FROM A SITE VISITOR: So, your teacher lived in what is now called Mumbai. What would he likely say about the recent attacks?
F.: The pointers from that speck of consciousness called “maharaj” were consistent but they did vary according to the audience, meaning, the pointers offered were “level-appropriate.” That is, the responses were always determined by the seeker’s “place on the path” as revealed by her / his questions or comments.
What can be said to anyone on any level is that, once again, the accuracy of the teachings has been shown:
ADOPTION OF PERSONAS
Early reports suggest that the attackers were affiliated with a religious, separatist group (a redundancy, yes?) Anytime anyone adopts a persona and follows the “I am” with anything, (“I am an Easterner,” “I am a Westerner,” “I am a Muslim,” “I am a Christian,” “I am an Indian,” “I am a Pakistani,” “I am an American,” “I am an Iranian”) then the groundwork has been laid for a sense of separation.
A SENSE OF SEPARATION
Once a sense of separation is taken to be real by personas, then the groundwork for extremist behavior has been laid. Why? Because fears and desires are generated by each persona adopted and because the master and secondary addictions of the human species activate when personas are driving persons.
FEARS AND DESIRES
When identified with a “self,” then "self"ishness dominates all thoughts and words and deeds. As thoughts arise which include such dualistic beliefs as “We are right and they are wrong,” then dualistic words will follow:
“If they are allowed to live, they will cause irreparable harm to the world and will behave counter to the will of God / Allah / Jehovah, etc., so they must be destroyed.” Once dualistic thoughts and words occur with frequency, then dualistic deeds (actions by “us” against “them”) will always follow during the relative existence.
At that point, "self"ishness can justify any behavior desired.
THE MASTER AND SECONDARY ADDICTIONS
Because ego-states generate egotism, then the master addiction to control and the secondary addiction—to have the power to control—both activate. Combine the desire of personas to sustain themselves with the desire to have the power (and with egotism’s drive to bend others to one’s will) and escalation is guaranteed. For example:
(1) A movement involving multiple persons might start with a peaceful protest, escalate later to violent protests, eventually erupt into violent attacks against “others,” and thereafter lead to global conflict; or
(2) The same can apply in “personal relationships” with only two persons. Months ago, a woman spoke to her counselor about an argument that ended when the preacher she was dating grabbed her by the arms and began shaking her. She had bruises on each arm. The counselor warned that the event was only the beginning of what was likely to be an escalation of violence as he would continue to try to control her.
The woman was told, “He will never achieve a level of control and power over you that is satisfactory to his ego. Ego-states always continue to feel threatened, and he will strike out more and more until he feels that he had total control and that you have reached a state of total submission. And even then, it will not likely stop, because even submission does not satisfy that which cannot be satisfied.”
Weeks later, she arrived for a session without her glasses and with swelling and discoloration on one side of her face. During an argument a few nights earlier, he had slapped her so hard that the blow to the side of her face broke her glasses and knocked her to the floor.
Last week, she was in court, testifying that the reason she had called the police was because the man had knocked her down, straddled her, and tried to choke her to death. Only an intervention prevented him from succeeding.
It matters not if a “personal” conflict involves one person (with “self” struggling against “self); if it involves two persons; or if it involves members of groups, religions, organizations, communities, states, or nations. Conflict and complications and chaos are guaranteed when personas and their hidden agendas support non-dual, separatist concepts and beliefs about who is "right" and who is "wrong"...about who is "good" and who is "bad." Please enter the silence of contemplation.
