F.: The drama terms offered yesterday are relevant to a discussion of the Realization moment (1) because the same techniques and pointers were used by Realized teachers before they were employed by dramatists, (2) because Realized writers for centuries have used the techniques identified by those terms in order to show characters coming to their Realization, and (3) because an understanding of the terms can help distinguish between occasional understandings or partial glimpses of truth as opposed to the actual moment of Full Realization.
Realization, if it happens with you, must happen in the way that the early Greek dramatists, and some modern dramatists, had witnessed it happening "in real life." They merely passed on in their plays (or screenplays now) what they had experienced or what they saw persons experiencing. It happened in this order with them and it must happen in a manner similar to the same order with you:
Realization, if it happens with you, must happen in the way that the early Greek dramatists, and some modern dramatists, had witnessed it happening "in real life." They merely passed on in their plays (or screenplays now) what they had experienced or what they saw persons experiencing. It happened in this order with them and it must happen in a manner similar to the same order with you:
(A) you must first have been programmed to become an actor or actress and to play roles that you eventually assume to be actual identities; (B) you must be fooled by some key characters and believe wholeheartedly and unquestioningly in the content of the “Drama of the Lie”; (C) you must become so identified with your roles, and thus so lost in the drama, that you are willing to fight if your roles are challenged, really believing that you are actually being hurt, interfered with, or threatened; (D) you must lose freedom and free will as you are driven unconsciously and subconsciously by the machinations of the roles you are playing, yet you must (E) be deluded, believing that you are in charge of your life and in control; (F) next, you must fail to see that your roles are dictating everything you do, say or feel and that you have lost your freedom; (G) you must reach a point where you begin to feel trapped and don't even know who you are any more...and that is rare in plays since only one character out of them all is usually awakened to the Truth; (H) you must feel alone and empty and confused, no longer knowing who or what to believe as you begin to see that you have been misled and lied to; (I) that doubt and willingness to question will drive you to begin a search for the Truth; (J) next, an anagnorisis—a discovery or recognition—must happen as you see that what you had assumed to be real is actually false; (K) you must have an "Oh my gosh!" experience or awakening to the lies and delusions and deception that dominated you and that dominate all persons on the planet; (L) following that, your moment of peripetia can happen and a sudden change will occur; (M) a turning point will come after understanding how you were set up to believe their lies and after seeing how your belief in their lies has prevented you from finding the truth you have sought; (N) a catharsis will happen as the Consciousness That You Are is purified or cleansed of all of the nonsense that humanity has dreamed up for millenia and that humanity has passed down for millenia; and then finally, (O) you sit back and relax and watch the play as it unfolds, not attaching to the action or the phony characters or their histrionics and thereby remain at peace and at ease, enjoying it all and allowing work and/or play to merely happen, witnessing it all unfold as you feel but no longer emote. You will be moved along spontaneously by reason and logic and will never be emotionally-intoxicated again.
[Note: Of course the word “change” is relativistic since, in fact, nothing changes. There is no “one” to change. You Are That Which You Truly Are, and have never been anything else, in spite of all the roles assumed along the way. Instead, one simply comes to understand what one is not and that prepares the way to find That Which You Truly Are. The only “change,” therefore, is the change from believing lies to knowing truth.]
Here is the way that the Realization moment was discussed in the novel THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS when Brett says to Kirk:
“You seem at peace in the middle of this chaos. I want that peace,” Brett almost demanded.
“Brett, you’ve been shown the answer all your life. It was there for you to see in every play, in every movie, in every mystery you’ve ever read. Shakespeare borrowed the dramatic technique from the Greeks,” Kirk began. “Today, it’s the basis of all mystery and suspense stories, and it’s also the basis of realization.”
“I’m lost,” Brett confessed.
“Well look at every drama you’ve ever seen. The main character, who represents you and me and everyone, runs around like a chicken with its head cut off. He is confused and in the dark. Those who are in a position to sit back and witness the drama objectively can see that he’s just an actor on the stage and that none of the drama is real. But for entertainment’s sake, he and the witnesses can pretend it’s real. Both, in fact, can get so absorbed in the role that they take it to be the real for a time.
“But even amidst all of the drama, a time comes, that moment in the play when even the actor finds out the truth. It is called the peripetia in drama—that moment in the play or the movie when the lead actor finds out that everything he thought to be true is really false; when he sees that he was being misled at every turn; when those he thought he could trust the most, and who thought they were telling him the truth, were also wrong.
“It’s the moment of freedom that comes when one finds out that everything he ever thought or believed or held sacred (or thought worth fighting for) was a lie. The freedom comes when he gives up all of the concepts he bought into, drops his head in relief and amazement, shakes his head back and forth, wonders for a moment at how he had bought into all their crap, smiles at how easily he was duped, watches how all of the rest of the play unfolds automatically until its end, and leaves the stage after saying to himself, ‘Well, sonofabitch. I’ll be damned.’ And then he laughs. He laughs at it all. And then he’s done with it, once and for all.”
So the considerations for you today are taken from that non-duality novel entitled The Board of Directors of Wars:
Are you truly and completely at peace in the middle of this chaos?
Do you truly and completely want peace, or are you addicted to chaos?
Can you see that you have been truly and completely confused and in the dark?
Have you truly and completely seen that you’ve just been an actor on the stage?
Have you truly and completely seen that none of the drama is real?
Have you truly and completely experienced that moment of peripetia?
Have you truly and completely seen that everything you thought to be true is really false?
Have you truly and completely seen that you were being misled at every turn?
Have you truly and completely seen that those you thought you could trust the most, and who thought they were telling you the truth, were also wrong?
Have you truly and completely seen that everything you ever thought or believed or held sacred (or thought worth fighting for) was a lie?
Have you truly and completely reached the point where you are ready to give up all of the concepts you bought into?
Are you able to smile at how easily “they” duped you?
Are you truly and completely ready to watch how all of the rest of the play unfolds automatically until its end?
Are you truly and completely ready to leave the stage, the role-playing, the histrionics, and all of the dramatic nonsense that robs persons of peace and happiness?
Are you truly and completely ready to laugh and then be done with it, once and for all?
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
INTERESTED IN THE NOVEL THAT OFFERS MANY ADVAITA CONSIDERATIONS AND THAT FEATURES A REALIZED ADVENTURER WHO OFFERS AN INVITATION TO UNDERSTAND THE ONENESS?
