FROM A SITE VISITOR: What did you mean about varieties of determinism?
FROM ANOTHER SITE VISITOR [Referring to the book CASTING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIONSHIPS]: My girlfriend read your book--found it biologically deterministic but is willing to consider its questions.
FROM ANOTHER SITE VISITOR: "A" kills person "B.” What's the cause? If "A" reads the point that the cause of all is all, then he does not feel guilty. Raja
FROM ANOTHER SITE VISITOR: “Where there are two, one sees another, one hears another, one welcomes another, one thinks of another, one knows another. But when the whole has become That (Atman), who is seen by whom, who is to be heard by whom, who is to be welcomed by whom, who is to be known by whom?” ginny
F.: So how is it that so many persons still deny that they are being driven in their "relationships"—merely being sweep along in their “relationships”—when the facts in the U.S. alone show a 50-62% divorce rate, reveal that many are staying in relationships though miserable, and show that 50% of all men and women killed annually are killed by the very mate who swore to “love” them forever?
Can anyone logically claim that any of the persons involved in those scenarios are making choices…are choosing to think and behave in ways that result in the above…that reason is determining their behavior?
Who would possibly claim that they are consciously choosing such “relationships”? Who could deny that persons involved in the above are not being driven by something? Who could claim that it is logic and reason—and not other determining factors—that are at play in such “relationships”?
So, it may be seen that if two different agendas dominant most relationships, and that the middle ground can only be attained if self-absorption disappears, then the conclusion can be drawn: in a relationship, if the relationship is to last, then either (a) both partners must compromise or (b) one partner will have to compromise herself/himself for the relationship to continue.
And when persons "compromise themselves," it is always to sustain an ego-state.
EGO DETERMINISM
To clarify, ego and egotism are not the same. “Ego” is Latin for “I,” meaning the false “I” in the Advaita teachings. Egotism is that which always accompanies the assumption of an ego-state or false identity or role, etc. Egotism is merely one of the many tools that the false ego uses to try to sustain it“self” and to maintain an image of being “real.”
Other ego-defense mechanisms that the ego employs to that end include projection, justification, victimization, blame, rationalization, and a host of others. When those mechanisms are engaged, the use of logic and reason are automatically disengaged. When logic and reason are disengaged, then the influence of deterministic factors will prevail in controlling what persons think.
And what persons think then determines what they say. And what they say then determines what they do. From that point on, such non-Realized persons (1) will be driven by the subconscious agendas of their false personas (2) will function in ways that involve no logic at all (3) will behave unnaturally or supernaturally and (4) will have (relative) problems in relationships, including their relationship with self (or selves).
Everything they think and say and do—from that point forward and for the remainder of the manifestation if Realization does not happen—will be a result of something that is deterministic as opposed to something that is rooted in pure consciousness.
Consider the impact of ego-defense mechanisms when used in a relationship with another person. Consider the impact of ego-defense mechanisms when used in relationship with “self.”
While egotism will convince the non-Realized that they are "far advanced beyond the animals"—and that their thoughts and words and deeds are all based in choices made after careful and logical and reasonable consideration of all options—the fact is that determinism of some type drives all of the behavior that persons (the non-Realized) exhibit.
Persons absorbed in ego-states will claim proud ownership of a developed brain and a developed “mind.” That notion, in turn, inspires the non-Realized to believe that they have transcended the effects of biological, ego, genetic/archetypal, psychological, natural and personality determinism and to believe that they have the power to employ free will and to determine their own fate and their own actions.
To the contrary, the fact is that, once humans began programming and conditioning and acculturating and domesticating other humans, then the other types of determinism have joined with biological determinism to drive humans. And when humans are driven, they have no ability to decide or choose anything.
An example shared with some is that of being driven in a car. If you are being driven, then there are three places in the car where you can be and one place where you cannot be. If driven, you can be in the passenger seat, in the rear seat, or in the truck (or, in the “boot” for site visitors from the
The one place you cannot be, if you are being driven, is behind the steering wheel. Being driven, then, deprives persons of having any control over where they go, how they go, when they go, or by what route they go.
The reason that Eastern teachers have invited seekers to abandon personality (personas, roles, ego-states, false identities, etc.) is because it is the means to being free, to being liberated, to being able to move behind the steering wheel and to be free of the influence of the varied deterministic factors that drive persons.
The term “liberation” points to the condition of being liberated from personality (and from body and “mind” identification as well). The route to liberation begins with an admission of the fact that one is indeed being driven;
yet, another ego-defense mechanism called “denial” will drive the arrogant to believe that they are in charge of their “lives,” that they are making choices, and that they are conscious of everything that is determining what their thoughts are and what their words are and what their deeds are. With those beliefs, they could not be more blocked from the realization of truth. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TODAY’S POST:
TWO OTHER OFFERINGS ARE AVAILABLE:
More and more seekers are requesting an understanding of how a personality formed in childhood is still determining and controlling everything that is thought or said or done in adulthood. Others have inquired about an opportunity to speak one-on-one about the seven-step “path” to Realization.
Thus, two opportunities are being offered from now until Dec 15th at 50% off:
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