The Denial of Evil. How to NOT Know God. Amera Ziganii Rao
There are two archetypes in unhealed life. One separates the dark and the light into idealism and condemnation and the other is in complete denial of the darkness at all. And in extreme condemnation when they see that it can exist at all. Both archetypes are very dangerous and very unhealed and a complete reflection of a baby attitude to Divinity it seems. And indeed, a baby attitude to our parents. When we are little, our parents are Divinity. It’s natural. Our home, painful or not, is the micro of the macro. The Universe, the world, the family and the whole.
And then we get broken. Both archetypes are broken by life and by parents (who are unhealed people themselves most of the time) and by God into having to avoid the pain of the truth. That Divinity and indeed every single human being is a combination of both the dark and the light. As Samuel Beckett says, ‘Life on Earth. There’s no cure for that’. To be healed is to accept the darkness and to accept that evil is a part of Divinity and not outside Divinity and certainly something that exists.
No separation of the dark and light and no denial of the dark = healed human beings who can take responsibility for mastering their own darkness, instead of the ‘separation’ archetype questioning their own humanity time and time again out of fear that they are evil itself and that their only salvation is to find the light in another person, and being so permanently shocked that life is so full of the dark, and the ‘denial’ archetype who questions everyone else’s humanity other than their own and shits on everyone in the process of their denial and running away from life, determined to believe that the darkness and evil cannot possibly exist. And consequently being a placid and frustrated human being of no passion, no drive and no ability to even enter the dark, especially when it is needed, ie to fight for one’s rights. Or indeed, to have any sexual, passionate, or creative life connections even when they want to. Who spend their time just running or condemning, out of the need to deny that evil or the dark exists, while being secretly fascinated by it and deeply envious of anyone who can use it and master it. The unhealed life of pain, frustration and nothing.
We are all a combination of humanity and cruelty and so is Divinity. That is the process of creation and creativity and life. The process of moving from the dark into the light is being done by the whole universe all the time and especially on this planet. And is reflected best in any whole human being such as a highly skilled actor or musician or painter or the like. The dark and the light. Their passion and tenderness all in one. Moving from one to the other with so much ease, it’s breathtaking, magnificent and magnetic. Why they are at the top of their game. And why we all watch them. That process of perfection is the highest level of existence. The highest level of Divinity on Earth. Rage and heart combined. God.
The point of this planet was to find out what we are not, so we could find out what we are. We are ALL moving into the light, into love at each moment. And we are ALL a part of Divinity. Divinity is the all. Divinity is both the dark and the light. The relentless drive of creation, without mercy, without benevolence, and without any tenderness whatsoever. And it’s okay. All of that is there too, but like a good parent, it is only given at particular times. The rest is creation, creation and creation. The dark and the light combined.
The process of existence for the whole Universe therefore, is to move from the dark into the light and utilise both. Not deny the existence of darkness and therefore avoid the responsibility of mastery and to condemn anyone who embraces the wholeness of rage and heart. And in the other archetype, not to spend one’s life shocked by the presence of evil as if it is separate from one’s self and separate from Divinity or existence. While questioning one’s humanity because the other archetype of denial has judged you to be evil.
There is no demiurge and there is no devil incarnate. And no one is above rage or cruelty or stupidity or ignorance or profane being. It is all part of the whole. The point is mastery, not suffocation, not denial, not condemnation, not pretence, not bland living, not running away from being. And certainly not judging. The healed human being is one who accepts that not only is he or she both, but that Divinity is both too. And that breaks one’s heart into a million pieces, as it is supposed to.
And then one finally heals. And then one can finally live. And then one can finally love.
And the most difficult thing of all to remember in this extremely difficult and essential process, is that whether we separate good and evil or deny the presence of evil at all, it is all to cover up one thing and one thing alone. Lack of courage. The fact that courage is our responsibility and ours alone (In the seen world, not the unseen world, but that’s a whole other subject, whether one calls it alchemy, angels or prayer) is the single reason we freak out into the broken heart in the first place.
Divinity is not here to do it for us for one second. We represent on this Earth and we are the ones who have to do it and any un-healing that we regress into is totally understandable but ultimately useless. We are the ones who have to accept our extreme cowardice and then we have to do something about it. There is no other way. And THAT is what breaks our hearts and nothing else.
Amera Ziganii Rao ©
No one is innocent, but innocence is who we are ... Rosita Richelieu
Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. George Bernard Shaw
Are you willing to let yourself believe that you are enough already? Sarupa Shah
Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Dancing with Your Dragon. The Art of Loving Your Unlovable Self. A deeply profound but simple process that helps open your heart to self-acceptance. Shaeri Richards
The Illusionist. The Film Notes
The Illusionist is a 2006 period drama written and directed by Neil Burger and starring Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti and Rufus Sewell. Based loosely on Steven Millhauser's story "Eisenheim the Illusionist", The Illusionist tells the story of Eisenheim, a magician in turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna.
The film premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opened the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival; it was distributed in limited release to theaters on August 18, 2006, and expanded nationwide on September 1.
The film begins as Chief Inspector Walter Uhl (Paul Giamatti) moves to arrest Herr Eisenheim (Edward Norton) during what appears to be necromancy passed off as a magic show. He then begins to recount the story of Eisenheim for Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell).
Eisenheim was born the son of a cabinetmaker in Vienna, Austria-Hungary and is seen training for this same trade. One day when he was a teenager, Eisenheim meets a traveling magician along a road. The magician performs several tricks for him and then, according to various accounts, both the magician and the tree he was sitting under vanish. Eisenheim becomes obsessed with magic tricks after this.
He also falls in love with Sophie, the Duchess von Teschen (Jessica Biel), a noblewoman well above his social class; her parents have hired Eisenheim's father as a cabinetmaker. Young Eisenheim makes young Sophie a unique marquetry puzzle locket, which if twisted correctly reveals a hidden photograph of Eisenheim. Although the two are forbidden to see each other, they meet in a secret hideout chamber in the woods, where Eisenheim tells of his plans to go to China to learn more magic and Sophie promises to go with him. On the day that they are going to leave, the police come looking for Sophie. The two hide in the secret room and Sophie begs Eisenheim to make them both disappear. He is unable to fulfil this request and the two are separated.
Eisenheim travels the world, perfecting his craft and returns to Vienna years later as a master illusionist. He meets Sophie at one of his performances, when she is volunteered by Crown Prince Leopold as a reluctant participant in an illusion, where her reflection in a mirror is "murdered". He soon learns that Sophie is expected to marry the Crown Prince, who purportedly has a history of abuse towards women. Eisenheim and Sophie, having recognized each other, meet privately, revealing Sophie still has the locket he made for her years ago. After humiliating the Crown Prince during a private show, Eisenheim finds his hit performance shut out of Vienna.
The film premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opened the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival; it was distributed in limited release to theaters on August 18, 2006, and expanded nationwide on September 1.
The film begins as Chief Inspector Walter Uhl (Paul Giamatti) moves to arrest Herr Eisenheim (Edward Norton) during what appears to be necromancy passed off as a magic show. He then begins to recount the story of Eisenheim for Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell).
Eisenheim was born the son of a cabinetmaker in Vienna, Austria-Hungary and is seen training for this same trade. One day when he was a teenager, Eisenheim meets a traveling magician along a road. The magician performs several tricks for him and then, according to various accounts, both the magician and the tree he was sitting under vanish. Eisenheim becomes obsessed with magic tricks after this.
He also falls in love with Sophie, the Duchess von Teschen (Jessica Biel), a noblewoman well above his social class; her parents have hired Eisenheim's father as a cabinetmaker. Young Eisenheim makes young Sophie a unique marquetry puzzle locket, which if twisted correctly reveals a hidden photograph of Eisenheim. Although the two are forbidden to see each other, they meet in a secret hideout chamber in the woods, where Eisenheim tells of his plans to go to China to learn more magic and Sophie promises to go with him. On the day that they are going to leave, the police come looking for Sophie. The two hide in the secret room and Sophie begs Eisenheim to make them both disappear. He is unable to fulfil this request and the two are separated.
Eisenheim travels the world, perfecting his craft and returns to Vienna years later as a master illusionist. He meets Sophie at one of his performances, when she is volunteered by Crown Prince Leopold as a reluctant participant in an illusion, where her reflection in a mirror is "murdered". He soon learns that Sophie is expected to marry the Crown Prince, who purportedly has a history of abuse towards women. Eisenheim and Sophie, having recognized each other, meet privately, revealing Sophie still has the locket he made for her years ago. After humiliating the Crown Prince during a private show, Eisenheim finds his hit performance shut out of Vienna.
When Sophie comes to offer him help, the two consummate their relationship and realize that they are still in love. They plan to flee the Empire together; but first something must be done to stop Leopold, who Sophie reveals is planning a coup d'etat to usurp the Crown of Austria from his aging father, the Emperor Franz Joseph I, while using his engagement to her to win the Hungarian half of the Empire as well. She also knows that the Crown Prince will view her as disposable if she leaves him for another man, and that he will have both her and Eisenheim followed and killed.
Leopold finds out from Uhl, who was following the couple, that Sophie has met with Eisenheim. While drunk, Leopold confronts Sophie and accuses her of being unfaithful. She tells him that she will not marry him or have anything to do with his plan. When she attempts to leave, it appears that he murders her in the stables, with a sword cut across her neck. Unfortunately, Leopold's royal status makes any accusations against him unthinkable, despite an existing belief among the people that Leopold has murdered a woman in the past. As Eisenheim plunges into despair and the citizens of Vienna begin to suspect Leopold of Sophie's murder, Uhl observes Eisenheim's actions more closely on behalf of Leopold.
Wracked with grief, Eisenheim prepares a new kind of magic show, using mysterious equipment and Chinese stagehands. Eisenheim purchases a run-down theater and opens a new performance. During his show, Eisenheim apparently summons spirits, leading many to believe that he possesses supernatural powers.
Leopold decides to attend one of Eisenheim's shows in disguise. During this show, Eisenheim summons the spirit of Sophie, who says someone in the theater murdered her, panicking Leopold. Uhl pleads with Eisenheim to stop such performances, but Eisenheim refuses. Finally, Leopold orders Eisenheim's arrest. We then return to the opening scene of the movie, but now we see that when Uhl tries to arrest him during the performance, Eisenheim's body fades and disappears like his summoned spirits.
Inspector Uhl searches for Eisenheim at his house. There he finds a folio labeled "Orange Tree," the name of one of Eisenheim's illusions which had intrigued Uhl. Thinking he will find the solution to one of the magician's most famous tricks, he opens it to find empty pages except for a scrap of parchment showing how to open the locket Eisenheim had given Sophie when they were young.
Uhl reveals to Leopold that he has found evidence which links the Crown Prince to Sophie's murder: a jewel from the prince's sword and Sophie's locket that Eisenheim gave her when they were children. After ordering, then begging Uhl to keep silent, Leopold discovers that Uhl has already informed the Emperor and the General Staff of Leopold's conspiracy to usurp the Austro-Hungarian throne. As the Army arrives at his Palace to arrest him, Leopold shoots himself in despair after angrily justifying his plans to overthrow his father.
In the next scene, Uhl is shown leaving the Imperial Palace. After he takes a few steps, a boy runs up to hand him a folio labeled "Orange Tree". This time, the "Orange Tree" folio is filled with plans detailing a geared mechanism to make the tree "grow". Uhl demands to know where the child obtained the folio; the child reveals that Eisenheim had given it to him. Uhl then reaches down into his pocket, to discover the Duchess' locket is missing. He realises with a jolt that he has been pick-pocketed by a disguised Eisenheim, and gives chase following him to the train station. After the chase, a montage shows Uhl putting the pieces together and discovering how Eisenheim faked Sophie's death and framed Leopold for the murder. Eisenheim is then seen walking up to a house in the country where Sophie is waiting for him.
The script was based loosely on "Eisenheim the Illusionist", a short story by Steven Millhauser from Millhauser's 1990 collection The Barnum Museum.
Leopold finds out from Uhl, who was following the couple, that Sophie has met with Eisenheim. While drunk, Leopold confronts Sophie and accuses her of being unfaithful. She tells him that she will not marry him or have anything to do with his plan. When she attempts to leave, it appears that he murders her in the stables, with a sword cut across her neck. Unfortunately, Leopold's royal status makes any accusations against him unthinkable, despite an existing belief among the people that Leopold has murdered a woman in the past. As Eisenheim plunges into despair and the citizens of Vienna begin to suspect Leopold of Sophie's murder, Uhl observes Eisenheim's actions more closely on behalf of Leopold.
Wracked with grief, Eisenheim prepares a new kind of magic show, using mysterious equipment and Chinese stagehands. Eisenheim purchases a run-down theater and opens a new performance. During his show, Eisenheim apparently summons spirits, leading many to believe that he possesses supernatural powers.
Leopold decides to attend one of Eisenheim's shows in disguise. During this show, Eisenheim summons the spirit of Sophie, who says someone in the theater murdered her, panicking Leopold. Uhl pleads with Eisenheim to stop such performances, but Eisenheim refuses. Finally, Leopold orders Eisenheim's arrest. We then return to the opening scene of the movie, but now we see that when Uhl tries to arrest him during the performance, Eisenheim's body fades and disappears like his summoned spirits.
Inspector Uhl searches for Eisenheim at his house. There he finds a folio labeled "Orange Tree," the name of one of Eisenheim's illusions which had intrigued Uhl. Thinking he will find the solution to one of the magician's most famous tricks, he opens it to find empty pages except for a scrap of parchment showing how to open the locket Eisenheim had given Sophie when they were young.
Uhl reveals to Leopold that he has found evidence which links the Crown Prince to Sophie's murder: a jewel from the prince's sword and Sophie's locket that Eisenheim gave her when they were children. After ordering, then begging Uhl to keep silent, Leopold discovers that Uhl has already informed the Emperor and the General Staff of Leopold's conspiracy to usurp the Austro-Hungarian throne. As the Army arrives at his Palace to arrest him, Leopold shoots himself in despair after angrily justifying his plans to overthrow his father.
In the next scene, Uhl is shown leaving the Imperial Palace. After he takes a few steps, a boy runs up to hand him a folio labeled "Orange Tree". This time, the "Orange Tree" folio is filled with plans detailing a geared mechanism to make the tree "grow". Uhl demands to know where the child obtained the folio; the child reveals that Eisenheim had given it to him. Uhl then reaches down into his pocket, to discover the Duchess' locket is missing. He realises with a jolt that he has been pick-pocketed by a disguised Eisenheim, and gives chase following him to the train station. After the chase, a montage shows Uhl putting the pieces together and discovering how Eisenheim faked Sophie's death and framed Leopold for the murder. Eisenheim is then seen walking up to a house in the country where Sophie is waiting for him.
The script was based loosely on "Eisenheim the Illusionist", a short story by Steven Millhauser from Millhauser's 1990 collection The Barnum Museum.
Quotes.
Eisenheim.
From the moment we enter this life, we are in the flow of it [the time]. We measure it and we mark it, but we cannot defy it. We cannot even speed it up or slow it down. Or can we ? Have we not each experienced the sensation… that a beautiful moment seemed to pass too quickly… and wished that we could make it linger ? Or felt time slow on a dull day… and wished that we could speed things up a bit ?
I thought we might end this evening with a discussion of the soul. All of the greatest religions speak of the soul’s endurance before the end of life. So what then does it mean to die?
Fischer (Eisenheim's Manager).
Life and death. Space and time. Fate and chance. These are the forces of the universe. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a man who has unlocked these mysteries. From the furthest corners of the world where the dark arts still hold sway he returns to us to demonstrate how nature’s laws may be bent. I give you Eisenheim.
Inspector Uhl.
As a boy, I'm told, he had a chance encounter with a travelling magician. One version of the story was that the man himself vanished... along with the tree. People began to think he had some sort of special power... or at least that he was a bit different. And then he met her.
I come from a background of chronic low self esteem. I was born a British Pakistani to begin with. In the sixties to the first wave of widespread, institutional, racism in this country as first generation British born. Then, on top of that, from arguably, the most oppressive and repressive culture in the whole world. Pakistanis. Socially, gender wise, sexually, sensually, clothes wise, when you think about how the body is completely covered even in a family without the Hijab covering. And obedience wise and family duty wise. That’s just for starters. I was also born to a war zone. My parents’ marriage. I was also educated privately in London and never went without food. I was born with many advantages and many disadvantages, like most of us.
I have taken 46 years to clear myself of all the abuses around me. So subtle, so unapparent, so suffocating. So endemic and so all pervasive and penetrating. I hated myself. I was so low in self esteem, that I could not go past a bus stop when I was young, without quaking, at being watched by so many people. I would fall madly in love with any human being who showed me any love whatsoever. From the age of 8. I worshipped anyone who gave me any kindness. These things come from cruelty as upbringing, conscious or not conscious. And I attracted bullying my whole life. Chronic low self esteem and thinking it was my fault. Hating my family and yet feeling so guilty for it. I didn’t just have low self esteem. I had no self esteem whatsoever. My gift it seems, is to have known that. To have known that I had a problem, and to know that I had the right and the duty to do something about it.
To represent God on God. To take part in Creation. To Love.
In the process we become heroes and heroines. We are the protaganists in the journey of life and this other archetype is the antagonist (male or female). Through their unfortunate desperation to avoid seeing the dark side, they mete out most of the cruelty and damage and pain in this world and never even know it. Basically, they are mad. And it is the heroes and heroines of this world who have to make them see it. And they do because we do.
WRITER. ESOTERIC. PHILOSOPHER. ENLIGHTENER. INSPIRER. PHOTOGRAPHER. ARTIST
Amera Ziganii Rao is a philosophical writer, essayist, social commentator, prose writer, dramatist and photographer as well as a consciousness explorer, self actualiser and emotional healer. She is a former hard news journalist who is now turning professional with her art forms and indeed, her healing forms, after a long journey of inner searching, self teaching and exploring many layers and areas of both craft and wisdom. She is now working on her first book of philosophy and esoteric thought, and social and cultural commentary. She is also showing her first photography collections. And last but most definitely not least, she is building a business to share her consciousness and empowering explorations to reach as many people as possible across the world. She is 46 years old and currently lives in London.
AMERA ZIGANII RAO SCHOOL OF LEARNING
Writer and Enlightener, Amera Ziganii Rao, is now putting together a comprehensive and unique programme of Education For Liberation. Liberation of the lower mind into the higher mind, the soul and the inner heart and therefore one's true, confident, happy, successful, creative, sexual, sensual, individual, intelligent, emotionally healed, capable of loving and being loved self. Based on her scholarly and non scholarly work over 14 years, if not for her whole life, and her extensive and intense, visceral experiences of self transformation from resignation, cynicism and despair to a state of bliss, the courses will cover the method of change. The psychological, sociological, spiritual, cultural, political, emotional and physical and even anthropological methods of change. Why we are here. The meaning of life, no less. This will be on offer in the near future, in the form of online courses and live events, to begin with. Thank you
AMERA ZIGANII RAO SCHOOL OF LEARNING ll
In the meantime, please enjoy this website. I have included many of the subjects I am covering, areas of experience and insight that I will be exploring to the fullest in my book, the courses and all the other work that is to come as a dramatist, novelist and essayist. I also of course, include many of the wise people on this planet, who have come long before me; authors, screen dramatists, playwrights, film makers, artists, and other enlighteners and grand carriers of the wisdom I have found the most helpful on my journey, to find peace and become enlightened. The seemingly impossible journey, in the face of oneself and one’s circumstances. People who have contributed massively to my healing on this mad journey called life. People who have helped to make me as good a carrier of wisdom as I in turn, can be. Thank you.
Amera Ziganii Rao ©
Esoteric. Self Actualiser. Consciousness Explorer. Philosophical Writer. Essayist. Dramatist. Prose Writer. Photographer. Film & TV Creative. Entrepreneur. Ex-Journalist.
Other Links
Amera Ziganii Rao. A Profile ll
http://ameraziganiirao.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/amera-ziganii-rao-profile-ll.html
Amera Ziganii Rao Photography
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ziganiirao/
http://ameraziganiiraoart.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you to outside source for the photography.
Eisenheim.
From the moment we enter this life, we are in the flow of it [the time]. We measure it and we mark it, but we cannot defy it. We cannot even speed it up or slow it down. Or can we ? Have we not each experienced the sensation… that a beautiful moment seemed to pass too quickly… and wished that we could make it linger ? Or felt time slow on a dull day… and wished that we could speed things up a bit ?
I thought we might end this evening with a discussion of the soul. All of the greatest religions speak of the soul’s endurance before the end of life. So what then does it mean to die?
Fischer (Eisenheim's Manager).
Life and death. Space and time. Fate and chance. These are the forces of the universe. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a man who has unlocked these mysteries. From the furthest corners of the world where the dark arts still hold sway he returns to us to demonstrate how nature’s laws may be bent. I give you Eisenheim.
Inspector Uhl.
As a boy, I'm told, he had a chance encounter with a travelling magician. One version of the story was that the man himself vanished... along with the tree. People began to think he had some sort of special power... or at least that he was a bit different. And then he met her.
Other Links
How To Know God. Deepak Chopra
....This mixture of love and anger, peace and violence, that we all have to live with had dawned on him. In place of certainty there was now ambiguity - people he once trusted completely had showed that they possessed a darker side. By implication the same holds true for each of us and by extension, God.
Everyone must face this conflict, but we resolve it in different ways. Some children try to preserve innocence by denying that its opposite exists; they turn into idealists and wishful thinkers. They show a strong streak of denial when anything 'negative' takes place and will remain anxious until the situation turns 'positive' again.
Other children take sides, assigning all the anxiety-provoking traits to a bad parent while labelling the other as always good. Both of these tactics fall under the category of coping mechanisms; therefore it comes as no surprise to find how much they invade religious belief in stage one, which is all about coping.
The good parent-bad parent solution takes the form of a cosmic battle between God and Satan. There is abundant proof in the Old Testament that Jehovah is wilful and cruel enough to assume the role of bad parent himself.
Even a man of titanic righteousness like Moses is deprived in the end of being able to enter the Promised Land. No amount of fear and love, however you mix them, is enough to satisfy God. His capriciousness knows no bounds.
However, if this portrayal is unacceptable, there must be an 'adversary' (the literal meaning of Satan's name) to take the blame away from God. Satan appears in the Old Testament as tempter, deceiver, stealer of souls, and the fallen angel Lucifer, who through pride tried to usurp God's authority and had to be cast down to hell.
You could say that he is the light gone bad. But never once is he described as an aspect of God. The division between the two makes for a much simpler story, as it does for a child who has decided that one parent must be the good one and the other bad.
The other coping strategy, which involves denying the negative and seeking always to be positive, is just as common as religion. A lot of harm has to be overlooked to make God totally benign, yet people manage to do so.
In the family drama, if there is more than one child, interpretations become fixed. One child will be absolutely sure that no abuse or conflict was ever present, while another will be just as certain that it was pervasive.
The power of interpretation is linked to consciousness; things can't exist if you are not conscious of them, no matter how real they may be to others. In religious terms, some believers are content to love God and fear him at the same time.
This duality in no way involves any condemnation of the deity. He is still 'perfect' (meaning that he is always right) because those he punishes must be wrong.
In this case faith depends on a value system that is preordained. If some ill befalls me, I must have committed a sin, even if I didn't have any awareness of it. My task is to look deep enough until I find the flaw inside myself, and then I will see the perfect judgment God has rendered.
To someone outside the system, however, it appears that an abused child is figuring out, through convoluted logic, how to make himself wrong so that the cruel parent remains right. In stage one, God has to be right. If he isn't, the world becomes too dangerous to live in.
Everyone must face this conflict, but we resolve it in different ways. Some children try to preserve innocence by denying that its opposite exists; they turn into idealists and wishful thinkers. They show a strong streak of denial when anything 'negative' takes place and will remain anxious until the situation turns 'positive' again.
Other children take sides, assigning all the anxiety-provoking traits to a bad parent while labelling the other as always good. Both of these tactics fall under the category of coping mechanisms; therefore it comes as no surprise to find how much they invade religious belief in stage one, which is all about coping.
The good parent-bad parent solution takes the form of a cosmic battle between God and Satan. There is abundant proof in the Old Testament that Jehovah is wilful and cruel enough to assume the role of bad parent himself.
Even a man of titanic righteousness like Moses is deprived in the end of being able to enter the Promised Land. No amount of fear and love, however you mix them, is enough to satisfy God. His capriciousness knows no bounds.
However, if this portrayal is unacceptable, there must be an 'adversary' (the literal meaning of Satan's name) to take the blame away from God. Satan appears in the Old Testament as tempter, deceiver, stealer of souls, and the fallen angel Lucifer, who through pride tried to usurp God's authority and had to be cast down to hell.
You could say that he is the light gone bad. But never once is he described as an aspect of God. The division between the two makes for a much simpler story, as it does for a child who has decided that one parent must be the good one and the other bad.
The other coping strategy, which involves denying the negative and seeking always to be positive, is just as common as religion. A lot of harm has to be overlooked to make God totally benign, yet people manage to do so.
In the family drama, if there is more than one child, interpretations become fixed. One child will be absolutely sure that no abuse or conflict was ever present, while another will be just as certain that it was pervasive.
The power of interpretation is linked to consciousness; things can't exist if you are not conscious of them, no matter how real they may be to others. In religious terms, some believers are content to love God and fear him at the same time.
This duality in no way involves any condemnation of the deity. He is still 'perfect' (meaning that he is always right) because those he punishes must be wrong.
In this case faith depends on a value system that is preordained. If some ill befalls me, I must have committed a sin, even if I didn't have any awareness of it. My task is to look deep enough until I find the flaw inside myself, and then I will see the perfect judgment God has rendered.
To someone outside the system, however, it appears that an abused child is figuring out, through convoluted logic, how to make himself wrong so that the cruel parent remains right. In stage one, God has to be right. If he isn't, the world becomes too dangerous to live in.
The Bloodshed of Ascension. Human Rights. Love. Amera Ziganii Rao
To me, the symbolism of this piece on the Stockholm Syndrome of loving an abuser, is clear. We might look at this piece and tell ourselves that this is an extreme case and one that does not affect us. Wives who get beaten by their husbands? Not me. People who are being bullied? Not me. I’m in control of my life. Being bullied is for losers, that’s not me. I am in control of my life. I have power. Don’t I?? I live in a democracy, don’t I? Fascism is such an extreme word. Other countries live under fascism, not us, do we? I think that is dangerous and self deluding. Human Rights. That is a generic fight, in the home or in the country and affects every single one of us. Every single one of us. And the fight has just begun. We still live in fascism, still live in a feudal system and the major majority of the world’s wealth still is in the hands of about two people, relatively speaking. We are not free and we do not live in a free world. The only answer to freedom comes from within. I speak as a former political revolutionary. As Gandhi says, ‘You must be the change you want to see in the world’. I take that further. Be the change WITHIN that you want to see in the world.
Consciousness. The politics of the 21st century. The Lost Knowledge. Forget trying to change the world. Change yourself. It changes your own world that changes the world.
Not that I am dismissing for one second the great men and women of this world who do work to change the world. Absolutely. But that is not the only option. Changing oneself changes one’s world, changes the world too.
Creating boundaries, knowing how to stand up for ourselves, demanding our right to be our true selves, creating the life we want, getting out of situations where we actually do not want to be, despite the years of guilt and the duties we think are so noble, and that make us such a good person, while we feel so useless and foolish....these are all situations of the abuse of human rights. Our abuse of our own human rights. Our unconscious, slave mentality, abuse of our own human rights. Emotional blackmail is the greatest killer on this planet. It is subtle, completely unconscious, persistent, ego driven and piercing and holds us in a grip for years and years and years, until we wake up and finally do something about it.
We are all born slaves. We are brought up in a world of slavery and duty and hard work. We are taught that these are noble, morally correct, socially acceptable things that make us a good person. For who? Who does it make us a good person for? For the tribe. For the group, for society. Who decides if that society, group or tribe runs on good rules? Exactly. In my work, I have covered the evil of the Patriarchal Toilet Tribe from hell as I like to call it. You can have a look at my other pieces on it all over my blog. This is a tribe that affects everyone. Primarily women, but actually not. It makes every single one of us a slave. And it turns out, in my numerous mystic travels of the past 14 years, that this is the Divine plan for Earth. Not slavery. For each one of us to free ourselves from slavery and overturn evil. Really. The hero’s journey is not just for superheroes or fairy tales or adventure films. It is real and it is ours and we are the only ones who can do it. I did it. It has taken me blood, sweat and so many tears, but I did it and so can you.
I come from a background of chronic low self esteem. I was born a British Pakistani to begin with. In the sixties to the first wave of widespread, institutional, racism in this country as first generation British born. Then, on top of that, from arguably, the most oppressive and repressive culture in the whole world. Pakistanis. Socially, gender wise, sexually, sensually, clothes wise, when you think about how the body is completely covered even in a family without the Hijab covering. And obedience wise and family duty wise. That’s just for starters. I was also born to a war zone. My parents’ marriage. I was also educated privately in London and never went without food. I was born with many advantages and many disadvantages, like most of us.
I have taken 46 years to clear myself of all the abuses around me. So subtle, so unapparent, so suffocating. So endemic and so all pervasive and penetrating. I hated myself. I was so low in self esteem, that I could not go past a bus stop when I was young, without quaking, at being watched by so many people. I would fall madly in love with any human being who showed me any love whatsoever. From the age of 8. I worshipped anyone who gave me any kindness. These things come from cruelty as upbringing, conscious or not conscious. And I attracted bullying my whole life. Chronic low self esteem and thinking it was my fault. Hating my family and yet feeling so guilty for it. I didn’t just have low self esteem. I had no self esteem whatsoever. My gift it seems, is to have known that. To have known that I had a problem, and to know that I had the right and the duty to do something about it.
Low self esteem comes from an abusive, neglect ridden, harsh, unloving background, of whatever nature. This can be the family, this can be the society one lives in, this can be the circumstances of one’s ethnicity, disability, or ability, wearing glasses even, having the wrong hair colour, whatever. But the truth is that we are all abused, because there are so many levels of love in this world and most of us are born to the lowest level of it. It’s called ego. It’s called ignorance, it’s called low emotional intelligence. Self esteem is self love. Self esteem is believing in one’s human rights to be and to be loved by other people.
Then there is the dilemma of being born to a high level of love but having it in much lower levels outside the home. Whatever it is, we are going to meet challenges our whole lives, to make us stand up for ourselves. We are going to lose often and get into situations where we feel bad about ourselves for years and years and years. Emotional and spiritual intelligence, as Osho describes so well in his piece on Courage, is to recognise that authentic power is inside. Authentic power is available to every single human being on this planet and authentic power is power. Anything else is bravado and deadly and useless and temporary.
The most powerful looking human being can stand in front of you and crumble. David and Goliath, the symbolism is clear. Integrity is self belief is self power is the self. The higher self. The Soul in one, speaking. The one who says, I don’t give a fuck anymore what you think of me. You will listen to me, you will hear me and I will risk your loss, because I don’t care anymore, whether I lose you or not. The problem that we have as human beings, is that we think someone else has to do that work for us and we wail in understandable agony for most of our lives, if not all of our lives, believing that someone should do it for us, and we sit there, self destroying forever. No one can do that work for anyone else. Integrity, the ability to stand up for oneself is the only challenge any of us have in our lives. To become free is to become inner free.
Bravado kills, bravado is suicide. Bravado is useless. Bravado is like the lion in the Wizard of Oz. The big lion who has no heart, no courage. That is normal society, macho, empty, weak society, and what we are all born to. The whole system is set up to keep us as slaves, to keep us afraid and to keep us small. And that shocks all of us to the core. How can that level of evil exist? Well, it does. There are many reasons for it, but it is enough to know for the purposes of this piece, that it exists. Coercive power is the norm on this toilet of a planet and the way that power is taught to us. We don’t have it. That is what we are taught and we have to take that on its head and ask why and how do we get it? We get it through emotional and spiritual education. Not religion. As Osho says, priests and politicians are the enemy. That is prosaic, evil society. Look further, look to all the greats; Christopher Howard, Anthony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Martin Luther King JR, all these incredible human beings, I have studied and read for 14 straight years. Frankly, the only people worth listening to. Along with any artist, scientist, creative or icon who speaks the Universal truth of love and freedom and empowerment. Forget the rest. Forget the ones who get all the air time. Subversive is 'cool' for a reason. Outrageous is 'cool' for a reason. It speaks the truth. That is why it is subversive in the first place. Be a rockstar and fuck convention. It just isn't worth it.
And forget about those in power. Inner work is where power comes from. The rest is just ‘all that glitters is not gold’. But the reason we listen, the reason we moan, the reason we kill, the reason we self kill, is fear. It takes massive courage to find courage. That is the problem. But there is no other way. Changing the matter of one’s courage quota takes time, takes education and takes courage. We are literally changing the matter of our being as we become courage. The knowledge of sedition, evil and love is all that we need. Not needing to delude ourselves that we are actually okay where we are, and certainly not projecting hatred, resentment, envy or self pity. There is absolutely no point in any of those emotions and that to me is the mark of a champion. We all do it, and we do it for a very long time. But the minute one steps out of that projection and faces the truth, is the day one becomes a champion. That is the day one becomes free to become the journey to freedom. Anything else is succumbing to the education of evil. Anything else is still being a slave. I was born to become free and so were you. Everyone. I am no slave and I have fought my whole life, not to be a slave and so will you. And so are you. Whether it’s being in a job one hates, a marriage one stays in out of duty or fear, whether it’s looking after a parent because it’s expected, whether it is taking on the negativity of any other human being in front of us because we can see they are in so much pain and stupidity and that they need to project, all these things are the Universe’s demand that we become heroes and heroines. It’s awful, absolutely horrendous. Life is awful and life is horrendous. Until we finally believe that there is no other way. And we finally start living.
And the great news is that once we realise that the only way to be free is to fight, we begin to fucking love it. Because we find out that, contrary to everything we have been taught, that we are bloody good at it. That we know how to fight as warriors at last and not as empty, bullying, stupid, shallow, violent warlords. The meek shall inherit the Earth means that LOVE will inherit the Earth. We are the ones with the right to fight and we are the ones who don’t because we think it is not of love. WRONG! To fight for one’s human rights is the single placing of love on Earth. Representing the Universe. Representing one’s Soul. Representing love. Being of love. Enlightened selfishness I have heard said. Absolutely. And then we just get better and better at it.
Amera Ziganii Rao ©
Thoughts on God Pt l. Amera Ziganii Rao
If enlightenment is the recognition that the love of God/The Universe, is both dark and light and that existence is the all and the whole, then we on Earth have to go further. Earth enlightenment is the recognition that this planet is the actual, complete darkness of God and that bringing the light of the same God into existence, is OUR purpose. Our privilege. God in each one of us. The love. Every hour and every day of our pitiful lives here. We are God's darkness because nothing is outside God. And we are God's light because nothing is outside God. But Earth is the darkness of God. Let us be in no illusion about that. And then we might just win. Accept the whole and choose the way. And therefore, apparently, do 'Thy' will. But do. 'Thy' will is not to obey. 'Thy' will is to love. To stand up for love in each moment in the darkness of Earth, the Divine darkness of Earth, to choose love.
To represent God on God. To take part in Creation. To Love.
Amera Ziganii Rao ©
Men Who DON'T Believe in Love. Susan Edwards (Men and Women Who Don't Believe in Love. Deniers of evil. Amera Ziganii Rao)
I can also see now that this piece affects women as much as it does men. And that this whole exploration of the psyche goes way beyond misogyny, but may indeed be one of its root causes. Deepak Chopra has defined two archetypes of coping mechanisms for life. One denies evil completely, denies their own darkness and in the process, through my experience, and my observations and having been at the roughest end of their treatment, they become psychopaths. People of either sex who are unable and unwilling, psychotically, to see their own darkness and therefore deny it completely and make the other person out to be the villain always. In my experience and the reason for all my writing, these are the most dangerous human beings on Earth and unfortunately the rest of us are here to make them see their sickness.
This seems to fit in perfectly now with Susan Edwards analysis of men who do not believe in love. They do. But they cannot love without confronting their own darkness and that is their sickness and coping mechanism for life. A great deal is said about the other archetype's idealism of, as Deepak Chopra says, making one parent bad and the other good. Ie, my archetype, who's idealism was that I idealised one kind of human being while vilifiying another. It is true and I had to suffer the pain of healing that. I at least however could acknowledge that darkness existed. This other archetype is the most resistant and unyielding as they actually do not acknowledge darkness at all. So to be involved with any human being of this kind, whether one's parent or potential lover or indeed friend, is a terrible burden and it is unfortunately the responsibility of my archetype to make them see and to have the compassion to understand that it is a sickness, while demanding that they do indeed see. A human being who cannot see their own darkness is a psychopath and the rest of us have to work very hard to demand that they do see.
In the process we become heroes and heroines. We are the protaganists in the journey of life and this other archetype is the antagonist (male or female). Through their unfortunate desperation to avoid seeing the dark side, they mete out most of the cruelty and damage and pain in this world and never even know it. Basically, they are mad. And it is the heroes and heroines of this world who have to make them see it. And they do because we do.
Amera Ziganii Rao ©
Amera Ziganii Rao. A Profile
WRITER. ESOTERIC. PHILOSOPHER. ENLIGHTENER. INSPIRER. PHOTOGRAPHER. ARTIST
Amera Ziganii Rao is a philosophical writer, essayist, social commentator, prose writer, dramatist and photographer as well as a consciousness explorer, self actualiser and emotional healer. She is a former hard news journalist who is now turning professional with her art forms and indeed, her healing forms, after a long journey of inner searching, self teaching and exploring many layers and areas of both craft and wisdom. She is now working on her first book of philosophy and esoteric thought, and social and cultural commentary. She is also showing her first photography collections. And last but most definitely not least, she is building a business to share her consciousness and empowering explorations to reach as many people as possible across the world. She is 46 years old and currently lives in London.
AMERA ZIGANII RAO SCHOOL OF LEARNING
Writer and Enlightener, Amera Ziganii Rao, is now putting together a comprehensive and unique programme of Education For Liberation. Liberation of the lower mind into the higher mind, the soul and the inner heart and therefore one's true, confident, happy, successful, creative, sexual, sensual, individual, intelligent, emotionally healed, capable of loving and being loved self. Based on her scholarly and non scholarly work over 14 years, if not for her whole life, and her extensive and intense, visceral experiences of self transformation from resignation, cynicism and despair to a state of bliss, the courses will cover the method of change. The psychological, sociological, spiritual, cultural, political, emotional and physical and even anthropological methods of change. Why we are here. The meaning of life, no less. This will be on offer in the near future, in the form of online courses and live events, to begin with. Thank you
AMERA ZIGANII RAO SCHOOL OF LEARNING ll
In the meantime, please enjoy this website. I have included many of the subjects I am covering, areas of experience and insight that I will be exploring to the fullest in my book, the courses and all the other work that is to come as a dramatist, novelist and essayist. I also of course, include many of the wise people on this planet, who have come long before me; authors, screen dramatists, playwrights, film makers, artists, and other enlighteners and grand carriers of the wisdom I have found the most helpful on my journey, to find peace and become enlightened. The seemingly impossible journey, in the face of oneself and one’s circumstances. People who have contributed massively to my healing on this mad journey called life. People who have helped to make me as good a carrier of wisdom as I in turn, can be. Thank you.
Amera Ziganii Rao ©
Esoteric. Self Actualiser. Consciousness Explorer. Philosophical Writer. Essayist. Dramatist. Prose Writer. Photographer. Film & TV Creative. Entrepreneur. Ex-Journalist.
Other Links
Amera Ziganii Rao. A Profile ll
http://ameraziganiirao.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/amera-ziganii-rao-profile-ll.html
Amera Ziganii Rao Photography
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ziganiirao/
http://ameraziganiiraoart.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you to outside source for the photography.
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