“MIND” and MEMORIES: When Nature’s “Assets” Become Warped into “Liabilities,” Part Seven

Contrary to popular belief, personality—which is generated by a defective “mind”—does not have both “liabilities and assets.” All “personality traits” are personality defects (a.k.a., “character defects” since personas are just roles that are being played as if by a character on a stage).

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Loved your expression “brain-flush”?! Now that resonates. I’ve been visiting your site off-and-on since the early days - you did a piece one time on the brain and mind and consciousness but I can’t find it in the search. Can you tell me how to find that and then tie it in with “brain-flush”? LOL Thanks.

[Continued from yesterday]

F.: Now to the visitor who asked, “How can consciousness be ‘warped’ or ‘corrupted’ if it’s just energy?”

There are two views on the issue: (A) consciousness cannot be warped or made impure. The pure consciousness is merely obscured by layers of lies and concepts that form a “mind” and that obstruct the consciousness from seeing reality and truth when obscured. Adherents of this notion say, “Energy is energy.”

(B) Others, however, point out that electricity is energy and that it can be distorted (e.g., an electrical disturbance is merely a type of distorted electricity). Thus, some suggest that the consciousness itself can be warped or contaminated. Svami Prabhupada spoke of contaminated consciousness in the introduction to his translation of the Bhagavad-Gita when he wrote:

“One cannot say anything about the transcendental world without being free from materially contaminated consciousness. Our consciousness, at the present moment...is materially contaminated. The Bhagavad-gita teaches that we have to purify this materially contaminated consciousness. The activities of the devotee or of the Lord are not contaminated by impure consciousness or matter. We should know, however, that at this point our consciousness is contaminated.”

Without debating the merits of “A” or “B” above, seekers can move along the path by understanding the more relevant pointer: whether the consciousness is warped or whether the consciousness is blocked, the content of the “mind” must be removed if Full Realization is to happen. That includes removing beliefs, ideas, dogma, theories, attitudes, “spiritual knowledge,” “religious knowledge,” and concepts. Only then will the discarded content of the “mind” no longer be able to generate false identifications, and only if the “mind” stops generating personality will there be an end to the emotional reactions and the personality defects that are generated by the assignment of, or the adoption of, personas.

Thus, discussion of the problem of the “mind” must include discussion of the problem of “personality” because they are inextricably linked and because the intricate confusion generated by that linkage cannot end until the false “mind” and its false beliefs in personality end. Only then can the "journey" to Full Realization continue. The terms “Total Freedom,” “Liberation,” “Awakening,” “Realization,” “Enlightenment,” “Abiding as the Absolute,” and “Actualization,” all refer to the “condition” of being freed from body-mind-personality identification, knowing the Pure Consciousness, and then attaining the Full Understanding.

Thus, freedom from personality cannot happen without freedom from “mind.” It can be seen, therefore, why some Advaitins encourage the casting aside of “mind” which triggers the adoption of personas: the “mind” is defective; the “mind” generates personality; therefore, personality is always defective as well.

That means that, contrary to popular belief, personality—which is generated by a defective “mind”—does not have both “liabilities and assets.” All “personality traits” are personality defects (a.k.a., “character defects” since a persona is just a role that is being played as if by a character on a stage). How could a false identity, an imaginary role, possibly have "assets"? That concept is just more of the nonsense generated by ego. “Liabilities as opposed to assets” is just more duality. And the longer that persons remain identified with personality.

This is an excerpt from the book
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND”
(There Is Only Peace if You’re Out of Your Mind)

For information on the book, visit http://advaitavedantabooks.blogspot.com/

To order the book, visit
http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm
(You can use the Special Message box)

Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued] For additional information, click

here

ONENESS, PERCEPTION, LIFE, DEATH, CYCLES, AND CLARITY, Part Two

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Here’s what I’ve read or heard throughout my study of Advaita: “Everything is one. Any difference you think exists is just your wrong perception. All just cycles—no death, no life. Do not take the form you see to be what is real.” When I was in college, the more I studied, the clearer the lesson became. The more Advaita lessons I study, the less clear things are. Help! John

[Continued from yesterday. If you did not read the post on 25 February, please scroll downward to read the prior installment first]

Kirk’s unchanged expression conveyed to Chief that his very simple offering was being received as a very complex notion by Kirk. Chief tried to clarify by adding, “What is actually happening is that the conscious-energy force is in motion, thus allowing for the continued manifestation of consciousness in the space which you call ‘heron.’ What happens in the heron’s stomach will happen with no thought on the part of either the heron or the fish. That core element of consciousness-energy, universal to the fish cell and the heron cell and also moving through all so-called ‘living’ things, knows everything that must occur for all those happenings to take place spontaneously.

“Do you not see that there is a common element of energy that moves about this manifestation, moving via flora and fauna from one form to another, taking on the appearance to the naked eye of 'this type cell cluster here' or 'that type cell cluster there'? The energy of the sun arrives on this planet in a form not usable by humans or animals, but via photosynthesis, that energy is converted into a usable form; therefore, it is not the eating of the salad that sustains ‘life’ and consciousness. It is the 'consumption' of that energy that is manifested within the space of the plant that sustains what you call ‘your’ consciousness. Again, it is not really an ‘absorption’ or any ‘conversion.’ More accurately, It Is What It Is, and what is happening is happening, automatically. You Are That. The heron Is That. The fish Is That. It does not change, for It Is The Real. All else is an illusion, perceived as ‘varied forms’ to the eye. Yet the forms with their varied appearances are merely the spontaneous happenings that involve three basics: the elements, the air, and the energy-consciousness.

“You are actually that consciousness-energy that can manifest in forms or spaces with nervous systems. That energy moves from the space of the plant to a space called ‘Kirk’ via consumption of the plant. But isn’t it clear that beyond all the varied appearances in manifest form, that ‘beneath’ all that, is energy? And is it not clear that it is the energy which allows what most call ‘life’ to manifest via forms or spaces? And is it not also apparent that the conscious energy—which knows how to function as it functions automatically—is the common element? And do you not sense, therefore, that whatever is common to All is the Real, and do you not then perceive that all of the manifested forms that materialize and de-materialize cannot be the real part for they do not ‘last’? Were you not told that the cycle is ‘dust-to-dust and ashes-to-ashes’ with different forms ‘in between’?

"Understand that what you call ‘death’ is just the distillation of all that has been attached or ‘added’ since manifestation to the pure consciousness via the teaching of concepts. The distilling (or the cleansing or stripping away of all of that which is not essence-only) is an act of re-purifying consciousness. But you call it ‘death’ as if it were something to be detested. The dirtied ‘mind’—filled with its myths, lies, concepts, beliefs, emotions, ideas, and superstitions—hates the notion of such cleansing and purification. Programmed humans love their beliefs and concepts, defining themselves with those ideas. Don’t dare try to cleanse their ‘minds,’ for they’ll want to kill you. The last thing most want is to be freed of the garbage that is their ‘minds’ which they think is so valued. To challenge their beliefs is to attack them personally, so they think. Filth loves filth. Corruption loves corruption. The familiar is attracted to the familiar.

“But that energy is what You Are and is what I Am. ‘Born in sin?’ Surely they jest. It is at the moment that is called ‘birth’ that one is closest to the pure, to the Real, to the essence because that moment precedes the bastardization of the consciousness that will soon happen via programming. Short of Full Realization, not again until what they call ‘death’ will the consciousness be freed of all the crap and the impurities that this culture pumps into it. ‘Sin’ is the corrupting of the pure consciousness by the so-called ‘leaders’ in any society as they disseminate their self-serving lies. They are the leaders in the corruption process. Their ‘power’ is the power to corrupt. Even the people who have finally realized that all their politicians are liars still cling to their every word on the evening newscasts.

But back to the common element that is All. Modern physicists at first called that smallest building block ‘strings’ until some decided that an even more basic element exists which they call a ‘sparticle.’ Names and labels notwithstanding, there is only one single 'ingredient' to what we call ‘everything’ or ‘the diversity’ or ‘the entire universe.’ I call it ‘That,’ That which is the one and only whatever that is Real, typically Unmanifest, occasionally manifested, or not. ‘Everything’ is really one thing. The term ‘unicity’ is accurate.”

If “blown-away” had a face, it would look like Kirk Wildman at that moment.

So, John, possibly some clarity came from that explanation. If not, you’re invited to continue to submit your questions. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: “Part One” of a short story written by Dennis Waite entitled, “What is Advaita?” Dennis has been a student of Advaita for over 20 years and maintains one of the most visited websites on the subject. He is the present Chief Moderator of the Advaitin group, has published several books, has been a guest columnist on this site in the past, and is sought regularly for satsanga.

THE (RELATIVE) COSTS OF NON-REALIZATION, Part Two

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Why realize if "none of this is real" and if “no consciousness of anything” will exist in the Absolute?

[The continuation and conclusion of yesterday’s post]
F.: Failing to Realize, persons will assume multiple personalities and will play “The Reformer” and/or “The Helper” and/or “The Achiever/Performer” and/or “The Romanticist” and/or “The Analyst” and/or “The Loyalist” and/or “The Adventurer” and/or “The Boss” and/or “The Peacemaker/Sloth.” Additionally, most persons will unconsciously assume the role of “The Child” and be dominated by another or will play the role of “The Parent” and will try to dominate others. Eventually, most persons assume scores of other roles that further trap them in the personas-fears-desires trap.

As their imagined fears and unmet desires drive them toward more and more dissatisfaction or outright misery, many persons will suffer from panic attacks. Other will retreat into a trance-like state of unconsciousness and walk about as if in a dream, joining the ranks of those marching about in their death-in-life, zombie-style fashion. For many, their fears or their desires will drive them to accept magical beliefs about powers in other worlds that can protect them or that can be coaxed with prayers or gifts to intervene and thus fulfill their desires or wishes and help them escape the anxiety they experience as a result of their fears. For some, the level of anxiety will become almost unbearable, so they will use nicotine or other drugs to try to calm themselves. For those, their health will falter prematurely and their energy levels will dissipate.

Many will become numb in order to play out the rest of the manifestation while avoiding any sensations. Others will experience an overwhelming sensation of being trapped. That sensation among some persons can become so strong that they reach a point where the most outrageous conduct follows (even as their friends and family proclaim that “such behavior is not at all like him or her” or report that they “can’t imagine where such actions might have come from”).

Not having Realized—and therefore not knowing what does and what does not cycle—they will become trapped in the chaos of “relationship cycles.” In each of those relationship cycles, they will become caught up in the game of shifting from stranger to acquaintance to friend to lover to spouse/partner to enemy to mortal enemy. Experiencing a sense of being trapped in their relationships, many a person has developed a secret desire or hope that his or her partner might leave or even die, thinking that might finally provide some degree of freedom. In many cases, some persons actually murder a partner in order to “be free,” some kill themselves to “be free,” and some do both. (Annually in the U.S., over 1200 murder-suicides, resulting in an average of seven killings per day, occur among “relationship partners.” Nearly half of all who are murdered each year are killed by a partner during a breakup.)

Whereas only Full Realization can free persons from all of the above, they instead do all possible to block awareness and to dissociate even further from the True Self and from their illusory "world." Suicide can be the means that they use to self-destruct if they are not able to be freed of all their false selves, of their self-contempt, and of their self-hatred.

So, to your question:

First, you are correct about the fact that nothing in this relative is as it appears and the illusion really is all much ado about nothing. Secondly, you are also correct that there will be no one in the Absolute state to realize anything. So, indeed, why Realize? In light of the experiences above that personas undergo in the relative existence as a result of corrupted consciousness, the counter question is: why not Realize, if the manifestation is to continue for a period anyway? Please enter the silence of contemplation.

SUPERSTITIONS, MYTHS, RELIGIONS, RELIGIOUS PERSONS, AND OTHER DISTORTIONS AND ILLUSIONS, Part Two

F.: The pointers offered in response to an e-mail posted yesterday now continue:

8. Regarding your “spiritual work” that you think can eventually unite you and god, such a joining of “A” to “B” would require duality to be real. The unicity is real, the duality is false, so no “joining of separates” or “uniting of separates” is possible. That Which All Is Is THAT one thing only, vibrating at various frequencies when manifested and thus resulting in “varying appearances” that are wrongly perceived as “different things.”

9. As far as a new personality developing, all personality is an illusion, so how could a “new” personality develop? And how could a former personality--a formerly assumed persona that was an illusion--recycle? Such scenarios can only be dreamed up via the manifestation and corruption of previously pure consciousness.

So the occasion that you would call “death” cannot happen since no birth happened. That “no-birth and no death principle” quite naturally prevents any reincarnation from happening. All that is going to happen is that the elements forming the space that you take yourself to be will rejoin the universal pool of elements, the spirit/breath shall rejoin the universal pool of air, and the energy-consciousness shall merge with the universal pool of energy. Portions of those elements may recycle with other elements into another form, or they may not. Quantities of that breath/air may recycle again through a plant or an animal or something else with a nervous system, or it may not. Quantities of that energy may recycle again into a plant or animal or something else with a nervous system, or it may not.

You, however, will likely remained trapped in your current false personality of “The Religious One” or “The Knowing One” since those ego-states are both entered into with the accompanying programming to “never question” and to “believe what you’re told.” Such is the bondage of the corrupted consciousness and such is the bondage of personality. Thus, believing what they have been told by “others” (from without), most persons will never realize what they have always known all along (within) but that has been blocked from awareness.

For those who are willing to question and to move along the seven-step path toward Realization, the consciousness can knows itself…can know the I-Amness. If it understands the Is-ness, then subsequently the re-purified consciousness is able to understand all else. The understanding of the functioning of the totality happens. Because you have accepted a false identity as real, you cannot know anything other than that which is false. Thus, all other beliefs held by that which is false must likewise be false. In that closed loop, your corrupted consciousness will likely remained corrupted and will therefore be closed off from knowing the unutterable truth that can nevertheless be known. So it is as persons walk about in the dream of the planet, playing their roles in The Drama of the Lie, and being directed throughout their play by the corrupted consciousness. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

DOERS, “THE MIND” & OTHER MIRAGES, Part Three

[Continued from yesterday]

V.: I am afraid of my own Absence in the world.

F.: WHO is saying that? What mirage (what quantity of contaminated consciousness) is expressing that delusion? Only the re-purified consciousness can speak truth, and the “I” in that comment is not the re-purified consciousness that is speaking. When I say that I was present for the beginning of this universe (and for the beginning and the end of all other universes), do you think that the “I” which is reporting that fact is the same “I” that is speaking in your statement regarding “Absence?” No. The “I” expressing a fear of absence (of death) is the “I” that is stuck at the first step (body identification) of a seven-step “journey” that has not even begun, according to that statement. It is an "I" which believes that it was born, so of course it believes that it can die.

If you do not yet understand what is present, how could your thoughts or your emotional intoxication around the concept of “absence” have any validity? What, other than body and mind and personality identity, would hope for any continuity or be afraid of any lack of continuity? The irony is, I have perpetual continuity which cannot end while the false “I” of personas—identified with body and mind—wish for a continuity which cannot exist. Thus, they (and "you" at this point) are trapped in fears and desires while I cannot be trapped or limited at all.

V.: I feel comfortable in my presence because of desires. How to feel comfortable about my own absence? When I feel embarassed, I might find it comfortable to disappear, but when the environment around me is so loving and beautiful, I want my presence to go on. I find it difficult to shift my identity to some level where knowingness no longer comes with us.

F.: Actually, you feel uncomfortable in your (misidentified) presence because of your desires, but more to the point, WHO believes in the false foundations from which fears arise? WHO believes in the false foundations from which desires arise? WHO has failed to see that a “loving and beautiful” environment cannot co-exist with illusory fears and typically unmet desires? And WHO is talking about “loving and beautiful,” two concepts that deal with the relative and with dualities? In the illusory relative “world,” the one who is believed to be loving today can be the one who is hateful tomorrow, and the laws of thermodynamics assure that what is considered beautiful by persons today will soon be considered ugly according to the relativistic values of those same persons. Moreover, your comments show your attachment to the relative world and its relative values and its relative concepts such as “loving” and “beautiful.” You believe that you live in this limited environment instead of understanding THAT which cannot be limited to any environment.

V.: I am 24/7 trying to please someone who does not exist - the \"I Am\".

F.: Not just the I AM. Stay trapped in your body-mind-personality identity and you will spend the entire manifestation attempting to please not only the corrupted consciousness and your assumed roles but also many other personas who are trapped in duality and false identities, including a withholding parent or an unavailable parent or judgmental parents; including those playing spiritual personas; including those assuming a girlfriend role or a spouse role (and who will assume “The Parent” role in order to control you as if you are “The Child”); including those playing “The Employer” role (and also acting like a “Parent”), ad infinitum. If you believe in your roles and if you believe in their roles, then the prison you find yourself in will not have one wall that must be broken through in order to be free but will consist of hundreds or thousands of layers of walls. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]