NARCISSISTS AND THE NON-REALIZED, Part Three

F.: Being so far removed from the Unchanging Reality (and thus so attuned to chaos and disorder and change and instability), narcissists will fluctuate and, as a result, will hate tomorrow what they love today; will contradict tomorrow what they say today; will deny tomorrow having said what they said today; and will claim today that they love peace but tomorrow will start a war. Being so far removed from the peace of knowing the True Self, they will attach to the fighting that is required to defend their false images and ego-states. They will be driven, and (as has been pointed out on this site before) he who is driven has no control over where he goes or how he goes…even if he is deluded into thinking he is in control.

Ultimately, they will be driven by their enthrallment with, and passion for, their false self. They will chase in their self-absorbed and merciless fashion their own indulgences, desires and authority, all to one end: to preserve at all costs their public persona, their well-honed illusion, and their counterfeit image which they present and which they believe is real. Narcissists can be effective teachers to this degree: observant seekers can see that everything narcissists do, say, feel or think is a cataloguing of what must be abandoned in order for Realization to happen.

For a more complete picture of the narcissist, review the traits of those exhibiting the Narcissistic Personality Disorder as reported in the DSM-IV.

Narcissists display an exaggerated sense of self-importance (e.g., they exaggerate their achievements and talents and expect to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements); they exhibit a sense of grandiosity; one of their favorite statements in this area is, “I don’t have to put up with that.” Grandiosity and self-importance block Realization.

Narcissists display a preoccupation with their fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love, living in their own “world” and reacting with affront when “reality” dares to intrude. Belief in fantasies and their false "world" blocks Realization.

Narcissists believe that they are special and can only be understood by, or should only associate with, other special or high-status people or institutions; many a narcissist has been “born into” a “high-status institution” such as a church or mosque or temple or business or political family or has been “re-born” into a “high-status” institution such as a church or mosque or temple or spiritual group; those associated with religious or spiritual groups often epitomize the height of religious and/or spiritual arrogance as well as the “my way or the highway” mentality. Believing in the duality of “special vs. non-special” as well as fixating at the third of seven steps to Reality (the religious or spiritual step) will block Full Realization.

Narcissists display an excessive requirement for admiration, wanting praise, compliments, expressions of envy, and reinforcement of their belief that they are better than all others; they appear to care about people, but they only use people because narcissists have a need for regular affirmation of their image by the masses in order for the narcissists to continue to believe that their image is real; at some deep, subconscious level, the narcissist knows that he/she is bogus and is a complete phony, but by working continuously to impress the masses or a selected group of people who are easily fooled by the narcissist’s act, the narcissist’s image receives the confirmation that it requires in order for the warped consciousness of the narcissist to continue to believe that its image is real. Attachment to a false self-image blocks Realization.

Narcissists display a sense of entitlement, believing that they deserve favorable treatment; the sense of entitlement also convinces them that all of their desires or needs should be met by others; thus, attractive female narcissists with that sense of entitlement (which convinces them that they should be taken care of) are often willing to trade their good looks for security, status, and/or position; likewise, financially-successful male narcissists (convinced that they are entitled to have all of their wishes fulfilled) are often willing to trade their income for an attractive mate who is willing to fulfill their every desire and provide status by proxy; in the end, a narcissist believes that the only justification for dealing with people is to use them to the benefit of the narcissist. To believe that one is “different” and deserves more than “others” blocks Realization.

Narcissists display a pattern of selfishly taking advantage of others to achieve their own ends; they are users and takers and will get what they want, no matter the effect on anyone else. Belief in “needs” and “others” will block Realization.

Narcissists display a total inability to feel empathy. The inability to know and feel the unicity will block Realization.

Narcissists display an envy of others while believing that others should envy them. Arrogance and concepts about “others” block Realization.

Narcissists display arrogant, haughty, patronizing, or contemptuous behaviors and attitudes. Beliefs that generate those behaviors and attitudes block Realization.

Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

NARCISSISTS AND THE NON-REALIZED, Part Two

F.: If you do not adumbrate every idea and belief held by narcissists, then their greatest desire is for you to be destroyed. They might try to destroy you financially or in terms of your feelings or even literally. Yet even if you adumbrate their every idea and belief, even if you try to meet their many demands, even if you acquiesce to their many desires, and even if you play into their unlimited fears that are hidden behind their cloak of bravado, you will still not be good enough, on any regular basis. The desire for conflict, destruction, judgment and self-serving concepts will prevent Realization.

You will never be able to please narcissists consistently because their desires and expectations are constantly shifting; therefore, they cannot be pleased (their public display of confidence and stability and calm notwithstanding). Pointing out your failures or shortcomings is easy for them, but as far as recognizing any of their own personality disorders or defects or failures, it will not likely ever happen. (One experienced psychotherapist who meets monthly with her peers said most agree that, for them, the two most difficult disorders to treat are eating disorders and narcissism.) The failures of narcissists will always be subjected to “the spin,” and they will claim their failures are really successes…or will be very soon. And if all does not turn out the way they predicted, it is your fault and/or the fault of others. Certainly no failure could possibly have anything to do with them. The propensity to spin lies rather than seek truth will block any opportunity for Realization to happen.

If you spend time in private with narcissists, that savoir faire image that they display in public will be shown to be a phony act, but they will still take their public image to be real. You will be shocked at some point at the level of rage that they can occasionally display. (They use rage in the unnatural way that some persons use sex, actually feeling a sense of relief in the state of exhaustion that follows their outbursts and feeling a sense of release that comes after the sharp elevation, and subsequent sharp decrease, in levels of adrenaline.) Attachment to phoniness, to images, and to rage will always block Realization.

You will no longer even recognize the one who you thought you knew, and that has to be the case since the narcissist does not know Who/What He or She Truly Is either. It is all image. You will eventually begin to "walk on eggshells" in their presence in an effort to avoid triggering another outburst. Those around narcissists or in dependent relations with them (employee, spouse, etc.) take adaptive measures because narcissists are not likely to ever change; therefore, those who stay around them must adapt in order to survive, either figuratively or literally.

As a result, those dealing with narcissists can eventually become as far removed from reality and the True Self as the narcissists. You’ll fail to keep the peace you're trying to maintain, of course, since narcissists really hate the peace, deep inside. The power they have over you and others is their aphrodisiac, whether their power is in the form of economic power, religious power, spiritual power, psychological power, military power, sexual power, powers of manipulation or any other form that relative power might take. Attachment to power and to delusions of grandeur blocks Realization.

And it will do no good to discuss with friends or family what the narcissist is like behind closed doors. The public persona is too fixed in the minds of those who have seen the narcissist and who have observed the public image that is displayed. And the reason that the public image of the narcissist is so fixed in their minds is because it is so fixed in the mind of the narcissist who truly believes his/her own lies, who really thinks she/he is that image being displayed, who really thinks he/she is "good" and "right" and "moral"...always and in all ways. Narcissists have no motivation to seek a different understanding because they are convinced that their beliefs or ideas or concepts or perceptions are always right. In fact, because they are always right, there is no need for introspection. The last thing a narcissist would ever do would be to question himself/herself. They never have to consider whether they are "right or wrong"...it's a given that their way is the right way. You will be labeled the one with a problem…not them. Narcissists and their supporters are “good and right” and those with differing views are “evil and wrong.” Attachment to concepts rooted in duality will prevent Realization.

Entire cultures or nations have become embroiled in their narcissistic leaders’ ego-based illusions and have taken them to be “their reality” as well. What egomaniac does not want to hear a megalomaniac declare that his nation is the greatest? Who among the non-Realized does not want to hear that his team is the greatest, that his town is the greatest, or that his religion is "the right one"? If a narcissist hears an Advaitin speak of “illusions” and “false images” and “phoniness” and "dogma that amounts to nothing more than modern versions of ancient myths," those words will trigger a contemptuous reaction from narcissists who hate what they will dismiss as "lofty nonsense." In contrast, those who begin to awaken to any degree at all are more likely to seek "the path to truth" and a guide to lead them through the steps to Realization.

Relatedly, nothing invokes more hatred in a narcissist than one who suggests being rid of phony images. No attack is perceived as more threatening to narcissists than a suggestion that their image is bogus. They are convinced that they really are the images that they display with such style and aplomb, and those who see only the roles that narcissists display in public are just as convinced. The desire to play-act (and to create and sustain false roles) will always prevent Realization.

Popular opinions regarding many narcissists will include the belief that “anyone seen in public to be so 'good,' so confident, so caring, so loving, so generous and so strong cannot possibly be living out an illusion. They cannot possibly be phony because they appear too sincere and too real; they must be the genuine article.” If you can’t “get along with them” or if you "don’t go along with them," then you are surely the one who is warped and wrong. They are fun to be around in public and they often make others "feel good," so any who do not agree with them will be dismissed as being "jealous or confused or just plain wrong."

Narcissists are the actors who take the starring role in The Drama of the Lie, and everything they do or say is pre-scripted. Their original lines were written by their programmers during childhood. Now they constantly write and revise and modify their lines so that the stage characters that they are playing will be taken to be real by everyone in their audiences. On stage, they can appear to play an humble role, but they actually hate sharing the spotlight with anyone else. Everyone is supposed to be a member of their audience, applauding them so enthusiastically that their inner sense of worthlessness is transformed into a sense of grand value.

Narcissists constantly seek reassurance that their images are real, so they need the masses to buy into their phony images and show respect and admiration for those images. When that happens, narcissists take that as confirmation that their phony images are real. They need those constant assurances in order to suppress any occasional feelings that might try to rise from deep within that would say, "You're a fraud and a fake and a phony." While trying to show publicly how kind and caring they are, their message is that if they have to be sadistic and destructive, it is because others “asked for it” by not following orders given or advice offered or warnings proffered. Is it becoming clear why NPD blocks the "path" to Realization for narcissists? Is it becoming clear that they model for seekers everything that must be abandoned in order for Full Realization to happen? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

EGO-STATES: Either The Invisible Drivers or The Former Hijackers or The Eventual Destroyers, Part One

FROM A SITE VISITOR: So the whole problem really begins with ego, right? Sam (PS Thanks for the blog site.)

F.: Hello, Sam. On the simpliest level, that’s a valid conclusion. As indicated in the title FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (a Seven-Step Journey to Reality), the Advaita “path” is really a “journey” that moves one away from identifying with the (false) “I” to abiding as the Absolute.

Once the body is taken to be the core identity, and once the “mind” has been distorted via programming and conditioning and enculturation, then the foundation has been laid...the foundation on which all personas will be built. After that, ego-states become the invisible force that drives all thought and conduct, and that results in a loss of any ability to choose. (If you are in a car and being driven, then you are in the passenger seat, the back seat, or the trunk, but you are not behind the steering wheel. One being driven has no ability to determine what the car does or where it goes. So it is when persons are driven by the agendas of their ego-states.)

“Ego” in Latin means “I,” and refers to the false identities (or roles or false selves or images or characters or shadow selves or personas) that are assigned and assumed and that are supported by ego-defense mechanisms once they are taken to be “Who I Am.” The ego-states can be recognized since they always follow the phrase “I am”: “I am a boy/girl”; “I am a lover”; “I am a wife/husband.” Once an ego-state is assumed, it immediately self-promotes itself to super status: "I am a Super Husband" or "I am a Super Wife" (and therefore deserve super, special treatment). Some of the ego-defense mechanisms that persons employ to try to sustain their false image(s) include: rationalization, projection, displacement, denial, intellectualization, repression, sublimation, and suppression.

The Advaitin practice of focusing on the “I AM” only is an invitation to ignore those false identities by breaking the habit of following the I AM with a litany of labels that your culture (or other cultures) have dreamed up. It is a means by which those traversing the first three steps of the “path” can begin to abandon the habit of constantly defining and re-defining who they think they are by using the labeling tools of their culture. Why abandon ego-states? Because they become the invisible driver in your relative existence, because they will become a hijacker and will hold you captive, and because they are the source of all destruction in the relative existence, including self-destruction.

The assumption of ego-states is at the root of all relative existence problems. Mentioned yesterday, one woman has defined herself with the limiting identity of “wife” (in fact, “The Super Dutiful Wife”) for twenty years. She gave her consent for her story to be shared, so it follows as an example of what can happen when ego-states are finally exposed and then trigger a desire to self-destruct:

“My husband is leaving me after 20 years. We never had children because he didn’t want them; he made me take charge of projects he wanted done but then raged when the bills for those projects came in; we have both held jobs throughout the entire marriage but he took both checks and controlled how the money was spent. He wanted sex nearly every day for 20 years, and so we had sex nearly every day.

“Friends said his talk about how ‘men like to trade up when they get in their forties and find a younger woman’ showed he was capable of doing exactly that. They made me furious when they said that. Friends and family said he probably had a companion on his frequent out-of-town trips when he made excuses about why I couldn’t go along. When he got an apartment in addition to our house so he could have ‘a quiet place to go to relax,’ friends said I should check that out, but I trusted him and I guess I didn’t really want to find out anything different from the way I thought things were.

“Then, a few weeks ago he said he wanted a divorce and I should ‘handle it and move on like he’s moving on.’ Now, people who knew both of us have told me that he’s been having an affair for years. Up until recently he’s always been a loving, faithful, caring spouse and I was always sure he would honor his vows and me forever, so I think he’s just not himself right now and will come to his senses and return. If he doesn’t, I will kill myself.” (She was advised to seek immediate professional help, and she is now seeing a therapist.)

To see how all reason and logic is abandoned when a false identity is assumed, around marriage for example, this example was offered in December of 2005:

A document (such as a marriage license) can inspire a false belief that a dependent role can define who you are. How grand is the lie? Take the fictional Thomas Smith as an example. He married Jane Jones and a man in a robe told her that she was now Mrs. Thomas Smith. She assumed that new identity and all the fears and expectations and desires that came with it. But her fears were realized when Thomas left her for Mary Martin. In a court, a man in a robe told Jane Jones/Mrs. Thomas Smith that she was no longer Mrs. Thomas Smith but could once again be Miss Jane Jones; shortly after that event, another man in a robe told Mary Martin that she was Mrs. Thomas Smith.

She assumed that new identity and all the fears and expectations and desires that came with it. But her fears were realized when Thomas left her for Patty Prentiss. In a court, a man in a robe told Mary Martin/Mrs. Thomas Smith that she was no longer Mrs. Thomas Smith but could once again be Miss Mary Martin; shortly after that event, another man in a robe told Patty Prentiss that she was Mrs. Thomas Smith.

Do you see the insanity of assuming identities? "Mrs. Thomas Smith" was a role assumed by three different persons, and all three really believed that they were who and what their culture told them that they were. But the culture told three different persons that they were the same person. In the remote past, Jane was Mrs. Thomas Smith; in the past Mary was Mrs. Thomas Smith; in the present, Patty is Mrs. Thomas Smith. One can guess that in the future, Patty will not be Mrs. Thomas Smith.

From this example, isn’t it clear that any assumption of any persona as a real identity is an insane case of mistaken, false identity? Are you assuming any false identities as real identities? Are you unconsciously listening to all the persons in your culture who haven't a clue as to Who They Truly Are while unconsciously allowing them to tell you who or what you are? Then you'll also unconsciously accept all the fears and desires and expectations that come with roles and that guarantee misery in the relative existence.

It is no wonder that so many persons reach a point where they admit, “I don’t even know who I am anymore.” Tomorrow, the destructive force of ego-states will be discussed via the example above in which a woman who has said “I am a wife” for two decades now faces the reality of having to declare, “I am not a wife.” As a result, she has threatened to kill herself (meaning, the “not wife” is sensing the “loss” of a false self, is feeling that a real self is dying, and is ready to avoid having to process the imaginary demise of a culturally-assigned identity by killing herself). If only she had made that “not wife” declaration decades ago and had found her True Self, then all of the “wife-type happenings” could have continued without the limiting, false identification with a role that has now triggered a desire to self-destruct.

How about you? Are you aware of the fact that all of your anger or emotional intoxication or hurt is rooted in an ego-state? Are you aware that each ego-state prizes above all else it's sense of self-worth and will fight to the death to sustain that false self that desires to be seen as being worthy and valuable and wonderful? When was the last time that "you" became upset? Can you identify which ego-state felt hurt or interfered with or threatened in that incident? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

THE RELATIVE NATURE OF “GOOD” AND “BAD”: What Makes you Think you Know?

Tom and Jim met in a nearby mall:

Tom: Hey Jim. Long time no see.
Jim: It's been a while, hasn't it?
Tom: Fall of 2002, I think, at the state championship game when Jim Junior played. Did he go on to play college ball?
Jim: Yeah. He got a full scholarship to the University of Texas.
Tom: Well that’s good.
Jim: No, that was bad because the pressure was too much for him…football…studies…9-11 trauma and the aftermath…and then he broke a leg in a game.
Tom: Awww, that’s too bad.
Jim: Actually, he thought it was good. The time required to heal gave him time to think about what he wanted to do with his life.
Tom: Well then, that was a good thing.
Jim: Well, we thought it was bad. He decided he wanted to join the military and fight for his country. He said that was his calling and wanted to make a career of the army. The leg healed perfectly and they took him.
Tom: Well, that’s a good thing…at least he found a direction for his life, and he followed his heart.
Jim: Well, my wife and I think it was a bad thing...they sent him home a month ago.

Tom: Well, that sounds like a good thing to me.

Jim: Not really. He was in a flag-draped coffin.
Tom: Oh my gosh, Jim! That’s horrible!

Persons are trapped in ignorance because of their dualistic perspectives and because of their supposed "need" to classify everything as "positive or negative," as "good or bad," as "black or white" with no possible chance of any gray areas existing at all. Religious persons have been heard for nearly fifty-five years, explaining exactly what will get me a reward and exactly what will get me punishment, though their criteria vary by denomination or sect; judgmental persons have been heard as they share what they are sure is moral and what they are sure is immoral; politicians have informed the nation that “this country” or “that country” was evil, only to start a war, end a war, and then become their trading partners and allies decades later; spiritual persons have assumed me over the last several decades that they could teach me some spiritual disciplines that—if practiced on a daily basis—will guarantee a good life.

Persons talk about “good weather” and complain about “bad weather”; about getting a “good job” but later about leaving that “bad job”; about finding “a good man” or “a good woman," only to leave after finding they had “married some kind of wicked devil”; about finding "a great lover" who would later be re-labeled as "a sex maniac" instead; about a man with "a good work ethic" who would later be re-classified as "a workaholic"; about a "really cool woman" who would later be labeled as "an emotionally-unavailable witch."

In an existence in which everything is relative, in which change is the only constant, and in which there are no absolutes, what (other than colossal egotism, self-satisfied arrogance, and total blindness) would make persons think they know—for a fact—exactly what is “good” and exactly what is “bad”? Please enter the silence of contemplation.

SAMSKARAS, ARCHETYPES, AND FREEDOM FROM THEIR EFFECTS

F.: As this series ends after responding to questions submitted about samskaras and archetypes, let the main pointer be offered: solutions in the relative cannot be found unless problems in the relative (and their sources) are properly identified. It is useless to top off the weeds in a garden instead of pulling them up at the root and discarding them. Take the garden that is bastardized with weeds to be the relative existence. Take the plants to be the lives of persons (that is, the non-Realized) that could be flourishing but that do not because of the weeds. Take the weeds to be all that chokes off the ability of the plants to flourish (and to exist in a calm and peaceful fashion):

the belief by persons that they are awake when they are walking about in their sleep; the belief by persons that they are making choices and have free will when in fact everything they think and emote and do is controlled by genetics and chemical imbalances and a “mind” that is a repository of lies and programming and enculturation and conditioning; the arrogant belief by persons that they have the right to control friends, neighbors, traffic, co-workers, spouses, a nation and all other nations; the belief by persons that they have the right to decide who should die and who should live; and the deep love affair that persons have with their concept of “separation.”

It is that love affair that persons have with their belief in separation and duality which breeds all arrogance and all “better-than-you” type thinking; which makes neighbors or co-workers or spouses or other teams or other cities or other states or other nations “not good enough”; which allows persons to believe that the deaths of persons in their group are bad but that the deaths of those outside their group can be good; which allows persons to believe that they have a god in another world that is empowering them and making them “better”; which drives persons to believe that if you do not worship, or if you do not worship their god according to the dictates of their religion or denomination or sect, that they have the right to punish you, reject you, or even kill you.

And what are the roots of those weeds that have always brought misery and suffering to the “human existence”? The roots are ignorance; a lack of wisdom; a preference among persons to explain everything supernaturally or mythically or magically or superstitiously rather than preferring the scientific and factual and actual explanation for happenings; a laziness that drives persons to accept what others say rather than investigating and seeking truth themselves; a preference for emotional intoxication over reason and logic; programming, conditioning and enculturation; taking impressions and images to be real; the assumption of ego-states as identities; the allowance of the ego-defense mechanisms that accompany all ego-states to determine everything that persons say, do, or feel; the refusal to seek an understanding of the unicity while clinging to the belief in separation and multiplicity; and, as a result of believing in “separate but not equal,” being driven by such high levels of arrogance, egotism, and self-importance that the planet becomes dominated by persons (playing their roles of “leader”) who are supercilious, prideful, and haughty.

Further, all that is defined as “destructive” on the planet evolves from two relative contributors: (1) the arrogance, ego, and false pride of “leaders” and (2) the programmed and conditioned masses who blindly follow those leaders and who refuse to question the words of their politicians or preachers or generals or ayatollahs or judges or teachers or priests or mullahs or spiritual teachers or entertainers or rabbis or gurus or medicine men or imams.

The “journey” to Realization begins with questioning…with a willingness to question it all. To clean out the garden and thereby allow the plants to flourish, the seeker must find the roots of the weeds and discard not just the evidence of the weeds but must be rid of the root systems as well. When the manner in which persons think, emote and behave is determined by impressions and images and personas instead of by logic and reason and fact, then a relative existence problem exists and nothing other than insane or insane-like behavior can follow. Persons are being driven by unconscious and subconscious forces, even as they believe that they are making choices.

Impressions and images and archetypes and dogma and ideas are all concepts that are based in memories and stored in the unconscious or in the subconscious. To be influenced by anything that you are unconscious of blocks Realization and prevents true freedom. The basic archetypes are merely personality types that are universally recognized. The commonly-held beliefs about such types have been repeated so frequently that those fictitious characters are no longer questioned by persons but are assumed as identities instead.

As with all myths and superstitions (and the religious and spiritual beliefs that have evolved from them), the impressions or imprints that follow repeated exposure to such “typing” are soon taken by the conditioned masses to be real. False identities are assumed to be real and those assumptions are seldom ever questioned. As a result of thousands of years of conditioning and genetic messaging, the belief in falsehoods has become so widespread that the attachment of “positive vs. negative” connotations to ideas or words is now automatic, no matter how nonsensical the labels of “good vs. bad” might be.

Archetypes are about symbols, images, personas, and individualization, all of which are false concepts taken to be true by “the mind” and all of which must be seen to be fictional if one is to Realize. The liability that “the mind” has become should now be clear. Archetypes inspire certain patterns of thought when truth can only be found beyond “thoughts,” beyond the fiction of the "mind."

Archetypes are “deposits of the repeated experience of humanity” which cause humans to accept “mythical ideas” as real. The Advaitin knows that these inherent and cultural images are only one more influence that must be transitioned if Realization is to happen. The stuff of myths and legends and fairy tales has become the stuff of “the mind” of persons. Along with the accumulation of ideas and concepts and beliefs and dogma, those archetypal images and concepts now form a collection of never-to-be-questioned beliefs that drive humans to behave and emote and think in the unnatural or supernatural ways that they now behave and emote and think.

Just as was the case with the brain’s ability to store memories and retrieve memories, impressions and archetypes were initially an “asset” in facilitating the perpetuation of the species, but now (just as is the case with “the mind”) they have become a liability to those seeking freedom and truth and independence.

To be independent and in touch with reality, seven specific steps are required. They must be taken in an exact order, which happens to be exactly the reverse order by which the consciousness manifested and became corrupted through various levels of programming and conditioning and enculturation and genetic coding. If you want to take those seven steps, the guide is available. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
INTERESTED IN THE GUIDEBOOK FOR TAKING THE SEVEN STEP “JOURNEY” TO REALITY?

Click FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)

SAMSKARAS, ARCHETYPES, AND THE LOSS OF FREEDOM

F.: Now, to continue the response to those who asked about the validity of archetypal messages. If you look over the edge of a cliff or a tall building and your stomach automatically and involuntarily “jumps” as a means of alerting you of a potential physical danger, certainly that is an archetypal response and certainly it is “of value” and is “valid” to those wanting to protect the physical body. It should be noted, however, that while archetypes can be “useful” in such situations, they are rooted in a history of phenomenal, human experiences and thereby transmit far more false impressions. Whereas nature’s intent was that they would provide legitimate warnings of danger, now they support a dualistic sense of separation by race, by religion, by denomination, by sect, by state, by nation, by economic level, by form of government, etc.

In that regard, the pointer was offered yesterday that…

…from ego and arrogance and a sense of separation have come the desires and fears that generate the perceived need for power; the desire to control; the assumed right to judge and moralize and be “the one who is right”; the assumption of the right to dictate and punish or reward; the need to argue, fight, separate, and engage in wars; and the willingness (and often, indeed, the propensity) to destroy on personal, state, national and international levels. The trillions, and the trillions of trillions, of persons who have died on this planet from anything other than a "natural cause" were actually sacrifices made on the altar of ego.

What do ego-driven, destructive, subject-object “thoughts,” always generated by a dualistic “mind,” look like in practice today? “I am a good man; I just said a bad thing”; “we are the good nation, but they are the axis of evil”; “I talked to Him”; He told me that I should bomb them”; and “our nation has been catastrophically-paralyzed by 32 killings here this week, but regarding the 1000+ killings there this week…not so much.”

The ancient impressions and archetypal images that fostered duality are now inspiring persons to talk about who is good and who is bad; about a supreme being there talking to mortal beings here; about killings here that are bad and about killings there that are merely collateral damage…et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. That is what sacrifices being made on the altar of ego look like, and here are the types of lines being spoken by the key actors on the stage of this absurd play:

“I can decide who lives and who dies locally”; or “It is moral for us to kill legally in Texas but it is immoral for him to kill illegally in Virginia”; or “I can decide who dies in execution chambers in North Korea or in Iran or in Syria or in…Pennsylvania”; and “our nation can decide who lives and who dies anywhere in the world.”

The main characters in this modern morality play called the Drama of the Lie are Arrogance, Greed, Ego, Judging, The Good Guys, The Bad Guys, Separation and Destruction. As for the motivations of the actors, their driving force can be understood by seeing the type of thinking that comes from a dualistic mind (which has now expanded in scope to become the collective dualistic mind of the masses). Such widespread destruction during this relative existence is the result of belief in the dualities of “good vs. bad,” “right vs. wrong,” “moral vs. immoral,” and “deserving punishment or deserving reward,” all of which are rooted in false impressions and in archetypal images which now support the concepts of duality that mar the relative existence.

Those archetypal images are stored in what Carl Jung called “the collective unconscious.” As shown, they have a major influence on human thoughts and perceptions (and misperceptions) as they are rooted in personality types and are often grouped into dualistic categories of "heroes or heroines vs. villains." (Consider that scenario: things in your unconscious are helping to determine how you feel, what you perceive about persons, how you feel about persons, and what you think about persons. Talk about “no choice.”) Thus, archetypes reinforce belief in personality, personas, stereotypes, and duality. They set the stage for “good guy vs. bad guy” judgments, for “good weather vs. bad weather” nonsense, and for “good people vs. bad people” moralizing.

Tomorrow, the discussion of archetypes and their effects (and how to transcend those effects) will continue, but for now, the invitation is to pause and consider: all of the rubbish described above that is now so typical among persons on the planet will not end. It is too engrained among too many who will continue to pass down the teaching of lies as truth. Realization will only happen for a few since the number of those passing along lies is far larger than the number of Advaitins that are teaching the way to find truth. The voice of duality is the voice of madness, yet it is the only voice that is typically heard across the planet. Nevertheless, even as such thinking and behavior will continue, you can be free of such nonsense, even as it continues to happen all about you. The way to that freedom requires that the seeker look first to the “self.”

The True Self cannot be found if the search begins with a search for the True Self. The “journey” must begin with the search for the self, that is, with the search for the false self, and for every false self or persona that is driving you. Have you considered the things that are stored in memory or in the unconscious or in a dualistic “mind’ that are all determining how you feel, what you perceive about persons, how you feel about persons, and what you think about persons? Have you seen, when false impressions and inaccurate memories and images are driving the way that you think and emote and behave, that you really have no “free will” and no "choice" in regards to anything? And do you not see that, without free will and choice, you really have no freedom at all? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

PERSONALITY DISORDERS VS. MENTAL ILLNESS: What the Advaita Teachings Can Address and What They Cannot, Part One

F.: The discussion of this topic is an ongoing one on the site. Why? The Advaita Teachings address personality problems and provide a means for being free of those problems. It will be shown again that there are conditions that appear to be rooted in mental illness but that are actually rooted in personality disorders. Evidence that those disorders can be effectively treated by the Teachings will be provided in tomorrow’s post with a recounting of the condition that “floyd” once suffered. Before continuing, though, two points are offered: (1) mental illnesses that are truly clinical in nature cannot be addressed by the Teachings and require treatment of the type provided by trained professionals; and (2) mental illness affects 1%-5% of the population whereas 95%-99% suffer from one or more personality disorders, to some degree.

Yesterday’s post included this:

As this discussion of the relevance of the Teachings is underway, what may prove to be a prime example of relevance was presented yesterday on the Virginia Tech campus. When the details behind the shooting are revealed, it might be found that the shooter was not clinically insane. It might be found instead that the shooter was trapped in an ego-state that he thought was being hurt, interfered with, or threatened.

Another possibility is that a combination of mental and personality disorders was at play, along with the possibility of an impact from the side effects of certain medications. More may be revealed about that case, but it must be noted again that nothing has ever been offered on this site to discount the toll of mental illness. Furthermore, if there is any suspicion that a mental illness is at play, the advice is always to seek out a professional for help. (That was the message sent last week in a private e-mail response to one wondering how to help a friend experiencing serious delusions. The friend wondered if the Advaita Teaching might help. The severity of his friend’s behavior led to a recommendation to forget trying to use the Advaita Teachings and to contact those in his community’s social services network and find help from the professionally-trained.)

What is being offered is an invitation to broaden the national and international discussion by inviting persons to consider other possible “causes” for most of the misery and suffering and outrageous acts of violence that mark the human condition and to stop the misclassification of personality disorders as mental illnesses. Why? Because a misdiagnosis of any problem will guarantee a continuation of the problem and will assure that any treatment plan being tried will be ineffective. That lesson was learned early on from an uncle whose entire career was in the field of mental health. As an adolescent spending his summers with an uncle that worked as the Chief Administrator of the Texas State Mental Hospital in Rusk, time was spent with patients there (an act in the late 1950's and early 1960’s that could not take place nowadays).

Only a small area of the facility was required for the housing of violent patients. Most of those confined as a result of their mental illnesses were docile and gentle and, yes, loving. Helping out in the cafeteria, contact happened with many patients who would initiate conversations, and it would later be discussed with the uncle about how kind most of the mentally ill were. The uncle agreed, saying that most who were locked away in that facility had conducted themselves in a far more civil manner than did the masses that were free to roam the streets. He emphasized that most of the mentally ill in his facility had never behaved as violently as the majority of persons behave, trapped as they are in personality. When persons feel that one or more of their (false) identities are being threatened, those suffering from personality disorders (which are rooted in the adoption of false personas) will fight, attack and destroy as if for their lives.

So, in light of the happenings on the Virginia Tech campus on Monday, might the Advaita Teachings have any relevance? Certainly, the majority in the nation will dismiss anything other than mental illness as “the cause.” (The Advaitin knows right off that “one, single cause” for any happening is a myth.) Reports that the shooter was being treated for depression have surfaced, yet he was just 1 of 21,000,000 in the U.S. who was diagnosed with depression during the last twelve months. But there were not 21,000,000 shooters in the U.S. last year, so maybe other factors came to bear. One respected psychotherapist who has treated thousands of patients over the years and who has reviewed some of Cho’s history saw similarities with certain of her patients who were suffering paranoid schizophrenia. What several of those patients had in common was sexual molestation as a child, some abused by family members and many assaulted by priests. (It is known that in some of his writings, Cho raised the issue of pedophilia, discussed his anger with parents, and expressed his anger toward women.)

Further, shooters are common within the U.S. borders. A woman dies as the result of spousal abuse every 6 hours in the U.S. and a man dies as the result of spousal abuse every 8.64 hours in the U.S. And that statistic just takes into account “the married” and does not count those killed during breakups among “not married” parties. Yet more often than not, those are not murder statistics; those are not mental illness statistics; those are persona statistics.

So another factor to be raised in the national discussion, therefore, is the possibility of one or more personality disorders. Sometimes all that is required in order to believe that one has the right to decide who lives and who dies is to be suffering the personality disorder known as “the God Complex.” If you read the postings in late March and early April on this site, you read about the types of personality disorders that are most likely to appear with each of the nine personality types. Some of you noticed that among all nine of the enneagram personality types, the God Complex was listed for every one. (Of course, when ego-states appear, ego defense mechanisms follow, and when living in ego—as personas do—then the arrogance of a God Complex is common.)

The God Complex, along with the associated disorders of narcissism and egomania, can inspire lethal conduct. Consider the level of arrogance that is required for persons to believe the following: “I can decide who lives and dies”; “I am a loving being but I can also be a wrathful being”; “I tried to give warnings to this culture to change your ways…now you will pay the price for ignoring me”; “I will be made immortal with this act and will be obscured no more”; “I will go as far over the line as I must in order to make you hear me and pay attention to my words”; "I have been trying to speak out and tell you what is wrong, but you ignore my words and that makes me very angry"; “I, and my important words, will be remembered forever”; “when you ignore me, you will be punished and will feel my wrath”; “sometimes it's lonely being god, having everyone ignore you during times when the masses are so self-absorbed and not knowing how wonderful I am”; “the world needs reforming and I'm just the one to do it”; “when the world gets so far out of hand, a reign of terror is justified to bring down punishment on people and let them see that I mean business”; “I am the judge of what is ‘right vs. wrong,’ ‘moral vs. immoral,’ and what ‘proper punishment vs. proper reward’ is”; “I can create or sustain or destroy you—it is my option…it is my providence.” It has been witnessed that the more "godly" some people become, the more they behave just like their destructive Judaeo-Christian-Islamic god.

That level of arrogance inspired by the God Complex Personality Disorder is not unique to the Virginia Tech shooter. That is the level of arrogance that many are being exposed to on a daily basis with an arrogant spouse, an arrogant boss, an arrogant person cutting you off in traffic, an arrogant person behaving in an abusive way in a store, ad infinitum. Should the current discussion focus on a "madman" or should it focus on "a mad man" (or "a mad woman")?

Again, 95%-99% of the planet’s population is suffering from some personality disorder(s), and the disorder that is common to all nine enneagram types is the God Complex described above. So the shooter’s "mental" vs. "personality" condition notwithstanding, the question for those interested in the Advaita Teachings is this: is it possible that you are dealing with someone who is suffering from the God Complex? Is it possible that you are suffering from a God Complex? Ego-states generate egomania, and egomania generates much of the suffering and misery on the planet. With 1%-5% in need of the level of care that is provided by professionals in the mental healthcare industry, but with 95%-99% needing The Understanding that is provided by the Advaita Teachings via elimination of personality, what treatment plan is most indicated for the majority on this planet? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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