TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS
Why else might persons undertake the task of (1) understanding the Ultimate Sickness and (2) per Maharaj, its key symptoms of "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" and (3) then seek the effective version of the Ultimate Medicine to be free of that sickness and those symptoms?
Because (A) persons who are sick cannot really and truly enjoy any aspect of their existence because (B) the symptoms will color every fabric of their lives in the darkest and most dreadful colors. That will include the fabric of their "relationships," of their business or financial decisions, of their sexual encounters and the number of children they will have as well as the fabric of their social encounters and entanglements and the quality of their health decisions (or lack thereof) and the fabric of their work experiences (or lack thereof).
Persons can (and do) run from the Ultimate Sickness but they can never hide from its symptoms. They can only either suffer or find the Medicine required to be freed from the symptoms once and for all.
The symptoms can inspire persons to prostitute themselves or - more often - to behave in a manner which has been characterized as that of "lifestyle whores" (be they male or female users of other people). Those types use their looks and bodies to manipulate persons to pay their bills. Often, they marry, but they marry someone whom they only claim to "love" in order to have their bills paid and to have a "privileged lifestyle which they perceive to be superior to that of others."
It has been shared here that a friend who is a therapist has explained to some clients who think that "hooking some other person" is a viable plan for financial well-being or is a viable plan for attaining happiness and fulfillment. Many of those types time and again enter into such relationships, only to return to the counselor time and again to report that - once more - their most recent relationship failed and has left them feeling miserable again and needy again.
With those types, the therapist sometimes introduces to them the name she gives to the syndrome which is driving them, namely, "The Broken Picker Syndrome" which results in persons ignoring all of the red warning flags which were obvious to others and then repeatedly picking the sickest persons as partners while believing that they have finally found "the one" - the one who is going to provide the financial support or emotional support or love or caretaking which is being sought.
The result? They find each time, in the end, that their game plan has proved once more to have been flawed.
The therapist also points out that many of those whose relative existence is being self-sabotaged by the use of a broken picker do not lack intelligence.
Intelligence is neither a preventive nor a treatment for the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness. While intelligence might be used to eliminate the symptom of "ignorance," it has no curative power over "stupidity"; moreover, it provides no restorative treatment for "insanity." It cannot return persons to the mental state which they were in prior to having been programmed, conditioned etc. to be insane.
Over the years, I have sat face-to-face or Skype-screen-to-Skype-screen or have conducted telephone dialogues with thousands of people. Some of them were certainly clever enough, some were intelligent, some were highly intelligent, some were brilliant, and some on IQ tests had been shown to be geniuses.
What else did they share in common, in addition to their intellectual aptitudes? The "stupidity" and "insanity" which Maharaj referenced, as evidenced - they have admitted - by "a lifetime of making one stupid choice or one stupid decision after another" and by "committing one insane act after another."
The first thing addressed with them?
They never made a stupid choice or decision because persons who are being driven - as those intelligence persons were - have no ability to choose. As much as many of them argued that point, the fact is that the agendas of personality identifications are all hidden and subconscious, so those persons have never been aware of why they say what they say and do what they do. They have understood neither their actual motives not the driving forces behind their thoughts and words and actions because those motives and forces are hidden from all except the very few that are fully awake and aware.
Prior to realization (which is, according to Maharaj, nothing more than the act of finally seeing truth and thus being freed from ignorance) a battery of IQ tests in school over the years confirmed what many teachers shared with my parents: "We have suspected all along that Floyd has an above-average intelligence level, which these test results show, but he is just too rebellious and uninterested to get on board and accept what we are trying to teach him and achieve at the level which we know he is capable of."
[Of course the case was, as is the case with many children, that they were boring the hell out of me with their silly rules and the nonsensical concepts they were promoting.]
Later, as I was moved farther and farther away from the wisdom which Grandmother had shared during my early years, my intelligence became a moot issue as I became driven more and more by the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness and engaged in some of the most ignorant and truly stupid and - many times - downright insane actions imaginable.
The use of a broken picker resulted in one missed opportunity after another to see the fallacy of the "love is blind" maxim and to see that the relevant truth is that "love is color blind" (again, causing persons to ignore the red flags which were obvious to everyone else and to enter into unhealthy "relationships" anyway).
That blindness also led me to enter into "business relationships" with partners who were perceived to be wise and honest (while proving later that they were actually foolish and crooked) and into "personal relationships" with partners who were perceived at the time to be kind and gentle and ideal (while proving later to be mean as hell sociopaths and raving lunatics. See? Insanity can be a magnet for insanity).
The Sickness, prior to realization, rendered me incapable of differentiating the real from the false, and any intelligence which was stored in the brain was superseded by the "ignorance and stupidity and insanity" which were stored in the mind (a mind which was controlled by the ignorant and stupid and insane results of ignorant and stupid and insane programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and brainwashing and indoctrination).
Maharaj said: "I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.”
That is the beauty of realization: it removes the unquestioning, blind faith which prevents seeing clearly, seeing the false, and seeing the truth and then allows one to be free of the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness.
It is, therefore, by my "own experience" of having been freed from an attachment to unquestioning blind faith that I can report that the realization process can (in many cases) break the chains of ignorance and stupidity and insanity which are the means by which the masses are held in mental and emotional bondage.
And that is why the roots of instability and insanity are being discussed.
So, the next topic of discussion is
INSTABILITY / INSANITY: Assuming the Role of "The Parent" or "The Child," Part "A
continuing via excerpts from the book Instability / Insanity: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot Address):
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj said that science would someday advance far enough to support both technically and systematically - as well as logically - the teachings of non-duality.
To that end, where science has advanced to that level and can be used to support the teachings of non-duality, they are shared here with seekers.
Because most of what persons on the planet call their "problems" are actually rooted in personality - and because sages for thousands of years have known that and have thus invited seekers to be free of the subconscious motivating factors that come with personality - the same invitation is offered here, regularly.
The more seekers understand about personality and how it functions (and how it "dys-functions") and how it robs them of choice by determining unconsciously their thoughts and words and deeds, the better the chance of ultimately becoming freed from such influence.
In addition to the nine basic personality types (or ego-states, false identities, motivating roles, personas, etc.), the next discussion will include three more: "The Parent," "The Adult" and "The Child"(P-A-C). Why?
Because the first two roles are major contributors to the instability and insanity which are now so widespread around the globe.
While each of those roles is usually associated with a particular "age-range," they are not age-specific at all. For example, many who are child-aged are being forced to assume "The Parent" role in an effort to help a suffering parent, such as when "The Mother" or "The Wife" "loses" "The Husband" who was also "The Father."
(The result of role-reversal in that scenario is that the child adopts the Type Two Personality of "The Helper," "The Rescuer," or "The Savior" and attracts only needy types or user types throughout the relative existence).
Additional evidence that the P-A-C roles are not age-specific is the fact that most persons who are "adult-age" on this planet actually act as if they are children. Why?
Recall that personality is formed by the age of six. Note that personality subconsciously determines thoughts and words and deeds. So any "adult-aged" person who has not become freed from the subconscious drive of personality will often behave as a six-year old.
Dr. Eric Berne studied the three ego-states of "The Parent," "The Adult" and "The Child" and developed a theory of personality around those three, seeing that all (non-Realized) persons - trapped as most are in those personas - will think, talk, and behave as one or the other of those ego-states (or as any of the three at any given time).
As a theory of personality, he described how people are structured psychologically, using the P-A-C model to do so and allowing the model to help explain how persons function and express their personality via their thoughts and their words and their behaviors.
[He actually revised Freud's teaching about the human psyche being composed of the id, the ego, and the superego and suggested that the three ego-states of P-A-C were largely shaped through childhood experiences, as are all personas / personalities.]
Berne noted that unhealthy childhood experiences can lead to persons being pathologically fixated in "The Child" and / or "The Parent" ego-states, bringing discomfort or misery and suffering to an individual (and to those dealing with that individual). The psychological problems generated by assumption of "The Child" and / or "The Parent" roles can manifest in a variety of forms, including many types of personality disorders which can lead to full-blown mental illness.
Berne considered how individuals interact with one another, and how the P-A-C ego-states affect each set of transactions.
Unproductive or counterproductive transactions (relatively speaking) were considered to be signs of ego-state problems, as is the case with the non-duality teachings.
Berne saw that virtually everyone has something problematic to deal with because of their assumption of a variety of ego-states, and he saw that assuming "The Child" or "The Parent" role was especially detrimental. Why?
Those functioning in what he called "The Adult" mode or manner will observe, witness objectively, process, and will choose options that are rooted in reason and sanity; additionally, they are generally calm and are free of chaos and instability and drama and histrionics;
they are logical; they are in touch with their feelings but are non-emotional and (again, relatively speaking) they are non-self-defeating and non-self-destructive.
None of that is the case with those being driven by "The Child" or "The Parent."
To see by contrast the traits of "The Child and or "The Parent" is to understand why those two types generate such instability and insanity and chaos. No matter their chronological age, persons driven subconsciously by "The Child" must talk and even dominate all conversations in order to continue to “exist”;
must create noise, hating the silence;
will want to be indulged and even spoiled; will try to manipulate; and will want to be taken care of, believing that they are entitled and - as a result - missing out on independence and total freedom because they create dependencies and co-dependencies with "A Caretaker" or "A Rescuer" Type, only to find out later what controlling persons those types are.
Additionally, one assuming "The Child" role, even when adult-aged, will try to get as much as possible; will whine and complain; will internalize anger and depression; will hide by isolating, by avoiding truth, by not communicating openly; and will make statements instead of asking questions.
These types will never really feel "okay," will be sad, will be uptight, will be conforming (at least outwardly when it suits them); will be withdrawn; will be defensive; will be insecure; and will be overly-serious and humorless.
How much chaos and instability and insanity will all of that generate?
How much fun are those types to be around?
Next, those driven subconsciously by "The Parent" also must talk to “exist”; will talk down to others; will use sarcasm; will scold; will judge; will criticize; will try to control and bully and dominate; and will make statements instead of asking mature questions.
Overall, therefore, these types will be hyper-critical, domineering, controlling, fault-finding, judgmental, sarcastic, blaming, and shaming.
How much chaos and instability and insanity will all of that generate? How much fun are those types to be around?
The alternative?
Functioning in "an adult-like mode" that does not have to talk and that can enjoy the silence; that engages others from a mature level; that asks questions rather than constantly directing or manipulating others with statements; that speaks to others as equals; and, again, that is calm, free of chaos, free of instability, and free of drama and histrionics;
that are logical; sane; stable;
that are in touch with their feelings but are non-emotional and (again, relatively speaking) non-self-defeating and non-self-destructive; that are capable of loving / Loving unconditionally (as opposed to "The Parent" types who love conditionally and, thus, not at all; and as opposed to "The Child" types who love only self).
How much chaos and instability and insanity will all of that generate? How much fun are those types to be around?
Additionally, the P-A-C roles reinforce the other basic personality types and the other assumed personas that humans adopt, creating via personality even greater barriers and obstacles to Truth and freedom and peace and stability and sanity. That will be discussed tomorrow.
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.
