Good vs. Evil?

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A magician pulls rabbits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats. ~ Anonymous

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[Jana]

RENUCIATION AND CESSATION
Getting back to this idea of renunciation as a path to enlightenment...perhaps John was meaning "cessation."

Bodhichitta?enlightened, or completely "opened" Heart, awake.
Completely "opened" means to relax around and to not hold onto sticking points. The opened Heart or Bodhichitta is free of concept, opinion and caught-upness?it is the ability to keep our hearts open to suffering without closing down.

Perhaps through:
*Maitri, or complete acceptance,
*regarding all dharmas as dreams
*and self-liberating even the antidote.

Because we escape we keep missing the completely fresh unique moment. Thus we live once removed in the Matrix of conceptualization based on the past. This little self is deprivation consciousness, which only breeds more deprivation consciousness. And it is this lower self-esteem (or fundamental self non-acceptance) which can be triggered, stunned, caught-up and made to feel diminished. This kicks off the host of substitute gratifications that distract and reduce consciousness/Heart opening even further.

This entropic existence makes up the Matrix of master-slave materialism, in a vain attempt to achieve spiritual energy through worldly form, instead of going to the Source where it resides.

The process of turning the prima-materia into Gold is Bodhichitta.

Neurosis is resistance to unconditional opening of the Heart by encasing oneself in a cocoon of removal from Witness and Source.
The Third Noble Truth says that cessation of suffering is letting go of holding onto ourselves. By "cessation" we mean the cessation of hell, the cessation of this resistance. Cessation of the resentment and feeling completely trapped and caught-up, through trying to maintain the huge ME at all costs...as Pema Chodron says in Loving Kindness.

But?the Buddhists also say that our neurosis and our wisdom are made out of the same material, so if you throw out your neurosis you also throw out your wisdom. Thus we see that it is our "relationship" to our neurosis of the cocoon that is the cutting edge of spiritual practice.

The Tibetans call getting "hooked or stuck" in the Matrix of Maya "Shenpa."

 "An urge comes up, we succumb to it, and it becomes stronger. We reinforce our cravings, habits and addictions by giving into them repeatedly...Recognizing, refraining, relaxing and resolving are the four R's of working with Shenpa.

I think John's renunciation was perhaps this "recognizing, refraining, relaxing and resolving" practice, was it not?

G:?Since we operate from an individuality that for better or worse engages its life in a series of choices, chosen as a means of enjoying that life.......
Why are we rarely completely happy? Why is everything like pulling teeth to get something accomplished? Or more importantly, for those who do get what they want......Why do we not want what we get when we get what we want??

If you read some of John Perkins work (Confessions of an Economic Hitman) he observed that Third World peoples were generally a lot happier and content with their lives because they were ignorant of what they didn?t have. Ie: their expectations and demands were lower, and they had greater acceptance of their family, conditions and limitations. The value system in the West is set toward the attainment of power, money, position and property?so that if we are to ?accept? our situation, we have to become transcendent of basing our own sense of self-worth on worldly signifiers, and also be transcendent of the opinion of others as to our worth also.

Thus self-esteem needs to be shifted into the spiritual domain to become Self-esteem in order to be happy and at peace with the way things are. When we are happy and at peace with the way things are, then we begin to live a truly unique life that is all our own, not driven around by external forces in an attempt to satisfy one deprivation after another.

You might say that Third Worlders? have a prepersonal level of equanimity and acceptance due to ignorance. We in the West are more in danger of losing our souls through the externalization of self-worth?However this really merely provides us with the opportunity to actually find ourselves ?within? the material wasteland. For the tension provided by externalization actually presents to us the absence within, which we can then fill with the power of Presence and mindfulness. 

If we stop complaining for a second, we can see that wherever we are is perfect for the next stage of our growth?we cannot go back to the satiety of naivety. Instead we must plow forward to find the depths within the shallowness of present Western life. This is our test and our task, to find meaning through and in Flatland. And thus live in enchantment once more.

Broken Yogi: ?If we are talking about renunciation as a means to enlightenment, there are of course many different traditional approaches about this. The simplest approach I know of is simply the one that views renunciation as the natural path of letting go of everything but one's desire for enlightenment. It isn't an aggressive path of rejection, of neti-neti, but of moving towards the light, so to speak, and leaving the darkness behind. The aggressive path of rejection only reinforces that which is being rejected, since that is what we are putting our attention on. The simpler path puts attention on the goal, and lets the rest fall away if it is not compatible with the goal. And since the goal is our own self-nature, it isn't a distant, far-away goal, but one that is compatible with our present circumstances. Which is why Ramana, for example, cautioned against traditionally aggressive modes of renunciation, recommending instead a natural form of renunciation within one's present circumstance and obligations.?


That which forwards liberation is embraced, and that which hinders liberation is renounced.
Surely.

I do think that acceptance of the polar opposites is the key, as John says.
I think in stress and obligations of Western life we have lost the capacity to en-joy ourselves...that is to fill ourselves with joy simply through breathing and being alive. I notice that if you are mindful of the air atoms hitting the nostrals, you can actually generate en-joyment. Then once is the chemical state of en-joyment, then samsara is not as convincing, we do not get "stuck" so much. But at the same time we need boredom, desire, attraction, confusion, trouble and other forms of suffering in order to "manifest" Light. There is an Osho Youtube video where he states there is no light without shadow. There would be no Gandhi if there was not British colonization of India...
So in this sense we must accept the "hell" side of existence as being necessary for the creation of the "heaven" side.

John: ?Even renunciation itself must, in the end, be renounced. Because what you resist; you become. Everything comes back on itself. Ouroboros is biting it's tail.?

Ok so how does this renunciation of renunciation feel...can you describe the state and behavior of one in renounced renunciation...is that a flaccid neutral state of nonaction, a default on the game prior to playing, a giving up...that sounds like me already.

Lets take a scenario...say one wants "love" wants someone to love them...the first stage of this would be to reject the need for love (renunciation). Then the closed loop would be to reject the rejection of love....but does that get one any closer to the possibility of love, I doubt it. Rejecting rejection of love is still not love.

Of course we know the way to go about it is in the positive, that is to BE love and to love oneself then the possibility for others to love you is possible. Rather hard to spontaneously love oneself when no one else has tho.

John:?To renounce renunciation is to indulge your cravings. To get love we must give love. To give love we first must have love. To have love, someone has to give it to us first. So yes, there is a vicious cycle and a 'bootstrapping problem'. The only way that I know of to pull oneself up by the bootstraps is to feel the love. Feel it, give it, get it, repeat.?

The bootstrap problem applies to the whole of existence which is why the "As If" and transcendent principles actually work in maintaining a spiritual ethos.
Renunciation might be part of the cycle of catch and release, but without being "caught" in the first place that means we have nothing to renounce.

Andrew Cohen?s Second Tenet: The Law of Volitionality
?Most of us like to see ourselves as unconscious victims. But in fact, we all know exactly what we are doing.?

Yes I thought this one rather off, but then I realized that "unconsciously" we do know what we are doing. To really get into this tenet one has to have a "fighting" spirit. To see the weight of karmic oppressive forces as a "challenge" rather than as a burden or prison. Since that which has broken us is usually that which "makes" us...we must continue to fight against say being a female and the injustices of that, fight against economic and political, and religious oppression, then fight against the injustices of old age. Basically Andrew is saying with this tenet that we must fight against the way things are or admit we are victims of our own inability to fight. He of course wouldn't like to hear it put that way, but that is what this tenet implies.

The Second Tenet rewrit: The Law of Culpability
?Most of us like to see ourselves as unconscious victims. But in fact we create our own reality through our ability to fight or succomb to evil in the universe and by how we consciously adjust to the given karmic aspects of our incarnation."


The Secret "You create your own reality"... I have heard that described as the Victim was vibrating at the frequency of the event. As if evil could happen only if you choose it. It is one of those major fallacies that Ken likes to point out. The Jews were vibrating at the opposite frequency to the Nazi??
Lambs will tend to get eaten by wolves, but is that because lambs are inviting the wolf by vibrating in polar opposite to wolf energy. It is kind of funny and worth a full exploration in itself.

I think it is more a case of the inertia of unconscious force of primary-drives will tend to repeat itself in predictable "animal" behaviors unless greater consciousness, energy and love is brought to the equation to change happenstance into new patterns. If there was a Jesus alive at the time of the WW2 then perhaps the Jews would gone so dosilely to the gas chambers, but they, nor the majority of the German race knew how insane and evil Hitler was. They were caught-up in the murder without adequate self-development or leadership to fight.

And Gandhi wanted to give Hitler full powers to take all he wanted. An abstract leader such as Gandhi would have been even more fatal for the Jews at this time. The Jews should have been an armed fighting race, well now they are...but only through the "help" of Hitler.

An article "Peacock from Heaven" Parabola winter'05

"Since the earliest times we Kurds have lived in these hills, some on this side of the river, some on the other bank. We were even here before your Prophet Jesus came into the world. Our ancestors came from Iran, and their teacher was Master Zoroaster who said that Ormuzd and Ariman, the Spirit of Good and the Spirit of Evil, were the twin sons of the mighty fundamental principle called Zarvana Arakana or Limitless Time. It is the eternal conflict between these two Spirits in the Universe, and in the soul of Man, which creates life. Both are equally important. The Master said, "Without Good how can Evil be recognized? Without Evil how can we know what is Good? Each needs the other as the fire needs fuel..."

"Yes that is the way of it, sometimes the Good conquers, sometimes the Evil. So it has ever been and so it always must be: for these twin sons are truly the one double face of the God Yazdan. We believe that in recognizing, understanding and appeasing the Evil, we can better deal with its influence both within ourselves and in others. We do not like the legend of St. George perpetually spearing the Dragon. You will never find a Yezidi called George. The Dragon must be tamed not speared. One cannot kill such a Dragon with a man-made weapon. In this way we only anger him...To kiss the Beast, to realize, to accept completely the ugly and the hateful in life instead of eternally denying, resisting, fearing it, as we all do." Count Bobrinsky retelling the account of local tribesmen from the river Araxes which flows into the Caspian Sea between Russia and Persia

[marshall]

  Bravo, that was an excellent post, Jana!

It reminded me of an epiphany I once had...geez, how long ago was that?....that the only way to defeat the devil was to love it.

A new theme for me is making things sacred again. It is a response to the prevalent self-loathing in our species. How often have we heard our species described as a virus? I hardly think that that is a constructive attitude. It may be that first step of recognition, but   until we more fully accept our divine might and role...may the gifts of technology be made into sacred medicine.

There is no good or bad, only thinking makes it so. So some say. Thank God.

[Jana]

Jana Dixon wrote:
Hi R, Have you and your students ever thought of doing a feature movie on Baboon Politics both as a look into the social life of baboons and how they are so similar to humans. You probably have enough footage stored from your years in Kenya to put one together for internet and or DVD sales prior to the next election. In fact I would love to see a movie like this out in the
mainstream theatres! Just what we need.
Thanks for your great work.

Reply:
Thanks so much -- actually, I just signed up with National Geographic
films to do exactly that.
All the best,
R

[jimtzu]

an excellant video that speaks to this... especially the end.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/11

[Jana]

It is real exciting news about the Sapolsky movie...it is going to be socially transformational...to get a taste you can see his video on google, in the last 3/4 of this he goes into the tribal transactional stuff and how that relates to stress/cortisol production and the health of the individual...great stuff.
Robert Sapolsky is doing some of the most important work on the planet.

[Jana]

Religion kills spirituality
Man runs away from himSelf and has a sadistic relationship with himSelf and the world.
Sadism is cruelty to the Self
Masicism is murder of the Self
Thanatos is sin against the Self
The marriage of the Self is always associated with the divorce with all that is false to the Self.
Superego is composed of the embodiment of the polarities of the parents: Punitive-prohibitive and Liberal-permissive.
This we project onto the world in order to keep ourselves suppressed, needy and dependent.
In weathering the Great Change, look to what violates your inner body-politic.
Your suffering is your guide.
"We must all face the fact that our leaders are certifiably insane, or worse." William Boroughs.
"The shadow is a moral problem...modern man is battered by the elemental forces of his own psyche." Jung
The insanity of normality?"Insanity is a perfectly natural adjustment to a totally unhealthy environment." R.D. Lang
We reproduce catastrophe in order to avoid enlightenment.
Enlightenment is encounter with our soul.
"Enlightenment is independence...freeing others from the slavery to your emptiness and need." Krishnamurti

Notes gathered from this google video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8545585184878490822&q=Michael+Tsarion
2012 The Future of Man, gives a psychological-philosophical background to current political and social changes in the struggle for enlightenment of the Self.
?A human being is someone who understands the mystery of the Self.? MT
www.michaeltsarion.com
 

[Jana]

It is not so much a "plan" but the blind force of collective ignorance and denial...it is running of its own accord with various willing and unconscious participants. Only massive intervention from heart, mind and good will can stop it. The plan is simply greed, hate and stupidity and the lack of the sovereign Spiritual individual. We are all complicit in this unfolding of the dark history to the degree that we are not realized and speak and act our truth.

So in an effort to do my part to increase global enlightenment I had it out with an entrenched newager today. She rementioned that I was an alien. I rang her back and said that I don't actually believe that there are aliens on earth or that people channel alien consciousnesses. And that humans are far to stupid to have been genetically engineered by a superior race. And that calling me an alien ties into my abandonment complex and that I think I have suffered more than enough from the evil nature of animal exclusion tactics.
 I said the reason why I have superior intelligence to my family is because of the exclusion I was not socialized into stupidity. She brought up the "we choose our parents tenet" and I said I don't think that gametes are imparted with the full consciousness of the life of the individual throughout time. She pulled the trump card that in Eternity all time is one, therefore the soul of the individual chooses their parents and therefore the life-karma.
 By conscious choice that is, whereas everything else we tend to do in life is without much consciousness. I ask, is their conscious life on earth?
 New Age thinking is an excuse to be a stupid twerp...these are sets of thoughts and arguments, which individuals adopt without their own interior gnosis/understanding and them use them like a lawyer to fulfill their own agenda...of stupidity

According to Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution by Leonard Shlain all humans on earth are derived from one mother hominoid from the rift valley in Africa.
 There is only .01% genetic difference between all humans everywhere on the globe. There is more genetic difference in neighboring chimp tribes, than there is genetic difference in the entire human species.
 Which doesn't give much room for the credence of theories either of alien intervention in genetic breeding of humans or for alien embodiment of human individuals, or even channeling of alien consciousness for this would result in rapid genetic differentiation.
 This split from other hominoid into homo sapiens sapiens occurred around 200,000-150,000 years ago, that is so recently that there has been very little differentiation in the entire genetic pool of humans. There is only .01% difference between us all.

[jimtzu]

 
 
 New Age thinking is an excuse to be a stupid twerp...these are sets of thoughts and arguments, which individuals adopt without their own interior gnosis/understanding and them use them like a lawyer to fulfill their own agenda...of stupidity

in the true meaning of ignore-ance people will believe just about anything without checking it out first, whether it's "doing the injunction".. researching... or just looking inside to see if there's a connection.  we see it all the time.. in religion, politics etc..  it's so much easier to muddle through life being spoon fed and not having to think for oneself. true freedom (being awake) comes with a price and work.

[Jana]

Yes the  of bitty-think meme-bites is used as poo to surround the animals territory and prevent other baboons from taking away their goolley beads and yumyums. Or to go into the territory of others to throw poo at them in order to make oneself feel bigger, stronger and safer.
Robert Sapolsky will reveal all this in his movie.

Michael Tsarion says that all humans have the DNA of the Ananaki, from the planet X (Nirimbu) according to the Altantis myth and the Sumerian tablets, however humans are 98.4% genetically identical with chimps, and with the active genes we are 99.6% the same. The stats, timelines and evidence do not stack up with these ancient astronaut theories. (There is evidence, now largely undersea, to worldwide megalithic culture prior to the end of the last iceage melt.)