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."
MISTAKING WITNESSING FOR JUDGING AND MISTAKING THE IDENTIFYING OF KEY SYMPTOMS OF THE ULTIMATE MEDICINE (WHICH MAHARAJ IDENTIFIED AS "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, AND INSANITY") WITH "CRITICIZING THE MASSES FOR BEING IGNORANT, STUPID, AND INSANE," Part Five
The fourth of the five key pointers offered by one with the understanding which is often misinterpreted or distorted by listeners involves . . .
4. confusing one's ability to spot all forms of duality, including the duality-based thoughts and words and actions exhibited by so-called alt-righters, white supremacists, racists, modern-day fascists, those who attack "the other," etc. with the notion that the one able to see duality clearly is also judging and identifying the members of such groups as "the other."
The education departments in universities offer Education 101, and in that basic, introductory course, almost all will offer an overview of the most effective method(s) for passing along what they call "teaching points."
[Frequent visitors to the site understand that the focus here is on "un-teaching" and "unlearning," but pointers are offered along "the path" in order to move seekers to the next step and facilitate their reaching the end [specifically, per Maharaj, the end of all belief in learned ignorance and freedom from the effects of nonsensical programming, conditioning, etc.]
So what do those who have studied the topic and found what is shared in common among the most effective ways to transmit pointers?
a. Introduce an overview of the topic to be discussed.
b. Offer the point.
c. Explain the point.
d. Offer examples or illustrations - or tell illuminating or clarifying stories - which help the listeners understand the point and which show the relevance of the point and show what can happen if the point is not understood or what can happen if the point is understood.
e. Review the original point.
f. If called for, present the point in another way so that any who did not understand it in its original form might be able to understand it if the point is presented in a different way.
So, to #5:
5. erroneously accusing Maharaj's expulsion of some from the loft as an act of anger which was rooted in a sense of separation and a sense of superiority
and attacking and criticizing Maharaj for shifting from the use of a form of the Ultimate Medicine which differed from his earlier forms, including a Hindu / religious version of the Medicine and a Hindi / spiritual version of the Medicine and using in his later talks a psychology-based version of the Medicine which addressed the true roots of the Sickness, namely the mind and its contents.
In the book SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ and HIS EVOLUTION, these are among some of the critical quotes regarding Maharaj:
After he advised seekers to give up their religious work and spiritual work and to stop reading I AM THAT and listen to his later talks:
"The later books of Maharaj do not enjoy the same clarity as 'I Am That'. It seems that he himself got complicated or rather evolved himself or declined maybe as happens to many teachers. It is also the lack of quality of translation in the level of "I Am That".
After he transitioned beyond religious and spiritual versions of the Medicine and focused on the psychological aspects of the Sickness:
"At first when he was still listening to his guru he was telling the truth, like he did in 'I AM THAT.' In his other talks, his ego made him start telling things he dreamed up on his own that were not true."
After he began discussing on the mind / psychological aspects of the Sickness and what can be done to address that:
"He deteriorated from one of the great spiritual men of all times to one of the least spiritual people of all times."
The percentage of "non-dual teachers" that use a religion or spirituality-based version of the Medicine must be close to 99.9%.
The number that focus on the mental / mind-driven / psychological roots - and what can be done about those sources of the Sickness - must surely be a very small number.
So the question is, "WHO cares?"
Sages for ages have used that question as a teaching tool to use with seekers who are disturbed or troubled or offended by something, inviting them to pause and to reflect and to find which ego-state or personas are perceiving a sense of being interfered with or being threatened by someone or something or being hurt.
The question is intended to remind them that they - mere composite unities of elemental plant food bodies which are circulating air and conscious-energy - cannot feel interfered or threatened or hurt. Earth elements cannot feel interfered with or threatened; air cannot feel interfered with or threatened; energy cannot feel interfered with or threatened.
Only some personality (accepted erroneously as a true identification) can feel as if its hidden agenda is being interfered with or threatened, and when that happens, a warped mind - filled with nonsense via programming, conditioning, etc. - will trigger a mouth and the mouth will start spouting all sorts of nonsensical statements of anger or rage or hurt or victimization.
Thus, the question now is, which "WHO" is it - which false, assumed ego-state - cares about which way one becomes freed of false beliefs, distortions, delusions, and the concepts rooted in nonsensical programming, conditioning, etc.?
Must not such "WHO's" be persons / personas who are highly invested in "their" way and their way alone?
If so, must not such a person surely be one who is un-realized if she or he is still exhibiting the arrogance which believes that only his or her way is acceptable?
For over 5000 years, millions of Hindus have come and gone, all the while believing that their way is the right way. For thousands of years, millions of Jews have come and gone, all the while believing that their way is the only acceptable way.
For nearly 2000 years, billions of Christians have come and gone, all the while believing that their way is the only acceptable way. For more than 1400 years, millions of Sunni and Shia Muslims have come and gone, all the while believing their way is the only acceptable way.
For several thousand years, billions of Buddhists have come and gone, all the while believing that their way is the way to find what should be sought. And for thousands of years, millions of non-dualists have come and gone,
all the while believing that their way is the way to find what should be
sought.
Trillions of persons for thousands of years have come and gone, all the while believing their religion, their spiritual approach, their philosophy, their understanding, their ideology, their way is the best way or the right way or even the only way to find what is being sought and to gain that which is desired for eternity.
And must not such types be highly attached to the concepts and beliefs which are clung to at the third step on "the path" where persons believe that their role of "The Super Religious One" or "The Spiritual Giant" or "The Super Seeker" or "The Deep and Profound Thinker" or "The Super Knower," etc., etc., etc. is real?
Again, the question is, "WHO" cares about how one is freed from distortion, as long as such freedom happens?
The APA notes that one counselor working with a client whose thinking in dominated by distortions and delusions might use psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapies. Another might use behavior therapy. A third might use cognitive therapy.
A fourth might try humanistic therapy, including client-centered therapy or Gestalt therapy or Existential therapy. A fifth might use a holistic approach and treat body and mind, understanding that some issues which appears to have psychological roots might actually have a physiological root. (For example, the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder might be a mental disorder but many times it is a disorder rooted in a simple mineral imbalance in the body.)
Meanwhile, a sixth therapist might use an EMDR approach to address the issues.
Often, if a therapist sees that one method is not working, that therapist might shift to another method or to a combination of other methods. So what, if the client's thinking is freed of distortions and delusions? Most would not object to a counselor seeking the method which is most effective with a particular client.
So why the big brouhaha - why so much hubbub, such an uproar, why so much fuss, why such a hullabaloo, why so much agitation - when Maharaj did the same or when the same happens here?
When one version of the Ultimate Medicine was seen by Maharaj to be ineffective long-term, why so much emotional intoxication around the "teacher" trying a different method?
The answer: Only because of egotism and arrogance. Some "special / Special" identity has been assumed and egotism and other ego-defense mechanisms have been triggered because a false identity believes that it is being attacked.
So again, it is asked: "'WHO' really cares?"
The seeker that finally reaches a "no-'WHO'-ness" state is the only one that will not care about such silliness.
If one wants to pursue freedom from distortion and delusion and the effects of nonsensical programming, conditioning, etc., via a method other than the one offered here, then rock and roll; however, the experience here (which involved years of seeking unsuccessfully and which has involved witnessing the failures of other seekers who have sought in a variety of venues) is this:
in the many decades of working with seekers using religion and dogma to try to free themselves of distorted and delusional thinking and beliefs, there has never been seen a single case where that worked long-term. Usually, what they are exposed to results in even more distorted and delusional thinking and beliefs.
(Does that point inspire anger? WHO is angered?)
And come this July, there will have been decades of working with seekers during many of those years while using spirituality to try to free them of distorted and delusional thinking and beliefs without ever having seen a single case where that worked long-term. Usually, what they are exposed to results in even more distorted and delusional thinking and beliefs.
(Does that point inspire anger? WHO is angered?)
Maharaj, after decades of trying religion and / or spirituality-based methods and religion and / or spiritual-based versions of the Ultimate Medicine, reported that he saw no long-term "success" with the use of either to try to treat the Ultimate Sickness;
thus, when it became clear to him that the Ultimate Sickness was not a result of persons having learned too little dogma and was not a result of persons having a "sick spirit" or a "spiritual malady" and therefore not being "spiritual enough," then it also became clear to him that the Sickness is actually rooted in the mind and, therefore, needs a form of the Medicine which addresses the mind problem.
He saw that almost all persons are programmed, conditioned, acculturated, domesticated, brainwashed, and indoctrinated to believe in magical forces who are living in other worlds and who are controlling everything in this world and who will supposedly empower persons and will supposedly reward persons both now and forevermore if they believe in those powers and worship them and praise them.
And when the threat to non-believers or questioners or doubters is "misery and suffering now and for eternity," then the impetus is usually there to go along with what persons believe in that regard.
Here, the question when that is the case is, "WHO is going along without questioning? WHO is accepting as a result of blind faith alone the supposed validity of tales which were dreamed up by persons thousands and thousands of years ago who then passed down their dreamed-up beliefs to persons who to this very day still accept as truth those ancient, fictional tales which were based in myth and superstition and ignorance?"
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.
