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.
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]
