THE MYTHOLOGY OF BIRTH AND REBIRTH(S)

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FROM A SITE VISITOR: Why do you say that you cannot be born again since you were not born once? Anil

F.: Hello, Anil. Generally that query comes from one who (a) believes in multiple reincarnations or from those who (b) believe that they were born, they that are their bodies, that they will die, but that their ashes or carrion shall re-form as bodies that will eventually experience pleasure or pain for eternity.

First, all of the nonsensical beliefs around “birth” are too numerous to address, but one very common belief was revealed in a survey of U.S. citizens (which is not a group known for widespread enlightenment). In that survey 87% said they believe that “God played some role in their conception and birth.” (That is the same percentage in the U.S. who, in a different survey, said that they believe in angels.) What are the odds of enlightening a population when 87% of them don’t even know how babies are “made”?

Is it any wonder that so few ever Realize Fully when it is seen that most are so out of touch with reality that they think a god is guiding the billions of sperm cells per second that are ejaculated across the planet and are seeking eggs? Is it any wonder that so few persons will ever Realize when the egotism that blocks Realization is so grand that 87% of them each believes that she/he is “a special gift from God”? Now there's a false identity that will sustain a sense of separation for an entire manifestation.

In fact, babies are not “made” because nothing is made and nothing has ever been made. Many religious persons can unquestioningly believe that no one made God, that God has existed forever, and that whatever God is supposedly made of has been forever; yet they cannot make the leap and grasp the simple fact that matter and energy have been forever.

Neither matter nor energy can be created or destroyed, so nothing has ever been created and nothing has ever been destroyed. It’s so simple: energy and matter cycle. That’s it. Understand that basic scientific fact, and understand that everything (including babies) is matter/energy, and then you’ll understand that babies cannot be “created or “born.”

Nothing was involved in the process whereby that space known as “Anil” manifested except this: energy manifested in plants; plants were eaten by two humans that would be called “your parents”; some portions of the consumed and digested plants took the form of cells that function spontaneously; some cells functioned as eggs and some as sperm; an act of friction transferred sperm from one space to another; an egg was spontaneously fertilized; many other spontaneous processes happened over a nine-month period; and a plant food body emerged from another plant food body and…voilà…“Anil.” Particles of matter, along with waves and particles of energy, merely cycled. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing "special."

So, for the pointer regarding “no birth/no death” to be comprehended, the notion of “a supernatural creator” being involved in what was nothing more than a natural act must be debunked. An understanding of the basic facts provides that debunking. Yet most persons will be trapped in their magical, supernatural thinking and will not understand that stories about gods being involved with the impregnation of humans happened (1) in mythology, as when Zeus took the form not of a burning bush but of a swan and then raped Leda and (2) in fiction, twenty-two times prior to the Mary-Joseph-Jesus tale.

[NOTE: Since Advaita deals with myth-busting, a pause will be taken to bust another one: twenty-two religions prior to Christianity claimed "Our Savior was born of a virgin." The tale was not new in Joseph and Mary’s day, but it did—over the ages—allow more than a score of not-married-but-nevertheless-pregnant women (like Mary) to avoid being stoned to death. For that alone it was a tale worth telling and sticking to, as far as “The Unwed Mothers of Saviors” were concerned. Yet many have wondered about that twenty-third case in which the mother could have prevented the crucifixion of her son if she’d come clean at the end: “What? They’re going to kill me over my ‘son of god’ claim but I really am just ‘the son of man’?” For more debunking, see the books SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY and IT’S ALL BS via the links below.]

So spaces called “human babies” happen when energy manifests in plant spaces, when conscious-energy is introduced via plant-eating into “human” spaces, and when cells are formed. When plant food bodies (formed via plant food eating) subsequently engage in frictional acts and transfer sperm cells that conduct a race to the egg, conscious-energy can manifest temporarily into another space.

Those are the facts, in spite of one woman saying angrily, “Don’t you try to tell me that God wasn’t involved in selecting my daughter for me—we are exactly alike, and that can’t happen by chance.” No, it can’t happen by chance, but it did happen by programming, conditioning, and genetics…all of which are god-free processes.

So the impregnation process is an all-natural process. Nothing divine or supernatural is involved. It is not “special.” That all-natural process happens the same with rats and worms and roaches, and the final fate of all of those spaces—humans, rats, worms and roaches—is the same: at some point, the elements will rejoin the universal pool of elements; the breath shall rejoin the universal pool of air; and the consciousness shall rejoin the universal pool of unmanifested energy.

Some are predicting that the population of the planet by 2100 will be 12 billion humans as opposed to the 6.5 billion humans now on the planet. Yet not one additional particle of matter will exist on the planet, even if 6 billion more human bodies exist. If the 6.5 billion spaces now increase in number to 12 billion spaces then, it will all happen with the same quantity of elements that are currently present on the planet. Only the additional energy shall be introduced from without the otherwise closed environment.

Of course other projections are that the population will decrease from 6.5 billion to 2 billion as a result of the effects of global climate changes, as a result of inadequate food supplies, because of new strains of super-viruses and super-diseases, and because of other factors. If that scenario plays out, the case will be the same. No material will be “lost” simply because 4.5 billion fewer persons are walking about the globe. [For the complete explanation, see “Being Free of Body and Mind Identification” below.]

Understanding zero net gain and zero net loss is basic to understanding the reality of cycles. It is also a prerequisite to knowing “where” you were prior to conception and “where” you shall “return to,” post-manifestation. For one to believe that “he” or “she” has been “created” by “a creator” and/or parents is to fail to understand the most basic premise of manifestation and one of the most basic elements of the teachings: you were not born even once, so you surely cannot be “born again.” Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS, Part Three

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Please explain consciousness as opposed to awareness. Thank you. Harish

F.: The excerpt from the book, CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute), continues and the picture referred to is in the 3 May 2007 post:

Please review the picture posted yesterday. Next, for purposes of illustration, take the foreground in the picture to represent the I-Amness and the background to be the I AM THAT-ness. Take the foreground to represent Consciousness and the background to represent Awareness. Note that consciousness involves being conscious of (something) so consciousness is always, ultimately, about duality: “this” is conscious of “that.” (Thus, the seeker who thinks he/she is Fully Realized and is the unicity because he/she knows the True Self is mistaken. That seeker might be Self-Realized, but That Which Truly Is is beyond self-ness, Self-ness, beingness, non-beingness, and realizing. It is even beyond “conscious of-ness.”)

PLEASE NOTE: The (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute) referred to in the aforementioned title manifests when abidance “beyond conscious of-ness” happens. The relative existence comparison offered by Advaitins is "the deep sleep metaphor" wherein peace happens beyond relative consciousness. (Compare the “beyond conscious of-ness” to the awareness of the body’s need that automatically, spontaneously keeps the heart and the lungs functioning even as there is no “one” present to consciously “do” that. Also, understand the automatic, spontaneous functioning in order to understand how your relative existence can happen with no illusion of a “do-er” being present and with abidance happening even beyond conscious of-ness. That happens when abidance as the Absolute happens.)

To continue with the discussion of the picture from yesterday, the doingness in the foreground is marked by consciousness and a sense of duality. Persons unaware of the unicity believe that they are conscious of some vast multiplicity of things: houses, roads, crops, intersections, buses, mercatos, etc. In the background of the picture, which includes trees and clouds and mountains and sky and sunlight, there is no sense of duality. Why? There is no “one” to be conscious of anything, yet there is awareness. In what way is “Awareness without Conscious of-ness” present in the background?

Observe that there appears to be a variety of “cloud” formations, but see that “the clouds” are not the real. What is “real,” for the sake of this example, is H20. As for awareness, a series of two hydrogen atoms are aware of an oxygen atom, but there is no “one” that is present to be conscious of anything. Awareness is just happening, so Awareness is not dualistic in its nature. (Yes, this explanation is beyond what has been offered on the site to some seekers who were not ready for this level of discussion. By virtue of the fact that Harish asked, there is evidence that he might be.)

The H20 can manifest in various "forms" or "spaces" which persons try to separate with labeling into “rain, rivers, lakes, clouds, vapor, water, snow, snowmen, snowballs, snow cones, snow flurries, snow flakes, snow piles, slush, ice, steam, lakes, pools, waterfalls, streams, fog, ponds, hail, drizzle, floods, mist, swamps, oceans, seas,” ad infinitum, but it’s really all one thing, all H20, merely appearing to be different. (See why persons live in the delusion of duality? See why persons are not "in the world" and why "the world" is in them...in their wrongly-perceiving "minds" that take what they think they see to be real and that try to support "differentiation" through labeling?)

Similarly, consciousness can manifest via the spaces labeled as "plants, animals, humans, birds," etc., and though it’s really all consciousness manifested, it appears to the non-Realized to be multiple and different things. For any perception of rain, rivers, plants, or animals to happen, conscious of-ness must also happen, and as a result of inaccurate suppositions rooted in distorted perception, the illusion of duality manifests.

(Again, it should be seen why it is frequently repeated on this site that, ultimately, there is no “goal” of abiding as Consciousness. For full freedom to happen during the manifestation of consciousness, abidance must happen as the Absolute.)

As with the “atoms as clouds,” whereby awareness can happen without any “one” being conscious of, so it is as the Absolute. Awareness is, even as there is no “one” to be aware of. Thus Awareness involves no duality. To use the second analogy, the glue is considered “sticky” as it adheres one thing to another (so it is dualistic in its very nature) but that which is independent and eternal is the glue's fundamental essence of “stickiness” (which is non-dual in its nature).

In both the foreground and the background of the picture from yesterday, everything is merely happening; however, in the foreground where consciousness has been corrupted, consciousness takes itself to be something it is not and leads persons to believe that they are making things happen and that they are seeing separate things. Persons are taking themselves to be “do-ers,” are lacking an understanding of the unicity, and are, therefore, strapped with delusional thinking generated by an illusory "mind."

So Harish, are you beginning to understand why you were advised that “in the no-concept, non-dual reality, there is nothing ‘opposed to’ anything else” but that your question could be addressed by discussing the supposed “attributes” of Awareness and Consciousness? Glue sticks and Scotch tape and Post-It Notes can be discussed; while manifested, they can each exhibit the "attribute" of being sticky; but someday the atrophy process will happen and those elements will return to the universal pool of elements. Then, what remains? Not glue sticks and Scotch tape and Post-It Notes but only “stickiness.”

Now, please understand what can and what cannot happen with the Post-It Notes in order to understand what cycles and what does not. If you understand this, then you can be free of nonsensical beliefs such as the Dalai Lama's “New Orleans was struck by Hurricane Katrina because of the bad (dualistic) karma of the people” or such nonsense as “Harish is going to cycle and cycle and cycle again, until he gets it right (duality)”:

it could be that millions of old Post-It Notes might be processed through a pulper that chops the paper into small bits and then heats them in a mixture that breaks them down into fibrous strands of cullulose (which is merely organic plant material). Then, the pulp can be screened and, if necessary, de-inked and color-stripped. After bleaching, that can be processed in a manner that results in it again taking the form of paper which can, in turn, take the form of Post-It Notes again. But what cycled? The organic elements. Are these the same Post-It Notes that existed before? Of course not. Will all Post-It Notes be recycled? No. Can their “form” end permanently? Yes. Can the organic material used to make paper be destroyed? No.

If recycled, it is the same organic material which can cycle into a form that appears to be the same, but that material could as easily take the form and appearance of a legal pad, a magazine, or a book. (That is how trillions upon trillions of "humans and animals and birds" have cycled into and out of manifested form on the planet while the planet has experienced zero-gain and zero-loss: organic material is merely being cycled, and it all happens with a speck of energy manifesting via plants. In the relative, you are what you eat and nothing more. It happens spontaneously with no master-control or Master-control involved. With condolences to those who take themselves or their offspring to be "gifts from God," what is really going on, and on-going, is a simple and natural organic happening, not a supernatural happening.)

Conscious-energy cycles (or not) in the same manner as the Post-It Notes. In the case of the legal pad, the magazine or the book, the attribute of "being sticky" would not happen, yet “stickiness” still remains though the original "sticky note paper" does not remain in its previous form. (Dennis Waite makes this clear by noting that those who are inpeccable with their words will talk of "tably wood," not of a "wooden table.") Do you grasp fully the functioning of the totality? Do you understand completely what cycles, how it cycles, what does not cycle, what remains forever, and what is only temporarily manifested? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (Tomorrow: The Conclusion)

CONSCIOUSNESS IS, Part Three

FROM A SITE VISITOR: there’s all these contradictions, the part I don’t get is “there’s only consciousness” but at the same time “in the Absolute state there is no one to be consciousness of anything.” Then Maharaj talked about “even in the sleep state the consciousness still is conscious” but at the same time “even in the Absolute state there is consciousness or awareness but no one to be aware of it.” Then, “neither matter nor energy can be created nor destroyed” but “this is finite while that is infinite.” Help! Brad

F.: Also, understand that within that field, various atoms are moving, interacting, and being conscious of each other. Energy is moving in wave and particle form, so unmanifested consciousness is not “at-rest” in the sense that it is not in motion. It is. The term “at rest” (certainly misleading on one level) merely points at the non-manifested status of the consciousness at that point.

Moreover, do not think that there is some definable quantity of conscious-energy that is immobilized while in some larger system or field or pool of energy, “waiting” and positioned in a way that will allow it to be siphoned into some process that leads to manifestation or re-manifestation. Portions may manifest or re-manifest...or not. (Furthermore, as an example of the energy manifesting or not, note the difference in what happens when sunlight hits the surface of the moon vs. what happens when it hits the surface of a plant on earth.) Furthermore, the fact that some particles of previously-manifested consciousness might manifest again, and might not, nullifies such concepts as “karma” and “reincarnation.” I have not been born even once, so how could I possibly be “born again” or be born “multiple times”? Those two concepts are the result of body-mind-personality identification which always produce a desire for continuity.

So, at this very moment, there is a field or system of energy that can be called “the absolute”—pure, absolute, conscious-energy. Within that field, there is movement and interaction, at this very moment; however, when conscious-energy is not manifested in a temporary grouping of elements with a nervous system, the consciousness cannot be conscious of itself. Furthermore, do not take the Absolute to be some special “place.” It is merely a “system” of energy—infinite, limitless, and omnipresent—from which quantities of energy might move to adjacent regions. If that energy becomes “caught up” in a movement of energy that happens to strike a plant, then it can manifest temporarily, yet there is no governing body or entity that determines whether such a chance happening might occur or not.

To understand the cycling of consciousness “out of” or “into” a field or system, see what happens the moment that a bug is struck by the windshield of an automobile: much of the elemental structure remains on the glass (ash-to-ash, dust-to-dust); the air that was circulating as breath is instantaneously released and united with the universal pool of air; and the conscious-energy is instantaneously released into an omnipresent field…into that infinite pool of energy that can neither be created nor destroyed. The energy does not “go there” to some special place.

Next, understand that too much has been made of what is called “The Absolute.” It is nothing more than an all-pervasive body or system or field or pool of energy, energy that is not currently manifested via a group of elements with a nervous system. Yet IT IS. In the process of trying to assign “supernatural” or “extraordinary” or “heavenly” or “special” attributes to a field of energy, (a) most persons now take the Absolute to be a mystical, supernatural location and (b) persons who believe that it is “up there” or “out there” do not understood that it is all-pervasive.

As a result of religious and spiritual leaders having glorified an energy field, the Absolute is imagined by many to be a place—even a geographic place in some teachings—that is not “here” but which is “there” instead. All such distortions attempt to place limitations on the limitless; yet even John Paul II, as programmed as he was, was aware enough to say that “we must correct the geography of Gehanna: there is no literal heaven or hell…they are mental states, and you are in one or the other right now.” ("Gehanna" also known as "Gehenna," "gehenom" or "gehinom.")

[NOTE: An editorial in La Civilta Cattolica, a Jesuit magazine with close ties to the Vatican, also said at that time, “Hell is not a 'place' but a 'state,' a person's 'state of being’.” The pope and the magazine merely adumbrated what Christ had said: “No one will ever see the kingdom of heaven…it is within.” Yet those who are programmed with religious dogma and who are enamored with their belief in the dualities of “good vs. bad” and “punishment vs. reward” as well as their desire for eternal continuity of body and mind and personality will called themselves “Christians” while completely ignoring the later Advaita teachings of Christ, that there is no heaven, in order to cling to the desires of body and mind: "Yes we are Christians, but we do not consider all of the teachings of Christ. We'd rather cling to the dualistic notions of hell and heaven and hope we can avoid hell and earn the right to live forever in heaven."]

With the widespread distorted thinking among persons, however, the Absolute has been misconceived as “heaven,” as “the home of the gods or a god,” as “a place where persons will go for eternal bliss if they are good,” ad infinitum. The smashed bug is neither “at rest” nor enjoying “its place of final rest.” Neither are any humans who have ever walked the planet.

Here is all that happens when a human “dies” or when a bug is struck by the windshield of a car: a temporary “association of” or “involvement among” certain elements and energy and air comes to an end. Though that particular association ends, the elements do not end, the air does not end, and the energy does not end. What did come to “an end” with the smashed bug (or a "dead human") was an ever-changing combination of elements, air, and energy which were in a constant state of flux but perceived by persons to have had continuity. The fact is that no “same bug” will ever be again, and no “same human” shall ever be again, but the same elements and air and energy shall be forever.

But keep it simple now as you revisit one set of the teachings that were a quandary for you: “It’s all consciousness…there’s only consciousness” but at the same time “in the Absolute state there is no one to be conscious of anything.” Now you should be able to see from the example of the atoms that they are conscious of the presence of each other; that they move in relationship to each other; and that their movements influence the behavior of each other. However, even as atoms were conscious of the presence of other atoms, there was no “one”—no being with a nervous system—that could allow the consciousness to be conscious of the fact that it is; nevertheless, the consciousness still IS, though it is not conscious of the fact that it IS. The same is the case with "brad" prior to manifestation, and the same shall be the case with "brad" post-manifestation.

It has been shown how consciousness IS even though there is no witness of that consciousness when unmanifest. Therefore, the consciousness was and is definitely “there,” the atoms were and are conscious of the presence of each other, and they all acted and reacted, and now act, in a certain way as a result. Even in a pre-manifestation state, consciousness was functioning, even without any consciousness of consciousness. (So much for the concept of "sacred contracts.") The same happens each night as you sleep.

Even as you are not conscious while in deep sleep, consciousness continues to function and guides the brain and heart and other organs through their functions, automatically and spontaneously. You need not try to stay awake and be aware of your heart and lungs in order for them to work. Consciousness does that. Yet awake or asleep, you need not be conscious of the consciousness that is guiding the lungs to inhale and exhale and that is guiding the heart to contract and pump. That parallels abidance as the Absolute: as this manifested conscious-energy called “floyd” functions as consciousness that is conscious of, there is no “one”—no person—who is there and witnessing it. It’s all just happening, spontaneously, by itself. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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