Today's Considerations
The following definitions are submitted for your consideration:
Perspective: "In art, the drawing of solid objects on a
two-dimensional surface so as (a) to present them in a three-dimensional manner in order to reveal all
of the aspects of what is being viewed in order to provide an accurate depiction of what those objects are really like; and, (b)
to provide an accurate impression of their height, width, depth, and position
in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point."
[For those that understand the actual reason that some “realized teachers” offer pointers, they also understand they the definition above explains not only the work of a competent artist but also the work of a “competent non-dual
teacher.”]
A proper perspective: "A clear and accurate view."
A proper perspective: "An accurate attitude toward something"; or, "an accurate way of regarding something."
A proper perspective: "A precise and correct and truthful
view or perception."
A proper perspective: "Witnessing and observing clearly and precisely
and accurately."
[In non-duality: the “True Self” points not to “A Pure (or
Accurately-Seeing) Witness” but to “Pure, Accurate Witnessing,” period.]
One’s “perspective” refers to "the way that one sees
something and the way that one perceives it"; however, perspective
comes in two varieties: (1) a clear perspective, seeing things as they are; or, (2)
a distorted perspective, which involves seeing things not as they are but misperceiving the
way they are.
[Consider: Billions of humans are now perceiving the killing of 129 people in Paris as "France's worst case of murder since World War II" and they are allowing that event to cast them into the depths of emotional intoxication and fear. As ignorant and insane as that act was, over 700 people are killed in France . . . every year. Killing 129 people at once is perceived to justify making that one of the major news events of 2015. The coverage of the killing of 700 in that country every year? Not so much. Perspective?
In the U.S., 2,977 people were murdered on 9 / 11. That was - and remains - the most-covered news event in U.S. history. Yet in the U.S., nearly 14,000 people are murdered . . . every year. The coverage of the killing of 14,000 in the U.S. every year? Not so much. Perspective?
In the U.S. 480,000 people die annually from smoking tobacco, even as members of Congress over the years have taken billions of dollars from tobacco company lobbyists to look the other way and refuse to take action to address that killer. The coverage of tobacco killing 480,000 in the U.S. every year? not so much. Perspective?
And now, in November of 2015, the citizens are in a panic and the politicians are riding that wave of emotional intoxication and are promoting hysteria and are tapping into the fears of the electorate for those politicians' own self-serving interests. Meanwhile, the persons focusing on their fear of being killed this year by terrorists are ignoring the fact that - if they are killed in the U.S. this year - the chances are practically nil that they will be killed by some unknown person - some "foreign terrorist" - but will be killed by a relative or a friend or a neighbor. The coverage of that fact? Not so much. Perspective?
If one were to have a clear perspective as a result of focusing on facts rather than imaginings, then they would not sleep with one eye open looking to the southern border for infiltrators but would keep one eye open focusing on the person that they are sleeping with each night. That's the statistical fact, with 59% of all women killed in the U.S. annually being killed by a "Lover" or "Spouse." (The women are catching up though: 41% of all men killed annually are now being killed by a "Lover" or "Spouse.") As for coverage of the fact that one is far more likely to be murdered by "a friend" rather than "an enemy"? Not so much. Perspective? Trapped in a hypervigilant lookout for terrorists while actually "sleeping with the enemy" instead? A clear perspective, or not?
Meanwhile, the alternate suggestion here is this: Lock your doors, turn off the lights at night, and then consider sleeping soundly with both eyes closed rather than with one eye open looking for dangerous persons. Perspective.
When my daughter raised the issue with me last Friday after the attacks in Paris, I suggested that "everyone should stop looking over a shoulder for a terrorist who might be following them and, instead, look up and watch out for an elephant falling out of the 20th story of a building and crushing them, the latter being far more likely a possibility." Perspective. Yes, I shared that she and I both understand the unicity and therefore care, but caring and empathizing can happen without triggering a 24 / 7 state of fear and reaction and over-reaction. Calm the hell down, that is, put things in a clear and proper perspective.]
Faulty perspective: "Seeing the real and thinking it is false, or seeing the false
and thinking it is real; seeing or hearing truth but thinking it is false, or
seeing and hearing the false but believing that it is true." That is, perceiving a rope to be a harmful snake while perceiving a snake to be a harmless rope.
In other words, clear perceptions are the freedom-providing province of the wise while distorted perceptions govern every waking moment (and, often, every sleeping moment as well) for those trapped in ignorance and fear-generating distortion, assuring that those driven by ignorance and insanity shall be imprisoned in the nightmarish existence which comes with attachment to all of the nonsense which has been stored away in their minds.
In other words, clear perceptions are the freedom-providing province of the wise while distorted perceptions govern every waking moment (and, often, every sleeping moment as well) for those trapped in ignorance and fear-generating distortion, assuring that those driven by ignorance and insanity shall be imprisoned in the nightmarish existence which comes with attachment to all of the nonsense which has been stored away in their minds.
The wise realize at some point that everything which they
were taught by way of programming and conditioning and domestication and
acculturation and brainwashing and indoctrination is completely ignorant and / or insane; thus,
Maharaj said, "Realisation is but the opposite of ignorance.”
Seeing things in a distorted fashion, while believing one’s
view is not distorted at all, is the epitome of ignorance.
Clear perspective involves the ability to see things exactly as
they truly are rather than seeing everything in a distorted fashion.
Clear perspective is seeing things without distortion and
with proper perception and putting all in a proper perspective.
Why did Maharaj discuss distortion and misperceiving and misperceptions
and unclear perspectives in such detail, all of those rooted in - and emanating from -
the mind? Why in the end did he stop offering dogma-based pointers about “God”
(which he said is just another concept that people made up to get what they
want or to avoid what they fear)? Why did he eventually start telling people
to “give up spirituality” and to “simply abide naturally”? Because he came to
see that the problems of humanity are rooted in the mind and that the mind is the root of all misperceiving and distortion.
Why do those who have been programmed and conditioned and domesticated
and acculturated and brainwashed and indoctrinated need so desperately to be
rid of the mind, that is, need to discard all of the content of the mind which is made
up of false ideas and bogus concepts and distorted notions and misperceptions (all of which can be summarized with the term “one’s beliefs” which is also a misperception
since there is no such thing as “your beliefs" because there are only “their” beliefs
which have been adopted as one’s own without any questioning or study or
objective consideration at all")? Why discard all of the content of the mind? Because the wise understand that the problems of humans are rooted in
the mind.
John Milton said that "The mind . . . in itself can
make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven"
and
the poet Richard Lovelace said that “Stone walls do not a
prison make, nor iron bars a cage” and that prisons and cages are made by the mind
(with each belief being one of the bars of each person’s “personal jail and
hell”)
and, again,
Maharaj said: "Realisation is but the opposite of
ignorance.” That is exactly how he defined what so many are seeking without
knowing what should actually be sought: "Realisation is but the
opposite of ignorance.” The converse is, “Realisation is
freedom from ignorance.”
What he did not say in his later teachings is that
realisation is but the opposite of not being religious enough;
what he did not say in the end is that realisation is but
the opposite of not being spiritual enough;
what he did not say in the end is that realisation is but
the opposite of not being intelligent and knowledgeable enough;
and
and
what he did not say in the end is that realisation is but
the opposite of not seeing yourself as something “Supreme” or as “God.”
Moreover, all along, he dropped clues about what the eventual
focus of his teaching would be when he addressed the mind-rooted problems of humankind regarding
distortion and misperceiving and bogus perceptions and beliefs.
Maharaj explained the problem of humanity this way: “You
give reality to concepts, while concepts are distortions of reality.”
He suggested that seekers: “Learn to look without
imagination . . . to listen without distortion. That is all.”
He noted: “You omit the element of pure cognition, of
awareness free from all personal distortions”
and he said that
“All self-concern [concern with false self identities] is a
symptom of mental distortion which disappears as soon as one is in the normal
state.”
He recommended that the solution is this: “Concern yourself
with your mind. Remove its distortions and impurities.”
Next, consider the implications of this exchange:
Questioner: “Surely, perception is not imagination!”
Maharaj: “What else? Perception is recognition, is it not?
Something entirely unfamiliar can be sensed but cannot be perceived. Perception involves memory.”
Q: “Granted, but memory does not make it illusion.”
M: “Perception, imagination, expectation, anticipation,
illusion - all are based on memory. There are hardly any border lines between them. They just merge into
each other. All are responses of memory.”
His invitation: “Realise that every mode of perception is subjective,
that what is seen or heard, touched or smelt, felt or thought, expected or
imagined, is in the mind and not in reality, and you will experience peace and
freedom from fear.” Perspective. And a very different perspective at that.
Thus, in the end, the focus of Maharaj’s message was on the
psychological roots of the Ultimate Sickness, so he taught that (1) realization
can provide a means by which freedom can come and that (2) freedom comes only
after having been freed from the concepts, ideas, notions, perceptions, etc.
(a.k.a., “beliefs”) which are stored in the mind.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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