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FROM A SITE VISITOR: Any tips for somebody who is pretty new to Advaita Vedanta? Trying to wrap my mind around the idea of dissolving that some of you are talking about is boggling Thank you Kent
FROM THE SAME SITE VISITOR: Thanx for answering me. I did the research you talked about and I am interested in going ahead with you. Kent
F.: In that case, understand this: the three titles in the “Advanced Advaitin Seeker’s Package” will show you what can be called, merely for the sake of discussion, “the three phases” that will eventually be covered but that will also define exactly what the boundaries are for you at this point:
PHASE ONE: FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A SEVEN-STEP JOURNEY TO REALITY)
PHASE TWO: CONSCIOUSNESS / AWARENESS: THE NATURE OF REALITY BEYOND SELF-REALIZATION
PHASE THREE: FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
See now that in your first e-mail, you mentioned trying to “wrap your mind” around some “Phase Three” pointers. From this point forward, you will deal with nothing except “Phase One” pointers until further notice. Those are your boundaries.
During the first phase, the so-called “path” will not really be a path to anywhere and the so-called “journey” will not take you any place else. Alluded to in the first title above, the supposed “path” or "journey" is not as much a set of steps as it is seven sets of pointers. Those pointers will guide you away from all of false suppositions which “they” taught you about “who you are” (and about so much else) and to a point of Self-Realization and to a point of Truth-Realization.
Who are “they?” Any centers of influence or any of the persons in your culture who told you who you are and who taught you the beliefs that you now think are all true. What you must consider is this pointer: you are not who your centers of influence said you are and you are not who your culture has told you that you are.
Your assignment for today is (1) to consider the scenario below that was offered in an earlier post; (2) to see how cultures assign false identities and how willingly persons go right along with the “identity charade”;
(3) to try to understand from the example how persons are walking about in their sleep, letting others in their culture tell them “this is who you are” and "this is what you should believe" and "this is the right way to behave and think"; and (4) to see how fears and unmet desires and anxiety can be generated when false identities are accepted as "real."
If you complete the assignment, then you will begin to understand why persons cannot even answer the most basic question involved with this relative existence, namely, “Who am I?” You will understand why, often by the age of forty, persons exclaim in frustration, “I don’t even know who I am!”
Further, you will begin to garner some inkling about the difference in “the false self or selves” (the false identities assigned or assumed) and awareness of what can be called for now "The True Self." It is the belief in that misinformation which prevents “kent” from Self-Realization, from being able to answer accurately "What Am I, Really?"
What does that mean? It means that any time any person accepts another persons' word about who or what you are, then you will be blocked from actually knowing “Who or What You truly Are,” at least during this current state of beingness and during this "phase one" study.
(The terminology will be explained in more detail later. For now, just see how cultures lie to people about who they are and see how programmed and conditioned persons seldom even question such pronouncements from “persons of authority” in their societies). Here's the scenario:
A document (such as a marriage license) can inspire a false belief that a dependent role can define who you are. How grand is the lie? Take the fictional Thomas Smith as an example. He married Jane Jones and a man in a robe told her that she was now Mrs. Thomas Smith. She assumed that new identity and all the fears and expectations and desires that came with it. But her fears were realized when Thomas left her for Mary Martin. In a court, a man in a robe told Jane Jones/Mrs. Thomas Smith that she was no longer Mrs. Thomas Smith but could once again be Miss Jane Jones; shortly after that event, another man in a robe told Mary Martin that she was Mrs. Thomas Smith.
She assumed that new identity and all the fears and expectations and desires that came with it. But her fears were realized when Thomas left her for Patty Prentiss. In a court, a man in a robe told Mary Martin/Mrs. Thomas Smith that she was no longer Mrs. Thomas Smith but could once again be Miss Mary Martin; shortly after that event, another man in a robe told Patty Prentiss that she was Mrs. Thomas Smith.
Do you see the insanity of assuming identities? "Mrs. Thomas Smith" was a role assumed by three different persons, and all three really believed that they were who and what their culture told them that they were. But the culture told three different persons that they were the same person. In the remote past, Jane was Mrs. Thomas Smith; in the past Mary was Mrs. Thomas Smith; in the present, Patty is Mrs. Thomas Smith. One can guess that in the future, Patty will not be Mrs. Thomas Smith.
From this example, isn’t it clear that any assumption of any persona as a real identity is an insane case of mistaken, false identity? Are you assuming any false identities as real identities? Are you unconsciously listening to all the persons in your culture who haven't a clue as to Who They Truly Are while unconsciously allowing them to tell you who or what you are? Then you'll also unconsciously accept all the fears and desires and expectations that come with roles and that guarantee misery in the relative existence.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that Jones and Martin are not legally required to return to a use of their maiden names, so by the end of the scenario, there can actually be three women who are all identified as "Mrs. Thomas Smith," and in all three cases, the Thomas Smith being referred to is the same Thomas Smith.
It's not unlike a television show from years past called To Tell the Truth where two contestants were liars and one was telling the truth, and the show always began with an announcer having them identify themselves in the same way that the three women in this scenario would:
"Hi, I'm Mrs. Thomas Smith." "Hi. I'm Mrs. Thomas Smith." "Hi. I'm Mrs. Thomas Smith." Then a panel would attempt to find who "the real Mrs. Thomas Smith" was and who the liars were.
The problem in the relative existence nowadays is this: on the show, two of the women would have known they were lying. In cultures today, neither the women nor the persons in their societies know they are lying when they make that claim. Persons now would not dispute that all three women are telling the truth...that all three can legally be identified as "Mrs. Thomas Smith." Are you seeing the insanity involved when false identities are assigned or assumed and taken to be Real?
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
FOR AN IN-DEPTH TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT:
