[EXCERPTS from the book FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS, to be released next week. The pointers in this book are only for the most advanced seekers. The reading of this book should follow a reading and an understanding of the pointers in FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE and CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS.]
FROM A SITE VISITOR: No identity at all? Everybody is SOMETHING, and whatever that SOMETHING is, is our identity.
FROM A SITE VISITOR: No identity at all? Everybody is SOMETHING, and whatever that SOMETHING is, is our identity.
F.: The Direct Path Method of no-concept, non-dual Reality takes no prisoners; gives short shrift to those who want to fight to defend their ego-states; gives nothing to anyone; encourages de-accumulation rather than more accumulating; takes away all of the mirages that persons have attached to; eliminates the “mind”; and brings to an end the belief in all false personas and roles and phony images in order to put an end to disharmony-causing personality once and for all.
If one completes the entire “journey” to Full Realization, then what manifests afterwards, spontaneously and automatically, is the sweetness of the resulting Void…the peace that manifests when beingness happens from The Sweet Void of zero concepts.
Personas experience a constant state of flux, so happiness and unhappiness will constantly “come and go.” Persons are caught up in a play in consciousness, and it has many characters…some of which they play and others which they take to be real. In that fictional play, there is no stability. Ultimately, of course, there is no stability, period. All is in a constant state of fluctuation.
Persons, taking the relative to be real, feel incomplete; they are trapped in the turmoil and flux. As a result of that constant fluctuation, their “relationships” will be marked by fluctuations as well; thus (in their "minds"), their favorite sinner will become an intolerable saint, or their beloved saint will become a much-despised sinner. They will constantly shift into and out of states of emotional intoxication, whether in traffic, at work, at home…wherever…whenever.
Such is the relative existence for those trapped in any identity and experiencing the fluctuations. In their attachment to the play and the drama and the roles, persons will walk the stage of the Drama of the Lie and will be the histrionic mouthpiece of “the something” and the “someones” and the "somebodies." By contrast, what functions here is the consciousness which speaks as the mouthpiece of the Nothingness and the Void.
Whereas the Consciousness/Awareness is the Final Frontier of the understanding, the Nothingness was prior to the Frontier.
Seekers are only able to move to Stage Four and toward Stage Five when they truly grasp the simplicity of natural functioning. [See The Essence of the Teachings for an explanation of “The Five Stages” discussed by the early Advaitin sages, not to be confused with "the Seven Steps to Reality."] The relative is maddening to persons; abiding as the Absolute, madness cannot happen since there is no “mind.”
Similarly, “something” can always be maddening to persons; the Nothingness, on the other hand, can have no effect at all…“good” or “bad.” The Nothingness is the essence of AS IF living after Stage Five de-accumulation. The nothingness, and even the no-nothingness, are at the core of no-concept non-duality.
The ultimate freedom and independence can only happen if abiding as that Void. In that mode, abiding as that state of Nothingness with zero concepts, the relative existence happens naturally as the consciousness remains manifest but does not attach to any identities or ideas or beliefs or dogma or religious teachings or so-called "spirituality" or any other form of "learned ignorance." Functioning in that void, even the noble (and often ego-supporting) identity of THAT is of no concern.
The alternative to the peace of the Nothingness is that state of innumerable concepts in which most will live out the manifestation, trapped in personas, driven by fears and desires, imprisoned by attachments, never able to relax and take it easy, but convinced in that dream (or nightmare) state that they are free and happy. They will be in such denial that they will really believe, and enthusiastically proclaim, that they are not bored and that they are not depressed.
Yet they are not free, so they cannot possibly be happy. They are so bored that they can eventually develop an addiction to chaos in an effort to try to counteract their world-weariness (rather than seeing that "the world" is just another part of their dream—their Drama of the Lie). They are depressed, often on two levels: organic and situational. Why? They want to be “SOMEBODY” and they want to "be someone" significant or important or relevant or successful. Those aims will always be illusory and will generate desires that cannot be met, so frustration is guaranteed.
Happiness begins when the Stage One and Two search for more goes and when being content with less comes at Stage Five. Happiness becomes fixed when nothing is desired. It reaches a new height during AS IF living when the Void is enjoyed. It reaches the ultimate bliss after it is seen that, paradoxically, the Void is the fullness.
The re-purified consciousness will lead to de-accumulating, to understanding the bliss of the nothingness, to touching the validity of the void, and to being free of the insanity and/or personality disorders that will otherwise dominate their relative existence.
To understand the sweetness of the Void does not prevent the happenings that will happen for the remainder of the manifestation. It will merely allow the arrogance that drives the seeking of significance to dissolve, will allow persons to stop thinking that everything matters so much, and will allow the end of making mountains out of proverbial molehills. That can bring to an end their living in the shadows of the valleys generated as a result of over-reacting and misperceiving.
The Full Understanding can end your attachment to illusions such as “this life”; such as, “my significance”; such as, "the great meaning that my life has"; such as “the need to cling to certain 'valuable' concepts, though they haven’t provided the real answers even after thirty years or more”; ad infinitum. See, and then you can stop screaming for help and just…be.
Understand the Void. Rather than “having it all,” go for “The Grand Prize”: Nothing. When aligned with the nothingness, what needs to be said? Nothing. What needs to be heard? Nothing. In terms of noise, what is required? Nothing. What is there to be concerned about? Nothing. What is desired? Nothing. What is needed? Nothing. What can take away your independence? Nothing. What can take away your peace? Nothing. Via this understanding, what can happen in the relative existence that is not natural and peaceful? Nothing. What can move you from your position of neutrality and non-attachment? Nothing.
Will the elements still always return to the pool of universal elements? Yes. Will the air return to the pool of universal air? Yes. Will the energy return to the universal field of energy? Yes, but now, that which was before the elements, before the air, and before the manifestation of energy and matter, will be understood.
That which is beyond beingness and non-beingness will also be understood. That which was prior to either is understood. When that is understood, no desire for an identity manifests, and no fear of having “no identity” can manifest. What manifests is a position of zero concepts.
Zero concepts guarantees zero identities, zero fears, zero desires, zero unhappiness, zero anxiety, zero restlessness, zero conflict, zero attachments, zero imprisonment, zero…period.
Enjoy the Nothingness and even the No-Nothingness. Peace and Light. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
AN OVERVIEW:
NOTE: If you’ve read some of these books but know that a firm foundation and/or a review is indicated, or if you merely want to engage in some non-duality entertainment, go to http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm, provide your information and in the "Special Message" box, indicate which of the three Advaita packages below you want, and then read the books in proper sequence. Your multi-book discounts will be applied. Here is the order in which the books are to be read and how to get the three packages at the reduced rate:
Consider the Meditation CD, the Meditation Guides, Bullshit, and Spiritual Sobriety to be a “Beginner’s Package,” providing a foundation from which persons can begin to consider realities that are beyond the beliefs which they accept unquestioningly as a result of their enculturation. Used as a group, the works encourage inquiry (which is at the core of the Advaita approach) where questioning has not occurred before. [See MAKE YOUR OWN PACKAGE below.]
Consider Peace of Mind, Liberation, What Happens When I Die? and The Essence of the Teachings to be a “Mid-Level Seekers” Package, freeing seekers of the false identification with body and mind and personality and explaining the basic terminology that must be understood before moving to the advanced teachings. [See MAKE YOUR OWN PACKAGE below.]
Consider From the I to the Absolute, Consciousness/Awareness, and From the Absolute to the Nothingness to be an “Advanced Seekers” Package. From the I to the Absolute can serve as a guide for earnest and capable seekers, putting the teachings into an orderly context that reveals the exact steps that must be taken in an exact order to move through all of the degrees of separation from belief in the false “I” to Realization. Consciousness/Awareness offers the next level of understanding, explaining that which is beyond the beingness and how happiness can manifest each day via the understanding. Finally, From the Absolute to the Nothingness will allow earnest and capable seekers to understand the state that is even prior to beingness and non-beingness, even prior to the Absolute. The seeker who understands the content of this book will realize how it is that—from a state of non-existence or nothingness—everything in this universe (and all universes) came to be. [See MAKE YOUR OWN PACKAGE below.]
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