Today's Considerations
To review from yesterday:
There is no “good vs. evil” duality. There is dual-mindedness,
as a man said 2000 years ago after he left organized religion and began sharing
non-dual pointer during the last three years of his relative existence: “A
dual-minded person is unstable in all ways.”
He did not say, “Those who do not continue with the religion
I left are going to be unstable in all ways.”
He did not say, “Those who are not spiritual are going to be
unstable in all ways.”
He did not say, “Those who are not philosophical are going to
be unstable in all ways.”
He did not say, “Those who are not ideological fanatics are
going to be unstable in all ways.”
He pinned all instability on “the mind.”
And then this: If whatever you might be involved with does
not free you of the mind, then all of their efforts and all of your efforts and
all of your time and money will be for naught.
A therapist with over twenty-five years of experience said recently that one primary aspect of her job involves "guiding clients through the
process of opening their eyes and seeing clearly." She explained that those who
come into her office are "looking at everything through the eyes of the ego-states which they
have adopted as identities and that ego-states can only see distortions."
Distorted thinking and magical thinking have long been the bane of humanity, and she witnesses both of those on a daily basis.
And where are those ego-states she refers to being stored? In the minds of
the people who come to her with a problem which they see as being caused by one
thing but is really being caused by something else:
"They can’t see truth when they
first come in for help. If the process succeeds (in spite of the many variables which
can sabotage the process) then the end result is that they see truth, they see clearly. They develop
the ability to see the difference between 'actual cause' as opposed to 'symptoms' (whereas 'the symptoms' are all that they could see initially").
She also understands non-duality, and she sometimes draws on the
wisdom of Maharaj who said:
“However great and complete is your world, it is
self-contradictory and transitory and altogether illusory”
and
“There is only imagination. It has absorbed you so
completely that you just cannot grasp how far from reality you have
wandered.”
She knows that the deal is about opening their eyes – so to
speak – so that they can see clearly. Living in the Bible Belt in the South, she
often receives calls from those asking if she uses "a religion-based approach to counseling which they want."
She wishes them the best with addressing their problems but sends them down the road. Her approach
involves eliminating their illogical and the irrational thinking, not reinforcing it, agreeing with both Ben Franklin and Maharaj:
Benjamin Franklin: “The way to see by faith is to shut the
eye of reason”
and
Maharaj: “I have no faith in anything which has ever been
told.”
She has read the book A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE via the Non-Duality Teachings and the Nisarga Yoga
and agrees that some might find the ability to see clearly
via those teachings and that yoga. But she also agrees with the thesis of the book entitled
Instability / Insanity: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot) Address
in which it is made clear that there are many for whom the
Non-Dual Teachings alone will never suffice because they require professional help with
their mind issues, that is, with their distorted thinking; with their identifying
with multiple personalities; with addressing the personality disorders which identifying
with multiple personalities can bring;
and with the neuroses and / or psychoses which manifest when personality disorders
disintegrate into more serious mental problems.
In the end, it’s all about seeing clearly, about developing
a different perspective, and about transitioning beyond instability and insanity
and settling into a state marked by stability and sanity and wisdom; however, the
point is made here often that non-duality cannot address all mind issues and
that many might need to consider seeking professional help instead.
As for "seeing clearly," much has been said over the last five thousand years.
In certain Eastern teachings, there has been talk about
using “the third eye,” deemed by some to be that which can see “the Noumenal
beyond the phenomenal.” Yet it is irrelevant that one can see “things Noumenal”
clearly if one cannot first see “phenomenal things” clearly. (Again, the deal
is about seeing reality as well as Reality, about seeing not only THAT clearly but
also seeing the Am-ness clearly. That is why the summative statement is "I AM THAT; I
AM” and not just “I AM THAT, period.")
On a “Wise Sayings from my Grandfather” site, this is shared:
"When I was obviously
misperceiving something, not 'seeing’ things the way they really were, my granddad would
say, 'Looks like somebody might need a new pair of glasses, boy'.”
Others speak of “being blind” (to truth and reality /
Reality) vs. “being awake” (to truth and reality / Reality).
Some speak of those with “eyes wide open” (seeing clearly) vs.
those with “eyes wide shut” (not seeing clearly but thinking they do).
And others have offered these pointers:
Nixon Kazantzakis: “Since we cannot change reality, let us
change the eyes which see reality”
and
“The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes
on all darkness.”
Bob Marley said: “Open your eyes . . . look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?”
Leonardo da Vinci said: “Blinding ignorance does mislead us. Open your eyes!”
Mark Twain said: “You can’t depend on your eyes when your
imagination is out of focus.”
What drives persons subconsciously is the accumulation of
beliefs stored in their minds, and all of those beliefs have been handed down
and can be traced back to persons who just imagined them - just dreamed them up - in the first place.
In that regard, Maharaj said:
“Before the world was, consciousness was. In consciousness
it comes into being, in consciousness it lasts and into pure consciousness it
dissolves. At the root of everything is the feeling ‘I am’. The state of mind 'there
is a world' is secondary, for to be, I do not need the world . . . the world needs
me”
and
“Who was born first . . . you, or the world? As long as you give
first place to the world, you are bound by it; once you realize, beyond all
trace of doubt, that the world is in you and not you in the world, you are out
of it. Of course your body remains in the world and of the world, but you are
not deluded by it.” That is, the world is in you . . . in your mind. See? There is reality, but the perception of what is supposedly real (but is not at all the way that it is being viewed) is all in the mind, and if the mind is determining
what one thinks he or she sees, then what is supposedly being seen will actually be a misperception.
Always, though, when Maharaj invites persons to be rid of
the mind, many reject the possibility. “How can one possibility function
without a mind?” Well, actually, humanity did just that for millions of years before the
brain evolved from a one-cup size organ to a three-and-one-half-cup size organ.
And even when the “mind part” of the brain began storing and retrieving information, it was information
which led to the survival of the species by allowing persons to avoid self-destructive
and self-defeating actions. Today, the reverse is the case: the mind causes self-destructive and self-defeating
behavior. That which was formerly an asset has become humankind’s major liability. Thus,
Maharaj said of no-mind functioning which merely happens spontaneously:
Maharaj: “I don't get flustered. I just do the needful. I do
not worry about the future. A right response to every situation is in my
nature. I do not stop to think what to do. I act and move on. Results do not
affect me. I do not even care whether they are ‘good’ or ‘bad’”
and
“Words . . . come from the mind and hold you there. To go
beyond the mind, you must be silent and quiet. Peace and silence; silence and
peace – this is the way beyond”
and
"There's no such thing as peace of mind."
Therefore, the way beyond completely is to purge the mind of all of the beliefs stored therein. Then, you also shall be mindless . . . and thus free . . . and thus at peace.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
[NOTE:
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