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
