An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, 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: f, As If living is the norm now, but occasionally something will be seen that will bring about feelings of outrage. Must be the last stubborn "justice" or "fairness" persona? Mind still exists?
F.: [A continuation of prior postings] So, the multiple aspects of the dilemma described in the e-mail above should be seen: first, there are no “feelings of outrage.” Feelings are limited to the Realized only, and they are witnessed as they rise and fall.
There is the “emotion of outrage,” revealing the presence of emotional intoxication, and emotional intoxication does not happen to the Realized but is triggered by the assumption of one or more ego-states.
Ego-states always have an agenda and always upgraded themselves. When an ego-state with an agenda upgrades itself, then it will enter into a delusional version of “personal” witnessing and a distorted version of Subject-Object witnessing; will see “others” as not accepting the agenda of the assumed ego-state(s);
will make a judgment and draw a conclusion (“I see that you are ignorant and I am not, so you should listen to me, but you are not listening"; or “I can see what is logical and reasonable, and I can see that someone is not being logical and reasonable, so I will do something that is also illogical and unreasonable and will become emotionally-intoxicated, thus seemingly allowing someone or something in a “world” that is not even real to rob me of peace.
"I will seem to empower them to outrage me, to have the power to control how I think and emote and talk and behave, all the while missing the fact that my anger is rooted in something that is internal—that is 'mind stuff'—while illogically thinking that the way I ‘feel’ is a result of something external”;
"I will thereafter experience a sense of being hurt or interfered with when my personal agenda is not accepted and followed by “others”; and, ironically, I will continue to believe that I have peace and wisdom and that I am realized and that they should be, too.")
All of that, as the e-mailer concluded, is evidence that “mind still exists,” but certainly there is more involved than that alone. Personas are involved; impure witnessing is involved; knowledge—rather than wisdom—is involved;
fixation at, or regression to, the third level on the “path” is involved. Yet that which is not involved is a contributing factor as well: what has not happened is having fixated in a state of comfort that comes with being at peace if alone, if not interacting, if not trying to educate, if not trying to inform, if not trying to save or rescue, if not trying to change “others.”
What has not happened is an acceptance of the fact that “others” cannot be helped; that the masses will behave illogically and unreasonably. So wherefore any outrage when illogical and unreasonable persons behave illogically and unreasonably? When that is seen via non-attached witnessing, then it is seen and that is the end of that.
It is understood that the masses are illogical and unreasonable and they will behave illogically and unreasonably. While leading a memorial service for a man who recently took mahasamadhi at the age of 63, an event that was hastened as a result of smoking a product that severely damaged the arteries in that body, scores of the 2500 who attended to pay honor to their "hero" could not sit for the entire, hour-long proceedings.
They had to walk outside and smoke the product that hastened the "death" of the one whose "loss" they were mourning. Their illogical and unreasonable behavior was witnessed. There was no desire to shout, "Which part of this are you missing!? I am outraged by your insane behavior!" Insanity was witnessed without reaction or response. See how that can happen?
Yesterday, while riding the bicycle past a copse of trees, a deer was seen as it stood in the shade. The deer watched as the bike and rider approached, passed, and disappeared around a corner. It witnessed without attachment. It drew no conclusions. It merely witnessed. Some might think it ignorant for a grown man to ride a bike. Some might think it wise. The Realize observe it and, as with the deer, react not at all.
If a rider were to dismount and charge the deer, the manifested consciousness would trigger a response and the deer would run to safety. Then, it would return to impartial witnessing. If a natural response is not triggered, the deer does not run. How unnatural it is among persons to respond when no response is called for!
The one that understands that the sky is not actually blue but merely appears to be blue cannot possibly respond or react to that appearance of blueness. The one that understands would not shout toward the sky, “Dammit! Stop looking blue! And while you’re at it, stop looking gray some days and stop disappearing completely some other days!”
And there would be no truth that the sky could care less about what you think or say. The sky cannot care at all. To use the words of Maharaj to understand such responding and reacting when there is no logical reason to react or respond: “This is our stupidity, verging on insanity.”
For any who are angry, outraged, or discontented, find what it is that you think caused the outrage, look at Maharaj’s words again, and then ask, “To be outraged by that would likely cause Maharaj to tell me that I am behaving…how?” As a speck of consciousness that is totally unblocked, fully capable of witnessing whatever is from a position of neutrality? Or as what kind of person, being what, verging on what?
Consider a relative example that several people have claimed appalled them recently when a handful of ideological Republicans with a conservative, right-wing agenda in the state of Texas changed the content of the textbooks in their state in order, as one reporter explained,
to put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government, and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.
The changes discredit the science of evolution, advance the false notion that the founders of “the U.S.A.” were Christians who favored a union of church and state, and diminish the accomplishments of Hispanic and African-American minorities.
Is that nonsense? Relatively speaking, most definitely. Has that alone caused outrage among some persons? Yes. But what many claim to be the most outrageous part is the fact that, since Texas is one of the largest purchasers of textbooks in the U.S., the publishers provide books that meet the Texas standards and then those are the books that must be purchased by the educational systems in the other 49 states.
Or must they? Is the greatest nonsense that Texans are going the ignorant route that Texans often go, or does the greater nonsense involve the fact that education boards in the other 49 states complain about “Texans' influence of distortion” while taking no action to seek other materials for instruction?
And what of the poorest states that do not buy new textbooks but buy used books from other states when they finally replace their dated materials? One teacher in Louisiana was using a textbook that reports, “Indeed, someday, a man may walk on the moon.”
Could all of those influences and inadequacies not be eliminated as technological advances have made it possible for publishers to tailor books to individual states? Could the power of publishers that are making trillions of dollars each decade not be eliminated by shifting to the use of electronic readers that could download the most current information while saving billions and trillions of dollars spent on books that are inaccurate or even outdated at the moment of delivery?
See, outrage can only happen when a person thinks he / she knows the cause of something when the cause of all is actually all. The cause, when boards of education in Michigan or New Jersey or North Dakota buy textbooks with lies inserted by Texans, is not external to Michigan or New Jersey or North Dakota. The cause is internal.
The same applies to the persons who think that people and places and things that are external can be the source of a sense of internal discontentment or disharmony. Further, there is a chain of causes for all, so when persons think they know the cause of something, then they will become outraged because they have no understanding of the real causes at all.
Why is the crime rate so high in any given area? Is it the cause of the members of one race, or the cause of a chain of events which have resulted in a society that does not address the requirements of all of its members?
If outrage manifests, it never manifests because someone has the understanding that others do not, though that is often the belief. No, outrage happens because the understanding has not happened fully.
Outrage and disharmony and discontentment happen because Reality has not been overlaid on the relative; they happen among those who think they have reached some level that others should reach but have not;
they happen because persons cannot leave others alone but are driven by personas and beliefs to try to force the rescuing and saving and improving of "others"; they happen because one cannot tolerate being alone in the peace and quiet and because one has not found the peace of solitude;
they happen because one thinks there is a need to be able to share, to help, and to guide (a.k.a., control); they happen because one is sure that he / she can spot the illogical and unreasonable but no longer exhibits either;
they happen because of “personal” witnessing; they happen because Pure Witnessing has not yet happened; they happen because Subject-Object witnessing is continuing—which would not be a problem except that it is not happening without attachment;
they happen because the “mind” remains; they happen because personas remain; they happen because ideas and concepts and emotions yet remain. Peace happens only via the no-concept, non-dual, no-identity Reality.
The world is too much with you and with any who are experiencing anger or discontentment or outrage. Realize, and be done with it all. Stop jousting with windmills; stop confronting mirages; stop trying to save that which cannot be saved. Abandon the endless, assumed "need" or desire for engagement. Overcome the fear of resting in the solitude, alone.
Be done with it all...with illusory windmills...with seemingly real mirages...with "your mind" (which is really just "their mind")...with your personas...with your agenda. Just be.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
There is the “emotion of outrage,” revealing the presence of emotional intoxication, and emotional intoxication does not happen to the Realized but is triggered by the assumption of one or more ego-states.
Ego-states always have an agenda and always upgraded themselves. When an ego-state with an agenda upgrades itself, then it will enter into a delusional version of “personal” witnessing and a distorted version of Subject-Object witnessing; will see “others” as not accepting the agenda of the assumed ego-state(s);
will make a judgment and draw a conclusion (“I see that you are ignorant and I am not, so you should listen to me, but you are not listening"; or “I can see what is logical and reasonable, and I can see that someone is not being logical and reasonable, so I will do something that is also illogical and unreasonable and will become emotionally-intoxicated, thus seemingly allowing someone or something in a “world” that is not even real to rob me of peace.
"I will seem to empower them to outrage me, to have the power to control how I think and emote and talk and behave, all the while missing the fact that my anger is rooted in something that is internal—that is 'mind stuff'—while illogically thinking that the way I ‘feel’ is a result of something external”;
"I will thereafter experience a sense of being hurt or interfered with when my personal agenda is not accepted and followed by “others”; and, ironically, I will continue to believe that I have peace and wisdom and that I am realized and that they should be, too.")
All of that, as the e-mailer concluded, is evidence that “mind still exists,” but certainly there is more involved than that alone. Personas are involved; impure witnessing is involved; knowledge—rather than wisdom—is involved;
fixation at, or regression to, the third level on the “path” is involved. Yet that which is not involved is a contributing factor as well: what has not happened is having fixated in a state of comfort that comes with being at peace if alone, if not interacting, if not trying to educate, if not trying to inform, if not trying to save or rescue, if not trying to change “others.”
What has not happened is an acceptance of the fact that “others” cannot be helped; that the masses will behave illogically and unreasonably. So wherefore any outrage when illogical and unreasonable persons behave illogically and unreasonably? When that is seen via non-attached witnessing, then it is seen and that is the end of that.
It is understood that the masses are illogical and unreasonable and they will behave illogically and unreasonably. While leading a memorial service for a man who recently took mahasamadhi at the age of 63, an event that was hastened as a result of smoking a product that severely damaged the arteries in that body, scores of the 2500 who attended to pay honor to their "hero" could not sit for the entire, hour-long proceedings.
They had to walk outside and smoke the product that hastened the "death" of the one whose "loss" they were mourning. Their illogical and unreasonable behavior was witnessed. There was no desire to shout, "Which part of this are you missing!? I am outraged by your insane behavior!" Insanity was witnessed without reaction or response. See how that can happen?
Yesterday, while riding the bicycle past a copse of trees, a deer was seen as it stood in the shade. The deer watched as the bike and rider approached, passed, and disappeared around a corner. It witnessed without attachment. It drew no conclusions. It merely witnessed. Some might think it ignorant for a grown man to ride a bike. Some might think it wise. The Realize observe it and, as with the deer, react not at all.
If a rider were to dismount and charge the deer, the manifested consciousness would trigger a response and the deer would run to safety. Then, it would return to impartial witnessing. If a natural response is not triggered, the deer does not run. How unnatural it is among persons to respond when no response is called for!
The one that understands that the sky is not actually blue but merely appears to be blue cannot possibly respond or react to that appearance of blueness. The one that understands would not shout toward the sky, “Dammit! Stop looking blue! And while you’re at it, stop looking gray some days and stop disappearing completely some other days!”
And there would be no truth that the sky could care less about what you think or say. The sky cannot care at all. To use the words of Maharaj to understand such responding and reacting when there is no logical reason to react or respond: “This is our stupidity, verging on insanity.”
For any who are angry, outraged, or discontented, find what it is that you think caused the outrage, look at Maharaj’s words again, and then ask, “To be outraged by that would likely cause Maharaj to tell me that I am behaving…how?” As a speck of consciousness that is totally unblocked, fully capable of witnessing whatever is from a position of neutrality? Or as what kind of person, being what, verging on what?
Consider a relative example that several people have claimed appalled them recently when a handful of ideological Republicans with a conservative, right-wing agenda in the state of Texas changed the content of the textbooks in their state in order, as one reporter explained,
to put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government, and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.
The changes discredit the science of evolution, advance the false notion that the founders of “the U.S.A.” were Christians who favored a union of church and state, and diminish the accomplishments of Hispanic and African-American minorities.
Is that nonsense? Relatively speaking, most definitely. Has that alone caused outrage among some persons? Yes. But what many claim to be the most outrageous part is the fact that, since Texas is one of the largest purchasers of textbooks in the U.S., the publishers provide books that meet the Texas standards and then those are the books that must be purchased by the educational systems in the other 49 states.
Or must they? Is the greatest nonsense that Texans are going the ignorant route that Texans often go, or does the greater nonsense involve the fact that education boards in the other 49 states complain about “Texans' influence of distortion” while taking no action to seek other materials for instruction?
And what of the poorest states that do not buy new textbooks but buy used books from other states when they finally replace their dated materials? One teacher in Louisiana was using a textbook that reports, “Indeed, someday, a man may walk on the moon.”
Could all of those influences and inadequacies not be eliminated as technological advances have made it possible for publishers to tailor books to individual states? Could the power of publishers that are making trillions of dollars each decade not be eliminated by shifting to the use of electronic readers that could download the most current information while saving billions and trillions of dollars spent on books that are inaccurate or even outdated at the moment of delivery?
See, outrage can only happen when a person thinks he / she knows the cause of something when the cause of all is actually all. The cause, when boards of education in Michigan or New Jersey or North Dakota buy textbooks with lies inserted by Texans, is not external to Michigan or New Jersey or North Dakota. The cause is internal.
The same applies to the persons who think that people and places and things that are external can be the source of a sense of internal discontentment or disharmony. Further, there is a chain of causes for all, so when persons think they know the cause of something, then they will become outraged because they have no understanding of the real causes at all.
Why is the crime rate so high in any given area? Is it the cause of the members of one race, or the cause of a chain of events which have resulted in a society that does not address the requirements of all of its members?
If outrage manifests, it never manifests because someone has the understanding that others do not, though that is often the belief. No, outrage happens because the understanding has not happened fully.
Outrage and disharmony and discontentment happen because Reality has not been overlaid on the relative; they happen among those who think they have reached some level that others should reach but have not;
they happen because persons cannot leave others alone but are driven by personas and beliefs to try to force the rescuing and saving and improving of "others"; they happen because one cannot tolerate being alone in the peace and quiet and because one has not found the peace of solitude;
they happen because one thinks there is a need to be able to share, to help, and to guide (a.k.a., control); they happen because one is sure that he / she can spot the illogical and unreasonable but no longer exhibits either;
they happen because of “personal” witnessing; they happen because Pure Witnessing has not yet happened; they happen because Subject-Object witnessing is continuing—which would not be a problem except that it is not happening without attachment;
they happen because the “mind” remains; they happen because personas remain; they happen because ideas and concepts and emotions yet remain. Peace happens only via the no-concept, non-dual, no-identity Reality.
The world is too much with you and with any who are experiencing anger or discontentment or outrage. Realize, and be done with it all. Stop jousting with windmills; stop confronting mirages; stop trying to save that which cannot be saved. Abandon the endless, assumed "need" or desire for engagement. Overcome the fear of resting in the solitude, alone.
Be done with it all...with illusory windmills...with seemingly real mirages...with "your mind" (which is really just "their mind")...with your personas...with your agenda. Just be.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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.