TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
• There are specific "reasons" which cause persons to think obsessively and to behave compulsively
• and which renders them unable to relax
• and which lead them to be driven to go and do and zoom (whether that involves religion; spirituality; employment; "personal relationships"; politicking; reforming; rescuing; seeking love; seeking mass approval and applause and admiration; trying to escape responsibilities; accumulating; finding caretakers; or controlling).
• We are looking at what causes the reasons to manifest
• and what must happen in order to be freed from their influence.
As we investigate the ways by which persons can be freed from being driven subconsciously by those "reasons," one way that has been mentioned is "seeing," specifically, "seeing differently" by witnessing all from a totally different perspective.
In the Far East, there have been voices which spoke from the standpoint of the universal consciousness, such as "the later Maharaj," and there are a few of those voices which are speaking now in a variety of places which are often the last place that some might expect.
For example, some have seen the irony of the fact that the back wall of a flat in Bombay where a non-dual teacher was offering a "you are not your body" message was also the back wall of a brothel which was operating on the adjacent street in a flat which butted up against Maharaj's apartment. The message being offered by his neighbors in that other flat was, "You are your body" and "I am my body." See? The non-dual message has often been offered in the unlikeliest of places.
(As another example, remember the words of Andy Gugar, Jr. as he described what happened after he first discovered that I was offering satsanga in a house that was only a couple of hours drive from his home: "I began investigating this guy, wondering who he thought he was to be posting pointers about Advaita. He was not even from the Far East. Worse, my investigation uncovered the fact that this guy lived in Texas!")
That said, there is a third example of another seemingly unlikely place where the non-dual message is being offered, and it too is in Texas, specifically, in Austin, Texas.
As some are aware, only a few other than Maharaj are quoted here. One who has been quoted is Yeshu'a (called "Jesus" by those who do not know the name he was called during his lifetime), but none of his words which were rooted in his Jewish programming, conditioning, etc. are mentioned.
What is shared on occasion, and in the book The Non-Dual Pointers Offered by Yeshu'a ("Jesus the Christ"), are the words he offered during the last few years of the manifestation when he was sharing certain Advaitin teachings.
Presently, the only ordained minister that is quoted here is the pastor of the progressive church my daughter and her family attend on occasion, namely, Dr. Jim Rigby, because his messages often contain certain non-dual pointers.
As we look for a different perspective in order to be free of living under the influence of the 68 "reasons" discussed in this series, we can look to Jim and some words he shared recently:
"When we look around ourselves, we can recognize ourselves in the non-self elements, like a father looking at his children can see himself in his children . . . can see his continuation in his children. So he is not attached to the idea that his body is the only thing that is him. He's more than his body. He is inside of his body but he is also at the same time outside of his body in many elements.
"And if we have the habit of looking like that, we will not be the victim of our attachment to one form of manifestation, and we will be free. And that freedom makes happiness and peace possible. Other than meditation, is there any specific practice that can help you come to this understanding? Yes. The Buddha advised us to bear in mind that everything is impermanent, that nothing has an absolute entity that remains the same.
"And when we keep that insight in mind, we can see more deeply into the nature of reality, and we will not be locked in the notion that we are only this body. In fact, because nothing can be by itself alone, no one can be by himself or herself alone. Everyone has to inter-be with everyone else. That is why, when you look outside, around you, you can see yourself."
See? Simple. A simple message of non-duality coming from the pulpit of a non-traditional church that is non-traditional because the messages offered there are non-traditional and often include - as did Yeshu'a's talks during his last years - a non-dual message as well.
[Link to other Jim Rigby writings]
So, to continue:
Persons obsess, act compulsively, are unable to relax, are fanatical, are driven by subconscious motives, and do whatever authority figures tell them to do - unquestioningly - because of reason #9: because of their obsession-driven pleasure-seeking and their escapism-driven avoidance and dissociation and detachment and evasion.
The causes behind reason #9:
PERSONALITY INFLUENCES, ESPECIALLY FROM TYPES ONE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, AND NINE
Of the nine basic personality types which all persons exhibit, Type One (The Perfectionist) most often displays the Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder; Type Four (The Romantic) can display a tendency to isolate or escape if not in touch with authenticity; Type Five (The Analyst, The Knower, The Knowledge Gatherer) can also isolate and retreat into her or his studies;
the Type Six can try to escape the responsibilities of the relative existence by finding co-dependent caretakers or other persons or institutions or groups or organizations on whom or on which they can be dependent; the Type Seven can develop an Addictive Personality Disorder and can be into escapism; and the Type Nine can often retreat and isolate and withdraw as well.
The reason that sages have long encouraged abandonment of all personality identification is because they have been aware of the impact of being driven by the subconscious agendas and fears and desires of personality, of false identities.
Next, persons obsess, act compulsively, are unable to relax, are fanatical, are driven by subconscious motives, and do whatever authority figures tell them to do - unquestioningly - because of reason #10: persons' egotism-supported ego-states love the adulation that is heaped upon anyone who is supposedly being "The Super Seeker" or "The Deep and Wise and Philosophical One" or "The Great Ideologue" or "The Super Religious One" or "The Spiritual Giant."
The causes behind reason #10:
PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION / EGO-STATES ASSIGNED AND ASSUMED / EGOTISM
Those three have been explained earlier.
Next, persons obsess, act compulsively, are unable to relax, are fanatical, are driven by subconscious motives, and do whatever authority figures tell them to do - unquestioningly - because of reason #11: the masses have lost the ability to choose whether or not to follow no end "paths"; have lost the ability to choose whether or not to engage in a life-long "journey" which never reaches the destination; and have lost the ability to choose whether or not to settle for a life-long treatment plan which offers no cure.
The causes behind reason #11:
AGAIN, PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION
Each personality assigned or assumed operates on a subconscious level, not unlike the way that a program can be running in the background on your computer without your being aware of that fact at all.
Because personality operates in the background of consciousness, and because personality determines every thought which persons think, every word which persons say, and every action which persons take, then their thoughts and words and actions are being controlled and determined by forces which they are not even aware of.
When something that one is unaware of is controlling and determining what is thought and said and done, then there is no way that any conscious choices can be made; yet egotism will not allow any "non-realized" persons to admit that he or she is incapable of making conscious choices.
To be free of such forces, persons must first become aware of such forces and then they must take the steps which are required to abandon all personal identifications if they would be free of the effects of reason #11 and the effects of the other 67 reasons which are unconsciously driving them as well.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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