FROM A SITE VISITOR: As you should know by now, I ordered a copy of Board of Directors and look forward to reading it. I have a general idea, but what exactly does your term institutionalized duality mean? Ive read a lot of books on nonduality and have never heard of that. PS Thanx for the site--I read it every day.
F.: A pointer offered regularly by Advaitin teachers is that “the consciousness is corrupted by programming, conditioning and enculturation.” The corrupting of the consciousness happens when dualistic concepts are taught. Eventually, the bastardized consciousness blocks the ability of the remaining remnant of pure consciousness to be aware of itSelf and prevents it from Realizing…from Realizing what is Real and what is false.
The programming and conditioning which corrupt the consciousness generally come via parents and teachers and relatives and friends. The enculturation which corrupts the consciousness generally comes via spokespersons for institutions; thus, “institutional duality” is the duality that is taught in institutions. The four dominant purveyors of institutionalized duality are organized religion, for-profit business, government, and private, public, and parochial schools.
INSTITUTION ONE: Organized Religion
Dogma is so rooted in duality that religions are a major contributor to the corruption of the consciousness via dualistic teachings that focus on “moral vs. immoral,” “heaven vs. hell,” “good vs. bad,” "right vs. wrong" and “punishment vs. reward.” They teach relative concepts as if they are absolutes. The enculturation which corrupts the consciousness via that institution generally comes via preachers and priests and imams and ayatollahs and rabbis. It also comes via organizations and institutions that claim to be “spiritual rather than religious” but whose practices and tenets all evolved directly from religious dogma.
INSTITUTION TWO: Many For-Profit Businesses
Many businesses generate a sense of duality as they are organized into hierarchies with clearly defined pecking orders. Employees are often ranked and "separated" (both dualistically and illegally) by performance, gender, pay, perks, religious and/or political affiliation, age, nationality, race, “connections,” and personality.
Many for-profit businesses further generate duality by fostering a sense of separation with their “me vs. you” notion. They generate new ego-states such as “Salesperson of the Year,” “Top Producer of the Year,” “Top Company in National Sales,” etc. Some businessmen and CEO’s, driven by such dualistic beliefs as “I want to be rich and not poor” and “I want to be the best…better than all ‘others’,” have lied, cheated, stolen and embezzled in order to “gain” rather than “lose.” For-profit businesses (1) nurture environments that create and sustain ego-states (2) generate fears and desires among employees and owners alike, and (3) teach duality via procedures, policies and practices.
INSTITUTION THREE: Government
Government “leaders” use their public forums to foster dualistic beliefs: “We Are the Best” and “They Are the Enemy” and “We Are Noble and Decent but They Are Evil” and “Their Ruler is Wicked and Much Be Overthrow” and “Our Party is Right and Their Party is Wrong.” The dualistic concept of “Us vs. Them” has been promoted for millennia by monarchies, so-called "democracies," theocracies, chosen “leaders,” and self-appointed “leaders.”
INSTITUTION FOUR: Education
In most nations, education has become an extension of religion and therefore fosters duality in the same fashion. In the U.S., church schools have reached an all-time high in number and now indoctrinate students not only with religious teachings but also with teachings that foster support of policies dreamed up by the government. The curricula in many public schools in Christian nations have been expanded to include “values units”; the programming of children to pledge allegiance to a country and to a religious diety; the conditioning of children to “respect all authority figures”; the programming of children with history lessons that are total distortions of truth; the conditioning of them to be willing as adults to follow unquestioningly all orders issued by governmental leaders and authority figures; and programming them to be willing to “fight and even die for their country or god.”
Many U.S. public educational facilities, supported by public funding, nevertheless close their doors to observe religious holidays. In many Islamic schools, the curricula include lessons that teach children that Christian and Jews are corrupt infidels and must die. Most educational systems now are teaching dualistic concepts that reinforce an “Us. Vs. Them” mentality.
SUMMARY
Therefore, the term “institutionalized duality,” which is addressed in the non-duality novel entitled THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS, refers to the dualistic concepts that are taught particularly by those four institutions which are the sources of most of the darkness that exists. And that darkness is not limited to what persons called “the nighttime.”
Persons stand and talk and walk about in the noonday sun yet remain in that same darkness as if in a deep state of sleep. The four institutions that contribute to that darkness have not functioned separately for thousands of years. Long ago they were morphed into one “mega-entity” with a duality-based agenda, all marching to the beat of a single drummer. As persons walk about in their sleep and talk in their sleep, they are merely repeating concepts that are rooted in the programming, the conditioning, and the institutional duality that is being disseminated via those organizations. The non-Realized are all marching to the beat of the drum of their programmers and conditioners.
Realization is not for those who march to the beat of anyone’s drum. Realization happens to the few who march to the beat of a different drummer…called the “True Self.” No one can ever be free, independent, and liberated if they defer to the mass-marketed beliefs and concepts that are accepted as truth by the masses. Persons love their concepts, but the Realized have zero concepts. With Realization comes an end to all false identities. With an end to the assumption of false identities, there is no “one” to cling to any concepts, including those which the masses cling to with such attachment.
Realization, (a.k.a., liberation, actualization, de-personalization, full awareness, or enlightenment) results in a manifesting—during the relative existence—of logic…of reason…of wisdom. And what are logic and reason and wisdom except tools of enlightenment—tools that supply the light by which all is seen in an accurate fashion. After Full Realization, there is no darkness and there is only Pure Witnessing; then, no tools (including logic or reason or wisdom) are employed. Why?
Because there is no “do-er” to do anything with any tools or to employ any tools. The understanding of the functioning of the totality brings about an end to the need for any tools or any doingness. For the remainder of the manifestation, there is only the abidance as the Absolute that happens. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
THE FEATURED ITEM FOR THIS WEEK’S SALE IS A NOVEL FEATURING A REALIZED COUPLE AND A NON-DUALITY MESSAGE: THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS. The pro-peace thesis of this 480-page book uncovers the sources of separation and conflict in relationships on all levels, from couples to countries, all wrapped in a fast-moving mystery/adventure that covers many decades and many continents. A Realized couple is at the center of an intrigue that will expose the ways that institutionalized duality has impacted the citizens of the world for decades. It also shows how Realization can impact the relative existence in a way that can generate peace on a planet where businesses, governments and religions have historically generated separation and conflict because their non-Realized leaders are driven by self and have no clue at all about the unicity...the Oneness.
FOR INFORMATION ON THE BOOK
FOR INFORMATION ON THE GUIDE FOR TAKING THE SEVEN-STEP JOURNEY TO REALITY (or to see: How to Guide Seekers through the Process)
