Today's Considerations
Why do so many resist Maharaj's suggestion that, instead of
engaging in years of “SELF-Inquiry,” one might as well complete only the “self-inquiry” process, thereby seeing what one is not, then being free
of all identifications, and then enjoying the remainder of the relative existence
by abiding in a natural, no identification (and also no Identification) manner?
Why do church-goers and temple-goers and mosque-goers and meeting-goers
and other religious-goers and spiritual-goers (who often go to places where they are separated from
their mates and children), balk at the invitation to give up their religious and / or spiritual going and doing
and zooming and be free of all identifications and then enjoy the remainder of
the relative existence by abiding in a natural manner with their mates and families?
Why do so-called spiritual persons balk at that invitation, including those who join spiritual groups
and go to spiritual meetings and only have barbecues with their select spiritual friends and
play amateur sports with their spiritual friends and go to monthly celebrations
with their spiritual friends and go on
weekend retreats with their spiritual friends and visit "special, holy or spiritual
sites" with their spiritual friends? Why do they actually balk at the suggestion that they might consider
giving up all of their spiritual going and doing and zooming and be free of all
identifications and then enjoy the remainder of the relative existence by
abiding in a natural manner with their mates and families?
Once again, it’s not about anything religious or
spiritual but is often rooted in factors which are totally psychological. (There we are,
back to Maharaj’s eventual understanding.)
It has been witnessed here that sometimes that balking is driven by a (psychological)
attachment disorder. Consider the person who leaves work and goes to a bar and
gets home drunk every night of the week at 10 or 11 or 12 PM or later, ignoring
the mate and family. Then consider what often happens when one decides to join
a spiritual group in order to quit drinking: that person often leaves work (if working), goes to a meeting,
stays after to visit, goes out to dinner with other spiritual members of the
spiritual group during the week and gets home late; additionally, such a person also goes to Saturday meetings
and then breakfast with spiritual friends, goes to Sunday meetings and then breakfast
with their spiritual friends, etc.
What is the difference in that person's behavior toward family whether drinking or not drinking? Nothing. In both cases, the person
is being driven by an inability to express intimacy and an inability to connect and by an attachment disorder and a desire to escape and avoid. And all of that blocks
off any opportunity to sense the unicity and any chance for “bonding” with a mate or one’s children.
To go and do and zoom, especially if the going and doing and zooming involves one's religious or spiritual
role and involves one's focus on “self” improvement, provides just one more justification for not being available.
See? It’s not about religious or spiritual health or
wellness at all. It’s about the psychological factors which are driving one’s
thoughts and words and actions, and those psychological factors involve personality
disorders which can only manifest after personality identifications have been
assumed.
Of the nine basic personality types . . .
Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type One Perfectionists
are prone to suffer from the Obsessive-Compulsive P. D., the Depressive P.D., and
the Narcissistic P.D.
Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Two Helpers / Saviors
are prone to suffer from the Histrionic PD and the Narcissistic P.D. and the Depressive
P.D.
Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Three Performers are
prone to suffer from the Narcissistic P.D. and the Depressive P.D.
Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Fours are prone to
suffer from the Avoidant P.D., the Depressive P.D., the Narcissistic P. D., and
the Borderline P.D. (if combined with a high Type Six score).
Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Five Analysts and
Knowers are prone to suffer from the Schizoid Avoidance P.D. and the
Schizotypal P.D.
Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Sixes who are loyal
to those taking care of them are prone to suffer from the Passive-Aggressive
P.D., the Paranoid P.D., the Dependent P.D., the Co-Dependent P.D., one degree or another of the Avoidance P.D., and the Borderline P.D.
(if combined with a high Four score).
Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Seven Adventurers are
prone to suffer from the Addictive P.D., the Bipolar P.D., and the Narcissistic
P.D.
Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Eight Controllers / Bosses
/ Fighters are prone to suffer from the Antisocial / Sociopathic P. D., the Pathological
P.D., and the Sadistic P.D.
Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Nine Avoiders are
prone to suffer from the Schizoid P.D., the Dependent P.D., the Passive-Aggressive
P.D., and the Dissociative P.D.
Religion does not address personality disorders or the neuroses
or psychoses which personality can disintegrate into.
Spirituality, contrary to the claims made by many “Spiritual Giants,”
does not address personality disorders or the neuroses or psychoses which personality
can disintegrate into.
“SELF-Inquiry” might remove some of the personality identifications
which result in personality disorders or the neuroses or psychoses which personality disorders
can disintegrate into, but they can simultaneously generate a whole different set of issues which result after the assumption of "Special Identities” and which also generate arrogance and egotism which can come with that as well as the senses of different-from-ment and better-than-ment which can come with
that.
Maharaj said, “This is really so simple,” but complicated, convoluted
minds hate the simple and love the complex and convoluted and complicated and
drawn-out. The questions for those types are:
"Absorbed in your SELF concept, how much fun are you to be around, really?"
"How available are you, really?"
"While you claim to be 'fully in touch with Reality,' how in
touch with reality are you? That is, are you ignoring one-half of the summative statement of non-duality ('I AM THAT; I AM') and focusing on the THAT-ness to such an extent that you are not fully in touch with the AM-ness as well?"
That said, just as persons need not play religious roles or
spiritual roles or assume roles supposedly revealed via "SELF-Inquiry," so too persons
need not grasp an understanding of the unicity if they could be free of the
effects of beliefs regarding personality identification and personality assumption (which lead to a sense of
different-from-ment and better-than-ment which leads - in turn - to being arrogant, to judging, and
to concluding that one has the right to "play god" and decide who is to die and
who is to be allowed to live).
Relatedly, such vanity leads to a sense of entitlement, and a sense of
entitlement leads to misery because entitled types never receive all that they
think they are entitled to. A simple “self-inquiry” could expose the way that “The
Spouse” has expectations of a partner but could also show how the role of “The Super
Spouse” generates a whole new level of expectations when vanity and egotism drive
that ego-state’s thoughts and words and actions.
With that mindset of being "super," there is
never enough; there is always too little of that which is believed to be deserved that is actually being received; thus, such persons never feel that they are being treated special
enough; they never feel as if they have enough; they will always be trapped
in a lifestyle where accumulation rules; and, ultimately, they will always feel empty inside.
See? Again, there’s the psychological aspect, and personality
assumption and the chaos which that generates are always rooted in psychological issues. Maharaj came to understand
that the reason why sages for ages have recommended to seekers that they be free of all personal identifications
was to allow them to then be freed from being driven by the subconscious agendas of personalities.
Because religion leads to the assumption of multiple identifications
and because spirituality leads to the assumption of multiple identifications
(or to “One Really Special or Supreme Identity”) then they cannot be the
solution to the problems which come with any identifications (or with “a Special
Identification”). Whatever generates more identification - instead of eliminating all identification - cannot possibly eliminate humankind's problems which are all rooted in identification.
So Maharaj revealed his take on religion when, as noted yesterday,
he suggested to a friend that he take all of his pictures of gods and deities
and toss them into the sea.
Of spirituality, he said: “Give up spirituality.”
Of “the spiritual classic” entitled I AM THAT, he eventually
told people to stop reading that book and to listen instead to his later talks.
Of “SELF-Inquiry,” he said that it is not really required,
and he pointed out that “self-inquiry” - which can reveal all of the false selves that are being assumed and can reveal who you
are not - is enough.
After seeing that “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity” are
at the core of the Ultimate Sickness, he came to see that those three key symptoms
all deal with the mind rather than with one having mastered too little dogma or having a “heart problem.” Further, he came to see that those three key symptoms
all deal with the mind rather than with a “spiritual problem” or a “sick spirit” or a “spiritual malady.”
He saw that the Sickness is about a sick mind (that is, a mind filled with nonsensical beliefs) and that the
problems of humanity all center in the mind. He saw which version of the
Ultimate Medicine provides an opportunity to address the real issue - the mind
problems - and which versions of the Ultimate Medicine have nothing whatsoever
to do with the real problem . . . the mind problem.
Seeing that the version which can address the mind problem is the wise version to use is what also led him to recommend that
seekers reach a state of “zero concepts” and to join him and be rid of the mind
totally by purging it of its attachment to all ideas and concepts and notions (a.k.a, “all
beliefs”).
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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