TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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THE RATIONALE FOR REACHING A
"NO-BELIEFS,"
"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
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
"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, domesticated, acculturated, brainwashed, and indoctrinated to believe so that you can be free, period."
--Floyd Henderson
Those Who Have the Opportunity to Be Free of False Beliefs
In the previous posts, the discussion focused on two of the most entrenched sets of beliefs:
1. those dealing with supposed "payoffs" from believing in a "personal god" (or gods and goddesses); and,
2. those dealing with supposed "payoffs" from believing in one's false "personal" roles / identities, especially those which are rooted in the various "ism's" which is so popular in various cultures around the globe.
Now, the focus will turn to those few that have some chance of being free of their beliefs in images and distortions and misperceptions and myths and superstitions as opposed to those that typically do not any chance at all of being free of the effects of their beliefs.
In the former group, there are those who are intelligent but who are functioning under the auspices of their wisdom-blocking "learned ignorance"; in the latter, there are those who are merely ignorant, period.
In the latter case, there is also the presence of learned ignorance, but because there is also an absence of intelligence, there is in those latter instances no reasonable likelihood that wisdom will ever manifest.
The intelligent in the former group above have the potential to be free of the effects of learned ignorance and to complete the "journey" to full realization (that is, to a state of being freed from believing in that which is false or ignorant).
Those in the latter group above will most likely never understand that all notions involving ego or ego-states (or a sense of "a personal being" or belief in "a personal do-er" or the belief in "a personal god") are all illusions . . . all mis-perceptions based in delusion.
So, for those with the capacity to cast aside the accumulation of their "knowledge" (their "learned ignorance") which they are so very proud of prior to Realization, the challenge becomes, "How to be free of belief in illusions and to see truth instead?"
First, most persons - including those in "the intelligent group" - will never be freed from their foolish beliefs. When intelligence is neutralized via learned ignorance, then even the intelligent will be fooled and will most likely remain in that state.
Yet some few will understand the full import of these pointers and be free of their belief in false ideas and concepts. Again, in those cases where ignorance is combined with learned ignorance, the chances for enlightenment are practically nil. So it is.
Secondly, if the intelligent are to be freed of entrapment in learned ignorance, then all beliefs must be forfeited, without exception, yet who wants to discard the beliefs that most persons prize so highly? The fact is, however, that to discard a thousand beliefs but to cling to even one as if it were "your ultimate 'sacred cow' or 'belief'" will avail you nothing.
Furthermore, to invite one who believes in a personal self and in a personal god to consider the possibility that their beliefs are pure fiction will usually only reinforce, not diminish, their attachment to their beliefs.
The very invitation itself - to consider a different possibility - will usually inspire persons to “dig in their heels” and stubbornly defend what they mistakenly take to be "their" beliefs (which, as noted, are really the beliefs of other persons that have merely been passed along to them . . . and passed along for generations).
Once the programming has extended beyond the age of 6 or 7 or 8, beliefs will be taken by persons to be a part of what defines them . . . that help to identify “who they are” as much as the labels that they have been assigned or that they have adopted on their own.
They will cling forever to their conceptual lies, and only a small fraction will ever be free of the hold of beliefs (and thereafter realize fully). So blind have non-realized persons been rendered by way of programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing and indoctrination that even the intelligent among them cannot begin to fathom the veracity of the facts that contradict their beliefs, even when they hear them stated most clearly.
Should they happen to hear the consciousness speak to say, “Every belief you have is a lie,” most persons will close themselves off from the voice of pure consciousness and cling to the blockages that prevent the hearing and acceptance of facts.
They will refuse to so much as consider the possibility offered by the consciousness when it says, "In fact, you have no beliefs. What presently fills 'your mind' are 'their' beliefs, not 'your beliefs,' yet you have adopted them with such conviction and pride that you behave as if those ideas were original to you."
Again, to tell one believing in a "personal self" that there is no such thing is to only reinforce their belief in a personal self. To tell one believing in a "personal god" that there is no such thing is to only reinforce their belief in a personal god and will incite them to enter into defensive—and often offensive—modes.
Offensive modes by those who believe in a "personal god" or "gods and goddesses?" Yes, absolutely and most assuredly. For 5000 years, Jews have been killing non-Jews and non-Jews have been killing Jews; for 2000 years, Christians have been killing Jews, Jews have been killing Christians, and Christians have been killing others Christians that belong to different denominations or religions;
For 1300 years, Muslims have been killing Jews and Christians, Christians and Jews have been killing Muslims, and Muslims have been killing Muslims that belong to different sects. Now, not a day passes without a report of how many Muslims killed other Muslims of a different sect, how many Christian soldiers killed how many Muslims, how many Muslims blew up how many Christians, ad infinitum.
The evidence of the results of their beliefs could not be clearer, but rather than saying, "Hey, maybe it's not that 'they' are wrong . . . maybe the fact is that we are all in error," instead, lines are drawn and opposite sides are taken as persons align against persons once their beliefs generate a false sense of separation and a false belief in "our rightness vs. their wrongness";
after their beliefs foster erroneous, dualistic conclusions about "right beliefs vs. wrong beliefs"; and after their beliefs drive them to defend "the proper dogma supported by my god vs. the improper dogma supported by their god." The same roots - erroneous beliefs - are the basis of every fight, including those in "relationships," between cities, between states, between nations, etc.
To all of the results generated by the beliefs above, add in not only the results that are generated and disseminated by religious and spiritual and philosophical and ideological "-ism's" but also add in the beliefs disseminated by political "-ism's," nationalistic "-ism's," economic "-ism's," governmental "-ism's," etc. See the hundreds of thousands of beliefs that are driving the non-realized to feel "apart-from" and that are blocking them from understanding the unicity.
Next, for freedom from believing in false beliefs to happen, the readiness of the intelligent seeker has to be there; only then can the teacher begin her / his task effectively.
Here, there are seven steps required to shift from identification with the false "I" to abidance as the Absolute. Too, there are three "levels" among seekers ("wet charcoal," "dry charcoal," and those at the "gunpowder stage");
therefore, there is the additional requirement of a teacher that can listen to a seeker, that can determine "where" on "the path" that seeker is, and that can then offer level-appropriate pointers that might facilitate a shift to the next step on "the path."
What is said to one seeker in regards to a topic may differ entirely when addressing the same topic with a different seeker. Persons at the “wet charcoal” level (which includes the masses) will likely never be able to understand non-duality pointers (or much of anything else). The teacher will never be able to “fire them up” enough to burn away their beliefs - their learned ignorance.
Those at the “dry charcoal” level include persons who have completed some of the necessary study and reading and contemplation and in those cases, with much effort, the teacher might be able to generate a spark of light that can move them closer to "The Understanding."
For those at the “gunpowder” level, they are very close to full realization, being blocked by attachment to only a few remaining concepts and beliefs. With the proper pointers offered by a teacher that knows “where they are on the path,” the teacher can often say to those at the third (religious or spiritual) level exactly what is required to trigger an explosion that blows away all of their remaining beliefs and allows them to continue along the “path” in order that full realization might happen.
What about you? Have you been fixated at the religious / spiritual / "personal god" stage which is only the third of the seven, required steps to move away from "personal identification" and to abidance as the Absolute and to overlaying Reality upon the remainder of the relative existence?
Is the consciousness finally beginning to inspire some questioning? Might the consciousness have reached a level where it is beginning to sense that there might be “something else” to be understood beyond religious dogma and beyond "spiritual principles"?
An alternative consideration was offered recently to a seeker in the U.K. that has been trapped at that level. He was asked if he might be willing to set aside all of his spiritual exercises;
if he might be willing to take a break from all of duality-reinforcing meditative practices during which he has been focusing on "positive" ideas in order to block out "negative" ideas; and if he might consider taking a vacation from all of his other spiritual employment.
If so, the alternate possibility presented for his consideration was this:
that abiding might simply happen - and happen simply - without his continuing to turn mere "living" into another full time job.
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."
