MAHARAJ AND RELIGION'S ANTI-SCIENCE STANCE, Part Nineteen

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path used by Maharaj] 

THE RATIONALE FOR REACHING A "NO-BELIEF," "ZERO CONCEPTS," "NO MIND" STATE, AS RECOMMENDED BY MAHARAJ,

  and then

ABIDING UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE ELEMENTAL BRAIN RATHER THAN THE DISTORTED, FICTION-FILLED MIND, 

PART TWO 

ONE "-ISM" WHICH HAS BEEN AT THE ROOT OF CONTROL, CHAOS, SEPARATION, DIVORCE, "INTERPERSONAL" FIGHTING, POLITICAL FIGHTING, STATES FIGHTING, AND NATIONS FIGHTING / WAR: 

"Exceptionalism"

Of all of the "ism's," the one which likely has had the most longevity - and therefore the most influence on the course of human behavior and history - is "exceptionalism." 

Exceptionalism has been variously defined as a condition or a perception or a belief.

As a condition: "Exceptionalism is a condition of believing one is (or one's tribe or nation is) extraordinarily-incomparable or unique."

As a perception: "Exceptionalism is the perception that a particular race, species, country, society, institution, movement, individual, or time period is "exceptional" (i.e., unusual, excellent, special,) in some way. 

As a belief: "Exceptionalism is the belief that something, especially a nation, does not conform to a pattern or norm but rises far above the norm; or, the belief in being different from and better than the norm or the commonplace or the typical or 'all others'." 

Nowadays, the most prevalent use of the term comes from the U.S. where politicians and their followers speak regularly of "American Exceptionalism." Coming in just under the U.S. ranking for "Most Arrogant Nation" are the many countries where citizens have similar beliefs but have the taste and discipline to "think it without announcing it," such as the U.K. and Switzerland; then there are those who also made the most recent "Top Ten List of Most Arrogant Countries": Israel, India, Russia, China, Italy, North Korea, Argentina, Australia and Poland. 

It is not difficult to imagine the concept of exceptionalism developing alongside tribalism and alongside the hierarchies which were formed as certain of the nine basic personality types exerted their influence on the earliest communities or societies: 

Type Ones foster a sense of perfectionism as well as the sense of separation which comes with their arrogance-based judgmentalism. 

Type Twos generate a sense of being highly lovable. 

Type Threes generate a sense of deserving praise and adulation and admiration and entitlement and even worship. 

Types Six and Seven and Nine also foster the concept of entitlement and dependency and co-dependency and the sense that they deserve to be taken care of by others. 

Types Eights introduced the concept that a few should be in charge of the many, and - not unlike the case with a herd of rams or a troop of baboons - Personality Type Eights force the community to accept their belief that the biggest or strongest bully is the one who should be in charge. 

(The Type Fours were the ones looking at all of those types and who either dropped out mentally or who sought some way to isolate from those types or who finally left the tribe and went out on their own. What about you? Have you left your original tribe which endorsed the concept of exceptionalism or have you at least found a way to abide beyond their influence?) 

Using the words which came when the universal consciousness spoke via the one called "Maharaj," he went about the business of trying to annihilate the personality identifications assumed by his visitors along with all of their false sense of individuality and all of the false pride and warrantless arrogance which come when persons / personas accept false roles as identities and then upgrade those delusions to "Super" status: 

"Husband" eventually becomes "Super Husband" or "Wife" becomes "Super Wife," and while their beliefs about the role of "Spouse" only requires a "Spouse" to continue to "be," the upgraded roles require that the co-dependent, counterpart role-player in their lives be a "Super Spouse." 

"Wife" can get along fine with "Husband" for a spell, but once the self-upgrade kicks in, there comes with that the belief that "I am a 'Super Wife' and I deserve a 'Super Husband' and you are not a 'Super Husband' so I'm leaving you to find someone who can be." 

The same applies with the "Super Husband" who is convinced that he deserves a better wife (though that type less often leaves and simply has long-time affairs or short-term sexual liaisons on the side to satisfy the ego and the egotism which supports a belief in ego-states and what they think they deserve). 

So it is when spouses self-upgrade and become exceptional (in their own minds). 

And so it is when employers upgrade and become exceptional (in their own minds) and demand all kinds of special treatment from the "underlings" around them; hence, the longstanding instances of sexual harassment being exposed now and the longer-standing instances of beatings and rapes and killings which have dominated human history.

Maharaj's Take: 

"There are so many who take the dawn for the noon, a momentary experience for full realization and destroy even the little they gain by excess of pride." 

He warned against, "Spiritual pride." 

"Desires and tears, envies and anger, blind beliefs and intellectual arrogance pollute and dull the psyche." 

"The realized are egoless." 

"The realized do not see themselves as something special." 

Again, the realized Yoko Ono and the realized John Lennon wisely panned the attachment of the masses to their dreamed up . . .

"-isms, -isms, -isms." 

What about you? Have you given any consideration to the number of "-isms" which you were taught to love and respect and develop attachments to? 

To be continued.

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MAHARAJ AND RELIGION'S ANTI-SCIENCE STANCE, Part Eighteen

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path used by Maharaj] 

THE RATIONALE FOR REACHING A "NO-BELIEF," "ZERO CONCEPTS," "NO-MIND" STATE AS RECOMMENDED BY MAHARAJ AND THEN ABIDING UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE ELEMENTAL BRAIN RATHER THAN THE DISTORTED, FICTION-FILLED MIND, PART ONE 

WHAT MAHARAJ HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE TOPIC: 

"All illness begins in the mind." 

"Your confusion is . . . in your mind." 

"Whatever is conceived by the mind must be false, for it is bound to be relative and limited."
"Distrust your mind, and go beyond." 

"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which your mind creates." 

" . . . The mind obscures and distorts." 

"It is the mind that creates illusion." 

"There is no such thing as peace of mind. Mind means disturbance. Restlessness itself is mind."
"Don't rely on your mind for liberation. It is the mind that brought you into bondage. Go beyond it altogether." 

"Beyond the mind there is no suffering." 

So if the problem centers in the mind, and since a sick mind - obviously - cannot heal a sick mind, then what is the solution, per Maharaj? 

"Stop making use of your mind and see what happens." 

"Learn to separate yourself from the image and the mirror. Keep on remembering: I am neither the mind nor its ideas." 

"There is no such thing as mind. There are ideas . . . ." 

"Abandon the wrong ideas, for they are false and obstruct your vision . . . ." 

"The death of the mind is the birth of wisdom." 

"To know that you are a prisoner of your mind - that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation - is the dawn of wisdom." 

So what was his state in the end, the state which ultimately freed him and led to the birth of his wisdom? It was a no-mind state: 

"There is no such thing as a mind," period. 

"I have no mind . . . ." 

Want to be free of the mind? Maharaj advised: 

"Reach a state of zero-concepts." 

"As to my mind, I have no such thing. There is consciousness in which everything happens." 

"I am double dead: not only am I dead to my body, but to my mind, too." 

"I find I have lost the mind irretrievably." 

WHAT HE DID NOT SAY AT THE END: 

"Your confusion is a result of the fact that you have a spiritual malady and are not spiritual enough."
"Your confusion is a result of the fact that you have not completed the entire Self-Inquiry process." 

NOR DID HE SAY AT THE END:  

"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which comes from having accumulated too little knowledge of dogma.” 

"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which comes from people not being spiritual enough." 

"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which comes from not knowing the Supreme Self." 

NOR DID HE SAY AT THE END: 

"To know that you are a prisoner of your ignorance of religion and of your inadequate knowledge of dogma is the dawn of wisdom." 

"To know that you are a prisoner of your sick spirit and your spiritual malady is the dawn of wisdom." 

"To know that you are a prisoner of your insufficient understanding of the Supreme Self is the dawn of wisdom." 

My dad occasionally used a phrase to explain some human behaviors that we witnessed which seemed quite beyond the pale. Later, I would hear the same phrase while watching the movie Forrest Gump: 

"Stupid is as stupid does." 

Meaning? "Stupid people do stupid things." The take with Maharaj and the take here both differ from that view. 

It is true that humans operate along this continuum: 

Thoughts lead to words . . . words lead to actions; 

thus, the conclusion some draw is that "if I am seeing stupid actions on the part of someone, then I can trace it back to the stupid thoughts of that person."

But consider: some of the most intelligent persons behave in the most ignorant and / or insane and / or stupid fashion. 

Secondly, because there are no actual persons / personas - all false personalities and identities being products of the imagination and acculturation - then there cannot be any ignorant persons or stupid persons or insane persons. 

Some claim that Maharaj said there are ignorant persons and stupid persons and insane persons, but he did not. What he said in that regard is that "most suffer from the Ultimate Sickness" and that "three of the key symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness are ignorance, stupidity, and insanity." 

The fact: those called "humans" or "persons" are actually just triads - composite unities - made up of these three parts: (1) an elemental plant food body with (2) conscious-energy which is never more than temporarily-manifested in the body and (3) circulating oxygen. 

"Never more than temporarily manifested?" Exactly. Persons must eat food in order for a constantly-cycling supply of conscious-energy to be replenished and available. Whatever speck of conscious-energy is manifested today (29 November 2017) within the space formed by an elemental plant food body which most call "floyd" is not the same speck of conscious-energy which was manifested yesterday (28 November 2017) within the space and will not be the speck of conscious-energy which will be manifested tomorrow (30 November 2017) within the space, should the body still be functioning tomorrow. 

The delusion that one specific quantity of conscious-energy has been manifested in any given body since the so-called point of "birth" is a result of memory alone which generates the misperception of continuity. Were conscious-energy to operate in that fashion, then a parent would only need to feed a child one time.

So, there is no such thing as an ignorant person or a stupid person or an insane person, but there are billions of those who are trapped in the lie of body identification, who are trapped in the lie of mind identification, and who are trapped in the lie of personality identification, and to believe that one is his or her body is the height of ignorance, stupidity and insanity; 

to believe that the fiction and distortions and lies which are stored in one's mind are true is the height of ignorance, stupidity and insanity; to believe that one is actually defined and identified by the false personalities / personas / roles which have been assigned or assumed is the height of ignorance, stupidity and insanity; 

and the highest degree of insanity might well be to be driven - subconsciously and unconsciously - by the agendas and fears and desires of illusory identities.

Moreover, to have one's thoughts and words and actions controlled by the agendas of illusions is also the height of ignorance, stupidity and insanity.

On occasion, persons might see that they have been fooled and that one of their beliefs was a lie, at which point they toss aside that belief and replace it with another. That is tantamount to having one doctor remove cancerous cells from within your body but then allowing another doctor to implant other cancerous cells within your body. 

The sane approach would be to remove all cancerous cells and not replace them at all. 

The same applies to beliefs and to the mind in which they are stored.

To be continued.

NEW OFFER: 

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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.] 

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MAHARAJ AND RELIGION'S ANTI-SCIENCE STANCE, Part Seventeen

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

 “The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind.” 

--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, domesticated, indoctrinated, and brainwashed to believe so that you can be free from being "imprisoned in the mind." 

--Floyd Henderson 

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path used by Maharaj] 

Excerpts from the book entitled FREEDOM from BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers") will continue with the a discussion of the way that personality-invoking "-ism's" are another source which generates a plethora of distortion-riddled beliefs: 

"-ISM'S" and BELIEFS Rooted in Personality 

("-ism's," Part "D") 

1. There are those who are truly seeking peace. 

2. There are those who are not seeking peace because they are attached to control and are addicted to the excitement of chaos in an effort to relieve a dull existence of its tedium and boredom and depression and monotony. 

3. In an effort to escape monotony, both chaos and dualism seem appealing. 

4. For those truly seeking peace, it cannot happen unless one is freed from belief in and attachment to any "-ism." 

5. Nor can peace happen unless one is freed from belief in any false identity or role or personality or personas because they are the prerequisite for misery and the driving force behind all suffering. 

6. The peace / "-ism" dilemma is this: attachment to "-ism's" reinforces attachment to "-ism"-related personas, and "-ism"-related personas reinforce attachment to "-ism's." 

Example #1: "We are a helping, civilizing people when we invade nations with their backwards populations and share our advanced culture with them," which actually means "we have a history of imposing our high cultural standards upon lesser people to our economic advantage." 

To assume the role of "The Helping, Civilizing People" reinforces attachment to colonialism; colonialism reinforces the false belief that the invaders are "helping" and "civil." That is not unlike the parent who says, "I am disciplining you by whipping you because I love you" while the child is thinking, "Then just stop loving me, you ignorant ass. Your version of 'love' is killing me." 

Example #2: "We (Jews / Christians / Muslims) are the only ones whose beliefs are right" reinforces belief in and attachment to Judaism / Protestantism or Catholicism / Islamism. Attachment to Judaism / Protestantism or Catholicism / Islamism, in turn, reinforces the false belief that "I am a Jew" or "I am a Christian" or "I am a Muslim." 

Such beliefs, in turn, support duality and a sense of "separation from" and "better-than-ment" and "different-from-ness," and those concepts and false identities and drivers of attachment to "-ism's," in turn, have resulted in more murdering than any other single factor in human history. 

7. Attachment to "-ism's" will always nurture duality; distortion; illusion; delusion; learned ignorance; varying degrees of psychic unhealthiness as a result of personality disorders; a variety of neuroses; an assortment of psychoses and full-blown insanity; and the resulting inability to be in touch with reality or Reality either one. 

8. So, personality and "-ism's" work hand-in-hand to support each other and to nurture attachments and personality-assumption. 

9. Personality-assumption robs persons of the ability to choose thoughts and words and deeds and leaves persons at the mercy of the hidden agendas of personality (which is the root of all usually-unfounded-fears and all unmet-and-thus-frustrating desires). 

10. Fears and desires generate misery and suffering and rob persons of any chance of finding peace. 

11. To understand personality and which personalities are generating the personality-trance which traps persons in an endless cycle of misery-producing thoughts ("mind"-chatter) and which determines subconsciously all words and actions, the Enneagram provides a tool that can uncover the subconscious drivers of thoughts and words and deeds and can reveal - on an exact scale - the degree to which each assumed personality is driving a person. Thus, the tool that can assist seekers with seeing which personalities are driving them - and to what degree and with what consequences - was introduced yesterday. 

It was noted that Ichazo used Enneagram analysis to show seekers exactly how "the ego begins to develop, [how] there is a transition from objectivity to subjectivity, and [how humans] fall from essence into personality." Ichazo saw the Enneagram as a tool that can be used to examine specifics about the structure of essence and particularly about the ways in which the qualities of essence "become distorted, or contracted into states of ego." 

In developing his Enneagram theories, he drew upon the teachings regarding "the nine divine forms"; the teachings of Plato; the teachings of Plotinus; and teachings by early mystics who focused their studies on "the loss of the divine forms in ego consciousness" (those forms including tolerance, humility, sincerity, gratitude, non-attachment, courage, patience, temperance, and discernment). 

Therein lies the core Advaita message: when trapped in "an ego-state / personality consciousness" as opposed to being free as a result of awareness of the essence and the authenticity, then tolerance, humility, sincerity, gratitude, non-attachment, courage, patience, temperance, and discernment will never manifest during the AM-ness. 

The opposites of the "divine forms," in the course of their travels from Greece to Egypt over the course of a century, became distorted and reduced by religion to "seven deadly sins" which pointed at the means by which "the divine forms" became distorted into the so-called "sins" of anger, pride, envy, avarice, gluttony, lust, and sloth. 

Ichazo's non-dual message that was delivered with a focus on personality and "personality-driven defects" also drew from the teachings of the Kabbala, but his key contribution as far as Advaitins are concerned was in discovering how these "divine forms" and their corresponding distortions connected with the already-existing Enneagram symbol and with human thinking, feeling, and instinct. 

With that understanding, he showed how a person loses both awareness and the sense of pure presence, falling away from essence into the trance of the personality; how the loss of awareness becomes a person's ego-fixation; how the loss of contact with essence and authenticity eliminates tolerance, humility, sincerity, gratitude, non-attachment, courage, patience, temperance, and discernment; 

and how the loss of contact with the essence and the authenticity sets the stage for persons to be driven by their "characteristic passion" (or "passions" or "personality traits"), including wrath and resentment and anger; pride; deceit; melancholia and jealousy and envy; greed and avarice; panic and cowardice; conceit and gluttony; lust; and indifference or laziness. 

The link with the Advaita message is this: when one loses contact with the essence and with authenticity and falls into a personality trance, then the combined effects of (1) that loss of contact with the essence and authenticity and (2) the subsequent identification with body and mind and personality become so acute that the person's ego-states become preoccupied with recreating the contact. 

It is - at least in some cases - that "acute" search for contact with one's Original (Pure) Nature that drives persons to assume the role of "The Seeker." That would be fine except for the fact that - without a realized teacher as a guide or without being in touch with the inner guru - then the search unfolds in a totally futile and self-defeating way. 

The masses are engaged in that blind search for their essence and for an awareness of authenticity, but blocked from seeing clearly by the sources of ambiguity and duality (rooted in programming, domestication, conditioning, acculturation, indoctrination, brainwashing, and their personality trance), they know not what they seek; 

in most cases, their seeking ends at the third of seven steps on the seven-step "journey" from identification with the false "I" to abidance as the Absolute (the third step being where they assume the false identity of "The Religious One" or "The Spiritual One" or "The Realized One" and where their search becomes focus of seeking control and power); 

furthermore, the odds are slim that they will ever cross paths with a fully realized teacher that can reveal to them exactly what "that / That" is which they are "missing" and thus seeking; therefore, they will usually seek blindly or will be misled by their "leaders" or "big name teachers" - all of whom are equally blind. 

So it is, but so it need not be for those that have come this way and that accept what the Enneagram and the Advaitin teachings combined can reveal. It was noted earlier that "-ism's" support personality and personality supports belief in (and attachment to) "-ism's." 

Another example: Sinclair Lewis on one "-ism": "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." Were Lewis here nowadays (written six years ago), he could point to candidates in 2012 who would be the President of the United States and who are suggesting that women impregnated during a rape or as the result of an act of incest should not have the right to abort but should "make the best of a bad situation"; 

that homosexual acts - which are banned by state law in many states - should be declared illegal by national law as well; that birth control should be banned because it is inspiring "unacceptable sexual activities"; and that some persons have the right to marry but that the constitution should be amended to deny others the right to marry. 

In those cases, note the combination of "flag and the cross / Catholicism"; the cross / Catholicism and flag. Fascism that year manifesting precisely as predicted. Such is the toll of belief in the arrogance-based concepts perpetuated by "-ism's" and the blind acceptance of the desires of "-ism"-based personality / personalities. "-Ism's" and personas; personas and "-isms."

[Now, during the twelve months since the 2016 presidential election, the "-ism's" called "Republicanism," "white supreme-ism," and "Christian evangelism" have made the 2012 examples above appear to be rather tame by comparison. Nowadays, Lewis would have to modify his prediction to say, "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the U.S. flag, in the Nazi flag, in the 1860-era Battle Flag of the Confederacy, and carrying the Christian cross."

At play? Nazism and Revisionism. Fascism. Patriotism and Nationalism and Tribalism. Supreme-ism and Racism and Separatism. Anarchism and Terrorism. Christian Deconstructionism. Demagoguism and Scapegoatism. Emotionalism. Exceptionalism. Insurrectionism. And, of course, Dualism.]

Each supports the other in an endless cycle that encourages the reinforcement of persona-adoption, followed by a person attaching to the "-ism's" that reinforce the persona, followed by the "-ism's" reinforcing the belief that the persona is an actual identity, etc., etc., etc. 

To claim that "I am a patriot" is to create an attachment to the beliefs that any given culture suggests are evidence of one's patriotism, including such statements as: "We are the greatest country on the planet"; "I am willing to die for my country"; "a real man is willing to sacrifice his life to protect his fellow citizens"; or "I will beat to a pulp anyone who desecrates our flag." 

Once the persona / personality of "The Patriot" has been adopted, then the conceptualized "-ism" of "patriotism" becomes sacred, hallowed, revered, and sanctified; and once the conceptualized "-ism" of "patriotism" becomes sacred, hallowed, revered, and sanctified, then the persona / personality of "The Patriot" is also believed to have the status of being sacred, hallowed, revered, and sanctified and that belief will blindly drive all thoughts and words and deeds. 

Thus, those trapped in personality are killing and / or dying for their country; killing and / or dying for their god; killing and / or dying for whatever the popes' desires were during the Crusades; killing and / or dying for whatever the imam's desires are nowadays; killing and / or dying for whatever the commander-in-chief's desires are; killing and / or dying for whatever the prime minister's desires are, ad infinitum. 

Such are the results of the perverted beliefs in false personas and in "-ism's." To be free, the recommendation here is to employ the Enneagram as a tool to begin uncovering the variety of personalities which subconsciously drive thoughts and words and deeds and which, therefore, remove all opportunity to make independent choices. 

To be continued.

NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video, all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

If interested, click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

 

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 nearly 3,200+ posts for any topics of interest to you.

MAHARAJ AND RELIGION'S ANTI-SCIENCE STANCE, Part Sixteen

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

 “The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind.” 

--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, domesticated, indoctrinated, and brainwashed to believe so that you can be free from being "imprisoned in the mind."

 --Floyd Henderson 

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path used by Maharaj] 

Excerpts from the book entitled FREEDOM from BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")

will continue with the a discussion of the way that personality-invoking "-ism's" are another source which generates a plethora of distortion-riddled beliefs:

"-ISM'S" and PERSONALITY, 

("-ism's," Part "C")

To attach to - and to be driven by - the agendas of the "this-ism's" or "that-ism's" catalogued yesterday is to eliminate any chance of "giving peace a chance." 

Peace cannot happen unless one is free and - just as a ship attached to a dock is not free and, therefore, cannot fulfill its natural providence - a person cannot function naturally or peacefully if attached to any of the "-ism's" mentioned in that earlier post. 

Why? Because, as mentioned, attachment to "-ism's" will always nurture duality; distortion; illusion; delusion; learned ignorance; varying degrees of psychic unhealthiness as a result of personality disorders; a variety of neuroses; an assortment of psychoses and full-blown insanity; and the resulting inability to be in touch with reality or Reality either one. 

The same applies when personas are assigned or adopted because persons fall under the blinding spell of the belief that "this" or "that" defines who (or what) they are. 

The antidote that some sages have used throughout history to treat belief in the "this-ism's" and "that-ism's" which persons use to identify themselves is the mantra "I AM." The advice is to focus on the “I AM” and to break the habit of allowing any word or label other than “THAT” to ever follow the phrase. 

Then, “I am a great husband” and “I am a great wife” and “I am a super employee” and “I am a great lover” all become instead “I AM” . . . only, “I AM” . . . only, “I AM” . . . only, and “I AM" . . . only. 

An impression based in reality is an intrinsic impression. Prior to having being taught even a single idea or concept, a child (i.e., a space housing newly-manifested consciousness) is aware of its Is-ness. Even the most recently-manifested speck of consciousness is in touch with the intuitive impression that It Is. It intrinsically “knows” I AM. 

Were it to later realize, it could say as another realized teacher said and as is said here: "Do not speak of me as 'floyd'; speak of me as I AM." Were it to later realize, the speck would not mistakenly believe that it was born but would say, "Before my 'parents' and even before 'this world,' I AM." 

Any impression other than the intrinsic impression that I AM (and, post-realization, I AM THAT) is merely an idea, a concept. All other impressions are nothing more than learned, acquired, false beliefs. 

All man-fabricated religious and spiritual “knowledge,” all ideas, and all concepts are generated from that accumulation of fiction called the “mind” and from fictional identities called personas or personalities or roles or ego-states or stage characters or states-of-being-this or states-of-being-that. How could that which is associated with a mind-mirage and associated with a personality-mirage possibly be real? 

Yet such impressions control the thoughts and words and deeds of persons (the non-realized) across the planet. The result is that persons are unstable and are offensive at times as they are driven by their impressions and are defensive at times when driven by other impressions. Their impressions will also drive them to be aggressive at times and cowering at other times. Instability is guaranteed. 

The following pointers are often shared with those trying to understand personality and trying to understand why all sages have advised seekers to take the steps required to be free of personality . . . to be free of belief in all of their "this-ism's" and "that-ism's" which they actually think can identify who they are: 

Many ask why the enneagram personality inventory tool is offered here along with Advaitin pointers. Consider: at the root of the hundreds of personality disorders which can 

a. guarantee a loss of contact with the essence and with authenticity and the authentic

and which can 

b. generate ignorant or insane thoughts and words and deeds is - of course - personality. 

Personality - the belief that "I am this" or "I am that" - must be understood completely in order to be discarded completely as an identity and to be eliminated as the key hidden motivator of dualistic thoughts and words and actions. 

Further, realization cannot happen unless the seeker understands personality; understands how personality drives persons via misery-producing desires and fears; understands the full impact of personality on the relative existence; understands how it generates a sense of dis-ease and separation; 

understands how personality produces emotional instability; and understands how it blocks any and all opportunity to know the Oneness (reinforcing instead the false belief in "different-from" and "better-than" and "higher than" and "apart from"). 

One of the most ancient of all methods used to "treat" the sicknesses that are generated by personality is Advaita, and the Advaita-Enneagram connection is ancient as well, though the enneagram or enneagram-like revelations that were a part of the ancient teachings appeared in a variety of versions. 

The science-based version used here is relatively new, now offering the ancient understanding with more clarity and validity than ever before and allowing the transitioning beyond personality-identification to happen more quickly and efficiently for many seekers of full realization (that is, as Maharaj said, fully free of belief in all learned ignorance). 

That said, the kind of information that is revealed by the testing and personality typing that is employed here is the information that Advaitin teachers have shared for hundreds and thousands of years, making the understanding of one's personality (actually, "personalities") central to the realization process. 

It is one thing to speak of personality in the most general of terms, but when persons are shown on a scale of 1-100 the exact rate of their personality-based anger or pride or lust or laziness, then more awareness seems to come (which allows for many the ability to detach from the personalities that are blocking the "path" to Realization). 

To understand the Advaita-Enneagram linkage, consider some of the historical background, with gratitude to the early teachers such as Evagrius and Ichazo and to the more recent instructors that are versed in the use of the Enneagram (called by some "a matrix of personality structures that recognizes nine observable points of view" among persons). 

To understand the historical background is to understand how persons become separated from the essence and the authentic; how that separation results in passions that generate the most despicable "personality defects" imaginable, relatively speaking; and why the Advaita "path" has become necessary as a means by which persons can "re-connect" with the essence, the authentic, and Real Love. 

Ichazo, who early on made the link between the non-duality teachings and the understandings that can be revealed via the Enneagram, said: 

"We have to distinguish between [humans] in essence [vs. how they are] in ego or personality. In essence, every [human] is perfect, fearless, and in a loving unity with the entire cosmos; there is no conflict within the [human] between head, heart, and stomach or between the [human] and others. Then something happens: the ego begins to develop, there is a transition from objectivity to subjectivity, and [humans] fall from essence into personality." 

To be continued.

NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video, all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

If interested, click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

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To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

 

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 nearly 3,200+ posts for any topics of interest to you.

MAHARAJ AND RELIGION'S ANTI-SCIENCE STANCE, Part Fifteen

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

“The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind.” 

--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, domesticated, indoctrinated, and brainwashed to believe so that you can be free, period. 

 --Floyd Henderson 

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path used by Maharaj] 

Excerpts from the book entitled FREEDOM from BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")

will continue with the a discussion of the way that personality-invoking "-ism's" are another source which generates a plethora of distortion-riddled beliefs:

"-ISM'S," Part "B" 

So, the dysfunctionalism to which every child is exposed during its earliest years (and onward) triggers the assumption of what will become the child's basic personality type as well as the adoption of other personalities that it will internalize or disintegrate to. The basic type is typically set firmly in place by the age of six, and once personality types are firmly in place, then the assurance of developing personality disorders is also in place. 

Next, misunderstanding and learned ignorance will bring about an attachment to personality (i.e., false selves, false identities, the assumption of abiding in imaginary states-of-being-"this" and imaginary states-of-being-"that"). The personalities which are assumed are rooted in (and reinforced by) attachment to "-ism's," and those "-ism's" are the repositories of the counterfeit concepts and false ideas and bogus beliefs that will join with personality to drive thoughts and words and actions. 

Both personality styles and "-ism's" will be taught via programming, conditioning, accumulation, and domestication; then, they will support each other, usually for the remainder of one's entire relative existence because so few will ever realize and be free of the influence of personalities and "-ism's." 

It has been noted that the Enneagram test (along with a thorough explanation of what is revealed via the test results by one versed in the use of that instrument) can uncover for a seeker exactly which personalities are driving her or his thoughts, words, deeds, fears and desires. In almost all cases, that must be understood to be completely free of being driven by personality. 

Moreover, persons must see which "-ism's" they have been attached to and controlled by if they are ever to be free of the influences of the counterfeit concepts and false ideas and bogus beliefs which every "-ism" erroneously disseminates as "truth" and "fact" and "right" and "best." 

No other source has dreamed up more - and spread more - false, duality-based beliefs and ideas and concepts over the last 5,000 years than the source that dreamed up the dualities that are dominant even today: "right vs. wrong"; "good vs. bad"; "moral vs. immoral"; "reward vs. punishment now"; "reward vs. punishment forever"; ad infinitum. 

The "-ism's" in that group include: 

Judaism; Protestantism / Catholicism / Jesuitism / Anglicism; Islamism; Mormonism; Buddhism; Hinduism; Talmudism; Jainism; Sikhism; Shintoism; Taoism; baptism; clericalism; congregationalism; cultism; Deism; creationism; theism; montheism; polytheism; exorcism; 

dogmatism; druidism; fundamentalism; paganism; predestinarianism; proselytism; puritanism; revivalism; spiritualism; supernaturalism; evangelism; televangelism; messianism; monasticism; moralism; mullahism; mysticism; moralism; occultism; salvationism; separatism; symbolism; ritualism; and many more. 

Those "-ism's" account for much of the false sense of separation and "different-from-ness" and "better-than-ment" because over 6.79 billion of the 7 billion persons on the planet claim affiliation with either an organized, duality-based religion or with some duality-based "spiritual movement" or some duality-based "spiritual program" or with some duality-based "religious-oriented or-spiritually-oriented philosophy." 

Alignment with any of those "-ism's" (which give lip-service to "unity" and "love" but which inspire behaviors that expose an underlying sense of pride and superiority that results in a belief in "different-from-ment" and "better-than-ment" ... along with the resultant, duality-based sense that "we are the ones who are most right and the rest are mostly wrong") generates arrogance that also supports these "-ism's": alienism; anthropocentrism; anthropomorphism and separatism. 

As the programmed and acculturated child develops into a programmed and acculturated adult, then the cultural and social "-ism's" begin to exert their influence in developing more personalities and more attachments and more beliefs and more driving forces, including, 

relativism; charlatanism; activism; ostracism; materialism; traditionalism; vigilantism; dysfunctionalism; opportunism; barbarism; tribalism; biculturalism; multiculturalism; traditionalism; sexism; individualism; institutionalism; intellectualism; irrationalism; ceremonialism; 

racism; multiracism; colonialism; regionalism; territorialism; more ritualism; sensationalism; conceptualism; conformism; constitutionalism; credentialism; exceptionalism; exclusivism; scapegoatism; reformism; and, of course, dualism. 

As more and more personalities are assumed, then more and more personality disorders and psychological disorders manifest and these "-ism's" become driving forces as well: 

dysfunctionalism; chauvinism; personalism; radicalism; reformism; divisionism; syncophantism; irrationalism; egocentrism; egoism; egotism; elitism; emotionalism; escapism; ethnocentrism; perfectionism; personalism; fanaticism; radicalism; relativism; utopianism; externalism; extremism; alcoholism; workaholism; more symbolism; 

more scapegoatism; vegetarianism (even though two-thirds of all people have body types that require a combination vegetarian-protein or a protein-only food plan for all organs to function optimally); idealism; sadism; masochism; sadomasochism; mentalism; narcissism - and that list could go on and on. 

Eventually, government-dreamed up and government-inspired "-ism's" exact their toll, those "-ism's" including: 

authoritarianism; establishmentarianism; terrorism and antiterrorism or counterterrorism; more territorialism; patriotism; superpatriotism; heroism; nationalism; militarism; xenophobianism; bilateralism and multilateralism; bipartisanism; bolshevism; monarchism and royalism; 

landlordism; nepotism; medievalism and feudalism; imperialism; republicanism; constitutionalism; cronyism; tzarism; despotism; fascism; factionalism; favoritism; federalism; totalitarianism; pluralism; and many more. 

After governments form, they form economies, and economies give rise to these and other "-ism's" that are to be believed in and touted by the populace if they are to earn the labels of "good" and "productive" citizens: 

capitalism; commercialism; communism; consumerism; mercantilism; nepotism; socialism; mutualism; corporatism; neo-colonialism; more opportunism; and much more. 

Sages for generations have invited seekers to be free of all "-ism-based" ideas, concepts, etc. ("beliefs") as a part of the process of being free of personality and being free of the subconscious agendas of personality and "-ism's" which drive thoughts and words and deeds and which generate usually-baseless fears, often-unmet-and-therefore-frustrating desires, and most of all . . . the belief in dualities. 

To be continued.

NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video, all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

If interested, click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

 

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 nearly 3,200+ posts for any topics of interest to you.

MAHARAJ AND RELIGION'S ANTI-SCIENCE STANCE, Part Fourteen

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

“The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind.”

--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 

 Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, domesticated, indoctrinated, and brainwashed to believe so that you can be free, period.  

--Floyd Henderson 

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path used by Maharaj] 

Excerpts from the book entitled FREEDOM from BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")

will continue with the a discussion of the way that personality-invoking "-ism's" are another source which generates a plethora of distortion-riddled beliefs:

"-ISM'S," Part "A" 

From "Give Peace A Chance" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono 

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m" 

The blockages which are set in place by belief in (and attachment to) "-ism's" have been discussed - though not necessarily using the label of "-ism" - by all realized teachers since these teachings were first offered. 

(That has not, however, stopped some nowadays from distorting the teachings by adding all sorts of "-ism's" to non-duality pointers and promoting more ideas and concepts and beliefs rather than guiding seekers to a "state" of freedom that comes when all ideas and concepts and beliefs are purged from the fiction-filled "mind.") 

Moreover, before going any further into a discussion of the subject, understand that here, there are no teachings. There are instances where the consciousness speaks in order for "un-teaching" (and thus "un-learning") to happen. 

Persons who have been programmed with learned ignorance do not need "more programming," "re-programming," "the program," "this program" or "that program." Their Ultimate Sickness requires the Ultimate Medicine which de-programs and which leads to de-accumulation (including de-accumulation of all ideas and concepts etc., a.k.a.,"beliefs," as well as attachment to all sorts of "-ism's"). 

When cancerous cells are found in a body, the intent of the treatment plan for that illness is for the body to eventually be completely rid of all of the cancerous cells, not to add more cancerous cells or to add a different set of new cancerous cells to replace an old set of cancerous cells. So it is with ideas and concepts and all beliefs and attachment to "-ism's" which make up the content of the "mind." 

Ninety-seven percent of the persons on the planet report that they are affiliated with one religion or another, and millions more are claiming that they "are not religious but are spiritual." 

In all of those cases, those persons have assumed the role of "believers." They are taught ideas and concepts and beliefs that they are required to accept by fact-free, inquiry-free faith if they are to avoid the ominous threat of eternal punishment and to be rewarded not only "now" but also "forevermore." 

Some others have assumed the role of "non-believers," meaning those who have looked at the ideas and concepts and beliefs 

(a) being taught by so-called "faith-based institutions" or "spiritual groups" and 

(b) being disseminated by "believers." 

The "non-believers" have rejected those beliefs after objective questioning and impartial examination. 

By contrast, the "fully realized" abiding as the no-concept, no-belief, no-identity, non-dual reality - cannot be said to be either "believers" or "non-believers." 

[The term "fully realized" (which, per Maharaj, is a term used to point to those that have been freed of all beliefs . . . all "learned ignorance") points to those that have transcended to a stage even beyond some "non-believer" label. For the sake of discussion only, they can be pointed to with the label "no-belief-ers" (though, of course, they accept no labels of any kind at all.] 

Sages throughout the ages - as well as any "truly realized teachers" that are offering pointers nowadays - have invited seekers to realize first and foremost that they have no mind of their own at all. 

The "mind" is an accumulation of all of the ideas and concepts and beliefs and "-ism's" that have been dreamed up, accumulated, and then passed on from one generation to the next . . . in some cases for centuries and in some cases for thousands of years. 

"A child" which forms when more and more elements join together inside a plant-food body in which plant food elements are consumed and converted into human cells - is said to have been "born" and is said to "have a brain"; 

however, that "newly-born child" does not initially have anything stored in that part of the brain which will later store and retrieve information and which will be called "a mind." 

(As noted here, the brain is rooted in the elements; the "mind" is rooted in the faulty programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and indoctrination and brainwashing to which the child will be subjected.) 

Eventually, that "mind" will be filled with ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives etc. (a.k.a., "beliefs") which are not the child's ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives - or "beliefs" - but are the ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives - beliefs - of the child's programmers, conditioners, domesticators, acculturators, indoctrinators, and brainwashers. 

Thus, any talk about "my mind" or "your mind" is flawed, for every "mind" today is actually "their mind" to the degree that "they" have passed along the content of "their minds" to fill a new generation of "minds" with ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives (beliefs) along with a near-endless assortments of "-ism's" which can be traced back to ancient myths and superstitions and non-facts and nonsense. 

Follow the chain of the transmission of learned ignorance back to "their minds" and see that those were also not really "their minds" but were the "minds" of those who came before them. 

The earliest "teachers" were those who dreamed up all sorts of ignorance-based "-ism's" and ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives - beliefs - and passed those along to their followers, who passed those along to their offspring and to their followers, who passed those along to their offspring and to their followers, over and over and over, from "then" right up to "now." 

Today, there are thousands of "-ism's" which are 

(1) the breeding ground of future misery and suffering; 

which are 

(2) the petri dishes where the bacteria flourish that will eventually cause the "The Ultimate Sickness"; 

and which are 

(3) the nesting grounds for the continuation and proliferation and dissemination of the "-ism's" which nurture duality; distortion; illusion; delusion; learned ignorance; a false sense of separation which fosters fear and hatred; 

varying degrees of psychic unhealthiness as a result of personality disorders; a variety of neuroses; an assortment of psychoses and full-blown insanity; and the resulting inability to be in touch with either "reality" or "Reality." 

How many "-ism's" can you name that you have been attached to at one time or another? Can you see that those "-ism's" planted early on within the "mind" certain and ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives - beliefs - which later proved to be totally false? 

Here is an exercise which has led many seekers to new insight and clarity: 

Would you be willing to look at the "-ism's" which have influenced your thoughts and words and deeds and reevaluate their effects on your relative existence? If so, then the invitation is to make a list of the "-ism's" which you were subjected to or which you adopted and then assess objectively the effects. 

Include the way that your externally-imposed attachment to "-ism's" and what they taught you eventually affected your thoughts and words and actions to the point that they actually ended up controlling all of your thoughts and words and actions subconsciously and unconsciously. 

To be continued.

NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video, all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

If interested, click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

 

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 nearly 3,200+ posts for any topics of interest to you.

MAHARAJ AND RELIGION'S ANTI-SCIENCE STANCE, Part Thirteen

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

“The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind.” 

--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 

 Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, domesticated, indoctrinated, and brainwashed to believe so that you can be free, period. --Floyd Henderson 

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path used by Maharaj] 

Recall that Maharaj said, “You are not in the world. The world is in you.” Meaning? Meaning that the world is imagined by you so it is “in you” . . . that is, "in your mind"; therefore, any misery or suffering being experienced in what is taken to be “this world” is a mental (belief) construct to one degree or another. 

The effects misery and suffering are rooted in a warped psyche and its belief systems. When those manifest and further warp the psyche, then belief in “this world” advances to the level of a mental illness. 

Moreover, that is why the Ultimate Medicine is a medicine which is based in the understanding of psychology which Maharaj mastered and which addresses the main problem of humanity which centers not is some innocuous “spirit” or “soul” but in the mind. That is why the Ultimate Sickness is a mental illness, not an illness which results from a spirituality-deficiency or from a dogma-deficiency. 

Also recall that the British poet Richard Lovelace offered this pointer: “Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.” What did he identify as that which does make a prison? The mind. The mind has become the prison in which the masses are trapped, and all ideas, concepts, thoughts, inspirations, brainstorms, opinions, views, inklings, impressions, notions, and perspectives (a.k.a., “beliefs”) that are stored within a mind will each become one of the iron bars of their cage. 

Understanding all of that is why, in the end, Maharaj made clear that he was not “A Spiritual Master.” (He had already much earlier made clear that he was not “A Religious Master.”) It is also why he advised seekers to stop reading the transcripts from satsang sessions that had been collected in the book “I AM THAT” and to read his later talks instead, those talks being the ones offered after he came to understand the actual, mental / emotional nature of the Ultimate Sickness and after he came to understand that neither spirituality nor religion can address mental illnesses (and after having seen that, more often than not, they actually generate and exacerbate mental problems). 

What Maharaj ultimately mastered was an understanding of psychology and an understanding of the workings – especially of the distorted workings – of the human mind after persons are programmed, conditioned, domesticated, acculturated, indoctrinated and brainwashed. That understanding of psychology allowed him ultimately to understand exactly what the Ultimate Medicine was not and what the Ultimate Medicine had to include if it were to successfully address the actual causes of the Ultimate Sickness. 

He came to understand what the two greatest suppliers of dualistic beliefs are as well as what the two greatest suppliers of dual-mindedness are; furthermore, he came to understand what the two greatest sources of programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, indoctrination and brainwashing really are, and he was wise enough to understand that the cause of an illness cannot be the cure for that illness. 

It was those understandings – combined with an amazing level of wisdom – that led him to advise persons to abandon their religious and spiritual activities and to just abide naturally and normally after taking the steps necessary to be free of their “knowledge” (a.k.a., “learned ignorance”); free from being driven by the hidden, subconscious agendas of multiple personalities; and free of the effects of the insanity which not only their parents’ teachings and beliefs had implanted but also which their culture had fostered. 

[Multiple personalities? Yes. Personalities are like blackbirds, starlings, grackles, crows and vultures: they flock together, they show up in droves, and they contaminate everything around them with a nasty coat of . . . well, you get it. 

Yes, there are nine basic types, and yes, there is a primary type; but after working with thousands of people and after seeing thousands of sets of scores on the enneagram personality test, there has never been even one instance where anyone scored a “0” in one of the types. All show some evidence of all of the types, but most show excessively high scores in three to five types. Moreover, all persons are assigned or will assume another eighty or more false identities throughout the relative existence. 

As noted here on occasion, therefore, all persons among the non-realized masses suffer from the Multiple Personality Disorder, along with many other mental and emotional disorders as well.] 

Maharaj also understood that there is no heaven and that there is no hell. He understood that personas upgrade themselves and downgrade others, and he understood that the same happens with persons who erroneously believe in “this world” and who erroneously believe in “another world” that they will supposedly go to post-manifestation. He understood that the concept of “heaven” is simply their ungraded version of “this world” (what with “pearly gates” and “streets paved with gold”) and that the concept of “hell” is simply their downgraded version of “this world.” 

Additionally, he also understood that the programmed and conditioned mind will believe the dualistic concepts regarding “eternal life” and the existence of “another ‘good’ world” and the existence of “another ‘bad’ world.” He also understood that a programmed, conditioned, acculturated, domesticated, indoctrinated, and brainwashed mind can even make “heaven and hell on earth” seem real to a person right now. 

It is because of their warped mind that persons speak of having been in “hell on earth” or in “a heavenly relationship” (which might, later on, be deemed to have been “hell” rather than “heavenly”); thus, also to review, the English poet John Milton noted accurately that “the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” Instability, instability, instability. Duality, duality, duality. All totally fraudulent, all seated in the mind. 

That is why Maharaj noted that what gives you pleasure can eventually give you pain and what can give you the greatest pleasure can eventually give you the greatest pain. It’s all in the mind, and all which is stored in the mind is fiction and nonsense; thus, those who are dual-minded “will be unstable in all ways.” There can be no consistency and stability and freedom from chaos when a duality-driven mind is at play. 

Consider the constant fluctuating that the mind will guarantee: at a certain point, the mind can convince one that he or she is eagle high; at another moment, the mind can convince the same person that she or he is whale caca low (said caca being found at the lowest point on the planet). 

Such is how dizzying the relative existence can be when abiding under the auspices of the mind, reaching staggering heights one moment and immeasurable lows the next. 

Like your mind? Like its content? Think it defines you? Assign great value to its content? Love your beliefs? Willing to fight for them? Willing to die for some of them? Then prepare for your next role, which will be "The Steel Ball" in a pinball machine, being tossed about, slammed about, thrown about, and knocked about throughout the unstable, erratic, ever-changing, alternating, sporadic, relative existence. 

And all of that is guaranteed for all role-players, for all who are trapped in their beliefs about false, personality identifications. Persona-assumption can be deadly, as it is for the 59% of all women murdered in the U.S. annually because the assumed personas of the men whom those women were trying to leave felt as if they - the men - were the ones under attack. 

In the topsy-turvy realm of personality, a man killing his wife is operating under the belief that he (rather than his false identity) is being assaulted. In the topsy-turvy realm of personality, a man killing his wife believes, on a subconscious level, that his actions are defensive - not offensive - in their nature. His persona is merely trying to defend itself from attack, supposedly, and that is how insane personality assumption and beliefs can be. 

Abiding under the subconsciously-driven auspices of beliefs about personality is tantamount to being led into a toxic-gas-filled coal mine, and the only canary available to indicate the imminent danger is the one that has realized and is willing to guide persons away from the mine entrance. That one is the only one willing and capable of providing an advance warning before beliefs about personality drives one to destructive or self-destructive actions (relatively speaking). 

To be continued.

NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video, all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

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Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

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