TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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Of the non-dual understanding which Maharaj offered, what might explain why he initially estimated that "only 1 out of 100,000 will ever get this" but later said that "only 1 out of 1,000,000 will ever get this" and eventually - after decades of working with seekers - modified that guesstimate to "1 out of 10,000,000"?
Consider the enormity of the obstacles which one who works for 20 or 40 or 80 years with seekers of the non-dual understanding will witness:
Obstacle #13: THE MOST INFLUENTIAL OBSTACLE OF ALL: Myths, Superstitions, Thoughts, Ideas, Concepts, Notions, Views, Theories, Inklings, Perceptions, A.K.A., "Beliefs," Part D
To review from previous posts:
No relationships on any levels have ever come to a nasty end, and no marriage has ended in divorce, except where beliefs were the driving force.
Nothing has contributed more to humankind's chaos and arguing and fighting and killing and mass killings than . . . beliefs, and the types of beliefs which are most prevalent and therefore most influential are . . .
AS DISCUSSED EARLIER:
#4: Beliefs about relationships and how those whom one is in relationship with should think and talk and behave.
#3: Beliefs of a xenophobic nature about how fellow citizens should think and talk and behave.
TODAY'S DISCUSSION:
#2: Beliefs about politics, political parties, political leaders, and how "all others should believe what I and my political fellows believe and should accept the agenda of our political party."
TO BE DISCUSSED SOON:
#1: Beliefs about "God" or "gods and goddesses" and "what is right and what is wrong" and "what is moral vs. immoral" and "which religion is the single right one and why all of the other religions are wrong." With 97% of all persons on the planet claiming a religious affiliation, of course their beliefs are the most predominant.
Coming in second only to religion, nothing has generated so many falsehoods, thoughts, ideas, concepts, notions, views, theories, inklings, perceptions, (a.k.a., "beliefs") as politics and politicians.
Consider the following adages:
1. Politics makes strange bedfellows is adapted from a line in the play The Tempest, by William Shakespeare: “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” The point is that political interests can bring together people who otherwise have little in common (or who might have seemed to have little in common but actually have far more in common than was known).
Looking at the 2016 presidential election in the U.S., who would have anticipated that old, white, wealthy, small town and rural, less-educated evangelical conservatives would join with white supremacists and neo-Nazis to form a political bloc? (Is that a "strange bedfellows incident," or might those old, white, wealthy, small town and rural, less-educated evangelical conservatives have been holding all along more beliefs in common with white supremacists and neo-Nazis than had been understood?)
Or might this have been at play?
Or might this have been at play?
2. The enemy of my enemy is my friend is an ancient idea widely attributed to the Arabs but it is actually much older, having originated in the 4th century B.C. in India. Often, more alliances come into being when persons hate the same person than when persons respect and admire the same person.
3. Now, consider the following about politics and politicians which some might still find relevant today:
"America has the best politicians money can buy."
and
"We all joke about Congress but we can't improve on them. Have you noticed that no matter who we elect, he is just as bad as the one he replaces?"
and
"Now these fellows in Washington wouldn't be so serious and particular if they only had to vote on what they thought was good for the majority of the people in the U.S. That would be a cinch. But what makes it hard for them is every time a bill comes up they have things to decide that have nothing to do with the merit of the bill. The principal thing is of course: What will this do for me personally back home?"
and
"Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. When they do nothing, they don't hurt anybody. When they do something is when they become dangerous."
and
"The Democrats and the Republicans are equally corrupt where money is concerned. It's only in the amount where the Republicans excel."
and
"A fool and his money are soon elected."
Were those comments offered about the current president and the current congress in the U.S.? No. Those were some of the observations about politics and politicians in the U.S. which were offered by Will Rogers in the 1920's and 1930's. There is little new in politics.
Complicating the matter for some years now, there has been newer talk about "identity politics." Self-identified "Conservative, Christian, values voters" have, since the 1980's, become more and more aggressive as their churches have become more and more involved in politics while advising congregants whom they should vote for (or against); however, the act of intermingling religion and politics has far older and deeper roots:
"God" or "the Divine" is mentioned at least once in each of the constitutions of all fifty states in the U.S. and is mentioned nearly 200 times overall.
Historically, the vast majority of the nation's federal lawmakers described themselves as Christians, compared with 71% of U.S. adults who say the same nowadays.
In local, state, and national courts, witnesses are required to place their left hand on a Bible, raise their right hand, and say: "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God."
Early governments in the U.S. were theocracies, a system of government in which church officials ruled in the name of God. Many in the U.S. today want to return to that type of rule.
The agenda of the killers affiliated with ISIS has been to establish a caliphate, a state under the leadership of an Islamic steward.
For 5000 years all around the globe, lip service to the contrary, there has been little separation of kings / queens / rulers and popes / religious leaders; little separation of church and state; of temple and state; of synagogue and state; little separation of the so-called "sacred" and the governing persons and institutions; and little separation of religion and politics / politicians overall.
The wise have long seen that both politics and religion have a great deal in common in terms of offering benefits, making promises, dangling the carrot of rewards to be received and punishments to be avoided. Whether one is a religious ideologue or devoted to the ideology of a political party, ideology in both cases drives unchecked fanaticism.
Douwe Tiemersma said that "There are various religions and systems of philosophy which claim to endow human life but they suffer from certain inherent limitations. They couch into fine-sounding words their traditional beliefs and ideologies, theological or philosophical."
Yet what follows? He said, "Believers, however, discover the limited range of meaning and applicability of these words, sooner or later." Then, they "abandon the systems when they are called in question by too much contradictory empirical data."
It was said of Maharaj that he "was a teacher who did not propound any ideology or religion." At least nearer the end of his days of sharing non-dual pointers, that is true.
Consider this question: "What kind of world can a man create who is stupid, greedy, heartless?"
Might one conclude that is being asked about the current national leadership in the U.S.?
Actually, it was Maharaj who asked that question in the later 1960's and early 1970's.
Of politicians and others who promise to "make everything better," Maharaj said:
"You talk so much of reforms: economic, social, political. Leave alone the reforms and mind 'the reformer'. What kind of world can a man create who is stupid, greedy, heartless?"
Indeed.
To be continued.
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