YOUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, Part Four

F.: Yesterday, the pointer was offered that freedom and independence cannot happen (1) when persons have not been freed of that frustrated child within that is controlling the adult, especially after it becomes the brat within; (2) when persons have not been freed of the accumulation of lies they believe, an accumulation also known as “the mind”; and (3) when every word coming from their mouths is being driven by a personality formed during childhood and that is giving voice to one or more false personas.

The source of the frustrated child/brat within—that is, the residual effects of unresolved trauma that later combine with arrogance—was discussed yesterday. Today, the distortions of the “mind” and the illusions of personality will be discussed.

The “mind” supports a belief that false identities and images and personas are real. That “mind” further contributes to a lack of freedom and independence, therefore, since it generates an attachment to personality and traps people in their false personas. What is an example of the fact that every word coming from the mouths of the non-Realized is being driven by a personality (which was formed during childhood) and is being spoken by some persona? Consider:

Recently, a guest on a television show was discussing the effects of 47 million people in the U.S. not having any medical coverage. A man telephoned the show to offer his opinion, and his comments serve as a perfect example of the way that persons function exactly like a ventriloquist’s dummy. In the case of a dummy, an unseen force behind it causes the mouth to move, and the appearance is that the dummy is speaking. In fact, the voice is really coming from somewhere else. In the case of the non-Realized, it is personality/personas that are really doing the talking. The words only appear to be coming out of the mouth of the dummy, which is also the case with the mouth of the non-Realized whose bodies house the “mind” which convinces personas/false identities that they are real.

In the example of the TV show caller, he bragged that he and his wife—both sixty years old—have never had health insurance but “have done just fine.” His “mind” then worked in tandem with his personas to generate the thought that, instead of discussing the inefficiencies in the health care system, the guest on the show “needs to stop talking about the negative things in the U.S. and put out positive messages about America” because “America is the greatest country on earth.” And the caller really thought that those were ideas that he came up with and that he was sharing.

To the contrary, his personas were speaking via the mouth of the space that he takes himself to be. In enneagram terms, he is trapped in the Type Six personality and has disintegrated to the worst of the Type Three. Sixes are blindly and proudly and unquestioningly loyal to their country and their leaders, always exhibiting that “my country…right or wrong” mindset. Sixes expect others to guarantee their security (often receiving their health care from charitable hospitals and from doctors who are being paid with money from others). Under stress or driven by arrogance, those types also exhibit Type Three traits: image is everything and “my country is better than every other country on the planet” (and therefore, by egotistical extension, “I am better than the people in every other country on the planet”).

So a person places a phone call to a show, unconsciously gives voice to his Muitiple Personality Disorder, and then believes that he has expressed some profound opinion. Consider how unfounded is the arrogance being revealed…arrogance expressed by one trapped in the persona of “The Proud American.” Here is an adult male whose greatest claim to fame is the fact that sixty years ago, a particular birth canal at a particular time of delivery was located within the borders of a particular geographic region.

That is what it looks like when “every word coming from the mouth of the non-Realized is being driven by a personality formed during childhood and is being spoken by one or more personas." In addition to those personas already listed, other ego-states that were revealed include, “The Braggart,” “The Childish, Immature One,” “The Brat,” “The Defender of His Country Who Has Experienced a Personal Affront,” and “The Blind Loyalist” who is angry that the guest is discussing a crisis in “his country.”

The caller really wants to be able to control a guest (and any others who point out problems in "his country"), wants to limit what another can say and do, and wants the guest to brag about how wonderful his nation is and only discuss things that are not problems. What a useless exercise in building egotism and generating arrogance that would be (and soon will be again next week in the caller's nation). Meanwhile, the illusions of freedom and independence will be reinforced by those who are bound and dependent.

Note how his false identities result in a sense of separation and in a dualistic sense of being “better than.” Notice how the warped “mind” and the false personas generate both false pride and complete arrogance in regards to his citizenship (which he now holds in such high esteem, as if he had a thing to do with it). Notice how childhood programming that included daily pledges of allegiance to a flag and to a country now drive an adult-age male. Notice how that programming now drives him to give value to fabricating and maintaining a "good" image for his country while giving no value at all to having health insurance for himself and his spouse.

Such nonsense is common among the non-Realized who give significance to such things as geographic locations and affiliations and memberships and other concepts that sustain false identities and that support an irrational thought-life that is completely disassociated from reality. So it is when personas are the ventriloquists behind the dummies. Are you seeing that any words spoken by a false persona must also be…false? Every word that is inspired by an ego-state is either an ego-based lie or an ego-generated distortion.

What about you? Are you feeling great pride (or smugness or conceit or arrogance) because a certificate says that you were born within a certain geographic region? Do you see the sense of separation that generates? Do you see the many personas that such unfounded pride will generate? Do you see how adoption of those personas will also generate fears and desires? Are you seeing how insane-like it is when the non-Realized define themselves in terms of the arbitrary labels that have been dreamed up by arrogant and egotistical persons who are separated from awareness of Self as a result of not having a clue about Who or What They Truly Are?

Are you seeing how all of the fighting between individuals and among nations are a result of persons having accepted false identities around geographic regions and/or national boundaries and/or religious and political affiliations? Such is the source of the nonsense of the relative existence, but you can be free of all that. You can declare your independence from an inner child, from the corrupted consciousness that produced a “mind,” and from the personas that generate all sense of separation and conflict and disharmony and chaos. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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RELATIVE RESULTS OF NOT-REALIZING: Dependency, Co-Dependency, Multiple Personality Disorder, & Detachment from Reality, Part Two

[First, a note to “Ana” who wrote that she “hates this life and wants to die.” You did not provide a full e-mail address, so a response will be posted here. If the e-mail is legitimate and if you are willing to discuss your comments in more detail, please send contact information. A private response will be provided.]

From a site visitor: I have tested as a type four personality with a strong helper component. I bought your book LIBERATION to understand myself even better, but instead you attacked me and those like me who choose to try to help people and make the world a better place. What is your problem with people helping people? What do you think is wrong with helping?

F.: Since you are defending the role of “The Helper” which you have disintegrated into, it is appropriate to discuss the dependency and co-dependency that always result from assuming roles. Of course, all persona-assumption generates co-dependency: “The Husband” cannot exist without “The Wife”; “The Helper” cannot exist without “The Needy” or “The Infirmed”; “The Giver” cannot exist without “The Taker.” Research by Anne Wilson Schaef and Dr. Edward L. Zuckerman reveal some of the other roles that persons assume and that generate co-dependency and dependency:

“The Rescuer” (who often covers up for and enables); “The Caretaker” (who minimizes relative existence consequences and who supports dependency in others); “The Joiner” (who enables dependent types to rationalize and perpetuate their dependency); “The Hero” (who plays the part of protecting family or individual images and who “sacrifices”); “The Adjuster” (who avoids identifying and addressing problems and hides the truth); “The Family Man” or “The Family Woman” (who values loyalty over truth, who can encourage avoidance of feelings, who supports distortion and denial, and who encourages the superficial).

The researchers also offer some of the typical characteristics of co-dependents (which make a relative-existence case for Full Realization which can end both dependency and co-dependency):

Co-dependents lack boundaries, believe they cannot survive without a particular person, are plagued by fears (especially a fear of abandonment), and have the distorted view that relative existence relationships can be “perfect.” They often become egotistical, thinking they are indispensable, and they often adopt an additional persona called “The Martyr.” Though they seemingly reach outward to “help,” they really become self-centered, personalizing all events, assuming responsibility for the behavior of other persons, and working to attain love (which they sense they have never received to the degree desired).

They eventually attempt to control everything and everyone and believe that with more effort they can “fix” individuals or families. Though often emotionally-intoxicated, they become unaware of feelings and become dishonest as they try to manage images and distort truth.

They can "try to change" in order to please others, can feel responsible for meeting other people's needs at the expense of their own, and can become driven by compulsions. Eventually they develop anxiety and are prone to become enmeshed in relationships with those exhibiting personality disorders and/or dependencies and/or impulsive conduct.

Several of the following will usually manifest in dependent and/or co-dependent types: depression; hypervigilance; compulsions; anxiety; substance abuse; recurring instances of abuse at the hands of others; stress-related medical illnesses; and a propensity to remain in a primary relationship with an active user or abuser. They can become unassertive and submissive (though exploding into rage on occasion); they can become over-sensitive to others' difficulties; and they are very adept at “putting up a front.”

Note, also, that the assumption of personality never happens in a "one persona" fashion. Once “The Husband” is assumed, “The Parent,” “The Provider,” “The Protector,” “The Homeowner,” “The Finance Man” or any number of other roles are also assumed. That feature of role-assumption guarantees that the Multiple Personality Disorder will always manifest among the non-Realized, along with the detachment from reality that role-playing guarantees.

So, to revisit your question, “What do you think is wrong with helping?” you should see that the pointers here do not discourage any happenings from happening: husbanding can happen, teaching can happen, helping can happen, etc. Among the Realized, those happenings can also not happen, and neither misery nor suffering nor emotional intoxication accompany those occasions. The point is, those happenings can happen without accepting a false identity as a true identity.

The relative existence problems that arise for persons (for the non-Realized) have nothing to do with whether helping (or anything else) happens or not. They have to do with the traits and behaviors described above that are generated by the assumption of roles and by the dependencies and the co-dependencies that always follow. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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RELATIVE RESULTS OF NOT-REALIZING: Dependency, Co-Dependency, Multiple Personality Disorder, & Detachment from Reality (Belief in False Identities)

From a site visitor: I have tested as a type four personality with a strong helper component. I bought your book LIBERATION to understand myself even better, but instead you attacked me and those like me who choose to try to help people and make the world a better place. What is your problem with people helping people? What do you think is wrong with helping?

F.: During satsanga, it is often asked after offering a pointer, “Now, what did you hear?” That component was added after years of hearing at the end of sessions, “I really agreed with you when you said…,” followed by something that was not said at all. Clarification is often required, and never any more than in your case, seemingly. So the concise version is this:

1. If you are a type four, there is no “strong helper component.” There is, instead, an indication that you have disintegrated from anything that persons might call “the assets of a Four” into what persons might call “the liabilities of a Two.” For a Four to behave as a Two shows evidence of the presence of that which causes disintegration: either high stress or high piety accompanied by spiritual arrogance. Research shows that one or both of those always precede disintegration of the psyche.

2. It is not “yourself” that you need to “understand better.” The invitation is to see that you are not yourself—that you are not what you take yourself to be—and then to find That Which You Truly Are. The synopsis of the book LIBERATION should have made clear that the intent of the work is less to help you understand personality and more to free you of the effects of personality.

3. How many personalities do you think are beneficial? To abide as even one persona is troublesome enough—relatively speaking—but to be trapped in multiple personalities is far more troublesome...relatively speaking.

4. The fact that "you" believe that there is a "you" who was attacked and that there is a “me” doing the attacking shows that you have much more to understand in regards to the Advaita Teachings.

5. You are not “choosing” to do anything when you are driven to behave as a type you are not (in this case, a type two helper).

6. There is no world, so there certainly is not any possibility of your making it better. Organized religions with a history of trillions of members and trillions of trillions of dollars have claimed that to be their goal, but after thousands of years in which to accomplish their goal, they haven’t changed anything for "the better." But your ego is telling you that the world is real, that it is "bad," and that you are going to play a key role in making it "good." So it is, when the warping of the consciousness results in belief in such dualities.

7. The “problem with helping people” is your belief that you know what people need and can provide it. An educated man who was living on the streets of Houston explained that his drug use deprived him of the motivation to find employment, to work, to earn a way to pay for his shelter and food, and to become independent—not just from drugs but from his Dependent Personality Disorder that drove him to depend on others to meet his needs. He spoke of the thousands of dollars collected during his years on the street, money that was given by "well-meaning" persons who thought they were helping him by dropping money into his cup. He explained that what they thought was their “helping” was really their “harming” since it allowed him to continue to avoid employment and to continue his drug use.

The intent is not to open a discussion of societal ills but to offer one specific example where persons who had adopted the role of “helper” did not have a clue about what that particular individual “needed” to shift him beyond his drug dependency and his dependency on “helpers.”

8. As for "What do you think is wrong with helping?" Nothing. If so-called “helping” happens, it happens. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t. The "problem," relatively speaking, is when persons are trapped in personality, when they disintegrate into another personality type, when they reinforce dependency, when they reinforce co-dependency, when they reinforce Multiple Personality Disorder, when they encourage the assumption of—and belief in—false identifies, and when they encourage persons to detach from reality.

As an example, many among the current generation of dependent and co-dependent young adults now live with mom and/or dad. Those parents believe that they are “helping” their children by encouraging something so unnatural. It has been pointed out that if one is truly Realized, he lives in the style of the deer in many ways. The doe feeds the fawn for a short time. The buck is there to protect, if need be. Soon, however, the fawn must meet its own needs for food and shelter. That is natural, and nisarga yoga is the method that guides persons beyond body-mind-personality identification, beyond dependency and co-dependency, and to a means of living a natural, AS IF existence.

Grown deer does not depend on a “mother” or “father” to provide food. They find their own food or they starve. They do not wait for a “father” or “mother” to find shelter or to build a bed of straw for sleep. The Realized live in a natural fashion in all ways. To live in a supernatural fashion (as “The Religious One” or “The Spiritual Giant”) is most unnatural. Similarly, it is unnatural to live with any dependency or to assume any identity or to seek out helpers who are willing to care for an adult as if he/she were a child. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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“MIND” and MEMORIES: When Nature’s “Assets” Become Warped into “Liabilities,” Part Seventeen

[Continued from yesterday]

F.: Personality Type Eights can eventually exhibit the Anti-Social Personality Disorder (ASPD) when they become stressed, overly-pious, highly-spiritual, or role-players, along with a God Complex Disorder.

See earlier entries for information on all except the ASPD. Those with the ASPD have little or no regard for the rights of others, the feelings of others, or for any of society’s norms and rules and laws. That “me vs. them” mentality fosters duality. ASPD’s are typically quite impulsive, have limited feelings and little empathy, and have little regard for the consequences of their actions. They are especially deceitful and thus quite effective at conning people. They are irritable and aggressive and irresponsible while being able to rationalize and justify all of their conduct.

Personality Type Nines can eventually exhibit the DID Personality Disorder and the Dependent Personality Disorder and the Schizoid Personality Disorder along with a God Complex Personality Disorder when they become stressed, overly-pious, or identified with a spiritualized ego or any other role.

All of the disorders experienced among Nines have been discussed above except for DID. DID (or Multiple Personality Disorder) has been discussed thoroughly in earlier postings that can be reviewed: search January 24, 2007 as well as February 11, 17, 18, 19, 2007.

So, the Advaitin understands that personality identification comes from a twisted and warped “mind” and that almost all relative existence suffering and misery stem from personality. As reported by the APA, the defects that result from personality have nothing to do with mental illness. Trained professionals are required to assist the 1%-5% with clinical mental illnesses. A Realized teacher could guide the remaining 95%-99% to freedom from personality disorders if that 95%-99% recognized that they were suffering from such disorders and truly wanted to be totally free of the effects. Yet few will ever understand their disorders, and fewer still will be willing to discard all that must be discarded in order to be truly free and joyous.

The modern understanding of personality disorders discussed above support the ancient pointers that have been offered by Advaitin teachers for centuries as they have recommended detaching from personality identification and then Realizing fully. Review the following summary of the relative existence results of personality identification and the subsequent personality disorders:

Obsessing; playing god; perfectionism; judging; criticizing; financial problems; relationship problems; arrogance; depression; instability; emotional intoxication; distorted self-images; hysteria; an exaggerated sense of self-importance; a sense of superiority; grandiosity; a sense of entitlement; using others; lacking empathy; envy; blind faith; childish behavior among adults; and egotism.

Next, an understanding of the personality types—and the obstacles to Realization that are generated by each personality—can reveal why so few will ever Realize. 50% of the earth’s populations are Type Sixes. When Sixes are programmed with dogma, as nearly 99% on the planet are, they will remain loyal to those beliefs, unquestioningly, and will accept what they have been told. Why? Being fear-based, they become trapped by their programmers’ threat: “If you do not have faith in what we say or if you doubt any part of it at all, you will be punished and you will suffer now and forevermore.” Therefore, the tally of those who will never be enlightened starts with that 50% who most likely will never give up their beliefs in dogma and nonsense. In an essay on his website, Mark McCloskey had this to say about “faith”:

Faith is a crutch that humans have used for millennia as a way to explain the unexplainable….” (On August 9, 2006 on this site, a similar reference was made to religious leaders who have historically dreamed up “concepts and ideas and teachings and beliefs that were used to convey false and supernatural explanations for events that were totally natural happenings.” Such is the essence of childish, magical thinking. Only if you mistakenly believe that an imagined “world” is real will you also be required to mistakenly believe that an imagined god—who was actually “created” by man in man’s image—is real.)

McCloskey continues, “If you stay with a crutch when you do not need it, you can become lame by reason of the crutch itself. The crutch must be abandoned, thrown away and then you can walk freely again….” He says, “Faith or any belief system as a whole is the final hurdle to overcome in the human path towards freedom and joy. Let me say it on a very personal level. Until you, as a human being, are able to completely abandon what you believe, have been told or taught what to believe or believe in, you will never experience this moment of reality as it is. You will never be fully free. You will be conditioned to experience present reality through a veil of the past…. This is not a joke, not any agnostic or atheistic principle. I am trying to point you to your own total human freedom to be able to live in this world joyfully….”

Sixes are especially prone to use the crutch that Mark speaks of, though all nine types can be programmed very easily. They will blindly and unquestioningly accept whatever they are told by anyone whom they take to be a “religious, spiritual, or political leader.” Relatedly, most Type Threes will live as a Six at times, exhibiting the Six’s blind loyalty to belief systems while being dedicated to image-building. By sheer numbers, most on the planet are living under the influence of a Three-Six personality. Threes are more interested in creating false images and maintaining those false images, actually believing that their images are real. With the preponderance of the Three-Six in the earth’s population, the majority on the planet will live like conditioned children, remaining loyal to whatever they were taught (Type Six) and always fighting to maintain image and always rejecting any invitation to get in touch with reality (Type Three).

Other types also face obstacles to enlightenment: Type Eights are prone to attach to supernatual beliefs since they think that such beliefs are another means to accumulating power (and thus control); therefore, they are not likely to abandon magical thinking and then Realize. Nines attach to the images that they use to manipulate others to take care of them. Two’s create a loving image in order to obtain what they think they lack and will attach to that image. Like Three’s, they are always “on stage.” Sevens have little desire to face reality and prefer to escape instead. Is it becoming clear why personality is a major hindrance to Realization?

Of all of the nine basic personality types, only Fours are geared toward the search for authenticity, toward attainment of a sense of unity, and toward the quest to discover the True Self, but Fours only account for about 1% of the earth’s population. As for Realizing fully, their dilemma lies in the fact that they are less prone to logic and more prone to seeing the dualities in the relative existence and seeking the “beautiful,” the “moral,” the “romantic,” or the “harmonious.”

So, the conundrum should now be obvious: the “mind” and personality must be abandoned to Realize, but persons value the “mind” and identify with personality; thus, both continue to be the great obstacles to Realization. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [Tomorrow: The Conclusion] For additional information about the book which these extracts are being drawn from (There's No Such Thing As "Peace of Mind") click

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COMING NEXT: A RIVER THAT FLOWS INTO THE OCEAN OF REALITY

WHY ABNORMALITIES ARE NOW THE PLANET’S NORMALITIES, Part Three, Conclusion

[Continued from yesterday]

FROM A SITE VISITOR: I’ve been reading your answers to angie and I’ve reread everything you wrote about MPD/DID. A decade ago, a doctor diagnosed me with MPD.. After years of therapy he kept telling me that I had to keep coming bacvk to him. I thought I was a total defect and might as well kill myself. Finally---after years of my own research and studying the enneagram and also what A.V. teachers have to say about personality---I‘m getting it. No wonder insanity is so widespread! I don’t feel so alone anymore in this struggle. I’m not the only oddball. What hit home was when you showed how so many areas---like finances and relations etc---are affected by each personality I assume. No wonder my mind never stopped! So it starts out causing some trouble and then just gets worse and worse, and this is almost universal, right?. Thanx Beverly

F.: Then you’re told that you are “The Student.” The elections at school show that classmates consider you “The Best Looking”…or not. You become more body conscious. More roles appear, more agendas appear, and more impact in all those areas begins to manifest. Later “The Friend” and “The Girlfriend” are assumed as roles. Later, “The Graduate,” “The Employee,” “The Fiancée,” “The Wife,” “The Mother,” “The Working Mom,” “The Soccer Mom,” or other roles are assumed. Even later, in some case “The Alcoholic” is assumed or “The Divorcee” comes along with “The Single Mom” and “The Failure” and “The Bad Daughter.” A search begins and "The Religious One" or "The Spiritual Giant" roles are played. Now, add in all of the areas where each of those is affected.

The more components that are added to the personality, the more fears and desires are added. Eventually, so many will be added that persons say, “I don’t even know who I am anymore.” Actually, they never did, and if they ever will, it will only happen via Full Realization. Also, notice how each adopted ego-state becomes another obstacle to being consistently happy or content and why, ultimately, being happy becomes an impossibility:

If married, “Husband” might behave in a way which results in “Wife” thinking she’s okay in terms of finances, relations, sex, self-esteem, and security. But at the same time, some teacher has not shown due respect to “Super Mother’s” child, so that role triggers a sense of feeling upset. After a conference in which the contrite teacher restores “Super Mom’s” peace, all seems “good.” “Wife” is fine, “Mother” is fine; “Homeowner” is fine; “Lover” is fine. Then, “Husband” is caught in an affair, and several ego-states feel threatened. Are you beginning to see the way in which each newly-assumed ego-state makes consistent happiness an impossibility?

Two ego-states might think they're happy, but three others become offended. Get two of those three ego-states satisfied along with the first two, and then only one ego-state is unhappy. Get the fears of that one assuaged or its desires met, and then six ego-states seem happy but then something happens that threatens three others. Are you seeing how it eventually happens that so many “stars” have to be “aligned” in proper order for happiness to happen that it becomes an impossibility?

Circumstances just never unfold in a way that allows for all of the areas of all of those false identities to feel that all of their needs are being met and that all of their desires are being fulfilled at the same time. As the number of false roles being played increase, the chances for misery increase not arithmetically but geometrically. At the same time, the sleepwalkers who are totally unaware can have their entire relative existence falling down around them but will claim, "No problems here, floyd...everything is fine, so you really don't have a clue what you're talking about."

Are you seeing that it is belief in multiplicity that sets the stage for so many opportunities to feel threatened, angry, hurt, interfered with, unfulfilled, unhappy, and/or miserable? What is the answer? Realization. Knowing the unicity preempts any false belief in multiplicities. If you Realize that you are not all those things--all those personas--then you might find THAT Which You Are. And THAT is one thing only which is not personal, which has no attributes, and which, therefore, cannot be impacted financially, relationally, sexually, or in any other relative fashion.

Then, whatever happens…happens. No do-er is assumed to be present. No false identities are taken as real. No images are assumed to be authentic, so only that which is witnessed by the “Authentic Self” is given any credibility. Believing the nonsense of parents and teachers and preachers or priests or gurus or medicine men and politicians and all of the other authority figures in various cultures led to the nonsense of believing in your roles and false identities. Then, the nonsense generated by all of those phantoms led to the nonsense of accepting personas as identities. Finally, the nonsense of accepting those roles as defining who you are led to all of the nonsense that followed.

Realized, you will not accept the nonsense of your culture and its authority figures. You will be free of their nonsense and the nonsense they passed onto you as their legacy. And only freed of nonsense can you be free, Fully Realized, and consistently stable for the remainder of the manifestation. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

WHY ABNORMALITIES ARE NOW THE PLANET’S NORMALITIES, Part One

FROM A SITE VISITOR: I’ve been reading your answers to angie and I’ve reread everything you wrote about MPD/DID. A decade ago, a doctor diagnosed me with MPD.. After years of therapy he kept telling me that I had to keep coming bacvk to him. I thought I was a total defect and might as well kill myself. Finally---after years of my own research and studying the enneagram and also what A.V. teachers have to say about personality---I‘m getting it. No wonder insanity is so widespread! I don’t feel so alone anymore in this struggle. I’m not the only oddball. What hit home was when you showed how so many areas---like finances and relations etc---are affected by each personality I assume. No wonder my mind never stopped! So it starts out causing some trouble and then just gets worse and worse, and this is almost universal, right?. Thanx Beverly

F.: Hello Beverly. Thx for writing. Indeed, the curse of personality is universal, you are not alone in suffering the effects of MPD, and you are not an oddball. Billions of insane persons roam the planet. In fact, much of what you have taken to be your oddballism might be explained by chemistry and certainly by some of the Advaita teachings. And yes, the problem begins when duality is taught and when the first persona is assigned.

In the early going, you were not told that you are conscious-energy manifested in a set of elements with a nervous system. Obviously, those who took the label of “parents” did not have The Understanding, so they labeled you a “girl.” Then, they introduced you to the distortions of their dualistic minds and told you at times that you were a “Good Girl” but at other times that you were a “Bad Girl.” Instantly, that introduced you to the chaos and instability of fluctuations between feeling happy at times and feeling unhappy at other times, depending on whether the “good” or the “bad” descriptor was assigned to your adopted label.

That drive to have persons apply the "good" descriptor to every assumed identity will be carried into adulthood and will never be lost unless Realization happens. The next duality of reward/punishment came forth: if you were the “Good Girl,” you got a reward (or at least avoided punishment for the time being); if you were a “Bad Girl,” you may have been punished. Later, you would see that even your own parents did not always agree as to exactly what should be considered “good” and what should be considered “bad.” Confusion set in and joined the fear and chaos and anxiety which traps children by the age of two at the latest.

The confusion became worse when you saw that the next door neighbor said that his son was “bad” when he did the same things that earned you the “good” label. Soon, you would be exposed to the dualities being taught by teachers who each had a different set of criteria that had to be met for you to be considered “good.” One instructor might laugh at your in-class joke and the next might send you to the office for punishment for the same “offense.” The inconsistencies seemed maddening at times, and they were. Ignorant adults drive children insane with all of the adults’ dualistic nonsense. By the time you reached high school, the rules of the game were reversed again, and if you became interested in boys, many of them sent a contradictory message of duality: the “Bad Girls” are the “Good Girls” to have as “girlfriends.” Confusion and insanity grew.

To control you, the reward/punishment duality in “this life” was likely extended to the eternal reward/punishment duality in an afterlife. You got away with being “bad” at home and did not get caught? You later got away with being “bad” at school and did not get caught? You took a cookie from a store and did not pay but did not get caught? There was still no peace around any of those instances because you were taught that there’s a Man-God watching you on some kind of celestial CCTV and you were going to get punished even if a parent, teacher, or store clerk did not see what you did and did not punish you at the time. And if you did not do certain specific things regarding those “sins” in a “holy” place with a “holy” man, then your punishment after death would be eternal. So you carry the fear and the guilt with you, and the mental-emotional load accumulates. As you have desires, more and more guilt piles on, and all of that is based in the illusions and the distortions and the magical, supernatural, dualistic beliefs that dominate the “minds” of persons on the planet.

Now, all of that is the case with a child raised in what is taken to be “normal” circumstances. What is the result when so many children are exposed to the extreme insanity that adult egomaniacs generate in the relative existence: poverty; ignorance; malnutrition; lack of health care; drugs; murder; physical, mental and emotional abuse; wars, ad infinitum. The oddity would be if anyone reached the age of twenty-one on this planet and was not frustrated, confused, either unhappy or walking about in a dream state, and plagued with MPD. Are you seeing that you are not an oddball at all? Are you seeing that “The Oddball” was just another label assigned or accepted in lieu of understanding how MPD/DID comes about, in lieu of understanding Who/What You Truly Are, and in lieu of understanding why insanity is now the “norm” on planet earth? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

YOU CANNOT STOP THE “MIND,” SO YOU MUST ELIMINATE IT COMPLETELY, Part One

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Hi Floyd, Angie here. I read your blogs from time to time and although I have some difficulty understanding the concepts you speak of, I am definitely interested in some of the ideas. The thing is, I have been thinking about the self/Self for a while now and asking a lot of questions. For the last few days, I have had some images running through my mind. The first includes the words \"look\" and \"see\", and the second is only a question...\"What do I ask now?\" I usually find that the answers come, but I\'ve walked into the hallway of a building full of closed doors. I think sometimes I lose my mind in the best way, but now...she\'s back in gear. Any insights? THank you for taking the time to read this. Angie

F.: Hello, Angie. Thx for visiting and for writing. First, if you “have some difficulty understanding the concepts” on the site, feel free to submit requests for clarification about any specific pointers that you need explained in more detail.

Next, if you’re giving consideration to the self/Self, and if you can expand (a) “asking a lot of questions” into (b) questioning it all, then you will have set the stage for the “journey” to Full Realization. Complete that seven-step "journey" and you will be freed from being jerked around by the influence of a "geared up mind" and by the nonsense in your culture that was accepted as truth thousands of years ago by ignorant people and that the masses are still blindly accepting as truth today. You cannot be truly free until you reject all externals that would control you. And what have they concocted to use as an instrument to control you? A “mind.” You can be freer than you’ve ever imagined if you can be freed from the machinations of that “geared up” mind that you mentioned.

So, about that “mind” that seems to be "lost at times" but then returns in high "gear" and starts generating thoughts that are likely too numerous to number. Ask first, “Why is that mind so valued by most?” It most certainly does not deserve to be valued, and the reason can be found by answering this question: “If the most primary of all thoughts generated by the 'mind' is inaccurate, how accurate could the rest of the thousands of thoughts per day be?”

And how is the most primary of all thoughts inaccurate? The primary thought deals with what you think you are, and since you are not what you think you are, how accurate can any of the other thoughts be which are generated by that “mind”?

The invitation is to understand how the body-mind-personality functions in order to understand how they prevent sustained happiness and stability. It is the body which provides the nervous system that is required for the consciousness to manifest. Once manifested, the body automatically performs its functions under the auspices of the brain. However, adult persons will soon begin to corrupt the newly-manifested consciousness with lies, programming, conditioning, and enculturation.

As the lies, programming, conditioning, and effects of enculturation are stored in memory, a “mind” begins to form and its influence begins to supersede that of the brain. For example: an adult might use alcohol in excess to try to cope with stress being generated by the machinations of the “mind.” The next morning, that person might feel awful and the brain might inspire him to say, "I'll never do that again"; however, later that evening—after the “mind” has been “back in gear,” as you say—the person might use alcohol in excess again, might have the same miserable result, but will continue in that cycle. The “mind” is superseding the brain in determining behavior.

So the body allows for the manifestation of the conscious-energy, the culture bastardizes that consciousness, and then the “mind” and personality become the forces that work in tandem to determine what persons do and how they feel. Here’s how that works: suppose the culture convinces a woman that she must marry in order to be happy. After she is pronounced “wife,” her “mind” convinces her that she is "different." Another seed of duality has been planted. She assumes a persona, a false role, and allows that to define her. As soon as a role (an ego-state) is assumed as an identity, ego-defense mechanisms are triggered and immediately elevate that persona’s status in her “mind.”

So the “mind” takes the personality to be real and the ego elevates that personality to super status. “Wife” almost instantaneously is elevated to “Super Wife.” And what must “Super Wife” have to exist and be happy? A “Super Husband.” Since both are illusions, “husband” will never be "super" consistently. Very soon, the honeymoon is over as “Super Wife” is disappointed time and again, not getting the attention deserved, the degree of respect deserved, or the reinforcement of her “Super” status which she wants all to recognize.

When “Husband” is "super" and meets those perceived needs or desires, wife is happy; when he fails, she is unhappy. Co-dependency at that point is in full bloom. Her mood is then determined by another person. She has empowered another person to determine how she feels, and both parties that are playing that game are nothing more than personas. The stage for co-dependency was set when the roles were assumed. The stage for chaos was also set because desires are met sometimes and not met at other times. The same happens with the male. “Super Husband” must have “Super Wife” to exist. If the super status level of his ego-state is not matched, he will be miserable.

And all unhappiness or depression or misery is generated from the interplay of the “mind” that “gears up” and that generates thoughts about how assumed personas deserve to be treated. Those thoughts convince persons to believe that their culturally-assigned roles/personas/multiple personalities are actual identifiers, so persons will defend themselves--the false self--to the end. That is how the “mind”/personality delusions work to foster belief in duality, and duality—in turn—functions like a cancer that produces more and more personas and more and more of the chaotic fluctuations between being happy and being unhappy. Eventually, the unhappiness dominates the entire relative existence because the “mind” cannot be stopped. So, what is the alternative? Realization, marked by the end of the mind-personality and the beginning of peaceful, AS IF living. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES VALIDATE ADVAITA AND CONFIRM WIDESPREAD INSANITY, Part One

F.: Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj said that science would one day advance to the point that it would prove the validity of the Advaita philosophy. [See http://floydhenderson.com/article2.htm ] Advances in the fields of botany, physics, astrophysics, astronomy, biology, microbiology, physiology, chemistry, biochemistry, and thermodynamics have each added scientific proof of the validity of the Advaita teachings. Now, the science of Abnormal Psychology and the science of psychiatry are providing more proof of the validity of Advaita teachings, specifically regarding one of the predominant mental illnesses that Advaita addresses, namely, Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) which is also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

[Other mental illnesses addressed by the Advaita teachings include schizoaffective disorder and the associated auditory hallucinations whereby persons think they are hearing voices from other-world entities; minor depression; major depression; magical thinking; delusional disorders; anxiety disorders; and mood disorders. NOTE: Many disorders formerly thought to be “mental disorders only” are now known to have physiological components as well. For thousands of years, the Original Understanding sufficed to address all mental-emotional illness. Today, with the bastardization of the food supply, a holistic approach is required for many.]

Yesterday, this pointer was offered:

It is insane to think you are something that you are not, and it is insane not to know Who/What You Truly Are.

One widespread mental illness among persons on the planet involves the assumption of “alters” (that is, the assumption of “alter-egos” or the assumption of personas as identities). That results in the mental illness of MPD/DID. That mental illness, which affects more than 95% of the earth’s population according to some researcher estimates, could dissolve in most cases via Realization. That research proves that over 5.7 billion mentally-ill persons are walking about the planet and will never reach the state of sanity that follows Realization.

Recently, a company paid to have an analysis conducted of its staff and some of its clients, determining their personality type via enneagram testing and then showing them the assumed personas that have been adopted by those persons. The results were typical: 97% showed evidence of MPD/DID, and seeing the relative-existence problems that those persons were experiencing provided scientific evidence of the chaos and instability that the non-Realized experience on a daily basis as a result of (multiple) personality identification.

Consider one person who tested as a Type Six, predominantly. His beliefs and behaviors also showed that he was being driven by his Type Five wing and his Type Seven wing. Too, because of the stress he was experiencing, his psyche had disintegrated into the unhealthy levels of a Type Three, so he showed high scores in that area. Then, because he owned a large company, he tested high in the negative traits of the Type Eight Boss personality that he had internalized.

Now at the age of 51, the effects of personality have taken their toll: he is in treatment for substance abuse, his board of directors just removed him from his position with the company that he founded, he is estranged from his parents and children, and his wife has filed for divorce. The relative chaos that has come from not knowing Who/What He Truly Is—and trying to be all things to all people—has finally become apparent, even to him. How about you? Can you relate to one who is playing multiple roles? Can you relate to one who is trying to be all things to all the people? Can you relate to one who has no understanding of Who/What He Truly Is? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]