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
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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.
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