I Am The Not - The Ani Ain System Revisited
Part 3
We quickly learn, in the practice of genuine religion, that every idea reflects itself everywhere. As above, so below.
So, if the Ani Ain system was only a cute way to view metaphysics, then it would ultimately be useless.
But it is also a perspective, and a way of living.
There's you, and there's everything that's not you. Which is more important to you?
The answer spoken does not matter. The answer lived is all that matters. And the answer lived, almost universally is, "I am all there is." Parents abandon their own children just to do their own thing. Lying is the universal commodity, as long as it gets you farther along. Priests fornicate with their entrusted parishioners because it's just not fair to ask them to deny themselves. Murder, rape, theft, war...on and on and on and on...The world is full of, to use an old but perfectly valid word, sin.
Sin comes from actions motivated by ego. I, Me, Mine. The rest of you, the rest of the world, can all be damned.
Biblically, the roots of ego can be found in The Garden of Eden. In the present context, the pure, Limitless Bliss & Love of the AIN descends until it is focused in but one place, one being, the ANI, the pure ego.
The Universal call of the Spirit is to transcend the ANI, and return to the AIN. We do this by identifying more and more with The Not, what we are not.
There's you, and there's everything that's not you. Which is more important to you?
This final installment of The Ani Ain System will point you in many ways to see the presence of "I Am The Not" in our Scriptures, and show you its power.
Jesus
To return to the Philippians 2 account:
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ:
6
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,7
but emptied himself, taking the very nature being made in human likeness.8
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!9
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,10
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
"He humbled himself and became obedient to death...."
Jesus was the Living Embodiment of the ANI AIN. "I Am The Not." He knew that he must die for the good of all. He taught this repeatedly. "The seed is useless, unless it fall to the ground and die."
But it's more. He was able to IDENTIFY with EVERYONE AROUND HIM. His consciousness, his "sense of self," was NOT located in himself! Think about that. "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers YOU DO TO ME."
There's you, and there's everything that's not you. Which is more important to you?
Everything that Jesus was NOT (AIN) was MUCH more important to him than what he WAS (ANI). This was his entire ministry & philosophy. The miracles he did, the death & resurrection he did, ALL OF IT was an expression of love, an identifying himself BEYOND himself. He knew his "I" was best expressed as the "NOT."
 | "Not my will, but Thy will be done." |
| "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." |
| "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you." |
| "Do not be anxious for your life..." |
| "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing." |
| "For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." |
| "He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake will find it." |
| "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives Him who sent me." |
| "Whoever shall do the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother." [Have you ever actually thought about that? Through doing the Will of AIN, you become the Mother of Christ.] |
| "Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." |
Over and over Jesus is teaching us to reach outside ourselves, beyond ourselves. The emptying of self/ego/sin/ANI opens the pathway to Love/Joy/God/AIN.
Not For You?
If I was to summarize the main problem I have with most of "Christianity" today, it is that it does not take Jesus seriously. All of the above passages do not apply to us, the so-called church essentially says. "These are things we would have to do if we were not going to be saved by faith."
This notion is so odd, so twisted, so terribly foul that it can only be called sin. Over and over Jesus tells us what to DO, how to LIVE, how to BE. In endless sermons and songs and hate-filled deeds, the "church" proclaims these to be of no value today. When Jesus says, "You are to be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect," he does not mean that. What he really means is "That's the perfection you would need if you were not going to heaven by believing I died for you."
You may think I am harsh. Too critical. Too judgmental. But I will tell you I have heard this very message literally HUNDREDS of times in my decades attending all variety of churches. Over and over and over we are taught that "We cannot do it. We are no good. Only faith can save you. Trying to be good is bad. That's work righteousness."
That is not true.
That is ego and sin talking. That is the ANI creating for itself a self-justifying "religion," so it can go ahead with all of its vile activities, utterly content that its evil actions do not matter.
But Jesus is quite clear:
"If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."
The call, the vision, the entire structure of all genuine Christianity, can be seen as an explanation and living example of what ANI AIN means.
There's you, and there's everything that's not you. Which is more important to you?
Heaven and Hell
You've probably heard this one before. But it bears repeating.
A man dies. Asks St. Peter for a tour of the afterworld, so to speak.
Pete says, "We'll start in hell."
Takes the man to this huge banquet hall, where an endless table is set with the finest, most glorious food imaginable. And millions of people are sitting at this table, screaming, swearing, pounding their fists. You see, they have casts on their arms, and cannot bend their elbows. So no matter how hard they try they cannot get any of the food into their mouths. For eternity they struggle and fight, but their unbending elbow makes feeding themselves impossible.
Then Pete says, "OK, now look at this."
Right next door there's another hall, indistinguishable from the first. It too contains an endless table that is set with the finest, most glorious food imaginable. Only here, millions of people are sitting at this table, laughing, smiling, singing, and enjoying the Feast of Heaven. They too have a cast on their arms, and cannot bend their elbows. But this does not bother them in the least.
At first the man is puzzled...same hall, same table, same arrangement, same food. There appears to be no difference. Until he notices...The people in Heaven are using their locked arms to reach across the table and feed each other.
Living does matter. How we act does matter. And the simple story tells us, ultimately, everything we need to know: feed only yourself, you are in hell. Feed everyone else, you are in Heaven.
As long as we hold to our little ANI, we are tiny. When we reach outside ourselves, and move toward the AIN, there is limitless bliss awaiting.
Forget about religion; this is just math. In the I-Me-Mine world of ANI, we spend our efforts taking care of ourselves. But at the same time there are 6 billion other people who are doing the same thing. And every one of them sees me as an obstacle to their happiness. In the AIN world of "I Am The Not," I lose the ability to focus on me; I spend my energies taking care of everyone around me. But in return I gain 6 billion people who make it their every desire to help me!
Israel and Palestine
All of our problems, great and small, can be solved through this "I Am The Not" approach to life.
| Think of all the marriages destroyed because each "partner" cares only for their own needs, wants and desires. When the man worships his wife as God's gift, and the woman worships the man as God's gift, then they have transcended the little I-Me-My world of the ANI. They identify with each other. This is supposed to be safe practice ("homework") for getting used to the ANI AIN System. It's, uh, not exactly working. |
| Ditto for parents and children. |
| Ditto for neighborhood...state...country...world...Universe. |
The Israelis need to start a national campaign to secure the peace, health, happiness, and wealth of every Palestinian. They need to continue building settlements on the West Bank, but for the Palestinians to live in.
The Palestinians need to start a national campaign to secure the peace, health, happiness, and wealth of every Israeli. They need to do everything in their power to protect the security of every Israeli.
Many people were deeply upset by my Jesus is a Loser and a Coward piece. It was meant to be sarcastic. Stating the opposite of what's true. I'm sorry if you didn't get it.
Look, again it comes down to mathematics. So, real slow:
- Everyone living the Ani Ain, living for the other, is peace and bliss, the true potential for the human race.
- But everyone does not do this.
- In fact, it's always "The Other Guy" who does not do this.
- So, when "The Other Guy" does not live in Ani Ain, but lives selfishly in sin, I have a choice:
 | I can become just like him, and go to war, or |
| I can stay focused on the Ani Ain, live in love. |
Ultimately, then, Jesus' radical non-violence approach boils down to: "Just because everyone around you lives in sin and hate, that does not mean you must do the same." He insists we remain in love.
Who Are "You?"
Three weeks ago, on 9/11/2002 America went through a national day of mourning over the terrorist bombings of New York's World Trade Center the year before.
Endless anguish and grief over the 2,800 people who died. Books, videos, news specials, up-close-and-personal accounts of the loss, sorrow and pain.
While 45,000 people die of starvation every day on this earth.
Do they matter? No. They are germs. They deserve to die. Those mothers do not care about watching their children starve to death. They do not feel pain like real Americans do. They have never known the real loss of the death of a parent, or watch the maggots eat their children's eyes out.
Only "I" have real suffering. Only "I" matter. Thus are the eternal proclamations of the selfish ANI.
Now please do not be stupid and think that I am saying the people of 9/11/2001 deserved to die or anything like that.
Murder is murder. Pain is pain. Suffering is suffering. Disease is disease, war is war, everywhere it is.
Everywhere. Here, there, everywhere.
But a "nation" that obsesses over the death of 2,800 people on one day, while ignoring the needless starvation of more than 15,000,000 the next year, should not dare to ask God to bless it.
What is your world view? Who are "You?" Your local body? "YOUR" family? Neighborhood? "Your" Country?
Or are "YOU" the world, ALL People, the TOTALITY??!?!?
The AniAin.
There's you, and there's everything that's not you. Which is more important to you?
God Consciousness
That scary phrase "God Consciousness" means to think as God thinks.
Kinda like the Philippians 2 passage we've been working with: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ..."
There's you. The localized ego-centered ANI.
And there's everything that's not you. The AIN. A world full of sad, hurting, miserable, starving, dying people. All of it so needless, no mindlessly needless.
Which is more important to you?
Ani Ain.
I Am The Not.
Ahyh
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