TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS
Once a child has been exposed to several years of programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, indoctrination and brainwashing, and once a child has been the center of attention for that same period of time, the child begins to enjoy being “on stage.” (And that will continue throughout adulthood for most.)
Many are raised in a home in which a child soon learns how to be “center stage” and "in the spotlight” and “the focus of attention.” If music is available via a sound system or an always-turned-on-television, the child soon learns that it has another means available which will guaranteed that everyone will watch as the child performs, namely, dancing.
Initially, children respond naturally to the sound of rhythm, and the more they receive “positive” responses and reinforcement, the more they will perform. (By way of illustration, you might watch a few of the children in this video):
But as is the case with all human activity, programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, indoctrination and brainwashing have the ability to strip away the natural elements and natural joy associated with rhythmic movements as some adults begin assigning to dance both unnatural and supernatural "meaning" and "purpose"; thus, dance eventually came to be used not only for its entertainment value but also as a part of pagan rites and myth telling and even mating rituals. (In one song, the Greek god Apollo was referred to as “The Dancer”); later, dance would become a tool to be used in “spiritual” ceremonies and in religious ceremonies as well.
Some Hindus have long believed that the entire universe was brought into existence as the manifestation of the dance of the “Supreme Dancer”; some religious persons danced before human sacrifices were offered to their gods; and nowadays, some Pentecostals sing praises and dance about before rolling on the floor and supposedly talking in “unknown tongues."
One journalist “went underground” to observe first-hand what happens at some of the retreats conducted by certain “Big Name Preachers” on the circuit nowadays. He heard one of them discussing his mastery of "crowd control" and how he "uses music to work up his crowd into an emotionally-vulnerable state."
One journalist “went underground” to observe first-hand what happens at some of the retreats conducted by certain “Big Name Preachers” on the circuit nowadays. He heard one of them discussing his mastery of "crowd control" and how he "uses music to work up his crowd into an emotionally-vulnerable state."
Throughout history, a common pattern of human behavior is to take something natural and then warp it into something totally unnatural and / or supernatural (spiritual, religious) as a result of leaders’ various agendas, always ultimately involving their desire to gain control and power over people. Such has been the case with dance.
Dance is referenced throughout the Jewish Torah and Psalms, and Yeshu’a (Jesus) was said to have used dance as a metaphor, having been quoted as saying, “We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; we wailed in mourning, yet you did not weep” or, in another translation, “'We sang to you, and you did not dance, and we cried for you, and you were not sad.”
See, Yeshu’a became “a non-dual teacher” who “sang” for those who would listen, inviting them to enter into the dance of lightness with him. Later, another non-dualist named Thoreau spoke of “marching to the beat of a different drummer.”
Similarly, Maharaj sang his songs of non-duality to those who would sit in a Bombay / Mumbai loft and listen; so, too, are the rhythms of non-duality pounded out on a keyboard here, punching out a tap-tap-tapping rhythm and inviting all who come this way to cast off the heaviness which “they” imposed on your relative existence and to join me in dancing lightly.
Consider:
Maharaj: “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.”
William Shakespeare (an Advaitin poet): “This above all: to thine own self be true and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”
FH: “Of course, there is no true self beyond the present manifestation, that term referring to nothing more than pure witnessing. More to the point, if one is not attached to any false self identifications, then a sense of heaviness can end and a sense of lightness can begin.”
FH: “Any ‘Advaitin understanding’ is, in the end, useless. The only thing of concern during the present manifestation is ‘applied advaita’ – that is, overlaying Reality on reality, displacing learned ignorance with wisdom, and abiding sanely rather than insanely in order to enjoy the unconditional happiness which comes when a sense of lightness displaces a sense of heaviness, allowing one to dance lightly for the remainder of the manifestation.”
Edward Thomas: “Heavy is the tread of the living, but the dead returning lightly dance.”
FH: “All are dancing, one way or the other. If one accepts death - specifically, the death of ego - then such ‘dead’ can dance lightly.”
Relatedly, Andy Gugar, Jr. reflected on his first visit here for a non-dual 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 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.”
How is the dance going for you? Are you dancing to a slow depressing dirge? Is the case that, though I am singing for you, you remain uninterested in dancing lightly to the calm beat of my non-dual tunes? Might you be swaying back and forth, out of touch with reality, dissociated, and lost into full-escapism mode so that even if I were “to cry for you,” you “would not be sad at all”? Consider the many different ways that some are dancing through the manifestation:
Some are dancing like maniacs:
Some are dancing calmly:
Some are dancing like fools:
Some are dancing with joy:
Some are dancing with love:
Some are dancing through a "hell-like" existence and don’t even know it:
Some have retreated into isolation and are not dancing at all:
Some are in misery because they think they cannot enjoy the existence if they have to dance alone, but others in similar circumstances have a different perspective:
[Maharaj, when asked, “Why have you not remarried since your wife died?” replied: “I am married. I am married to peace.” He felt quite fine dancing alone.]
And some few are dancing lightly:
How about you? All humans are moving through the relative existence. How are you moving? How are you dancing, if you are dancing at all? Are you enjoying the dance? Are you able to dance lightly?
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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