THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE WHICH PROVIDES AN UNDERSTANDING OF "NO YOU-NESS," Part Seventy-Eight

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

CONSIDER: 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men." 

--Pope John Paul II 

"There is no hell."

--Pope Francis, the current pope 

[in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari] 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" 

and 

"Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

--Yeshu'a (Jesus) 

 Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that. 

THE RATIONALE FOR CONCLUDING THAT "IT'S TIME TO TRY 'A DIFFERENT ROUTE' WHEN SEEKING A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS OF HUMANITY BECAUSE THE ACTUAL RESULTS OF FOLLOWING THE MOST POPULAR ROUTE FOR 5000+ YEARS HAVE PROVED INEFFECTIVE 

(Continued from earlier posts regarding the rationale for seeking the non-dual, nisargan understanding.)

Humanity has survived because of two key factors: (1) luck and (2) practical behavior. 

LUCK 

Most humans nowadays can recount one or more incidents which constituted a "close call" or a time when they "were nearly killed" or "nearly died." 

Similarly, thousands or hundred of thousands of years ago, some earlier human or human-like being or human ancestor had a close call and almost fell off a cliff as others with him did not fare so well. They fell to their deaths, but he survived and went on to breed, and many humans are alive today only because of his luck and the subsequent chain of breeding which that long ago "survivor" triggered. 

He refused to follower the others and join them in walking on the loose rocks on the side of a cliff, rocks which gave way with their combined weight and cast them all off the side of the cliff where their bodies were dashed to pieces on a rocky shoreline far below. 

PRACTICAL BEHAVIOR 

Other chains of survival, marked by the opportunity to breed and to reproduce, happened because someone was more practical than her or his fellows and did not engage in unnecessary, life-threatening, unnatural, impractical, illogical, irrational, unsound, insane, and / or insensible acts. 

Originally, humans had a brain but no mind. After evolution resulted in the human brain expanding from its earlier 1-cup size to its present 3-1/2-cup size, sections of the brain evolved into existence which had the capacity to store and retrieve information. Those parts form what is not called "the mind." 

Originally, the mind operated in a fairly natural, practical, logical, rationale, sound, sane, and sensible manner, rendering it an asset to humanity. After being exposed to myths and lies and superstitions and nonsense, which was all stored in the mind as well, the mind lost its asset nature and became the liability which it is today. 

The accumulation of knowledge, (a.k.a., "learned ignorance") along with ideas, concepts, notions, perceptions, thoughts, designs, plans, schemes, impressions, images, memories, opinions, views, theories, inklings, and all sorts of other dreamed up nonsense (all of which can be summarized with one word . . . "beliefs"), led humans to engage in unnecessary, life-threatening, unnatural, impractical, illogical, irrational, unsound, insane, and / or insensible acts. 

Eventually, the most influential (and most detrimental) beliefs came from controlling leaders and / or ideologies and / or philosophies and / or institutions and / or dreamed up bodies of dogma and / or notions about "things supernatural"; nowadays, those beliefs have led to the presence of varying degrees of obstacles which either hinder, impede or totally prevent humans from behaving in a natural, practical, logical, rationale, sound, sane, and sensible manner. 

 Thus, most seeking nowadays usually involves supposedly supernatural things (which are actually unnatural things). Over the years, after asking, "What are you actually seeking?" the answers have included: 

"a way to avoid eternal punishment or to guaranteed eternal rewards." In other cases, some have reported that they "are seeking to accumulate a vast wealth of knowledge; perfection; purity; love; admiration; a way to move far away from 'the madding crowd'; peace; happiness, security; 

"support; an ability to escape; power and / or 'a Power' and control; an ability to dissociate from anything deemed to be painful or hurtful or troubling; some 'Infinite Self' or 'True Self' or 'Real Self' or some other 'Supreme Self' or 'The Highest Form of Selfness'." 

I have asked that question for nearly thirty years, and what no one has ever answered is, "I am seeking the ability to live consistently in a natural, practical, logical, rationale, sound, sane, and sensible manner." 

The invitation here is to ask, of all of the things listed above which person have said they are seeking . . . . 

How practical or natural is it ask some other-worldly power to "bring peace to you" or "bring peace on earth" when he that power - for eternity - has allowed chaos and war and disease and rape and assault and abuse and torture and killing in "His, Her / Its Name" to flourish and to reign supreme? 

How practical or natural is it to think, to believe, that what they are seeking can be found if they can only hear enough of the ringing which comes when a supposedly special metal bowl, sitting on a supposedly special pillow, is struck with a supposedly special stick? 

Or might the case be that there is nothing practical or natural about those who wear special clothing or special robes or special jewelry or special adornments; or who burn specially-scented sticks; or who ring special bells; or who chant special chants or hum special hums; or who visit special temples or special geographic sites; or who collect and display pieces of crystal in special ceremonies conducted on special days; or who eat special diets? 

Or might the case be that it is neither practical nor natural to bow on special rugs and in one special direction on the compass and to do that five times a day to pray; that it is unnatural to collect trillions of dollars to build thousands of opulent edifices where persons can gather and worship their supposed Savior (ignoring the fact that the one they claim to be worshiping and following said that poverty is preferable to focusing solely on wealth accumulation)? 

And might the case be that it is neither practical nor natural for men to castrate themselves when told to do so by their cult leader in order to prepare themselves to rendezvous with a spaceship that will whisk them away to heaven, a spaceship that is traveling along behind a comet in order to remain out of view of all of the other people on planet earth; or that it is unnatural to drink poisoned Kool-Aid because their cult leader told them to do so? 

And might the case be that it is neither practical nor natural to go to "houses of worship" on a daily or weekly basis and to be very noisy; that it is unnatural to listen to sermons offered in a language which one does not understand; that it is unnatural for English-speaking seekers to pay $10,000 to go to a retreat in South America where the retreat is conducted in Spanish, (and even though the ones going to those retreats do not speak a word of Spanish, they have assured me afterwards that they "know what is being said, basically"); 

And might the case be that it is neither practical nor natural to jabber and natter and chatter and babble and prattle in order to make sounds which worshipers claim are evidence of their members' ability to "speak in unknown tongues" which evidence "the presence of the Holy Spirit within"; or that it is unnatural to wallow about and flounder about and roll around on the floor in their "holy" buildings to prove to observers by way of their rolling and dancing and shaking and other boisterous movements that they have "truly fallen under the influence of the Holy Spirit"? 

And might the case be that it is impractical and unnatural to wear special, supposedly holy, supposedly protective underwear; or that it is unnatural to roll about on leftover food; or that it is unnatural to use "E-Meters to detect spiritual impediments"; or that it is unnatural to believe that in order to supposedly be free of their sins, persons must slaughter a chicken onto which their sins have supposedly been transferred? 

And might the case be that it is impractical and unnatural to dress up as a humanoid bird and allow oneself to be hanged by the use of hooks through the skin; or that it is unnatural to drop one's children fifty feet from atop a mosque and allow other worshipers below to catch their children in sheets, supposedly to ensure the health of the children? 

And might the case be that it is impractical and unnatural to worship relics which include what is supposedly a piece of the cross on which Christ was crucified or which include what is supposedly the foreskin of Christ which was saved and is now hermetically sealed in a gold and glass tube or which include what is supposedly the shroud which the body of Christ was wrapped in after his crucifixion (which has been shown by radiocarbon tests to have been fabricated about 1300 years after Christ died)? 

And might the case be that it is impractical and unnatural to conduct exorcisms to evict demons or other evil, spiritual entities from a person or place which those demons are believed to have possessed or taken control of; or that it is unnatural to baptize the dead into one's religion because they believe that unmarried females cannot enter into heaven unless married to a male in their church who can give them the secret code name which they'll have to use to be pulled through the veil into a new world where males, if in good standing with the church at the time of death, have become gods and have multiple wives and are now ruling over their own kingdoms? 

And might the case be that it is impractical and unnatural if nude worshipers claim that they are not nude but are "clothed in the environment"; or that it is unnatural to leave children in the care of religious leaders who have a multi-century-long reputation for molesting children and whose top officials have a centuries-long reputation for denying and covering up the molestation; or that it is unnatural to continue to give money to a church that uses that money to pay off the victims and the families of victims who were molested by priests and thus enable the molestation to be covered up and to continue? 

And might the case be that it is impractical and unnatural to deny the most basic medical care for one's children - such as a simple round of antibiotics to cure an infection - and to allow one's children to die because the parents' religion teaches that the use of medicine rather than prayer would be evidence of their lack of faith in God? 

Moreover, while other religious and spiritual persons will claim that all of the above is indeed evidence of the "ignorance, stupidity and insanity" which Maharaj spoke of, they will claim that their own particular religion is "mainstream" and has no ignorant, stupid and / or insane practices and that they engage in no ignorant and stupid and insane mimicking of rituals which were dreamed up thousands of years ago by persons being driven by the highest levels of ignorance, stupidity and insanity imaginable. 

To understand the history of humankind and what has been effective in terms of the perpetuation of the species is to understand that such perpetuation has lain not in counting solely on "luck" but has lain in being rid of the content of the mind which blocks humanity's ability to abide in a natural, practical, logical, rationale, sound, sane, and sensible manner.

And abiding in that manner does not come about by adding even more beliefs to what has already been accumulated in "the mind." It happens when all of the content of the mind is discarded and one reaches the condition which Maharaj called "the no-mind, no-beliefs, zero-concept state." 

To be continued. 

NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

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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 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you. 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. 

THE EXPLANATION 

If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence. 

Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to." 

The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly"). 

Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part to be focused on should be the 'loving and caring' part. 

"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you." 

Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on: 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" 

and 

"Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

and 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men" 

and 

"There is no hell."

THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE WHICH PROVIDES AN UNDERSTANDING OF "NO YOU-NESS," Part Seventy-Seven

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

CONSIDER: 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men." 

-- Pope John Paul II 

"There is no hell." 

-- Pope Francis, the current pope 

[in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari] 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" 

and 

"Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

--Yeshu'a (Jesus) 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that. 

THE RATIONALE FOR CHOOSING SCIENTIFIC FACTS OVER THE EMOTIONAL INTOXICATION GENERATED BY RELIGIOUS / SPIRITUAL FANATICISM: 

While Religion and Science Are Not Always Incompatible, Logic and Reason and Wisdom Make Clear That If a Choice Between The Two Is To Be Made, Only One Choice Is the Sane Option 

So, Maharaj’s bottom-line on religion has been seen: “Take all of the pictures of your gods and deities and put them in the sea." 

So too has his bottom-line on spirituality been seen: “Stop reading (the 'spiritual classic') I AM THAT and listen to my later talks” 

and 

“Give up spirituality.” 

And his bottom-line on “SELF-Inquiry” has also been seen: “You do not need to find the answer to ‘Who am I?' It is enough to find out who you are not.” 

In the U.S. each year, 59% of all women killed are killed during the break up of their relationships with their “lovers” or “husbands” or “partners” or “spouses” or “mates” or whatever roles the men whom they were involved with had assumed as real identifiers. 

What Maharaj and the wisest sages before him understood is how amazingly the tenor and tone of the relative existence would be altered if only persons were freed from belief in their 

personality identifications and freed from living under the influence of the hidden agendas of their assumed personas or ego-states which subconsciously drive the thoughts and words and actions of every human on the planet who has not addressed the issues which evolve from their nonsense-filled minds, minds filled with nonsense and "ignorance and insanity" as a result of ignorant and insane programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication and indoctrination and brainwashing. 

Consider how different the relative experiences of those woman killed annually would have been if no one had been taught to accept false identities as real and if no one believed that personality identifications such as “lover” or “partner” or “spouse” or “mate” were real. 

The reason that Maharaj urged visitors to move on to the fourth step if they had become fixated at the third of seven steps on the “path” from identification with the false “I” to understanding the unicity and being freed of the key symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (which he identified as “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity”) was this: 

It is at the third step where religious and / or spiritual roles are played, and the belief by those role-players is that their roles are “good” and that other roles are “bad” or “not as good.” How can anyone move beyond duality and their dualistic thinking patterns if they have not moved beyond the belief in “good vs. bad” people and beyond the belief that there is a world that is dominated by “good vs. bad” forces or that "this is a world where good and evil forces are at war"? 

Maharaj understood that it is "ignorance and stupidity and insanity" which drive persons' thoughts and words and actions. He understood that the issues of humankind are far too complex to be explained away by simply concluding they are caused by "bad" people or that they are a result of "evil forces at work in the world." 

To that end, Maharaj informed seekers that “self-inquiry” (the process whereby persons can see that the "selves" which they have been assigned and assumed are false) is enough. He saw that “SELF-Inquiry” – when it leads persons to accept a new, assigned Identity or to adopt a new Identity which is even beyond “good” or “great” and is believed to be “Supreme” – also leads to a level of arrogance based in a sense of different-from-ment and a sense of better-than-ment. 

He saw that the level of that type of arrogance is gigantic (as in “Spiritual Giantism”) when compared to the arrogance generated by the self-concepts which come with believing that false selves are real. 

Recall his words: "Only that person will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end." 

Did Maharaj . . . 

kick people out of the loft whose thoughts and words exposed the false selves which they were playing, 

or . . . 

did he kick people out of the loft whose thoughts and words exposed the fact that they had arrogantly assumed the false SELF Identity of Someone or Something that is of a supposedly “Supreme” nature? 

When a visitor exposed a false-self persona, Maharaj address that and tried to make clear that the role being played was not real. When a visitor exposed a false, Supreme-Self Persona, Maharaj wasted no time in sending them down the stairs and out into the street. 

He realized over the years that he might be able to change the perspective of those trapped in “commonplace” identities, but experience showed him that he was not likely to have any such effect on those trapped in a supposedly “uncommon” or “extraordinary” or “special” or “exceptional” or “supreme” role. 

Recall, too, that he said those types with a self-concept of being "virtuous" were also the ones who were going to be blind to their “hypocrisy” which is “extraordinary” and “exceptional” and “supreme” (the lip service given to their "humility" and "unassuming nature" notwithstanding). Maharaj never bought into any identity or Identity, no matter how “good” or “bad” his culture considered any identity or Identity to be. 

So why did he say that “self-inquiry” instead of “SELF-Inquiry” would be enough? "SELF-Inquiry" can lead to a belief in a "Supreme Self." Consider what “supreme means”: 

“Supreme” = “the highest in rank or authority, paramount, sovereign, and chief”;

and 

“of the highest quality, degree, character, and importance”;

and 

“that which is the greatest, the utmost, the most extreme, and the ultimate." 

Really? That’s what some take their “You” or "Self" to be? And believing that about a “Self” is preferable to any other beliefs about a “self” or “selves”? 

What an irony: The very process which is supposed to eliminate all sense of "you-ness" and "You-ness" and arrogance and egotism has been warped into a process which now reinforces a sense of "You-ness" and which expands arrogance and which inflates egotism.

In the end, the closest that Maharaj came to anything either “supreme” or “Supreme” was maybe . . . supreme disgust, specifically, supreme disgust with any and all arrogance and conceit and haughtiness and a sense of superiority and a sense of being supreme and pride and self-importance and condescension and superciliousness and every other trait or attitude or belief which reinforces a sense of duality and which generates a sense of different-from-ment and better-than-ment. 

To be continued.

NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

 

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 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you. 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. 

THE EXPLANATION 

If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence. 

Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to." 

The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly"). 

Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part to be focused on should be the 'loving and caring' part. 

"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you." 

Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on: 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"

and 

"Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

and 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men" 

and 

"There is no hell."

THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE WHICH PROVIDES AN UNDERSTANDING OF "NO YOU-NESS," Part Seventy-Six

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

CONSIDER: 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men." 

--Pope John Paul II 

"There is no hell." 

--Pope Francis, the current pope 

[in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari] 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" and "Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

 --Yeshu'a (Jesus) 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that. 

THE RATIONALE FOR CHOOSING SCIENTIFIC FACTS OVER THE EMOTIONAL INTOXICATION GENERATED BY RELIGIOUS / SPIRITUAL FANATICISM: 

While Religion and Science Are Not Always Incompatible, Logic and Reason and Wisdom Make Clear That If a Choice Between The Two Is To Be Made, Only One Choice Is the Sane Option 

Why do so many resist Maharaj's suggestion that, instead of engaging in years of “SELF-Inquiry,” one might as well complete only the “self-inquiry” process, thereby seeing what one is not, then being free of all identifications, and then enjoying the remainder of the relative existence by abiding in a natural, no identification (and also no Identification) manner? 

Why do church-goers and temple-goers and mosque-goers and meeting-goers and other religious-goers and spiritual-goers (who often go to places where they are separated from their mates and children), balk at the invitation to give up their religious and / or spiritual going and doing and zooming and be free of all identifications and then enjoy the remainder of the relative existence by abiding in a natural manner with their mates and families? 

Why do so-called spiritual persons balk at that invitation, including those who join spiritual groups and go to spiritual meetings and only have barbecues with their select spiritual friends and play amateur sports with their spiritual friends and go to monthly celebrations with their spiritual friends and go on weekend retreats with their spiritual friends and visit "special, holy or spiritual sites" with their spiritual friends? 

Why do they actually balk at the suggestion that they might consider giving up all of their spiritual going and doing and zooming and be free of all identifications and then enjoy the remainder of the relative existence by abiding in a natural manner with their mates and families? 

Once again, it’s not about anything religious or spiritual but is often rooted in factors which are totally psychological. (There we are, back to Maharaj’s eventual understanding.) 

It has been witnessed here that sometimes that balking is driven by a (psychological) attachment disorder. Consider the person who leaves work and goes to a bar and gets home drunk every night of the week at 10 or 11 or 12 PM or later, ignoring the mate and family. Then consider what often happens when one decides to join a spiritual group in order to quit drinking: 

that person often leaves work (if working), goes to a meeting, stays after to visit, goes out to dinner with other spiritual members of the spiritual group during the week and gets home late; additionally, such a person also goes to Saturday meetings and then breakfast with spiritual friends, goes to Sunday meetings and then breakfast with their spiritual friends, etc. 

What is the difference in that person's behavior toward family whether drinking or not drinking? Nothing. In both cases, the person is being driven by an inability to express intimacy and an inability to connect and by an attachment disorder and a desire to escape and avoid. 

And all of that blocks off any opportunity to sense the unicity and any chance for “bonding” with a mate or one’s children. To go and do and zoom, especially if the going and doing and zooming involves one's religious or spiritual role and involves one's focus on “self” improvement, provides just one more justification for not being available. 

See? It’s not about religious or spiritual health or wellness at all. It’s about the psychological factors which are driving one’s thoughts and words and actions, and those psychological factors involve personality disorders which can only manifest after personality identifications have been assumed. 

Of the nine basic personality types . . . 

Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type One Perfectionists are prone to suffer from the Obsessive-Compulsive P. D., the Depressive P.D., and the Narcissistic P.D. 

Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Two Helpers / Saviors are prone to suffer from the Histrionic PD and the Narcissistic P.D. and the Depressive P.D. 

Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Three Performers are prone to suffer from the Narcissistic P.D. and the Depressive P.D. 

Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Fours are prone to suffer from the Avoidant P.D., the Depressive P.D., the Narcissistic P. D., and the Borderline P.D. (if combined with a high Type Six score). 

Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Five Analysts and Knowers are prone to suffer from the Schizoid Avoidance P.D. and the Schizotypal P.D. 

Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Sixes who are loyal to those taking care of them are prone to suffer from the Passive-Aggressive P.D., the Paranoid P.D., the Dependent P.D., the Co-Dependent P.D., one degree or another of the Avoidance P.D., and the Borderline P.D. (if combined with a high Four score). 

Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Seven Adventurers are prone to suffer from the Addictive P.D., the Bipolar P.D., and the Narcissistic P.D. 

Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Eight Controllers / Bosses / Fighters are prone to suffer from the Antisocial / Sociopathic P. D., the Pathological P.D., and the Sadistic P.D. 

Psychically Unhealthy Personality Type Nine Avoiders are prone to suffer from the Schizoid P.D., the Dependent P.D., the Passive-Aggressive P.D., and the Dissociative P.D. 

Religion does not address personality disorders or the neuroses or psychoses which personality can disintegrate into. 

Spirituality, contrary to the claims made by many “Spiritual Giants,” does not address personality disorders or the neuroses or psychoses which personality can disintegrate into. 

“SELF-Inquiry” might remove some of the personality identifications which result in personality disorders or the neuroses or psychoses which personality disorders can disintegrate into, but they can simultaneously generate a whole different set of issues which result after the assumption of "Special Identities” and which also generate arrogance and egotism which can come with that as well as the senses of different-from-ment and better-than-ment which can come with that. 

Maharaj said, “This is really so simple,” but complicated, convoluted minds hate the simple and love the complex and convoluted and complicated and drawn-out. The questions for those types are: 

"Absorbed in your SELF concept, how much fun are you to be around, really?" 

"How available are you, really?" 

"While you claim to be 'fully in touch with Reality,' how in touch with reality are you? That is, are you ignoring one-half of the summative statement of non-duality ('I AM THAT; I AM') and focusing on the THAT-ness to such an extent that you are not fully in touch with the AM-ness as well?" 

That said, just as persons need not play religious roles or spiritual roles or assume roles supposedly revealed via "SELF-Inquiry," so too persons need not grasp an understanding of the unicity if they could be free of the effects of beliefs regarding personality identification and personality assumption (which lead to a sense of different-from-ment and better-than-ment which leads - in turn - to being arrogant, to judging, and to concluding that one has the right to "play god" and decide who is to die and who is to be allowed to live). 

Relatedly, such vanity leads to a sense of entitlement, and a sense of entitlement leads to misery because entitled types never receive all that they think they are entitled to. A simple “self-inquiry” could expose the way that “The Spouse” has expectations of a partner but could also show how the role of “The Super Spouse” generates a whole new level of expectations when vanity and egotism drive that ego-state’s thoughts and words and actions. 

With that mindset of being "super," there is never enough; there is always too little of that which is believed to be deserved that is actually being received; thus, such persons never feel that they are being treated special enough; they never feel as if they have enough; they will always be trapped in a lifestyle where accumulation rules; and, ultimately, they will always feel empty inside. 

See? Again, there’s the psychological aspect, and personality assumption and the chaos which that generates are always rooted in psychological issues. Maharaj came to understand that the reason why sages for ages have recommended to seekers that they be free of all personal identifications was to allow them to then be freed from being driven by the subconscious agendas of personalities. 

Because religion leads to the assumption of multiple identifications and because spirituality leads to the assumption of multiple identifications (or to “One Really Special or Supreme Identity”) then they cannot be the solution to the problems which come with any identifications (or with “a Special Identification”). Whatever generates more identification - instead of eliminating all identification - cannot possibly eliminate humankind's problems which are all rooted in identification. 

So Maharaj revealed his take on religion when, as noted yesterday, he suggested to a friend that he take all of his pictures of gods and deities and toss them into the sea. 

Of spirituality, he said: “Give up spirituality.” 

Of “the spiritual classic” entitled I AM THAT, he eventually told people to stop reading that book and to listen instead to his later talks. 

Of “SELF-Inquiry,” he said that it is not really required, and he pointed out that “self-inquiry” - which can reveal all of the false selves that are being assumed and can reveal who you are not - is enough. 

After seeing that “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity” are at the core of the Ultimate Sickness, he came to see that those three key symptoms all deal with the mind rather than with one having mastered too little dogma or having a “heart problem.” Further, he came to see that those three key symptoms all deal with the mind rather than with a “spiritual problem” or a “sick spirit” or a “spiritual malady.” 

He saw that the Sickness is about a sick mind (that is, a mind filled with nonsensical beliefs) and that the problems of humanity all center in the mind. He saw which version of the Ultimate Medicine provides an opportunity to address the real issue - the mind problems - and which versions of the Ultimate Medicine have nothing whatsoever to do with the real problem . . . the mind problem. 

Seeing that the version which can address the mind problem is the wise version to use is what also led him to recommend that seekers reach a state of “zero concepts” and to join him and be rid of the mind totally by purging it of its attachment to all ideas and concepts and notions (a.k.a, “all beliefs”). 

To be continued.

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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 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you. 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. 

THE EXPLANATION 

If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence. 

Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to." 

The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly"). 

Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part to be focused on should be the 'loving and caring' part. 

"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you." 

Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on: 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" and "Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

and 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men" and "There is no hell."

THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE WHICH PROVIDES AN UNDERSTANDING OF "NO YOU-NESS," Part Seventy-Five

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

CONSIDER: 

 "Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men." 

-- Pope John Paul II 

"There is no hell."

--Pope Francis, the current pope [in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari]

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" 

and  

"Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

--Yeshu'a (Jesus) 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that. 

THE RATIONALE FOR CHOOSING SCIENTIFIC FACTS OVER THE EMOTIONAL INTOXICATION GENERATED BY RELIGIOUS / SPIRITUAL FANATICISM: 

While Religion and Science Are Not Always Incompatible, Logic and Reason and Wisdom Make Clear That If a Choice Between The Two Is To Be Made, Only One Choice Is the Sane Option 

Last month, there was a trip to the office of a cardiologist for a battery of heart tests. The doctor spent eleven years in universities during his initial training process. He spent an additional four years of on-job training and has received additional training during 3-4 week periods for the past thirty years. 

His record is clean, but even with all of that training, many doctors still make mistakes. In the U.S. alone, 200,000-350,000 people are killed annually in hospitals as a result of physicians' mistakes. 

Yet have you noticed how many people with no education and no training at all are self-appointed, self-identified medical experts and hand out medical advice freely (as if their belief that they know it all has even a shred of truth to support it, though it does not)? 

The same applies with non-duality. Maharaj received training from many before meeting the one whom he would identify as his guru and receiving his tutelage. Yet all of that training and study and tutelage was for naught as he eventually abandoned all he had been taught and began offering what he came to understand by way of his on-the-job training. 

To review, after years of trying to treat the Ultimate Sickness, he eventually understood the Sickness for what it is, and for what it is not. This is what he came to see: 

It is not a “sickness of the soul” or a “sickness of the spirit”; it is not a sickness that is centered “somewhere in a human body, more specifically, in an area somewhere in the vicinity of the heart”; it is not a sickness that results from “a dogma-deficiency” (but actually seems to flourish in an environment of “excess dogma”); its symptoms can be aggravated by the egotism that accompanies the assignment or assumption of “beyond the phenomenal, spiritual, Noumenal personas”; it is a mental sickness; and it is centered in the mind. 

Whether dealing with cardiological issues or Ultimate Sickness issues, if one is not combining what has come via experience and from observing what works and what does not work, then one can never offer the most effective treatment plan for what is really ailing the persons being dealt with. Moreover, if the roots of an illness are not understood, then an effective treatment plan cannot be formulated. 

See, every human – if born without serious brain effects – will initially have a sense of the Oneness. A child does not see itself as being separate from its mother when it puts a face to the voice it was hearing while in the womb. (By week sixteen of a pregnancy, a developing child can begin hearing voices. By week twenty-four, a developing child will turn its head toward a voice it hears from without.) 

It is not until about the age of 24 months that children begin to discover all of the parts of their bodies and begin focusing on “self” rather than on others. With that comes the development a sense of separation, as if this is seen: “Hey, wait a minute. I am not her. I am not at one with her and I am not a part of her. I am something separate and apart from. I am ‘me’.” 

When the focus turns from the sense of Oneness, and the child focuses only on itself, that is called “The Terrible Two’s.” (If that continues, then an adult partner someday may well conclude that the same kind of narcissism and self-focus and self-concern of a mate seems pretty “terrible” as well.) 

To understand the proper means for treating the Ultimate Sickness, one must see what Maharaj eventually saw: the Sickness is not a result of something having been taken away that left a person Sick; instead the Sickness is a result of something having been added which left a person Sick. And what is added? Blockages. Blockages which prevent the seeing of what was originally seen. 

Blockages which prevent conscious contact with the original understanding of the unicity. And how were those blockages added? Via programming, conditioning, acculturation, domestication, brainwashing, and indoctrination, leading to persons suffering from what Maharaj identified as three of the key symptoms of the Sickness: “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity.” 

So why did Maharaj abandon the use of a religious / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine? If beliefs which were added have caused the Sickness, then what possible good can it do to add more beliefs, especially beliefs about thousands of gods and goddesses? Or beliefs about a god who supposedly loves you unconditionally but who will also cast you into the fires of a hell where you will suffer for eternity? 

Of beliefs about a dictator named Xenu from another planet who, some 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to earth, stacked them around volcanoes, and killed them with hydrogen bombs and there being a religion founded on that piece of fiction which tells people that the immortal spirits of these aliens now adhere to humans and are the cause of all “spiritual harm”? 

And what sense does it make to tell persons who might otherwise abide naturally that they should abide unnaturally or supernaturally and should abandon their identities (except they should also find their Supreme Identity)? 

And what sense does it make to tell people that they should join a religion based in a tale about a prophet named Moron - sorry, Moroni - who buried a history of his people written on “gold plates”; that as an angel, he visited 17-year-old Joseph Smith in his bedroom; that he told Smith where the plates were buried (just 3 miles south of where Smith lived); and that Smith was granted the right to marry as many women as he chooses (up to 33 and possibly as many as 48); 

that (as in the ancient Jewish writings) “dark skin is a sign of god’s curse but white skin a sign of god’s blessing” (a notion that shooter Dylann Roof and many in his culture believe); that “Native Americans are descendants of ancient Israelites; that Jesus visited the Native Americans after he was crucified; and that women cannot enter heaven unless married to a Mormon man who gives them a secret name which they’ll need in order for their husband to be able to pull them through a slit in a veil and into heaven. 

Need more examples? Pick any “faith” and study its teachings and you’ll find all the examples you need of the fact that what religions add do not eliminate - but actually contribute to - the propensity of global “ignorance and stupidity and insanity.” So Maharaj gave up any and every notion that dogma can be a component of the Ultimate Medicine. 

(The most revealing information which offers Maharaj's most open and frank and totally unrestricted views on a wide variety of topics come by way of his words which were never published. His uncensored words as reported by friends and acquaintances, words which he shared with them in the form of off-the-record remarks, are his most candid. Uncensored? Some were censored? Yes. 

His translators and editors culled out many of his comments and did not allow them to be published, including the profanities he occasionally used to pepper his talks and to emphasize certain points. Regarding Maharaj's take on religion, this account - received from a site visitor who had access to the comments shared by a man whose flat Maharaj had once visited - is quite revealing: 

The man visited by Maharaj: "He came into my flat and looked at all of the pictures of gods and deities which I had framed and which I was displaying on my walls and on tables. He looked at them and then said the following": 

Maharaj: "Very nice, but don't you think that tomorrow you should collect them all and put them into the sea?!") 

Next, why did Maharaj begin advising people to stop reading the book I AM THAT and to “give up spirituality”? Spirituality also adds. It does not remove all ideas and notions and concepts (a.k.a., beliefs) but increases the number of beliefs / blockages. 

Third, why did he abandon Self-Inquiry and begin telling people that what is understood via “self-inquiry” is enough (namely, understanding all that you are not, even if you never come to know “Who You Are” or find the "Supreme Self”)? More addition when total subtraction is called for, along with understanding that there is no who-ness and there is no WHO-ness.

See, within all, there is that original sense of the Oneness. By adding concepts / beliefs, that sense is covered up or blocked - via programming, conditioning, acculturation, domestication, brainwashing, and indoctrination – and replaced with a false sense of different-from-ment and better-than-ment. It is the latter which allows an ignorance-and-prejudice-spreading culture to produce a fellow like Dylann Roof who will walk into a church and shot nine people because they have “dark skin.” 

If it is blockages and concepts and beliefs which are at the root of the Sickness, then the last thing anyone with the Sickness needs is the addition of more blockages and concepts and beliefs. 

Of the nine basic personality types, it is the Type Four that has a propensity for questioning; for accepting nothing that is based only in "blind faith”; for rebelling against the nonsense in one’s culture; for casting aside the imposed blockages; and for eliminating the blockages which – once discarded – allow the original sense of the unicity to return to awareness. 

Maharaj had that propensity. Andy had that propensity. That propensity was here at the young age of 5 or 6 (and that questioning and refusal to believe lead to the corporal punishment administered most Sundays from a father who was incensed that I would question the teachings which Ms. Myrtle was trying to teach in Sunday School). 

And Mary Elizabeth Frye had that innate understanding as well. No one had to lead her through Self-Inquiry or religious teachings or spiritual exercises in order for her to write the following after a woman during the years of WWII shared that the Nazis had killed her Jewish mother and after the woman expressed how upset she was that she’d never be able to go to her mother’s grave and weep: 

Do not stand at my grave and weep. 

I am not there. I do not sleep. 

I am a thousand winds that blow. 

I am the diamond glints on snow. 

I am the sunlight on ripened grain. 

I am the gentle autumn rain. 

When you awaken in the morning’s hush, 

I am the swift uplifting rush 

Of quiet birds in circled flight. 

I am the soft stars that shine at night. 

Do not stand at my grave and cry; 

I am not there. I did not die. 

And all have that Type Four personality within, to one degree or another. All with a normally-functioning brain have within that “inner resource” or that “inner guru” which can be accessed to work around the blockages and to tap once again into the inkling of the original truth that was sensed but that has since been blocked. 

That does not require the addition of more dogma; that does not require that all sorts of spiritual exercises be completed on a daily basis; that does not – according to Maharaj – require finding “the SELF” or “the Supreme Self.” To the contrary, it requires de-accumulation; it requires being rid of all concepts and beliefs and reaching a state of zero concepts; it requires being un-taught; it requires un-learning. It does not require re-programming but calls for de-programming. 

All of the methods Maharaj tried in conjunction with a non-dual blend, he abandoned. Why? They all add more. They all encourage accumulation. And they add more - not less – when it should be clear that it is less that is required in order to treat the Ultimate Sickness. 

To be continued.

NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

  

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 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you. 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. 

THE EXPLANATION 

If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence. 

Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to." 

The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly"). 

Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part to be focused on should be the 'loving and caring' part. 

"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you." 

Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were all spot on: 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" and "Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

and 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men."