MAHARAJ'S FINAL PLAN: REALIZE WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”

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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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MAHARAJ'S FINAL PLAN: REALIZE WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL” 

Duality as a major, if not the major, influence on human thoughts and words and actions is nothing new. Duality's ability to influence - that is, to have "the capacity to have a significant, if not the most significant, effect on the beliefs and fears and desires and behavior of humans" - has long depended upon the ability of leaders and governments to keep the masses ignorant by hiding facts and truth and upon the ability of leaders to put into place systems of government which centralize power in the hands of the few - of an executive or administration branch of the government - and endorse division rather than unity and equality.

The only system of government which has historically sought to support non-duality and non-dualistic equality of all citizens is democracy, though the success of democracy has a checkered history at achieving that goal.

By contrast, there have been far more systems-of-governing-options for leaders with duality-based beliefs to choose from to advance their agendas of creating discriminatory hierarchies and separation and suppression and to "divide and conquer" and support duality-based inequality. Among those systems are:

oligarchies

dictatorships

theocracies

monarchies

aristocracies

autocracies

and those promoting

totalitarianism

fascism

and

authoritarianism.

Dualistic beliefs are a tool of those who would rule the masses and eliminate equality from societies. Duality and dualistic beliefs have existed since human brains evolved and developed a "mind-part" which established the ability among humans to store and recall taught-and-learned concepts and which allowed the masses to be controlled by leaders with an ability to communicate with them and control them and manipulate them via the exploitation their basest desires as well as their fear of - and hatred of - "the other."

Historically, "the other" is anyone not already a member of a tribe or anyone with different skin color or with different religious beliefs (or anyone with no religious beliefs) or anyone with less money or anyone with a different sexual orientation or anyone not of the male gender or anyone thought to be physically "handicapped" or mentally "handicapped," etc., etc., etc.

During recent years democracies around the globe (including those in the U.S. and the U.K. and France) have fallen under attack and have once again begun to be threatened. Some political scientists have long disparaged what they call "democratic backsliding" or "democratic erosion" or "de-democratization" or "the decline in the quality of democracy."

The current rate of "democratic backsliding" or "democratic erosion" or "de-democratization" or "the decline in the quality of democracy" - and, therefore, duality-based thinking and talking and acting - is higher now than at any time since the rise of fascism in Europe (in the later 1920's) to the fall of two of the key fascist leaders - Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler - (in the mid 1940's).

[If interested in seeing the parallels in "then" and "now," watch Rick Steves' The Story of Fascism in Europe currently showing for free on the Public Broadcast Service.]

Born in the U.S. in 1947, I grew up during the heady days (in the even-sometimes-called "Happy Days") of the 50's as much of the planet celebrated the end of WWII and the defeat of the fascists in Germany and Italy.

In 1965 when I graduated from high school and enrolled in a university, we had to "declare" a "major" - a primary course of study and focus - and choose as well one or more "minors" which included studies of lesser, but nevertheless high, interest.

Thus it was that I majored in English Education with a plan to (1) teach English and to (2) eventually earn a Master's Degree in English and then become a writer. With a notion that I might someday be able to find some way to use two other subjects of interest as well, I minored in History and Psychology.

Lately, as I've considered the history of the days from the 1920's to the present and reviewed how democracies have risen and fallen, and as I've watched a rise in Nazism and fascism, and as I've watched national leaders in the U.S. once more endorse the discrimination of "the others" (including "the Jews") and the discrimination against non-whites, I've also reviewed a relationship I developed with a husband and wife who suffered during the age of fascism in Europe and who when on to share for decades their non-dual, anti-discriminatory message after WWII to try to abate the anti-democratic conditions and pro-fascism and pro-dictatorship beliefs which are now manifesting in politics in the U.S. and other countries around the globe.

I refer to the relationship I developed with Miep and Jan Gies.

Most people in the West began hearing of Miep Gies and her husband Jan in the year 1947 (the year that many people think that “floyd” was born) with the publication of The Diary of a Young Girl, better known by the name of the play and movies based on that book The Diary of Anne Frank. (Jan, a member of the Dutch Resistance forces in WW II, was referred to as “Henk” in the diary.) 

I met Miep and Jan in 1983 and we remained friends until Jan took mahasamadhi on 26 January 1993 and until Miep took mahasamadhi on 11 January 2010. Our first visit was in their flat in an Amsterdam suburb, a short ride by tram from the Centrum (that is, from the Amsterdam Centraal or Centre area) where I was staying. 

Shown below: 

Miep and Jan by the revolving bookcase which hid the door that opened onto the stairway that led to the loft or attic (what Anne Frank called “The Annex" in her diary) where the four members of the Frank family and the four members of the van Pels family (called “the Van Daan family” in the diary) hid for 25 months from the Nazis. Below is a picture of the couple some time before the point when our paths first crossed: 

 MIEP AND JAN GIES 

Over the years, Miep and Jan and I reunited many times in The Netherlands, sharing enjoyable dinners and more enjoyable companionship; my daughter and I caught up with Miep in Dallas, Texas when she was on a speaking tour of the U.S. and shared a meal; 

and in 1988 I met once more with Miep and Mary Steenburgen (who played the part of Miep in the movie entitled The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank) when Miep invited me to the première of the film which was held at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan. 

What was shared with Jan (which led to a ten-year relationship with him) and what was the commonality with Miep (which led to a twenty-seven year friendship with her)? 

Three things in particular: (1) a clear and unwavering sense of the unicity among all three of us; (2) a shared, unlimited willingness to offer the gift of a non-dual message of hope to persons experiencing a sense of hopelessness (though the couple never termed it as such); and (3) a common understanding of what Real Love is. 

The other relevancy to non-duality and the current discussion in this series is what they shared about potatoes - yes, about potatoes – during our three-hour conversation in their flat on the occasion of our first meeting. 

Our talk that day began with a discussion of the pre-war days and the idyllic existence the two shared with the Frank family after the latter escaped Nazi Germany and moved to Amsterdam. Then the talk turned to the two-and-one-half years in hiding. 

Next followed a more detailed dialogue regarding their experiences during the years that the Franks were in hiding, including an extensive discussion of the effects of the Dutch famine of 1944 (known as “the Hongerwinter” or "Hunger winter" in Dutch) which took place in all of the German-occupied part of the Netherlands, Amsterdam included. 

A bicycle was Miep's only transportation, and she described the seemingly-endless months of that winter when she rode her bike mile-after-mile into the countryside - in freezing temperatures and in the dark of night - in search of potatoes to buy on the "black market" in order to feed the eight people hiding upstairs. (Often, she and Jan did not eat, giving their portions to those in hiding). 

In order to feed those she was guarding over, Miep for years risked either being caught and sentenced to death or being sent to a concentration camp to do slave labor, both being punishments assessed for helping Jews hide from the Germans. 

She said that usually, the most she that ever found on any given trip was a handful of rotten potatoes, but she always bought whatever was available and returned to the attic with them to feed those she and Jan were trying to protect from the Nazis and the Dutch Green Police sympathizers. 

All ten people were severely malnourished by the time that the authorities were tipped off that eight Jews were hiding upstairs at the Prinsengracht 263 address of Otto Frank’s former business. (Records found after the war showed that the informant had received the equivalent of 17 cents per Jew, a total of $1.36 for the eight people he handed over for deportation to Nazi work / death camps). 

Miep said that shortly after the arrest of her friends, she contracted pneumonia. For nine months prior to the arrival of the Allied Forces in the Netherlands, she and her husband lived exclusively on potatoes . . . on potatoes which were usually rotten but eaten nevertheless. 

Now, all of the above might seem like a long way to go to get to a non-dual pointer about living on potatoes, but on occasion the sense is that the feelings inside which remain for Miep and Jan - and for the message and the example of both love and Real Love which they modeled for millions of people all around the globe - is worth communicating occasionally. 

So consider Maharaj’s evolution in the message he offered: in the beginning, his actions focused on “the-bread-of-life”-kind of message that religion offered; after Westerners began showing up in droves, his talks focused on a “non-dual-epicurean-meals-with-exquisite-desserts”-kind of spiritual message. 

At that point, his talks revealed to the savvy reader or listener the same seven steps which are shared here and which were rooted in (A) “self-inquiry” (advising seekers to see all of the false selves which had been assigned to them or adopted by them but which did not define them) and in (B) “Self-Inquiry” (advising seekers to find their “Supreme Self” and to abide as that / THAT). 

[The same two approaches were tried here initially, only to find that seekers were relocating (mentally) to THAT, were losing contact with reality as they touted their new-found Reality, and were moving (mentally) into Lala Land or next door into Foo Foo Land. What strategy was followed by Maharaj, and here as well later on, after seeing that the two earlier methods did not work to treat the Ultimate Sickness effectively? "Back to the laboratory. Must continue to search for a new version of the Ultimate Medicine after the first two versions failed miserably."] 

Maharaj would share this message which summarized his final understanding: “If you ask me ‘Who are you?’ my answer would be: ‘Nothing in particular. Yet, I am’.” 

(See? No identity, so most certainly, not some “Supreme Identity.”) He made clear that “self-inquiry” alone is enough, that it is enough to know who you are not, even if you never find out “Who You Are.” It is enough, in fact, to be free of all concepts about both "who-ness" and "WHO-ness.") 

In other words, neither a “bread-of-life”-kind of message or a “Self-Inquiry” kind of “epicurean-meal-with-an-exquisite-dessert”-kind of message is required, or even desired, or even workable. By endorsing “self-inquiry,” he was saying (as Miep and Jan showed) that you can live on potatoes alone (i.e., on the simple basics alone, if need be). Go for the potatoes. It might feel cold. It might be dark. But go for the potatoes anyway. 

There was certainly a time in Ireland when potatoes would have been enough. Beginning in 1845 and lasting for six years, the potato famine resulted in the deaths of over a million men, women and children and caused another million to flee the country. If those two millions had been able to find nothing more than potatoes alone, they would have survived there, but the ruling British allowed their starvation to continue. 

So, go for the potatoes. It might feel cold. It might seem way too dark. But go for the potatoes anyway. You can live on potatoes alone. Now, are you one of those types who will not settle for less? Must you have “the gravy” on the potatoes as well? That is, is it not enough to know only who you are not? Are you driven to find out “Who You Are” as well? Gotta accumulate a big ole load of gravy, too? 

Rock and roll. Stay the “Self-Inquiry” course to the end (or not). Eat the full course. But know that you may feel stuffed in the end, stuffed full of new loads of identities (or "Identities" or “A Supreme Identity"). Fattened up on the fullness of Self if you are driven to do so, but consider that, for many, the end result had been the same kind of uncomfortable feeling which comes when being full of self. 

Not only those who do not know who they are not but also those who think that they know Who They Are can be full of it. As another option, some might consider the alternative as pointed to in the title of this eBook: Why You Must Be Empty If You Would Be Full. 

Maharaj tried to offer a proper perspective about all of this “Self” business when he said: “I am nowhere to be found. I am not a thing to be given a place among other things. All things are in me, but I am not among things.” 

To realize that one is “not a thing” – that is, that one is not anything – is "the unending potato" which can last for the entire remainder of a manifestation. It is that which, even alone, can prove to be enough. You can get by on that alone. To know what you are not is "the potato," and that potato alone is adequate. To think that you know “Who You Are” might be "the gravy," but the high-fat gravy is even less healthy than the high-carb potato. 

Yet here, there are no food laws adhered to, so eat what you will, eat all you will, and pile the thick gravy on in overflowing ladles; or, eat only enough so that you don’t end up too full of it. Here, it matters not. As Grandmother and her Cherokee relatives would say when confronted by the white man who came their way and who was taking himself - that is, his “self” or his “selves” - far too seriously: 

“Whatever.” 

Here, I got the potatoes but then worked like a maniac to get the gravy as well. In reflection, it is clear that the potatoes would has been enough. The potatoes only would have been just fine. And nowadays, a basic and minimal serving of potatoes alone is proving to be just that . . . proving to be all that is required.

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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