“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 Thirteen

The very worst of each personality type in evidenced when persons are stressed, overly pious, or making money off their phony role-playing. How many on the planet are not either stressed, overly-pious, or receiving income for playing their roles? The negatives are prevalent—relatively speaking—and dominate the “human (persona) experience.”

[Continued from yesterday]

F.: Often, Type Sevens as children were trying to cope with a rigid or emotionally-unavailable or demanding parent (more often the mother). Sevens sense, rightly or wrongly, that the inflexible parent is never totally pleased with them or that the parent is never willing to fully accept their uniqueness. (That is generally a result of the fact that the mothers of many Sevens were either facing their own challenges at the time the Seven was a child; or had an attachment disorder; or were over-stressed because of circumstances but lacked the coping skills to deal effectively with those circumstances; or were preoccupied with their own agenda and interests.) Sevens as children become dedicated to trying to lighten the mood of the overly-serious parent. As a result, Seven’s end up on a life-long quest to have fun and escape restrictions (such as those imposed by a rule-loving parent). Later, however, they also become hesitant to make commitments in their own adult relations, preferring to keep many options open instead.

Often, Type Eights as children were trying to cope with a mother in a battle for control. Typically, the Eights succeeded in getting their way as a child and they expect to always get their way throughout their adult years as well. They usually become domineering and controlling and often want both earthly and “heavenly” power in order to have all of the power necessary in order to try to control everything and everyone.

Often, Type Nines as children were dealing with excessively supportive or indulgent parents, so as adults they have a sense of entitlement that makes work unattractive and creates an expectation that others should take care of them. Nines can become quite lazy and can use passive-aggressive methods to manipulate others to care for them.

(NOTE: It has been asked in the past, “If childhood and family conditions have such an influence on determining personality type, why do siblings so often have different personality types?” The answer is, “Because no two brothers or sisters are raised by the ‘same’ parents or in the ‘same’ family.” Meaning? Meaning that parents are in a state of flux and families are in a state of flux. The dynamics are never the same for any two children, though they might be members of the 'same' family, since economic cycles rise and fall, since the parents’ relationship ebbs and wans, and since the addition of each child affects the character of the family unit.)

Thus, the most common personality defects (as revealed above) which mar the relative existence include the following: self-absorption; judgmentalism; giving, but only in order to receive even more in return; viciousness; being overly-competitive; being phony; being aloof; being unavailable; being morbid; being fear-based and insecure; being blindly loyal; being an escapist; being a control freak; being demanding; and being lazy. Those are the typical products of the basic personality types. Add the defects that appear when persons adopt another twenty or thirty ego-states ("spouse," "employee," "lover," "homeowner," etc.) and the fallout from personality becomes overwhelming, throwing the entire planet into chaos. Some have asked: “What about those who are ‘healthy’ and behave ‘well’”? The answer is simple:

The very worst of each personality type in evidenced when persons are stressed, overly pious, or making money off their phony role-playing. How many on the planet are not either stressed, overly-pious, or receiving income for playing their roles? The negatives are prevalent—relatively speaking—and dominate the “human (persona) experience.”

The more significant Advaita pointer is this: when strategies (a) originated in the mind of a child who was trying to cope with abnormal circumstances and when those strategies (b) produced a specific personality and when (c) those childhood strategies are still driving abnormal and subconscious behavior years later, then those are strategies that actually should play no part at all in the relative-existence lives of adults. For freedom to happen, the warped “mind” that generated personality during childhood must be dissolved and the personality (and its persona-driven behaviors) must be discarded.

Next, there are two or three specific personality disorders that are common to each of the basic personality types, so those will be discussed. In the meanwhile, are you seeing any of those examples of personality in your own conduct? Do you see any evidence of those remnants of a child within often controlling your thoughts and behaviors? Are you seeing why Advaitin sages recommend being free of body-mind-personality identification?

Are you seeing why Advaitins make the point that the problems of the relative existence are rooted in personality and that, in order to be free of chaos, all personal attributes and personal identifications must be discarded? For more on that, click

here

Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

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

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.: So to differentiate between behavior that is driven by mental illness as opposed to that which is driven by programming and conditioning and enculturation, it must be understood that taking personas to be actual identities results in personality disorders which only look like insanity to the objective witness; nevertheless, personality disorders do block the cognitive functioning of the brain. Further, personality disorders block the natural and normal functioning of the brain and body far more often than do mental illnesses. The results of a study of global mental illness by the World Health Organization and Harvard Medical School, as reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association, reveal that from 1 to 5 percent of the populations of most of the countries surveyed had serious mental illness.

By contrast, estimates are that 99% of the earth’s population suffer from one or more personality disorders; thus, as Advaitin sages have taught for centuries, the relative existence problems of the planet are rooted in personality. Realization offers the opportunity to eliminate most of the problems of the planet since they are rooted in personality, not in mental illness. When diagnosable mental health problems reach a level of seriousness that is labeled “clinical,” then a mental illness exists and professional intervention and treatment are indicated. Advaita cannot treat such conditions; however, those mental illnesses are very different from personality disorders, and personality disorders can be addressed and eliminated via the understanding that is attainable by way of the Advaita teachings. Psychiatrists and psychotherapists attempt to treat mental illnesses. Realization offers the treatment for personality disorders.

Since personality disorders are far more common on planet earth than are mental illnesses, then a logical approach would involve this: when insane-type behavior is being observed, look first to determine if ...

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 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