Today's Considerations
This was offered yesterday:
If the hidden, subconscious agendas of the nine basic
personality types are not cleared away, they will control what manner of
seeking that seekers become attracted to and attached to, and including methods
of teaching that will never end if realization and freedom; including this or
that type of yoga which will never result in realization and freedom.
Below are the nine basic personality types which show up
early on in every human nowadays and which you were invited yesterday to
review in order to estimate the degree to which each is showing up in you.
Note the irony: each
of those nine, basic personality types can determine and control the course of one’s
seeking, right down to which method one becomes attracted to and which yoga one
might follow and which path one takes (or which path one will never even
consider taking, including the one offered here) - all because of the influence of personality - even as a key rationale
for the “journey” being controlled by personality is . . . to be free of being controlled by personality!
So consider how personality controls the seeking to be free of personality:
The Type One, The Perfectionist, judges self and others,
criticizes, condemns, and wants to reform “the world,” so Type Ones are similar to
Type Fives in that both can be “Know-It-All’s.” The difference? Ones have more contact with
people in order to try to reform them whereas Fives can spend far more time alone,
accumulating knowledge. Ones try to apply their accumulated knowledge; Fives
only venture out on occasion to show off their knowledge.
The Type Two, The Helper / Savior, is driven to give and
give and give to others in order to help them so that they will love you (an
effort driven by the subconscious belief that not enough love was received
during childhood, often from a father who was absent as a result of death or
divorce or who was physically present but otherwise unavailable). As a result, Twos
(as well as some Fours and some Sevens who are like Twos), are more prone to be
emotionally-intoxicated and histrionic and more prone to dazzling listeners
with flowery, emotion-generating words; thus, they will be attracted to teachers and paths
which model such talk and which give an audience to such types who have mastered the talk. If these types have an attraction to “things Eastern,”
they will often gravitate to Neo-Vedanta or similar styles of teaching such as those used by “Swami” Vivekananda
and his followers. Some critics consider his method a “watered down” version
of Traditional Advaita, a result of the fact that Vivekananda and his followers
have tried to make the teachings more suitable to Western tastes where concepts
and ego-states have dominated persons for millennia. Neo-Vedanta teachers
typically employ seemingly sublime or exalted or emotion-inspiring statements
that encourage followers to adopt more concepts and identities instead of
encouraging seekers to forfeit all concepts and identities. Some examples
include such advise as: dream on an idea and be full of it and you’ll succeed;
believe in yourself; make yourself strong; find god and gain power; use
thoughts to create a new reality; engage in the noble goal of seeking
knowledge; you are responsible for what you are; acquire power; and seek love.
Such concepts are, of course, in direct opposition to the teachings presented
via the Direct Path / Nisarga Yoga combination approach.
The Type Three, The Achiever / Performer, is concerned with
form over substance and seeks applause and admiration, so Type Three seekers will be
attracted to methods or means which involve talking and sharing and speaking
(and, for some, praying in public, etc.) in order to provide them opportunities
to show off what they take to be their high level of religiosity or
spirituality. If they have a guru to whom they are devoted, that guru will have
to be a famous one, will have to be a big shot, if they are going to link themselves
to that guru.
The Type Four Romantic or Escapist or Rebel Against Authority or
Seeker of Authenticity is going to seek a method which is totally different
from all other methods (such as Maharaj’s Direct Method / Nisarga Yoga
combination). The opinions of anyone deemed to be “an authority” or a “Big Name
Teacher” are ignored (Maharaj warning his visitors to "stay away from the Big
Name Teachers entirely"). Any “popular” messages are seen by Fours to be popular
for one reason only: they appeal to the masses, and since the masses are suffering from
the learned ignorance and insanity of the Ultimate Sickness, then their
endorsement of a teacher is going to be the last thing a Four would pay any
attention to at all. [Fours who are still lost in their desire to escape can be attracted
to emotionally-intoxicating messages such as those offered by some
Neo-Vedantins. A stressed or psychically unhealthy Four will assume the traits of a Type Two, so review "Type Two" above to see how emotionalism and escapism can drive a Four if he or she disintegrates to the Two.]
The Type Five - The Jnani, the Seeker of Knowledge, The
One Who Would Show Off His or Her Knowledge or Intelligence - will, of course, be
driven by her or his personality to choose a method of seeking which will encourage learning
and knowing (and reading every book ever written by what Maharaj called “Big
Name Teachers”) because Fives are subconsciously driven by personality to be “Know-It-All’s.”
The Type Six Loyalist is fear-based and dependent and will play the loyal role in order to be taken care of. Sixes are dedicated to
authority because they want an authority that they can depend on to care for
them; thus, Type Six seekers will be susceptible to overvaluing so-called "authorities"
and supposedly "holy" texts as well as what they deem to be "both earthly authorities and a heavenly Authority or Power"). Among Advaitins, they are more likely to be drawn to
the Traditional Teaching Method and are far more likely to attach to a guru, especially
a popular one and a "rich, successful" one.
The Type Seven, The Seeker of Escape, wants to play
and to avoid responsibility. Sevens are big into escapism and avoidance, so
Sevens who are lost in their desire to escape can be attracted to emotionally-intoxicating
messages such as those offered by some Neo-Vedantins. (See “Type Two” above.)
The Type Eight, “The Boss” or “The Control Freak,” will seek
in venues which promise to give them Power (or continuous access to a Power) which can be tapped into in order to advance an Eight's relative agendas. If Eights happen to seek via the
non-dual approach, they will often gravitate toward the Neo-Advaita Teaching Method because
Eights are all about “getting to the bottom line,” about “telling them what you
have to tell them and then get the heck out” and about “not wasting their time.” Methods of
seeking which require time and energy will not do for them, so they often prefer the
Neo-Advaitin approach of “There’s nothing to seek and nothing to know, so quit messing
around and forget the whole damn thing and move on.”
Type Nines are passive-aggressive avoiders of anything and everything
that might challenge their inner desire for peace. (They are not about "spreading peace" - clear to anyone who has ever dealt with a Nine - but are instead concerned only with their own peace.) They can be especially attracted
to teaching methods and seeking paths which reinforce their tendency to dissociate by endorsing
practices which are intended to separate them from “this realm”; which offer
temporary respites (such as going into and coming out of samadhi); or humming;
or chanting; or repeating a mantra; or attending classes which teach them how
to be at total peace and free of all of the relative chaos that is often a part
of the Am-ness experience.
Maharaj’s early religious / non-dual combination pointers
and his "mid-career" spiritual / non-dual combination pointers attracted persons of all nine
types, something being offered via those approaches for anyone and everyone involved with seeking.
Later, after he began focusing less on messages which
generated emotional-intoxication and began sharing pointers which invited
seekers to be free of all emotional intoxication, his popularity began to lag and more critics came forth. Why?
His
later message was steeped in the style of a “Realized Four” that was free of
any and all attachment to texts and authorities and the teachings of the famous
as well as free of any and all attachment to methods which generate
emotionalism and excessive hysteria and histrionics and which provide an opportunity to show off one’s “religious
or spiritual development” and free of any and all attachment to anything which
does not lead to a Nisargan (natural) mode of functioning.
Indeed, what an irony that so many who claim to be seeking freedom from personality identification are actually being driven all day long by one or more personality types which are controlling the very means and methods of their seeking - seeking which is supposedly being undertaken in order to free them from the subconscious influence of personality.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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