PARENT-CHILD EGO-STATES, Part Two

From a site visitor: “OK--I ‘confess’--I’m ignoring one of your points since there is something I want, desire--I want to be able to deal with controlling people coming at me from the parent role like you dealt with the guy who did that to you. The key is??????

F.: This is all so very simple, no matter the level of the discussion (whether at “step one” of the “journey” or at “step seven” on the “path”). Realize that there is no “guy” to come at me and no “me” to deal with any mirage called a “guy.”

There is a warped speck of consciousness that is temporarily manifested in a body, that is driven by a fictional “mind,” that is also driven by one or more personalities and subconscious personas, and that also just happens to own a keyboard. Realize that and the scenario you described (of trying to deal with "people coming at you") will have to end, n’est-ce-pas? No one to deal with, and nothing to deal with. Finis.

From another site visitor: “Dearest Floyd, Hey, ‘you’ are back! What fun, what frustration you can take! ‘Seriously’ though, the speckness that is speaking is freeing this one from innumerable fears. These last posts discussing the ‘sweet void’ only offer freedom. I finally get the Sky metaphors so often discussed and can let the metaphors go. Ginny

F.: The freedom and independence can really be enjoyed when the light is cast upon those fears and they are seen as ropes, huh? Peace and Light.

Now, to continue with the discussion of the Child/Parent ego-states. Exactly what is the origin of those ego-states? As in all such cases, programming and conditioning and domestication and enculturation are at the root. Then, modeling plays a part, which is also a form of programming and conditioning.

Thus, “The Parent” results from internalizing all of those “recordings” that were being played by persons assuming a parenting role during a child’s early years. Those tapes are played for children, along with a command that the children not question the content of the tapes. They are forced to “have faith” in any sayings or teachings (and all else imposed upon the child) by any “authority figure.”

The content of those tapes, therefore, is taken to be “truth” and will be passed on, even if evidence to the contrary arises and it becomes known that the content is false. (For example, I asked a Methodist minister who knew that Christ was teaching the Advaita message, "So why don't you go into your pulpit next Sunday and tell them the truth?" His reply: "Because it would be my last sermon. They'd walk out and I'd lose my job.") Warped specks playing influential roles warp the other specks under their influence. The continuation of ignorance and foolishness and nonsense becomes assured.

But another recording is being made at the same time that “The Parent” tape is being heard. “The Child” is making a recording of its own, and on each track of that tape is an imprint of the effects of an emotional trauma, a lie, a distortion, a hurt, a slight, a pain, an excruciating pain, ad infinitum, as the child experiences the frustrations of domestication.

Those tapes recorded during childhood will be set up with a sound-activation switch and an auto-recognition switch. Whenever anything sounds like or looks like one of those early emotional hurts, slights, pains, or excruciating pains, then those "Child" tapes will activate, an adult-aged person will revert to the child state, and she/he will experience the exact same emotions that were originally felt as a child. Then, that adult-aged person will react from a place of emotional intoxication and will behave in a childish, immature fashion.

Have you seen adult-aged persons behaving like five-year-olds? If one looks objectively at the childhood domestication process, it will be seen how frustrating the process is. The residue of that frustration, when triggered, will mar the relative existence of persons, no matter their age. The replaying of those tapes will drive adult-aged persons to experience and re-experience time and again the same childish emotions of their earliest years and to then act accordingly.

SELF-Actualization is one means by which the effects of the residue can be diluted, but in many cases, far more is required. As noted on many occasions on this site, the Advaita Teachings are not a cure-all. Some 1-5% of most populations are clinically insane. 99% suffer personality disorders, and many of those disorders manifest at a level of severity that calls for professional treatment. Advaita cannot provide such treatment for the most severe cases.

Thus, two other visitors were angered by the responses to their e-mails that arrived during the retreat this past week. Both wrote e-mails with content that revealed they have disorders and dependencies that need to be treated professionally before they can ever hope to comprehend these Teachings fully.

They must see that “sects” can take on many forms and can be cloaked in many disguises. Often, some major de-programming is required to be free of the program, the programmers, and the programming that take hostage the mentally sick and emotionally sick people who come their way.

Too, both individuals, proud that they have been freed of certain dependencies, are now trapped in an entirely new set of dependencies (such as dependencies on groups or on individual persons or on conceptualized dieties or on “new and improved” personas that are being reinforced by their new dependencies).

The words of both writers reveal that they have “Child”-type dependencies, needing recognition and approval. Both also have “The Parent”-type dependencies that inspire membership in organizations that allow them to “parent” others. Both want to play the role of “The Helper” and “The Saver of Lives” and thereby receive the “love” that they desire but have never received.

Both were sent level-appropriate responses to that effect, and both wrote back from “The Parent” role to explain how wrong the response was—that it must have come from impure consciousness since it did not address their queries at the “Step Seven level” as they had anticipated; that the reply addressed relative issues and was not rooted solely in the perspective of the Noumenon; etc. (Some want to run before they have an ability to walk. So it is.)

For now, the considerations are: (1) Have you been freed of certain dependencies? (2) If so, what are your current, substitute dependencies? (3) Are you finding examples where “The Parent” is manifesting in your thoughts, words, or deeds? (4) Are you finding examples of “The Child” showing up in thought, word, or deed? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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AN OVERVIEW

The order in which the books are to be read and how to get them at a package rate:

Consider the Meditation CD, the Meditation Guides, Bullshit, and Spiritual Sobriety to be a “Beginner’s Package,” providing a foundation from which persons can begin to consider realities that are beyond the beliefs which they accept unquestioningly as a result of their enculturation. Used as a group, the works encourage inquiry (which is at the core of the Advaita approach) where questioning has not occurred before. [See MAKE YOUR OWN PACKAGE below.]

Consider Peace of Mind, Liberation, What Happens When I Die? and The Essence of the Teachings to be a “Mid-Level Seekers” Package, each guiding seekers beyond the false identification with body and mind and personality and explaining the basic terminology that must be understood before moving to the advanced teachings. [See MAKE YOUR OWN PACKAGE below.]

Consider From the I to the Absolute, Consciousness/Awareness, and From the Absolute to the Nothingness to be an “Advanced Seekers” Package. From the I to the Absolute can serve as a guide for earnest and capable seekers, putting the teachings into an orderly context that reveals the exact steps that must be taken in an exact order to move through all of the degrees of separation from belief in the false “I” to Realization. Consciousness/Awareness offers the next level of understanding, explaining that which is beyond the beingness and how happiness can manifest each day via the understanding. Finally, From the Absolute to the Nothingness will allow earnest and capable seekers to understand the state that is even prior to beingness and non-beingness, even prior to the Absolute. The seeker who understands the content of this book will realize how it is that—from a state of non-existence or nothingness—everything in this universe (and all universes) came to be. [See MAKE YOUR OWN PACKAGE below.]
MAKE YOUR OWN PACKAGE (FOR A LIMITED TIME): 10% OFF if two books are ordered at the same time; 15% OFF if three books are ordered at the same time; 20% OFF if four or more books are ordered at the same time. Visit http://www.floydhenderson.com/

THE CURSE OF PERSONALITY ON THE RELATIVE EXISTENCE

F.: Even those seekers who have only begun to explore the Advaita Teachings likely know one of the most basic tenets: body-mind-personality identification is at the root of blindness and unawareness. What some might not yet recognize is this: each assumed persona generates the additional assumption of several other personas, and it is that ever-growing accumulation of multiple personalities that create the mass of darkness that prevents persons from seeing Who/What They Truly Are. And what greater example of ignorance or insanity can exist than not knowing who you are or than thinking you are someone or something that you are not?

When persons are not Realized and don't know the True Self, then they will be driven to adopt not only the false personas that they have been set up to assume but will also adopt other roles/personas that are offshoots of their already-adopted personas.

For example, an insecure man with fears of abandonment, taking himself to be “Husband,” will internalize the personality of “His Wife.” His fears will drive him away from being true to Self and he will internalize “Wife” in order to please her and reinforce her false identities, thereby sustaining his “Husband” identity. Fear of loss, combined with a desire to sustain his own false identity, will drive him to become a male version of "her."

That practice does allow many "relationships" to continue for a time since persons embroiled in their ego-states are so egotistical that they can only "love" self. If they see, as in this example, an opposite-sex version of themselves, they can continue the illusion that they are "in love." They are, to the degree that they are "in love" with their false self/selves, and they will be attracted to any thought, word, deed, or image that helps to support the continuation of their illusions and delusions.

Note how the assumption of one false self inspires the assumption of another: to sustain "Husband," the insecure man also becomes "Wife" by adumbrating her every thought, word, and deed as he reflects her image back to her. Of course, the same applies regardless of the gender of the parties involved: wives reflect husbands; lovers reflect lovers; parishioners reflect priests; abusers reflect abusers; radicals reflect radicals; the prejudiced reflect the prejudiced; ad infinitum.

Another example of this relative phenomenon was witnessed recently. A consulting contract was signed with a business that wanted its staff members to understand the ways that personas were negatively impacting performance. The owner of the business recognized that his employees were being driven by their primary personality types, that they had disintegrated into the worse of several other types, and that the fact that they were being driven by personality was disrupting the harmony in the workplace as a result of their also being so far removed from awareness of the Authentic Self.

The work with one company employee showed this: three months ago, that employee (who is a Personality Type Four) tested high as a Personality Type Two. In a recent re-test, his Type Two score was his lowest and his Type One score was his highest. Such shifts are generally unheard of or are very rare if the questions were answered truthfully during both testings. After studying the situation, several factors were revealed:

1. He is a Four but he had internalized his hero/grandfather who is a Type Two. One role, "The Good Grandson," inspired the assumption of another role, "The Helper." Further, his employment has an element whereby helping is supposed to happen, so that drove him away from his own basic personality type and allowed the liabilities of a Type Two Helper personality to manifest. One role generated more role-playing and prevented the manifestation of peace that only comes with authenticity.

2. But what accounted for the major shift from the Two to the One? After taking the first test, that employee spent the next three months under the supervision of a Type Four who had disintegrated and was exhibiting the worst traits of a Type One Perfectionist. As with the insecure man who had assumed his wife’s personality in the earlier example, this insecure employee assumed the personality of his supervisor. Because his supervisor/mentor is only showing the worst of Type One traits, this employee had assumed (after only three months of exposure to that supervisor's influence) the false persona of perfectionist as he modeled/mirrored his supervisor in order to sustain "The Employee" role.

That scenario plays out across the globe: persons subconsciously mirror "The Boss" in order to reinforce "The Employee" role. It happens on the national level as staff members/"Yes Men" become mere reflections of the president they serve; it happens in most work situations; it happens in "personal relations"; it happens in churches and schools; it happens in homes. Mirrors are reflecting mirror images, so authenticity is nearly extinct on a planet where 95% or more of the population is living a lie.

Rather than living in touch with Reality, persons are living in the mirror instead, but only a few will ever reach the point of admitting, "I don't even know who I am" or the point where they say, "I'm so disgusted with the phoniness that is dominating my existence that I am going to find what is Real."

If persons do not Realize, they will function as “human soybeans” and will take on the flavor of whatever they are next to. They will be robbed of choice as a result of being driven blindly by their self-generated fears as well as their desires to sustain their assumed ego-states. New ego-states will spring up to try to protect other false identities.

The result is a relative existence marked by multiple personality disorders, by chaos, and by persons being true to others' false selves rather than to their own True Self; thus, a relative existence results that is marked by flux, change, turmoil, self-deception and instability as persons try to be all of the things that they are not in an effort to try to sustain personas that they also are not.

All consciousness is in movement. Only the Absolute is stable. To avoid a relative existence that is marked by an addiction to chaos and that is dominated by layers of darkness that prevent being enlightened to the truth, even the consciousness must be transcended and abidance as the Absolute must happen. The "journey" to Realization only takes seven steps, but most will never find them; therefore, most will never be free of being driven by personality. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

ADDITIONAL READING RELATED TO TODAY’S POST

Click LIBERATION

MEDITATION GUIDE II, #168

#168: “That heron standing near the water’s edge has no strings attached. It goes where it pleases; it goes when it pleases; it goes how it pleases; or it does not go at all, and that pleases it too. For now, in this manifestation, he is perfect peace, seemingly with form and shape; consciousness, seemingly with form and shape; energy, seemingly with form and shape. So Am I. So Are You. Ultimately, he is That--That Which Was, Is, and Shall Be. No duality.” [Excerpt, p. 252 from The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders]

CONSIDERATION: “Free as a bird,” the expression goes. How do you go? Please enter the silence of contemplation.
THE FEATURED ITEM FOR THIS WEEK’S SALE IS Daily Meditation Guide II (The non-duality guides are self-contained, so they can be read in any order. 15% off the price of the set through July 1st)

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Synopsis of LIBERATION: This book helps remove the next barrier to Realization: personality. After being freed from body-mind identification, transitioning into the next step begins the process of being freed from identification with personas and being unconsciously controlled by personality traits. This book studies the nine most basic persona types as identified in the enneagram method and offers the way to be freed of the influences of personality.
WORKING ON BEING FREE OF PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION?

Click LIBERATION

MEDITATION GUIDE II, #160

#160: “These are the bars of the prison of the thinking mind: ‘I am a spouse’; ‘I am a worker’; 'I am a boss’; 'I am a parent’; 'I am a homeowner’; 'I am a lover’; 'I am a Christian, Muslim, Jew,' etc.; 'I am a spiritual person’; 'I am a good person’; 'I am a bad person’; 'I am a supporter’; 'I am an alcoholic,’ etc., ad infinitum.” [Excerpt, p. 250 from The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders]

CONSIDERATION: Are you experiencing the difference in the “I am this” or the “I am that” as opposed to simply living in the “I Am”? Please enter the silence of contemplation.
THE FEATURED ITEM FOR THIS WEEK’S SALE IS THE MEDITATION SET: Daily Meditation Guides, Volumes One and Two (15% off the price of the set through June 24th.)

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SEEKING LIBERATION FROM PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION? Synopsis of LIBERATION: This book helps remove the next barrier to Realization: personality. After being freed from body-mind identification, transitioning into the next step begins the process of being freed from identification with personas ("I am this or that") and being unconsciously controlled by personality traits. This book studies the nine most basic persona types as identified in the enneagram method and offers the way to be freed of the influences of personality.

Click LIBERATION

NARCISSISTS AND THE NON-REALIZED, Part Four

F.: Is it becoming clearer why NPD blocks Realization? All of the "personal traits" that are eliminated via Realization are the stock and trade of narcissists. The characteristics that narcissists develop and cling to are traits that narcissists are not likely to ever want to abandon. In their "minds," those traits make them "who they are."

If you examine the mythological Narcissus that provided the name for this disorder, another understanding might be attained. As the tale goes, a flower near the edge of a body of water grew out over the water and then downward in a way that allowed it to look at itself. Supposedly, since all that it could see was itself, it fell in love with itself. That is not quite the case with actual narcissists, though it is true that all they can see is themselves...is their false self. While narcissists can only see the reflected (false) self, the fact is that, unlike their namesake, they are not really in love with themselves (that is, with their True Self).

As with Narcissus, narcissists are really only in love with their image and their appearance, but the real difference in narcissists and their mythological namesake is that at some never-recognized level, they hate the false self and all the work required to sustain the image, but they will not abandon that mission. The life of a narcissist, therefore, always involves living in the mirror. Many narcissists will talk of love, but if one is only in love with a self-image—is only in love with self—then ultimately that person is not capable of loving “another.”

A narcissist is especially unable to love the Realized that are in touch with the True Self (and will actually hate what they see in the Realized) because the Realized will not mirror the narcissist and reinforce the false. Such hatred reveals that narcissists, at some level, feel insecure and threatened and vulnerable (for fear of their image being seen as false). Their desire to feel secure and strong will drive them to try to overpower everyone either by manipulation, by kindness or (if that fails) by brute force.

It should now be clearer why the point was offered in an earlier post that

only in the absence of personality, and thus in the absence of that personality disorder called "narcissism" which inspires an attachment to false images, can the True Self be known and can true peace happen.

Here's another case study as an example. Because narcissists cannot know True Love (that is, un-self-ish, unconditional, unconditioned Love), they mistake many other emotions for love. For example, consider the narcissistic woman with a sense of entitlement, discussed in one chapter from the book CASTING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIONSHIPS. Her case is a reminder that (1) all personality is rooted in childhood adaptations in response to dysfunctionalism, that (2) personality disorders fixate when childhood adaptations become adult personality traits, that (3) personality disorders are, therefore, rooted in concepts that were learned experientially during childhood but are carried over into adulthood, and that (4) childhood survival skills, and the subsequent childish thinking and behavior, work very poorly when applied to adult-age circumstances, relatively speaking.

In that case from the book CASTING LIGHT, the woman’s father told her at eighteen that he would send her brother to college but would not pay for her to attend. His advice to her was, “You’re good-looking. Go get a job until you find a man to take care of you.” Her mother added, “If you manipulate men with love, you can get anything you’ll ever want or need.” The subliminal message behind those statements included, “Your brother is valuable but you are not” and “Use your body and your looks to attract men. Then, use love as tool to manipulate them into taking care of you and you'll live a good life.”

Later, she would share that "men always make women feel like whores." In truth, it was her parents who taught her to use the same strategy that prostitutes use, namely, attract men with your body and fake them out with "love" in order to get money and be taken care of. The woman did not become a professional prostitute, per se, but her parents' advice did turn her into what some call a "lifestyle whore," driven to use body and looks, skilled at manipulating men, and willing to "fake love" in order to attain the lifestyle she wants. (Narcissistic men prey on certain women in the same way.)

Those words of her parents became her marching orders for life because they programmed and conditioned her to be narcissistic, to be a user, to be a manipulator, to believe that love is nothing more than a tool, and to identify with body alone. As far as the pointer that narcissists cannot know True Love but they mistake many other emotions as love, that applies as well: the woman in the case study has never earned her own way and has accumulated huge debts when alone. She married multiple times, always going for the wealthy man who was attracted to her looks and who was in a position to meet her financial desires and needs and to assuage her financial fears. Each time that some man was willing to “take care of her” (that is, was willing to “bail her out” and pay off her financial debts and cover all her expenses) she always mistook the feeling of “relief” for the emotion of “love.”

Now, compare her traits to the traits of narcissists in yestersday’s post that were taken from the DSM-IV: preoccupied with success, power, beauty, and ideal love, that is with “idealized” love; want to associate only with high-status, wealthy people; appear to care about people in order to use them; feel entitled; and are takers. Those are also the traits of the non-Realized, the traits that attach persons to their roles, that make them dependent and co-dependent, and that will almost always prevent them from ever seeking authenticity and Realization.

As far as “love” goes, narcissists are, of course, not the only ones giving lip service to it without having a clue about the unicity and True Self and what, therefore, “True Love” involves in this relative existence. For example, in another chapter of CASTING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIONSHIPS, the results of a survey of newlyweds are provided. 1000 women offered the top fifteen reasons they had recently married their husbands and 1000 men offered the top ten reasons that they had recently married their wives. What was not included in any of the top 25 reasons for marrying their spouses, as provided by the 2000 recently-married people who were surveyed? Guess. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
(FOR THE ANSWER AND FOR MORE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN CASTING LIGHT)

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“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 Fifteen

[Continued from yesterday]

F.: To review the key pointers offered so far:

· For millions of years, human or human-like beings functioned in a manner guided by the brain (not unlike the deer today).

· The human brain began to expand in size and capability only recently (in evolutionary terms) and developed the capacity to store memories and to retrieve (natural) memories in order to recall information that could protect the body and perpetuate the survival of the species.

· Pre-language memories did their natural job: they created a “mind” that contained information which led to constructive behavior and helped avoid potentially-dangerous situations.

· After languages developed, persons with personal agendas began programming and conditioning the minds of persons in order to control them and influence opinion, beliefs, and conduct. Rather than storing natural information, the brain began storing unnatural teachings and magical teachings about supposedly "supernatural" beings and events. True freedom was lost because behavior came to be controlled by one's programmers and their teachings, even if they were not present. (If one is conditioned, then freedom is nothing more than a concept and certainly cannot be real if a person's actions and reactions are the unconscious result of programming and conditioning.)

· Once persons began storing ideas and beliefs and concepts in their minds (instead of recording fact-based observations that could assist in natural living), then memories became dualistic in their nature: “Our tribe is good, but their tribe is bad,” and “We have the right to punish those whose memories contain information that differs from the concepts and beliefs in our memories.” The “mind” became a distorted conglomeration of corruptions and lies.

· As human behavior became more deviant and abnormal as a result of dualistic beliefs and concepts, children began forming personalities in an effort to try to deal with abnormal family situations.

· As more dualistic beliefs and concepts were stored in memory because humans were being exposed to more and more progamming and conditioning, a greater sense of separation from others and Self became more common as the “mind” became more corrupted and warped and as personas were attached to as an identities.

· As more adjusting was required among children who were trying to adapt to more and more abnormal circumstances, more personalities were formed. Then, children attached to their personalities (that is, to that childish set of “tools” being used to cope with the abnormal).

· As persons attached more and more to personality, which is rooted in childhood and in childishness, adults began to lose the ability to choose and instead fell under the influence and control of a childish personality. Childish ways were taken into adult-age situations. Adults, unconciously driven by memories and programming and personality, began to behave more and more in childish and nonsensible ways.

· Human behavior which is typically inspired by aberrations of personality now generates the majority of the “problems of the planet” as personality disorders determine (unconsciously) how persons emote, how they think, and, therefore, what they do. Each of the basic personality types eventually began to generate a particular set of personality disorders which then generated suffering for each of those types and for all of those who must try to deal with them.

· The result is this: billions of persons are walking about the planet, believing that they are choosing to do what they do when, in fact, they are sleepwalking...doing what their programmers would have them do; thus, all that they think and feel and do is determined by the emotional intoxication that they suffer as a result of unconsciously allowing a set of childish, childhood tools to guide them through adulthood. And all of that is based in illusion. Why? The past is an illusion. How can one possibly be free if everything being done, thought or felt in “the present” is a reaction to false perceptions formed in "the past"?

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

The discussion will now focus on the specific personality disorders that are common to each of the nine basic types, beginning with Personality Type Ones who can exhibit a God Complex Disorder, the OCD Personality Disorder and the Depressive Personality Disorder. Again, those happen most often when Type One persons are stressed, when they are overly-pious or seeing themselves as being highly-spiritual, or when they receive money as a result of their role-playing.

Type Ones (and Type Sevens who disintegrate into Type Ones) can be prone to perfectionism, including the belief that they are perfect and that all others should be perfect, according to the Ones’ definition of “perfect.” The God Complex Disorder inspires persons to act arrogantly, as if they have been appointed by a god or sent on a mission by a god. In the extreme, they act as if they are god, deciding who should live, who should die, judging who is right and moral, or determining who is wrong and immoral (using criteria based in childhood programming). Their sense of being perfect supports duality as they feel separate from—and superior to—“others.” Note how duality is fostered by the assumption of personality.

The Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder drives persons to accept mortgages on homes that are larger than they can afford, drives addictive behavior, and inspires persons to rush into or out of relationships. Professional researchers claim that OCD is one of the top causes of lost income and relative existence problems. The Depressive Personality Disorder is another common result of this personality identification, and while 95% of the earth’s population suffer the defect to one degree or another, most are in denial and claim that they are "really happy" and "have a great life."

In fact, the Depressive Personality Disorder is marked by duality, so there are constant shifts between states of happiness and unhappiness, high esteem and low esteem, optimism and pessimism, acceptance and rejection, and all of the chaotic movements that mark the instability in the lives of persons trapped in personality and in each personality type’s companion disorders. Is it becoming clear that almost all of humankind's relative existence problems are related to body-mind-personality identification and the nonsense that such identification generates? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued] For additional information about the book which these excerpts are being drawn from (There's No Such Thing As "Peace of Mind") click

here

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

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

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

[Continued from yesterday]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

here

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

[Continued from yesterday]

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

F.: So notice why “it starts out causing some trouble and then just gets worse and worse,” “it” being the “mind” that (a) is the collection of all warped programming and conditioning and enculturation and that (b) accepts personas as being real identities and that (c) expands from assuming one personality to assuming multiple personalities as identities. Each assumed role brings with it the belief by a person that his/her persona is being affected in the multiple areas mentioned earlier: finances, relations, sex, self-esteem, security, etc., so when an ego-state is threatened, the “mind” perceives that as a multi-pronged attack in many areas.

Then, multiply all of those areas that are impacted by the number of personas being assumed and you’ll have an understanding of why the “mind” can produce hundreds of thoughts around a single event that rob you of peace and trigger fear and a sense of loss. Take the man who thinks he is “The Husband.” His wife says she leaving him, taking the children, and preparing to “clean him out.” Having assumed a role (which always depends on another person for its “completion” and its very sense of "being"), notice what wife’s words will trigger:

First, “The Husband” thinks he is dying; then, “The Homeowner” thinks he dying; “The Father” feels threatened; “The Lover” feels threatened; “The Big Man in the Community” feels he’s being threatened; “The Retirement Fund Owner” feels his existence is ending; “The Property Owner” who shares ownership of a house that is full of his accumulated “stuff” senses that it is ending; “The Savings Account Man” knows that those funds are going to be dispersed and so his end is near; “The Investment Property Owner” knows that his other properties will be liquidated, so that ego-state feels that it's being killed; and the list could continue. Then, consider how many areas (finances, relations, sex, self-esteem, security) are being impacted by each of those false identities and you see the impact when multiple personalities are adopted and then when each of those feels threatened in multiple areas. Agenda after agenda after agenda triggers a series of reactions that often end is destructive and/or self-destructive actions in the relative existence of duality.

So, in your case, Beverly, you began with one agenda: to be “The Good Girl” and not “The Bad Girl.” Being “The Good Daughter, The Good Granddaughter, the Good Niece” and not “The Bad Daughter or Bad Granddaughter or Bad Niece” soon evolved. Then, lessons in duality gave you another agenda: to avoid punishment and to gain reward. By the age of two, you were already completely steeped in duality and false identities.

The ego-states were being impacted in many of those areas mentioned: finances (do you get your allowance or gifts for being good, or do you lose out because you’ve been bad?); relations (do your relatives applaud you for your goodness?); self-esteem (are you hearing more often that you’re “good” or more often that you’re “bad”?); security (are you being punished for your “badness” or getting threatening looks of disapproval?) Are you seeing how you have become trapped in that which is believed to be personal and how you came to believe that there is some “Beverly” that has attributes? Are you getting a glimpse of that which is transpersonal and that which must be transcended if you are ever to know Who/What You Are and thereby enjoy a sense of stability and peace? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.