Today's Considerations
The message offered here is rooted in the understanding of a
functioning-of-the-totality-revealing vision which came in the late 1990’s which
also showed that “realization” does not involve anything that is lofty and
soaring and grand and exalted and noble.
The vision provided an entire series of revelations, all emanating
from the inner resource or the inner guru and all sweeping in like a monsoon,
which (1) blew away the remaining blockages in the mind and (2) allowed the Pure
Witnessing to become conscious of awareness and (3) thus being finally being
aware of all involved with the no-beginning / no-end cyclings which have gone
on forever and which are going on right now and which will go on forever.
So, for the next few days, some of the realizations which
came via that vision will be shared (without any suggestion that these
realizations are the only “right and proper non-dual realizations”).
[If you are interested, you can go to the top of this page
and click “FREEBIES” and download a free copy of “The Vision” with color
illustrations and then the rest of the pointers to follow will make more
sense.]
Additional revelations came via the
vision:
Continued study of the messages available via the vision showed
a distinction between "ego," "ego-states," and
egotism.
The word "ego comes from Latin and means “I.” Specifically, it is the pronoun used by those who believe any false identity to be real.
The wise see that the concept of ego becomes the source of perceived separation and the source of fighting to preserve image.
An ego-state is that “state” in which a persona "exists," taking itself and false assigned or assumed roles to be true identities. An ego-state is always identified by placing a word after "I am" (such as, "I am a spouse"; "I am a lover"; "I am an employee," "I am a teacher," "I am spiritual," "I am religious," "I am an alcoholic," etc.)
Egotism is one of the many ego-defense mechanisms used to defend an assumed ego (or false self).
When an identity is assumed, that is, when an ego is taken to be a real identity by a person, that person will enter into an ego-state; when functioning from within an ego-state, egotism triggers and defends the false identity.
Soon, with egotism at play, the ego - the false assigned or assumed identity - self-promotes itself to a "Super "role.
In that process of egotism upgrading self, it automatically downgrades "others," so while the ego-state of "The Wife" only needs the codependent, counterpart player of "The Husband" for her to supposedly "exist," after being upgraded to "The Super Wife," she must have "A Super Husband" to fulfill the illusion of her upgraded role. The same happens when "The Husband" engages in a self-upgrading that is followed by a downgrading of his spouse. Any wonder that the divorce rate is so high when duality and role-assumption and upgrading and downgrading are at play? Any wonder that there is such widespread sense of separation and fighting and chaos on the planet when duality and role-assumption and upgrading and downgrading are at play?
The vision showed that a body with a mind that formed within a part of a brain is the prerequisite for assuming false identities or for accepting assigned false identities as real.
It showed that the absorption in the "mind stage" allows for the assumption of "bad" roles and "good" roles.
It showed that it is at the third step, when religious and spiritual roles are assumed and played, that the entire seven-step "journey" to Full Realization usually comes to a halt and is never completed.
It showed that - if seekers are willing to see that there is far more to the "journey" than replacing old "bad" roles with new "good" roles - then they have a chance to move on along the "path," complete all seven of the steps, and see that all of the nonsense they had been taught is wiped out completely when an understanding of the functioning of the totality comes.
The word "ego comes from Latin and means “I.” Specifically, it is the pronoun used by those who believe any false identity to be real.
The wise see that the concept of ego becomes the source of perceived separation and the source of fighting to preserve image.
An ego-state is that “state” in which a persona "exists," taking itself and false assigned or assumed roles to be true identities. An ego-state is always identified by placing a word after "I am" (such as, "I am a spouse"; "I am a lover"; "I am an employee," "I am a teacher," "I am spiritual," "I am religious," "I am an alcoholic," etc.)
Egotism is one of the many ego-defense mechanisms used to defend an assumed ego (or false self).
When an identity is assumed, that is, when an ego is taken to be a real identity by a person, that person will enter into an ego-state; when functioning from within an ego-state, egotism triggers and defends the false identity.
Soon, with egotism at play, the ego - the false assigned or assumed identity - self-promotes itself to a "Super "role.
In that process of egotism upgrading self, it automatically downgrades "others," so while the ego-state of "The Wife" only needs the codependent, counterpart player of "The Husband" for her to supposedly "exist," after being upgraded to "The Super Wife," she must have "A Super Husband" to fulfill the illusion of her upgraded role. The same happens when "The Husband" engages in a self-upgrading that is followed by a downgrading of his spouse. Any wonder that the divorce rate is so high when duality and role-assumption and upgrading and downgrading are at play? Any wonder that there is such widespread sense of separation and fighting and chaos on the planet when duality and role-assumption and upgrading and downgrading are at play?
The vision showed that a body with a mind that formed within a part of a brain is the prerequisite for assuming false identities or for accepting assigned false identities as real.
It showed that the absorption in the "mind stage" allows for the assumption of "bad" roles and "good" roles.
It showed that it is at the third step, when religious and spiritual roles are assumed and played, that the entire seven-step "journey" to Full Realization usually comes to a halt and is never completed.
It showed that - if seekers are willing to see that there is far more to the "journey" than replacing old "bad" roles with new "good" roles - then they have a chance to move on along the "path," complete all seven of the steps, and see that all of the nonsense they had been taught is wiped out completely when an understanding of the functioning of the totality comes.
[And of course the content of vision can give clarity to the
roots of the chaos happening all around the globe and to what happened last
week in Beirut and Paris. What was seen via the vision led to the understanding
of why Maharaj shifted away from a dogma / non-duality compound version of the
Ultimate Medicine and away from a spirituality / non-duality compound version
of the Ultimate Medicine and began offering a psychology-based version of the
Ultimate Medicine.
Specifically, he saw that - of all of the ego-states which thrive
during the body and mind and personality identification stages and which inspire
self-elevation of each role to “Super” status - none generate more emotional intoxication (and,
therefore, a sense of separation and different-from-ment and better-than-ment
and chaos and misery and suffering) than the “good roles” played at the third
of seven steps.
While most will never seek to be freed from the ignorance
and arrogance and insanity which come with the assumption of those false
identities, the few who do seek will usually fixate at the third step where
good roles such as “The Super Religious One,” “The Spiritual Giant,” and “The
Super Seeker” are assumed and then played for the remainder of the manifestation.
Consider the roots of the conflict in the Middle East, an ancient regional conflict which has now become a modern-day global conflict. It was in 1926 when my father at the age of
ten had been introduced in school to the history of the conflict in the Middle East which had
been on-going for thousands of years. He had also been taught that year about the
repercussions of the downfall of the Ottoman Empire and the fact that Western
nations were dividing up the spoils of war and injecting themselves into the
Middle East with a desire to control the land and the people and the resources
there.
When he came home from school one day and asked my
grandfather about what was happening there and if it would cause trouble for the United States, my grandfather told him that, indeed, the multi-thousand-year conflict
in that region was likely to expand beyond the Mideast borders because Westerners
were beginning to exert greater influence in that region. (That from an East
Texas dirt farmer who had not a single day of formal education at all and who ignored the scorn of his prejudiced white neighbors and married the Cherokee woman he loved. Hummm. With no formal education at all, but with considerable wisdom instead, he knew better than to try engage in nation-building and to try to control others and plunder their resources.)
Dad was told in school that a 1920 treaty confirmed French
and British possession of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq. Of
course, the earlier armistice of 1918 may have temporarily ended the fighting
between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies, but it did not bring stability or
peace to the region. And nothing else in the nearly-one-hundred-year interim has
either. There are too many egos at stake and too many dualistic beliefs in place
(which lead to a false sense of separation and different-from-ment and
better-than-ment) for anything other than chaos and misery and suffering to
follow.
My father told me that my grandfather had counseled him: “Don’t
become caught up in political drama or religious drama, and don’t talk politics
or religion if you want to maintain the peace.” Why does that advice still
prevail today among so many? Because no roles will generate more emotional intoxication and exasperation
and anger and antagonism and fury than the emotional intoxication and exasperation
and anger and antagonism and fury which come when one person feels challenged
or interfered with or threatened by a different political or religious belief
which is held by another person.
While the tendency might be to over-simplify the complex roots
of the latest global conflict by saying, “It's all about one religion or sect
fighting against other religions or sects,” something must precede those religious components,
namely, misery and suffering. Yes, it is clear evidence of the insanity of religious
fervor for fanatics to be willing to “die for the cause” as long as they're able to kill as
many of those “others” as possible, yet misery and suffering must first be in
place for a fanatic to gladly strap on a suicide vest when asked to do so. After
misery and suffering are in place, only then can radical, insane acts follow,
all driven by the emotional intoxication and ignorance and insanity which ego-states
generate.
Ego and egotism are at the root of all ignorance and insanity.
Misery and suffering are the precursors of ego-and-egotism-and-ignorance-and-insanity-inspired
acts of hatred.
As noted yesterday, Maharaj said that it is the work of the
teacher of non-duality to eliminate misery and suffering. He also noted at the
end of his teaching days that it is the work of the non-dual teacher to eliminate
the minds which are the seat of ego-assumption, egotism, misery, suffering, ignorance,
insanity, hatred, chaos and war.]
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.]
