Non-Duality Can Be the Ultimate Medicine for the Ultimate Sickness, But It Cannot Be the Ultimate Answer for EVERY Sickness, Part “W”

TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS 

Almost as commonplace as the levels of instability and insanity which are generated by religions and spiritual groups is the instability / insanity which is induced by seeking someone or something to cause you to be happy. Maharaj said that " Pleasure and pain alternate inexorably." Why? Because, he said, "Pleasure and pain are all in the mind"; thus, that is just the way of the relative existence, just the way of the manifested consciousness which is not aware of the stability of the original nature and awareness. 

He said, "That which gives you the pleasure will eventually give you pain, and that which gives you the most pleasure will eventually give you the most pain." Of the transient and transitory nature of pleasure, he said, "By its very nature pleasure is limited and transitory." The same applies to pain. The same can apply to misery and suffering as well if persons were to seek and find the only effective version of the Ultimate Medicine.

To see how much persons are dependent and co-dependent (which are the very essence of duality) and how much they try to rely on "others" to bring them happiness and pleasure and to help them avoid misery and suffering, merely observe how persons react when their perception is that they have "lost" the only one whom they thought would make them happy. 

Fifty-nine percent of all women killed in the U.S. annually are killed by their mate / spouse during a breakup. 

Others commit suicide if a mate / spouse dies. 

Others die shortly after the one they have been dependent upon dies. 

Others who have gone through a divorce or breakup are still disparaging over the "loss" twenty and thirty and forty years later or are still resenting the person who "abandoned" them. 

One sociologist who studies family structure and suicide rates says divorced men are almost forty percent more likely to commit suicide than those who are still married. That number jumps to fifty percent for a man who is widowed. Talk about instability. Talk about insanity. See? 

That which they thought would give the most pleasure ended up being at the heart of their greatest misery and suffering. And it's really all about self. It's not so much about the "loss" of the "other." It's about the loss of what one wants, desires, was dependent upon, or was co-dependent with. It's about the perceived loss of all opportunity to be happy. 

More than once certain men have come here to report, "That bitch left me." 

The usual reply: "I assume you're here to celebrate if you are now free of one who is 'a bitch,' but your tone does not sound celebratory. I mean, shouldn't you be happy if you're free of someone who is 'a bitch'?" 

The typical response to that is something like this: "You're cold and heartless!" 

 F.: "Well, I'm just trying to understand why you're mourning the loss of someone whom you are labeling 'a bitch'." See the warped perspective? See the insanity?

And understand that in every case they had been fighting for years. There was no happiness at all. It was all a pipe dream. For years they could not have been any farther apart than if one of them had moved to the moon. But in the minds of so many of the complaining men with their warped perspectives, the ones they had been with were eventually - some day, somehow - going to be their source of happiness. 

Humans are programmed and conditioned (especially in accumulating, capitalistic societies) to believe that happiness lies in externals - persons, things, places, etc. - rather than in the internal condition. So the masses believe that they can find the right politician who will make them happy. If they are even slightly in touch with Real Love, they will be attracted to the rare one speaking about unity and sharing or the oneness. If they are xenophobic, misogynous, attached to beliefs about eugenics or white supremacy, then they will be attracted to the most divisive candidate imaginable. 

And they believe that they can find the "right" mate / spouse who can make them happy forever. 

And they believe they can find the "right" job that will be pleasing. and they believe they can find the "right" city and the "right" house to live in that will finally provide what they have been seeking. 

And they believe that they can find the "right" religion or spiritual movement or ideology or philosophy which will make them happy. 

Externals. Externals. Externals. 

Such a belief can only guarantee misery in the long haul.

The discussion will continue via the sharing of certain excerpts drawn from the book INSTABILITY / INSANITY: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot Address):

INSTABILITY / INSANITY INDUCED BY SEEKING SOMEONE OR SOMETHING TO CAUSE YOU TO BE HAPPY 

The non-Realized are forever functioning under the influence of the insane belief that "the inside" can only register happiness when "an outside causer" has been found that can cause happiness to come and to stay. Consider the insanity: If you were to be able to find an outside cause / causer of your inner happiness, then imagine how unstable and imprisoned you would be, knowing that you are dependent on something or someone outside of yourself for your happiness. 

Imagine how vulnerable you would be, knowing - if not consciously but at least subconsciously - that your source of happiness could at any moment leave you, could "die," could withdraw whatever gifts or benefits that were being bestowed, or could yank from your grasp whatever that outside source has readily offered (with motives and desires) but could as easily withdraw (if desires are not continuously met). 

How limiting and restrictive and insane is it, really, for persons to be willing to accept an external causer of happiness as the proper means of addressing the unhappiness within? Persons that insane could be provided medicine for a sore throat but instead of swallowing the potion would just lie down and pour the solution on the outside of their throats. 

Both scenarios would be senseless, insane, evidence of instability, proof of the presence of personality disorders, and confirmation of some degree of insanity. Trying to use outside solutions to address internal problems can never work, long-term, and eventual loss of freedom and happiness will be assured. 

Maharaj: "You imagine that without cause there can be no happiness. To me dependence on anything for happiness is utter misery. Pleasure and pain have causes, while my state is my own, totally uncaused, independent, unassailable." 

Some might recall a conversation shared in a previous post, a conversation overheard at lunch in a former workplace: 

Woman 1: "You know, I've decided that I'm ready to get married again." 

Woman 2: "You know, so am I! I've been thinking the very same thing lately." 

Floyd: "I didn't think either of you were even dating?" 

The reply: "We're not," offered in both cases with an accompanying look of disdain for the inquiry that called into question their nonsensical declarations and their actual desires and their hidden motives. 

Bit of a "cart-before-the-horse" approach they were using, yes? 

The sequence that "relationships" usually follow as discussed by Maharaj moves from stranger to acquaintance to friend to lover to spouse (and then, in more cases than not) to enemy to mortal enemy to former spouse; the sequence followed by those two women was on an even faster track because they decided to skip stranger, acquaintance, friend, and lover and to bull dead ahead into acquiring "a spouse." 

Senseless? Yes. Very common? Yes. But because all in the relative existence moves from thought to word to deed, both women had the thought, both put the thought into words, and so - of course - they were both married within the year. You will manifest your thoughts and words. 

(FOLLOW-UP: By the way, both women were divorced - each for the second time - within a period of two years . . . financially destitute again, seemingly "lost" again, bitter again, angry again, resentful again, "alone" again, and emotionally and mentally bankrupt again.) 

Most unstable, most insane, and exhibiting much evidence of being driven subconsciously by the hidden and insane agendas of personality / personalities / and personalities-that-would-be, all of which determined their insane thoughts and insane words and insane deeds and that resulted, therefore, in insane actions and consequences that generated more instability and more insanity. 

See, in both cases, they had an agenda. They had a cause. And they were, therefore, searching for a cause (actually a "causer") who would be able to cause them to be happy; who would cause an improvement in their financial or personal well-being; who would cause a restoration of whatever benefits they thought they had reaped from their first marriages that they were subsequently "missing." 

Note the evidence of their being driven by personality (or would-be-personas), specifically the fact that they had fears and they had desires: they desired pleasure; they desired a "better lifestyle"; they desired that their relative existence would be made "easier" by someone else. And none of those desires had anything to do with legitimate reasons for entering into a "committed relationship." What would Maharaj have advised, if they had asked? 

Maharaj: "Giving up desire after desire is a lengthy process with the end never in sight. Leave alone your desires and fears; give your entire attention to the subject, to [the persona] who is behind the experience of desire and fear. Ask: 'WHO desires?' 

[That is, which fear and / or desire-driven persona is fearing something or desiring something and therefore subconsciously and unconsciously controlling thoughts and words and actions?] 

Let each desire bring you back to Your Self." In their case, not only was there not Love; there was not even "love" since no "one" was even present to "love" - much less to lead to an understanding of what Real Love is. Real Love is Absolute; the "love" spoken of by the masses is relative, and thus "love" (a.k.a., "false love " a.k.a., "not Real Love") is . . . 

. . . relative 

. . . ever in motion 

. . . always strong at times but weak at other times, always hot at times, cold at other times (thus, generating instability) 

and 

. . . never lasting unless it happens alongside an overlaying of Reality upon the relative so that - just as I AM and I AM THAT can happen as one - so too can "love" manifest and be enjoyed on the relative plane as long as it is preceded by Real Love. 

And Real Love must be preceded by Full Realization and a total understanding of, and a completely uninterrupted sense of, the Oneness. The agendas of those two women were hidden from them, and they were hidden from the men they married the second time around. Those two did not know that "a man is not a plan." And yes, the agenda of the men was hidden from the women and from themselves as well. Duality is always in consciousness and of consciousness . . . all relative. 

The term "relationship" by its very name should be seen to be relative and thus rooted in duality. But among the masses, nothing is more sought-after, more pleasure-giving, or more pain-producing than duality, and none will experience more dualities than in 

1. organizations that speak in terms of "good and bad" and "reward and punishment" and the hundreds of other dualistic pairs that they dream up and preach about, or in 

2. relationships. 

The consciousness brings with it The Ultimate Sickness. 

Learning about moralistic dualities is not The Ultimate Medicine and a relationship is not The Ultimate Medicine, contrary to popular belief. Consider these pointers offered in the past: What persons call "love" is the most magnificent experience of all; it is also the most horrendous experience of all. 

With such duality, how can that possibly be taken for the Real? As for feeling or emotion, if Love happens as a feeling, take the ride and watch the feelings rise and fall; if "love" happens as an emotion—that is, if it is being "experienced" by a person in an ego-state—prepare for war and Here, enjoyment certainly happens though nothing is desired. 

Nothing is feared since there is nothing to register fear. The awareness-in-consciousness functions from a position of neutrality, knowing that if persons are trapped in seeking the applause of the village, they must also be prepared to accept the scorn of the town as well. If you are willing to seek and accept pleasure from externals, full speed ahead, but be prepared to accept an exactly equal portion of pain and suffering as well. 

Maharaj: "Pain and pleasure go always together. Freedom from one means freedom from both." 

All on the planet is happening in a theater where role-players are moving about on the stage in The Theater of the Lie - in The Theater of the Consciousness - and in a theater where consciousness-based duality is always the director of all of the thoughts and dialogues and behaviors of the actors. How can there be any freedom when trapped in relative dualities? 

Again . . . Maharaj: 

"You imagine that without cause there can be no happiness. To me dependence on anything for happiness is utter misery. Pleasure and pain have causes, while my state is my own, totally uncaused, independent, unassailable." 

To be continued. 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. 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.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access over 2,800 posts for any topics of interest to you.

Non-Duality Can Be the Ultimate Medicine for the Ultimate Sickness, But It Cannot Be the Ultimate Answer for EVERY Sickness, Part “V”

TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS 

So far the discussion has focused on many sources of instability and insanity which the non-dual teachings cannot address alone and on a few sources which the teachings can have an effect. So what dilemmas can the non-dual understandings address and alleviate? 

That discussion will continue via the sharing of certain excerpts drawn from the book INSTABILITY / INSANITY: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot Address):  

INSTABILITY / INSANITY INDUCED BY A NEED FOR FULL REALIZATION 

Why do "the realized" often prefer and enjoy the solitude throughout much of their existence? 

1. When the "mind" goes, the formerly-racing mind also goes, so there is no need for the body to race about trying to match the pace of the "mind"; 

2. when the "mind" goes silent, the realized find that event to be a contentment-producing circumstance, and when the Realized are content with the silence, the mouth becomes content with the silence and stops disturbing the peace; 

3. once there is no longer any perceived need to try to escape, the subconscious "need" to run and go and do and zoom comes to an end; 

4. once realized, a sense of authenticity becomes its own wonderful "company"; 

5. the realized can remain contented and in a state of solitude even when relative responsibilities or activities require that they interact with people for a time (carrying along what my Cherokee grandmother spoke of as "their Medicine Place" everywhere they go); 

6. the multiple "selves" - prior to realization - had driven thoughts and words and deeds and were constantly seeking company to support their illusory nature; with their dissolution, there is no need for anyone or anything that had been required previously to reinforce illusions; and probably more than any other reason 

7. the understanding comes that it is far more sane to be alone - but free and independent - than to reside in a prison in order to have company. 

How is it that the masses shun the solitude? How is it that the noisiest and the most chaotic and the most unstable and the most disordered and the most disorderly and the most insane end up associating with the most chaotic and the most unstable and the most disordered and the most disorderly and the most insane? 

A. Their eyes see only what their hidden agendas want them to see; 

B. they will deny all facts to the contrary of what their hidden agendas want to see; and 

 C. denial can be triggered not just by existing ego-states as an ego-defense mechanism but can also be triggered by the desire to generate a new ego-state. (Remember, too, a point offered on other occasions: "love" in not blind; instead, it is color-blind: it cannot see red flags. Those who are unstable cannot see their instability or the instability of one admired, or they do not consider instability to be a liability.) 

 D. Water seeks its own level. It will keep going lower and lower and lower until it reaches the lowest point possible and then joins with the water at that lowest point and remains there. Do humans not do the same during the accumulation stage of the relative existence? After twenty years of programming and acculturation inspire persons to seek out other persons - and, finally, one "special" person - they move in the same fashion as the water mentioned above. 

As more and more instability and personality disorders and insanity manifest 

** as a result of the cumulative effects of domestication and conditioning which are heaped upon the already-existing effects of programming and acculturation, and 

** as a result of seeing instability and disorders and insanity modeled in homes and by relatives and by friends and in "relationships" and in the workplace and in government and in cities and states and nations, then the result is that persons never pause until they sink to the level where they can find other persons whose level of instability and insanity match their own. 

At that point, they stop and thus remain in an environment or in a relationship or relationships where stability and sanity will never be modeled but where, instead, their own instability and insanity will be reinforced. 

Therein lies an understanding of how The Dream of the Planet - with the debilitated masses therein moving about in a condition of being unawake, unaware, and unconscious - has disintegrated into what is more common now, namely, The Nightmare of the Planet. 

Those moving toward stability might be misled for a time by one who is unstable but who is skilled at covering the fact, so the stable might interact with an unstable one for a time; and those moving toward sanity might be misled for a time by one who is insane but who is skilled at covering the fact, so the stable might interact with an unstable one for a time; and even the one that has successfully transitioned personality - and thus the effects of personality disorders - might still be misled for a time by one who is skilled at developing and maintaining an image that hides his or her disorders. 

[Why? Because, as Maharaj explained, even post-realization, some traces of one's primary personality might remain until that too totally disappears. Among some scientists, the term "half-life" is used to point to the time required for a quantity to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly (or not) unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay. The term is also used more generally to characterize any type of exponential or non-exponential decay. For example, the medical sciences refer to the biological half-life of drugs and other chemicals in the body. 

Among non-dualists, the term can be used to describe how quickly (or not) personal identities in unstable persons undergo decay. For most, the personality identifications assigned and assumed by those among the "non-realized masses" never decay. If those false identities are lost, they are often lost only via the death or via the literal departure of someone who was playing the co-dependent, counterpart role which was allowing a false identity to be assumed and to continue. For example, the role of "The Husband" might only end with the demise of the one who had been playing the counterpart role of "The Wife" or with the departure of the person who had been playing that role but who has subsequently filed for divorce.]

Yet the stable and the sane will soon detect the instability and insanity that was so well hidden. Then, as a result of being exposed to a type of energy that is so totally opposite from that which the stable and sane are accustomed to, an internal vibration within the stable and sane will be triggered. That, in turn, will generate such an internal sense of disharmony and discord within the stable and sane that the movement away from unstable and insane persons will happen automatically and spontaneously. 

Thus, "the realized" quite often choose the solitude, understanding that one need not be alone to enjoy the solitude but also understanding that the sane will not compromise and stay in a prison (with the unstable and insane or those driven by personality disorders) simply in order to have company or a sense of security or a better lifestyle. 

Yet in the absence of realization, that is what will happen. In the absence of full realization, instability and insanity will be normalized, and the insane will congregate together; the insane will find and maintain each other's company; those with personality disorders will interact or even co-habitat with persons who suffer from personality disorders; and they will all claim that they are fine and that those with whom they are in relationship are just fine. 

That's the kind of talk that can be heard in any asylum or mental hospital, which is mainly what this planet is. And their denial will guarantee that persons will remain in the no-Realization darkness of their unstable and insane and personality-disorder-driven existence. So it is. The result? 

Most will never seek - much less find - the means to realize fully; most will continue to abide in their prisons in order to have company, as unstable and as insane as that company is; most will develop an addiction to chaos and will then normalize that condition; 

most will strut about the stage of The Theater of the Lie; most will be handicapped as a result of living in "The Dream of the Planet"; and most will also live within "The Nightmare of the Planet" but will likely never realize that, either. Again, so it is, but so it need not be. 

Can the teachings address some of the dilemmas discussed above? Most assuredly. 

To be continued. 

 Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. 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.] 

 In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access over 2,800 posts for any topics of interest to you.

Non-Duality Can Be the Ultimate Medicine for the Ultimate Sickness, But It Cannot Be the Ultimate Answer for EVERY Sickness, Part “U”

TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS 

To review: these sources of instability and insanity which have been discussed: 

Psychological Splitting 

Duality-Based Splitting 

Personality Disorders 

Personality Disintegration 

A Failure to Psychically Integrate 

Chemical Imbalances in the Plant Food Body 

Biological / Genetic Factors 

Fixation in "The Parent" or "The Child" State

Programming, Conditioning, Domestication, Brainwashing, Indoctrination, and Acculturation 

The Insane Cultural Influences Propagated Via Exposure to Acculturation 

Modeling Parental Thoughts and Words and Actions 

Accepting Parental Beliefs Without Questioning 

Emotional Intoxication and Fanaticism 

and

Religious / Spiritual Intoxication 

To the list can be added the instability / insanity induced by depression and mania, both of which - once again - happen after personality identifications have been assigned or assumed. At one point, the mental healthcare industry spoke of "the Manic-Depressive Personality Disorder." Nowadays, the same illness is spoken of as "the Bipolar Personality Disorder." 

WebMD offer the following information about this disorder: 

Bipolar disorder was formerly called manic depression. It is a form of major affective disorder, or mood disorder, defined by manic or hypomanic episodes (changes from one's normal mood accompanied by high energy states). Bipolar disorder is a serious condition. Mania can often involve sleeplessness, sometimes for days, along with hallucinations, psychosis, grandiose delusions, or paranoid rage. In addition, depressive episodes can be more devastating and more difficult to treat than in people who never have manias or hypomanias. 

[Note that both names used at various times to identify this personality disorder indicate that the illness involves the very essence of duality.] 

Bipolar disorder is a complex disorder that likely stems from a combination of genetic and non-genetic factors. The mood episodes associated with it involve clinical depression or mania (extreme elation and high energy) with periods of normal mood and energy in between episodes. The severity of mood episodes can range from very mild to extreme, and they can happen gradually or suddenly within a timeframe of days to weeks. When discrete mood episodes happen four or more times per year, the process is called rapid cycling. 

Rapid cycling should not be confused with very frequent moment-to-moment changes in mood, which can sometimes occur in people with bipolar disorder or other conditions such as the Borderline Personality Disorder. 

Along with manic or depressive episodes, patients with bipolar disorder may have disturbances in thinking. They may also have distortions of perception and impairment in social functioning. 

[That does not mean that everyone with distorted perceptions has the Bipolar Personality. Maharaj estimated that 99%+ of those among the masses are "non-realized" and are, therefore, suffering from the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (a.k.a., "The Ultimate Mental Sickness") including distorted perspectives. To review the list at the top of this page is to see that distorted perspectives can be rooted in a variety of personality disorders, all involving distorted programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing, and indoctrination; however, it has long been understood by the wisest "non-dualists" that a lack of mental and emotional stability is preceded by dualistic beliefs and thinking. From 2000 years ago: "A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways." ] 

The discussion of the role which depression and mania play in generating instability will continue via the sharing of certain excerpts drawn from the book INSTABILITY / INSANITY: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot Address):

INSTABILITY / INSANITY INDUCED BY DEPRESSION AND MANIA 

Consider the instability and insanity of being depressed for periods of varying lengths; and then being overly-enthused for varying periods of time; and then moving back into depression; and thereafter continuing such swings throughout the relative existence. Depression and mania are common mental disorders that present with certain identifiable symptoms. 

(Note: Not everyone who is depressed or manic experiences every symptom listed below. Some people experience a few symptoms, some many. The severity of symptoms also varies with individuals and also varies over time.) 

Depression Symptoms: 

Persistent sadness; anxiety; moodiness; feelings of emptiness; feelings of hopelessness; pessimism; feelings of guilt; feelings of worthlessness; feelings of helplessness; loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed, including sex; decreased energy; fatigue; being "slowed down"; difficulty concentrating, remembering, and making decisions; insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping; appetite and / or weight loss or overeating and weight gain; actions that harm the body; thoughts of death or suicide; suicide attempts; restlessness, irritability; and persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment, such as headaches, digestive disorders, and chronic pain. 

Mania Symptoms: 

Abnormal or excessive elation; unusual irritability; decreased need for sleep; grandiose notions; idealized dreams and schemes; increased talking; racing thoughts; increased sexual desire; markedly increased levels of energy; poor judgment; and inappropriate social behavior. 

Note how the relevancy of those two disorders is raised during the Advaita discussion shared below which is a part of one exchange extracted from the book FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE as I answered Q's (a Questioner's) queries: 

 F.: But my question is, ‘What do you think is the source of your misery’?” 

Q.: “My wife leaving me. She said, ‘I don’t even know who I am,’ and she took the children and left. I’m miserable over losing everything . . . wife, family, property. I lost it all.” 

F.: “First, if she said that she doesn’t know who she is, we can believe that is the case. Obviously, you don't know who you are, either." 

Q.: [Frowns] 

F.: "Secondly, if it is truly understood that one does not have a body and therefore cannot ‘lose’ the body, how can one lose the bodies on your list? The world of misery you speak of is imagined. You do not live in the world. More importantly, your freedom will come in knowing that nothing on the list is the source of misery.” 

Q.: “I don’t think you appreciate the hurt involved.” 

F.: “If you truly understood the illusion of the body, you could not have an illusory mind that would speak of a ‘lost wife’ and this lost person called ‘husband.’ To be free is to be in a state of total independence. Each illusion of personality requires two co-dependent bodies as well as two co-dependent minds. It is that illusion of dualities which prevents a person from being free and which blocks a person from continuing on the path to Realization." 

Q.: “Two bodies and two minds?” 

F.: “Two bodies and two minds are required for any role to be taken as an identity. You cannot play the role of ‘husband’ alone. She cannot play the role of ‘wife’ alone. You each must have a body in order to play out those roles, you each must have another body willing to play the counter role, and you each must have a mind that has been programmed to believe that the roles you play actually identify who you are. Two bodies, two minds. Duality squared. 

If you are ‘husband’ and she leaves, you are not ‘husband’ any longer in your variable mind. According to that belief system, what you truly are can vary, depending on who is in your physical presence! But the reality is that what you truly are can never vary. All personalities (or ‘personas’ or ‘false identities’ or ‘roles’ or ‘states-of-being this’ or ‘states of being that’) are dualities. The real is permanent whereas dualities, being illusions, always appear to come and go. 

In that instability, one lives in the depression around perceived loss or in the manic state of joy around perceived gain. Neither state lasts, so one is constantly in a state of flux and desire, clinging to current dependencies while trying to accumulate new dependencies. ‘The employee’ cannot exist without ‘the employer’; the ‘lover’ cannot exist without a separate ‘lover’; the ‘father’ cannot exist without ‘a child.’ If ‘wife’ leaves, ‘husband’ thinks he’s dying. 

How tenuous your existence becomes—how absent of freedom life must be—believing in the illusion that your existence is totally dependent on 'another' or all those ‘others.’ How vulnerable and fear-based that life must be . . . feeling so dependent and needy and incomplete. 

Do you see that if each assumed personality requires the physical presence of another person, then two co-dependent bodies are required to sustain the illusion of each false personality? Trying to live in that duality, with no freedom at all, is it any wonder that you speak of misery?” Can the Advaita Teachings address these two disorders? 

Both disorders - when manifested at serious levels - usually require treatment by trained professionals, after which the form of depression that is rooted in Personality Types Two, Three, and Four might also be impacted if persons transcend the subconscious influence of personality motivators which can also generate depression. Too, if depression is rooted in the misperception of "loss" and if that can be processed via the teachings, then the teachings have been effective on some occasions. 

That said, mental health professionals should likely always be the first who are sought out for assistance with depression and / or mania or any other mental illnesses if they are manifesting at serious levels. 

To be continued. 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. 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.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access over 2,800 posts for any topics of interest to you.

Non-Duality Can Be the Ultimate Medicine for the Ultimate Sickness, But It Cannot Be the Ultimate Answer for EVERY Sickness, Part “T”

TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS 

In this series, many of the sources of instability and insanity are being discussed in order to provide to all seekers the opportunity to realize, "Okay, I cannot identify at this point on my 'journey' with that source, but I surely can relate to those other two." What might be the purpose of that exercise? 

If one is physically sick, a doctor cannot prescribe the proper treatment unless the sickness have been properly diagnosed. To fail to properly find the cause of a sickness is to guaranteed that there will be a failure to find the proper cure. The sources being discussed can provide clues to be used to attain a proper diagnosis of the Sickness which is at the root of humankind's problems and misery and suffering and thereby set the stage for finding the proper Medicine and a cure.

Some of the sources of instability and insanity which have been witnessed over the years and which have been compiled for discussion in this series include: 

Psychological Splitting 

Duality-Based Splitting 

Personality Disorders 

Personality Disintegration 

A Failure to Psychically Integrate 

Chemical Imbalances in the Plant Food Body 

Biological / Genetic Factors 

Fixation in "The Parent" or "The Child" (Childish) State

Programming, Conditioning, Domestication, Brainwashing, Indoctrination, and Acculturation 

The Insane Cultural Influences Propagated Via Prolonged Exposure to Acculturation 

Modeling Parental Thoughts and Words and Actions 

and

Accepting Parental Beliefs Without Questioning Emotional Intoxication and Fanaticism 

Fanaticism can manifest around sports or politics or work or race or sexual orientation or financial status or a near-endless host of other beliefs, but the wise, objective observer that is familiar with the history of humankind's activities over the last 5000 years would see - if totally accurate and honest -  that nothing has generated more insatiability and insanity than the widespread acceptance of the concepts dreamed up and disseminated by religions and by spiritual movements. 

(That is why Maharaj would eventually suggest that seekers give up both religion and spirituality and focus on the primary source of the Ultimate Sickness, namely, the mind.) 

In that regard, the following is offered from the book INSTABILITY / INSANITY: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot Address):

INSTABILITY / INSANITY INDUCED BY RELIGIOUS / SPIRITUAL INTOXICATION 

Consider the following excerpt from the book FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE which describes what happens during the "Coming In Journey" as the Child Ignorance Stage (a.k.a., the Child No-Knowing Stage) is brought to an end when identities and dogma are added to the mind. Note that a child, if fed and dry and in a comfortable atmosphere, is perfectly content. Why? The child is functioning in a no-concept, no-identity, no-duality manner. 

Note also that 97% of all persons on the planet claim affiliation with some organized religion and millions more claim to be spiritual, so one of the earlier sources of concepts and duality in the lives of 97%+ of the people on the planet is rooted in their religious or spiritual beliefs (which is itself the source of much of the duality believed in by the masses today: "good vs. bad"; "right vs. wrong"; "moral vs. immoral"; "heaven vs. hell"; "reward vs. punishment," etc.) 

The satsang discussion transcribed in the book referenced above unfolded thusly with a dialogue - already in progress - between a Questioner and Floyd: 

Q.: “I need some help to really process all that.” 

F.: “Then let’s try this: we’re on a seven-step ‘journey’ to Reality, if you will. Let’s go to the ‘end’ and work 'backwards' for a moment, since all merely cycles. Let’s consider when the consciousness was manifesting in the space in a womb with the non-beingness about to cross the borderline to the beingness. The days of the bliss of the womb were numbered.” 

Q.: “If I had known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have come out.” (Laughter) 

F.: “I’m in charge of humor here. Don’t intrude. Ha. (Laughter) Regarding your leaving or not leaving the womb, as well as all that has happened since then, there has never been any choice on your part. A natural process forced the space to exit a birth canal. An initial act of friction between your parents resulted in this space in which consciousness manifested. Actions began to happen, but they were driven by instinct. No one taught you to protest if hungry; no one taught you to seek a breast to suckle.” 

Q.: “Right.” 

F.: “In a manner of speaking, that’s as ‘close’ to the True Self as you’ve been since that slap on the rear triggered your breathing cycles.” 

Q.: “Why?”

F.: “Because you were mainly being. They had not yet taught you. A fictional mind had not yet resulted from hearing the lies about who or what you are and had not yet assumed any false role or identity or personality. You wore no masks. All merely happened via natural instinct and body chemistry rather than programming and conditioning. You mainly focused on nothing and were just being. You were manifest but still mainly in a void, though becoming increasingly conscious of pain and discomfort. If fed and clothed comfortably, you were fairly free of strife or worry . . . whether sleeping, dreaming, waking, or fully conscious. Not until they taught you would you be forced into the bondage of concepts and the mental and emotional pain of duality. Eventually, you would always be in a sleep state—whether in bed, driving, at work, talking, whatever.” 

Q.: [Nods head in agreement] 

F.: “Next, at some point you began to witness. You saw a mobile spinning in the crib above you. You saw huge faces being shoved into yours. You heard sounds coming from their mouths. You began to witness. Unless they made loud, alarming noises, you witnessed objectively and had no perceived fears. You had no opinions. You had no beliefs or concepts. You had no array of attitudes and judgments about what you were witnessing. Since contradictory beliefs had not been introduced, you had no quandaries to weigh, no disparities to consider, no ideas about ‘good’ vs. ‘bad’ or about anything else. You were merely witnessing. Do you understand what was happening when I spoke earlier of being like the eagle, soaring above it all and merely watching?” 

Q.: [Head moves in the affirmative] 

F.: "Soon, having sensed a body presence, you would believe yourself the subject and assume that you were witnessing other objects. Do you see why, at its very root, this life becomes a lie . . . setting you up to assume that dualities are the real and feeling apart from?" 

Q.: "Yes. I never considered that aspect." 

F.: "Add to that 'setup' all of the concepts that they would soon begin to teach you and you should understand the source of your future bondage: the assumption of duality. Their teachings, combined with that initial assumption of subject-object, would soon result in a programmed, variable mind. The mind would begin moving constantly. No rest or peace will it ever know again, unless you follow the path from duality 'back' to the unicity. Later, they began labeling you as ‘our child,’ ‘our son,’ ‘our boy,’ ‘our teen,’ ‘our young man,’ and later . . . ‘an adult.’ But Your "true identity" cannot change; any variable labeling can only name what you are not. As their ‘child,’ they began teaching you concepts, giving you ideas and a personality, ‘whipping you into shape,’ so they claimed. Then, they introduced one of the earliest and most limiting of all dualities—the source of so many nightmares in this culture. They presented their concept of ‘good’ vs. ‘bad.’ That illusion began to dominate your mind and affect your behavior. With the ‘good-bad’ concepts feeding your illusory ‘mind,’ you were becoming more and more ignorant, even as they claimed to be making you more and more knowledgeable. All the concepts and ideas and beliefs and dogma they offered became your learned ignorance. They then began assigning roles for you to play and to assume as identities. You probably received their earliest ‘spiritual’ role or persona: ‘a gift from God.’ That fostered egomania and set another destructive ball rolling! [Laughter] Self-will became a liability because, the more false ‘selves’ you assumed as identities, the more the agenda of each false self—the desire to be—began to drive you. You were constantly in a fight to preserve those false personalities. The chaos of self-will ends when the self dies—when the false ego-states or false identities dissolve. Until then, you will have much to fight for, as your current body-mind-personality experience shows.” 

Q.: [Nodding] 

F.: “Back to the ‘downward’ journey through the stages that has now left you out-of-touch with reality. Next, they likely took you to a church or temple or synagogue or some other building thought to be "special" and religious roles and identities were assigned there. You took their learned ignorance and began seeing even more “others” and using religious concepts to judge others and to label them and their behaviors as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ The next stop was school where teachers programmed you, teaching you their version of what is ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ encouraging you to read the words of ‘experts’ and learn from their knowledge. They told you to listen to newscasts so that you would always be informed. ‘The more you know, the better,’ they claimed. They filled your mind with what they called ‘facts’ and ‘knowledge’ and contributed to your variable mind. That mind became dominated by its ‘good-bad’ duality perceptions as that mind tried constantly to process all the contradictions in your false world. Your mind is the chattering of a thousand monkeys, trying to process all their ‘stuff.’ As you became older, you could drive down the road alone and be in group therapy, right?” [Laughter] 

Q.: “That’s still the case!” [Laughter] 

F.: “Of course it is. Every picture ever taken of you is a group photo because you believe yourself to be all those false identities that they assigned to you.” [Laughter] 

Q.: [Smiling] 

F.: “All in positions of influence over you were rewarding you in order to reinforce behaviors they considered ‘good’ or were punishing you for what they thought to be ‘bad.’ You would become confused, though, since what half in the culture labeled ‘good,’ the other half considered ‘bad.’ You did something once and got a kiss. You did it again and got slapped. Contradictory opinions never convey the truth, so you were receiving more and more lies and becoming more and more confused.” 

In a "place of authority" being run by "persons with authority" where children are taught not to question authority, one of the most prevalent sources - and reinforcers - of duality invites persons to adopt a new identity of "The Christian" or "The Jew" or "The Muslim" or "The Buddhist" or "The Advaitin" or "The Hindu" or "The Taoist" or "The Druid" or "The Wiccan" or "The North American Spiritualist" or "The Scientologist" or "The Mormon," etc. 

Counting all of the religions and subcategories or sects or denominations, there are presently over 500,000 from which to choose, but they all - with few exceptions - have several practices in common: they teach and preach duality; they expect people to learn more and more; they expect people to live by the dictates of a holy text and the holy writings of the authorities in charge; 

they assign new, false identities that make their members "better than" others not living according to their precepts; some encourage rolling on the floor; some endorse reaching a state of ecstasy where members faint; most encourage persons to give their money and / or property to the organization; they inspire angst over whether one will be rewarded forever or punished forever; 

most use music and accoutrements and chanting to inspire emotional intoxication; and some inspire members to kill themselves if - in that process - they can kill members of another religion; and almost all reinforce dualistic notions of "better-than-ness" and "different from" and "separate from" or "united with." 

The result: 97% on the planet, programmed to believe the most unbelievable myth-and-superstition-based nonsense, are totally unstable and insane even as their leaders and authorities insure them that they alone are the stable and sane ones. 

Can the Advaita Teachings address the issues of instability and insanity that are generated by religious and / or spiritual intoxication? Most assuredly. 

Are the odds in favor of anything freeing the 97% who are trapped in their dogma and who believe the most outrageous claims set forth in their holy writings and by their holy authorities? No. So it is. 

Yet so it need not be for you.

To be continued. 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

 [NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. 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.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access over 2,800 posts for any topics of interest to you.

Non-Duality Can Be the Ultimate Medicine for the Ultimate Sickness, But It Cannot Be the Ultimate Answer for EVERY Sickness, Part “S”

TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS 

Many over the years have said that they really don't want what the Eastern teachings offer because they don't want to become "unfeeling robots, sitting on a mat with their legs folded up in front of them and humming while the world is going to hell in a handbasket or while other people are out and about and having fun." 

Little do they understand the difference in whatever is driving some persons to live that way vs. what can result if one grasps what comes if the non-dual understanding is combined with an understanding of nisarga yoga.

When that is the case, then persons abide "nisarga-ly" (naturally), and natural abidance has nothing to do with being emotionally-intoxicated and nothing to do with being driven to be robotic or driven to sit on a mat and hum. 

Natural abidance has everything to do with tasting the nectar of any or all of the pleasures which the Is-ness offers as long as the pleasures are natural and sane and not detrimental to that elemental plant food body which is temporarily housing the manifested conscious-energy. It also has everything to do with providing a means by which mental / emotional misery and suffering can be alleviated.

Moreover, abiding in a natural, nisarga fashion has nothing to do with being trapped in a continuous state of persona-inspired emoting (and thus fearing and hating) but, instead, has everything to do with feeling (and thus being free of fear and being able to Love). 

To be able to differentiate clearly between feeling and emoting, the following is offered from the book INSTABILITY / INSANITY: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot Address):

INSTABILITY / INSANITY INDUCED BY EMOTIONAL INTOXICATION 

Consider: 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 be driven by the hidden agendas of ego-states / personas and, therefore, to fail to be in charge of ones thoughts and words and actions; to behave unreasonably or illogically or irrationally or even insanely. As has been explained previously, there is a differentiation here between feelings and emotions. 

There are several reasons: 

1. The Realized feel but do not emote. 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. 

2. The non-Realized emote but do not feel. To feel requires an understanding of the Oneness, which the non-Realized do not understand. 

3. 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. A person / persona being driven by one or more of its false identities will spend almost every waking hour 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. They will forever be in a struggle to uphold the false images that they are projecting and wanting others to accept as authentic. 

4. 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, but 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 taken from a state of emotional intoxication. 

Ego-states emote. The realized feel. 

That is the distinction. When persons are programmed and conditioned 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 will be histrionic, and they will be plagued by over-acting and over-reacting. 

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 drama is really the “Drama of the Lie,” wherein persons are behaving as if 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. 

PREREQUISITES FOR EMOTIONAL INTOXICATION: Assumption of an Ego-State 

An ego-state is that “state” in which a persona seemingly exists, where persons take false roles to be true identity / 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.) 

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES FOR EMOTIONAL INTOXICATION: Believing That an Ego-State Is Real 

In order for emotional intoxication to happen, there must first be the assumption of an ego. Ego from Latin, means “I.” Specifically, it is the pronoun used to point to a false self, a false "I," by those who believe any false identity to be real. 

MORE PREREQUISITES FOR EMOTIONAL INTOXICATION: The Triggering of Egotism - One of Many Ego-Defense Mechanisms Used to Defend a False Identity 

Egotism is one of many ego-defense mechanisms used to defend an assumed ego (or false self), others including projection, rejection of others, justification, victimization, blame, rationalization, grandiosity, excessiveness, and many more. 

OTHER PREREQUISITES FOR EMOTIONAL INTOXICATION: Mistaking Emotions for Feelings . . . Emoting vs. Feeling: 

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—living in their false roles and ego-states—as they are perpetually intoxicated emotionally and constantly reacting and over-reacting to what they take to be "personal experiences" that are driven by desires / fears. 

When AS IF living happens - that being the style of living which the realized exhibit - abidance happens without personal attachments, delusions, 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 / 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. 

To be continued. 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. 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.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access over 2,800 posts for any topics of interest to you.

Non-Duality Can Be the Ultimate Medicine for the Ultimate Sickness, But It Cannot Be the Ultimate Answer for EVERY Sickness, Part “R”

TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS 

For years, when Maharaj was offering a Hindu / non-dual compounded version of the Ultimate Medicine and throughout the other years when he was offering a spirituality / non-dual compounded version of the Ultimate Medicine, he encouraged seekers to conduct a SELF-Inquiry. 

Later, he abandoned the use of both of those versions and began offering a psychological / non-dual compounded version of the Ultimate Medicine because he came to understand that the Ultimate Sickness is a mind / mental sickness. 

At that point he said that "it is enough to understand who / what you are not." 

Similarly, he said that "all suffering is born of desire" (or fear, both being the product of the personality identification because every assumed personality brings both of those with it). 

Here, though, it has been seen that the misery and suffering which plague the lives of the "non-realized" human masses is also a result of what humanity as a whole do not desire. 

Yes, Maharaj was spot on when he pointed out that persons disturb their own peace "by being a slave to your desires and fears." He was spot on to say that all personality identification must end in order for desiring and fearing to end. He reported that once he became free of identification, "I was free from desire and fear." 

Yet during the relative existence, prior to full realization and while dealing with the duality prevalent among humans, he offered this pointer to one seeker: "In your case, desires that lead to sorrow are 'wrong' and those which lead to happiness are 'right.' But you must not forget others. Their sorrow and happiness also count." 

That is one of those "along-the-way" points. Just as one moving along the seven-step "path" must play a religious and / or spiritual role at the third step before giving those up completely, so too one moving along the "path" must - at certain points - deal with desires and sorrows and happiness as well before moving beyond all of that.

Thus, at certain points along the way, there is validity to the pointer that "the misery and suffering which plague the lives of those among the 'non-realized' human masses is also a result of what humanity as a whole does not desire." 

So what do the "non-realized" human masses NOT desire? In many cases, 

STABILITY AND FREEDOM FROM CHAOS 

Some warn alcoholics and others with the Addictive Personality Disorder who are trying to be free of the effects of their addictive personalities that they can be driven to drink or use again if they become "restless or irritable or discontent." That list leaves out the most likely motivation of those who drink or use again, namely, becoming bored. 

The masses, when bored, will consciously or unconsciously find some way to alleviate boredom, and the most effective way for them to do that is to gin up some excitement . . . some action . . . some chaos. 

All humans have two basic addictions. The first is an addiction to control. They want to control the weather, their mates, their neighbors, the people of opposing nations, ad infinitum. The second is an addiction to power to be able to control (or to some "Power" or "Powers" who will give them the ability to control, to get what they want). 

But nowadays, a third addiction is manifesting on a global basis because of how widespread the Ultimate Sickness is: the addiction to chaos . . . to instability . . . to anything other than the routine, the usual, the regular and the repetitive elements of their relative existence or to anything other than their monotonous and dull and tedious and everyday activities. 

To be free of boredom, they will often succumb to the forces of the Ultimate Sickness and allow their dualistic beliefs to often stir up conflicts, arguments, instability, and chaos. Remember the following from one "non-dualist" who said 2000 years ago, "A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways." 

What else do the "non-realized" human masses NOT desire? In many cases, 

PEACE 

A woman trapped in an image-based, body-identified, go-do-zoom lifestyle told me in the early 1970's: "I love to fight, to get into a real 'knock-down-drag-out argument' because I also love 'make-up sex'." The reply to her will not be shared, but it involved a suggestion of what she might therefore go do to herself. 

So how did that insane plan work for her? According to a friend of hers, at last count the woman's eighth marriage had just ended and she had recently complained to that friend that she is "72 years old and is still having to work and is never going to be able to retire." Why? "Because men have treated her wrong all her life." What has she NOT desired all her life? PEACE. 

And what else do the "non-realized" human masses NOT desire? In many cases, 

FREEDOM FROM IGNORANCE 

In the U.S., there is among a huge segment of the population a disdain for universities which are deemed by about 50% of the population to be "dens of iniquity, corrupting young minds with liberal, progressive beliefs." President Obama has been under attack for years by those setting forth the most ignorant claims imaginable in an effort to block and hinder and sabotage any and all of his efforts to address the key issues facing the nations. 

Early on he saw what he was up against when dealing with that 50% of the population who said and / or believed the most ignorant beliefs conceivable, saying, "It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant." The fact: they do. 

And what else do the "non-realized" human masses NOT desire? In many cases, 

FREEDOM FROM INSANITY 

Site visitors know that during my early years when I was living with a Cherokee grandmother, one of her daughter's would pick me up and drive me to Rusk, Texas to spend a few nights at her home with her and my Uncle Brooks. 

At the time, he was director of the Rusk State Hospital, a mental institution which had originally been a prison but which was converted in 1919 to found a state hospital. In 1919, it was a facility for African-Americans with mental illnesses and it admitted 600 patients in its first year. By the time Uncle Brooks first took me to work with him in the later 1940's and then later in early 1950's, the patient population was over 2,400. 

(Later, the population numbers would fall to their lowest point ever when then-Texas-governor George W. Bush stripped away much of the state's funding for mental healthcare. After that, the mentally-impaired began living on the streets, and inpatient care in most instances was no longer available. The financial costs to Texans increased exponentially as a result of increased neglect and the resultant crime and other related expenses associated with not providing care for the mentally ill in the state.) 

During my visits, some of the patients (inmates, really) were seen to be sitting quietly in a corner; others were seen to be humming softly; others were seen to be behaving like total maniacs; and others were fighting, beating, kneeing and kicking each others in the most brutal ways possible before guards could arrive and separate them. 

For the most part, the place housing those labeled as "the criminally insane" simply did that - just housed them. On the few occasions when social workers or counselors did try to offer some professional, mental healthcare, the people they tried to work with were absentee or unwilling partners in the process. I asked my uncle why they did not accept the help offered to try to help them with their insane conditions. 

He explained, "Because they do not know they have an insane condition." 

So it is with many among the masses nowadays: insanity cannot spot insanity; ego-states supported by egotism cannot accept any critique which is less than "positive" and "complimentary"; thus, the "non-realized" human masses do NOT desire to be free of their insanity because they do not know that they are suffering from insanity. 

For those who are capable of seeing that certain of the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness have manifested and who are, therefore, ready and willing to try to address those issues, then this series is offering certain considerations about cause of - and treatment for - those symptoms. 

The discussion of Assuming the Role of "The Parent" or "The Child," from the book INSTABILITY / INSANITY: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot Address) continues with Part "C."

Per Maharaj, you must first find all that you are not in order to remove those barriers to clear seeing and full understanding. 

Some may read these words regarding personality and the way that the basic personality types reinforce the assumption of "The Parent" role and / or "The Child" role (and the way that those two reinforce the assumption of other assumed personalities) and not be able to relate. If you are willing to uncover all which can subconsciously drive and control and determine your thoughts and words and deeds, then a thorough and honest self-inquiry - guided by a Realized teacher - must happen. 

To that end, you are invited to see if the following might uncover some "Parent" and / or "Child" influences: 

Sometimes I am driven in the home and / or in the workplace to play “The Parent” role when I want to control, criticize, judge, evaluate, talk down to or scold others. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes “The Parent” role will activate if it senses that it’s not being shown proper respect. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, I play “The Parent” role, trying to exert control, and that creates problems in my personal relationships. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, “The Parent” role shows up when I’d like to direct traffic; make people drive as they should; correct others; reform everyone; demand perfection from others; and change the world. YES? or NO? 

I can see that “The Parent” sometimes shows up when I replay parent or authority figure “recordings” from my childhood (or when I play “tapes” being recorded now as I still allow authority figures to control and direct my thoughts, words, and deeds). YES? or NO? 

 I can see “The Parent” sometimes shows up when I become angry if people challenge me or “talk back” or offer suggestions that run counter to my desires or try to interfere with the way that I am trying to address my fears. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes “The Parent” shows up in a desire to have power and to control. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes I see that much of what I think and say and do is just a replaying of old “Parent tapes.” YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, “The Parent” shows up when I want to exert all necessary force in order to try to get my way or make people do what I want them to do. YES? or NO? 

I can see that during my early years, my parents provided less opportunity for me to be a carefree child and instead required that I behave more like a parent far sooner than anyone should. YES? or NO? 

 I can see that during my early years, my parents required that I behave in a rigid, serious and, often, even humorless fashion, shifting me away from being childlike to behaving more like some stiff and solemn grownups behave. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes “The Child” shows up when I want to. . .

 . . . express anger. YES? or NO? 

 . . . be spoiled. YES? or NO? 

 . . . receive attention (especially with excessive noise / excessive talk). YES? or NO? 

. . . refuse to look at my own shortcomings. YES? or NO? 

 . . . believe that I have found all of my shortcomings but have not really even scratched the surface. YES? or NO? 

 . . . throw tantrums rather than remain calm and relaxed. YES? or NO? 

 . . . express righteous indignation over the way I have been treated or slighted. YES? or NO? 

. . . pout or sulk or refuse to discuss issues or merely withdraw and give others the silent treatment rather than communicate. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, “The Child” appears and complains when he has not received the level of attention he thinks he deserves. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, “The Child” shows up when I reject financial sanity and refuse to live within a budget. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, “The Child” shows up when I handle money immaturely and / or turn over control of my finances to someone else. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes "The Child" shows up when I want to depend on others to take care of me rather than take care of myself. YES? or NO? 

 I can see that “The Child” sometimes shows up when I do not question the content of early "tapes." YES? or NO? 

 I can see “The Child” sometimes shows up when I don’t get my way and get angry. YES? or NO? 

 I can see “The Child” sometimes shows up when I become angry if people challenge me or “talk back” or offer suggestions that run counter to my desires or try to interfere with the way that I am trying to address my fears. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, “The Child” shows up when I take the content of those early “tapes” as “truth,” even if evidence to the contrary arises. YES? or NO? 

I understand that as “The Child,” I made "recordings" about things that bothered me. I also understand that now - if some emotional trauma or hurt or slight or pain from childhood shows up - those "old tapes" start playing again and I immediately revert to “The Child” and experience the same emotional feelings and reactions that I experienced as a child (causing me to interact with others in a childish fashion rather than in a mature and logical fashion). YES? or NO? 

I can see that, when that happens, I sometimes experience emotional intoxication and will react in a childish, illogical, unreasonable fashion. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, “The Child” shows up when I do things that are not in the best interest of my health. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, “The Child” shows up when I think I’ve improved enough or when I think I don’t need to change or grow anymore than I already have. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, “The Child’s” tendency to be dependent or co-dependent has prevented me from being totally free. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, “The Child” shows up because, even if I gave up certain dependencies, I have now just substituted new dependencies in their place. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, I’ll let people put me into “The Child” role if I think it will provide an “easier way” or “a better lifestyle” for me. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes I’ll let people put me in “The Child” role if it results in others meeting my financial needs or providing what I think I am entitled to. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes “The Child” shows up as a result of being frustrated by not having power or control. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes “The Child” shows up when I don’t want to accept the consequences of my own actions. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes “The Child” shows up when I blame others for problems that I caused for myself. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes, “The Child” shows up when I don’t want to exercise or be active. YES? or NO? 

Sometimes “The Child” shows up because I accept being treated like a child and allowing someone else to control me when she / he comes at me as “The Parent." YES? or NO? 

 Sometimes I see that much of what I think and say and do is just a "replaying" of “Child tapes.” YES? or NO? 

Sometimes I see that much of what I feel is a result of something that triggers my “Child tapes.” YES? or NO? 

Sometimes "The Child" shows up when I blame others for the way I feel rather than finding the real cause of my unhappiness. YES? or NO? 

So . . . 

. . . do you see that, if you continue to allow those "old tapes" to determine what you think, say, feel, and do that you will still be restless and irritable and miserable in spite of all your past work to improve and to be at peace? YES? or NO? 

 . . . are you seeing how freedom and happiness can be interrupted by all of the beliefs and concepts that are rooted in programming and conditioning? YES? or NO? 

. . . are you seeing any effects of your old programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication? YES? or NO? 

. . . are you seeing that, no matter how much "personal or religious or spiritual or growth work" you've done in the past to improve, there can still be some hidden things that you need to uncover since they can also make you restless and discontented and even miserable? YES? or NO? 

 . . . are you seeing why it makes sense to spend time trying to uncover all of those hidden things that still drive your thoughts and feelings and actions and reactions? YES? or NO? 

 . . . are you seeing how you would be more effective in dealing with people if you uncover these things, stay aware of them, and continue to address them? YES? or NO? 

What you do not acknowledge, you will not remove, and those things which you do not remove that are causing misery and pain and suffering will continue to do so. For a time, certain miserable physical symptoms were manifesting here. Finally, the diagnosis was made: cancer of the colon. 

Until the cause of misery and pain and suffering was diagnosed, there was no option other than to try to treat the symptoms instead of the cause. With the masses, certain miserable symptoms manifest as a result of having no ability to choose, even as persons believe that choices are being made. 

When personality is subconsciously and unconsciously controlling thoughts and words and actions, no ability to choose exists. If persons meet a Realized teacher, then the diagnosis will be made and it will often include the fact that the Ultimate Sickness exists. That sickness is rooted in illusions, delusions, and identification with a body and a "mind" and multiple personalities along with the other influences being discussed in this series. 

Consider, though, the effects of assuming a variety of personalities / identities. Professionals consider the "Multiple Personality Disorder" to be one of the more serious mental illnesses that exists, and the masses almost all suffer from that disorder because they have adopted a variety of false identities / personas / personalities. Those can include: 

"The Parent," "The Child," "The Perfectionist," "The Helper, Savior, Rescuer," "The Performer," "The Image-Maker," "The Idealizer," "The Individualist," "The Rebel," "The Withdrawer," "The Analyst," "The Avoider," "The Dependent One," "The Loyalist," "The Fearful One," "The Indecisive One" or "The Vacillating One," "The Adventurer," "The Gourmet," "The Pleasure Seeker," "The Pain-Avoider," "The Boss," 

"The Aggressive Controller," "The Dominator," "The Enslaver,""The Confrontation / Responsibility Avoider," "The Feeling Eluder," "The Evader of Being Upset," "The Mediator," "The Accommodator," "The Passive Controller," or "The Abdicator." Add to that list the hundreds of other roles assigned or adopted: "The Good Boy / Girl," "The Bad Boy, / Girl," "The Student," " The Lover," "The Spouse," "The Employee / Employer," "The Neighbor," "The Friend," ad infinitum. 

As with the cancer mentioned earlier, if the cause(s) of misery and pain and suffering are not found, then the result will be an effort to try to treat the symptoms instead of the cause(s). Persons try to treat the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness with money or even wealth, with drugs, alcohol, work, working out, sex, "love," accumulation, shopping, going-doing-zooming, generating chaos to get the adrenals pumping . . . ad infinitum as well. 

Among humans, the failure to find that which is truly but subconsciously determining their thoughts and words and deeds will assure misery and suffering and pain. The Ultimate Medicine awaits, but few will ever find one that dispenses that treatment. So it is, to the misfortune of the masses, but that need not be your case. 

To be continued. 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. 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.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access over 2,800 posts for any topics of interest to you.