F.: Thus, many of the reasons that the non-Realized think and talk and emote and behave as they do have been seen: early development of a personality in an effort to cope with confusion and threats and fears that manifest when raised in dysfunctional families in dysfunctional societies on a dysfunctional planet;
early entrapment in personality, usually by the age of six, that causes a fixation at that point which drives persons unconsciously to think and to behave as six-year-olds in many of their adult-age situations;
programming, conditioning, acculturation and domestication; venues that offer no pointers to truth for the few that do seek but instead repeat the ancient myths and superstitions that are now the modern dogma which is accepted with blind faith as truth by 97% of the persons on the planet;
an inability or unwillingness to question, the domestication process having suppressed an early tendency among children to question nonsense when it is heard; teachers that are serving their own personal interests rather than serving up the pointers that guide seekers along all seven of the steps which must be taken in an exact order if seekers are ever to Realize.
So that is why the masses think and talk and emote and behave as they do, in a childish, illogical, unreasonable manner that leaves them believing that natural events have supernatural causes; that leaves them driven by the false content of a fiction-filled "mind";
and that leads to the contradictory belief they are a being that can be punished or rewarded by a Supreme Being, and that some day they too can be also be a Supreme Being, forever, if they play their cards right. Eternal selfness / Selfness...that is the desire of the masses.
That sets the masses up to believe the lie that this temporary condition of beingness can be perpetuated forever with the same mind and with the same personality / personalities and with the same special person (unless they remarry...and remarry...and remarry...then their belief-based scenario about the "afterlife" can become complicated). So that is why they think the way they do, but how do they think, exactly, and what are the results?
HOW THEY THINK
The thinking that is typical among the masses leaves them driven by fears of such proportion and of such darkness that they often reach phobic proportions. That triggers the fight or flight syndrome, and the fights have become, relatively speaking, of an often-fatal character (which will be discussed in the "how they behave" section later).
George Orwell's anti-duality novel 1984 provides some insight into the faulty thought patterns that typify the way that the masses think: he spoke of the kind of "Group Think" that comes about when the propaganda (which is still being spread by governmental, religious, spiritual, business, and military leaders today) results in a collective, public "mind."
It has been noted here that there is no "your mind"; there is only "their mind" which has been adopted and assumed to be one's own. In the novel 1984, Orwell shows that the only result of being exposed to such propaganda and accepting it without question is...duality:
the masses engage in what he calls "doublethink," simultaneously accepting as truth two mutually contradictory beliefs. (One example offered here: "there is a God who loves you unconditionally that can nevertheless judge you, can find you lacking, and will cast you into a place of physical, mental, and emotional torture, forever";
or, "there is a 'universe' that will see to it that you cycle through one unpleasant series of lives after another until you grow and achieve and reach a certain height.)
Consider this analysis in The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism:
The keyword here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink. Doublethink (duality) is basically the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.
To expose the nonsense that the masses accept as truth, satirist Stephen Colbert contrived a word that he uses to point to the tendency among the masses to take beliefs and concepts that are known to be false (known at least at some core level, at the inner resource, inner guru level) and accept them as truth.
He uses the word "truthiness" to point to the lies that persons refuse to admit are false (or that are deemed to be "half-truths"...more duality) but that are accepted when the drive to engage in doublethink pushes back against all natural tendencies to bring into consciousness an awareness of a lie as a lie and to state, unequivocally, that BS is BS.
Now, what is commonplace is not "Truth" but just "truthiness"...beliefs that have just enough of a ring of validity to convince persons that the beliefs must be true. Shared yesterday with two visitors was the connection with the big name teachers who are name-droppers, who mention Maharaj or who studied with him;
who co-op a piece of the teachings; who add elements that will have mass appeal; who thereby distort the teachings; and who thereafter fill bookshelves and venues with those who are seekers of more, not less; who desire knowledge; who want their egos massaged; who buy into something while rejecting any notions about nothing...about nothingness.
Colbert says that truthiness is a "truth" that a person claims to know intuitively—supposedly, "from the gut"— without regard to evidence, logic, intellect, examination, or fact.
Colbert explained, "We're not talking about truth; we're talking about something that seems like truth—the truth that we want to exist," he explained. "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but everyone is not entitled to their own facts. [Nowadays], facts matter not at all. Perception is everything. I really feel a dichotomy (duality) in the American populace. What is important? What you want to be true, or what is true?"
Such is the abnormal norm, when personality and programming and propaganda and dogma bastardize or block the consciousness: the result is that perception trumps pure witnessing; the false trumps facts; and duality trumps non-duality.
One writer recently noted the widespread assumption "that we exist as a permanent, unified, independent being." He sees the widespread absence of understanding reality as "the cause of our most fundamental suffering and anxiety" which results when "we are ignorant of the true nature of our existence.
"Because of our assumption, we cannot fully understand or relate to impermanence (including our own) and the interdependence of all phenomena. It sometimes happens that the initial discovery of egolessness can lead to a nihilistic view of things—emptiness being seen as the absence of anything substantial—nowhere to hang our hat, nobody home, "nothing to get hung about," in the words of The Beatles.
"Why bother to build or create anything if it will be gone sooner than later? But penetrating into the actual experience of egolessness further, it seems that we can discover [that which] is open, energetic and without beginning or end."
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
[THE YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE IN LARGER FORMATS BELOW WHICH MIGHT PROVIDE MORE COMFORTABLE VIEWING FOR SOME SITE VISITORS]
Now you can receive for $40 a downloadable computer file version of the same 7-hour satsang that seekers receive when they visit for the Advaita Retreat with Floyd. You will be guided through the seven steps from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond).
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:
1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond
Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.
To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
Option “A” is for the downloadable file version, Option “B” is used to order the DVD set for delivery inside the U.S., Option “C” for international orders.
For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.
[It is recommended that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]
2. BY READING these books in this exact order:
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS
[Provides the final preparation for the seeker to be directed along the “path”]
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
[Directs the seeker along the “path”]
CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute)
[Allows the seeker to understand the functioning of the totality, the manifestation, and what is involved with the un-manifestation]
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
SAVE IF YOU BUY ALL ELEVEN AT ONCE:
(You may order the books one at a time or you may use the following link to acquire the entire 11-e-Book set on sale for $99 if ordered at one time with the “Buy Now” button below. For this option, there will be no download links provided; once the near-instant notice of payment is received from PayPal, your e-Books will be sent to you as e-mail attachments. All are printable for your convenience.)
You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.
TRANSLATED ADVAITA EBOOKS AVAILABLE
The Advaita eBooks are also available in twenty-two non-English languages. If you are interested in purchasing an eBook in another language, click Contact Floyd to see if the language you prefer is available.
The quality of the translation cannot be guaranteed but it might make some pointers available to seekers that might not otherwise receive them. If you want to send a translated eBook to someone as a gift, that can also be arranged via the contact link above.
(Charges will include the regular price of the eBook + a US$10.00 translating fee per book.)
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3. BY ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes
For information, visit Information on the Advaita Classes on the Internet
To enroll visit Enroll in the Advaita Internet Course
4. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat for satsang with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.
5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session
6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.
YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA YOGA VIDEOS
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Please enter the silence of contemplation.
