TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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NEEDLESS WORK and COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE ACCEPTANCE and THE CURSE OF HABITS
Body Pain vs. Mind-Induced Misery and Suffering, Part One
While
the realized have no attachment to the body or to the manifested consciousness,
it would be both dualistic and unnatural to desire to terminate the
manifestation and be rid of the body on one hand or to want to "live to be
200, or longer" on the other hand.
Here, there are no dualistic beliefs or thoughts, so neither "I want this
body" nor "I do not want this body" can arise into the
now-unblocked and sanity-friendly consciousness. Living naturally, food will be
eaten spontaneously and digestion will happen automatically, and that pattern
will continue until it stops automatically.
Here, as far as the elemental plant food body is concerned, there is a position
of neutrality because fear and desire have been eliminated via realization;
therefore, there is no desire that the body last forever and no delusion that
it even could; however, having been freed of belief in learned ignorance and having been restored to sanity as a result of realization, there is no desire to harm the body or accelerate its return to
the universal pool of elements.
What of "end of life options"? Would the realized say that no one has
the right to decide what to do with one's own body? Never, but some teachers
among the Realized will say that those options should be considered in light of
the facts, specifically, the facts about pain vs. misery and suffering.
As mentioned on this site in the past, pain is of the body while misery and
suffering are of the "mind" (including the ideas and beliefs and
distortions and concepts and emotions and false identifications / personas
stored therein).
Certainly, it is understandable that
a. if someone is in physical pain 24 / 7 as a result of an incurable disease
and that
b. if realization has led to transition
beyond any and all attachment to the body and to the consciousness
then
c. such circumstances could inspire one
to want to "pull the plug" when whatever is happening with the body
has become a constant source of pain that will not end as long as the
consciousness remains to register the pain.
A so-called "assault" on the body in such instances can be a logical
and accurate means for addressing 24 / 7, uninterrupted pain which prevents any
chance for enjoying relative pleasures (a.k.a., prevents "quality of
life," as the non-realized call it).
[NOTE: Maharaj addressed "the constant pain issue" via non-attached
witnessing. That option might work as well for some that have been freed of body identification.]
The possibility of endless pain without relief is why the last will and
testament here states clearly that life-supporting equipment is not to be used
to support "floyd's" body if it is racked with constant, incessant
pain or if the body is in what is assured to be an interminable vegetative
state. Any action to sustain a body in either of those conditions would be
unnatural. The deer that are dying a natural death are never
"rescued" by an intervention.
But if misery and suffering are happening - instead of pain - then destroying
the body and terminating the manifestation of the consciousness makes no sense
at all. Such action would be non-Nisargan, would be unnatural.
So an assault on the body, when the body is the source of relentless, physical
pain can be logical and reasonable and natural if it is guaranteed that no
happiness and joy or bliss shall ever register again for the remainder of the
manifestation.
By contrast, an assault on the body, when the "mind" is the source of
relentless misery and suffering, is totally illogical and unreasonable and
unnatural, for it fails to address the addressable causes that - if addressed -
could end the misery and suffering and would allow happiness and joy and bliss
to register for the remainder of the manifestation.
It would be tantamount to someone cutting his arm so severely that stitches
would be required to close the wound, to his going to an emergency room of a
hospital to have the arm wound treated, and to the doctors there sewing
stitches into his leg, bandaging his leg, and sending him on his way to
"bleed to death."
If the actual source of the problem had been addressed, there would have been
no reason at all for "the death." Later, the arm would have healed
and an enjoyable existence could have continued.
Therefore, it is impossible to equate an assault on the body to end
intolerable, physical pain with an assault on the body to end misery and
suffering. As with the misplaced, misdirected treatment of a leg in the
scenario above, persons are misguided and misdirected when they seek relief in
a similarly-flawed manner instead of finding and targeting the location of
"the actual problem."
In the first case with the diseased body, the problem is incurable. The pain
will not cease. In the second case, when the "mind" is dis-eased and
the cause of misery and suffering, then that circumstance is curable;
therefore, attacking the body or prematurely ending the manifestation of the
consciousness would not be natural and would make no sense at all.
It would be unnatural, and therefore, insane, illogical, unreasonable, and
unwarranted, relatively speaking.
In light of the distinction between pain on the one hand and misery and suffering
on the other, consider again this comment from two young teens who were
practicing "cutting" several years ago: "Life sucks. How cruel
are you to try to talk us into being exposed to any more of this crap?"
The teens had every reason, considering the levels of abuse that they had
suffered from their truly sick father, to feel miserable and to feel as if the
pressure within was so great that cutting could provide relief. Functioning at
the level of body identification only, they attacked the body rather than the
actual source of their misery.
The reason they are happy and free today is because they found that their
problem was rooted in the "mind" and not in the body; thereafter,
they addressed (with professional guidance) the real and treatable cause of
their misery and suffering.
Once their line of attack turned from the body to the "mind," relief
began to manifest, but (as happened with those two) identification with the
body can set the stage for persons who are suffering mentally and / or emotionally
to strike out at the body rather than to seek treatment for the contaminated
"mind."
That phenomenon is explained this way in the book FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE in a passage transcribed from a series
of satsang sessions. It addresses the body-identification / attack-the-body
connection which is rooted in misperception and misunderstanding:
Body identification can be chaotic and even fatal. Here's how: I once had a dog
that, when it saw its reflection in a mirror, would go ballistic. He fought
with that false self, biting at the mirror and trying to destroy himself / his
own reflection.
In humans identified with their bodies, the deep-seated need to destroy the ego
and false roles and to be authentic is a subconscious, driving force that leads
to self-destructive behavior or even suicidal assaults against the physical
body. If I am my body and I am having overwhelming problems, then the way to be
rid of those is to be rid of the body, so the unconscious, fallacious reasoning
goes.
So, hopeless and endless body pain? Go for the body if you like.
Misery and suffering? It only makes sense to go for the "mind," to
address the faulty content of the "mind" that prevents persons from seeing
what really ails them . . . to find and treat the actual source of one's misery
and suffering.
The love of the body or the love of the content of the "mind" or the
love of any false identities will eventually lead to hate . . . hating the
relative existence, hating "others" whose beliefs do not align with
one's own beliefs, and hating anyone who seems to be threatening one's false
identities and / or interfering with the hidden agendas of those false
personalities.
By contrast, freedom from love of the body and the "mind" and false
identifications allows for an objective look at the actual source of one's
misery and suffering.
Of that, Maharaj said, " . . . first, your attitude to suffering must
change. Suffering is primarily a call for attention, which itself is a movement
of Love."
One's love of the false self / selves will eventually turn to disgust if the lack
of authenticity registers, if living the lie grows old. Love of All is an
entirely different matter. So, too, would be an existence marked by being in an unwavering position of neutrality.
To know the real is to know the Oneness, and to know the Oneness is to know
Love, and to know Love is to automatically and spontaneously find and root out
the source of suffering - first in one's own self and then in all who seek as
well. In only the most limited way can Love try to address pain, yet Love would
eliminate the causes of misery and suffering.
Love, True Love, hears the call of the miserable and those suffering and knows
that suffering is primarily a call for attention . . . but attention to the
cause(s) of misery and suffering.
Suffering is not a call to "die"; suffering is a call to heal, be the
suffering your own or that of "others." Here, the teacher suffered,
determined to find the actual source or cause(s) of suffering, found the cause,
eliminated the cause, and then become willing to share the solution with any
that seek the Ultimate Resolution?
Is your body in 24 / 7 pain? That's one thing. Are you miserable and suffering?
That is a totally different "issue." In the case of the latter, focus
on the "mind," knowing that the misery-producing-contaminants therein
can be eliminated painlessly and non-violently, with assistance.
One need not destroy the entire brain to address the suffering that is rooted
in the information-storage-and-retrieval part of the brain (a.k.a., "the
mind"). As the title of one book available here points out, THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There's Only Peace If You Are Out of
Your Mind).
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."
teachings which become a part of the Papal Magisterium.
