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1. [See the offer in gold text
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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.
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interviewed by Regina and Jacqueline of "The Awakening Together Group."
(See the details in the blue text after this post.)
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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
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
This has been asked in the past: "Is it possible that everything you have ever been taught or were told or read was false?"
That raised the question, "How can one avoid buying into lies and being fooled by cons and believing nonsense. Will scientifically-based facts always be the answer? When disproving myth-and-superstition-based dogma, maybe. But no single institution or "ism" has a monopoly on lying and distorting truth and passing dreamed up tales as the Truth. Lying and distorting and misperceptions have no boundaries. They are limitless.
That said, science is forever studying, reevaluating, and finding exceptions to previously-presented explanations; thus, the only real protection is to give up playing the role of "A Believer" or the role of "A Non-Believer" and reach a state of no-beliefs.
Here, the invitation has always been to be un-taught, not to allow me or anyone else to teach you more. The invitation has always been to unlearn, to unlearn all of the learned ignorance which has been passed down.
So . . .
That raised the question, "How can one avoid buying into lies and being fooled by cons and believing nonsense. Will scientifically-based facts always be the answer? When disproving myth-and-superstition-based dogma, maybe. But no single institution or "ism" has a monopoly on lying and distorting truth and passing dreamed up tales as the Truth. Lying and distorting and misperceptions have no boundaries. They are limitless.
“The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
That said, science is forever studying, reevaluating, and finding exceptions to previously-presented explanations; thus, the only real protection is to give up playing the role of "A Believer" or the role of "A Non-Believer" and reach a state of no-beliefs.
Here, the invitation has always been to be un-taught, not to allow me or anyone else to teach you more. The invitation has always been to unlearn, to unlearn all of the learned ignorance which has been passed down.
So . . .
THE RATIONALE FOR REACHING A "NO-BELIEF," "ZERO CONCEPTS," "NO-MIND" STATE AS RECOMMENDED BY MAHARAJ AND THEN ABIDING UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE ELEMENTAL BRAIN RATHER THAN THE DISTORTED, FICTION-FILLED MIND, PART ONE
WHAT MAHARAJ HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE TOPIC:
"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."
"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."
"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," period.
"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."
WHAT HE DID NOT SAY AT THE END:
"Your confusion is a result of the fact that you have a spiritual malady and are not spiritual enough."
"Your confusion is a result of the fact that you have not completed the entire Self-Inquiry process."
"Your confusion is a result of the fact that you have not completed the entire Self-Inquiry process."
NOR DID HE SAY AT THE END:
"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which comes from having accumulated too little knowledge of dogma.”
"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which comes from people not being spiritual enough."
"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which comes from not knowing the Supreme Self."
NOR DID HE SAY AT THE END:
"To know that you are a prisoner of your ignorance of religion and of your inadequate knowledge of dogma is the dawn of wisdom."
"To know that you are a prisoner of your sick spirit and your spiritual malady is the dawn of wisdom."
"To know that you are a prisoner of your insufficient understanding of the Supreme Self is the dawn of wisdom."
My dad occasionally used a phrase to explain some human behaviors that we witnessed which seemed quite beyond the pale. Later, I would hear the same phrase while watching the movie Forrest Gump:
"Stupid is as stupid does."
Meaning? "Stupid people do stupid things." The take with Maharaj and the take here both differ from that view.
It is true that humans operate along this continuum:
Thoughts lead to words . . . words lead to actions;
thus, the conclusion some draw is that "if I am seeing stupid actions on the part of someone, then I can trace it back to the stupid thoughts of that person."
But consider: some of the most intelligent persons behave in the most ignorant and / or insane and / or stupid fashion.
Secondly, because there are no actual persons / personas - all false personalities and identities being products of the imagination and acculturation - then there cannot be any ignorant persons or stupid persons or insane persons.
Some claim that Maharaj said there are ignorant persons and stupid persons and insane persons, but he did not. What he said in that regard is that "most suffer from the Ultimate Sickness" and that "three of the key symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness are ignorance, stupidity, and insanity."
The fact: those called "humans" or "persons" are actually just triads - composite unities - made up of these three parts: (1) an elemental plant food body with (2) conscious-energy which is never more than temporarily-manifested in the body and (3) circulating oxygen.
"Never more than temporarily manifested?" Exactly.
Persons must eat food in order for a constantly-cycling supply of conscious-energy to be replenished and available. Whatever speck of conscious-energy is manifested today within the space formed by an elemental plant food body which most call "floyd" is not the same speck of conscious-energy which was manifested yesterday within the space and will not be the speck of conscious-energy which will be manifested tomorrow within the space, should the body still be functioning tomorrow.
Persons must eat food in order for a constantly-cycling supply of conscious-energy to be replenished and available. Whatever speck of conscious-energy is manifested today within the space formed by an elemental plant food body which most call "floyd" is not the same speck of conscious-energy which was manifested yesterday within the space and will not be the speck of conscious-energy which will be manifested tomorrow within the space, should the body still be functioning tomorrow.
The delusion that one specific quantity of conscious-energy has been manifested in any given body since the so-called point of "birth" is a result of memory alone which generates the misperception of continuity. Were conscious-energy to operate in that fashion, then a parent would only need to feed a child one time.
So, there is no such thing as an ignorant person or a stupid person or an insane person, but there are billions of of humans who are trapped in the lie of body identification, who are trapped in the lie of mind identification, and who are trapped in the lie of personality identification.
To believe that one is his or her body is the height of ignorance, stupidity and insanity; to believe that the fiction and distortions and lies which are stored in one's mind are true is the height of ignorance, stupidity and insanity;
to believe that one is actually defined and identified by the false personalities / personas / roles which have been assigned or assumed is the height of ignorance, stupidity and insanity; and the highest degree of insanity might well be to be driven - subconsciously and unconsciously - by the agendas and fears and desires of illusory identities.
To believe that one is his or her body is the height of ignorance, stupidity and insanity; to believe that the fiction and distortions and lies which are stored in one's mind are true is the height of ignorance, stupidity and insanity;
to believe that one is actually defined and identified by the false personalities / personas / roles which have been assigned or assumed is the height of ignorance, stupidity and insanity; and the highest degree of insanity might well be to be driven - subconsciously and unconsciously - by the agendas and fears and desires of illusory identities.
Moreover, to have one's thoughts and words and actions controlled by the agendas of illusions is also the height of ignorance, stupidity and insanity.
On occasion, persons might see that they have been fooled and that one of their beliefs was a lie, at which point they toss aside that belief and replace it with another. That is tantamount to having one doctor remove cancerous cells from within your body but then allowing another doctor to implant other cancerous cells within your body.
The sane approach would be to remove all cancerous cells and not replace them at all.
The same applies to beliefs and to the mind in which they are stored.
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.
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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.