TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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and
"The death of the mind is the birth of wisdom"
and
"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."
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
"Realization is nothing more than a process which results in a person being freed from believing in all learned ignorance."
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Anatomy of Human Memory Storage: The Elemental Brain vs. the Non-Elemental Mind
or
The Natural Brain vs. the Never-Natural Mind
*****
THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT WHAT THE ONLY LOGICAL FOCAL POINT OF THE NON-DUAL UNDERSTANDING CAN BE
Before posting the continuation of yesterday’s blog, there will be a pause today to consider the title of a book which was published in 1964, the year before I enrolled in the university from which I would eventually earn a B.A. degree with a minor in history and with enough psychology courses to become certified to teach level 100 and level 200 psychology courses in all fifty states in the U.S.
When I returned to that university to earn an M.A. degree in the early 1970’s, the book mentioned above was still the subject of much discussion. It’s title was Games People Play by Eric Berne, M.D., and in that book, Berne introduced his teachings regarding “Transactional Analysis.”
In a 1965 review of Games People Play, a famous author, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., referred to the book as “an important book . . . a brilliant, amusing, and clear catalogue of the psychological theatricals that human beings play over and over again.”
The relevant phrase for the point being made here and now is in regards to “the psychological theatricals that human beings play over and over again,” including the psychological theatrics played by non-dual seekers.
In 2021, psychological theatricals have become the abnormal norm around many parts of the globe, especially in the U.S. where right-wing militias and ultra-conservative activists and white supremacists groups with paramilitary, conspiratorial, anti-government and terroristic agendas had previously operated in an “underground” fashion.
Those same groups are now being populated with an inordinate number of people who are in the military (a.k.a., "armed forces," a very appropriate label) or who are retired military or who are person now employed by police forces and sheriff departments all across the U.S. who give preferential hiring to those with military experience.
(It seems their memberships have many Timothy-McVeighs-in-waiting and that many Dylann-Roofs-in-waiting are also prowling about.)
After the previous administration gave public nods of approval to the members of those groups along with outright endorsements and along with publicly defending them and their violent behavior, it seems the Pandora’s Box of Extremists and Fanatics has been opened.
Violent radicals are now taking public stances and displaying public actions and running for public offices without any efforts to hide their agendas. They are assuring that psychological theatricals will continue to be the modus operandi in the U.S.
Additionally, emotionally-intoxicated right-wing evangelical groups joined with those two forces to form an “unholy” alliance or triad with an emotionally-intoxicated federal administration and emotionally-intoxicated right-wing extremists.
Having been raised in an evangelical church, I can testify that I have witnessed since the early 1950’s how radical and fanatical and emotionally-intoxicated those churchgoers are, so the result of the expanded influence of the 70,000,000+ people in that triad is that psychological theatricals have, as noted, become the abnormal norm.
What does that have to do with non-duality and what is to be sought and what need not be sought?
It is not just the members of that triad who are now emotionally-intoxicated and perpetuating the prevalent psychological theatricals; instead, it is pretty much the entire population of the U.S. that is involved, and the battle lines have been draw so that about ½ of the 330,000,000 people in the U.S. are equally divided on one side of those battle lines or the other.
A worshiping of minutiae is now the nitpicking SOP (standard operating procedure) in so many areas of employment and interest.
The games people play have expanded to include truly dangerous thoughts and words and actions - dangerous at least on the relative level - and the games are being played by most non-dual seekers and students. Actually, that has long been going on in terms of non-duality and continues to the present.
One of the psychologically theatrical games people (or non-dual seekers or students) play is . . .
1. Non-duality Trivia.
Some seek to become “experts” and seek out the most inane non-dual trivia imaginable in order to . . . what? Impress? Reinforce their “The Expert” role? Display their “Spiritual Giant” role? What nonsense.
Another of the psychologically theatrical games being played by many non-dual seekers and students is . . .
2. “How Many Angels Can Stand on the Head of a Pin?”
That’s an old game which dates back to medieval times in Europe which was especially popular in religious circles in England during the 1600’s. The supposedly pious would debate that question for hours at a time, and that debate continued for decades and even centuries. For what?
One writer wrote of that:
“In modern usage, the name of the game [“How Many Angels Can Stand on the Head of a Pin?”] has little theological context and is used as a metaphor for . . .
wasting time debating topics of no practical value
or
debating questions whose answers are of no consequence - especially of no practical consequence - while more urgent concerns accumulate.”
Certainly that is the case with many "non-dualists" who paths have crossed right here.
Such topics of debate include among those types include . . .
What are the benefits of realization?
What is the purpose of each person and who (or Who) assigned that purpose?
Is the purpose of each person determined before birth, or is it revealed over a period of years following the manifestation?
Shouldn’t "true seekers" only focus on things noumenal, paranormal, mystic, mystical, and beyond things natural?
How can non-duality best be used to reach higher and higher levels, especially higher levels of spirituality?
Shouldn’t consciousness be shown more respect?
Why aren’t more people engaging in spiritual exercises on a daily basis?
How should we students of non-duality explain to other seekers the best ways to progress?
Shouldn’t the ultimate goal for all of us be to find the True Self?
Shouldn’t we make clear to seekers that any search that is not a spiritual search is a worthless search?
Shouldn’t we be encouraging seekers to get back to the non-dual roots and read all of our ancient texts?
My teacher in the U.K. said he would only guide us through the steps if we first learned to read Sanskrit so we could read the ancient texts in the original language as we progressed through the steps with him. Shouldn’t every good teacher require that as well?
Shouldn’t the greatest test of a guru or teacher include an honest appraisal of just how spiritual she or he is and how spiritual his or her message is?
Isn’t unquestioning faith in one’s guru or teacher an absolute necessity?
What about you? Have you ever paused during your seemingly-endless searching to ask if you're also involved in the non-dual games that people play?
Have you ever paused to ask if your type of seeking is really no different at all from the kind of seeking that emotionally-intoxicated seekers in other venues and religions or spiritual groups or programs or other kinds of cults are engaged in?
Are you focusing on the minutiae of the non-dual message rather than focusing on "the big picture" or on "the practical application" of the message to your existence?
In my earliest books and in the earliest days of posting on this blog, I coined the phrase, "Applied Advaita" to point to the fact that any understanding of advaita or non-duality is useless unless it can be applied to one's "current existence" because there will be no "later existence" to which it can be applied.
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."
