TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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The Pure, Universal Consciousness,
Pure Awareness,
and a
"Proper Perspective"
“I talk to you from the perspective of the universal consciousness.”
---Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Today, let’s discuss by example some of the kinds of misperceptions which come and which people talk about not from the perspective of the pure, universal consciousness and not from the perspective of pure awareness and without a “proper perspective” at all.
For example, how many hours have been spent, and how much energy has been wasted, with persons discussing from an “improper perspective” two of the multi-thousand-year-old fundamentals of Eastern religion which remain for many persons two of the primary and seldom-challenged staples of their “teachings”?
Consider the erroneous beliefs about “the three gunas” and “the five elements”:
THE THREE GUNAS
Discussions of the three gunas often focus on the claim that “the awareness and conscious manipulation of the three gunas are a powerful way to reduce stress, increase inner peace, and lead on toward enlightenment.”
With that characterization, if accepted unquestioningly at face value, then who would possibly challenge their worth and not want all that a mastery of properly manipulating the three gunas can supposedly provide?
And how much more will those buying into the earliest notions about those three concepts attach to the “teachings” regarding the gunas when the claim is that they can determine whether one suffers (1) "darkness and chaos" or experiences (2) "activity and passion" or (3) "beingness and harmony"?
And who would want to miss out on the “benefits” of learning how to “consciously act upon the gunas to either increase or decrease their effects through the interaction and influence of external objects, lifestyle practices, and thoughts.”
Granted, there was something to the conclusions drawn by the person or persons who observed that persons' moods and overall demeanor generally fall into one of three groups; however, he or she or they allowed obsessive and fanatical personality traits to lead to the assigning of a supernatural cause to explain moods and demeanors which are determined by strictly natural processes.
[That differs not at all from the dalai lama's blaming the destruction of much of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina on "the negative karma of the people there" (an explanation rooted in a supposedly supernatural cause and effect) rather than understanding why hurricanes form and why they follow the path they follow (which would be a scientifically-based, all-natural cause and effect discussion).]
That person or those persons who generated the gunas-concept noticed that people seemed to be driven by different influences which lead them to feel and react in different ways.
What was missed was the food / mood connection.
What scientists came to understand is that there are three metabolic body types. One type functions best with a meat-based food plan; a second type functions best with a vegetable-based food plan; and a third type functions best with a meat / vegetable combination food plan.
Maharaj linked the maximized functioning of the consciousness to the food essence. He explained that “the flame of consciousness is lit because the essence of the body is burning.”
In his early talks, he discussed - sometimes in an old-school, obtuse way - the fact that when one eats food which is not aligned with one’s metabolic body type, then things don’t go as smoothly. He explained that if there is an internal imbalance, then the “combustion” within the body does not produce as effective a form of energy as would happen otherwise.
[Yes, early on, he did discuss a link between the gunas and the food essence, but he would later on tell people to ignore what he set forth in his earlier talks as he eventually endorsed a method of seeking rooted in psychology and science.]
What is understood today is this: if one’s body type calls for protein, meat, etc., then one might be quite productive in the morning. But if such a person were to go to lunch and eat a vegetarian, head lettuce salad, the body will shift to an alkaline state and the result of excessive alkalinity can be some degree of “darkness” and “inactivity” and “disharmony” throughout the remainder of the day.
So, yes, the concept of the three gunas has some validity at its core, but not the validity which an improper perspective will lead one to believe.
In the case above, once a metabolic body type which requires protein for “maximum efficiency functioning,” then there is no way to “manipulate” the gunas and change the effect that an alkaline state will have on mood; thus, the notion of "guna manipulation" is invalid. The scientifically-proven understanding of a mood / food link is valid.
As for the notion that thoughts can “manipulate” the gunas - and their effects - is also based in an improper perspective; thus, the guna-related notion that “thoughts can manipulate the gunas and allow one to be at peace and in harmony and enlightened” is erroneous. As Matt Rogers wrote, “You can only think what you have been taught to think.”
The applicable “rule” is not, garbage in, peace and harmony and enlightenment out.
The applicable “rule” is, garbage in, garbage out.
As noted here
often, and by Maharaj in his later talks, the elemental brain works automatically
and spontaneously with no conscious input from a human required. The complete opposite
is the case with the non-elemental, full-of-learned-ignorance human mind, and theories about its “thoughts” having the
power or ability to “manipulate the gunas” are not valid.
Again, as also noted here and by Maharaj, the human brain is elemental while the mind is filled with “learned ignorance” and nonsense which is not elemental at all.
THE FIVE ELEMENTS
Maharaj said that “science will someday advance to the point that it will prove that non-duality is fact.”
He could have added, “And science will also advance to a point someday when it will prove which many non-dual pointers offered throughout the ages are not based in fact.”
Such is the case with “the five elements.”
The earliest teachings about elements were based in a belief system and a degree of understanding which was of a kindergarten-level, suggesting that there are only five elements and they are earth, water, fire, wind, and space.
How much more overly-simplified could a belief be?
Consider this comparison: the ancient, superstition-based beliefs about (a) their being gods and goddesses in other worlds who control everything that happens on planet earth and (b) that storms and lightning and thunder are signals that those gods and goddesses are displeased are rooted in a lack of understanding of the facts and an over-simplified explanation which assigns a supernatural cause to an all-natural event. [See how the dalai lama is still functioning in that low-level, childish mode. The masses do the same.]
So what have been revealed about elements by science?
There are not five elements. There are actually 118 elements.
Neither earth, water, fire, wind, nor space are among the 118 elements.
Water is not an element but is elemental, being the result of two elements having combined, namely, two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen (or, more precisely, two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom).
Earth is not an element but is elemental. It’s “crust” is made up of many elements, including oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium.
For a human body to function effectively, it requires an assortment of elements manifesting within and manifesting in varied degrees. For example, when my body is either dehydrated or overly-hydrated (and therefore retaining fluid around the heart and / or lungs) and when it is low in calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium, then I will suffer atrial fibrillation, that is, an irregular and often rapid heart rate which occurs when the two upper chambers of the heart experience chaotic electrical signals. An associated result is a fast and irregular heart rhythm.”
When my heart’s rate is too high, I can take a portion of a tablet which will lower my heart rate, but the irregular rhythm may well continue. To treat that, I do not use a pacemaker to reestablish a proper rhythm; instead, I will drink a solution of electrolytes – heavy in the earth elements of calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium, and my heart rhythm stabilizes.
To that end, when I feel abnormal or uncomfortable because the “combustion” Maharaj referenced
is not happening and resulting in a smooth body operation, I measure both my heart rate and
my heart rhythm and introduce certain earth elements of which this body was originally
composed, specifically, calcium, sodium,
potassium and magnesium and others.
As for fire, wind, and space, those are not elements either.
Fire is “a process (not an element) in which flammable substances can combine chemically with oxygen and temporarily give off heat, smoke and light” (but not enlightenment).”
Wind is not an element but is simply the movement of air.
Space in not an element. It is merely “a continuous area or expanse which is unoccupied by anything. It is not an element but is actually an 'element-free area'.”
Perceptions based in fact and science can be valid; perceptions which come via talk rooted from the perspective of the pure, universal consciousness and pure awareness and a “proper perspective” can be valid; all else is, to use Maharaj’s term, “learned ignorance.”
To be continued.
Please enter 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."
