NO END "PATHS"? A LIFE-LONG "JOURNEY" WHICH NEVER REACHES THE DESTINATION? A LIFETIME OF TREATMENT WITH NO CURE AT ALL? Sensible and Sane? Or Senseless and Insane? Part WW - A REVIEW OF "THE REASONS"

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS 

Specific "reasons" cause persons 

• to be obsessive and compulsive 

• and render them unable to relax 

• and lead them to be driven to go and do and zoom (whether that involves religion; spirituality; employment; "personal relationships"; politicking; reforming; rescuing; seeking love; seeking mass approval and applause and admiration; trying to escape responsibilities; accumulating; finding caretakers; or controlling). 

• We are looking at what causes "the reasons" to manifest 

• and what must happen in order to be freed from their influence. 

So, to continue: 

Persons also obsess, act compulsively, are unable to relax, are fanatical, are driven by subconscious motives, and do whatever authority figures tell them to do - unquestioningly - because of reason 23: persons want Power, and they believe that the other-worldly Powers or Power they've hooked up with is not only All-Powerful but is Omnipresent, that is, (a) able to do anything for them and is (b) always present and reliable and willing to do for them, if only they ______. (Fill in the blank with the hundreds and thousands of things that persons have dreamed up and reported that gods or goddesses or The One True God wants in order for them / Him to be pleased and, therefore, willing to grant the wishes being asked for on a daily basis to the tune of billions and billions of requests per hour); 

Thus, the causes of reason #23 are: 

BODY IDENTIFICATION and ITS ACCOMPANYING DISTORTIONS AND DELUSIONS and PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION and ACCULTURATION 

With awareness comes an understanding of the unicity; with the consciousness only comes a dualistic sense of self vs. "the other"; and with the consciousness enabling the manifestation to believe in not only a sense of self but also in a sense of "the other" comes fear. 

Adult humans, using their 1400 gram-size brain with a mind included, can engage in all sorts of mental gymnastics about what should be feared and what should not: 

FOREIGN TERRORISTS? Yes. Definitely.

A MATE THAT ONE IS LIVING WITH OR MARRIED TO? Surely not. 

Were all 1400 grams used in a rational, logical, due diligence manner, the answers to those questions would be the exact opposite. 

But what of the house sparrow with its 1 gram-sized brain? Why does it fly away when I'm on a walk and approach on a trail that passes beneath the limb on which the bird is perched. Why does it fly away from me as I near? Reason? Logic? Intelligence? No. It flies away because of a key trait of the manifested consciousness, be it manifested in a space called "a human" or in a space called "a house sparrow." That trait: the desire of consciousness for longevity and continuity. 

Like cheerleaders setting persons up to make Greek chorus-like responses, they can shout at a typical group of humans and ask: 

"How long do you wanna live?" and the shout back will be "Forever!" 

"How long do you wanna be conscious?" and the shout back will be "Continuously! Without interruption or end! In perpetuity! Forever!" 

And how can persons supposedly live forever and have their desires met? They believe that can only happen if they hook up with some Power. (And by the way, their conceptualized Power will be a projection of self, so its body will look like oneself physically and will behave like oneself and will exhibit one's exact traits in all ways). 

Because my daughter and son-in-law both spent their formative years around friends and neighbors and schoolmates with a variety of skin colors which would touch many points on a color spectrum, my granddaughter is now being exposed to the same. 

Pictures show her playing with the offspring of friends from South and Central America with varying shades of brown skin; from the Far East with shades of yellowish skin; from Romania with slightly darker skin; with African roots and various tones of black skin; and with a granddad whose skin can turn reddish as a result of a Cherokee grandmother's genetic influence. 

My granddaughter has not yet heard any disparaging remarks about "the other" or about the wishes of many persons to separate persons by skin color. There is no body identification yet, so there is no nonsensical belief about being different from and therefore better than others based on physical traits. 

In the U.S., all of that body identification and discord generated by skin color preferences and rankings will be heard soon enough though in a culture in which the notion of white supremacy has been at its very core since the original invasion of this land; since the skin-color-based slaughter which followed; since the enslavement of persons based on skin color; and since the refusal of education based on skin color along with the disparagement of persons who have not been given equal access to education for not being well educated. 

And all of that prejudice manifests regarding Power as well: in the predominantly-white, predominantly-racially-prejudiced neighborhood where I lived, the picture of Jesus hanging on several walls throughout the Southern Baptist Church where I was taken for programming and conditioning were like this one: 

The historical Yeshu'a (Jesus) was a Middle East male who - like his male friends and neighbors and family members - likely had dark hair, dark eyes, a dark beard, and less than bright-white skin. But in Southern churches in the late 40's and early 50's, that kind of Jesus could not be worthy of being worshiped by white Southerners in the U.S. Only the version shown above was supposedly acceptable and deserving, though it was based in nothing more than psychological projection and anthropomorphism.

In fact, were Jesus alive nowadays and roaming about in the same area where he lived two thousand years ago, if some had their way, he would not be able to visit the members of his flock in the U.S. because he would be banned as a result of racial profiling based on his body appearance.

In the church I attended as a child, the Anglo-Saxons' projected their personal traits onto their "personal Savior" and their "personal God" because they were only willing to worship an Aryan-looking Savior who was light-skinned and blue eyed and who had the loveliest strawberry blonde locks imaginable. 

Their anthropomorphism drove them to ascribe their own body attributes to both their savior and their imaginary deity. Such is the result of body identification and identifying with some other-worldly Power: "He is like me, and I am just like Him . . . godly. Moreover, I am a good God-fearing persons." 

The result of such body identification? Distortions; delusions; a dualistic sense of separation and different-from-ment and better-than-ment; fear of, or disdain for, "the other"; an upgrading of one's self-traits; a downgrading of all "others" without those same traits; and the projection of one's self-traits onto all deemed, as a result of egotism, to be "good" or "great."

Next, the desire for Power is also rooted in the fear which is generated by personality identification. 

Every persona assigned or assumed by humans brings with it its own basic fear and basic desire. 

"The Husband" desires that "His Wife" will continue to play the co-dependent counterpart role which his false role requires for him to continue to "exist" in his mind, and if she makes some noises which suggests she might be planning to stop playing her Wife-role, then fear will manifest (followed by anger because an imaginary threat to an imaginary mirage will be imagined to be an actual threat to an actual self). 

Maharaj: " Desire not, fear not." 

Questioner: "In what way do I disturb peace?" 

Maharaj: "By being a slave to your desires and fears." 

Maharaj: "Pleasure and pain lost their sway over me. I was free from desire and fear." 

Thus, personality identification - along with body identification - also generates fear, and fear generates a desire for power and also for a Power who will intervene in one's behalf at a moment's notice, at the drop of a prayer.

What are some of the relevant idioms which point persons away from their delusion-and-distortion-based beliefs regarding fears, desires, power, and Power? 

"If wishes were fishes, we'd all swim in riches" 

and 

"If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride." 

Or, as Carlin put it: 

The desire for power and the desire for a Power - both rooted in fear and desire - will trap persons on a "path" to nowhere even as they are convinced that they are going somewhere, even as they are convinced that they are going somewhere special, and even as they are convinced that, ultimately, they are going Somewhere Very Special. 

To be continued. 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,000+ posts for any topics of interest to you.

NO END "PATHS"? A LIFE-LONG "JOURNEY" WHICH NEVER REACHES THE DESTINATION? A LIFETIME OF TREATMENT WITH NO CURE AT ALL? Sensible and Sane? Or Senseless and Insane? Part VV - A REVIEW OF "THE REASONS"

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS 

Specific "reasons" cause persons to be obsessive and compulsive 

• and render them unable to relax 

• and lead them to be driven to go and do and zoom (whether that involves religion; spirituality; employment; "personal relationships"; politicking; reforming; rescuing; seeking love; seeking mass approval and applause and admiration; trying to escape responsibilities; accumulating; finding caretakers; or controlling). 

• We are looking at what causes "the reasons" to manifest 

• and what must happen in order to be freed from their influence. 

So, to continue: Persons also obsess, act compulsively, are unable to relax, are fanatical, are driven by subconscious motives, and do whatever authority figures tell them to do - unquestioningly - because of reason 17: even if persons happen to find another who has some inkling about the sources of humanity's problems - the solution is not offered in a plain and simple manner in a language which all can understand. 

Humans, especially those presenting as "leaders" in religious and spiritual and political matters, are usually driven by a "just to make a short story long" mindset and by a "just to made the simple into something complex" mindset.

So, as for the cause of reason #17, here are the factors at play: 

1. human-like beings and humans abided simply for millions of years; 

2. they functioned under the auspices of a natural brain that was about one-cup in size; 

3. as humans evolved, they developed a brain which is now about 3-1/2 cups in size, and the expanded brain developed the ability to store and retrieve information (that is, the ability to have "a mind"); 

4. those parts of the expanded brain called "the mind" which allowed humans to store and retrieve the memories of observed events which either abet or obstruct the survival of the human species was initially a naturally-evolving asset for humanity (such as when the result of another man walking off the side of a mountain was witnessed and the information was stored in the mind and was recalled later on and alerted other humans standing near the edge of a cliff to back away); 

5. later, in the case of "modern man," the mind has become a liability because humans have stored away nonsense and false impressions rather than accurately-observed and interpreted information; 

6. as a result, humans' (a) simple style of abiding when storing facts gave way to (b) a highly-complex style of living when they started storing non-facts as "facts," fiction as real, lies as truth, and misunderstandings and when the natural was replaced by the supernatural (magical, spiritual, etc.) and by the unnatural. 

Scientists observed and then substantiated the factors which determine why a hurricane takes one path and not another, providing a simple, fact-based explanation; the words of the current Dalai Lama, however, are determined by the content of a convoluted, complicated mind, so he will speak words based in fiction and non-facts and misunderstandings and based in magical, spiritual beliefs and then conclude that "Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans because of the negative karma of the people there." 

And all around the globe, his sheep-like, sleep-talking followers said, "Ah. Yes. His Holiness is so very deep!" So, too, are there piles of something else that can also be very deep, and only the wise will be able to differentiate between the two.

The minds which once offered information based in the natural have been replaced with minds that prefer to offer religious / spiritual / magical explanations for everything. 

Hurricanes are natural phenomena . . . are all-natural, spontaneously-occurring acts.

The desire to use natural phenomena to promote spiritual or religious or ideological or philosophical agendas and messages is a most unnatural, contrived act and only adds to humankind's accumulated body of ignorance.

Thus, the causes of reason #17 are: 

THE COMPLEX, NONSENSE-FILLED MIND and MIND IDENTIFICATION 

and the causes of the complex, nonsense-filled mind and mind identification are

PROGRAMMING, CONDITIONING, DOMESTICATION, ACCULTURATION, BRAINWASHING AND INDOCTRINATION 

Those six factors have been discussed, and the resultant complex, nonsense-filled mind also accounts for reasons 18 through 22: 

18. because persons are so attached to the content of their minds, and so proud of all of their accumulated knowledge ("learned ignorance," per Maharaj), that they are highly offended to hear it when any of their beliefs are challenged; 

19. because a convergence of multiple factors can have a geometric rather than arithmetic effect; 

20. because they are still suffering from the presence of some remaining degree of "ignorance"; 

21. because they are still suffering from the presence of some remaining degree of "stupidity" or foolishness or senselessness; 

22. because they are still suffering from the presence of some remaining degree of "insanity." 

The solution offered by Maharaj and offered here is simple: be free of the mind. How? By understanding that all of the content therein (whether called concepts, ideas, perceptions, thoughts, designs, plans, schemes, inspirations, impressions, images, opinions, views, theories, inklings, memories, or something else) can all be boiled down to one thing: beliefs. 

Therefore, if you want to be free of the mind, it's simple: 

Stop believing everything you have ever been taught or told or read. Discard every belief. Why hang onto what is not yours? Why be proud of what is not yours? Why be willing to fight for the content of a mind that is not even yours? You have no beliefs and no mind. You have "their" beliefs which you have adopted as your own and "their" mind which you have accepted as your own.

Here, there is no one that wants to teach you anything. Here, the version of the Ultimate Medicine offered calls for un-learning it all, calls for being un-taught everything that has been taught. 

What is the difference then? I know nothing that you supposedly need to know as well; instead, I have simply discarded all that I thought I knew which you still think you know and which you need to discard as well.

Thus freed of nonsense and learned ignorance and imposed insanity, you will function not under the auspices of an unnaturally-and-supernaturally-bent mind but under the auspices of the natural brain and the inner resource. 

You will no longer function under the auspices and control of a supernaturally-or-unnaturally-bent mind which is nothing more than a fiction-based composite (compost?) of everything that has been accepted as truth which is actually just nonsense which had been gathered from a host of "outer resources." 

See? Simple. 

No beliefs? Then no mind. 

No mind? Then no learned ignorance and no insanity. 

To be continued. 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,000+ posts for any topics of interest to you.

NO END "PATHS"? A LIFE-LONG "JOURNEY" WHICH NEVER REACHES THE DESTINATION? A LIFETIME OF TREATMENT WITH NO CURE AT ALL? Sensible and Sane? Or Senseless and Insane? Part UU - A REVIEW OF "THE REASONS"

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS 

Specific "reasons" cause persons to be obsessive and compulsive 

• and render them unable to relax • and lead them to be driven to go and do and zoom (whether that involves religion; spirituality; employment; "personal relationships"; politicking; reforming; rescuing; seeking love; seeking mass approval and applause and admiration; trying to escape responsibilities; accumulating; finding caretakers; or controlling). 

• We are looking at what causes "the reasons" to manifest 

• and what must happen in order to be freed from their influence. 

So, to continue: 

Persons also obsess, act compulsively, are unable to relax, are fanatical, are driven by subconscious motives, and do whatever authority figures tell them to do - unquestioningly - because of reason #15: because persons who have been programmed, conditioned, etc. to believe the beliefs which others pass on to them, and accept those beliefs as true even though there is not one single fact to support those beliefs, are suffering from delusion and distortion and ignorance and one degree or another of insanity. 

So the causes of reason #15 are: 

PROGRAMMING and CONDITIONING and DOMESTICATION and ACCULTURATION and INDOCTRINATION and BRAINWASHING and DELUSION and DISTORTION and IGNORANCE and INSANITY 

Most of those have been discussed. As for delusion, that is defined "a belief that is held with strong conviction despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary" and as "a belief or impression that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality or rational argument." 

It is "typically a symptom of mental and personality disorders"; thus, delusion is "a type of serious mental illness in which a person cannot tell what is real from what is not." 

Ignorance breeds ignorance. Yes, genetics can play a role, but as Maharaj pointed out, the most common form of ignorance among humans is "learned ignorance"; thus, he said, "all knowledge is ignorance." 

Moreover, he clarified that "realization is but the opposite of ignorance." Wait. Realization is not some exalted happening that involves some grand, lofty, elevated deal that is strictly about some "other-worldly" consciousness or understanding? No. It is about what is going on during the AM-ness. 

It is about being free of ignorance now. Later, there is no "one" to reap any benefits of being free of ignorance. That freedom is only relevant now. 

Maharaj said, "The circles of ignorance may be ever-widening, yet it remains a bondage all the same," and that bondage can manifest as a lifetime of needless workaholism in the areas of religion, spirituality and "self" improvement. 

Insanity is often rooted in biological and situational / environmental factors. 

I have two neighbors whose sons have both displayed clear evidence of being mentally ill. The adult-age son across the street went into his backyard with a pistol and blew his brains out. Most in the neighborhood who have dealt with the second family next door predict that the young son there will likely get a gun some day and shoot his father - and maybe the other family members as well - and then either kill himself or try to escape and die in a death-by-cop scenario. 

In the first case, the mother across the street is trapped in the depths of insanity. In the second case, the father is trapped in insanity and behaves like a sociopathic, psychopathic, raging lunatic. 

So, have the parents in both cases passed down some genetic defect which manifested in their offspring, or did the offspring become insane after years of living with insane parents, seeing insanity being modeled all day long every day, perceiving that insanity to be "normal," and then modeling the insane thought patterns and behavioral patterns of the parents? 

That cannot be determined by witnessing alone, but both serve as an example of the pointer that insanity can be passed down genetically but can also result from living in a situation where the authorities in one's life are insane or where the authorities in one's life have created an environment in which the "normal" is never modeled and in which the "abnormal" is presented as being "normal." 

Persons also obsess, act compulsively, are unable to relax, are fanatical, are driven by subconscious motives, and do whatever authority figures tell them to do - unquestioningly - because of reason #16: because persons are not likely to find anyone who knows what the real sources of humanity's problems are. 

The cause of reason #16 is: 

ARROGANCE 

Some ask, "Really? But what about this and that and that other thing?"

The reply: All the reasons that you are naming do indeed have some tangential effects, but the primary reason that persons do not find anyone who knows what the real sources of humanity's problems are is because they do not seek such a one, and the reason they do not seek such a one is because 

(1) they think they already know all they need to know 

and / or 

(2) they believe that they have a "holy book" or "special book" with infallible content that can tell them all they will ever need to know. 

What is that if not arrogance? 

Arrogance has been defined as "a person's sense of his or her own importance and intelligence and that shows itself in a proud and even insulting way." 

Being arrogant has been defined as "being disposed to exaggerate one's own worth or importance or intelligence or vast body of knowledge" or "showing an attitude of superiority in an overbearing manner." 

Yes, ignorance is involved when persons believe that their supposedly "holy" or "special" book is uniquely able to identify what is right and what is wrong and able to tell persons exactly how they should live: 

"Well you need to stop behaving the way that you behave because my Bible tells me that . . . ." 

or 

"You need to believe what I believe because my Quran tells me that . . . ." 

or 

"I know we are the people that god prefers above all others because we are told in the Torah that . . . ." 

or 

"Well, the first 164 pages of my Big Book make damn clear that . . . ." 

or 

"The modern spiritual classic I AM THAT is my Bible, and it has all of the truth I need to know (unlike what appears in the later talks by Maharaj when he rejects . . . .") 

He who thinks he knows all actually knows nothing and will not be open to understanding what is begging to be understood. To be free of the effects of programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and indoctrination and brainwashing and delusion and distortion and ignorance and insanity and arrogance, one must first see the presence of all of those. 

This weekend, I'll be providing another service I offer as a "financial counselor," conducting a seminar for individuals who want to be restored to financial sanity. Who will come to the seminar and which of those in attendance will be most likely to succeed in their search for financial sanity? 

First, those who have awakened at least enough to know that they have been totally asleep around the way they handle their money, but that alone will not be enough. 

Secondly will be those who are revolted to at least some degree about the debt they have incurred and about how much work and time they have wasted because they never understood that what is far more important is how much of what you earn you keep rather than how much you earn per se. 

(A person making $30,000 a year who puts away 10% of all earnings each month will be far better off thirty years later than a person who makes $1,000,000 per year but spends $1,100,000 per year). 

And thirdly, the ones over the years who have really turned things around and gained financial sanity and are now enjoying the peace that comes with that sanity and that freedom from the constant pressure of worrying about money are the ones who experience some degree of disgust. 

Disgust? Yes. Disgust. 

Persons will tolerant the most intolerable conditions in their "relationships" or jobs or whatever if they do not reach a point of disgust. 

Consider: 

The last time I visited Seattle, I drove up to the University of Washington and visited with Dr. John Gottman and his wife Julie Schwartz. Dr. Gottman has been recognized as "one of the ten most influential therapists of the past quarter century." 

We talked about a pointer of his that I had read about regarding the fact that, in his four decades of research, Dr. Gottman has found contempt to be the #1 predictor of divorce. He explains that contempt is poisonous because it conveys disgust, and if contempt and disgust are not addressed promptly and effectively, the die is likely cast; therefore, I asked him to "please expand upon your findings regarding disgust and the buccinator muscle." 

He explained that contempt is one of the emotions that he watches for in his "Love Lab," and its presence can be revealed physically. He found that it is detectable through the "dimpler muscle," or "the buccinator muscle," which pulls a lip corner to the side and creates a distinctly "uncute" dimple, often combined with an upward eye roll. If that twists shows up when a couple is in a session, the likelihood of a divorce may well be imminent if an effective intervention does not happen. 

A partner's lip is twisted up and to the side, like this? 

The end of the current story may well be about to draw to a close. 

What does that have to do with being free of financial insanity? Those who have been most successful at using the plan presented and sticking with it and bringing about a shift to financial sanity are the ones who showed some degree of disgust about their history with money or their partner's history with their money. Those who have succeeded have been the ones who were sick and tired of the nonsense and the effects of nonsensical thinking and nonsensical behavior around finances. 

Well, the same applies with those who get the understanding offered here:

They must first awaken at least enough to know that they have been totally asleep around the insane way that their IS-ness has been unfolding. 

Secondly, they must become somewhat revolted about the toll of years of nonsensical thoughts and words and actions. 

And thirdly, they must experience some degree of disgust which is enough to inspire them to end the kind of nonsensical existence which they have been living and to seek a means which will free them from a relative existence which has been marked and marred by the Ultimate Sickness and its symptoms of ignorance and insanity. 

What blocks persons from seeing their ignorance and insanity? First, their ignorance and insanity, 

and secondly, 

their through-the-roof levels of arrogance.

To be continued. 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,000+ posts for any topics of interest to you.

NO END "PATHS"? A LIFE-LONG "JOURNEY" WHICH NEVER REACHES THE DESTINATION? A LIFETIME OF TREATMENT WITH NO CURE AT ALL? Sensible and Sane? Or Senseless and Insane? Part TT - A REVIEW OF "THE REASONS"

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS 

• Specific "reasons" cause persons to be obsessive and compulsive 

• and render them unable to relax • and lead them to be driven to go and do and zoom (whether that involves religion; spirituality; employment; "personal relationships"; politicking; reforming; rescuing; seeking love; seeking mass approval and applause and admiration; trying to escape responsibilities; accumulating; finding caretakers; or controlling). 

 • We are looking at what causes "the reasons" to manifest 

• and what must happen in order to be freed from their influence. 

So, to continue: 

Persons also obsess, act compulsively, are unable to relax, are fanatical, are driven by subconscious motives, and do whatever authority figures tell them to do - unquestioningly - because of reason #13: because they believed it when they were told that humanity's problems are caused by the fact that people are not religious enough, not devoted enough, not faithful enough, and don't study the dogma and the content in their so-called "holy" scriptures enough. 

The causes of reason #13: 

EGO-STATE ASSIGNMENT AND ASSUMPTION and EGOTISM and ARROGANCE 

The most powerful ego-states - and some of the most prevalent during the last 3500 to 5000 years or so - are the personality identifications which have grown out of the religions which humans have dreamed up. 

The result over the last five millennia or so: massive levels of egotism and arrogance which always manifest in conjunction with the assignment or assumption of ego-states and which especially come when persons believe that their roles align them with gods and goddesses or with "the one true god" or which supposedly rank them evenly with those Powers or which - per some belief systems - actually make them into gods.

In the U.S. nowadays, there is much hate talk about Muslims and "those murderous Islamic extremist terrorists," and much fear is being stirred up about non-whites in general who are supposedly the greatest threat to the U.S. citizenry. 

(Fact check: From 2005 to 2015, there were 71 incidents which were linked to "extremists"; on the other hand, the majority of attacks were carried out by white, homegrown extremists. Maharaj pointed out how often ignorance drives persons to assign blame and cause to factors which have nothing at all to do with the actual cause.) 

By contrast, in that same 2005 to 2015 period, there were 5,370 domestic incidents reported with serious harm, most involving males attacking females. Fifty-nine percent of all women killed in the U.S. annually are not killed by foreign extremists but are killed by U.S. citizens during a breakup with a person whom they had been living with or were married to.) 

So the statistics show that persons who listen to politicians spouting their non-fact-based nonsense can be whipped up into a frenzy of fear about people from "over there" who are intent on harming them while they are actually sharing a roof with a far greater source of potential harm and are far more likely to be attacked by someone "from here."

As for which religion has supplied the highest number of terrorists to invade what is now called "the Americas," that goes to Christianity with Christian invaders from Europe having killed over 150,000,000 of the indigenous peoples, starting with Columbus whose forces alone killed 15,000,000 people. 

My grandmother and her Cherokee kin had some first-hand accounts to share about what it was like to deal with those Christians who showed up and killed 98% of all indigenous peoples and herded the remaining survivors onto "reservations," taking 99% of the land which they had occupied and selling it to Europeans for $1.00 to $1.49 per acre. 

Others who are aware might have some similar views about such Christians and their beliefs as shown by Luther and Calvin who both said that that "those who believe what Copernicus said about the earth’s circling the sun should be killed." How arrogant would persons have to be to exhibit such levels of entitlement that they believe they had the right to confiscate land and to kill all non-Christians or to kill Christians who don't believe exactly what they believe? 

What is being said in the U.S. about Muslims applies far more to Christians.Yes, Muslims with similar beliefs are convinced that it is their right to kill other Muslims in different sects or persons in different religions, but they have a long way to go to catch up with the numbers slaughtered by Christians during the American Holocaust. 

But the religious arrogance of persons involved with those two religions throughout history is slight when compared to the belief held by those among another religion that was based in the Middle East, a belief that they have held for nearly 3,400 years: that is the belief among the Jews that they are "God's chosen people." Wow. Now there's some ego-state based arrogance.

The reason that Maharaj eventually turned his back on religion and spirituality and walked away from both was because, again, he too saw that the most powerful ego-states - and some of the most prevalent during the last 3500 to 5000 years or so - are the personality identifications which have grown out of the religions and spiritual movements which humans have dreamed up. 

Persons also obsess, act compulsively, are unable to relax, are fanatical, are driven by subconscious motives, and do whatever authority figures tell them to do - unquestioningly - because of reason #14: because they believed it when they were told that humans have a "spirit"; they believed it when they were told that "a spirit can become sick"; they believed it when they were told that they have a "sick spirit" and that only conscious contact with God and God's mercy can heal that; 

or because they believed it when persons told them that their problems are all caused by a "spiritual malady"; and because all of their seeking becomes focused on getting into a relationship with a conceptualized "Being" and thereby finding healing for something which has been dreamed up by persons and which does not exist (a "sick spirit" or "dark soul") and finding a treatment for a dreamed up malady that is making sick something that was also just dreamed up. 

The causes of reason #14: 

PROGRAMMING and RE-PROGRAMMING and DISTORTION and WARPED BELIEFS 

"Psychological or cognitive distortions refer to biased ways of thinking about 'oneself' and 'others' and 'the world.' Such distortions are always based in irrational concepts, idea, notions, thoughts (a.k.a., 'beliefs')." 

Often, they involve magical thinking which comes as persons are separated from that which is natural and are taught to believe in supernatural things or Selves or Powers. Supernatural things, being the opposite of natural, are a part of the body of unnatural things which humans have dreamed up; thus, they are part and parcel of the body of warped beliefs which humans have popularized throughout human history. 

Some of the key prerequisites for being free is realizing that one is not free; becoming dedicated to being free at all costs; finding all that is currently imprisoning one; and then breaking free of those beliefs which are behind one's imprisonment. The point here is that each belief which persons have stored is the mind is one of the bars which form the prison in which they are trapped. to break out of one's prison, one must remove the bars which are forming the prison. 

To be continued. 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

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