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

[Continued from yesterday]

F.: It has been shown that the “mind” supports the assumption of personality and that personality is at the root of most relative existence problems. It has been asked, “Doesn’t all this talk about the mind and personality and personality disorders deal with the relative, and isn’t the relative an illusion?” The answer: Of course; however, if one believes in mirages and continues to suffer from automobile accidents that result when the driver takes evasive action to dodge mirages that seem to appear in the road, then mirages have to be discussed. They also have to be understood by the person driving and swerving and suffering if that destructive behavior is to end. Thus, this discussion.

FINAL SUMMARY

· For millions of years, humans survived and functioned well enough with a small, primitive brain and with no mind.

· Over the last four million years, human brain volume has increased from about 400 ml to about 1400 ml. Only recently during the evolutionary period did the brain develop the capacity to store memories and to retrieve memories, allowing for the formation of a “mind” which could store and retrieve information which could help avoid potentially-dangerous situations.

· After languages developed, persons with personal agendas began programming and conditioning the minds of persons, and the corrupted “mind” began overriding the brain, motivating foolishness and/or dangerous conduct (such as the brain saying, “Alcohol poisoning is killing the body and making it feel ill” but the “mind” overruling the brain and saying, “It will be used anyway since it will make me feel better”; or the brain saying, “This dogma is self-contradictory nonsense” but the programmed “mind” saying, “I have to believe all of my religious and spiritual teachings or my body will be tortured with fire forever”).

· When one has been programmed and conditioned, freedom does not exist since the power to choose does not exist.

· Once persons began storing in their “minds” the memory of ideas and beliefs and concepts that are taught by persons with agendas, then memories became dualistic in their nature.

· As human “minds”—and therefore human behavior—became more abnormal as a result of dualistic beliefs and concepts, children began forming personalities in an effort to adapt to abnormal family situations.

· With its belief in personas, the “mind” became more corrupted and warped and personas were attached to as identities. Personality then began to generate a variety of personality disorders, and personality disorders now generate most of the insane-like thinking and behavior of humans.

· Some claim, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste?” Nowadays, it would be far more accurate to say, “A mind is a terrible waste.” As Dennis Waite puts it, “The purpose of j~nAna yoga is to remove the obstacles to Truth.” The content of the “mind” has become the obstacle to seeing the Truth. Maharaj advised: “Go to zero concepts.”

· Adults, unconciously driven by memories and programming and personality, behave more and more in childish and nonsensible ways.

· Personality now generates the majority of the “problems of the planet” as personality disorders determine how persons emote and think and, therefore, determine how they behave.

· Billions of persons are blindly and unquestioningly doing what their programmers would have them do.

· The solution to "the problem of the planet" is Realization, including the discarding of all body-mind-personality identifications.

· Anything offered by Advaitins can only have “applicability” during the relative manifestation.

· Post-Realization, AS IF living can happen. When the ego dissolves via Realization, then happiness begins because fear and desires end.

· Full Realization will result in complete freedom…even freedom from believing in power or free will or choice. Seeing clearly, it becomes understood that the “problems of the planet” are illusory and that there is no “you” that has any problems.

· Only post-Realization can persons be free of the insane-like condition of not even knowing Who/What They Truly Are…and what they are not.

· It is “the direct path approach to Realization” that is offered on this site. Following the direct path requires no worship, no practices, no sacrifices, no giving or taking, no adherence to rules or dogma, no daily or weekly meetings, no fund-raising, no special buildings or special clothes, no robes, no special haircuts, no physical posturing, no holy texts, and no accoutrements. (It is because of the “no holy texts” part of this path that some suggest “vedanta” is not even applicable.) Pointing to the Original Understanding, which is the same understanding attained via Realization, makes the approach vary from other methods. That said, there is no suggestion that any path is “superior” to any other.

· The direct “path” that is being illuminated here allows a seeker to remove misperceptions via an objective investigation of all personally-held concepts; allows the continuation of the “journey” once it is understand that the highly-valued “mind” is to be devalued and discarded; and allows the seeker to advance along the way by removing the obstacles on the “path” (specifically, the psychological abnormalities) which support the erroneous belief in personas and which enable a childhood set of tools called “personality” to control the entire relative existence of adult-age persons across the face of the planet.

· Moreover, the direct path as expounded here is the path to natural—rather than unnatural or supernatural—living. Rather than “setting a goal” to worship god(s) or to know the Self, the direct path allows an awareness of the no-self, the no Self, the no-Being, the non-beingness, and the no-concept, non-dual Reality.

· If the content of the “mind” (which is a conglomeration of distortions and misinformation) is discarded, then the effects of personality can be discarded. If both the “mind” and the “personality” are discarded, then the remaining steps of the Seven-Step Journey to Reality can be completed and abidance as the Absolute can happen. Only then can freedom during the manifestation also happen. But it all begins with questioning and then discarding attachment to the illusions of the body-mind-personality triad. Please enter the silence of contemplation. For additional information, click

here
TOMORROW: A RIVER THAT FLOWS INTO THE OCEAN OF REALITY

This series has been excerpted from the book

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND”

(There is Only Peace if You’re Out of Your Mind)

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

[Continued from yesterday]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

here

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

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

Psychiatrists and psychotherapists attempt to treat mental illnesses. Realization offers the treatment for personality disorders.

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.: “Mind” and “personality” cannot be separated since the former generates belief in the latter. The latter, in turn, generates all emotional intoxication. [Search the site for “feelings” vs. “emotions.” The short version is, while the Realized can witness feelings rise and fall, only ego-states—only assumed personas—emote. When personas believe that they are experiencing some slight, hurt, threat or interference, a series of actions and reactions are inspired that trigger emotional intoxication as well as destructive and/or self-destructive behavior.] When persons are trapped in the agendas of their false roles, then emotions will always overwhelm cognitive functioning, so now a new pointer is available:

It has been seen that the “mind” can override the constructive functioning of the brain; now it is seen that persona-generated emotionalism can also subdue the manner in which nature had originally intended that the brain should function. Now the degree of wisdom behind the Advaitin pointer that one must relinquish identification with the “mind” and the personality as well as with the body becomes clear. Review the evolution of the brain in regards to this latest understanding:

Humanity functioned with a mind-less brain for thousands of years. The brain evolved, developing an area for storing memories and an organ that could retrieve memories. Those two areas of the brain were intended to help humanity survive and to behave constructively. No personas were taken to be identities.

As language developed, information being stored in the brain was less and less of the character of things observed and became filled more and more with the remembering of things told. To observe a friend who touched a burning log, to see his pain, to file away that memory, and to recall that memory when next in the presence of a burning log produced behavior that would be considered “sane.” To the contrary, to observe crops dying as a result of the lack of rain, and then to be told that the rain is being withheld by an angry god who wants a priest to fornicate with a virgin and who wants the priest to cut out her beating heart with a sharp-edged rock and pass it through the crowd during a commune-with-god service produced behavior that would be considered “insane.”

The result of thousands of years of being conditioned to believe in whatever one is told rather than witnessing objectively and believing in that which is observable and provable has resulted in a planet that is populated with masses of ...

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

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

The relative problems of the planet and the problem of being out of touch with reality have nothing to do with either the brain or with the pure consciousness. The problems have everything to do with the false, fictitious “mind.”

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.: Thus, memories form the “mind” as they are stored in the file inside the brain. The memories / “mind” generate body identification, “mind” identification, and personality identification, all of which are illusions but which nevertheless generate catastrophic results (relatively speaking). The memories / “mind” have become the source of “the problem” because the “mind” interrupts the ability of the brain and the pure consciousness to function naturally; furthermore, that “mind,” and its belief in illusions and lies, blocks awareness of that which is true and real (the Absolute) and which is prior to body, “mind” and memory.

It should be seen, therefore, that neither “the relative problems of the planet” nor “the problem of being out of touch with reality” has anything to do with either the brain or with the pure consciousness. The problems have everything to do with ...

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

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

The brain (which was intended by nature to function in a “sustain and preserve” capacity) has now been overridden by the “mind” (which is bent toward chaos, destruction, and self-destruction).

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.: To review, the brain (which was intended by nature to function in a “sustain and preserve” capacity) has now been overridden by the “mind” (which is bent toward chaos, destruction, and self-destruction). The parts of the brain that store and retrieve memories are overshadowing and overpowering all of the rest of the brain in determining how persons emote and behave. Historically, humankind in general attempted to take all necessary action to survive. That has changed.

Today ...

To continue, here are a couple of current examples of the “mind” overruling the brain, and the subsequent consequences:

1. The brain ...

It should be seen that all conduct that is considered harmful or destructive in the relative existence is a result of programmed and conditioned “minds” overriding the natural aspects of persons' brains. Therefore, all harmful or destructive conduct (relatively speaking) is based in that which is supernatural or in that which is unnatural ...

The “mind,” intended by nature to function in coordination with the brain in order to inspire sane, constructive, and self-constructive behavior (relatively speaking) now short-circuits the natural process and ...

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, visit: http://www.floydhenderson.com/

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

[NOTE: To those trying to place an order, the server is not yet repaired. In the meantime, if you want to place an order, you can send a message to the book sales division at http://floydhenderson.com/contact.htm and arrangements will be made. Sorry for the temporary inconvenience. Thx. ]

Because of programming and conditioning and enculturation, that which had been an asset (memory) has became a liability.

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.: The “deficient and distorted” part of the brain that Maharaj referred to is, of course, that part which stores and accesses memories, so all memories are deficient distortions. Nothing is as it appears to you, and nothing that has ever appeared to you was really the way it was perceived. You have been fooled because that which "they" gave you to use for perceiving is an accumulation of foolishness. Since the “mind” is the sum total of memories, and because all memories are distortions, then the “mind” is the sum total of your distortions. Want to be free of distortions and to Realize truth? Be rid of the “mind.” Yet you cannot go beyond the “mind” when you are constantly looking at the “mind” (that is, paying attention to "thought"). In order to go beyond the mind, Maharaj said, you must look away from the “mind” and its fictional contents. That means, therefore, that “minds” are nowadays so deficient and distorted that they should be ignored.

If you have not Realized, you do not see things now the way that they truly are, so it would have been totally impossible to have seen them the way they truly were in the past; therefore, the invitation is to Realize, to see that none of the memories that you are clinging to are accurate (including memories about “happenings,” memories involving “persons,” and all of the things you were taught to believe that are still stored “in your memory”).

Next, understand the reason that there is some talk in the teachings about “Now.” (By the way, there is no “power of now” since there is no power. Power is just a concept to which persons become addicted). “Time” too is a concept, so why even speak of now? Because anything supposedly recalled from the “past” is a memory, and it has been established that memories are distortions, so there is no past and there are no accurate memories. In fact, your entire world is in you...in your "mind," so how could that which is merely in your "mind" and which you think is "the world" possibly be real?

The most that the I-Amness can ever claim, therefore, is now, but if Realization has not happened, even perceptions regarding "now" are distortions. (Eventually, even that speck of now-time measurement will become meaningless, if you Realize.) If Realized—and thereby free of (false) memories—no action now would be triggered by a memory of something past. That in itself would be another level of freedom. For example:

MEMORY-DRIVEN DISTORTION LEADING TO EMOTIONAL INTOXICATION: “I am upset because we are no longer together and I don’t have the love now that I had back then.”

CLEAR PERCEPTION NOW AS A RESULT OF NOT BELIEVING IN A DISTORTED, ILLUSORY MEMORY: “What I thought I had back then was not even close to ...

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]

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

[NOTE: To those trying to place an order, the server is not yet repaired. In the meantime, if you want to place an order, you can send a message to the book sales division at http://floydhenderson.com/contact.htm and arrangements will be made. Sorry for the temporary inconvenience. Thx. ]

Because of programming and conditioning and enculturation, that which had been an asset (memory) has became a liability.

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.: It is emphasized again that (1) it’s all energy at the core, that (2) nowadays natural living can only happen under the auspices of the brain and never while under the influence of the corrupted "mind," and that (3) all learned ignorance—stored as a “mind”—must be tossed if peace is to happen. Note how each step in the following analysis moves from something wrongly-perceived (such as "a human body") down to the most basic “ingredient” of the universe that is common to all in the universe. (Call it "strings," call it "that," call it "sparticles," or point toward it with any term you choose, but there is that single, most basic "whatever" that all is. Differences in appearance are caused by nothing more than a variance of the vibrational rate at which "that" moves when manifested.) Here’s how it works, as explained in earlier postings:

1. A human’s body mass is mostly water. Carbon, the basic unit of organic molecules, is the second most common element.

2. A “molecule” is a group of atoms in a definite arrangement held together by chemical bonds.

3. In August of 2005, this pointer was offered:

At the core of the sun, four hydrogen nuclei fuse together to form one helium nucleus, and that happens over and over. The part of the energy that process releases as light travels in particle and wave form. Plant photosynthesis sets the stage for another cycling of manifested energy-consciousness.

4. Likewise, the energy drawn into a cycle from the Absolute pool manifests in plants after it “travels” in a particle or wave form; humans consume the plants (or the animals that ate the plants), triggering a “transfer” of energy; multi-part atoms of energy are at the core of organic molecules, and organic molecules are at the core of the human body. Everything that is considered “body” can be traced back to its most basic ingredient and that ingredient can be seen to be a temporary manifestation of energy from that field of energy called the Absolute.

What does that have to do with clarifying for students the role of the brain, the “mind,” and the consciousness in the Teachings? Recall the earlier pointer: “Consciousness is rooted in the Absolute. The brain is rooted in the elements. The ‘mind’ is rooted in wrong programming and faulty conditioning and lies and concepts and ideas and superstitions and falsehoods.”

THE CONSCIOUSNESS: The conscious-energy, temporarily manifested, is “real” to the degree that it is a form of energy with specific levels of functioning that can be measured. (Why “real” in quotes? Because even this manifested consciousness is time-bound, a temporary expression of that which is truly and eternally real.) Among the triad of elements-breath-consciousness that sustains “life,” the manifest consciousness is required. The energy cannot be destroyed. It is and will be.

THE BRAIN: The science above shows that the brain, at its most basic level, is elemental and that conscious-energy is temporarily manifested via those elements; therefore, it is “real” to the degree that all is energy. (This differs not at all from what is revealed about a steel beam if it is studied under an electron microscope: what is not real is the beam as it appears; what is real is that swirling mass of energy that is not visible to the naked eye. Such is the case with the body and with parts such as the brain.) Among the triad of elements-breath-consciousness that sustains “life,” the elemental brain is required, the modern use of resuscitating equipment to sustain a body notwithstanding. The elements cannot be destroyed. They will be.

THE “MIND”: The “mind” is neither elemental nor energy, so it is not ...

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]

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

[NOTE: To those trying to place an order, the server is not yet repaired. In the meantime, if you want to place an order, you can send a message to the book sales division at http://floydhenderson.com/contact.htm and arrangements will be made. Sorry for the temporary inconvenience. Thx. ]

Because of programming and conditioning and enculturation, that which had been an asset (memory) has became a liability.

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.: So, it can be seen that the term “the mind” is just a name given to a set of files. Originally those files were stored in the brain (as what would come to be called “memories”) so that the file information could be retrieved if needed in order to help humans survive dangerous situations (i.e., “Remember when the fellow in the next cave thought he was picking up a stick and it was a snake. Check more carefully.”) It can be seen that now the “mind” has been so distorted that the persons of the planet believe that a rope is a snake.

Those files/memories are so contaminated with distortions, misperceptions, dogma and all other kinds of lies that the “mind” can no longer serve its original purpose. Where it was intended by nature to work with the rest of the brain to avoid destruction, in its present condition, the typical “mind” is generating more destruction and chaos than survival and peace. It is one thing to remember that a snake which looks like a stick can kill you; it is something else to remember dualistic messages that include: “We’re better than all others on the planet because we live in the greatest country on earth,” or “It’s OK to attack or kill those who have been taught the tenets of a religion that is different from your religion,” or “People with that skin color are all ignorant and criminal.”

It can be seen, therefore, that the current, distorted state of the modern “mind” came about after languages and personal agendas developed which enabled persons to begin teaching dualistic concepts. After that occurred, persons used languages to pass on as fact an entire body of lies, lies that were not based in actual happenings or fact at all (things such as beliefs, ideas, myths, superstitions, dogma, theories, attitudes, “spiritual knowledge,” religious “knowledge,” concepts, false identities, etc.) It can be seen that the distortions being stored nowadays as remembered lessons/memories are not memories that can be used for survival but are corruptions that are driving conduct that is destructive, self-destructive, and detrimental to both peace and survival.

As a result of the distorted concepts and beliefs that are currently being stored in what is called the “mind,” nature’s intent has been invalidated. That original storehouse of files in the brain which was intended by nature to work with the rest of the brain to guide the body to behave in a natural fashion, is now resulting in the body being guided by a warped “mind” that generates unnatural "thinking" and conduct and supernatural “thinking” and conduct.

Nowadays, memories are not being retrieved from the mind to avoid dangerous animals or the precarious edges of cliffs but are generating dualistic “thoughts” such as, “They are ignorant…we are smart”; “I am good, but they are bad”; “I deserve reward but they deserve punishment”; “I heard a God in another world tell me to drop bombs on people in this world”; “I am going to destroy you (or "reject you" or "leave you" or "punish you") because you have said things and done things that are different from what I wanted you to say and do”; or, "You can't be good...you're different from me."

Now, a natural mind no longer works with a natural brain to generate natural living. Instead, the content of the typical “mind” today generates a style of living that is ...

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]

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

[NOTE: To those trying to place an order, the server is not yet repaired. In the meantime, if you want to place an order, you can send a message to the book sales division at http://floydhenderson.com/contact.htm and arrangements will be made. Sorry for the temporary inconvenience. Thx. ]

Because of programming and conditioning and enculturation, that which had been an asset (memory) has became a liability.

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.

F.: Again, apologies for the search problems. It seems that the site is not searching all of the 2005 postings for some reason. This might be the comment that you’re referencing: “Consciousness is rooted in the Absolute. The brain is rooted in the elements. The ‘mind’ is rooted in wrong programming and faulty conditioning and lies and concepts and ideas and superstitions and falsehoods.” For more on that, visit www.advaitaquotes.blogspot.com.

Your question is similar to many that came in after the post on discarding knowledge (including this one as well: “How can consciousness be ‘warped’ or ‘corrupted’ if it’s just energy?”) All of those questions will be addressed in this new series of postings, along with your query. At the root of the relative problem involving persons is this: that which was one of nature’s assets (the formation of a mind after the brain evolved and developed the ability to store memories) has been warped into an unnatural or supernatural liability. While no Advaitins would suggest that seekers must learn science in order to Realize, Maharaj did say that someday science would advance enough to catch up with the Advaita understanding and validate scientifically the philosophical Teachings. He was correct, so please bear with this approach that might resonate with some.

The smaller human brain, in its earlier and simpler stages of development, allowed humans then to live as deer live today: hunt/forage/find food for survival; interact; take actions that are self-defensive and self-constructive; and procreate in order that the species will survive. As more and more humans walked the planet, the simplicity of existence would be lost as the simplicity of the brain was lost.

Complications resulted because of an increase in human interactions (and an increase in both individual as well as tribal interests and agendas). The brain began to evolve in order to compensate, and eventually areas that could store memories came into being. At that point, the mind and the brain worked in tandem and in harmony to contribute to the survival of individuals and the species. The mind came about as “memories” began to be stored. As a part of the defense mechanisms for survival of the species, the mind had its role and played it “properly” (naturally) for thousands of years.

For example, if a caveman remembered that his companion fell from a cliff and died as a result, the caveman might avoid falling from cliffs. The original process was as follows: over a period of evolution, the brain expanded to include a cerebral cortex and a hippocampus. Afterwards, when an event happened (such as a human falling off a cliff) or when someone learned something (such as, “falling off a cliff can kill you”), the brain placed the memory of that event and the related knowledge acquisition in its “memory files." That is all the mind was: a collection of memories filed away in those "newer" parts of the brain.

The memory of both old and new happenings would be processed and stored away in different areas of the cerebral cortex, or the "gray matter" of the brain. The hippocampus would process the memories. (As a side note in that regard, a disease receiving considerable attention nowadays—Alzheimer’s—comes about when the hippocampus is damaged, resulting in...what else...memory loss. Is it not interesting that one who might have been a fighter for years and who loved chaos suddenly becomes peaceful when the ability to tap into dualistic memories is lost? Witness the way that the ability to remember dualistic concepts and dogma are now the curse of the planet, relatively speaking.)

Over a period of time, language developed which allowed controlling men with hidden, personal agendas to dream up concepts and teach those ideas to others who could—by that point—remember them. The overabundance of dualistic concepts and beliefs and dogma (which were destructive and separatist in nature) began to outnumber the earlier class of memories that were survival-related.

It was one thing for the caveman to “feel bad” if the fish that was going to feed him and his family that day happened to get away. Such feelings are natural. It is quite another thing when modern persons—as a result of living under the auspices of a warped, dualistic “mind”—truly believe that they should feel “bad” when they do things that are also natural, such as...

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]

SEEKING THE REAL THROUGH USE OF THE FALSE

FROM A SITE VISITOR: You say that this is easy, but it is very difficult to grasp. My body and mind have existed for 30 years. How can they be discounted? And of cource I want eternal life. How can that be discounted? Why should it be discounted? Brian

F.: Hello Brian. The AS IF living that is happening is easy; what is difficult is living a relative existence in bondage…in the bondage of identifying with a body and with a “mind” and with multiple identities. Living free is easy; thinking that you are limited and time-bound but desiring eternal continuity of a body-mind-personality is difficult to the degree that wanting the impossible and working to attain the impossible is insane.

Your difficulty in trying to Realize, but not being able to, begins with the fact that you are trying to use your body and “mind” to find truth and eternal life. You will never see truth, however, unless your entire way of seeing is drastically altered. And your entire way of seeing cannot be drastically altered as long as you are trying to use that which is time-bound and limited to comprehend that which is beyond time and limits.

How warped is the thinking that can look at the first picture ever taken of a combination of elements called “Brian,” that can look at a recent picture of a combination of elements called “Brian, age 30,” and then conclude that those are the same set of elements? How warped is the thinking that a combination of elements that has had no continuity in this “realm” could have continuity in “some other realm”? And why should that desire for continuity be discounted?

No declaratives that you “should” discount that desire have been offered. Pointers have been offered that misery and depression and anxiety are rooted in fears and desires. Most persons will cling to both. To cling to fears and desires is to perpetuate misery, depression, and anxiety. What happens with these pointers as they are exposed to that corrupted consciousness that takes itself to be “Brian” and “Brian’s body” and “Brian’s mind”? Typically, with most persons, nothing will happen with the pointers. Typically, it is the pointers that are “discounted” as the bastardized consciousness prefers its lies.

Finally, no “mind” has existed for the “30 years” that you mention. The elements associated with the space called “Brian” have included a brain for 30 years, but a “mind” only seemed to form as the manifest consciousness began to be warped via programming and conditioning and enculturation. In fact, there is no “mind.” There is an accumulation of memories regarding concepts and beliefs and attitudes and ideas and dogma and lies, and that accumulation is called “the mind.” Why discount that accumulation which so many persons are so proud of? Again, that suggestion is not offered.

Instead, the invitation is to see a mirage for the mirage that it is, not to “discount”—or increase—the value of a mirage. In touch with Reality, neither discounting nor increasing happens. “Life” is a mirage. “Eternal life” is upgrading that mirage. To believe that the body and mind and personality can exist forever in a paradise is an upgrade of the mirage. To believe that a body and mind and personality can be cast into eternal flames and suffer unlimited pain forever is downgrading the mirage. It is the corrupted consciousness that is involved in discounting (and upgrading), not the pointers on this site.

Therefore, there is no need to either discount the body or “the mind” or personal desires and fears or to try to increase the body or “the mind” or personal desires and fears. If one would be free of the corrupted consciousness, however, then all belief in illusions and lies and distortions must be cast aside. Most consider the familiar more comfortable than the unfamiliar, so most will cling to their beliefs about such lies as “my body,” “my mind,” “my desires” and “my fears.” So it is. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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

[Continued from yesterday]
V.: Even though its intellectually understood that the one who is fearing his own absence is a non-existent entity, the fear is still there.

F.: Again, the words reveal that it is not the re-purified consciousness that is speaking but—by your use of the word “intellectually”—you reveal more of your “mind” stuff. That comment comes from the second step level. Though this is a seven-step "journey," you continue to hover around steps one and two...around body and mind identification. You likely visit step three at times (assuming a spiritual and/or religious persona) but you are unable to transition that persona and continue the "journey" to its completion. Why? As with all ego-states and false identities, "The Spiritual One" loves his role, and he especially loves that role since his entire culture dualistically agrees that it is a "good" role...not a "bad" role.

To see how out of touch with reality that “I” is—the “I” who is speaking—restate your comment with accuracy: Even if a mirage could intellectually understand that it is fearing its own absence when the sun sets, and even if the mirage knows that it’s just a mirage, the fear being felt by the mirage would still be there. If in touch with Reality, it would be understood that a mirage is a mirage and that a mirage can know nothing. It would be seen that it would be totally insane to believe that any fear being generated by a mirage is real.

It would be seen that it is totally insane for a relative existence to happen in the style of a mime…pretending that he’s trapped in a box that does not even exist. It would be seen that it would be totally insane for the mime to play “The Mime Role” for so long that he eventually begins to believe that he really is trapped and that the box he’s in is real. It would be so simple for the non-insane to see the conditioned mime’s self-delusion and insanity. What is complicated is the maze of lies called the “mind.” It is the attachment that persons have to the fictional "mind" that prevents the insane from seeing that they are insane and prevents them from understanding that their insanity is sustained by their unquestioning faith and their naive belief in what persons have told them. Seeing all of Reality is simple. Seeing all of the lies is more challenging. Understand that Reality is observable from within but that lies all come from without.

V.: How to overcome and find the courage to be what one truely always is?

F.: For some, seeing the price of not knowing What One Truly Is can inspire an undertaking of, or completion of, the entire “journey.” Some finally tire of the silly games, of the unmet desires, of the imaginary (but seemingly real) fears, of the instability of their cycles of being happy and unhappy, of the mental and emotional pain and suffering. However, since persons have been conditioned to have a high tolerance for pain (and have been conditioned to walk about in their sleep and generate even more pain), few ever attain freedom from the programming and conditioning and enculturation and corruption of the consciousness. Thus, they will walk about the planet in their dreams, they will play their phony roles in The Drama of the Lie, they will generate chaos by emoting, and they will prefer the sleep-like stupor of boredom in order not to have to feel anything associated within the insane “world” that they imagine is real.

Therefore, they just stay in their pain or their stupor, even as they deny their pain or their stupor. For most, the “path” can only be followed when clearly marked. Yes, a guide can point the way, but so many who claim “The Guide Role” have never completed the “journey” and believe at dawn that they are standing beneath the noonday sun. The book FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE marks the way clearly by identifying the seven steps, in their exact order, that are required for Realization to happen. Only via step-by-step instructions can persons avoid the thousands of useless steps now being taken, steps which are nothing more than distractions and which bog persons down with doingness. All that doingness merely reinforces the false sense of a “do-er,” resulting in this closed loop: the imaginary do-er believes in his/her doingness, then his/her doingness reinforces the illusion of a do-er. Being trapped in that cycle inspires persons to run about in a circle and thus prevents completion of the “journey” that requires the following of the direct "path."

V.: The notorious Ego even tries to make use of this understanding that \"one never exists\".

F.: The irony of the ego is this: as long as the “I”—the “ego”—is taken to be real, the influence of that illusion (which is generated by the corrupted consciousness) will prevent the re-purification of the consciousness. The ego’s quest is to convince the false self—and all other false selves—that it is that which is real. Thus, any effort to tell a “Husband”—who is dependent on “Wife” for his very existence—that he is not a “Husband” at all is a consideration that will be spurned like a mangy cur. The invitation is to see that a mirage can have no power over the sane nor any influence among the sane; however, if one swerves his car off the road and over a cliff to avoid a mirage in the road ahead, the effect of the mirage in the relative existence will certainly seem real enough and powerful enough and influential enough to a programmed bystander. Conversely, the Realized will see a mirage for the mirage that it is and will sail along peacefully down the road, unaffected at all by the illusions that seem to appear before the eyes and that are taken by the non-Realized to be real.

V.: (please excuse me, badly feeling the need of question-answer sessions and physical presence of someone who is stabilized in the Absolute)

F.: No excuse need be requested or extended in reply. This type of happening is what happens on this site and is what shall continue until the consciousness is no longer manifested or no longer speaks. On the other hand, if you still don't "get it" after this set of free pointers, spring for the cost of the guidebook. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS: Out of town. Please visit the archives.

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

FROM A SITE VISITOR: When we say that, constant practice and remembrance is needed to stay firm in who we really are, it must mean that, all along, it should be a practice to be undertaken by something that is not ultimately \"me\". Its the mind that has to engage in practice and not \"me\". And When we say mind should practice, what exactly should the mind do? Is it that the mind should always look at it\'s own falsity and completely understand that its a false entity that\'s at work? So.. is it something like, the very act of \"looking\" and \"understanding\" that everything is false is tantamount to all the practice needed? This is what makes it difficult. Because the very nature of transactions of the world makes me feel lonely if I am not involved. I am afraid of my own Absence in the world. 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. I am 24/7 trying to please someone who does not exist - the \"I Am\". Even though its intellectually understood that the one who is fearing his own absence is a non-existent entity, the fear is still there. How to overcome and find the courage to be what one truely always is? The notorious Ego even tries to make use of this understanding that \"one never exists\". Yours, Vigneshwar again (please excuse me, badly feeling the need of question-answer sessions and physical presence of someone who is stabilized in the Absolute)

F.: Hello again, Vigneshwar. Your comments and questions will be responded to in sections:

V.: When we say that, constant practice and remembrance is needed to stay firm in who we really are, it must mean that, all along, it should be a practice to be undertaken by something that is not ultimately \"me\".

F.: First, if You know Who/What You Truly Are, why would You have to practice to remember that? To the contrary, You cannot forget it; therefore, the proper invitation is to move along the “path” to full awareness and then be done with the “doing” and the “do-er” (rather than fixating at a point prior to Full Realization and "doing practices" there). The shift from identification with the “I” to Realizing the Absolute happens in seven steps. On that “path,” focusing on the I-Amness in order to be free of the I am this lies or the I am that lies might happen for a period, but it is not required for the entire remainder of the manifestation. This pointer was offered in September of ’06 regarding “practices”:

Pray all the prayers that you think you need to pray; knell, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate as much as you think you need to kneel, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate; read all the “holy” books that you think you need to read; visit all the “sacred” sites or “sacred” men that you think you need to visit; chant or hum every chant or hum you think you need to chant or hum; ring every bell you think you need to ring; and burn every stick of incense that you think you need to burn. But when you are done with all of that, realize that you—and all persons who are fixated in a stage and are playing their religious or spiritual roles—are mistaking the dawn for the noon. Realize that praying and knelling and bending over and stooping and lying prostrate and reading and visiting and chanting and humming and ringing and burning (and every other external thing you try to use to be more spiritual or to try to demonstrate how spiritual you are) will actually block you from finding the truth which can only be found within after certain pointers are taken into quiet and solitary consideration.

Similarly, practice until you don’t practice; practice until no “one” remains to practice. As for your comment it must mean that, all along, it should be a practice to be undertaken by something that is not ultimately \"me\", that is correct at a certain point on the “path.” After Full Realization, it is realized that there is no “Practicer,” there is no “one” who can practice anything, and there is no “do-er” who could do practices.

Next, do not mistake a pointer offered to a protégé at one particular point on “the path” as a pointer that is relevant for all protégés at all other points on the “path.” The reason that so many have trouble with grasping the simple teachings is that the teachings often seem contradictory. They are not. It is merely that a protégé at one point on the “path” will be invited to consider one pointer while a protégé at a different point will be invited to consider a totally different pointer. Each pointer is only relevant for a particular protégé that is at a particular point on the "path." Finally, if a practice is undertaken by something that is not ultimately \"me\," then wouldn’t the practice have to be just as bogus as any not you that thinks it’s a do-er and is doing the practice?

V.: Its the mind that has to engage in practice and not \"me\". And When we say mind should practice, what exactly should the mind do? Is it that the mind should always look at it\'s own falsity and completely understand that its a false entity that\'s at work?

F.: You are still speaking from the “mind” level (which is only the second of seven steps on the "journey"). You still believe that you have a “mind” and that your "mind" is valuable. It is not. It will never serve your "cause." It will, instead, prevent you from ever reaching Full Realization. The space called “vigneshwar” has a brain. Be content with the brain functioning as designed but be rid of the fiction-filled “mind.” That which you call “your mind” is actually nothing more than an accumulation of thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of delusions, lies, and concepts. See each of those as nothing more than a distortion dreamed up by persons. Then, if those individual distortions are illusion, why would they be considered "real" or "true" simply because they are viewed collectively as "a mind"? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]