MAHARAJ: “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind” (Especially When a Mind is Packed Full of False Personality Identifications) Part Two

Today's Considerations

This was offered in the previous post:

In the West, it is noted that all people exhibit all of the nine basic personality types  to greater or lesser degrees. The key to a healthy life is balance, so it is claimed in the West, so the ideal is to be “well-rounded” and “balanced.”

The point offered here with non-dual seekers who take the enneagram test and then enter into a discussion of what the results can reveal is this: So powerful are the personality styles that control people and lead to misery and suffering that, in Eastern teachings, a primary goal is to be free of personality influences completely.

Consider the approach in the West where the goal is not to be rid of personality identifications but is to develop a "good personality" and - among the few who seek to "improve" - to work to balance out "the positive" and "the negative" traits of personality and to try to "accent the positives."

In the U.S., 59% of all women killed annually are killed by their "husband" or "lover" or spouse" during the breakup of a relationship. What degree of those assumed identities which drive some men to murder would be okay?

Several years ago, there was a diagnosis here of cardiovascular problems with the elemental plant food body. How sane would it have been for the cardiologist and the pulmonologist to present a treatment plan with the intention of "working to balance out 'the positive' and 'the negative' traits of both a heart and a lung disease and to try to 'accent the positives' involved with my heart and lung issues?" How insane would it be were I to go along with such a plan?

In terms of the Ultimate Sickness, the similarity is this: the Sickness - as was the case with the plant food body here - is also marked especially by two illnesses / dis-eases: there is a major problem with the mind and there are major problems rooted in personality. Would it make any sense to try to "balance those out"? To try to find some "positives" which could be "accented"?

Or, as was the case here, must the blockages in the mind (like the blockages in the heart) be removed completely and (like the problems with the lungs which resulted from years of exposure to toxic chemicals such as the primer and cement used to make solvent welds with PVC pipe) be addressed completely?

Maharaj noted the mind-based "insanity" associated with the Ultimate Sickness. How much insanity - including belief in false identities - would be okay? Do you see how the Western approach ultimately does nothing to address the roots of the Ultimate Sickness?

Yet there is also an irony - a "Catch-22" of sorts - involved with the Eastern plan of being freed from all personality identifications, an irony which Maharaj discussed. More on that in the next post.
 

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

[NOTE: The four most recent posts follow. 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.]

MAHARAJ: “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind” (Especially When a Mind is Packed Full of False Personality Identifications) Part One

Today's Considerations

A few are far more prone to seek and to find than most. Who is prone to realize and who is not? 

Consider: sages have long understood that the problem with humanity is that persons are guided by body-mind-personality identifications. Sages have also long understood that stored within the mind are varying degrees of the nine basic personality types or styles which determine - usually unconsciously -  all of the thoughts which persons have.

They have also understood that thoughts determine all of the words spoken and that all thoughts and words determine all behaviors. Many sages have also long understood that (a) all persons may eventually assume scores of identities during an average-length relative existence but that (b) all start out with varying degrees of the nine basic types.

The only way to measure and understand the presence and degree of influence of those nine types is by way of the enneagram personality inventory and a discussion of the results with one that is well-versed in the enneagram and what it reveals. 

Here, over the years, seekers who have come for a retreat or who have taken advantage of the enneagram testing and analysis package, including a Skype discussion of their results as offered above, have gained enough insight to be able to list 80-90 roles that they have assumed and played over the years. 

But they have also come to understand:

(1) that each of the nine basic roles or personality identifications having a basic desire and a basic fear and up to 7 specific motivators or drivers or interests;

(2) that each of those roles is constantly fighting inside the mind to advance its own selfish agenda over that of other assumed roles;

(3) that a person with 80 assumed identities (which each has its own voice within the mind that uses mind-speak to advocate for its cravings) will set the stage for those 80 identities to have a thought-voice expressing its primary desire and its primary fear and its seven areas of interest; and that

(4) that scenario will generate the noise of 720 thought-voices (80 x 9) inside the mind.

And that is why the noise in the mind has been compared to the chatter of a thousand monkeys; that is why it is said here that no “non-Realized person" ever drives down the road alone because every person is carpooling with hundreds of “others” chattering away non-stop between her or his ears; and that it why it is said here that every photo of a "non-Realized person" is really a group portrait if the truth be known, what with the dozens and scores of unseen “others” in the mind (and what with their having far more influence over what persons do than the elemental plant food body in the picture can ever have).

All of those assigned and assumed personalities notwithstanding, every human starts out with nine basic types manifesting to one degree or another, the primary type having usually been determined by the age of six.

For hundreds of years, an ancient Sufi teaching tool called the enneagram has been used to determine the degree to which those nine types are present and used to measure the exact degree to which each type is subconsciously controlling a person's thoughts and words and deeds.

Why take the test and have the results explained: Psychotherapist Marie Lachney explains it this way: “You may as well learn all that you can about your primary personality type as well as the related types that influence you. For most people, it will determine everything they do and everything they feel during their entire lives. Only a small percentage will ever be liberated from the dominance of personality.”

In the U.K., two who use enneagram testing and analysis to provide insight into the subconscious forces that drive persons are Veronica and Chris Croft explain it this way:

“For most people the word ‘Enneagram’ means nothing, yet it has guided our lives since the moment we were born. Whether we have been aware of it or not it has always been there, shaping our destiny. The Enneagram is the map of consciousness that underpins all aspects of your life. It illuminates the nine ways of being in the world, and gives deep insight into nine fundamentally different personality types, each with their own way of seeing the world, their own attitudes and ways of thinking, reacting and behaving.

“It is an ancient body of wisdom that holds the key to unlocking true understanding of both ourselves and other people. It reveals the genuine simplicity of life by unravelling the apparent complexities of human beings behaviour in profound ways that modern psychology cannot. When we understand the Enneagram the patterns of our lives finally make sense, we experience profound self-acceptance and clarity of purpose, and discover how to live through positivity and find lasting personal fulfilment.

“The Enneagram equips us with the tools to bring about profound change within ourselves and our lives, bringing us into balance and giving us the ability to sail over the hurdles in life instead of letting them bring us down. It provides a clear understanding of who we are on a fundamental level and what our intrinsic gifts are, resulting in a rapid increase in self-acceptance, raised self-esteem and greater ability to find new purpose and fulfilment. Our self-defeating patterns of thought and reaction finally make sense - and, more importantly, we discover how to change them. It explains why some relationships flourish whilst others flounder and equips us with the knowledge of how to improve them all.”

The point offered here is this: Most people will go to their graves without ever understanding why they think the thoughts that disturb their peace; why they say words that are not always in the best interests of themselves or others; why they do the things they do that are not always in the best interests of themselves or others; and why they feel the way they feel even when their feelings sometimes seems inexplicable.

That can change for you, beginning right now, by understanding how personality styles determine the thoughts and words and actions of all people without their even knowing it, it all happening on a subconscious level (even as we believe we are making conscious choices and are in control).

The nine basic types are these:

The Type One = The Perfectionist - desires power in order to judge and change and reform.

The Type Two = The Helper - desires the power to make everyone like or love him or her.

Type Three = The Achievers / Performers - desire the power to make all people admire and applaud them in order to attain the success that Threes want.

Type Fours = The Seeker of Authenticity – desires to rebel against rigidity and magical thinking and authority, to be free (1/2 of 1 % of all humans).

Type Fives = The Knowers, The Analysts - desire the power to know it all and the power to convince people that they really do know it all.

Types Sixes = The Dependent Type - loyal to authority in order to be taken care, to be dependent, to be so-dependent (50% of all humans).

Type Sevens = The Adventurers, The Addicts - desire the power and wherewithal to escape, to party, to have a good time.

Type Eights = The Controller, The Boss, and - potentially - The Sociopath - desire to control people, will do all that they can to try to accumulate the power that will provide them control.

And Type Nines = The Avoiders, The Passive-Aggressive Ones - are addicted to the avoidance of anything and everything and anyone that would disturb their "inner peace," though that peace too is an illusion. 

Of the nine basic personality types discussed earlier, only one – the Type Four – is “pre-wired” to question everything, to heed no authority, and to refuse to trust with blind faith. As examples, consider these with a Type Four as their primary type, many of whom are poets, artists, actors, sages, teachers, etc.

First and foremost for Advaitins and Nisargans: Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Other well-known Type Fours include:

John Lennon, Thomas Merton, Kurt Cobain, Bob Dylan, Angelina Jolie, Frédéric Chopin, Edgar Allen Poe, Anne Frank , J.D. Salinger, Miles Davis, Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, Joni Mitchell, Jim Morrison, Edvard Munch (“The Scream"), Pink Floyd, Edgar Allen Poe, Prince, James Taylor, Spencer Tracy, Jack Kerouac, Michaelangelo, Claude Monet, Jim Morrison, Liam Neeson, Paul Simon, Vincent Van Gogh, and . . . yours truly.

So, if the Type Four is “pre-wired” to Realize, and if all persons have some degree of all nine types, then why will so few ever Realize? Because only ½ of 1% on the planet  have a primary Type Four influence. Maharaj's process attempted to share what a Four almost innately understands with those who were not primary Type Fours but who were seeking the understanding which is almost innate with so many Type Fours.

Unless “Realized,” the Type Four personality - as is the case with all personality types - can be a double-edged sword, bringing both “positives” and “negatives” (thus making clear why personality and duality always co-exist).

Years ago, a friend invited me to spend a week visiting with her and Russ Hudson in The Netherlands in a small town nestled in a forest south of Amsterdam. Russ, the co-founder of the Enneagram Institute in the U.S., had this to say about Type Fours:  

The point offered here with non-Advaitins who take the enneagram test and then enter into a discussion of what the results can reveal is this:

In the West, it is noted that people have some degree of each of the nine basic personality types. The key to a healthy life is balance, so in the West, the ideal is to be “well-rounded” and “balanced.”

The point offered here with non-dual seekers who take the enneagram test and then enter into a discussion of what the results can reveal is this: 

So powerful are the personality styles that control people that, in Eastern teachings, a primary goal is to be free of personality’s influence completely.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

[NOTE: The four most recent posts follow. 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.]

MAHARAJ: “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind,” Part QQ

Today's Considerations

The requirements for a mind to be present and functioning include . . . a female and a male who have eaten consciousness-bearing plant food (or having eaten something which had eaten plant food) and who digest that food, allowing plant cells to convert into human cells and to combine to form – among other things – sperm cells and egg cells;

include . . . those two humans engaging in an act of friction which allows a sperm cell to come into contact with an egg cell and fertilize it;

include . . . a fertilized egg making its way to a uterus and attaching itself to a uterine wall;

include . . . the female continuing to eat consciousness-bearing plant food for a period of approximately nine months during which plant cells automatically and spontaneously convert into human cells and form, inside the female, an elemental plant food body with an elemental plant food brain;

include . . . that elemental plant food body exiting a canal and being detached from the female body;

include . . . that elemental plant food body functioning naturally and consuming consciousness-bearing milk and later consuming consciousness-bearing plant food (or eating something which had eaten plant food);

include . . . that composite unity functioning normally enough that it reaches a point when it is able to store information in, and retrieve information from, a part of its elemental plant food brain which will be called “the mind”;

include . . . the mind being filled with bogus information (about which Maharaj said: "After the information given to you by the mother, that you are a boy or girl, all your further acquisitions are by hearsay");

include . . . the further acquisition of all sorts of tales and stories and nonsense and learned ignorance, all of which is based in nothing more than myths, superstitions, rumor, gossip, idle talk, unconfirmed reports, and more and more unfounded hearsay;

include . . . the unquestioning acceptance of false facts as true facts and the blind-faith-acceptance of non-truths as truth; and

include . . . that composite unity someday coming to the point when it believes that all of the beliefs stored in its mind are “my beliefs” instead of understanding that all of those beliefs are nothing more than “their” beliefs which are being assumed to be one’s own.

Where in any of that are even the slightest grounds for pride in:

“having eaten and copulated and thereby having triggered a totally-self-governing, spontaneous process over which the copulaters had no control as long as the female continued to eat food”?;

triggering a process by way of engaging in a self-involved act of friction which is followed by persons claiming erroneously that “they made a baby”?;

persons feeling overwhelming pride regarding (supposedly) “having made a baby that is so intelligent that it learned so much in so short a period of time”?

Wherefore a sense of pride and accomplishment and a sense of being special and having made something special when the end product of an act of friction is the manifestation of a composite unity which ends up with a part of its brain being filled with so much nonsense and learned ignorance that it will experience the misery and suffering which result when a mind is filled with unnatural and supposedly supernatural concepts and ideas and notions and misperceptions and falsehoods (a.k.a., “beliefs”)?

[Note: “Pain” is of the body; "misery" and "suffering" are of the mind.]

Now, does the one that understands the unicity and what Real Love is also love that “offspring”? Absolutely. Is the love here for “my daughter” totally unconditional? Absolutely. But is there any notion that “I made something” when – in fact – nothing is “created” and the only thing that really happening was that elements simply cycled as a result of a natural, self-involved act of friction? No. Is there any notion that “I accomplished something unique and special”? No. Is there any notion that “I am special because of what happened after I engaged in a physically-satisfying act of friction”? No. Is there any notion that I have done something really special, something which others should truly admire”? No.

The events described at the beginning of this post were all natural up until the point when unnatural and supernatural ideas and concepts and perceptions (a.k.a. "beliefs”) were introduced. After that, everything that happened was completely unnatural, (meaning, abnormal, aberrant, and twisted) or supernatural (meaning weird, bizarre, and based in magical thinking).

Now, finally, after those early years of having been programmed and conditioned to accept the words of authority figures as fact, the one called “my daughter” has evolved to the point that she is finally being more objective in regards to what she has been told; is finally questioning some of what she was taught and what she accepted unquestioning;

is finally asking questions about the shifts that happened here after the realization came to “her dad” that he had been trapped in the same learned ignorance and nonsense which inspire behaviors which are never in anyone’s “best relative interests”; and is considering the possibilities which might manifest is she finds a "path" other than the one she had been placed on (as opposed to the one that she might now choose for herself).

Over a shared meal recently, this consideration was offered:

A group with a name that now contains an anachronism - specifically, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People – had a slogan that they used regularly in the past:

“A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”

The revised wording offered for consideration was this:

“What if the slogan were modified to express a more accurate truism? What if it actually said, “A mind is a terrible waste, period”?

To be free of the mind is to set the stage for abiding naturally and for no longer being driven – unconsciously – to abide unnaturally or to waste so much time, so much energy, and so much literal and figurative treasure by being driven to try to abide supernaturally.

How many will ever give up the non-factual when it is deemed to be factual? Almost none. How many will ever give up non-truths when they are deemed to be truth? Almost none. How many will ever give up the desire to be engaged is forms of seeking which "move them" and that "excite them" (or incite them) and that trigger responses which result in their being emotionally-intoxicated and "feeling a real high"? Almost none.

After Maharaj stopped offering a combination of religious / non-dual pointers and stopped offering a combination of spiritual / non-dual pointers and then focused on the mental causes and mental symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness and on a psychology-based version of the Ultimate Medicine, seekers turned away and sought out the Big Name Teachers who are offering pointers supposedly based in a non-dual understanding but which are actually based in the relative, self-interests of their audiences.

Maharaj understood when that happened, and he understood exactly why it happened. Same here. 

So it was. So it is. But so it need not be for those who would be freed, once and all, from the effects of the Ultimate Sickness; who would be truly independent; who would be free of endless seeking and spiritual workaholism; and who would prefer stability over the chaos inspired by dual-mindness and the chaos generated by the bogus belief systems which are stored in the mind.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

[NOTE: The four most recent posts follow. 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.]

MAHARAJ: “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind,” Part PP

Today's Considerations

Certain excerpts from the book “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind” (There Is Only Peace If You Are Out Of Your Mind) are being shared as this series focuses on the mind and why the information stored therein – including false personality identifications – is the root cause and perpetrator of the Ultimate Sickness.   

Today, some excerpts from Chapter’s 12 and 13 (entitled "MIND and PERSONALITY: What Cultures Consider Assets Are Actually Liabilities") shall be shared:

See that almost all persons are totally out of touch with reality, are living as if actors on a stage, and are playing their fake roles without any clue that they are fakes. They truly believe that their roles define who they are, and that’s why those trapped in personality identification will be seen by any objective witness to be insane and totally out of touch with reality.

The mind is formed first during the process of programming, conditioning, etc. and then it is soon pumped full of false identifications (the hidden agendas of which will unconsciously determine every thought that is thought, every word that is spoken, and every action that is taken).

Children developed a set of tools during their early years to use to address one specific set of circumstances. The folly is that they continue to use that same set of tools (their personality and the behaviors that are driven by their personality) in every situation that arises throughout adulthood.

Therefore, the earlier points that “persona-playing will lead persons to personality disorders” and that "adults behave in childish ways" should now be understood. What remains to be understood is what those “bizarre circumstances” are that drive children to develop a specific personality and to behave in the ways that are unique to that personality type.

(Note: the egotism of most parents will inspire them to reject any consideration that they created a bizarre environment for their children to be raised in, and the egotism of most children will reject the same consideration. The tendency among persons is to “upgrade” their childhood circumstances (as is the case with the ego-driven comment that “My parents were great!”); or to “normalize” their circumstances, no matter how many elephants in the kitchen are being ignored; or to "minimize" the impact of their not-so-great-after-all childhood circumstances ("Well, they did the best they could.")

So does the term "bizarre circumstances" include sexual abuse and therefore not apply to the majority who believe they were "pretty darn good parents" or that they had "pretty darn good parents"? No, as bizarre as sexual abuse is, that is not the bizarre environment that the majority of persons grew up in; however, most children do suffer from physical, mental and emotional abuse as well as abnormal parent-child relations.

The most common “bizarre circumstances” that force children to develop personalities for coping with an abnormal environment include families that are overly-restrictive and that impose rigid, puritanical demands; families that offer only conditional love or none at all; families that are overly-indulgent in child-rearing or who create dual imaging (public vs. private) so that family secrets are kept behind closed doors; and families in which neither parent understands their children or in which abandonment issues are fostered.

Also included are families which generate in children a sense of threat or fear more often than they provide a sense of security and well-being; families in which a parent is anal-retentive and overly-critical; families in which one or both parents engage in contests for control with the children, contests which the children often win; and families that spoil the children so badly that as adults those children have no drive or motivation, develop a sense of entitlement, and thus expect to be taken care of by others. These are the most prevalent types of environments that are not healthy and that are bizarre in terms of parent-child relations. Those are the environments that inspire children to develop coping skills / personality in order to deal with abnormal circumstances.

Therefore, each of the nine basic Personality Types One through Nine - identified by the enneagram personality testing and analysis which are offered - developed certain traits and behaviors in childhood that “worked” to some degree in those early, unhealthy parent-child relations but that become major obstacles when applied to adult-aged relations (which are most typically marred with the playing of “The Child role” or “The Parent role” in the absence of “Adult”-appropriate conduct). 

Here are the abnormal home conditions that inspire the formation of the various personality types and that set children on a destructive course, relatively-speaking, as they apply their childhood strategies to adult-age circumstances (meaning, as they unconsciously allow personality to dictate the ways that they think, talk, emote, and behave):

Often, Type Ones as children were trying to cope with a rigid, judgmental environment in which parents set forth unreasonably excessive moral and ethical demands and expectations, especially involving religious restrictions. Ones become reformers or perfectionists, can become highly self-critical if they don’t adhere as adults to the parental expectations that were set forth during childhood, can become judgmental, and will often label others as being “bad” or “evil.”

Often, Type Twos as children were trying to cope with an environment in which parents were emotionally unavailable, were offering only a conditional version of love, or wherein a parent (often the father) was in absentia, physically or otherwise. They can spend their entire adulthood is a search for love and will give away far too much in the quest.

Often, Type Threes as children were reacting to an especially indulgent parent (often to the mother). Sometimes, an abusive male parent was present, and the hiding of family secrets set the stage for manufacturing the images that were shown outside the home (which were quite different from the abusive reality that existed inside the home). The stage was set for creating and maintaining positive images while living darker lives behind closed doors. Threes, therefore, can experience a sense of incongruity since their "positive" outside image never matches their "negative" inside reality. Adult Threes can be charming in public venues but can be sadistic behind the closed doors of an office, a home, etc. They become charismatic performers and achievers in public but that is fakery. They usually become vicious as they competitively strive to outdo or even crush all others who do not please them, and they will use a vile tongue to try to diminish the objects of their anger.

Often Type Fours as children were trying to cope with a fear of abandonment and being misunderstood by parents and being raised in an environment which inspired rebellious (their rebellion often passive or hidden at first). An internal, fantasy-driven inner life often developed. They become the romantics who are the most likely to engage in the “search for Self,” but that often leaves them remote and distant. Fours who do not find Self can eventually isolate; Fours that do find Self can enjoy the solitude without becoming isolationists. They make up only about 1/2 of 1% of the planet's population.

Often, Type Fives as children were trying to cope with a hostile environment wherein their parents generated a sense of threat more often than a sense of security. Some Fives also had an early experience with death. Obsessing over what many take to be “the morbid” can dominate their thoughts and conduct.

Often, Type Sixes as children were trying to cope with a perceived need to develop a relationship with an authority figure (often a male) in order to feel secure. They will spend a lifetime seeking security and following the orders of their political or religious or spiritual leaders (usually males) no matter the degree of nonsense or self-contradiction expounded by those leaders. Fifty percent of all people are Sixes (who often show the personality traits of Type Threes. The planet, therefore, is dominated by those showing Type Three-Six traits.) Sixes, during adulthood, can be dominated by fear and a search for security, which explains their blind loyalty to political and religious leaders whom they think can protect them, both now and “forevermore.”

  

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

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

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

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

Thus, the most common personality defects (as revealed above) which mar the relative existence include the following: self-absorption; judgmentalism; giving, but only in order to receive even more in return; viciousness; being overly-competitive; being phony; being aloof; being unavailable; being morbid; being fear-based and insecure; being blindly loyal; being an escapist; being a control freak; being demanding; and being lazy. Those are the typical products of the basic personality types.

Add the defects that appear when persons adopt another twenty or thirty ego-states ("spouse," "employee," "lover," "homeowner," etc.) and the fallout from personality becomes overwhelming, throwing the entire planet into chaos. Some have asked: “What about those who are ‘healthy’ and behave ‘well’”? The answer is simple:

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

Do you understand the role that the warped mind plays as it generates warped personalities as a result of growing up in warped environments? Are you seeing why adults perform so poorly in trying to create healthy relations during their relative existence? Are you seeing why most adults behave childishly and why, short of Full Realization, they will never be able to choose to behave differently . . . driven as they are by their childhood tool set? Are you seeing how childhood programming and conditioning etc. prevent adults from making sound, sane, and independent choices?

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

 
To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

[NOTE: The four most recent posts follow. 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.]