TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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A LIVE SATSANG WITH FLOYD
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SUNDAY, 18 APRIL 2018, FROM 6:30-8:00 P.M., CST.
[Some have asked how they can listen to or watch the satsang. Information about that has been sent from the organizers and is available at the end of the post.]
The most influential obstacles of all to realizing and being free have come via dreamed up myths and superstitions and via "religious" and / or "spiritual" sources, including religious and / or spiritual thoughts, ideas, concepts, notions, views, theories, inklings, perceptions, a.k.a., "beliefs."
A man who was abused as a child by a priest. man approached and asked for a way "to be guided to a state of realization and freedom without their having to buy into dogma."
The popular venues where seekers seek (or don't) have a 5000+-year history of failing to set persons free of their distorted and delusional and freedom-blocking and independence-blocking belief systems. venues.
Thus it should be clear why Maharaj eventually advised seekers to avoid those, leading to this totally different option:
REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”
From the very inception of this blog, its objective was clearly defined: to present a version of the Ultimate Medicine which could be pointed to with the term, “Applied Advaita.” The terms "Practical Advaita" or "No-Nonsense Non-Duality" or "Sensible and Realistic Non-Duality" could have identified what would be offered as well. The invitation has been to take the understanding of “not two” and "apply it" (even in the absence of any belief in “an applier”).
Meaning? Meaning that, in every instance, after this current manifestation of a composite unity ends, there will be no one and no thing and no self and no selves and no Self and no Supreme Self which will remain to understand anything. There will be no one and no thing and no self and no selves and no Self and no Supreme Self which is still being and still conscious and still aware. And there will be no one and no thing and no self and no selves and no Self and no Supreme Self which can even be said to be “not-being,” either.
Maharaj said, “The personal comes and goes, the universal is always with you.” And what components of any composite unity are “universal” and everlasting? (1) The elements which come together as a temporarily-manifested form with space and (2) the conscious-energy which can manifest within a space (and which constantly cycles into and out of that space for the time that the form is manifest). In other words, energy-matter.
Thus, any understanding can only have relevance now, never later. The functioning of any understanding can only happen now, never later. The “application” of the “not-two” understanding can only happen now, never later.
Whatever is spawned via “Self-Inquiry” and whatever results in terms of the additional beliefs which are spawned via “Self-Inquiry” (about a “Self” or a “Supreme Self” or anything else) is irrelevant when compared to the misery and suffering and chaos generated by the belief in a “self” and in the belief in “multiple false selves.”
Consider, therefore, the wisdom shown by Maharaj as revealed in this syllogism:
A. He said that the sole “job” of the non-dual teacher is to eliminate misery and suffering.
B. He said that misery and suffering are generated by the agendas of personality identifications and by “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity."
C. Thus, the "job" of the non-dual teacher is to eliminate the “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" which determine the ignorant thoughts which the non-realized masses think, the stupid words which the non-realized masses speak, and the insane actions which the non-realized masses engage in every day of their lives which, in turn, generate misery and suffering.
Maharaj knew that belief in personal identifications is eliminated via “self-inquiry,” a process which can facilitate the uncovering of the false selves which have been assigned or adopted; a process which can facilitate the witnessing of the relative effects of the agendas of false selves; a process which can facilitate the realization that those ego-states are not really you;
a process which can then facilitate in the discarding of those influencers and their hidden agendas; and a process which can lead to one being freed from reacting to mirages and being freed from having every thought and word and action determined and controlled by mirages . . . by “selves” which operate on a subconscious, unconscious level.
He saw that a few might, via “Self-Inquiry,” understand the Self as opposed to the self or selves and then overlay that realization on the relative existence and abide in a manner that is free of the influence of mirages . . . of false selves; yet he saw that most never reached that point, that most who assumed the new identity of an ego-state called “The Self” or “The Supreme Self” as a new "Identity" became obnoxious egomaniacs who had to be tossed out of his loft.
He understood that Self-absorption generates as much delusion and distortion and belief in false identities as self-absorption and that each generates just as much egotism as the other as ego-defense mechanisms activate and begin functioning when any identity or Identity is assumed.
Therefore, understanding all of that, he said that “it is enough to know who you are not” (namely, those false selves) and that one need know “Who You Are" (namely, some “Supreme Self” or some other supposedly noble and elevated Identity or supposedly noble and elevated Self).
So he said, "There is no question of elevating to a higher level. Here it is only a question of understanding."
What amazing skills at deductive reasoning came with Maharaj’s understanding, with his seeing the “big picture,” with his ability to see that he had been wrong in the way that he was trying to treat the Ultimate Sickness because he had been misled in diagnosing what the Ultimate Sickness even is (namely, a mental sickness which he said is characterized by "ignorance and stupidity and insanity" and not a “religious or spiritual malady”).
So what shifts can happen if the “self-inquiry” process is completed and one becomes free of personality identifications, even if one never completes “Self-Inquiry”?
An example of one such shift which could have happened has been shared with some seekers, a shift which - had it occurred as a result of "self-inquiry" - could have prevented a fellow named “Mark” from taking his estranged wife and his daughters hostage and murdering his wife by shooting her in the back after she climbed out of the bathroom window and tried to run away.
Some recall that the owner of a treatment center where Mark’s addictions were being addressed (or not) asked that I speak with him not about “The Self” but about the many false selves which were at play as he reacted violently when his wife petitioned for a divorce and for custody of the children and for ownership of their house and for monthly income, etc.
Could "knowing the Self" have prevented the emotional intoxication which manifested as a result of the agendas and desires and fears of a host of false selves, including “The Super Husband,” “The Super Father,” “The Finance Man,” “The Lover,” “The Homeowner,” “The Family Man,” “The One Being Victimized,” "The Threatened One," "The One Being Hurt the Most," etc., etc., etc.?
Some might say, "Yes!" but Maharaj did say: "It is enough to know who you are not. You need not know "Who You Are."
More on Mark's case tomorrow.
To be continued.
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How guests can listen to and / or watch the satsang.
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From the organizers:
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Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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