Today's Considerations
Today, another excerpt from the book A Different Perspective:
Another perspective which differs from that held by the
masses will manifest if the non-duality teachings are understood and then combined with an understanding of
what Nisarga Yoga offers:
One will feel, but one will not emote.
While many might assume that there is no difference between feeling and emoting, the two have nothing in common in terms of the Advaita understanding. Here, the differences in emoting vs. feeling and in emotions vs. feelings are explained this way:
"to feel" = to perceive; the quality of, or an impression from, something perceived through feeling; an instinctive aptitude.
"to emote" = to express emotion, especially in an excessive or theatrical manner; to display exaggerated emotion, as in acting; to behave theatrically; to give expression or emotion to, as in a stage or movie role; to behave in a histrionic manner; to be driven by the hidden agendas of ego-states / personas and, therefore, to fail to be in charge of one's thoughts and words and actions; to behave unreasonably or illogically or irrationally or even insanely.
There are several reasons for the differentiation here between feelings and emotions.
The Realized feel but do not emote because that is the way it is when Reality has been overlaid on the relative, when abidance is happening as the original nature rather than as the ever-in-motion consciousness, and when an understanding of the Oneness leads to feeling Real Love. Another different perspective is this:
The non-Realized emote but do not feel.
To feel requires an understanding of the Oneness, which the non-Realized do not understand; thus, the non-Realized emote and become emotionally-intoxicated, but whatever they seem to be "feeling" is really nothing more than a displaying of the extreme sensitivity that results when an ego-state takes itself, and its agendas, to be real. Note: An ego-state is that “state” in which a persona seemingly exists, where persons take false roles to be a real 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,” etc.)
One will feel, but one will not emote.
While many might assume that there is no difference between feeling and emoting, the two have nothing in common in terms of the Advaita understanding. Here, the differences in emoting vs. feeling and in emotions vs. feelings are explained this way:
"to feel" = to perceive; the quality of, or an impression from, something perceived through feeling; an instinctive aptitude.
"to emote" = to express emotion, especially in an excessive or theatrical manner; to display exaggerated emotion, as in acting; to behave theatrically; to give expression or emotion to, as in a stage or movie role; to behave in a histrionic manner; to be driven by the hidden agendas of ego-states / personas and, therefore, to fail to be in charge of one's thoughts and words and actions; to behave unreasonably or illogically or irrationally or even insanely.
There are several reasons for the differentiation here between feelings and emotions.
The Realized feel but do not emote because that is the way it is when Reality has been overlaid on the relative, when abidance is happening as the original nature rather than as the ever-in-motion consciousness, and when an understanding of the Oneness leads to feeling Real Love. Another different perspective is this:
The non-Realized emote but do not feel.
To feel requires an understanding of the Oneness, which the non-Realized do not understand; thus, the non-Realized emote and become emotionally-intoxicated, but whatever they seem to be "feeling" is really nothing more than a displaying of the extreme sensitivity that results when an ego-state takes itself, and its agendas, to be real. Note: An ego-state is that “state” in which a persona seemingly exists, where persons take false roles to be a real 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,” etc.)
[Understand the difference in "ego" and "egotism":
In order for emotional intoxication to happen, there must first be the assumption of an ego. "Ego" in Latin = "I" (non-duality's false "I"), and "I" is a pronoun used to point to any false self, any false "I," as used by those who believe false identities to be real. The terms "ego" and "persona" can be used interchangeably, but the terms "ego" and "egotism" are not interchangeable. As noted, "ego" refers to the false "I"; egotism, on the other hand, is one of many ego-defense mechanisms used to defend an assumed ego (or false self); other defense-mechanisms include projection, rejection of others, justification, victimization, blame, rationalization, grandiosity, excessiveness, and many more. ]
A person / persona being driven by one or more of its false identities will spend almost every waking hour emoting, that is, in a state of hypersensitivity and hypertension, forever anticipating interference, hurts, attacks, assaults, or threats against the false roles that they take to be real. The connection between (1) the assumption of personas / false identities and (2) warped perspectives should be clear.
Such persons will forever
be engaged in one struggle after another in their efforts to uphold the false images that they are projecting and
wanting others to accept as authentic. The "corrupted" or blocked
consciousness - when in that incapacitated state - functions erroneously as the
supposed knower of concepts, thinker of thoughts, accepter of lies as truth,
emoter of emotions, experiencer of pain and suffering, accepter of ideas rooted
in myths, and the believer of false beliefs.
Also, the non-Realized, being emotionally-intoxicated, are driven to act . . . and to act in what is often an extreme manner. When an ego-state thinks it has been offended or is being interfered with, then it will act. Only an ego-state can drive a person to be emotional and to succumb to fluctuations between happiness vs. depression or anger or fear or rage. For the most part, only witnessing happens among the Realized. When actions happen - as they will throughout the waking hours - they will always happen spontaneously but they will never be undertaken from a state of emotional intoxication. So, ego-states emote. The Realized feel. That is the distinction, and a major one it is.
Moreover, when persons are programmed, conditioned, etc. to accept roles as identifiers of who they are, they live the rest of their lives as if they are on stage, in the spotlight, and the center of attention. In accepting the lie as truth, they will live in a state of emotional intoxication, their ideas and subsequent behaviors will be histrionic, and they will be plagued by over-acting and over-reacting.
Personas / persons "live" on stage, constantly playing one role after another and taking their roles to be their real identity / identities. Just as an actor can take his part too seriously and internalize the role as an identity, so too can programmed and conditioned persons act out their roles so often and so seriously that they take the drama that they are a part of to be the real. That delusion will always generate even more drama which will mark and mar the relative existence when it is played out on the stage of the "Theater of the Lie."
Also, the non-Realized, being emotionally-intoxicated, are driven to act . . . and to act in what is often an extreme manner. When an ego-state thinks it has been offended or is being interfered with, then it will act. Only an ego-state can drive a person to be emotional and to succumb to fluctuations between happiness vs. depression or anger or fear or rage. For the most part, only witnessing happens among the Realized. When actions happen - as they will throughout the waking hours - they will always happen spontaneously but they will never be undertaken from a state of emotional intoxication. So, ego-states emote. The Realized feel. That is the distinction, and a major one it is.
Moreover, when persons are programmed, conditioned, etc. to accept roles as identifiers of who they are, they live the rest of their lives as if they are on stage, in the spotlight, and the center of attention. In accepting the lie as truth, they will live in a state of emotional intoxication, their ideas and subsequent behaviors will be histrionic, and they will be plagued by over-acting and over-reacting.
Personas / persons "live" on stage, constantly playing one role after another and taking their roles to be their real identity / identities. Just as an actor can take his part too seriously and internalize the role as an identity, so too can programmed and conditioned persons act out their roles so often and so seriously that they take the drama that they are a part of to be the real. That delusion will always generate even more drama which will mark and mar the relative existence when it is played out on the stage of the "Theater of the Lie."
There, persons believe that the
play-acting they are engaged in is not play-acting at all, behaving as if the
roles they are playing actually define who they are and behaving as if the
roles being played by others truly define who they are. It’s all a lie, and lies are distortions which - like cancerous cells - replicate and reproduce themselves and bring about even more sickness (Sickness) and distortion and warped perspectives and delusion and illusion and misperceiving.
So consider a couple of current examples of the results of listening to people speak with a warped perspective; the results of believing people who have a warped perspective; the results of thereafter having a warped perspective; and the results of being emotionally-intoxicated:
I. A candidate running for the Republican nomination for president in the U.S. can claim that many persons entering the country from Mexico are rapists; then, that claim can emotionally-intoxicate his followers as he passes his warped perspective on to them; in that state, those persons will be emotionally-intoxicated and fearful and will be hypervigilante about avoiding the members of one particular race or another while ignoring the fact that 80% of all women who are raped each year are raped by someone of their own race and are raped by someone they know and whom they consider to be a friend or lover or neighbor or co-worker and someone who has always lived in their country, not by someone they do not know who crossed a border to enter into their country. Believe that "the top priority for our safety is to protect our borders" and your attention will be diverted from what you should actually be paying attention to (which is most often already right under your very own roof).
II. And don't get all paranoia about foreigners coming here and molesting children. Now while the odds of a child being molested are considerable in the U.S. (at least three million children here will be molested before they reach the age of thirteen) the odds of their being molested by "a foreign invader" are almost nil. Instead, over 90% of those molested will be molested by someone they know, often a family member, step-parent, relative, or supposed friend living next door.
II. And don't get all paranoia about foreigners coming here and molesting children. Now while the odds of a child being molested are considerable in the U.S. (at least three million children here will be molested before they reach the age of thirteen) the odds of their being molested by "a foreign invader" are almost nil. Instead, over 90% of those molested will be molested by someone they know, often a family member, step-parent, relative, or supposed friend living next door.
III. Again, as noted previously, the presidential candidate and others can tap into the fears of their followers by pontificating about the high probability of the citizenry being killed by foreign terrorists or can even claim that "we're all going to be killed unless you elect me to protect you." That focus - rooted in a bogus, warped perspective - will lead persons to ignore the fact that 78% of all people killed in the U.S. annually are killed by someone they know, not by someone they do not know. It will lead them to remain blind to the fact that, of the remaining 22% killed annually, 99.9%+ of them are killed by fellow citizens, not by "dangerous foreigners."
Fears regarding "those people out there" or "over there" are almost always unwarranted; any actual potential (relative) dangers almost always involve those who are most trusted and least feared and nearest at hand. It takes an amazingly-warped perspective and amazing levels of ignorance of the facts and the truth to think otherwise.
Fears regarding "those people out there" or "over there" are almost always unwarranted; any actual potential (relative) dangers almost always involve those who are most trusted and least feared and nearest at hand. It takes an amazingly-warped perspective and amazing levels of ignorance of the facts and the truth to think otherwise.
Another distinction between emoting vs. feeling is this: the Realized can feel without attachment and without ever triggering a chain of reactions that result from emotional intoxication. Emoting, on the other hand, is what happens with persons who—living with the belief in their false roles and ego-states—are perpetually intoxicated emotionally and are constantly reacting and over-reacting to what they take to be "personal experiences" or "imagined future events" which are rooted in persona-based fears.
When AS IF living happens - that being the style of living that the Realized exhibit - abidance happens without personal attachments, delusions, warped perspectives, or emotional intoxication. It is the manner in which the Realized "finish out" the manifestation, meeting “responsibilities” and providing for the space while knowing full well that “this world” is nothing more than an imagining in the distorted perceptions of persons. That emotion-free lifestyle (which is not devoid of an ability to feel) is unencumbered with attachment and emotional intoxication and belief in the lies of the culture. It is a lifestyle that is free of game-playing and image-perpetuation.
It is a lifestyle unmarred by the emotions and emotional intoxication experienced by persons. It is a lifestyle during which the Realized can witness feelings rise and fall without any emotional intoxication, without reacting, without over-reacting, and without setting off a chain of reactions (as happens with non-Realized persons). It is a lifestyle that is free of the misery that is generated by the desires and fears of personas.
As a result of assuming false personas as actual identities, the non-Realized will be trapped in emotional intoxication and will suffer a relative existence that will be marked by histrionics and drama. The Advaita teachings can address some of the roots of emotional intoxication.
For the most part, only witnessing
happens among the Realized. When actions happen - as they will throughout the
waking hours - they will always happen spontaneously but they will never be
taken from a state of emotional intoxication.
To summarize: the AS IF existence post-Realization (abiding AS IF any of this is real or important while knowing full well that it is not) can be marked by a full gamut of feelings that are witnessed as they rise and fall; however, only personas - those who are trapped in false identities and ego-states - can experience emotions and the subsequent emotional intoxication which always follows.
Finally, acceptance of The Void, the Oblivion, the Nothingness is not about being “detached.” It is about non-attachment. Detachment does result in the robotic state of having no feelings, which most understandably want to avoid. Non-attachment, though, involves feeling . . . but feeling without attachment to the feeling, without attachment to any circumstances, and without attachment to any false identifications (which leads to emotional intoxication).
The state of non-attachment happens when you reach the fifth of the seven steps on the “journey” to Realization and function as an objective witness to happenings in the relative existence. Another new perspective which comes at that stage in the “re-purification-or-unblocking-of-the-consciousness” process [outlined in the book From the I to the Absolute] is this:
“Anything can be . . . but nothing has to be.”
That’s non-attachment, but non-attachment does not imply that no feelings can ever be felt during the remainder of the manifestation. When one's perspective is rooted in the universal, unblocked consciousness, whatever is perceived is perceived via Pure Witnessing (a.k.a., "the True Self"); then one sees the unicity from a "condition" of complete non-attachment.
It is Realization which results in freedom from emotion-driven-instability if the dualistic roots of emotional reactions are seen; if all beliefs in illusions are discarded; if clear and proper perspectives replace all warped perspectives; and if events inspired by delusions and emotional intoxication are transitioned via the abandonment of false identities.
To summarize: the AS IF existence post-Realization (abiding AS IF any of this is real or important while knowing full well that it is not) can be marked by a full gamut of feelings that are witnessed as they rise and fall; however, only personas - those who are trapped in false identities and ego-states - can experience emotions and the subsequent emotional intoxication which always follows.
Finally, acceptance of The Void, the Oblivion, the Nothingness is not about being “detached.” It is about non-attachment. Detachment does result in the robotic state of having no feelings, which most understandably want to avoid. Non-attachment, though, involves feeling . . . but feeling without attachment to the feeling, without attachment to any circumstances, and without attachment to any false identifications (which leads to emotional intoxication).
The state of non-attachment happens when you reach the fifth of the seven steps on the “journey” to Realization and function as an objective witness to happenings in the relative existence. Another new perspective which comes at that stage in the “re-purification-or-unblocking-of-the-consciousness” process [outlined in the book From the I to the Absolute] is this:
“Anything can be . . . but nothing has to be.”
That’s non-attachment, but non-attachment does not imply that no feelings can ever be felt during the remainder of the manifestation. When one's perspective is rooted in the universal, unblocked consciousness, whatever is perceived is perceived via Pure Witnessing (a.k.a., "the True Self"); then one sees the unicity from a "condition" of complete non-attachment.
It is Realization which results in freedom from emotion-driven-instability if the dualistic roots of emotional reactions are seen; if all beliefs in illusions are discarded; if clear and proper perspectives replace all warped perspectives; and if events inspired by delusions and emotional intoxication are transitioned via the abandonment of false identities.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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