It is not uncommon. I am giving a lecture and people are with me. They understand what I am saying, and from within their own selves, they know it is true. They can feel the truth of it deep within themselves. It is the great joy of every teacher to see the ‘light bulbs’ go on as they speak – to see the students light up with the fascination of inner discovery and knowing. As I continue to unfold the teaching with the natural and inevitable logical progression, the entire lecture hall fills with the joy of learning as the expansion of understanding continues to blossom.
Then at some point, it sometimes happens. The feeling in the room drops down several octaves. I can see it on their faces as clearly as I can feel it in the hall. I know that I took them too far. They may well understand my words. They may be following it along with their intellects. But it is no longer being assimilated. It is then that I know to stop… to not push it… to not force the issue. Pushing it further would not be True teaching, it would be indoctrination.
You see, there is a huge difference between understanding something intellectually and assimilating it from deep within. The expansion of ones ability to assimilate truth is the hallmark of human evolution. It is what human evolution is all about. It comes from inside, not outside, the person.
Even Real Truth is dropped due to the inability of the listener to assimilate. The listener may understand it intellectually, but the clarity at the depth of ones being is not sufficient enough to really assimilate the information. Unfortunately, that is where most people stop and reject what is being offered. Of course, most people are, from childhood, so indoctrinated into a belief system, that they consider it Truth. It is what is familiar. It is what they are comfortable with. What perhaps would have made no inherent sense to them has been taken on with such overwhelming power that their innate sense has been compromised. Their indoctrination becomes the filter they embrace to decide what is truth and what is not. That indoctrination is what guides their life… their decisions.
The point is that there is learning and there is True Learning. True learning means the expansion of ones ability to assimilate truth… to recognize Truth from deep within. Most people are so indoctrinated into their belief system that they are unable to see beyond it. They go through life projecting that belief system upon the world and judging everything from the perspective of that belief system. Where is the True Learning in that? There is none. What they then ‘know’ is not real Knowledge. It is indoctrination… It is the world of samskaras that Maharshi Patanjali spoke of.
That is what I mean when I say the world is ‘sticky’. It is easy to get stuck in your indoctrinations. Indoctrinations reach deep inside. Even when you see what lies beyond them, those indoctrinations are easily reinforced and can readily reclaim you. They are reinforced by the world you grew up in, by all your old friends and loved ones. It is very easy to slip back and once again reach out to those indoctrinations as truth. But once the Truth that dwells within you has been glimpsed, on some level, it is not forgotten.
Real Truth dwells deep within you, as you, at the very depth of your being. Evolution is about waking up to that. For this, meditation is your number one tool. It is the purpose of my lectures to facilitate the process. Truth is revealed to the Self, by the Self, and through the Self. A real teacher merely facilitates that process. Unfortunately, many teachers are indoctrinators. Even if real Truth is being offered, if it is taken on but not assimilated, it is just indoctrination. The connection is not there deep within the person’s Being. But let there be no mistake. The conviction, belief, and passion behind such indoctrination can be strong. It can be so strong as to not be seen for the indoctrination that it is and can be identified with as being Real Knowledge. Real Knowledge is only Real Knowledge when it transcends indoctrination and is an awakening to that which eternally dwells at the depth of your being.
Your profound understanding of the knowledge is so precious. We thank you from the depth of our being. We also appreciate your humility in allowing us the time to rest back into our true Self. Jai Shiva Shankara
Thank you Betty..you said it simple and perfect.
So much work to do..so little time
Thank you Brahmarshi for the constant push..push..push
This is so true, when i was little not my mother but 2 friends told me things about the bible, i would go to hell if i said words if i only said ohh jesus!! I would go to hell
If i would swear and wouldn’t act on the swear i would never bin forgiven by the holy ghost and i believed it all.
Obviously i was scared!!!
And i know its not true now but still it sits deep in me the fear of god its not easy to just get rid off.
Its a terrible thing to do to children.
And millions hear these things i truly think my life would be better if i never had heard these things.
Even though i know these things is nonsense it gos deep
So nicely said, thank you Betty. I can’t add anything. THank you Brahmarshi
This passage especially stands out to me:
“That is what I mean when I say the world is ‘sticky’. It is easy to get stuck in your indoctrinations. Indoctrinations reach deep inside. Even when you see what lies beyond them, those indoctrinations are easily reinforced and can readily reclaim you. They are reinforced by the world you grew up in, by all your old friends and loved ones. It is very easy to slip back and once again reach out to those indoctrinations as truth. But once the Truth that dwells within you has been glimpsed, on some level, it is not forgotten.”
Thank goodness we can’t shake what our glimpses of truth promise! And that the sense of promise remains with us through lifetimes until we come home.
Since moving here, I’ve seen that many of my habits or choices I thought “took care of me” actually get in the way of living in harmony with nature. My mind wants to know and understand all of these unhelpful patterns to gain mastery over them through the power of will and action. But what I find in living here, steeped in the support of nature day by day and thus supported in many ways to “come back to the self, come back to the self…” is that it is not always a conscious process… and doesn’t need to be. In fact, the more profound CHANGES in me are probably not the intentional ones! But slowly over time, it simply happens that some different thought/behavior/emotion than my old norm just seems more natural.
Lately I’ve noticing that so many of the ways I’m used to thinking or feeling just require a burdensome amount of energy! And I’m tired of that useless stress, so I want to not even bother to go into that fold. Not that this is solely a conscious choice, but I think that feeling “sick and tired” of my conditioning is probably a sign of increasing health! Under the right kind of stress or pressure (e.g. the kind it takes to make a diamond rather than the kind pulling you out of balance), old patterns inefficient to growth can be shed, simply because they don’t work or help! The more focused our lives are in the right direction, a true direction (as in being centered around something real rather than looking in one direction rigidly), the less distracted we can afford to be. When you are rushing down the rapids on a river raft, you aren’t going spend much time worrying about how your hair looks. Wow… it took me until now to realize this blog is a great commentary on your recent post about distraction!
I keep looking to my own power and ability to “grow and improve,” but so much is determined by our surroundings. A weak man standing on firm ground can carry a greater load than a strong man standing in quicksand!
Thank you for providing us with this place of solid ground in the world, and awakening us to the solid ground inside ourselves. There is nothing more valuable. I think this is what Jesus spoke of in the Christian Scriptures as “the pearl of great price”… and the plot of land that was worth selling all your possessions for, because a great treasure was buried there.
Jai Guru Dev!
Wow, that was a long comment!
I wanted to add that the positive stuff can be easier to talk about.
Where I feel the sticky world pulling on me is harder to wrap words around, not to mention a bit vulnerable! So I look forward to our next class… another invaluable resource. Thank you.
Thanks Joy Anna for such a wonderful self-exploring comment. It is very inspirational.
Yes, great comment Joy Anna! I almost didn’t read it because it’s so long, but then I started and got drawn into it.
I really love this blog. It touches me deeply how committed you are to making sure we are not being indoctrinated. Most teachers would not even spend much thought on that, let alone have the skills to facilitate someone else’s true evolution. So precious… Thank you!