Wednesday, May 16, 2012

ANSWERING QUESTIONS RECEIVED, PART SIX

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VISITOR: I take from what you said today [received 13 May 2012] that only about 1/2 of 1% of Earth's seven billion people have "an accurate BS detector." I am starting to see why I've had so much trouble -- I've never been able to "wrap my head around" the point that I should question everything and see that it might all be nonsense (or "BS"). Some things? Sure. All things? No. But that is changing. Yesterday, I heard a woman say this to my wife: "

After three surgeries from three different doctors with three different explanations about why I have so much pain in my hands, I've become very angry with God at this point. All my life, He has intervened and brought me financial success and has answered my prayers for healing, but now it's not happening and I'm really furious with God right now. My priest said it's OK, that God is big enough to handle my anger until I get over it, but I don't want to get over it. I'm pissed."

And I questioned what I was hearing, like, you've become very old - maybe your earlier prayers for healing weren't answered either -- maybe you just bounced back better from illness when you were young. Or maybe God did not make you wealthy (and make other people poor? I saw the duality!) Or maybe there were genetic factors that made you healthy and helped make you a success in business. Am I finally on the right track? Thanx for answering and thanx the site!

F.: Yesterday it was shown that, when a dreamed-up locus of external control is believed in, then

1. delusion and arrogance will follow;

however, that is only the beginning of the long list of religiously-and-or-spiritually-inspired pathologies that result from belief in an external locus of control. That belief also

2. preempts any possible ability to understand real cause and effect.

The Realized understand that the cause of all is all, but when persons believe in an external locus of control, then they assign supernatural causes to things that are merely natural; therefore, such persons trapped in delusion will thereafter believe in

a. a myth-based God or in

b. extensive sets of god and goddesses or in

c. an intervening, controlling "universe" or in

d. "cosmic accounting practices that track balances and imbalances on a karmic spreadsheet" and will think that those "powers / Powers / forces" cause everything.

Thus, they will believe that floods and earthquakes and fires and tornadoes are the instruments of God (or the tools of whatever external locus of control they believe in) and will conclude that punishment is being handed out to "sinners" and "bad" people or will belief that "the universe" is sending blessings to "good" people.

The belief in (or at least the willingness to express) such falsehoods and misrepresentations will allow

(A) a Dalai Lama to tell his followers that "Hurricane Katrina wiped out the city of New Orleans because of the negative karma of the people there" and will allow

(B) deceived persons who accept the Dalai Lama and karmic forces as actual external loci of control to unquestioningly and pathologically believe that nonsense.

Additionally, the belief in an external locus of control can result in

3. mentally-and-emotionally-rooted immobility.

Persons - especially those who are lazy or into escapism and avoidance - will justify their inaction with such expressions as "in God's time, not mine." Then, no action is called for; with that mindset, they simple need to wait for their dreamed-up external locus of control to intervene.

Also, the belief in an external locus of control

4. leads to the practice of blaming and to a sense of victimization.

Such is the case above in which the woman believes there is a God who has come through for her all of her life but who is now letting her down. Conversely, the belief in an external locus of control can

5. block persons from taking credit for any "relative accomplishments" that did come about as a result of their efforts.

In the case above, the woman's "financial success" reportedly has nothing to do with her efforts but were the result of her God intervening in her behalf. (And by that same bit of mental manipulation of Reality, the implication is that the poor - for whatever reasons - are not able to tap into the power / Power that blesses. More separation. More sense of different-from-ment. More sense of better-than-ment. More duality.)

That belief system will also

6. block persons from taking responsibility for any "relative problems" as well.

Note the list of pathologies that can be inspired by the belief in an external locus of control and it becomes easy to understand why delusional thinking results not only in ignorance and magical thinking but also in mental disorders as well.

And the same belief can transfer from the realm of a "celestial relationship" and affect all "relative relationships" as well. This was also offered yesterday for consideration:

It was shown earlier that, when a dreamed-up locus of external control is believed in and called on to provide something or to fulfill a desire or to alleviate a fear or to provide "success" or to provide to "The Believer" the illusion of power - and when those things seemingly happen to happen - then all is well and good with the "relationship" between the persona-assuming "Believer" and "The Believer's" supposed external locus of control.

But what happens when desires and wishes are not fulfilled by one's external locus of control? When fears are not alleviated by one's external locus of control? When "success" is desired but does not come from one's external locus of control ... or seems to come but then is not protected by one's external locus of control and is therefore "lost"? When pain comes but the external locus of control no longer makes it go away? When suffering and misery come but the external locus of control does not make it go away?

Compare the way that the woman quoted in the email above interacts with her God and you will understand why

7. persons will function in the same external-locus-of-control-inspired manner (that is, in the same dysfunctional fashion) in all of their "relative relationships" as happens in all of their "magical relationships."

Why? Because crazy cannot be compartmentalized.

What the woman quoted above is saying to her God will be what she will say to any other "male" in her life:

"Our relationship is fine as long as you do what I want and as long as you fulfill my desires and wishes and alleviate my fears and help assure my "success" and are never the perceived source of my suffering and misery; otherwise, I'm going to be 'pissed'."

Or another person with the same belief system but with less "self-assuredness" might buy into the impossibility of this nonsensical Catch-22: "I will be blessed by my external locus of control if I am 'good,' but I must be 'good' to get access to my external locus of control, but only if I am already tapping into my external locus of control can I be 'good'."

What an impossible condition, and the belief that an impossible condition makes sense guarantees that persons who believe in an external locus of control ...

8. will be illogical at best and insane at worst.

Now some persons might say that they hear "encouraging words of faith and hope" when a "Believer" speaks about her or his external locus of control. Here, what is heard is evidence of ignorance and insanity, so one might as well also say:

"You remember that mirage we saw that day we were driving through the desert? It seemed so appealing that I closed my eyes and I got down on my knees and I spoke out loud and I invited a mirage into my life. I am now in a relationship with my mirage, and my mirage has made me more peaceful and happier than I have ever been."

But such illusions never last in a relationship, so soon the same persons supposedly made peaceful and happy by their mirage will be heard to say, "That damn mirage has made me angrier than I have ever been in my life! I'm 'pissed'!"

or

"After three surgeries from three different doctors with three different explanations about why I have so much pain in my hands, I've become very angry with my mirage at this point. All my life, my mirage has intervened and brought me financial success and has answered my prayers for healing, but now it's not happening and I'm really furious with my mirage right now. My priest said it's OK, that my mirage is big enough to handle my anger until I get over it, but I don't want to get over it. I'm pissed."

So much for the peace and happiness that comes when believing in a mirage and being in a relationship with a mirage. And so much for a dualistic external locus of control with a history of inconsistency, sometimes making you happy but other times making you disappointed or sad or angry.

Realization involves taking Reality and overlaying it on the relative existence in order to be able to access an internal locus of understanding, reason, rationality, logic, sensibility, sanity, and no-mind wisdom. To believe in an illusion - such as an external locus of control - is to take non-Reality and then overlay it on the relative, moving persons farther and farther away from Reality and reality.

Moreover, those who buy into one conceptualized external locus of control will buy into all perceived external loci of control; therefore, the way they feel (or emote) will be determined co-dependently ...

by their inconsistent power / Power;

by "others";

by the weather;

by whether the economy is faring well or going poorly;

by whether politicians are taking the right or the wrong stands on social, moral, and religious issues;

by whether their "mates" are enhancing their self-image or behaving in ways that do not support their self-image;

and

by all of the other ever-changing vicissitudes of the relative existence.

The result of the belief in an external locus of control, therefore, also includes being in a state of constant flux; being unstable; being needy; being dependent and therefore not independent; being co-dependent and therefore not independent; being trapped in delusional and magical thinking;

being trapped in the frustrating dualistic state of believing that one has power but then having to deal with the inevitable instances when evidence of powerlessness arise; being subjected to the frustration of depending on an external power or an external Power that, at best, is inconsistent in "coming through" for you and at worst, seems at other times to not care about you at all.

That belief in an external locus of control thus sets the stage for another pathology to manifest and produce the perfect storm of

9. cognitive dissonance, duality, and Borderline Personality Disorder.

When those three meet in the same "mind," they will inspire

a. upgrading but then downgrading;

b. idealizing followed by diminishing;

c. praising him or her (or "Him" or "This" or "That") but then being "pissed" at him or her (or "Him" or "This" or "That"); and then

d. suffering all of the effects of duality.

As one Realized Advaitin purportedly said: "A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways." Why? Again, because crazy cannot be compartmentalized.

So much for, "Well, what does it hurt to believe in things that are unreal if people think their belief is helping them?"

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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