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."
THE SEEDS OF DUALITY WHICH PRODUCE DUALITY'S PROGENY:
Offspring Number Forty-six =
No Interest in Being Truly Free and Independent
THE MASSES PREFER DEPENDENCY AND CODEPENDENCY AND ATTACHMENT TO THINGS WHICH ROB PERSONS OF THEIR FREEDOM
". . . You are afraid of freedom!"
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Very early on, all persons are robbed and kidnapped. First, they are robbed by their parents and their cultures of the simple existence that any body-cum-consciousness would and should otherwise enjoy, leaving to all persons an inheritance that no sane person would want (or accept), namely, a very complex, complicated, and restricted relative existence.
Next, they are kidnapped, and their case is not unlike that which appears in so many mystery novels: characters are kidnapped, bags are thrown over their heads so they can no longer see, they are knocked unconscious, and when they awake to a tiny degree, they find they are locked away in one of a variety of rooms or cells.
Sometimes in mystery novels or movies, a hero comes along to rescue them, but in most instances of an actual kidnapping, there is no rescue . . . there is no escape. The “realized Advaitin teacher” is no hero or rescuer but does deal with those who have been robbed and kidnapped and who have been blinded and cannot see;
with those who have been rendered unconsciousness even though they continue to walk about and talk; and with those who are locked away in a state of entrapment. Imprisoned among the ranks of the non-realized (that is, per Maharaj, those who have not been freed from belief in their "learned ignorance") most will never escape.
Thus, the non-realized masses have been blinded and cannot see, and they are walking about and talking though unconscious; however, there is one difference from the kidnapped people in mystery novels: the non-realized are totally unaware that they have been locked away . . . totally unaware that they are in a state of entrapment . . . totally unaware that they are not free.
Might a nagging sense of their condition manifest? On some occasions, but having no means by which the lies and restrictions of their culture can be seen and discarded in order for Truth and freedom to come, they shake off the sensation and continue with their boring and confining existence.
Indeed, the real mystery in all cases among the non-Realized becomes: "I don't even know who I am anymore!" and "Who Am I?" and "What happens when we die?" and "I sense I am something more than this body, but what?" or "This relationship makes me feel like I am in jail" or
"My addiction has left me in bondage, hooked on work or spiritual work or control or power or money or shopping or drugs or alcohol or food or nicotine or a plethora of false identities or, yes, even hooked on my addiction to chaos."
Yet most will never wake up enough to even ask those questions or to make those statements. Most eventually become so "comfortable" with their discomfort that they normalize it and minimize it and become afraid of freedom:
"Better to be in prison with company than to be free but alone," they think unconsciously (without even knowing what they are actually thinking).
That is the typical condition of the relative existence for most persons, so the discussion will continue only for the few who might come and who might be willing to at least consider the possibly . . .
. . . that they were robbed early on,
. . . that they have been kidnapped,
. . . that they were hoodwinked,
. . . that they have been unconscious for most of their existence, and
. . . that they are not free at all.
There can be no freedom when the answers to the most basic questions remain a mystery and cannot be answered. When the answers are not known, then the false ideas in one's culture will be accepted as truth; then, a limited, confined, and confining existence becomes the only possibility for the robbed, kidnapped, hoodwinked, unconscious, imprisoned masses.
Maharaj said: "False ideas about this 'I am' lead to bondage; right knowledge leads to freedom and happiness."
So, the discussion continues:
DEFINING FREEDOM - CONVENTIONAL SOURCES
(definitions, continued)
g. "Freedom" is immunity or exemption from an obligation or duty.
How many are driven by an obligation or duty that allows for no immunity or exemption and, thus, no freedom? Consider the ego-states involved in that scenario:
1. "The Patriot" that soon upgrades itself to "The Super Patriot": such persons will be driven by a sense of duty and obligation to die for the silliest causes that their commanders can dream up, following death-assuring orders without question in the exact manner that they were programmed and conditioned to do before being allowed to enter the field of battle.
2. "The Son" or "The Daughter" that struggles to be upgraded to "The Super Son" or "The Super Daughter": How many trapped in that ego-state, seeking parental approval and "love," will automatically and blindly practice the parents' religion; will parrot their parents' beliefs; will acquiesce to the parents' demands regarding the proper kind of employment that is acceptable in the eyes of the parents;
will marry someone, as the parents desire, rather than just live together (and will actually marry over and over again until they "get it right" in order to receive an "attaboy" or an "attagirl" from mom and dad or in order to avoid being scolded as happened early on when they were "The Bad Son" or "The Bad Daughter" )?
How many of those types will never tap into that which they know - but do not know that they know - and will instead adopt every one of their parents' beliefs and customs and traditions and mores without question, trapping them forever in the role of "The Clueless, Controlled Child"?
Persons need not "hate" their earliest and most influential teachers - their parents and culture - in order to see that their nonsense really was, and still is, nonsense.
Prison can manifest in many forms other than gray concrete and steel bars. To feel obligated to accept, without questioning, all of the beliefs and concepts and values of one's parents and / or one's culture preempts any chance for total freedom to manifest and assures that persons will be imprisoned for the entirely of their relative existence.
Why? Because those among the non-realized masses will be so afraid of becoming independent and walking the less-traveled path that they will also be afraid of total freedom itself.
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"
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
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 become a part of the Papal Magisterium.
[That said, would that the popes who have shown the courage to reject a core concept of their dogma - namely, "hell" - would find the additional courage required to question the very existence of their institution in light of the centuries-long cover-up of their history of raping children and in light of the mental and emotional and psychological scarring of billions of their members past and present.
And that need for courage also applies as questions need to be asked about why so many other sky cults are still being supported and allowed to continue to exist as well. When certain types of programming and conditioning have been shown to blind the masses, they should end. Will they? Not likely. Why?
Because what the masses think and say and do is most influenced by the international crime families which hold sway over the masses as criminals conduct their planet-wide operations. What are the major international crime families and which are the most influential and have the largest memberships?
The Mafia / La Cosa Nostra; the Catholic Church (with it 1.2 billion followers); Protestant and Evangelical Churches (with over 1.2 billion followers) like the one I was raised in where the youth director molested and sexually assaulted young girls; big business which has long created environments in which people have been abused; powerful political bodies like the U.S. Congress, etc., etc., etc.)
With all of those crime families, neither the followers nor the leadership ever voluntarily step down or shut down their criminal activities. Be they gangs, organized crime families, religions, big business, politicians, etc., they all want control and they all want power and they all want money, and nothing internal will interfere with the driving forces at play.
The masses must demand that all those in charge must step down and their groups and institutions must shut down, and there's the real problem because the continuation of their crimes are enabled not as much by the people running such crime organizations as they are enabled by the masses of people who - wanting some perceived "payoff" - remain involved with them and give them money and support them and aid and abet the continued existence of those criminal enterprises and thus facilitate the ability of church criminals and political criminals and other types of criminals to continue to commit their crimes.]
Here's
the direct link to the VIDEO VERSION
of the "Awakening Together" satsang session with Regina and Jacqueline referenced earlier, 18 MARCH 2018
If preferred, here's
the direct link to the AUDIO VERSION
of that session.
