TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. [See the offer in gold text following this post for details on how you can watch a retreat on video which includes a detailed discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj]
2. Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the green text after today's post for the full meaning and implications of that.
3. A new video ("Number Ten: Awakening Together Satsang, March 2018") has now been added in the far right column of this page, offering the opportunity to view a recent 2018 satsang session with Floyd being interviewed by Regina and Jacqueline of "The Awakening Together Group." (See the details in the blue text after this post.)
The point in this series is that the non-dual message has long been widespread but has seldom been understood either then or now.
To continue:
THE NON-DUALITY MESSAGE AS OFFERED IN FILM
Today: “Defending Your Life,” “Click,” and “Contact”
“Defending Your Life”
One critic called this “A hilarious, contemplative, carpe diem-style film” and another called it “An amazing and unique commentary on life and death.”
A few suggest that this film offers some non-dual messaging in terms of what happens post-manifestation, but the movie has more religious tones with a Hindu / karmic strain, including . . .
a "post-life" stop in Judgment City;
a trial in which one must defend her or his life regarding what happened during the manifestation; followed by each person either being sent to some “higher reward” or “sent back to earth to try again.”
During the judging however, there is no concern with whether “commandments” were adhered to; instead, what is judged is how much one allowed fear to determine choices made (or no-choice actions which occurred because fear was the key motivator?)”
An interest in enjoying life without non-stop fear and without a concern with what the afterlife is like,” becomes the film’s greater concern.
The “are you brave enough to move on” element does not allow the movie to become bogged down with religious overtones but instead turns the focus back onto life rather than “the afterlife.”
The focus then becomes finding out how to live and enjoy a relative existence without walking about on eggshells because of a preoccupation with religions’ reward vs. punishment duality.
The comedic genius of Albert Brooks as writer, director, and actor dominates. Most suggest that the humor alone makes the movie worth watching.
“Click”
This is another film that might be filed under the “fantasy comedy” genre alongside “Defending Your Life.”
Adam Sandler plays Michael Newman, an overworked architect who neglects his family. That happens even more after he acquires a “universal” remote.
Learning to use the remote, Michael finds that it can control reality much like a television, able to pause, rewind to events in his past, or fast-forward in time. It enables him to "fast forward" through unpleasant or outright dull parts of his life, but he soon learns that those seemingly “bad” moments that he skips over contained valuable time with his family and important life lessons.
It is explained to him that “during these times, his body is on ‘auto-pilot,’ going through his motions of everyday life while his mind skips ahead.”
Some critics claim that the storyline is a rip-off of “It’s A Wonderful Life”; others admit enjoying the film in spite of the somewhat smarmy message which comes with so many Sandler films.
The film does offer a non-dual message to the degree that it encourages giving attention to enjoying the I AM vs. trying to escape the I AM by getting lost in the quest for the I AM THAT which can encourage some to move into Foo-Foo Land as they avoid reality while focusing on “Reality.”
“Contact”
Of the three films discussed today, this is the one that is not dominated by comedic elements but is usually placed in the “science fiction / drama / social commentary" genre.
It is a film adaptation of Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel and Sagan and his wife were both consultants on the film.
One critic said: "Contact" is a film that takes place at the intersection of science, politics and faith,” adding, “three subjects that don't always fit easily together.”
Jodie Foster plays the role of Dr. Ellie Arroway who works for the SETI program at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and who finds strong evidence of extraterrestrial life and is chosen to make “first contact.”
Arroway discovers a signal repeating a sequence of prime numbers and a video hidden in the signal: Adolf Hitler’s opening address at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
The film explores the ancient and continuing religion vs. science conflict which organized religion has fed for several millennia.
“Contact suggests that cultural conflicts between religion and science would be brought to the fore by the apparent contact with aliens which could occur. A point of discussion is the existence of God with several different positions being portrayed.
“A description of an emotionally-intense experience by Palmer Joss, which he describes as ‘seeing God,’ is met by Arroway's suggestion that 'some part of [him] needed to have it'—that it was a significant personal experience but indicative of nothing greater.
“At the end of the film, Arroway is put into a position that she had traditionally viewed with skepticism and contempt: that of believing something with complete certainty, despite being unable to prove it in the face of not only widespread incredulity and skepticism (which she admits that, as a scientist, she would normally share) but also evidence apparently to the contrary.”
“The film tries to show that science and religion can co-exist although - throughout history - religion has typically disagreed. Foster’s character offers some insight into the roots of that schism, saying,
“The purpose of science is to discover truth, wherever it is.” The irony in that debate is that the side believed to be the one which is all about finding the truth is actually the one that has most contributed to the dissemination of the majority of the body of "not-truth" on this planet.
As a single example, consider the Right’s opposition to stem cell research and the effect of their opposition on scientific advancement.
While some modified stem cell treatment plans are available in the U.S., the opposition to the procedure among conservatives allows physicians in the U.S. to provide a version which has only a fraction of the effectiveness of what is offered in other countries.
Recently, two close friends had to go to Mexico to receive an effective version of stem cell treatment for ailments which have left both in extreme pain, rendering one near-totally disabled.
After years of trying a variety of treatments for her illness, the sicker of the two was told by doctors who were offering stem cell treatment that only an effective version of that care could alleviate her illness and the accompanying pain but that the laws in the U.S. did not allow them to offer the pure and most effective form of the treatment which she needed.
After talking with multiple doctors in the U.S. who are using a watered-down version of stem cell treatment because of restrictions placed on them by right-wing politicians (and who reported that the most effective versions of that treatment could help her but she would not be able to receive it in the U.S.) she began to look outside the States for treatment.
Driven to find some relief, she learned that the proper, full-blown, unmodified version of the stem cell treatment she required was available in a few Central American nations.
After more than two years of experiencing pain and the total failure by the U.S. medical community to (1) provide an effective treatment plan for eliminating her core problem and thereby (2) alleviating the pain which kept her near bedridden, she went to Mexico to find the treatment and relief.
A single treatment in Mexico provided both.
“Contact” points toward the needless misery which people in the U.S. experience because of the same types of ignorance which non-duality has always tried to alleviate.
Alleviating ignorance is the prerequisite for eliminating so many other forms of suffering, be they physical, mental, or emotional.
Thus, the message in Contact is less about extraterrestrials and far more about the ignorance which deprives so many in the U.S. from receiving the medical assistance they require, be it
. . . forbidding the use of medical marijuana to eliminate the 16 to 20 seizures per day which an eleven-year-old boy in New Jersey was experiencing; or be it
. . . trying to block an abortion for a twelve-year old girl in Kentucky who became pregnant after being regularly raped by a stepfather; or be it
. . . the need of an effective version of stem cell treatment for an illness which had debilitated an 80+ year old woman for more than two years before she found a doctor in Mexico who was able to cure her and eliminate her 24 / 7 pain.
. . . forbidding the use of medical marijuana to eliminate the 16 to 20 seizures per day which an eleven-year-old boy in New Jersey was experiencing; or be it
. . . trying to block an abortion for a twelve-year old girl in Kentucky who became pregnant after being regularly raped by a stepfather; or be it
. . . the need of an effective version of stem cell treatment for an illness which had debilitated an 80+ year old woman for more than two years before she found a doctor in Mexico who was able to cure her and eliminate her 24 / 7 pain.
To be continued.
THE NEWEST OFFER:
Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video, all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.)
If interested, click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video.
(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.)
To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button:
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]
In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you.
Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns.
THE EXPLANATION
If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence.
Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to."
The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly").
Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part.
"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you."
Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on:
"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places
but are states of mind, nothing more than
concepts dreamed up by men."
--Pope John Paul II
"There is no hell."
--Pope Francis, the current pope
in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari,
a writer used by the Pope to issue off the record
teachings which become a part of the Papal Magisterium.
[That said, would that the popes who have shown the courage to reject a core concept of their dogma - namely, "hell" - would find the additional courage required to question the very existence of their institution in light of the centuries-long cover-up of their history of raping children and in light of the mental and emotional and psychological scarring of billions of their members past and present.
And that need for courage also applies as questions need to be asked about why so many other sky cults are still being supported and allowed to continue to exist as well. When certain types of programming and conditioning have been shown to blind the masses, they should end. Will they? Not likely. Why?
Because what the masses think and say and do is most influenced by the international crime families which hold sway over the masses as criminals conduct their planet-wide operations. What are the major international crime families and which are the most influential and have the largest memberships?
The Mafia / La Cosa Nostra; the Catholic Church (with it 1.2 billion followers) whose Vatican Bank worked for decades with the Mafia while laundering mob earnings (for a 15% all-profit charge by the Bank); Protestant and Evangelical Churches (with over 1.2 billion followers) like the one I was raised in where the youth director molested and sexually assaulted young girls; big business which has long created environments in which people have been abused; powerful political bodies like the U.S. Congress, etc., etc., etc.)
With all of those crime families, neither the followers nor the leadership ever voluntarily step down or shut down their criminal activities. Be they gangs, organized crime families, religions, big business, politicians, etc., they all want control and they all want power and they all want money, and nothing internal will interfere with the driving forces at play.
The masses must demand that all those in charge must step down and their groups and institutions must shut down, and there's the real problem because the continuation of their crimes are enabled not as much by the people running such crime organizations as they are enabled by the masses of people who - wanting some perceived "payoff" - remain involved with them and give them money and support them and aid and abet the continued existence of those criminal enterprises and thus facilitate the ability of church criminals and political criminals and other types of criminals to continue to commit their crimes.]
Here's
the direct link to the VIDEO VERSION
of the "Awakening Together" satsang session with Regina and Jacqueline referenced earlier, 18 MARCH 2018
If preferred, here's
the direct link to the AUDIO VERSION
of that session.
