TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS
To review: “The source of all relative problems” involves . . .
1. the through-the-roof levels of fanaticism presently manifesting among the masses
and
2. the through-the-roof levels of the Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (O-CD) presently manifesting among the masses
and
3. humankind’s preference for the complex rather than the simple
and, for today’s discussion,
4. humans’ unwillingness to question what they are told by authority figures, both early on and later on.
Question Everything and Everyone
Those that have come here for satsang or for retreats or those that have read the writings here know that an invitation to be free of the effects of programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing and indoctrination is often extended.
To be free of belief in "dualities" and "separation" and "different from" and "better than," one must be free of the effects of programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing and indoctrination.
The full discussion of the effects of those four is book-length, but the key point about those influences in this more abbreviated forum is this:
if you are not freed from the influences of all of those, then you will be driven unconsciously by the effects of what "they" told you and taught you;
moreover, the results of believing what "they" told you and taught you will be misery and suffering and pain.
Therefore, this is the question that seekers are regularly invited to ask regarding "their" tales and teachings:
"Is it possible that everything that you have ever been told or taught or now believe is false?"
If freedom from falsehoods does not come, then one will be burdened by a sense of separation, disunity, disharmony, and "two-ness" (or, more accurately, a belief in some multiplicity vs. the unicity).
The consequence of abiding with a sense of separation, disunity, disharmony, and "two-ness" and multiplicity will be the manifestation of more misery and suffering.
In the past there has been a discussion of certain cultures which have what they see as a "homogenous" population, and history shows what the effects are when cultures adopt a "different from" and separatist belief (whether the cultures are "homogenous" or not).
For example, a nation such as the U.S. which is supposedly a "melting pot" can still buy into the arrogant, separatist message of its manipulative leaders who claim that "this is the greatest nation on earth."
[The most prejudiced are currently fixated on trying to "re-structure" the population - either through exclusion or elimination - to restore the perceived "racial homogeneity" which existed after the native population was largely decimated by Anglo and European invaders.]
[The most prejudiced are currently fixated on trying to "re-structure" the population - either through exclusion or elimination - to restore the perceived "racial homogeneity" which existed after the native population was largely decimated by Anglo and European invaders.]
In the late 1930's and 1940's, another nation in Europe with a population which was convinced that its people were "a Super Race" began a war against those whom they believed were members of an inferior race, and that war resulted in an estimated 85,000,000 people being killed.
That nation of arrogant persons was joined by another nation which also considered itself to be populated by a citizenry that was "one, homogenous race" of people who were different from all others.
The history of humankind - when such dualistic and separatist beliefs generate concepts about being "different from" and "better than" - has always been a history of “non-realized persons” engaged in fighting and conflict and war and killing and genocide, and that is true internationally, nationally, locally, and in "individual relationships."
The non-dual understanding could spread if persons were to understand the implications behind two Eastern (Japanese) terms, specifically, “honne” and “tatemae.” The former term on one level refers to "Real Truth" (Reality / Truth) vs. the latter term which refers to "societal façades."
In the West, and around most of the globe, there are not even any terms to use to point to that increasingly-common duality, so an Eastern source can better advance the cause of understanding duality and its roots and then avoid the curse of dualistic thinking. Thus, this discussion is not really about the Japanese but is about the planet-wide propensity for accepting façades and rejecting “Reality / reality.”
On another level, "honne" can refer to one's "true feelings."
(Note the difference in feelings and emotions: the Realized feel, but they do not emote. Emotional intoxication occurs only when an ego-state takes itself to be real and then thinks that it is being hurt or threatened, as in the illustration offered earlier when it was shown that "The Husband" ego-state can become emotionally-intoxicated and reactionary if its existence seems to be threatened by "The Wife's" report that she is leaving.)
One's true feelings and reality will always be contrary to what is expected by society, so truth and fact will be hidden so often that any chance to be in touch with reality is almost always squashed in every culture around the globe.
Since "tatemae" is what is expected by society and what is typically required to "maintain one's position and circumstances," then "tatemae" will never match "honne."
The conflict between "honne" and one's "social obligations" (which are taught via programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing and indoctrination) has been one of the main topics of Japanese drama throughout the ages.
Often, the protagonist must choose between carrying out his obligations to his family or to his lord (or, now, to his boss or employer) on one hand and pursuing a forbidden love affair on the other hand.
In the end, death would be the only way out of the dilemma. Is that not the case whenever and wherever duality is the rule rather than exception? Is that not the case when a belief in duality blocks the understanding of Real Love which is based in the awareness that "Love is knowing that I am everything"?
Next, the concepts of "honne" and "tatemae" are associated with the concept of "Nihonjinron" (referring to "ideas and theories about the Japanese"). The point of view at the core of "Nihonjinron" is that the culture believes itself to be - as referenced earlier - "homogenous."
As always, that belief will foster the subsequent belief that such a culture is totally different from all other people in all other cultures.
Because ego-states are always upgraded, then the notion of "better than" always follows closely on the heels of the belief in "different from." Again, any chance at understanding the unicity is squashed as a result of such programming, conditioning, etc.
Some Japanese researchers and writers are now offering a differing view for the first time, suggesting that such xenophobic, nationalistic visions are just an illusion. (What a call to “realize,” yes?)
As the case with “realized teachers” throughout history, those researchers and writers are trying to deconstruct the illusions of "different from" and "better than." Again, therefore, it can be seen that the Eastern example discussed above is not about the Japanese at all but is about allowing that microcosm to illustrate the widespread duality in the macrocosm.
Thus, to be free of belief in "dualities" and "separation" and "different from" and "better than," you must be free of the effects of programming, conditioning, domestication, and acculturation; and to be free of the effects of programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing and indoctrination, seekers must question everything that they have ever been told or taught. Here, there is nothing to teach, nothing to learn, and no one to teach or to learn anything. There is, however, much to be un-taught and un-learned. How much?
All of it, until there is not one single belief or idea or concept remaining.
Then only can the Truth be known, the Truth which can be understood completely but which cannot be stated. As the indigenous peoples in the U.S. have long affirmed - along with their ancestors in the East: "Truth is nothing more than the space between exhalation and inhalation."
Because nature abhors a vacuum, when all is questioned and completely rejected, then Truth will rush in to fill what would otherwise be an empty space. Then, the fullness manifests as any previous sense of emptiness ends.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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