Then, as now, directly experiencing the energy field of an enlightened teacher bestows a spiritual benefit. It is an experience to be sought as the opportunities are rare and of great value.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"NO MIND"
Introduction
Concordant with the physical body is the etheric body which is solely energetic in composition. It constitutes the spirit and is the locus of subjective experience. It transmits information to the brain and activates the neuronal circuits. In the out-of-body experience, the etheric body separates from the physical one. In that state, one is still quite able to move, hear, see, and think while the physical body may, at the time, be completely dormant and nonfunctional.
In humans, the etheric body also involves an emotional (astral) body as well as higher (wisdom, abstract thought) and lower (concrete thought) astral 'bodies' (not actually 'bodies' as such but energy fields). Beyond the mental bodies are the spiritual bodies which, over time, have been given various names (causal, Buddhic, Christ, Atmic, etc.). The appearance of the higher spiritual bodies parallels the evolution of consciousness as it manifests over great periods of earthly time.
The early hominids represent the development of the lower mental body and concrete learning accompanied by the production of thought forms and languaging. In Homo sapiens, the higher mental body evolved and represented the capacity for abstract thought with subtleties of meaning and correlation with classes and categories. The degree to which these mental bodies are developed varies widely in the overall population, from mentally retarded to genius.
The degree of development of the spiritual energy systems also shows wide variation in the populace and reflects genetic/ karmic predisposition. In many individuals, their spiritual capacities are rudimentary, dormant, or functionally nascent. They become activated by spiritual interest and by association with other spiritually dedicated or motivated people. Therefore, the great teachers throughout history have advised spiritual aspirants to "seek holy company" and avoid those who are nonintegrous.
Spiritual information is stored in the mental body and is educational and useful, but it does not become experiential until the higher spiritual energy fields are activated by the higher frequencies that emanate from the presence of an advanced spiritual teacher. The transmission of the higher frequency energy field is silent and nonverbal (classically referred to as 'grace'). The event is imprinted karmically, and by energizing the higher spiritual bodies, it illuminates so that comprehension then stems from an inner subjective experiential knowingness.
The historical silent transmission of the Buddha was therefore the transmission of the "no-mind" (which is paradoxically referred to in Buddhist literature as "Mind" with a capital 'M'). This illustrates the phenomenon of entrainment which was described in Power versus Force. Clinically, this phenomenon is well-known in twelve-step recovery groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, in which the aspirant is advised to "just keep going to meetings and you will get it by osmosis." Exposure to the group's aura (at 540) results in the miracle of recovery. It takes a very powerful energy field to overcome the very strong entrapment of addiction. As long as the sober person stays within the protection of the field, sobriety continues, but relapse occurs if they leave unless their own calibrated level of consciousness has advanced to the necessary level of 540.
The door that opens to the advancement of consciousness and spiritual awakening is humility. We note that the consciousness level just below Integrity is that of Pride (the classic meaning of "ego"). It is removed as an obstacle by surrender.
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The Search for the Self
Events, including thoughts, come into manifestation as a consequence of intention and prevailing conditions. Mentation is no exception to the fact that there is no such process as causality causing the train of thoughts. Dualistic perception includes a programmed time track that is superimposed on ordinary experiencing, including the thinking process itself. The mind then assumes that the thought train evolves as follows:
The—►dog—►chases—►the—►cat—►up—►the—►tree. Time
Actually, what really happens is best illustrated thusly: The dog chases the cat up the tree.
T T t t t T t T
Timeless
Each thought arises from a 'space' of nonverbal silence which is discernible a split 'nanosecond' immediately prior to the emergence of the thought form. This observation can be detected by focusing interest on the field of energy out of which the thoughts arise instead of on the content of the thoughts themselves. By doing this exercise in contemplation or meditation, one is focusing on unchanging context instead of content. This is the field of consciousness called the witness/ observer, without which one would be unable to know or register what is being thought. The field is autonomous, nonvolitional, and a quality of consciousness.
The Buddha thought the eternal nonverbal void (emptiness') of the Buddha mind (meaning 'no-mind') was discernible 'between thoughts'. The attempt to discern the gap between thoughts (estimated to be l/10,000th of a second) is not as likely to succeed as discerning the reality that is a priori to the silent matrix out of which thoughts arise. It is likely that the Buddha was referring to the same phenomenon but merely worded it differently. (Kinesiologic testing confirms that as true.)
It is simple to observe that although there is a 'talking mind' going on at the same time, there is also a silent awareness that is more global and unfocused and operates automatically. Contemplation or meditation that focuses attention on context rather than content facilitates moving one's identity from the transient and volitional (thereby becoming personal) to the unchanging quality of awareness itself. This leads to the discovery that one is the field and not the specifics of the content. This jump in realization can be very sudden, which is a level of satori.
The field of conscious awareness is not time-tracked and it is silent, autonomous, effortless, peaceful, all encompassing, and unprogrammed. It is free, unbound, spontaneous, tranquil, and not subject to birth or death. Discovery of this field is simple, easy, and relaxed. The realization is a consequence of'allowing' rather than 'trying'. It is surrendered to rather than acquired. As desire for, and the ego's obsession with, control are relinquished, the field presents itself for recognition.
Traditionally, the relinquishment of the ego's programs has been described as arduous and difficult, requiring many lifetimes to accomplish. On the contrary, a profound humility and willingness to surrender all to God at great depth makes it possible for the transition to occur in a split second. Thus, the pathway to enlightenment may be viewed as a slow process or a sudden one.
When realization locates its identity as consciousness itself, the dominance of dualistic perception fades away and the final doorway to Revelation is close at hand.
Q: What is beyond mind?
A: Subjective awareness devoid of content, such as
thoughts, feelings, or images—silent, still, unmoving, All Present.
Q: Reality is self-revealing when the ego is removed. How can that be accomplished?
A: There are several simple things. First, accept the fact that the real you is not the mind or anything it believes in or
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feels. Disengage by seeing that it is an impressive mechanism but not your real Self. Refer to the mind as an 'it' instead of a 'me'. The real 'you' is a priori to the mind. The real Self is context.
Like a personal computer, memory has stored up much information and thereby becomes narcissistically overvalued. Actually, it has merely stored up a mass of perceptual programs, none of which is Reality. It is the storehouse of illusions. Devalue it and withdraw energy and interest from it.
Q: Wouldn't that leave one without a personal identity?
A: Yes, that would leave one with a question of "Who or what am I, really?" The old dictum "Know thyself" is misleading because, to most people, it means to simply know the contents of the ego in greater detail.
Q: Why is the ego so difficult to overcome?
A: One becomes addicted to the ego and preoccupied with its contents. It attracts all of one's attention so that one becomes obsessed with the mind and its feelings. If the person believes that the mind and its contents are the real 'me', then the focus is certainly understandable. Basically, this error is due to naivete. The mind is an amusement park, full of thrills and spills and curiosities. It is also a theater of the absurd for the drama of feelings and social identifications. It is an 'act' in that it is a personal characterization, dramatization, and display.
Q: By 'getting rid of the ego', most people mean getting rid of negativity or pride.
A: That is usually the case. In the beginning of spiritual pursuit, one is often upset to discover negative traits and responses. They can, however, be viewed with detachment by seeing that they are merely just the persistence of animal responsiveness in their human elaborations. The turf wars observed on Monkey Island are identical to the
same ones observed as the turf wars of warring nations, with the exception that the monkeys are smarter and retreat when it is obvious that if they persist, they will be defeated. Note that a herd of elephants calibrates at 190, pandas at 185, giraffes at 180, monkey groups at 125, and the current Middle East at 75 (less smart than monkeys).
Q: Is there a simple way to undo the ego?
A: Yes. By commitment to inner honesty, it will become apparent that the underpinning of the ego's responses is the pleasure that is derived from them. There is an inner satisfaction that is the payoff of self-pity, anger, rage, hate, pride, guilt, fear, etc. This inner pleasure, as morbid as it may sound, energizes and propagates all these emotions. To undo their influence, it is merely necessary to be willing to forego and surrender these questionable, inner secret pleasures to God and look only to God for joy, pleasure, and happiness.
Although the mind will at first deny that it gets secret pleasure from suffering, it will reveal upon rigorous self-examination that the reason it clings to its content is for the 'juice' it gets out of its positionalities. With even a little self-honesty, this is a rather easy fact to discover.
Everyone gets a secret pleasure from resentments, from being the martyr or the victim, and from feeling misunderstood, unappreciated, etc. Society and the law even reinforce these benefits with legal and monetary rewards so that one can be compensated for 'having their feelings hurt', for being 'slighted' on the job, for enduring 'stress', for 'feeling uncomfortable', etc.
When the payoff is no longer valued, these feelings disappear. They persist only so long as they serve a purpose. When this 'ego juice' is abandoned, it is replaced with inner peace.
One will also notice that there is a secret vanity associated with this ego game. It is as if the ego is reinforced by proclaiming how much it suffers and how it is such a
pitiful victim of injustice and unfairness. Actually, the ego secretly celebrates travail through this secret self-dramatization and its personal and social payoffs. The ego feeds itself and becomes self-propagating to its inner dialog.
To undo the ego, one must be willing to abandon this payoff game, with its grandstanding of emotions and repetitive rehashing of data and stories to justify its positions. One will note that the ego milks every wrong and that it has no greater pleasure than to indulge in 'righteous indignation'. It just 'loves' that juicy positionality which has such a great payoff.
A secondary gain to the ego from taking the position of the injured party is that it now has justification for any actions, no matter how extreme. The ego is sly. It thrives on pain and suffering and all negative emotions. However, one consequence it pays for all this inner, nonintegrous secret gain is an overall sense of guilt, shame, and low self-esteem. Note the tenacity with which people routinely refuse to take positive action. They 'stubbornly' resist all efforts to help them, even though such help is free of charge and widely available. The most common defense is lame excuses. When the problem is severe, that resistance focuses the family or society to intervene with 'tough love' confrontations.
The ego's addiction and survival are based on the secret pleasure of negativity, which cannot be abandoned until it is first recognized, identified, and owned without shame or guilt. One has to see that that is just how the ego, which everyone inherits, operates and recognize that it is not really personal at all.
Q: Why would such motivations become so tenacious?
A: It is because it is a distorted substitute for real love and a substitute for God. When viewed for what it really is, this self-reward system is actually a narcissistic, circular self-lovingness; however, it is nonintegrous because it precludes taking the responsibility of admitting the
authorship. Even though the ego is not 'me', it nevertheless belongs to one.
This ego game as played but in society depends on an arbitrary, movable dividing line that separates all relationships into perpetrator and victim. Actually, this game originates on the playground of childhood but becomes current by popularization and media amplification, along with the desire for financial gain.
Q: The examples make the point clear.
A: They are purposely detailed simply to reveal the mechanism that is self-defeating in the end. Although the ego gets a temporary inflation, it loses integrity and therefore power. It is playing the game from weakness. The confrontational "look what you did to me" game is supposed to reestablish self-esteem but fails to do so for it is subverted by the "get even" motive. From a higher perspective, the whole game is merely a "So what?"
Q: Why are these self-defeating behaviors so persistent?
A: The ego responds with anger if its secret sources of self-feeding are exposed. It can even react with rage or homicidal fury toward any threat to its dominion. It has thrived on a secret substitute for God and survived by short-circuiting love. The ego is therefore unwilling to give up its surreptitious feeding on itself, as forlorn as that may sound. Although the ego outwardly protests suffering, inwardly, it gladly welcomes it.
Q: This is the sacrifice that one must make in order to realize the Self?
A: To the ego, abandoning the self-reward dynamism is looked upon as a loss. The ego does not trust God and thereby thinks it has only itself to turn to for sustenance, survival, and pleasure. The ego has faith in its own mechanisms and not in God. It should not be faulted for this error because it has no experiential basis for com-
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parison. Its only way out is by faith that there is a better way. It hears a spiritual truth and begins to search for it when the mind becomes disillusioned with its own fallacies and failure to achieve happiness. It finally realizes that the grim satisfaction it squeezes out of pain is a poor substitute for joy.
Q: Then occurs what is called the ripeness for spiritual interest?
A: In the due course of life's events, this becomes the
turning point. Even though it may take many lifetimes, it is the 'hitting bottom' of despair and defeat and the inner light that leads one out of hopelessness. Once that point is reached, the ego's days are numbered.
Q: What sacrifice is required?
A: The major step is the realization that there is a source of joy and happiness which is outside and beyond the ego. Then arise curiosity and an interest in how to reach spiritual goals. Belief arises which is then bolstered by faith and eventually by experience. Next follows the acquisition of instruction, information, and the practice of what has been learned. By invitation, the spiritual energy increases, followed by dedication and the willingness to surrender all obstacles. Even the decision to turn one's life over to God brings joy and gives life a whole new meaning. It becomes uplifting, and the greater context gives life more significance and reward. One eventually becomes unwilling to support negativity, within or without. This is not because it is wrong but merely futile. Although the journey to God begins with failure and doubt, it progresses into certainty. The way is really quite simple.
Q: What does "surrender to God" really mean?
A: It means to surrender control and the secret satisfactions of the ego's positionalities. Turn only to love and to God
as the source of life and joy. This choice is available in every instant. When finally chosen, the reward is great. By invitation, spiritual awareness illuminates the way. The key is willingness.
Q: How can God be recognized unless one is already well along the path?
A: The first evidence of the presence of God is an awakening curiosity or interest in spiritual matters. That is the crack in the ego's dam. When the person begins to desire or practice spiritual goals or pursue spiritual information, the Presence is already taking hold of one's life.
If the desire arises to surrender all obstacles to love and to God, then God is already present in the form of willingness. When one reaches devotion, there is already quite an advanced Presence that is dissolving the ego and illuminating the way. Spiritual progress and discovery are accompanied by joy, which is the radiance of the Self, and quickly replaces the surrendered ego's positionalities. Spiritual inspiration increases in intensity each step along the way. When the self stops looking to the world or to the ego, it discovers that its source has been the Self all along.
Q: What else is to be surrendered besides the ego's secret payoffs?
A: One has to see through the mind's illusion that it knows anything. This is called humility and has the value of opening the door for realizations, revelations, and intuitive knowingness.
The mind searches for meaning and is therefore circuitous in that it can reach only its own definitions of meaning. In Reality, nothing has any meaning for it has no attributes to be discerned. Everything merely exists as it was created—complete and perfect. Everything fulfills its purpose by merely being what it is. Everything is the fulfillment of its own essence and potentiality. The only 'requirement' for anything that exists is to just 'be'. Its
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destiny under the conditions of any given moment is already completely fulfilled. Therefore, that which it is represents the completion of all past possibility up to that very moment; everything is the way it is supposed to be. As essence fulfilling its potentiality, it is witnessed by a corresponding level of consciousness. In any nanosecond of observation, nothing is actually changing. What is changing are the position of the witness and the point of observation. Change is merely a process of sequential perception.
Life can be pictured as a series of stop frames, like the flicker pads of childhood. This poses the conundrum: Is it the world that is moving or the mind that is moving?
Q: Imperfection is then an impossibility.
A: Everything merely is as it is in its absolute self-identity, but this is an elusive observation because of the ego's propensity for perception and positionality. Thus, the rust on a tin can represents the success and perfection of the oxidative process. Iron exposed to humidity results in the formation of iron oxide, and that is the way it is. It does not 'do' it, it 'is' it, and what is transitory is merely the form of appearance.
Reality is permanent. This is apparent to the eye of the T but not to the T of the personal ego. At any moment of observation, everything is already complete and perfect. Value and meaning are embellishments that are projected by the mind, based on the desirability of certain selected attributes or characteristics. If one desires a wild and natural-looking Christmas tree, then a crooked one is much better than a straight one.
Q: Can one transcend illusion?
A: The mind's reality is a fiction. With that realization, it loses its reign as the arbiter of reality. Through the eye of the ego, life is a kaleidoscope of constantly changing attractions and repulsions, fears and transient pleasures.
It bases its security on over-valued positionalities but, with maturity, it progressively looks within for enduring qualities that can be relied Upon. Without spiritual direction or information, it does not know which way to look and may merely settle back into basic survival techniques that have had pragmatic value.
Q: How can one survive without the mind?
A: There is 'thinking mind' and 'aware mind'. Awareness is automatic and inclusive of the totality of life's situations. It relies on knowingness rather than on thinking or figuring things out. Its function is spontaneous and silent rather than calculating.
Awareness reflects a different set of operating principles and tends to be more benign and global in its responses. It sees the whole picture and responds in accord. Aware mind is not prone to banal positionalities or judgments nor does it get entrapped in frenetic endeavors. It tends to be easy-going and mellow and prefers to observe rather than to become involved in the world's dramas. Aware mind is not involved in worldly definitions of gain or loss. We speak of that type of relating to the world as 'laid back' or 'philosophical'. While the thinking mind of the ego says "Isn't that awful," awareness knows that it is merely the ebb and flow of life and that, in the end, it is all the same.
Q: That sounds like a passive attitude.
A: To the ego, peace sounds inactive and passive because the ego thinks in terms of'doing' something, such as seeking control, gain, or avoidance. The ego darts through traffic, pushes the speed limit, and watches for police cars. It fumes at delays and stupid drivers; it tailgates and curses under its breath at slow traffic. It blows its horn and passes on curves. It is driven by the hope of beating time and jumping the line. It shakes its fist at the driver who moves ahead in line and it vows
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terrible vengeance. While all this is going on, simultaneously, the ego is planning work strategies, talking on the cell phone, and listening to the radio.
In contrast, aware mind flows with the traffic and enjoys being courteous and letting some poor soul into the traffic line in front of it. "Give the guy a break" is okay to the easy-going perspective of awareness.
Q: Is not such a laid-back attitude ineffective?
A: It does not rely on actions but on total vision. The ego relies on force; the spirit influences by power. Awareness knows that it is not what you do but who you are and what you have become that counts in the long run. Some persons inflame situations, whereas others calm them.
Q: But what of success in the world?
A: The ego sees success as gain and control. Aware mind looks instead to fulfillment, completion, equanimity, and the pleasures of peace and lovingness. To the ego, gains lie without; to spirit, they are internal as the ever present joy of existence, which is independent of content or form. To the spirit, a sunny day or a rainy day are the same. Awareness enjoys qualities rather than grasping at form. Thus, it can enjoy 'being with', without having to own or control. Awareness is not driven by goals but instead values the capacity for equal pleasure in all circumstances.
Q: Without mentation, how does aware mind get information?
A: It relies on intuition more than logic, but it also tends to be self-correcting because it does not take positions and therefore is not reluctant to change them or 'back down'. An easy-going attitude allows for changes because there is no stake in any specific point of view. "I guess I was wrong about that" is an easy statement to make from nonpositionality. Many egos would rather have one die than admit it is 'wrong'.
Aware mind values getting the total picture and seeing the options. It is therefore more flexible and adaptable. The ego focuses on specifics; awareness is concerned with generalities and essence. The ego is exclusive whereas the spirit is inclusive.
What is the source of the knowingness of the aware mode?
The Presence as Self illuminates the Allness of Reality. Everything is equal by virtue of the divinity of its existence as the Infinite Supreme, out of which all existence and creation arise. There is no selectivity or division; all is of equal value and importance.
In contrast, the ego's focus is narrow and constricted by intention, which is therefore selective. It constantly seeks 'problems'. To the ego, everything can be seen as a 'problem'. As a consequence, the ego's evaluation of situations is often prone to very serious error and miscalculation, with grave consequences to large numbers of people and even entire populations. This propensity to error is a built-in defect of the ego/mind because it selects data that supports its presumptions and positionalities and ignores the data that would suggest contrary conclusions. The ego is rigid, and the collective ego of society is even more so. Awareness is more like the innocence of the child who notes naively that the emperor is not wearing any clothes.
The ego's rigidity and resistance to correction are based on narcissistic egotism, pride, and vanity. The collective egos of whole nations bring about their downfall and destruction. Nationalistic vanities and slogans are inflated by political or righteous religious fervor that feed on whole populations for decades or even centuries. These frenzied, inflated, narcissistic ego positionalities result in the slaughter of millions of people and the downfall of demagogic leaders, and even their entire populations.
Q: The influence of the ego in national affairs tends to be pernicious.
A: World history is the record of the cost of egotistic positionalities. Wars continue long after it is obvious even to a child that they have already been lost. Millions more people are destroyed before honesty finally prevails and brings the senseless slaughter to an end. The final days of World War II are certainly a classic example with which most people are familiar. It even took a second atomic bomb to wake up a nation that was blinded by self-delusion; it forced another bomb upon itself.
The ego is not only unable to correctly assess situations that are fatal but it even willingly sacrifices life for its own ends. The ego is therefore potentially deadly and would rather 'see you dead' than admit it is wrong. The ego is capable of what can only be adequately described as colossal ignorance. Unfortunately, until the late 1980s, it was the prevailing energy that dominated mankind's behaviors. The ego is intransigent in that it fails to learn from its mistakes. Failed policies are reinstated repeatedly, even in the face of major catastrophe, and the justification is almost always a resort to some moralistic catch phrase that serves the political gains of the propagandizers who exploit the gullibility of the naive public.
Q: Why is there the persistence of social fallacies in the face of such obvious evidence?
A: The ego is interested in being seen as right and focused on 'doing something', no matter what the results are. It does not dawn on the ego that there may be social situations for which it has no solutions. They just have to be lived with and accepted as part and parcel of the human condition. The ego relies on force, whereas difficult problems can be resolved only through power that transcends the positionalities of'good' and 'bad' and sees so-called problems as projects.
Q: Is aware mind primarily a different perspective?
A: The ego conceals, whereas awareness reveals. The answer to many defective ego positions could be subsumed in the commonly overlooked sanity of common sense'. The ego is naive despite its pretentiousness. It pompously demands proof of the obvious, and in doing so, it is slyly nonintegrous. It could be best described as sophomoric in its facile solutions and self-importance.
The ego feels threatened by common sense and piously recites how society has been mistaken in the past. In so doing, however, it does not cite examples of common sense at all but instead cites historical examples of faulty collective-ego positions.
Q: Is 'no mind' then an all-encompassing perspective?
A: That is its great value. The spiritual student is often seeking to transform, overcome, or slay the ego when all that is necessary is to simply abandon it. This requires the development of trust, faith, and confidence in the Reality of God. When the seeking for gain is abandoned, life becomes relatively effortless and peaceful.
Q: Is it not risky to follow the intuition of aware mind?
A: It seems so to the ego; however, we now have a reliable tool with which to assuage the ego's fears and doubts. The kinesiologic test for truth is readily available and reveals the difference between truth and error in a matter of seconds. That test does not require mentation at all; as a matter of fact, it bypasses the mind altogether. The response is totally independent of the mind of the test subject; in fact, the statement does not even have to be vocalized. It can simply be held in mind as can an image. In essence, the whole phenomenon occurs on the level of energies only. The statement is presented as an energy pattern to the field of consciousness which automatically responds to the presence of truth. It is a very common experience for both the tester and the test
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subject to arrive at an answer that is totally the opposite of their personal beliefs.
This is a rather remarkable gift in that it allows access to advanced levels of consciousness without having to personally go through the long process to arrive at the point where spiritual discernment would reveal the same answer.
Kinesiological testing is pragmatic and valuable because it can verify as a cross-check of intuition. It is a critical tool at times of indecision and doubt as well as being a learning instrument. It is necessary, however, to restate the limitations of the method. It is reliable only if both the tester and the test subject calibrate over the level of 200 and the motive of the question also comes from integrity. This automatically excludes use of the method by egotism or selfishness and limits the use to approximately twenty percent of the current world population.
Q: There seems to be a conflict between thinking mind and aware mind.
A: Gain or loss are merely reflections of perception and have no innate reality. As a generality, one can postulate that what is a gain to the spirit is likely, at least initially, to be viewed as a loss by the ego. The ego holds onto the pleasure and satisfaction of hatred and getting even instead of surrendering to the willingness to forgive and forget. People cling to the familiar, even if it is killing them. Despite their protests, the average person is actually a willing participant in the individual and collective egos. It is resistant to turning down the payoffs of smugly feeling one is better than, more important than, or superior to other people. The satisfaction of spite, revenge, getting even, or 'making them pay' is addictive and self-serving and thus dominates entire nations and areas of the world through endless conflict.
Q: Is this the basis for all the self-righteous nightmares of 'holy wars'?
A: These ego positions have been institutionalized in order to guarantee their uninterrupted promulgation and continuance. Catering to the enforced ignorance of the masses brings prestige and power over others and fills the bank accounts of the arms merchants.
The sad/comical fact is that the so-called 'holy lands' are currently some of the most unholy places on Earth. Paradoxically, these legendary pieces of real estate that have cost the lives of multitudes of people over the ages calibrate very low (150). The footprints of the saints have been obliterated over the centuries by the flow of the blood of hatred, cruelty, and suffering. It is better to pray in New York City's Central Park, which at least calibrates at 425, or even on the observation floor of the Empire State Building, which calibrates at 465.
Q: In a manner of speaking, the kinesiologic test is
ruthless in its capacity to rip off the mask of cherished illusions and delusions.
A: It is ruthless to the ego, deception, and the purveyors of falsity. It is difficult to control and manipulate people who have instant access to the truth. Mankind is gullible, as every politician knows. Whereas statesmen rely on the power of truth, a politician subverts it for gain. This subversion of truth for political gain reached its zenith in the Nazi's Third Reich where Goebbles (calibration level of 30) demonstrated the ease with which even the most ridiculous propaganda can be accepted by the millions. Demagogues distort and emotionalize in order to control; the true statesman utilizes truth to inspire and lead, such as Winston Churchill, who calibrated at 510.
Q: What is the value of confrontation?
A: Society hopes that, by confrontation, the victims will lift themselves out of tamas into the rajas of waking up and
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taking action. This is the purpose of the law when it confronts criminal behavior. It hopes to provide a motive for change. There are, however, a great many persons who are not capable of change. When we realize that some people are unable to change of their own volition, we begin to see that they are ill or perhaps lack essential critical brain function. Historically, this was called "moral imbecility." Currently, it is referred to as "psychopathic personality." This defect shows up as early as ages two or three through the inability to control impulses or delay gratifications. There is some intrinsic defect in the ability to learn from experience and an intrinsic inability to fear consequences.
Q: Frankness is not a customary style of religious or traditional spiritual teachers; one expects them to speak and behave in some kind of a pious manner.
A: Reality is radical in that it does not cater to position-alities which are described as niceness. The Zen of truth is direct and precisely confrontational to delusional fallacy.
When a devotee commits to the pathway of enlightenment, then the wheat has to be winnowed from the chaff. This is automatically so because positionalities are based on beliefs. Beliefs disappear in the face of the knowingness of truth. The road to enlightenment is not for bleating sheep. To be offended signifies that one is defended, which, in itself, signifies the clinging to untruth. Truth needs no defense and therefore is not defensive; truth has nothing to prove and is not vulnerable to being questioned for an answer.
Q: The demand for proof is then a denial of Reality?
A: That is an astute observation. All proofs are merely
constructions. The traditional proofs for the existence of God are epistemologically deficient because of the fallacy that is inherent and intrinsic to the logic process
itself; for example, the fallacy of the seeming opposites of objectivity versus subjectivity.
Objectivity is an artificial mental construct that attempts to create an authentic, believable 'reality'; however, it fails to do so because the entire, seemingly logical construction is built entirely on subjectivity and belief. There is no inherent authority of 'truth' to any concept except for the subjective value ascribed to it. Credibility is a subjective decision and purely experiential and indefinable. What is convincing to one person may be dismissed as nonsense by another.
The realization and knowingness of God is radically and purely subjective. There is not even the hypothetical possibility that reason could arrive at Truth. Truth is knowable only by virtue of the identity of being it.
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CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE WAY OF THE HEART
Instruction
It might seem that information about consciousness and the structure and function of thought and perception are primarily of value to the spiritual seekers who have chosen the pathway of nonduality (Advaita). These subjects, however, are of equally great value to the aspirant who has chosen the way of devotion of the heart. In practice, however, most seekers combine these pathways, and it is primarily a matter of emphasis or style of practice.
The foremost goal of the pathway of the heart is to reach that level of consciousness called Unconditional Love. The energy of inspiration and devotion facilitates surrender of positionalities and results in reliance upon God's grace. Although this process sounds conceptually simple, as everyone has found by experience, it is often more difficult than one had expected. The sincere devotee discovers that striving for unconditional love has the unpleasant faculty of bringing up the opposite of one's dedicated goal. This is represented in the terse spiritual saying that "Love brings up its opposite."
One must remember that love and peace are the greatest threats to the ego' which defends itself by resorting to entrenched positionalities that lie hidden in the unconscious. These nonloving attitudes have arisen from the still present biologic, survival-oriented animal brain which surfaces in childhood where parental and societal pressures force them to go underground by the well-known psychological ego mech-
anisms of repression, denial, suppression, reaction formation, projection, and rationalization.
These self-serving mechanisms apply to the various subpersonalities as well as to the primary self-identity. Beliefs and emotions then become programmed by the input of society, history, culture, peers, church, school, parents, and now, very importantly, the media. All the above are heavily influenced and either facilitated or hindered by DNA, genetic factors, maternal hormones, and inborn biologic destiny. The range of choices is even aligned with body build as the so-called somatotypes (endomorph, mesomorph, and ecto-morph).
There are also obviously many more factors that influence personality and the content of the ego, such as I.Q. level, socioeconomic status, class, health, geography, environment, childhood nurturance, and others. These factors, however, are visible, and the subject is studied by many branches of science and research.
Perhaps more far-reaching in its total effect is the invisible factor of karmic 'inheritance' and its multitudinous, unsuspected influences. To be born a human with an ego is already a profound 'karmic event'.
One can view the spiritual ego as the current manifestation of one's karma so that 'undoing the ego' is the same as resolving one's karma because they are operationally one and the same. If the term "karma" is not acceptable, one can use the term "unconscious" instead.
Although the obstacles to be overcome will remain the same whether one considers them from the viewpoint of karma or from the unconscious, one major exception is that the student who has done some research on their own karmic background will be freed from much self-pity, resentment, and anger at the naively assumed 'injustices' of life.
Karmic research is best done when specific answers are needed for clarification. These discoveries can be extremely helpful and save years or even lifetimes of futile spiritual work. The basic value of karmic research is that the information
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derived then recontextualizes the problem, places it in the setting in which it arose, and then facilitates its resolution.
Past-life research often reveals the source of recurrent life events or themes. The psychological ego mechanisms most frequently found are:
1. Undoing - one repeats past patterns in order to have the opportunity to make better choices this time.
2. Reaction formation - one takes an extreme opposite view or positionality in this lifetime to keep its opposite repressed and out of awareness.
3. Projection - that which is painful to own about oneself is projected onto others.
4. Return of the repressed - in this lifetime, what one did to others one now suffers in reverse as the victim.
5. Denial - the motivations and thoughts are completely repressed and dismissed as "not me."
While the above may seem to be a simplistic review of basic psychology, these concepts need to be available for quick recall as these mechanisms are involved in spiritual purification. Unless the underpinnings are discovered, it can take great periods of time to overcome many personality characteristics that may bring guilt, shame, and suffering to the spiritual devotee who is going through spiritual purification.
Karmic/unconscious research is also rewarding in that it reveals that a specific trait or event arose out of a specific context, time, and place, and it loses its negative energy when seen anew. At the time that it was recorded in consciousness in a 'prior life', the ego had jumped to an erroneous judgment based on a positionality which then persisted unless healed by self-understanding.
In looking into the past, it is to be remembered that in prior centuries, the overall level of consciousness of mankind was below 190, which is below Integrity. Therefore, life was cheap, violence and brutality were normal, and ignorance prevailed. At consciousness level 190, mass executions could be readily rationalized, such as, they were done for the good of the revolution, the country, the cause, the Church, etc. These same
actions, as well as their lame excuses, would not be accepted so favorably in today's world where the consciousness level has now advanced to 207 overall and tends to be in the 400s in civilized countries.
When one looks at the Scale of Consciousness, it becomes apparent that a specific level implies that what is below one's current level of functioning has been transcended, at least in a major way, and that the upper levels present the material to be comprehended and transcended. For instance, if a person is generally loving and capable of true love (which applies to only five percent of the population), they can then assume that their calibration is at approximately the level of 500. The next step up would be to transform that capacity to love to the level of Unconditional Love (which calibrates at 540).
This would mean looking at the exceptions for loving, which are based on positionalities, such as judgments of good/bad, guilty/innocent, deserving/undeserving, and the general run of resentments. These will reveal pairs of opposites whose positionality is easily discovered. The blocks to learn this will then be discovered to be due to the function of perception itself. Often, inspired seekers try to force themselves to love the unlovable and forgive the guilty. This becomes impossible because the 'bad' people are still perceived as bad; thus, success means transcending the duality created by the positionalities of duality. It is helpful to recall that most people are unable to be different than they are because they are run by endless programs and belief systems.
The reason the mind refuses to own a negative trend is because of guilt and shame. When a trend is understood and recontextualized, it is no longer seen as awful and therefore no longer has to be repressed.
It is interesting to remember biologic heritage and presume that whatever went on in a prior life or time consists primarily of primitive drives, which Freud labeled the "Id." One can then presume that the underlying matrix of much negativity has to do with primordial urges and instincts that are narcissistic, animalistic, crude, and uncivilized. The primitive animal
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within is, of course, totally untrained and deals in extremes, and its predatory drives are merciless. It thinks in terms of killing, murder, and taking what one wants by violence, rape, violence towards sex objects, slaughtering rivals, and hating whatever frustrates the satisfaction of its drives, which then becomes labeled as the enemy. If the mind perceives that these thoughts and impulses are 'mine', it then reacts with guilt, fear, denial, and projection.
Spiritual work involves not only knowing about God, but also 'knowing thyself. With adequate understanding, the way of the heart and the way of the mind blend into each other where the terms themselves are merely products of perception. In Reality, there is no separation of heart and mind. It could be said that the heart has a mind of its own, and the mind has a heart of its own. In the end, they are one and the same in the Allness of the Self. (The material in this section was calibrated at 975.)
Q: Why is it twenty-five points less than in some previous presentations?
A: It is because the content of this section was positioned from the viewpoint that the ego and its psychological mechanisms are a reality instead of an illusion. The presentation was directed to be helpful to the majority of seekers in whom the ego has to be first accepted as though it is a reality in order to be dealt with before it can be transcended. At the higher levels, the ego is seen to be an illusion, without any innate reality.
The understanding of the ego is therefore useful knowledge which is to be discarded later. To attempt to do so, however, before one can dissolve it through spiritual comprehension would lead to a fictitious stance because the mind readily incorporates all learned material and subtly tries to thrive in a new, disguised form.
A naive student might hear, for example, that the ego is an illusion and then presume that "I don't believe in the ego. It's just an illusion." At this point, it is actually the student's ego that is making such a statement. Although,
in the ultimate Reality, there is no such thing as the ego, until that realization occurs, it is still sufficiently strong enough to kill you in a second if it serves its purpose. Never underestimate its wily strategies. The more realistic position is to respect its capacities and compassionately heal it. Once the ego is docile, it is much more amenable to evaporating into the sunshine.
Q: The answer you just gave did, in fact, correct that
limitation of twenty-five points, and the calibration of the recitation is now up to 999.9.
A: Your response brings up an interesting point and one that is useful to offset and preclude the development of so-called 'spiritual ego', which has been the Achilles' heel of many an aspirant or even well-known teachers. To offset the vanity of what has been learned, one focuses instead with humility on what is yet to be learned. The ego is clever. It substitutes spiritual pride for personal pride. It goes right on, undaunted. It takes personal credit for spiritual comprehension instead of realizing that the capacity for understanding itself is a spiritual gift from God. We see from the story of Lucifer that it remains a trap for the unwary.
Q: The very acquisition of spiritual knowledge is then a risk factor to be watched.
A: The downside of spiritual education is the buildup of the vanity of I know' and the devaluation of people who are 'not spiritual'. Therefore, it is important as a foundation to spiritual training and education to learn how consciousness manifests as the ego and its mechanisms. If one acquires information and experiences gratitude, then spiritual pride does not gain a strong foothold. It is also meaningless to say that one person is 'higher' than another. It is well to remember that the calibrated levels of consciousness are really measuring the prevalence of illusion and not Reality. It is a measure of one's degree of
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awareness of the Self as the real T. The levels primarily denote the resistance to one's actual reality.
Spiritual pride can work in two directions, either to augment vanity or, paradoxically, by taking the positionality that one is worse than others. To chant "I am nothing and He (God) is All" is just as far from the truth as the opposite extreme. The position of "I am just a worthless worm" is just a vanity in rags instead of in robes.
Q: What of penance?
A: That is the time-honored mechanism to undo guilt and also try to beseech mercy and forgiveness from God. This is a self-imposed drama based on the lack of understanding the ego. It is a game between positionalities. One 'owes' contrition and confession only to the Self. One 'owes' the undoing of'sin and guilt' to the Self. One 'owes' the obligation to change one's ways to the Self. One 'owes' it to the Self to give up positionalities. Suffering only serves the ego. Of what use would it be to God, who has no needs, no emotion, and who would in no way be pleasured by human agony?
All suffering is a vanity in which different aspects of the personality play the parts of prosecutor, defendant, judge, and jury. It is hard for people to imagine that Divinity is not a judiciary.
In Egyptian mythology, the soul goes to Hades, where the Lord of the Underworld (Osiris) sits in judgment and weighs the sinner's heart on the scales, whose destiny then hangs in the balance. To understand this depiction (which operates quite mightily in the human psyche), we first note that it is referring to the 'underworld'. This is the judge in the unconscious mind that is self-judging and hands out sentences of guilt, suffering, and self-hatred. This myth is an accurate depiction of the dark side of the unconscious.
On a higher level of consciousness, one would expect that the deity that reigns at the moment of judgment and the weighing of the scales would be a teacher who would educate the soul so that it could learn to do better and thus serve God. On a higher level of consciousness, this drama of the weighing of the scales of justice includes another element, a representative of Divinity who is the intercessor. The privilege of the presence of an intercessor or savior has been earned by spiritual merit, and the intercessor presents the option of accepting God's grace and mercy by turning completely to God. Without the presence of the intercessor or savior, the soul, in its consternation, would not even remember or realize that such an option is always present. The savior is thus indeed a spiritual reality at the gateway to salvation.
In Christianity, on Judgment Day, the intercessor is Jesus, the Christ, who is the witness for the soul's decision for God as the Light of Truth rather than darkness. While Osiris makes one go weak with kinesiology, the intercessor/savior/Christ/teacher of Heaven makes one go strong.
Q: Even if it is eventually revealed that the heart and mind are correlated, what does it matter which one begins with primarily?
A: If the heart opens first, the mind follows; if the mind opens first, then the heart follows. The choice has to do with karmic predisposition and proclivity.
The subjective states open in a seemingly different sequence, depending on which path one primarily follows. When the 'heart' of the spiritual energy bodies goes over consciousness level 600, a profound bliss ensues (traditionally referred to in Sanskrit as Sat-chit-ananda) which may also occur when the spiritual energy (kundalini) reaches the crown chakra (God awareness) of the spiritual bodies. In that state, the devotee may become immobilized and even permanently leave the
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ordinary world (fifty percent do). Those who adapt to and are able to mature in the condition and return to the world are often viewed as saints (e.g., Mother Theresa). When this level is reached, the spirit might be said to seem satisfied for this lifetime, and the consciousness level tends to remain the same for the balance of the person's earthly existence. This is also because the Infinite Love of the Presence precludes any consideration of the progression of consciousness that would seem irrelevant. The knowingness that is intrinsic to this state replaces all thinkingness, even to the degree that speech or verbalization may be impossible for years. Throughout history and currently, there are such saints of bliss who are silent but are able to receive visitors and give them their blessing.
When the pathway through consciousness/mind has been predominant, Awareness opens up to reveal the very source of consciousness as the Allness of Divinity and the Oneness of all Existence as timeless Creation. This revelation is at first overwhelming and stunning to the fleeting residue of the disappearing ego/experiencer/ witness which then falls silent. This moment of transcendence of the mind is fleeting, and the light of Divine Omniscience reveals the Manifest as the expression of the Unmanifest beyond existence, yet as its source.
The Absolute Self-identity of the Ultimate Reality reveals God as the Source and confirms the pathway of Advaita (nonduality), just as the bliss of Sat-chit-ananda confirms that God is Infinite, Absolute Totality, and Eternal Love.
When enlightenment occurs, the ensuing state also completely reconstructs the appearance of the world. Everything is seen to happen of its own. There is no longer a 'me' or a personal T. The orientation to the world is completely altered, and functioning may be impossible or very difficult. Statistical research shows that few are able to return to the world at all.
The state of the enlightened sage may or may not seem 'saintly' as the emergence of the enlightened state bypasses the personality. To function again, that ephemeral remnant has to be partially and voluntarily reenergized. The contrast between the saint and the sage would be like comparing St. Francis of Assisi with a Zen Master.
While the Sat of bliss can be expressed by comprehensible description and verbalization, the sage's state of being at one with the ultimate context of Reality is considerably beyond ordinary comprehension. Consequently, the capacity to even language it may take up to thirty years or perhaps even longer in order to be able to coherently describe the experience.
Society reacts differently to the saint in a state of bliss than to the nondetectable state of the sage. The state of bliss is recognizable by others who may respond with reverence or deference. The state of the sage is beyond recognition, and in order to be able to interact with the world, the sage may resort to a communication style which is based on a cryptic sense of humor that plays upon paradox and ambiguity. This is done as a way of recontextualizing perception and liberating options. Thus, it may sound startling to the visitor to hear that a sage has no preference of life or death, winning or losing. There is neither attraction nor aversion.
To both the saint and the sage, survival is of no interest for the Self is eternal and beyond all form. This 'divine indifference' may seem puzzling. These states are also accompanied by physiological changes, such as loss of the startle reflex or a shift of the frequency of the brain's EEG from fast beta waves to slow theta waves.
The level of consciousness of either the saint or the sage generally remains the same for the remainder of their earthly lifetimes. In a very few, the progression of the evolution of consciousness may resume, which then occasions unique difficulties that may again require withdrawal from the world.
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Q: Is society more familiar with the saint than the sage?
A: The saint is easier to understand and identify with because Unconditional Love is an idealized state. Enlightenment is generally not familiar to the Western world, except as exemplified by the Buddha.
Q: What about clothing styles or physical appearance that denote a religious or spiritual affiliation—are they appropriate or helpful?
A: The downside is that they may be used by the ego to denote specialness. If this is watched for, then such garb can actually be appropriate and useful for it makes the devotee more understandable. As a recognized member of a religious or spiritual community, society makes certain allowances and changes its expectations; thus, the garb has a protective function and is an overt statement of spiritual commitment. The devotee may have not only a very different lifestyle but may also go through stages and changes that would not ordinarily be comprehensible.
Q: What stages occur?
A: On either pathway, the dedication and devotion can be totally absorbing and lead to the neglect of things the world considers important. There can be a lack of interest in eating, a decreased need for sleep, a need for much solitude, and a loss of interest in ordinary affairs, conversation, or sociability. There may be withdrawal of interest in family and friends, abandonment of vocational interests and financial affairs, and unless correctly perceived, the devotee could be misunderstood as a 'dropout' or as having gone over the edge and lost their senses'.
The pathway of the heart takes one through the consciousness level of the 500s. It progresses as the position-alities are identified and transcended. At the level of Unconditional Love (540), the energy becomes quite intense and overwhelming. One then sees nothing but love everywhere and, at a certain stage, Tails in love' with
all that exists. This state results in overwhelming joy; tears frequently occur. The perfection and exquisite beauty of all life as an expression of Divinity are overwhelming and result in ecstasy.
The Presence of God as Love is self-revealing as the duality of perception ceases as a consequence of surrendering positionalities. Love is therefore the doorway between the linear and the nonlinear domains. It is the grand avenue to the discovery of God.
The dissolution of the ego by the Infinite Love of the Divine Presence may be so overwhelming that the capacity to function in the world in ordinary terms may well be lost. Tears of joy can spring forth for long periods out of gratitude for the gift of spiritual vision that transforms all appearance. Beauty stunningly shines forth from all objects. The value of all 'things' is equal by virtue of the intrinsic Divinity of Creation as their existence.
In such a state, a leper is no longer repulsive, and the dying poor on the streets of Calcutta are beautiful and lovable. Unconditional Love pours forth and heals their feeling of separation—such is the miracle. The Self of the devotee recognizes the Self of the dying derelict, and at this moment, they go into a joyful bliss. All fear of death disappears where the Reality of life as God's love shines through.
Knowingness replaces thought, and the Presence precludes all illusion of separation. The love of God is the Self of the Infinite c I-ness' of existence. In the Presence, there are only stillness, peace, perfection, and beauty. The heart swells with gratitude and pours energy out into the world in response to an unseen need. The miraculous appears unexpectedly and one witnesses the unfolding of the miracle as the Holy Spirit transforms the seemingly impossible.
The Essence reveals that nothing is 'causing' anything else. The Totality reveals its Essence and the transforma-
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tion is witnessed as miracles that now seem normal and the natural state of affairs. It becomes apparent that all existence is a miracle and that Creation is continuous as the unfolding of the Unmanifest as the experience of the Manifest. Perception sees a different movie of life than is revealed by spiritual vision. It cannot be explained.
Q: In such a state, how can one function in the world?
A: One has to withdraw from ordinary life for a number of years. In the very high 500s, one is overwhelmed by joy, which may mount to ecstasy, but when that ecstasy is transcended, a profound peace prevails in which a slow return to functioning may be possible.
The silence of the Presence is total. Activity is greatly reduced. All needs have vanished. One has to be sure to see that, just like a pet, the body gets fed and cared for. The body may seem irrelevant, not dissimilar from pieces of furniture in the room.
If the state of revelation is destined to continue to evolve, the stages then become more like those that ensue from having followed the pathway of mind. The way of the heart is the pathway of affirmation. By contrast, the way of the mind may appear more ascetic or 'bare bones' in its stringency. The ascetic state no longer needs externals and dispenses with them because the progressive revelations are enthralling and all else is unimportant.
While the world may have the expectation that the life of a spiritually committed person should be holy and tranquil, quite often the opposite may occur. The karma is activated and brought up into awareness. Major changes may occur in the aspirant's life and relationships. For some years, life may appear to be tumultuous as profound inner changes take place. These may involve lifestyle, vocation, relationships, and possessions, all of which may rapidly come and go. Change in geographic location is common. Friends and family in the world
may think that the devotee has gone mad', 'left reality', and gone overboard'.
Q: What other problems may arise for which an aspirant needs to be watchful?
A: The spiritual seeker goes through developmental stages. There is the naive initiate who is gullible, overly trusting, and vulnerable to persuasion and proselytizing by spiritual politicians and power seekers. In this stage, that which is nonintegrous is not detected, and everyone is seen as trustworthy and lovable. This stage needs to be reminded that unconditional love may blind one to that which is nonintegrous or even destructive. We say "Love is blind," and in the extreme, it may lead to foolishness and serious blunders.
As spiritual progress continues, the naivete of the aspirant is replaced by greater wisdom and discernment. There is compassion for all ignorance, but the nonintegrous are recognized as such. Jesus warned of being naive (e.g., throwing pearls before swine, or the wolves in sheep's clothing). To maintain balance, the spiritual energy needs to flow to the third eye (spiritual vision and awareness) as well as to the heart chakra. It then flows into the crown chakra as revelation unfolds.
Q: How can one prevent the development of a spiritual ego? Each success seems like it would feed into it.
A: Realize that there is no such entity as the doer of deeds or actions. There is no doer/self to take blame or credit. Progress is the result of a quality of consciousness that has been activated by the assent of the spiritual will. Spiritual inspiration becomes the energy that is operating. It does not emanate from the ego/self.
The Self, like the divinity of God, does not 'do' anything, nor does it act' or perform' or 'intend' or 'choose', for it is beyond all volition. The manifestation of God as Existence is void of conditions or positionalities. The
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purity of Divinity is beyond comprehension by the ego because the ego is limited by form and always assumes a duality of subject and object.
That which is the Ultimate nonlinear Reality is not divisible and is beyond the subject/object duality of the ego's conceptions based on positionality All spiritual progress is a gift, and humble gratitude precludes pride.
SECTION FIVE
THE RECONTEXTUALIZATION
CHAPTER TWENTY
PERSPECTIVES
For purposes of clarity of expression, the evolution of consciousness has been presented as calibratable, identifiable levels in the style of a progressive chart in order to facilitate comprehension in a manner familiar to the human mind, with its traditionally learned categorization of information. While this style of elucidation is familiar and pragmatic, a progressive chart, however, is an abstraction and not the same as the reality to which it refers. It also appears to artificially separate that which is a wholeness and a continuum into seemingly distinct partitions based on identifiable characteristics.
The calibrated levels represent a perspective, an arbitrary point of observation, which is significant only in relationship to the whole. Each selected level is therefore the viewpoint from an arbitrary perspective. It does not denote a different reality but instead shows how such a reality is experienced or perceived. Thus, it is not that reality 'is' that way, but that it 'feels' or 'looks' that way.
To a fish, water is 'reality' in that it is innate to its total life conditions. To observe and be aware of'water', the fish would have to experience 'non-water', or air. To the fish, water is friendly and represents reality. To the human, the same water could be deadly and result in drowning. Although air is deadly to the fish, it is essential for the life of the human. These are two different perspectives. Even to the fish, water is only beneficial so long as it stays within a certain temperature range. If it turns to ice or steam, the water, which had formerly sustained life, now threatens it because it has changed form and taken on new qualities. Likewise, the energy of consciousness
sustains life and serves as the source of life energy. Like water to the fish, the energy is supportive of life.
Consciousness at its highest frequencies permits awareness beyond the linear physical to self-revelations of its essence, yet at the lowest frequencies, it is insufficient to even support physical life, which then sickens and dies in exhaustion and apathy. At the lower energy levels, life is too weak to even feed itself and respond to light. If we totally transcend duality, there is neither 'destructive' nor 'constructive'. Instead, there is only that which supports life in its fullest evolution and that which does not. Therefore, there is neither 'good' nor 'bad', which are terms that mainly describe degrees of desirability.
If any desired end is surrendered as a positionality, then 'constructive versus destructive' again merely represents points of view and the polarity of the opposites. If there is no desired end or objective, then life would be seen as just 'being what it is'. Philosophically, this could be viewed as a nihilistic position, that is, 'life is absurd or life is nothing'; however, with no yardsticks by which to judge (such as 'meaning' or 'significance'), then reality reveals itself to be the Allness in which all potentiality becomes fulfilled as the evolution of its essence. From the viewpoint of'everywhereness' and timelessness, omniscience witnesses nothing as 'happening'; therefore, there is nothing to praise or condemn. From that perspective, there is only ultimate Peace.
Q: What is the difference spiritually between perception and perspective?
A: Actually, both represent a point of view. Perspective implies a more general witnessing, with an implied nonselectivity in a wide spectrum. The perspective of New York City from the top of the Empire State Building is quite different from that down on the street level.
Each level of consciousness denotes both a calibrated level of power as well as an implied range of possible viewpoints due to the qualities of that given level. The range of observation from the top of the Empire State
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Building also depends on the weather and time of day. Conditions impede or assist vision.
The T is the ultimate perspective, for it is the nonlocalized reality of the Allness, which is beyond either 'now' or 'then' or 'here' or 'there' because, from nonpositionality, what appear to be opposites linguistically turn out to be comparative qualities.
All words and languaging contain an unstated positionality and an implied context. In Reality, all is radically only as it is and nothing can be said about it or added or subtracted. Even the statement that 'that is' is a misnomer. 'Is-ness' or 'existence' are deductions and intellectual conclusions, and even to state that 'all is' is again an abstract statement.
There is no need for an intransitive verb except for the purpose of languaging. That is why the mystic may say nothing at all for years about the radical subjectivity of 'Reality', which is beyond description. Because no languaging of the state of enlightenment is actually possible, a Zen Master may just suddenly shout "Hah!" and hit you with a stick. What is hoped for is a sudden flash, during which the inexplicable Reality stands revealed.
Over the centuries a variety of 'techniques' have developed to outwit the wary stream of thinkingness, such as bells, gongs, incense, chanting, recitation of mantras, martial arts, or even the Zen of catching chickens in the henhouse. In that infinitesimal moment, the 'no mind' of eternity is glimpsed and recognized as the Self—beyond 'transcendent', beyond 'immanent'. Such ideas are concepts which attempt to categorize that which is beyond categorization.
Q: You often use the term "state" or "condition" to describe the subjective reality of enlightenment.
A: That is because words are being used. The energy behind the words exists independently of the verbalization and
reveals itself only as Awareness. In that 'condition', there is neither subject nor object. The Ultimate is only itself, without any external reference. From the human viewpoint, that is a condition or state of'no mind'. To not be located in any possible position in space or time means to be continuously equally present everywhere, which is beyond present or 'not present'. No 'person' can be enlightened as the state precludes all that is implied by the very term "person."
Enlightenment means that the former personal identity and all that had been believed about it have been erased, removed, transcended, dissolved, and displaced. The particular has been replaced by the universal, qualities have been replaced by essence, the linear has been replaced by the nonlinear, and the discrete has been replaced by the unlimited. Position in time or space has become Allness and Foreverness. Intention has been replaced by spontaneity, and the limiting perception of duality has been removed as the Radiance of Oneness illuminates the Reality and the Truth of nonduality. The essence of Divinity stands forth in its Self-revelation. Mentation has ceased, and in the Silence, the Knowingness of Omniscience radiates forth unasked. Emotion has been replaced by Peace. The exquisite gentleness of Infinite Power is deftly soft and invisible because it is the very Source and substrate of all that appears to exist. By analogy, it is like a shadow which is replaced by a sunbeam. The shadow does not become the sunbeam.
Seeming 'cause' or 'change' are replaced by the unfold-ment of Creation. All is the perfect expression of the potentiality of essence. Nothing is acting on anything else. Aesthetic harmony and concordance are innate to the perfect safety that is intrinsic to existence. The stop frame of form is replaced by the continuity of universal essence. Nothing is incomplete, undone, or unfinished. All is continuously complete as total self-identity. The
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essence of all that appears to exist is Divinity. All is God in the fulfillment of the potentiality of Creation.
The universe is self-creating spontaneously. Nothing is causing it to express itself. The Unmanifest of the Godhead is the Infinite potentiality of Infinite context and all possibility. The universe is spontaneously autonomous; even the thought of existence' is merely a notion. The term "ineffable" is appropriate and a close approximation. It is an attempt to language the intrinsic nature of radical Self-identity. God is the universal 'I-ness' of manifestation. Behind even the universal 'I-ness' of God is the Supreme as the Unmanifest, which is unnamable.
Q: One hears the statement that everyone is already 'enlightened'. How is that to be understood?
A: It means that the Self is present and potentially discoverable as the basis and essence of one's existence. The statement is actually an impossibility because it incorrectly defines the understanding of enlightenment, and it also presents the fallacy of the hypothetical. To be enlightened is to know the Truth; consequently, the statement that there is a knowingness of Truth in that which does not know the Truth is an incorrect statement. What could be said to be realistic about the statement is that the ultimate Truth awaits within to be discovered.
If seen for what it really is, all languaging is a paradox because nothing can actually be as it is said to be. Revelation is a revealed knowingness. It is understood without words or concepts, such as "meaning" or "significance," which are merely abstractions.
Neither the universe nor anything in the universe 'means' anything. Its existence is its meaning. The mind is accustomed to obtaining, getting, deriving, or discovering meaning or information. In the state of enlightenment, all is self-revealing of its essence as its existence. Everything already is what it 'means'.
Truth is the radical solution to epistemology. Ultimately, everything is knowable only by virtue of the identity of 'being it'. The conundrums of epistemology can be solved only by the elimination of thought because all languaging is paradox. One can take any word and trace it to its roots. How does the word originate? From where? Is the word the same thing as its meaning? By asking such questions, one is eventually confronted with the ultimate paradox of duality. The radical Reality is that to understand the essence of anything is to know God. One might say that all languaging is a substitute for God.
Q: Of what use then are knowledge and learning? Are they just blocks to enlightenment?
A: The ego (as the illusory self) propagates itself so that it can continue to be the 'me'. One of its techniques is to try to 'learn about' or 'understand' things. Realize that if you are something, there is nothing to understand about it. Reality is the ultimate in simplicity.
Man thinks, but thinking is a two-edged sword. The bird flies about enjoying its life and does not need to study ornithology or even know that it is a bird. It doesn't need to understand or know anything because it is a bird. The sun doesn't need to know it is the sun; it just is. Grass never even heard of chlorophyll and just goes on being green. Truth is the radical simplicity and obviousness of God. It is unity. The word "unity" signifies the completeness of the Self-identity of existence. All is complete by virtue of being itself. No descriptions or nominal designations are required; they are all distractions. Even to just witness requires no thought. There is no necessity to mentalize Reality; it does not enhance what is but instead detracts from it.
All existence has an intrinsic aesthetic quality. Appreciation of beauty requires no mentation. To analyze beauty is to attempt to cross over the spontaneity of experience and obscure it with mentalism. Perfection and beauty are
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innate to all that exists. All is equally beautiful to the innocence of awareness. All form is an aesthetic experience, and its beauty is obvious when all qualities, intentions, or desires are relinquished. Enlightenment is the ultimate aesthetic awareness for it allows the beauty of creation to shine forth with stunning clarity.
The Buddha traced the ego to sensory experience and the resulting attachments. Have you any comment about that teaching?
The starting point to unravel the ego was such as described in the experience of Gautama Buddha, but it could be started anywhere. For example, we have already mentioned that in-depth study and immersion into the roots of epistemology and the phenomenon of knowingness is one such avenue. Aesthetics is another. The source of mentation is another. To trace any human experience to its ultimate roots will always end up at the same root. There are only different branches by which to uncover one's Source. We could therefore just as easily choose sensation. The limitation in doing so is the creation of the belief system that it is the only approach. That just happened to be the one that attracted the Buddha's intention. It is not necessary to start from sensation, although, in the end, its part in the formation of the ego becomes apparent. To understand one branch is to understand all of them. Even with sensation, it is not the sensation itself but the attachment or aversion to it, or the pleasure or aversion which ensues.
Any approach will reveal that attachments are the core problem to be overcome through relinquishment. The problem is not money, or sex, or pleasure but the attachment to them, plus the illusion that the source of happiness is external, which brings up the fear of loss. Asceticism is the practice of dissolving attachment to sensory experience and thus may be of great learning value at some point in the process of spiritual inquiry.
However, it can itself become an attachment and lead to excess rather than enlightenment.
Sensory detachment caii also be seen as a consequence of enlightenment and not a prerequisite condition. The real attachment is to the positionalities that create the polarities of the opposites and the resultant duality. If one examines sensory experience, the question arises of who or what is experiencing the senses. At first, it seems that the body is the experiencer, but then one asks who or what is experiencing the body. This leads to the observation of experiencing itself. Then arises the awareness that experiencing goes on by itself and is a quality of consciousness not requiring the presence of an imaginary 'experiencer'.
One can realize the Self as the primordial, irreducible Reality from any starting point. It is not the starting point that is important but the dedication to relentlessly pursuing it to its very roots. To unravel the nature of experiencing leads to one's Source. Any leg of the elephant leads to the elephant.
Q: Is it the all-pervasiveness of attachment that is the obstacle, no matter where one starts self-inquiry?
A: All serious inquiry eventually uncovers the obstacles to realizing the Self. To examine attachment or its corollary, aversion, is a time-saver; it is ubiquitous, pervasive, and the core element of every obstacle. We can look at it and ask what is the intention of attachment. There is an illusion or fantasy associated with all of them—security, survival, success, pleasure, and so on. That pervasive quality of attachment has an origin or root that can be uncovered. The mind is attached to or identifies with what it values, including its hopes, dreams, and illusions. Attachment is a very peculiar quality of the ego. It can be totally undone in all its pervasive and multitudinous forms of clinging by simply letting go of one's faith in it or belief in its value as a reality. This one giant step is a
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confrontation to being unaware of one's attachments. The attachment to 'self or 'me' or T is a basic trap. One can seek out its fantasy value—the self gets attached to what it values. We note that attachment requires and is sustained by an energy and an intention. The mind is attached to the very process of attachment itself as a survival tool Letting go of the ego is based on the willingness to surrender attachment to it as a substitute for God and just another illusion.
The developmental road of attachment is clinging. The infant clings to its source of comfort and survival, which it experiences as being out there'. It then becomes attached to not only externals as the source of survival and happiness but to the very act of clinging itself. This can be seen in baby monkey experiments where the frantic fear of abandonment is greatly lessened by cloth surrogate mothers.
The ego clings to the familiar as the known. Therefore, to let go is to face the uncertainty of the unknown, which brings fear. Thus, to cling is to avoid fear. The infant is nurtured, not so much by the maternal actions but by the intention and nurturing exemplified by the mother's love. Although the infant reaches for the linear, its survival is coming from the nonlinear. At this point, this basic lesson is either learned or not learned. The source of love and survival becomes associated with a person and, therefore, attachment is an attempt to possess and control the perceived source of survival and happiness. The ego then chooses between the linear materiality of possessiveness or the nonlinear reality of trust and love.
During the London blitz of World War II, infants were sent to countryside institutions for safety. Although all their physical needs were well met by scientific standards, they failed to thrive. Instead, they became listless, failed to nurse, became weak, lost weight, and exhibited miasma. The mortality rate was high. Scientific investi-
gation failed to find any medical, nutritional, or infectious reason for the moribund condition of the infants. Some professional nannies were then called in who began to fondle and hold the infants, giving them attention, caring, and love. Miraculously, the infants began to nurse and gain weight and the death rate dropped.
This is interesting because it demonstrates the limitation of the scientific model, which excludes the very essence of life. Love is neither definable nor measurable; it cannot be weighed or located in time or space, yet, to the human infant, it is crucial.
In normal infant development, the loving mother is introjected or incorporated into the developing psyche. The result is the capacity in later life for healthy self-esteem, self-care, and self-love, as well as the capacity to value and return love. The love-deprived child is thus ruled by negative emotions that lack a counterbalance of positive emotions. The adequately loved infant is capable of autonomy; however, the love-starved child is described as 'needy' and prone to attachment and anger. In psychiatry, the unresolved need for adequate infant love leads to so-called "attachment disorders" and dependencies in later life.
Q: Does the pathway to enlightenment consist primarily of the constant relinquishment of attachments?
A: The attachments can be to either content or context, as well as to intended or hoped-for results. To undo a difficult positionality, it may be necessary to disassemble it and then surrender its elements. The payoff that is holding an attachment in place may be that it provides a feeling of security or pleasure; the pride of being 'right'; comfort or satisfaction; loyalty to some group, family, or tradition; avoidance of the fear of the unknown, etc.
When belief systems are examined, they turn out to be based on presumptions that are prevalent in society,
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such as right versus wrong or good versus bad. For instance, "I have to have chocolate ice cream" (content) "and then I'll be happy" (context) is based on another positionality, that the source of happiness is outside oneself and has to be gotten' (in overall context). All these propositions indicate a series of dependencies (e.g., the Buddha's Law of Dependent Contingencies or Dependent Origination), and when they are surrendered, the source of happiness is found to be in the joy of existence itself, in this very moment and, beyond that, in the source of one's existence—God.
Attachments are to illusions. They can be surrendered out of one's love for God, which inspires the willingness to let go of that which is comfortably familiar.
Q: What about unpleasant attachments that bring such feelings as guilt, fear, or anger?
A: They also arise from clinging to a point of view. Interestingly, the feeling itself is often the payoff. It is hard to accept that they are unconsciously sought or valued. It is a belief of the mind that one 'should feel' that way and 'deserves to'. Some of these are conditioned responses. To get free of them, one can examine how other people might react differently and begin to see that there are options.
The mind is caught between desires and aversions, both of which are binding. An aversion is also innately an attachment to a conditional perception, and it is disassembled by acceptance.
It is sometimes helpful to see mental mechanisms as an automatic, learned game and the mind as a game board. It plays win/lose, feel good/feel bad, and right/wrong. One could see loss as being set free and winning as being encumbered. It is important to note that emotional consequences are not compulsory but are merely options. There are many 'ought to feel that way' hidden underpinnings to some emotional responses and belief
systems. By disassembly, an entire set of belief systems can be surrendered at one time because they have a common basis. Development of the capacity to do so increases with practice. Eventually, one lets go of the entire thinking compulsion in one deep surrender of the whole apparatus. One can then just observe and 'be' with everything as it is, letting God be the sponsor of life. It is helpful to get rid of preoccupation with details and decide on one's total relationship to life instead of its specific expressions.
Q: That sounds philosophical.
A: It is just that. A philosophic position arises from an
enlarged context of meaning. It is a position that resolves many lesser ones, enabling one to progressively surrender that context of philosophic abstraction. It serves to pinpoint previously unobserved positionalities. The other value of so-called philosophic positions is that they are more easily accessed for reflection and easier to release because they are much less personalized.
Q: Can you give an example?
A: "It's not worth arguing about" is a common one. It signifies that one has chosen the value of peace above conflict and the promise of winning the win/lose game. To let go of a whole game or melodrama is always an option but one that is often overlooked. That is the purpose of the tongue-in-cheek epigram "I can't decide whether to commit suicide today or go to a movie."
Humor is a means of detachment or recontextualizing the events of life. It is a way of being light-hearted and 'wearing the world like a loose garment'. It leads to compassion for the totality of human life and reveals the option that one can play at life without getting involved in it as though it were an exhausting life-and-death struggle.
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Q: But can't that lead to indifference?
A: Humor is inclusive of life and is a level of compassion. Indifference, in contrast, is exclusive of life. Humor allows for participation; indifference leads to nonparticipation. Humor enjoys while indifference yields flatness and ennui.
Be passionate for God, not for belief systems. That is the only real decision that has to be made and can be applied to any and all situations. The question is always whether to be at the effect of the world or aligned with the Truth of God instead. The search for enlightenment is different from that of seeking worldly success.
Q: Often you speak of various qualities as if they are abstractions rather than personal attributes.
A: To see life as the interaction of qualities is freeing. There is no necessity for a personal pronoun. Positionalities are programs and not the real Self. The world holds an endless array of positions that are arbitrary presumptions and totally fallacious. One can observe them and respect how they are seen and valued by others without personally subscribing to them. One can appreciate how the world sees but not be entrapped by it.
One is free to subscribe to a quality or position. It is important to see that there is freedom. All positionalities are voluntary. As spiritual inquiry progresses, one is faced with evermore primary and seemingly axiomatic positions. Eventually, the core of the belief systems and presumptions begins to appear and, finally, even the reality of the self as an independent, autonomous reality presents itself for examination. The disassembly of every belief system will eventually lead to the question of 'what' holds to that position, what it is that believes it, what it is that chooses it and then becomes run by it. With progress, the prior sense of self turns out to be an identification with the operation center of the mentalization.
The imagining 'who' is really a 'what.' It will be found that it is merely a function and not an independent, circumscribed entity at-all. It is a belief system and, actually, all the qualities are operating autonomously. Thinking and feeling happen on their own. Mentation, in its various styles, occurs unasked and unbidden. An independent, autonomous entity called T is a presumption. All is happening of its own, including the central operations center that coordinates the human functions. This operations center automatically identifies, classifies, sorts, remembers, compares, evaluates, files away, observes, and records like a transistor processor unit. This central unit is subscribed to and identified with as being the real 'me'. It then becomes the object of credit, blame, and fear, as well as worry and concern about survival. It becomes associated with the emotions, for better or worse. Options become associated with consequences and potentialities for pleasure or pain, and these automatically influence choices.
In the end, even though all this is understood, it takes great faith, fortitude, and trust in God to surrender the very core of the known to the unknown. At the final moment, the last vestiges of doubt and existential fear may surface from the depths. At that point, faith in the teachings of the masters that direct us to "Walk straight ahead, no matter what" arises and proves to be correct, for the glory of God awaits on the other side of the last great barrier.
Q: How can one prepare for such a final moment?
A: Having heard this, you are already prepared. One has to be willing to walk through the illusion that death of the self results in obliteration of existence. If one is holding the belief that "death is an illusion that I don't believe in," at the last moment, one will be confronted with who it is that thinks so. Then one discovers there really is no T who thinks so, and that illusion dissolves or the fear of
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death arises to be faced. Only the spirit can walk through the final door; the ego is left behind and cannot pass.
Q: At that point, is there fear about the body?
A: In this particular case, that was not the problem at all. It was the core sense of T that was overwhelmingly threatened. It seemed as if one's very basis of existence was at stake, and the ego feared nonexistence as the only possible alternative to its demise.
With compassion, one realizes that the structure of the ego is such that it cannot know what lies beyond. At best, it hopes that the familiar T will still survive but somehow become enlightened'. It does not know nor can it know that only after its own demise, the Infinite T instantly shines forth in its stead. In this particular case, the last nonverbal knowingness was the ancient sages' teaching to "go straight ahead, no matter what," but then, as the familiar identity of self dissolved, so did its capacity for memory, and only consciousness, naked of all props, remained as the Ultimate Reality.
Q: Then what remains to speak of the event?
A: Consciousness has multiple capacities. It may choose to speak again, or not, and in many cases, it does not. In that case, no word is heard, but an imprint is left in the field of consciousness so that someday, another advanced soul will again appear at the doorway and just suddenly 'know' what needs to be known. Not everything can be explained but it can be implied or alluded to. Any baggage has to be left at the doorway.
Q: So the final surrender is not of the self as the core of the ego, but one's attachment to it?
A: That is a serviceable way of expressing it. It is the
attachment to the belief that the personal T is the core of one's existence and is the source of life and the sense of T. When that illusion is surrendered despite all
obstacles, it is discovered that the sense of T-ness' had originated all along from the universal, impersonal T It is like a sunbeam which thinks that its light originates from itself and then discovers that all the while, the source of its illumination was really the sun. With this discovery, there is a giant relief.
Q: These descriptions are encouraging and helpful.
A: From a certain manner of description, the teachers of enlightenment are really the survivors of the death of the ego. Their words serve as guideposts and inspiration to the uncertainty of the spiritual student. There is nothing to gain from speaking about Truth, nor is there anyone to whom such gain would accrue. The words occur by the grace of the Self.
The attachment to the T core of the ego is the belief that it is the source of one's life, so it seems as though one is surrendering life itself to God. That it is safe to do so is reinforced by faith, conviction, and the words of those who have done so. Therefore, it is essential that one verify for themselves the calibrated level of any teachings to which one is entrusting one's life and spiritual faith.
There are two kinds of teachers. There are the integrous, intelligent teachers who have learned of the truth and accurately report it but have not yet completely experienced it. Such teachers are often in the high 200s to the 500s and are excellent instructors. In that case, the level of truth that is being taught will differ numerically from the calibrated level of the teacher; however, such teachers are of great service because they are good at teaching and informed on teaching certain spiritual practices. Similarly, there are excellent ski instructors who have not necessarily skied all the difficult runs. There are great skiing adepts who are very poor teachers. Beethoven was a great composer but unlikely a great piano teacher. Thus, there are also
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enlightened sages who are not gifted with pedagogical skills. Their brief teachings may be cryptic and insufficiently fluent to be easily comprehended.
The second kind of teacher is one whose enlightenment can be authenticated to everyone's satisfaction. Some of these are not fluent but speak through assistants who are able to explain the teacher's words.
Teachers who have survived the death of the ego may not even be able to speak of the Infinite Reality for many years. A few are able to return to the world, but most are not.
Q: There is confusion about the state of enlightenment and about the 'individual' to whom it 'happens* or who is it that has become enlightened. There is a common saying that the truly enlightened being does not 'claim' to be enlightened, so anybody who states that they are must be in error.
A: There is great difficulty in describing a condition that is not within the experiential reality of the ego, and especially in answering a question the asking of which stems from the dualistic paradigm of reality of the questioner. An enlightened being is their condition; thus, there is no purpose to make a claim'. That is an ego view. Now, with kinesiologic testing, any state can be confirmed.
The personal self does not become enlightened or transformed but instead is assimilated, silenced, and replaced by a different condition altogether. By analogy, if one looks through the lens of a movie projector from one side, they see a movie as it appears on the screen. However, if one looks backwards from the other side of the lens, one sees only a brilliant light. Therefore, what is the reality of the function of the lens?
Another simple analogy is that a shadow does not become a sunbeam but is replaced by it. The ego is the shade; enlightenment is the consequence of the light of the Self that replaces it.
Implied in the common saying that we are discussing is the belief that to disclaim being enlightened is a form of modesty. This is a project"ion of the spiritual ego of the originator of such a statement for in the condition of enlightenment, no egotism remains. The state is merely a simple fact; it is not an achievement. It has no merits or anything which is laudatory that would require the posture of psuedo-humility. In the naive spiritual community, there is much adulation, charismatic glamour, and importance attributed to 'enlightened masters', and the like. These are projections. To the enlightened being, the state is merely the natural condition of how it is.
At its onset, the state of enlightenment may seem spectacular or dramatic to the fleeing remains of the disappearing ego. Then peace prevails and there is really nothing to say because the state exists beyond all words. It would not be possible to refer to it in a manner that would have any meaning to other people.
In this case, nothing was said about it for more than thirty years, during which time there progressively arose the capacity to dissimilate as normalcy and function in the world. There was no one to whom such a condition would be comprehensible. Only twice were there meetings with known sages who comprehended the condition. The first was Muktananda, and later, Ramesh Balsekar. There was another such meeting on the streets of New York City that was mutually anonymous but total and complete.
Only slowly over the years did a method of making states of consciousness comprehensible come about. The kinesiologic phenomenon appeared to be the tool to cross over from the linear world of the ego and form to the nonlinear spiritual Reality that lay beyond.
Historically, all enlightened beings have described their state, and by doing so, proclaimed rather than claimed it. None have denied it or pretended that it did not exist.
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The Buddha proclaimed the magnificence of the state of enlightenment which eventually became known as "Buddhahood." Jesus described his own condition as the "Christ of the Father in Heaven, Almighty God." Krishna described the Self as the "Supreme." To not acknowledge the Presence of God would be to negate the Allness and Divinity of God; this is not possible for an enlightened being.
By inference, the common saying that is being discussed implies that enlightenment is so rare that to claim' it would be a delusion. Because of the number of false teachers who have abounded over the centuries, that, indeed, is a possibility. However, we now have an objective and consensually verifiable test of the levels of consciousness with which to verify states of enlightenment and authenticity of teachings.
The false teacher is one who makes a claim in order to obtain some gains, such as fame, adulation, or followers. There are such entities and they often have enthused followers. We have discussed that problem previously.
Lastly, the expectations of the naive spiritual seeker lead them to believe that an enlightened being will exhibit an array of mystical, magical, or mythical signs and behaviors, extending even to having bumps on their head or forehead. The naive seeker expects to meet someone who is 'special' in appearance and demeanor. They are disappointed to find out that the genuine sage is essentially quite ordinary and without theatrical trappings. Because of religious art and icons over the centuries, the naive seeker expects to see flowing robes, etc. In reality, the only intrinsic, real distinction of the true sage is the quality of the teachings and the power of the energy field of the consciousness that accompanies him. There is, however, an invisible aura, the energy field that supports the advancement of consciousness, and there is a connection between the aura of the visitor and that of the teacher which is facilitated by the intention of the seeker.
Q: What of the 'miraculous'?
A: If the karma of the visitor is 'ripe' and merely needs the catalyst of a higher energy to manifest, then such a potentiality may actualize. It is neither intended nor willed by the sage but happens spontaneously. Often, even the sage does not realize it has happened until witnesses report it later. It is not viewed as special any more than an apple's falling off a tree. It is seen as the natural course of events as they unfold in the manifest world.
Healings take place of their own accord, and in a true healing, whether the affliction disappears or not is relatively immaterial because the actual healing occurs from within. Consciousness is a state of knowingness that transcends the physical. What is often relieved is not necessarily the physical or mental affliction but the suffering that has accompanied it. The miracle occurs as a transformation of context. The actual 'event' is within consciousness itself, and thus, the transformation of the afflicted person's consciousness brings about a self-healing which may or not be exhibited externally.
Q: Is the statement "I am enlightened" possible for a true sage?
A: The question reveals a well-advanced understanding. The answer is no. The errors that would be involved in such a statement are several. To say "am" is already a divergence from Absolute Truth. It is an intransitive verb (like 'being' or 'is-ness'). The word "enlightened" in that sense would be in the form of a descriptive term that implies an added-on attribute or quality. The T of Absolute Reality is a Self-identity and the complete and total statement. In the statement "I am that," both "am" and "that" are superfluous and misleading. In actuality, enlightenment is neither a state nor a viewpoint, yet it is both, and there is no statement about it that is completely accurate.
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A cat is just one hundred percent a cat; it doesn't need the word "cat" and doesn't even need to know that it 'is'. The word "cat" is an invention of language, which is valuable as a pragmatic convenience. The reality of self-existence, self-completion, and self-identity is already complete in the cat's being a cat (i.e., existence).
To be enlightened is merely to be like the cat; the reality is total and complete and is not an additional condition. It seeks neither recognition nor validation because such things are irrelevant.
The term "enlightenment" is semantically correct. It is the recognition and realization that one's reality is the light of the Self and that it stems from within as an awareness and profound, self-evident Reality.
Q: Is doubt the reason for questioning the authenticity of enlightenment as a possibility?
A: That is an important observation. There is a form of realistic doubt that merely seeks confirmation and is therefore rational and part of wisdom.
This is in contrast to what might be called a form of pathologic doubt, which is the expression of the grandiosity of the narcissistic ego of the questioner that sees its imaginary omnipotence as negated and challenged by the possibility of the Real. This sometimes takes the form of severe psychopathology and the megalomania of malice and hatred.
Historically, we note that many great leaders of truth, equality, peace, and spiritual reality have been assassinated, such as Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Answar Sadat, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Jr., and others. In addition to the successful assassinations of many presidents and other well-known leaders, there have also been many attempts (such as on the current Pope) that were thwarted before they became finalized. Unconsciously, these psychotically delusional entities seek to kill God, so to speak, to prove that their
own grandiose, narcissistic ego is greater than God. We also note historically that great works of art, such as the Pieta, were attacked by mad men. A local sand sculptor repeatedly had to replace the heads of Jesus and the Apostles in his creation of The Last Supper due to their nighttime destruction. He finally just abandoned repairing the display and, in fact, dismantled it.
The desire to desecrate beauty is seen in the displays of graffiti. There are many people who hate beauty, in a sense, and take delight in degrading and even killing young children. The serial killer hates the beauty of the feminine and seeks to desecrate it by mutilation. The wanton killer or the killer in every act defies the authority of God. The grandiose psychotic is the biggest threat to presidents and other persons who threaten the ego of the zealot.
Famous spiritual leaders have also been poisoned 'to see if they would die'. Sometimes these psychotic acts become politicized, such as the bombings of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center Towers in New York City. The more grandiose the setting, the greater the pleasure of the attacker who seeks the attention of the public. The jealous megalomaniac seeks to prove that (in the core of the ego) they are greater than God. The lower astral realms are populated by many such entities. They hate the sovereignty of God because it jeopardizes the sovereignty of their own inflated egos and challenges their authenticity.
Evil is not the opposite of God but simply the denial of God, just as falsity is not the opposite of truth but its refusal. The deification of the self does not lead to God-ness but to the grandiose delusions of egomania and religious psychosis.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SPIRITUAL RESEARCH
Q: Historically, most spiritual teachers have represented the flowering of a lineage, a spiritual tradition, or a school of teaching. What would you describe as your spiritual roots or spiritual foundation?
A: The Presence of the Self is the inner teacher. In this
lifetime, there was exposure to traditional Christianity as a child. During adolescence, however, this turned into a long period of agnosticism which lasted for twenty years. This was followed by some searching for truth by browsing through Buddhism and Zen, but all this searching was given up as futile. In the end, it was discarded and abandoned.
Although there had been intense, inner spiritual experiences in childhood and adolescence, plus a near-death experience, their significance had not been comprehended. During young adulthood, there was the completion of four years of classical psychoanalysis which was very successful in reaching its objectives. Despite the psychological success and all the gains in the view of the ordinary world, there was an inner core within consciousness that was desperate to reach some greater truth.
Attempts at developing true spiritual awareness turned out to be discouraging. In fact, with intensification, spiritual endeavor led to a deeper and deeper black despair that culminated in the crisis of a descent into the lower depths of hell where there was obliteration of all hope of deliver-
ance. There was emergence in total spiritual darkness and the agony of existential terror and aloneness. While in the timeless depths of hell, there arose an inner voice that said, "If there is a God, I ask Him for help."
Following that request, an oblivion of unknown duration occurred. It was perhaps a day later when the oblivion suddenly disappeared and was replaced by the stunning splendor of the Light of Divinity that shone forth as the radiance and essence of Allness. The Infinite stood forth as the all-encompassing Reality. The Self shone forth as the essence of pure awareness for there was neither subject nor object. The state of the Self was and is the radical subjectivity of the Presence and is not different from the Supreme, which is beyond all categories. By analogy, the sunlight that illuminates the stratosphere is no different from the sunlight that illuminates the Earth. One is not 'transcendent' and the other 'immanent'. They are only points of view that originate from a positionality. No positionalities are possible in the total completeness of Allness. The Infinite is equally present and fully expressed as both a grain of sand and in the totality of the universes.
Q: The term "Self" is not a familiar term in traditional Western religion.
A: It is a term that originates from the state of enlightenment that emerges at the consciousness level of approximately 740. There are much misunderstanding and lack of authentic information about the states of enlightenment. To begin with, there are not just two contrasting states, such as enlightened or unenlightened. The realizations of enlightenment formally and classically begin at calibrated consciousness level 600, which is beyond the state of bliss experienced in the high 500s and is incapacitating. Surrender of the bliss state to God opens the revelation which marks consciousness level 600, where incapacitating bliss is replaced by infinite peace, stillness, and silence.
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Q: If there are not two contrasting states, such as enlightened versus unenlightened, then what is the correct understanding of the term "enlightened"?
A: There are stages or levels of enlightenment that are progressive. We can calibrate them so as to calibrate the different terms that have been used over the ages. These are not levels of Reality but levels of the degree of awareness of Reality.
The levels do not denote 'better than' lower levels but only the position of perspective, much as one might describe the appearance of the world from different levels of the stratosphere, or the characteristics of the oceans at different depths below sea level.
The following calibrations were determined during an investigative workshop:
Sainthood Very close to enlightenment 575
Bliss "Sat-chit-ananda" 575+
Enlightenment Bliss replaced by peace, stillness, 600
and silence "I Am" Awareness of the T 650
as beingness or is-ness
680 700 740 740
840
985 1,000
1,000
1,100
T As Essence of Creation 1,200
Archangel 50,000+
Divinity - ' Infinite
Q: The calibrated levels of consciousness serve as a point of reference and are not really distinct levels of Reality as such?
A: Calibrations are merely a shorthand means of denoting a level of consciousness that specifies both context and content. Each level has its own view of what is real and meaningful. This results in differences in motivation, value, lifestyle, or spiritual positionalities. Each level indicates a transcendence of what has preceded it and also indicates the tasks that lie ahead. It could be compared simplistically to school grade levels. Eighth-grade material is beyond seventh-grade but not yet ninth-grade material. Spiritual evolution is similar in that the higher levels of consciousness are comparable to college, post-graduate, doctoral, and then post-doctoral research and discovery.
The difference between spiritual work and academic study is that the subject of spiritual study is the self of the student, and as desired truths are discovered, the student transforms and evolves until the self disappears and is replaced by the Self. By spiritual inspiration, the Awareness of the Self may continue to evolve to an ever expanding context that eventually transcends dimensions as expressions of the Reality of God. The seeming realities of the ego are transcended at consciousness level 600, which denotes the transition from the Newtonian linear paradigm of reality to the nonlinear domain of spiritual truth.
Q: The idea that a higher level of consciousness is better than one below it is therefore just a projection of egotism?
A: That is correct. No calibrated level is better than another; it merely denotes different subject matter. Although, throughout history, mankind has been impressed with
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the state of enlightenment, from the viewpoint of the ultimate possibility of God, it is only a beginning. Comparably, to a high school student, a college degree seems very advanced, but to a post-doctoral researcher, it is merely a bare-minimum requirement.
While consciousness level 600 is rare and 1,000 rarer still, archangels calibrate at or over 50,000. Although not discernible from our dimension, such enormously high energies influence all life in all its expressions. We might say that what is considered a spiritual master within the human dimension is, in turn, an evolving student in much higher dimensions. Each spiritual student is therefore a teacher to those who are behind and a student of those who are ahead.
To be effective, a teacher has to be suitable for the audience that is being addressed. An avatar is the founder of a religion and therefore one who has the teaching capacity to be meaningful to large numbers of people over great expanses of time. There have been very evolved beings on the planet who did not verbally teach because that was not their talent or destiny. To influence the consciousness level of mankind, it is not necessary to actually language one's realization.
Enlightenment is therefore a progressive realization and does not represent a finished product, or a final end, or the completion of the evolution of spiritual possibility. The great spiritual masters of the past were speaking to a human population that calibrated at only 100 or below. The consciousness level of mankind has now made the critical, enormous leap to 207, which means that a much different field of consciousness now prevails.
There are an infinite number of dimensions in which there are an infinite number of infinitely expanding universes emerging into infinite possibilities. The actualization of each potentiality automatically energizes the creation of an infinite number of evolutions of potentialities that then become the nuclei of a subsequent series of
infinite progressions, namely, the infinite potentiality implied by Quantum Theory. Due to languaging, this description lacks perfection, but it tries to convey a sense of the information. Because the essence of God is the catalyst of Creation, all that is created contains that same quality. Therefore, the ultimate context of God is an infinite progression of infinite potentialities and possibili ties, each of which then creates a further infinite progression of infinite progressions. Although not really satisfactory, the explanation is the view from the perspective of Self as at one with the Creator.
As one can see from calibrated level 600 and over, and especially beyond 1,000, there is no longer concern about the ego, which is finally seen as the residual problems of mankind in its effort to transcend its animal-origin qualities. Humankind is only one potenti ality of the Unmanifest becoming manifest. Transcending the ego is therefore probably like kindergarten to consciousness levels 1,000 and up.
Mankind develops progressively in all areas of science, technology, industry, physics, and medicine, so it is not surprising that spiritual awareness would also keep pace. It may, in fact, be the catalyst for the further evolution of mankind in all areas. In evolution, each species reached its ultimate potential and stopped there. From the trunk of the evolutionary tree, the next more highly evolved species then rose anew. This was also true in the evolution of the primate species. Homo erectus and Homo sapiens were different branches and not just the further evolution of either Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal Man. The nature of truth and the universe does not change, but man's comprehension of it progressively advances in all areas.
Q: Can this be affirmed?
A: The appearance of a means of discovering truth from nontruth (falsehood) signaled the onset of a new potentiality. To be unable to tell truth from falsehood is
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such a staggering limitation that it precluded further development of consciousness, and that ignorance kept mankind in the dark for millennia. Without any reliable test for guidance or ascertaining direction, man has been able to advance only by means of his directionless, basically animal curiosity. Like the curiosity of the animal, the intelligence of mankind sniffed here and there, poked into this and that, and came upon endless discoveries. Then came the curiosity about what these discoveries meant. What were they for? Religion tried to supply some guideposts but even they were frequently quite faulty, misunderstood, or simply ignored by the masses. When spiritual values were negated, massive destruction to humanity ensued and millions perished as a consequence of spiritual ignorance. The Dark Ages still prevail in large areas of this world.
Q: Is this last decade the beginning of a new era?
A: The potentiality has advanced and has already manifested as the elevation of the collective consciousness from 190 to 207. What is important about that jump is not that it is just seventeen points, although that in itself is quite sizeable, but that it crossed the critical line at 200, which totally changed the characteristics. Consciousness level 207 has totally different qualities from those at 190. It would be comparable to water in that when it reaches the boiling point at 212 degrees, it suddenly turns into a gas, at which point it is no longer a liquid but a vapor and capable of totally different effects in the universe.
Q: From the perspective of an advanced consciousness level, there is an awareness of a multiplicity of dimensions. Is there any bridge between that awareness and what is already known to human science?
A: That potentiality is suggested as a possibility by the so-called "string theory" of advanced theoretical physics. That possibility would also be suggested if it was discov-
ered that over great eons of time, the so-called "alpha constant" reveals even the most minute variation. Comprehension of such Vastness requires the expansion of parameters that tax the limits of intelligence.
Q: Would not even the concept of an infinite number of dimensions be a positionality?
A: Yes. That is an astute observation signifying that the listener has understood these discourses. The Ultimate Reality is neither subject to nor limited to dimensions, levels, or domains but instead transcends and yet is all of them as Allness.
Humanity is merely one expression of that potentiality. Mankind identifies itself as intelligence, which is its capacity to comprehend and formulate. Beyond intelligence is a higher level of reality that is beyond formulation or definition. It is also beyond witnessing, observing, or experiencing. It is beyond beingness or existence. It is neither manifest nor unmanifest. The Source of the Infinite itself is infinite.
Q: What is the expression of the Self in other dimensions?
A: Self has what could best be described as seemingly different prevailing qualities at various levels of consciousness. Below 600, self is experienced as ego. Beyond 600, self becomes the Self of the Love of God. At that level, the luminescence of the Presence is exquisite bliss, which then progressively dissolves into a primordial peace and stillness that encompasses and is the Divine Essence of all Existence. Beyond that, the predominant quality of the Presence is its Radiance as the existence of Allness. Further on, the Reality is beyond existence or manifestation, and beyond that, the anlage of the Self reveals itself as the ultimate omnipoten-tiality of the Unmanifest prior to consciousness itself, yet including it by virtue of being its essence.
An entire universe or dimension can arise out of a single thought. There are, therefore, infinite universes,
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dimensions, and planes within dimensions because every potentiality creates an infinite number of potentialities, all of which, in turn, create an infinite series of potentialities, and so on.
Q: That is beyond comprehension.
A: That is the knowingness of Self-knowingness as the
essence of Creation. All is spontaneous and self-creating. The essence of Divinity is present in all Creation as Creation itself. The infinite infinity of the infinite diversity of Allness is self-creating.
Universes are not created by something outside of them but by that which is innately within their essence. Universes, domains, and dimensions are self-creating and self-evolving because of the omnipresence of Divinity.
The Supreme could be likened to an intrinsic quality or capacity for potentiality and existence. Therefore, the Ultimate is described as beyond form or existence or manifestation; beyond is-ness or beingness; beyond consciousness or awareness; beyond Allness or Void, and beyond all qualities, descriptions, or definitions. Language is an attempt to indicate that which cannot be languaged but which can be known only by virtue of being it.
Q: Are these truths innately discoverable?
A: Yes. Students say they struggle to stay in the 'now'. The answer is that one does not have to look for what is already present and is the only reality possible. The complaint is that "my mind is always either in the past or anticipating the future." They are talking about the content of the mind. Even if the mind is looking at the past or the future, it can do so only in the present moment. It is only because consciousness is constantly present that one can elect to review the past or anticipate the future.
Time is merely a positionality and not Reality. The awareness comes from identifying with what it is that identifies itself with time and discovering that it is merely
perception, and that the qualities of consciousness are timeless and impersonal. If you think about China, that does not mean that you are in China, because the Self is always 'here'. The positionalities of'here' and 'now' tend to prevail. They are independent of content. Even to believe that one is 'in this universe' or even 'of it' is a positionality. It is a mistake to identify with time, space, or dimension as it is a limitation. The Self does not experience 'now' at all but instead realizes its foreverness, its 'always-ness'.
There is no 'you', and it is not 'here' or 'here now', nor is it in 'this dimension'. The Ultimate Reality supersedes even existence or a descriptive term such as "consciousness" or "awareness." The Self is neither present nor is it not present. Enlightenment is neither a state nor a condition, neither a level of consciousness nor a realization, yet it is all of them.
Q: Until the present time, the human nervous system has been capable of handling the energy of consciousness level 1,000.
A: The human body is not yet biologically equipped to handle the process without considerable discomfort. Even 2,500 years ago, the Buddha described going through the same process of being racked with pain as though his bones had cracked; Christ sweat blood and also went though physical pain and agony. That seems to be a byproduct of the evolution of consciousness through the 800s and 900s.
Q: What accounts for such an evolution of consciousness?
A: One can postulate karma, commitment, dedication, devotion, and willingness to be of service to God and mankind. One is also assisted from 'on high' (by archangels). Consciousness of its own nature keeps advancing until it meets an error that has to be corrected. Perseverance resolves the positionality into a knowingness.
This is an unusual occurrence. More often, as consciousness reaches level 600, it stops there and remains
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so for the rest of the lifetime. This occurs because each level of revelation is so complete and self-fulfilling that the sense of completion brings the evolution of consciousness in that individual to a halt. That is why most enlightened beings stop once they cross the line to 600. The bliss is total and it does not seem that there could possibly be anything 'more'. It is not even plausible that there could be anything further, and from a certain viewpoint, that conclusion is correct. Each level is total and complete in itself. That sense of completeness, finality, and totality is characteristic of every level beyond the high 500s. Therefore, there is neither curiosity nor any sense of incompleteness, nor is there any tendency toward further investigation.
Characteristic of the evolution of this consciousness, however, was that at each level, an openness still persisted. There was an awareness that it was not a complete but an ongoing process. Perhaps there was also a willingness which the Self utilized for further evolution of the expression of its own essence and potentiality. The essential element was the willingness to surrender to that process, which was happening on its own. Creation expresses its potential when conditions are favorable.
Q: What is the understanding of Jesus Christ's saying "I came with a sword"?
A: Truth is a sword that cuts away ignorance and the barriers of the ego, along with its proclivity for deception and denial. This quote has been distorted to justify the use of force and physical wars.
Q: From a certain viewpoint, each spiritual teacher in history has had a specific effect and, from the common viewpoint, a purpose. Is there any such identifiable intention to these teachings?
A: The purpose is clarification and explanation so as to recontextualize and accommodate comprehension and
understanding. Many paradoxes and misinterpretations have arisen in the history of religion which have left mankind with doubt and misunderstanding. These misinterpretations and confusion have resulted in large numbers of people's dismissing religion because of its ambiguities, lack of clarity, and lack of adherence to its own teachings. With the tools of spiritual research now available, clarification is possible for everyone merely for the asking. The purpose of the calibrated levels of consciousness and the kinesiologic test is to provide a means to understand truth and verify and document it in terms that are open to consensual validation.
No accurate navigation or mapping of the world was possible before the advent of the compass and the sextant; no real knowledge of the cosmos was obtainable without the telescope; and no knowledge of bacteria or sickness was available without the invention of the microscope. The discovery and harnessing of electricity transformed the world and human life. Each discovery expands man's knowledge and, similarly, spiritual research and discovery are now possible and available to all.
When looked at from an historical viewpoint, extremely high consciousness levels seem remarkable, but if that phenomenon is recontextualized in the possibility of the future, it will probably be looked back at from a future time as quite rudimentary, just as we look at the earliest airplanes as antiques.
Q: The kinesiologic test is limited to use by only those people who calibrate over 200 and with motivation that is in integrity.
A: That is apparently its innate safeguard. Only integrity has access to truth.
Q: That does not seem 'fair'. A test of truth is denied to those who need it the most!
A: But that is what is 'fair' to the universe! One has to
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discern the difference between 'rights' and privileges'. All so-called rights are merely privileges that are granted by societal agreement. To understand that concept spells the difference between gratitude and arrogance. The illusion of 'rights' is an ego inflation which can lead to a narcissistic positionality of entitlement, with its hostile, demanding, unappreciative, and paranoid attitudes. One cannot acquire rights by oneself; they are an earned gift from a free society. All rights are also subject to the limitations of context, such as civil rights in times of war or the right to hike in the woods during a drought.
Monarchs used to claim the 'divine right of kings' to justify trampling the masses and denying any more responsibility. Note that any so-called rights can be obliterated by a mere stroke of the pen. The United States Constitution (which calibrates at over 700) states that the equality of all citizens stems from the divinity of their Creator. To be created by God is not a right but a gift. The government and citizens are then expected to conduct themselves in a manner in accordance with that spiritual reality.
Even the Constitutional rights to life, liberty, and happiness can be lost as the result of committing a crime. Then, again, the rights of the accused are subject to interpretation and legal argument. Americans are shocked to hear that in many foreign countries, the accused have no rights at all. Even in America, the right to a trial by a jury of one's peers is not an actuality but an ideal. DNA tests have revealed that multitudes of innocents have been executed. Prosecutors and witnesses deliberately falsify evidence, and many juries consist of persons without the necessary intellectual capacity to even understand the facts presented. It is interesting to note that the concept of rights calibrates at 240, whereas that of privilege calibrates at 520—a very large difference.
Q: Do the calibrated levels indicate levels of truth or reality?
A: No. The calibration is only an indication of the degree of awareness or understanding. What seems like truth varies from level to level, as does the capacity for comprehension or adherence to aligning one's life and choices that are concordant; for example, the person hears of the truth but does not practice it.
Q: Can you give an example of ordinary spiritual research as is done by a spiritual research group?
A: Very decisive and critical information can be discovered which then explains otherwise ambiguous observations. For instance, the mantra "Om" calibrates at 740. On the other hand, the mantra "A-u-m" calibrates at only 65. There are probably many individuals and groups around the world that are reciting the mantra "A-u-m" and wondering why they don't become enlightened.
There are all kinds of religious practices and beliefs that are not only ineffective but are actually deleterious and have an effect exactly opposite to the one desired. There are spiritual-sounding shibboleths originating from astral realms that are channeled through mediums who become widely quoted with much significant eyebrow raising as if to give them an aura of some high master's secret teaching. Many such quotes are nonsense, but naive believers are readily seduced and impressed. All so-called masters or teachers, as well as practices, methods, techniques, breathing exercises, chants, or any other supposed spiritual truth or practice should be examined and calibrated. As in many human endeavors, the high value of that which is genuine attracts an invasion by fraudulent imitations. This is especially so in the field of spirituality
Q: You have taught some people spiritual 'first aid'. How does that work?
A: To terminate an upset, do the following:
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1. "Thump the thymus." The thymus gland is located behind the upper breastbone. Thump that area with a closed hand and say, at the same time, "Ha-ha-ha" rhythmically three times, and then, after a pause, do it three more times. Smile while doing that and picture something or someone that you love. That could be a divine figure or even one's favorite pet. (The thymus is the controller of the acupuncture energy system and is related to one's overall immune health, which is prone to suppression by stress.) This method was originally taught by Dr. John Diamond. (See Suggested Reading.)
2. Then breathe spiritual energy from the base of the spine up to the crown chakra. On each inhalation, picture it as Light. It flows from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. Even a few breaths done in this way will cause a very noticeable effect.
3. While doing the breathing, think or sound the syllable, "Om," as you proceed with the above. (The "O" is pronounced like the name of the letter "O", i.e./'o")
4. Picture someone you love.
5. While involved in this process, find within yourself the willingness in your heart to surrender anything and everything to God and recommit your devotion above all else.
The above instructions will lift one quickly and easily out of the arena of conflict and distress. It does not take practice and the results are obvious, even on the first try. This can be followed up by prayer and meditation that focus attention on the whole picture (peripheral vision) of what one is witnessing, rather than getting stuck and involved in details. Equanimity is retained by relating to a total situation instead of to any of its parts. This tends to keep one at the level of witness rather than at the effect of the details with attachment to outcome.
Q: How can one diminish the upset that sometimes arises from the spiritual work of soul searching?
A: We can learn from the experience of classical psychoanalysis in which there was the rule, "Always approach the patient's problems first from the side of the super ego (conscience) before beginning the uncovering process of what lies in wait in the unconscious." This means to first soften the conscience, make it more reasonable, and diminish its capacity to be rigid and judgmental with black-and-white, right-and-wrong attitudes and judgments. Unattenuated, the super-ego or conscience can be extremely cruel and savage unless domesticated. It is from this area of the ego that self-hatred and even suicide caused by guilt can result.
A rigid person who is prone to black-and-white judgmentalism has to be educated to see things in context as part of being human. One has to develop a more benign, forgiving, and compassionate attitude. The rational ego has to become more easygoing and accepting because, in the deepest layers of the unconscious, there are the forbidden impulses that originate from the animal mind. The deeper layer of the unconscious, the "Id," thinks in extremes and uses extreme symbolism. It doesn't just hate its enemies, it frankly wants to kill them.
In spiritual work, likewise, the education about the intrinsic nature of the ego and its evolution and structure helps one to see that it is an inherited, impersonal mechanism that has to be softened. It is important for the seeker to realize that the human mind has no capacity to differentiate truth from falsehood. Before plumbing the depths, the capacity and willingness for forgiveness, love, and compassion need to be strengthened.
Ignorance is an inborn human inheritance. In addition, the majority of mankind is extremely naive. In the Western world, for instance, people are not even aware of their karmic inheritance or its profound influences.
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They think there is only a personal 'me' of this lifetime who is making choices or decisions. Similarly, there is a prevailing ignorance of the difference between religion and spirituality.
To understand that the mind operates by means of positionalities tends to obviate guilt and self-attack. The spiritual aspirant also needs to attenuate self-blame by realizing that human consciousness tends to be dominated by the collective consciousness and energy fields.
By its very nature, the pathway to God is not easy. It requires considerable courage, fortitude, willingness, and forbearance. It is strengthened by humility and a benign conscience.
Q: Before starting serious self-examination, can one tell in advance how potentially 'dangerous' their own conscience (super-ego) might be?
A: Yes, one can just simply calibrate it. If this is not possible or acceptable, then one can pretty well evaluate what is present by looking at what punishments one thinks that evil-doers and society deserve for this is the same fate that your conscience holds in abeyance for you. If you think evil-doers deserve death, then that is the very same sentence that you have already pronounced on yourself.
The 'downside' of human history remains alive and merely concealed within the unconscious. One has to realize early into self-discovery that one is likely to find negativities that may be upsetting. To ameliorate the reaction, it is necessary to realize that this material is not the real you and yet needs the light of day to be extinguished. At its roots, the ego is the extreme of selfishness and is completely lacking in all ethical principles.
As will be remembered from the famous Zen ox-herding pictures, the ox is wild and needs to be tamed before it can safely be ridden. At all times, remain aware that the real you is not the ego. Refuse to identify with it. One can practice this awareness when one watches
television, reads the paper, or watches a movie. Observe that society is merely the stage upon which the ego is demonstrated for all to see. This educational observation leads to nonattachment. It is not really necessary to subdue the ego but merely to stop identifying with it. Although, in the depths of the ego there is the desire to kill one's enemies, that is not the real you but one's animal inheritance as it exists in the human brain and the collective consciousness.
Q: What if one is unable to use the kinesiologic method?
A: There are many people who do know how to use the test. There are charts of levels of consciousness, many web sites, and many holistic practitioners who use kinesiology and are willing to teach it. The simple "y es_no " response can even be elicited with any naive child as a test subject. There are also classes, workshops, and videos that demonstrate the techniques. The books by Dr. John Diamond spell it out in detail. The easiest procedure is to follow teachings that have already been calibrated and authenticated.
Refuse to be impressed or mystified by the bizarre, the secret, the truths that have to be paid for; avoid the throngs that flock to the novelties. Remember that the lower astral realms, which are the source of psuedo-spiritual tricksters, are the realms of those who have denied God. Their purpose is to waylay and ensnare the naive and vulnerable. One of their favorite tricks is to sound pious and cite ancient religious figures in order to convey an aura of authenticity. Note that the truly realized individuals do not state that their awareness stems from any external sources, entities, ancient masters', or persons. The Presence of God is solely its own authority and requires no confirmation.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
APPLICATIONS
Truth is radical pragmatism. An understanding of the nature and mechanisms of consciousness and its inner 'laws' is the very essence of ultimate practicality. It bypasses the arid, circuitous sophistry of intellectualism as well as the egocentricity and narcissism of emotionality.
Like the X-ray or CAT scan, the delineation of the elements of the field of consciousness in any situation lays bare its bones and reveals the core elements at work. It is a strict discipline, unadorned and not obscured by sentimentality or the ego's distortions.
Emotional and intellectual errors, as well as religious and political errors, are perpetrated by distortions of either content, context, or both. Sentimentality and emotionalism are presented as justifications to violate even the basic rules of logic. The damaging consequences of these lapses of integrity to society are enormous. They block and impede progress in major areas of life. Major social disasters go on for centuries before the fallacy of their basis is exposed. The serious seeker of spiritual truth cannot afford such deceptions. The way to Truth is via radical honesty.
True asceticism means stringent adherence to truth, and it means of the spirit and not the body. To become a pious, ragged, semi-starved, skin-and-bones entity is a self-indulgence and has nothing to do with Reality. The focus on 'purification of the body', with all kinds of'cleansings' to get rid of'toxins' and 'poisons', is a distraction
Purification means to purify the mind of its illusions, attachments, and parroting of supposedly spiritual cliches.
Heaven is not restricted to vegetarians. It is better to eat meat and be enlightened than to piously avoid it as 'not spiritual'. The human body is meat. Any lion knows that.
Whether to 'eat meat' or 'have sex' or 'work for money' are all classic life "koans" (puzzles, paradoxes) which present themselves to the spiritual initiate. They are valuable because they unearth numerous belief systems for examination. They involve looking at meaning, significance, values, propositions, and attachments. It is rewarding to give up the attachment to the glamour of'being spiritual', 'holy', or 'special'. Truth has no trappings. Many false teachers indulge in theatrical self-presentations which are merely lures and self-gratifications of being 'special'.
The Absolute Reality of Enlightenment is complete and total. It has no role or function to fulfill, no purpose to serve, and no rituals to perform. The condition is anonymous and without name or title. If asked, it states the truth of what it is to the degree that such a condition can be verbalized. The state of enlightenment is invisible, and the truly enlightened pass about unnoticed in ordinary life. Neither is there anything about which to be humble or prideful. The field of consciousness of the state of enlightenment is a nonpersonal emanation radiating from the essence of the state, and what the world considers remarkable is merely ordinary to the Self.
The ego, or more accurately, the belief that one is the ego, obscures the Realization of the Reality of the Self as the Oneness of All That Is. The dissolution of the ego results in liberation from the bondage of the illusions that create suffering. These illusions are susceptible to fearless scrutiny that reveals the underlying fallacies. The only tool needed is the willingness to unreservedly surrender all beliefs, opinions, and attitudes to God.