TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
CAUSES (con't.)
Another Cause - Emoting Instead of Feeling and Witnessing / Emotional Intoxication
10. Some humans have long dreamed of a "perpetual motion machine," a hypothetical machine which can do work indefinitely without an energy source, allowing the motion of bodies to continue indefinitely and thereby providing businesses and individuals with huge financial savings by having a free energy source.
(Compare that with the desires of slave owners in the U.S. in the 18th and 19th centuries who were willing to fight a war with the government in order to continue to reap their huge financial savings by having a free energy source. One-hundred-and-fifty-years later, millions of persons in the South cannot put away their rebel flags and get over the fact that the slaves were freed after General Lee surrendered to the Union General Grant. How entrenched is their continuing anger over the government "interfering" with their businesses and costing them money?
1. That anger is still reflected in the platform which outlines the agenda of one of the major political parties in the U.S., namely, "to eliminate government regulation and oversight of businesses and "to allow the free market to rule"
and
2. A man living nearby was heard to say recently that " the problem with the blacks in the U.S. can be traced back to the fact that Abraham Lincoln freed them." Think not that that belief is rare in the U.S. Moreover, humans at the top of national hierarchies all around the globe and all throughout history have longed for free labor, making slavery and worker abuse and anti-union sentiments among the oldest results of hierarchies).
Of course a perpetual motion machine is an impossible dream because friction and other energy-dissipating processes would make any such machine eventually stop functioning. The closest thing to a perpetual motion machine in existence nowadays is the Ultimate Sickness because
1. its causes are constantly being set into motion
and
2. because those causes usually continue to function indefinitely
and
3. because causes will generate symptoms and then those symptoms will feed more causes.
With the Ultimate Sickness, for example, "A" can cause symptom "B," and then symptom "B" can cause effect "C," and then "C" perpetuates another cause, call it "cause "D." The process goes on and on, constantly transmitting the Sickness. It is near-endless, and that is why Maharaj predicted that only a few people on planet earth at any given moment will "get" the cure that he was offering by way of the Ultimate Medicine.
[By the way, his version of the Medicine changed over the years from a religion / non-duality compound to a spirituality / non-duality compound to a non-duality / psychological compound. The changes came after he came to understand that the Sickness is a mind sickness, not a spiritual malady and not a too-little-dogma sickness].
So, among the Sick masses, causes can produce symptoms, and symptoms can cause more - and even more serious - problems associated with the Sickness. It is not unlike a woman in her late 80's who had to have a stent placed in a kidney, but the result was that she was laid up for so long after the surgery that she almost died from the pneumonia which developed, caused by her having been left bedridden by the surgery.
So consider:
One of the causes of the Ultimate Sickness mentioned yesterday (the Assignment and / or Acceptance of False Identifications / of Personalities) generates problematic symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness and then, in turn, generates another cause (namely, Emoting Instead of Feeling and Witnessing and Thereby Becoming Emotionally Intoxicated).
Personas emote. The "realized" feel. All emoting / emotions are rooted in the agendas and fears and desires of personalities. no personality assumption . . . no emoting.
Thus, the "non-"realized"" will emote. To emphasize, the ""realized"" will feel without emoting. That is, the ""realized"" feel, but only those trapped in an ego-state will emote.
Moreover, emoting prevents both nonalignment as well as the fashion of functioning which happens from the position of neutrality which is commonplace among the "realized"; feeling do not interfere with nonalignment and neutrality.
The fully "realized," while exempt from the insanity of emotions, are not exempt from feelings. The "why?" has been explained this way:
The fully "realized," while exempt from the insanity of emotions, are not exempt from feelings because they do not dissociate; they do not become non-attached in the way that sociopaths do; they are not so isolated from "life" that they never rub up against the darkness of the relative existence; and they do not become unaffected by the happenings in the relative existence by escaping into the detachment of the type experienced by psychotics who mentally move into "a different world."
Of course the "realized" see the heaviness of the darkness, but they know that it is the light only that can bring the incredible sense of lightness. How could the bringer of light not know the darkness? Just as the peacemaker does not go where there is peace, the light giver does not go where there is already light.
And the seeker of the light is either
(a) in the darkness or
(b) in the light but unaware of the light.
And some can
(c) become so sure that they have "gotten it" that they never complete the entire "journey" into the full light
while others might
(d) take a detour that then drives them to become judging and / or self-judging and critical or self- critical; some will then enter the gloomy darkness of guilt or the miserable shadows of shame.
Understand that guilt comes if you think you DID something that was "bad"; shame comes if you conclude that you ARE bad. Neither conclusion can be drawn if non-duality is understood. But if those "detours" come, what then? What advice did Maharaj offer that can be relevant when such detours occur? And what words did he use to explain exactly how the nonaligned status of the "realized" looks "in action"?
Maharaj: "Let things happen as they happen - they will sort themselves out nicely in the end. You need not strain towards the future - the future will come to you on its own. For some time longer you will remain sleep-walking, as you do now, bereft of meaning and assurance; but this period will end and you will find your work both fruitful and easy. If you are afraid, the state may be distressing; but there is really nothing to be afraid of. Remember the instruction: whatever you come across - go beyond."
What is it that persons "come across" that must be "gone beyond"? A countless number of relative happenings that might - at first glance - seem to have brought back the darkness, which triggers (in turn) the self-destructive drive of emotions that lead to obsessing which leads to the insanity of behaving compulsively and then to the most insane behaviors imaginable. What is beyond such chaos-generating emotionalism?
Hardness? Coldness? Feeling nothing? Being robotic? No.
What is beyond is feeling without becoming emotionally-intoxicated and then being driven to behave blindly, without logic or reason, entering into risky behavior to try to manipulate external sources to do what a person thinks is needed to alleviate whatever is being feared at the moment or whatever is generating depression or anger at the moment.
Thus, the fully "realized" will not emote, but they will feel. Feeling is normal and natural; emoting is abnormal and unnatural. When feelings arise, the "realized" watch them rise and fall. When emotions arise among the non-"realized" (or among those on "a detour") senseless actions will be taken.
So, is the answer to "feel only but do not emote?" No.
Feeling without emoting is but a way station on the path to sanity and freedom and peace because feelings that do not rise and fall but linger instead can - in the end - interrupt sanity and freedom and peace almost as much as unchecked behaviors that are being driven by emotionalism.
First, witness the insanity of persons who are running head-long into entanglements or relationships that produce newly-assumed ego-states (which always generate emotional intoxication).
Then witness the way that the fears and anger and depression that personality can generate will remove any self-preserving sanity and can drive one into a "full speed ahead" approach to life (and death) that is typical among the masses.
To see the difference in feeling vs. emoting, recall the buck and the doe that certainly seemed to be feeling sadness when dealing with the event of a still-birth outside the window of this office. When it was seen that the fawn would not be rising and walking away with them, something strong was being felt.
But they did not become emotionally intoxicated.
They did not lower their heads and run as fast and as hard as possible into one of the trees in this yard, hurting or killing themselves as a result of being insane because they entered a state of emotional intoxication.
No. They remained still, and then eventually they moved on. So emotions are unnatural, always generated by the illusion of personality; feelings, on the other hand, are natural.
Does that mean that as long as you do not emote, it is recommend to feel constantly?
Absolutely not. Here, joy is felt at times, but to believe that joy-only can be felt 24 / 7 would be as insane as the behaviors that follow the manifestation of emotionalism.
Here, sadness is felt at times, but to believe it is fine to feel sadness 24/7 would be as insane as the behaviors that follow the manifestation of emotionalism.
Feelings rise and fall. Some feel "good" and some feel "horrible," and that very duality should show that feeling any single feeling for an extended period is dualistic and therefore unnatural.
Emoting guarantees misery; extended feeling can eventually bring misery as well.
Psychologists suggest that those with psychic health can process an unhealthy emotion or an unhealthy feeling in about fifteen minutes.
The tool used by Advaitins for such prompt processing is the "WHO cares?" question. Which persona is driving what? Anger, depression, and fear can all be emotions when driven by personalities; they will seldom be processed.
While moving along the "path," if anger, depression, or fear arises, ask "WHO is in fear?"
Might it be "The Unemployed One" who thinks that he is dying because "The Employer" has just declared that he / she must leave the workplace with a final check in hand?
WHO is depressed? "The Lonely One" who believes that happiness is an outside job and can only come if "The Right Person" comes along, the right person being the one showing up and bringing along loads of money or sex appeal or the status of a higher lifestyle? WHO is angry? "The Abandoned Spouse"?
WHO-ness always generates misery; realization allows for feeling without emoting.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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