FROM A SITE VISITOR: Hello Floyd. My girlfriend and I have been studying Native American spirituality for several years now. She found your site when you were writing about how the Native Americans brought their philosophy from Asia and then we started reading about Adviata Vedanta. (We are going to watch the Wounded Knee movie on Sunday.) But here is the deal. Adviata Vedanta has really “grabbed” me--now just like what some Indains said blew my mind, what you have said is blowing my mind even more. I’m going to order some of your books to investigate more because it seems like what you’re saying is from some higher plane than what we have been reading for years. Beth has enjoyed what she read so far on your site but is not interested in studying anything but N.A. spirituality. We read about how different your grandmother and grandfather were and it did not cause a problem. Then I read what you wrote about relationship problems and the wife who has accepted all those different roles as identities and the problems that she is having in her relationship right now, so can one person follow Adviata and another person follow N.A. spirituality and still be happy together? Steven and Beth
F. Hello Steven. Thanks for your e-mail, it’s “Dear Abby” tone notwithstanding. If you re-read what you have written, you should see that it concerns neither Native American spirituality nor the Advaita Teachings. You asked no questions about either one. Your concerns are really about your relative issues. If you had understood the wisdom behind the words of the Native Americans who were quoted on the site earlier this month, along with the Advaita Teachings on this site, then you could never have written the words above. Why? Because the motivation was not about finding truth and Self or transcending spirituality. What your words reveal are certain fears about “loss”…about “losing Beth” if your “journey” takes you along a different "path."
You two have felt a connection as you have studied N.A. spirituality, but it has not led to an understanding of the “not two.” Nor has it led to an understanding that there is no “connection” but only the oneness beyond all perceived multiplicity.
As for offering advice about what you or she or both of you should or should not do in terms of the “path” to follow, this is not a site that offers advice about such personal issues. This is a site that exposes the fraudulent nature of personal issues. Recommendations about which readings would be appropriate to one considering the Advaita “path” will be offered at the end, but do not take that as advice about whether you should read those books or not. In the meantime, here are some pointers to take into the quiet that are relevant to what you have written in your e-mail:
First, you mention the wife (discussed in postings this past week) who assumed false identities, but your words revealed that you have not found the roles you’ve assumed. From My stance as the Pure Witness, you have no identity, but from your stance, you take yourself to be many things which you are not.
You are concerned about your body and mind issues. “Will Beth leave me if we don’t keep sharing our common interest in N.A. spirituality?” “Can I do what I am being led to do, or not”? “Since 'boyfriend' is dependent on 'girlfriend' for its existence, might I be destroyed if I take a different ‘path’?” Burdened with those body-mind-personality concerns, you will be blocked from knowing that you are limitless.
As for N.A. spirituality, or any other version of spirituality, you can learn thorough some readings that can be recommended that religion and/or spirituality are the third of seven steps to Full Enlightenment but are not the "final destination." The accumulating of spiritual knowledge that you two have been doing together has happened in your objective world, but that world is a mirage. Your world is illusion, so anything you learn in that world is illusory as well. The study of religion or spirituality is a necessary step, but it is not even the halfway point to Full Realization.
F. Hello Steven. Thanks for your e-mail, it’s “Dear Abby” tone notwithstanding. If you re-read what you have written, you should see that it concerns neither Native American spirituality nor the Advaita Teachings. You asked no questions about either one. Your concerns are really about your relative issues. If you had understood the wisdom behind the words of the Native Americans who were quoted on the site earlier this month, along with the Advaita Teachings on this site, then you could never have written the words above. Why? Because the motivation was not about finding truth and Self or transcending spirituality. What your words reveal are certain fears about “loss”…about “losing Beth” if your “journey” takes you along a different "path."
You two have felt a connection as you have studied N.A. spirituality, but it has not led to an understanding of the “not two.” Nor has it led to an understanding that there is no “connection” but only the oneness beyond all perceived multiplicity.
As for offering advice about what you or she or both of you should or should not do in terms of the “path” to follow, this is not a site that offers advice about such personal issues. This is a site that exposes the fraudulent nature of personal issues. Recommendations about which readings would be appropriate to one considering the Advaita “path” will be offered at the end, but do not take that as advice about whether you should read those books or not. In the meantime, here are some pointers to take into the quiet that are relevant to what you have written in your e-mail:
First, you mention the wife (discussed in postings this past week) who assumed false identities, but your words revealed that you have not found the roles you’ve assumed. From My stance as the Pure Witness, you have no identity, but from your stance, you take yourself to be many things which you are not.
You are concerned about your body and mind issues. “Will Beth leave me if we don’t keep sharing our common interest in N.A. spirituality?” “Can I do what I am being led to do, or not”? “Since 'boyfriend' is dependent on 'girlfriend' for its existence, might I be destroyed if I take a different ‘path’?” Burdened with those body-mind-personality concerns, you will be blocked from knowing that you are limitless.
As for N.A. spirituality, or any other version of spirituality, you can learn thorough some readings that can be recommended that religion and/or spirituality are the third of seven steps to Full Enlightenment but are not the "final destination." The accumulating of spiritual knowledge that you two have been doing together has happened in your objective world, but that world is a mirage. Your world is illusion, so anything you learn in that world is illusory as well. The study of religion or spirituality is a necessary step, but it is not even the halfway point to Full Realization.
Whatever you think you have gained from your spiritual quest will eventually be irrelevant if you continue the “path” to the Full and Original Understanding. If you come to know that you were being lied to by everyone who has ever spoken of “steven” having been born, then you also know that all the things you have been told about spirituality and purpose and meaning were also lies.
As for “higher plane,” nothing in the Advaita Teachings or the N.A. spiritual teachings will raise you to a higher plane, but that point will not make sense until you understand What You Truly Are. There is no improvement or growth or development because there is no “one” to improve, grow, or develop. What comes from taking the "seven-step journey to Reality" is not a movement to a higher plane but is instead a re-purification of the consciousness that has been warped via programming and conditioning and enculturation.
Understand that anything written on this site and anything spoken by Native elders and anything you read from past Advaitin sages is hearsay. The effective teacher will guide you through the step-by-step process of removing the obstacles that are preventing you from knowing what you already know (but do not know that you know). That will happen after the consciousness is re-purified and you tap into the "inner guru" or the "inner resource."
As for “blowing your mind,” that’s the intent.
As for “higher plane,” nothing in the Advaita Teachings or the N.A. spiritual teachings will raise you to a higher plane, but that point will not make sense until you understand What You Truly Are. There is no improvement or growth or development because there is no “one” to improve, grow, or develop. What comes from taking the "seven-step journey to Reality" is not a movement to a higher plane but is instead a re-purification of the consciousness that has been warped via programming and conditioning and enculturation.
Understand that anything written on this site and anything spoken by Native elders and anything you read from past Advaitin sages is hearsay. The effective teacher will guide you through the step-by-step process of removing the obstacles that are preventing you from knowing what you already know (but do not know that you know). That will happen after the consciousness is re-purified and you tap into the "inner guru" or the "inner resource."
As for “blowing your mind,” that’s the intent.
Now, you may take the pointers above into consideration, but more Advaita reading and instruction will be required for you to understand, should you determine to follow that "path." As for a suggested reading list, you can visit http://advaitaclasses.blogspot.com/ to find the order in which the readings should be undertaken. You can order the books at www.floydhenderson.com without having to enroll in the classes. Thx again for the writing. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
MUCH OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN WISDOM COLLECTED ON THE “JOURNEY” IS SHARED IN THE MEDITATION GUIDES (WHICH SOME SEEKERS READ STRAIGHT THROUGH RATHER THAN ON A DAILY BASIS). INTERESTED IN ORDERING BOTH AT A REDUCED RATE?
