An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.
FROM A SITE VISITOR: Would you talk more about how humans can live by instincts when what we have to do is far more complicated nowadays than what the deer in your area have to do. (Not trying to be smart or smart aleck--just trying to understand Thank you. Jonathan
F.: It should be clear by now that peace and stability can only come to persons if they Realize…if they Realize their original nature and dwell as THAT rather being driven blindly by the influence of personality and personality subtypes. To do otherwise is to live the relative existence in an unnatural fashion, which includes trying to live in a supernatural fashion.
Note the influence of personality at work in this case: yesterday a retired woman (who is a Personality Type Two...“The Helper”) reported that complications from knee surgery were preventing her from doing “her volunteer work.” Then she said, “If I don’t heal so I can get back to doing my volunteer work, I’d rather go ahead and die. I live to help.”
What she really means, as in the case with all Personality Type Twos, is that "I did not get the love I wanted as a child, I have spent my life trying to get love from everyone I meet, and if I can’t get positive strokes and love in return for all the help I give to others on a daily basis, I’d rather die."
And that is the type of muddled thinking (which approaches insanity at times) that is the case with everyone trapped in personality:
Personality Type Ones believe, “I live to reform and improve the world and its people, and if I can’t do that I’d rather die.”
Personality Type Threes believe, “I live to perform and succeed and impress, and if I can’t do that I’d rather die.”
Personality Type Fours believe, “I live to dream, and if I can’t do that I’d rather die.”
Personality Type Fives believe, “I live to accumulate knowledge and get professional acclaim, and if I can’t do that I’d rather die.”
Personality Type Sixes believe, “I live to be protected and taken care of, and if I can’t get that I’d rather die.”
Personality Type Sevens believe, “I live to play and have fun, and if I can’t do that I’d rather die.”
Personality Type Eights believe, “I live to control, and if I can’t do that I’d rather die.”
Personality Type Nines believe, “I live to sit on my butt and have others pay my bills, and if I can’t do that I’d rather die.”
Trapped in personality, no person ever says only, “I live” (that is, “I Am”); instead, they have drives, agendas, and schemes, all intended to create and sustain their false images…their false roles. In their quest to “be this or that,” merely “being” is never enough.
Thus, personality always triggers accumulation and desires for more, and the trap there is that there is never enough to fill what seems to be an empty hole within. Too, all personas require another person to play a co-dependent role for any ego-state to be "sustained"; therefore, everyone trapped in personality is also trapped in a co-dependent relationship with others.
Trapped in personality and subtypes, all “others” must behave in a certain way for a person to feel OK, so the “internal condition” is forever dependent on an endless chain of externals. The belief, when driven by personality, is that “I am not OK if I’m not reforming the world; or I am not OK if I’m not helping people in order to be loved; or,
I am not OK if I’m not succeeding and performing and achieving; or I am not OK if I’m not dreaming; or I am not OK if I’m not accumulating knowledge and recognition; or I am not OK if I’m not being protected and taken care of; or,
I am not OK if I’m not involved in an adventure; or I am not OK if I’m not in control; or I am not OK if I’m not being taken care of so I can sit at home all day and relax.” Whew…what a tiresome and tiring manner in which to pass the relative existence.
Then, add the other belief systems which are rooted in subtypes, beliefs that are common to all persons to one degree or another: “all of my false selves must be sustained; I must get into dependent relationships, even if I’m exploited and used; I must be in an intimate relationship in order to be happy; and my sense of well-being depends on meeting my culture's definitions of 'well-being'.”
At some point, many will seek to add new roles as an antidote for their pervasive sense of emptiness, roles such as “The Religious One” or “The Spiritual One.” Those persons become trapped in the magical thinking that is taught by sky cults; thus, they will believe that a super-powerful male (with all of the appendages required for male status?) is micro-managing every aspect of the relative existence from some “other world.”
Some persons even believe that multiple gods and goddesses are available to serve their needs and desires.
Once persons are being driven blindly by their personality subtypes, those three variants begin to function in discernible combinations in different people: with some, the social is the strongest drive, self-preservation is secondary, and the sexual is the least influential. With others, self-preservation might be the dominant influence with sexual coming in second and social last.
No matter the order, this always happens:
1. The variant that has the strongest influence becomes an OBSESSION
2. The variant that is the secondary influence on a person is used periodically as a SHORT-TERM ESCAPE from the obsession
3. And the variant that is the least influential of the three becomes a person’s key source of IGNORANCE or PREJUDICE…his/her BLIND SPOT, if you will
So personality subtypes reduce persons to being obsessive escapists, trapped in ignorance and prejudice. Along with personality, the subtypes trap persons in the duality of “good traits” vs. “bad traits”; duality, in turn, traps persons in instability;
and then the variants aggravate the problems that persons face throughout their relative existence by inspiring them to behave in an obsessive fashion; by encouraging escapism; and by fostering ignorance, prejudice, and an inability to see truth.
Such is the relative existence when driven by personality and personality subtypes. Is that really a sane way for this manifestation to unfold? Is it understood why Advaitins invite seekers to be rid of body and mind and personality identification once and for all?
Thus, Jonathan, the only way that persons can live out the relative existence without being obsessive, ignorant, prejudiced escapists, trapped in the unstable duality of "good and bad traits," is to be free of personality, subtypes, and the influence of the herd mentality, living instead under the auspices of the natural instincts. How? By taking all seven steps on the "journey" to Realization, by coming to know Your original nature, and by abiding as THAT. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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