A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: Dancing lightly cannot happen when involved in the heavy, burdensome task of impersonating – a job that itself consumes every waking hour. The Light comes via completion of all of the steps on the seven-step and after completing all three legs of the “journey.” Only after that can the lightness come, and the lightness brings – among other things – the following:
1. an end to impersonating;
2. abidance “in” an unperson state;
3. insignificant moments;
4. insignificant happenings;
5. an elasticizing of “time”;
6. an eventual rejection of the concept of “time” because all things previously deemed to be linear in nature are seen to be cyclical instead;
7. a rejection of all things abnormal, unnatural, supposedly supernatural and then a return to your natural, "normal inclinations" as you abide as Your Original Nature;
and then a relative existence marked by
8. an overall lightness.
To explain:
When impersonating comes to an end after the Realization-and-overlaying-of-Reality-on-reality-process is complete, then the lightness comes spontaneously because the process leads persons (persona-players) to an unperson state.
It is seen that only insignificant moments are happening which lead to a series of insignificant happenings that permeate the remainder of the manifestation, and those moments and happenings are understood to be “much ado about nothing.”
What persons call “time” first becomes elastic, then eventually discounted completely. There is no longer a dualistic perception of “regular days vs. special days” or of “holidays” (i.e., “holydays”) vs. ordinary days” (though any occasions can be entered into lightly while dancing through them).
Now, to continue with the excerpts:
From DANCING LIGHTLY: “An Exchange with the Author”
In the "Editor's Note" to the anthologies of Advaita books entitled The Advanced Seekers' Series" and "The Blissful Abidance Series," Andy Gugar, Jr. wrote of his first visit to the home of Floyd Henderson for an Advaita retreat:
"I went to Floyd's that first time with a considerable fear of death (rooted, I would learn, in body and mind and personality identification). He suggested that if I was so afraid of death that the best thing I could do would be to 'go ahead and die now.' Of course that was an anger-invoking, shocking comment to hear, but before I left, I understood that I could not die because I was not born - that what he was saying is that my ego(s) and my egotism must 'die.' I understood after that retreat that I cannot truly live joyfully until this ego - this illusion - dies.
"To that point, I was entering Floyd's house one morning through the door he leaves open while he is preparing breakfast for participants. As I entered, I shouted, 'Knock knock ... anybody home?' He yelled back, 'No.'
And I got it! I knew exactly what he meant, and that understanding has remained and I have since enjoyed the freedom every day of knowing I am no body . . . nobody."
To suggest that “... heavy is the tread of the living, but the dead returning lightly dance” is not to suggest that one can only enjoy "dancing lightly" if they die. It happens for those that return to that "place" from whence they came - in the reverse order - and for those that then "come back" to the relative with a new understanding.
That understanding includes an understanding of the functioning of the totality, an understanding of how a speck of conscious-energy manifested and eventually became blocked from seeing Truth and was left in a condition of ignorance and even insanity that prevents seeing Reality and blocks all opportunity to differentiate the true from the false.
But if you complete this "journey," you’re going to see exactly, step-by-step, how you got from the Absolute state to the false belief that you’re a body. And you’re going to see how to get from believing that you are a body to Realization of the Absolute. And seeing that complete cycle, then you’re going to understand all the cycles (including how the "cycling in" happens and how the "cycling out" happens).
You will understand each step of the "way in," all the way from the Absolute to body identification; then you will understand why the way to Realizing (and abiding as) the Absolute happens only when each of those steps is taken again, in reverse order.
Maharaj: “…You should go back, reverse, to the source”
and
“Follow the same path by which you came.”
In the statement that it is "the dead returning that lightly dance," the "death" referred to is the death of ego . . . to the end of the assumption of ego-states as identities and the end of the use of egotism to defend those false roles. "Returning" refers to "the journey" by which seekers return to their Original Nature and then overlay the understanding of that nature on the relative existence.
And as a result, the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (which Maharaj identified as “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity”) will disappear.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
7 March 2014
1. an end to impersonating;
2. abidance “in” an unperson state;
3. insignificant moments;
4. insignificant happenings;
5. an elasticizing of “time”;
6. an eventual rejection of the concept of “time” because all things previously deemed to be linear in nature are seen to be cyclical instead;
7. a rejection of all things abnormal, unnatural, supposedly supernatural and then a return to your natural, "normal inclinations" as you abide as Your Original Nature;
and then a relative existence marked by
8. an overall lightness.
To explain:
When impersonating comes to an end after the Realization-and-overlaying-of-Reality-on-reality-process is complete, then the lightness comes spontaneously because the process leads persons (persona-players) to an unperson state.
It is seen that only insignificant moments are happening which lead to a series of insignificant happenings that permeate the remainder of the manifestation, and those moments and happenings are understood to be “much ado about nothing.”
What persons call “time” first becomes elastic, then eventually discounted completely. There is no longer a dualistic perception of “regular days vs. special days” or of “holidays” (i.e., “holydays”) vs. ordinary days” (though any occasions can be entered into lightly while dancing through them).
Now, to continue with the excerpts:
From DANCING LIGHTLY: “An Exchange with the Author”
In the "Editor's Note" to the anthologies of Advaita books entitled The Advanced Seekers' Series" and "The Blissful Abidance Series," Andy Gugar, Jr. wrote of his first visit to the home of Floyd Henderson for an Advaita retreat:
"I went to Floyd's that first time with a considerable fear of death (rooted, I would learn, in body and mind and personality identification). He suggested that if I was so afraid of death that the best thing I could do would be to 'go ahead and die now.' Of course that was an anger-invoking, shocking comment to hear, but before I left, I understood that I could not die because I was not born - that what he was saying is that my ego(s) and my egotism must 'die.' I understood after that retreat that I cannot truly live joyfully until this ego - this illusion - dies.
"To that point, I was entering Floyd's house one morning through the door he leaves open while he is preparing breakfast for participants. As I entered, I shouted, 'Knock knock ... anybody home?' He yelled back, 'No.'
And I got it! I knew exactly what he meant, and that understanding has remained and I have since enjoyed the freedom every day of knowing I am no body . . . nobody."
To suggest that “... heavy is the tread of the living, but the dead returning lightly dance” is not to suggest that one can only enjoy "dancing lightly" if they die. It happens for those that return to that "place" from whence they came - in the reverse order - and for those that then "come back" to the relative with a new understanding.
That understanding includes an understanding of the functioning of the totality, an understanding of how a speck of conscious-energy manifested and eventually became blocked from seeing Truth and was left in a condition of ignorance and even insanity that prevents seeing Reality and blocks all opportunity to differentiate the true from the false.
But if you complete this "journey," you’re going to see exactly, step-by-step, how you got from the Absolute state to the false belief that you’re a body. And you’re going to see how to get from believing that you are a body to Realization of the Absolute. And seeing that complete cycle, then you’re going to understand all the cycles (including how the "cycling in" happens and how the "cycling out" happens).
You will understand each step of the "way in," all the way from the Absolute to body identification; then you will understand why the way to Realizing (and abiding as) the Absolute happens only when each of those steps is taken again, in reverse order.
Maharaj: “…You should go back, reverse, to the source”
and
“Follow the same path by which you came.”
In the statement that it is "the dead returning that lightly dance," the "death" referred to is the death of ego . . . to the end of the assumption of ego-states as identities and the end of the use of egotism to defend those false roles. "Returning" refers to "the journey" by which seekers return to their Original Nature and then overlay the understanding of that nature on the relative existence.
And as a result, the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (which Maharaj identified as “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity”) will disappear.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
7 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: It has been asked over the years, “If there is nothing after ‘this,’ why even try to Realize?”
The reply: “Only to effect change now, if change is indicated or if change is sought. In the end, Realization is not what should be sought. An elimination of the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (including ‘ignorance, stupidity, and insanity,’ per Maharaj) should be the intent of following the ‘path’ to its end and completing all legs of the ‘journey’.”
For those with no desire to be free of arguing, struggling, fighting, hostility, conflict and chaos, then the “journey” and Realization will have no appeal. For those that would be free of those, then the effects of Realization can effect a change, but only NOW. That (THAT) which is permanent is unchangeable. The only change that can manifest is a change during this AM-ness.
Why Realize, then? Because all arguing, struggling, fighting, hostility, conflict and chaos are rooted in duality, in the belief in “differences,” in a false sense of “different-from-ment” and in a false sense of “better-than-ness.”
And who are those on the planet right now who are most attached to their belief in “differences” and in a false sense of “different-from-ment” and in a false sense of “better-than-ness”? People who take things and themselves to be holy. (Recall that Maharaj said that the only ones who will be truly ready to receive the message offered in the loft were those who had already transitioned beyond belief in both "sin and virtue," or beyond any belief in the duality of things "unholy" vs. things "holy").
If the non-dual understanding happens and is then overlaid on the relative existence, then all beliefs concerning the concept of “holy” will end, instantaneously and spontaneously. Consider:
Most who speak of things (or Things) holy have no clue about what the word “holy” actually means. It simply means, “different.” How about the word “Bible”? That’s from the Greek word “biblia” meaning “the books.”
So “Holy Bible” refers to a “Different Book,” supposedly because the men who wrote it were “different,” (that is, "holy") men who were supposedly hearing a god or gods speak and then passing on what they claim to have heard (a.k.a., either "schizophrenia" or a pure con job).
And the same applies to all organized religions – and to many so-called “spiritual groups” – all of whom claim to have a book or books that are prized and deemed to be “inspired” and “holy.” Thus, there are so-called “holy men of God” and so-called “holy women” and other so-called “holy texts” and so-called “holy land” and so-called “holy sites,” et cetera, et cetera, and et cetera, blah-blah-and-blah.
There has been discussed on this site what can be referred to as “The Vocabulary of Non-Duality.” There are words that the Realized simply do not use, words such as “different” for example. The Realized understand that all is One, and Oneness preempts any and all belief in “different-ness.” There is nothing that is “holy.”
[“The Vocabulary of Non-Duality” is not unlike the language of the Cherokees, a language which the one I called “Grandmother” spoke. That language, like the language of other indigenous peoples (who had some understanding of the Oneness and whose "Native American" lineage can be traced back to Asia / India) included no words that supported dualistic concepts / beliefs. For example, Grandmother’s original language had no words for “different,” “dissimilar,” “diverse,” unlike,” “distinctive,” “special,” “singular,” “atypical,” “unique,” or “separate.”]
Nothing that is rooted in duality can result in lightness, much less Light or enlightenment, so to continue with more excerpts from the eBook below entitled DANCING LIGHTLY.
For billions of religious monomaniacs around the globe, their dogma and agendas have become their single focus. For millions more, the same is the case with their philosophies or ideologies or programs.
For some interested in Advaita Vedanta, that interest can also become an obsession, constantly dominating their every waking moment. Don't all types who are obsessive or compulsive about anything - including their dogma, their ideology, their philosophy, their program or anything else - eventually prove to be rather boring company? Realization results in lightness, not heaviness. A sure sign of Realization is evidenced by a lack of excessive seriousness and the presence of frequent laughter. Post-Realization, any further involvement with the teachings is just for entertainment, is just part of the dance.
Sure, when persons visit here for retreats, Advaita is the primary topic. When visits are paid to seekers in other cities, other countries, or on other continents, of course they want to talk about Advaita. That is all fine and is as it should be at that point.
Yet none of that is a part of the daily routine or happenings here. Posts are posted on the Advaita website in the morning, and once that is done, Advaita is also done for the day (some non-duality writing projects or Skype sessions or retreats or email responses notwithstanding). After that, there is just the enjoyment of the freedom that has come via the understanding.
Do some among the Realized call here to discuss some element of the teachings that brought a new awareness? Yes. Do some read the latest books released here? Yes. But it is all for entertainment. With Realization, the seeker dissolved, so seeking is not going on. Only entertainment is going on. Some Realized teach, some do not, but even with those teaching, it is mere entertainment.
If someone visits or calls and they are Realized Advaitins, what more needs to be said or shared or discussed? Nothing, really, yet totally for the fun of it, totally for entertainment alone, there can be a dance that is entered into or shared. It is a dance that does not interrupt the lightness but that can be a fleeting part of the lightness when DANCING LIGHTLY happens. Again, Post-Realization, any further involvement with the teachings is just for entertainment, is just part of the dance.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
6 March 2014
The reply: “Only to effect change now, if change is indicated or if change is sought. In the end, Realization is not what should be sought. An elimination of the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (including ‘ignorance, stupidity, and insanity,’ per Maharaj) should be the intent of following the ‘path’ to its end and completing all legs of the ‘journey’.”
For those with no desire to be free of arguing, struggling, fighting, hostility, conflict and chaos, then the “journey” and Realization will have no appeal. For those that would be free of those, then the effects of Realization can effect a change, but only NOW. That (THAT) which is permanent is unchangeable. The only change that can manifest is a change during this AM-ness.
Why Realize, then? Because all arguing, struggling, fighting, hostility, conflict and chaos are rooted in duality, in the belief in “differences,” in a false sense of “different-from-ment” and in a false sense of “better-than-ness.”
And who are those on the planet right now who are most attached to their belief in “differences” and in a false sense of “different-from-ment” and in a false sense of “better-than-ness”? People who take things and themselves to be holy. (Recall that Maharaj said that the only ones who will be truly ready to receive the message offered in the loft were those who had already transitioned beyond belief in both "sin and virtue," or beyond any belief in the duality of things "unholy" vs. things "holy").
If the non-dual understanding happens and is then overlaid on the relative existence, then all beliefs concerning the concept of “holy” will end, instantaneously and spontaneously. Consider:
Most who speak of things (or Things) holy have no clue about what the word “holy” actually means. It simply means, “different.” How about the word “Bible”? That’s from the Greek word “biblia” meaning “the books.”
So “Holy Bible” refers to a “Different Book,” supposedly because the men who wrote it were “different,” (that is, "holy") men who were supposedly hearing a god or gods speak and then passing on what they claim to have heard (a.k.a., either "schizophrenia" or a pure con job).
And the same applies to all organized religions – and to many so-called “spiritual groups” – all of whom claim to have a book or books that are prized and deemed to be “inspired” and “holy.” Thus, there are so-called “holy men of God” and so-called “holy women” and other so-called “holy texts” and so-called “holy land” and so-called “holy sites,” et cetera, et cetera, and et cetera, blah-blah-and-blah.
There has been discussed on this site what can be referred to as “The Vocabulary of Non-Duality.” There are words that the Realized simply do not use, words such as “different” for example. The Realized understand that all is One, and Oneness preempts any and all belief in “different-ness.” There is nothing that is “holy.”
[“The Vocabulary of Non-Duality” is not unlike the language of the Cherokees, a language which the one I called “Grandmother” spoke. That language, like the language of other indigenous peoples (who had some understanding of the Oneness and whose "Native American" lineage can be traced back to Asia / India) included no words that supported dualistic concepts / beliefs. For example, Grandmother’s original language had no words for “different,” “dissimilar,” “diverse,” unlike,” “distinctive,” “special,” “singular,” “atypical,” “unique,” or “separate.”]
Nothing that is rooted in duality can result in lightness, much less Light or enlightenment, so to continue with more excerpts from the eBook below entitled DANCING LIGHTLY.
For billions of religious monomaniacs around the globe, their dogma and agendas have become their single focus. For millions more, the same is the case with their philosophies or ideologies or programs.
For some interested in Advaita Vedanta, that interest can also become an obsession, constantly dominating their every waking moment. Don't all types who are obsessive or compulsive about anything - including their dogma, their ideology, their philosophy, their program or anything else - eventually prove to be rather boring company? Realization results in lightness, not heaviness. A sure sign of Realization is evidenced by a lack of excessive seriousness and the presence of frequent laughter. Post-Realization, any further involvement with the teachings is just for entertainment, is just part of the dance.
Sure, when persons visit here for retreats, Advaita is the primary topic. When visits are paid to seekers in other cities, other countries, or on other continents, of course they want to talk about Advaita. That is all fine and is as it should be at that point.
Yet none of that is a part of the daily routine or happenings here. Posts are posted on the Advaita website in the morning, and once that is done, Advaita is also done for the day (some non-duality writing projects or Skype sessions or retreats or email responses notwithstanding). After that, there is just the enjoyment of the freedom that has come via the understanding.
Do some among the Realized call here to discuss some element of the teachings that brought a new awareness? Yes. Do some read the latest books released here? Yes. But it is all for entertainment. With Realization, the seeker dissolved, so seeking is not going on. Only entertainment is going on. Some Realized teach, some do not, but even with those teaching, it is mere entertainment.
If someone visits or calls and they are Realized Advaitins, what more needs to be said or shared or discussed? Nothing, really, yet totally for the fun of it, totally for entertainment alone, there can be a dance that is entered into or shared. It is a dance that does not interrupt the lightness but that can be a fleeting part of the lightness when DANCING LIGHTLY happens. Again, Post-Realization, any further involvement with the teachings is just for entertainment, is just part of the dance.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
6 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: Continuing with excerpts from the eBook (see below for more information) entitled DANCING LIGHTLY:
The "journey" from the darkness to the light of Full Realization is not as much an evolutionary process as a cleansing - a housecleaning process, if you will; it does not involve learning more but is focused eventually on unlearning all.
Only then can chaos generated by dual-mindedness be eliminated. (Consider the planet-wide chaos underway at this very instant. Try to name anywhere on the planet where the fighting and killing and war and genocide that are happening globally, right now, did not begin because of differing beliefs. It cannot be done. All chaos and conflict evolves from beliefs, and that is why – if one would enjoy the bliss of peace NOW – then all must be un-learned so that no beliefs remain.)
But, like any evolutionary process, there are steps or stages that must passed through along the way. Eventually, for all seekers that travel the entire "path" to its end, there awaits the possibility of overlaying Reality upon the relative.
Once that happens, then everything involved with Advaita - and with all things relative - can be likened to a dance . . . to a dance that takes place in the lightest and most entertaining of fashions.
Dancing is natural, happening at the most basic level of all that is functioning in this universe, even at the sub-atomic level. It was explained this way to a visitor named Vignesh who described himself as "Hindu by birth but investigating Advaita":
What is timeless is that which preceded this universe. You should be able to see now that a void cannot “have” consciousness. You should be able to see that within a space that was once a void, an atom manifested and at a subatomic level, its elements were conscious of the other elements as they moved in a dance.
As for "Vignesh," where once there was a void of sorts, consciousness manifested within a space and now Vignesh is involved in a dance. The dance should be an entertaining dance . . . as if the Self were engaged in a movement with itSelf, understanding the Oneness and therefore understanding the "not-two-ness" of the Am-ness and the THAT-ness.
During that dance, the speck of consciousness called “Vignesh” would know that neither the body nor the “mind” nor any personality or persona is experiencing anything. It would be understood, instead, that all which is phenomenal merely appears in that Light Which You Truly Are. Then the dance can last throughout the remainder of the manifestation and will happen with no more concern than that shown by an electron as it dances about in the space of an atom.
In order to participate in the dance, one must un-learn all that she / he has been told. You have been dancing “their” dance . . . The Dance of the Mirage. Rather than dancing with the True Self, they actually programmed you not to dance lightly but to march about stiffly instead.
They programmed you to march to the beat of their drum which is pounding out an unnatural or supernatural beat. Marching to the beat of their drum will never allow one to enter into the smooth and even flow of the dance of awareness, the dance of freedom, the dance of peace, the dance of joy, the dance of all that is nisarga (natural).
Whereas “they” told you that you are Hindu by birth, You now have an opportunity to awaken to the truth, to know that you are not Vignesh, not Hindu, not born, and not headed to a rebirth or series of rebirths. There is this time only, this moment only. Enjoy it … NOW. Dance NOW.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
5 March 2014
The "journey" from the darkness to the light of Full Realization is not as much an evolutionary process as a cleansing - a housecleaning process, if you will; it does not involve learning more but is focused eventually on unlearning all.
Only then can chaos generated by dual-mindedness be eliminated. (Consider the planet-wide chaos underway at this very instant. Try to name anywhere on the planet where the fighting and killing and war and genocide that are happening globally, right now, did not begin because of differing beliefs. It cannot be done. All chaos and conflict evolves from beliefs, and that is why – if one would enjoy the bliss of peace NOW – then all must be un-learned so that no beliefs remain.)
But, like any evolutionary process, there are steps or stages that must passed through along the way. Eventually, for all seekers that travel the entire "path" to its end, there awaits the possibility of overlaying Reality upon the relative.
Once that happens, then everything involved with Advaita - and with all things relative - can be likened to a dance . . . to a dance that takes place in the lightest and most entertaining of fashions.
Dancing is natural, happening at the most basic level of all that is functioning in this universe, even at the sub-atomic level. It was explained this way to a visitor named Vignesh who described himself as "Hindu by birth but investigating Advaita":
What is timeless is that which preceded this universe. You should be able to see now that a void cannot “have” consciousness. You should be able to see that within a space that was once a void, an atom manifested and at a subatomic level, its elements were conscious of the other elements as they moved in a dance.
As for "Vignesh," where once there was a void of sorts, consciousness manifested within a space and now Vignesh is involved in a dance. The dance should be an entertaining dance . . . as if the Self were engaged in a movement with itSelf, understanding the Oneness and therefore understanding the "not-two-ness" of the Am-ness and the THAT-ness.
During that dance, the speck of consciousness called “Vignesh” would know that neither the body nor the “mind” nor any personality or persona is experiencing anything. It would be understood, instead, that all which is phenomenal merely appears in that Light Which You Truly Are. Then the dance can last throughout the remainder of the manifestation and will happen with no more concern than that shown by an electron as it dances about in the space of an atom.
In order to participate in the dance, one must un-learn all that she / he has been told. You have been dancing “their” dance . . . The Dance of the Mirage. Rather than dancing with the True Self, they actually programmed you not to dance lightly but to march about stiffly instead.
They programmed you to march to the beat of their drum which is pounding out an unnatural or supernatural beat. Marching to the beat of their drum will never allow one to enter into the smooth and even flow of the dance of awareness, the dance of freedom, the dance of peace, the dance of joy, the dance of all that is nisarga (natural).
Whereas “they” told you that you are Hindu by birth, You now have an opportunity to awaken to the truth, to know that you are not Vignesh, not Hindu, not born, and not headed to a rebirth or series of rebirths. There is this time only, this moment only. Enjoy it … NOW. Dance NOW.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
5 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: It was asked: “So how are you moving through the relative existence?”
Lightly or soberly? In a light fashion or in a grave manner? Would those who spend enough time in your presence to offer an honest and objective observation be more likely to say that they see you as . . .?
Solemn . . . or cheerful? Stern . . . or easygoing? Grim . . . or lively? Severe . . . or moderate? Staid . . . or joyous? Relaxed and taking it easy . . . or unable to unwind, calm down, slow down, let go, loosen up, and lighten up?
A series of satsang sessions are serialized in the book entitled "FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)." This was noted in at the end of those sessions:
“Realization is marked by the abandoning of all concepts. On this seven-step ‘journey,’ we’ve used many concepts to remove concepts, not unlike the proverbial thorn used to remove a thorn. If you have something within you like a thorn, and you use a thorn to get rid of that which was within, that which was causing your misery, what effort need remain after the removal?
"The work is done; the tools required for the task—the thorns needed to remove the thorn—are no longer required. What further exercises could be indicated? Realized, You will not know any concern about any thorns from ‘the past.’ You will not long for any thorn to return. You will not save spare thorns just in case they might be needed in ‘the future.’ You will not work to maintain Your 'state of non-thorn-ness.' It’s all gone, all dissolved. It just happened automatically when the last concept dis-appeared.”
At that point, you can just enjoy the dance.]
The following are shared in the eBook DANCING LIGHTLY:
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined; No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet To chase the glowing hours with flying feet. (George Gordon, Lord Byron)
You can dance anywhere, even if only in your heart. (Author Unknown)
Dance is the only art of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made. (Ted Shawn)
To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. (Agnes De Mille)
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should dance. (Author Unknown)
We ought to dance with rapture that we might be alive . . . and part of the living, incarnate cosmos. (D.H. Lawrence)
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche)
To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak. (Hopi Indian Saying)
SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ:
"I am neither the potentiality nor the actualisation, nor the actuality of things. In my light they come and go as the specks of dust dancing in the sunbeam. The light illumines the specks, but does not depend on them. Nor can it be said to create them. It cannot be even said to know them"
and
"The moon dancing on the water is seen in the water, but it is caused by the moon in the sky and not by the water."
[Floyd: "So, too, the dancing that is seen among the Realized is caused not by "a person" but by the freedom that follows the understanding of the functioning of the totality and by abiding thereafter as Your Original Nature, overlaying Reality upon the relative."]
A visitor to Maharaj's loft noted:
There was "a woman ... beginning a guru-disciple relationship with Maharaj. He was encouraging her to take initiation from him. It was like watching a romance, a dance."
[Floyd: "Once the Oneness is known and True Love manifests, then the dance can happen. To some, the dance might look like romance, like "love," yet it is not. It is merely the dance that occurs when the instrument of the heart begins playing a melodious tune called "Real Love Understood" after the Wisdom manifests - the Wisdom which allows for the knowing of the Oneness ... the understanding of the Everything-ness."]
From another visitor:
Speaking of Maharaj's morning ritual, he noted that Maharaj would " . . . join the bhajan-dance and forget himself."
[Floyd: "Actually, it was because He forgot his 'self' that he could then dance."]
See? If a man with no legs were to complete the seven-step “journey” and abide in a Nisarga (natural fashion), even he could dance lightly. How could that be? Because Realization brings the lightness that comes if one is free of any and all belief in selfness or Selfness, and “to dance is to be out of yourself.”
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
4 March 2014
Lightly or soberly? In a light fashion or in a grave manner? Would those who spend enough time in your presence to offer an honest and objective observation be more likely to say that they see you as . . .?
Solemn . . . or cheerful? Stern . . . or easygoing? Grim . . . or lively? Severe . . . or moderate? Staid . . . or joyous? Relaxed and taking it easy . . . or unable to unwind, calm down, slow down, let go, loosen up, and lighten up?
A series of satsang sessions are serialized in the book entitled "FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)." This was noted in at the end of those sessions:
“Realization is marked by the abandoning of all concepts. On this seven-step ‘journey,’ we’ve used many concepts to remove concepts, not unlike the proverbial thorn used to remove a thorn. If you have something within you like a thorn, and you use a thorn to get rid of that which was within, that which was causing your misery, what effort need remain after the removal?
"The work is done; the tools required for the task—the thorns needed to remove the thorn—are no longer required. What further exercises could be indicated? Realized, You will not know any concern about any thorns from ‘the past.’ You will not long for any thorn to return. You will not save spare thorns just in case they might be needed in ‘the future.’ You will not work to maintain Your 'state of non-thorn-ness.' It’s all gone, all dissolved. It just happened automatically when the last concept dis-appeared.”
At that point, you can just enjoy the dance.]
The following are shared in the eBook DANCING LIGHTLY:
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined; No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet To chase the glowing hours with flying feet. (George Gordon, Lord Byron)
You can dance anywhere, even if only in your heart. (Author Unknown)
Dance is the only art of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made. (Ted Shawn)
To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. (Agnes De Mille)
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should dance. (Author Unknown)
We ought to dance with rapture that we might be alive . . . and part of the living, incarnate cosmos. (D.H. Lawrence)
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche)
To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak. (Hopi Indian Saying)
SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ:
"I am neither the potentiality nor the actualisation, nor the actuality of things. In my light they come and go as the specks of dust dancing in the sunbeam. The light illumines the specks, but does not depend on them. Nor can it be said to create them. It cannot be even said to know them"
and
"The moon dancing on the water is seen in the water, but it is caused by the moon in the sky and not by the water."
[Floyd: "So, too, the dancing that is seen among the Realized is caused not by "a person" but by the freedom that follows the understanding of the functioning of the totality and by abiding thereafter as Your Original Nature, overlaying Reality upon the relative."]
A visitor to Maharaj's loft noted:
There was "a woman ... beginning a guru-disciple relationship with Maharaj. He was encouraging her to take initiation from him. It was like watching a romance, a dance."
[Floyd: "Once the Oneness is known and True Love manifests, then the dance can happen. To some, the dance might look like romance, like "love," yet it is not. It is merely the dance that occurs when the instrument of the heart begins playing a melodious tune called "Real Love Understood" after the Wisdom manifests - the Wisdom which allows for the knowing of the Oneness ... the understanding of the Everything-ness."]
From another visitor:
Speaking of Maharaj's morning ritual, he noted that Maharaj would " . . . join the bhajan-dance and forget himself."
[Floyd: "Actually, it was because He forgot his 'self' that he could then dance."]
See? If a man with no legs were to complete the seven-step “journey” and abide in a Nisarga (natural fashion), even he could dance lightly. How could that be? Because Realization brings the lightness that comes if one is free of any and all belief in selfness or Selfness, and “to dance is to be out of yourself.”
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
4 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: The last post shared the different ways that the nine basic personality types “present themselves” if they are religious and / or spiritual, but one commonality was apparent among all types: they take themselves very seriously.
For all the claims about the supposed “peace and happiness” that their faith brings, an often too-serious style emerges (especially when discussing that faith, and especially if the validity of their supposed faith-produced peace or happiness or the validity of their dogma is questioned).
Those being driven through the relative existence by blind faith want everyone to be driven by blind faith, so questioning anything that is religious-or-spiritually-based is out of the question.
Yet how happy are those who are rigid and judgmental and critical? How happy are though who are giving and rescuing in order to try to get love when the amount of their help and giving and loving far exceeds what they expect to get in return but, frustratingly, seldom do?
How happy are those who are involved in spiritual workaholism, who are forever having to keep up their pretense in public while putting on a phony stage show by displaying their religious or spiritual personas?
How happy are those using their religion or spirituality to escape? Or to accumulate knowledge and show it off? Or who are willing to punish or kill in the name of their God?
In the eBook below entitled DANCING LIGHTLY, alternative styles of moving through the relative existence are discussed. Some excerpts will be shared:
Edward Thomas wrote during one of humanity’s ongoing periods of war: “And heavy is the tread of the living, but the dead returning lightly dance.”
Dancing lightly can happen as well for the remainder of the manifestation among those who have “died the death of” ego and personality.
These definitions are shared in that eBook:
Dancing: "To move one's feet or body, or both, rhythmically in a pattern of steps."
Dancing: "To leap and skip, as from excitement"; "to move nimbly or quickly"; "to dance with joy."
Dancing to "another tune": "To forfeit one's attitudes and beliefs."
Dancing: "To move merrily"; "to express pleasure by motion."
Then this offered for consideration:
“Dancing can involve a fluid, even, natural motion which, at its core, exudes joy and pleasure and lightness. It can also involve no movement at all when the dance takes place within and provides a sense of fullness and unchecked joy.
Either way, there is never a "roller-coaster" type of jerkiness with post-Realization dancing. There is smoothness and gracefulness and agility. Moving through the relative existence post-Realization is like moving smoothly across a dance floor (not in some helter-skelter fashion and not in some roller coaster fashion with excessive up's and down's but in a slow, deliberate, even, level, steady, flexible, and effortless manner)”
and
"The 'end game' with Advaita is not to be able to eat, drink, breathe, talk, dissect, and analyze Advaita; nor is the 'end game' to spend all of one's waking hours pontificating about Advaita.
The 'end game' is to reach an understanding that results in a love of silence and solitude; that allows Reality to be overlaid upon the relative so that a nisarga (natural) manner of abidance happens; that allows all to happen spontaneously while, ironically, also happening deliberately."
With the sense of limitlessness that manifests post-Realization, then all can be relished (or at least witnessed without becoming emotionally-intoxicated or depressed long-term), including the working required to assure independence, the walking, the eating, the looking at what nature has to offer, the sitting, the sharing, and, yes, the dancing."
So how are you moving through the relative existence?
Lightly . . . or soberly?
In a light fashion . . . or in a grave manner?
Would those who spend enough time in your presence to offer an honest and objective appraisal be more likely to say that they see you as …
Solemn . . . or cheerful?
Stern . . . or easygoing?
Grim . . . or lively?
Severe . . . or moderate?
Staid . . . or joyous?
Obsessive . . . or balanced and harmonious?
Fun-loving . . . or repressed?
Would they say that you are the type who can relax and take it easy, or would they claim that the ability to unwind, calm down, slow down, let go, loosen up, and lighten up is totally alien to you?
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
Previous post
For all the claims about the supposed “peace and happiness” that their faith brings, an often too-serious style emerges (especially when discussing that faith, and especially if the validity of their supposed faith-produced peace or happiness or the validity of their dogma is questioned).
Those being driven through the relative existence by blind faith want everyone to be driven by blind faith, so questioning anything that is religious-or-spiritually-based is out of the question.
Yet how happy are those who are rigid and judgmental and critical? How happy are though who are giving and rescuing in order to try to get love when the amount of their help and giving and loving far exceeds what they expect to get in return but, frustratingly, seldom do?
How happy are those who are involved in spiritual workaholism, who are forever having to keep up their pretense in public while putting on a phony stage show by displaying their religious or spiritual personas?
How happy are those using their religion or spirituality to escape? Or to accumulate knowledge and show it off? Or who are willing to punish or kill in the name of their God?
In the eBook below entitled DANCING LIGHTLY, alternative styles of moving through the relative existence are discussed. Some excerpts will be shared:
Edward Thomas wrote during one of humanity’s ongoing periods of war: “And heavy is the tread of the living, but the dead returning lightly dance.”
Dancing lightly can happen as well for the remainder of the manifestation among those who have “died the death of” ego and personality.
These definitions are shared in that eBook:
Dancing: "To move one's feet or body, or both, rhythmically in a pattern of steps."
Dancing: "To leap and skip, as from excitement"; "to move nimbly or quickly"; "to dance with joy."
Dancing to "another tune": "To forfeit one's attitudes and beliefs."
Dancing: "To move merrily"; "to express pleasure by motion."
Then this offered for consideration:
“Dancing can involve a fluid, even, natural motion which, at its core, exudes joy and pleasure and lightness. It can also involve no movement at all when the dance takes place within and provides a sense of fullness and unchecked joy.
Either way, there is never a "roller-coaster" type of jerkiness with post-Realization dancing. There is smoothness and gracefulness and agility. Moving through the relative existence post-Realization is like moving smoothly across a dance floor (not in some helter-skelter fashion and not in some roller coaster fashion with excessive up's and down's but in a slow, deliberate, even, level, steady, flexible, and effortless manner)”
and
"The 'end game' with Advaita is not to be able to eat, drink, breathe, talk, dissect, and analyze Advaita; nor is the 'end game' to spend all of one's waking hours pontificating about Advaita.
The 'end game' is to reach an understanding that results in a love of silence and solitude; that allows Reality to be overlaid upon the relative so that a nisarga (natural) manner of abidance happens; that allows all to happen spontaneously while, ironically, also happening deliberately."
With the sense of limitlessness that manifests post-Realization, then all can be relished (or at least witnessed without becoming emotionally-intoxicated or depressed long-term), including the working required to assure independence, the walking, the eating, the looking at what nature has to offer, the sitting, the sharing, and, yes, the dancing."
So how are you moving through the relative existence?
Lightly . . . or soberly?
In a light fashion . . . or in a grave manner?
Would those who spend enough time in your presence to offer an honest and objective appraisal be more likely to say that they see you as …
Solemn . . . or cheerful?
Stern . . . or easygoing?
Grim . . . or lively?
Severe . . . or moderate?
Staid . . . or joyous?
Obsessive . . . or balanced and harmonious?
Fun-loving . . . or repressed?
Would they say that you are the type who can relax and take it easy, or would they claim that the ability to unwind, calm down, slow down, let go, loosen up, and lighten up is totally alien to you?
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
Previous post
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: Two recurring themes in Maharaj's talks were these:
1. From early on to the end, he advised visitors to be rid of personal identification, of the influence of personality; and
2. to some degree early on, and more so later on, he advised visitors to abandon spirituality and spiritual seeking and spiritual exercises and to follow their "normal inclinations." (That is, stop all of the unnatural and supernatural thinking and doing and going and zooming and then just abide naturally.)
Assumed and / or assigned religious and spiritual roles can take many forms, depending on the religion or denomination or sect that persons buy into or depending on the spiritual programming or conditioning or indoctrination or domestication or acculturation or "program" that persons buy into; moreover, the ways those roles are played will also vary depending on the primary personality type of the indoctrinated persons.
There are nine basic personality types, and the way they drive persons' behavior around religion or spirituality will vary because all nine have different hidden agendas, different basic desires, and different basic fears.
Type Ones who are religious and / or spiritual: will be obsessive-compulsive as they seek "perfection" and "absolute purity"; they will be critical; judgmental; anal; and rigid; they will be reformists who want everyone to believe what they believe; and they will dare anyone to suggest that anything other than their beliefs are "the right ones";
Type Twos who are religious and / or spiritual: will present as helpers and saviors and rescuers, proselytizing in the name of helping all people whose paths they cross but actually offering to help in order to try to get in return the love they did not get from their fathers in childhood; they will be narcissistic about their faith and will be intolerant of differing views;
Type Threes who are religious and / or spiritual: will make a show of their "faith"; they will pray in public so all can see how religious or spiritual they are; they will make a performance out of their religion or spirituality, forever seeking an audience to see just how really religious or spiritual they are;
Type Fours who are religious and / or spiritual: will use their religion or spiritual to escape "the realities" of the relative existence;
Type Fives who are religious and / or spiritual: will work to accumulate religious and spiritual knowledge that is beyond compare; they will show others how much they know and how intelligent they are about all things religious or spiritual;
Type Sixes who are religious and / or spiritual: will use their religion or spirituality to address their insecurities and fears and anxieties and to try to develop a "relationship" with "An Other World Caretaker and Provider";
1. From early on to the end, he advised visitors to be rid of personal identification, of the influence of personality; and
2. to some degree early on, and more so later on, he advised visitors to abandon spirituality and spiritual seeking and spiritual exercises and to follow their "normal inclinations." (That is, stop all of the unnatural and supernatural thinking and doing and going and zooming and then just abide naturally.)
Assumed and / or assigned religious and spiritual roles can take many forms, depending on the religion or denomination or sect that persons buy into or depending on the spiritual programming or conditioning or indoctrination or domestication or acculturation or "program" that persons buy into; moreover, the ways those roles are played will also vary depending on the primary personality type of the indoctrinated persons.
There are nine basic personality types, and the way they drive persons' behavior around religion or spirituality will vary because all nine have different hidden agendas, different basic desires, and different basic fears.
Type Ones who are religious and / or spiritual: will be obsessive-compulsive as they seek "perfection" and "absolute purity"; they will be critical; judgmental; anal; and rigid; they will be reformists who want everyone to believe what they believe; and they will dare anyone to suggest that anything other than their beliefs are "the right ones";
Type Twos who are religious and / or spiritual: will present as helpers and saviors and rescuers, proselytizing in the name of helping all people whose paths they cross but actually offering to help in order to try to get in return the love they did not get from their fathers in childhood; they will be narcissistic about their faith and will be intolerant of differing views;
Type Threes who are religious and / or spiritual: will make a show of their "faith"; they will pray in public so all can see how religious or spiritual they are; they will make a performance out of their religion or spirituality, forever seeking an audience to see just how really religious or spiritual they are;
Type Fours who are religious and / or spiritual: will use their religion or spiritual to escape "the realities" of the relative existence;
Type Fives who are religious and / or spiritual: will work to accumulate religious and spiritual knowledge that is beyond compare; they will show others how much they know and how intelligent they are about all things religious or spiritual;
Type Sixes who are religious and / or spiritual: will use their religion or spirituality to address their insecurities and fears and anxieties and to try to develop a "relationship" with "An Other World Caretaker and Provider";
Type Sevens who are religious and / or spiritual: will be emotionally-intoxicated around their dogma or their spirituality;
Type Eights who are religious and / or spiritual: will be the ones who will try to force their beliefs on you and will be glad to kill you (that is, destroy you and / or punish you, either literally or figuratively) if you do not accept their beliefs; they are the ones who will use religion or spirituality to give them the power that they want to be able to control all things;
Type Nines who are religious and / or spiritual: will use their religion and spirituality to try to maintain their peace and also (like the 2 and 3 and 6) will also want to have a Provider and Caretaker (who, in the case of the Nine) will want a Power to help them avoid all things in the relative existence that require them to work on or confront their issues.
So which one of those would you like to spend your relative existence with? Which one of those do you think it would be fun to live with? If restored to sanity, the answer is: "None of those types."
Moreover, three key questions for you are: "If you are playing religious or spiritual roles, which one of those are you like"? "Do you think anyone would really like to spend an entire relative existence with you, being that way?" "Do you think you would be fun to live with if you are like any one of those?"
Have you ever considered trying Maharaj's suggestion, to just abandon spirituality and to allow the non-dual understanding to become "applied" to your relative existence and to live naturally and to turn to your "normal inclinations" and to relax and take it easy?
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
Previous Post
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: Again, “Applied Advaita,” or the application of the non-dual understanding over the relative existence, happens in the absence of any “personal applier” or “Personal Applier / God / Goddess.” It is applied – spontaneously and automatically – as a result of a process:
the process of completing the seven steps on the “path” and the process of completing three legs of the “journey.” Complete the process and the application just happens naturally.
Rather than abiding naturally, however, billions of humans are living unnaturally while trying to live supernaturally (that is religiously and / or spiritually, living under the influence of magical thinking).
[What is magical thinking? George Carlin provided an illustration that addressed that type of thinking:
So I've been praying to Joe (Pesci) for about a year now. And I noticed something. I noticed that all the prayers I used to offer to God, and all the prayers I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answered at about the same 50% rate. Half the time I get what I want, half the time I don't. Same as God, 50-50. Same as the four-leaf clover and the horseshoe, the wishing well and the rabbit's foot, same as the Mojo Man. It's all the same: 50-50. So just pick your superstition, sit back, make a wish, and enjoy yourself.]
Yesterday’s discussion of those types who are abiding magically / unnaturally / supernaturally / included (1) the super-spiritualized “Go-er’s, Do-ers, Zoomers” who are trapped in their spiritual workaholism; (2) the 97% who claim a religious affiliation; and (3) the dissociated who now “live in a kind of Foo-Foo-Land,” having rejected the I AM part of the message contained in the summative state of non-duality, “I AM THAT; I AM.”
Next, there are (type 4) those abiding in unnatural ways that are "challenging" to say the least (and downright fatal at the extreme).
They are the ones hearing constant demands from leaders to
“give us more of your money”;
“be pure and sacrifice natural delights now in order to have the reward of eternal bliss later”;
“be pure and sacrifice satisfaction and contentment and totally natural gratifications now in order to have the reward of eternal satisfaction and contentment and supernatural gratifications later”;
“adhere to our food laws – eat only the foods that are on our “religiously-acceptable foods list” or our “spiritually-acceptable foods list”;
“give us more of your time and energy”;
“put on this suicide vest and blow up yourself and as many others as possible among those do not believe what we believe”;
“fly planes into buildings and kill yourself and as many others as possible among those who do not believe what we believe.”
And those in group “4” who practice blind faith and who unquestioningly do anything they are told and who buy wholeheartedly into all of that exhibit this kind of ignorance and stupidity and insanity:
“Yeah, sure, no problem. Here are my possessions; and I’ll be willing to forfeit all natural delights; and I’ll be pure (though unsatisfied and frustrated and irritated and disturbed and malcontent); and I’ll let you control every aspect of my life, right down to telling me what I can and cannot eat; and I’ll kill myself and others. Yeah, that’s the ticket!”
Therein is evidenced some of the astounding levels of the Ultimate Sickness that prevail among the non-Realized masses, the symptoms of which Maharaj condensed into the three words above: “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity.”
Or consider those in group “5” who try to abide in supernatural ways that are only thought to be relaxing when those ways are also laborious and make a second job out of mere living:
Those type persons are the ones . . .
. . . who pay a Big Name Teacher $5,410.00 for a ten-day spiritual program or $20,000.00 for the full 28-day spiritual program;
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to India to try to find what they are seeking (which is actually already within);
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to “The Holy Land”;
. . . who go to religious festivals in a land where they will be exposing themselves to the possibility of being trampled to death during the human stampedes that happen frequently during such events;
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to Mecca or to the Vatican in Rome or to the Wailing Wall in Israel;
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to some of the “different” and “special” places on the planet like Sedona, Arizona where they believe they can be exposed to “vortexes” (supposedly powerful centers of kinetic energy that can heal and increase one’s level of spirituality);
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to Salt Lake City and see the huge temple there or who go to the Temple of Confucius or to a shrine in Japan or who pay a small fortune to tour the Bahà’i shrine or other Jewish “holy” places; to visit Hindu “holy” cities or Islamic “holy” places or Hindu “holy” places or Christian “holy” places; to participate in Buddhist pilgrimages; or to go to supposedly significant places in Mormonism or special Sikh places, ad infinitum;
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to Australia to see the sacred rocks in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park; or to go to ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico; or to visit the Mahabodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya in India; or to go to Mount Kailas in Tibet or Mount Sinai in Egypt or Mount Carmel in Israel or Mount Parnassus in Greece; or to go Machu Picchu in Peru; etc., etc., etc.;
. . . or who pay a small fortune to go to Santa Fe to seek Truth from a Cherokee wise man (yep, been there, done that).
How could a “Spiritual Giant” or “Super Religious One” not look back and be totally exhausted, ultimately tired, completely worn out, and finally ready to give it up?
The explanation is simply: lost in the dreams of any ego-state, and feeling upgraded by the egotism-inspired delusions that manifest to support and enhance such phony roles, a dissociation happens, allowing a sense of elation and euphoria and ecstasy and rapture-like exhilaration to blind out reality and then perpetuate the kind of false identity or identities that drive the type of going and doing and zooming outlined above.
Such happens when one is absorbed in spiritual workaholism and religious and spiritual role-playing, all in an effort to reinforce a false (but supposedly “good”) identity or identities; when one is driven by magical thinking; and when one would be “The Super Seeker.”
The result: a second job is made out of mere living.
If you are like that and alone, are you in the solitude, or are you merely avoiding and isolating?
If you are like that and with someone or around other persons, how much fun are you to be with, really?
The suggestion? To give an alternative a chance. Why not, maybe even for a while “just give up spirituality” and follow your “normal inclinations” (rather than the abnormal, unnatural, religious and / or spiritual types of inclinations catalogued above)?
How many steps have been taken to try to “get it,” to try to “find it”? Here, only seven steps are required. How many “journeys” have been taken in the search? Here, there are only three legs to the “journey.”
Why not, for a short spell, just take a break and try relaxing and taking it easy? Can you even come close to taking a break and relaxing and taking it easy? If you cannot, then what is the real result of all of your religious efforts or spiritual work, honestly?
Are the results real, or are they part of (A) an internal as well as (B) an external, public image that is being fostered, maybe even fostered subconsciously most of the time?
Why not, for a short spell, just try following what Maharaj called your "normal inclinations" rather than someone else's abnormal or unnatural or supernatural inclinations?
Or have you sold out completely, playing a religious or spiritual role in order to try to impress someone you want to love you; or to get what you want from a potential lover; or to try to keep a partner happy; or to please parents or relatives; or to satisfy a religious or spiritual boss; or to get votes from a fundamentalist, right-wing electorate and win a political race?
Or is there merely blind acceptance of the programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication that resulted after such roles were assigned by your family and / or culture and then assumed by you to be real?
If religious or spiritual role-playing is happening, what are the actual motives behind that game?
Examples 1-5 in the post yesterday and today apply to the billions of persons who are living unnaturally and who are trying to live supernaturally rather than abiding naturally - as do all of the billions upon billions of other (non-human) life-forms on the planet.
Humans, abiding in their most unnatural and supposedly supernatural ways, are the only exception among all life-forms that are all abiding naturally and simply and spontaneously and instinctively.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
26 February 2014
the process of completing the seven steps on the “path” and the process of completing three legs of the “journey.” Complete the process and the application just happens naturally.
Rather than abiding naturally, however, billions of humans are living unnaturally while trying to live supernaturally (that is religiously and / or spiritually, living under the influence of magical thinking).
[What is magical thinking? George Carlin provided an illustration that addressed that type of thinking:
So I've been praying to Joe (Pesci) for about a year now. And I noticed something. I noticed that all the prayers I used to offer to God, and all the prayers I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answered at about the same 50% rate. Half the time I get what I want, half the time I don't. Same as God, 50-50. Same as the four-leaf clover and the horseshoe, the wishing well and the rabbit's foot, same as the Mojo Man. It's all the same: 50-50. So just pick your superstition, sit back, make a wish, and enjoy yourself.]
Yesterday’s discussion of those types who are abiding magically / unnaturally / supernaturally / included (1) the super-spiritualized “Go-er’s, Do-ers, Zoomers” who are trapped in their spiritual workaholism; (2) the 97% who claim a religious affiliation; and (3) the dissociated who now “live in a kind of Foo-Foo-Land,” having rejected the I AM part of the message contained in the summative state of non-duality, “I AM THAT; I AM.”
Next, there are (type 4) those abiding in unnatural ways that are "challenging" to say the least (and downright fatal at the extreme).
They are the ones hearing constant demands from leaders to
“give us more of your money”;
“be pure and sacrifice natural delights now in order to have the reward of eternal bliss later”;
“be pure and sacrifice satisfaction and contentment and totally natural gratifications now in order to have the reward of eternal satisfaction and contentment and supernatural gratifications later”;
“adhere to our food laws – eat only the foods that are on our “religiously-acceptable foods list” or our “spiritually-acceptable foods list”;
“give us more of your time and energy”;
“put on this suicide vest and blow up yourself and as many others as possible among those do not believe what we believe”;
“fly planes into buildings and kill yourself and as many others as possible among those who do not believe what we believe.”
And those in group “4” who practice blind faith and who unquestioningly do anything they are told and who buy wholeheartedly into all of that exhibit this kind of ignorance and stupidity and insanity:
“Yeah, sure, no problem. Here are my possessions; and I’ll be willing to forfeit all natural delights; and I’ll be pure (though unsatisfied and frustrated and irritated and disturbed and malcontent); and I’ll let you control every aspect of my life, right down to telling me what I can and cannot eat; and I’ll kill myself and others. Yeah, that’s the ticket!”
Therein is evidenced some of the astounding levels of the Ultimate Sickness that prevail among the non-Realized masses, the symptoms of which Maharaj condensed into the three words above: “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity.”
Or consider those in group “5” who try to abide in supernatural ways that are only thought to be relaxing when those ways are also laborious and make a second job out of mere living:
Those type persons are the ones . . .
. . . who pay a Big Name Teacher $5,410.00 for a ten-day spiritual program or $20,000.00 for the full 28-day spiritual program;
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to India to try to find what they are seeking (which is actually already within);
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to “The Holy Land”;
. . . who go to religious festivals in a land where they will be exposing themselves to the possibility of being trampled to death during the human stampedes that happen frequently during such events;
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to Mecca or to the Vatican in Rome or to the Wailing Wall in Israel;
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to some of the “different” and “special” places on the planet like Sedona, Arizona where they believe they can be exposed to “vortexes” (supposedly powerful centers of kinetic energy that can heal and increase one’s level of spirituality);
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to Salt Lake City and see the huge temple there or who go to the Temple of Confucius or to a shrine in Japan or who pay a small fortune to tour the Bahà’i shrine or other Jewish “holy” places; to visit Hindu “holy” cities or Islamic “holy” places or Hindu “holy” places or Christian “holy” places; to participate in Buddhist pilgrimages; or to go to supposedly significant places in Mormonism or special Sikh places, ad infinitum;
. . . who pay a small fortune to go to Australia to see the sacred rocks in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park; or to go to ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico; or to visit the Mahabodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya in India; or to go to Mount Kailas in Tibet or Mount Sinai in Egypt or Mount Carmel in Israel or Mount Parnassus in Greece; or to go Machu Picchu in Peru; etc., etc., etc.;
. . . or who pay a small fortune to go to Santa Fe to seek Truth from a Cherokee wise man (yep, been there, done that).
How could a “Spiritual Giant” or “Super Religious One” not look back and be totally exhausted, ultimately tired, completely worn out, and finally ready to give it up?
The explanation is simply: lost in the dreams of any ego-state, and feeling upgraded by the egotism-inspired delusions that manifest to support and enhance such phony roles, a dissociation happens, allowing a sense of elation and euphoria and ecstasy and rapture-like exhilaration to blind out reality and then perpetuate the kind of false identity or identities that drive the type of going and doing and zooming outlined above.
Such happens when one is absorbed in spiritual workaholism and religious and spiritual role-playing, all in an effort to reinforce a false (but supposedly “good”) identity or identities; when one is driven by magical thinking; and when one would be “The Super Seeker.”
The result: a second job is made out of mere living.
If you are like that and alone, are you in the solitude, or are you merely avoiding and isolating?
If you are like that and with someone or around other persons, how much fun are you to be with, really?
The suggestion? To give an alternative a chance. Why not, maybe even for a while “just give up spirituality” and follow your “normal inclinations” (rather than the abnormal, unnatural, religious and / or spiritual types of inclinations catalogued above)?
How many steps have been taken to try to “get it,” to try to “find it”? Here, only seven steps are required. How many “journeys” have been taken in the search? Here, there are only three legs to the “journey.”
Why not, for a short spell, just take a break and try relaxing and taking it easy? Can you even come close to taking a break and relaxing and taking it easy? If you cannot, then what is the real result of all of your religious efforts or spiritual work, honestly?
Are the results real, or are they part of (A) an internal as well as (B) an external, public image that is being fostered, maybe even fostered subconsciously most of the time?
Why not, for a short spell, just try following what Maharaj called your "normal inclinations" rather than someone else's abnormal or unnatural or supernatural inclinations?
Or have you sold out completely, playing a religious or spiritual role in order to try to impress someone you want to love you; or to get what you want from a potential lover; or to try to keep a partner happy; or to please parents or relatives; or to satisfy a religious or spiritual boss; or to get votes from a fundamentalist, right-wing electorate and win a political race?
Or is there merely blind acceptance of the programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication that resulted after such roles were assigned by your family and / or culture and then assumed by you to be real?
If religious or spiritual role-playing is happening, what are the actual motives behind that game?
Examples 1-5 in the post yesterday and today apply to the billions of persons who are living unnaturally and who are trying to live supernaturally rather than abiding naturally - as do all of the billions upon billions of other (non-human) life-forms on the planet.
Humans, abiding in their most unnatural and supposedly supernatural ways, are the only exception among all life-forms that are all abiding naturally and simply and spontaneously and instinctively.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
26 February 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: A point was offered yesterday about the irony of the insane and unnatural manner of the typical relative existence of persons because there are billions of different ways that billions of them are trying to live.
Most are guided by religious beliefs and dogma, that is, by the teachings of their particular sky-cult, all of which are nothing more than ancient pagan religions that have evolved into the present-day forms of religion.
Many others claim – and claim with great pride – that they are “spiritual, not religious.”
Others are being driven through the relative existence by the dictates of a philosophy, an ideology, or a cult.
Some are attached to the teachings of one or more of a variety of leaders or writers or lecturers or gurus; ad infinitum.
The irony of the fact that billions upon billions of persons are trying to live according to a way that they have been exposed to (from among the thousands of different ways that are out there) is rooted in the fact that (a) none of those dreamed-up thousands of ways involve the slightest bit of truth or logic or reason and in the more salient fact that (b) there are not thousands of ways that persons can live because there are really only two ways that the non-Realized masses actually live:
either (1) supernaturally / unnaturally or (2) naturally.
The thousands of ways that people have dreamed up about how people should live are all unnatural and supernatural, that is, involving magical thinking; thought to be miraculous, supposedly; believed to have a hint of the paranormal vs. the normal;
thought to be non-secular though they are actually fairy-tale like; assumed to be holy and sacred, supposedly; believed to be devout and divine, supposedly; thought to be otherworldly and mystical; and are all, therefore, totally unnatural.
Thus, the “road taken” by some seekers amounts to an arduous journey of spiritual workaholism conducted throughout the entire the relative existence (as illustrated yesterday in passages from the non-dual novel THE TWICE-STOLEN NECKLACE MURDERS which showed “Kirk’s” super-spiritualized form of going-and-doing-and-zooming).
If trapped in the role of “The Seeker” – soon upgraded to “The Super Seeker” - then such seekers, such would-be knowers, such accumulators of knowledge and “experiences,” will subconsciously take all necessary action to assure that the quest to find will never be successful - that it will never end. Why?
To find is to end seeking, and to end seeking would be to end the identity of “The Super Seeker,” and that simply would not do for the would-be knowers and accumulators of knowledge who are actually bored stiff with their existence and are thus involved in an excess of seeking-type activities that are the means which they are using to try to escape the monotony and dominating sense of ennui that characterizes their tedious lives.
As for those whose “road” has led to a demanding and time-consuming and egotism-generating existence, they include the 97% of persons on the planet who claim a religious affiliation (though fewer than 40% of those claimants actually participate regularly in the religion that they claim to be members of).
Moreover, a far smaller percentage follows the dictate of the religion that they will nevertheless fight to defend. (Catholics, for example, may remain theologically opposed to the use of birth control – and therefore advise church members in Africa who are being exposed to AIDS at an alarming rate – that they are, nevertheless, forbidden to use condoms for protection . . . at the risk of eternal damnation and punishment if they do so. Yet 98% of Catholics have used one form or another of birth control.) Quite demanding, yes? On top of that, billions are told that they are to donate 10% of all of their income to the church. Quite demanding indeed, yes?
And time-consuming? Yes, if one follows their religious leaders’ orders, they must show up at the temple or mosque or church weekly in some cases; two times a week in some religions; daily in others; and even five times per day in others.
Egotism-generating? Yes. Egotism – an ego-defense mechanism - is triggered as soon as an assumed or assigned ego-state takes root. No single institution has inspired more assigning of roles and more assumption of roles than religion.
Then there are those whose seeking has led to mental illness, inspiring some to dissociate and to “live in a kind of Foo-Foo-Land” that has nothing to do with Reality or reality: “I no longer abide in the relative world. I abide in the Absolute realm as THAT Which I Truly Am.”
For them, the I AM part of the message contained in the summative state of non-duality, “I AM THAT; I AM,” has been rejected; now they think they are living beyond this relative existence as opposed to abiding as the Truly Realized do, living out the remainder of the relative existence, that is
(A) living out the remainder of the manifestation / the ISness / the AMness with Reality having been overlaid upon it and
(B) living out the remainder of the relative existence under the auspices of "Applied Advaita" . . . under the auspices of the non-dual understanding "applied" to the relative existence."
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
Most are guided by religious beliefs and dogma, that is, by the teachings of their particular sky-cult, all of which are nothing more than ancient pagan religions that have evolved into the present-day forms of religion.
Many others claim – and claim with great pride – that they are “spiritual, not religious.”
Others are being driven through the relative existence by the dictates of a philosophy, an ideology, or a cult.
Some are attached to the teachings of one or more of a variety of leaders or writers or lecturers or gurus; ad infinitum.
The irony of the fact that billions upon billions of persons are trying to live according to a way that they have been exposed to (from among the thousands of different ways that are out there) is rooted in the fact that (a) none of those dreamed-up thousands of ways involve the slightest bit of truth or logic or reason and in the more salient fact that (b) there are not thousands of ways that persons can live because there are really only two ways that the non-Realized masses actually live:
either (1) supernaturally / unnaturally or (2) naturally.
The thousands of ways that people have dreamed up about how people should live are all unnatural and supernatural, that is, involving magical thinking; thought to be miraculous, supposedly; believed to have a hint of the paranormal vs. the normal;
thought to be non-secular though they are actually fairy-tale like; assumed to be holy and sacred, supposedly; believed to be devout and divine, supposedly; thought to be otherworldly and mystical; and are all, therefore, totally unnatural.
Thus, the “road taken” by some seekers amounts to an arduous journey of spiritual workaholism conducted throughout the entire the relative existence (as illustrated yesterday in passages from the non-dual novel THE TWICE-STOLEN NECKLACE MURDERS which showed “Kirk’s” super-spiritualized form of going-and-doing-and-zooming).
If trapped in the role of “The Seeker” – soon upgraded to “The Super Seeker” - then such seekers, such would-be knowers, such accumulators of knowledge and “experiences,” will subconsciously take all necessary action to assure that the quest to find will never be successful - that it will never end. Why?
To find is to end seeking, and to end seeking would be to end the identity of “The Super Seeker,” and that simply would not do for the would-be knowers and accumulators of knowledge who are actually bored stiff with their existence and are thus involved in an excess of seeking-type activities that are the means which they are using to try to escape the monotony and dominating sense of ennui that characterizes their tedious lives.
As for those whose “road” has led to a demanding and time-consuming and egotism-generating existence, they include the 97% of persons on the planet who claim a religious affiliation (though fewer than 40% of those claimants actually participate regularly in the religion that they claim to be members of).
Moreover, a far smaller percentage follows the dictate of the religion that they will nevertheless fight to defend. (Catholics, for example, may remain theologically opposed to the use of birth control – and therefore advise church members in Africa who are being exposed to AIDS at an alarming rate – that they are, nevertheless, forbidden to use condoms for protection . . . at the risk of eternal damnation and punishment if they do so. Yet 98% of Catholics have used one form or another of birth control.) Quite demanding, yes? On top of that, billions are told that they are to donate 10% of all of their income to the church. Quite demanding indeed, yes?
And time-consuming? Yes, if one follows their religious leaders’ orders, they must show up at the temple or mosque or church weekly in some cases; two times a week in some religions; daily in others; and even five times per day in others.
Egotism-generating? Yes. Egotism – an ego-defense mechanism - is triggered as soon as an assumed or assigned ego-state takes root. No single institution has inspired more assigning of roles and more assumption of roles than religion.
Then there are those whose seeking has led to mental illness, inspiring some to dissociate and to “live in a kind of Foo-Foo-Land” that has nothing to do with Reality or reality: “I no longer abide in the relative world. I abide in the Absolute realm as THAT Which I Truly Am.”
For them, the I AM part of the message contained in the summative state of non-duality, “I AM THAT; I AM,” has been rejected; now they think they are living beyond this relative existence as opposed to abiding as the Truly Realized do, living out the remainder of the relative existence, that is
(A) living out the remainder of the manifestation / the ISness / the AMness with Reality having been overlaid upon it and
(B) living out the remainder of the relative existence under the auspices of "Applied Advaita" . . . under the auspices of the non-dual understanding "applied" to the relative existence."
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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Therefore, another movement or shift is happening here spontaneously after reflecting on the more than two decades since the teachings were first offered here and looking at the results of Maharaj sharing pointers in his loft and looking at the results of "Floyd" sharing pointers in this electronic loft: Looking objectively at his results, Maharaj's satsang method of sharing - in the end and by his own admission (only "one out of 10,000,000") - did not produce the intended outcome.
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SHIFTING THE FOCUS FROM THAT WHICH DOES NOT WORK TO THAT WHICH DOES, Part One
A "movement" or "shift" happened here that added another parallel to the many parallels in terms of the phenomenal "experiences" and the noumenal revelations that "Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj" and "Floyd" share in common. (Many visitors over the years have said that they also shared the same parallels with "Maharaj" and "Floyd" as well.)
In the case of "Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj" and "Floyd":
1. both grew up in very poor families 2. both moved to populated areas to seek employment opportunities 3. both exhibited business skills that led to their opening and operating many businesses and to their having a large number of employees working for them 4. both succeeded financially 5. both became attached to accumulating; 6. both married and had a family 7. both were initially religious 8. both moved away from organized religion and became interested in "spiritual" matters, finding and following the teachings of a big name teacher (or, in "Floyd's" case, many big name teachers) 9. both had highly religious wives who were quite displeased with the shift away from religion and toward "spirituality" 10. both began to feel empty in spite of all of their "spiritual seeking" and in spite of all of their accumulated "spiritual knowledge";
1. both grew up in very poor families 2. both moved to populated areas to seek employment opportunities 3. both exhibited business skills that led to their opening and operating many businesses and to their having a large number of employees working for them 4. both succeeded financially 5. both became attached to accumulating; 6. both married and had a family 7. both were initially religious 8. both moved away from organized religion and became interested in "spiritual" matters, finding and following the teachings of a big name teacher (or, in "Floyd's" case, many big name teachers) 9. both had highly religious wives who were quite displeased with the shift away from religion and toward "spirituality" 10. both began to feel empty in spite of all of their "spiritual seeking" and in spite of all of their accumulated "spiritual knowledge";
11. both began to de-accumulate after both saw that they could survive quite well on a fraction of the income they had been making
12. both had wives who were unhappy when the de-accumulation stage was entered and both had wives who became unhappy about their husbands' focus on non-duality and who blamed their unhappiness on no longer having a religious husband
(The facts be known, in both cases the unhappiness involved the fact that their husbands were no longer interested in - or willing - to work 80+ hours per week and that their husbands were no longer interested in accumulating wealth and possessions and providing the rich lifestyle to which their wives had grown accustomed)
13. both eventually came to see that the religious and spiritual states were also ego-states, and both saw that there are far more steps on the "path" to complete after reaching the religious and spiritual steps and after playing those roles which are the third of seven steps on the entire "path" 14. both "lost" their wives (one via "death," the other through divorce); 15. both accelerated their seeking; 16. both entered into the "forest dweller stage" 17. both Realized 18. both began to de-accumulate even more
19. both began sharing the teachings 20. for years, both answered questions in whatever order those questions were received, though both said that the movement from identification with the false "I" / "I's" involved an exact, step-wise manner of moving along a "path" that involved "going back" in the same (but reverse order) of the way they "came in" - that is, the way that the manifestation happened and the way that the consciousness was blocked through seven stages that resulted in their becoming identified solely with their false personas, with the content of the "mind," and eventually, with the body. But the most significant awareness that finally came to both after years of offering satsang and after having answered thousands and thousands of questions was this: After years of "Maharaj" offering satsang in his loft, and after years of "Floyd" offering satsang in meeting halls and in his home and via what one site visitor called "Floyd's electronic loft," this fact became obvious to both: "Maharaj" came to see in the 1970's and into 1980 and 1981 that his approach was not working and "Floyd" finally came to see the same.
13. both eventually came to see that the religious and spiritual states were also ego-states, and both saw that there are far more steps on the "path" to complete after reaching the religious and spiritual steps and after playing those roles which are the third of seven steps on the entire "path" 14. both "lost" their wives (one via "death," the other through divorce); 15. both accelerated their seeking; 16. both entered into the "forest dweller stage" 17. both Realized 18. both began to de-accumulate even more
19. both began sharing the teachings 20. for years, both answered questions in whatever order those questions were received, though both said that the movement from identification with the false "I" / "I's" involved an exact, step-wise manner of moving along a "path" that involved "going back" in the same (but reverse order) of the way they "came in" - that is, the way that the manifestation happened and the way that the consciousness was blocked through seven stages that resulted in their becoming identified solely with their false personas, with the content of the "mind," and eventually, with the body. But the most significant awareness that finally came to both after years of offering satsang and after having answered thousands and thousands of questions was this: After years of "Maharaj" offering satsang in his loft, and after years of "Floyd" offering satsang in meeting halls and in his home and via what one site visitor called "Floyd's electronic loft," this fact became obvious to both: "Maharaj" came to see in the 1970's and into 1980 and 1981 that his approach was not working and "Floyd" finally came to see the same.
21. Both saw that many who heard the teachings are not going to understand (Maharaj reporting that "only 1 in 100,000 are going to 'get' this" understanding)
22. both soon saw that even more than expected of those who heard the teachings were not going to understand (Maharaj modifying his "guesstimate" and reporting that "only 1 in 1,000,000 are going to 'get' this" understanding)
23. eventually both saw that even far more than expected of those who heard the teachings were not going to understand (Maharaj eventually concluding that "only 1 in 10,000,000 are going to 'get' this" understanding). And the failings were not the fault of seekers.
A "one -in-ten-million" estimate is proof that satsang was not working for most seekers, and the evidence here lately is proof of the same.
Both "Maharaj" and "Floyd" invited seekers to focus on the exact, step-wise "path." Yes, during satsang, "Maharaj" sometimes alluded to the steps while discussing them in no particular order - but he never once laid out the steps in the exact order in which they had to be completed. That was not his teachings style or approach.
Therefore, another movement or shift is happening here spontaneously after reflecting on the more than two decades since the teachings were first offered here and looking at the results of Maharaj sharing pointers in his loft and looking at the results of "Floyd" sharing pointers in this electronic loft: Looking objectively at his results, Maharaj's satsang method of sharing - in the end and by his own admission (only "one out of 10,000,000") - did not produce the intended outcome.
Looking objectively at the results here when using an "electronic loft" satsang method of sharing has not produced the intended outcome nearly as often as any of the three "face-to-face" methods used with seekers by which they have been led through the seven steps in order.
Here, the body is growing older, of course. Mahasamadhi could be taken today, or it could be taken in twenty years.
Obviously, that cannot be known. But the decision here has been made that whatever amount of the relative existence remains shall be spent in sharing the teachings in the ways that have been seen over the last 20+ years to be the most effective methods.
Looking back over the list of those that have truly received the understanding, it is seen that Robert R. read all of the books, then took the online Advaita course and then completed some face-to-face Skype sessions to receive the final clarifications required. It was seen that Mac read all of the books, completed the online course, and then attended a retreat where he was guided through the seven steps. Mac said that the online course work inspired him to attend the retreat in order to be able to receive the final "pieces." It was seen that Andy Gugar, Jr. read all of the books, then came here for a retreat and was taken through the seven steps in order, and then returned once more for the final clarifications required. After reviewing the shifts that happened with him after attending two retreats, he reaffirmed this past week his commitment to helping spread the non-duality, nisarga understanding as presented here. As a result of seeing what has "worked" during the last 20+ years of sharing the non-duality understanding - and seeing what had not "worked" as well - changes will be made.
SHIFTING THE FOCUS FROM THAT WHICH DOES NOT WORK TO THAT WHICH DOES, Part Two
Looking back over the list of those that have truly received the understanding, it is seen that Robert R. read all of the books, then took the online Advaita course and then completed some face-to-face Skype sessions to receive the final clarifications required. It was seen that Mac read all of the books, completed the online course, and then attended a retreat where he was guided through the seven steps. Mac said that the online course work inspired him to attend the retreat in order to be able to receive the final "pieces." It was seen that Andy Gugar, Jr. read all of the books, then came here for a retreat and was taken through the seven steps in order, and then returned once more for the final clarifications required. After reviewing the shifts that happened with him after attending two retreats, he reaffirmed this past week his commitment to helping spread the non-duality, nisarga understanding as presented here. As a result of seeing what has "worked" during the last 20+ years of sharing the non-duality understanding - and seeing what had not "worked" as well - changes will be made.
SHIFTING THE FOCUS FROM THAT WHICH DOES NOT WORK TO THAT WHICH DOES, Part Two
In "Part One," examples were given of seekers that were led to Realization not by satsang but by following the various protocols outlined farther down this page which provide the understanding in the step-wise, orderly, required fashion which moves seekers along a "path" that is as prescribed by Maharaj ... "going back" in the "reverse order" by which the consciousness manifested and became blocked.
However, conversations with some that just read the majority of the books have revealed that they certainly seem to have grasped the understanding and Realized as well.
As a result of seeing what has "worked" during the last 20+ years of sharing the non-duality understanding - and seeing what has "not worked" as well - changes are being made.
There are seven specific steps that happen when awareness-energy is "pulled" into a cycle of manifestation. When that energy manifests as conscious-energy, that formerly pure and unadulterated energy becomes "corrupted" (or "blocked" from seeing clearly) via programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, and brainwashing. Soon, there is a belief in the not-Real as a result of seven degrees of separation from an understanding of the Real.
Using the method that was also employed by his contemporaries - a method which focused on offering non-duality pointers via satsang - Maharaj addressed questions in the order in which they were received. He might receive a question from a seeker at the third step and his reply would include what amounted to an invitation to move to the fourth step. The next question might come from a seeker at the first step, and the reply would include an invitation to move to the second step.
The information offered to the second seeker would seemingly contradict what was offered to the first seeker, so visitors who have come here for decades have asked questions which showed how confused they were by the fact that Maharaj's statements to each visitor in his loft were "level-appropriate" yet were provided in no precise order, resulting in what seemed to be an inconsistent message.
So the process overall was confusing in that
seekers were told to follow the "path back" in the same way that they "came in," except in reverse order,
but
pointers were not given in a specific, step-wise order at all.
Maharaj did recognize the seven steps that are taught here, but by offering the teachings in an order that was dictated by the order in which questions were received from seekers who were at different steps on the "path," the result was this:
a pointer about moving beyond the fourth step might be followed by a pointer about moving beyond the first step, and that pointer might be followed by a pointer about how to move beyond the sixth step.
The same was done on this site for seven years. The result is a collection of 1,800 or so essays discussing almost every non-duality topic that can be discussed, and the search button on the top right side of this page will now allow seekers with a question about a specific topic to find an explanation. That method, however, will never provide the manner in which the seven steps on the "path" must be transmitted and received in order to Realize Fully.
An objective study of the history here of more than twenty years of offering non-duality pointers reveals this: seekers that were given pointers in the exact order in which they needed to receive them were the ones that Realized.
They read the books, then they completed the online course and / or completed seven Skype or telephone sessions or came here for a retreat (or watched the downloadable DVD version of an actual retreat, available below).
Some found that which they were seeking by reading the author's book that deal with non-duality subject matter. Via all of those venues, the steps are taught in their proper order.
The essays available on this site will remain for those interested in searching for a discussion of a particular non-duality topic without charge, but the focus here until mahasamadhi is taken is going to be on offering the teachings in the step-wise fashion that has been seen to work.
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II. BY READING the explanations offered in the collection of non-duality books that are available on this site and at www.floydhenderson.com.
III. 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
IV. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.
V. BY ARRANGING a one-hour session via Skype or telephone with Floyd. (Skype is a free service.)
Click the button to pay and you will be contacted to arrange a date and time for the call.
VI. ALL OF THE FOLLOWING BOOKS are available at
Floyd Henderson's Website
Within minutes of purchase you can be reading any of the eBooks below on your mobile devices, including an iPhone, iPad, Android tablet, Android phone, laptop, home computer or on a Kindle reader.
For Apple and Android, either download the eBook directly onto your device or email the eBook file to your mobile device and open the file from your email. For Kindles or other similar devices, use your USB cable to transfer the eBook to your reader.
FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION OF THE NON-DUALITY UNDERSTANDING, AS NOTED ABOVE, SOME SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED BY USING THE METHODS BELOW, OR A COMBINATION OF THE METHODS:
FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION OF THE NON-DUALITY UNDERSTANDING, AS NOTED ABOVE, SOME SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED BY USING THE METHODS BELOW, OR A COMBINATION OF THE METHODS:
WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:
I. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk, Seven-Hour Video (DVD) Set of an advaita retreat, or the downloadable file version. To find out more or to purchase the DVD or downloadable computer file version of the retreat, DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
I. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk, Seven-Hour Video (DVD) Set of an advaita retreat, or the downloadable file version. To find out more or to purchase the DVD or downloadable computer file version of the retreat, DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
International buyers: note the separate option for those outside the continental U.S.
II. BY READING the explanations offered in the collection of non-duality books that are available on this site and at www.floydhenderson.com.
III. 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
IV. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.
V. BY ARRANGING a one-hour session via Skype or telephone with Floyd. (Skype is a free service.)
Click the button to pay and you will be contacted to arrange a date and time for the call.
VI. ALL OF THE FOLLOWING BOOKS are available at
Floyd Henderson's Website
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE: A Seven-Step Journey to Reality
CONSCIOUSNESS / AWARENESS
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
THE FINAL UNDERSTANDING
THE ADVANCED SEEKERS' SERIES
Anthology of four books
THE BLISSFUL ABIDANCE SERIES
Anthology of six books
SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ AND HIS EVOLUTION
THE FINAL FIFTEEN TOPICS DISCUSSED BY SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ
A TWELVE-STEP JOURNEY TO SELF-TRANSFORMATION
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
A GUIDE FOR WORKING THE STEPS (IN THE MANNER USED BY THE FOUNDERS)
THE TWELVE STEPS AND ADVAITA / NON-DUALITY: A 21-DAY PLAN FOR A PSYCHIC CHANGE
SELF-TRANSFORMATION MEDITATION GUIDE (VOLUME ONE)
SELF-TRANSFORMATION MEDITATION GUIDE (VOLUME TWO)
WHY NISARGA YOGA IN ADDITION TO THE ADVAITA TEACHINGS?
A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE via the Non-Duality Teachings and the Nisarga Yoga
YOUR ORIGINAL NATURE
GOING CRAZY / GOING SANE
INSTABILITY / INSANITY: WHAT THE ADVAITA TEACHINGS CAN (AND CANNOT) ADDRESS
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (THERE IS ONLY PEACE IF YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR MIND)
FREEDOM FROM SHIFTING BETWEEN STATES OF HAPPINESS AND UNHAPPINESS
THE ULTIMATE SICKNESS / THE ULTIMATE MEDICINE
PROGRAMMING, CONDITIONING, DOMESTICATION, AND ACCULTURATION (THE SOURCES OF THE ULTIMATE SICKNESS & THE NON-DUALITY TREATMENT)
"WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?"
THE MYTH OF "DEATH"
THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS: THE SIMPLICITY OF REALIZATION
FINDING REAL LOVE IN AN UNREAL WORLD
CASTING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIONSHIPS
OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF BEING TOTALLY INDEPENDENT
THE NON-DUALITY POINTERS OFFERED BY YESHU'A ("JESUS THE CHRIST")
NOW ACCEPTING REQUESTS FOR FREE COPIES OF THE FOLLOWING EBOOKS:
A free copy of the 278-page eBook entitled
"GOOD vs. EVIL?" or "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and INSANITY?"
and / or
A free copy of the 267-page eBook entitled
"THE VISION"
is available to be sent to you and anyone else you choose.
[Please note: When the Direct Path Teaching Method is offered in conjunction with the Nisarga Yoga, something unique results when compared to what happens via the approach used by religions, spiritual movements, philosophies, ideologies, etc.:
rather than inviting seekers to learn more, the invitation here is to unlearn all; rather than offerings teachings, what is offered are unteachings; rather than offering to provide seekers more of anything, seekers will find that the process will take away everything. And via that process, the bliss of Your Original Nature will manifest and remain until mahasamadhi is taken.
To that end, the content of this book will seem radical to the seekers of more, but for those truly ready to be totally free and totally independent - and for those who are truly ready to abandon efforts to accumulate and to de-accumulate instead - the pointers in this book might be relevant.]
To receive your free copy, or to have us send a free copy to your friends or relatives, send your email address (or their addresses) to the following:
(Sorry, but for security reasons, we no longer have a clickable link. You will have to type in our gmail address above. By the way, your email addresses will never be used to contact you or your friends or relatives and email addresses will never be shared with anyone else.)
Simply state in your email that you want the book sent as a gift to you (or as a gift from you to as many people as you like. Copies are now ready to be sent.)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE ADVAITIN
WHEN ONLY THREE HOURS OF MANIFESTATION REMAIN (THE "FINAL" TALKS OF FLOYD HENDERSON)
I AM THAT (vs. "This Is Who I Think I Am")
QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS DEALING WITH NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA, AND MORE
DANCING LIGHTLY
THE PATH TO FREEDOM VS. THE PATH TO MISERY
THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS PERSONAL (INCLUDING YOU AND INCLUDING GOD)
LIBERATION (ATTAINING FREEDOM FROM PERSONALITY VIA REALIZATION)
WHY YOU MUST BE EMPTY IF YOU WOULD BE FULL
FREEDOM FROM BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")
WHEN REALITY IS OVERLAID ON THE RELATIVE
THE RELATIVE RESULTS OF RETURNING TO "THE CHILD IGNORANCE STAGE" OR "THE CHILD NO-KNOWING STATE"
WHAT BLISS IS AND WHAT BLISS IS NOT
THE TWICE-STOLEN NECKLACE MURDERS
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS
LESSONS IN NON-DUALITY FROM TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA
A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE FIRST STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE SECOND STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE THIRD STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE FOURTH STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE FIFTH STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE SIXTH STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE SEVENTH STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (RECOVERING WHAT RELIGIONS LOST)
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (AND WHY KNOWING IT SETS YOU FREE)
