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.: TO REVIEW:
** “Positive vs. negative” in regards to anything is dualistic and therefore cannot have anything to do with Truth.
** To try to “train the mind”—which is itself the very seat of duality—is an exercise in futility, no matter what you are trying to train it to do. You might as well believe that you can herd cats.
** There is no such thing as “peace of mind”—there is only peace if you are out of your mind .
** Even positive thoughts will keep the “mind” churning. Everything in the phenomenal realm involves polarities, and the belief that you can fixate at one extreme or the other of any dualistic construct is totally false: what you believe you “love,” you will eventually believe you hate; what gives pleasure will give misery; what is thought to be “good” will be thought to be “bad.”
** That which persons label as “positive thoughts” is about nothing positive at all. Such thoughts are about selfishness and self-centeredness. What is deemed “positive” is really that which aligns with “the desire agenda” of a personality…of an ego-state.
** To see something as positive is to set the stage for that to be seen as negative. There is no stability in the relative existence except when abidance happens as the original state.
** To believe, guaranteed, that something is “positive” is to guarantee that the stage will be set for that same thing to be considered negative at some later point. [See pleasure vs. suffering above] Of the 50%-60% of the persons who will go through what they see as “the negatives of divorce,” how many at some earlier point were convinced that the marriage was “one of the most positive events of a lifetime”?
** To see that your culture’s talk of “always being positive” (which is just a part of the culture's entire body of nonsensical, dualistic concepts that it has dreamed up and that it is promoting) is not to say that persons must “go negative” either.
** Author Barbara Ehrenreich explains that her “knockdown of America’s love affair with positive thinking” is not a call to become “negative” but is “…a call for a new commitment to realism.” Quite in line with the Nisargan / Advaitin teachings, yes?
Why will so few even consider that they can be free of the effects of that abusive mate called “thoughts” that was discussed yesterday? Because, as noted, they believe they must think and they believe that it is impossible not to think (another examples of persons forming what they take to be expert opinions about experiences that they have never had).
Another reason that persons will not consider becoming free of all thought (that is, being free from "an opinion or personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty but is often considered by the person to be a certainty") is that they believe that with enough work and effort, they can reach a point where their thoughts are all positive ones rather than negative ones.
Take the conditioning that suggests you should be positive, that your thoughts should be positive, and that you can only reach your goals if you are positive. Add to that the culture’s notion that you must be positive if you want to succeed in the corporate world. The result will be a culture-wide aversion to anything not considered “positive.”
Again, what person miss is the understanding that to be free of the frustration of entering into "the impossible quest for the positive only" does not mean that you have to settle for the negative. There is a position of neutrality.
Another reason that persons are opposed to questioning their attachment to all things “positive” is because they mistakenly believe that they really can transform something relative and dualistic into something that is absolute and non-dualistic. They have also bought into the propaganda of those selling dualistic concepts who have touted the “positive” effects of “positive” thinking.
They have heard or read the results of studies conducted by groups with agendas which report that “positive thinking” and “positive prayers” work. Explain, please, how such research can even begin to be taken seriously?
A doctor told the minister for whom I was named, Floyd Harris, that he had “only six months to live.” “Prayer chains” were organized. Thousands “sent” positive thoughts his way. He lived nine more years, and it was labeled “a miracle” that the manifestation continued for eight and a half years more than was predicted by a doctor.
Those trapped in their nonsensical beliefs and who want to believe that they have “the power to heal”—that they have the ability to influence someone else’s body to do certain things as a result of their “power” and influence—will never give up that notion of personal power and personal influence, especially when combining their efforts with what they take to be the power of a personal god or gods.
Thus, it will never be considered by them that the doctor was simply...wrong! His diagnosis and conclusions and predictions were totally erroneous! Their programming to treat physicians in this culture as if they are gods, and to question no authority figure at all, will not allow them to say, “Maybe the doctor was simply wrong.” Furthermore, their egotism will inspire them to claim, “I helped save a life. I was able to help delay the terminal effects of a fatal medical condition. I was a part of bringing about a miracle!”
The only miracle involved—a miracle being a phenomenal wonder—is that so many in this day and age can be so totally devoid of all logic and reason. The only "wonder" that should be involved is to wonder how it is that persons can be so ignorant…so trapped in their taught and learned ignorance…so mentally bound up in their kindergarten-level spirituality that they have bought into such nonsense that is generated when programming and conditioning only allow persons to consider the one single possibility that aligns with their already-established belief systems.
The wonder is that humanity has advanced no farther in terms of enlightenment than persons living five thousand years ago who also believed in miracles—who believed that a priest could copulate with a virgin, cut out her beating heart, drink blood and eat body, and pass the heart among the gathered community so they could enter into the same act of holy vampirism and holy cannibalism and commune with the rain god and please him thusly so that their crops would grow.
The wonder is that people will believe a report released by a pro-religious group that says they have proof that positive thinking and positive praying can change the course of a disease in a particular body.
How could anyone believe that such could possibly be measured? Who would believe for a moment that there is proof that person “A” was going to be sick for a month but got well in three weeks because of something as nebulous as positive thoughts?
WHO thinks he/she could possibly know how long it is going to take any given illness to run its course in any given body? Only those trapped in learned ignorance that results from programming, conditioning, domestication, and acculturation?
The details of the following event were recounted in a March posting this year but are relevant here as well:
“…It has been seen that—in order to give their tales even more credibility—it is the goal of the magician-minister-priest-imam-rabbi to try to make persons believe that they have indeed “seen” something magical or spiritual or supernatural.
When two women in a Texas church both had strokes in the same week, the “prayer chain” was activated. That means one member would call ten and say, “Mrs. X just had a stroke. Pray for her. Pass it on.” Then, those ten would call ten and within an hour, hundreds would be praying for Mrs. X” or, as in this case, “the Mesdames X’s.”
The following Sunday, the minister stood before the congregation and tried to convince the members that they had indeed seen a miracle that week—had seen magic performed right there in the church.
“As a result of the prayer chain that I established when I first came here,” he bragged, “Mrs. X”(#1) is on her way to a full recovery. You have seen the power of prayer.” He did not mention that “Mrs. X”(#2) had died on Tuesday and that he had officiated at her funeral on Friday, the benefits of his prayer chain having manifested only at a rate of 50%.
Like the people who heard those words and nodded their heads in agreement with nonsense, most persons worldwide show up regularly at what they take to be “special services” or “special meetings” in order to have their conditioning and programming reinforced.
To my right sat the daughter of the woman who survived her stroke. To her right sat the daughter of the woman who buried her mother’s body two days earlier. “Wonder” which one of those two believed in “the miracle-producing power of being positive” that Sunday?
The results of a coin toss might as well be considered a miracle: “I wanted heads and it came up heads! I bless my God from whom all blessings flow! I am blessed! It is, indeed, a miracle! What are the odds!?!”
Uh…50-50? If you are ill, think positive thoughts, then guess what the odds are that your condition will improve as a result. 50-50? Less if you’re really ill? More if you’re not as ill as you, or others, are guessing?
Ehrenreich, mentioned earlier, was diagnosed with breast cancer and recounts that everyone told her over and over that she “had to stay positive.” She also explains that she found their advice offensive and unhelpful.
“Surely,” some would declare, “she could not possibly set forth any logical and sane and sound arguments that could counter the improvable claims made by those selling books and lectures and seminars on “the power to be gained via positive thinking” and on “how you can gain power and how you can develop the ability to control events in this phenomenal realm via positive thinking.”
Or could she? Any “urgent call for a new commitment to realism,” as she makes and as Realized Advaitins make, would have to question the validity of any dualistic conceptualizations or teachings or preachings that involve “positive” vs. “negative.” Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
** “Positive vs. negative” in regards to anything is dualistic and therefore cannot have anything to do with Truth.
** To try to “train the mind”—which is itself the very seat of duality—is an exercise in futility, no matter what you are trying to train it to do. You might as well believe that you can herd cats.
** There is no such thing as “peace of mind”—there is only peace if you are out of your mind .
** Even positive thoughts will keep the “mind” churning. Everything in the phenomenal realm involves polarities, and the belief that you can fixate at one extreme or the other of any dualistic construct is totally false: what you believe you “love,” you will eventually believe you hate; what gives pleasure will give misery; what is thought to be “good” will be thought to be “bad.”
** That which persons label as “positive thoughts” is about nothing positive at all. Such thoughts are about selfishness and self-centeredness. What is deemed “positive” is really that which aligns with “the desire agenda” of a personality…of an ego-state.
** To see something as positive is to set the stage for that to be seen as negative. There is no stability in the relative existence except when abidance happens as the original state.
** To believe, guaranteed, that something is “positive” is to guarantee that the stage will be set for that same thing to be considered negative at some later point. [See pleasure vs. suffering above] Of the 50%-60% of the persons who will go through what they see as “the negatives of divorce,” how many at some earlier point were convinced that the marriage was “one of the most positive events of a lifetime”?
** To see that your culture’s talk of “always being positive” (which is just a part of the culture's entire body of nonsensical, dualistic concepts that it has dreamed up and that it is promoting) is not to say that persons must “go negative” either.
** Author Barbara Ehrenreich explains that her “knockdown of America’s love affair with positive thinking” is not a call to become “negative” but is “…a call for a new commitment to realism.” Quite in line with the Nisargan / Advaitin teachings, yes?
Why will so few even consider that they can be free of the effects of that abusive mate called “thoughts” that was discussed yesterday? Because, as noted, they believe they must think and they believe that it is impossible not to think (another examples of persons forming what they take to be expert opinions about experiences that they have never had).
Another reason that persons will not consider becoming free of all thought (that is, being free from "an opinion or personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty but is often considered by the person to be a certainty") is that they believe that with enough work and effort, they can reach a point where their thoughts are all positive ones rather than negative ones.
Take the conditioning that suggests you should be positive, that your thoughts should be positive, and that you can only reach your goals if you are positive. Add to that the culture’s notion that you must be positive if you want to succeed in the corporate world. The result will be a culture-wide aversion to anything not considered “positive.”
Again, what person miss is the understanding that to be free of the frustration of entering into "the impossible quest for the positive only" does not mean that you have to settle for the negative. There is a position of neutrality.
Another reason that persons are opposed to questioning their attachment to all things “positive” is because they mistakenly believe that they really can transform something relative and dualistic into something that is absolute and non-dualistic. They have also bought into the propaganda of those selling dualistic concepts who have touted the “positive” effects of “positive” thinking.
They have heard or read the results of studies conducted by groups with agendas which report that “positive thinking” and “positive prayers” work. Explain, please, how such research can even begin to be taken seriously?
A doctor told the minister for whom I was named, Floyd Harris, that he had “only six months to live.” “Prayer chains” were organized. Thousands “sent” positive thoughts his way. He lived nine more years, and it was labeled “a miracle” that the manifestation continued for eight and a half years more than was predicted by a doctor.
Those trapped in their nonsensical beliefs and who want to believe that they have “the power to heal”—that they have the ability to influence someone else’s body to do certain things as a result of their “power” and influence—will never give up that notion of personal power and personal influence, especially when combining their efforts with what they take to be the power of a personal god or gods.
Thus, it will never be considered by them that the doctor was simply...wrong! His diagnosis and conclusions and predictions were totally erroneous! Their programming to treat physicians in this culture as if they are gods, and to question no authority figure at all, will not allow them to say, “Maybe the doctor was simply wrong.” Furthermore, their egotism will inspire them to claim, “I helped save a life. I was able to help delay the terminal effects of a fatal medical condition. I was a part of bringing about a miracle!”
The only miracle involved—a miracle being a phenomenal wonder—is that so many in this day and age can be so totally devoid of all logic and reason. The only "wonder" that should be involved is to wonder how it is that persons can be so ignorant…so trapped in their taught and learned ignorance…so mentally bound up in their kindergarten-level spirituality that they have bought into such nonsense that is generated when programming and conditioning only allow persons to consider the one single possibility that aligns with their already-established belief systems.
The wonder is that humanity has advanced no farther in terms of enlightenment than persons living five thousand years ago who also believed in miracles—who believed that a priest could copulate with a virgin, cut out her beating heart, drink blood and eat body, and pass the heart among the gathered community so they could enter into the same act of holy vampirism and holy cannibalism and commune with the rain god and please him thusly so that their crops would grow.
The wonder is that people will believe a report released by a pro-religious group that says they have proof that positive thinking and positive praying can change the course of a disease in a particular body.
How could anyone believe that such could possibly be measured? Who would believe for a moment that there is proof that person “A” was going to be sick for a month but got well in three weeks because of something as nebulous as positive thoughts?
WHO thinks he/she could possibly know how long it is going to take any given illness to run its course in any given body? Only those trapped in learned ignorance that results from programming, conditioning, domestication, and acculturation?
The details of the following event were recounted in a March posting this year but are relevant here as well:
“…It has been seen that—in order to give their tales even more credibility—it is the goal of the magician-minister-priest-imam-rabbi to try to make persons believe that they have indeed “seen” something magical or spiritual or supernatural.
When two women in a Texas church both had strokes in the same week, the “prayer chain” was activated. That means one member would call ten and say, “Mrs. X just had a stroke. Pray for her. Pass it on.” Then, those ten would call ten and within an hour, hundreds would be praying for Mrs. X” or, as in this case, “the Mesdames X’s.”
The following Sunday, the minister stood before the congregation and tried to convince the members that they had indeed seen a miracle that week—had seen magic performed right there in the church.
“As a result of the prayer chain that I established when I first came here,” he bragged, “Mrs. X”(#1) is on her way to a full recovery. You have seen the power of prayer.” He did not mention that “Mrs. X”(#2) had died on Tuesday and that he had officiated at her funeral on Friday, the benefits of his prayer chain having manifested only at a rate of 50%.
Like the people who heard those words and nodded their heads in agreement with nonsense, most persons worldwide show up regularly at what they take to be “special services” or “special meetings” in order to have their conditioning and programming reinforced.
To my right sat the daughter of the woman who survived her stroke. To her right sat the daughter of the woman who buried her mother’s body two days earlier. “Wonder” which one of those two believed in “the miracle-producing power of being positive” that Sunday?
The results of a coin toss might as well be considered a miracle: “I wanted heads and it came up heads! I bless my God from whom all blessings flow! I am blessed! It is, indeed, a miracle! What are the odds!?!”
Uh…50-50? If you are ill, think positive thoughts, then guess what the odds are that your condition will improve as a result. 50-50? Less if you’re really ill? More if you’re not as ill as you, or others, are guessing?
Ehrenreich, mentioned earlier, was diagnosed with breast cancer and recounts that everyone told her over and over that she “had to stay positive.” She also explains that she found their advice offensive and unhelpful.
“Surely,” some would declare, “she could not possibly set forth any logical and sane and sound arguments that could counter the improvable claims made by those selling books and lectures and seminars on “the power to be gained via positive thinking” and on “how you can gain power and how you can develop the ability to control events in this phenomenal realm via positive thinking.”
Or could she? Any “urgent call for a new commitment to realism,” as she makes and as Realized Advaitins make, would have to question the validity of any dualistic conceptualizations or teachings or preachings that involve “positive” vs. “negative.” 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.
