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For more information, clickVISITOR: I take from what you said today [received 13 May 2012] that only about 1/2 of 1% of Earth's seven billion people have "an accurate BS detector." I am starting to see why I've had so much trouble -- I've never been able to "wrap my head around" the point that I should question everything and see that it might all be nonsense (or "BS"). Some things? Sure. All things? No. But that is changing. Yesterday, I heard a woman say this to my wife: "
After three surgeries from three different doctors with three different explanations about why I have so much pain in my hands, I've become very angry with God at this point. All my life, He has intervened and brought me financial success and has answered my prayers for healing, but now it's not happening and I'm really furious with God right now. My priest said it's OK, that God is big enough to handle my anger until I get over it, but I don't want to get over it. I'm pissed."
And I questioned what I was hearing, like, you've become very old - maybe your earlier prayers for healing weren't answered either -- maybe you just bounced back better from illness when you were young. Or maybe God did not make you wealthy (and make other people poor? I saw the duality!) Or maybe there were genetic factors that made you healthy and helped make you a success in business. Am I finally on the right track? Thanx for answering and thanx the site!
After three surgeries from three different doctors with three different explanations about why I have so much pain in my hands, I've become very angry with God at this point. All my life, He has intervened and brought me financial success and has answered my prayers for healing, but now it's not happening and I'm really furious with God right now. My priest said it's OK, that God is big enough to handle my anger until I get over it, but I don't want to get over it. I'm pissed."
And I questioned what I was hearing, like, you've become very old - maybe your earlier prayers for healing weren't answered either -- maybe you just bounced back better from illness when you were young. Or maybe God did not make you wealthy (and make other people poor? I saw the duality!) Or maybe there were genetic factors that made you healthy and helped make you a success in business. Am I finally on the right track? Thanx for answering and thanx the site!
F.: Reference was made yesterday to "the long list of religiously-and-or-spiritually-inspired pathologies that result from belief in an external locus of control." Literally, "pathology" is the precise study and diagnosis of disease (from ancient Greek's "pathos" -meaning "suffering" - and "logia" - meaning, "the study of").
Yesterday's post, therefore, involved "pathologization," which is the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological (for example, "pathological drinking"). The pathological drinker is driven by the urge to drink continuously despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop; the same is the case with a pathological gambler.
One involved in pathological behavior can be termed a "psychopath," and psychopathy is a personality disorder. Such disorders that are rooted in personality have been the focus of non-duality teachings for millennia. That specific disorder results in persons who - as far as the relative existence goes - show a pervasive pattern of disregard for the rights of others; thus, most cultures disdain all psychopaths except for their culture's religious psychopaths and / or their spiritual psychopaths, whom they often laud.
While religious and spiritual psychopaths give lip service to love of their fellow man, to kindness, to caring, etc., the historical facts tell a far different tale as such types have left in their wake a history of war and killing in the name of the external locus of control that they delusionally believe in and (at least ostensibly) allow to control them and their behavior; moreover, the religious-and-spirituality based pathology that drives war and killing is still pervasive around the globe at this very moment. Such is another by-product of the pathological belief in an external locus of control.
In fact, psychopaths of all varieties have a lack of empathy and remorse and are generally regarded as callous, selfish, dishonest, arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, and irresponsible. Despite those traits, psychopaths are often superficially charming and can be highly adept at manipulation. Non-duality is about diagnosing such pathologies and offering the Ultimate Medicine to treat them. In that regard, this exchange was shared at the beginning of this series:
QUESTION: "Do you offer the more "positive" spin (like ... Understanding-Freedom-Peace-Happiness) or the "negative" spin (like ... the end of seeking-suffering-doubt)?"
F.: Here, the Ultimate Medicine for the Ultimate Sickness is offered. As with a doctor or psychologist, for example, the patient / client / seeker must be subjected to a diagnosis that reveals the unhealthy elements that are present but that have not yet been totally identified (suffering, misery, doubt, instability, etc.) before there can be a willingness to accept the treatment (Understanding - the unteachings - the seven step "path" / process) so that healthiness can exist (marked by freedom - peace - happiness - stability).
To that end, pathology (just like non-duality) is involved with the diagnosis and investigation of any deviation from a healthy or normal condition, especially an unhealthy and abnormal condition of "the mind."
Yesterday, some of the deviations from normalcy that are rooted in the religiously-and-or-spiritually-inspired pathologies that result from belief in an external locus of control were discussed, including the fact that:
1. persons will function in the same external-locus-of-control-inspired manner (that is, in the same dysfunctional fashion) in all of their "relative relationships" as happens in all of their "magical relationships"; including the fact that
2. when persons believe in an illusion - such as an external locus of control - they take non-Reality and then overlay it on the relative, moving them farther and farther away from Reality and reality; and including the fact that
3. pathologically-based craziness (including the craziness of believing in an external locus of control) will generate insanity in all aspects of one's relative existence; and the fact that, when lost in their religious or spiritual pathologies,
4. persons will allow mirages (that is, dreamed up, conceptualized entities) to determine how they feel; will allow mirages to give them false hope; will co-dependently allow mirages to make them happy at times but angry or "pissed" at other times, thereby becoming another source of instability; and will (supposedly) allow mirages to determine everything they think and feel and say and do.
The irony is that the psychopaths who are of the variety that believe in external loci of control have accepted the widespread distortions of their cultures which have been reinforced by a multi-thousand-year-history of their cultures' fantasies and myths and superstitions having been repeated and passed down as "the ultimate truth";
therefore, they are so far removed from Reality (and from their own "relative reality") that they cannot see that they lack empathy and remorse and that they are generally callous, selfish, dishonest, arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, and irresponsible. They see themselves as the opposite of each of those because another trait of psychopaths is that their minds warp reality by 180-degrees.
While Everett E. Allie's teaching are not listed as "non-duality," they certainly mirror the Advaitin's understanding. Allie has studied psychopathic behavior and its results, including "social dysfunction," "the pathology that results from cultural delusion," "the pathology of religion," and what he calls "tyranny by delusion," summarized thusly:
The irony is that the psychopaths who are of the variety that believe in external loci of control have accepted the widespread distortions of their cultures which have been reinforced by a multi-thousand-year-history of their cultures' fantasies and myths and superstitions having been repeated and passed down as "the ultimate truth"; therefore, they are far removed from Reality (and from their own "relative reality") ...
Allie adumbrates the non-duality teachings that have been offered by sages for thousands of years. Yesterday, this pointer was offered:
So much for, "Well, what does it hurt to believe in things that are unreal if people think their belief is helping them?"
Allie says of such belief in things unreal:
"Fantasies have consequences that threaten the individual, every nation and the species itself. These falsehoods provide the roots of endless misdirection and strife. They, together with the ignorance that invariably attends them, are the inevitable outgrowth of a fundamental conceptual pathogen underlying virtually all social problems and human conflict. This fundamental pathogenic concept [is] common when consciousness and conceptualization merge."
That is exactly the point of yesterday's discussion of the pathology that results when persons believe in an external locus of control and is exactly the pointer offered in this regard by any Realized teacher: when "consciousness and concepts" become merged as a result of programming, conditioning, acculturation, and domestication and brainwashing, then "pathogenic," pathological, psychopathic behaviors will follow.
Allie continued: "Ignorance insures a delusional basis which distorts all subsequent perception and reasoning, resulting in a degenerative syndrome of belief-ignorance, the instillation of individual, mental pathology.
"Examine any functional problem in depth, individual or social, and you will quickly encounter misdirection based on defective premises. False premises result in both destructive activity and defective social systems. Falsehoods cause us to look at our world from a distorted perspective, and strongly influence the decisions we make, blunting lives and generating social strife.
See, the false premise in this discussion is: "There is an external locus of control, a Power that I can tap into and thereby have the power to control people, places and things as well as earn rewards both now and later as well as avoid punishment now and later."
Even more pathological than that belief, though, is the act of clinging to that nonsensical belief while ignoring all of the evidence which shows that either
(A) no such power or Power exists
or
(B) that if such a power or Power does exists, then it is plagued with this dualistic contradiction: that the power / Power is actually powerless ... powerless to stop murder and killing and war and genocide and natural disasters and misery and suffering
or
(C) even worse, if that power / Power does exist and is powerful enough to stop murder and killing and war and genocide and natural disasters and misery and suffering but refuses to do so, then that power / Power is pathological as well.
Of course, all such notions about an external locus of control amount to what Realized teachers call, "one's accumulated knowledge" (a.k.a., "learned ignorance").
Allie: "Virtually all human behavior is learned. More than any other factor, human behavior reflects concepts and cultural tenets that have become internalized, be they truth or fallacy. Where they reflect reality, these ideas support individual and social effectiveness. Where they do not reflect reality, they invariably generate problems."
That last statement captures the very essence of the non-duality teachings when they address the roots of relative problems and the misery and suffering that they generate.
Allie also notes that "anything that has been internalized by the individual as its 'subjective reality' [which is the case when there is a belief in an external locus of control] becomes part of that person's controlling cognizance. It determines behavior."
Imagine the level of insanity involved when that happens, when "subjective reality" (this is, when a not-real version of reality which is the direct opposite of "objective, actual Reality") "controls" persons and "determines behavior." The act of being controlled by - and having one's behavior determined by - one's false "subjective reality" results in what Maharaj spoke of, namely, "stupidity, verging on insanity." He suggested that the non-duality teachings can often address both.
Next, it was in yesterday's post that reference was made to "cognitive dissonance, duality, and Borderline Personality Disorder." At the core of the non-duality teachings is the invitation to recognize the existence of cognitive dissonance and then be rid of it. The study of cognitive dissonance - which was the focus of all of Maharaj's teachings - deals with the discomfort and misery and suffering that are caused by simultaneously holding conflicting (dualistic) ideas and beliefs and values and concepts along with contradictory (dualistic) notions that are rooted in emotional intoxication.
Most persons deny their discomfort and misery and suffering, so they will never understand
(1) the actual source of their discomfort and misery and suffering and
(2) how to alleviate all of that
because most will never take the steps required to find one that can offer the proper diagnosis (and proper treatment for) what ails them. Regarding cognizance, Allie said:
"One of the strongest human drives is that for conscious integration of one's cognizance. In other words, the individual has an internal imperative to rationalize anything and everything he or she thinks or does. This drive is so strong that a person cannot live with a conscious recognition of a contradiction.
Thus, these types of psychopaths being discussed here will not see the contraction in their belief that "There is an external locus of control that is all-powerful, but that power / Power would rather grant to insane and cruel persons that Power's gift of 'free will' rather than exercise its power to intervene and rather than use its power to stop widespread murder and killing and war and genocide and natural disasters and misery and suffering." Talk about unrecognized distortion.
Allie: "The internal imperative causes an individual to distort both perception and reasoning in order to maintain a perceived unity of cognizance. The driving force is one's emotions, which will support and defend any internalized cognizance.
"In other words, false concepts literally generate 'insanity', a departure from being able to distinguish between the real and the imagined. When the very foundation of one's reasoning springs from instilled beliefs in myth, magic and a supernatural omnipotent 'Authority', that individual is literally insane in large areas of his or her reasoning and behavior.
"The dysfunction of belief issues from two resulting pathologies: misdirection and ignorance. The individual always follows its own internalized program, what has been internalized as one's 'subjective reality'. The more delusion, the more misdirection and ignorance. Maintaining existing cognizance is one of the individual's strongest drives, often over that of life itself.
"Over life itself"? Yes. When driven by such "misdirection and ignorance," then of course the fanatics who also believe in - and are faithful to - even the most cold-blooded and ruthless versions of the various external loci of control that psychopaths believe in and worship, those psychopaths will gladly kill others (and even themselves) in the name of their external locus.
Allie: "In order to maintain the internalized delusions, any reciprocal realities must be blocked and evaded. Such behavior is fueled subconsciously, the individual not even conscious of the desperate drives and distortions at work. Religious belief is invariably the greatest barrier to learning, constituting cognitive autism. It is used as the predominate tool for maintaining authoritarian control over populations and preventing reasoning, the latter needed to blind the individual to the pathologies of autocratic governing, which feeds on the problems it generates.
"Every conflict, every disagreement, every war, has its roots, directly or indirectly, in religious belief. Nor does the individual have to hold religious belief to be pathologically affected by the foundation religions. The reasoning and rationale for any given society have been shaped by the foundation tenets of some religion or combination of religions. The lies every population is living affects all."
Past posts on this site have also noted the role that "-ism's" play in disseminating falsehoods and contributing to cognitive dissonance and insanity. Allie said:
"The fantasies we deal with here are the natural outgrowth of emerging intelligent life and have their origins in the myths and delusions of primitive peoples. These ideas are alive and thriving within modern societies, transmitted and perpetuated by the institutions of our respective cultures"
and
"These are the fantasies and delusions that the institutions of our various cultures foist upon us and which we are taught to believe, act upon, preserve, and perpetuate. We are born into systems of myth, fantasy and shifting delusion, embracing them as our own, because we know none other"
and
"For those of us who have enough rationality to reject the 'God' myth, we should be ever aware of how our cultures have infected us with trust in their pathogenic institutions. Within the technological societies, key among these are law, political science, theoretical science, and of course, any religion. Each of these areas is rife with misconception and misdirection. Each should be evaded as a source of effective social function. Our institutions are not purveyors of truth. We should first and always reach for objective truth."
It was for that reason that Maharaj offered the following:
"When I speak of transcending, I refer to the fact that you must transcend all body identity, all mind identity, and now ... all religious or spiritual personalities as well."
"'Spirituality' is merely understanding that (1) a spontaneous play is happening, (2) recognizing the play is a fraud, and then (3) finding the basis of the play."
"I got involved in spirituality, in the business of spirituality, [but] finally I lost that love of the Self
"The sum total of my spirituality now is nothing. Even that word 'nothing' is not there, so there is no spirituality left."
"Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion. All this is happening in the objective world. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud."
"Those who know only scriptures know nothing."
"In the course of your study of spirituality, you have acquired many concepts and you call that 'knowledge'. Throw out your concepts."
"Whatever you think of as 'spiritual knowledge' was gained in the realm of consciousness; such knowledge is merely a burden upon your head and it is going to add more misery. It is nothing more than spiritual jargon."
"Spiritual knowledge should not be studied."
"Forget spirituality."
"Just give up spirituality."
"Subsequent to that 'I Am' and body-mind, and in the realm of the mind, there occurs what you call 'spiritual seeking', or 'spiritual knowledge'. This is nonsense."
"I appeal to you with my folded hands: don't get into this spirituality."
"The sum total of my spirituality now is nothing. Even that word 'nothing' is not there, so there is no spirituality left."
“When the birth is disproved, the great noble meaning of spirituality and the meaning of this world—everything—is disproved.”
“From the Absolute no-knowing state, spontaneously, this consciousness ‘I am’ has appeared—there is no reason, no cause.”
"There is no such thing as spirituality; whatever is, is only this worldly life, in the five-elemental play."
"Those who have apperceived my knowledge will not fall prey to the logic or spirituality expounded by others."
"I got involved in spirituality, in the business of spirituality, [but] finally I lost that love of the Self also. I have no more love for the Self."
"Do your normal duties" and "just give up spirituality."
Yesterday's post, therefore, involved "pathologization," which is the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological (for example, "pathological drinking"). The pathological drinker is driven by the urge to drink continuously despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop; the same is the case with a pathological gambler.
One involved in pathological behavior can be termed a "psychopath," and psychopathy is a personality disorder. Such disorders that are rooted in personality have been the focus of non-duality teachings for millennia. That specific disorder results in persons who - as far as the relative existence goes - show a pervasive pattern of disregard for the rights of others; thus, most cultures disdain all psychopaths except for their culture's religious psychopaths and / or their spiritual psychopaths, whom they often laud.
While religious and spiritual psychopaths give lip service to love of their fellow man, to kindness, to caring, etc., the historical facts tell a far different tale as such types have left in their wake a history of war and killing in the name of the external locus of control that they delusionally believe in and (at least ostensibly) allow to control them and their behavior; moreover, the religious-and-spirituality based pathology that drives war and killing is still pervasive around the globe at this very moment. Such is another by-product of the pathological belief in an external locus of control.
In fact, psychopaths of all varieties have a lack of empathy and remorse and are generally regarded as callous, selfish, dishonest, arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, and irresponsible. Despite those traits, psychopaths are often superficially charming and can be highly adept at manipulation. Non-duality is about diagnosing such pathologies and offering the Ultimate Medicine to treat them. In that regard, this exchange was shared at the beginning of this series:
QUESTION: "Do you offer the more "positive" spin (like ... Understanding-Freedom-Peace-Happiness) or the "negative" spin (like ... the end of seeking-suffering-doubt)?"
F.: Here, the Ultimate Medicine for the Ultimate Sickness is offered. As with a doctor or psychologist, for example, the patient / client / seeker must be subjected to a diagnosis that reveals the unhealthy elements that are present but that have not yet been totally identified (suffering, misery, doubt, instability, etc.) before there can be a willingness to accept the treatment (Understanding - the unteachings - the seven step "path" / process) so that healthiness can exist (marked by freedom - peace - happiness - stability).
To that end, pathology (just like non-duality) is involved with the diagnosis and investigation of any deviation from a healthy or normal condition, especially an unhealthy and abnormal condition of "the mind."
Yesterday, some of the deviations from normalcy that are rooted in the religiously-and-or-spiritually-inspired pathologies that result from belief in an external locus of control were discussed, including the fact that:
1. persons will function in the same external-locus-of-control-inspired manner (that is, in the same dysfunctional fashion) in all of their "relative relationships" as happens in all of their "magical relationships"; including the fact that
2. when persons believe in an illusion - such as an external locus of control - they take non-Reality and then overlay it on the relative, moving them farther and farther away from Reality and reality; and including the fact that
3. pathologically-based craziness (including the craziness of believing in an external locus of control) will generate insanity in all aspects of one's relative existence; and the fact that, when lost in their religious or spiritual pathologies,
4. persons will allow mirages (that is, dreamed up, conceptualized entities) to determine how they feel; will allow mirages to give them false hope; will co-dependently allow mirages to make them happy at times but angry or "pissed" at other times, thereby becoming another source of instability; and will (supposedly) allow mirages to determine everything they think and feel and say and do.
The irony is that the psychopaths who are of the variety that believe in external loci of control have accepted the widespread distortions of their cultures which have been reinforced by a multi-thousand-year-history of their cultures' fantasies and myths and superstitions having been repeated and passed down as "the ultimate truth";
therefore, they are so far removed from Reality (and from their own "relative reality") that they cannot see that they lack empathy and remorse and that they are generally callous, selfish, dishonest, arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, and irresponsible. They see themselves as the opposite of each of those because another trait of psychopaths is that their minds warp reality by 180-degrees.
While Everett E. Allie's teaching are not listed as "non-duality," they certainly mirror the Advaitin's understanding. Allie has studied psychopathic behavior and its results, including "social dysfunction," "the pathology that results from cultural delusion," "the pathology of religion," and what he calls "tyranny by delusion," summarized thusly:
A lie is like a little germ
(So small and unassuming);
Yet, swallowed, it becomes disease
That can be all-consuming.
Regarding this earlier pointer ...(So small and unassuming);
Yet, swallowed, it becomes disease
That can be all-consuming.
The irony is that the psychopaths who are of the variety that believe in external loci of control have accepted the widespread distortions of their cultures which have been reinforced by a multi-thousand-year-history of their cultures' fantasies and myths and superstitions having been repeated and passed down as "the ultimate truth"; therefore, they are far removed from Reality (and from their own "relative reality") ...
Allie adumbrates the non-duality teachings that have been offered by sages for thousands of years. Yesterday, this pointer was offered:
So much for, "Well, what does it hurt to believe in things that are unreal if people think their belief is helping them?"
Allie says of such belief in things unreal:
"Fantasies have consequences that threaten the individual, every nation and the species itself. These falsehoods provide the roots of endless misdirection and strife. They, together with the ignorance that invariably attends them, are the inevitable outgrowth of a fundamental conceptual pathogen underlying virtually all social problems and human conflict. This fundamental pathogenic concept [is] common when consciousness and conceptualization merge."
That is exactly the point of yesterday's discussion of the pathology that results when persons believe in an external locus of control and is exactly the pointer offered in this regard by any Realized teacher: when "consciousness and concepts" become merged as a result of programming, conditioning, acculturation, and domestication and brainwashing, then "pathogenic," pathological, psychopathic behaviors will follow.
Allie continued: "Ignorance insures a delusional basis which distorts all subsequent perception and reasoning, resulting in a degenerative syndrome of belief-ignorance, the instillation of individual, mental pathology.
"Examine any functional problem in depth, individual or social, and you will quickly encounter misdirection based on defective premises. False premises result in both destructive activity and defective social systems. Falsehoods cause us to look at our world from a distorted perspective, and strongly influence the decisions we make, blunting lives and generating social strife.
See, the false premise in this discussion is: "There is an external locus of control, a Power that I can tap into and thereby have the power to control people, places and things as well as earn rewards both now and later as well as avoid punishment now and later."
Even more pathological than that belief, though, is the act of clinging to that nonsensical belief while ignoring all of the evidence which shows that either
(A) no such power or Power exists
or
(B) that if such a power or Power does exists, then it is plagued with this dualistic contradiction: that the power / Power is actually powerless ... powerless to stop murder and killing and war and genocide and natural disasters and misery and suffering
or
(C) even worse, if that power / Power does exist and is powerful enough to stop murder and killing and war and genocide and natural disasters and misery and suffering but refuses to do so, then that power / Power is pathological as well.
Of course, all such notions about an external locus of control amount to what Realized teachers call, "one's accumulated knowledge" (a.k.a., "learned ignorance").
Allie: "Virtually all human behavior is learned. More than any other factor, human behavior reflects concepts and cultural tenets that have become internalized, be they truth or fallacy. Where they reflect reality, these ideas support individual and social effectiveness. Where they do not reflect reality, they invariably generate problems."
That last statement captures the very essence of the non-duality teachings when they address the roots of relative problems and the misery and suffering that they generate.
Allie also notes that "anything that has been internalized by the individual as its 'subjective reality' [which is the case when there is a belief in an external locus of control] becomes part of that person's controlling cognizance. It determines behavior."
Imagine the level of insanity involved when that happens, when "subjective reality" (this is, when a not-real version of reality which is the direct opposite of "objective, actual Reality") "controls" persons and "determines behavior." The act of being controlled by - and having one's behavior determined by - one's false "subjective reality" results in what Maharaj spoke of, namely, "stupidity, verging on insanity." He suggested that the non-duality teachings can often address both.
Next, it was in yesterday's post that reference was made to "cognitive dissonance, duality, and Borderline Personality Disorder." At the core of the non-duality teachings is the invitation to recognize the existence of cognitive dissonance and then be rid of it. The study of cognitive dissonance - which was the focus of all of Maharaj's teachings - deals with the discomfort and misery and suffering that are caused by simultaneously holding conflicting (dualistic) ideas and beliefs and values and concepts along with contradictory (dualistic) notions that are rooted in emotional intoxication.
Most persons deny their discomfort and misery and suffering, so they will never understand
(1) the actual source of their discomfort and misery and suffering and
(2) how to alleviate all of that
because most will never take the steps required to find one that can offer the proper diagnosis (and proper treatment for) what ails them. Regarding cognizance, Allie said:
"One of the strongest human drives is that for conscious integration of one's cognizance. In other words, the individual has an internal imperative to rationalize anything and everything he or she thinks or does. This drive is so strong that a person cannot live with a conscious recognition of a contradiction.
Thus, these types of psychopaths being discussed here will not see the contraction in their belief that "There is an external locus of control that is all-powerful, but that power / Power would rather grant to insane and cruel persons that Power's gift of 'free will' rather than exercise its power to intervene and rather than use its power to stop widespread murder and killing and war and genocide and natural disasters and misery and suffering." Talk about unrecognized distortion.
Allie: "The internal imperative causes an individual to distort both perception and reasoning in order to maintain a perceived unity of cognizance. The driving force is one's emotions, which will support and defend any internalized cognizance.
"In other words, false concepts literally generate 'insanity', a departure from being able to distinguish between the real and the imagined. When the very foundation of one's reasoning springs from instilled beliefs in myth, magic and a supernatural omnipotent 'Authority', that individual is literally insane in large areas of his or her reasoning and behavior.
"The dysfunction of belief issues from two resulting pathologies: misdirection and ignorance. The individual always follows its own internalized program, what has been internalized as one's 'subjective reality'. The more delusion, the more misdirection and ignorance. Maintaining existing cognizance is one of the individual's strongest drives, often over that of life itself.
"Over life itself"? Yes. When driven by such "misdirection and ignorance," then of course the fanatics who also believe in - and are faithful to - even the most cold-blooded and ruthless versions of the various external loci of control that psychopaths believe in and worship, those psychopaths will gladly kill others (and even themselves) in the name of their external locus.
Allie: "In order to maintain the internalized delusions, any reciprocal realities must be blocked and evaded. Such behavior is fueled subconsciously, the individual not even conscious of the desperate drives and distortions at work. Religious belief is invariably the greatest barrier to learning, constituting cognitive autism. It is used as the predominate tool for maintaining authoritarian control over populations and preventing reasoning, the latter needed to blind the individual to the pathologies of autocratic governing, which feeds on the problems it generates.
"Every conflict, every disagreement, every war, has its roots, directly or indirectly, in religious belief. Nor does the individual have to hold religious belief to be pathologically affected by the foundation religions. The reasoning and rationale for any given society have been shaped by the foundation tenets of some religion or combination of religions. The lies every population is living affects all."
Past posts on this site have also noted the role that "-ism's" play in disseminating falsehoods and contributing to cognitive dissonance and insanity. Allie said:
"The fantasies we deal with here are the natural outgrowth of emerging intelligent life and have their origins in the myths and delusions of primitive peoples. These ideas are alive and thriving within modern societies, transmitted and perpetuated by the institutions of our respective cultures"
and
"These are the fantasies and delusions that the institutions of our various cultures foist upon us and which we are taught to believe, act upon, preserve, and perpetuate. We are born into systems of myth, fantasy and shifting delusion, embracing them as our own, because we know none other"
and
"For those of us who have enough rationality to reject the 'God' myth, we should be ever aware of how our cultures have infected us with trust in their pathogenic institutions. Within the technological societies, key among these are law, political science, theoretical science, and of course, any religion. Each of these areas is rife with misconception and misdirection. Each should be evaded as a source of effective social function. Our institutions are not purveyors of truth. We should first and always reach for objective truth."
It was for that reason that Maharaj offered the following:
"When I speak of transcending, I refer to the fact that you must transcend all body identity, all mind identity, and now ... all religious or spiritual personalities as well."
"'Spirituality' is merely understanding that (1) a spontaneous play is happening, (2) recognizing the play is a fraud, and then (3) finding the basis of the play."
"I got involved in spirituality, in the business of spirituality, [but] finally I lost that love of the Self
"The sum total of my spirituality now is nothing. Even that word 'nothing' is not there, so there is no spirituality left."
"Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion. All this is happening in the objective world. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud."
"Those who know only scriptures know nothing."
"In the course of your study of spirituality, you have acquired many concepts and you call that 'knowledge'. Throw out your concepts."
"Whatever you think of as 'spiritual knowledge' was gained in the realm of consciousness; such knowledge is merely a burden upon your head and it is going to add more misery. It is nothing more than spiritual jargon."
"Spiritual knowledge should not be studied."
"Forget spirituality."
"Just give up spirituality."
"Subsequent to that 'I Am' and body-mind, and in the realm of the mind, there occurs what you call 'spiritual seeking', or 'spiritual knowledge'. This is nonsense."
"I appeal to you with my folded hands: don't get into this spirituality."
"The sum total of my spirituality now is nothing. Even that word 'nothing' is not there, so there is no spirituality left."
“When the birth is disproved, the great noble meaning of spirituality and the meaning of this world—everything—is disproved.”
“From the Absolute no-knowing state, spontaneously, this consciousness ‘I am’ has appeared—there is no reason, no cause.”
"There is no such thing as spirituality; whatever is, is only this worldly life, in the five-elemental play."
"Those who have apperceived my knowledge will not fall prey to the logic or spirituality expounded by others."
"I got involved in spirituality, in the business of spirituality, [but] finally I lost that love of the Self also. I have no more love for the Self."
"Do your normal duties" and "just give up spirituality."
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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The Relative Results of Returning to "The Child Ignorance Stage" or "The Child No-Knowing State"
The Relative Results of Returning to "The Child Ignorance Stage" or "The Child No-Knowing State"
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the US, the UK, GERMANY, FRANCE, ITALY and SPAIN:
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(QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)
(QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)
(Note: Contrary to what you might read, every quote in this book is identified by its author or speaker)The work contains quotations and pointers not only from scores of non-duality books and talks but also offers non-duality pointers that have appeared in works of non-fiction, fiction, classic literature, and movies.
The book include the following:
The offering of non-duality quotations and pointers by category and subject matter but from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj exclusively.
Quotations and pointers from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj that discuss nisarga yoga and nisarga living.
Quotations that other seekers / readers have indicated that they found to be significant.
A section with an arrangement of non-duality quotations and pointers by category and subject matter. The rationale: when offering non-duality quotations, some collections provide key pointers that are offered in no particular order, but here the approach is to group pointers according to subject matter so that a seeker dealing with "body identification issues" can find quotations addressing body identity while a seeker dealing with "being free of the influence of the mind" can find quotations and pointers that offer information on that topic. Other subjects in this part of the book include personality, the child ignorance or no-knowing stage, the two types of witnessing, the Absolute, the Void or the Nothingness, and many more.
Miscellaneous non-duality quotations and pointers which are relevant to Advaitins and that have been offered by philosophers and sages and seers of truth from various periods, including Plato, St. Francis of Assisi, Desiderius Erasmus, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Richard E. Lingenfelter; Robert Burton, Daniel H. Boorstin, Gary Zukav, E. Bayda, Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Brad Thor, Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr.; Nelson Mandela, Immanuel Kant, Bruce Lipton, Clive Cussler, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Lewis Thomas, Max Planck, Heinrich Hertz; the bands "Pink Floyd" and "The Beatles"; and others.
Non-duality pointers that have appeared in the non-fiction writings of Ralph Klein and in the works of such scientists as Barbara McClintock, Erwin Schrodinger, Fritjof Capra, Niels Bohr, David Bohm, Neil deGrasse Tyson. Also, there are selections from the works of Marvin Kaye, S.H. Sharp, Paul Krassner, Ken Kesey, Russell Brand, G.I. Gurdjieff; and a variety of examples of the non-duality messages that are contained in the body of Native American wisdom as well as non-duality pointers that can be found in the book "ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS" (a.k.a., "the A.A. Big Book").
An offering of non-duality messages that have appeared in the fictional works of Jack Kerouac, Michael Connelly, Mary Shelley, Victor Hugo, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Abraham "Bram" Stoker and others as well as quotations with the non-duality message as offered in film with a list of over thirty movies that are based in non-duality, including The Matrix (Part One), The 13th Floor, Inception, The Truman Show, Dark City, Existenz, Avatar, and many more.
Click to purchase
( QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)
ALSO AVAILABLE AT AMAZON
in
the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, and Italy
this new release:
FREEDOM FROM BELIEFS
(Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")
For those seeking the full explanation of the topics addressed on this site: there are non-duality books offered below as well as retreats and Skype or telephone sessions available at Floyd Henderson's Website
The full explanations are also available in the books in the author's collection that explain in detail all of the non-duality, nisarga teachings offered here:
1. Most non-duality books below are available through Amazon.com.
2. Read Kindle books on your own device by downloading a free app.
The full explanations are also available in the books in the author's collection that explain in detail all of the non-duality, nisarga teachings offered here:
1. Most non-duality books below are available through Amazon.com.
2. Read Kindle books on your own device by downloading a free app.
The available books are arranged on the carousels below. Use the arrows to move each book to the forefront; then, you may click on any book that you might be interested in to find more information or to purchase.
THE ADVANCED SEEKERS' SERIES
From the I to the Absolute
Consciousness / Awareness
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
The Final Understanding
The Advanced Seekers' Series in paperback
The Two Meditation Guides
From the I to the Absolute
Consciousness / Awareness
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
The Final Understanding
The Advanced Seekers' Series in paperback
The Two Meditation Guides
The BLISSFUL ABIDANCE SERIES, PART ONE
What BLISS Is and What BLISS Is Not
Why You Must Be Empty If You Would Be Full
When Reality Is Overlaid Upon the Relative
Freedom from Shifting Between States of Happiness and Unhappiness
Liberation
The Blissful Abidance Series (6 books) in paperback
What BLISS Is and What BLISS Is Not
Why You Must Be Empty If You Would Be Full
When Reality Is Overlaid Upon the Relative
Freedom from Shifting Between States of Happiness and Unhappiness
Liberation
The Blissful Abidance Series (6 books) in paperback
The ADVAITINS Collection
with THE SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ SERIES, including:
(1) Why NISARGA YOGA in addition to the ADVAITA TEACHING?
(2) Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and His Evolution
(3) A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
(4) Going Crazy / Going Sane
(5) The Final Fifteen Topics Discussed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
and
(6) The Non-Duality Pointers Offered by YESHU'A ("Jesus the Christ")
(7) William Shakespeare the Advaitin
with THE SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ SERIES, including:
(1) Why NISARGA YOGA in addition to the ADVAITA TEACHING?
(2) Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and His Evolution
(3) A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
(4) Going Crazy / Going Sane
(5) The Final Fifteen Topics Discussed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
and
(6) The Non-Duality Pointers Offered by YESHU'A ("Jesus the Christ")
(7) William Shakespeare the Advaitin
(8) The "Final" Talks of Floyd Henderson
(9) QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)
The BLISSFUL ABIDANCE SERIES, PART TWO
Overcoming the Fear of Being Totally Independent
I AM THAT (vs. "This Is Who I Think I Am")
The Essence of the Teachings
The Relative Results of Returning to "The Child Ignorance Stage" or "The Child No-Knowing State"
There Is Nothing That Is Personal (Including You and Including God)
Lessons in Non-Duality from Travels in South Africa
The Path to Freedom vs. the Path to Misery
Overcoming the Fear of Being Totally Independent
I AM THAT (vs. "This Is Who I Think I Am")
The Essence of the Teachings
The Relative Results of Returning to "The Child Ignorance Stage" or "The Child No-Knowing State"
There Is Nothing That Is Personal (Including You and Including God)
Lessons in Non-Duality from Travels in South Africa
The Path to Freedom vs. the Path to Misery
The FREEDOM FROM THE MIND Series
Instability / Insanity: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot) Address
PROGRAMMING, CONDITIONING, DOMESTICATION, AND ACCULTURATION
Your Original Nature
The Ultimate Sickness, The Ultimate Medicine
Going Crazy / Going Sane
There's No Such Thing As "Peace of Mind" (There Is Only Peace If You're Out of Your Mind)
Freedom from Beliefs (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")
Dancing Lightly
Instability / Insanity: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot) Address
PROGRAMMING, CONDITIONING, DOMESTICATION, AND ACCULTURATION
Your Original Nature
The Ultimate Sickness, The Ultimate Medicine
Going Crazy / Going Sane
There's No Such Thing As "Peace of Mind" (There Is Only Peace If You're Out of Your Mind)
Freedom from Beliefs (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")
Dancing Lightly
RECOVERY LITERATURE, the RELATIONSHIP books
A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Realization [Kindle]
A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Realization [Paperback]
A Guide for Working the Twelve Steps (In the Manner Used by the Founders)
The Twelve Steps and Advaita / Non-Duality: A 21-Day Plan for a Psychic Change
Finding Real Love in An Unreal World
Casting Light on the Dark Side of Relationships
A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Realization [Kindle]
A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Realization [Paperback]
A Guide for Working the Twelve Steps (In the Manner Used by the Founders)
The Twelve Steps and Advaita / Non-Duality: A 21-Day Plan for a Psychic Change
Finding Real Love in An Unreal World
Casting Light on the Dark Side of Relationships
The NO DEATH books, NON-DUALITY IN FICTION, FINANCIAL SANITY
The Myth of Death
What Happens When I Die?
The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders (Non-Duality) [Kindle]
The Board of Directors of Wars (Non-Duality) [Kindle]
The Board of Directors of Wars (Non-Duality) [Paperback]
Living Within Your Means
How Your Personality Type Shapes Your Spending Habits
The Myth of Death
What Happens When I Die?
The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders (Non-Duality) [Kindle]
The Board of Directors of Wars (Non-Duality) [Kindle]
The Board of Directors of Wars (Non-Duality) [Paperback]
Living Within Your Means
How Your Personality Type Shapes Your Spending Habits
NON-DUALITY BOOKS, EACH CONTAINING A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING ONE OF THE SEVEN STEPS ON THE PATH TO REALIZATION
FOR THOSE WHO PREFER PAPERBACK, THE FOLLOWING PAPERBACK BOOKS ARE ON SALE NOW
(Click the pictures for information on the paperback versions)
(Click the pictures for information on the paperback versions)
(FOUR BOOKS IN ONE)
(SIX BOOKS IN ONE)
FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION
An online Advaita Internet Course is offered here. The price of the course includes the four Advaita eBooks used as the texts; questions sent after completion of the assigned readings; replies to your answers; and follow-up as required.
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. To get started now now, click the pay button below and receive the $365 course for a discounted price of $325.00.
Purchase at Discount the Advaita Internet Course with Floyd
by
Clicking the Buy Now Button below:
Or, if you prefer, begin by arranging a one-hour Advaita session via Skype with Floyd:
Next, you can now 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).
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. To get started now now, click the pay button below and receive the $365 course for a discounted price of $325.00.
Purchase at Discount the Advaita Internet Course with Floyd
by
Clicking the Buy Now Button below:
Or, if you prefer, begin by arranging a one-hour Advaita session via Skype with Floyd:
Next, you can now 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, Seven-Hour Video (DVD) Set of an advaita retreat, or the downloadable file version. To find out more or to purchase the DVD or downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
International buyers: note the separate option for those outside the continental U.S.
2. BY READING the explanations offered in the collection of non-duality books that are available on this site.
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 information or use the link below to pay for your first Advaita session.
You may click the BUY NOW button below to begin arrangements for your first Advaita session with Floyd via Skype and he will contact you to schedule:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:
1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk, Seven-Hour Video (DVD) Set of an advaita retreat, or the downloadable file version. To find out more or to purchase the DVD or downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
International buyers: note the separate option for those outside the continental U.S.
2. BY READING the explanations offered in the collection of non-duality books that are available on this site.
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 information or use the link below to pay for your first Advaita session.
You may click the BUY NOW button below to begin arrangements for your first Advaita session with Floyd via Skype and he will contact you to schedule:
