We Don't Know that we Don't Know

To divest oneself of all contacts with others, and tread a lonely path is a sign of weakness, of fear and not of courage. Lively association alone produces morality, justice, compassion, sympathy, love, tolerance, equanimity and many other qualities that toughen and train the character, and mould the personality of an individual. Culture is the consequence of the co-mingling of hearts and heads. A group of individuals, who are charged with hatred or contempt towards each other, cannot produce any beneficial effect on any in the group; Sama-chintha, that is, a common outlook or rather a common inward-vision is the essential factor. Common belief systems, opinions and attitudes is key. This Sama-chintha must result in a flood of divine bliss that envelops and brightens an entire community. The consciousness that one is Divine and that everyone else is equally so, is the best bond for a community, that bliss is the best atmosphere to nurture and sustain communities.

Here Baba tells us that we should be in company and not just on a lonely path.  Some time ago I took a Baba quote, I began to think it over and that is how I realized that by thinking it over and most of all seeing it in our own life, we get answers, not only Baba dreams, but insights. 

He said in a dream that I should use his words, it doesn't mean we repeat it, but we think it over, there is nothing wrong about repeating it, we get a feeling for it and we have to find that feeling in our own life. When we read it we think, right all understood. But that is not right. It is not absorbed. 

He is on all three levels, we are only in the mind. To be on all three levels as well we have to listen, think it over and absorb. That happens by thinking it over and in writing about it, we have a means to think it over. 

He talks about weakness, fear and not of courage. 

But we have to be able to face that contact with others. We develop the good qualities mentioned above, but we have to be able to face it. 

In the study circle practice after more than five years, I had some participants they had not changed anything, they said still the same thing they had said five years ago, there was no change. Only in two people I noticed a change and a development and one of them is doing the study circle now. 

It is kind of frustrating, when we find people, participating, but having still the same ideas after such a long time study and the answer to it is out of my experience the spiritual ego, they have arranged themselves over the years, that is how they can live with it, even if it is not at all understood. 

We have a problem, we think we know and we don't know that we don't know. What does that mean? We have not realized the higher self as we are not listening to his words, so we find our own mind conclusions how to understand oneness and that is in my experience nothing else but a spiritual ego, we hold on to it get convinced of it that it right and in those mind patterns we go on and have a new standpoint. 

One of those people, she is active and always present, but she has turned with that ego into a troublemaker, whenever she can she was creating troubles, telling us always that she knows best. She is a love player, love only and it feels all like mood making, whenever there is a problem, she is the first to uphold the problem and making sure that it will expand. Her way of behavior was such that it was really possible to feel hatred. 

And then we have to read those words and we have to tell ourselves, but we need to feel love, because hatred is bad for the group, but we cannot change that person who is creating hatred and not love, even if she thinks she is loving only. 

She is backbiting always. I guess her mind intentions are good, and she is probably thinking she is doing good only, but she has no control over all that what comes out of her mouth what has nothing to do with love or with self-control. 

So we try to forget that person and we try to ignore her or to excuse her, we don't hold up the hatred as it should be love, but the other question is will that work? I had before tired to omit negative experiences and it resulted in something like a disaster. 

Today we know why. The conflict was not addressed and it expanded. 

Baba tells us that we have to bring a conflict to the point, otherwise, it will expand. 

But we have to know the difference between conflict and not conflict. She was the one who expanded the conflict when there was a problem. 

A group of individuals, who are charged with hatred or contempt towards each other, cannot produce any beneficial effect on any in the group; Sama-chintha, that is, a common outlook or rather a common inward-vision is the essential factor. Common belief systems, opinions and attitudes is key. 

The last sentence is the answer. A common outlook instead of a common inward-vision as essential factor. She is able to be in the study circle and she adapts what he is telling to a common belief system and even when it is put in question, she doesn't look at it. She is not really able to see it in her own life, she adapts to her own belief system to be able to live with it. 

Once we talked about the difference between inner and outer and she asked what is the difference? She has a tendency in her mind to adapt everything to the common belief system, she has found an answer to everything and she knows how. 

How can we discriminate, if we don't see a difference? She cannot see the difference.

We talk about the four stages of life and that is really not practiced in the West and she tells, what is the difference?

That is the spiritual ego, it makes her able to live with it, even if she didn't realize it. That is how she gets to the conclusion that she lives the bliss in singing, but in reality it is not bliss sustaining her, but her adapted belief in the common belief system and she doesn't know how to make a difference between one and the other. It is like thinking it over, but whatever is said, it has no effect on her thinking, it is always the same.

I talked with one of the other participants as we had spoken only about oneness for about an hour and she answered, but there are as many different ways of truth as people are and I told her, but we just talked about it that we have to always see oneness, one truth. Five minutes after the study circle, she was back in her way of seeing it, there are many people and everybody has its own truth. Many people, but there is only one truth. What she calls all different truth, is nothing else but the mind, so she doesn't know the difference between mind and Atma.

Our highest duty is to uphold oneness. 

That is how we think it over, we see it in our own life and get a feeling for it. The problem is in the difference between a common inward-vision and adapting to the common belief systems. 

If we don't know the common inward-vision, we adapt every word he tells to our common belief system and we think that's it, that means we don't understand it. And we don't know that we don't know.