REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”

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.)

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Rather than being "pro-" or "anti-" religion or "pro-" or "anti-" spirituality, the invitation here is to consider becoming doggedly “anti-ignorance” and tenaciously "anti-stupidity" and staunchly “pro-sanity.” 

--fh 

To review: 

The discussion at this point in the series is now focusing on "The Most Influential Obstacles Of All" which have come via dreamed up myths and superstitions and via "religious" and / or "spiritual" sources, including religious and / or spiritual thoughts, ideas, concepts, notions, views, theories, inklings, perceptions, a.k.a., "beliefs." 

Recall the man who approached me after a talk and said, "I was abused as a child by a priest. I've done years of work to try to get beyond that, but where I am today is, I still cringe when people start talking religion to me. So my question is, have you found a way to guide people to realization and freedom without their having to buy into the dogma you talk about?" 

Thus, this: 

REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL” 

The eventual stance with Maharaj and the eventual stance here are the same:
Rather than being "pro-or-anti-religion" or "pro-or anti-spirituality," the invitation is to consider becoming doggedly "anti-ignorance" and tenaciously anti-stupidity" and staunchly "pro-sanity." 

The non-dual message, having evolved in a place and time when and where the Hindu religion's influence was so prevalent, was presented early on with a religion-like flavoring. That applied as well to what Maharaj offered up early on to his Hindu neighbors in his loft. 

He also mixed in the culturally-popular notions about "SELF-Enquiry" and about "finding the True Self" or the "Real Self" or the Infinite Self," etc. The version of non-duality which I finally came across offered something totally different from what I had been exposed to in all of the religions I had explored and in all of the so-called "spiritual movements" I had sampled.

The versions of the non-dual message which were adumbrating dogma or which were parroting the messages of various spiritual movements provided no understanding at all that differed from the earlier religion-based  or spirituality-based messages which never once came close to finding the "internal itch" and scratching it.

Only the version which was totally different from the variety of religions and religion-based philosophies was able to reach the sources of my discomfort and finally provide relief. 

Maharaj eventually moved away from religion-based versions of non-duality and spirituality-based versions of non-duality and settled on a psychology-based version which provided a legitimate version of the Ultimate Medicine and which provided an effective treatment for the mind-centered Ultimate Sickness.

In the process of that evolution, he stopped endorsing any notions about "SELF-Enquiry" and about "finding the True Self" or the "Real Self" or the "Infinite Self." Why was that vital?

Because all religions - though using a variety of others terms - focus on an "Infinite Self," that is, on some Self which can have eternal life and can supposedly offer the continuity of consciousness which consciousness forever desires. Any version of non-duality focusing on "infinite manifestation" has run down a rabbit hole and is trying to inspire its members to follow. 

Both "self-ness" and "Self-ness" are the carrots which religions and / or spirituality have long dangled before their victims / members. Maharaj's bold move to abandon SELF-Enquiry and to endorse "self-inquiry" which focuses on what you are not provided a totally different message from the one bought into by 99+% of the present human population of planet earth during the last 5000 years.

So what then were his key pointers which were based in scientific, factual evidence rather than in religions' and spiritual movements' dreamed up notions?

This “you,” which is a total misperception, is actually nothing more than what can be called a “composite unity” for the sake of discussion, a composite unity which is made of - and which is circulating - plant food elements, air, and conscious-energy. And science affirms that non-dual pointer, just as Maharaj predicted. 

And when mahasamadhi is taken, what happens? Science explains that as well:

The elements return to the universal pool of elements; the air returns to the universal pool of air; and the conscious-energy returns to the universal pool of conscious-energy which will not be "conscious of" because it must be manifested within a space for conscious-of-ness to happen. 

(Maharaj: “Consciousness is present everywhere, but knowledge of that consciousness is dependent on the form.” See? That's another pointer which is validated by the scientific understanding of the functioning of the universe.) 

So if there is "no form" - that is, no space or elemental plant food body in which the consciousness can manifest - then there can be no "consciousness of" anything. Want to be free of misery and suffering which can only register while the conscious-energy is manifested? Wait not. Take the steps to reach that condition at the only point when it can be reached: right now. 

How else does the abidance unfold here, and how can it also unfold for you if the understanding comes? 

Here, there is no man or men who are feared; there is no woman or women who are feared; there is no devil that is feared or god that is adored; there is no sin that is hated and there is no virtue that is admired; here, there is nobody trying to be somebody, much less trying to be Somebody; 

here, there is neither a believer nor a non-believer, and as the No Belief-er eBook below explains, the closest such term that could be used to point to the condition here, just for the sake of discussion and clarification, would be a "no-belief-er," so to speak. 

Here, there is no “one,” so there is certainly no one with any delusions about power (or Power) or control; abiding spontaneously, there is no “one” here that is deluded into believing that firm plans can be made for any given day, much less for a week or for a month or for a year, much less for years. Nothing except humans believe that they can plan and that events will roll out as planned. 

Here, there has never been the slightest sense that anyone should ever be told to “love what is, including an assault, a beating, a stabbing, a mugging, a battering, or a rape." 

Here, there is neither upgrading nor downgrading, including upgrading or downgrading persons based on race or sexual preference or social position; here, there is no upgrading of "this world" to a grand next world such as “heaven”; there is no upgrading of "this world" to a “higher plane” in “the next life"; 

and there is no downgrading of "this world" to a horrible next world such as “hell” or to a “lower plane” in "the next life.” (Maharaj: "There is no question of elevating to a higher level. Here it is only a question of understanding" and, again, "Both experience and experiencer will disappear.") 

Here, there is no “search for meaning” or for “my life’s purpose.” (Maharaj: “From the Absolute no-knowing state, spontaneously, this consciousness ‘I am’ has appeared. There is no reason, no cause.”) 

Here, too, there are no efforts to meet anyone’s or any culture’s definition of “success.” (Maharaj: “There is no progress," and that includes "now" and "later.") 

Here, therefore, there is no paying of any attention at all to one who talks about “The Spiritual Laws of Success” and about “fulfilling dreams.” (Persons might as well try to fulfill their desire to catch a mirage and keep it in their home for the remainder of the relative existence). 

Here, there are also no "intentions" because the abidance happens spontaneously; there is no effort to “advance a spirit or soul” because there is no spirit or soul and because trying to advance anything involves duality and upgrading. (Again, Maharaj: "There is no progress.") 

Here, there is no effort to find the “Infinite Self” because the only thing infinite is energy-matter and neither energy nor matter involves any Self-ness.

(Maharaj said, “Trace the world to its source and you will find that before the world was, you were, and when the world is no longer, you remain.” Was he talking about a literal “you”? No. He made clear that “What begins and ends is mere appearance” and “When you are thoroughly knowledgeable, you will come to the conclusion that this beingness is also an illusion.” 

Was he talking about a literal “You”? No. Again: He was not identified with a self or with a Self and he remained forever undefined.) 

Also here, there is no effort to find power or a Power, including "Power Now" or a Power to be met later because there is no longer any addiction to the desire for power (or for a Power) in order to be able to control. 

Similarly, being freed from the delusion that humans can control anything eliminates praying because what praying is really about is trying to access a Power which will allow one to avoid whatever one fears and to obtain whatever one desires. 

(Again, Maharaj: “First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and . . . you pray to that God for something good to happen to you.") 

Because all fears and desires are rooted in personal identification, neither fear nor desire manifests since belief in all identifications (including self, selves, and a Self) have been discarded; thus, there is no desire to have an "ageless body" or a "timeless mind," the mind having come to an end when the last concept, idea, notion, a.k.a., "belief,” was discarded. 

Next, understand that there is no eternal benefit or reward as a result of being free of personality identifications; nor is there an eternal punishment. Whatever the result of freedom from identifications and from Identification, such freedom can only happen now, can only be known now, and can only be enjoyed now. 

(Maharaj: “You have some experiences and you try to benefit from them, but remember that whatever is going to be of use to you ultimately is going to harm you” and “Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion. All this is happening in the objective world. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud.") 

To have been fooled into believing that a fraud is not a fraud involves what Maharaj called “learned ignorance” and “insanity.” To be free of those symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, one must question all objectively with a fearless willingness to doubt anything and everything which has long been believed in order to determine if what has been unquestioningly accepted as the truth might be fraudulent. 

To be free of those symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, one must also see that a lie is a lie and see, ultimately, that all lies are lies. And one must see that Maharaj was spot on when he said that all accumulated knowledge amounts to nothing more than "learned ignorance." 

If whatever spiritual things you know are all part of the illusion and part of the fraud (which they are) 

and if 

religions generate false identities (which they do) 

and if 

Self-Inquiry can generate a singular false identity (which it can) 

then is it not obvious why an effective means of seeking must be of a type – as Maharaj ultimately concluded - which involves 

(1) something other than spiritual concepts, religious concepts, and concepts about a “Supreme or Infinite Self” 

and which, in fact, involves 

(2) no concepts at all?

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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