F.: The determination of which pointers are offered or not offered to any particular seeker is governed by how far along the seven-step “path” the seeker has progressed. The Realized teacher can determine that “placement” in short order after the seeker shares a few views or asks a few questions. (For example, in an e-mail received this morning, only a few statements were required to reveal a fixation at “The Spiritual Giant” stage. The seeker has abandoned the “journey” at the third level, believing that he had arrived at some ultimate place on the “path” when, in fact, the halfway point has not even been reached. He is being influenced by a group that promotes "spirituality" as "the ultimate state" rather than recognizing it as one step on a longer "journey.")
For those who have taken only the initial steps, their pointers might include a suggestion that “the ego must be annihilated” or that “false identities must disappear.” If the “journey” is completed, though, it will be seen that "the ego" and “the philosopher” and the “user of philosophy” had no basis in fact at all.
Yesterday, one example was offered of the type of “seasonal distortion” that will soon be occurring again. Another example came during a session conducted last December with a group of men who were incarcerated. All were bemoaning the fact that they were being “prevented from spending the holidays with family.” After questioning each of the men for details, it was revealed that nearly 60% could not even recall specifically where they had been during the prior Christmas season.
Advaita invites seekers to see that there can be no accuracy at all to their “present understandings” because those “understandings” are based in “past” misunderstandings. Moreover, those “past” misunderstandings were based in misunderstandings that were formed even prior to those. The “human experience” is thus marked by (1) attachment to a series of misunderstandings, by (2) the notion that truth is anathema and by (3) exhibiting no real desire to be truly free and independent.
(If you want to challenge that assertion, review the historical evidence: the record shows that, not only do few seek truth but that [a] the masses hate those who have invited them to see that their beliefs are lies and that [b] the masses hate those who have invited them to seek the truth. As a few examples, consider the fates of Socrates, Christ, Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., et. al.)
Thus, everything which is now perceived by persons is, by default, completely erroneous, rooted in faulty memories from “the past”; furthermore, those current misperceptions will be the foundations that support “future” distortions.
Some Advaitins see that all of the “memories” that drive current misperceptions are nothing more than the residue of residue, just reflections of reflections, merely distortions of distortions, only the twistings of the twisted, mere deformities of that which has been previously-deformed, and nothing more than perversions of already-perverted perversions.
If the use of a philosophy of reason exposes a misperception as nothing more a mirage, then it will eventually make clear that the “user” of that philosophy is also a mirage…that even the seeker is not at all what it appears to be and not at all who it takes itself to be.
Thus, if the misconceptions of appearance and beingness and tale-telling are removed via use of a philosophy of reason and clarification, then the illusion of a “user” must eventually be removed as well. In that process, the philosophy provides a means by which reason-based understandings manifest in place of illogical beliefs and concepts; provides a means by which argument and reason can cleanse a speck of consciousness of its contaminants; offers a means by which the truth which cannot be stated can nevertheless be understood; and a means by which all that is involved with the functioning of the totality can be realized.
At that point when all belief in “The User” is cast aside, even philosophy is no longer of use. Since nothing has been killed off, because nothing thought to be actually existed as perceived, then what remains is the nothingness of no philosophy, no philosopher, no user of philosophy…nothing in fact except the original and eternal quantities of energy/matter that have not been added to nor subtracted from.
Only a few of the seekers who fear being “killed off” by the Advaita teachings will eventually stop the dualistic questioning of the rightness or the wrongness of the pointers offered and will start questioning the falsity of themselves. A few will understand that all the talk about THAT state is really talk about no state. A few will understand that thorns are used to remove thorns and that eventually, when all the thorns are removed, all of the thorns will be cast aside as well.
For a philosophy to direct seekers to Truth, it can proclaim neti-neti along the way, but in the end, it will claim no claim, including a claim that truth can be stated.
Therefore, “Advaita” is merely a label applied to a process whereby processes are processed for a time but whereby, eventually, processes are no longer processed because all of the illusory "processors"(which never really existed anyway) will no longer be thought to exist or thought to have ever existed.
If a philosophy really makes no claims, offers no truths that can be stated, exposes contradictions and dualities as lies, and offers no substitute concepts in the place of lies, then it can be seen as nothing more than a part of the play…one short song played during the purposeless and meaningless dance about nothing.
Then, freed of the mental and emotional bondage of body-mind-personality identification and freed of the ego's struggle to appear purposeful and meaningful, the dance can be enjoyed without attachment to perceived needs and distorted desires and without the misery that is generated by mental intoxication and emotional intoxication.
It will, if valid, allow seekers to be free of the bondage of the illusory anything and the illusory everything and to realize the freedom of the no-thingness. And that freedom extends to any need to keep using a philosophy…an impossibility since no user will exist.
So WHO is writing this posting? No one. Who is reading it? No one. The consciousness is at play, and if the consciousness has been re-purified, play time can be what some call “fun.” If the consciousness has not been re-purified, then play time will not manifest and what remains will appear to be quite burdensome.
For those who have taken only the initial steps, their pointers might include a suggestion that “the ego must be annihilated” or that “false identities must disappear.” If the “journey” is completed, though, it will be seen that "the ego" and “the philosopher” and the “user of philosophy” had no basis in fact at all.
Yesterday, one example was offered of the type of “seasonal distortion” that will soon be occurring again. Another example came during a session conducted last December with a group of men who were incarcerated. All were bemoaning the fact that they were being “prevented from spending the holidays with family.” After questioning each of the men for details, it was revealed that nearly 60% could not even recall specifically where they had been during the prior Christmas season.
Advaita invites seekers to see that there can be no accuracy at all to their “present understandings” because those “understandings” are based in “past” misunderstandings. Moreover, those “past” misunderstandings were based in misunderstandings that were formed even prior to those. The “human experience” is thus marked by (1) attachment to a series of misunderstandings, by (2) the notion that truth is anathema and by (3) exhibiting no real desire to be truly free and independent.
(If you want to challenge that assertion, review the historical evidence: the record shows that, not only do few seek truth but that [a] the masses hate those who have invited them to see that their beliefs are lies and that [b] the masses hate those who have invited them to seek the truth. As a few examples, consider the fates of Socrates, Christ, Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., et. al.)
Thus, everything which is now perceived by persons is, by default, completely erroneous, rooted in faulty memories from “the past”; furthermore, those current misperceptions will be the foundations that support “future” distortions.
Some Advaitins see that all of the “memories” that drive current misperceptions are nothing more than the residue of residue, just reflections of reflections, merely distortions of distortions, only the twistings of the twisted, mere deformities of that which has been previously-deformed, and nothing more than perversions of already-perverted perversions.
If the use of a philosophy of reason exposes a misperception as nothing more a mirage, then it will eventually make clear that the “user” of that philosophy is also a mirage…that even the seeker is not at all what it appears to be and not at all who it takes itself to be.
Thus, if the misconceptions of appearance and beingness and tale-telling are removed via use of a philosophy of reason and clarification, then the illusion of a “user” must eventually be removed as well. In that process, the philosophy provides a means by which reason-based understandings manifest in place of illogical beliefs and concepts; provides a means by which argument and reason can cleanse a speck of consciousness of its contaminants; offers a means by which the truth which cannot be stated can nevertheless be understood; and a means by which all that is involved with the functioning of the totality can be realized.
At that point when all belief in “The User” is cast aside, even philosophy is no longer of use. Since nothing has been killed off, because nothing thought to be actually existed as perceived, then what remains is the nothingness of no philosophy, no philosopher, no user of philosophy…nothing in fact except the original and eternal quantities of energy/matter that have not been added to nor subtracted from.
Only a few of the seekers who fear being “killed off” by the Advaita teachings will eventually stop the dualistic questioning of the rightness or the wrongness of the pointers offered and will start questioning the falsity of themselves. A few will understand that all the talk about THAT state is really talk about no state. A few will understand that thorns are used to remove thorns and that eventually, when all the thorns are removed, all of the thorns will be cast aside as well.
For a philosophy to direct seekers to Truth, it can proclaim neti-neti along the way, but in the end, it will claim no claim, including a claim that truth can be stated.
Therefore, “Advaita” is merely a label applied to a process whereby processes are processed for a time but whereby, eventually, processes are no longer processed because all of the illusory "processors"(which never really existed anyway) will no longer be thought to exist or thought to have ever existed.
If a philosophy really makes no claims, offers no truths that can be stated, exposes contradictions and dualities as lies, and offers no substitute concepts in the place of lies, then it can be seen as nothing more than a part of the play…one short song played during the purposeless and meaningless dance about nothing.
Then, freed of the mental and emotional bondage of body-mind-personality identification and freed of the ego's struggle to appear purposeful and meaningful, the dance can be enjoyed without attachment to perceived needs and distorted desires and without the misery that is generated by mental intoxication and emotional intoxication.
It will, if valid, allow seekers to be free of the bondage of the illusory anything and the illusory everything and to realize the freedom of the no-thingness. And that freedom extends to any need to keep using a philosophy…an impossibility since no user will exist.
So WHO is writing this posting? No one. Who is reading it? No one. The consciousness is at play, and if the consciousness has been re-purified, play time can be what some call “fun.” If the consciousness has not been re-purified, then play time will not manifest and what remains will appear to be quite burdensome.
Ultimately, though, Advaita annihilates nothing because all that persons take to be real is not the Real...and never has been. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
READINGS RELATED TO TODAY’S POSTING:
WORKING ON LEARNING TO QUESTION IT ALL AND BEING FREE OF THE FALSE (BUT HONORED) CONCEPTS AND BELIEFS OF YOUR CULTURE?
READINGS RELATED TO TODAY’S POSTING:
WORKING ON LEARNING TO QUESTION IT ALL AND BEING FREE OF THE FALSE (BUT HONORED) CONCEPTS AND BELIEFS OF YOUR CULTURE?
WORKING ON BEING FREE OF BODY AND MIND IDENTIFICATION?
WORKING ON BEING FREE OF MIND AND PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION?
and
WORKING ON “THE FINAL PIECE” AND PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER?
and
