An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.
RETREATS OR SATSANG w/ floyd ONE-ON-ONE, by TELEPHONE, by INTERNET CHAT ROOM, and via THE ADVAITA COURSE BY INTERNET (see link to right)
For details click ADVAITA VEDANTA RETREATS & SATSANG
or Contact
For details click ADVAITA VEDANTA RETREATS & SATSANG
or Contact
Announcing the closing of the Non-Duality Bookstore as the focus in the future will be on providing books electronically. See at the end of this post an offer to receive at lower-than-eBook-prices the last of the paper books remaining in stock at 50% off with free shipping in the U.S. and half-price shipping internationally.
While quantities last, the following package deal is being offered: Receive all nine (9) of the books listed below for $88 total with free shipping in the U.S. and ½ price shipping internationally.
The e-mail being addressed: My wife’s sister in law, a real nut if I were into labeling people and things, has hit a financial crisis since her husband just lost his job. She said the weird thing is that she "turned it all over to God" and now is not worried. You know, when I have "bottomed out" I have done that in the past and felt relief.
F.: (Imbedded links are for those interested in a more detailed discussion) It is said that neurotics build castles in the air and that psychotics move into them. The e-mail from the visitor’s sister-in-law reveals that she—as an active member of one of the major sky cults—is far from being “firmly planted on the ground.”
In contrast, some Advaitin students taste what living in a natural fashion is like not by moving into a castle in the air but while visiting the original state, only to be drawn back into the relative at times. Later, the Fully Realized move to that state once and for all and abide as that. So it is.
Yet that is far different from believing that one has moved into a castle in the air. Yesterday, there was Louise, the Pure Witness, the True Self, witnessing from an expanse far removed from the relative realm where all is misperceived by persons. She was witnessing from a limitless and remote distance that offered a clear perspective of all.
She was functioning as the eagle in the spirit journey/vision that regulars to this site are familiar with. There is quite a difference in a speck of energy witnessing from a distance and persons thinking they have access to "A Personalized Power Out There”—in the heavens or up in the sky—who is at their beck and call.
How can one be determined to be delusional when claiming to be worry-free after turning “relative problems” over to god but Louise in yesterday’s description of witnessing relative events from afar is known not to be so?
Louise was free at that moment because she was clear…clear that all anxiety and worry and dread are about a “louise” that does not even exist. To call on a god to help with the problems of an illusion such as "your sister-in-law" is not unlike calling on the fire department to extinguish the flames that are burning down your house when you don’t even have a house.
If a group riding camels through the Sahara were to suddenly see a mirage, would that mirage strike fear and worry in their hearts and minds? Would they send one member of their group back to the nearest town to bring help in order to get rid of the mirage that has seemingly appeared before their eyes?
Worry and fear (which you admit have driven you for the entirety of your life) are obviously still active in your “mind” or you would not have given credibility to your sister-in-law’s claim and you would not have given a report of how her claim also worked for you during "past" times.
You have admitted that your memories of “past” events are distorted, but now you claim to remember times when you turned things over to god and got “relief.” The reality is—based in accounts that you have shared—is this: if you turned all of the relief you’ve felt in your life into leather, there would not be enough to make a saddle for a flea.
And the reality behind these assumed personas who feel fear and worry is that they are tantamount to an itch on the calf of a legless man. The itch seems real enough, but in fact there is nothing there to itch. (Review Louise’s realization: too absolutely funny that all the anxieties were about a "louise" who does not exist.)
Furthermore, like the itching calf of a legless man, there is nothing for you or your sister-in-law to turn over to a god, and there is no god to turn it over to. So what is this mind-talk of having done that in the “past” and gotten relief?
The fictional itch that seems real to the legless man is really just in his fictional mind; and your sister-in-law’s fiction-based fears and fictional faith and fictional god are also just in her “mind.” And her fictional claims that a fictional entity really did take away her worry, and your fictional claim that a fictional entity gave you relief in the past, is nothing more than evidence of religious and spiritual intoxication.
For her to claim that she is no longer stuck in fear and worry is just mind-speak expressed with the vocabulary of mind-language. It is only from the no-mind position that nothing “sticks.” There is nothing that can stick to...nothing.
To try to trigger a state of emotional intoxication among the Realized is like trying to “stick” a piece of duct tape to an oily surface. It cannot happen because the only state at that point of Realization is the original state, and that state is intoxication-free, free from having anything that can attach to it.
With your sister-in-law speaking in the mind-language of the fictional “mind”—using the vocabulary of the non-Realized, it is guaranteed that her “mind” will function like a runaway train. And as that train passed by you via an e-mail, you jumped aboard and became her travel companion as she left the state of Reason on her journey to the state of Delusion with a stopover in Distortion.
And you allowed one who is blind, who cannot see, to point the way for you. In George Orwell’s 1984, there is “Newspeak”—a vocabulary that is used to distort Reality. With a claim that relief came by turning issues over to a god, you and your sister-in-law—along with all of the non-Realized—participated in “Oldspeak.”
That is the talk that goes back thousands of years when the most ignorant persons on the planet talked about Greek or Roman or Hindu “sustainer gods,” gods they believed were willing to intervene in the “affairs of mortals” and manipulate events to the advantage of “faithful believers.” Today, those trapped in their learned ignorance still speak of sustainer gods as well.
When in economic peril, call if you want to on the god of Abraham, call on Zeus, call on Vishnu. Call, call, call. In the meantime, if one is unemployed and wants employment, the consideration is to go look for a job instead of sending out e-mails that reveal denial of the way one truly feels and that are just a public flaunting of one’s faith and goodness.
So her self-deception became your self-deception, but the reality behind her claims was that her “mind” was…
…racing! Running! Husband is jobless! We’re going to lose our house. The kids will be without food. I’m going to lose the current lifestyle that I deserve. Breathless! OK, God…you gotta help me with this. Take this from me. I’m turning it over to you. OK…there. Ohhhhh….breath. Breathing. Breathe slowly. Take it easy. Now I have everything under control. Whoa, that was draining, but my faith prevailed.
And I truly believe that my faith has worked a miracle, so I have to say it, I have to report it…I’ve always had a desire to talk to impress, so I also have to shout about this from the mountaintop: “I HAVE FAITH AND NOW I’M FREE OF THE WORRY OF MY HUSBAND LOSING HIS JOB! YOU CAN BE AS FREE AS I AM IF YOU’LL JUST GET THE SAME LEVEL OF FAITH I HAVE AND IF YOU’LL BELIEVE IN MY GOD! YEAH MY GOD! MY GOD IS GOOD!”
Whoa. I’m drained. It was like an adrenaline rush and then the adrenal drop-off afterwards. Woooo…but at least I’m relaxed now. Thank goodness I have a power at my beck and call that I can tap into and turn it all over to Him. I’m going to send e-mails to everyone in my address book, showing them how great my faith is and how it worked for me. Type-type-type. Send-send-send.
Ah, yes, it’s all fine now. All fine. Relief. Really, it’s all fine. It’s all fine except that…HOLY SMOKE! We have no income! We have no savings! We’re screwed! FINE, HELL! IT’S NOT FINE AT ALL!
OK…gotta get control here. Take it easy. Calm down. Breathe. Deep breaths. Deeper still. Even deeper. Lotta deep breaths. OK…head’s a little lighter…must be a good sign. Calm. Peace. Surrender. Yes, that’s the ticket. Must surrender to god. He’ll take care of me…uh…I mean us.
There. Faith’s back. Relief. Relief. Relief from the worry of my husband losing his job. Relief from having no money in the bank and the anxiety of having run up $28,000 in credit card debt. Credit card debt? We can’t even make the minimum payment on that bill this month, now that my husband lost his job!
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO! I’M RUINED! MOM TOLD ME NOT TO MARRY THIS LOSER! I’M DYING HERE! THIS IS KILLING ME!
Non-attachment you say? Hey, attach to this, you idiot! You’re crazy…non-attachment. Go to hell! Gotta do something, now! Even if it’s rash! Here goes!
But you think because she said her faith worked and because she said that turning it over to god brought an end to her worry, that you should unquestioningly believe that she was speaking truth. What she said, by use of what Maharaj called “mind-language,” you took as a statement of truth and then delved back into your past and reported that the same worked for you back then. Please.
VISITOR: OK, once she starts again, once she doesn't feel her needs are met, then, yes, she is back where she started. Realization would allow her to stay in the non-worry mode. True. To that extent, she would be really better off because she wouldn't be on an on/off rollercoaster. I am in sync with you, brother!
F.: You are in sync with her (false self) and in sync with your (false) self, but you most assuredly are out-of-sync with Me. This is not one of the easiest teachings to grasp but it is valid nevertheless.
No one is “better off” when engaging in delusional behaviors and in distorted and magical thinking, and when her perceived problems aren’t solved, she’ll be angry for a time with a non-existent god. Or, if the problems clear up, she’ll be grateful to a non-existent god. In the meantime, she’ll be fluctuating constantly.
She is not free of worry. She might claim a temporary respite at best and will then be right back at it. Wait until she opens the mail and finds the next bill that is due and she'll be right back to worrying, proving that her initial claim of being “worry-free” was false.
Look at your own experiences while in various ego-states, some of which drove you to do what she is doing. If “just asking” worked, then the millions who left the church in the last few years—according to a new study released last week—would not have left at all if that deal had really been working for them.
This is not to say dualistically that worry is “good.” It is to say that she is deluding herself with nonsense and that the very act will in itself prevent her from finding a means that truly works. Mind-thoughts expressed in mind-language and then shared via mind-speak (claiming that an unsolved problem is solved) prevents the finding of the real solution to put an end to all of the fluctuating once and for all.
Why do you think so few Realize? They are convinced, as she is, that they have some noumenal power that they can manipulate to their “benefit” throughout the phenomenal existence. He who is convinced that he has found shall seek no more.
Many a prospector during the days of the California gold rush stopped their search in order to rush their fool’s gold to the assay office and claim their “reward.” All of the content of the "mind," which the non-Realized believe is so valuable, is nothing more than their own version of fool’s gold.
“They” fooled you. So it is, but you do not have to keep fooling yourself or listening to such nonsense from those who are still fooling themselves. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (The sharing of the transcript of the dialogue will continue tomorrow)
F.: (Imbedded links are for those interested in a more detailed discussion) It is said that neurotics build castles in the air and that psychotics move into them. The e-mail from the visitor’s sister-in-law reveals that she—as an active member of one of the major sky cults—is far from being “firmly planted on the ground.”
In contrast, some Advaitin students taste what living in a natural fashion is like not by moving into a castle in the air but while visiting the original state, only to be drawn back into the relative at times. Later, the Fully Realized move to that state once and for all and abide as that. So it is.
Yet that is far different from believing that one has moved into a castle in the air. Yesterday, there was Louise, the Pure Witness, the True Self, witnessing from an expanse far removed from the relative realm where all is misperceived by persons. She was witnessing from a limitless and remote distance that offered a clear perspective of all.
She was functioning as the eagle in the spirit journey/vision that regulars to this site are familiar with. There is quite a difference in a speck of energy witnessing from a distance and persons thinking they have access to "A Personalized Power Out There”—in the heavens or up in the sky—who is at their beck and call.
How can one be determined to be delusional when claiming to be worry-free after turning “relative problems” over to god but Louise in yesterday’s description of witnessing relative events from afar is known not to be so?
Louise was free at that moment because she was clear…clear that all anxiety and worry and dread are about a “louise” that does not even exist. To call on a god to help with the problems of an illusion such as "your sister-in-law" is not unlike calling on the fire department to extinguish the flames that are burning down your house when you don’t even have a house.
If a group riding camels through the Sahara were to suddenly see a mirage, would that mirage strike fear and worry in their hearts and minds? Would they send one member of their group back to the nearest town to bring help in order to get rid of the mirage that has seemingly appeared before their eyes?
Worry and fear (which you admit have driven you for the entirety of your life) are obviously still active in your “mind” or you would not have given credibility to your sister-in-law’s claim and you would not have given a report of how her claim also worked for you during "past" times.
You have admitted that your memories of “past” events are distorted, but now you claim to remember times when you turned things over to god and got “relief.” The reality is—based in accounts that you have shared—is this: if you turned all of the relief you’ve felt in your life into leather, there would not be enough to make a saddle for a flea.
And the reality behind these assumed personas who feel fear and worry is that they are tantamount to an itch on the calf of a legless man. The itch seems real enough, but in fact there is nothing there to itch. (Review Louise’s realization: too absolutely funny that all the anxieties were about a "louise" who does not exist.)
Furthermore, like the itching calf of a legless man, there is nothing for you or your sister-in-law to turn over to a god, and there is no god to turn it over to. So what is this mind-talk of having done that in the “past” and gotten relief?
The fictional itch that seems real to the legless man is really just in his fictional mind; and your sister-in-law’s fiction-based fears and fictional faith and fictional god are also just in her “mind.” And her fictional claims that a fictional entity really did take away her worry, and your fictional claim that a fictional entity gave you relief in the past, is nothing more than evidence of religious and spiritual intoxication.
For her to claim that she is no longer stuck in fear and worry is just mind-speak expressed with the vocabulary of mind-language. It is only from the no-mind position that nothing “sticks.” There is nothing that can stick to...nothing.
To try to trigger a state of emotional intoxication among the Realized is like trying to “stick” a piece of duct tape to an oily surface. It cannot happen because the only state at that point of Realization is the original state, and that state is intoxication-free, free from having anything that can attach to it.
With your sister-in-law speaking in the mind-language of the fictional “mind”—using the vocabulary of the non-Realized, it is guaranteed that her “mind” will function like a runaway train. And as that train passed by you via an e-mail, you jumped aboard and became her travel companion as she left the state of Reason on her journey to the state of Delusion with a stopover in Distortion.
And you allowed one who is blind, who cannot see, to point the way for you. In George Orwell’s 1984, there is “Newspeak”—a vocabulary that is used to distort Reality. With a claim that relief came by turning issues over to a god, you and your sister-in-law—along with all of the non-Realized—participated in “Oldspeak.”
That is the talk that goes back thousands of years when the most ignorant persons on the planet talked about Greek or Roman or Hindu “sustainer gods,” gods they believed were willing to intervene in the “affairs of mortals” and manipulate events to the advantage of “faithful believers.” Today, those trapped in their learned ignorance still speak of sustainer gods as well.
When in economic peril, call if you want to on the god of Abraham, call on Zeus, call on Vishnu. Call, call, call. In the meantime, if one is unemployed and wants employment, the consideration is to go look for a job instead of sending out e-mails that reveal denial of the way one truly feels and that are just a public flaunting of one’s faith and goodness.
So her self-deception became your self-deception, but the reality behind her claims was that her “mind” was…
…racing! Running! Husband is jobless! We’re going to lose our house. The kids will be without food. I’m going to lose the current lifestyle that I deserve. Breathless! OK, God…you gotta help me with this. Take this from me. I’m turning it over to you. OK…there. Ohhhhh….breath. Breathing. Breathe slowly. Take it easy. Now I have everything under control. Whoa, that was draining, but my faith prevailed.
And I truly believe that my faith has worked a miracle, so I have to say it, I have to report it…I’ve always had a desire to talk to impress, so I also have to shout about this from the mountaintop: “I HAVE FAITH AND NOW I’M FREE OF THE WORRY OF MY HUSBAND LOSING HIS JOB! YOU CAN BE AS FREE AS I AM IF YOU’LL JUST GET THE SAME LEVEL OF FAITH I HAVE AND IF YOU’LL BELIEVE IN MY GOD! YEAH MY GOD! MY GOD IS GOOD!”
Whoa. I’m drained. It was like an adrenaline rush and then the adrenal drop-off afterwards. Woooo…but at least I’m relaxed now. Thank goodness I have a power at my beck and call that I can tap into and turn it all over to Him. I’m going to send e-mails to everyone in my address book, showing them how great my faith is and how it worked for me. Type-type-type. Send-send-send.
Ah, yes, it’s all fine now. All fine. Relief. Really, it’s all fine. It’s all fine except that…HOLY SMOKE! We have no income! We have no savings! We’re screwed! FINE, HELL! IT’S NOT FINE AT ALL!
OK…gotta get control here. Take it easy. Calm down. Breathe. Deep breaths. Deeper still. Even deeper. Lotta deep breaths. OK…head’s a little lighter…must be a good sign. Calm. Peace. Surrender. Yes, that’s the ticket. Must surrender to god. He’ll take care of me…uh…I mean us.
There. Faith’s back. Relief. Relief. Relief from the worry of my husband losing his job. Relief from having no money in the bank and the anxiety of having run up $28,000 in credit card debt. Credit card debt? We can’t even make the minimum payment on that bill this month, now that my husband lost his job!
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO! I’M RUINED! MOM TOLD ME NOT TO MARRY THIS LOSER! I’M DYING HERE! THIS IS KILLING ME!
Non-attachment you say? Hey, attach to this, you idiot! You’re crazy…non-attachment. Go to hell! Gotta do something, now! Even if it’s rash! Here goes!
But you think because she said her faith worked and because she said that turning it over to god brought an end to her worry, that you should unquestioningly believe that she was speaking truth. What she said, by use of what Maharaj called “mind-language,” you took as a statement of truth and then delved back into your past and reported that the same worked for you back then. Please.
VISITOR: OK, once she starts again, once she doesn't feel her needs are met, then, yes, she is back where she started. Realization would allow her to stay in the non-worry mode. True. To that extent, she would be really better off because she wouldn't be on an on/off rollercoaster. I am in sync with you, brother!
F.: You are in sync with her (false self) and in sync with your (false) self, but you most assuredly are out-of-sync with Me. This is not one of the easiest teachings to grasp but it is valid nevertheless.
No one is “better off” when engaging in delusional behaviors and in distorted and magical thinking, and when her perceived problems aren’t solved, she’ll be angry for a time with a non-existent god. Or, if the problems clear up, she’ll be grateful to a non-existent god. In the meantime, she’ll be fluctuating constantly.
She is not free of worry. She might claim a temporary respite at best and will then be right back at it. Wait until she opens the mail and finds the next bill that is due and she'll be right back to worrying, proving that her initial claim of being “worry-free” was false.
Look at your own experiences while in various ego-states, some of which drove you to do what she is doing. If “just asking” worked, then the millions who left the church in the last few years—according to a new study released last week—would not have left at all if that deal had really been working for them.
This is not to say dualistically that worry is “good.” It is to say that she is deluding herself with nonsense and that the very act will in itself prevent her from finding a means that truly works. Mind-thoughts expressed in mind-language and then shared via mind-speak (claiming that an unsolved problem is solved) prevents the finding of the real solution to put an end to all of the fluctuating once and for all.
Why do you think so few Realize? They are convinced, as she is, that they have some noumenal power that they can manipulate to their “benefit” throughout the phenomenal existence. He who is convinced that he has found shall seek no more.
Many a prospector during the days of the California gold rush stopped their search in order to rush their fool’s gold to the assay office and claim their “reward.” All of the content of the "mind," which the non-Realized believe is so valuable, is nothing more than their own version of fool’s gold.
“They” fooled you. So it is, but you do not have to keep fooling yourself or listening to such nonsense from those who are still fooling themselves. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (The sharing of the transcript of the dialogue will continue tomorrow)
THE FOLLOWING NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE IN THE STORE IN LIMITED SUPPLY AND WILL BE OFFERED AT 50% OFF WHEN BOUGHT AS A PACKAGE:
While quantities last, the following package deal is being offered: Receive all nine (9) of the books listed below for $88 total with free shipping in the U.S. and ½ price shipping internationally.
[Sorry, but the offer does not apply to eBooks; this limited-time offer, however, is even less expensive than eBooks. This applies to the last of the paper books which are now in stock but which will never be available again. As various titles sell out, as happened with one title yesterday, the remaining paper versions will be offered at a pro-rated price of 50% off also.]
NON-DUALITY TITLES IN THE PACKAGE:
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide I
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide II
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings
NON-DUALITY TITLES IN THE PACKAGE:
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide I
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide II
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings