TERESA: The Poster Child for the Brutality of Programming, Part Three, The Conclusion

F.: Via the insight into the machinations of the “mind” of Mother Teresa (insight provided by her written words), it can be seen that the programming of humans can result in brutal outcomes, relatively speaking. The natural inclinations of a formerly “happy” and “cheerful” girl—including the natural inclinations to date, marry and have children—were short-circuited by the programming of a mother and a priest.

Those childhood traits of being “happy” and “cheerful” were replaced by adulthood traits of “dryness,” “darkness” “loneliness,” “torture,” “terrible pain,” “emptiness,” and “hypocrisy.” Even “hypocrisy” from this “saint-to-be”? Yes. And consider how the guilt of such hypocrisy came about:

Had she not been programmed to believe that when it comes to spreading religious dogma, any action can be justified by the end desired, could a woman living out her existence in a natural style in Yugoslavia have even remotely been able to justify receiving over a million dollars in stolen funds and then keeping those funds even after a district attorney in the U.S. requested that she return the money to its rightful owners? Had her religious programming not driven her to behave as a felon, would she have been tormented by “hypocrisy”?

Would she have been driven into such levels of misery if her religious programming had not led her to reject the truth she saw privately in order to maintain a phony public persona and to continue to live a lie after she saw clearly that the dogma with which she had been programmed was a lie? Though her programming that was inspiring the maintenance of a false public image led her to reject the occasional realization of the lie that she was living and to continue to spread the lies that she was spreading, her letters provide details of her realization of the lies during those brief moments of awakening:

TERESA: Such deep longing for God—and…repulsed—empty—no faith—no love—no zeal.(Saving) souls holds no attraction—Heaven means nothing.

TERESA: If there be no God, there can be no soul; if there is no Soul, then Jesus, You also are not true.

TERESA: I feel just that terrible pain of loss...of God not being God, of God not really existing.”

The “helper’s high” that she experienced, which was just another form of emotional intoxication that manifests after personas are assumed, can never sustain itself…any more than any other false role can sustain itself among those who are in touch with reality to any degree at all.

The disintegration of the consciousness called “Teresa” had been completed early on, and the power of programming was so strong that—even after she saw the nonsense of her beliefs—she would never find the willingness to reject them publicly and thereby escaping her needless misery and suffering.

She was so close to Full Realization, but in allowing the hidden agendas of her personas to drive her, she spent sixty-six years of vacillation and doubt and suffering as a result of presenting a bogus front to the world. So deep was the suffering generated by her phoniness that she actually put these thoughts to paper and spread them across the globe.

Might she have been subconsciously hoping that someone would expose her phoniness and thereby give what she did not have the courage to take (namely, freedom from playing phony roles and living a lie)? How many today are in that same circumstance? How many today are tolerating an intolerable existence, wishing that someone else would take some action to end their suffering and misery, rather than taking the seven steps to Realization and ending that suffering now? How many need professional help but are seeking "spiritual" solutions instead?

Teresa had it, briefly. Many who suffer today because of their own phoniness have also had a glimpse into reality that showed their beliefs and their lives are based totally in a lie; yet their programming and enculturation are also blocking them from rejecting the lie. Teresa saw for a moment that “God” is not true, that “soul” is a concept, and that everything she had been told was a pack of lies.

She saw for a moment that all of her beliefs were nothing more than figments of the imagination of controlling men who lived thousands of years ago. She saw on occasion that “god” is not true; that “jesus” is not true; that “teresa” was not true. She could just as easily have known that “floyd” is not true and “you” are not true.

Teresa, like all who have been programmed, conditioned and enculturated, became the dualistic epitome of self-contradiction:

TERESA: My prayer of union is not there any longer—I no longer pray.

Moving from that false belief in “union,” she understood the unicity but hide that awareness for the sake of maintaining a public image and forwarding a religious agenda.

So much for the peace that comes to the faithful…to the believers…to those who refuse to question. So much for those who have been fooled but who refuse to admit it. (Remember: even those prospectors who only found fool's gold still yelled "Eureka!") So much for the false notion that freedom can happen in the absence of courage. So much for a passive-aggressive approach that tries to manipulate others to force your hand when you are playing a phony—and therefore self-despised—role. So much for any notion that happiness can happen if truth is being repressed or ignored. So much for believing that “this world” or “an afterlife” is real.

That speck of consciousness was so close, but--being warped--it never accepted Full Realization. Now, that formerly-manifested speck called "Teresa" is the Awareness that is not aware of its awareness, so that one shot at experiencing the bliss rather than the suffering was missed. She was so close to recovering the happiness that had been stolen by programming, but instead of accepting honesty, she continued to live her lie and the hypocrisy that generates. So it is, but so it need not be with “you.” The invitation is to take the steps in order to Realize and to be free and to thereby be happy as well. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

READINGS RELATED TO TODAY’S POST:

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READINGS RELATED TO TODAY’S TOPIC:

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YOUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, Part Five

[NOTE: Out of town on July 3rd. “Part 6, The Conclusion” will be posted on July 4th.)

F.: In the example yesterday, a man was seen to give great value to the image of his country (and, thereby, great value to his own false self/selves) as he publicly devalued health care insurance for him and his wife. In that example, he demonstrated all three of the sources that rob persons of freedom, independence, and rationality: the child within was exposed, expressing its immature beliefs; the “mind” was exposed, illustrating how bastardized the consciousness can become; and several personas were revealed, using a body to verbalize the totally irrational beliefs and illogical concepts in which all personalities are based.

Just as it is the ventriloquist behind a dummy that drives everything that the dummy appears to be saying and doing, it was the “mind” and the false personas behind the man's words that were really doing the talking (even though the words appear to be coming from his body). If you always ignore the words of the non-Realized and see the actual source that is generating those words, several possibilities follow: (1) You will begin to ignore the nonsense that persons speak because you will know that their personas, not the people, are doing the talking. (2) You’ll also ignore the words you hear because you will detect the real message behind the words, such as:

“Speaking for my wife and me, having our nation bragged about is very important, but having decent medical care is not important at all. I am calling to declare that what is really important is not hearing about what can be improved but hearing about how this country is the greatest country on earth.”

(3) It will become obvious that persons who are trapped in their false identities and personality/personalities live out their relative existence in a state of ignorance or weariness or denial or stupidity or, very often, in a state of one emergency after another. Seeing that, the relative-existence argument for Realization will become clear. (4) You will start ignoring nonsense when you hear it, recognizing which ego-state is functioning as the ventriloquist behind the dummy. (5) You will stop allowing others to rob you of your independence by allowing their words to control how you feel and by allowing them to use their words to trigger emotional responses from your ego-states/personas. You will have discarded the child within, you will have discarded the “mind,” and you will no longer take any of your former false identities to be real.

(6) Having seen how all of the noise that persons put out is rooted in what is false, you will give no value to their ego-generated talking and will arrange to enjoy the silence instead. (7) You will see why so many persons in the West will be celebrating “freedom of speech” this week, but you will understand why the Realized, to the contrary, will be enjoying the freedom of silence. (8) Arrogance based in religion or race or nationality will disappear, once You Realize Fully.

How prevalent is that nationalistic arrogance in the only nation on earth where leaders habitually boast in national broadcasts that theirs is "the greatest country on the planet?" Quite prevalent. In a session last month where many of the males in a group were stalled at the third step on the “journey” to Realization because they wanted to cling to the ego-state of “The Proud American,” this tact was tried:

It was shown how words can be generated from “The Internalized Parent,” from the level of “The Child,” or from the level of “The Mature Adult.” Then, they were asked to write on a piece of paper whether it was Parent, Child or Adult that was behind each of the following statements: (1) “My daddy is stronger than your daddy”; (2) “My daddy can beat up your daddy”; and (3) “The United States is the greatest country on earth.” Thirty of the men agreed that in the first case it was “The Child” that was speaking. All thirty also agreed that in the second example it was “The Child” that would come up with that comment.

However, when it came to the third example, twenty-six of the thirty in the group said that it was “The Adult” that claimed his country was the greatest. When asked why they would think that, most answered, “Because it’s expressing a fact. It’s the truth.” When they were asked, by show of hands, to indicate how many had ever lived in another country, no hands were raised. When it was asked, by a show of hands, how many had spent any time in another country, visiting and coming to know what that country and its citizens were really like, no hands were raised.

That is the power of programming and conditioning. Educated people, claiming to be seeking truth, were so blinded by years of conditioning and programming that they could not detect an obvious lie. Their arrogance and their assumed ego-state of “The Proud American” would not allow them to see that the childish, persona-based belief expressed in statement #3 was generated by the same childish, persona-based beliefs as expressed in statements #1 and #2. This week, as they appear to be celebrating their belief that their country is the greatest, they will actually be reinforcing their belief that they are the greatest. They will also be reinforcing their dualistic sense of separation and "better than."

The author of The Long Goodbye wrote, “There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.” With all deference to the relative problems that are generated by self, the most deadly trap was not set by you, it was not set by the man in yesterday's example, and it was not set by those people trapped in a nationalistic ego-state.

The trap was set by programmers and conditioners (including parents, relatives, teachers, preachers, priests, ayatollahs, rabbis, politicians, entertainers, friends, partners, panderers in the media, etc.). The pointer here is that you need not wait for those programmers to come and to release you from their trap. They will not. If given the opportunity, they will try to reinforce the hold of their trap. They will try to reinforce the concepts they used during your original programming, if you are willing to listen to their words which are generated by their child within, by their warped “minds,” and by their ego-states.

Consider the influence that programmers can wield over the masses, and then see the influence that they have had over you: by appealing to nationalistic pride, individual arrogance, or religious/spiritual fervor, a handful of leaders can arrange the establishment of “colonies”; can bring about an Inquisition that killed hundreds of thousands; can bring about an American Indian Holocaust that killed millions; can inspire a Jewish Holocaust that eventually cost 55,000,000 lives in a world war; can manipulate populations to endorse the invasion of other countries; can continue to destroy “personal relationships"; can trigger regional conflicts; and can perpetuate the cycle of world wars that mark the relative existence. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (The Conclusion, July 4th)
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YOUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, Part Four

F.: Yesterday, the pointer was offered that freedom and independence cannot happen (1) when persons have not been freed of that frustrated child within that is controlling the adult, especially after it becomes the brat within; (2) when persons have not been freed of the accumulation of lies they believe, an accumulation also known as “the mind”; and (3) when every word coming from their mouths is being driven by a personality formed during childhood and that is giving voice to one or more false personas.

The source of the frustrated child/brat within—that is, the residual effects of unresolved trauma that later combine with arrogance—was discussed yesterday. Today, the distortions of the “mind” and the illusions of personality will be discussed.

The “mind” supports a belief that false identities and images and personas are real. That “mind” further contributes to a lack of freedom and independence, therefore, since it generates an attachment to personality and traps people in their false personas. What is an example of the fact that every word coming from the mouths of the non-Realized is being driven by a personality (which was formed during childhood) and is being spoken by some persona? Consider:

Recently, a guest on a television show was discussing the effects of 47 million people in the U.S. not having any medical coverage. A man telephoned the show to offer his opinion, and his comments serve as a perfect example of the way that persons function exactly like a ventriloquist’s dummy. In the case of a dummy, an unseen force behind it causes the mouth to move, and the appearance is that the dummy is speaking. In fact, the voice is really coming from somewhere else. In the case of the non-Realized, it is personality/personas that are really doing the talking. The words only appear to be coming out of the mouth of the dummy, which is also the case with the mouth of the non-Realized whose bodies house the “mind” which convinces personas/false identities that they are real.

In the example of the TV show caller, he bragged that he and his wife—both sixty years old—have never had health insurance but “have done just fine.” His “mind” then worked in tandem with his personas to generate the thought that, instead of discussing the inefficiencies in the health care system, the guest on the show “needs to stop talking about the negative things in the U.S. and put out positive messages about America” because “America is the greatest country on earth.” And the caller really thought that those were ideas that he came up with and that he was sharing.

To the contrary, his personas were speaking via the mouth of the space that he takes himself to be. In enneagram terms, he is trapped in the Type Six personality and has disintegrated to the worst of the Type Three. Sixes are blindly and proudly and unquestioningly loyal to their country and their leaders, always exhibiting that “my country…right or wrong” mindset. Sixes expect others to guarantee their security (often receiving their health care from charitable hospitals and from doctors who are being paid with money from others). Under stress or driven by arrogance, those types also exhibit Type Three traits: image is everything and “my country is better than every other country on the planet” (and therefore, by egotistical extension, “I am better than the people in every other country on the planet”).

So a person places a phone call to a show, unconsciously gives voice to his Muitiple Personality Disorder, and then believes that he has expressed some profound opinion. Consider how unfounded is the arrogance being revealed…arrogance expressed by one trapped in the persona of “The Proud American.” Here is an adult male whose greatest claim to fame is the fact that sixty years ago, a particular birth canal at a particular time of delivery was located within the borders of a particular geographic region.

That is what it looks like when “every word coming from the mouth of the non-Realized is being driven by a personality formed during childhood and is being spoken by one or more personas." In addition to those personas already listed, other ego-states that were revealed include, “The Braggart,” “The Childish, Immature One,” “The Brat,” “The Defender of His Country Who Has Experienced a Personal Affront,” and “The Blind Loyalist” who is angry that the guest is discussing a crisis in “his country.”

The caller really wants to be able to control a guest (and any others who point out problems in "his country"), wants to limit what another can say and do, and wants the guest to brag about how wonderful his nation is and only discuss things that are not problems. What a useless exercise in building egotism and generating arrogance that would be (and soon will be again next week in the caller's nation). Meanwhile, the illusions of freedom and independence will be reinforced by those who are bound and dependent.

Note how his false identities result in a sense of separation and in a dualistic sense of being “better than.” Notice how the warped “mind” and the false personas generate both false pride and complete arrogance in regards to his citizenship (which he now holds in such high esteem, as if he had a thing to do with it). Notice how childhood programming that included daily pledges of allegiance to a flag and to a country now drive an adult-age male. Notice how that programming now drives him to give value to fabricating and maintaining a "good" image for his country while giving no value at all to having health insurance for himself and his spouse.

Such nonsense is common among the non-Realized who give significance to such things as geographic locations and affiliations and memberships and other concepts that sustain false identities and that support an irrational thought-life that is completely disassociated from reality. So it is when personas are the ventriloquists behind the dummies. Are you seeing that any words spoken by a false persona must also be…false? Every word that is inspired by an ego-state is either an ego-based lie or an ego-generated distortion.

What about you? Are you feeling great pride (or smugness or conceit or arrogance) because a certificate says that you were born within a certain geographic region? Do you see the sense of separation that generates? Do you see the many personas that such unfounded pride will generate? Do you see how adoption of those personas will also generate fears and desires? Are you seeing how insane-like it is when the non-Realized define themselves in terms of the arbitrary labels that have been dreamed up by arrogant and egotistical persons who are separated from awareness of Self as a result of not having a clue about Who or What They Truly Are?

Are you seeing how all of the fighting between individuals and among nations are a result of persons having accepted false identities around geographic regions and/or national boundaries and/or religious and political affiliations? Such is the source of the nonsense of the relative existence, but you can be free of all that. You can declare your independence from an inner child, from the corrupted consciousness that produced a “mind,” and from the personas that generate all sense of separation and conflict and disharmony and chaos. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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RELATIVE RESULTS OF NOT-REALIZING: Dependency, Co-Dependency, Multiple Personality Disorder, & Detachment from Reality, Part Two

[First, a note to “Ana” who wrote that she “hates this life and wants to die.” You did not provide a full e-mail address, so a response will be posted here. If the e-mail is legitimate and if you are willing to discuss your comments in more detail, please send contact information. A private response will be provided.]

From a site visitor: I have tested as a type four personality with a strong helper component. I bought your book LIBERATION to understand myself even better, but instead you attacked me and those like me who choose to try to help people and make the world a better place. What is your problem with people helping people? What do you think is wrong with helping?

F.: Since you are defending the role of “The Helper” which you have disintegrated into, it is appropriate to discuss the dependency and co-dependency that always result from assuming roles. Of course, all persona-assumption generates co-dependency: “The Husband” cannot exist without “The Wife”; “The Helper” cannot exist without “The Needy” or “The Infirmed”; “The Giver” cannot exist without “The Taker.” Research by Anne Wilson Schaef and Dr. Edward L. Zuckerman reveal some of the other roles that persons assume and that generate co-dependency and dependency:

“The Rescuer” (who often covers up for and enables); “The Caretaker” (who minimizes relative existence consequences and who supports dependency in others); “The Joiner” (who enables dependent types to rationalize and perpetuate their dependency); “The Hero” (who plays the part of protecting family or individual images and who “sacrifices”); “The Adjuster” (who avoids identifying and addressing problems and hides the truth); “The Family Man” or “The Family Woman” (who values loyalty over truth, who can encourage avoidance of feelings, who supports distortion and denial, and who encourages the superficial).

The researchers also offer some of the typical characteristics of co-dependents (which make a relative-existence case for Full Realization which can end both dependency and co-dependency):

Co-dependents lack boundaries, believe they cannot survive without a particular person, are plagued by fears (especially a fear of abandonment), and have the distorted view that relative existence relationships can be “perfect.” They often become egotistical, thinking they are indispensable, and they often adopt an additional persona called “The Martyr.” Though they seemingly reach outward to “help,” they really become self-centered, personalizing all events, assuming responsibility for the behavior of other persons, and working to attain love (which they sense they have never received to the degree desired).

They eventually attempt to control everything and everyone and believe that with more effort they can “fix” individuals or families. Though often emotionally-intoxicated, they become unaware of feelings and become dishonest as they try to manage images and distort truth.

They can "try to change" in order to please others, can feel responsible for meeting other people's needs at the expense of their own, and can become driven by compulsions. Eventually they develop anxiety and are prone to become enmeshed in relationships with those exhibiting personality disorders and/or dependencies and/or impulsive conduct.

Several of the following will usually manifest in dependent and/or co-dependent types: depression; hypervigilance; compulsions; anxiety; substance abuse; recurring instances of abuse at the hands of others; stress-related medical illnesses; and a propensity to remain in a primary relationship with an active user or abuser. They can become unassertive and submissive (though exploding into rage on occasion); they can become over-sensitive to others' difficulties; and they are very adept at “putting up a front.”

Note, also, that the assumption of personality never happens in a "one persona" fashion. Once “The Husband” is assumed, “The Parent,” “The Provider,” “The Protector,” “The Homeowner,” “The Finance Man” or any number of other roles are also assumed. That feature of role-assumption guarantees that the Multiple Personality Disorder will always manifest among the non-Realized, along with the detachment from reality that role-playing guarantees.

So, to revisit your question, “What do you think is wrong with helping?” you should see that the pointers here do not discourage any happenings from happening: husbanding can happen, teaching can happen, helping can happen, etc. Among the Realized, those happenings can also not happen, and neither misery nor suffering nor emotional intoxication accompany those occasions. The point is, those happenings can happen without accepting a false identity as a true identity.

The relative existence problems that arise for persons (for the non-Realized) have nothing to do with whether helping (or anything else) happens or not. They have to do with the traits and behaviors described above that are generated by the assumption of roles and by the dependencies and the co-dependencies that always follow. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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RELATIVE RESULTS OF NOT-REALIZING: Dependency, Co-Dependency, Multiple Personality Disorder, & Detachment from Reality (Belief in False Identities)

From a site visitor: I have tested as a type four personality with a strong helper component. I bought your book LIBERATION to understand myself even better, but instead you attacked me and those like me who choose to try to help people and make the world a better place. What is your problem with people helping people? What do you think is wrong with helping?

F.: During satsanga, it is often asked after offering a pointer, “Now, what did you hear?” That component was added after years of hearing at the end of sessions, “I really agreed with you when you said…,” followed by something that was not said at all. Clarification is often required, and never any more than in your case, seemingly. So the concise version is this:

1. If you are a type four, there is no “strong helper component.” There is, instead, an indication that you have disintegrated from anything that persons might call “the assets of a Four” into what persons might call “the liabilities of a Two.” For a Four to behave as a Two shows evidence of the presence of that which causes disintegration: either high stress or high piety accompanied by spiritual arrogance. Research shows that one or both of those always precede disintegration of the psyche.

2. It is not “yourself” that you need to “understand better.” The invitation is to see that you are not yourself—that you are not what you take yourself to be—and then to find That Which You Truly Are. The synopsis of the book LIBERATION should have made clear that the intent of the work is less to help you understand personality and more to free you of the effects of personality.

3. How many personalities do you think are beneficial? To abide as even one persona is troublesome enough—relatively speaking—but to be trapped in multiple personalities is far more troublesome...relatively speaking.

4. The fact that "you" believe that there is a "you" who was attacked and that there is a “me” doing the attacking shows that you have much more to understand in regards to the Advaita Teachings.

5. You are not “choosing” to do anything when you are driven to behave as a type you are not (in this case, a type two helper).

6. There is no world, so there certainly is not any possibility of your making it better. Organized religions with a history of trillions of members and trillions of trillions of dollars have claimed that to be their goal, but after thousands of years in which to accomplish their goal, they haven’t changed anything for "the better." But your ego is telling you that the world is real, that it is "bad," and that you are going to play a key role in making it "good." So it is, when the warping of the consciousness results in belief in such dualities.

7. The “problem with helping people” is your belief that you know what people need and can provide it. An educated man who was living on the streets of Houston explained that his drug use deprived him of the motivation to find employment, to work, to earn a way to pay for his shelter and food, and to become independent—not just from drugs but from his Dependent Personality Disorder that drove him to depend on others to meet his needs. He spoke of the thousands of dollars collected during his years on the street, money that was given by "well-meaning" persons who thought they were helping him by dropping money into his cup. He explained that what they thought was their “helping” was really their “harming” since it allowed him to continue to avoid employment and to continue his drug use.

The intent is not to open a discussion of societal ills but to offer one specific example where persons who had adopted the role of “helper” did not have a clue about what that particular individual “needed” to shift him beyond his drug dependency and his dependency on “helpers.”

8. As for "What do you think is wrong with helping?" Nothing. If so-called “helping” happens, it happens. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t. The "problem," relatively speaking, is when persons are trapped in personality, when they disintegrate into another personality type, when they reinforce dependency, when they reinforce co-dependency, when they reinforce Multiple Personality Disorder, when they encourage the assumption of—and belief in—false identifies, and when they encourage persons to detach from reality.

As an example, many among the current generation of dependent and co-dependent young adults now live with mom and/or dad. Those parents believe that they are “helping” their children by encouraging something so unnatural. It has been pointed out that if one is truly Realized, he lives in the style of the deer in many ways. The doe feeds the fawn for a short time. The buck is there to protect, if need be. Soon, however, the fawn must meet its own needs for food and shelter. That is natural, and nisarga yoga is the method that guides persons beyond body-mind-personality identification, beyond dependency and co-dependency, and to a means of living a natural, AS IF existence.

Grown deer does not depend on a “mother” or “father” to provide food. They find their own food or they starve. They do not wait for a “father” or “mother” to find shelter or to build a bed of straw for sleep. The Realized live in a natural fashion in all ways. To live in a supernatural fashion (as “The Religious One” or “The Spiritual Giant”) is most unnatural. Similarly, it is unnatural to live with any dependency or to assume any identity or to seek out helpers who are willing to care for an adult as if he/she were a child. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.

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EGO-STATES: Either The Invisible Drivers or The Former Hijackers or The Eventual Destroyers, Part One

FROM A SITE VISITOR: So the whole problem really begins with ego, right? Sam (PS Thanks for the blog site.)

F.: Hello, Sam. On the simpliest level, that’s a valid conclusion. As indicated in the title FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (a Seven-Step Journey to Reality), the Advaita “path” is really a “journey” that moves one away from identifying with the (false) “I” to abiding as the Absolute.

Once the body is taken to be the core identity, and once the “mind” has been distorted via programming and conditioning and enculturation, then the foundation has been laid...the foundation on which all personas will be built. After that, ego-states become the invisible force that drives all thought and conduct, and that results in a loss of any ability to choose. (If you are in a car and being driven, then you are in the passenger seat, the back seat, or the trunk, but you are not behind the steering wheel. One being driven has no ability to determine what the car does or where it goes. So it is when persons are driven by the agendas of their ego-states.)

“Ego” in Latin means “I,” and refers to the false identities (or roles or false selves or images or characters or shadow selves or personas) that are assigned and assumed and that are supported by ego-defense mechanisms once they are taken to be “Who I Am.” The ego-states can be recognized since they always follow the phrase “I am”: “I am a boy/girl”; “I am a lover”; “I am a wife/husband.” Once an ego-state is assumed, it immediately self-promotes itself to super status: "I am a Super Husband" or "I am a Super Wife" (and therefore deserve super, special treatment). Some of the ego-defense mechanisms that persons employ to try to sustain their false image(s) include: rationalization, projection, displacement, denial, intellectualization, repression, sublimation, and suppression.

The Advaitin practice of focusing on the “I AM” only is an invitation to ignore those false identities by breaking the habit of following the I AM with a litany of labels that your culture (or other cultures) have dreamed up. It is a means by which those traversing the first three steps of the “path” can begin to abandon the habit of constantly defining and re-defining who they think they are by using the labeling tools of their culture. Why abandon ego-states? Because they become the invisible driver in your relative existence, because they will become a hijacker and will hold you captive, and because they are the source of all destruction in the relative existence, including self-destruction.

The assumption of ego-states is at the root of all relative existence problems. Mentioned yesterday, one woman has defined herself with the limiting identity of “wife” (in fact, “The Super Dutiful Wife”) for twenty years. She gave her consent for her story to be shared, so it follows as an example of what can happen when ego-states are finally exposed and then trigger a desire to self-destruct:

“My husband is leaving me after 20 years. We never had children because he didn’t want them; he made me take charge of projects he wanted done but then raged when the bills for those projects came in; we have both held jobs throughout the entire marriage but he took both checks and controlled how the money was spent. He wanted sex nearly every day for 20 years, and so we had sex nearly every day.

“Friends said his talk about how ‘men like to trade up when they get in their forties and find a younger woman’ showed he was capable of doing exactly that. They made me furious when they said that. Friends and family said he probably had a companion on his frequent out-of-town trips when he made excuses about why I couldn’t go along. When he got an apartment in addition to our house so he could have ‘a quiet place to go to relax,’ friends said I should check that out, but I trusted him and I guess I didn’t really want to find out anything different from the way I thought things were.

“Then, a few weeks ago he said he wanted a divorce and I should ‘handle it and move on like he’s moving on.’ Now, people who knew both of us have told me that he’s been having an affair for years. Up until recently he’s always been a loving, faithful, caring spouse and I was always sure he would honor his vows and me forever, so I think he’s just not himself right now and will come to his senses and return. If he doesn’t, I will kill myself.” (She was advised to seek immediate professional help, and she is now seeing a therapist.)

To see how all reason and logic is abandoned when a false identity is assumed, around marriage for example, this example was offered in December of 2005:

A document (such as a marriage license) can inspire a false belief that a dependent role can define who you are. How grand is the lie? Take the fictional Thomas Smith as an example. He married Jane Jones and a man in a robe told her that she was now Mrs. Thomas Smith. She assumed that new identity and all the fears and expectations and desires that came with it. But her fears were realized when Thomas left her for Mary Martin. In a court, a man in a robe told Jane Jones/Mrs. Thomas Smith that she was no longer Mrs. Thomas Smith but could once again be Miss Jane Jones; shortly after that event, another man in a robe told Mary Martin that she was Mrs. Thomas Smith.

She assumed that new identity and all the fears and expectations and desires that came with it. But her fears were realized when Thomas left her for Patty Prentiss. In a court, a man in a robe told Mary Martin/Mrs. Thomas Smith that she was no longer Mrs. Thomas Smith but could once again be Miss Mary Martin; shortly after that event, another man in a robe told Patty Prentiss that she was Mrs. Thomas Smith.

Do you see the insanity of assuming identities? "Mrs. Thomas Smith" was a role assumed by three different persons, and all three really believed that they were who and what their culture told them that they were. But the culture told three different persons that they were the same person. In the remote past, Jane was Mrs. Thomas Smith; in the past Mary was Mrs. Thomas Smith; in the present, Patty is Mrs. Thomas Smith. One can guess that in the future, Patty will not be Mrs. Thomas Smith.

From this example, isn’t it clear that any assumption of any persona as a real identity is an insane case of mistaken, false identity? Are you assuming any false identities as real identities? Are you unconsciously listening to all the persons in your culture who haven't a clue as to Who They Truly Are while unconsciously allowing them to tell you who or what you are? Then you'll also unconsciously accept all the fears and desires and expectations that come with roles and that guarantee misery in the relative existence.

It is no wonder that so many persons reach a point where they admit, “I don’t even know who I am anymore.” Tomorrow, the destructive force of ego-states will be discussed via the example above in which a woman who has said “I am a wife” for two decades now faces the reality of having to declare, “I am not a wife.” As a result, she has threatened to kill herself (meaning, the “not wife” is sensing the “loss” of a false self, is feeling that a real self is dying, and is ready to avoid having to process the imaginary demise of a culturally-assigned identity by killing herself). If only she had made that “not wife” declaration decades ago and had found her True Self, then all of the “wife-type happenings” could have continued without the limiting, false identification with a role that has now triggered a desire to self-destruct.

How about you? Are you aware of the fact that all of your anger or emotional intoxication or hurt is rooted in an ego-state? Are you aware that each ego-state prizes above all else it's sense of self-worth and will fight to the death to sustain that false self that desires to be seen as being worthy and valuable and wonderful? When was the last time that "you" became upset? Can you identify which ego-state felt hurt or interfered with or threatened in that incident? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

PERSONALITY DISORDERS VS. MENTAL ILLNESS: What the Advaita Teachings Can Address and What They Cannot, Part One

F.: The discussion of this topic is an ongoing one on the site. Why? The Advaita Teachings address personality problems and provide a means for being free of those problems. It will be shown again that there are conditions that appear to be rooted in mental illness but that are actually rooted in personality disorders. Evidence that those disorders can be effectively treated by the Teachings will be provided in tomorrow’s post with a recounting of the condition that “floyd” once suffered. Before continuing, though, two points are offered: (1) mental illnesses that are truly clinical in nature cannot be addressed by the Teachings and require treatment of the type provided by trained professionals; and (2) mental illness affects 1%-5% of the population whereas 95%-99% suffer from one or more personality disorders, to some degree.

Yesterday’s post included this:

As this discussion of the relevance of the Teachings is underway, what may prove to be a prime example of relevance was presented yesterday on the Virginia Tech campus. When the details behind the shooting are revealed, it might be found that the shooter was not clinically insane. It might be found instead that the shooter was trapped in an ego-state that he thought was being hurt, interfered with, or threatened.

Another possibility is that a combination of mental and personality disorders was at play, along with the possibility of an impact from the side effects of certain medications. More may be revealed about that case, but it must be noted again that nothing has ever been offered on this site to discount the toll of mental illness. Furthermore, if there is any suspicion that a mental illness is at play, the advice is always to seek out a professional for help. (That was the message sent last week in a private e-mail response to one wondering how to help a friend experiencing serious delusions. The friend wondered if the Advaita Teaching might help. The severity of his friend’s behavior led to a recommendation to forget trying to use the Advaita Teachings and to contact those in his community’s social services network and find help from the professionally-trained.)

What is being offered is an invitation to broaden the national and international discussion by inviting persons to consider other possible “causes” for most of the misery and suffering and outrageous acts of violence that mark the human condition and to stop the misclassification of personality disorders as mental illnesses. Why? Because a misdiagnosis of any problem will guarantee a continuation of the problem and will assure that any treatment plan being tried will be ineffective. That lesson was learned early on from an uncle whose entire career was in the field of mental health. As an adolescent spending his summers with an uncle that worked as the Chief Administrator of the Texas State Mental Hospital in Rusk, time was spent with patients there (an act in the late 1950's and early 1960’s that could not take place nowadays).

Only a small area of the facility was required for the housing of violent patients. Most of those confined as a result of their mental illnesses were docile and gentle and, yes, loving. Helping out in the cafeteria, contact happened with many patients who would initiate conversations, and it would later be discussed with the uncle about how kind most of the mentally ill were. The uncle agreed, saying that most who were locked away in that facility had conducted themselves in a far more civil manner than did the masses that were free to roam the streets. He emphasized that most of the mentally ill in his facility had never behaved as violently as the majority of persons behave, trapped as they are in personality. When persons feel that one or more of their (false) identities are being threatened, those suffering from personality disorders (which are rooted in the adoption of false personas) will fight, attack and destroy as if for their lives.

So, in light of the happenings on the Virginia Tech campus on Monday, might the Advaita Teachings have any relevance? Certainly, the majority in the nation will dismiss anything other than mental illness as “the cause.” (The Advaitin knows right off that “one, single cause” for any happening is a myth.) Reports that the shooter was being treated for depression have surfaced, yet he was just 1 of 21,000,000 in the U.S. who was diagnosed with depression during the last twelve months. But there were not 21,000,000 shooters in the U.S. last year, so maybe other factors came to bear. One respected psychotherapist who has treated thousands of patients over the years and who has reviewed some of Cho’s history saw similarities with certain of her patients who were suffering paranoid schizophrenia. What several of those patients had in common was sexual molestation as a child, some abused by family members and many assaulted by priests. (It is known that in some of his writings, Cho raised the issue of pedophilia, discussed his anger with parents, and expressed his anger toward women.)

Further, shooters are common within the U.S. borders. A woman dies as the result of spousal abuse every 6 hours in the U.S. and a man dies as the result of spousal abuse every 8.64 hours in the U.S. And that statistic just takes into account “the married” and does not count those killed during breakups among “not married” parties. Yet more often than not, those are not murder statistics; those are not mental illness statistics; those are persona statistics.

So another factor to be raised in the national discussion, therefore, is the possibility of one or more personality disorders. Sometimes all that is required in order to believe that one has the right to decide who lives and who dies is to be suffering the personality disorder known as “the God Complex.” If you read the postings in late March and early April on this site, you read about the types of personality disorders that are most likely to appear with each of the nine personality types. Some of you noticed that among all nine of the enneagram personality types, the God Complex was listed for every one. (Of course, when ego-states appear, ego defense mechanisms follow, and when living in ego—as personas do—then the arrogance of a God Complex is common.)

The God Complex, along with the associated disorders of narcissism and egomania, can inspire lethal conduct. Consider the level of arrogance that is required for persons to believe the following: “I can decide who lives and dies”; “I am a loving being but I can also be a wrathful being”; “I tried to give warnings to this culture to change your ways…now you will pay the price for ignoring me”; “I will be made immortal with this act and will be obscured no more”; “I will go as far over the line as I must in order to make you hear me and pay attention to my words”; "I have been trying to speak out and tell you what is wrong, but you ignore my words and that makes me very angry"; “I, and my important words, will be remembered forever”; “when you ignore me, you will be punished and will feel my wrath”; “sometimes it's lonely being god, having everyone ignore you during times when the masses are so self-absorbed and not knowing how wonderful I am”; “the world needs reforming and I'm just the one to do it”; “when the world gets so far out of hand, a reign of terror is justified to bring down punishment on people and let them see that I mean business”; “I am the judge of what is ‘right vs. wrong,’ ‘moral vs. immoral,’ and what ‘proper punishment vs. proper reward’ is”; “I can create or sustain or destroy you—it is my option…it is my providence.” It has been witnessed that the more "godly" some people become, the more they behave just like their destructive Judaeo-Christian-Islamic god.

That level of arrogance inspired by the God Complex Personality Disorder is not unique to the Virginia Tech shooter. That is the level of arrogance that many are being exposed to on a daily basis with an arrogant spouse, an arrogant boss, an arrogant person cutting you off in traffic, an arrogant person behaving in an abusive way in a store, ad infinitum. Should the current discussion focus on a "madman" or should it focus on "a mad man" (or "a mad woman")?

Again, 95%-99% of the planet’s population is suffering from some personality disorder(s), and the disorder that is common to all nine enneagram types is the God Complex described above. So the shooter’s "mental" vs. "personality" condition notwithstanding, the question for those interested in the Advaita Teachings is this: is it possible that you are dealing with someone who is suffering from the God Complex? Is it possible that you are suffering from a God Complex? Ego-states generate egomania, and egomania generates much of the suffering and misery on the planet. With 1%-5% in need of the level of care that is provided by professionals in the mental healthcare industry, but with 95%-99% needing The Understanding that is provided by the Advaita Teachings via elimination of personality, what treatment plan is most indicated for the majority on this planet? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
WORKING ON BEING FREE OF MIND AND PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION?

Click LIBERATION

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

“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 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

ON LABELS, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, ADVAITA AND YOUTH, POWER, ADDICTIONS, SPIRITUALITY, AND “CHANGING THE WORLD,” Part Three

[Continued from yesterday]

SITE VISITOR Lisa asked for responses to certain questions as part of an assignment for a college course in religions and philosophies:

LISA: Do we ever stop growing spiritually?

F.: Yes—when you transition the third of the seven steps to Realization and thereby forfeit all personas (including "The Religious Person" and "The Spiritual Giant"). The book you ordered, FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE, will explain that process to you. What actually happens after transitioning that third step is that the fictional concept behind the false identity of "I am a spiritual person" is discarded; therefore, the illusion that there is some person that has been "growing" comes to an end. Remember always that anything following the “I Am,” other than THAT, is a lie; therefore, “I am spiritual” and “I am religious” or “I am a spiritual person” or “I am a religious person” are lies, nothing more than ego-states. Those are merely assumed personas being "supported" by statements generated by the contaminated consciousness. Understand that there are no “good” personas and “bad” personas. Lies are lies, and all ego-states/personas are false identities…are all lies. Just as “Husband” or “Wife” “grow” into “Super Husband” or “Super Wife” and fall under the influence of ego-defense mechanisms that are used to support false identities, spiritual “growth” results in “The Spiritual One” “growing” into “The Super Spiritual One” and then being sustained by egotism.

That is not “growth” at all. It is the expansion of an ego-state. It is the magnification of a false identity. Understand that persons always take an illusion and either dualistically upgrade the illusion or downgrade the illusion. (EX.: Take the lie, “This world is real.” Believing that, persons over the millennia have upgraded that illusion by promising that “after death, there is another world that will provide eternal continuity for the body-mind-personality.” They upgrade the illusion of “this world” with the promise of another world in heaven for the “good people” and they downgrade the illusion of “this world” with the threat of another world called "hell" that awaits the “bad” people.)

Thus, “I am a man” can be an initial illusion. Egotism can generate the belief that “I am a spiritual man,” which is nothing more than an upgrade of the illusion. Guilt can take the initial illusion that "I am a man" and generate the belief that “I am a bad man,” which is nothing more than a downgrading of the illusion. THAT which You Are is not “a woman,” and THAT which I AM is not “a man.” I AM energy temporarily manifested. So Are You. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, much less “grow.”

LISA: If you could change one thing in this world, what would it be?

F.: There is nothing in the world to change because there is no world to be changed. I Am not in the world. You are not in the world either, but you do not yet understand that. The world is in you--in your "mind"--and since the "mind" is not real, neither are any of the images and mirages that it imagines to be real. (A steel girder is neither steel nor girder, is it?) Simply understand that the “I” is an abstraction, along with what is perceived to be a real, physical world. If you understand that the perceiver is an abstraction, it becomes easy to understand that anything which an abstract “perceiver” thinks it is seeing must also be an abstraction.

Advaita teaches that all is one substance. It is now known that matter (such as something called a “steel girder”) is really a field of energy that is in constant movement; similarly, that which is Real is conscious-energy (that is, energy that has the capacity to "be conscious of" if manifested in a space with a nervous system).

Thus, You are consciousness, manifested via a combination of elements with a nervous system and a brain. Were your every action to be determined by the brain rather than the "mind," you would never do anything destructive or harmful...to self or "others." The "mind" is a collection of false memories, false teachings, and false ideas that make you believe that your roles are who you are and that your personality/personas are real. Those false identities all have their own hidden agendas and will fight for their survival even though they are mirages. Only via finding WHO/WHAT YOU TRULY ARE can you be free of the misery-generating lies that have been offered to you as truth(s) that can be stated. (That in itself is a lie.) Freedom happens when you Realize that You Are neither in the world nor of the world and that there is no world to change and no WHO that needs changing. Best regards, f.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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

[Continued from yesterday]

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.: So, observe the mind-personality trap: the assumption of all personas is inspired by the thinking “mind,” and the thinking “mind” is occupied with the fears and desires of assumed personas. That circular dilemma creates a deadlock…a closed system…an inescapable trap. Only if the “mind” and assumed personas are discarded can peace happen as the dilemma ends. So, in light of the understanding that the “in gear mind” generates belief in personas and that belief in personas gears up the "mind," you might now understand the cycle in which you're trapped: there is peace for a period when it seems you've lost the hold of the "mind," but then "she's back in gear" and it is peace that is lost. For you to be free, it is necessary to find who the “she” is. (In fact, a thorough self-inventory will reveal that there are many “she’s,” each with “her” own agenda and each with “her” own imaginary fears and unmet desires and, therefore, all of the manifold annoyances experienced by all of those "she's.")

Begin by finding just one of those assumed identities. To find the most recent “she” (false identity) that surfaced, find the last time you felt hurt, threatened, interfered with, or angry. Then ask, “What ego-state felt as if it were being attacked or disrespected?” Was "Super Employee" not being shown proper respect? Or was “Super Employer” not receiving the respect it felt entitled to? Was “Super Wife” or "Super Lover" angry? Was some other “Special Person” cut off in traffic or did some “Super Person” have a parking space stolen? Was the opinion expressed by “Super Smart Person” questioned by someone who seemed inferior?

Find the WHO that was gearing up the “mind” and inspiring the thinking that disrupted the peace. What was the thought about that "geared up" the "mind," really? Did some slight occur? Was there some offense? Was some resentment triggered? Was a fear inspired? Was some desire not being met? Probe to find out what ego-state thought that it was being hurt, threatened, interfered with, or angry and you will find a persona that should be discarded as an identity. Why? It has just been shown that it was some "offended" persona that “geared up” the “mind” and robbed you of peace. Since no persona is real, is it now obvious why all disharmony is rooted in illusion...in the illusion that assumed identities are real and can be interfered with?

Then, take out pen and paper and list every role that you have played in your life, starting with the earliest roles that were duality-based, such as: “The Good Little Girl”; “The Bad Little Girl”; “The Good Little Student”; “The Bad Little Student”; “The Good Daughter”; and “The Bad Daughter.” Then, expand the list to include “The Acceptable Girlfriend”; “The Unacceptable Girlfriend”; “The Good Wife”; “The Bad Wife”; “The Good Mother”; “The Bad Mother”; or "The Good Religious/Spiritual Person" vs. "The Not Always Good Religious/Spiritual Person." If one is honest, the list can grow to a considerable length.

Next, you report that lately you have been focusing on “look” and "see." Fine. Use those. LOOK at all those roles and SEE that there are multiple areas where each of them interrupts your peace (self-concept, self-esteem, image, finances, relations, sex relations, etc.) Next, SEE that each of those affected areas has a voice. LOOK at how those voices are manifesting as thoughts in your geared up “mind.” SEE why your “mind,” when it “gears back up,” sounds like the chatter of a thousand monkeys. SEE why there is no such thing as "peace of mind."

LOOK at the ways in which thoughts generate assumed personality/personalities and how personality/personalities trigger thoughts. SEE the circular trap. SEE that the assumed identities/personas are lies; then, it should be obvious why, if you would be free, you must SEE the truth. Take the seven-step "journey" and you will understand that (a) seeing the entire truth, (b) Realizing Fully, (c) being in touch with Reality, and (d) being out of touch with false personas and the fictitious “mind” all amount to only one (simultaneous) happening.

The “journey” to Realization, therefore, is a “journey” of moving away from the lies of past cultures, away from the lies of your current culture, and toward the truth. The contaminated consciousness has an astonishing degree of tolerance for lies and distortions; the pure consciousness has no capacity at all to suffer any nonsense. Are you ready for the "journey"? Only if you are really tired of being trapped in cycles. Only if you are really tired of the fluctuations which you referenced. Only is you are really tired of all of the nonsense of the imaginary "world." 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]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, to your question:

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

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

[Continued from yesterday]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MISTAKING THE MID-POINT OF THE “JOURNEY” FOR THE END OF THE “JOURNEY,” Part Two (The Conclusion)

F.: Most persons will never understand that “the spiritual state” is not the end of “the path” but is a step nearer the middle of “the path” to Full Realization. Thus, many claim that they have reached the vijnana state (of “spiritual knowledge”) and subsequently claim that they are, therefore, “jnanis” (or “knowers”). The fact is that all persons who claim to be religious or spiritual believe also that (1) they know something that others do not know and that (2) others need to know what they know. Yet to assume an identity of “The Religious Person” or “The Spiritual Giant” or “The Knower” is to assume an identity that is not the Self and that leaves persons far removed from truly Realizing the Self (as well as all that is beyond the Self, including the non-beingness and the Absolute). The completion of the "journey" to Full Realization happens after the burdensome weight of spiritual knowledge--and of all learned ignorance--has been discarded.

Of course “jnani” and the other identities mentioned above are nothing more than time-bound, body-bound, “mind”-induced personas or assumed identities, dealing—by definition—with knowledge. Talk of spiritual knowledge has its place, but that happens at the “dry charcoal stage,” not at the “gunpowder stage.” Full Realization is marked by an awareness that is beyond all knowledge and which is, therefore, beyond all spiritual knowledge as well. Upon Full Realization, it is seen that all spiritual knowledge was nothing more than a part of that massive accumulation of learned ignorance which burdens persons with the heaviness of their “something-ness” rather than the lightness of the “nothingness.” To fixate at that knowing stage—at the so-called "spiritual stage"—prevents abidance as the Pure Consciousness and prevents eventual abidance as the Absolute. Therefore, the final step of the “journey” is not marked by the gaining of spiritual knowledge but by an understanding of the functioning of the totality that happens in the absence of any “Understander” or any “Knower” or any “Spiritual Person” or any other “good” identity that is being assumed in order to replace former “bad” identities.

The Original Understanding happened when the consciousness functioned on a pure, intuitive level rather than on a “thinking-mind”-level or a "knowing level" that came after the development of language (which allowed the programming and the conditioning and the corrupting of consciousness to happen). Truth is pointed to when the re-purified consciousness speaks, not when self-proclaimed jnanis or "priests" or "holy men" speak. To say “I am a jnani” is as much a lie as any other instance in which the I am is followed by a word or phrase, such as “I am a spouse” or “I am a human” or “I am a holy man.” (Should this talk be disturbing to those who consider themselves jnanis or to those who claim to love a jnani, then that very disturbance itself reinforces the accuracy of the pointer. WHO is disturbed?) The jnani level can happen near the mid-point of “the path” (where spiritual knowledge leads to spiritual role-playing); however, every level or step along “the way” must be transitioned—and every label and assumed identity must be discarded—if abidance as the Absolute is to happen.

Finally, it is that same dualistic trap of adopting new (and hypothetically “good”) personas, such as “The Knower” or “The Spiritual One,” that causes (1) so many to fixate at the third step—at the so-called “spiritual level”—of what is really a seven-step “journey” and that also causes (2) so many who have not Realized fully to think that they are jnanis and which also causes (3) so many to believe that they have finished a “journey” that is not even halfway complete. The dawn should not be mistaken for high noon.

From the trap of that assumption of the jnani or "spiritual person" role, a man e-mailed last week to say that he “had gained a new-found power during recent years” and that he “wanted to share his spiritual experience with other people” and that he wanted to know “how to get started at teaching Advaita” so that he could “help” other people. The reply that he received was not the answer that he sought:

You have mistaken the dawn for the noon, so you should abandon your plan (which is rooted in nothing more than ego-states and the corrupted consciousness) and complete your own “journey” before trying to guide “others” along a “path” that you have not yet traveled. Then, such questions as yours will not be asked, and whatever happens will happen spontaneously without any motives or attachment or beliefs, including your beliefs about “power” and “sharing” and “others” and “helping” and—especially—the idea that someone can teach you to teach something which you have not yet understood YourSelf. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: More discussion with Vigneshwar regarding “do-ers,” “the mind,” and other such mirages.