Today's Considerations
Raymond Chandler wrote is his novel entitled The Long
Goodbye that “There is no trap as deadly as the trap you set for yourself.”
That is only partially true. In the beginning, during childhood, the deadly
trap is the trap that was set for you via the programming and conditioning
and acculturation and domestication and indoctrination and brainwashing that was
passed along by those assuming the parental role in your early life. Then, your culture joined them in setting the trap even more.
During
adulthood, if all of the parts of the trap which was set early on are not sought out, seen, understood and rejected, then it can be said that “There is no trap as deadly as the
trap set for you by "them" which you now continue to reset for yourself.”
The trap in which humanity is snared can be pointed to with
the term “The Ultimate Sickness” or it can be pointed to by referencing the symptoms
of that Sickness: ignorance, insanity, delusions, distortions, warped perspectives,
unclear seeing, illusions, misunderstandings, misapprehension, misconceptions, confusion,
bewilderment, emotional intoxication, the tendency
to adhere to unquestioning and unquestioned faith, and the desire to
accumulate.
And what do they lead to? All of the chaos and turmoil and upheaval and instability
and commotion and mayhem and disorder which those always generate. Add to that the tendency
among the masses to mistake mirages and images and fallacies and fantasies and myths
and superstitions and false impressions as reality.
Regarding the entrapment, Maharaj said, “Above all, we want
to remain conscious,” and if not, then “we shall remain trapped.”
He explained how distorted memories and the unfulfilled
desires of false personas also play a role: “The memory of the past unfulfilled
desires traps energy. Our only hope: to
stop, to look, to understand and to get out of the traps of memory." Why? He explained: "Memory
feeds imagination and imagination generates desire and fear.”
Regarding misunderstanding, he said: “Misunderstanding
oneself and the world leads to false ideas and desires, which again lead to bondage.”
As referenced above, illusions also contribute to the entrapment.
Of that, Maharaj said: “Right understanding of oneself is necessary for freedom
from the bondage of illusion.”
As for the ignorance / entrapment link, he said: “The
circles of ignorance may be ever widening, yet [ignorance] remains bondage all the same”
and
“It is the mind that brought you into bondage.”
The irony with humankind, he said, is this: “We are free
‘here and now’”; thus, he said, the actuality is this: “It is only the mind
that imagines bondage.”
His solution: “Watch your mind with great diligence, for
there lies your bondage and also the key to freedom.”
Regarding emotional intoxication, he said: “It is the
emotional link that perpetuates the bondage.” [Why? Because “The Realized” feel
but only ego-states can emote.]
As for those trapped in accumulation: “All possession is bondage.”
Of the entrapment that comes with unquestioned and unquestioning
faith, he said: “Non-investigation is the main cause of bondage.”
More of Maharaj’s pointers regarding the trap tomorrow.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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