dualpetalsage - Tumblr blog

[dualpetalsage]

The cultural construction of beliefs and behavior that are considered appropriate for each sex is known as gender.

Being female is prescriptive about a person's sex. Woman on the other hand is a gender role, and woman is defined as a an adult human with the internal sense of being female.

When you see a person, you cannot tell the set of genitalia they have.

So, you look at what they dress up like, what are their mannerism, beliefs and behaviour that are considered appropriate for their sex.

And that's what makes you call them a man or woman.

[dualpetalsage]

On Permanent And Enduring Liberation: We experience a large spectrum of emotions everyday. One can never tell what would happen to them in the strange medley of life. Days filled with experiences of rejection, loss and failure can make one experience emotional pain, which can be quite addicting for some. Events may occur at any point of a person’s life and overwhelm them with sadness, shame, guilt and fear. When exposed to emotional pain continously, a dependancy might arise on the feelings causing the pain. These feelings may then become common and constant, hence feel like a part of the individual. Emotional pain has the ability to alter brain chemistry, which also creates the need for contemplative practices to counter them. In absence of these practices, the mind may come up with coping mechanisms, which do greater overall harm. Coping mechanisms don’t solve the problem and often create more burden on the individual. Just like one can get addicted to negative feelings, one may also get addicted to these mechanisms. Anger, greed and other perversions are often born out of these mechanisms. Life is filled with emotional bumps and bruises, so it’s essential to gain insight on the true cause and solution for emotional pain and the resultant injuries. Inquiring emotional pain: All of the emotional pain that we experience originates within the body. It arises due to the reaction we have to events and to the state of our existence. Emotional pain exists as the body’s way of altering us when when things have far deviated from that which is desired. It’s the body’s way of driving the mind to avoid loss, improve judgement and overcome homeostasis, amongst many other things. People dont dwell on this subject when they aren’t suffering. When in pain, they do try to examine the cause of emotional pain, but only to assign blame. After all, only exacabation of pain instead of amelioation takes place, when one dwells on the topic. So, dropping the responsibility on someone else seems far easier. A barrage of emotions is both the precussor and the follow up after the pain, which makes the inspection, much harder. Attribution of blame for one’s own emotional pain is often but a process of abstraction of feeling of vulnerabilty, resentment, hatred, anger, etc. Anger for example, temporarily numb pain and provide a surge of energy and confidence. Everytime one feels angry, they reinforce the justfication for the process which in turn leads to it triggering more. In the end, the universal cause is assigned; emotional pain becomes punishment inflicted by an unfair world. Emotional pain no longer remains a motivation to heal or improve. Attempts are made to control what other people think and do by devaluing and coercing,hence reinforcing of own vulnerabilities takes place. This is how an illusion of control and surrender takes over. Art Of Sages: Since preoccupation with the causes of emotional pain tend to push one deeper into pain and bitterness, the true causes are usually left unlearned. People often draw meaning out of events to find their motivations and the bliss of forgetfulness has them move on. Or they end up falling in the dark pits of depression and despair. As subtly established before, emotional pain arises when we react to our uncomfortable circumstances or state of being. Let us assign the name “Ego” to that which reacts. Is Ego a name for the Self?    The real Self or real ‘I’ is, contrary to perceptible experience, not an experience of individuality but a non-personal, all-inclusive awareness. It is not to be confused with the individual self which (Ramana) said was essentially non-existent, being a fabrication of the mind, which obscures the true experience of the real Self. He maintained that the real Self is always present and always experienced but he emphasized that one is only consciously aware of it as it really is when the self-limiting tendencies of the mind have ceased. Permanent and continuous Self-awareness is known as Self-realization.    -David Godman(Essence of teachings of Ramana Maharishi) In simple words, Self is the name for the awareness of being, the thoughtless non-conceptual experience of existence. Meditating upon it is known as the practice of Self-Inquiry. We have a feedback and amplifing loop of emotional pain within us, better known as our repetitive and habitual thought patterns. When we practice self inquiry, our awareness increases enough for us to become aware of the constant and pointless loop that keeps going on within us. Who is the one speaking the thoughts and who is the one listening? When they are the same people, then what’s the point of thinking? Thinking is basically the process of memorizing ideas. Just like one repeats moves that they want to use in a fight, thoughts are repetition of ideas and speeches, that one plans on using. Ego And The Emotional Problem: Ego is also known as the false centre. It’s a collection of our identifications, “I am X” where X can be This or That. It is also the collection of our biases, our vulnerablilities and perversions. Paying attention to the ‘I’-thought is paying attention to the ego. When we keep paying attention to it, keep inquiring where it comes from, all ‘I’-thought disappears. It is replaced by an effortless awareness of being. With the disappearance of the ego, the source of all emotional pain also disappears. Other practices of Devotion and Self-Surrender:    There are only two ways to conquer destiny or to be independent of it. One is to inquire whose this destiny is and discover that only the ego is bound by it and not the Self and that the ego is non-existent. The other way is to kill the ego by completely surrendering to the Source, realizing one’s helplessness and saying all the time: “Not I, but Thou,” giving up all sense of “I” and “mine” and leaving it to the Source to do what they like with you. Surrender can never be regarded as complete so long as the devotee wants this or that from the Source. True surrender is the love of God for the sake of love and nothing else, not even for the sake of salvation. In other words, complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Self-inquiry or through bhakti-marga    -Ramana Maharishi Devotion and self-surrender to a Master(Sage) or the Source is considered to be a practice as adequate as self inquiry. When we have surrendered everything, including ourselves, we no longer get hurt.    Real Masters never charge for their services, nor do they accept payment in any form    nor in any sort of material benefits for their instructions. This is a universal law among    Masters, and yet amazingly, it is a fact that thousands of eager seekers in America and    elsewhere, go on paying large amounts of money for “spiritual instruction.” Masters are    always self-sustaining and are never supported by their students or by public charity.”    —Julian P. Johnson, The Path of the Masters (1939) These are the practices for Self Inquiry and surrender, which lead to self-realization. When Self-realization has taken place, a permanent and enduring liberation takes place.