An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Noneness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Now you can receive for $40 a downloadable computer file version of the same 7-hour satsang that seekers receive when they visit for the Advaita Retreat with Floyd. You will be guided through the seven steps from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond).
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
F.: Next, for all of the books that tout the value of positive thinking and supposedly explain how to become a master of the positive thought; and for all of the people making millions on the circuit by teaching persons to “love what is”—that is, to "just put a positive spin on everything from rape to the death of a child";
and for all the speakers and preachers and authors and books which suggest that you can actually “attain power” through use of their messages of positive thinking, the fact is that there is no thought that can be said, unequivocally, to be “positive” or “negative.”
Is it not, in fact, rather egotistical to believe that one can know what thought is really “positive” and what thought is truly “negative”...to believe that one can label as "absolutely positive" or "absolutely negative" thoughts that are generated by persons operating under the influence of a "mind" with only a relative orientation?
If you will visit the archives and find the 27 April 2006 post on “Prayers to Control the Weather,” you can read about a church service where some cotton farmers in south Texas prayed for rain, but the owners of the adjacent vineyards wanted the drought to continue.
So, could the thoughts behind those prayers for rain for the cotton crop be said to be "positive" if the fate of the grape crop were to be considered? Was the thought that the owners of the vineyards had—that a continuation of the drought would be a positive thing—be universally-agreed upon as a positive?
As this post is being written, the season’s first hurricane has entered the Gulf of Mexico. People in Texas and Louisiana are thinking it is positive that the storm is going to be pushed to the east by a front rolling in from the west. Will the people of Louisiana and Mississippi and Florida think that is a positive?
The churchwoman mentioned a few days ago would tell you that it was a positive thought—a positive prayer—when she asked God to kill her husband. His death, according to her thinking, would have been a “positive” turn of events: $1,000,000 in insurance proceeds, total ownership of all of the funds in the bank and investment accounts, a house and land and other properties paid for in full, etc.
But would her five-year-old daughter, who would grow up without her father, have agreed that the thought was positive?
There are cases where interventions have occurred to force someone into treatment. Were the thoughts that brought that about positive? What of those who said they had to drink ever drink they drank? Maybe a premature, stop-gap intervention could set efforts at recovery back for months or years? What is positive and what is negative? What is good and what is bad, and who thinks he/she is all-knowing and is the true source of determining what is good or bad...what is positive or negative?
In the predominantly-Christian country called “the U.S.A.,” even prayers at mealtime in that warrior nation include what is taken to be “positive thoughts” about U.S. military men and women at war, asking that they be cared for and that victory be theirs.
But would the invaded nations agree that those thoughts are “positive?” And while some members of another religion think it is positive to strap on bomb vests and kill other people, their targets might see their beliefs to be of a decidedly-negative nature.
Since when has any person’s thoughts about what is good had anything to do with anything other than their own selfish and personal (personality-driven) motives? What audacity to believe that one can identity any thought as being absolutely positive or absolutely negative.
Note how in error “floyd” was when he was sure in the past that the thought that led him to organize an annual coat drive for the homeless was a positive thought. When trapped in “the Helper” persona, he arranged a citywide drive to collect coats that would be distributed (once freezing temperatures arrived) to those living under bridges and in boxes in the downtown area of Houston.
One February, coats were being distributed in an area where many homeless persons lived in boxes. I called a man out of the refrigerator box that was his home, helped him into one of the better coats collected, watched him wrap himself in it as if it were a warm blanket, and then asked him how it felt.
(It was one of the best coats collected, donated by a former resident of the U.K. who found it to be far too heavy for the typical temperatures of south Texas even during what is called “winter” here. That particular coat was much like the one purchased by my daughter when she was living in London—a weighty garment quite capable of fighting off the effects of the damp, frigid temperatures there during their extended winter season.)
The man in the box was amazed at how comfortable he was after being wrapped inside the coat for only a few moments. He declared that I was his “guardian angel” and then shared part of the content of a conversation he had with a man in the next box over when they had talked earlier that morning:
“I told him, ‘That’s it! That’s the last night I live on the streets and freeze my a** off!! Today, I get a job…mopping flooring at McDonalds…picking up garbage…whatever.’ But now you done showed up and took care of my problem. God bless you, brother. God bless you!”
And with that, he crawled back into his refrigerator box. More exactly, “floyd’s” entrapment in personality and ego put that man back in the box. There came one of those rare instances of a pre-Full Realization awareness that I had no clue whatsoever about what is “good vs. bad,” about what is “positive vs. negative,” or about what anyone “needs.”
I had taken from a man the motivation to seek employment that might have moved him out of the box completely, yet even now there is no claim that even that move would have been a "positive" outcome. I do not know, and neither does anyone else who claims to know what others need and what is absolutely positive and what is absolutely negative. That all involves duality, and there is no such thing as "dualistic truths."
The men and women participating in the drive were told to get in the vans and trucks—that the drive was over. When they asked what was to be done with the rest of the coats, it was suggested they drop them off at the Goodwill Store or anywhere else they might choose.
That particular annual drive would be no more because there would be no “one” to be driven by the arrogant notion that he knew exactly what anyone in particular needed or did not need; because there would be no "one" seeking strokes and applause and recognition for things only supposedly done in an altruistic fashion;
because there would no longer be that “one” who was so sure that he was being driven by positive thoughts and positive motives; and because there would be no “one” left to think that the square pegs of “absolutely positive thoughts” and “absolutely negative thoughts” could ever be forced into the round holes of that which is completely relative.
Now, what about you? Can You join Me in admitting, "I do not know"?
This morning, it is becoming colder. It is also damp and cloudy, yet the deer in the front yard this morning were grazing contentedly. A fawn that had arrived many months ago was actually jumping and running about and kicking its hind legs into the air.
Such is the way the relative existence unfolds when the space is handicapped neither by the presence of “a mind” nor by the presence of negative thoughts nor by the self-imposed challenge to have only positive thoughts.
Furthermore, it was noted yesterday that there can even be measurable, negative consequences (relatively speaking) for those who are dedicated to working at “having only positive thoughts.”
What an impossible—and guaranteed frustrating—undertaking it is to set as a goal the development of an unwavering ability to have only “positive thoughts.” And how those efforts will always “backfire” and will result in the exact opposite of what is always sought or intended! That will be explained tomorrow. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
and for all the speakers and preachers and authors and books which suggest that you can actually “attain power” through use of their messages of positive thinking, the fact is that there is no thought that can be said, unequivocally, to be “positive” or “negative.”
Is it not, in fact, rather egotistical to believe that one can know what thought is really “positive” and what thought is truly “negative”...to believe that one can label as "absolutely positive" or "absolutely negative" thoughts that are generated by persons operating under the influence of a "mind" with only a relative orientation?
If you will visit the archives and find the 27 April 2006 post on “Prayers to Control the Weather,” you can read about a church service where some cotton farmers in south Texas prayed for rain, but the owners of the adjacent vineyards wanted the drought to continue.
So, could the thoughts behind those prayers for rain for the cotton crop be said to be "positive" if the fate of the grape crop were to be considered? Was the thought that the owners of the vineyards had—that a continuation of the drought would be a positive thing—be universally-agreed upon as a positive?
As this post is being written, the season’s first hurricane has entered the Gulf of Mexico. People in Texas and Louisiana are thinking it is positive that the storm is going to be pushed to the east by a front rolling in from the west. Will the people of Louisiana and Mississippi and Florida think that is a positive?
The churchwoman mentioned a few days ago would tell you that it was a positive thought—a positive prayer—when she asked God to kill her husband. His death, according to her thinking, would have been a “positive” turn of events: $1,000,000 in insurance proceeds, total ownership of all of the funds in the bank and investment accounts, a house and land and other properties paid for in full, etc.
But would her five-year-old daughter, who would grow up without her father, have agreed that the thought was positive?
There are cases where interventions have occurred to force someone into treatment. Were the thoughts that brought that about positive? What of those who said they had to drink ever drink they drank? Maybe a premature, stop-gap intervention could set efforts at recovery back for months or years? What is positive and what is negative? What is good and what is bad, and who thinks he/she is all-knowing and is the true source of determining what is good or bad...what is positive or negative?
In the predominantly-Christian country called “the U.S.A.,” even prayers at mealtime in that warrior nation include what is taken to be “positive thoughts” about U.S. military men and women at war, asking that they be cared for and that victory be theirs.
But would the invaded nations agree that those thoughts are “positive?” And while some members of another religion think it is positive to strap on bomb vests and kill other people, their targets might see their beliefs to be of a decidedly-negative nature.
Since when has any person’s thoughts about what is good had anything to do with anything other than their own selfish and personal (personality-driven) motives? What audacity to believe that one can identity any thought as being absolutely positive or absolutely negative.
Note how in error “floyd” was when he was sure in the past that the thought that led him to organize an annual coat drive for the homeless was a positive thought. When trapped in “the Helper” persona, he arranged a citywide drive to collect coats that would be distributed (once freezing temperatures arrived) to those living under bridges and in boxes in the downtown area of Houston.
One February, coats were being distributed in an area where many homeless persons lived in boxes. I called a man out of the refrigerator box that was his home, helped him into one of the better coats collected, watched him wrap himself in it as if it were a warm blanket, and then asked him how it felt.
(It was one of the best coats collected, donated by a former resident of the U.K. who found it to be far too heavy for the typical temperatures of south Texas even during what is called “winter” here. That particular coat was much like the one purchased by my daughter when she was living in London—a weighty garment quite capable of fighting off the effects of the damp, frigid temperatures there during their extended winter season.)
The man in the box was amazed at how comfortable he was after being wrapped inside the coat for only a few moments. He declared that I was his “guardian angel” and then shared part of the content of a conversation he had with a man in the next box over when they had talked earlier that morning:
“I told him, ‘That’s it! That’s the last night I live on the streets and freeze my a** off!! Today, I get a job…mopping flooring at McDonalds…picking up garbage…whatever.’ But now you done showed up and took care of my problem. God bless you, brother. God bless you!”
And with that, he crawled back into his refrigerator box. More exactly, “floyd’s” entrapment in personality and ego put that man back in the box. There came one of those rare instances of a pre-Full Realization awareness that I had no clue whatsoever about what is “good vs. bad,” about what is “positive vs. negative,” or about what anyone “needs.”
I had taken from a man the motivation to seek employment that might have moved him out of the box completely, yet even now there is no claim that even that move would have been a "positive" outcome. I do not know, and neither does anyone else who claims to know what others need and what is absolutely positive and what is absolutely negative. That all involves duality, and there is no such thing as "dualistic truths."
The men and women participating in the drive were told to get in the vans and trucks—that the drive was over. When they asked what was to be done with the rest of the coats, it was suggested they drop them off at the Goodwill Store or anywhere else they might choose.
That particular annual drive would be no more because there would be no “one” to be driven by the arrogant notion that he knew exactly what anyone in particular needed or did not need; because there would be no "one" seeking strokes and applause and recognition for things only supposedly done in an altruistic fashion;
because there would no longer be that “one” who was so sure that he was being driven by positive thoughts and positive motives; and because there would be no “one” left to think that the square pegs of “absolutely positive thoughts” and “absolutely negative thoughts” could ever be forced into the round holes of that which is completely relative.
Now, what about you? Can You join Me in admitting, "I do not know"?
This morning, it is becoming colder. It is also damp and cloudy, yet the deer in the front yard this morning were grazing contentedly. A fawn that had arrived many months ago was actually jumping and running about and kicking its hind legs into the air.
Such is the way the relative existence unfolds when the space is handicapped neither by the presence of “a mind” nor by the presence of negative thoughts nor by the self-imposed challenge to have only positive thoughts.
Furthermore, it was noted yesterday that there can even be measurable, negative consequences (relatively speaking) for those who are dedicated to working at “having only positive thoughts.”
What an impossible—and guaranteed frustrating—undertaking it is to set as a goal the development of an unwavering ability to have only “positive thoughts.” And how those efforts will always “backfire” and will result in the exact opposite of what is always sought or intended! That will be explained tomorrow. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
Upcoming Series:
** SITE CO-HOST LOUISE STERLING WILL BE POSTING FROM NOVEMBER 17-20. FOR THOSE WHO HAVE WRITTEN TO PRAISE THE RELEVANCE OF WHAT THAT SPECK OF CONSCIOUSNESS SHARES AND TO ASK WHEN SHE’LL POST NEXT, THOSE ARE THE DATES.
** THE ULTIMATE REALIZATION THAT CAN FREE YOU TO LIVE IN THE NISARGA WAY WITHOUT FLUCTUATION
SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:
1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond
Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.
To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
Option “A” is for the downloadable file version, Option “B” is used to order the DVD set for delivery inside the U.S., Option “C” for international orders.
For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.
[It is recommended that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]
2. BY READING these books in this exact order:
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS
[Provides the final preparation for the seeker to be directed along the “path”]
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
[Directs the seeker along the “path”]
CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute)
[Allows the seeker to understand the functioning of the totality, the manifestation, and what is involved with the un-manifestation]
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
SAVE IF YOU BUY ALL ELEVEN AT ONCE:
(You may order the books one at a time or you may use the following link to acquire the entire 11-e-Book set on sale for $99 if ordered at one time with the “Buy Now” button below. For this option, there will be no download links provided; once the near-instant notice of payment is received from PayPal, your e-Books will be sent to you as e-mail attachments. All are printable for your convenience.)
** SITE CO-HOST LOUISE STERLING WILL BE POSTING FROM NOVEMBER 17-20. FOR THOSE WHO HAVE WRITTEN TO PRAISE THE RELEVANCE OF WHAT THAT SPECK OF CONSCIOUSNESS SHARES AND TO ASK WHEN SHE’LL POST NEXT, THOSE ARE THE DATES.
** THE ULTIMATE REALIZATION THAT CAN FREE YOU TO LIVE IN THE NISARGA WAY WITHOUT FLUCTUATION
SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:
1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond
Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.
To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
Option “A” is for the downloadable file version, Option “B” is used to order the DVD set for delivery inside the U.S., Option “C” for international orders.
For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.
[It is recommended that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]
2. BY READING these books in this exact order:
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS
[Provides the final preparation for the seeker to be directed along the “path”]
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
[Directs the seeker along the “path”]
CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute)
[Allows the seeker to understand the functioning of the totality, the manifestation, and what is involved with the un-manifestation]
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
SAVE IF YOU BUY ALL ELEVEN AT ONCE:
(You may order the books one at a time or you may use the following link to acquire the entire 11-e-Book set on sale for $99 if ordered at one time with the “Buy Now” button below. For this option, there will be no download links provided; once the near-instant notice of payment is received from PayPal, your e-Books will be sent to you as e-mail attachments. All are printable for your convenience.)
You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.
3. BY ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes
For information, visit Information on the Advaita Classes on the Internet
To enroll visit Enroll in the Advaita Internet Course
4. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat for satsang with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.
5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session
6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.
3. BY ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes
For information, visit Information on the Advaita Classes on the Internet
To enroll visit Enroll in the Advaita Internet Course
4. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat for satsang with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.
5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session
6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.
