Nonduality Salon (/ \)

Nonduality for the People

To avoid running afoul of the sacred objects of others, we unwittingly build objects of our own, which then must be defended.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JOHN ASHCROFT AND GENE POOLE

by Gene Poole

On topic, is the concept of the workings of identity, and how identity strives to perpetuate itself. Please click here to access the pertinent article on Salon magazine's online edition.

You will see, how our vast societal conspiracy to allow this 'machine' of identity to remain unexamined, can lead us all to ruin.

Self-realization has to do with honesty; those who evade honesty
with themselves, are incapable of honesty with others.

If wisdom is a quality we desire in our 'leaders', it is sadly lacking in J Ashcroft.

Plumbing the depths of the world-dream, we see so many examples
of this. This is what it means to 'awaken TO the dream'. To see how the dreamers conspire with each-other, to avoid understanding what is going on, is to also bust your own rackets.

There is no difference between J Ashcroft and Gene Poole, save one; which is, that Gene Poole knows the difference between the world-dream and otherwise, and does not pretend otherwise.

Yes, the world-dream is the environment in which we share our communications, but this is to understand that the communication
goes from one, through a medium (language) to another, who is essentially the same as the one. Differences may be seen, and felt, and it is in these differences which we find the fuel for our own growth.

We may eventually see just how 'identity' is the placeholder which obscures Self.

Treasuring aspects of identity, of personality, of gender, of race, is the behaviour which creates the objects of the world-dream, which then necessitate complex navigational skills such as language.

To avoid running afoul of the sacred objects of others, we unwittingly build objects of our own, which then must be defended. This is the very activity which 'nonduality' is prescribed to rememdy.

One who is nothing, cannot impact or break any object, but such a one, may be accused of having 'no allegiances'. One who is nobody, has nothing to defend, but can be accused of 'having no values'.

Those who display and parade their values, are worshipping a graven image, a 'false self'. It is no wonder, that 'nonduality' in any form (such as the natural state of a newborn baby, or an innocent animal) is feared and shunned; by contrast, the newborn baby is superior to any identity.

In this regard, we may see that the further that one goes in the process of 'identity-building and maintenance', the further one also removes oneself from the emptiness which is the natural state of awareness.

Now, we will see those who oppose one set of values, using another set of values as a force, to change or maintain a certain world-dream structure. Those who take residence in one set of values, create a fortress, a stronghold from which to combat other values. In this way is the world-dream turned into a battleground, and many people are expected (by the chief value-advocates) to sacrifice themselves to maintain a given value-fortress.

To see that you, as an individual, can bypass the whole mess, is possible.

If enough people bypass the whole mess, there will not be enough combatants to have a war.

"Aware, or a war", is a possible slogan.

If the value of emptiness becomes widely known, each person who
now is the slave of identity, will know self-mastery.

To accomplish successfully the dissemination of the value of emptiness, there can be no resting place for identity, no alter for the graven image. But there must be acknowledgement, by those desiring to disseminate the value of emptiness, of the possible difficulties of letting go of the objects and values of the world-dream.

Those who fear the advent of the dissolution of the objects of the world dream, will combat the value of emptiness, always seeking to substitute (what is considered to be) a superior object or value-set.

Please disseminate the value of emptiness.

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