TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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Here, "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc.: are viewed as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that.
THE RATIONALE FOR CHOOSING SCIENTIFIC FACTS OVER THE EMOTIONAL INTOXICATION GENERATED BY RELIGIOUS / SPIRITUAL FANATICISM:
While Religion and Science Are Not Always Incompatible, Logic and Reason and Wisdom Make Clear That If a Choice Between The Two Is To Be Made, Only One Choice Is the Sane Option
Maharaj said that “the cause of all is all,” so when persons try to assign one cause as the cause of any problem, then the real problem will not be understood and the real solution will never be found. Complicating the process of identifying all of the links in a chain of causation and then finding the solution to a problem are the bogus labels which are assigned by those who think that they know the single cause of a problem.
Here, from the beginning, it was noted that the discussions will deal with the only issues that humans will ever be able to consciously experience and address, namely, current relative issues; thus, current relative issues are discussed in terms of duality and non-duality and then means are offered by which the non-dual understanding can be overlaid on the relative and provide relief from the distortion and delusions and ignorance and insanity and chaos and misery and suffering which are generated by the Ultimate Sickness.
So consider this distortion in regards to the examples being offered: Following the shooting of nine blacks in a South Carolina by a white male named Dylann Roof, Bill O’Reilly (a commentator on the ultra-right-wing, conservative Fox News channel who has since been fired for sexual harassment), said that “white supremacy isn’t a problem in America” and that “black on black crime is the problem.” He went on to claim that the real problem is the “corrosive culture within predominately black neighborhoods” and concluded that “there is not an epidemic of racism in the United States of America.”
The fact: Since the 11 September 2001 on the World Trade Center, nearly twice as many people have been killed in the U.S. by white supremacists, anti-government fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists than by radical Muslims.
The fact: The Southern Poverty Law Center counted 1007 active “hate groups” in the United States in 2012. What was modeled for shooter Dylann Roof in his own state? In South Carolina there are nineteen active organizations which have been identified as “hate groups,” sixteen of which support white supremacist ideology (including six categorized as “neo-Confederate” who advocate for the secession of the South from the rest of the United States as happened when the Southern States started a war against the U.S. in the mid-1800's in order to preserve the right of their white citizens to continue to own slaves). The members of those groups proclaim, as Roof believed, that blacks are the cause of most of the key problems in the U.S.
The claim by some that whites in the U.S. are neither hateful nor racists notwithstanding, there are organizations which have been identified and self-identified as “hate groups” and there are crimes which have been classed as “hate crimes”; is it possible, however, that those groups and crimes are not ultimately about hate? Is it possible that racism is not ultimately about racism at all? And is it possible that the solutions being offered as the "right" way to end the problems – more religion and / or more spirituality - are not viable solutions at all? Consider those options in light of the facts surrounding the examples being discussed:
A man described by the members of a group as being “a very spiritual person” murdered his wife.
A 21-year old male - Dylann Roof mentioned last week - who killed nine black members of a church was described by his pastor as “a devout Christian” who “worshiped regularly.”
An ordained Church of Jesus Christ Christian pastor praised Roof for killing the nine blacks and urged other whites to follow the shooter’s example.
The pro-Christian, anti-black KKK group has killed thousands upon thousands of blacks in its history. (South Carolina members of the KKK will gather in front of the state capitol this month to urge the state government to continue to fly the Confederate flag in front of that building.)
The members of thirty-nine "hate groups" are self-identified as “Christians”; most of those praising Roof for killing nine blacks in South Carolina self-identify as "Christian"; all around the globe, Muslims are killing Muslims; Christians are killing Muslims; Muslims are killing Christians; Jews are killing Muslims; Muslims in the Far East are killing Hindus; etc., etc., etc. And all of the killing has been going on in many cases for thousands of years.
Can it really be the case, then (as billions claim) that the problems of humanity are caused by the fact that people still haven’t gotten enough religion or have not become spiritual enough (though 97% claim they are religious and millions more claim that they are spiritual)? Will more of the same finally change humans' warped patterns of thinking and talking and behaving "for the better"?
What if the persons being discussed had been introduced to the process of “Self-Inquiry” and found their Supreme Self? Would that have changed their behavior?
To the contrary, what if the solutions identified as the way to end the problems – more religion and / or more spirituality - are not viable solutions at all? Might Maharaj’s realization about those "solutions" have been spot on, the realization which led him to stop using religious versions of the Ultimate Medicine and spiritual versions of the Ultimate Medicine and which eventually led him to focus on humankind's mind problem and its roots and its treatment? Do the facts not invite persons to realize what Maharaj came to understand?
So, if what is called hate is not ultimately about hate, and if what is called racism is not ultimately about racism at all, what are those - and all relative problems - about?
They are about dualistic thinking (which is rooted in ignorant and stupid and insane programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and brainwashing and indoctrination); and they are about a belief in hierarchies (a belief rooted in duality) which suggests that some are higher than others and that most are lower than others and that some are better than others and that most are worst than other.
They are about dualistic talking and writing (which are also rooted in “ignorant and stupid and insane” programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and brainwashing and indoctrination) and it was such writings on the website of the white supremacy “Council of Conservative Citizens” which shooter Dylann Roof in his “manifesto” reports reading. He said that after reading the information on that pro-white, pro-segregation, anti-black website that he was "never the same" after reading “pages upon pages of black on white murders.”
They are also about what Maharaj called “learned ignorance,” specifically the learned ignorance that is overtly taught in homes or covertly modeled in homes; that is overtly taught in cultures or covertly modeled in cultures. They are about accepting assigned and assumed personality identifications which are rooted in a dualistic sense of different-from-ment and better-than-ment, resulting in such levels of narcissism and arrogance and false pride that persons being driven by those belief systems develop the God Complex Personality Disorder and thereafter believe that they have the right to judge who is good and who is bad and have the right to determine who should live and who should die.
What is the difference in Hitler wanting to kill all Jews on one hand and some white supremacists like Roof wanting to kill all blacks on the other hand? None.
What is the difference in the duality-based beliefs of the Nazis who started a war in which 55,000,000 people died on one hand and Roof wanting to start a race war in which the 45,000,000 blacks in the U.S. would die on the other hand? None.
What is the difference in those living under the influence of “ignorance and stupidity and insanity” and programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and brainwashing and indoctrination on one hand and those being driven by arrogance and conceit and self-importance and narcissism and egotism on the other hand? None.
And what is the difference in those who believe that the problems of the world are rooted in too little dogma or in the wrong dogma on one hand and those who ignorantly and arrogantly believe on the other hand that the problems of the world are caused by people of a different race; or, are caused by people of a different religion or people with no religion; or, are caused by people who are “religious but not spiritual”; or, are caused because people are doing “self-inquiry” instead of “Self-Inquiry”? None.
Maharaj made clear in the end that the problems of humanity center in the mind, and he learned by trial and error that neither religion nor spirituality nor "Self-Inquiry" instead of "self-inquiry" can solve a mind problem. The wise, in fact, see how all of those can actually exacerbate the mental problems of humankind.
To be continued.
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Here, "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc. are viewed as verbs, not nouns.
THE EXPLANATION
If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence.
Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to."
The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism. Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part to be focused on should be the 'loving and caring' part.
"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you."
Pope John Paul II was spot on:
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men."
