its head, and the Realized know that the exact opposite is the reality, understanding that (1) there is no "one" to experience any reward or pleasure or pain in an “afterlife” since there is no “afterlife,” only that which remains beyond both the beingness and the non-beingness, and that (2) freedom in the relative existence comes when it is fully realized that there is no "one" to experience any reward or pleasure or pain now either. [See http://floydhenderson.com/whenidie.htm for more explanation.]

So, Eddie, best regards in your effort to find which lies are resulting in the most distortion and delusion (and therefore in the most misery and suffering) and then being free of their influence in the relative existence. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

QUESTIONING IT ALL AND FINDING THE LIES, Part One

From a site visitor: “I found your site several months ago and now I read your daily posts as part of my regular morning routine but this is the first time I’ve written to you. (Sometimes in the evening, I go back through your archives too). Anyway, my question is about you saying to question everything. I know you’ve discussed this before and maybe you don’t want to go over it again, but aren’t there some things that just can’t be questioned? If I add 10 and 3, it’s thirteen every time. Why question that? It’s a fact----it’s not a lie, so how do I find the lies you talk about and get rid of them and not be concerned with facts that shouldn’t be questioned? Thank you very much, Eddie.”

F.: Hello, Eddie. Thx for writing. The example you offered can serve to illustrate how appearance and perspective make all things in the relative existence a lie and how persons so often take something to be “fact” when it is not. You think that if you “add 10 and 3 it’s thirteen every time,” but that is valid only in base 10 math. In base 5 math, it’s 23. Expand that to understand that all persons who believe any lie are just that convinced that what they believe is definitely true and factual.

So how do you “find the lies”? First, let your questioning begin in the areas that cause the greatest emotional intoxication among persons on the planet. Base 10 vs. base 5 lies are not the source of a false sense of separation among persons, nor the source of the subsequent fighting and disharmony and conflict in the relative existence. So start your “getting rid of” process by eliminating first the concepts that cause the most misery and suffering on the planet. Currently, religion-based conflicts top the list, a spot they’ve held off-and-on for several thousand years. If you have months and years to dedicate to the task, you might join with those who take the course of knowledge acquisition for a time.

If your studies are thorough, you’ll find that Moses plagiarized Advaita teachings and ancient myths and that he merely inserted himself in the god-role of ancient stories; you would find that not one historical document exists that corroborates his tale of an "Exodus" from Egypt; you would discover that Moses stole the tale of a 40-year desert journey from an ancient pagan religion; you would understand that Christ’s early message was a Jewish message but that his final message was an Advaita message; you’d find that the tenets of Islam have been totally warped; you’d see that the concepts of Abraham evolved into all three of those religions; you’d find that the “god of Abraham” is a nothing more than a composite of all the previous pagan gods, just rolled into one; and you would find one lie after another that is being told by leaders of those religions. Finding the lies believed in by adherents of those three groups would be as effective a place to start as any, since they currently have such a tremendous relative-existence-impact. Cast their concepts and beliefs aside and you’ll be well on the way to re-purifying the warped consciousness and being free of the influence of any movements that generate a sense of guilt and unworthiness on one hand or extreme arrogance on the other.

But beyond religious lies, you might look at political lies and historical lies and non-scientific lies; however, such research could take decades to find and to eliminate all the lies generated by the trillions and trillions of persons who have walked the planet. So keep it simple. Find the lies that are believed in by the largest numbers of persons; that inspire the most dis-ease on one hand or arrogance on the other; that result in the most conflict; and then you’ll have found the lies that are resulting in the most emotional intoxication and insane conduct in the relative existence; then, begin the purification-of-the-consciousness process by discarding all of those beliefs and concepts. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]