TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. [See the offer in gold text 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 green text after today's 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." (See the details in the blue text after this post.)
4. My assistant found two paperback copies of the book co-authored with Mark Houston, A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Transformation, a potentially-effective gift for someone struggling with an addiction to alcohol (or to anything else, really). The book lists for $19.95 + Priority Mail shipping. To purchase, you may use the donate button at the top right of this page and include a note that the $27.60 is for the Twelve-Step book. Regrets to international visitors but this is only available within the U.S. because international shipping rates are prohibitive and time-consuming and cannot be tracked.
Yesterday, Dennis offered the pointer that “ . . . although times, society and people change, the basic problems do not.”
The non-dual understanding addresses “the ancient basic problems” of humankind which are, indeed, “the present-day basic problems” of humankind as well.
Yet there are widespread and varied beliefs about “the basic problem” and, therefore, “the basic solution.” Why?
The disagreement with those offering solutions to the basic problems of humankind disagree in their basic diagnosis of the basic problem.
All of the various religions, spiritual movements, ideologies, philosophies, and self-improvement programs which have been dreamed up over the millennia to identify humankind’s problems and to offer their various solutions to the problem have been – and continue to be – in sharp disagreement with each other because of the variety of diagnoses, the hidden agendas of those making the diagnosis, and the subsequent, usually-self-serving treatment plans offered.
Religion blames “the world’s problems” on people not knowing the specifics of the dogma which they teach and not following the will of their particular God (or gods and goddesses) or following “the will of the wrong god” or adhering to “the wrong dogma”?
Spiritual movements are sure that “the world’s problems” and the problems of specific individuals are rooted in a “sick spirit” or “spiritual malady” or “spiritual sickness.”
Ideologies and philosophical movements all have their own varied explanations about what humans need to know and what they should learn and believe and aim to achieve.
But what if the actual “ancient basic problems” of humankind which are also “the present-day basic problems” existed long before . . .
there was any dreamed up dogma,
long before . . .
there were any dreamed up concepts about a “spirit” and whether it could be “sick” or have developed a “malady
and long before . . .
there was any dreamed up ideologies or philosophies?
What problems have generated human suffering and misery longer than any other problems?
Maharaj said that the three key problems among humans which are humankind’s “ancient basic problems” and which are also humankind’s “present-day basic problems” involve having thoughts and words and behaviors driven by . . .
“ignorance”
and
“stupidity’
and / or
“insanity.”
Regarding Dennis Waite’s pointer that “. . . although times, society and people change, the basic problems do not,” Maharaj would agree to the extent that the “basic problem” among humans of all times involves being driven by “ignorance and stupidity and / or insanity.”
“Ignorance and stupidity” have long been around as evidenced by the body of myths and superstitions which early human believed in and which they have passed all the way down to the present.
A belief popular in the middle ages was that “a class of demons that inhabited the sky “caused tempests, thunder, and lightning, the destruction of trees, burned down houses, struck men and beasts, showered stones, wool, and frogs from the skies; and raised whirlwinds, fires, and corrupted the air so as to spread disease.”
Widespread insanity, on the other hand, came along after the widespread manifestation of "ignorance and stupidity." In modern days, the degrees of insanity and personality disorders and neuroses and psychoses are increasing in intensity among the members of each generation (which is having that insanity passed down to them and / or modeled for them in their homes and in their cultures).
Where have the basic problems always centered and where do they continue to be centered? In the mind.
Foolishness is centered in the mind. “Ignorance and stupidity and insanity” are centered in the mind. Yet the very earliest humans had no mind so they abided as do all living things on the planet – except for humans – presently abide now, living under the auspices of the brain which was and is motivated by the manifest consciousness to “survive.”
Now, to the contrary of all other living things, many humans are forever testing ways to end their survival or to abide in highly self-destructive ways.
What ended that brain-driven, constructive existence and led to a nonsense -filled, mind-driven destructive existence? What led to the current widespread levels of foolishness and “ignorance and stupidity and insanity”?
A person behaving as “The Fool” requires having a mind filled with foolishness, and while almost every child usually arrives with a brain, no child originally arrives with a mind at all.
In fact, it was not until the human brain evolved from its original one-cup size to its present 3-1/2 cup size that any human ever had a mind, that is, ever had areas of the brain where information could be stored and from which information could be retrieved.
The earliest version of "the mind" was originally an asset for humanity when it was filled with facts, such as when Thor witnessed Rickback fall off a cliff and break into pieces on the rocks below and then stored in the mind-part of his brain the intuitive message, “Take caution around the edges of cliffs. The potential is an event which will not contribute to the survival of the species.”
Now, however, as a result of distorted and nonsensical programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, indoctrination and brainwashing, the mind - as Maharaj made clear in multiple warnings - is a liability.
The reason that Maharaj suggested that “ . . . You should go back, reverse, to the source” and “Follow the same path by which you came” is because it is during the “coming in leg” when foolishness is added, when, historically, each child is exposed to the hand-me-down ignorance and stupidity and insanity which is being passed down to all children and which relocates them mentally and emotionally into the Land of Suckerdom.
Remember, Maharaj eventually made clear that “realization” involves nothing more than realizing that what has been taught was learned ignorance and then purging oneself of all of the ignorance-based belief systems which are subconsciously driving thoughts and words and actions.
It is those belief systems, since the evolution of the brain and the formation of the mind-part of the brain, which have led to the “basic problems” of humanity and still lead to the basic problem of humankind today.
That is why the reminder is repeated often that there is no one here that wants you to believe anything or learn anything. That is why the reminder is repeated often here than the basic invitation on this site is to allow yourself to be un-taught and to unlearn all that you have learned along the way (realizing that it was nothing more than “learned ignorance” all along).
And that is why it would be enough to unlearn what you have been told by your culture and all persons within it who have ever taught you anything about who or what you are. That is why it would be enough is to unlearn all that you think you are. That is why it would be enough to see all that you are not (and never have been). That is why it would be enough to see how false all that “they” told you about who you are really has been.
All of that can happen by reaching the fourth step on "the path."
Simultaneously, that would relieve persons from the tendency among the masses to prefer form over substance and inauthenticity over authenticity, those widespread preferences for phoniness just about assuring that the masses will never realize and will never be free of the constant effort and pressure of creating false public images and free of the anxiety and fear of having their false public image exposed.
Consider the angst, for example, that some teen girls have reported that they have suffered because of the pressure they feel to “look good,” to develop a “good image,” and to work constantly to reinforce it.
Yet there are a few of their peers who are using music to try to give them the same (non-dual) understanding which is offered here.
In that regard, consider the lyrics of the song,
“Who Are You”
by
Jessie J.:
I stare at my reflection in the mirror.
Why am I doing this to myself?
Losing my mind on a tiny error,
I nearly left the real me on the shelf.
No, no, no, no.
Don't lose who you are
in the blur of the stars.
Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing.
It's okay not to be okay.
Sometimes it's hard, to follow your heart.
Tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising,
Just be true to who you are.
Brushing my hair, do I look perfect?
I forgot what to do to fit the mold, yeah.
The more I try the less it's working, yeah,
'Cause everything inside me screams, no, no, no, no, yeah.
Don't lose who you are, in the blur of the stars.
Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing.
It's okay not to be okay.
Sometimes it's hard, to follow your heart,
But tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising.
There's nothing wrong with who you are.
Yes, no's, egos, fake shows,
Like woo, just go, and leave me alone.
Real talk, real life, good love, goodnight
With a smile, that's my own . . .
That's my own, no, no, no, no, no.
Don't lose who you are,
in the blur of the stars.
Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing.
It's okay not to be okay.
Sometimes it's hard, to follow your heart.
Tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising
Just be true to who you are, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You may watch the Jessie J. video of that song by clicking the following link, if interested:
or
You can watch (by clicking an interpretative dance version) a part of the song as offered by way of a dance group featured recently on "World of Dance."
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) whose Vatican Bank worked for decades with the Mafia while laundering mob earnings (for a 15% all-profit charge by the Bank); 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.
