Ceasing to pretend one wishes to be liberated

Ceasing to pretend one wishes to be liberated

(by Michael Langford)

Let us suppose there were a very quick easy simple
method to end the ego-illusion.

That is to actually end the ego-illusion,
gone ­ dead forever, and not to think,
believe or imagine one has ended the ego.

Just for the sake of illustration,
here is a hypothetical example:

Lets say that someone found a method that required
that one just snap the fingers three times
and the ego would be dead and gone forever,
the thinker, the body, the world, all universes,
all planes, all dimensions, all time and all space
would disappear and what would remain would be
Infinite-Eternal-Being-Awareness-Bliss-Love-Peace.

Let us suppose that the
snap the fingers three times method
were 100% sure to work for everyone who tried it.

Just snapping the fingers three times,
so easy and so quick. In a second or two
the ego illusion, etc., would be gone.

How many people would snap their fingers three times
given the above scenario?

Almost no one. That includes almost everyone who
studies, thinks about or talks about
spiritual teachings, almost none of those people would
snap their fingers three times.

The reason they would not
snap their fingers three times is
in almost every human being
the desire to preserve the ego
is trillions of times greater
than the desire to end the ego illusion.

#1. Some people would be honest and admit that the
reason they do not snap their fingers three times
is because they do not want the ego illusion to end,
or that the desire to preserve the ego-illusion is
greater than the desire to end it,
or because they fear ending the human known.

#2. Others would not be so honest,
and claim that they would indeed like
the ego-illusion to end,
or that their desire to end the ego-illusion
is greater than their desire
to preserve the ego-illusion,
or that they are not afraid of ending the human known.

Those in category #2 would then proceed to think of
some other reason why they do not
snap their finger three times.
Some imaginary, false reason,
to hide the real reason.

Since thoughts can combine in millions
or trillions of combinations,
the number of false reasons that the ego can create
for not snapping the fingers
three times, are almost endless.

Whatever reason the people in category #2 gave
for not snapping their fingers three times,
would not be the real reason.
It would always be a lie created by the ego-illusion,
to hide the fact that they do not want
the ego illusion to end,
or the fact that their desire to preserve
the ego-illusion is greater than their desire
to end the ego-illusion
or the fact that they are afraid
of ending the human known.

Because the ego can create an almost unlimited number
of imaginary reasons, they cannot all be listed.
Different people would find different reasons
not to snap their fingers three times.

In some circles they would say:
“snapping the fingers requires effort,
effort is not the way” or
“snapping the fingers is a practice,
practice is not the way” or
“Snapping the fingers requires a doer,
therefore it cannot be the way”

Now all they would have had to do was snap their
fingers three times and the ego would have been gone
in the above described scenario.

Instead of engaging in all those thoughts that are
created by the ego as a preservation strategy, they
could have just snapped their fingers three times.

But they would not have done it.

Instead of simple sentences like saying snapping the
fingers requires effort, etc.
and therefore it cannot be the way, they might go on
to explain why it will not work.

They might create a whole page of sentences
explaining why it will not work
or create hundreds of pages, of sentences, thoughts,
concepts about why it will not work.

And yet in the above described scenario,
all they would have to have done is to
snap the fingers three times
and the ego-illusion would have been finished.

They might have said:
"If it were really that easy, many people would be
snapping their fingers three times
and thus awakening, therefore it cannot be that easy."

Their thinking it cannot be that easy,
otherwise many people would have
snapped their fingers and awakened is not correct,
because there are almost no humans
who wish to end the ego-illusion,
and therefore the reason why there would be
almost no one awakening using such a simple quick
method is because almost no human wishes to be
liberated from the ego illusion
and therefore almost no one would actually
try the simple quick method
by actually snapping their fingers three times.

They would not be interested in ending the ego
illusion, however,
they might be interested in thinking about
and discussing spiritual concepts
and pretending thinking about and discussing
spiritual concepts had something to do with
ending the ego illusion,
or pretending that thinking about such concepts
was actually making progress towards
ending the ego illusion.

An endless stream of thoughts,
some confused and some clever,
would masquerade as spiritual progress.

Snapping the fingers three times
will not end the ego-illusion,
that was just a hypothetical example.

However, there is an extremely quick rapid method to
end the ego-illusion,
and the examples given above about
almost no one using the direct means,
because almost no one truly wishes to
end the ego-illusion,
and the way the ego directs thought
as a preservation strategy
are actual examples of what people do
when confronted with the possibility
of being liberated now in this lifetime.

One cannot list all of the millions of possible
combinations of thoughts and concepts, however,
the ego will find something that convinces one,
and leads one away from being liberated now,
in this lifetime, by leading one away from the most
direct, quickest means to do so.

An endless maze of thought.
In some people that maze is extremely confused,
and in some people that maze is very subtle,
very clever, very intricate.
Most peoples thinking falls somewhere
in between these two.

An endless maze of thought
leading to ego-preservation,
although usually masquerading as something else.

Some people think their own thoughts are
better than the instructions of a liberated sage.

That is only one of so many thousands of
ego-preservation strategies.

When the extremely intense desire for liberation
arises, one selects those quotes that describe the
direct practice and then actually practices
the described practice.

Before the extremely intense desire for liberation
arises, people either ignore the quotes by
Direct Path sages, or they select quotes that help to
preserve the ego-illusion instead of ending it,
or they make the quotes into an intellectual affair,
agreeing and disagreeing, thinking about the quotes,
discussing them etc.

*Human beings have made almost no inward progress in
the last many thousands of years, with the exception
of a very few who have ended the ego-illusion.
Death, disease, thousands of forms of suffering and
sorrow, violence, fear, war,
cruelty (verbal and physical),
lying, conning, cheating, appear now
just as they did thousands of years ago.

Pretending to care,
when the behavior does not match it.
Someone spends $7.00 to go see a movie
when there are starving people in the world
and yet they consider themselves to be caring.

For the change to occur from the above * to
Infinite-Eternal-Being-Awareness-Bliss-Love-Peace,
the ego-illusion, which is the source of the above
described human condition, must end.

Why does it end in so few humans?

Because the extremely intense desire for liberation
has not yet been awakened.

Prior to its awakening, the fear of ending the ego,
prevents people from turning inward
and removing the ego-illusion.

Comparing the human condition * with
Infinite-Eternal-Being-Awareness-Bliss-Love-Peace
can awaken the intense desire for freedom if one does
a good job of looking at the human condition
and the comparison.

Without the awakening of the extremely intense desire
for liberation, humans stay as they are and all the
supposed inward changes are only superficial.

Thus there is a step by step order necessary
to end the ego-illusion and to remain in freedom.

I will use a few quotes by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
and insert step numbers.
I happen to be compiling some of Sri Nisargadatta's
quotes now, and that is why I am using them,
not because there is some sort of preference to
Sri Nisagardatta's quotes.
Read the quotes very slowly,
treating them as practice instructions
and not topics for thinking, discussion, etc.
For example in the first quote,
the words "unable to see its enormity"
are important keys,
but people tend to read so quickly
they miss some of the details of the practice
instructions. Thus facing the enormity of human
suffering, instead of blocking out 99.99% of human
suffering as people usually do is the first step.

STEP #1:

Questioner: "Have I not suffered enough?"

Nisargadatta: "Suffering has made you dull,
unable to see its enormity.
Your first task is to see the sorrow in you
and around you.

STEP #2:

"Your next to long intensely for liberation.
The very intensity of longing will guide you;
you need no other guide."

STEP #3:

Questioner: "Surely there is something valid
and valuable in every approach."

Nisargadatta: "In each case the value lies
in brining you to the need of seeking within.
Playing with various approaches
may be due to resistance to going within,
to the fear of having to abandon the illusion
of being something or somebody in particular.
To find water you do not dig small pits
all over the place,
but drill in one place only.

Similarly, to find your self
you have to explore yourself."

Questioner: "In the beginning we may have to pray
and meditate for some time
before we are ready for self-inquiry."

Nisargadatta: "If you believe so, go on.
To me, all delay is a waste of time.
You can skip all the preparation
and go directly for the ultimate search within.
Of all the Yogas it is the simplest and the shortest."

Questioner: "You mean to say that all these glories
will come with the mere dwelling
on the feeling 'I am'?"

Nisargadatta: “It is the simple that is certain,
not the complicated.
Somehow, people do not trust the simple, the easy,
the always available.

"Why not give an honest try to what I say?
It may look very small and insignificant,
but it is like a seed that grows into a mighty tree.
Give yourself a chance!

"I simply followed my Guru’s instruction
which was to focus the mind on pure being ‘I am’,
and stay in it.

"I used to sit for hours together,
with nothing but the ‘I am’ in my mind
and soon peace and joy and a deep all-embracing love
became my normal state.

"In it all disappeared ­ myself, my Guru,
the life I lived, the world around me.
Only peace remained and unfathomable silence.

"Whatever happened,
I would turn my attention away from it
and remain with the sense 'I am',
it may look too simple, even crude.
My only reason for doing it
was that my Guru told me so.

"Yet it worked!
Obedience is a powerful solvent
of all desires and fears.
Just turn away from all that occupies the mind;
do whatever work you have to complete,
but avoid new obligations;
keep empty, keep available,
resist not what comes uninvited.

"In the end you will reach a state of non-grasping,
of joyful non-attachment,
of inner ease and freedom indescribable,
yet wonderfully real.

"Nothing stops you but preoccupation with the outer
which prevents you from focusing on the inner.
It cannot be helped,
you cannot skip your spiritual practice.
You have to turn away from the world and go within.”

"As long as you are engrossed in the world,
you are unable to know yourself:
to know yourself,
turn your attention away from the world
and turn it within."

Questioner: "What is the course of training in self-awareness?"

Nisargadatta: "There is no need of training.
Awareness is always with you.
The same attention that you give to the outer,
you turn to the inner.
No new, or special kind of awareness is needed.

"What you need is to be aware of being aware.
Don't be misled by the simplicity of the advice.
Very few are those who have the courage
to trust the innocent and the simple.

"The all important word is 'try'.
Allot enough time daily for sitting quietly
and trying, just trying,
to go beyond the personality,
with its addictions and obsessions.

"You just keep on trying until you succeed.
If you persevere, there can be no failure.

"It is not a matter of easy, or difficult.
Either you try or you don't.
It is up to you."