TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. [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]
2. 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.
3. A new video ("Number Ten: Awakening Together Satsang, March 2018") has now been added in the far right column of this page, offering the opportunity to view a recent 2018 satsang session with Floyd being interviewed by Regina and Jacqueline of "The Awakening Together Group."
Why So Few Will Ever Be Freed of Their Distorted and Delusional Thoughts and Beliefs, Part Three
Visitors were invited earlier to consider how they can be freed of the symptoms and side effects of the Ultimate Sickness. Let's turn to that next.
Since most will never, ever even hear about the Ultimate Sickness, the answer must be that - by chance or intent - one must somehow cross the path of a "healer" who suffered the illness, of one who found someone to administer the treatment in the proper stages and steps, of one that was eventually freed of the Sickness and its symptoms, and of one that is now willing to administer the Ultimate Medicine to seekers who are now suffering the same symptoms and effects and who are wanting relief.
In terms of the venues used by the masses for the seeking of whatever they are seeking (rain, escape from the effects of hurricanes or floods or storms, salvation, eternal life and reward vs. eternal punishment, peace, a "good" mate or romance and social contacts, business contacts, political power, strength and power, sobriety, healing, relative longevity, the fulfillment of their desires, riches, status and honor and admiration, a "positive" image, vengeance) few of those venues attempt to address the widespread ignorance and insanity so commonplace among the masses.
While 97% on the planet have said that they are affiliated with one religion or another - making their religious venue the only place most of them will ever seek - and while millions more brag that they "are not religious but are spiritual" (thinking that makes then different from and better than mere religious persons), few will ever seek wisdom and sanity and the Ultimate Medicine which can free them of the ignorance which they have been taught and the insanity which had been imposed upon them first by their relatives and then by their cultures.
Some spiritual programs discuss how insanity plays and played an overpowering role in the lives of their members, but they are not trained to treat the complex personality disorders, neuroses and psychoses which have plagued their members (and which continue to do so, claims to the contrary notwithstanding. For persons to self-diagnosis and claim that they "have been restored to sanity" is as inaccurate a belief as their earlier, years-long belief that they were sane and everyone else was crazy They were mistaken then and they are still mistaken now).
So religious venues and spiritual venues focus on two topics primarily:
a. ethics
and
b. worship.
"Ethics" has been defined as "moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of their activities with a focus on adhering to a moral code, values, ideals, virtues, and what is right vs. what is wrong."
"Worship" involves showing reverence and adoration for a deity (or a host of deities) and learning the proper way to conduct religious rites in order to honor a deity (or deities).
Consider:
Maharaj said, "Only that person will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end"
and
"First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and . . . you pray to that God for something good to happen to you."
So much for the worship of a god or gods and goddesses.
As for "right vs. wrong," that is the very essence of duality.
Thus, both concepts - ethics and worship - represent the essence of duality-based thinking and talking and behaving.
Consider how the "Ten Commandments" or "Decalogue" which have a paramount place in the ethical and worship systems of the 4.3 billion persons who are affiliated with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam focus on only ethics and worship.
(As reported on one current Muslim site, it is written that "The Ten Commandments are among the core teachings of Judaism and Christianity that are taught to children at an early age but all of them are also included within the teachings of Islam." Actually, modern scholarship has found evidence of the Ten Commandments in Hittite and Mesopotamian laws and treaties long before they were recorded in Jewish literature, so exactly when they were written and by whom is not clear.)
So if it is understood that the Ultimate Sickness which has and continues to plague humanity does not involve improper ethics or substandard worship skills but involves humankind's mind / mental problems, then how could knowing and focusing on any of these concepts possibly treat effectively anyone's psychological problems?
1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.
The answer? They cannot. Evidence shows that they never have and that they cannot possibly do so. In fact, actual experience here shows that being fanatically attached to and preoccupied with those concepts will likely exacerbate one's insanity and ignorance.
The answer? They cannot. Evidence shows that they never have and that they cannot possibly do so. In fact, actual experience here shows that being fanatically attached to and preoccupied with those concepts will likely exacerbate one's insanity and ignorance.
If being ethical were an effective treatment plan for unchecked ignorance and insanity and psychological problems, then all of the counselors and therapists on the planet could convert their offices into churches, temples, synagogues, etc. and start preaching as opposed to offering the therapy which they are trained to provide.
If worship were an effective treatment plan for unchecked ignorance and insanity and psychological problems, then all of the counselors and therapists on the planet could convert their offices into churches, temples, synagogues, etc. and start preaching as opposed to offering the therapy they are trained to provide.
But neither is the case, so the point offered here for thirty years has been that (A) there can be a place on "the path" for playing religious and spiritual roles but in the end it must be understood that (B) not only do religion or spirituality not treat the Ultimate Sickness but they also actually reinforce it and spread it."
For thousands of years, persons were shunned and even killed if they did not show proper respect to gods and goddesses such as Zeus and Apollo and Poseidon and Thor and Odin and Neptune and Juno and Diana, etc., etc., etc. Today, there is not likely a single person on the planet who still believes in Zeus or any of those other deities whom billions worshipped so faithfully and fanatically for thousands of years.
Nowadays, 56% of the people on the planet - made up of Jews, Christians, and Muslims - worship the god of Abraham, but someday, there may not be a single person on the planet who still believes in that god who was conceived in the mind of Abraham.
For now, though, humans still flock to their supposedly holy sites and venues to worship and to learn more ethics.
Maharaj eventually came to see that the Ultimate Sickness which plagues nearly every human on the planet - and which involves unchecked ignorance and insanity - has nothing to do with persons knowing too little dogma and nothing to do with a "sick spirit" or a "spiritual malady" and have everything to do with that unchecked ignorance and insanity . . . with the psychological issues which plague humankind.
Because
1. some have been abused by their religious leaders and fanatically-religious parents and fanatically-religious teachers and fanatically-religious community leaders and fanatically-religious political leaders
and because
2. a young man reported that because of the abuse he received in religious and religious-like / spiritual venues, that he could not possibly seek in such places anymore and asked how to seek and find outside those places,
and because
3. Maharaj saw that the first two versions of the Ultimate Medicine were not working (those being a religious / non-dual combo and a spirituality / non-dual combo),
then
the discussion of how to realize without dogma and without continuous (that is, "a lifetime of") spiritual practices has been offered on occasion over the years.
For today's final considerations, reflect on the agendas of the various venues which the masses have been attracted to over the years:
Religions want to "cleanse" your mind. Spiritual movements want to "purify" your mind or "heal" your mind. Many professionals want to “straighten out the thinking” of your mind. Many groups want to move you from “wrong thinking" to “right thinking.” Some want to guide you to your “right mind.” Some want to teach you to "halt the constant movement" of your mind.
Yet none of those have a clue that they are missing the point completely: nothing needs to be done to your "mind" and nothing needs to happen to benefit your "mind." The mind is illusion.
One may as well go to a desert and try to benefit and improve or cleanse or purify or straighten out a mirage.
How can anyone cleanse a mirage, purify a mirage, heal a mirage, straighten out a mirage, make a mirage that is wrong into a mirage that is right, or stop mirages? It is impossible. The mind will simply fade away if you see every lie that is stored in it.
Then the brain, the sixth-sense, the intuition, and the inner guru will move you through this relative existence, and you will live the remainder of it in a natural fashion rather than in an unnatural fashion or in a supernatural fashion which are both dominated by magical thinking which results from a nonsensically-programmed mind.
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 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]
Here's
of the "Awakening Together" satsang session with Regina and Jacqueline referenced earlier, 18 MARCH 2018
If preferred, here's
of that session.
