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FROM A SITE VISITOR: [Received 10 March, 2008]: You talked about the dalai lamas explanation why hurricane katrina hit new orleans (damn you, karma!) so today when I saw him protesting the fact that the chinese have invaded tibet and turned it into what he called “hell on earth,” I knew exactly why that happened. Thank you for sharing the lamas wisdom – otherwise, I might be feeling sorry for the tibetians and never know that their present hell on earth is really just cosmic re-balancing at work.
F.: Now don’t you come across as quite the little rabble-rouser! (Welcome to the site—you’ll fit like a glove with this crowd.) PS: It’s those like you—so light on your feet—that make Me happy I’ve come to this dance.
FROM A SITE VISITOR: [Received 10 March, 2008]: Those Last three posts blew my mind (guess that's your job huh?!) I’m going to have to read them and re-read, esp about no identification, but I wonder if you would tell me more about this - you mentioned stability. (I had to look up the latin words you used but I got close to guessing what you meant.) I talk about wanting stability and staying away from chaos, but you have got me wondering now if that is really what I want or if I’m giving lip service to wanting peace and quiet. My track record seems to show that sometimes I want stability and sometimes I get bord and want excitement or maybe chaos. (I have a history of alcohol and drug abuse and say I got sober and clean, but I wonder if the dry drunk is a better description looking at the chaos that still shows up sometimes.) Thank you if you can help me understand this. anonymous
F.: Hello anonymous. (Is “anonymous” used because of your exposure to a step program or because you actually understood yesterday’s message of non-identification? Ha.)
The following account has been shared with some but is relevant here after the discussion of non-identification yesterday: some months back when a seeker named Andy came for a retreat, the door was left ajar each morning because breakfast is always being prepared just before participants are expected to arrive.
The second day of the retreat, Andy tapped on the door as he pushed it open and shouted, “Anybody home?” The answer yelled back from the kitchen was “No.” He laughed because he “got it.” Again, hear the words of Thoreau that were shared recently: “I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls.”
On Tuesday, after reading the non-identification post and the joy that can happen when Reality is overlaid on the relative, Louise in
Yet some wrote to defend their right to at least be “something.” So it is. They can believe they are something until they see they are nothing or, to the contrary, for as long as they never see that they are nothing. Either way, many know the reality…many seekers “got it,” some for the first time ever. (From now on, that phenomenon of many "getting it" at the same time shall be called “Ginny’s Wave.”)
So the question is this: how are the deer doing, living in their natural manner? Quite nicely, yes, hunters notwithstanding? Yet how many identities has any deer ever assumed? That would be “none,” yes?
Next, as for fluctuation and instability and chaos, those are markers of the condition that is typical among persons (the non-Realized), whether alcoholic or addict or not.
(Of course it’s likely that 99% of all persons are addicted to something, be it drugs or alcohol or food or shopping or sex or “love” or money or fame or nicotine or sugar or gambling or work or any of the hundreds of things that persons use for escape and for their self-abuse which they are blind to).
One other thing that persons are often addicted to that is seldom included in a list like the one above is…chaos. While it has been suggested that persons feel driven to practice their addiction when “restless, irritable, or discontent,” it would be quite reasonable to add “bored” to that list as well. Persons often prefer action to inaction, noise to quiet, and chaos to the peace that they take to be "boredom."
And yes, while most give lip service to wanting “peace” and “stability,” the facts suggest that—for a variety of reasons—they are actually attached to mutability. When that is the case, it has more to do with personality than anything, and among the nine basic types, four of those types behave in ways that are relevant to the discussion:
Type Twos can never be satisfied with receiving the “love” they desire from only one person. They think they need “love” from many. There is never enough, so to be satisfied with one person and to feel fulfilled with one person and to never desire any change is rare with them. They might not change the primary partner, but a sense of need will drive them to seek affirmation from many, always trying to change things by adding to their "fan base."
Type Threes are starters but not finishers, so stability is out of the question with this type. It is not unusual for Threes to enter into and leave many marriages or “committed relationships.” Furthermore, these performers desire huge audiences, but unlike the Twos, the Threes are not seeking “love” (they get plenty of that from themselves) but instead are seeking adulation and idolization—even worship—from the masses. They are called "chameleons," always changing, seldom wanting today what they wanted yesterday.
Type Sixes, being so insecure and fear-based, can stay in a relationship if they feel it is meeting their basic needs…that is, if they are “being provided for,” especially financially. (Since they make up 50% of the population, is it clearer why the divorce rate hovers around 50% and why 50% generally stay married? Yet if they do not feel they are being taken care of, they will seek change.)
[Note: the #1 cause of people “breaking up” is money, specifically, not enough money. The obvious conclusion is that the #1 cause for many people not “breaking up” is…money, specifically, enough money. See also, “Anything For The Lifestyle I Want,” which is a totally relativistic, dualistic, self-centered concept, yes?]
Type Sevens are afraid of commitment. Being the most easily bored, they are driven to seek adventure and change and, yes, even chaos. Interestingly, most addicts, no matter their primary type, are strongly influenced by Type Seven motives. They might internalize the type or it might be a “wing,” but the traits show up often in those with the Addictive Personality Disorder.
Furthermore, persons want power, and because of that, chaos reigns. In “relationships,” the power struggle can go on for decades until one acquiesces or until the relationship is ended by one party or the other, or until both parties stay together long enough to tire of the fighting and finally give up the struggle and the disorder and the chaos.
[Surveys show that typically men do not want their spouses to change while many women are sure that their mate needs to change and that they can bring about the changes they desire. Both are usually disappointed as a result of their expectations; thus, the change-don't change drama can play out with considerable emotional intoxication.
Jeffery Deaver said, “We have years to converse with someone, to blurt and rant, to explain our desires and anger and regrets—and oh how we squander those moments.” How many moments have you squandered, seeking adventure or excitement and finding instability and chaos instead?]
If you have not tired of all of the drama and chaos and efforts to avoid change or to bring about change, then you too can continue to squander the moments that could otherwise be passed in the peace and quiet. As mentioned yesterday, there is no loss as a result of Realization. There is stability, yes, yet think not that Realization excludes opportunity for joy. It actually enhances all forms of joy that happen.
Finally, as also noted yesterday, when Reality is overlaid upon the relative, then everything about the relative is natural (nisarga). If the relative existence is not imbued with the natural (as is the case with the non-Realized) then the relative existence will be marked by the unnatural.
Or, in the case of those persons that are truly involved in ego and egotism, then the relative existence will be marked by the adoption of supernatural personas (such as religious and/or spiritual giantism, for example) and by supernatural explanations for natural events (see "karma and katrina" again) and by concepts rooted in supernatural (magical) thinking.
FOR AN IN-DEPTH TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT:
