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.)
TO GO WITH THE CROWD WILL NEVER FREE ANYONE OF BODY AND MIND AND PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION
Persons (the "non-realized") are also willing to enter onto a "path" and then end up staying on it, and willing to begin a "journey" which never reaches the destination but continue on that "journey" anyway, and are willing to accept a treatment plan which they are told offers no cure for what ails them but normalize that and stay with that ineffective plan, anyway, for this additional reason as well:
Because there are nine basic personality types and only one of those types (Type Four) can inspire non-conformity while the most prevalent type (Type Six) - along with several other types - inspires conformity, and that most prevalent type will influence persons in all cultures to reward conformity and to discourage and even punish non-conformity.
Ninety-seven percent of the people on the planet claim to be "religious" while billions more claim to be "spiritual." That means that over 7.468 billion of the 7.6 billion persons on the planet are all marching to a similar beat; therefore, to follow a religious path or to undertake a spiritual journey or to enter into some sort of religious or spiritual program is to go with the grain, not against the grain . . . to go with the crowd rather than against the crowd. The grain is, and always has been, marked by ignorance and insanity, and so has the crowd . . . the mob.
Yet it is that which is "conventional," which is "popular," and which is attractive to seekers that inspires them to run to those whom Maharaj warned seekers to stay away from, namely, "The Big Name Teachers." Why? Because if they are popular, they are offering a conventional message disguised in a cloak of "some really-deep profundities and philosophy."
So of course attachment to "path" and "journeys" and "plans" has become the "norm" among the masses who have been programmed and conditioned to "be good," to "be better than you presently are," to "be better than you've been in the past," and to now claim to be "better than I was . . . in fact, much better."
Thus most humans are conformists rather than finding their "own way" or finding an understanding which differs from being clung to by the masses. When "Maharaj the Maverick" truly reached that state, the result was that he could no longer be muzzled, could no longer be influenced by the popular religious teachings in his nation, could no longer be drawn in by "spirituality," could no longer play "spiritual roles," and could no longer march to the beat of the same drummer which the masses have always marched to.
He could not hear the cadence being pounded out by that drummer of the masses. He was independent and courageous enough to share pointers which were not already being ascribed to, and approved by, the public at large and by the masses all around the globe.
He also warned seekers about the effects of conditioning and why the mind must end by way of reaching a no-beliefs, zero concepts state. It's really easy for those who are awake, aware and conscious to empty the mind by abandoning all of the concepts, notions, ideas, (a.k.a., "beliefs) which have been taught and which now make up the mental mess of so-called "knowledge" (which Maharaj referred to as "learned ignorance").
There is likely no other way to be free of the effects of programming, conditioning, etc. than total rejection of all that has been taught and learned and accepted as truth.
Regarding that subject, someone using the pseudonym of Bumpkin Wolfgang wrote: "I can’t tell you how to go beyond your conditioning, because to completely do so is probably impossible. Whether we identify with or rebel against our roots, those roots are what influenced our earliest conception of reality and will forever be a part of us."
Again, the exception involves de-programming, not re-programming. If persons are in a program which is going about the business of re-programming its members, that program is only going to add to - rather than actually address - the already-extensive set of problems and disorders which its members had when they joined.
To convince persons that "they have found" is to end their search prematurely. Yes, all seeking should eventually end, but it should not end because persons have been deluded into thinking that they have arrived at their destination when they are actually not even half way there.
Additionally, de-conditioning the mind also involves rejecting everything that you have ever been taught. Why? Because that is what conditioned you to begin with. But Wolfgang is likely right, and Maharaj would have likely agreed, "guessimating" in the end that only 1 out of 10,000,000 will ever succeed at realizing, that is, at being freed from all learned ignorance. How might they differ though?
Wolfgang claims that you will never be "done," that you must always be learning more. So much for de-accumulation. Maharaj suggested that you reject all you have learned and then stop trying to learn any more.
Being free of all body and mind and personality identification can allow “The Seeker / The Super Seeker” to fade away and can allow spiritual workaholism to end and will then allow a natural, far-more-carefree abidance to begin.
To review, he said,
"All illness begins in the mind."
"Your confusion is . . . in your mind."
"Whatever is conceived by the mind must be false, for it is bound to be relative and limited."
"Distrust your mind, and go beyond."
"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which your mind creates."
" . . . The mind obscures and distorts."
"It is the mind that creates illusion."
"There is no such thing as peace of mind. Mind means disturbance; restlessness itself is mind."
"Don't rely on your mind for liberation. It is the mind that brought you into bondage. Go beyond it altogether."
"Beyond the mind there is no suffering."
So if the problem centers in the mind, and since a sick mind - obviously - cannot heal a sick mind, then what is the solution, per Maharaj?
"Stop making use of your mind and see what happens."
"Learn to separate yourself from the image and the mirror. Keep on remembering: I am neither the mind nor its ideas."
"There is no such thing as mind. There are ideas . . . ."
"Abandon the wrong ideas, for they are false and obstruct your vision . . . ."
"The death of the mind is the birth of wisdom."
"To know that you are a prisoner of your mind, that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation, is the dawn of wisdom."
So what was his state in the end, the state which ultimately freed him and led to the birth of his wisdom?
It was a no-mind state:
"There is no such thing as a mind."
"I have no mind . . . ."
Want to be free of the mind?
Maharaj advised:
"Reach a state of zero-concepts."
"As to my mind, I have no such thing. There is consciousness in which everything happens."
"I am double dead: not only am I dead to my body, but to my mind, too."
"I find I have lost the mind irretrievably."
See? The message with Maharaj and the message here are the same in that Maharaj did not have a desire for anyone to believe what he believed because - in the end - he reached what he called a "zero concepts state" and believed nothing. Same here.
How could I want anyone to believe what I believe when I believe nothing? It would be like saying, "Everyone should have what I have: a nice, full-developed, cute and lovely little womb." How crazy would that be to claim "everyone should have a womb just like mine" when I have no womb at all? The same applies to beliefs.
Moreover, how crazy is it to believe anything because the masses believe it? The answer: totally.
Remember the woman in St. Louis who ended all talk when I revealed that I am neither a believer in God nor an atheist who does not believe in God. She said, "Floyd, millions of people cannot be wrong about their belief in God."
The reply: "I agree. Millions have not been wrong about their belief in God. In fact, it is trillions and trillions who have been wrong about their belief in God."
Believing something because it is believed by the masses who are being suffering by what Maharaj identified as "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" would be . . . well, ignorant and stupid and insane.
All believing in "this" but not believing in "that" is dualistic. Here, the closest way that the truth can be pointed to would be to use the term "No-Belief-er."
More to the point for "seekers" is this: If the mind goes, then peace comes, and if peace comes, then going and doing and zooming and racing about and being attached to never-ending paths and journeys and plans will also go.
Radical? Yes. Impossible? No.
The masses stick to their conventional thoughts and conventional words and conventional behaviors and feel quite comfortable with that - so they think; yet being followers and living in a sheep-like fashion and being obedient to all authority figures will rob persons of their freedom, and who that is not free can possibly be comfortable?
Maharaj was a rebel, an insurgent, a mutineer, a revolutionary, a radical, and a dissenter. So what is calling to be rebelled against? All of the content of the mind which has not yet been questioned and which has been accepted as truth based on blind faith only.
Maharaj: "Rebel against your slavery to your mind. See your bonds as self-created and break the chains of attachment and revulsion." Consider:
Questioner: "I can see the mechanism of my confusion, but I do not see my way out of it."
Maharaj: "The very examination of the mechanism shows the way. After all, your confusion is only in your mind, which never rebelled so far against confusion and never got to grips with it."
He suggested: "Why don’t you create your own environment? The world has only as much power over you as you give it. Rebel. Go beyond duality; make no difference between east and west."
The breakfast of "The Champions of Duality" includes a big bowl of "all-goodness-and-no-badness" mush with a big scoop of "better than" stirred into the mix and with a big ole heapin', stinkin' side dish of conformity.
As with Goldilocks and all perfectionists, "The Endless Seekers" and "The Super Seekers" are seeking a perfect blend which will render them . . . "just right."
And when that is the agenda, then of course there's going to be a willingness to stay on a "path" that they believe will maintain a supposedly "better" condition, and a willingness to stick with a "journey" to the end, and a willingness to stay with a totally ineffective treatment plan for what ails persons.
Even more common than that agenda, however, is the attraction to being able to believe, “I’m not perfect. I’m only human. I sin very day. I’ll hurt people. I’ll cause pain. But thank goodness I have found a god who will also forgive me and let me restart time and time again with a clean slate, no matter how many times I have to call on him.”
Thousands of years ago, people in what is now called “Greece” were getting their slates wiped clean by Zeus, no matter what they had done; a little later, in what was called “the Roman Empire,” people were getting their slates wiped clean by Jupiter, no matter what they had done;
nowadays Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe that “The One God of Abraham” is doing that regular house-cleaning / slate cleaning for them and regularly returning them to a state of perfection and purity and spotlessness and “goodness.”
Quite a deal, huh?
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 their god / their 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
or
You can click on the picture link which has now been added for video "Number Ten" in the upper right-hand column on this page.
If preferred, here's
the direct link to the AUDIO VERSION
of that session.