[HOW TO SEARCH THIS SITE: Before today’s post, several inquires have arrived about searching the site for specific terms. Google changed/complicated the process when they shifted from the BETA version recently. Here’s the new search method:
1. In the white area at the top, type in the search word.
2. Click SEARCH BLOG.
3. Click EDIT at the top of the page.
4. Click FIND (ON THIS PAGE) on the drop-down menu.
5. Re-type the same search word.
6. Click FIND NEXT. Each time you click it, you'll be taken down the page to the next instance where the word appeared in prior postings. The term will be highlighted. Sorry for the inconvenience.]
From a site visitor: I’m totally westernized--gulity as charged--so I’ve been trained to give great value to knowledge, which you’ve been knocking. I’m at least willing to listen to you and see if I can get your point, but looking at your bio info, you obviously attended university, acquired enough knowledge to convince someone that they should pay you to use that knowledge, and then paid your bills through use of that knowledge. Your vast knowledge in many subject areas is obvious. So, what’s the deal? Larry
F.: Some defending their propensity for acquiring (and even gloating) over their accumulated knowledge have argued one of two arguments: (1) “I convert my knowledge into money. I use it to make a living.” The response: “If you were to measure all of your ‘knowledge’ and then detemine how much of all of that is actually used or required for you to ‘live,’ it would be so microscopic—so fractional—as to be undetectable. Your egotism regarding how smart you are has once again resulted in “you” fooling your self."
(2) “Well, you learned to read, Floyd. Now, you use that worldly knowledge when you travel to satsangs to find your way.” The response: The ability to witness highway markers and to follow the path they mark in order to arrive at an intended destination happens, but once at the destination, the markers are neither prized nor revisited nor fixed in thought nor discussed (unless a seeker wants to follow the same path to reach the same destination). More to the point, there is no "one" to believe that "he" has knowledge of all those markers. Signs can be witnessed, but why store away any knowledge of signs, why remember the signs forever, or why cherish them as another part of some cumlative knowledge base that becomes a source of false pride? If not being used on the path, not another second is spent in paying attention to the signs. There is no "I" that "knows" the signs. The signs are merely witnessed...and without attachment.
The confusion comes (a) because a seeker at one level is not told the same thing as a seeker at another level and (b) because the very nature of the Advaita Teachings involves paradoxes. Thus, it seems one must accumulate Advaitin "knowledge." (Even the most basic expression of the non-dual Teachings appears to be a paradox: "I AM THAT; I AM and that is not two." The further paradox is that the consciousness can only know that it is while in that I AM-ness and cannot know anything in the THAT-ness. Thus, if You abide as THAT, how could any "knowing" happen?)
1. In the white area at the top, type in the search word.
2. Click SEARCH BLOG.
3. Click EDIT at the top of the page.
4. Click FIND (ON THIS PAGE) on the drop-down menu.
5. Re-type the same search word.
6. Click FIND NEXT. Each time you click it, you'll be taken down the page to the next instance where the word appeared in prior postings. The term will be highlighted. Sorry for the inconvenience.]
From a site visitor: I’m totally westernized--gulity as charged--so I’ve been trained to give great value to knowledge, which you’ve been knocking. I’m at least willing to listen to you and see if I can get your point, but looking at your bio info, you obviously attended university, acquired enough knowledge to convince someone that they should pay you to use that knowledge, and then paid your bills through use of that knowledge. Your vast knowledge in many subject areas is obvious. So, what’s the deal? Larry
F.: Some defending their propensity for acquiring (and even gloating) over their accumulated knowledge have argued one of two arguments: (1) “I convert my knowledge into money. I use it to make a living.” The response: “If you were to measure all of your ‘knowledge’ and then detemine how much of all of that is actually used or required for you to ‘live,’ it would be so microscopic—so fractional—as to be undetectable. Your egotism regarding how smart you are has once again resulted in “you” fooling your self."
(2) “Well, you learned to read, Floyd. Now, you use that worldly knowledge when you travel to satsangs to find your way.” The response: The ability to witness highway markers and to follow the path they mark in order to arrive at an intended destination happens, but once at the destination, the markers are neither prized nor revisited nor fixed in thought nor discussed (unless a seeker wants to follow the same path to reach the same destination). More to the point, there is no "one" to believe that "he" has knowledge of all those markers. Signs can be witnessed, but why store away any knowledge of signs, why remember the signs forever, or why cherish them as another part of some cumlative knowledge base that becomes a source of false pride? If not being used on the path, not another second is spent in paying attention to the signs. There is no "I" that "knows" the signs. The signs are merely witnessed...and without attachment.
The confusion comes (a) because a seeker at one level is not told the same thing as a seeker at another level and (b) because the very nature of the Advaita Teachings involves paradoxes. Thus, it seems one must accumulate Advaitin "knowledge." (Even the most basic expression of the non-dual Teachings appears to be a paradox: "I AM THAT; I AM and that is not two." The further paradox is that the consciousness can only know that it is while in that I AM-ness and cannot know anything in the THAT-ness. Thus, if You abide as THAT, how could any "knowing" happen?)
Because of both “a” and “b” above, it is suggested to site visitors or to those who attend retreats here that they tap into the “inner guru,” yet some time with a “guru” is often required for most to receive the full and final understanding. Why? If one is asleep and wants to wake up but is surrounded only by other sleepers, who can be depended on to awaken that one? Only one that is not among that circle of sleepers. So is "knowledge" of the Advaita Teachings needed or not for Realization? What is needed are the pointers that are offered to seekers by the Realized "teacher," pointers intended to remove erroneous beliefs in all of the distortions and illusions and learned ignorance that block access to the pure consciousness. "Teacher" is in quote marks because "teaching" involves the transmission of knowledge; that is not the same as removing false knowledge (learned ignorance).
To the contrary of the Advaita approach which focuses not on acquiring knowledge but on being free of learned ignorance, all other “paths,” religions, spiritual movements, and philosophies require (a) accumulating “their” ideas, dogma, beliefs, knowledge, and concepts as well as (b) practicing their practices…“for life” or, in the case of those who do not understand what cycles and what does not, “for multiple lives.” Before Advaita, no other had ever said (during those decades of intensive seeking by “floyd”), “Not only can You be free...You already are free, and if you grasp that Understanding, you’re done. You’ll not have to attend meetings or sessions; you’ll not be required to give us a percentage of your money. You will not have to genuflect nor sing nor intone nor pledge nor recite creeds or oaths or prayers in unison with others who are genuflecting and singing and intoning and pledging and reciting creeds and oaths and prayers in unison.” No one else had ever said that, other than an Advaitin teacher.
No one else, other than an Advaitin teacher, had ever said: “You will not have to know our chants. You will not have to learn special drumbeats or to know when to ring a bell or how to burn sticks, and you will not have to pay us to burn our candles. You will not have to buy our special holy book and read it forever in order to gain knowledge and truth.” No one else said, “You will not have to read every day forever to gain more wisdom and knowledge. You will not have to work to gain or to maintain anything. You will not be called upon to learn the inner workings of our organization so that you will know how to serve on a committee or board. Whatever happens with you will just happen from the moment of Realization on, and it will happen spontaneously. Peace will not have to be sought any more, knowledge will not have to sought anymore, and you will not have to work to ‘get it’ and ‘keep it.’ It will just happen.” No one else had ever said that, other than an Advaitin teacher.
No one else, other than an Advaitin teacher, had ever said: “You will not have to know how to heat rocks so you can sweat in a lodge, and you will not have to learn ancient chants or foreign languages or to know how to hum our special hums because this Understanding is assessible to all. And you will not have to give your money to build special buildings or to buy special furnishings or special accoutrements and then know the special significance of them all. You will not need to know which days are 'separate' and ‘different’ and ‘holy’ and ‘more important’ than other days or years. You will neither have to wear your hair in a special way nor shave your head completely, and you will not have to wear any special clothing.” No one else had ever said that, other than an Advaitin teacher.
Everyone playing a religious or spiritual role wants others to have knowledge of their doctrines, to have knowledge of their theories, to have knowledge of their learnings, to have knowledge of their beliefs, to have knowledge of the intricacies of their dogma, to have knowledge of the content of their letters, to have knowledge of the content of their special book, and to have knowledge of when to do exactly what everyone else does in hypnotic, robotic synchronization (which keeps persons asleep rather than awakening them). For them, “spirituality” is about “spiritual growth” or “growing in knowledge.” For the Advaitin, anything pointed to with the term “spiritual work” would involve removing knowledge (learned ignorance), not about attaining knowledge. Is preparation required, even for receiving the Advaita Teachings? Yes. Does that involve reading certain books? Usually. Does it involve developing the ability to sit in the quiet and contemplate a pointer? Yes. Does it involve sitting for a few days or weeks with one that is Realized to understand the final clarifications? Usually. Is a lifetime of work, reading, meditating, and considering necessary? No.
Ultimately, it is seen via Realization that (a) anything a person calls a “spiritual experience” is nothing more than a perceived happening in “their world” and that (b) their "world" is a fraud. It is also seen, therefore, that any so-called “experience” which supposedly happens to “a fictional person” in “a fictional world” must be…fictional. There is no experiencer, so there are no experiences. All "experiences" are assumed to be real by false identities only. Anything labeled as such is just an imagining, an emotion-based belief or reaction triggered after the assumption of an ego-state. To advance along the seven-step "path" and to transition beyond the third step, therefore, it must be seen that “The Spiritual Man” claiming "spiritual knowledge" and "spiritual experiences" is just another ego-state, not one iota different from “The Mass Murdering Man.” And those two personas are no different from the hundreds of thousands of other roles that persons accept as identities, all of which are supported not by factual knowledge but by learned ignorance instead. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
