ANNOUNCEMENTS
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“I am offering you exactly what you need - awakening. You are not hungry and you need no bread. You need cessation, relinquishing, disentanglement. What you believe you need is not what you need. Your real need I know, not you. You need to return to the state in which I am - your natural state.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
(Continued from yesterday)
More and more began to be questioned, and more and more was found to be unsubstantiated. It was only after finding the non-dual understanding and after reading pointers and after taking them into contemplation (and after a vision came that clarified all of the pointers and revealed that the “path” has seven steps) that a “Eureka” moment happened.
[Later, Maharaj and I both reduced that to four steps based
on a newer awareness which he explained this way: “It is not necessary to seek
and find the answer to ‘Who am I?’; it is enough to seek and find who you are
not.”
The awakening came one evening - nearly thirty years ago - when the following
flashed into the consciousness that had undergone a long cleansing process:
“I’ve been exposing a lie here, a mistaken belief there, a bogus tale here, a piece of fiction there, all of which is taken by the masses to be truth.” But that evening, the first stirrings of a real awakening flashed into consciousness with the realization:
“Oh my gosh! I’ve focused on the lies told by politicians
. . . the tall tales told by religious people over the last 5000 years . . . the
nonsense spouted by those who claim to be ‘on an even higher plane’ because
they are ‘spiritual, not just religious’.”
It was then seen that “The focus has been far too narrow ... far too limited.
Oh my gosh! It’s all nonsense. It’s all BS!” Immediately, this flashed into
the consciousness that was undergoing a continuing re-purification process: “OK,
so now I see that it was all just so much fiction and fabrication. But if all
of that was invention and falsehood, what is the truth?”
As it turned out, all of the false beliefs had to be
discarded as a prerequisite for moving farther along the “path” to full
realization, to seeing truth, and to understanding the functioning of the
totality.
The visitor mentioned earlier in this chapter was finally advised: if you are
truly willing to cast aside all ideas and concepts and beliefs, then you must
find where you got them and then see that they are all part and parcel of a
planet-wide compilation of nonsense based in myths and superstitions and ignorance.
Next, you must understand that you cannot become free by “picking
and choosing” from “their” collection of nonsense or by casting aside “some” or
“most” concepts but continuing to cling to a few of “your” favorites.
You must also see that the manifestation will not go on long enough for you to
investigate one idea or one concept or one belief at a time and discover that
each lacks validity; instead, all ideas and concepts and beliefs must all be
cast aside in one fell swoop if you would be free.
Reactions to Pointers from This Author
The non-duality invitation is to question all, so as challenges comes, they can provide opportunities for teaching (actually, for un-teaching) as in this instance:
A visitor listening to a discussion of false beliefs said “it seems that everyone will still have points of view and strong opinions about things. It seems you do regarding such topics as 911, Hurricane Katrina being blamed on karma, religion etc. Explain.”
The reply: First, WHO is this that you are accusing of
having an opinion? You write to the no-WHO as if there were a WHO, revealing
that, subconsciously, you still believe very much in your own WHO-ness.
As for “points of view,” all that can be said with accuracy is that the consciousness
either witnesses what is happening from the subject-object witnessing mode or
witnesses purely and accurately via the pure witnessing. When the consciousness
speaks, it speaks from one of those two modes, depending on the level of the
seeker.
When dealing with “beginners” or “intermediate-level”
seekers, Maharaj would respond if relative issues such as “war” or “the death
of a son” or “mental and emotional suffering” or “physical pain” were raised.
(He would be doing the same today if questions were raised about relative
happening such as “911, Hurricane Katrina being blamed on karma, religion, etc.”
When he advised seekers to abandon their religious and / or spiritual roles and
then just abide naturally, there was no “one who had strong opinions” about
religion or spirituality.
There was a speck that was inviting seekers to abandon
all attachment to the “-ism’s” which all spread false beliefs, to stop playing
their belief-supported roles, and to just abide naturally instead.)
Always, his responses were level-appropriate, meeting the seekers at the place
on the “path” where the seekers’ words revealed them to be; yet that speck
called “Maharaj” was merely noting those instances of relative insanity and
misery in order to invite seekers to see insanity as insanity;
to see that their concepts were merely dreamed up
conceptualizations; and to see that their beliefs were rooted in myths and
superstitions and false concepts; then, he would invite seekers to move away
from the cited examples of relative nonsense and insanity, to understand their
Original Nature, and to then abide as that / THAT.
But understand in the case of that speck or in the case of this speck, there is
no “one” that could “have” or “possess” anything, including a “point of view”
or a “strong opinion.” Until you are free of all beliefs, that point will be
beyond your understanding;
nevertheless, all that is happening is that thorns are being used to remove thorns. Therefore, there is no “one” here that could “have strong opinions.” Here, there is the no-longer-blocked-conscious-energy that is temporarily manifested in an elemental-plant-food-body-cum-consciousness which is circulating air.
That which believes “he” or “she” or “others” can have
opinions is not the actual energy-elements-air triad; it is the fictional
body-mind-personality triad.
As often happens - as was the case with some of Maharaj’s visitor and with some
visitors here - seekers who have not completed the entire “journey” will
project the beliefs based in their relative misunderstandings onto the pure
consciousness when it speaks, revealing their belief that “because I have
strong opinions based in my beliefs, I can see when ‘you’ do, too.”
(By the way, there are no guarantees that more than a few
will ever grasp the pointers being offered on the subject of belief-less-ness;
in fact, the odds are ten million to one, according to Maharaj’s final
estimate, against seekers ever reaching the full understanding, discarding all
beliefs, and knowing the difference in the Real “Oneness” and the false “one”-ness.)
Marahaj provided examples of relative nonsense on occasion in order for novice
seekers to actually see the relative insanity that happens when the
consciousness is warped or blocked.
Such illustrations served to contrast those examples of the results of relative
ignorance with the level of sanity and peace that can happen if persons abandon
the beliefs that lead to chaotic and insane relative happenings which are rooted
in the ignorance of believing in the false.
Only if seekers discard their belief in any and all ideas and concepts can they complete the “journey” and find truth . . . and peace. The thorns used along the way to remove thorns are used at certain levels only.
Some of those thorns are examples of relative happenings
that are rooted in false beliefs. For seekers that have reached the later steps
on the “path,” fewer and fewer thorns need be employed. Until those steps are
reached, the AM-ness (and the “stuff” of the AM-ness) can be mentioned in order
...
a. to provide examples of ignorance-based conflict and disharmony and
misperceptions and misery and suffering;
b. to distinguish the end results of believing in illusions rather than seeing
Reality;
c. to explain how the Ultimate Medicine can eliminate ignorance-based conflict
and disharmony and misperceptions and misery and suffering; and
d. to make clear that the elimination of ignorance-based conflict and
disharmony and misperceptions and misery and suffering can (1) only happen
during the limited remainder of the post-realization manifestation, (2) can
only happen one seeker at a time, and (3) will never happen on a planet-wide
basis.
Why? Because in all societies, the most influential persons are the leaders and
“movers” and “shakers” who are involved with the cultures’ “-ism’s”; because
they and their “-ism’s” are the chief guardians and purveyors of false beliefs
and ideas and concepts and learned ignorance;
because the “-ism’s” and their false messages are so widely accepted that they
now control the thoughts and words and actions of the non-realized masses;
and
because it is a culture’s most “sacred” or “proudly held”
beliefs and ideas and concepts and body of learned ignorance that generate
conflict and disharmony and misperceptions and misery and suffering.
Maharaj advised that if one wants to try to change “the world,” then he or she
is quite welcome to try; yet he advised that, in the end, the only change that
has a chance of actually coming to fruition will happen if a seeker begins to
focus on the false self (or selves) and the false beliefs that support them.
Seeing and discarding those false WHO’s that have been assumed as identities -
that is, seeing what is believed to be real or true but is not - must precede
the ability to see What IS.
So, to the original question again, maybe it can be seen now why the consciousness will speak occasionally of “things relative” which are not Real but which can nevertheless generate among believers-in-the-not-Real so much chaos and instability and conflict and disharmony and misperceiving and misery and suffering during the relative existence;
seeing that is preparatory to seekers finally
understanding all that must be cast aside - including all ideas and all
concepts and all beliefs and all attitudes - in order to complete the entire “journey,”
to witness that which is real, and to abide as the subsequent no-ideas,
no-concepts, no-beliefs, no identity, non-dual Reality.
Finally, even among the realized, feelings happen and are witnessed as they
rise and fall. What does not happen is emotional intoxication, which can only
seem to be “experienced” and which can only be assumed to be real by an
ego-state in error.
When the voice of that speck of re-purified consciousness
called “Maharaj” became elevated, it appeared to the unknowing that “he” was
displaying some “point of view” or “strong opinion” as “he” tossed persons from
his loft.
But those who were being forced to leave were being forced to leave by a speck
of pure consciousness that only speaks to the willing and able and ready. Such
re-purified specks will function as the guardian of the rights of seekers who
are willing and able and ready. Why?
Because the natural function of the re-purified
consciousness is to remove all obstacles to clear seeing. Such
spiritually-arrogant persons as those cast from the loft are merely one more
blockage or obstacle that will hinder the seeing of truth and that will,
therefore, be cast out automatically and spontaneously by the pure
consciousness.
Thus it was that persons were required to vacate the loft if they came to
display their spiritual superiority in a way that was interfering with the
opportunity of those who had come to seek, sincerely, the understanding;
however, there was no “strong opinion” or “emotion” or “point
of view” involved because there was no “one” to have an opinion and because
there was no “experiencer” to experience any emotion.
Similarly, there is no WHO here and there is no “one” here that could “experience”
any “strong opinion” or emotion. There is a speck here - just as the case was
with that speck called “Maharaj” - that will on occasion provide evidence of
the Ultimate Sickness when it is heard or displayed in order for seekers to
begin to develop the ability to differentiate the true from the false for
themselves.
To that end, all are invited to the Peace, the Unicity, the Love, the Light.
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.
