You Are Not Book.indb - Stephen H. Wolinsky Ph. D.

232 / You Are Not
an attempt to control or bring on change or compensate one
state (good) over another (bad state)? 3) Does it not imply
that one state is better than another? 4) If all states are made
of only consciousness (THE SAME SUBSTANCE), why go
for a state? 5) Is love better than hate? 6) Should we temper
a vice by developing a virtue?—and does such a technique
and concept even work and 7) Is it not re-enforcing an “I”
and increasing suffering when a standard or reference point is
used to measure, compare, evaluate, and judge one’s spiritual,
psychological, or emotional health against something? These
ideas are no doubt interesting; however, they are major traps
in “getting” Nirvana; YOU ARE NOT. Why? Because all are
“states”; hence, impermanent, and there has to be an “I” there
to experience these states.
Why is all this so important, or why should we even bring
up all of this?
Because the illusion of “spirituality” as it has been defined
above is laden with traps. Spirituality was seductively introduced
to us, “taken on” by us, and unfortunately, somehow it makes
sense. In the above illustrations, there is an illusion that if an
“I” focuses enough on the “good” (virtue) and pulls attention
away from the “bad” (vice), the vice will lose its power and
eventually it disappears, leaving a new virtuous-”I.” This has
manifested itself not only in “spiritual” circles, but also in
the field of psychology, as “changing beliefs” to the Biblical
concept of “conquering or overcoming evil with good.”
These traps that form illusions and veils of consciousness,
which pervade “our” consciousness are so strong, that they
act as seeds of illusions ready to sprout with their enmeshing,
entrapping fruit as they continue to be watered by “spiritual”
or psychological theory. To cook those seeds of consciousness,
we will offer the “understanding” of Nisargadatta Maharaj:
“You can’t let go of something until you know what it is” or
Ramdas: “You cannot get out of a jail until you know you’re
in one.” Offered below are the “101 Western Philosophical