Contrary to popular belief, personality—which is generated by a defective “mind”—does not have both “liabilities and assets.” All “personality traits” are personality defects (a.k.a., “character defects” since personas are just roles that are being played as if by a character on a stage).
FROM A SITE VISITOR: Loved your expression “brain-flush”?! Now that resonates. I’ve been visiting your site off-and-on since the early days - you did a piece one time on the brain and mind and consciousness but I can’t find it in the search. Can you tell me how to find that and then tie it in with “brain-flush”? LOL Thanks.
[Continued from yesterday]
F.: Now to the visitor who asked, “How can consciousness be ‘warped’ or ‘corrupted’ if it’s just energy?”
There are two views on the issue: (A) consciousness cannot be warped or made impure. The pure consciousness is merely obscured by layers of lies and concepts that form a “mind” and that obstruct the consciousness from seeing reality and truth when obscured. Adherents of this notion say, “Energy is energy.”
[Continued from yesterday]
F.: Now to the visitor who asked, “How can consciousness be ‘warped’ or ‘corrupted’ if it’s just energy?”
There are two views on the issue: (A) consciousness cannot be warped or made impure. The pure consciousness is merely obscured by layers of lies and concepts that form a “mind” and that obstruct the consciousness from seeing reality and truth when obscured. Adherents of this notion say, “Energy is energy.”
(B) Others, however, point out that electricity is energy and that it can be distorted (e.g., an electrical disturbance is merely a type of distorted electricity). Thus, some suggest that the consciousness itself can be warped or contaminated. Svami Prabhupada spoke of contaminated consciousness in the introduction to his translation of the Bhagavad-Gita when he wrote:
“One cannot say anything about the transcendental world without being free from materially contaminated consciousness. Our consciousness, at the present moment...is materially contaminated. The Bhagavad-gita teaches that we have to purify this materially contaminated consciousness. The activities of the devotee or of the Lord are not contaminated by impure consciousness or matter. We should know, however, that at this point our consciousness is contaminated.”
Without debating the merits of “A” or “B” above, seekers can move along the path by understanding the more relevant pointer: whether the consciousness is warped or whether the consciousness is blocked, the content of the “mind” must be removed if Full Realization is to happen. That includes removing beliefs, ideas, dogma, theories, attitudes, “spiritual knowledge,” “religious knowledge,” and concepts. Only then will the discarded content of the “mind” no longer be able to generate false identifications, and only if the “mind” stops generating personality will there be an end to the emotional reactions and the personality defects that are generated by the assignment of, or the adoption of, personas.
Thus, discussion of the problem of the “mind” must include discussion of the problem of “personality” because they are inextricably linked and because the intricate confusion generated by that linkage cannot end until the false “mind” and its false beliefs in personality end. Only then can the "journey" to Full Realization continue. The terms “Total Freedom,” “Liberation,” “Awakening,” “Realization,” “Enlightenment,” “Abiding as the Absolute,” and “Actualization,” all refer to the “condition” of being freed from body-mind-personality identification, knowing the Pure Consciousness, and then attaining the Full Understanding.
Thus, freedom from personality cannot happen without freedom from “mind.” It can be seen, therefore, why some Advaitins encourage the casting aside of “mind” which triggers the adoption of personas: the “mind” is defective; the “mind” generates personality; therefore, personality is always defective as well.
That means that, contrary to popular belief, personality—which is generated by a defective “mind”—does not have both “liabilities and assets.” All “personality traits” are personality defects (a.k.a., “character defects” since a persona is just a role that is being played as if by a character on a stage). How could a false identity, an imaginary role, possibly have "assets"? That concept is just more of the nonsense generated by ego. “Liabilities as opposed to assets” is just more duality. And the longer that persons remain identified with personality.
This is an excerpt from the book
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND”
(There Is Only Peace if You’re Out of Your Mind)
For information on the book, visit http://advaitavedantabooks.blogspot.com/
To order the book, visit
http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm
(You can use the Special Message box)
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND”
(There Is Only Peace if You’re Out of Your Mind)
For information on the book, visit http://advaitavedantabooks.blogspot.com/
To order the book, visit
http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm
(You can use the Special Message box)
Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued] For additional information, click
