TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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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. I have only two remaining 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.
The point in this series is that the non-dual message has long been widespread but has seldom been understood either then or now.
To continue:
THE NON-DUALITY MESSAGE AS OFFERED IN FILM
Today:
“The Batman Series,” “Touching the Void,” and “The Truman Show”
“The Batman Series”
In one of the Batman movies, a character says, “Maybe it’s time we all stop trying to outsmart the truth, and let the truth have its day.”
Indeed, the very core of the Batman tales as told in comics and in movies is rooted in duality along with layers upon layers of even more duality.
The notion of being part bat and part man is dualistic.
The notion of a super-human hero having totally human "issues" and with his entire relative existence marked with anger and depression and the darkness which comes with seeking revenge is dualistic.
The notion of a hero dressed in archetypal black rather than in archetypal white is dualistic. In literature, it has usually been a White Knight showing up on a white horse to save the day, but “the savior” in the city of Gotham where the Batman stories are set is actually a “dark knight.”
The story lines of “the good guy” and “the rescuer” vs. “the evil forces” is based in duality, but the fact is that the hero who supposedly cares about the law himself is driven by a “vigilante mindset,” which shows his own dualistic nature.
While Batman becomes the very symbol of fear to “the villains” in town, he reveals at times that he is driven by fear as well. As for that town’s population, there are two classes only: the very rich and the very poor.
The irony: many of Batman’s hang-ups are rooted in the fact that a poor person shot and killed his parents leaving a theater one night. Now, he’s tasked with fighting to protect the poor from the “evil elements” who have gained their riches through criminal acts.
The point: Usually in literature and drama, conflict is essential to plot and “the two sides” are clearly distinguished, but in the Batman series, there are dualities within dualities (so there is seemingly a plethora of contradictions always at play).
[One might be reminded of Maharaj’s having discussing those who seem to “have it” but then lose it and end up in the kind of fluctuating state which being fully situated in the understanding can check:
“You are so used to the support of concepts that when your concepts leave you, although it is your true state, you get frightened and try to cling to them again.”
By contrast, he said:
“I am stabilized. There is no going into samadhi, or coming down from samadhi. That is over.”
Fail to reach that stabilized state and the words of Yeshu’a (a.k.a., “Jesus”) will apply:
"A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways."]
There are religious and / or spiritual messages being sent to the audience as well. Batman is a super-human forces which answers the cries for help from humans, stepping between them and the forces that would harm them.
Greek drama used the device of a “deus ex machina” (an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel) some 2500 or so years ago, and use of the technique has marked - and marred – some dramas right up to the present.
Rather than working out a crisis with an expanded plot and with mature narrative based in realism, the Greeks would have a “god” lowered by a crane and pulley system, have that “god” snatch a would-be victim into his arms, and then haul that person up into “the heavens.”
[All modern religions are nothing more than the offspring of the ancient "pagan" religions, and the basis of modern-day religious thinking and religious beliefs is rooted in thousands of years of hand-me-down concepts which can be traced back to Greek religion and even earlier wherein the widespread message has long been that "if you are afraid or need something, just cry out to the gods and goddesses (or, later, to "the one true God") and you'll be rescued if only you believe and if only you have strong enough faith.]
Today, audiences feel cheated if the device is used, but for thousands of years, it has been employed to condition and program viewers to believe in super-human, supernatural forces which can come to the rescue if only humans will call out and beg them for help.
Other dualities in the series include “the watchers” vs. “the fallen angels”
along with “
the twin towers of power.”
The non-dual message of giving up (a) the desire for control and (b) the desire for power in order to be able control is presented through this conundrum:
Supposedly the Joker is the “bad guy” and of course the leaders of the worldwide mob are “bad guys” as well. The early conclusion reached by the audience is that if Batman can just rid Gotham of the Joker and the head mobsters, then all will be well again. Yet in the end we find out that the mob is a pawn being used by the League of Shadows and that the Joker is actually working against both sides that are in control:
he is fighting the super rich elite and the League of Shadows and feels - rightly so - that both sides are trying to control events and to control “their world.” He in intent on showing them (and the audience) that there is never a real ability to control things at all.
One of the Batman movies includes these words:
“You have been supplied with a false idol”
and
“Let me tell you the truth.”
“Touching the Void”
The fact is that the non-dual message in this adventure drama / docudrama movie is not as pervasive as in the other movies being discussed.
Of course, “touching the void” is, in itself, a non-dual topic often discussed, and one reviewer said that the film “plummets into the nucleus of instinct and consciousness, survival being a near-primordial pursuit beyond bravery or weakness.”
The bird that flies away when you approach it illustrates how consciousness works in its primal and instinctive and automatic and innate and natural way, and this film shows the same.
Another reviewer said that this tale of mountain-climbing and the subsequent fight for survival deals with “the primal war waged by man against both himself and the natural world that surrounds him.”
The non-dual message makes clear that the “primal war waged by man against himself” can easily expand into a “primal war waged by man against everyone else” when ego-states and egotism are driving a non-realized person’s thoughts and words and actions.
The challenge one climber faces is – in order to survive – he must cut his partner’s rope and let him fall. The questions become, “What would you have done? Would you let another die to save yourself?”
In nature, among all living things except for mind-driven humans, those questions cannot be asked. When the naturally-simple workings of the brain become obscured by the unnaturally-complicated workings of a human mind, then nothing during the manifestation can be simple.
Is it a long way to go to get to a non-dual message in this mostly adventurous tale based in actual events? Likely, yes.
“The Truman Show”
By contrast, this film is steeped throughout in the non-dual message though the viewer might not see that until what is a surprising ending for most.
The movie’s lead actor Jim Carrey has been vocal about his battle with bouts of depression in the past and how he has battled those bouts with self-enquiry.
One student of zen and non-duality explained that the conclusion Carrey reached in that process is this:
“There is nobody named Jim Carrey. ‘He’ is just energy experiencing super stardom and ultimately it means nothing. There are things just happening and nobody is in control of them.”
He continued: “Lately in interviews Jim has been talking about some serious non-duality to the point where some interviewers don’t know what to make of it. The awkward look in the face suggests that Jim could be going crazy and is not all there. There are some who expressed concern for his mental state of mind. Sure he’s making light of the subject he is playing Jim Carrey but he’s also serious about it.”
“The Truman Show” was inspired by a 1989 episode of “The Twilight Zone” entitled “Special Service” which begins with the protagonist discovering a camera in his bathroom mirror. The man in that Rod Serling episode soon learns that his life is being broadcast 24 / 7 to a worldwide audience of TV viewers.
One reviewer explains that when the lead character Truman “discovers the truth about his existence, he fights to find an escape from those who have controlled him his entire life.” There's a pure, non-dual "goal."
In one discussion of the film on the web, it is noted that “delusions – fixed, fallacious beliefs – are symptoms that, in the absence of organic disease, indicate psychiatric disease,” also a non-dual understanding if ever there was one.
In terms of cultural impact - which is a focus of the non-dual teachings - this is offered:
“The content of delusions are invariably tied to a person's life experiences, and contemporary culture seems to play an important role. A retrospective study conducted in 2008 showed how
1. delusional content has evolved over time from religious / magical teachings to what political authors write
and then to
(2) socio-political changes and scientific and technical developments which have had a marked influence on the delusional content in schizophrenia.”
No more plot details will be provided because they would serve as “spoilers” for those who have not yet seen the movie and might plan to do so.
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.
