TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a retreat on video which includes a detailed discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj]
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.
REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL":
Redirection vs. Misdirection, Being Conned and Being Fooled
[Continued from yesterday]
Throughout the history of this site, the points have been offered repeatedly that
1. being taught (and being programmed, conditioned, etc.) in the ways of religion and dogma and the ways of being godly and in the ways of being a spiritual giant have led to persons being fooled and conned more than any other single factor, institution, etc.
but that
2. there can be along the "path" a time for seekers to focus on religion and / or spirituality and for religious and spiritual roles to be played in a process which is intended to eventually eliminate all role playing.
The "justification": that focusing and role playing can provide a much-called-for redirection of attention among the narcissistic masses who have focused only on self, who have engaged in excessive self-admiration, who have been trapped in self-centeredness, and who have been driven by such high levels of the God Complex / Narcissistic Personality Disorder for so much of their existence that they have long overestimated their own appearance and abilities while being driven to satisfy their need for admiration.
If anything can interrupt that pattern and inspire such arrogant types to redirect their focus on something other than self, then its place as a step on the "path" to realization is warranted.
Yet that is a rare occurrence among humankind. More often, the Goldilocks rules applies: most - for the entirely of their relative existence - will never find the middle ground between relative "self-care" and relative "self-hatred." When it comes to "self," most will register far too hot or far too cold.
Moreover, when the effects of psychological programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing, and indoctrination are studied objectively, it can be seen that those set persons up for being misdirected and, therefore, easily fooled and conned.
Some site visitors know Louise in Cape Town, S.A. Her son is becoming one of the top magicians on that continent as well as throughout Europe where he is currently traveling and performing his magic act on the road.
Many in his profession practice misdirection as a part of their entertaining acts, that being a form of deception in which the attention of an audience is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another. Managing the audience's attention is the aim of all theater; it is - depending on the specific types of magic being performed - the foremost requirement of theatrical magic. And for those living their lives on the stage of The Theater of the Lie," misdirection is one of their favorite tools.
Some politicians have the use of misdirection down to an art form as well. Expose their corruption and they are capable of creating a diversion which will shift public attention away from their dishonesty and fraud and bribery and sleaze to the dishonesty of "all those others." They are not your ordinary cons but have assumed the role of "The Super Con," able to fool millions with a single remark or written statement or tweet.
In either case, with either magicians or politicians who are adept at using misdirection, they produce illusions, and producing illusions is the way of the planet, the way of humankind, the way of parents and relatives and religious leaders and political leaders and military leaders and the leaders of big businesses who use deceptive trade practices to make the junk which they are offering appear to be something quite grand.
All of those are often joined in their practices of conning and fooling persons by dependent and / or co-dependent individuals trying to hook persons into long-term relationships in which they can get all of their bills and rent and food and medical expenses and clothing, etc. paid for by someone else.
Misdirecting and conning and fooling others has been a tool used by millions throughout history.
THE CHALLENGE FOR NON-DUAL SEEKERS ON A "PATH"
The challenge for non-dual seekers on a "path" which includes a step where religious or spiritual roles are played for a time (such as the third step on the "path" used by Maharaj for decades and used here for decades) is to
(a) play the roles only for a period of time which is long enough to allow for redirection of one's focus to happen without
(b) becoming ensnared in the same web of deceit and illusion which religions have used for thousands of years to entangle and enmesh the masses in order to control their thoughts and words and actions.
If the latter happens, then persons will fixate at that step rather than moving on along "the path" and completing the entire "journey" to full realization (which,. per Maharaj, refers to a state in which one is "totally freed of all belief in learned ignorance").
It was that condition - of becoming fixated at a point on "the path" which is not even the midway point - which Maharaj was referring to when he spoke of those practicing "kindergarten-level spirituality" who think that they are "being bathed in the full light of the noonday sun when they are actually still only standing in the dull light of dawn."
Some are aware that there was a time with Maharaj (and here as well) that the attitude was, "Either buy into the form of the Ultimate Medicine being offered here, which is a concoction that was heavy on dogma and / or spirituality," or move on. The "relative needs and concerns" of many sincere seekers were poorly served when such an attitude was present.
THE ADDITIONAL CHALLENGE FOR NON-DUAL SEEKERS ON A "PATH"
The additional challenge for non-dual seekers is to be able to distinguish between the required redirection which provides the needed shift in focus by those that would move on along "the path" and to avoid attaching to the detrimental misdirection which leads to fixation and an assumption by persons undertaking "the journey" who think that they have "arrived" when, in fact, they have not even left the runway and are sitting on an airplane on an isolated stretch of tarmac and going nowhere.
For millions of years, trillions of humans - or their human-like ancestors - survived without being dependent on any of the institutions and persons who use misdirection. It is only in the last few millennia that the majority of humans have been programmed and conditioned etc. to believe that they must have an expansive understanding of dogma and / or must engage in an endless stream of spiritual practices and exercises in order to be okay or fine or better than. "Be free of religious or spiritual going and doing and zooming? No damn way!"
In fact, they have been conned and fooled. They are as hooked as any other person suffering from the Addictive Personality Disorder though they believe that other addicts are hooked on "bad stuff" while they are hooked on "some really good stuff."
So it is, but so it need not be for she or he who is willing to wake up, to redirect the focus away from self / selves, to become able to distinguish between true and false, and then to abide in a far more peaceful nisargan (natural) manner as opposed to the chaotic unnatural and supernatural ways in which the masses are trying to live.
To be continued.
NEW OFFER:
Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.)
If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video.
(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.)
To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button:
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]
In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you.
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 that is relevant is 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."
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
and
"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,
a writer used by the Pope to issue off the record
teachings which are part of the Papal Magisterium]
