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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
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F.: Understand that the relative existence is a metaphorical existence, and all metaphors are statements of untruth. By definition, a metaphor is a linguistic device by which one thing is said to be another:
“I am a spouse” (which leads shortly to “I am a super spouse and deserve nothing less than a super spouse” which in turn leads to a divorce rate of 50-60%. Such is the toll when metaphors are taken to be true and when the accumulation mentality leaves one with a sense that there is never enough and that no one is ever "good" enough).
The Realized poet Shakespeare offered this Advaitin consideration in metaphorical form as a pointer toward truth: “All’s the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” meaning that nothing in what is called “the world” can be taken to be any more real than what is seen on a theatrical stage. In other words, what is seen is never the real.
While thorns can be used in that fashion to remove thorns, and while Advaitins will offer such pointers along the “path,” in the end it is to be seen that the truth cannot be stated, that the world is not a stage, and that the non-Realized are indeed merely acting like actors and players…playing the roles that they were assigned or which they have assumed. In the end, it is seen that such pointers are not statements of any final truth, either.
At this point on your “journey,” however, understand this: the form is never the substance, and the appearance is never the Real; furthermore, what is taken to be “a woman” or “a man” or any of the roles being played thereby involves nothing more than persons playing roles that were dreamed up by their current culture or by members of an ancient culture whose superstition-and-ignorance-based beliefs are still assumed to be true by those persons who are presently superstitious and/or ignorant.
To further understand that “your world” is an all-metaphorical mental construct, consider another definition of metaphor: “the use of a word or phrase that identifies something as being what it is not.”
The use of illusion-and-delusion-inspiring metaphors that dominate the thinking and beliefs and talk of all cultures and societies is so prevalent that if you became awake to each one you heard or used during any given day, the mere act of cataloguing all of them would likely be exhausting.
In the relative realm in which duality is considered real, all persons (all of the non-Realized) will feel as if they are “multiple things” as a result of the fact that persons are so programmed and conditioned and acculturated that they take metaphors to be statements of truth.
The phrase “I am” is followed in any given day by thousands of nouns or adjectives that misconstrue self for Self; personas for the True Self; the perceived and the misperceived for reality; nonsensical thoughts for truth; false beliefs for facts; fiction for non-fiction, ad infinitum.
The result is a planet filled with persons who feel disjointed, torn, broken, in parts, shattered, fractured, cracked, split, ripped, apart from, and divided. Those are only some of the symptoms of the malady of duality and the dualistic thinking generated by the “mind” and by belief in the implications of a multiplicity of metaphors rather than the Oneness.
With that “mindset” or “frame of mind,” how could one possibly feel anything other than “apart from”? Add in the egotism that comes along with the assumption of metaphor-inspired ego-states and it is a sense of separation rather than any sense of at-one-ment that most often characterizes the relative existence.
When a man confessed Sunday that at a recent funeral he saw a woman with a “short, manly style of hair” and instantly judged her for that mode, he saw how the “mind” really does work to try to separate a person from everyone and everything. This suggestion was offered for his consideration:
“As you saw when judging another person based on appearance, the mind / ego is always about separation and better-than-ness. All non-Realized persons who look into a mirror see a 10, and all non-Realized persons who look into a crowd see 0’s.”
So, Kent and other newcomers, you now have plenty to consider. It is suggested that you take into silent contemplation the pointers offered in this series. If you find at some point that you grasp these teachings, you will have reached the middle of the third step of seven steps on the “path” to Realization.
At that point, you will either sit in the presence of a teacher for guidance along the remainder of your “journey” or you will need the additional, detailed instructions in the book FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE.
The content therein will guide you along the remainder of “the path.” If completing the entire “journey” sounds like it might be worth making an investment of $12, order the eBook below with that title and continue along “the path,” if interested. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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