TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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THE EVOLUTION OF MAHARAJ’S MESSAGE:
From dogma to spirituality to psychology
"Science will someday advance to the point that it will confirm the validity of the non-dual teachings."
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
[Continued from yesterday]
Earlier, we saw, as Maharaj noted, that valid scientific evidence can be used to support the validity of the non-dual teachings / understandings, yet how many will ever truly grasp those teachings / un-teachings / understandings? Few, according to the numbers shared yesterday, numbers which Maharaj used in his guesstimate of how many are realized.
Study his numbers and you'll see that he said that at any given moment there are only a few thousand persons on the planet who will ever understand these teachings / un-teachings / understandings. Take out a few thousand and what remains?
About 7.674 billion persons who are far more attached to ignorance and to lies than to wisdom and facts. The ancient myths and superstitions from which the earliest pagan religions drew their beliefs have now evolved into the dogma and teachings of some 4,200 modern day religions with thousands of (sub-)sects and with many thousands of (sub-)denominations which now combine to make up one body of unnatural or supernatural or religious or spiritual belief systems and one body of "dogma-based knowledge" (a.k.a., "learned ignorance," to use Maharaj's term).
That body has now expanded to include among its membership A Newer Cult of Ignorance which is being spread around the globe by the contagion which "non-dualists" refer to as "the Ultimate Sickness."
A NEWER CULT OF IGNORANCE:
The Increase In False Beliefs With The Attacks On Science And Scientific Evidence
The various "Ages of Darkness" and "Ages of Enlightenment" have been discussed on this site. Historically, "The Ignorance vs. The Understanding" pendulum has been swinging for as long as humans or human-like beings have walked the planet.
In Texas, blatantly and unashamedly (and even proudly among some on the right) the current "public school and textbook standards" subvert science and truth.
For example, slaves in the state-approved textbooks are depicted as something akin
to "volunteer workers" who were given "a much better life on
cotton plantations than they would have had in the jungles of
Africa."
Regarding the legislature's effort to further erode the line between religion and government, Texas law now allows public school teachers who have attachments to dogma to bring debunked and unconstitutional creationist arguments into their classrooms with legal protection;
thus, the textbooks now include information which not only hinders the understanding of evolution but also - in some communities - outlaws the teachings of evolution in public schools and endorses the teaching of creationist theories only.
[Why should that be of interest to anyone living in the U.S. but residing outside Texas? Because along with California, what Texas decides about textbook content will determine what the content of all textbooks will be in every other state.
Why? The competition among the 310 textbooks publishers in the U.S. is fierce. The largest contracts typically go to the largest publishers after they spread money about among those making the state-level decisions and those offering (totally gratuitous and largely-ignored) local-level input.
When I was in the latter group for a time, publishers spent thousands of dollars taking us to the finest restaurants to discuss the merits of their books over those of their competitors.
I only attended one such meal / meeting after I saw the intent of their marketing methods, but those thousand-dollar meals continued to be attended by many.
I was told that the most money, however, was not spent on the local levels but was spend on the state level by the textbook industry lobbyists hired by the largest textbook publishers, allowing the most ignorant and biggest liars in some state legislative committees to determine what will be included and not included in texts to be sold nationwide.
Why were the lobbyists I dealt will so willing to spend huge sums of money to assure their company got the contract? Because in the U.S., textbook sales recently totaled $12,675,000,000 annually. Yes, that's $12 billion plus. That puts the largest publishers in the ranks of some of the most profitable industries in the U.S.
For profits' sake, the textbook publishers do not spend the money to print 50 different tests in each subject area. Whatever texts the biggest state textbook buyers want - and get - the rest will get as well.
When I was involved with the process, this is what happened: in states such as Texas which spend so much on book purchases, their influence is the greatest and will control and determine the content of texts which will then be sold as well to states all around the nation. That's the way it happened when I was peripherally involved.]
Now, there's a new kid on the block whose textbook content is even more ludicrous then what many in the Texas state legislature include, namely, the "home-school" textbook sellers.
The growing "home school" population in the U.S. uses Christianity-based materials. One of the top sellers of such materials for home schooling advertises the following (even as they misspell the name of what they sell:
Homeschool [sic] Curriculum
Homeschool [sic] curriculum, workbooks, living books, and resources for all styles and methods of homeschooling! Discover the homeschool [sic] curriculum that will best fit with your child and family to meet your educational goals.
That most popular site in recent days with home schooling parents? "Christianbook.com."
Another popular provider of home schooling materials advertise that they have
Materials covering the entire span from "Preschool to Grade 12"
along with
"Video Lessons, and More!"
informing parents that they can
Inspire Learning and Teach Biblical Values with Comprehensive Christian Curriculum [sic].
One man whose parents kept him at home and "schooled" him there later became an advocate for ending all home school programs. He pointed out that
"many parents suggest they are homeschooling [sic] because they are more concerned about the quality of education their children receive than about the religious teachings that are included."
He shared what he came to understand from his own experience:
"For those of us Christians who were in homeschooling [sic] for the long haul, it wasn’t a question of whether or not we were 'religious' homeschoolers: [sic] it was a question of whether we were knee-deep, [sic] or just a little into the religious homeschooling movement.
"Try to cut out the 'movement' from my homeschooling experience, and quite frankly, there is nothing much left. [sic] Because no matter how many positive aspects of homeschooling I can create in my mind, all of them are infiltrated somehow with legalism and religion."
Another man who went through home schooling also advocates against it and its curriculum:
"The problem isn’t merely that the workbook authors force scripture into the lessons whether it belongs there or not. It’s that they teach incorrect information (like Creationism), omit some information altogether, and never get into the sort of depth you’d expect to find in any rigorous public school curriculum. The result is inevitably that students who use these resources 'graduate' with a much narrower understanding of core subjects. (I use 'understanding' loosely.)
"One important example of these problems? The way homeschooling [sic] texts handle the civil rights movement. There is no mention of the KKK, Jim Crow, or lynchings. The word ‘racism’ never appears. This short description of what happened after the killing of Dr. King was this: 'Angry young blacks rioted, robbed, and burned buildings in several American cities. All of this was done in the name of a man who wished to be remembered as a man of peace.' That’s what homeschooled [sic] students are expected to take away from King’s death.
"And this is just one topic in one subject. This sort of thing happens throughout the curriculum. The students who have to rely on these books get a minimal education at best, leaving them unprepared to understand or deal with situations outside their bubble."
Now, many charter schools are also blurring the line between religious and public education and the prior administration is the U.S. wanted to end public education as it is known and replace it with Christian-friendly, tax-dollar supported charter schools as well as cash from the U.S. Government for home schooling.
Maharaj's recommendation was that science be studied long enough and deeply enough that persons can use scientific understandings to reach a full non-dual understanding, yet the more influential forces at work right now in many quarters include those persons who hate science because it challenges their blind faith and bogus beliefs and dogma-based ignorance.
Rather than advance scientific awareness, their push is to spread with their anti-science stance the most "ultra-conservative," "highly religious," and "as far right belief systems" possible.
The result:
A more-empowered and influential version of a long-standing "Cult of Ignorance" with a newer and more widespread influence enabling their long-running dissemination of the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, especially the three which Maharaj identified as "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity."
As a result of the effects of today's political knavery and depravity and corruption, advantage . . .
ignorance.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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THE EXPLANATION
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"
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places
"There is no hell."
