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"To take appearance for reality is ... the cause of all calamities." - Maharaj
F.:Here is the conundrum faced by those who would be free of learned ignorance, free of the constant fluctuations that occur throughout the relative existence, and free of chaos and misery and suffering:
(A) all of their problems center in the mind, which takes appearances for reality and therefore causes calamities; but (B) as Louise wisely noted in her last series, the only tool available for addressing the problem is ... the mind.
Most understand the pointer that "a thorn can be used to remove a thorn," so the approach most seekers take is to use the mind to remove ... the mind? Really? Is that even possible? Yet at a certain stage of the "journey," what else can be tried?
However, rather than attempting to remove the mind - that is, discard all of the content of the mind which includes ideas, beliefs, concepts, and attitudes - most will attack the problem by adding more ideas and beliefs and attitudes and concepts into the mind.
Few understand that the most influential ideas, beliefs, concepts, and attitudes were placed in the mind during childhood when the processes of programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication were occurring at breakneck speed during most of a child's waking hours.
And those processes continued for days and months and years. Later, as adults, additional ideas and concepts and beliefs and attitudes have been added, but none have the level of influence nor the subconscious, controlling power over thoughts and words and, therefore, actions as the earliest programming and conditioning.
So, the obstacle to Realization: even among the seekers who realize that their problems center in their minds and in the minds of all among the non-Realized, they cannot conceive, on their own, of any means by which to address the mind-problem than to add to the content of the mind, supplement the content of the mind, amend the content of the mind, and / or analyze and over-analyze and "think things through" by use of the mind.
If physical problems among humanity can be addressed by injecting something into the body - so the "logic" goes - then surely the problem of the mind can be addressed by injecting additional information into it as well. And at some level, that seems to have some validity.
In what way? In the way of Advaitin pointers. It is not more knowledge that the Advaitin teacher injects but is, instead, a series of pointers offered in an exact and step-wise manner; yet the intent of the pointers is never to provide more ideas and beliefs and attitudes and concepts to be stored in the mind but to invite seekers to understand that - in the end - all of their knowledge (a.k.a., learned ignorance) has provided no benefits, no advantages, no gains, positioning them to become non-attached and willing to discard it all.
In the instances that some will cite to prove that pointer wrong, they will ignore that what they sought and gained in order to be happy only made them miserable in the end. They will refuse to see that whatever has given pleasure will give pain or misery in the end, or that whatever gives the most pleasure will give the most pain or most misery in the end.
Why the inability to see the actual facts of their circumstances? Because many have not yet reached "the end." Their supposed pleasures are seemingly on-going, and lost in the dream as they are, they will protest: "You are wrong - my life partner gives me great pleasure." Yes, for now, but you have not yet reached "the end" of the story.
No partner or any other external source can truly determine the internal condition; nor can any partner guarantee that you shall not have to face the calamities of the relative existence that can and will rob you of peace and freedom if you have not Realized Fully.
And Full Realization cannot come by adding to the problem (that is, to the content of the mind). It can only come by subtracting from the mind. The belief by persons that ...
... Cherrios crumbs or Cherrios "dust" is not the same as Cherrios,
... that persons of dissimilar color or race or creed or nationality or sexual preference are truly different and should actually fall into categories of "less-than vs. as good as or better-than" and that
... multiplicities, not the unicity, make up reality, and that
... all reality is as it appears
will assure that those persons will never be free of fluctuations, will never be free of being jerked about by illogical thoughts, and will never be free of the use of deceitful words that share myths as fact and lies as truth.
Because the progression that drives actions moves from thought-to-word-to-deed, then their calamitous thoughts and their calamitous words will necessarily generate calamitous actions that generate ... more calamities.
The final solution: unlearning ... de-accumulation. Seek not more but welcome less instead. Stop accumulating more knowledge / learned ignorance. Allow the pointers offered by a Realized teacher, pointers that you read or hear, to set you on a different course. Take the direct path to Realization which leads to a discarding of all ideas and concepts and beliefs and attitudes.
When the kitchen or bathroom plumbing is clogged, do you want to unclog the lines and then hang on to the clogging material, or would a sane and logical person want to be rid of the clogging material entirely?
The last idea or belief or concept or attitude that you cling to will be the last clogging element. Be rid of all of the clogging elements that are centered in the mind and that block the pure consciousness from seeing truth, from seeing the unicity, and from seeing that there are no differences at all.
Only then can you be free, only then can the calamities being self-generated in your relative existence be removed, and only then will You be in a position to overlay Reality on the relative and live in harmony and stability and peace, no matter what storms might be swirling around you.
That is the Advaitin alternative: do not inject more into the mind. Understand the direct path, nisarga pointers that invite You to empty the mind of all its nonsensical, fictional beliefs and then enjoy the lightness. Anything empty is far lighter than anything that is full.
Abandon the burdens of fullness - including being full of self or selves - and enjoy the lightness of being. Peace.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
