MAHARAJ: “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind,” Part “C”

Today's Considerations

Call it “Liberation” or “Enlightenment” or “Realization” or “Awakening” or “Awareness” or “Illumination” – or, maybe less “nobly” – call it “freedom,” “release,” "the restoration to sanity" or “the manifestation of free will and the ability to make conscious choices.” The term used matters not. What matters is to see that all of those terms are pointing to one end: being free of the ignorance and insanity which are the result of ignorant and insane programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication and brainwashing and indoctrination.

The end result of following “the path” or completing “the journey” is to be de-programmed (not "re-programmed" by "a program"); the end result also includes being unconditioned, un-domesticated, un-acculturated, de-brainwashed, and un-indoctrinated.

There is no eternal, post-manifestation blissful state to seek for there is no “one” post-manifestation to know or experience bliss or anything else (including reward or punishment or re-birth). Bliss is only available now, and to enjoy bliss now involves nothing that is deemed to be noble or lofty or superior or supreme or high or higher or elevated or grand or exalted or admirable or meaningful. To the contrary, it involves only that which for billions of years has been the normal and natural and ordinary providence of every living thing - all of which were, and continue to be, mindless living things – with the exception of humans nowadays.

Additionally, humans or human-like beings for millions of  years were also mindless when the brains of the earliest humans were only about one cup in size before the human brain (a) eventually evolved into its present three-and-one-half-cup size and before the human brain (b) eventually developed that part which is now called “the mind.”

Those few sages that experienced the death of the mind – thus allowing wisdom to be born – understood first hand that mind and personality are at the core of humankind’s affliction; that personality assumption leads to personality disorders (and often to a variety of neuroses and psychoses); that the mind aggravates mental and emotional instability; and that if there is no mind (that is, if all beliefs are abandoned) then there will be no place for false, personal identifications to be stored and no place in which they can fester and from which they will generate chaos.

To that end, additional excerpts from the book “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind” (There Is Only Peace If You Are Out Of Your Mind) will be shared to explain how it is that the brain – which was once “mankind’s best friend” – has now become “man’s worst enemy.”

So to continue with excerpts from CHAPTER THREE, entitled “MIND” and MEMORIES: When Nature’s “Assets” Become Warped into “Liabilities.” This is offered in that chapter (with a reminder that Maharaj said that “science will one day advance to the point that it confirms the non-dual teachings,” and that will be shown today to have been spot on):

It is emphasized again that (1) it’s all energy at the core, that (2) nowadays natural living can only happen under the auspices of the brain and never while under the influence of the corrupted "mind," and that (3) all learned ignorance—stored as a “mind”—must be tossed if peace is to happen. Note how each step in the following analysis moves from something wrongly-perceived (such as "a human body") down to the most basic “ingredient” of the universe that is common to all in the universe. (Call it "strings," call it "that," call it "sparticles," or point toward it with any term you choose, but there is that single, most basic "whatever" that all is. Differences in appearance are caused by nothing more than a variance of the vibrational rate at which "that" moves when manifested.) Here’s how it works:

1. A human’s body mass is mostly water. Carbon, the basic unit of organic molecules, is the second most common element.

2. A “molecule” is a group of atoms in a definite arrangement held together by chemical bonds.

3. In August of 2005, this pointer was offered:

At the core of the sun, four hydrogen nuclei fuse together to form one helium nucleus, and that happens over and over. The part of the energy that process releases as light travels in particle and wave form. Plant photosynthesis sets the stage for another cycling of manifested energy-consciousness.

4. Likewise, the energy drawn into a cycle from the Absolute pool manifests in plants after it “travels” in a particle or wave form; humans consume the plants (or consume animals which ate plants), triggering a “transfer” of energy; multi-part atoms of energy are at the core of organic molecules, and organic molecules are at the core of the human body. Everything that is considered “body” can be traced back to its most basic ingredient and that ingredient can be seen to be a temporary manifestation of energy from that field of energy called the Absolute.

What does that have to do with clarifying for students the role of the brain, the “mind,” and the consciousness in the Teachings? Recall the earlier pointer: “Consciousness is rooted in the Absolute. The brain is rooted in the elements. The ‘mind’ is rooted in wrong programming and faulty conditioning and lies and concepts and ideas and superstitions and falsehoods.”

THE CONSCIOUSNESS: The conscious-energy, temporarily manifested, is “real” to the degree that it is a form of energy with specific levels of functioning that can be measured. (Why “real” in quotes? Because even this manifested consciousness is time-bound, a temporary expression of that which is truly and eternally real.) Among the triad of elements-breath-consciousness that sustains “life,” the manifest consciousness is required. The energy cannot be destroyed. It is and will be.

THE BRAIN: The science above shows that the brain, at its most basic level, is elemental and that conscious-energy is temporarily manifested via those elements; therefore, it is “real” to the degree that all is energy. (This differs not at all from what is revealed about a brick if it is studied under an electron microscope: what is not real is the brick as it appears; what is real is that swirling mass of energy which is not visible to the naked eye. Such is the case with the body and with parts such as the brain.) Among the triad of elements-breath-consciousness that sustains “life,” the elemental brain is required, the modern use of resuscitating equipment to sustain a body notwithstanding. The elements cannot be destroyed. They will be.

THE “MIND”: The “mind” is neither elemental nor energy, so it was never real, is not real now, and shall not remain post-manifestation. It will fade away. It is nothing more than a conglomeration of images and memories that are not real, that are fictional and that are misperceptions. Because it is false and is not “real,” it can be purged. Pluck out your brain: end of manifestation. Take steps to end the manifest consciousness: end of manifestation. Purge the mind: not the end of the manifestation. (Because it is only temporary, Jesus said after he came to the Advaitin understanding, “Heaven and earth shall fades away.” Meaning? Just as with all images, when the consciousness fades away, so shall the misconceived images stored in the brain. One could as easily say to the ex-husband mourning the loss of his imagined role, “Your wife and family shall fade away someday.” They are just misperceived images in the “mind,” and those wrongly-perceived images will not last. When "he" "dies," "she" "dies.") Among the triad of elements-breath-consciousness which come together and temporarily sustains “life,” the “mind” is not included. It has been shown why “the mind” happened: there was originally a natural part that it was to play in the process of natural living. That is no longer the case.

Maharaj revealed much about that fictional conglomeration called "the mind" and about its false character. He pointed out that awareness is the source of (but different from) the personal, individualized consciousness which manifests via the nervous system of an elemental body and which becomes corrupted. The “mind” and memory, he said, are responsible for association with a particular body; awareness (that pool of energy which has the ability to be "aware of" only if pulled into a cycle of manifestation) exists prior to both mind and memory. He said that this world (which is known to be an illusion) is nothing more than a collection of memories. The collection differs in the mind of every individual, so there are as many imaginary worlds as there are persons. "The world" for each is in them, in their "minds."

He spoke of memories as being time-bound and transient, so they cannot be real. He made the point that only that which is free of memories is timeless and therefore real. He said that desires and fears are based in the memory and that the root of desires and fears are the expectations that are born of memory. Each assumed persona / personality is just a shadow of the mind, he said, and the mind he identified as nothing more than “the sum total of memories.” Imagination based on memories is unreal. He said the understanding of that would free persons of the trap of memory. The light of consciousness passes through the film of memory and throws pictures on your brain, he said. Thus, because of the chaotic and distorted state of that part of the brain where memories are stored, what you perceive is distorted and colored by feelings of "like" and "dislike."

If a body has been covered in mud, it cannot be cleansed by adding even greater quantities of mud to it. The same applies to the mind. That which is the source of distortion cannot free one of distortion. To add more to the mind to try to cleanse the mind will only muddy up the problem even more. All mud must go - that is, all of the content of the mind must go - for it is nothing more than one big pile of mental mud anyway.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

[NOTE: The four most recent posts follow. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]

MAHARAJ: “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind,” Part “B”

Today's Considerations

Today, additional excerpts will be shared from the book “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind” (There Is Only Peace If You Are Out Of Your Mind).

The discussion will show how the brain increased in size (more than tripled, in fact) throughout hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary development; how the brain over the millennia developed additional parts which could store and retrieve information which was used to enhance the chances of survival whenever truth was stored therein (such as was the case after seeing the results of someone falling off a cliff and the conclusion then being stored in the mind part of the brain and which could serve as a reminder - if near a cliff at some later point - that “I should avoid falling off a cliff”);

how, after the development of language, what had been previously stored by way of direct observation and objective witnessing gave way to bogus information being stored as a result of humans hearing lies and then storing them away as if they were true; how dualistic thoughts and words began planting more and more lies about "different types of people" and about "different worlds" and about "people here and gods there" and about "some people here being good and some people here being bad" and about "the bad people displeasing the gods and causing the rest of us good people here to suffer." 

Being inundated with ignorance and lies led to the formation of ignorant-and-lie-based-belief systems which have been expanding ever since,

including beliefs such as, “Some persons are different from other persons and the differences make some persons better than those other, different persons”;

and such as, "Turns out that natural happenings are not really natural at all but are all supernatural happenings, caused by gods that have been made happy or unhappy by people in this world, so floods, fires, typhoons and hurricanes, etc. are all a result of the unhappy gods’ wrath which is inspired by people who are not doing what the gods want people to do”;

and such as, “Therefore, we must depend on those who say they hear the gods telling them what they want passed on to the people and we must take them at their word that the gods are talking to them and that what they are passing on is true and we must never question what they tell us  and we must met regularly with them and listen to them tell us the gods’ will”;

and such as, “The corn is not growing because of a shortage of rain and there is a shortage of rain because there are powers in other worlds that control what happens in this world and because the people in this world are not pleasing the powers in the other world or because the powers in the other world like to be worshiped by people in this world and like for people to beg for what they want or need and because the gods only give gifts and rewards if they are given gifts first, and the gifts should not be inconsequential but should involve a real sacrifice”;

and such as, “For our gods to be pleased with us, we must make sure that everyone worships our gods and that they all do what our gods want people to do, and what they want people to do will be explained by our godly leaders and the will of the gods shall then be enforced by the followers of our godly leaders and our gods and, when not meeting with our godly leaders, we will also talk to the gods throughout the day and ask what their will is for us”;

and such as “We have seen what bad things happen to us when people among us do not believe in the gods and do not adhere to the will of the gods so we must destroy all non-believers and all bad people so that we don’t all end up suffering and we must also destroy those in other areas who worship the false gods that they dreamed up instead of the true gods we worship”;

or such as, “There is some sort of ‘celestial accountant’ or some nebulous ‘universe’ that keeps a tally of the good and the bad that we do and then, when enough negative badness is accumulated, some really bad event will happen to us to balance out for the badness and then the slate can be cleaned temporarily and that will give us a chance to learn from the lesson of the hurricane sent to punish us and give us a chance to learn from our mistakes and to be good and pleasing in the sight of the gods in the future.”

As more and more dualistic thinking and talking spread, the differentiations between "friend" and "enemy" and "the good" vs. "the bad" expanded and became based in what was perceived to be contrary skin colors; ideologies; creeds; races; religions; sex; sexual preferences; age; tribe; village, city, state or national origins, ad infinitum.

Welcome to the present condition of the planet, mentally separated into millions of categories and subsets, all reinforcing the now-widespread ego-and-egotism-based-beliefs regarding “unequal” and “different-from” and, therefore, “better-than” and all trapping the masses in their fallacious beliefs which are totally devoid of even the slightest awareness of the unity which exists beyond the erroneously-perceived multiplicities.

 From where did all nonsense come? From the minds of controlling persons who dreamed up concepts and taught them in order to control other people.  

From where is the nonsense presently being perpetuated? From the nonsense-filled minds of the masses which now results in almost all of them being driven by what Maharaj identified as three key symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness: “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity.” And where is that ignorance and stupidity and insanity stored, and from where does it operate and control all thoughts and words and actions? The mind.

Hence, Maharaj eventually came to understand that the Ultimate Sickness is not about persons having too little knowledge of dogma; is not about persons having a spiritual malady because they are doing too few spiritual exercises throughout the day; is not about people being unaware of a “Supreme Self”; but is about persons being mentally ill.

The Ultimate Sickness is a mind sickness, and - as with any sickness - one must understand the symptoms and the causes and the proper treatment for that particular sickness if they are ever to be well.

So to continue with excerpts from “CHAPTER TWO" entitled “MIND” and MEMORIES: When Nature’s “Assets” Become Warped into “Liabilities.” This is offered there:

So, it can be seen that the term “the mind” is just a name given to a set of files. Originally those files were stored in the brain (as what would come to be called “memories”) so that the file information could be retrieved if needed in order to help humans survive dangerous situations (i.e., “Remember when the fellow in the next cave thought he was picking up a stick and it was a snake. Check more carefully.”) It can be seen that now the “mind” has been so distorted that the persons of the planet believe that a rope is a snake and often mistake a harmful snake for a harmless rope.

Those files / memories are so contaminated with distortions, misperceptions, dogma and all other kinds of lies that the “mind” can no longer serve its original purpose. Where it was intended by nature to work with the rest of the brain to avoid destruction, in its present condition, the typical “mind” is generating more destruction and chaos than survival and peace. It is one thing to remember that a snake which looks like a stick can kill you; it is something else to remember dualistic messages that include: “We’re better than all others on the planet because we live in the greatest country on earth,” or “It’s OK to attack or kill those who have been taught the tenets of a religion that is different from your religion,” or “People with that skin color are all ignorant and criminal.”

It can be seen, therefore, that the current, distorted state of the modern “mind” came about after languages and personal agendas developed which enabled persons to begin teaching dualistic concepts. After that occurred, persons used languages to pass on as fact an entire body of lies, lies that were not based in actual happenings or fact at all (things such as beliefs, ideas, myths, superstitions, dogma, theories, attitudes, “spiritual knowledge,” religious “knowledge,” concepts, false identities, etc.) It can be seen that the distortions being stored nowadays as remembered lessons / memories are not memories that can be used for survival but are corruptions that are driving conduct that is destructive, self-destructive, and detrimental to both peace and survival.

As a result of the distorted concepts and beliefs that are currently being stored in what is called the “mind,” nature’s intent has been invalidated. That original storehouse of files in the brain which was intended by nature to work with the rest of the brain to guide the body to behave in a natural fashion, is now resulting in the body being guided by a warped “mind” that generates unnatural "thinking" and conduct and supernatural “thinking” and conduct.

Nowadays, memories are not being retrieved from the mind to avoid dangerous animals or the precarious edges of cliffs but are generating dualistic “thoughts” such as, “They are ignorant . . . we are smart”; “I am good, but they are bad”; “I deserve reward but they deserve punishment”; “I heard a God in another world tell me to drop bombs on people in this world” (from a U.S. president); “I am going to destroy you (or "reject you" or "leave you" or "punish you") because you have said things and done things that are different from what I wanted you to say and do”; or, "You can't be good . . . you're different from me."

Nowadays, a natural mind no longer works with a natural brain to generate natural living. Instead, the content of the typical “mind” today generates a style of living that is more often unnatural (meaning characterized by delusional “thinking”) and that is very often supernatural (meaning characterized by magical “thinking”). The “thoughts” behind both of those types of “thinking” are rooted in duality, and dualistic “thinking” is at the core of anything considered a dilemma or problem or crisis in the relative existence.

Whereas the brain is “wired” for self-constructive behavior, the modern “mind” is now “wired” for self-destructive behavior because of the vast pool of learned ignorance that is being passed on to (and accepted as truth by) billions of persons, their level of education or intelligence notwithstanding. Because behavior is now being controlled by the bogus, programmed “mind” more than the brain, the personalized, individualized “mind” is able to inspire persons to destruct and self-destruct in opposition to the self-constructive actions that a normal brain would guide an organism to take.

So a shift in what was typical and “normal” human behavior happened as the brain evolved over thousands of years: the development of the brain’s capacity to store memories, and to retrieve memories from storage, was followed by the development of language. The development of language was followed by the teaching of dualistic concepts. Those dualistic teachings have resulted in the contemporary “mind” which is nothing more than a repository of lies. Those lies / false beliefs generate a sense of separation and the judgmental labeling of persons as “bad,” “immoral,” “wrong,” ad infinitum. Now, because of the warped, dualistic “mind,” persons truly believe that they are “bad” (or they are labeled as “bad”) if they believe in vaginal births but refuse to believe in a virginal birth.

They feel they are “bad” (or they are labeled as “bad”) if they are repelled by descriptions of a god who was a mass murderer. Now, because of the warped, dualistic “mind,” persons truly believe that they are “bad” (or they are labeled as “bad”) if they don’t care to participate in a rite of worship called “communion” that reenacts ancient rites of cannibalism and vampirism. They can feel they are “bad” (or at the very least, "not as good as") if they have not been dunked or sprinkled with water that some claim is “holy.”

Now, because of the warped, dualistic “mind,” persons truly believe that killers are “good” if they kill people whose stored files contain information that differs from the killers’ stored files. The insanity that currently dominates the planet (as a result of warped minds which take duality to be real) is pervasive, and the majority of the dualistic beliefs which have had the most vicious results have been dreamed up and passed down by members of one specific institution over the last 5000 years.

“Brain-washing” is an inaccurate term. “Brain-trashing” is what has been happening for many millennia now, inspiring the call for a complete “brain-flush” now. Why? The institution that has been touting dual-mindedness for thousands of years has been joined by programmed parents and conditioned teachers and acculturated politicians and by various other sources in the global pursuit of training persons to accept as fact the seemingly endless supply of dualistic lies. The concepts that need to be eliminated from the “mind” via a brain-flush should be obvious. The purging of belief in all dualities begins with questioning it all and continues with the discarding of all learned ignorance in order to then be free.

 
To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

[NOTE: The four most recent posts follow. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]

MAHARAJ: “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind,” Part “A”

Today's Considerations

Maharaj’s eventual focus was on what he came to see as the root source of the Ultimate Sickness, namely, the mind. He had already tried and abandoned a religious / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine and a spiritual / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine; he had modified his stance regarding SELF-Inquiry and said: “You do not need to find the answer to the question, ‘Who Am I?’” and that “It is enough to know who you are not”; he advised seekers to stop reading the talks in the so-called "spiritual classic" I AM THAT and to listen to his later talks and to “just give up spirituality” and to abide “normally and naturally” instead.

Seeing that the problems of humanity are all centered in the mind, he said:

"There is no such thing as peace of mind. Mind means disturbance. Restlessness itself is mind."

“Don’t rely on your mind for liberation. It is the mind that brought you into bondage. Go beyond it altogether.”

"Distrust your mind, and go beyond."

“The death of the mind is the birth of wisdom.”

"All illness begins in the mind."

"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which your mind creates."

" . . . The mind obscures and distorts."

"Beyond the mind there is no suffering.” 

[Note the distinction between “pain” on one hand and "misery and suffering" on the other: pain is rooted in the the body; misery and suffering are rooted in the mind.]

His advice:

"Stop making use of your mind and see what happens."

"There is no such thing as mind. There are ideas . . . ." 

[Here the point is that ideas, concepts, notions, perceptions, values, etc. can all be clustered into one single group or classification: beliefs; thus, it would be said here that “There is no such thing as mind. There is only a conglomeration of beliefs; moreover, those are not 'your beliefs' but are actually just 'their beliefs' which have been accepted on blind faith without any logical or reasonable or objective questioning at all.”]

Maharaj:

"To know that you are a prisoner of your mind - that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation - is the dawn of wisdom."

So what was the state which ultimately freed him and led to the birth of his wisdom? It was a no-mind state:

"There is no such thing as a mind."

"I have no mind . . . ."

"Reach a state of zero-concepts."

"As to my mind, I have no such thing. There is consciousness in which everything happens."

"I find I have lost the mind irretrievably."

Hence the title of one of the eBooks below: “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind” (There Is Only Peace If You Are Out Of Your Mind).

Certain pointers offered in that book shall be shared, beginning with this opening consideration:

Most persons will never reach a point where they are awake enough to even ask the questions that indicate they are aware of the fact that they have no “peace of mind” at all. Likely, though, some will eventually ask one or more of the following:

“How can I attain peace of mind?”

“Why is my mind constantly in motion?”

“Why do I start thinking about one thing and get hung up on that?”

“Why does my mind sometimes feel as if there’s the chatter of a thousand monkeys going on inside my head?”

“How can I purify my mind and get rid of all the troublesome things that fill it all day long?”

“Why can’t I stop my mind at night and go to sleep and stay asleep until morning?”

The answers will be provided in this book. Best regards on your “journey” as you seek them.

In CHAPTER ONE of that book (entitled “MIND” and MEMORIES: When Nature’s “Assets” Become Warped into “Liabilities”), this pointer is offered:

“Consciousness is rooted in the Absolute. The brain is rooted in the elements. The ‘mind’ is rooted in wrong programming and faulty conditioning and lies and concepts and ideas and superstitions and falsehoods. Personas are rooted in programmed minds and are sustained by the ego-based lies and by the learned ignorance that are being taught in most modern cultures.”

Also excerpted from that chapter:

The smaller human brain, in its earlier and simpler stages of development, allowed humans then to live as deer live today: hunt / forage / find food for survival; interact; take actions that are self-defensive and self-constructive; and procreate in order that the species will survive. As more and more humans walked the planet, the simplicity of existence would be lost as the simplicity of the brain was lost.

Complications resulted because of an increase in human interactions (and an increase in both individual as well as tribal interests and agendas). The brain began to evolve in order to compensate, and eventually areas that could store memories came into being. At that point, the mind and the brain worked in tandem and in harmony to contribute to the survival of individuals and the species. The mind came about as “memories” began to be stored. As a part of the defense mechanisms for survival of the species, the mind had its role and played it “properly” (naturally) for thousands of years.

For example, if a caveman remembered that his companion fell from a cliff and died as a result, the caveman might avoid falling from cliffs. The original process was as follows: over a period of evolution, the brain expanded to include a cerebral cortex and a hippocampus. Afterwards, when an event happened (such as a human falling off a cliff) or when someone learned something (such as, “falling off a cliff can kill you”), the brain placed the memory of that event and the related knowledge acquisition in its “memory files." That is all the mind was: a collection of memories filed away in those "newer" parts of the brain.

The memory of both old and new happenings would be processed and stored away in different areas of the cerebral cortex, or the "gray matter" of the brain. The hippocampus would process the memories. (As a side note in that regard, a disease receiving considerable attention nowadays—Alzheimer’s—comes about when the hippocampus is damaged, resulting in ... what else ... memory loss. Is it not interesting that one who might have been a fighter for years and who loved chaos suddenly becomes peaceful when the ability to tap into dualistic memories is lost? Witness the way that the ability to remember dualistic concepts and dogma are now the curse of the planet, relatively speaking.)

Over a period of time, language developed which allowed controlling men with hidden, personal agendas to dream up concepts and teach those ideas to others who could—by that point—remember them. The overabundance of dualistic concepts and beliefs and dogma (which were destructive and separatist in nature) began to outnumber the earlier class of memories that were survival-related.

It was one thing for the caveman to “feel bad” if the fish that was going to feed him and his family that day happened to get away. Such feelings are natural. It is quite another thing when modern persons—as a result of living under the auspices of a warped, dualistic “mind”—truly believe that they should feel “bad” when they do things that are also natural, such as masturbation or fornication. It is one thing for the caveman to feel “good” when he killed a deer for supper. It is quite another thing when a modern person, as a result of a warped, dualistic “mind,” feels “good” if he kills another human who has different religious beliefs filed away in the storage areas of the brain.

Now, because of the warped dualistic “mind,” persons feel “good” if they beat their “bad” children or if they whip a wife who flashed a bit of ankle in public. As the “mind” formed, it allowed a class of beliefs and concepts to be accumulated that no longer contribute to the survival of the species but that have become a driving factor in the perversion of interactions and the destruction of humans by humans. Dualistic thinking was born, and all of the horrors of the relative existence began. Prior to attachment to dualistic beliefs, early tribal fights might deal with water rights. After the “mind” quit working in tandem and in harmony with the brain, it began to overrule the brain. Thereafter, fighting dealt far less with survival issues and far more with conflicts over differing beliefs and concepts.

Those fights / wars would eventually result in the killing of more humans that anything other than natural causes: political wars; religious wars; holocausts; the invasion of continents and the decimation of native populations; and acts of racial, ethnic and religious genocide. Dual-mindedness had begun, and the persons of the planet are still bound in its grip. It is now at the root of everything called “evil,” and the accuracy of the words of the Advaitin teacher of 2000 years ago (who said that “A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways”) are proving to be as factual today as in 30 A.D.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

[NOTE: The four most recent posts follow. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]

Part Eleven: THE ULTIMATE SICKNESS CENTERS NOT IN TOO LITTLE DOGMA AND NOT IN A SPIRITUAL MALADY AND NOT IN A FAILURE TO BE “A SUPREME SELF” OR “GOD” BUT CENTERS IN THE MIND

Today's Considerations

[Continued from yesterday]

Eastern sages have long understood that (a) the bane of humanity is inauthenticity and that (b) inauthenticity is rooted in personality identification. Inauthentic identities – those sages understood – all have their own agendas around fears and desires and it those hidden agendas which determine (unconsciously) every thought that is thought, every word that is said, and, consequently, every deed that is done. So what can we suggest to address that problem, those sages asked? What plan can we develop to address personality identification and inauthenticity and the problems which they generate?

The plan that was dreamed up was to begin a search for what they identified as “The Real You”; to begin a quest for the “Real Self” . . . the “Authentic Self” . . . the “Supreme Self” . . . whatever. Then they gave a name to the process which could be used for that quest: “The Self-Inquiry Process.”

Then they explained that “The Self-Inquiry Process” begins with a question, asking, “Who Am I, really?” For many, the quest lasted for their entire lifetime - often without ever finding the answer. That is still the case today. Why?

Maharaj undertook “The Process” and worked at it for years. He also endorsed “The Process” for years, recommending that seekers engage in spiritual exercises on a regular basis in order to facilitate the completion of “The Process” and bring it to a happy conclusion. Yet he finally reached a point when he saw that the problems of humanity center in the mind and that “The Process” (which he, too, had used and endorsed) did nothing to address the real problem of humanity (which is a mental problem) and that, to the contrary, “The Process” more often than not aggravates the problems of personality identification and inauthenticity by encouraging the assumption of supposedly “new and improved” identities (or a truly “Super” or “Grand” or Supreme” Identity)

and

exacerbates persons’ mental problems by inspiring escapism, dissociation, and delusion (allowing many to conclude that they are totally in touch with Reality but leaving them totally out of touch with reality . . . with the relative existence . . . with the AM-ness because they become focused solely on the THAT-ness).

Once he understood that the actual basis of the Ultimate Sickness was not religious or spiritual but was mental, he began trying to un-do and un-teach what he had done (as a result of “totally good intentions” that were nevertheless rooted in totally bogus understandings / total misunderstandings).

So he advised: 

Stop reading I AM THAT and listen to my present talks.

No God created you. You created God.

Give up spirituality.

Self-Inquiry is not essential . . . you do not need to find the answer to “Who Am I, really?” . . . it is enough to know who you are not. Why? 

Because of the shifts identified in those statements: 

I am no longer interested in “The Self” (so he was no longer interested in “the Process” either).

Return to the normal.

Just abide naturally.

He had earlier given up the notion that religion might be able to address the Ultimate Sickness.

Then he gave up the notion that spirituality could address the Ultimate Sickness.

Then he gave up the notion that Self-Inquiry was essential to treating the Ultimate Sickness.

And all of the shifts and the evolution in methodology used came about because he was able to see what was not working and because he was not attached to any identity such as “The Infallible Super Teacher"; therefore, he was not blocked from giving up on what was not working and then try something else; he was able to admit that - as a long-time dispenser of a variety of versions of the Ultimate Medicine - that what he had prescribed had not effectively treated any of the infected seekers who came his way and who continued to suffer from the Ultimate Sickness;

he came to understand that was a fact because he came to understand that he had totally misdiagnosed the actual root source of his patients’ illness; he came to see that their illness did not come about because they had accumulated too little dogma or too little faith in a god or gods or goddesses or because they were not engaging in enough spiritual exercises or because they had not used “The Process” properly in order to find “The Authentic Self” or “The Supreme Self”; and he came to understand that concepts and beliefs regarding dogma and faith and spirituality and some grand sense of SELF-NESS only piled more garbage onto the already-huge garbage heap of the mind.

Consider this when you hear the claim made that "the problems of the world are caused by the fact that persons understand too little dogma and are not involved enough to religion": 

Today, 6,911,500,000 out of 7,125,000,000 people on the planet claim a religious affiliation. Would the problems of the planet end if only the other 3% would get on the religion bandwagon? Or is the case that 6.9 billion+ persons are being assigned more false identities by their religions than by any other single source and that billions are, therefore, being driven by ignorant, myth-and-superstition-based belief systems which were dreamed up by ignorant, insane, would-be-controlling persons?

Of the other 3%, an ever-increasing number of those are claiming to be “spiritual, not religious.” How many of those are being assigned new identities or are assuming new identities?

Add those two together and see what the greatest sources of personality identification and inauthenticity really are.

There are an average of 12.5 million people on the planet who are claim “I am a doctor.”

There are about the same number of people on the planet who claim “I am a lawyer.”

There are an average of 65 million people on the planet who claim “I am a military person.”

All of those professions, and all others, generate thousands of false identities, yet even those numbers in the millions pale in comparison to the total number of persons on the planet. Thus:

Nothing influences persons as much as religion and / or spirituality. Millions claim to be "this"; millions of others claim to be "that." But billions claim to be religious or spiritual. Millions are driven by "this" or "that" identity or belief, but billions are driven by the agendas of their religious or spiritual identities and beliefs. Nothing else compares to the impact resulting from the fact that 7 billion persons are being controlled by their religious and / or spiritual belief systems and identities (or, for some, by “A Supreme Identity”).

And how’s that been working? Have those beliefs reduced even an iota the enormously-high levels of the Ultimate Sickness or the enormously-high levels of the symptoms of that Sickness (identified by Maharaj as "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity")? Or have those belief systems contributed to the enormously-high levels of the Ultimate Sickness and "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity"?

My daughter was recently working with a doctor whose methods were not addressing her issue. She did not unconsciously decide that she was going to give the doctor “just one more year to make me well, dammit, or I’m outta here"). No. She changed doctors and methodology promptly. The change is bringing the results she sought.

I have people contact me who have spent twenty and twenty-five and thirty years in a self-help group or recovery program who have heard only as a slight dull whisper the inner resource which is actually screaming at the top of its lungs: “It ain’t working, fool! Try something else. Hello?! Can you hear me!? I’m in here, not out there.” Yet they are not really coming here for a change, for something else. They are merely looking for a slightly-different version of the same-old-same-old that might be “fine-tuned a little bit better” in order for them to finally get some results. 

Only a warped mind could inspire one to say, "There's got to be more than this" but then continue to look for that "more" in the same place they have been looking for years without having found it there.

Few who are in such groups who are claiming that they have been "restored to sanity” can look objectively at their continuing self-destructive, self-defeating behaviors (which are merely of a different variety from their former self-destructive and self-defeating behaviors but are still nevertheless as destructive and defeating) and then honestly admit, "You know what? No such restoration has actually occurred at all."

To continue to be self-destructive when not under the influence is more insane that having been self-destructive when under the influence. The fact: "the influence" was not a drug or alcohol or any other substance. The influence was the nonsense in the mind - including the personality identifications and personality disorders and the neuroses and psychoses they led to - and until all of that goes, no restoration has happened. How can that conclusion be drawn? It's simple: one cannot be a little sane; either one is, or one is not.

With over seven billion people on the planet who are devoted to their dogma or to their spiritual practices or to their “Authentic Self,” their inauthenticity remains but has merely assumed a new form, taking on a new set of personas as identities - in fact, as “really good” identities or as a really “Special Identity."

Maharaj finally began guiding seekers through the un-teaching and un-learning process, inviting them to give up all of the learned ignorance they had learned (much of it learned from him during the early days when he was misdiagnosing the actual source of the Ultimate Sickness). The same is happening here now.

What about you? Are you still searching for gold in the same old mine that has proved for years or for decades or even for a half century to be an empty hole? Is there any delusional belief such as this:

"Well, at least I've found some gold in this empty mine. I was completely broke when I came here, but at least I'm not totally broke anymore." Really? You might want to get a second opinion about that from someone other than your fellows whose thinking remains as unclear as yours. (Just a suggestion.)

Or is it possible that Maharaj was right when he noted that it is only an empty mind that can lead to freedom and peace? That there is no ultimate understanding? That there is no “Ultimate Self”? But that there is an Ultimate Sickness which is calling for the proper version of the Ultimate Medicine which he finally found but which most never will?

Authenticity comes when false identities go. Being "Self"-absorbed is as far removed from sanity as being "self"-absorbed. ALL identification much go for ignorance and insanity and being out of touch with reality to finally come to an end.

 
To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

[NOTE: The four most recent posts follow. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]

Part Ten: THE ULTIMATE SICKNESS CENTERS NOT IN TOO LITTLE DOGMA AND NOT IN A SPIRITUAL MALADY AND NOT IN A FAILURE TO BE “A SUPREME SELF” OR “GOD” BUT CENTERS IN THE MIND

Today's Considerations

While notions about the existence of a “new earth” where persons are more enlightened and authentic than ever before would be debunked instantly were one to witness objectively the still-widespread darkness of image-assumption and image-maintenance, there are occasions when (1) larger-than-usual numbers of persons who are not aware of their own preference for form over substance do sometimes display (2) some seeming preference for authenticity (although it most often is in regards to the phoniness of "others" rather than in regards to their concerns with their own assigned or assumed images).

Those truly awake see this clearly: every living thing on the planet abides normally and naturally, except for humans. Among all living things on the planet except for humans, authenticity is the widespread norm; among all living things on the planet except for humans, authenticity and normalcy come naturally and remain throughout the entire manifestation; thus, every living thing on the planet is abiding in an authentic fashion except for humans who are raised in ways which rob them of all awareness of their false selves and which drive them to posture and pose and maintain a façade and wear masks.

To that end, during the present season of politicking that is happening in the U.S., half are once more aligning themselves with candidates who share their ideology and prejudices while the other half among the electorate are engaged in an otherwise-rare moment of evaluating their candidates' levels of authenticity and trustworthiness (as if the assumption of the role of “politician” and the manifestation of “credibility” could ever co-exist side-by-side).

Thus, one writer wrote this about “the new ‘IT’ factor” in politics:

Authenticity is the new ‘It’ factor.

The old ‘It’ was ideological (“Do they hate big government as much as I do?” and “Are they as opposed as I am to women having the right to decide what they do or do not do with their own bodies?” and “Do they hate like I do all governmental regulations on industry which are intended to protect the environment but which have a negative impact on corporate profits?” and “Do they understand as I do why women do not deserve to be paid as much as a man for the same job?”)

and

was positional (“Are they with me on encouraging the accumulation of  guns and ammo, even by children and crazies?” and “Are they with me on the belief that the increasing temperature rates on earth are not being contributed to by humans, or are they more like the 'tree-huggers' who want to force companies to spend more of their own money to protect the environment?”)

and

was demographic (“Do they care about people like me?” and “Do they respect the fact that we in our part of the country have the right to express our 150-year-old deep hatred of the federal government and have the right to display in any way we choose our sense of racial superiority and our hatred of minorities?”)

and

was personal (“Who would I want to have a beer with?” and “Who strikes me as a good ole boy?” and “Which of these candidate is showing the same levels of anger and chauvinism and hatred and arrogance that I feel?”). 

The author ended with a final point and a question that some members of one party are asking: The new ‘It’ is ontological: Who's real?

Ontology deals with the nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality. Is someone authentic . . . or phony? (Maharaj advised that asking question the is only relevant when it is asked about oneself, not about “others.”)

To review from the last post:

So the deal – that is, this “path” or “journey” or “process” - is about being restored to sanity, to returning to a condition of being “normal”: Maharaj spoke of “returning to normal” (and of abiding naturally, which is also about “being normal.”)

It does not take a chockfull mind for humans to function sanely and soundly and reasonable and practically. A chockfull mind will, in fact, prevent that mode of functioning. It does not take great intelligence for humans to function sanely and soundly and reasonable and practically, the most intelligent often exhibiting the most insane and unsound and unreasonable and impractically thoughts and words and actions of any.

How much "mind stuff" is required to grasp the truth behind this pointer from Maharaj: “The ultimate understanding is that there is no ultimate understanding"? None. Mind stuff will actually prevent seeing the truth of that pointer. And because he eventually proclaimed that he had given up all concern with - and all interest in - "The Supreme Self," he could have as easily said: “The ultimate understanding is also that there is no 'self' and that there is no 'Ultimate Self', either." Both self-ness and Self-ness are as dreamed up as every other concept that is rooted in dogma or spirituality.

Freedom first requires freedom from the mind - that is, freedom from unquestioned acceptance of, and belief in, the concepts stored in the mind. Only when the mind goes is the stage then set for wisdom to come, wisdom which (a) can only function if there are no impediments blocking the consciousness from seeing clearly and wisdom which (b) allows a brain which started out normal

but was

made abnormal

to

“return to being normal.”

Again, every living thing on the planet abides normally and naturally, except for humans. Among all living things on the planet except for humans, authenticity is the widespread norm; among all living things on the planet except for humans, authenticity comes naturally and remains throughout the entire manifestation; thus, every living thing on the planet is abiding in an authentic fashion, except for humans. Humans, to the contrary, are raised in ways which rob them of all awareness of the falsity of their false selves and which drive them to posture and to pose and to maintain a façade and to wear masks.

In New York City - sitting stunned on the front edge of her seat in the Majestic Theater – my five-year old daughter was spellbound. What would be "her favorite musical of all time" was being determined moment-by-moment as she listened to Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman introduce her for the first time to "the Phantom" and "Christine."

After settling herself during the intermission following her scare caused by the crashing, explosive climax to Act I, she was more than ready for the play to continue and for the expansive mega-scene which opened Act II. Much later, she would explain that the words sung during that scene would take on greater meaning when she reached her late twenties and began differentiating between that in this culture which encourages specious and affected posturing vs. that true sense of inner contentment which only comes when authenticity displaces disingenuousness.

These are the words which were sung during the Act II opening which pointed toward the now widespread levels of specious and affected posturing and inauthenticity:

Masquerade!
Paper faces on parade . . .
Masquerade!
Hide your face so the world will never find you!
Masquerade!
Every face a different shade . . .
Masquerade!
Look around - there's another mask behind you!
Flash of mauve . . .
Splash of puce . . .
Fool and king . . .
Ghoul and goose . . .
Green and black . . .
Queen and priest . . .
Trace of rouge . . .
Face of beast . . .
Faces . . .
Take your turn, take a ride on the merry-go-round . . .
in an inhuman race . . .
Eye of gold . . .
Thigh of blue . . .
True is false . . .
Who is who . . .?
Curl of lip . . .
Swirl of gown . . .
Ace of hearts . . .
Face of clown . . .
Faces . . .
Drink it in, drink it up,
till you've drowned
in the light . . . in the sound . . .
RAOUL / CHRISTINE
But who can name the face . . .?
ALL
Masquerade!
Grinning yellows, spinning reds . . .
Masquerade!
Take your fill -let the spectacle astound you!
Masquerade!
Burning glances, turning heads . . .
Masquerade!
Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you!
Masquerade!
Seething shadows breathing lies . . .
Masquerade!
You can fool any friend who ever knew you!
Masquerade!
Leering satyrs, peering eyes . . .
Masquerade!
Run and hide - but a face will still pursue you!

Masquerade!
Paper faces on parade!
Masquerade!
Hide your face so the world will never find you!
Masquerade!
Every face a different shade!
Masquerade!
Look around - There's another mask behind you!
Masquerade!
Burning glances, turning heads . . .
Masquerade!
Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you!
Masquerade!
Grinning yellows, spinning reds . . .
Masquerade!
Take your fill - let the spectacle astound you!

Maharaj noted that he takes his stand “in the original state where I was not aware that I am.” Note that he was not saying that he was "not aware" now, at this moment, as he was speaking to them; he was not saying that he was not aware NOW. To the contrary, he was totally aware during the post-Realization AM-ness . . . aware of all that he was not; thus, he was also" taking a stand" here and now and in full awareness and in full freedom from beliefs and identities (or any Identity as well).

In that Original State, there was no identity, either super-sized relative identities or a Super “Supreme Identity.” There was no "one" present to be aware of or conscious of anything. During the remaining post-Realized IS-ness, he was identity-less and also eventually Identity-less, yet he was totally awake, aware, and conscious.

The rejection of all learned ignorance and the restoration of sanity allowed that which came to be seen on the “reverse path back out” to later be overlaid on the relative existence so that it was no longer marked and marred by “ignorance and stupidity and insanity” but was marked by freedom from ignorance and stupidity and insanity and from all of the former content of the mind which always robs persons of peace.

The only reason to realize all which can be realized (about the THAT-ness as well as the AM-ness) is to also realize that one can only be free NOW – and therefore only at peace NOW – if that Original Nature is understood and if the abidance for the remainder of the manifestation happens in the fashion of that original ignorance-and-insanity-and-identity-and-Identity-free condition.

Meaning? Meaning that the AM-ness NOW must happen exactly like the pre-manifestation condition took place in that original state: with no body identification; with no mind identification; with no personality identification; and with none of the learned ignorance or insanity which drives insane thoughts which - in turn - generate insane words which - in turn - result in insane behaviors.

 

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

[NOTE: The four most recent posts follow. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]