[Continued from 27 November 2006]
F.: How else to know that you are Realized and free?
2. You’ll see that doingness has ended. Your religious and/or spiritual programming and conditioning were rooted in doership as you were taught that you would only get their promised rewards (rewards to be enjoyed both now and later) if you attend, meet, work, serve, sacrifice, study “holy” writings, give, obsess, etc. Once Realized, it will be observed that what happens…happens, but you will certainly no longer be driven to do all of “their stuff” or to obsess over anything.
3. You’ll gravitate toward the silence, when the alternative is exposure to insanity. That will happen as a result of having been restored to sanity. In the past, you spouted insane comments, thinking that you were expressing "truth." You put yourself in places where other persons spouted insane comments, and you listened to their insanity so they would listen to yours. You needed a captive audience. Whereas going and doing and zooming and experiencing chaos in the past might have had a certain appeal, You suddenly find the silence quite comfortable in lieu of that steady stream of insane prattle or excessive noise that you exposed yourself to in the past.
4. You will stop looking for other people and other entities to trust. You will no longer have blind faith in the concepts of ancient men or the concepts of modern men; you will have no faith in their fictional concepts; you will have no faith in their fictional entities. You will be totally independent. You will know Your Self, and you will trust that Self, only. A protégé read a passage in which my teacher said he attained Realization because he had faith in his guru’s words. The protégé asked if he "had to have faith in me or my words." The answer was “No,” based on the way Realization happened in this case. There was no faith in a teacher or his words. I simply began reading his words and the content was completely logical. The Advaita teachings made sense whereas the teachings of all other “paths”—when studied objectively—were seen to be illogical and senseless.
More than anything, a vision that had come was the “spark” that ignited the gunpowder. The words of my teacher addressed “this step” to one visitor but “that step” with another. The vision that came to me showed the exact order in which the steps had to be taken to Realize. The meaning of the vision became clear and Realization happened. The teaching here is this: faith is only required when one would have you believe in teachings that are totally illogical or theological. Only with blind faith could one be convinced that the totally illogical and unsensible is logical and sensible. No faith is required to believe in that which is logical. All that is required is being de-programming and de-conditioned, being reasonable, and being restored to sanity. Run like the wind from any who say, “Just truth me” or “Just trust us.” Instead, trust the Self that remains when all lies and concepts have been purged from your corrupted consciousness.
5. You will then discard the illogical and the theological and accept only the logical.
6. Your belief in the duality of “gain vs. loss” will disappear. You’ll be free of the deception that some “you” is real and that there’s a “you” than can gain or lose. It is that very belief which is contributing to the fact that you are fixated at the third stage, if even there. You really think that if you were to Realize that you’d lose something (or not gain something). How self-ish is that?
So you both cling to that dualistic belief about gain and loss and scores of other illogical concepts. You still think there's some "you" that is going to get some payoff for all your spiritual work. You still want to do. You still prefer the noisy insanity to the sane silence. You still like the role of "Seeker" and "Sharer" and "Knower." You still like to be heard and to have a captive audience. You turn your back on freedom and remain attached to, and dependent upon, the mythical nonsense that you—and billions—have been taught. That nonsense was originally dreamed up by ignorant men thousands of years ago, men who were so foolish that they could come up with no better explanation for an eclipse than to claim that “It’s a sign from an angry god.” To continue to believe in even one of the metaphysical theories that were all dreamed up by those obtuse men is to be associated with all of the sleepwalkers nowadays who still believe in that antiquated nonsense. It will put you in the company of the masses today who think that Hurricane Katrina was also “a sign from an angry god” or, as the Dahli Lama claimed as a result of his magical thinking, an event that came about because of “the past negative karma of the people of New Orleans.” That comment shows that even the educated can ignore basic, scientific facts, can cloak truth in their theologically-based or metaphysically-based insanity, and always prefer their magical thinking that assigns "supernatural cause" to totally natural events.
Can you imagine the level of folly that dominated persons thousands of years ago? Is it seen how often persons today still live their lives according to the dictates or theories set forth by ancient, ignorant men? Do you see why the masses today, therefore, also abide in the same level of folly? Can you imagine the level of senselessness that dominates those persons today who are willing to accept as fact the inane ideas that were dreamed up during those days of such widespread madness? Is it clearer why the masses today are trapped in insanity, accepting as fact the absurdities dreamed up four or five thousand years ago?
More to the point, can you imagine the level of sanity to which you might be restored if you were to reject those lies and concepts which were the fabrications of ignorant, self-serving men—lies that replaced the Original Understanding? Realize that the truth of that Original Understanding cannot be expressed in words and cannot be taught, but know as well that it can be grasped intuitively. The invitation is to set aside all doingness and all beliefs and all concepts, to go into the quiet, and to become open to an awareness of that intuitive understanding. If it comes, then doingness will end, all that is illogical will be rejected, and an understanding of the beingness (and even of the non-beingness) will come. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
F.: How else to know that you are Realized and free?
2. You’ll see that doingness has ended. Your religious and/or spiritual programming and conditioning were rooted in doership as you were taught that you would only get their promised rewards (rewards to be enjoyed both now and later) if you attend, meet, work, serve, sacrifice, study “holy” writings, give, obsess, etc. Once Realized, it will be observed that what happens…happens, but you will certainly no longer be driven to do all of “their stuff” or to obsess over anything.
3. You’ll gravitate toward the silence, when the alternative is exposure to insanity. That will happen as a result of having been restored to sanity. In the past, you spouted insane comments, thinking that you were expressing "truth." You put yourself in places where other persons spouted insane comments, and you listened to their insanity so they would listen to yours. You needed a captive audience. Whereas going and doing and zooming and experiencing chaos in the past might have had a certain appeal, You suddenly find the silence quite comfortable in lieu of that steady stream of insane prattle or excessive noise that you exposed yourself to in the past.
4. You will stop looking for other people and other entities to trust. You will no longer have blind faith in the concepts of ancient men or the concepts of modern men; you will have no faith in their fictional concepts; you will have no faith in their fictional entities. You will be totally independent. You will know Your Self, and you will trust that Self, only. A protégé read a passage in which my teacher said he attained Realization because he had faith in his guru’s words. The protégé asked if he "had to have faith in me or my words." The answer was “No,” based on the way Realization happened in this case. There was no faith in a teacher or his words. I simply began reading his words and the content was completely logical. The Advaita teachings made sense whereas the teachings of all other “paths”—when studied objectively—were seen to be illogical and senseless.
More than anything, a vision that had come was the “spark” that ignited the gunpowder. The words of my teacher addressed “this step” to one visitor but “that step” with another. The vision that came to me showed the exact order in which the steps had to be taken to Realize. The meaning of the vision became clear and Realization happened. The teaching here is this: faith is only required when one would have you believe in teachings that are totally illogical or theological. Only with blind faith could one be convinced that the totally illogical and unsensible is logical and sensible. No faith is required to believe in that which is logical. All that is required is being de-programming and de-conditioned, being reasonable, and being restored to sanity. Run like the wind from any who say, “Just truth me” or “Just trust us.” Instead, trust the Self that remains when all lies and concepts have been purged from your corrupted consciousness.
5. You will then discard the illogical and the theological and accept only the logical.
6. Your belief in the duality of “gain vs. loss” will disappear. You’ll be free of the deception that some “you” is real and that there’s a “you” than can gain or lose. It is that very belief which is contributing to the fact that you are fixated at the third stage, if even there. You really think that if you were to Realize that you’d lose something (or not gain something). How self-ish is that?
So you both cling to that dualistic belief about gain and loss and scores of other illogical concepts. You still think there's some "you" that is going to get some payoff for all your spiritual work. You still want to do. You still prefer the noisy insanity to the sane silence. You still like the role of "Seeker" and "Sharer" and "Knower." You still like to be heard and to have a captive audience. You turn your back on freedom and remain attached to, and dependent upon, the mythical nonsense that you—and billions—have been taught. That nonsense was originally dreamed up by ignorant men thousands of years ago, men who were so foolish that they could come up with no better explanation for an eclipse than to claim that “It’s a sign from an angry god.” To continue to believe in even one of the metaphysical theories that were all dreamed up by those obtuse men is to be associated with all of the sleepwalkers nowadays who still believe in that antiquated nonsense. It will put you in the company of the masses today who think that Hurricane Katrina was also “a sign from an angry god” or, as the Dahli Lama claimed as a result of his magical thinking, an event that came about because of “the past negative karma of the people of New Orleans.” That comment shows that even the educated can ignore basic, scientific facts, can cloak truth in their theologically-based or metaphysically-based insanity, and always prefer their magical thinking that assigns "supernatural cause" to totally natural events.
Can you imagine the level of folly that dominated persons thousands of years ago? Is it seen how often persons today still live their lives according to the dictates or theories set forth by ancient, ignorant men? Do you see why the masses today, therefore, also abide in the same level of folly? Can you imagine the level of senselessness that dominates those persons today who are willing to accept as fact the inane ideas that were dreamed up during those days of such widespread madness? Is it clearer why the masses today are trapped in insanity, accepting as fact the absurdities dreamed up four or five thousand years ago?
More to the point, can you imagine the level of sanity to which you might be restored if you were to reject those lies and concepts which were the fabrications of ignorant, self-serving men—lies that replaced the Original Understanding? Realize that the truth of that Original Understanding cannot be expressed in words and cannot be taught, but know as well that it can be grasped intuitively. The invitation is to set aside all doingness and all beliefs and all concepts, to go into the quiet, and to become open to an awareness of that intuitive understanding. If it comes, then doingness will end, all that is illogical will be rejected, and an understanding of the beingness (and even of the non-beingness) will come. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
