FROM A SITE VISITOR: Witnessing the aryan celebration of veterans day here at the livelihood, a defense contractor. A thought arises that there should be a change of livelihood, to something less supportive of war, but the teaching is that there is no duality, no right or wrong livelihood. The work can be done, now, without buying into the culture. Is there clarification?
F.: [Continued from yesterday] Next, what happens in regards to the subject you raised about "a change of livelihood," post-Realization? Can those seeking peace on an “individual” basis continue to associate with the elements of a culture that are “supportive of war,” as you put it?
In Maharaj’s loft, questions about both small-scale fighting and large-scale wars were raised on occasion. The same questions are received through this site on occasion. Understand that “personal” struggles, struggles between two persons, or wars between peoples or nations evolve from the same roots which are being discussed here: ego-based arrogance and delusions and the upgrading or downgrading of illusions.
For example, a man who had been an assassin for the U.S. in Ronald Reagan’s Central American war—and who had followed orders and killed 43 civilians that he admitted were “innocent”—came for some form of relief from the bondage of his “mind.” His “story” unfolded as follows:
After the illusion of his being “a boy” was later upgraded to his being “A Real Man,” additional programming upgraded his illusory identities to include “A Citizen of the Greatest Country on Earth” and “A Proud ‘American’.” Eventually, that drove him to seek employment in the
After qualifying as an “Expert” on the firing range, he was trained by the
Many years after returning to the U.S., he came here seeking peace, haunted by the murders, defeated by his suicidal abuse of drugs and alcohol. He understood that he had used those to try to deal with the guilt and shame of having killed indiscriminately on command.
He was disgusted that he had taken a job that centered on the destruction of (relative) lives, was sickened that he had succumbed to the programming that left him blinded by the concept of “patriotism” to do anything he was told to do in the fashion of a Pavlovian dog, and was guilt-ridden that he had followed the orders of military “superiors” without any questioning at all.
He was shown that labeling and re-labeling and upgrading and downgrading can be used to justify any behavior imaginable:
1. A bill that allows companies to release more toxins into the air than any in history was upgraded to “The Clean Air Act.” Mass acceptance followed.
2. The business you work for is an offense contractor, but when upgraded to the role of “defense contractor,” the masses will support wholeheartedly that business (even though it “supports war,” as you said).
And of course, war supports that firm, so a mutually-beneficial cycle is set into motion. When the military and the military complex work together to do what they do, then some get rich while the “grunts on the ground”—like the former sniper—pay the real toll, relatively speaking.
That former sniper came here with the notion that this was “his last resort.” He wanted to confess that he was the most evil of all evil. He was confused when the words embedded into this speck of consciousness by that speck called “M” came forth: “Evil is the stench of a mind that is diseased. Heal your mind and it will cease to project distorted, ugly pictures.”
“I don’t understand,” he said. “One person I was ordered to kill was a priest, but all he did was criticize the
The response: “You are neither worthless nor worthy.” He: “Do you condone what the government did…what the military did…what I did? We even set up death squads and trained them and they went out and killed thousands of innocent people.”
The reply: “Of course that is not condoned, but it is familiar: this nation was founded by people who thought they had the right to invade territories and to kill others and to take their land after downgrading the original inhabitants.
“The invaders had upgraded themselves to ‘Good Christians,’ then operated under the justification of ‘Manifest Destiny’ to clear out ‘the savages’ (downgrade) and then give the land to ‘Christian immigrants’ (upgrade) in order to create ‘a Godly nation’ (upgrade) for those who worship ‘his Son’” (upgrade).
What has changed? All a leader needs to do to justify a war he wants to start—and to get his nation’s population on board with his desire—is to use labels and upgrades and downgrades. Once a leader claims that “godless Communists” (downgrade) are on our southern doorstep and are a threat to “this nation blessed by God” (upgrade), then willing warriors (upgrade) will queue up to answer the call to arms.
Once a leader claims that a nation is a member of “An Axis of Evil” (downgrade) and that the good people (upgrade) of this godly nation (upgrade) must act to "stamp out evil," then this nation’s historical propensity for invasion is activated and believed to be “justified" by the dualistic "good vs. evil" concept.
That was explained to the sniper who came to “either find peace or die”:
“Because you slept with that element of this culture for a time, you were most assuredly infected with the same illness that they have passed down over the centuries—having perfected their programming skills as they have. In that bargain, you lost Your Self.
“You were drawn into the web of those with a history of fighting, with a never-ending desire for power and control, and with a propensity for devastation. Now, the invitation is to follow a ‘path’ that might remove the effects of that disorder. This functioning under the auspices of programming must end if you would be free of their disease and your dis-ease. It is time to awaken and to stop living like a Pavlovian dog. It is time to awaken and to stop being blindly driven.”
Eventually, he came to understand, and later he began to offer a means by which veterans who suffer from addictions and the effects of PTSD might also find “relief.” As he began the “journey” to Self-Discovery, he had to leave behind the old ways and take the fork in a “path” that led in a new direction.
When he finally moved to
He was told, “You will not find there what you seek. You can know peace here. You don’t need to go anywhere to seek anything. Heal thy ‘self’ here. Even in the midst of this warrior culture, there are pockets of those at peace.” But he answered, “What is happening with this move is happening spontaneously.” The reply: “That being the case, so it is.”
He had killed indiscriminately in his sleep because his military commanders had conditioned and programmed him to kill. As with all among the Realized, what happens now is not happening indiscriminately but is happening spontaneously as a result of being awake. In the end, he did not choose to go. There was no choice since there is no chooser. The going just happened.
Now before anyone reacts, or quits a job during these economically challenging times, or makes plan to go find peace “somewhere else,” tomorrow’s pointers should be considered first. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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