Saturday, January 15, 2011

THE CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE BRAIN VS. "THE MIND," Part One

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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.

Furthermore, for those who have developed a preference for any non-nisargan yoga or who prefer Traditional Advaita Vedanta, Neo-Advaita, Neo-Vedanta, or Pseudo Advaita: here you will only find the use of the Direct Path Method of teaching along with the Nisarga (Natural) Yoga, all shared in simple, everyday English.

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Regarding yesterday's post): "I would say that anyone who has followed your comments over the past 5 or 6 years and tried to understand what you said would surely know that you have never emphasized any devotion to a person or accumulation of knowledge; just the opposite - you have emphasized Nothing really exists and that as soon as you understand that, forget everything you ever knew. Including that." Sim

F.: Spot on except for "Nothing really exists." Energy and matter / energy-matter exists. It is just that when those come together temporarily, the resulting form or space is never seen for what it really is by the non-Realized masses. Now, to today's topic:

Several seekers who are being guided through the seven steps to Realization via Skype sessions have just finished addressing the "mind" step. As noted here in the past, the consciousness is rooted in the Absolute; the brain is rooted in the elements; but the "mind" is rooted in programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation, serving as a storehouse for the widespread lies and concepts and ideas and myths that are circulated throughout any given culture.

On some level, most grasp the pointer that "there is no such thing as peace of mind ... there is only peace if you are out of your mind." Yet grasping that and then releasing the ego's grasp on "the mind" itself is another matter.

The point is usually offered that the deer in the neighborhood, the birds, the squirrels - every form other than "human forms" - function quite well under the auspices of the brain working in combination with the manifest consciousness.

Only humans suffer the added burden of the unnatural "mind" being added into that natural consciousness / brain mix. The Realized Advaitin poet Shakespeare has Hamlet say, "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. To me, it is a prison." Indeed, to all it is a prison, and each idea and concept and belief forms one of the bars of that prison.

One of the leading researchers in the U.S. regarding marriage and divorce has noted that a marriage will last through any number of trials and tribulations unless one partner or the other develops a sense of "disgust." Disgust is the deal-breaker. It must manifest for a "relationship" to end.

"Disgust" is defined as "that which generates a sense of nausea, loathing, aversion, repugnance or a sense of being sickened or repelled." It seems in many cases that - if seekers are ever to be free of the effects of the "mind" - they must wake up enough to see all of the costly (relative) effects of the "mind." If they were to see the actual, cumulative toll of the "mind," how could they not be nauseous, filled with loathing, repelled, and disgusted?

They who would be free and at peace must see that the effects (though only relative effects) of the "mind" have been so detrimental and self-destructive and disgusting to those who have had the misfortune of dealing with "mind"-driven persons that they also develop a disgust for the "mind" and for the "mind"-generated chaos and suffering and misery and instability that all "minds" produce.

So why the tendency to cling to the "mind" - actually, to its contents - when all other forms on the planet function efficiently without the handicap of a "mind"? Why do persons not see what the "mind" is doing to them and become disgusted with it?

1. Arrogance: The non-Realized take great pride in the knowledge (a.k.a., learned ignorance) stored in the "mind."

2. Egotism: Egotism is a defense mechanism that is used by an ego (a false self, the false "I") to sustain all of the delusions that the "mind" produces and all of the personas that "abide" in the "mind" and are taken to be actual identities.

3. Deception: No non-Realized person understands that there is no such thing as "my mind." No one in a very long time has come up with any new and unique idea on her / his own. The contents of what one takes to be "my mind" is actually their "mind." The contents have been stored in "their mind" ... in the "mind" of parents and teachers and all persons of influence in one's culture. The cycle since language first developed has been this: myths, lies, superstitions and inaccurate assignment of cause have been dreamed up;

those are stored in the "mind"; the fictional content in one "mind" is passed on to another, forming a new "mind" (that is, a place to store false beliefs and lies and myths); that person then passes on what was passed on to her / him, and the cycle continues without interruption unless seeking begins, unless the seeker finds a teacher that can point one away from the false and toward the Truth, and unless the content of the "mind" is seen to be a conglomeration of nonsense and falsehoods that are stored in one part of the brain.

So many are angry about what they think "others" have done to them, about how they think "others" have interfered with them; about the harm that they think has been caused by "others."

If they could wake up enough to see that what "others" have done pales in comparison to what has been done to them by the "mind," they would immediately feel a sense of nausea, loathing, aversion, and repugnance regarding that "mind." Any sane persons would feel a sense of being sickened. Any sane persons would be repelled by that "mind."

They would be so disgusted with what has happened in their relative existence as a result of being driven unconsciously and blindly by the content of the "mind" that they would welcome the invitation here to be done with the "mind" and its content, once and for all.

One Advaitin purportedly said 2000 years ago, "A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways." That pointer could be expanded to "every minded person is unstable in all ways."

More tomorrow.

Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

For those seeking the full explanation of the topics addressed here, there are more than a dozen non-duality books available at http://www.floydhenderson.com/ .

There are many other titles for which Amazon.com has arranged exclusive distribution rights. The titles below are available at Amazon.com for those with a Kindle Reader but they can also be read even if you do not have a Kindle. [See details below.] The following titles are available through Amazon.com only:

The Final Understanding

The Ultimate Sickness, The Ultimate Medicine

I AM THAT (vs. "This Is Who I Think I Am")

Freedom From Shifting Between States of Happiness and Unhappiness

Why You Must Be Empty If You Would Be Full

The Myth Of Death

What BLISS Is and What BLISS Is Not

When Reality Is Overlaid Upon the Relative

There Is Nothing That Is Personal (Including You and Including God)

(If you do not have a Kindle Reader, you can still read Kindle books by visiting Amazon and downloading one or more of their five free applications so that you can read Kindle books on your PC, iPhone, Blackberry, iPad, or Android.
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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:

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.

NOTE: When you order this package, you receive three additional ebooks free: CASTING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIONSHIPS, FINDING REAL LOVE IN AN UNREAL WORLD and THE TWICE-STOLEN NECKLACE MURDERS (offering the Advaita teachings in a fictional novel format)

You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.

3. BY ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes

Received 19 August 2010 from one that just completed the entire course:

I would like to extend deepest appreciation towards you for these teachings that you have offered. It has been most valuable towards what may not have been revealed throughout this manifestation labeled "anthony." Understanding Truth and finding words for gratitude are one as is all. Thank you again for pointing "me" to THAT and the understanding that came as well. Hopeful for future "contact"! Sincerely, Anthony M. W.

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.
Presently, Skype sessions are being conducted with parties in Australia; The Netherlands; New Jersey, U.S.A.; London, England; Italy; and India.
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.


The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders offers the non-duality message by way of a mystery-adventure novel, discussing the movement from pain to healing to awakening to peace.
From Dr. R.F. Maley, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus and former Head of the Department of Psychology, University of Houston: "Floyd Henderson's book, The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders, is a fun read and an interesting mystery, but perhaps more importantly it serves as a vehicle for blending Eastern Philosophy and Native American Spirituality to make an intellectually challenging novel. The book's insights into both relationships and authoritarian conditioning of people in our society make it a must read, tracing the roots of narcissistic, sociopathic and psychopathic behaviors to the very core of the culture. This truly witty and politically-incorrect study of the aggressive nature of 'the American character' offers not only a diagnosis but also a treatment plan, making the book an excellent supplemental reading in courses such as psychology, anthropology, philosophy, sociology and counseling."

You may purchase your copy of the ebook version of THE TWICE-STOLEN NECKLACE MURDERS then start reading within minutes:


The Sequel to The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders:
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS


For a paperback or eBook version of the book, click:

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Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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