TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS
So here is another apology for a second delay in postings. The desktop computer here crashed and after days of trying unsuccessfully to repair it, my tech provided me with a rebuilt model that is reportedly "like new." We'll see.
Now, to move on. First, this review of Maharaj's "evolution":
Maharaj originally offered a version of the Ultimate Medicine which was a combination that was heavy with Hinduism (in order to attract local) plus some non-dual pointers squeezed in (per the advice of Maharaj's guru).
Eventually, the book I AM THAT reached the West and attracted seekers from other countries who were interested in "spirituality rather than religion."
With that new audience, Maharaj's talks shifted and he began offering a version of the Ultimate Medicine which was heavy with the "spirituality" which Westerners were seeking.
After many years, though, Maharaj looked objectively at the results, guessing first that "only one in one hundred thousand will get this," later changing that to '"only one in one million will get this," and eventually guesstimating that "only one in one ten million will get this." Neither the Hinduism / non-dual combo nor the spirituality / non-dual combo were addressing the illness.
He also saw that the key symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness were "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" (see half of the U.S. electorate for the best, current example of that); saw that those symptoms are all centered in the mind; and thus came to understand that the Ultimate Sickness is a mental sickness.
When that realization came, he offered a version of the Ultimate Medicine which focused on the psychological roots of the Sickness.
As for the book I AM THAT which offers the second version of the Ultimate Medicine which Maharaj tried and eventually abandoned, in the end he advised seekers to stop reading that book and to listen to his later talks when he was focused on the psychological roots of the Sickness.
The point in this series is that the non-dual understanding can treat some of the most extreme examples of "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" but that some cases of "ignorance and stupidity" will never been addressed by any means and that some cases of "insanity" have advanced to levels where professional help is indicated.
Now, continuing with additional excerpts from Instability / Insanity: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot Address):
The Goldilocks Syndrome, Part Two
Is the central message of this series becoming clear to you? The Consciousness is speaking to you, informing you that if you are being driven by the hidden agendas of personality and if you are being driven by personality disorders or by physiological or mental disorders which you are not even aware of, then you have no free will. The invitation is to enter into a thorough self-examination.
Yet self-examination, ironically, cannot be completed successfully by self. There is a requirement of a teacher that you are willing to trust, willing to surrender to, and willing to be thoroughly honest with, for the self cannot see the self.
In the play Julius Caesar written by the Advaitin Shakespeare, Cassius asks Brutus, "Can you see yourself?" The answer, of course, was no. Then Cassius said, "Then let me be your mirror." As with Brutus, the case is this: alone, you will never see yourself . . . your selves . . . your instability . . . your insanity.
The ignorant have no clue at all that they are ignorant. The unstable have normalized their modus operandi and do not see how unstable they truly are; and the insane haven't the slightest notion that they are insane;
furthermore, the impulsive have no clue that they are impulsive; perfectionists have no clue how rigid and anal they are; those playing the savior role and touting how wonderfully they have helped people over the years have no clue that they are really trying to earn or buy love as well as earn or buy control over others;
performers have no clue about how inauthentic they truly are; loyalists have no awareness at all about how fear-based they are or about the fact that they believe they are entitled to have someone take care of them (thereby forfeiting their independence forever);
and those who appear to be peacemakers have no clue at all that they are not truly concerned about peace in "the world" or peace in "others" but are actually only concerned that no one disturb their peace, being totally self-focused and self-absorbed as they are.
Yet as a result of being driven by a combination of the factors being discussed in these writings, all have been robbed of free will. Consider:
If you are in an automobile and being driven, you are relegated to the passenger seat, the back seat, or confinement in the trunk / boot. The one place you cannot be, if you are being driven, is behind the steering wheel; therefore, when driven, you have no say at all about when you go, how you go, where you go, or what is happening in your life.
You only have the appearance of free will.
It is one of the tasks of your "realized teacher" - if you have a "realized teacher" - to guide you in the process of removing all appearances so that both Reality and reality ("that" and "this") can be seen.
If the appearance of free will is removed, then your first post-programming, post-conditioning, post-domestication, and post-acculturation chance to truly exercise free will can manifest.
Thus, the aim of these words being spoken to you by the consciousness: to provide that chance for you not to hear only me but to be able to hear yourself so that you will have the chance to truly exercise free will and then function in a stable and sane manner for the remainder of the manifestation.
Most among the masses will never hear or heed the any message based in authenticity.
Because it is the authentic "self" alone which can witness purely, almost all will suffer the effects of "The Goldilocks Syndrome" - of the Ultimate Sickness; therefore, they will continue to be driven by blind impulse, desires, fears, whims, duality and compulsion. The result of that scenario: misery, suffering, pain, fluctuation, chaos, unpredictability, volatility, and instability.
INSTABILITY / INSANITY INDUCED BY PERSONALITY DISORDERS (continued)
Next, you are invited to hear an Advaitin in South Africa who shared the following about "The Goldilocks Syndrome":
"The early emails to you raised the issue of feeling imprisoned by: the demands of the teenager; the difficulties of single parenting; the day job; and the non-realized state (especially glimpsing what was perceived as the blissful state and then returning to imprisoned reality).
"The pointer you offered was: 'This is all occurring at the level of experience. There is no stability in manifest consciousness which is always changing. To attempt to find stability there is like building a house on sinking sand and expecting it to stand firm.'
To free me from this self-created imprisonment, the question you asked me was:
"'What is that changeless state that is beyond these vagaries of good and bad, stable and unstable, clarity and lack of clarity?'
Maharaj would say: set up camp there. Until that pointer is grasped by the seeker, the experience of duality and therefore instability will persist.
[Here, the relative life details remain unchanged, but the view is entirely different.
And here's the way she once explained how the failure to shift beyond the imprisonment of the duality of ever-changing preferences vs. non-preference is so typical among persons being driven by "The Goldilocks Syndrome"]:
"Today, walking in the garden to find fresh herbs, there is simply gratitude for this preference-free view. You expressed this so clearly recently: 'Do you not see that hope generates hopelessness and that the relative existence would unfold more pleasantly if you allowed what happens to happen spontaneously without complicating things with your wishes and desires and hopes and, yes, fears as well?'
The recent visit to Bazley was full of contrasts: the idyllic, silent beauty of the natural setting, but sharing a house with three children, two adults and DSTV.
"Within the home, there was a higher level of background noise, personal ego demands, and 'busyness' than I am used to in the cave. Would it be possible to grasp the understanding within the busyness and noise? Unlikely.
With the withdrawal from all that is extraneous, the movement away from the phantasmagoria of the relative, there is simply resting in silence. In this silence, the winds of preference or non-preference are subtle, and more easily discerned and observed. This is the forest dweller stage I guess.
"Here this stage involved working, parenting and caring for the body’s needs, yet almost all other activities dropped away. In this environment of simplicity and silence, preference for or against could drop away, and the vast spaciousness of neutrality enjoyed.
Once neutrality is tasted, it is not easily forgotten. This view becomes permanent. Then it is possible to be in the ego-led noise of society without being pulled into preference or non-preference.
"Although, the movement will always be away from the noise to the gentle, silent, peacefulness modelled by the petite buck that come to graze and drink at the bottom of the Bazley garden each morning and evening."
And the reply to her:
F.: And that is what the relative existence looks like when the Absolute is laid over it; and that is what the unassailable peace looks like when the movement to freedom happens; and that is what it looks like to be neither pro-life nor pro-death but "preference-free," not unlike the naturally-abiding, spontaneously-living deer. By contrast, the "non-realized" live out a life marked with the instability of preferring this, not preferring that, now preferring that but not preferring this any longer.
Such is the way the relative existence happens when being driven by the mental and emotional illnesses encapsulated here as “The Goldilocks Syndrome” and thus suffering the slings and arrows of instability;
therefore, the non-Realized move through the relative existence with the belief that absolutes can apply and can produce perfect results and can provide perfect fulfillment of all relative desires:
. . . "That woman is too hot but that other one is too cold. I want one that is just right.”
. . . "That Christian denomination is too liberal and that Christian denomination is too fundamental. We need to find one that is a perfect balance in between."
. . . "Either this Muslim sect or that Muslim sect is right about who the true descendants of Muhammad really are, and all of the members of the opposite sect must be destroyed to make a perfect world (along with all of the other infidels as well)."
. . . "Either you follow our dictates exactly or you go to hell."
. . . "We are the only ones who know the perfect way to live."
Instability is marked constantly by talking about and focusing on an endless series of "either-or's"; stability follows the understanding of neti-neti.
What are some of the dilemmas you have faced that are nothing more than conceptualized, dualistic "problems"? What experiences have you had where you were trapped in the “too-this and too-that and just right” mentality that was displayed by the child Goldilocks who could only be pleased if everything was “just right”?
What marks and mars the manifestation?
Is it not this imposing guest called "consciousness" which has come without invitation and that stays long after any joy it brought has faded? Is it not also those companions which it always brings along for the visit, namely, desire and fear?
Is it not also the inability to see clearly when all of those guests block your view?
Maharaj: "The obstacles to the clear perception of one's true being are desire for pleasure and fear of pain. It is the pleasure-pain motivation that stands in the way."
How can those "obstacles" possibly be removed, though, if the object of pleasure one day is "A" but the next day is anything but 'A' " or if the object of pleasure one minute is "B" but the next minute is anything but 'B' "?
Stability must precede peace; a no-drama, no-histrionic, no-unpredictability, no-insanity manner of peace cannot manifest in the absence of stability.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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