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.
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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: G,day Floyd: I have been considering writings about hope including Victor Frankel's book and how hope, faith and meaning help people survive. I recall the first time I started to gain information on non-duality and Maharaj's work, I lost hope and felt like lying down under a tree and dying as I had lost inspiration.
FROM ANOTHER SITE VISITOR: [Received yesterday] You said that hope leads to hopelessness, but can't hopelessness lead to hope?
F.: Yes. Consider these pointers from the past:
** That which gives happiness can lead to misery and
** That which gives the greatest happiness can lead to the greatest misery.
Similarly, as noted yesterday:
** Hope leads to hopelessness
and, yes
** Hopelessness can drive persons to "a bottom" from which they seek hope.
Yet what is all of that about, really, if not the instability and fluctuating and chaos that mar the relative existence and that set persons up to suffer the slings and arrows of duality: happy / unhappy; satisfied / unsatisfied; good times / bad times, ad infinitum. It is delusional to characterize the turmoil and the extremes of duality as "natural."
This e-mail exchange unfolded over the last few days:
E-mailer: So you hope for nothing?
F.: I have nothing already - therein is the bliss.
E.: Don't you hope you'll live?
F.: There is no one here to hope he lives, nor anyone to hope he dies. The beauty of Full Realization is that the remainder of the abidance happens within that state of neutrality without any imaginary sense of hope or any imaginary sense of hopelessness. The absence of hope is not hopelessness. It is clarity. It is freedom.
Abiding with clarity, there are no dashed hopes, no debilitating sense of hopelessness, no turmoil, and none of the ever-fluctuating extremes of duality. Maharaj said: "Anxiety and hope are born of imagination - I am free of both. I am simply being and I need nothing to rest on."
E.: My belief in some kind of God or organizing force or whatever you want to call it gives me hope.
F.: No, it gives you delusions of power and continuity and the hope of receiving rewards now and rewards later. Maharaj said that god is "born of fear and hope" and you can search this blog for the many discussions that make clear that all misery and suffering are rooted in fear and desire. Fear and desire, of course, are the product of personality:
by definition, every personality type (every persona) has a primary desire and a primary fear. For example:
A Type Three Personality desires success and applause and fame
A Type Three Personality fears failure and being ignored and being forever in obscurity
E.: How can you possibly abide with joy if there is no hope?
Maharaj explained it this way: "All your problems arise because you have defined and therefore limited yourself. When you do not think yourself to be this or that, all conflict ceases. Any attempt to do something about your problems is bound to fail, for what is caused by desire (hope) can be undone only in freedom from desire (hope). You have enclosed yourself in time and space, squeezed yourself into the span of a lifetime and the volume of a body and thus created the innumerable conflicts of life and death, pleasure and pain, hope (desire) and fear. You cannot be rid of problems without abandoning illusions."
E.: I think things are improving. I think more people than ever are enlightened.
F.: As Maharaj noted, the number of persons on the planet that are enlightened at any given time is modest. There might be a few more or less at any given time, but the total number is always small.
E.: Look at the superstitious dark ages. Look how far people have come since then.
F.: People have not come far at all. Religions are rooted in myth and superstition, and 97% claim to be members of one organized religion or another; thus, 97% are trapped in superstition and suffer the mental illness of mythomania. The masses were trapped in ignorance then and the masses are trapped in ignorance now. Variances in the type of ignorance are meaningless. Ignorance is ignorance.
Consider some of the superstitions that are popular in the geographical locations of the co-hosts here:
In the U.S., Friday the 13th is considered "bad," elevators in high rise buildings display no thirteenth floor, and most airlines have no thirteenth row. Events reported in local and national newscasts are regularly labeled as "miracles" even as newscasters join the masses in misrepresenting natural events as examples of supernatural events or as instances of divine intervention.
In South Africa, where the World Cup is presently under way, newscasters at that event are reporting that vultures are being pushed into extinction by sports gamblers who believe that smoking the birds' dried brains will give them the special power to see into the future. One reporter wrote:
"While British fans study the form book and the back pages, some South Africans believe the magic available via vulture brains will help them predict football match results and are hoping the World Cup will be a great opportunity for a big win. Conservationists are concerned that the birds are facing global extinction, threatened by the superstition." Of course actually facing global extinction are logic, reason, sanity, and wisdom.
These are not examples of ignorant superstitions that were believed in by Europeans during the Middle Ages you reference; these are superstitions that are believed in by persons now in 2010.
Similarly ignorant beliefs are taken as truth around the globe, and they are not based in logic or reason or fact or experience but are based in ignorance and irrationality; yet you believe that one can "look at the superstitious dark ages" and then see "how far people have come since then"?
Here was M's take on a statement that was similar to your notion that "people have come far since then":
Questioner: "The world is getting better."
Maharaj: "The world had all the time to get better, yet it did not. What hope is there for the future? Of course, there have been and will be periods of harmony and peace, when sattva was in ascendance, but things get destroyed by their own perfection. A perfect society is necessarily static and, therefore, it stagnates and decays. From the summit all roads lead downwards. Societies are like people - they are born, they grow to some point of relative perfection, and then they decay and die."
E.: I have taped to my desk an Oscar Wilde quote that promotes a positive outlook and hope: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Seems valid to me.
F.: The presence of a positive outlook sets the stage for the manifestation of a negative outlook because all dualistic pairs only exist in the relative, and nothing in the relative is stable and unmoving. Moreover, to be in the gutter while looking at the stars does not change the fact that you are still in the gutter, and if you are in the gutter and think that is acceptable as long as you are looking at stars, then you are totally out of touch with your actual circumstance.
And that is what hoping and desiring and wishing generate: a condition of denial and minimizing that leaves persons out of touch with Reality. If you are lying in a filthy gutter, to hell with the stars. Get out of the damn gutter.
FROM ANOTHER SITE VISITOR: [Received yesterday] You said that hope leads to hopelessness, but can't hopelessness lead to hope?
F.: Yes. Consider these pointers from the past:
** That which gives happiness can lead to misery and
** That which gives the greatest happiness can lead to the greatest misery.
Similarly, as noted yesterday:
** Hope leads to hopelessness
and, yes
** Hopelessness can drive persons to "a bottom" from which they seek hope.
Yet what is all of that about, really, if not the instability and fluctuating and chaos that mar the relative existence and that set persons up to suffer the slings and arrows of duality: happy / unhappy; satisfied / unsatisfied; good times / bad times, ad infinitum. It is delusional to characterize the turmoil and the extremes of duality as "natural."
This e-mail exchange unfolded over the last few days:
E-mailer: So you hope for nothing?
F.: I have nothing already - therein is the bliss.
E.: Don't you hope you'll live?
F.: There is no one here to hope he lives, nor anyone to hope he dies. The beauty of Full Realization is that the remainder of the abidance happens within that state of neutrality without any imaginary sense of hope or any imaginary sense of hopelessness. The absence of hope is not hopelessness. It is clarity. It is freedom.
Abiding with clarity, there are no dashed hopes, no debilitating sense of hopelessness, no turmoil, and none of the ever-fluctuating extremes of duality. Maharaj said: "Anxiety and hope are born of imagination - I am free of both. I am simply being and I need nothing to rest on."
E.: My belief in some kind of God or organizing force or whatever you want to call it gives me hope.
F.: No, it gives you delusions of power and continuity and the hope of receiving rewards now and rewards later. Maharaj said that god is "born of fear and hope" and you can search this blog for the many discussions that make clear that all misery and suffering are rooted in fear and desire. Fear and desire, of course, are the product of personality:
by definition, every personality type (every persona) has a primary desire and a primary fear. For example:
A Type Three Personality desires success and applause and fame
A Type Three Personality fears failure and being ignored and being forever in obscurity
E.: How can you possibly abide with joy if there is no hope?
Maharaj explained it this way: "All your problems arise because you have defined and therefore limited yourself. When you do not think yourself to be this or that, all conflict ceases. Any attempt to do something about your problems is bound to fail, for what is caused by desire (hope) can be undone only in freedom from desire (hope). You have enclosed yourself in time and space, squeezed yourself into the span of a lifetime and the volume of a body and thus created the innumerable conflicts of life and death, pleasure and pain, hope (desire) and fear. You cannot be rid of problems without abandoning illusions."
E.: I think things are improving. I think more people than ever are enlightened.
F.: As Maharaj noted, the number of persons on the planet that are enlightened at any given time is modest. There might be a few more or less at any given time, but the total number is always small.
E.: Look at the superstitious dark ages. Look how far people have come since then.
F.: People have not come far at all. Religions are rooted in myth and superstition, and 97% claim to be members of one organized religion or another; thus, 97% are trapped in superstition and suffer the mental illness of mythomania. The masses were trapped in ignorance then and the masses are trapped in ignorance now. Variances in the type of ignorance are meaningless. Ignorance is ignorance.
Consider some of the superstitions that are popular in the geographical locations of the co-hosts here:
In the U.S., Friday the 13th is considered "bad," elevators in high rise buildings display no thirteenth floor, and most airlines have no thirteenth row. Events reported in local and national newscasts are regularly labeled as "miracles" even as newscasters join the masses in misrepresenting natural events as examples of supernatural events or as instances of divine intervention.
In South Africa, where the World Cup is presently under way, newscasters at that event are reporting that vultures are being pushed into extinction by sports gamblers who believe that smoking the birds' dried brains will give them the special power to see into the future. One reporter wrote:
"While British fans study the form book and the back pages, some South Africans believe the magic available via vulture brains will help them predict football match results and are hoping the World Cup will be a great opportunity for a big win. Conservationists are concerned that the birds are facing global extinction, threatened by the superstition." Of course actually facing global extinction are logic, reason, sanity, and wisdom.
These are not examples of ignorant superstitions that were believed in by Europeans during the Middle Ages you reference; these are superstitions that are believed in by persons now in 2010.
Similarly ignorant beliefs are taken as truth around the globe, and they are not based in logic or reason or fact or experience but are based in ignorance and irrationality; yet you believe that one can "look at the superstitious dark ages" and then see "how far people have come since then"?
Here was M's take on a statement that was similar to your notion that "people have come far since then":
Questioner: "The world is getting better."
Maharaj: "The world had all the time to get better, yet it did not. What hope is there for the future? Of course, there have been and will be periods of harmony and peace, when sattva was in ascendance, but things get destroyed by their own perfection. A perfect society is necessarily static and, therefore, it stagnates and decays. From the summit all roads lead downwards. Societies are like people - they are born, they grow to some point of relative perfection, and then they decay and die."
E.: I have taped to my desk an Oscar Wilde quote that promotes a positive outlook and hope: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Seems valid to me.
F.: The presence of a positive outlook sets the stage for the manifestation of a negative outlook because all dualistic pairs only exist in the relative, and nothing in the relative is stable and unmoving. Moreover, to be in the gutter while looking at the stars does not change the fact that you are still in the gutter, and if you are in the gutter and think that is acceptable as long as you are looking at stars, then you are totally out of touch with your actual circumstance.
And that is what hoping and desiring and wishing generate: a condition of denial and minimizing that leaves persons out of touch with Reality. If you are lying in a filthy gutter, to hell with the stars. Get out of the damn gutter.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: The Fear / Personality / Misery Connection
Much of what Louise has shared has resonated with many site visitors. to that end, some have inquired recently if Louise offers the online Advaita Internet Course. The answer is, "Yes."
Whether taking the course with Louise or Floyd, the price of the course includes all 11 of the Advaita eBooks, questions sent after completion of the assigned readings, replies to your answers, and follow-up as required.
With either teacher, you will be guided through all seven of the steps, in order, that lead from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond). For more specific information and details about the course, you may click on the link to the right.
Purchase at Discount the Advaita Internet Course with Louise
by
Clicking the Buy Now Button below:
Purchase at Discount the Advaita Internet Course with Floyd
by
Clicking the Buy Now Button below:
Whether taking the course with Louise or Floyd, the price of the course includes all 11 of the Advaita eBooks, questions sent after completion of the assigned readings, replies to your answers, and follow-up as required.
With either teacher, you will be guided through all seven of the steps, in order, that lead from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond). For more specific information and details about the course, you may click on the link to the right.
Purchase at Discount the Advaita Internet Course with Louise
by
Clicking the Buy Now Button below:
Purchase at Discount the Advaita Internet Course with Floyd
by
Clicking the Buy Now Button below:
[THE YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE IN LARGER FORMATS BELOW WHICH MIGHT PROVIDE MORE COMFORTABLE VIEWING FOR SOME SITE VISITORS]
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.
TRANSLATED ADVAITA EBOOKS AVAILABLE
Beginning today, the 11 Advaita eBooks listed at the end of this post are available in twenty-two non-English languages. If you are interested in purchasing an eBook in another language, click Contact Floyd to see if the language you prefer is available. Again, the quality of the translation cannot be guaranteed but it might make some pointers available to seekers that might not otherwise receive them. If you want to send a translated eBook to someone as a gift, that can also be arranged via the contact link above.
(Charges will include the regular price of the eBook + a US$10.00 translating fee.)
TO PAY FOR A TRANSLATION - US$10.00 - CLICK THE BUY BUTTON BELOW
(Contact Floyd before paying to be certain the language you prefer is available)
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.
TRANSLATED ADVAITA EBOOKS AVAILABLE
Beginning today, the 11 Advaita eBooks listed at the end of this post are available in twenty-two non-English languages. If you are interested in purchasing an eBook in another language, click Contact Floyd to see if the language you prefer is available. Again, the quality of the translation cannot be guaranteed but it might make some pointers available to seekers that might not otherwise receive them. If you want to send a translated eBook to someone as a gift, that can also be arranged via the contact link above.
(Charges will include the regular price of the eBook + a US$10.00 translating fee.)
TO PAY FOR A TRANSLATION - US$10.00 - CLICK THE BUY BUTTON BELOW
(Contact Floyd before paying to be certain the language you prefer is available)
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.
YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA YOGA VIDEOS
Click on the arrow below to start Video One:
Click on the arrow below to start Video Two:
Click on the arrow below to start Video Three:
Click on the arrow below to start Video Four:
Click on the arrow below to start Video Five:
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
