TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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CONSIDER:
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men."
--Pope John Paul II
"There is no hell."
--Pope Francis, the current pope [in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari]
"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that.
THE RATIONALE FOR CONCLUDING THAT "IT'S TIME TO TRY 'A DIFFERENT ROUTE' WHEN SEEKING A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS OF HUMANITY BECAUSE THE ACTUAL RESULTS OF FOLLOWING THE MOST POPULAR ROUTE FOR 5000+ YEARS HAVE PROVED INEFFECTIVE
(Continued from earlier posts regarding the rationale for seeking the non-dual, nisargan understanding.)
There was a time several years ago when I very sick physically. I could not walk from one room to the next without feeling lightheaded and feeling faint. The slightest exertion resulted in a shortness of breath and the simplest of tasks could not be completed. Taking a shower and drying off became a serious challenge, and being able to sit down into a tub of water and being able to pull myself up from sitting in a tub were impossible.
I knew I was sick, thus I began a search. I searched on the internet for my symptoms and it seemed that I might be suffering from either a lung-related sickness or from a heart-related illness or from a low blood count as a result of internal hemorrhaging. The sites recommended that I book an appointment with an internist or a pulmonologist or a cardiologist.
After dealing with a totally incompetent pulmonologist and a totally incompetent cardiologist, both of whom set me up for taking mahasamadhi at a far-earlier date than necessary, I fired both of them and began a more thorough search, being awake enough to know that their treatment plans were not working. I continued seeking, looking for a competent internist and a competent pulmonologist and a competent cardiologist.
I began reading reviews on the internet and compiled a list of those in each area of specialty with the highest ratings. Then I went for some "inside information." I knew two nurses who had worked for many years at the largest hospital in the area and called each and asked for their recommendations. Both, "off the record, of course," named the same internist and the same cardiologist as the best.
When I described my symptoms and experiences with incompetency to date, both nurses told me to schedule an immediate appointment with the cardiologist they named or to go to the emergency room immediately.
I drove to the hospital and staggered into an elevator and went up two floors to the office of the cardiologist. I barely made it to the reception window where the woman seated there looked at me, turned a weird shade of color, and called for a nurse. They escorted me into the doctor's office where, after a brief examination, he placed me into a wheelchair and had a nurse take me next door to the admission office of the hospital.
While many in the hospital displayed as much incompetence as the two doctors I had already fired, the cardiologist was all over my case, supplied me with transfusions of multiple bags of plasma, and arranged for a surgical procedure on my heart for the next morning.
The conclusions from my original research on the web was confirmed. All of the sites were correct: I had a diagnosable case of COPD, I also had three blockages in the heart, and I also had internal bleeding which had resulted in one of the lowest blood counts the doctor had ever seen in his many decades of practice. I was three for three in terms of the symptoms and causes I had found on the web.
I was sick and I needed a proper diagnosis and I needed a proper method of treatment geared specifically for what was ailing me.
So it is with those who are suffering from the Ultimate Sickness who need a proper diagnosis of what is really ailing them and a healthy dose of the Ultimate Medicine which has been especially designed to treat the specifics of the Sickness.
Just as I had begun a search for a solution to the source(s) of my sickness which were leading to so much debilitation and subsequent suffering, so too are the masses either engaged in a similar search or have attached to a less-than-proper-and-effective treatment. Their problem:
a. They have not been properly diagnosed, so they have not come close to finding the proper treatment being called for in their cases; and
b. they are dedicated to a treatment plan based in an improper diagnosis but have not seen - as I did - that the plans being used (in my case by two incompetent doctors and in their case by their "leader" or "guide") was going to leave them as sick as ever or lead to an "early death"; or
c. they are delusional and think they have been restored to health when they have not.
Why? Because they have unquestioningly accepted an improper diagnosis and have become convinced not only that are they are not fully well and fully recovered but that they also now know exactly what is wrong with others and what others need in order to be healed.
For the masses, 97% believe that their sickness was rooted in the fact that they had mastered too little dogma.
For millions more, they believe that they had a spirit within which was sick (that is, they their sickness was a "sickness of the spirit" or was a "spiritual malady").
In the former case, the treatment plan calls for a lifetime of study of the dogma presented in one holy text or another which had been exhaustively augmented by the additional teachings of their ministers and by generations of ministers before them.
In the latter case, the treatment plan they are using involves engaging in a lifetime of spiritual exercises; in the study of writings of so-called spiritual experts or guides; in turning themselves over to the direction of a particular guide or leader or director or sponsor; and in turning their will over to the care of some Power or Powers residing in another world but that is micro-managing everything - literally, everything) that is happening in "their world."
In neither case can the treatment plan possibly work because both plans are based in a misdiagnosis of their actual problem.
Moreover, no sickness is as widespread as the Ultimate Sickness and no sickness is being treated as ineffectively as the Ultimate Sickness.
That ineffective treatment happened in the loft of a flat in Bombay for many years before a man called "Maharaj" discovered the actual nature of the Ultimate Sickness and then changed the type of Ultimate Medicine which he was offering to treat it. The same happened here.
Enter the non-dual "teachings" (as combined with an understanding of the Nisarga Yoga). What is the "justification" or the "legitimate purpose" of giving even a second's attention to the non-dual understanding? Per Maharaj: to end humanity's near-universal suffering as a result of humanity's near-universal entrapment in the near-universally bastardized human mind which is being controlled by the accumulation of learned ignorance which is stored therein.
Wait a minute. If that is the case, then the only logical conclusion would be that the Ultimate Sickness is a mind-sickness, not a spiritual sickness? That the Ultimate Sickness is a mind-sickness, not a too-little-dogma sickness? Bingo.
So reading in a "holy text" about "a man of God" who got drunk and had sex with his daughters might not address a mental sickness? Or reading in a text about a God who got angry and drowned everyone on the planet except for the members of one family might not address a mental sickness?
Or reading in a holy text about a man who reported hearing the voice of god tell him to tie up his son and stab him to death but then canceled the execution at the last minute while explaining that it was all just "a text of faith" might not address a mental sickness?
Or reading about that man bringing a younger woman into the home of him and wife and then having a child with the younger woman before eventually tossing her aside might not address a mental sickness?
Or hearing one's leader tell him to kill the members of all other sects and religions might not address a mental sickness?
Or hearing one's community tell her or him that they are members of "God's chosen people" might not address a mental sickness and unchecked egotism and arrogance?
What about the spiritual advice of telling people who do not like god to come up with their own concept of a God that they can like. Might that address a mental sickness? Or what about telling people to hit a brass bowl with a stick and then hum along with the sound? Might that address a mental sickness? And what about telling people to accumulate crystal and conduct spiritual exercises on special spiritual days with the crystals laid out in a circle? Might that address a mental sickness?
Or what about telling people to eat certain foods, to wear special clothes, to wear their hair a certain way or to wear certain spiritual accoutrements around their necks or on their garments? Is there a suggestion that none of that can address mental sickness?
In fact, might not all of that actually exacerbate a mental sickness which is already present? Might all of that not inspire crazies to model such behavior? In many cultures, incest or holding a knife over a child and threatening to stab him / her to death or conducting mass killings can land people in jail.
Yet if that is done in the name of religion, or in the name of a famous sports figure, the crazies might escape all responsibility.
Though the revered and worshipped Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was told in 1976 that his assistant coach had molested a child, and though he was told the same again in 1998 and again 3 or so years later, he ignored and covered up the abuse from beginning to end. When he was fired for the cover-up, the masses in and around Penn State took to the streets and rioted to protest the firing of their beloved coach.
Members of a Christian denomination have long been exposed to the evidence that many among their clergy have a history of molesting children and other parishioners, but they, to this very day, have continued to give money to their church which the leaders use to cover up the abuse and to pay millions of dollars in hush money to the victims and their families.
Yet after all of that, some are surprised nowadays when evangelicals defend behaviors which, for their entire lifetimes, they have previously railed against? Really? That is a surprise? After seeing what else has been tolerated and ignored and covered up and swept under the rug throughout their history?
Many of the greatest "scandals" in human history - and more of the insane views held to be dear among the masses - have often been rooted in the worshipping of people and gods and goddesses and / or a God that supposedly engineered the greatest case of genocide ever.
Is it any wonder that the non-dual, Nisargan understanding suggests that the worshipping of other people or self or Self or gods or goddesses or a God must be abandoned if one is to realize - that is, become free of all learned ignorance and arrogance and conceit and egotism?
The traits which persons list as "the symptoms of the spiritual sickness" or "the symptoms of not being holy" - if looked at wisely and objectively - will be seen to actually be the traits of one form or another of mental illness, personality disorders, neuroses, and / or psychoses.
And mental illness, personality disorders, neuroses, and / or psychoses cannot be effectively treated by teachings which have generated more mental illness, personality disorders, neuroses, and / or psychoses than any other single source.
To be continued.
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Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those 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 (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly").
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."
Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on:
"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men"
and
"There is no hell."
