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.
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.
FROM A SITE VISITOR: A friend mentioned that in a talk on personality you talked about where certain types live but he couldn’t remember it all. He said I’m a Type Three and have a huge ego and that on your list I’m the one who lives in the mirror. Do you have a copy of that I could read? Thanx, Jim
F.: The piece is used to help persons understand the hidden motivators that are the primary drivers of their thoughts and words and deeds as they live under the influence of one or more of the nine basic personality types. The list has taken various forms over the years, but usually includes something along these lines:
**Ones live in courtrooms (so they can judge others who are not perfect)
**Twos live in charity wards (so they can help others in an effort to be loved)
**Threes live in the mirror
**Fours live in castles in the air (or in touch with Reality since they are the most likely to seek the Authentic Self)
**Fives live in libraries (always seeking knowledge to share in order to impress others)
**Sixes live in bunkers (as a result of their constant fear and anxiety)
**Sevens live in amusement parks (always seeking adventure and escape)
**Eights live in baseball bat factories (so they can have easy access to the tool they use most often in their relationships)
**Nines live on couches or in beds (being the lazy types that avoid work at all costs)
The talk your friend heard likely focused on the third pointer: that persons (all of the non-Realized) actually live as Threes do to the extent that they live in the mirror. Recently, the following pointers from Maharaj were shared:
“Memory creates the illusion of continuity” and “In the great mirror of consciousness, images arise and disappear and only memory gives them continuity.”
He said, “Anything that implies a continuity, a sequence, a passing from stage to stage cannot be the real” and “The false self wants to continue – pleasantly; therefore, it is always engaged in ensuring one's continuity.”
To put the topic in perspective, humans existed for millions of years without seeing their own image except when reflected in a still body of water. (In those early cases, humans considered the event to be something magical.) The first manufactured mirrors were probably polished stone or metal before glass would later be used in combination with certain metals to create mirrors.
Archaeologists have found mirrors in Roman excavations, have uncovered mirrors of polished copper dating from 4000 B.C. at certain Mesopotamian sites, in Egypt dating back to 3000 B.C., and in excavations in China that date back to around 2000 B.C. Metal-coated glass mirrors have been traced back to Lebanon in the first century.
What are the implications of the invention of mirrors, and now the widespread usage of mirrors, for the student of the Advaitin teachings? Consider the influence that mirrors have played in (1) reinforcing the lie that images are real and in (2) providing a foundation for belief in duality:
“I am real, what can be seen is what I am, and because I can see the image, then the image is real or is at least a reflection of what is real.”
The French psychologist Lacan spoke of “the mirror stage”—when persons first see their image in a mirror—as being highly influential in leading to belief in what Advaitins refer to as “the false I” and in reinforcing in persons a propensity to attach to subjectivity and to be robbed of an ability to be objective.
The result of such attachment to an image, to the false, and to the subjective results in the sickness that calls for a dose of the Advaitin’s Ultimate Medicine. Why? It is subjectivity that leads to persons’ warped perspectives, baseless opinions, emotional intoxication, untruthful beliefs, unfounded fears, and overwhelming “personal” desires.
As a result of the false perceptions that now begin early on as a result of the mirror stage—misperceptions that are planted even prior to the use of language—there now exists among persons (among the non-Realized) what Lacan called “an imaginary order.”
The Realized Advaitin knows exactly how pervasive the imaginary order is among the masses scattered around the globe who take that which is imagined to be that which is real.
That which is imaginary becomes a trap in which persons become caught and which ensnares them as captives in the mental prison that their minds become. Eventually, every belief believed, every concept accepted as fact without questioning, and every idea dreamed up by ignorant persons will each become one of the bars that form the subjective prison of “the mind.”
Removed from being in touch with reality, most persons will never be able to see the truth and will pass an entire relative existence by living in the mirror. Tomorrow, the discussion will show the effect that the mirror stage plays in driving the masses to accept the lies of duality as truth.
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
F.: The piece is used to help persons understand the hidden motivators that are the primary drivers of their thoughts and words and deeds as they live under the influence of one or more of the nine basic personality types. The list has taken various forms over the years, but usually includes something along these lines:
**Ones live in courtrooms (so they can judge others who are not perfect)
**Twos live in charity wards (so they can help others in an effort to be loved)
**Threes live in the mirror
**Fours live in castles in the air (or in touch with Reality since they are the most likely to seek the Authentic Self)
**Fives live in libraries (always seeking knowledge to share in order to impress others)
**Sixes live in bunkers (as a result of their constant fear and anxiety)
**Sevens live in amusement parks (always seeking adventure and escape)
**Eights live in baseball bat factories (so they can have easy access to the tool they use most often in their relationships)
**Nines live on couches or in beds (being the lazy types that avoid work at all costs)
The talk your friend heard likely focused on the third pointer: that persons (all of the non-Realized) actually live as Threes do to the extent that they live in the mirror. Recently, the following pointers from Maharaj were shared:
“Memory creates the illusion of continuity” and “In the great mirror of consciousness, images arise and disappear and only memory gives them continuity.”
He said, “Anything that implies a continuity, a sequence, a passing from stage to stage cannot be the real” and “The false self wants to continue – pleasantly; therefore, it is always engaged in ensuring one's continuity.”
To put the topic in perspective, humans existed for millions of years without seeing their own image except when reflected in a still body of water. (In those early cases, humans considered the event to be something magical.) The first manufactured mirrors were probably polished stone or metal before glass would later be used in combination with certain metals to create mirrors.
Archaeologists have found mirrors in Roman excavations, have uncovered mirrors of polished copper dating from 4000 B.C. at certain Mesopotamian sites, in Egypt dating back to 3000 B.C., and in excavations in China that date back to around 2000 B.C. Metal-coated glass mirrors have been traced back to Lebanon in the first century.
What are the implications of the invention of mirrors, and now the widespread usage of mirrors, for the student of the Advaitin teachings? Consider the influence that mirrors have played in (1) reinforcing the lie that images are real and in (2) providing a foundation for belief in duality:
“I am real, what can be seen is what I am, and because I can see the image, then the image is real or is at least a reflection of what is real.”
The French psychologist Lacan spoke of “the mirror stage”—when persons first see their image in a mirror—as being highly influential in leading to belief in what Advaitins refer to as “the false I” and in reinforcing in persons a propensity to attach to subjectivity and to be robbed of an ability to be objective.
The result of such attachment to an image, to the false, and to the subjective results in the sickness that calls for a dose of the Advaitin’s Ultimate Medicine. Why? It is subjectivity that leads to persons’ warped perspectives, baseless opinions, emotional intoxication, untruthful beliefs, unfounded fears, and overwhelming “personal” desires.
As a result of the false perceptions that now begin early on as a result of the mirror stage—misperceptions that are planted even prior to the use of language—there now exists among persons (among the non-Realized) what Lacan called “an imaginary order.”
The Realized Advaitin knows exactly how pervasive the imaginary order is among the masses scattered around the globe who take that which is imagined to be that which is real.
That which is imaginary becomes a trap in which persons become caught and which ensnares them as captives in the mental prison that their minds become. Eventually, every belief believed, every concept accepted as fact without questioning, and every idea dreamed up by ignorant persons will each become one of the bars that form the subjective prison of “the mind.”
Removed from being in touch with reality, most persons will never be able to see the truth and will pass an entire relative existence by living in the mirror. Tomorrow, the discussion will show the effect that the mirror stage plays in driving the masses to accept the lies of duality as truth.
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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
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.)
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
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.
