THE SPECIFIC STEPS TO REALIZATION, Part Six

From a site visitor: “If there is no ‘me,’ then who is the person thinking, doing, feeling, etc?”

F.: We ended yesterday’s posting with an invitation to consider the question above. Since there’s a duality at play in that question, there can be a subject-object at play in regards to witnessing or observing. To be free of the limited identification with the body and the "mind roles" it plays, You must find who or what subject knows that false object. Who or what is the witness of that body and those roles and personas and false identities? Who or what is that You which can observe you (the “me” in the question) and is far enough removed from it to be able to make an inquiry into what that “me” might be? Who or what is that You that knows its presence? Who is that I which, in the case of some persons, can reach a point when it can say, “I realize that I am as phony as a three-dollar bill”? Who are the two “I’s” used to generate that statement of duality? Do You see that two different versions of “you,” that two different “I’s,” are at play in that revelation? Do You see—since all dualities are always lies—that only one of those “I’s” can refer to the Real You and that the other has to be referring to something that is not real? Who is that You which can know ItSelf and can come to know that the false roles are false? Only You can do that witnessing and and only You can come to know the “not you.” It was explained this way in the Editor’s Interview in the back of the non-duality novel, The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders:

Author: Now, remember the discussion with Chief, using the lost arms-legs-organs exercise that shows we are not our body?

Editor: Of course, and that experiment showed me that I am not what I’ve thought I was, that I am something, but I am still not sure what.

Author: Ha. OK. The ‘arms-legs-organs exercise’ reveals that you are not the body. The body sustains the mind, so if the body goes, the mind goes. That which goes cannot be the permanent, cannot be the Real You. Yet you know even without those parts that You Are still You. Right?

Editor: Yes.

Author: Since there is no duality, no subject-object duality, what is it that knows that consciousness, that presence?

Editor: That’s where I got lost. I don't know.

Author: That which knows that conscious presence, since there is no duality, has to also be . . . CONSCIOUSNESS!

Realize, also, that the consciousness must cycle regularly via plants for the body and mind to continue their functionings. [And if the consciousness has been corrupted, and if the illusions of a "mind" that was generated via corrupted consciousness are clung to, then the body and mind will not function naturally but will function unnaturally or supernaturally.] “The mind” records distorted images of all the reflections that were supposedly “seen” via corrupted consciousness and results in the faulty perception of a "me"...a "me" that supposedly has had years and years of continuity. Yet study a photo album with a first-grade picture and a sixth-grade picture and an eleventh-grade picture; then look into the mirror and see that, in truth, there is not even any continuity of a body. Trillions of cells have “come and gone,” so with the exception of a few organs, a chain of bodies that you took to be you have “come and gone.” Among those different body forms, which “me” would any person claim to be "the real me”? What “me” would a “mind” assume to be "the one, real you”? What a distortion to talk of a "me."

Next, realize that the consciousness has no permanent continuity in the body. If the food is not consumed that allows the cyclings of consciousness to continue, then any remaining conscious-energy in the body would soon unmanifest. Consciousness is constantly in movement, “coming and going,” so to speak. To stop eating is to stop “the flow”…the manifesting and unmanifesting. An earlier posting quoted Szent-Gyorgyi who said, “What drives life is … a little electric current, set up by the sunshine.” To stop eating would be to “pull the plug” on that current’s flow. The understanding of the Functioning of the Totality of the Universe is so simple when the science of the cycling is understood to involve sunshine, plants, and an electrical current that is measurable via an EEG.

So how does so much misunderstanding come about? Via that which cannot be measured and is, therefore, not real. What is that which (like a body) is not real but seems to have continuity and thereby allows the illusion of "a past" to be imagined and allows "a future" to be imagined? Know that of these four—the body, the mind, the personas and the consciousness—only the consciousness is permanent; thus, only the consciousness is real. Understand that the consciousness can know itSelf rightly and that "the mind" can only “know” the body and itself wrongly. Realize that "the mind" is not real and can never know anything—all "thought" via that "mind" amounting to nothing more than supposedly "seeing again" one of a series of images or imaginings stored in compartments of a brain that will end even though the conscious-energy will remain eternally. When the conscious-energy unmanifests, what will be left behind is a decaying brain that will eventually return to the elements, ending forever the storage place of a series of images that were stored therein and thus ending forever “the mind.” Is it seen that all imagining is just imaging? Is it seen that any image—like a mirage in the desert—might have an appearance that seems real but is not? Is it seen that it is the essence of the plant that provides the consciousness which, if warped or corrupted, allows the imaginings of a “mind” to happen and to generate falsely a sense of body-mind-personality continuity that has never been real? Is it seen that it is “the mind” that allows persons to (a) imagine a past to have been some way that it was not and to (b) imagine a present to be in a way that it is not and to (c) imagine that a future will be a certain way that also will not be real? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

THE SPECIFIC STEPS TO REALIZATION, Part Five

From a site visitor: “If there is no ‘me,’ then who is the person thinking, doing, feeling, etc?”

F.: Today’s posting provides an opportunity for review and then a chance for protégés to try to find their own answers, possibly. The “journey” is a “journey” to being in touch with reality. Why do so few have a willingness to undertake such a “journey”? Protégés should know the obstacles. (1) Persons—believing that their ego-states actually define who they are—are so absorbed in ego that the notion that their thinking might be wrong is anathema. They can point out rightly all the “others” who are crazy, but they don’t have any ability to see that they are merely projecting their own insanity onto “others.” I first witnessed that as a pre-teen at the insane asylum in Texas where my uncle was director. The patients thought their families, the counselors, and the directors were crazy—and they were right—but they hadn’t a clue about their own state of “mind.” (2) Persons are dissociated from truth. (More than that, they are the lie…“persona” meaning “mask.”) Dissociated, persons can be bored and yearning and miserable while claiming—and truly believing—that they are happy. The patients locked up in that facility acted happier than most who were walking about freely outside; on the other hand, for those who were completely out of their minds, they may have been happier. Persons can reach a state of being out of their minds—free of believing that lies are truth—without becoming so insane that they must be institutionalized. In fact, sanity begins where “the mind” ends, but most believe the “mind” holds the answer; thus, they never Realize. (3) The irony about mirages is that, though they are transparent and formless, they nevertheless form a prison from which most persons will never escape. Persons, believing that they are their personas, seldom develop a desire to cast off their masks. In their “minds,” they would be casting away their very selves. Truthfully, that is what would be happening: they would be casting away their false selves, but since they have come to believe that they and the masks are one, most will cling to the masks as long as possible and will never even know they’re masks. In that mindset of believing that the “oneness” = “themselves” + their “masks”—anchoring them in a dualistic belief that is a lie—what chance exists to see the non-duality, the Real Oneness, the True Self? Little or none.

Once a person accepts an image as being real, or fabricates an image that she/he wants the world to believe is real, then the image becomes a prison. It will consume all time and energy in an effort to sustain itself. Living the lie, they become actors trapped in the "Drama of the Lie." But those who begin to doubt what they have been taught, and are willing to question it all, can proceed along the “path.” The questions usually begin as questions for “others,” but eventually the most vital questions are the ones asked by Self: “Who am I, really?” and “How did this body come to be?” and “Where was I in the days prior to conception?” and “I have found that some of what they taught me was a big pile of lies, but is it possible that it’s all a lie?” The realization that it was all a lie is the impetus to let go of the “mind.” When the “mind” fully ends, true freedom and sanity shall begin. For now, though, most are still asking their questions of “others,” so back to the question: “If there is no ‘me,’ then who is the person thinking, doing, emoting, etc?” Is it possible that the “me” refers to all of the false personas that wrongly think they are You? Is it then possible to find who or what can be aware of that fallacy of "the mind" that believes the lies that they told you about who you are? Is it possible that the “who” would be one of many personas with an agenda that is even hidden from the personas? Maybe the time is ripe for each of You to answer the question…Your Self: “If there is no ‘me,’ then who is the person thinking, doing, emoting, etc?” Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

THE SPECIFIC STEPS TO REALIZATION, Part Three

From a site visitor:

“Does the mind need to understand or pass through certain gates of logic to proceed?”
and
“If there is no ‘me,’ then who is the person thinking, doing, feeling, etc?”

F.: The “journey” is a “journey” to reality…to being free of insanity and then being fixed in sanity. It takes seven specific steps for human influence to impact pure, manifested consciousness and corrupt it to the point that persons are so removed from sanity—so removed from being in touch with reality—that they don’t even know who they are. How insane is that? Both the Realized and persons can dream, but the Realized dream, then awaken, then know they were dreaming, and realize that it was all a dream. Persons, on the other hand, dream, come to, spend their days in a dream world, and actually believe that all their dreams are real. That's how insane it is to be a person...to mistake personas and dreams and images and mirages as real.

The “journey” to reality proceeds when the belief is abandoned that “the mind” is the proper tool to use to be restored to sanity and to realize. “The mind” is the seat of insanity. "The mind" is a mirage that takes all mirages to be real. It can never be “fixed”—meaning “repaired” or “fixed in a position to where it is not in constant, peace-stealing motion.” It is shifting and variable by its very nature, perpetually in motion for the entire period that its contents are given undeserved credibility. Its very nature—after programming and conditioning—is to be moving and restless as it generates misery and distraction with its incessant chatter of a thousand monkeys. It is the repository of all the lies. More accurately, it is all the lies, the concepts, the ideas, the dogma, and the beliefs that generate emotional intoxication, a false belief in separation, and detachment from reality. "The mind" is that which separates persons from the truth, so it can never be that which unites them with the truth. And when the consciousness has been most bastardized, it is “the mind” that supports the belief that you are your body, that the false “I” or the “me” is real. The first specific step on the journey, then, is to see the lie about the body and the roles it plays. Now, reconsider another of your questions which can be used to help understand the teachings around step one of the "journey" (namely, being free of the limiting identification with the physical body):

If there is no "me," then who is the person thinking, doing, feeling, etc?

After the pure consciousness manifests, a stage exists in which It begins to sense Its presence. The child does not know it is “a child,” but it does know at some point it is. It will jump when startled by a loud noise, already naturally "wired" to preserve the “beingness” that it already senses. Similarly, the bird that flies away if startled also knows it is and flees to prolong that beingness, though it does not think or believe for even a moment that “I am a bird.” In the case of the bird, that speck of consciousness has not been contaminated with false labels, yet the bird (consciousness) still knows it is. Only later, after the child is told that it is “a child”—and then is sometimes told that it is a “good child” and at other times is told it is a “bad child”—does the child (a) begin to lose consciousness of just being, (b) begins to believe the lie that “It is this” or “It is that,” (c) begins to accept such dualities as “good vs. bad” as being truth and (d) loses all ability to see how relative and arbitrary and subjective those, and all, dualistic labels really are. [The Realized know all dualities are false, but persons mistake dualities such as "good-bad," "right-wrong," or "moral-immoral" as absolutes. If lies are taken to be The Absolute, how can persons ever know the only real Absolute?] But prior to "the child" being taught roles, prior to being given false identities, prior to being taught lies, and prior to becoming a “person” (persona), who or what sensed that presence? Who or what was aware of that beingness? Who or what knew, “I Am”? Who or what was aware that it was before it was told that it was...this or was...that? The child sensed “I am” before it was taught “I am…a child,” so that which sensed the presence, that which knew “I Am,” preceded the acceptance of a false identity which (as a result of the bastardization of the previously-pure consciousness) lost touch with the "I Am" as it came to believe “I am...this” or “I am...that.” Who or what was at peace before a "mind" was created that would eliminate that propensity for just being and would inspire one more person to join the masses and to embark on a futile, frustrating, life-long quest, no longer just being but always working at being good in the eyes of all and always preoccupied with never being bad in the opinion of others? How did the assumption of ego-states as identities then accelerate the drive to the next level where being good is not good enough but being the best is all that is acceptable? Who or what is that which knew itSelf prior to being corrupted, prior to the assignment of false labels, prior to influence of ego, and prior to believing that an existence of doingness and busyness and thinking (to use some of Ben's words) is natural and that beingness is unnatural? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

THE SPECIFIC STEPS TO REALIZATION, Part Four

From a site visitor:

“Does the mind need to understand or pass through certain gates of logic to proceed?”
and
“If there is no ‘me,’ then who is the person thinking, doing, feeling, etc?”

F.: The “journey” is a “journey” to reality…to being free of insanity and then being fixed in sanity. It takes seven specific steps for human influence to impact pure, manifested consciousness and corrupt it to the point that persons are so removed from sanity—so removed from being in touch with reality—that they don’t even know who they are. How insane is that? Both the Realized and persons can dream, but the Realized dream, then awaken, then know they were dreaming, and realize that it was all a dream. Persons, on the other hand, dream, come to, spend their days in a dream world, and actually believe that all their dreams are real. That's how insane it is to be a person...to mistake personas and dreams and images and mirages as real.

The “journey” to reality proceeds when the belief is abandoned that “the mind” is the proper tool to use to be restored to sanity and to realize. “The mind” is the seat of insanity. "The mind" is a mirage that takes all mirages to be real. It can never be “fixed”—meaning “repaired” or “fixed in a position to where it is not in constant, peace-stealing motion.” It is shifting and variable by its very nature, perpetually in motion for the entire period that its contents are given undeserved credibility. Its very nature—after programming and conditioning—is to be moving and restless as it generates misery and distraction with its incessant chatter of a thousand monkeys. It is the repository of all the lies. More accurately, it is all the lies, the concepts, the ideas, the dogma, and the beliefs that generate emotional intoxication, a false belief in separation, and detachment from reality. "The mind" is that which separates persons from the truth, so it can never be that which unites them with the truth. And when the consciousness has been most bastardized, it is “the mind” that supports the belief that you are your body, that the false “I” or the “me” is real. The first specific step on the journey, then, is to see the lie about the body and the roles it plays. Now, reconsider another of your questions which can be used to help understand the teachings around step one of the "journey" (namely, being free of the limiting identification with the physical body):

If there is no "me," then who is the person thinking, doing, feeling, etc?

After the pure consciousness manifests, a stage exists in which It begins to sense Its presence. The child does not know it is “a child,” but it does know at some point it is. It will jump when startled by a loud noise, already naturally "wired" to preserve the “beingness” that it already senses. Similarly, the bird that flies away if startled also knows it is and flees to prolong that beingness, though it does not think or believe for even a moment that “I am a bird.” In the case of the bird, that speck of consciousness has not been contaminated with false labels, yet the bird (consciousness) still knows it is. Only later, after the child is told that it is “a child”—and then is sometimes told that it is a “good child” and at other times is told it is a “bad child”—does the child (a) begin to lose consciousness of just being, (b) begins to believe the lie that “It is this” or “It is that,” (c) begins to accept such dualities as “good vs. bad” as being truth and (d) loses all ability to see how relative and arbitrary and subjective those, and all, dualistic labels really are. [The Realized know all dualities are false, but persons mistake dualities such as "good-bad," "right-wrong," or "moral-immoral" as absolutes. If lies are taken to be The Absolute, how can persons ever know the only real Absolute?] But prior to "the child" being taught roles, prior to being given false identities, prior to being taught lies, and prior to becoming a “person” (persona), who or what sensed that presence? Who or what was aware of that beingness? Who or what knew, “I Am”? Who or what was aware that it was before it was told that it was...this or was...that? The child sensed “I am” before it was taught “I am…a child,” so that which sensed the presence, that which knew “I Am,” preceded the acceptance of a false identity which (as a result of the bastardization of the previously-pure consciousness) lost touch with the "I Am" as it came to believe “I am...this” or “I am...that.” Who or what was at peace before a "mind" was created that would eliminate that propensity for just being and would inspire one more person to join the masses and to embark on a futile, frustrating, life-long quest, no longer just being but always working at being good in the eyes of all and always preoccupied with never being bad in the opinion of others? How did the assumption of ego-states as identities then accelerate the drive to the next level where being good is not good enough but being the best is all that is acceptable? Who or what is that which knew itSelf prior to being corrupted, prior to the assignment of false labels, prior to influence of ego, and prior to believing that an existence of doingness and busyness and thinking (to use some of Ben's words) is natural and that beingness is unnatural? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

THE SPECIFIC STEPS TO REALIZATION, Part Two

From a site visitor: “Does the mind need to understand or pass through certain gates of logic to proceed?”

F.: Reflecting on yesterday’s post, the rhetorical question now is this: if you took yesterday’s consideration into the quiet, did that bring any new understanding about “the mind”? Past postings about the fallacious nature of “the mind” have covered that aberration thoroughly (and visitors can use the search feature at the top of this page to search “mind” for details) but the second question received from Ben—dealing with “the mind” and “logic”—will be addressed today. First, it must be understood that any mentioning of “the mind” and “logic” together constitutes a duality (and, therefore, indicates the presence of a lie). The “mind” and “logic” are mutually exclusive. Why? Because of this fact:

“The mind” precludes logic; logic precludes “the mind.”

Most seekers who are trying to move beyond the insanity of this relative existence fail to find that which they are seeking because they believe that they must (1) become logical and (2) use the mind to find truth. With that strategy, they are destined to fail because they are only half right: they must be logical, but “the mind” will never allow logic to manifest as long as “the mind” exists. [Some have asked, "What is 'logical,' if not that which is reasoned out via a sane mind?" What is "logical" is intuitive, sixth sense, natural living as opposed to unnatural or supernatural thinking.] "The mind" is an accumulation of lies. "The mind" is the aggregate of false beliefs that have been amassed as a result of enculturation. "The mind" can never "find the truth" because it is the collective of all non-truth. Failure after failure marks the futile efforts of cults, religions, ideologies, spiritual movements, spiritual programs, most philosophies, and all self-help plans...all of which promise “peace of mind.” Why? Because there is no such thing as peace of mind. It is “the mind” that generates all lack of peace. As the storehouse of beliefs, it is “the mind” that promotes religious wars, spiritual debate, relational arguments, and ideological radicalism. Even the most skilled teachers of relaxation meditation can only offer a limited visit to the “no-mind” state for persons who will still suffer the mayhem of “the mind” during their post-meditation hours. It is the body identification (at the first level) that the mind (at the second level) clings to. Body identification, in turn, leads to the belief that all the ego-states being assumed as identities are real; therefore, both body identification and “the mind” must be eradicated for ego-states and emotional intoxication to end, for peace to happen, and for the realized to be able to witness without suffering (and without triggering a chain of insane reactions if peace does not happen). Those are the first two levels that must be transitioned.

Millions and trillions of seekers have been foiled in their efforts to be restored to sanity and to find truth because they thought that the key to being at peace involved discovering some unique use of “the mind” in some fashion in which it had not yet been used. Little did they know that “the mind” was not the tool to use to solve the problem but was, instead, the problem itself. No sought-after understanding by “the mind” will allow the “journey” to “proceed,” to use Ben’s word. It is the elimination of “the mind” that allows the “journey” to proceed. Proceed to where? To Realization…to being in touch with reality…to being restored to sanity…to being out of your mind (which is not your mind at all but is actually their mind).

That shocking suggestion from yesterday might finally be more tolerable as protégés begin to see why it is that that the work done, the books read and the knowledge accumulated will not be useful on the journey at all and must be discarded if the load is to be lightened enough to be able to travel the entire path. The load is “the mind.” “The mind” is the “gate” Ben mentioned—and it is a closed gate that can never be opened in order to allow the journey to continue. It must be eliminated instead. There is no such thing an “an open mind” or “a peaceful mind” or “a right mind,” yet the search for that which does not even exist is the focus of cults, relgions, spiritual programs, etc. No wonder so many fail! No wonder only one in a million will realize and find the bliss! Previous postings can be searched at the top of this page in order to receive the full understanding about the differences in the consciousness, the brain, and “the mind,” but the main pointer for today is this: the brain and consciousness are vehicles to be used to facilitate completion of the "journey." “The mind”—by way of contrast—is a hindrance. Why? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

To learn how to take the complete “journey” with a step-by-step description of the shift “From the I to the Absolute”—and for the complete discussion of “The Seven Step Journey to Reality”—click the links below. That volume includes the word-for-word transcripts of the last sessions that floyd did face-to-face with proteges. The exact exchanges, with all Q and A’s and more, are included in one volume that you can see at http://floydhenderson.com/iamabsolute.htm or at http://advaitavedantabooks.blogspot.com/ . Note: This has become one of the more popular books on the site so there is currently a three-week delay in filling orders on that volume. We are processing credit cards as they come in and creating a first come-first served list to ship in the order in which payments are received. Thank you for your patience as we work to process all of the orders coming in for that book.

THE SPECIFIC STEPS TO REALIZATION, Part One

From a site visitor: “Hi Floyd, I have a few questions I thought you could help me with.
a) What would you say are the essential or first steps for the mind to understand non-duality in order to move forward?
b) Does the mind need to understand or pass through certain gates of logic to proceed?
c) When looking for me, I find that all there is are thoughts or feelings but these walls (mostly a feeling) seem to satisfy me as to who I am. Where do I go from here?
d) If there is no "me," then who is the person thinking, doing, feeling, etc?
e) Attraction or want...who is wanting? That‘s all for now. Thanks, Ben”

F.: Hello, Ben. Thanks for the e-mail and for the other information supplied separately that made clearer your current location on the path of “The Seven-Step Journey to Reality.” Today’s posting will be the longest ever on the site because your inquiries afford the opportunity to address many e-mails that have been received lately, all of which indicate a need for some basic understandings that have not been discussed in detail up to this point. Anyone sharing the Advaita teachings must first know where the particular seeker being addressed is currently “located” on the “path” as well as the route followed so far. [Usually, a few questions by the teacher or a few comments by the protégé will reveal that location; sometimes, an Advaitan sharing pointers will suspect there’s more, as happened in your case. You’ll see later why both “location” and “route followed so far” are necessary for an appropriate response.]

First, a pointer about seekers and non-seekers: there are non-seekers who shall never find; there are seekers who shall never find but will continue to work diligently in the search but will wander because they don’t have a clearly-marked map; there are seekers who might find pieces but not the entire understanding; and there are only a few seekers who shall truly find. What seekers should recognize about seekers, however, is this: anyone seeking is either (a) sensing on some level that something is missing, and therefore the seeker is not as happy as claimed or (b) the seeker is a knowledge accumulator and, in that case, a persona with an agenda is driving a desire. When that which is being sought is truly found, then all seeking ends and the AS IF living begins to happen. [At the top of this page, those interested may search the blog for “as if.”]

Based on the separate e-mail in which you answered the inquiries sent to you, you reveal that you have been a seeker most of your life. Many site visitors, my former “self” included, would relate to your experiences: exposure to religious indoctrination from an early age or later as an adult; the rejection of the messages offered because you saw through the contradictions and recognized the implausibility of their dogma; years of metaphysical or spiritual seeking that evolved into spiritual workaholism; and the accumulation of more and more knowledge and more and more concepts as you sought answers from more and more of “the big hitters” making their rounds on the spiritual circuit. [Note: That workaholism is not being judged nor disparaged since, after years of sharing with Advaitan seekers, it has been found that the most receptive protégés are those who are tired…really tired…from all the work and effort and disciplines and searching. Exhaustion as a result of spiritual over-exercising is often prepatory.]

Next, based on the questions you asked, it is obvious that your “journey” has followed the circuitous route taken by most seekers, through no fault of your own. You mentioned that you’re not seeking clarity as much as you’re seeking a realization. Yes, and no. Realization is to be sought, yes, but clarity about the exact steps required (and the exact order in which those steps must be taken) is needed. Few seekers will ever have clarity around this fact: in each case, there were seven very specific steps which transpired from the point at which the pure consciousness manifested to the point where the consciousness had been completely bastardized, leaving persons (personas) identified with the “I” and thus suffering from the “Seven Degrees of Separation from Reality.” Therefore, there are seven very specific steps that must be followed in “reverse” in order to un-do the “damage” to the consciousness and allow the shift from the I to the Absolute [see http://www.floydhenderson.com/iamabsolute.htm ] that will allow You to get back in touch with Who You Truly Are…that is, to return to being fully in touch with reality. [That reveals why “the journey” and the “path” are italicized by Advaitans: there is really nowhere to go and no path to follow. There is only the task of finding That which You have never left but which you have forgotten; there is only the task of finding That which You have been “separated” from awareness of because of programming, conditioning, and enculturation.] Each of the seven steps must be transitioned if Realization is to happen; furthermore, no steps can be skipped and the exact order cannot be deviated from at all on the “journey.”

When you listed all the books you’ve read and have created a library with, you list among the authors and teachers many who have one or two pieces of the total Advaita message. You also mentioned some jnanis who had the understanding but did not delineate a simple, clear-cut and direct route to the full understanding that protégés (especially Westerners) could follow. [That is not disparaging, either, since ultimately it is the readiness of the protégé that is the key anyway.] Too, in describing your journey, it is seen that—as with many who tried so much and finally found the Advaita teachings—you’ve moved along the path to the mid-range of the seven stages but have skipped the first, basic steps. Thus, you have transitioned beyond any religious ego-state (which must happen) and you’ve become spiritual (which is also a step along the way) and you may have some insight into steps four to seven. Your comments and questions, however, reveal that you did not take the first two steps completely. [Now the necessity of the inquiries about “where you are” and “the paths you’ve taken so far” should be clearer.] Without mastery of the teachings dealing with those first two steps, seekers who are wondering and wandering can come across “higher” stepping stones on the “path,” but they’ll never be able to complete the “journey” in its entirety. As with Maslow’s Hierarchy, if the basic needs are not met first, then those needs that he lists on the higher levels can never be fully attained.

E-mails received this week from site visitors in Romania, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S. reveal a similarity in content which suggests that many will be able to relate to the questions you’ve ask, so space on the site shall be devoted to your questions in order that all who are interested may share in the answers. The task for now, before moving on any further, is to find those steps that have been missed…those steps that must be taken before arriving at any religious or spiritual point on the “path” and then transitioning beyond those to the full understanding. That brings us to your first question:

a) What would you say are the essential or first steps for the mind to understand non-duality in order to move forward?

The very fact that you asked that question illustrates the earlier point: no matter how much spiritual work you’ve done (and you’ve done a lot) and no matter how many spiritual books you’ve read (and you’ve read a lot) and no matter how much meditation you’ve tried (and you’ve tried a lot) and no matter how much spiritual knowledge you’ve accumulated along the way (and you’ve accumulated a lot), it is necessary to find what you call “the essential or first steps,” and they are about none of the above. Shocking to many when they first begin to travel this “path” is seeing that that the work done, the books read and the knowledge accumulated will not be useful on the journey at all and must be discarded if the load is to be lightened enough to be able to travel the entire path. Many exit stage left at this point since certain ego-states are unable to stand the heat of the light being cast upon those personas; others leave because they are unable to tolerate any challenge to the value of their accumulated knowledge. But the main point for now is this: if the understanding around those first two steps is not mastered, then all additional effort will be for naught. Therefore, today’s suggestion for you and all protégés is this: focus on the second part of your question and see if you might find the answer to the point implied in the following question: Why is it that “the mind” you mentioned can never “understand non-duality in order to move forward” along the seven-step path? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

YOU DO NOT HAVE ENERGY…YOU DO NOT HAVE CONSCIOUSNESS, Part Three

F.: An invitation was offered yesterday to transition beyond the physical, transition beyond the religious (roles), transition beyond the spiritual (roles), and focus on the essence. Why? In order to be happy and free.

Why transition beyond the physical to be happy and free? If one is identified with the body (while knowing that the body will end) fear and anxiety and misery will be experienced. In some persons, that might inspire them to turn to religion or spirituality to find a way that will insure that their bodies will last forever—which, of course, bodies cannot. “Well,” some have said, “maybe the body can’t last forever, but my soul can.” Some persons do mistake the consciousness for a soul, but it should be clear that the soul is fictional because it is believed to be capable of knowing itself and experiencing experiences in a special place after this "life." In reality, when unmanifested the consciousness does not know itSelf, experiences nothing, and goes to no particular place but merges into the infinite pool of consciousness-at-rest. [Even the Advaita teacher Jesus made that clear. Because the true geography of "Gehanna" is not understood, however, billions of followers of the popular dogmas will continue to believe in a geographic heaven and a geographic hell, ignoring the fact that they were told that “heaven and earth shall fade away” and that “no one shall ever see heaven—it’s within.”]

Why transition beyond religious ego-states? Turning to religion does not end fear or anxiety because religion's dualities of good/bad, heaven/hell, and punishment/reward are at the core of the dogma that has evolved from centuries of corruption of the true message. Religion claims to provide a weekly respite from the trials and tribulations of “this life.” That very admission that it can only offer a weekly respite from fear and anxiety and frustration and anger shows why it should be transitioned. The best they can offer is a week of freedom from self? Where's the stability that only comes with being restored to sanity...with being in touch with Reality? The emotional intoxication they generate results in instability, not stability. Too, always present is the anxiety of wondering if you’re really being “good enough” and really “being forgiven” in a way that will insure that an eternal body will receive an eternal reward. Then comes the confusion and contradictions of one religion's "holy text" that says, as mentioned above, that “heaven and earth shall fade away” and that “no one shall ever see heaven since it is within.” Another major religion generates misery since its religious leaders endorse suffering. A third major religion fosters anxiety and confusion as its leaders endorse suicide missions against those of different religions or sects (along with the promise of eternal sex orgies as a delightful reward, at least for the males). The best plan in theory should be transitioned when it becomes obvious to the rational that it is not working in practice, when it makes no sense because of its self-contradictions, and when it scorns facts and undeniable, scientific evidence.

Why transition beyond spiritual ego-states? Spirituality claims to provide a daily respite from the trials and tribulations of “this life.” That very admission that it only offers a daily respite from fear and anxiety and frustration and anger shows why it should be transitioned. The best they can offer is twenty-four hours of freedom from self before more work is needed? Where's the stability of being restored to sanity...of being in touch with Reality? Where's the steady peace? Where's the chance to relax and take it easy with that plan? The spiritual intoxication they produce generates instability, not stability. Also, few ego-states generate more arrogance and separation (while claiming to produce humility and unity) than that of “spiritual giant.” Third, both religion and spirituality are steps on the path but are not the final destination of the path. Fixate at those levels and the ability to witness with detachment will be missed; the ability to know the Oneness via knowing the True Self shall be missed; knowing the Great Reality—being fully in touch with reality—shall be missed; understanding the Functioning of the Totality shall be missed; and knowing that which is beyond both the beingness and the non-beingness shall be missed.

Why, instead, focus on the essence during the period in which the consciousness is manifest? To be happy as a result of being free of the ego-states and beliefs and concepts which always generate delusion. To be happy after seeing that it is delusion that always generates in the relative existence the misery of perceived separation, perceived duality, perceived fears, perceived needs, and the endless chain of unfulfilled desires that always accompany false identities. To be able to know one’s true nature. To be able, from the platform of the True Self, to see all that is beyond the temporary manifestation and to know the real, the permanent, the unalterable, the infinite. To understand the Functioning of the Totality and thus be free of all the contradictions that had seemed so perplexing. To escape the fear of eternal punishment and to experience bliss at the only “time” that it can be experienced: NOW. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
Emails to be answered in upcoming postings:
“Hi Floyd, I have a few questions I thought you could help me with.

a) What would you say are the essential or first steps for the mind to understand non-duality in order to move forward?
b) Does the mind need to understand or pass through certain gates of logic to proceed?
c) When looking for me, I find that all there is are thoughts or feelings but these walls (mostly a feeling) seem to satisfy me as to who I am. Where do I go from here?
d) If there is no "me," then who is the person thinking, doing, feeling, etc?
e) Attraction or want...who is wanting? That's all for now. Thanks, Ben”
and

“My wife has been visited at night by her deceased father who brings positive messages to her. It seems to me that those sighting dismiss your notion that there is no body or any form in an afterlife.”

YOU DO NOT HAVE ENERGY…YOU DO NOT HAVE CONSCIOUSNESS, Part Two

F.: The body shall return to dust; the breath shall be released from the space and shall join the universal air; and the consciousness shall move from the space to the universal pool of consciousness. Of those three—the body, the breath, the consciousness—it is the consciousness which can witness the error of identifying with the limited body. It is the consciousness which can witness the breath. It is the consciousness that can be aware of its presence. It is the consciousness which knows that it does not have consciousness but Is consciousness. It is the consciousness which can know that it Is energy. The principle that can know whether it is the body or not and whether it is the breath or not and whether the world is real—or is merely in the “mind”—that is the principle which precedes the body, the breath, and the world. Manifested, the essence is the True Self or the Real Self that allows the Self to know ItSelf, to know that it currently abides in the “Am-ness,” and to know That Which Is beyond the “I Am,” beyond the selfness, and even beyond Selfness. When Advaitans speak of Sat-Chit-Ananda (the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss) that is the knowledge they speak of. It is the knowledge that ends knowledge and allows the re-purified consciousness to know the bliss of no knowledge, no concepts, no something, and no nothing.

Yesterday, the role the body plays in the cycling was seen. That said, there is nothing you can do to sustain the body. At some point, the body will no longer even be able to consume the plant by which the consciousness manifests. The glucose that comes via plants might be injected via needle to prolong temporarily the manifestation of consciousness, but even that will eventually prove futile. Look to the truth that can currently be witnessed on the planet: over six billion bodies are walking about, but not one of them was on the planet 125 years ago. Not one. All the trillions and trillions of bodies that had been…now are no more. Yet the elements from which those bodies were “made,” and from which all bodies have ever been “made,” have neither increased nor decreased an iota. What has "come and gone"? Only the conscious-energy has cycled. And of that conscious-energy which has cycled, only in a small percentage of all cases has the consciousness reached a state of enlightenment and purification that allowed it to know It Self, to know its essence or true nature. It is not the plant that temporarily sustains humans, birds, or animals but the essence. The bodies, in turn, sustain the consciousness. Consciousness relies on the body and the body relies on the essence of the plant. And that manifested conscious-energy and essence are one. Again, it is Your True Nature.

The manifestation of the consciousness came spontaneously and it shall unmanifest spontaneously. Since the end of an given body is the end of that particular configuration of space, no body-mind shall exist eternally; however, since matter can neither be created nor destroyed, then the elements (which assumed a particular space for a limited time that appeared to have a particular “shape”), shall be forever and might recycle or not. Similarly, the unmanifested consciousness shall not know itSelf, but will nevertheless be forever and might recycle…or not. To know thy Self, transition beyond the physical, transition beyond the religious, transition beyond the spiritual, and focus first on the essence. Then, after Your True Nature is known, from that platform You will also know all that is beyond. You will understand that “matter, energy and life” may seem to be distinct in appearance, but they are only one in essence. Focus on Your Self. Focus on the essence. Know That first and then You can know all of That Which Is beyond. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [ To be continued tomorrow. For more now, you may visit http://www.floydhenderson.com/article2.htm ]

YOU DO NOT HAVE ENERGY…YOU DO NOT HAVE CONSCIOUSNESS, Part One

From a site visitor: “How about explaining ‘the essence’ for me.”

F.: The essence cannot be explained for that ‘me’ you mention. What can be explained is that currently You Are the essence…that true nature of being. A person identified with the body will proclaim at the end of a day’s work, “I have no energy.” By way of comparison, if you use an electron microscope to look at a steel beam, you see that it is neither steel nor beam but is a swirling mass of energy. If the beam could talk, it would not say, “I have energy.” It would say, “I am energy.” And if you look at the way the energy is functioning within the atoms, you would see that electrons and protons and neutrons are obviously aware of the presence of the other and are functioning as one unit. So it is with the body: the body requires the essence of the food in order that energy-consciousness might continue to manifest and that consciousness might speak via the body. But the invitation is to realize that, like the beam, you do not have energy. You Are energy. You Are consciousness.

Similarly, a person who goes to sleep or passes out might later say, “I lost consciousness.” Just as energy cannot be "lost," so consciousness cannot be "lost." You Are energy-consciousness, manifested momentarily. The fallacy comes when a person mistakes the body for What It Is. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Consciousness, as a form of energy, cannot be created nor destroyed. Yet energy-consciousness can move and "re-locate." It is the essence of the plant (or the essence of the meat that was acquired when an animal consumed plants) which plays the key role in the cycling of energy/consciousness on the planet. The body eats and restocks the energy released via activities. The body also eats and restocks the essence which allows the consciousness to continue its manifestation. If the body stops eating, the consciousness cannot continue to manifest.

Suppose your body has stored the energy required to lift a hammer and drive a nail into wood. That energy was not lost. It was dissipated. The space released the energy as it was transferred to the nail and to the wood, but that energy still exists in the field of energy. It cannot be destroyed, but it can and does move. The consciousness will eventually relocate from the space, but that consciousness will still exist in the field of consciousness. It cannot be destroyed, but it can and does move. The manifestation of energy-consciousness for “humans” happens via plants. You’ve heard, “You are what you eat.” Exactly. By eating plants (or animals that ate plants) your body is acquiring the essence. The completion of “The Seven-Step Journey to Reality” referenced in yesterday’s post is marked by a shift from identifying with the physical and by a shift from identifying with religious or spiritual roles to knowing that You Are currently that essence. Among those three—the physical body, the religious or spiritual roles that bodies and minds play, or the essence—Which do You Realize that You Truly Are in your current beingness? Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

WHY RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL PERSONAS BELIEVE THEY HAVE COMPLETED A JOURNEY THAT IS ONLY HALF-COMPLETE

From a site visitor: “I’m up to page 54 in From the I to the Absolute where you say that the spiritual state is only the 3rd of 7 steps. I take the spiritual state to be the Ultimate State.”

F.: WHO takes that to be the ultimate state? One curious behavior among persons (a behavior that leads to suffering among them and other persons dealing with them) is their propensity to form rigid opinions about experiences which they have never had. You are barely more than 25% of the way on the “journey” through the book, but you believe you have arrived. For comparison, you are on the West Coast of the U.S. and journeying to New York for the first time, having heard it is “the ultimate state.” You are only in Utah, but persons around you have convinced you that you’ve already arrived in the ultimate state of New York. You’re likely telling others all about New York and how wonderful your life is after having arrived in that ultimate state when in fact you’re not even halfway to the state you speak of.

On the journey from the false “I” to Full Awareness, you’re using worldly concepts and believing that they’re spiritual concepts. (That’s what learned ignorance is.) You Are That which is non-phenomenal, but you have only experienced yourself (or selves) in a limited, phenomenal existence and in a limited, phenomenal way.

Only by actually reaching New York can you truly know the state, but so far you are mistaking Utah for New York. That is, you are mistaking your spiritual ego-state for the True State of the Absolute. In reality, they are as different as Utah is from New York.

Why are you making that mistake? Because you have been programmed by “religious persons” or by persons in some “spiritual group” to believe that you have arrived. You have been programmed (or re-programmed) to believe that you are among those who have all the answers and that you now have all the answers as well. That is why you think you’ve reached the “ultimate state.” Now, you likely parrot their slogans or teachings, so nothing you offer is original or Your own truth or your own awareness of That Which Is beyond the ego-state in which you have fixated. Your comment above shows that you now try to indoctrinate others and give them your knowledge/learned ignorance. What you need is not their programming or re-programming. What you need is de-programming. You do not need more; instead, you need far less.

The path you have followed so far is a path of accumulation: you have accumulated spiritual knowledge and you have accumulated new ego-states. Spiritual Giantism will soon arrive if it has not already, and its constant companion of spiritual arrogance cannot be far behind. The Advaita path is a path of de-accumulation. The closer one moves toward being back in touch with reality, the more spiritual knowledge will fade; ego-states and labels will fall away; the irony of the perception that you need to “work in order to be able to rest” is seen; ideas and concepts and emotionalism will fall away; chaos ends; fighting for your beliefs will stop; reactions and over-reactions will end. Then, as you see that the “I-Amness” in which You currently abide is temporary and as You Realize that You can abide in the bliss of the Absolute even NOW, then the identification with "the Am-ness" even falls away. A sense of lightness is known as You are relieved of the heaviness of past accumulations. You will carry less and less until nothing remains to be carried...including the weight of all those past selves or roles or personas and all the burdensome stress and work and egotism that come with them.

Escaping the insanity of all indoctrination only happens when you take all seven steps of the "The Seven-Step Journey to Reality," not just the first three. Complete the “journey.” Get to New York. That is, get to the end of the book you’re reading, reach the end of the “journey to Reality,” and then you’ll not only understand New York (the Absolute) but you’ll also understand how you “got to the West Coast” to begin with, where You Were “prior to the West Coast,” and where You Were even “before there was a West Coast” or even a planet earth. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

For Persons, “Love” is the Love of Image, of Personas, of self

From a site visitor: “You wrote that realization is not about feeling ‘at one’ with all people/persons since they are nothing more than mirages anyway. I believe that a true jnani’s primary message is the message of Love.”

F.: First, what is a “true jnani”? Next, what is “Love”? When that concept called "love" was discussed on this site during the last days of October ‘05 (and completed in December ’05 after a hiatus following an accident) site visitor Ross in Colorado noted that his suffering had diminished simply by finding out all that love is not, even while not yet knowing what “love” is. Most Advaitans know that even if proteges never know all the truth of the Functioning of the Totality of the Universe, their suffering in the relative existence will be reduced if they can at least see all of the learned ignorance that they have been taught and stop being fooled. To suggest that you (a persona) can love all other personas shows that your current mindset parallels the one referenced yesterday, so you also may as well drive the long roads of the Southwest on a hot day and say you feel at one with the mirages and love the mirages. You may as well claim that you have first-hand knowledge which proves that mirages actually love other mirages. See the duality of the subject-object position you are advocating: “I” (this “loving” self) proclaim that I "love others" (duality) and that “I” feel as if “I” and “they” are one. See the contradiction of speaking of "I and they as one." If you knew You and the True Oneness, no talk of “true jnanis” or of being “at one with persons” or “loving all others” could happen.

See, also, that for personas, the only love is the love-to-be-this or the love-to-be-that. Even when most persons exclaim, “I don’t even know who I am anymore,” they do not begin the search for Self. They merely work to create new false identities. Persons cannot truly love anyone except their false selves, have never been loved by the persons they are “in relationships with,” and will actually hate those who awake and abandon their belief in false personas. Persons delude themselves into believing that they are “getting love” and “giving love” when they are only playing the games that contribute to supporting their false identities, to enhancing their false images, and to meeting their perceived needs. They live on an imaginary stage in their relative existence where they play one role after another. Soon, they have played the roles so much that they can do it in their sleep…so they do. Eventually, they will have played the roles so much, and will have become so bored with their whole act, that they are lulled to sleep and are thus unaware of the degree of boredom and the degree of unhappiness that they are suffering.

Two properties of corrupted consciousness are that (1) it wants to continue to suffer because it wants to cling to the false identities that produce suffering and (2) it will deny it is suffering. In a recent poll in the U.S., persons claimed that they were either “very happy” or “happy for the most part.” That claim is made despite research showing the citizenry here suffers the highest depression rate on the planet. Further study of the poll reveals that 49% of those claiming to be happy make over $100,000 per year while 25% of those admitting to being unhappy make less than $30,000 per year. So what were the poll respondents mistaking “happiness” for?

I speak of universal consciousness while you speak, via corrupted consciousness, of a conceptual world. Nothing in the conceptual world is true, including “true love” or a “true jnani.” I am not in the world, and neither are You. As for “you,” (the false you or self or selves) the world is in you, in your “mind,” and that “mind” is nothing more than the aggregate of all the learned ignorance that has been programmed into you. Believing in all the learned ignorance in a culture leaves one being a fool, and being fooled always leads to misery. The first step to being free of being fooled is to admit that one is being fooled. When depressed persons claim they are happy (and when wealth is mistaken for happiness) how free can anyone truly be from being fooled, either by the culture or by the self/selves? One awakened individual suggested that you might as well search for an eagle’s nest on the bottom of the ocean as to try to find one person in a hundred thousand who is truly happy. Happiness can only follow freedom, and freedom can only follow the giving up of all personas and being free of all concepts. Now, all that having been said, I’ll repeat what I said yesterday to another person trapped in a similar mindset: this entire conceptual world and all "experiences" in it are much ado about nothing. “It don’t mean a thing,” so see it all as entertainment. Best regards, and thanks for your e—mail. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

Being Human, Being Precious, and Being Entitled to Respect

From a site visitor: “So I take it from your recent postings about humans (mutants with bastardized consciousness) that you wouldn’t agree with those of us who believe that all human life is precious and to be respected?”

F.: You have missed the question that you most need to answer for yourself: WHO asked the question above? If you find that answer, you’ll uncover several of the ego-states that you’ve assumed as identities and you’ll know how you’re taking “self” or “selves” to be real. Find that WHO and you’ll discover the egomania that is driving you to believe what you believe, and you’ll see that at a deeply-entrenched level you have been convinced that it is really you who is “precious” and due “respect.” (You might as well drive the long straight roads of Arizona on a hot August day and claim that the mirages in the road ahead are precious and should be respected.) And, if you find the WHO, you’ll see that (like all persons) what you really believe, deep down inside your "mind," is that no life is more precious than your own and no one deserves more respect than you.

For clarity, begin with a typical definition of “life” to see all the bogus beliefs surrounding that idea: “Life is a multi-faceted concept that refers to the process of which living things are a part; the period between fertilization and death.” For the sake of brevity, let it be suggested that you go to the top of this page and search this blog for keywords “death,” “die,” and “concepts” if you want further understanding around those misconceptions and the belief in "parts." The pointer for now is this: those who buy into the concept of “all life being precious” are limited to body identification. With that limited view, you’ll worship your body and honor other bodies that you come to respect. You’ll live your life in the mirror and you’ll give credibility to image and to show. You’ll never see anything real and you’ll be fooled forever.

Trapped in that limited preoccupation with body, when certain bodies “end,” you’ll have worship services over those “dead bodies”; you’ll spend huge sums of money to bury bodies in expensive ceremonies and expensive holes with expensive markers in order to preserve and honor them; you’ll allow 400,000 sources of cells (which could be used to eliminate human suffering) to deteriorate while in a frozen state until they ruin and will have to be discarded anyway…rather than put to use; you’ll egotistically believe that you are precious and deserve respect because you’re a “gift from God” and in that arrogant state of believing you’re “God’s gift,” you will generate suffering for yourself and all those who have the misfortune of dealing with you while you’re trapped in that mindset; you’ll talk about “human dignity” while stripping perceived enemies of their “dignity”; in order to preserve “precious life,” you’ll ironically endorse the killing of killers; and you’ll actually believe that some entity has given you dominion over an entire planet, if not over an entire universe.

Instead of just being, you’ll be trapped in ego-states. You will not know I AM but will follow “I am” with many labels: I” am…human,” “I am…precious,” “I am…due respect,” “I am…entitled,” ad infinitum. All beliefs are nonsense (based as they are in the egomania that results from accepting ego-states as identities) and all suffering is rooted in the same foolishness. Now, all that having been said, this entire conceptual world and all experiences in it are much ado about nothing. “It don’t mean a thing,” so see it all as entertainment. Best regards, and thanks for your e—mail. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

Tomorrow: “You wrote that realization is not about feeling ‘at one’ with all people/persons since they are nothing more than mirages anyway. I believe that a true jnani’s primary message is the message of Love.”

CONSCIOUSNESS IS ALL THERE IS—Part Four

F.: So, in conclusion, it should now be understood that for 14.5 billion years, awareness has been functioning in this universe. Then, as a result of innumerable cosmic events that just happened, for the last 700 million to 1.1 billion years, consciousness has been manifesting on planet earth in something with a nervous system, namely, plants. [Note that light-energy reflects off of objects without a nervous system—such as the earth’s moon—but is absorbed into plants which have a nervous system.] Then, 200 million years ago, consciousness began manifesting in mammals, via plants. Then, about 4.5 million to 14 million years ago (archaeologists are still debating their timelines) consciousness began manifesting via plants in human-like mammals; and then in the last 200,000 years, consciousness has been manifesting via plants in the space called “humans” (or homo sapiens). Today, persons may think that they are conscious as they walk, talk, drive, work, etc., yet they actually have no awareness at all. Thus, they sleepwalk across the stage of the “Drama of the Lie” because they are caught up in the “Dream of the Planet.”

That noted, do not confuse the teachings that discuss “the manifesting and unmanifesting of consciousness via plants in humans” over the last 200,000 years with the eternal presence of awareness. Awareness is infinite and limitless. The manifesting of consciousness in mammals and humans on earth via plants is the new kid on the block, as far as the cyclings of consciousness in plants, mammals, and humans are concerned. Too, this universe is the new kid on the block in terms of all universes. All who suggest that “we” or this universe or this planet are special are nothing more than persons, self-absorbed in their ego-states and thus feeling “pride.” The invitation is always to find the lies and to dismiss the ego-states that result in the egomania which in turn supports the false belief in dualities and separation and thus drives human suffering. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
Tomorrow: “So I take it from your recent postings about humans (mutants with bastardized consciousness) that you wouldn’t agree with those of us who believe that all human life is precious and to be respected?”

CONSCIOUSNESS IS ALL THERE IS—Part Three

Excerpt from a site visitor: “…We are limiting the Absolute or God to only what we can understand—right?”

F.: Where to begin with this part of your e-mail? “We” Are the Absolute, temporarily manifested as consciousness that is either corrupted (as with persons) or pure (as with the Realized). Persons limit “themselves” by accepting false identities (false selves) rather than knowing that They Are That limitless, boundless, infinite Absolute. As explained in previous posts, the Absolute is “infinite, complete, unconditional, unqualified, unlimited, unadulterated, and unambiguous,” so how would one go about “limiting” That Which Is limitless? Further, the Absolute is formless, so how could the Absolute be equated with “God” since the billions of followers who adhere to the dogma of the three religions of Abraham now claim their God has the form of a male? That is a “conditional” state (“having the appendages that determine male-ness, not having the body parts that determine female-ness, and being gender-specific”) while the Absolute is unconditional and unconditioned. Are you not aware of the truth that no God made a man in his image but that men made gods (and then one god) in their image? All “God” references are to an entity that is “qualified,” so it cannot be the Absolute. Some “purists” will use all sorts of words or terms to point to something that also has a “Self-ness” to it or a “Supreme Self-ness” to it. So it is. The fact is, you should be beyond the “wet charcoal” or “dry charcoal” stage where any of those concepts appeal to you. Such references to “God” are references to an entity that is “adulterated,” capable (according to followers) of suffering anger and offense and emotional intoxication of a degree that inspires infanticide—the killing of “his children.” To be so co-dependent as to allow one’s children to determine mood and to provoke anger is evidence of “adulteration.” Yes, the early teachers made the comparison that you’ve also made for the sake of their “wet charcoal-type” protégés, but your understanding should be advanced far beyond that level by now.

“…We are limiting the Absolute or God to only what we can understand—right?” If the Understanding of the Functioning of the Totality happens, it is understood that the Absolute cannot be limited and is not limited. What “we”—the consciousness—can know is that We Are and that We Are THAT. And the full understanding makes clear that those are advaita, that is, “not two.”

From whence come all these concepts about “limitation” and a “physical God” and “the eternal existence of bodies and minds”? The concepts come from persons suffering from corrupted, adulterated, limited, and conditioned consciousness. They come from persons wanting a superpower at their beck and call and believing that, if they are “close to that power” and if they are “good,” that superpower will give them power which they can use to control people, places and things. It also comes from the desires and fears and imaginings of persons who have accepted a limited identification with a body and who want that body to have eternal continuity. The unique trait about the bastardization of consciousness is that it can only happen in the space known as “humans” or “persons” (or in those unfortunate birds or animals that have been conditioned by persons and thus prevented from being natural). But the one trait of consciousness that need be of interest to you is that it can be re-purified. Fools suffer. You, and all persons, can escape the darkness of programming and conditioning and enculturation and can stop being fooled by those who are repeating ancient lies that have evolved out of myths and superstitions that were dreamed up by ignorant men some 5000 years ago in an effort to explain what they did not understand when their egos stripped them of the ability to say, “I do not know.” How to stop being fooled and thus stop suffering? Begin by declaring, “Maybe I do not know.” Or, “Maybe what I think I know is all a lie.” Or, “Maybe the truth is that I do know and need but seek within to uncover and thus remember what is known that has been forgotten.” Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
TOMORROW: 14 billion years of awareness in this universe; a billion or so years of plants; 4.5 million years+ of consciousness manifesting via plants in human-like mammals; and only 200,000 years of consciousness manifesting via plants in “humans” (homo sapiens).

CONSCIOUSNESS IS ALL THERE IS—Part Two

From a site visitor: “When Christians say that an inanimate object, such as a rock, has no soul, or you say consciousness manifests itself in anything with a nervous system, we are limiting the Absolute or God to only what we can understand—right?”

F.: Next, before trying to separate the "lowly stuff on the planet" from the "lofty humans on the planet," remember that “humans” are physically and mentally the most bastardized “form” on earth, meaning that they (a) are the most mutated from the original shape of the space that evolved into its current configuration and (b) suffer from the greatest degree of bastardization of consciousness. The ego prefers to discount consciousness in a rock or in mammals or plants while elevating the status of human consciousness, even applying a lofty name like “soul” as a label. Yet all is one and has been since the formation of the universe (and for infinity prior to that).

Prior to the formation of this universe, one original hydrogen atom manifested in a vacuum, split, then interacted or recombined because the atoms were aware of each “other”—the atoms being self-aware (or as Moravec puts it, operating with a complex “self-aware mind”). When a group of four hydrogen atoms combined to form another mutated atom that is now called “helium,” then the hydrogen and helium atoms interacted because they were also aware of each other. The interaction of those two lightest atoms resulted in a nuclear reaction and an explosion which began a process that evolved into what is now called “the universe.” (Why “universe”? “Uni” = “one”…all made from one. Know the reality of the unicity and discard all illusions of duality.) Now, most stars and earth’s sun are nothing more than nuclear furnaces, constantly fusing hydrogen to helium and releasing energy. All of that began with one atom manifesting in a vacuum, though nuclear burning has since resulted in other, heavier elements; however, know that all on this planet and all in this universe began with one, single atom. By comparison, the awareness (the knowing of Reality) can only manifest in the “vacuum” that results from discarding every concept. Realization happens in the vacuum of “no mind.”

While the egotism of persons will discount the rock and elevate the status of “humans,” the truth is that all may appear to be different…but is not. The truth is that energy and matter may appear to be as distinct as a rock from a person…but are actually one in essence. Anything that you call “matter” is still nothing more than conscious-energy. The steel beam that persons take to be matter is really a mass of atoms in which electrons surround a nucleus of protons and neutrons in a complex configuration of energy, swirling in specific and complex ways as a result of the electrons and protons and neutrons all being conscious of each other. So much for rocks or anything else being “devoid” of consciousness.

Next, another clarification should be offered regarding what has been happening in the universe for billions of years (namely, awareness) vs. what has been happening on this planet for only 200,000 years (namely, the cyclings of consciousness in humans via plants). Understand that awareness is primordial while consciousness happens only on contact. (There’s the clarification of your question regarding the involvement of contact with something with a “nervous system”—such as a plant on earth—and the manifestation of consciousness.) After the original hydrogen atom split, awareness happened. When the splitting continued and the first helium atom evolved, the hydrogen and helium atoms were aware of the presence of the other. On contact, they were conscious of each other and an explosion of a nearly-immeasurable magnitude happened.* [Additional information follows today’s posting for several advanced protégés who promptly submitted inquiries such as, “If consciousness is all there is, what about awareness?”]

Finally, to your use of the word “inanimate.” What is “inanimate”? A person is believed by other persons to be “inanimate” or “dead” at what point? When the consciousness is no longer manifested and the person is no longer in animation (that is, the body is no longer moving as it once appeared to…walking, talking, etc.) Yet look to the rock or the steel beam, study them under an electron microscope, and you will see greater activity or “animation” than you could imagine. The term “life” is misused among humans. Persons apply the term narrowly to describe what they think they are seeing (movement or animation) and they use the term “no life” or “death” to describe that they think is the opposite, namely, no movement and no animation. But movement and animation are constant, so there is no “in-animation” or “non-movement.” There is matter and energy which are of one essence and there is consciousness which is energy; in any case, movement is happening. More to the point for both persons and protégés who are trying to understand the relative existence is this: in the relative, all there is…is consciousness.* Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
*In order to understand more accurately the Absolute/the relative (the I AM THAT/I AM or the "not two") know that the Absolute is awareness without consciousness (as in the DEEP SLEEP state discussed days ago). At rest, no observation of—no consciousness of—anything happens. Awareness is…period; consciousness, conversely, is of something. So awareness has been functioning in this universe for 14.5 billion years, and atoms that are interacting are conscious of each other; the manifestation of consciousness via plants in humans has been happening for only a few hundred thousand years. (More on that tomorrow.) Awareness is THAT; Consciousness IS. Consciousness is relative, but awareness is Absolute. Awareness is pure; consciousness is soon bastardized after manifestation in the space called “a person,” but it can be re-purified via Realization (which is the elimination of learned ignorance and the restoration of sanity, the seeing of all concepts as lies, and the being in touch with Reality). Consciousness in the pre-programming, pre-conditioning, pre-bastardization stage knows it Is; in the post-programming, post-conditioning, post-bastardization stage, consciousness mistakenly believes that it is something, that it is “this” or it is “that.” Corrupted consciousness always believes that it is something, and that is why all beliefs must be abandoned in order to know the Absolute and to understand the Functioning of the Totality, i.e., to understand how energy with a stamp of consciousness can (1) manifest from the Absolute pool and (2) realize that it is not what it was told it is and then (3) know itself for That Which It Truly Is. I Am the Absolute; conversely, in your beingness, consciousness has surfaced and in that now-corrupted consciousness, your world seems to appear to the varied false personas assumed as identities. As for Me, when you speak of Me, speak of Me as I AM.

You also believe in what you take to be the “parts” of your world that seem to appear or disappear or that—in your belief—will disappear at some “future” time. For Me, there is no such inconstancy and there are no “parts.” (NOTE: That awareness is not about “feeling at one with all people.” It is about knowing this: That Which I AM is also That Which All Is. How could I be “at one” with people/persons when “they” are nothing more than mirages anyway?) The temporary manifestation of consciousness via plants is “new” to planet earth; the awareness which I Am, on the other hand, is timeless, pure, infinite and, therefore, prior to this universe. Being THAT, I have been present for the creation of all of the universes. Before this universe was, I AM. But remember: awareness cannot be aware of “itself” in the Absolute. Only when a portion of that energy manifests from the universal pool of Absolute energy (energy which is marked by the stamp of consciousness and reality) can it know itself and be aware of Absolute awareness.
TOMORROW: “…We are limiting the Absolute or God to only what we can understand—right?”

CONSCIOUSNESS IS ALL THERE IS—Part One

From a site visitor: “When Christians say that an inanimate object, such as a rock, has no soul, or you say consciousness manifests itself in anything with a nervous system, we are limiting the Absolute or God to only what we can understand—right?”

F.: Your question calls for numerous pointers to clarify several misunderstandings. To begin, do not confuse (a) the most basic understanding regarding this universe with (b) the teachings about the current cyclings of consciousness that happen via plants and the spaces called “humans.” The cyclings via plants have been happening only in the most recent history of this 14.5 billion-year-old universe. (Do not be misled by religious groups using a table dreamed up by a man named Bishop. He used the “begats” to calculate that the creation of this universe happened around 3:30 in the afternoon on October 27, 4004 B.C. How did the universe make it to October 27th before it was even created? Were the first nine+ months the “in the beginning there was darkness”-gestation period? Don’t even ask. Never waste energy trying to fit a square-peg-of-nonsense into a round-hole-of-reason.)

One jnani said decades ago that science would one day catch up with the ancients’ understanding and prove that the teachings are fact. Such has happened. Do not be confused: the facts are that (1) awareness/consciousness is all there is and (2) awareness has been functioning on this planet for billions of years, and that continued for billions of years (3) before the cyclings of consciousness via plants began. (Plants evolved on earth only about 700 million years ago, though fungi may have been around for 400 million years prior to that.)

So before clarifying the manner in which consciousness currently cycles, hold onto the basic understanding: consciousness is all there is. Here’s the explanation from the editor’s interview in The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders

[www.floydhenderson.com/twicestolen.htm ]:

Editor: I know that modern science is confirming this teaching, as in the new revelations regarding the ‘Field of Consciousness.’ But is this understanding compatible with the newest teachings in physics, such as the ‘strings theory’?

Response: Absolutely. Since strings are the lowest common denominator of EVERYTHING, smaller than atoms, smaller than electrons, smaller than the mass of protons and neutrons at the core of electrons, then the understanding of the science of strings shows us that the only thing which makes you appear to be different from me—or from a piano, or from a tree—is the vibrational pattern of the strings. And since the strings are simply energy in movement, and since the strings know automatically what to do when they are manifested in a human as opposed to in a piano as opposed to in a tree, then the teaching of strings proves this Understanding, scientifically. We are consciousness-energy. We are all THAT, all the same, all one, with only appearances leading us to believe we are separate or different. We are not. Physics now proves that we are THAT, that We Are All One. We ARE the strings, so to speak. Use whatever name you choose to refer to that one ‘thing’ from which all is composed when manifest. More recently, the strings theory had been modified by some who now claim that the ‘sparticle’ might be even more basic than the string. No matter. What is Real is whatever that most basic, singular, non-dual ‘thing’ is, period. Now call That what you want, the truth is that Easterners have known for about 40,000 years that everything in the universe that is manifested or not is nothing more nor less than a manifestation or not-manifestation of That, of the one True That-ness. Call it ‘strings’ or ‘That’ or ‘sparticle’ or ‘energy with consciousness.’ That is All, and That is All there Is.

Never forget that everything you see or that you think you see which is on this planet can be traced back to ONE single atom. Never lose sight of the original unicity. [See the 7 August 2005 posting for more.] Here’s the way that Hans Moravec explained it in 1998:

"Everything on this planet and in this universe came from one atom originally. Perhaps the most unsettling implication of this train of thought is that anything can be interpreted as possessing any abstract property, including consciousness and intelligence. Given the right playbook, the thermal jostling of the atoms in a rock can be seen as the operation of a complex, self-aware mind."

More will be offered about the manifestation of consciousness via plants (which is, as noted, a fairly recent occurrence on planet earth) but it is far more significant as far as Advaitan pointers are concerned that you first grasp the basic fact: consciousness is all there is, and that truth applies equally to all that Is—to rocks as well as to a space called a “human” that is currently walking about on the earth. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
TOMORROW: The Creation of This Universe (One of Countless Universes) and the Infinite Aspect of Consciousness

DEEP SLEEP, DREAMING, WAKING—Part Four

F.: Next, see the parallel with the cycling of consciousness: from the Absolute (DEEP SLEEP) consciousness begins to “come to” as it manifests in a pure state; eventually it will AWAKEN to its presence and know ItSelf; later it will be bastardized and contaminated via programming; it will accept as true identities the false roles assigned and will begin to walk about on stage in the “Drama of the Lie”; it will be conditioned to believe it is AWAKE while it is really DREAMING and, like Pavlovian dogs, persons with such bastardized consciousness will behave in totally unnatural ways.

Yet a few might have a memory of What They Truly Are and begin to search for THAT. They might begin to slow down, to tire of the race taking place on an endless track, and move toward a state of less brainwave activity. They might enter the Theta state and receive a clearer vision. In a few cases, they will realize that everything they were told was a lie, and then they might see the truth. They will have left behind the DREAM state, will have passed beyond WAKING, and will be truly AWAKENED. For comparison, imagine Pavlov’s dogs hearing a bell and then jumping about in response; running around, totally out of control; salivating; feeling anxious; having a hunger that cannot be met. Then imagine one lone dog out of the entire pack in which the conditioning did not take effect. It is sitting to the side, calm…relaxed…taking it easy…not over-reacting, not even reacting to the sound of a bell at all. From there it witnesses the insanity of the dogs that are reacting to a sound as if the sound were a smell. How mistaken their perceptions and beliefs are, after conditioning. The lone dog that was not driven insane by conditioning can merely witness how mistaken the other dogs are and how they are behaving as if intoxicated. Then that dog can turn away from the dream that the others have bought into, can stop witnessing the insanity, and then can enter into a state of real and perfect rest.

Now, back to the cycling of consciousness. What happened next as the consciousness crossed the borderline from non-beingness to beingness in a human space? First, the True Self stage was entered but then left behind. The child began to witness at some point, looking left and right at parents or persons hovering over the crib. In the “Child Ignorance” stage, the child knew peace (at least if dry and fed and healthy). But soon, within a matter of years, the forced infliction of the DREAM state onto the child happened. The child was pushed into the dream by being told that he was a “gift from god,” (thus creating a spiritual ego-state/false identity). The child was told that it was a “Christian” or “Jew” or “Muslim” or “Buddhist” or whatever other labels were applied (thus creating a religious ego-state/false identity). If the family did not impose one or both of those ego-states, then they still bastardized the newly-manifested consciousness by applying all manner of false identities to the child and eventually creating a “mind,” their mind that would eventually be taken by the child to be “her/his mind.” After assuming those false identities to be real, the next step was for the child (totally in love not only with the “I Amness” but also with the “I am this” and “I am that”) to accept that it was the body even though it was nothing more than the space in which the consciousness was abiding. Thus, the child was exposed to “the Dream of the Planet,” trapped into a DREAM state while thinking he/she was “awake.” The child then walked onto the stage of “the Drama of the Lie” and began to play roles while being emotionally and/or spiritually intoxicated; began to display all levels of histrionics; and began to strut about as if always on a theatrical platform.

To appreciate the parallel, imagine that you are in bed and in the Delta level of DEEP SLEEP. Then, imagine that the dormant consciousness begins to stir as light filters into your bedroom. Recall certain dreams that have come to you from the Theta state. In your dreams you have seen “you” (the body) supposedly interacting with others (other bodies) and you take that to be so real that on occasion you have bolted up in bed—screaming, shouting, sweating, calling out as if literally being attacked or as if experiencing joy. (That is the way in which ego-states experience themselves all day long because they are always DREAMING. They always imagine they are “under attack” or occasionally “feeling joyous.” While in the DREAMING state, you took the dream to be real, and that is the same way that bodies and contaminated “minds” are erroneously taking the false to be the real in the WAKING state as well. Only after AWAKENING fully do You realize that it was all a dream, only an illusion, Maya to the max; yet as long as personas, bodies, minds and ego-states are taken to be real, persons will remain trapped, will DREAM, and will take the dream to be real. A relevant pointer was offered in The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders [ www.floydhenderson.com/twicestolen.htm ] when the editor interviewed the author:

How many who consider themselves to be a man or a woman are really nothing more than a bundle of concepts and labels and identities assigned by this culture? Is it any wonder that most, before making it to the grave, will wonder “Who am I?” or will state flat out, “I don’t even know who I am”? To be free is to be free of the false identities that jerk us around and jerk around the people in our vicinity who allow our role-playing and role-demands to impact them. Once we come to know Who We Really Are and stay in the ‘I Am’ state, we accept no false roles as identifiers of Who We Are, no false labels as identifiers of Who We Are, no dependencies as a result of believing we are what we do. We can take that knowingness into each day of the week, and perform tasks AS IF we are that; but knowing we are not that, we do not attach to the roles, we do not fear for loss of our very existence, we do not have the co-dependencies that always come with ego-states or false identities.

So the point is that consciousness manifests from the Absolute…from that “state” that is comparable to the DEEP SLEEP in the relative existence. To that it shall return, just as the body rises from sleep and returns to sleep in 24-hour cycles. In between, the consciousness can be pure and AWAKE and aware or it can be lulled into a misinformed DREAM state. Too, it can be re-purified and can leave the DREAM and can be truly AWAKE. In the end, though, just as the body and mind and brainwaves cannot refuse the sleep state, so the consciousness can do nothing that will prevent the eventual return to the pool of consciousness at-rest where nothing is known, where no forms or bodies exist, where no punishments or pleasures are experienced, and from which portions of consciousness might again manifest…or not. Either way, it doesn’t mean a thing. Know that the bliss can come in the relative only when it happens in a fashion like that of the Absolute. In that state, no needs are imagined so nothing is taken to be useful. When the manifested consciousness knows it is THAT, even while manifested, the peace of no needs and no desires and no fears just happens. That is the parallel that Advaitans invite protégés to know. That is the peace that Advaitans invite protégés to enjoy in the relative existence. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: “When Christians say that an inanimate object, such as a rock, has no soul, or you say consciousness manifests itself in anything with a nervous system, we are limiting the Absolute or God to only what we can understand—right?”

DEEP SLEEP, DREAMING, WAKING—Part Three

F.: Yesterday, you were invited to consider the parallel between the way that (a) the consciousness manifests and (b) is pure for a time and then (c) becomes corrupted compared to the way that persons experience the relative existence. Seeing that parallel, one might then see a similarity between the way that consciousness manifests and unmanifests with the way that a typical 24-hour cycle of brainwave activity occurs in the relative existence.

From the formless and boundless and eternal pool of the Absolute which had no beginning and will have no end, consciousness can manifest in something with a nervous system. Elements can group into spaces that have different appearances and consciousness can eventually become awareness of its presence…of the “I Am.” It can witness purely for a period but will soon begin to witness in a subject-object fashion that is the first introduction to duality…to believing that there is an “I” and a “you” or an “I” and a “that thing over there.” Soon, the programming and conditioning and enculturation begin, and the belief becomes “I am a boy/girl” which is soon warped into “I am a good boy/girl” or “I am a bad boy/girl.” More and more sets of dualities are taught, and eventually hundreds of labels will be assumed to be real identities, as with the examples offered earlier: “I am an employee” or “I am a spouse” or “I am a whatever.” As persons leave the home of their parents after having been forced to accept all the “good-bad” labels that come from being judged there, most are conditioned to accept the same for the remainder of their adult lives: “You are a good/bad employee” or “You are a good/bad spouse” and “You need to do this differently or I will consider you bad and punish you and leave you” and “You need to stop changing and do it my way or I will punish you and leave you.” All ego-states set persons up to be controlled by other persons and to become dependent on people, places, things, and false entities in “other realms” that were dreamed up by persons thousands of years ago and still accepted as real today. Anyone dependent on anything is not independent, but the distorted consciousness will claim, “Because I am dependent on this or that, I am independent.” Any sane, objective observer would ask, “What?” The True Self, the Pure Witness, would not even ask that much.

The eventual result of all programming and conditioning and enculturation is that it leads persons into “The Great Deception”: they believe that they are in the alpha or beta level of consciousness when they are actually in the DREAMING state. Persons will always experience their relative existence from the Theta level state while mistakenly believing that they are in the AWAKENED state; therefore, even as they walk about, they might as well be lying in their beds. Persons are trapped in that level between DEEP SLEEP and WAKING so that they never reach the state of true AWAKENING. Trapped in that level between DEEP SLEEP and WAKING where dreams occur, persons buy into a dream world as the real; in that imagined world, they see themselves and others and take that duality to be real; they believe that they are loved and are loving when what is happening is nothing remotely close to True Love; and nothing that they think is being done in the dream is what is actually happening at all. It’s all fiction, no different than if their bodies were just lying in bed as their “minds” convince them that they are in control and making choices and in charge of their movements.

The experiences of persons in the WAKING state are no different from those in the DREAMING state. They walk about as if awake but are actually in a dream; they travel for miles and do not recall their journey; they see all as subject-object, thinking their bodies and minds are interacting with and perceiving other bodies and minds; they toil to meet the perceived needs of others who are merely manipulating them; their sense of “self” worth (and the “value” that others give them) is defined solely in terms of what they can get or accumulate; thus, most walk about in the DREAM state, believing that what they are imagining is real while not having a clue about Who/What They Truly Are. They are lying to themselves and those others as they talk in their sleep, saying things like, “I live in the land of the free, so I am truly free”; “I am living out the American Dream,” (which does require that one be in a dream state to believe); “Hurricanes are punishments sent from my angry God whom you’ve offended because you are not behaving the way I am telling you to behave”; “I know my spouse hit me, but his being that emotional only shows how much he cares”; “My life is not boring…I really do have a pretty good life”; “What I do helps so many people that I know I am appreciated”; “I have a purpose that gives me great worth”; and “I am not depressed, and don’t you dare suggest that I am!”

Next, review the brainwave cycles prior to the discussion tomorrow of the cyclings of consciousness: persons are in DEEP SLEEP; they begin to “come to” and enter the DREAM state; they are then WAKING and know they are present (that is, they know they exist, they know they are, and they are aware of the “Am-ness” or “Is-ness”); then, they accept false roles assigned by others as true identities; afterwards, they walk about in their DREAM state (no more awake than a person who is lying in bed and dreaming) but convinced that they are awake, aware, and conscious. Then, they slow at the end of the day, move toward a state of less brainwave activity, more toward the rest, enter the theta state and, in fewer cases than might be imagined, enter into the Delta Level of perfect rest. Eight hours or so later, the cycle repeats itself. So it is with consciousness. Are you seeing a parallel and beginning to understand why Advaitans use the terms you asked about in order to provide pointers that can allow proteges to understand the Functioning of the Totality? Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued tomorrow]