Friday, March 25, 2011

ADVAITA, PERSONALITY, AND THE ENNEAGRAM, 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.

As for Maharaj, you will find here some of his early pointers for beginners but some of his later pointers that are for seekers father along the "path." During his last years, he said of I AM THAT: "That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today" and am "emphasizing different aspects." What he offered later differed considerably from his earlier talks, making clear that the pointers in I AM THAT will take you to the midpoint of "the race" but that his final talks point the way to "the finish line."

F.: More than one site visitor has asked recently why the enneagram personality inventory tool is offered here along with Advaitin pointers. Consider: at the root of the hundreds of personality disorders that can

a. guarantee a loss of contact with the essence and the True Self (or that follow that loss) and that can

b. generate ignorant or insane thoughts and words and deeds is - of course - personality.

Personality must be understood completely to be discarded completely as an identity and to be eliminated as the key hidden motivator of dualistic thoughts and words and actions.

Further, Realization cannot happen unless the seeker understands personality; understands how personality drives persons via misery-producing desires and fears; understands the full impact of personality on the relative existence; understands how it generates a sense of dis-ease and separation; understands how personality produces emotional instability; and understands how it blocks any and all opportunity to know the Oneness.

One of the most ancient of all methods used to "treat" the sicknesses that are generated by personality is Advaita, and the Advaita-Enneagram connection is ancient as well, though the enneagram or enneagram-like revelations that were a part of the ancient teachings appeared in a variety of versions.

The science-based version used here is relatively new, now offering the ancient understanding with more clarity and validity than ever before and allowing the transitioning beyond personality-identification to happen more quickly and efficiently for many seekers of Full Realization.

That said, the kind of information that is revealed by the testing and personality typing that is employed here is the information that Advaitin teachers have shared for hundreds and thousands of years, making the understanding of one's personality (actually, "personalities") central to the Realization process.

It is one thing to speak of personality in the most general of terms, but when persons are shown on a scale of 1-100 the exact rate of their personality-based anger or pride or lust or laziness, then more awareness seems to come (which allows for many the ability to detach from the personalities that are blocking the "path" to Realization).

To understand the Advaita-Enneagram linkage, consider some of the historical background, with gratitude to the early teachers such as Evagrius, to Ichazo who came along more recently, and to current instructors such Hudson and Rizo and Palmer, all versed in the use of the Enneagram which is "a matrix of personality structures that recognizes nine observable points of view" among persons.

To understand the historical background is to understand how persons become separated from the essence and the Self; how that separation results in passions that generate the most despicable "personality defects" imaginable, relatively speaking; and why the Advaita "path" has become necessary as a means by which persons can "re-connect" with the essence, the Self, and Real Love.

Ichazo, who early on made the link between the non-duality teachings and the understandings that can be revealed via the Enneagram, said:

"We have to distinguish between [humans] in essence [vs. how they are] in ego or personality. In essence, every person is perfect, fearless, and in a loving unity with the entire cosmos; there is no conflict within the person between head, heart, and stomach or between the person and others. Then something happens: the ego begins to develop, there is a transition from objectivity to subjectivity, and [humans] fall from essence into personality."

Thus, Ichazo saw the Enneagram as a tool that can be used to examine specifics about the structure of essence and particularly about the ways in which the qualities of essence "become distorted, or contracted into states of ego."

In developing his Enneagram theories, he drew upon the teachings regarding "the nine divine forms"; the teachings of Plato; the teachings of Plotinus; and teachings by early mystics who focused their studies on "the loss of the divine forms in ego consciousness" (those forms including tolerance, humility, sincerity, gratitude, non-attachment, courage, patience, temperance, and discernment).

Therein lies the core Advaita message: when trapped in ego-state / personality consciousness as opposed to being free as a result of awareness of the essence and the True Self, then tolerance, humility, sincerity, gratitude, non-attachment, courage, patience, temperance, and discernment will never manifest during the AM-ness.

The opposites of the "divine forms," in the course of their travels from Greece to Egypt over the course of a century, became distorted and reduced by religion to "seven deadly sins" which pointed at the means by which "the divine forms" became distorted, including: anger, pride, envy, avarice, gluttony, lust, and sloth.

Ichazo's non-dual message that was delivered with a focus on personality and "personality-driven defects" also drew from the teachings of the Kabbala, but his key contribution as far as Advaitins are concerned was in discovering how these "divine forms" and their corresponding distortions connected with the already-existing Enneagram symbol and with human thinking, feeling, and instinct.

With that understanding, he showed how a person loses both awareness and the sense of pure presence, falling away from essence into the trance of the personality; how the loss of awareness becomes a person's ego-fixation; how the loss of contact with essence and Self eliminates tolerance, humility, sincerity, gratitude, non-attachment, courage, patience, temperance, and discernment;

and how the loss of contact with the essence and the Self sets the stage for persons to be driven by their "characteristic passion" (or passions, or personality traits), including wrath and resentment and anger; pride; deceit; melancholia and jealousy and envy; greed and avarice; panic and cowardice; conceit and gluttony; lust; and indifference or laziness.

The link with the Advaita message is this: when one loses contact with the essence and with Self and falls into a personality trance, then the combined effects of

(1) that loss of contact with the essence and the Self

and

(2) the subsequent identification with body and mind and personality

become so acute that the person's ego-states become preoccupied with recreating the contact.

That would be fine except for the fact that - without a realized teacher as a guide or without being in touch with the inner guru - then the search unfolds in a totally futile and self-defeating way.

The masses are engaged in that blind search for their essence and an awareness of the True Self, but blocked from seeing clearly by the sources of ambiguity and duality (including programming, domestication, conditioning, acculturation, and their personality trance), they know not what they seek;

furthermore, the odds are slim that they will ever cross paths with a teacher that can reveal to them exactly what that is which they are seeking. So it is, but so it need not be for those that have come this way and accept what the Enneagram and the Advaitin teachings combined can reveal.

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

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THE "ADVANCED SEEKERS' SET"

FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)

CONSCIOUSNESS / AWARENESS

FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS

THE FINAL UNDERSTANDING

THE SEVEN STEPS TO REALIZATION ESSAY SERIES

A Series of Essays Discussing THE FIRST STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE SECOND STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE THIRD STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE FOURTH STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE FIFTH STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE SIXTH STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE SEVENTH STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

THE "NO-DEATH" SERIES

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

The Myth Of Death

THE "BLISSFUL ABIDANCE" BOOKS

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

LIBERATION

Why You Must Be Empty If You Would Be Full

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)

Overcoming the Fear of Being Totally Independent

The Essence of the Teachings

SELF-Transformation Meditation Guide, Volume One

SELF-Transformation Meditation Guide, Volume Two

THE "RELATIONSHIP" SERIES

Casting Light on the Dark Side of Relationships

Finding REAL LOVE in an Unreal World

The Path to Freedom vs. The Path to Misery


THE "FREEDOM FROM DELUSION" SERIES

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace If You're Out of Your Mind)

THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS PERSONAL (Including You and Including God)

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ and HIS EVOLUTION

IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)

SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)

Jesus Christ the Advaitin

William Shakespeare the Advaitin

THE "FINANCIAL SANITY" SERIES

LIVING WITHIN YOUR MEANS

Ending Financial Problems by Understanding Your Personality

ADVENTURE / MYSTERY FICTION
(WITH A BLEND OF NON-DUALITY POINTERS)


The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders [E-BOOK]

The Board of Directors of Wars [PAPERBACK]

RECOVERY

A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Transformation [E-BOOK]

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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.

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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.
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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.
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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


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YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA YOGA VIDEOS

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Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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