MAHARAJ AND THE RELIGION VS. SCIENCE DEBATE

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

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MAHARAJ AND THE RELIGION VS. SCIENCE DEBATE

"Science will someday advance to the point that it will confirm the validity of the non-dual teachings."

--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

and

“The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind.” 

--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

and

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, domesticated, indoctrinated, and brainwashed to believe so that you can be free, period.  

--Floyd Henderson 

[Continued from earlier

Recall that Maharaj said, “You are not in the world. The world is in you.” Meaning? Meaning that the world is imagined by you so it is “in you” . . . that is, "in your mind"; therefore, any misery or suffering being experienced in what is taken to be “this world” is a mental (belief) construct to one degree or another.

Because "this world" is a false construct / false image held in the mind of each human, then there are over seven billion notions about what "this world" is like. With seven billion different ideas of what "this world" is like, then there is no single, accurate image of "this world" at all. All perceptions of "this world" are mere imaginings which flow from human minds which have been warped via warped programming, conditioning, etc.

The effects misery and suffering are rooted in a warped psyche and its belief systems. When those manifest and further warp the psyche, then belief in “this world” advances to the level of a mental illness. 

Moreover, that is why the Ultimate Medicine is a medicine which is based in the understanding of psychology which Maharaj mastered and which addresses the main problem of humanity which centers not is some innocuous “spirit” or “soul” but in the mind. That is why the Ultimate Sickness is a mental illness, not an illness which results from a spirituality-deficiency or from a dogma-deficiency. 

Also recall that the British poet Richard Lovelace offered this pointer: “Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.” What did he identify as that which does make a prison? The mind. The mind has become the prison in which the masses are trapped, and all ideas, concepts, thoughts, inspirations, brainstorms, opinions, views, inklings, impressions, notions, and perspectives (a.k.a., “beliefs”) that are stored within a mind will each become one of the iron bars of their cage. 

Understanding all of that is why, in the end, Maharaj made clear that he was not “A Spiritual Master.” (He had already much earlier made clear that he was not “A Religious Master.”) It is also why he advised seekers to stop reading the transcripts from satsang sessions that had been collected in the book “I AM THAT” and to read his later talks instead, those later talks being the ones offered after he came to understand the actual, mental / emotional nature of the Ultimate Sickness and after he came to understand that neither spirituality nor religion can address mental illnesses (and after having seen that, more often than not, they actually generate and exacerbate mental problems). 

What Maharaj ultimately mastered was an understanding of psychology and an understanding of the workings – especially of the distorted workings – of the human mind after persons are programmed, conditioned, domesticated, acculturated, indoctrinated and brainwashed. That understanding of psychology allowed him ultimately to understand exactly what the Ultimate Medicine was not and what the Ultimate Medicine had to include if it were to successfully address the actual causes of the Ultimate Sickness. 

He came to understand what the two greatest suppliers of dualistic beliefs are as well as what the two greatest suppliers of dual-mindedness are; furthermore, he came to understand what the two greatest sources of programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, indoctrination and brainwashing really are, and he was wise enough to understand that the cause of an illness cannot be the cure for that illness. 

It was those understandings – combined with an amazing level of wisdom – that led him to advise persons to abandon their religious and spiritual activities and to just abide naturally and normally after taking the steps necessary to be free of their “knowledge” (a.k.a., “learned ignorance”); free from being driven by the hidden, subconscious agendas of multiple personalities; and free of the effects of the insanity which not only their parents’ teachings and beliefs had implanted but also which their culture had fostered. 

[Multiple personalities? Yes. Personalities are like blackbirds, starlings, grackles, crows and vultures: they flock together, they show up in droves, and they contaminate everything around them with a nasty coat of . . . well, you get it. 

Yes, there are nine basic types, and yes, there is a primary type; but after working with thousands of people and after seeing thousands of sets of scores on the enneagram personality test, there has never been even one instance where anyone scored a “0” in one of the types. All show some evidence of all of the types, but most show excessively high scores in three to five types. Moreover, all persons are assigned or will assume another eighty or more false identities throughout the relative existence. 

As noted here on occasion, therefore, all persons among the non-realized masses suffer from the Multiple Personality Disorder, along with many other mental and emotional disorders as well.] 

Maharaj also understood that there is no heaven and that there is no hell and came to understand that there is no birth and certainly no rebirths. He understood that personas upgrade themselves and downgrade others, and he understood that the same happens with persons who erroneously believe in “this world” and who erroneously believe in “another world” that they will supposedly go to post-manifestation.

He understood that the concept of “heaven” is simply their ungraded version of “this world” (what with billions believing in “pearly gates” and “streets paved with gold”) and that the concept of “hell” is simply their downgraded version of “this world.” 

Additionally, he also understood that the programmed and conditioned mind will believe the dualistic concepts regarding “eternal life” and the existence of “another ‘good’ world” and the existence of “another ‘bad’ world.” He also understood that a programmed, conditioned, acculturated, domesticated, indoctrinated, and brainwashed mind can even make “heaven and hell on earth” seem real to a person right now. 

It is because of their warped mind that persons speak of having been in “hell on earth” or in “a heavenly relationship” (which might, later on, be deemed to have been “hell” rather than “heavenly”); thus, also to review, the English poet John Milton noted accurately that “the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” Instability, instability, instability. Duality, duality, duality. All totally fraudulent, all seated in the mind. 

That is why Maharaj noted that what gives you pleasure can eventually give you pain and what can give you the greatest pleasure can eventually give you the greatest pain. It’s all in the mind, and all which is stored in the mind is fiction and nonsense; thus, those who are dual-minded “will be unstable in all ways.” There can be no consistency and stability and freedom from chaos when a duality-driven mind is at play. 

Consider the constant fluctuating that the mind will guarantee: at a certain point, the mind can convince one that he or she is eagle high; at another moment, the mind can convince the same person that she or he is whale caca low (said caca being found at the lowest point on the planet).

Such is how dizzying the relative existence can be when abiding under the auspices of the mind, reaching staggering heights one moment and immeasurable lows the next.

Like your mind? Like its content? Think it defines you? Assign great value to its content? Love your beliefs? Willing to fight for them? Willing to die for some of them? Then prepare for your next role, which will be "The Steel Ball" in a pinball machine, being tossed about, slammed about, thrown about, and knocked about throughout the unstable, erratic, ever-changing, alternating, sporadic, relative existence. 

And all of that is guaranteed for all role-players, for all who are trapped in their beliefs about false, personality identifications. Persona-assumption can be deadly, as it is for the 59% of all women murdered in the U.S. annually because the assumed personas of the men whom those women were trying to leave felt as if they - the men - were the ones under attack. 

In the topsy-turvy realm of personality, a man killing his wife is operating under the belief that he (rather than his false identity) is being assaulted. In the topsy-turvy realm of personality, a man killing his wife believes, on a subconscious level, that his actions are defensive - not offensive - in their nature. His persona is merely trying to defend itself from attack, supposedly, and that is how insane personality assumption and beliefs can be. 

Abiding under the subconsciously-driven auspices of beliefs about personality is tantamount to being led into a toxic-gas-filled coal mine, and the only canary available to indicate the imminent danger is the one that has realized and is willing to guide persons away from the mine entrance. That one is the only one willing and capable of providing an advance warning before beliefs about personality drives one to destructive or self-destructive actions (relatively speaking).

Excerpts from the book entitled FREEDOM from BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")

will continue with the a discussion of the way that personality-invoking "-ism's" are another source which generates a plethora of distortion-riddled beliefs:

"-ISM'S," Part "A" 

From "Give Peace A Chance" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono:

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m" 

The blockages which are set in place by belief in (and attachment to) "-ism's" have been discussed - though not necessarily using the label of "-ism" - by all realized teachers since these teachings were first offered. 

(That has not, however, stopped some nowadays from distorting the teachings by adding all sorts of "-ism's" to non-duality pointers and promoting more ideas and concepts and beliefs rather than guiding seekers to a "state" of freedom that comes when all ideas and concepts and beliefs are purged from the fiction-filled "mind.") 

Moreover, before going any further into a discussion of the subject, understand that here, there are no teachings. There are instances where the consciousness speaks in order for "un-teaching" (and thus "un-learning") to happen. 

Persons who have been programmed with learned ignorance do not need "more programming," "re-programming," "the program," "this program" or "that program." Their Ultimate Sickness requires the Ultimate Medicine which de-programs and which leads to de-accumulation (including de-accumulation of all ideas and concepts etc., a.k.a.,"beliefs," as well as attachment to all sorts of "-ism's"). 

When cancerous cells are found in a body, the intent of the treatment plan for that illness is for the body to eventually be completely rid of all of the cancerous cells, not to add more cancerous cells or to add a different set of new cancerous cells to replace an old set of cancerous cells. So it is with ideas and concepts and all beliefs and attachment to "-ism's" which make up the content of the "mind." 

Ninety-seven percent of the persons on the planet report that they are affiliated with one religion or another, and millions more are claiming that they "are not religious but are spiritual." 

In all of those cases, those persons have assumed the role of "believers." They are taught ideas and concepts and beliefs that they are required to accept by fact-free, inquiry-free faith if they are to avoid the ominous threat of eternal punishment and to be rewarded not only "now" but also "forevermore." 

Some others have assumed the role of "non-believers," meaning those who have looked at the ideas and concepts and beliefs 

(a) being taught by so-called "faith-based institutions" or "spiritual groups" and 

(b) being disseminated by "believers." 

The "non-believers" have rejected those beliefs after objective questioning and impartial examination. 

By contrast, the "fully realized" abiding as the no-concept, no-belief, no-identity, non-dual reality - cannot be said to be either "believers" or "non-believers." 

[The term "fully realized" (which, per Maharaj, is a term used to point to those that have been freed of all beliefs . . . all "learned ignorance") points to those that have transcended to a stage even beyond some "non-believer" label. For the sake of discussion only, they can be pointed to with the label "no-belief-ers" (though, of course, they accept no labels of any kind at all.] 

Sages throughout the ages - as well as any "truly realized teachers" that are offering pointers nowadays - have invited seekers to realize first and foremost that they have no mind of their own at all. 

The "mind" is an accumulation of all of the ideas and concepts and beliefs and "-ism's" that have been dreamed up, accumulated, and then passed on from one generation to the next . . . in some cases for centuries and in some cases for thousands of years. 

"A child" which forms when more and more elements join together inside a plant-food body in which plant food elements are consumed and converted into human cells - is said to have been "born" and is said to "have a brain"; 

however, that "newly-born child" does not initially have anything stored in that part of the brain which will later store and retrieve information and which will be called "a mind." 

(As noted here, the brain is rooted in the elements; the "mind" is rooted in the faulty programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and indoctrination and brainwashing to which the child will be subjected.) 

Eventually, that "mind" will be filled with ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives etc. (a.k.a., "beliefs") which are not the child's ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives - or "beliefs" - but are the ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives - beliefs - of the child's programmers, conditioners, domesticators, acculturators, indoctrinators, and brainwashers. 

Thus, any talk about "my mind" or "your mind" is flawed, for every "mind" today is actually "their mind" to the degree that "they" have passed along the content of "their minds" to fill a new generation of "minds" with ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives (beliefs) along with a near-endless assortments of "-ism's" which can be traced back to ancient myths and superstitions and non-facts and nonsense. 

Follow the chain of the transmission of learned ignorance back to "their minds" and see that those were also not really "their minds" but were the "minds" of those who came before them. 

The earliest "teachers" were those who dreamed up all sorts of ignorance-based "-ism's" and ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives - beliefs - and passed those along to their followers, who passed those along to their offspring and to their followers, who passed those along to their offspring and to their followers, over and over and over, from "then" right up to "now." 

Today, there are thousands of "-ism's" which are 

(1) the breeding ground of future misery and suffering; 

which are 

(2) the petri dishes where the bacteria flourish that will eventually cause the "The Ultimate Sickness"; 

and which are 

(3) the nesting grounds for the continuation and proliferation and dissemination of the "-ism's" which nurture duality; distortion; illusion; delusion; learned ignorance; a false sense of separation which fosters fear and hatred; 

varying degrees of psychic unhealthiness as a result of personality disorders; a variety of neuroses; an assortment of psychoses and full-blown insanity; and the resulting inability to be in touch with either "reality" or "Reality." 

How many "-ism's" can you name that you have been attached to at one time or another? Can you see that those "-ism's" planted early on within the "mind" certain and ideas and concepts and notions and warped perspectives - beliefs - which later proved to be totally false? 

Here is an exercise which has led many seekers to new insight and clarity: 

Would you be willing to look at the "-ism's" which have influenced your thoughts and words and deeds and reevaluate their effects on your relative existence? If so, then the invitation is to make a list of the "-ism's" which you were subjected to or which you adopted and then assess objectively the effects. 

Include the way that your externally-imposed attachment to "-ism's" and what they taught you eventually affected your thoughts and words and actions to the point that they actually ended up controlling all of your thoughts and words and actions subconsciously and unconsciously.

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.]

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or

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If preferred, here's

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