Today's Considerations
To review:
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 pointers 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 abandoned 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.”
Maharaj did the same:
"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which
your mind creates"
and
"All illness begins in the mind"
and
"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."
Most of the 7 billion+ on the planet will never seek to
heal, change, or be rid of the mind and its nonsensical and ignorant and insane content. They love the beliefs
stored therein; they think the beliefs stored therein define them and identity “who they
are”; they will fight for those beliefs; many are willing to die for those beliefs,
and do; many will kill for those beliefs, and do; and many will do all of that
because of the insanity which is rooted in their minds.
How complicated are mind problems and the required treatment nowadays?
For insight into that, begin by understanding that the sages
have long indicated that it’s not just a mind identification issue or a
personality-based issue but that there is also a role that the body plays in generating
and perpetuating mind problems. Consider:
THE BODY – MENTAL PROBLEMS CONNECTION
A therapist by the name of Lachney has used a holistic approach
for several decades after coming to understand "the body-mind connection": She explains
that “many mental and emotional syndromes - such as depression, anxiety and
obsessive compulsive disorder - can be caused by under-functioning organs,
under-functioning glands, and / or nutritional deficiencies.”
She explains that "an 'overwhelm response' to stress or a lack
of motivation can come from deficient adrenal glands”; that “extreme levels of
anxiety or the inability to tell true from false can come from a
nutritionally-deficient or under-functioning hypothalamus gland"; and that "there
are three metabolic body types and that each requires a different food plan for
effective functioning."
(So much for food laws and the belief that there is only one right type
of food and that everyone should eat only that. In fact, there is no “one size fits all” or “one food plan is right for all.”
She notes that different foods have totally different effects on people,
depending on their body’s metabolic type: “alkaline foods like salads and
vegetables could either help you chill out and calm down or move you into a
lethargic, depressed state depending on your body type and acidic foods such as
red meat, chicken and fish could 'rev you up' or send you into a sluggish
lethargic state, again depending on your body type.”)
So she explains that, for persons with one metabolic type, "if they have a head
lettuce lunch, they can become overly-alkaline (which can cause moodiness or
depression)”; that "nightmares may not indicate mental or emotional turmoil but
might indicate a magnesium deficiency or a blood sugar imbalance”; that "deep
levels of depression and an inability to lose weight could be the result of a
low-functioning thyroid gland”;
that "mood swings and a sense of loss of control could be
caused by the erratic rise and fall of blood sugar following the consumption of
sugar or processed carbohydrates”; that "the inability to focus and concentrate,
as well as the loss of energy, could be caused by the same”; that "hormonal
deficiencies in both males and females could be caused by a low-functioning
pituitary gland”;
that "the sympathetic branch of the nervous system can
be malnourished and that would drive a person to go through life with 'their
foot on the accelerator' and without an ability 'to put the brakes on' or to 'rest
and relax'”; that "if the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system is
malnourished, a person will likely go through life 'with the brakes on' and
will have little ability to accelerate or take life on”; and that "an inability to
soothe oneself or 'calm down' can be the result of a deficiency in calcium, and
/ or magnesium which are nature’s tranquilizers, depending on metabolic type.”
Consider how wise the
sages were thousands of years ago when they warned seekers about the three-fold
problem of body and mind and personality.
But most persons will never become aware of - or admit - that they
have a mind problem or have problems rooted in their multiple personality
disorders and in the neuroses and / or psychoses which personality disorders can disintegrate
into; therefore, most will not seek some means by which they can address the “ignorance and insanity”
which Maharaj identified as two key symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness. Of those
few who do seek, consider how ineffective the treatment plans offered in a variety
of venues really are.
Among those few who do realize and admit that they have a
mind problem, some visit a psychologist or a therapist or some “self-help” group
or one of a variety of “support” groups, all of which primarily use talk
therapy.
TALK THERAPY
In December of 2014, a fellow named Ross Szabo offered his
recommendation, writing,
"There's a huge emphasis placed on how we cope with stress,
anxiety, and mental health challenges in our lives. Everyone has a different
way of determining the difference between release and reinforcement. I've tried
a lot of options to cope with my diagnosis of bipolar disorder with anger
control problems and psychotic features."
His recommendation:
"Music, exercise, and . . . talking."
The key recommendation of most “self-help” group or “support” groups also involves . . . talking:
"Go to meetings and talk about your problems" (though the founders of the most
popular of those programs never had talk or discussion meetings. Talk sessions
or discussion meetings were added some 25 years later by a group of for-profit
therapists in California and talking caught on big-time in a program which is top-heavy
with narcissists who love to talk and be heard by a captive audience).
Yet just three days ago, the result of a new
study was released, reporting the researchers’ most recent findings: “The effectiveness
of talk therapy is overstated.”
Talk does not heal, change or eliminate the key source of
humanity’s problems: the mind. It is thoughts in the mind which determine words, and when words are determined by an insane mind, the hearing of those insane words cannot heal an insane mind.
RELIGION / SPIRITUALITY
Both emphasize the use of so-called “holy” books or special writings
and special services or special exercises. In the Far East, they have had 5000
years to bring about freedom and peace, yet it is obvious to any objective observer
that such has never happened consistently. Rather than healing, changing, or eliminating
minds, “holy” books and special writings
and special services and special exercises only reinforce the mind and fill minds with even more nonsensical concepts.
In the Middle East, Judaism has had 4000 years to bring
about freedom and peace, yet it is obvious to any objective observer that such
has not happened. Rather than healing, changing, or eliminating minds, they have only reinforced minds and filled minds with even more dualistic concepts.
And also, starting in the Middle East and then spreading
around the globe, Christianity has had nearly 2000 years to bring about freedom
and peace, yet it is obvious to any objective observer that such has not happened.
Rather than healing, changing, or eliminating minds, they have only reinforced the mind
and filled minds with even more concepts.
After trying both, Maharaj came to understand that neither religion nor
spirituality heal, change or eliminate the key source of humanity’s problems - the mind - and that, to the contrary, they often aggravate mental problems.
NON-DUALITY
Depending on which teaching method or yoga a teacher uses,
some non-dual teachings focus on what they call “spirituality” when it is just religion
cloaked in spirituality. Others focus on the message in certain special texts,
and some even require that seekers learn to read Sanskrit before they will work
with them.
Others focus on a message steeped in 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 teachings include such relative-focused 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.”
Yes, Maharaj did say that “Love is knowing that I am
everything; wisdom is knowing that I am nothing.” While “knowing that one is
nothing” – that is, while abandoning all personal identifications – can alter
thinking and thus behavior, can “Love” or a sense of “Oneness” heal a sick
mind? As delightful as that possibility sounds, what are the odds that the mind of anyone
lost in self and duality and arrogance and ignorance and insanity will be
healed, changed or eliminated by hearing a message about “Love” or a message encouraging persons to develop a sense of “Oneness”?
Recall Dylann Roof (an advocate of white supremacy and in favor of an
all-out race war in the U.S.) who entered a church a few months ago, sat with a group of black worshipers for an
hour, and then pulled out a gun and shot and killed nine of them. Were I allowed to visit
him in jail as he awaits trial, how do you suppose he might react were I to explain,
“You know, Dylann, you were actually at one with them. You are all the same,
skin color notwithstanding. Your infatuation with the Civil-War era 'rebel
flag' as a symbol of separation and different-from-ment and better-than-ment
is based in a reasoning fallacy. We all are one. Know Real Love, Dylann. Love
all, including blacks.”
His Christian preacher said that
Dylann was active in the church and a devout Christian. Exposure to a Christian
message for an hour a week was obviously not able to undo exposure during the other 100+ waking
hours of the week to his culture’s duality-based racism and sense of racial hierarchies
where those with his skin color are deemed to be superior and at the top of the hierarchy while those who have a dark skin
color are deemed to be inferior and at the bottom of the hierarchy.
In spite of messages of “Love” being offered here or there
and all around the globe, those messages have not healed, changed or eliminated the key source of
humanity’s problems: the mind.
The mind is so complex and so convoluted a driver of
thoughts and words and actions that a complex treatment plan is required to
even begin to effect change. No single place or organization or institution or “-ism”
had shown any ability to effect change, the claims of certain members
notwithstanding.
Consider that all on the planet who have assumed any
personality identification will evidence the presence of one or more of these
disorders:
The Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (P.D.), the
Depressive P.D., the Narcissistic P.D., the Histrionic P.D., the Factitious
P.D., the Somatization P.D., the Dependent
/ Co-Dependent P.D., the Avoidant P.D., the Borderline P.D. the Masochistic
P.D., the Sadistic P.D., the Schizoid-Avoidance P.D., the Schizotypal P.D., the
Passive-Aggressive P.D., the Paranoid P.D., the Attachment Disorder P.D., the Addictive
P.D., the Bipolar P.D., the Antisocial / Sociopathic P. D., the Pathological
P.D., the Psychopathic P.D., and the Dissociative P.D., to name but a few.
The problems of the mind are multi-faceted and intricate and
complex and complicated and convoluted and thorny, so the process of being “restored
to sanity” is one which often must also be multi-faceted and intricate and complex
and holistic.
Yet in a few cases, such as happened here, after all kinds
of effort and energy and money spent in searching here and there and dang-near everywhere,
there can come a moment of peripetia which allows one to see that it’s all nonsense,
all insane, all a lie. That was discussed in the
non-duality-based fictional, adventure novel entitled The Board of Directors of Wars.
In The Board of Directors of Wars, the lead character Kirk is talking
with a friend named Brett:
I want that peace,” Brett almost demanded.
Kirk paused again, not to consider the answer for he knew it exactly. He paused to decide if Brett was anywhere near ready to hear. Then, admitting that Brett had asked, Kirk would offer the answer.
“Brett,” you’ve been shown the answer all your life. It was there for you to see in every play, in every movie, in every mystery you’ve ever read.”
Brett’s confusion kept him in the silence, so Kirk went on.
“My man Shakespeare borrowed the dramatic technique from the Greeks,” Kirk began. “Today, it is the basis of all mystery and suspense stories, and it’s also the basis of Realization.”
“I’m lost,” Brett confessed.
“Well, look at every drama you’ve ever seen. The main character, who represents you and me and everyone, runs around like a chicken with his head cut off. He is confused and in the dark. Those who are in a position to sit back and witness the drama objectively can see that he's just an actor on a stage and that none of the drama is real. But for entertainment's sake, he and the witnesses can pretend it's real. Both, in fact, can get so absorbed in the role that they can take it to be the real for a time.
“But even amidst all the drama, a time comes, that moment in the play when even the actor finds out the truth. It is called the peripetia in drama—that moment in the play or the movie when the lead actor finds out that everything he thought to be true is really false; when he sees that he was being misled at every turn; when those he thought he could trust the most and those whom he thought were telling him the truth were also wrong.
“It’s the moment of freedom that comes when one finds out that everything he ever thought or believed or held sacred or thought worth fighting for was a lie. The freedom comes when he gives up all of the concepts he bought into, drops his head in relief and amazement, shakes his head back and forth, wonders for a moment how he had bought into all their crap, smiles at how easily he was duped, watches how all the rest of the play unfolds automatically until its end, and leaves the stage after saying to himself, Well sonofabitch. I'll be damned. And then he laughs. He laughs at it all. And then he's done with it, once and for all.”
See, your moment of peripetia can come without trying to analyze individually and trying to test for validity individually each of the hundreds of thousands of concepts / beliefs stored in your mind. It comes when you are objective enough to look critically at what you have been taught by grandparents and parents and relatives and your culture, then see that if part of what they said was nonsense or an outright lie then the possibility is great that it's all nonsense or an outright lie. Then you, too, can admit:
"Well sonofabitch. It’s all BS. I'll be damned. At that point, you will cast it all aside and you’ll be done with it, once and for all."
If that awareness happens, then some may break free of the bondage of mindfulness and mind-full-ness and can thereafter reach the peaceful state of mindlessness . . . of no-mind-ness . . . of what Maharaj called a mind-free state of "zero concepts."
Some can seek that realization via non-duality and the Nisarga
Yoga. They may find that it comes. Others may need to seek a solution via a holistic
approach. Either way, the invitation here is try focusing for a spell on what
Maharaj eventually realized: that the problem is the mind and that only a
focus-on-the-mind-problems process is going to have any chance of bringing
about freedom and peace.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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