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 "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.
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