DISCARDING “KNOWLEDGE” WHEN IT IS ACTUALLY LEARNED IGNORANCE, Part Five

Why do so few Realize? (1) Pride in worldly knowledge and attachment to religious and/or spiritual knowledge. (2) Use of a "backwards" approach, namely, knowledge accumulation vs. ignorance de-accumulation. And that is why worldwide ignorance has not been stamped out and will not be stamped out, because persons believe that the planet-wide epidemic of ignorance could be solved if only people would acquire more knowledge. The Advaitin understands that the knowledge is the ignorance and that the ignorance is the knowledge. The ignorance is that which the masses have been taught and have learned, and their ignorance will only be compounded if more of the same type knowledge is injected into the equation. Ignorance could be stamped out if persons were to forfeit their revered beliefs and ideas and concepts and dogma. Since that happens so rarely but is a prerequisite for Realization, only a few will ever Realize (that is, be in touch with reality...be restored to sanity). Among religions and philosophies, there is no other means that can produce the necessary brain-flush save completion of the entire Advaita “journey” which invites the dissolution of all of the contamination that is “the mind.”

From a site visitor: I’m totally westernized--gulity as charged--so I’ve been trained to give great value to knowledge, which you’ve been knocking. I’m at least willing to listen to you and see if I can get your point, but looking at your bio info, you obviously attended university, acquired enough knowledge to convince someone that they should pay you to use that knowledge, and then paid your bills through use of that knowledge. Your vast knowledge in many subject areas is obvious. So, what’s the deal? Larry

F.: In yesterday’s example of a curtain blocking the witnessing of the lilies, take the lilies to represent Reality and the curtain to be the learned ignorance that blocks seeing Reality. To remove the curtain of ignorance does not require more knowledge as much as it requires seeing ignorance as ignorance and seeing most "knowledge" as ignorance as well. Take the curtain’s removal and the witnessing of the lilies to represent that “Oh my gosh!” moment of Realization when (after preparation happens, after envisioning and reading happen, after discussion with a Realized Teacher happens, and after the readiness thereby comes about) all of the knowledge/learned ignorance fades away, body-mind identity ends, the influences of personality end, and Full Realization happens. Yet nothing prevents Realization more than assuming personas (be they “The Perfectionist,” “The Controller,” “The Religious One” or “The Spiritual Giant.” And nothing supports those last two ego-states more, and nothing perpetuates entrapment in the ignorance of concepts more, than the all-time leading source of concepts: religion (or even philosophies such as Advaita when they are distorted into religions).

The Advaita process will reveal to you the ignorance of believing in concepts, dogma, and ideas that (1) were dreamed up ages ago by shrewd men with an agenda to control the ignorant masses (especially females), that (2) have been passed down as “religious or spiritual knowledge” for millennia, and that (3) must be removed if truth is be seen. Advaita is based in reason and logic, so no Realized Advaitin would insult seekers (especially “females”) by suggesting they learn the chauvinistic tales in the “holy” writings of the three dominant religions. Why accept teachings that pass on an irrational, subliminal message about how much “worse” women are than men, such as Eve who tempted a formerly “good” man; such as Lot’s wife who (unlike her “good” husband who did not look back) was turned into a pillar of salt because she did; or such as Mary Magdalene who was revamped as “a whore” when the Christian Bible was totally re-written, and its message further distorted, in the 4th century.

Advaita would never reinforce such vilification of females, portraying them (in religious texts that are described as “the inspired word of God”) as the “bad” influence on pitiable men who were previously “good” before dealing with “evil” women…women such as Jezebel, Rahab, Potiphar’s wife, and Delilah. Females would never be encouraged by an Advaitin to accept teachings in “holy” texts that denigrate women (or men). Curiously, three billion women on the planet do go right along with all of that sexist nonsense, evidence of the degree to which programming and conditioning can result in causing some otherwise intelligent people to be totally blind and totally fooled. And the fact that so many women continue to honor those beliefs and align themselves with the billions of men who adhere to such prejudicial, dualistic dogma is a wonderment as well. So it is on the “Planet of the Programmed.”

To the contrary, Advaita erases, rather than reinforces, such dualistic belief in “bad women vs. good men,” in "good men vs. bad men," in "God vs. bad people," in “differences,” in “better than,” and in “evil vs. moral.” You will never be asked by a Realized Advaitin to stretch the imagination, to start thinking magically, and thereafter believe that a human egg was once miraculously fertilized sans sperm. You would never be asked to accept that the (supposed) mass-murder-by-drowning of every inhabitant on the planet except for eight people (resulting in an act of genocide that made Hitler’s efforts look like child’s play) was a “perfectly understandable and acceptable” act that should not be questioned.

These are but a few examples of the type of fictional knowledge that currently trap over six billion persons in the imprisonment of their so-called “minds.” They do not need more to believe in--they need far less. Thus, the Advaita approach deals with “the removal of knowledge which is merely learned ignorance,” not with “acquiring and accumulating more knowledge.” There is no other means that can produce the necessary brain-flush save completion of the entire Advaita “journey” which invites the dissolution of all of the contamination that is “the mind.” And that is why Christ, after understanding the Advaita message, left organized religion and used the Advaita method not to add more beliefs but to try to remove beliefs: "A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways"; "no one will ever see the kingdom of heaven...it's within"; "heaven and earth shall fade away"; "when you speak of me, speak of me as I AM"; and "Before Abraham was, I AM." Please enter the silence of contemplation. [Tomorrow: The Conclusion]

DISCARDING “KNOWLEDGE” WHEN IT IS ACTUALLY LEARNED IGNORANCE, Part Three

[HOW TO SEARCH THIS SITE: Before today’s post, several inquires have arrived about searching the site for specific terms. Google changed/complicated the process when they shifted from the BETA version recently. Here’s the new search method:
1. In the white area at the top, type in the search word.
2. Click SEARCH BLOG.
3. Click EDIT at the top of the page.
4. Click FIND (ON THIS PAGE) on the drop-down menu.
5. Re-type the same search word.
6. Click FIND NEXT. Each time you click it, you'll be taken down the page to the next instance where the word appeared in prior postings. The term will be highlighted. Sorry for the inconvenience.]

From a site visitor: I’m totally westernized--gulity as charged--so I’ve been trained to give great value to knowledge, which you’ve been knocking. I’m at least willing to listen to you and see if I can get your point, but looking at your bio info, you obviously attended university, acquired enough knowledge to convince someone that they should pay you to use that knowledge, and then paid your bills through use of that knowledge. Your vast knowledge in many subject areas is obvious. So, what’s the deal? Larry

F.: Some defending their propensity for acquiring (and even gloating) over their accumulated knowledge have argued one of two arguments: (1) “I convert my knowledge into money. I use it to make a living.” The response: “If you were to measure all of your ‘knowledge’ and then detemine how much of all of that is actually used or required for you to ‘live,’ it would be so microscopic—so fractional—as to be undetectable. Your egotism regarding how smart you are has once again resulted in “you” fooling your self."

(2) “Well, you learned to read, Floyd. Now, you use that worldly knowledge when you travel to satsangs to find your way.” The response: The ability to witness highway markers and to follow the path they mark in order to arrive at an intended destination happens, but once at the destination, the markers are neither prized nor revisited nor fixed in thought nor discussed (unless a seeker wants to follow the same path to reach the same destination). More to the point, there is no "one" to believe that "he" has knowledge of all those markers. Signs can be witnessed, but why store away any knowledge of signs, why remember the signs forever, or why cherish them as another part of some cumlative knowledge base that becomes a source of false pride? If not being used on the path, not another second is spent in paying attention to the signs. There is no "I" that "knows" the signs. The signs are merely witnessed...and without attachment.

The confusion comes (a) because a seeker at one level is not told the same thing as a seeker at another level and (b) because the very nature of the Advaita Teachings involves paradoxes. Thus, it seems one must accumulate Advaitin "knowledge." (Even the most basic expression of the non-dual Teachings appears to be a paradox: "I AM THAT; I AM and that is not two." The further paradox is that the consciousness can only know that it is while in that I AM-ness and cannot know anything in the THAT-ness. Thus, if You abide as THAT, how could any "knowing" happen?)

Because of both “a” and “b” above, it is suggested to site visitors or to those who attend retreats here that they tap into the “inner guru,” yet some time with a “guru” is often required for most to receive the full and final understanding. Why? If one is asleep and wants to wake up but is surrounded only by other sleepers, who can be depended on to awaken that one? Only one that is not among that circle of sleepers. So is "knowledge" of the Advaita Teachings needed or not for Realization? What is needed are the pointers that are offered to seekers by the Realized "teacher," pointers intended to remove erroneous beliefs in all of the distortions and illusions and learned ignorance that block access to the pure consciousness. "Teacher" is in quote marks because "teaching" involves the transmission of knowledge; that is not the same as removing false knowledge (learned ignorance).

To the contrary of the Advaita approach which focuses not on acquiring knowledge but on being free of learned ignorance, all other “paths,” religions, spiritual movements, and philosophies require (a) accumulating “their” ideas, dogma, beliefs, knowledge, and concepts as well as (b) practicing their practices…“for life” or, in the case of those who do not understand what cycles and what does not, “for multiple lives.” Before Advaita, no other had ever said (during those decades of intensive seeking by “floyd”), “Not only can You be free...You already are free, and if you grasp that Understanding, you’re done. You’ll not have to attend meetings or sessions; you’ll not be required to give us a percentage of your money. You will not have to genuflect nor sing nor intone nor pledge nor recite creeds or oaths or prayers in unison with others who are genuflecting and singing and intoning and pledging and reciting creeds and oaths and prayers in unison.” No one else had ever said that, other than an Advaitin teacher.

No one else, other than an Advaitin teacher, had ever said: “You will not have to know our chants. You will not have to learn special drumbeats or to know when to ring a bell or how to burn sticks, and you will not have to pay us to burn our candles. You will not have to buy our special holy book and read it forever in order to gain knowledge and truth.” No one else said, “You will not have to read every day forever to gain more wisdom and knowledge. You will not have to work to gain or to maintain anything. You will not be called upon to learn the inner workings of our organization so that you will know how to serve on a committee or board. Whatever happens with you will just happen from the moment of Realization on, and it will happen spontaneously. Peace will not have to be sought any more, knowledge will not have to sought anymore, and you will not have to work to ‘get it’ and ‘keep it.’ It will just happen.” No one else had ever said that, other than an Advaitin teacher.

No one else, other than an Advaitin teacher, had ever said: “You will not have to know how to heat rocks so you can sweat in a lodge, and you will not have to learn ancient chants or foreign languages or to know how to hum our special hums because this Understanding is assessible to all. And you will not have to give your money to build special buildings or to buy special furnishings or special accoutrements and then know the special significance of them all. You will not need to know which days are 'separate' and ‘different’ and ‘holy’ and ‘more important’ than other days or years. You will neither have to wear your hair in a special way nor shave your head completely, and you will not have to wear any special clothing.” No one else had ever said that, other than an Advaitin teacher.

Everyone playing a religious or spiritual role wants others to have knowledge of their doctrines, to have knowledge of their theories, to have knowledge of their learnings, to have knowledge of their beliefs, to have knowledge of the intricacies of their dogma, to have knowledge of the content of their letters, to have knowledge of the content of their special book, and to have knowledge of when to do exactly what everyone else does in hypnotic, robotic synchronization (which keeps persons asleep rather than awakening them). For them, “spirituality” is about “spiritual growth” or “growing in knowledge.” For the Advaitin, anything pointed to with the term “spiritual work” would involve removing knowledge (learned ignorance), not about attaining knowledge. Is preparation required, even for receiving the Advaita Teachings? Yes. Does that involve reading certain books? Usually. Does it involve developing the ability to sit in the quiet and contemplate a pointer? Yes. Does it involve sitting for a few days or weeks with one that is Realized to understand the final clarifications? Usually. Is a lifetime of work, reading, meditating, and considering necessary? No.

Ultimately, it is seen via Realization that (a) anything a person calls a “spiritual experience” is nothing more than a perceived happening in “their world” and that (b) their "world" is a fraud. It is also seen, therefore, that any so-called “experience” which supposedly happens to “a fictional person” in “a fictional world” must be…fictional. There is no experiencer, so there are no experiences. All "experiences" are assumed to be real by false identities only. Anything labeled as such is just an imagining, an emotion-based belief or reaction triggered after the assumption of an ego-state. To advance along the seven-step "path" and to transition beyond the third step, therefore, it must be seen that “The Spiritual Man” claiming "spiritual knowledge" and "spiritual experiences" is just another ego-state, not one iota different from “The Mass Murdering Man.” And those two personas are no different from the hundreds of thousands of other roles that persons accept as identities, all of which are supported not by factual knowledge but by learned ignorance instead. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

DISCARDING “KNOWLEDGE” WHEN IT IS ACTUALLY LEARNED IGNORANCE, Part Two

From a site visitor: I’m totally westernized--gulity as charged--so I’ve been trained to give great value to knowledge, which you’ve been knocking. I’m at least willing to listen to you and see if I can get your point, but looking at your bio info, you obviously attended university, acquired enough knowledge to convince someone that they should pay you to use that knowledge, and then paid your bills through use of that knowledge. Your vast knowledge in many subject areas is obvious. So, what’s the deal? Larry

F.: Now, Larry, before continuing with the response to your query (a response that will be nothing more than a bit of entertainment) understand these pointers first:

1. All accumulated knowledge, all of the revered knowing, goes when “the knower” goes. (Ultimately, therefore, knowledge cannot be discarded either, since there is no “discarder.” Belief in all nonsense just fades away.)

2. All knowledge, including what persons call their “spiritual knowledge,” is only worldly knowledge. Why? It is all being generated by the warped consciousness that is currently functioning in the phenomenal world, so it all really deals only with the concepts of this false “world” and with upgrading phenomenal, dualistic illusions: “There is this world, and if you’re ‘good,’ you get to go to a better world.” Sounds “spiritual,” huh? Yet an illusion (a better world)that is an upgrade of an illusion (this world) is still an illusion, and illusions are always the stuff of “this world.”

3. Because so-called "knowledge" is being generated by persons in a world that is not real—that is nothing more than a series of false perceptions—then it is all false knowledge; therefore, it cannot be knowledge at all. It is only learned ignorance. To believe that there is “this world” and “that world” is duality, and not only is "this world" false—all "worlds" believed in by persons are false…figments of overactive and warped imaginations.

4. Who could possible “have” knowledge, “possess” knowledge or “attain” knowledge? Consciousness can be aware of itSelf, but even that is time-bound, only for the period of its manifestation. And even that is not a “knowing” since the prerequisite for "knowing" or for something being "known" is the presence of "a knower." To claim that “I know mySelf” is equally false since it suggests duality, that there is some subject with “I-ness” that knows some object. So in the purest terms of any discussion of “knowledge,” you cannot truthfully even claim to know yourSelf, and that is precisely why Advaita teaches that the truth cannot be stated. Ultimately, any knowledge that a person claims to have and then states cannot be the truth, so the effective Advaitin teacher guides seekers to an awareness that even they will not put into words if Fully Realized. The Advaitin teacher can do no more than point toward Reality, and once Reality is seen, even the pointers dissolve. So much for knowledge.

For now, though, back to the entertainment. As for that “vast knowledge” you refer to and think you might be seeing, it amounts to nothing more thorns being used to remove thorns from seekers. Some students of Advaita often miss a key point: you do not need to know everything that your teacher knows in order to realize. To the contrary, you need only to be willing to give up what you think you know if the teacher suggests that you give up certain concepts or beliefs. Eventually, all concepts and beliefs will fade away. Forget accumulating knowledge and focus on the de-accumulation process.

Here, knowledge is valued so little that, just as with a thorn that is tossed after being used to extract another thorn, so too is it all ignored when not being used to remove thorns. Just as there should be no pride in ignorance, there is no pride in knowing. More to the point, there is no one to be proud of anything. The consciousness speaks. One said during a recent gathering for sansang, “But it was the knowledge you shared regarding the pagan, barbaric roots of ‘holy communion’ that allowed me to detach from that ignorant practice.”

The reply was something close to this: "Fine. You are reporting that a piece of factual information was able to rid you of belief in a non-fact, in a bit of fiction-based dogma. But now, be free of all of that information. After you realize that the practice was--and is--all nonsense, then the knowledge of ancient barbaric practices should be as meaningless to you as their modern barbaric excrescence. On the other hand, know that some all along, with no additional knowledge about the history of communion, rejected the barbaric practice when first invited to participate. Many reply, 'Come with you on Sunday to drink blood and eat body (or to drink pretend blood and to eat pretend body)? Are you nuts?! No thanks.' Some naturally see more clearly than others because they were not subjected to the same insane programming. They were not given that 'knowledge'--that learned ignorance. Some see more clearly only after much effort, depending on the degree of programming and conditioning...that is, depending on the degree to which absurd concepts overlay the consciousness."

Next, were you to follow this space called “floyd” throughout a typical day, you would see no use of knowledge per se. You would see living happening in a natural, spontaneous, agenda-less manner. Just as you walk without thinking about walking, this entire “life of floyd” happens just like that. Can the deer (which offers a perfect example of how to live without "a thought-life") function for an entire day, an entire month, or an entire lifetime in that spontaneous, natural fashion? Not only can it—it does. And it happens across the globe among the comparatively few that are Realized. That is, in fact, why “the search” can end “successfully” with Advaita and Advaita only, and that is why the desire to accumulate knowledge and concepts and dogma and ideas can end with Advaita…and with Advaita only.

(NOTE: Until firmly fixed in Full Realization, what are you to do if a troublesome thought should arise? Find the ego-state that is thinking the thought. When you realize that the so-called thinker of the thought is fictional, her/his fictional thought is spontaneously discredited and discounted. Then, using that same process as often as is called for, the assumption of the false identity can recede until it eventually dissolves. You are never the thinker of a thought. Thoughts arise (1) after an ego-state is assumed as an identity and (2) after the ego-state falsely perceives a desire or need or fear-provoking threat. Talk about “needing a mirage" or "running scared from a mirage!”) Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

DISCARDING “KNOWLEDGE” WHEN IT IS ACTUALLY LEARNED IGNORANCE, Part One

From a site visitor: I’m totally westernized--gulity as charged--so I’ve been trained to give great value to knowledge, which you’ve been knocking. I’m at least willing to listen to you and see if I can get your point, but looking at your bio info, you obviously attended university, acquired enough knowledge to convince someone that they should pay you to use that knowledge, and then paid your bills through use of that knowledge. Your vast knowledge in many subject areas is obvious. So, what’s the deal? Larry

F.: Hello Larry. First, the fact that you are “totally westernized” might preempt any chance of your “getting the point,” especially since the content of your e-mail reveals that you have bought into the very essence of the core belief that most westerners hold about work: you only do it to get something, to gain something, to accumulate, or to get a payoff. (All of the “No, I love my job” stuff ends when your pay ends. As for volunteer workers or “the Personality Type Two Helper,” search the site to see what their true motives are.)

You will see, if you read on and consider objectively, that the western knowledge/beliefs about work have evolved from, and then been merged with, ancient mideastern knowledge/beliefs about religion and spirituality. That blending of knowledge/beliefs about work and knowledge/beliefs about god/gods has resulted in the learned ignorance that now dominates the persons of the planet. In fact, it could be argued that such knowledge is far more dangerous (relatively speaking) than all other types of ignorance combined. It is that category of knowledge (which is not knowledge at all but is actually learned ignorance) that the Advaita teachings invite persons to discard in order that they might be able to see reality (and thereby be in touch with reality, that is, be sane). As it is now, that merging has resulted in a near-planetwide belief in a god or gods who will reward you if you do religious or spiritual work and who will punish you if you do not do that special work.

The invitation for now is to see this: western and/or Judaeo-Christian and/or Anglo-Saxon values are rooted in the ancient “knowledge” passed down from pagans. The Jews accepted that knowledge as their own and taught that those among them who were wealthy and who had healthy children were “good” (and being rewarded by a god) and that those who were poor or had unhealthy or stillborn children were “bad” (and thus beinging punished). Later, the puritannical elements among Christians would accept such “knowledge” as fact, and most today are trapped in the knowledge that they think they have regarding the interrelation of “good vs. bad,” “reward vs. punishment,” and their religious/spiritual knowledge and work as well. It is that type of “knowledge” (learned ignorance) that Advaita invites persons to discard.

That the Judaeo-Anglo work ethic became enmeshed with the so-called religious and spiritual knowledge/beliefs among persons is no surprise. The notion that there is always a payoff for any work you do (be it physical, spiritual, religious, or communal) is the “come-on” that has been used by medicine men and priests and religious men and spiritual men for as long as they have been playing their self-appointed roles: “Do this work that we tell you to do—and do it with knowledge of the 'right' way that we teach you to do it—and there will be a reward, a payoff, both now and later.”

How convincing were the ancient “holy” men? They were so convincing that early priests convinced parents to sacrifice their virginal daughters to please an angry god. As “God’s representative on earth,” the priests had sex with the daughters (in a symbolic act of oneness, they claimed) and then cut out their hearts and passed them through the crowd in order that all might commune with god. The people had been given this knowledge and accepted it as fact: that gathering to participate regularly in "communion" to drink the blood and to eat the body would please an angry god (such as the rain god) and that a payoff would follow. And if the blessing of rain did not come and “save” the crops? More "sacrifice" was obviously wanted by the god. Kill a few more virgins.

How convincing are the modern “holy” men as they continue to transmit the ancient knowledge and myths and superstitions and beliefs and practices? So convincing that nowadays two billion people pass on this same knowledge to their children who now believe that they will be closer to god and will be making him happy and will thereby be rewarded and blessed both now and forevermore if they will perform that same cannabilism-vampirism routine regularly. So convincing that two billion more will use spikes and maces to beat themselves regularly and bring forth the blood in order to please their god.

Are you seeing the points about “knowledge” and “learned ignorance”?

1. Far less of such knowledge, rather than far more knowledge, is called for.

2. To learn a skill that will pay your bills is one thing. Even to be “proud” of that knowledge is just another bit of arrogance based in the adoption of a persona (i.e., “The Super Teacher,” “The Super Protégé,” “The Super Student,” “The Religious Expert,” "The Super Ascetic," etc.)

3. Infatuation with your "vast store of knowledge" will delay being free of all learned ignorance.

4. Infatuation with accumulating more will retard your de-accumulating and being free of what you already have too much of.

5. To learn ignorance is another thing still, and it is that which persons are invited to cast aside.

But with a “westernized mindset” (becoming popular in the Far East as well nowadays) little about Advaita will sound appealing to you since you will be told, “Do this ‘work’ and you will gain nothing but will lose everything instead!” That very notion will likely be anathema to your “western mind”; however, since you claim that you are “at least willing to listen and see if you can get the point,” a pause will happen in order to provide an occasion for consideration. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued tomorrow]

Knowledge? or SELF-knowledge?

FROM A SITE VISITOR: You seem to have some genius. I am an INTJ because I want to put money in my pocket and separate myself with books, scientific \"knowledge\", and hopefully one day a career in medicine. Sometimes I despise INFJs because I think they overvalue feelings, like another carbon copy of Jesus, but INFJs are also the rarest of the types as I\'m sure you know. I unsettle people everywhere with my prana (or behavior patterns), but don\'t care to take any discples, or address their confused feelings/emotions. Do I need all my Ojas or can I smoke weed but sit in Dhyana and forget about duality? I read in Raja yoga, and believe that enlightenment is physiological. Anything would help, I want to be a leader and help reform the modern masses, but I want out of this hot world afterwards ala Theravada. Any communication will be met with deep respect. James B.

F.: Hello, James. Thx for the e-mail. As for “any communication will be met with deep respect,” maybe…or maybe not. The “J” in the Jungian/Myers Briggs system of cataloguing personality, which you have accepted as a defining label, may drive you to assign or deny value to these pointers and then close down further consideration. The “T” could drive you to discredit any invitation to tap intuitively into the “inner guru” or “inner resource” that is the avenue to Realization as you currently value far more the external knowledge that you are accumulating. (In the realm of “things metaphysical or spiritual,” that knowledge is nothing more than learned ignorance.) As mentioned yesterday, “On this site, however, the invitation is never to share what someone else said, what someone else wrote, or what someone else knew. The invitation is to find that which You know. What is it that You have always known but have forgotten?” You are being driven to accumulate knowledge rather than to know what You already know. The “I” aspect of the personality type that you've assumed might facilitate that search…or not.

That said, before other site visitors are sent off on a useless quest to investigate Myers-Briggs, let the pointer be made again that the MBTI or the Enneagram Personality Inventory or any other systems that classify personality are dealing with nothing more than an illusion—namely, personality. Ironically, that illusion does have the ability to control the behavior and thinking of most persons on the planet. Part of the insanity around personality involves persons (a) being controlled by personality while (b) believing that they have free will and are making choices. Can personality type accurately predict behavior under given circumstances since most personas behave in such predictable, “textbook” fashion according to the personality (i.e., according to methods of thinking and behaving and emoting which they developed during childhood to survive or to function in an often-bizarre environment)? Of course. But when factors other than choice determine behavior, that is imprisonment...not freedom.

Realization is about being free of the entrapment that drives persons to react and over-react to illusions. As with those mentioned yesterday who have a fear of clouds, their “bondage” is an illusion and their perception of clouds is an illusion, but "the relative existence effects" seem quite real to the sufferer. The bottom line on all of the self-analysis inspired by the study of any personality system was shared yesterday: "You do not need more knowledge. The only thing you need to be aware of about any of the nine types of personality [or the 16 M-B types] is that they drive people, that none of the personalities are you, and that all personality is to be transcended if you would be sane and happy."

As for “genius,” not at all. The consciousness that speaks via this site is the same consciousness that speaks through any space wherein the consciousness has undergone the re-purification process. As for the "book knowledge" that you prefer to accumulate and as for any plan to work in the field of medicine, that career can be marked with peace if it happens with non-attachment, but it will be marked with misery should some persona decide that he is to be “The Leader,” “The Boss,” or “The One in Control.”

As for your query regarding the “Ojas,” are you revealing more evidence of identification with the ego-states of the “The Boss” or “The One in Control”? Are you going to gain control over the brain, which should be allowed to functionally naturally? Or will you try to go a step further and try to control the “mind” when the mind is nothing more than the very seat of all delusions? [See http://www.advaitaquotes.blogspot.com/ for more on the distinctions involving consciousness, brain, and mind and to see more on “the mind” itself. Also, to address "weed and Dhyana," toggle down while on that quote site and read what the original purpose of meditation was. You might find that commonly-held beliefs about "stilling the activity" of the fictional mind or about "chilling out" during those always-limited periods of samadhi miss the orginal intent of meditation completely.]

As for Raja Yoga and Theravada, of course you would prefer, at this point anyway, methods that involve analysis, likely seasoned with some reasoning and an even larger dose of investigation. Yet any effort to "cultivate the mind" is an exercise in insanity since the "mind" is that which is rooted in insanity and which generates even more insantiy. [Again, see www.advaitaquotes.blogspot.com for further explication.] Who would want to cultivate weeds when the healthy garden happens after the purging of all weeds is complete? While reason applied during the investigation of self and Self might be productive (relatively speaking) all of the other “stuff” generally ends up being “much ado about nothing,” just like this very posting today.

The invitation for you, considering where you currently are on the “path,” is to see the non-dual, no-concept nature of Reality (physiological aspects notwithstanding). That requires that you first re-read your e-mail and find all of the assumed, but false, identities that are revealed therein. You must know who you are not before you will ever come to know who/what You Are. Then, if you witness objectively, you might see the duality (the self-contradiction) of asserting that “sometimes I despise INFJs because I think they overvalue feelings.” You might see that some “you” is experiencing a very strong feeling ("despising") even as you attack those who have...strong feelings. [Ain’t projection a bitch?] So now, you have either been provided with much to take into “real meditation” (wherein pointers are considered in clear fashion), or not. Best regards on your “trip,” in whichever direction it might go. Please enter the silence of contemplation.