THE IS-NESS / THE NOW-NESS

An Advaita Vedanta realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, and dwelling in the natural state as revealed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: I am glad that you’re finally going to address the issue of “love.” I have read the words of a lot of Advaita teachers who talk of nothing else. You talk of other things that have helped me, but I do want your take on something that has confused me all my life What is love? Also, do you ever discuss NOW or the power of NOW? Arnold

F.: [Having returned late from a trip taken to offer the teachings, the series on love/LOVE will begin tomorrow. That leaves space today to address this topic.]

Hello Arnold. You’ll need to turn to Tolle for a discussion of the last item mentioned in your e-mail since he studied the teachings of Maharaj yet focuses on but a few of those teachings and discusses “the power of now.” (The same applies to Dyer, Wilde, Chopra and a host of others on the circuit: they have taken one or two parts of Maharaj's teachings and discuss those parts only.)

In reality, there is no power except what you can call “energy”; otherwise, “power” is a concept, as in “Higher Power,” “Supreme Power,” “Heavenly Power,” “human power,” etc. That said, “now” has been addressed on this site on occasion and will be addressed again…now.

First, understand that NOW has nothing to do with time measurement. Time is a concept that is false, and belief in it leads to other false concepts such as “the past” and “the future.” [For clarity, contrast a “timeline” with “a circle.”]

All of this has been discussed, so you can search the archives, but focus on understanding that NOW is not a measurement of time. It is, instead, a pointer toward the I AM. I, the manifested consciousness, AM, and I AM “real” to the extent that, currently, I AM (as a series of "now's".) Yet no present happening or person or “one” is the real.

More to the point, the truth cannot be stated, but the only thing that can be stated with any validity—as far as the relative is concerned—is that NOW the Is-ness Is. The now and the Amness can almost be equated to the degree that What is now is consciousness, but that have nothing to do with any person or “one” who is “being now.”

As a result of “memories,” persons are convinced that they “have a past,” yet memories are just another means by which the “mind” can generate a false illusion of “difference”: “I was a boy, then I was a teen, then I became a man.”

To know that none of those false identities was the actual identity of the speck making the claim is to understand that nothing other than a series of "now-nesses" or "Is-nesses" was happening. Too, there was no "doing-ness" since there was no "do-er."

Persons are also convinced that they have “a future”—or at least they will desire “a future” and fear not having “a future.” (Note how belief is any concept will lead to fear or desire.) And not only do persons believe they will have “a future” but most are also convinced—identified with body as they are—that they will have an “eternal future.”

Of course that is all fiction, as is anything linked to time measurement. What the consciousness can know is that (a) for now It Is but that (b) even such now-ness is limited (and cannot, therefore, be a measurement of time or the timeless Reality / THAT).

Being a speck of consciousness, I know NOW. I have no beliefs about “then” or “not now”; I have no belief in “a past” or “a future.” Right now, I (the manifested consciousness) AM. Speak of me only as I AM, and speak of YourSelf only as I AM.

As for the Absolute, it too has no past or future to the degree that what is infinite is infinite, forever unlimited, and never time-bound, never definable via concepts (including the concept of linear time). To say that the Absolute always was, is, and shall be is a pointer used with beginners or mid-level seekers, but the Realized know even that does not apply.

The “I AM THAT; I AM” is merely a discussion of one thing that is taken to be two things, but it is “not two.” If persons were to see you before a mirror during the act of shaving, they would not think that there were two different things there.

One is the real “You” and the other is a reflection. So it is with the Am-ness that appears temporarily now. The Am-ness which happens to have temporarily manifested is just a speck of THAT, just a temporarily manifested speck of Is-ness that can know the now and that can also understand that “time” and “past” and “future” and “memories” are not the real. Being concepts only that have no actual “now-ness,” those concepts certainly had no “then-ness” and will certainly not have any “later-ness” either.

Thus, merely understand this: That Which You Are is outside of time and Is absolutely beyond time. Mistake not “now” as time, but align your understanding of now with the manifested consciousness…the Is-ness…the Amness. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

FOR MORE ON TODAY’S TOPIC, THE ADVANCED SEEKERS’ PACKAGE IS AVAILABLE AT A DISCOUNT OFF THE SINGLE BOOK PRICES:

“The Advanced Advaitin Seeker’s Package”: From the I to the Absolute, Consciousness/Awareness, and From the Absolute to the Nothingness $45.00 + S&H. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm .

OUT-OF-TOWN UNTIL LATE THURSDAY TO SHARE THE TEACHINGS

An Advaita Vedanta realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, and dwelling in the natural state as revealed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A REGULAR VISITOR TO THE SITE IN ICELAND: Hello Floyd, I found the last series very enlightening. I have often thought over whether there is a afterlife in the form of some hell. I remember reading don Miguel Ruiz books and he wrote that "the Dream" continues after death. I don´t believe in that anymore. Can you imagining living a hell-like life and believing that the nightmare continues post-manifestation? As little hope in that as in any Christian dogma. Sveinn

F.: Indeed, Sveinn.

PLEASE NOTE: A new series will begin on Friday that will address the many inquires regarding “love” and Love.

Meanwhile, visitors are invited to read the information below on the various Advaita readings that are available or to visit the archives. Also, links are available to the right for those interested in a retreat with floyd or for those interested in an online course in the Advaita Teachings. Peace and Light.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE BOOKS IN THE ADVAITA COLLECTION:

The books are presented in the recommended ordering for reading. They may be ordered individually, or in one of three sets, or in their entirety. [The Entire Advaita Collection: all twelve books + the CD $187.00 + S&H]

THE MEDITATION GUIDES

These books can be read in either order since each stands alone. The entries each day provide an excerpt from a non-duality book, followed by one or more considerations for that day. Some read the books from beginning to finish while others use them on a daily basis. Either way, they offer hundreds of pointers that are intended to allow those in the early stages of seeking to begin consideration of pointers that deal with something other than the body and mind issues that dominate most persons. Reading all of the entries in either or both guides will allow the consciousness to begin processing subject matter that is beyond the phenomenal. That will prepare the consciousness to receive the Advaita pointers at the end of the volumes and that continue in a progressive order throughout the remaining books on the list. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm

IT’S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)

This book contains a series of “propositionalities” that would be worthless except to the extent that they prepare all seekers to become willing to question the sacred cows of your culture. Ultimately, this all deals more with the relative than the Absolute, but one cannot abide sanely as the Absolute without first seeing the insanity of the relative. If one can question his/her core beliefs that are generally held sacred by the masses, then discarding all of the other nonsense of the culture might become easier. That alone can begin the "journey" toward total freedom and total peace. Few will ever be able to discard the minor cows, much less these six sacred cows, but this book is an invitation to begin questioning what is usually taken for granted after years of programming and enculturation. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm

SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)

This book is for the 6 billion+ persons who have been programmed with the dogma of the planets’ religions, especially the three outgrowths of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is also for those who are playing a spiritual role or who have become spiritually intoxicated (which prevents moving beyond all role-playing and Realizing Fully). It's intent is to allow persons on the "path" to transition beyond the religious and spiritual identities that are assumed at the third step of the "journey." The focus is on those three since their dogma has programmed—and corrupted the consciousness of—most persons on the planet, but the overall message reflects the truth about all religions and all “spiritual” programs or movements as well. The content reveals the 16 tenets common to those religions which evolved from the killing of virgins; exposes the contradictions of those teachings; discusses the glorification of suffering; catalogues and exposes the false promises that are made in order to attract and control the masses; explains the way that their leaders' addiction to power drives them to manipulate their followers; exposes the lies upon which those institutions are based; identifies the results of religious and spiritual intoxication; and uncovers the mental disorders that result from strict adherence to the dogma and ideology. If you have been exposed to any religious or spiritual indoctrination, or if you live in a culture where the leaders have been indoctrinated by religion, this one should be read. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace if You’re Out of Your Mind)

This book leads to the next level of freedom, allowing seekers to transition beyond the mind. The content explores the history of the human brain, including the fact that for millions of years, human and human-like beings functioned without any mind. The book uncovers the ways that the brain evolved over the ages and developed an ability to store and retrieve memories. It then shows how the original memories were used constructively but how programming and conditioning changed all that and created a "mind" that most often overrules the brain and generates relative-existence harm and destruction. Similarly, the book shows the way that personality develops during childhood as a means for survival and adaptation but later becomes a liability when those childhood personality traits continue to drive adult thinking and behavior.

Ultimately, the content of the book shows why Advaitin sages for centuries have correctly identified the "problems of the planet" as being rooted in body-mind-personality identification and offers suggestions for being free of all of that nonsense via Realization. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm

LIBERATION
This book helps remove the next barrier to Realization: personality. After being freed from body-mind identification, transitioning into the next step begins the process of being freed from identification with personas and being unconsciously controlled by personality traits. This book studies the nine most basic persona types as identified in the enneagram method and offers the way to be freed of the influences of personality. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

This book offers the opportunity to shift to the next level of understanding, the level at which you come to realize that you cannot die since you were not born. Fears generally begin to fall away after reading this work. The Foreword offers this: “If you find the answer to ‘What happens when I die—what happens after the body ends?’ the result will be that the remainder of your relative existence will be marked by an incredible lightness of being. Persons addicted to chaos will hate that possibility. Those seeking to be restored to sanity will seek the answer until it is found.” Eventually, it will be understood that You cannot die since You were never born. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm

THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS

This book is used by many as a primer and companion piece to FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE. “PART ONE” includes answers to frequently-asked questions and provides an overview of terms used during the teachings. “PART TWO” provides information for those who are “close” but haven’t yet “gotten it.” "PART TWO" moves the seeker to a depth of understanding that sets the stage for the final message in FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm

FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)

Most of the so-called “Spiritual Masters” addressed all of the steps that must be taken, in a very exact order, to shift from identifying with the false “I” to abiding as the Absolute. All of the steps (or “stages” to use Maharaj’s term) have been discussed for centuries, but this is the first time that the steps have been offered and explained in simple language in the exact order in which the seven steps must be taken in order to move from “the lie of the I” to Full Realization. Most of the content of this book contains the complete set of transcripts from audio tapings of a series of satsang sessions that guided the participants from step one to Realization. Some have said that by reading the questions from seekers and the immediate responses by floyd (all offered in their original easy, conversational format), they have felt as if they were present in the room, actively engaged in the satsang along with fellow seekers. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm

Recommended: Use in conjunction with FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE and the CD entitled SPIRIT JOURNEY TO YOUR TRUE SELF in order to have an experiential awareness of the seven steps as you read about each. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm

CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute)

After following the “path” as outlined in FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality) in order to Realize, the next step is to understand the difference in consciousness and awareness in order to abide as the Absolute for the remainder of the manifestation and then be totally free. "The Final Frontier" of the Advaita Teachings is transitioned when the Nature of Reality is understood and when the Advaita Teachings are "applied" on a daily basis even in the absence of any “Applier.” The Nature of Reality cannot be understood until the differences in Consciousness and Awareness are understood. Understanding the Nature of Consciousness allows for abidance in the I AM, but what of THAT Which Is beyond, and that which is beyond the beyond? To be at perfect peace on a daily basis, abidance as the re-purified Consciousness must be transitioned and abidance as the Absolute Awareness must happen. Only abidance as the Absolute allows for the remainder of the manifestation of Consciousness to happen in Perfect Peace. This book will distinguish between Consciousness and Awareness, will define the exact Nature of Reality, will offer explanations that will allow fixation in the Full Realization to happen, will allow for an understanding of the Functioning of the Totality, and will assist all earnest seekers to find the way to fixate in a state of peace from NOW until the Consciousness Unmanifests. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm

FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS

This book, the third in the “Advanced Seeker’s Package,” is only for Realized Advaitin seekers. The recommendation is that both FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE and CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS be read (in that order) and that the pointers in both of those books be understood before reading FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS. An understanding of the pointers offered in this book can allow the advanced seeker to shift even beyond SELF-Realization, even beyond an understanding of Consciousness and Awareness, and to an understanding of that which preceded the Absolute. The content of this book can, in fact, allow the advanced seeker to truly comprehend the Reality of “no concept,” of “no duality,” of “no something,” and even of “no nothing.” The Advaita Teachings offer an invitation to be free of all concepts, all beliefs, and all ideas in order to be totally free. Yet how many reach that "state," and how many who reach that "state" are able to fixate in that understanding and truly be free and thereby at peace? This book will offer details of the way that can happen. To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm

AN OVERVIEW: The order in which the books are to be read and how to get them at a package 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. [Visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm.]

Consider Peace of Mind, Liberation, What Happens When I Die? and The Essence of the Teachings to be a “Mid-Level Seekers” Package, each guiding seekers beyond the false identification with body and mind and personality and explaining the basic terminology that must be understood before moving to the advanced teachings. [Visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm.]

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. [Visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm.]

For more information on the products, visit:

http://floydhenderson.com/nothingness.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/consiousnessawareness.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/iamabsolute.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/theessence.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/whenidie.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/liberation.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/peaceofmind.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/spiritualsobriety.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/bullshit.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/twicestolen1.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/twicestolen2.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/spiritjourney.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/twelvestep.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/castinglight.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/boardofdirectors.htm

http://floydhenderson.com/twicestolen.htm

THE “HEAVEN-HELL” DEBATE: How Religion Has Always Generated Dualistic Beliefs, Part Eleven, The Conclusion

An Advaita Vedanta realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, and dwelling in the natural state as revealed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Hey Floyd, I love your site!! Well, I was programmed by catholicism and I'm still having trouble realizing that there is no heaven/hell... I still have a fear that I may create my own hell or that there might be a hell.. How can I deprogram myself from this fear? Are you positive there is no hell?? peace and love alex

F.: Finally, it has been suggested that you consider the essence of the nisarga yoga approach which invites you to (1) distinguish between the natural as opposed to the unnatural and the supernatural that come about post-programming and post-conditioning and to (2) allow the remainder of the manifestation to happen in a natural manner.

If you would dwell in that natural state, even during the manifestation, that can only happen if you understand Your original nature and function as that/THAT. Few will ever dwell thusly, being trapped instead in a “mind” with a propensity for supernatural and unnatural thinking and living.

(Many also face the added complications of a fractured mind, personality disorders, and body anomalies that contribute to emotional and mental and spiritual intoxication. They are not likely to ever Realize).

For those who would live naturally, understand that the supernatural and the unnatural cannot be separated. They are one in the relative. To be programmed with supernatural teachings (that is, religious and spiritual teachings) and to be led to believe that the religious or spiritual state is the final goal of the “journey” will leave persons trapped in their religious and spiritual personas and role-playing, as far removed from the True Self as ever.

To know that I am the Absolute and that You are the Absolute (and to know that the Absolute is beyond both this beingness and even the non-beingness) is to be enlightened…is to understand. To live unnaturally or supernaturally or spiritually or religiously is to be in darkness…is to not understand.

Ironically, functioning in the unnatural and supernatural roles of “The Religious One” or “The Spiritual One” is a requirement on the “path”; that is, playing religious or spiritual roles is a “step” along the path away from body identification and to Full Realization. However, the religious or spiritual steps are bogs where most fixate and which most never transcend. Why?

Because “The Religious One” or “The Spiritual Giant” are upgrades of the basic illusions of persons, because they are taken to be “good” labels, and because they are taken to be assurances of rewards both now and forevermore.

Convince six billion people that such is the case and the possibility of freeing even a fraction of them from their delusion is nearly impossible. Yet occasionally, one seeking the “path” might cross the path of one who has already traveled the “path” along which the seeker would go.

If that happens, a difference can occur, but it only occurs during the relative existence. Then, the last line of these three lines from poet Robert Frost will apply to the relative:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

What is that difference? The difference is a relative existence marked not by ignorance but by understanding; not by chaos but by stability; not by strife but by accord; not by conflict but by harmony; not by living supernaturally and unnaturally but by living naturally;

not by being unaware of any truth but by understanding the functioning of the totality; not by darkness but by light; not by belief in duality but by understanding the unicity.

As for the one whose e-mail is the basis of this series: considering the volume of questions you have raised subsequent to your original query, and considering how much attention you want, your choices now (as far as this speck of consciousness is concerned) are to (1) find an Advaitin teacher and work face-to-face with that teacher, (2) read the entire series of Advaita books offered here beginning to end, or (3) join the seekers who are currently enrolled in the online course available through this site.

Other than those opportunities, along with the answers already provided in this series and submitted for your consideration, nothing more will be offered to you here or via e-mail. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC:

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

and

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

and

Click LIBERATION

THE “HEAVEN-HELL” DEBATE: How Religion Has Always Generated Dualistic Beliefs, Part Ten

An Advaita Vedanta realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, and dwelling in the natural state as revealed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Hey Floyd, I love your site!! Well, I was programmed by catholicism and I'm still having trouble realizing that there is no heaven/hell... I still have a fear that I may create my own hell or that there might be a hell.. How can I deprogram myself from this fear? Are you positive there is no hell?? peace and love alex

F.: To review, you have admitted that Christian dogma was used to program you. You have admitted to fears about living a life “in hell” now and in hell forever as well. Being driven by fears and desires is always the result of religious or spiritual programming when either introduces dualistic concepts, including the heaven and hell concepts.

If you can understand even that much, then the readiness to be free should begin to manifest, yet you continue to send e-mail after e-mail during this series (all of which are being ignored, by the way) because they have nothing to do with your original assignment or with the on-going assignments to be quiet, stop writing, and focus on the pointers.

Yet you cannot do that, driven as you are by what is likely a combination of chemical and mineral imbalances in the physical body as well as a lack of readiness to truly be free. You obviously have some other agenda, part of which obviously involves entrapment in the “Hey-look-at-me” syndrome.

A recent series was discontinued before completion because of the same type behavior from a not-yet-ready seeker, but so much e-mail is arriving on this topic that the series will be completed to address the questions of dedicated seekers who are focused on this topic and who are truly trying to understand.

So far, you have also been shown how you and trillions of persons have been programmed by religions (or by so-called spiritual groups) for thousands of years. You have been shown the effects of the programming and how the content of dogma is based in myth and ignorance.

If the goal is truly to be free of the effects of religious indoctrination, then use the facts presented in this series to see that what they taught you was based in myth and ignorance. Seeing that should allow you to be able to grasp the full extent of the results of that indoctrination and to see how readily all of that nonsense should be discarded in one fell swoop.

You should see clearly now the result of your having been programmed and conditioned by one of the many influential cults on the planet: specifically, what has happened is the formation of a “mind” (which is nothing more than an accumulation of learned ignorance that must be discarded if one would be in touch with reality and truth).

You have been shown how dogma perpetuates belief in dualistic concepts. You have been shown how you will forever be trapped in darkness and ignorance if you are not guided in a manner that allows you to discard your blind faith in lies in order to pave the way to being free and knowing truth.

You have been invited to start by questioning it all and seeing how truly nonsensical all concepts are, including those set forth by both religious persons and spiritual persons. That is how the freeing process begins. Then you will no longer be a ready target for those who would spread ignorance and nonsense. Advaita does not invite anyone to learn more; it invites all to un-learn instead.

If a neighbor told you she had a baby but was still a virgin, you’d know she was either ignorant or a liar, but your programming has robbed you of the ability to draw the same type of logical and reasonable conclusions when such assertions were heard from a “religious or spiritual person” rather than a neighbor.

Worse, relatively speaking, is the fact that you cannot compartmentalize what their programming stole from you, so that inability to apply logic and reason will manifest in every aspect of your relative existence…not just in discussions regarding religious or spiritual issues.

They led you to believe in a plethora of absurd lies, and that has left you trying to navigate through the relative existence without the skill set required for natural living, free of imagined fears and unmet desires.

Who can be free and joyous under such conditions? No one. Who can possibly make conscious choices and decisions when blocked from the pure consciousness that would allow such natural functioning to happen? No one.

Who can make objective, sane decisions when their programming and conditioning have left them so gullible as to believe the absurdity of the content of their dogma or to believe some of the lofty pronouncements coming from the minds and mouths of self-proclaimed “spiritual leaders”? No one. What the former will offer is paralyzing duality that leads to paralyzing fears. At best, all the latter will offer is what Maharaj called “kindergarten spirituality.”

And there is the playground of your “mind” as you dabble here and dabble there, unable to focus on pointers that could move you away from the miasma of your “mind” and reconnect you with the clarity that is available via the True Self…the Pure Witness…the Pure Consciousness.

You are not ready, but many are. For those following this series and considering the pointers and following up with requests for clarification of revelations that have come via quiet consideration, the “path” is available to you. You may be ready to take all seven steps to Full Realization. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (TOMORROW: The Conclusion)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC:

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

and

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

and

Click LIBERATION

THE “HEAVEN-HELL” DEBATE: How Religion Has Always Generated Dualistic Beliefs, Part Nine

An Advaita Vedanta realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, and dwelling in the natural state as revealed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Hey Floyd, I love your site!! Well, I was programmed by catholicism and I'm still having trouble realizing that there is no heaven/hell... I still have a fear that I may create my own hell or that there might be a hell.. How can I deprogram myself from this fear? Are you positive there is no hell?? peace and love alex

F.: Thus, here are the dualistic effects on a planet where six billion people claim membership in one of the three religions of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Of those three, Judaism has been around for about 4000 years, and it has been shown that the writings that the Jews think are “holy” were written by Moses (who merely plagiarized and retold stories that had been circulated for over 500 years by members of pagan religions).

The stories common to all included a Great Flood story, stories about a supernatural power leading people from captivity to freedom, and creation stories.

(In the text used by Jews and in the “holy book” of the Judaeo-Christians, there are two totally different, totally contradictory versions of how earth was created in the book called “Genesis.” Moses had heard both told during his day, so he included both. So few have every read the the "scriptures" for themselves that they are unaware of that fallibility in the very first book of the text they take to be the “infallible word” of their God.)

The Jewish writings (which the Christians include in their “Bible”) are a series of tales that recount a pattern throughout: the Jewish people are being “bad”; God allows “others” to persecute them and they suffer miserably as a result; punished and beaten into submission, they finally appeal to God and “reconnect” with him; he sends God-fearing leaders who lead the Jews to victory over their enemies; prosperity prevails; the Jews move away from their God and enjoy their new-found freedom and prosperity; their God reigns down misery upon them again; and their “scriptures” recount that same cycle being repeated dozens of times.

Concepts based in duality are set forth and reinforced: “enemies vs. friends”; “others”; “people being good vs. people being bad”; a “God handing out punishments vs. a God handing out rewards”; “misery and suffering vs. prosperity and joy”; a relative existence in which fluctuation and chaos are normalized; a supernatural God who is nevertheless co-dependent…in relationship with people on earth who can “make him happy vs. make him sad and/or mad.”

Eventually, the Jews could not even agree on “the proper dogma and interpretation and practices” so they began to subdivide into various sects that battled with each other for religious control and superiority. They all claim to be “Jewish” but their in-fighting and disunity have destroyed any sense of unity (of the “unicity”) and duality prevails.

Two thousand years after Moses, Christianity evolved from the pagan-Judaeo teachings and followed the same route, teaching dualistic concepts and, like the Jews, fighting among themselves over doctrine and interpretation and practice. Eventually, like the Jews before them, they broke relations, formed splinter groups, and disorganized into over 1000 different denominations and sects and cults and sub-cults. They all claim to be “Christians” but their in-fighting and disunity have destroyed any sense of unity (of the “unicity”) and duality prevails.

Islam would begin to evolve some 600 years after Christianity and would eventually form sects. Many among those sects are bent on destroying each other as well as the members of the other two religions of Abraham. They all claim to be “Muslims” but their in-fighting and disunity have destroyed any sense of unity (of the “unicity”) and duality prevails.

A study of the history of other religions and philosophies reveals the same path of splintering and fighting with “others.” Here’s the way it was explained in May of ’06 (see archives for more).

Programming, conditioning, indoctrination, dogma, concepts, and beliefs corrupted the pure consciousness and resulted in a need for THE ORIGINAL UNDERSTANDING that could free persons of the misery of living a relative existence that was (and is) burdened by the handicap of their bastardized consciousness. Fictional teachings were spread, and myths and superstitions were given credibility via the religions and the spiritual programs or movements of men that persons considered “holy.” Eventually, their efforts blurred the line between religions and philosophies and philosophies and spiritual movements. Concepts based in duality followed, along with the separation that religions inspire. Evidence of the divisiveness and duality that religions generate can be seen when it is realized that…

…in Hinduism, multiple pathways sprang up, multiple texts sprang up, multiple systems sprang up, multiple subcategories of those systems eventually sprang up, devotional practices sprang up, and multiple schools of thought sprang up;

…in Christianity, multiple denominations sprang up, multiple sects sprang up, and multiple sub-sects sprang up;

…in Islam and Judaism, multiple sects sprang up.

That is the pattern of religions: once defined, codified, organized, and practicing, some of the members break relationship, break away, and begin a modified version that better suits their agenda; hence, the near-infinite number of faiths, religions, sects, denominations and subgroups.

Whereas THE ORIGINAL UNDERSTANDING knew only the Oneness, the vast number of religions and philosophies now fester with the lies of “duality” or “multiplicity.” Division, separation, partitioning, and disconnection are the result of the efforts by religious persons and/or spiritual persons that have distorted THE ORIGINAL UNDERSTANDING and created illusory concepts like “separate,” “different,” “apart from,” “subjects and objects,” “good vs. bad,” “right vs. wrong,” “moral vs. immoral,” and “acceptable vs. unacceptable.”

Those concepts, in turn, have reinforced a false sense of separation and have inspired judging, fighting, debate, argument, and wars while claiming to provide a foolproof prescription for peace and harmony in this relative existence. They continue to attract followers around the globe by promising that they can assure eternal continuity for the body-mind-personality triad…all three of which are as fictional as the promises of an eternal re-manifestation of body and mind and personality as held forth by religious and spiritual persons.

For the sake of accuracy, it can be said that religions merely perpetuate the duality that arrogant, controlling, ignorant men dreamed up and codified into “religious and spiritual movements.” It was those ignorant persons who actually generated the dualistic concepts and who were able to control the masses by tapping into the fears and desires of persons.

Now, organized religions see to it that the dualistic concepts are passed on from one generation to the next as "truth," and people such as Alex who wrote the e-mail above are looking for some way to be de-programmed and to be free of the instability and misery and suffering and insanity that result from having been taught all of the nonsense that currently drives six billion people on the planet, all trapped in effects of their learned ignorance.

How to be free? This is the beginning of the process...seeing how the religion/cult that programmed you is based in lies and passes on lies. The "pre-step" before taking the first step of the Seven-Step Journey to Reality is an impartial and objective questioning of the nonsense that has been formerly accepted as unquestionable truth and fact. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC:

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

and

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

and

Click LIBERATION

THE “HEAVEN-HELL” DEBATE: How Religion Has Always Generated Dualistic Beliefs, Part Eight

An Advaita Vedanta realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, and dwelling in the natural state as revealed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Hey Floyd, I love your site!! Well, I was programmed by catholicism and I'm still having trouble realizing that there is no heaven/hell... I still have a fear that I may create my own hell or that there might be a hell.. How can I deprogram myself from this fear? Are you positive there is no hell?? peace and love alex

F.: Programming and conditioning and enculturation result in unnatural and/or supernatural (magical) thinking and behavior. The end result of unnatural and supernatural thinking, relatively speaking, is a total blockage of awareness of Your original nature, a total blockage of awareness of Your natural state, and, therefore, an inability to live naturally.

Supernatural thinking is marked by magical, fairy-tale-type beliefs and concepts:

“I believe there is a reason for everything, all under God’s control”;

“six billion people can’t be wrong about God”;

“anyone who looks at the order of the universe has to admit that there must be some God managing everything”;

“there is an overall plan that we do not always understand”;

“there is a hand that has been guiding me through life”;

“the universe sends me all I need, when I need it”;

“the consumption of some foods will make you a more spiritual person and the consumption of other foods will prevent you from being spiritual at all”;

“I’ve been unemployed for eleven months, but I know in my heart that God has some plan for me, so in God’s time, not mine”;

“I believe that suffering makes a person stronger”; and

“you can be more spiritual if you use certain accoutrements like burning sticks, drums, crystals, special bowls that are struck by special sticks to make special sounds, ad infinitum.”

Then there are the ones that the ego truly loves since they convince persons that they are so special:

“you were created and put here for a purpose”;

“you are a gift from God”;

“you are a child of God, an agent for God on earth, a vessel of God, a channel for God, God’s spokesperson, God’s representative, God’s ambassador, etc.”

The end result of supernatural living—dominated by such magical thinking as revealed in the examples above—is a very unnatural life…one totally unlike your original nature…one totally unlike Your natural state. Thus, supernatural living and thinking and behaving is unnatural, so it should be clear why the Fully Realized Advaitin teacher will invite you to abandon such unnatural behavior and such nonsensical thinking which is generated by the fiction-laden “mind.”

Contrast supernatural, unnatural living with the type of natural living exhibited by the deer or the AS IF type of living exhibited among the Realized:

Each morning, three to six deer usually feed on the grass of the front lawn of the current residence. They are content. They have no cares or concerns. They have no dogma. They have no “mind.” They have no ideology or concepts or ideas or beliefs. They are at peace. They are living naturally, functioning in a manner that is true to their original nature.

Were you to be in touch with the reality of Your original nature, you would live as naturally as the deer. What can block you from that? Supernatural (a.k.a., “religious” or “spiritual”) ideas, concepts, and beliefs.

For example, the act of friction is natural, the transfer of seeds is natural, and the fertilization of eggs in natural. To believe that a woman can be impregnated without that act of friction is to live in total darkness, in abject ignorance, and in juvenile foolishness. (Parthenogenesis is an act reserved exclusively to some plants and a few rare species, humans not included.)

Yet two billion programmed Christians unquestioningly believe that a virginal—rather than vaginal—birth happened, unaware that Christianity is not the first but is the 23^rd religion that claimed a savior born of a virgin. (Actually, the word used in the original text that supposedly foretold a virgin birth was almah, meaning “a young woman,” not “a virgin.”)

Add in the Buddhists who believe that Buddha was born via an opening in his mother’s side and include the Hindus who believe that Krishna was born of a virgin and you can see how, even in the 21^st century, religions are convincing people to believe in duality and nonsense.

Childish, immature, magical belief systems are the driving force among persons who have been programmed, conditioned, enculturated, and domesticated by the dogma rooted in pagan religions and that is now the stock and trade of modern religious and spiritual groups.

To see Pavlov’s dogs as they unnaturally salivate as a result of sounds rather than smells is to see how you—when similarly conditioned—will live just as unnaturally as those dogs.

Only if freed of all beliefs and concepts and only if residing in Your original nature as the no-concept, non-dual Reality can the bondage of supernatural beliefs (which inspire unnatural thoughts and words and deeds) be transitioned. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC:

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

and

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

and

Click LIBERATION

THE “HEAVEN-HELL” DEBATE: How Religion Has Always Generated Dualistic Beliefs, Part Seven

An Advaita Vedanta realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, and dwelling in the natural state as revealed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Hey Floyd, I love your site!! Well, I was programmed by catholicism and I'm still having trouble realizing that there is no heaven/hell... I still have a fear that I may create my own hell or that there might be a hell.. How can I deprogram myself from this fear? Are you positive there is no hell?? peace and love alex?

F.: You admit that you were “programmed by catholicism” and you want to be “deprogrammed.” Here is what some have shared in regards to deprogramming:

Deprogramming can involve an attempt to coerce a person to abandon blind loyalty to a group (such as a religious or spiritual or political group). In extreme cases, deprogrammers have resorted to kidnapping and confinement during the deprogramming process.

In many cases, professional deprogrammers have been hired by family members to abduct their children, remove them from whatever groups have brainwashed them, and subjected them to intensive sessions that can involve coercion or exit counseling.

In cases where the deprogrammers are unsuccessful, the result is that the programmed persons are even more dedicated than ever to their beliefs and/or group, no matter how illogical or insane the teachings and behaviors of group members and leaders might be.

Understand that once a “mind” is formed after persons are programmed and “brainwashed” with concepts, it becomes an easily-accomplished task to exercise “mind control” over such persons, especially by the use of manipulation and fear-producing reminders.

If the term “deprogram” is used in its broadest sense, it can refer to the freeing or liberating or enlightening of programmed and conditioned persons by eliminating the ideas and beliefs and concepts that they were taught during their impressionable years. Typically, varying degrees of force were used to the extent that persons were threatened with punishment (or even damnation) if they questioned anything they were told by adults.

Of course most adults are as susceptible to being programmed as children. The process is on-going as adults are fed new concepts by religious and spiritual and political leaders.

By contrast, consider the Advaita teachings which use no coercion or force but merely invite persons to question their beliefs, to see where their blind loyalty has trapped them in ignorance, and to understand the way in which their learned ignorance has removed all choice and is driving them blindly to think and talk and act in ways that are nonsensical.

The Advaita teachings invite persons to see that, if they are driven, they have no choice. [Consider: there are three places you can be in an automobile if you are driven and one place you cannot be: you can be in the passenger seat, in the back seat, or in the trunk. Where you cannot be is behind the steering wheel. Being driven, you have no choice. You cannot choose where you will go, when you go, or how you go.]

So it is with programmed persons. All persons are programmed with beliefs and concepts, so all on the planet are being driven by concepts and ideas that have no basis in reality. Why do persons attack those who offer an alternative view?

As in the case of the professional deprogrammer who fails to deprogram a person who has been programmed, when persons are presented with any challenge to the belief systems that they take to be a key part of what “makes them who they are,” then that challenge will usually only solidify in the “minds” of persons the beliefs that they cherish as a result of programming and conditioning.

Advaita can involve “deprogramming” if the term is used in its broader sense and if it refers to “the freeing or liberating or enlightening of someone by eliminating the bogus ideas and beliefs and concepts that they were taught during their impressionable years.”

The difference is, a professional deprogrammer has an agenda and will not be objective about determining if the readiness to be free is present in the programmed individual. The Advaita teacher is likely to send away far more than she/he will invite to stay and to continue to try to grasp the Advaita teachings.

There will be no coercion, no agenda, and no desire for a particular outcome. There will most assuredly be no threats of damnation or punishment.

To the contrary, the Advaita teachings offer a way out of the mindset that traps persons in the notion that, if they question the nonsense they were taught, they will be forever damned and punished or tortured.

Interestingly, the belief among the religious and some spiritual persons is that the torture will supposedly be imposed by the same “god” who—they are told in a contradictory fashion—loves them “unconditionally.” Please enter into the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC:

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

and

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

and

Click LIBERATION