TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS
This was shared yesterday:
Seekers reach understandings in a variety of manners, some by listening; some by reading; some by using a "hands-on," more active approach. There are those who feel a need to take no action to move beyond the darkness and into the light and to a state of liberation and happiness. There are others who are more oriented toward actions. (That should not last.)
Here, decades of doingness and action-taking produced no results. Awareness came in two stages, first when lying calmly on the floor of a lakeside condo when a vision came after entering into a theta state and, secondly, while lying on a love seat and contemplating pointers from that earlier vision which came during that theta state in the condo.
More is offered regarding ways to be free of psychic disintegration and relative destructiveness in the book entitled LIBERATION (Attaining Freedom from Personality Via Realization):
Nine Relative Existence Actions Which Can Help Shift Personas from Unhealthy Stages of Disintegration to Liberation (continued)
The first suggested actions 1 through 8 were shared yesterday. Action 9 deals with the vision referenced yesterday:
Action Nine
Read the following condensed description of a vision:
Envision yourself standing at one end of an open field in a very remote area. At the far end of the field is the edge of a forest. See yourself moving across the field and toward the woods. As you walk closer to the edge of the forest, see a gap in the trees that allows clear access to a trail. Follow that path through the woods, noticing the sounds along the way.
Walk until you reach the side of a small creek bed. Turn to the right and see yourself walking along the bank of a “branch,” one of those small, usually V-shaped mini-gorges, cut into the ground ten to twelve feet at its deepest, not as much by rainwater as by constantly flowing springs that surface from below.
Observe an emerald-green moss that covers the walls and the bed; it seems to shine with a luminescence in spite of the fact that the thickness of the overhead foliage prevents much sunlight from striking the creek bed or the sides of the chasm.
The earthen walls look rough-edged, for stones jut out all along the way, their tips exposed by years of erosion. Colors typical of the region come into view along the way: earth-tones, rust-colors, and sometimes blackness, but always brightened by the ever-present grayish and fluorescent-green moss.
As you parallel the edge of the creek on the beginning of this journey, see yourself reaching a place where the land slopes sharply, and the watery swath cut into the earth follows the oblique contour of the land. Next to the slanting branch rests a series of natural, sandstone steps descending to a granite arch twice the height of a human. From the arch shines a pure white light. An illumination this bright should easily blind you, but instead it soothes you. It seems to spotlight the steps, and as you move down the stones, first your feet and then your legs and then your torso become bathed in the glow.
Eventually, by the time you reach the dead-flat area at the bottom of the natural walkway, you stand before the arch, and the luxuriance of the light baths you fully in its warmth. The clear spring waters from the branch flow through the archway, and you follow. Stepping inside, you look over your shoulder to see that your physical body has remained outside the arch. You sense some degree of separation from the material.
When you turn to see where the arch has led, you notice that the spring waters have suddenly multiplied into a slow-moving stream. The stream runs the length of a plateau and then cascades over the edge at the far end. You will soon see that the waters drop from the highland and then flow, in waterfall fashion, down the cliff side and into a pool some twenty feet below. Trees line either side of the stream, and you begin walking through them toward the sounds of the water crashing below.
Astonished, you noticed that you are literally walking through the trees.
As you progress, fauna of several species join you: a black bear rubs against your leg in the manner of a docile housecat; a cougar does the same on the opposite side, and each playfully swats at the other as if to proclaim dominion over both of your legs; a lamb skips along ahead as a heron brings up the rear. He walks as if on stilts, taking more time than needed, looking rather judgmentally, it seems, at the wasting of energy by his peers.
As you near the edge of the cliff, you walk across the top of the water, not becoming wet at all; your new companions either lead or follow.
As you approach the left side of the plateau, the animals nudge you toward a winding walkway of sorts, cut from the stone side of the cliff naturally, definitely not made by man. After swinging down and around and back to your right, you find yourself on a level piece of ground jutting out from the side of the cliff.
You see that a pond is overflowing, part of its waters cascading down the cliff side and pooling in another flat below.
That same pattern repeats itself until the waters reach a level valley. You watch the falling waters eventually form a river that winds its way across the desert basin. Along the river has sprung up a variety of shade trees. All else appears brown and dry.
Then in the far distance, hills grow into mountains. In the forefront arise huge columns of stone, cathedral-like, forming spires of varying shapes and heights. The colors vibrate with life, offering images of the blues and oranges and browns and beiges like those of Venetian palazzos when reflected in the waters of the Grand Canal.
In the far distance to the left stand even grander mountain ranges. Puffy clouds float slowly across the sky.
You focus attention on a fire burning next to the pool, and you feel yourself being nudged there by the bear, nudged in a very persuasive way. Then, from behind the cougar lifts its front paws onto your shoulders, forcing you into a cross-legged, seated position before the campfire. Finally, all four animals form a semi-circle around you, from your left side, behind you, and to your right.
Looking at the animals quizzically, you notice that each is focusing on an object in the distance.
Allowing your eyes to follow the path of theirs, see a bird of some kind flying directly at you, drawing nearer by the second. Its speed accelerates as it moves dart-like across the skies, aimed at your chest like an avian arrow. Yet you feel very calm. As the bird approaches closer and closer, you extend your arms and, with the sides of your hands touching and your palms up, you form a landing area for the fowl.
A raven, the bird of death that comes from the spiritual realm, now slows as it approaches even nearer.
Why had you not made that association between spirit and death and this bird? It swoops upward to curb its flight and, with only a slight, backwards fluttering of wings, settles gently into your outstretched hands. The other fauna watch but do not react.
The bird stares at you, and you at the bird. You sense the bird drawing forth something from within you that is flowing out via your eyes and moving directly into the eyes of the bird.
You watch as the bird leaves, but you feel as if you have left and that your mind has stayed behind. A second degree of separation you seem to detect.
The raven soars over the valley, flying high, then flying low, and then flying high again. Its spirit is high. Soon, it makes a direct course for the mountains, for it us driven to try to reach the mountaintop. You no longer watch from the cliff but see everything below through the eyes of the raven.
After missing the mountaintop, the raven passes beyond and begins a fast descent toward an ocean which has come into view just after topping the peak. The raven begins to dive lower, and lower, and lower yet.
Suddenly, the spiritual exuberance of the high-flying raven seems to be unraveling into an imminent and deadly crash against the ocean’s surface.
Following a huge impact—one that you take to be the end of you—the waters first splash upwards from the collision and then fall back into the ocean. Ultimately, the waves settle, and the sea surface smooths out to a mirror finish.
Before he came to understand that the Ultimate Sickness is a mental, psychological illness, Maharaj followed the guidance from his guru and the example set by earlier and contemporary "sages." Almost all of those offered up one of the two popular versions of the Ultimate Medicine which included either (1) a Hinduism / non-dual compound or (2) a spirituality / non-dual compound.
After he came to see that the Sickness is actually a mental sickness and came to see that neither of the popular versions was providing a lasting, permanent remedy for the Sickness, he finally diagnosed properly the real cause of humankind's problems; wisely, he saw that the Sickness was centered in the mind, so he turned to a third method to use as a treatment for the Ultimate Sickness - a treatment which focused on addressing the real cause of humanity's problems which are seated in the minds of masses.
Here is what he finally realized:
Where are body and mind and personality identifications stored? In the heart? No. In the gut? No. In a soul? No. In the minds of the billions of "non-realized" persons on planet earth? Yes. Absolutely, yes.
So consider: What might the pointers in the part of the vision shared above reveal about false identifications and becoming freed from their influence? What are the beginning steps of the "journey" which moves via enlightenment and realization to liberation which - in turn - allows persons to finally be free and, thereafter, happy?
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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