Advaita Vedanta: There Is No God Who Is In the Business of Messing Up "Minds" or Repairing "Minds," Part Ten

Sunday, April 07, 2013

There Is No God Who Is In the Business of Messing Up "Minds" or Repairing "Minds," Part Ten

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Today's "DAILY CONSIDERATION" for You

F.: The author of the book discussed earlier in this series wrote that, when people looked thoroughly and honestly, "the first thing apparent was that this world and its people were often quite wrong." He knew, as Maharaj did, that the main problem with persons - all persons - centers in the mind.

Search the internet for "peace of mind" and you'll get over 236,000,000 hits, which in itself reveals several key points to understand:

1. Millions if not billions of persons are searching for peace of mind;

2. they think that the solution to their mind problem can be address with their minds (as if bone cancer can heal bone cancer);

3. they obviously believe, since they are searching for "peace of mind," that there is such a thing; and what they do not know is that

4. there's no such thing as "peace of mind" and that there is only peace if you are out of your mind. (See the ebook below with that title for the full discussion).

That means that peace can only come when one is no longer driven by the false-belief, nonsensical content of the mind.

Maharaj saw the dualistic paradoxes of all non-Realized persons with their mind-centered problems, one being that they try to address their mind-centered problems and their mind-driven existence with ... their minds.

They love the content of their minds, and like arrogant spouses who believe that they are always right and that their mates are causing 100% of the problems in their relationship, the arrogant mind works the same way.

The last thing that a mind can conclude is that it is wrong ... that it is the problem. The mind is forever looking outside itself to find the cause of discontentment and pain and misery and suffering, blaming everything but the actual source: the mind itself.

Being the storehouse of dualistic beliefs (and, therefore, being the source of one paradox after another), then the result is this:

There is the paradox of ignorance, namely that the ignorant do not know that they are ignorant, and if they do happen to become aware of that condition, many flaunt their ignorance, wearing it as proudly as soldiers wear medals on their chest to separate themselves from those with fewer medals.

Those walking and talking in their sleep have no idea that they are asleep.

Those living in the dream of the planet are certain that they are awake.

And the insane do not know that they are insane.

They do not know that they are retreating even as they are certain that they are moving forward, succeeding, accomplishing, convinced that they are "normal." To that end, consider Mary's plight.

Mary (her real name) is institutionalized in New York City. Born in the early 50's, she has been in what some call "a mental hospital" since the early 1970's.

The "manifestation of Mary" in the 1950's brought with it a perfectly normal brain; in fact, it was considered to be "above normal" in terms of IQ. Of course her brain was formed with the sections that are required to store and retrieve information ... sections which - once filled - would be called "her mind."

But in the beginning, there was no mind to the degree that she had been taught nothing during the Child No-Knowing Stage. Oh yes, there were archetypal messages from day one, messages transmitted genetically via thousands of generations of those who would be deemed her "ancestors."

So, she would jump if someone created a loud noise near her face or ears; she would avoid bright lights if possible; she would rest rather than feel as if she were driven to go and do and zoom. That feeling would come later.

Those who knew her would report that Mary was normal early on, but her environment was not. Much to the chagrin of those who hear this pointer, there is no sane environment in which children are "raised" nowadays; hence, the formation of personality early on. Personality is merely a tool that children use unconsciously to try to survive in the totally-dysfunctional families which are the abnormal norm nowadays.

(All families are dysfunctional? Really? Yes, really. It goes like this: if there is no dysfunctionalism, then there will be no personality. But is there anyone that has no personality, no assigned ego-states, no adopted roles? No; thus, there is the clear evidence of the all-pervasive dysfunctionalism in families which every child must try to deal with.)

Mary from the ages of 0-5 did pretty much what most pre-school girls do; from the ages of 6-12, she did pretty much what most elementary-age girls do; and from the ages of 13-18, she did pretty what most high-school age girls do.

And by the end of high school, she found herself reflecting on the boys and men she had met (and "The One" she did not meet). She also reflected on the fact that she no longer had either parent in her life, both having left her years before. And she reflected on the fact that she had no other relatives or friends, either.

Any early and brief periods of joy had given way to adolescent shyness and insecurity and instability and angst and uncertainty and doubt and fear and unmet desires. And all of that was rooted in personality, of course.

Along the way, Mary experienced plenty of traumatic events, but fewer than some and more than only a few. Yet what she experienced during those years took a toll, and Mary reached a point where, by the age of twenty, the relative existence had already lost its appeal.

Personality issues and chemical imbalances and dietary deficiencies - all of which are experienced by all - took a greater than usual toll on Mary because she had not been totally desensitized, though she could well have been, understandably. By twenty, she had already felt more, hurt more, and suffered more than most would because most her age had already been lulled to sleep 24/7.

In Mary's case, it was the laughter that went first; then whatever slight touch of lightness that might seem to have been revealed by an occasional, tenuous smile was really nothing more than a false reflection from a heart that was growing increasingly dark.

She did consider suicide, but being the non-violent type, she did not choose to escape via that method, even though the relative existence no longer had any appeal at all. With little evidence of the Addictive Personality Disorder, she did not use drugs or alcohol or shopping or work or sex or "love" or chaos or control to try to escape. Instead, she merely retreated. See, now? That is what insanity is, among other things: a retreat. And to where did Mary retreat?

Because what she had been programmed to believe was "this world" (and because "this world" was a place of misery and suffering for her) she retreated to "another world," to one conceptualized within her mind. Eventually, it was via the mind itself that Mary left "this world" permanently to reside in "that world" for the remainder of the manifestation.

Again, it is always the case with non-Realized humans that the main problem does truly center in the mind, and as one Norwegian writer explains it, that movement from "here" to "there" allows people like Mary to go mentally to "a place where one can entrench oneself anew."

(Spiritual Giants do the same as Mary. They retreat from the realities of the relative. Seekers who claim to be Fully Realized and abiding as THAT, while having discounted the Is-ness completely, do the same as Mary. And they are as unaware of what they are doing as Mary is. The difference between the actually Realized vs. the not-actually Realized is that those who claim that they are abiding only as THAT - instead of overlaying that Reality on the relative - are "entrenching" themselves there rather than engaging fully and sanely and logically in the relative even while functioning as the Original Nature of Awareness.)

Where once Mary had sought, earnestly sought, a sense of lightness, now she really did begin to experience a sensation of floating along, but not in the fashion of a leaf on the surface of moving water that simply goes with the flow.

No, her sense of floating was a result of being out of touch, and not just out of touch with Reality but out of touch with reality, with what was happening during the relative existence. (Again, Spiritual Giants do the same as Mary; those who now claim to be only THAT do the same as Mary.)

So this morning, like every morning for the last four decades or so, an attendant entered Mary's room and helped her rise from her bed. The attendant helped her bathe or shower or take a sponge bath, after which the attendant helped Mary dress. Then Mary was marched to a hallway and stood in the queue that leads to a Dutch door and a pharmacy. All the while, Mary did not speak a single word.

There, the attendant raised Mary's arm and allowed the woman dispensing legal drugs to scan Mary's barcode information into the computer system. Mary was watched closely to be sure that she actually swallowed her meds. Then, she was led to the dining hall in the hospital.

There she was seated, and the attendant slid her barcode bracelet from her too-thin wrist and walked the serving line for Mary, gathering this and that breakfast food and placing it on a tray and then allowing Mary's barcode to be scanned at the end of the line.

Afterwards, Mary's tray was taken to the long table where she and her fellows were seated and she was fed a few bites of food. She might have taken a sip of water or milk through a straw, but more often a small glass is held to her lips until she gives up her resistance and spreads open her lips and take a few drops of liquid.

Then, Mary rose with some assistance and walked with some assistance to one of the casements that allows her to look out on a not-especially-pretty section of New York City that can be seen from the upper floor window of the hospital. A chair was slide over near her so she can sit if she so chooses. But she never so chooses. At this very moment, Mary is standing at that window and looking out, and that will continue until an attendant comes to her fifteen minutes before lunch is to be served.

So far, Mary's case might seem extreme to some visitors reading this post, and while there will be no argument here about that, the fact is that her state is not rare on planet earth. It is the typical human condition among the non-Realized around the globe.

The only difference is that the system found Mary. Unlike Mary, most of the billions who are also sleepwalking through life and who are also insane to one degree or another are nevertheless roaming about freely because they have not been found out. They are almost as catatonic and almost as dissociated as Mary in their own non-Realized, Ultimately Sick way, but they have not been entered into the system.

A few might find The Understanding via non-duality; for those few, sanity might be reinstated. For some, Advaita cannot provide the Ultimate Medicine now, but they might be ready for that treatment at some point in the future. But for most, no. Their condition will remain as it is, or worsen.

And they are the ones included in the hundreds of sets of "ten million" that Maharaj referred to who will never Realize and who will remain in ignorance or will remain insane.

They will walk about in their sleep but will appear to be awake. They will strut across the stage of "The Theatre of the Lie" and will play the roles that they have been assigned or that they have assumed. And, like Mary, they will not have the slightest clue that they are totally out of touch with reality and Reality.

As for Mary, more on her tomorrow. (There will be a pause at some point to travel to Austin to assist my daughter who is recovering from a tonsillectomy.)

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

A Non-Duality Online Course is currently available at a reduced rate. See above for details.

[Received from Mac, 10/17/12]: "Glad to see the online teaching offered at a discount. Hopefully, more who are ready will be able to take the course. For me, the course was the beginning of the unlearning that led to the trip to the lake for a retreat and the understanding."

SHIFTING THE FOCUS FROM THAT WHICH DOES NOT WORK TO THAT WHICH DOES, Part One
A "movement" or "shift" happened here that added another parallel to the many parallels in terms of the phenomenal "experiences" and the noumenal revelations that "Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj" and "Floyd" share in common. (Many visitors over the years have said that they also shared the same parallels with "Maharaj" and "Floyd" as well.) In the case of "Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj" and "Floyd": 1. both grew up in very poor families 2. both moved to populated areas to seek employment opportunities 3. both exhibited business skills that led to their opening and operating many businesses and to their having a large number of employees working for them 4. both succeeded financially 5. both became attached to accumulating; 6. both married and had a family 7. both were initially religious 8. both moved away from organized religion and became interested in "spiritual" matters, finding and following the teachings of a big name teacher (or, in "Floyd's" case, many big name teachers) 9. both had highly religious wives who were quite displeased with the shift away from religion and toward "spirituality" 10. both began to feel empty in spite of all of their "spiritual seeking" and in spite of all of their accumulated "spiritual knowledge";
11. both began to de-accumulate after both saw that they could survive quite well on a fraction of the income they had been making 12. both had wives who were unhappy when the de-accumulation stage was entered and both had wives who became unhappy about their husbands' focus on non-duality and who blamed their unhappiness on no longer having a religious husband (The facts be known, in both cases the unhappiness involved the fact that their husbands were no longer interested in - or willing - to work 80+ hours per week and that their husbands were no longer interested in accumulating wealth and possessions and providing the rich lifestyle to which their wives had grown accustomed) 13. both eventually came to see that the religious and spiritual states were also ego-states, and both saw that there are far more steps on the "path" to complete after reaching the religious and spiritual steps and after playing those roles which are the third of seven steps on the entire "path" 14. both "lost" their wives (one via "death," the other through divorce) 15. both accelerated their seeking;

16. both entered into the "forest dweller stage" 17. both Realized 18. both began to de-accumulate even more 19. both began sharing the teachings 20. for years, both answered questions in whatever order those questions were received, though both said that the movement from identification with the false "I" / "I's" involved an exact, step-wise manner of moving along a "path" that involved "going back" in the same (but reverse order) of the way they "came in" - that is, the way that the manifestation happened and the way that the consciousness was blocked through seven stages that resulted in their becoming identified solely with their false personas, with the content of the "mind," and eventually, with the body. But the most significant awareness that finally came to both after years of offering satsang and after having answered thousands and thousands of questions was this: After years of "Maharaj" offering satsang in his loft, and after years of "Floyd" offering satsang in meeting halls and in his home and via what one site visitor called "Floyd's electronic loft," this fact became obvious to both: "Maharaj" came to see in the 1970's and into 1980 and 1981 that his approach was not working and "Floyd" finally came to see the same.

21. Both saw that many who heard the teachings are not going to understand (Maharaj reporting that "only 1 in 100,000 are going to 'get' this" understanding) 22. both soon saw that even more than expected of those who heard the teachings were not going to understand (Maharaj modifying his "guesstimate" and reporting that "only 1 in 1,000,000 are going to 'get' this" understanding) 23. eventually both saw that even far more than expected of those who heard the teachings were not going to understand (Maharaj eventually concluding that "only 1 in 10,000,000 are going to 'get' this" understanding). And the failings were not the fault of seekers. A "one -in-ten-million" estimate is proof that satsang was not working for most seekers, and the evidence here lately is proof of the same.

Both "Maharaj" and "Floyd" invited seekers to focus on the exact, step-wise "path." Yes, during satsang, "Maharaj" sometimes alluded to the steps while discussing them in no particular order - but he never once laid out the steps in the exact order in which they had to be completed. That was not his teachings style or approach.

Therefore, another movement or shift is happening here spontaneously after reflecting on the more than two decades since the teachings were first offered here and looking at the results of Maharaj sharing pointers in his loft and looking at the results of "Floyd" sharing pointers in this electronic loft: Looking objectively at his results, Maharaj's satsang method of sharing - in the end and by his own admission (only "one out of 10,000,000") - did not produce the intended outcome.

Looking objectively at the results here when using an "electronic loft" satsang method of sharing has not produced the intended outcome nearly as often as any of the three "face-to-face" methods used with seekers by which they have been led through the seven steps in order. Here, the body is growing older, of course. Mahasamadhi could be taken today, or it could be taken in twenty years.

Obviously, that cannot be known. But the decision here has been made that whatever amount of the relative existence remains shall be spent in sharing the teachings in the ways that have been seen over the last 20+ years to be the most effective methods.

Looking back over the list of those that have truly received the understanding, it is seen that Robert R. read all of the books, then took the online Advaita course and then completed some face-to-face Skype sessions to receive the final clarifications required. It was seen that Mac read all of the books, completed the online course, and then attended a retreat where he was guided through the seven steps. Mac said that the online course work inspired him to attend the retreat in order to be able to receive the final "pieces." It was seen that Andy Gugar, Jr. read all of the books, then came here for a retreat and was taken through the seven steps in order, and then returned once more for the final clarifications required. After reviewing the shifts that happened with him after attending two retreats, he reaffirmed this past week his commitment to helping spread the non-duality, nisarga understanding as presented here. As a result of seeing what has "worked" during the last 20+ years of sharing the non-duality understanding - and seeing what had not "worked" as well - changes will be made.

SHIFTING THE FOCUS FROM THAT WHICH DOES NOT WORK TO THAT WHICH DOES, Part Two

In "Part One," examples were given of seekers that were led to Realization not by satsang but by following the various protocols outlined farther down this page which provide the understanding in the step-wise, orderly, required fashion which moves seekers along a "path" that is as prescribed by Maharaj ... "going back" in the "reverse order" by which the consciousness manifested and became blocked.

However, conversations with some that just read the majority of the books have revealed that they certainly seem to have grasped the understanding and Realized as well. As a result of seeing what has "worked" during the last 20+ years of sharing the non-duality understanding - and seeing what has "not worked" as well - changes are being made. There are seven specific steps that happen when awareness-energy is "pulled" into a cycle of manifestation. When that energy manifests as conscious-energy, that formerly pure and unadulterated energy becomes "corrupted" (or "blocked" from seeing clearly) via programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, and brainwashing. Soon, there is a belief in the not-Real as a result of seven degrees of separation from an understanding of the Real. Using the method that was also employed by his contemporaries - a method which focused on offering non-duality pointers via satsang - Maharaj addressed questions in the order in which they were received. He might receive a question from a seeker at the third step and his reply would include what amounted to an invitation to move to the fourth step. The next question might come from a seeker at the first step, and the reply would include an invitation to move to the second step. The information offered to the second seeker would seemingly contradict what was offered to the first seeker, so visitors who have come here for decades have asked questions which showed how confused they were by the fact that Maharaj's statements to each visitor in his loft were "level-appropriate" yet were provided in no precise order, resulting in what seemed to be an inconsistent message. So the process overall was confusing in that seekers were told to follow the "path back" in the same way that they "came in," except in reverse order, but pointers were not given in a specific, step-wise order at all. Maharaj did recognize the seven steps that are taught here, but by offering the teachings in an order that was dictated by the order in which questions were received from seekers who were at different steps on the "path," the result was this: a pointer about moving beyond the fourth step might be followed by a pointer about moving beyond the first step, and that pointer might be followed by a pointer about how to move beyond the sixth step. The same was done on this site for seven years. The result is a collection of 1,800 or so essays discussing almost every non-duality topic that can be discussed, and the search button on the top right side of this page will now allow seekers with a question about a specific topic to find an explanation. That method, however, will never provide the manner in which the seven steps on the "path" must be transmitted and received in order to Realize Fully. An objective study of the history here of more than twenty years of offering non-duality pointers reveals this: seekers that were given pointers in the exact order in which they needed to receive them were the ones that Realized.

They read the books, then they completed the online course and / or completed seven Skype or telephone sessions or came here for a retreat (or watched the downloadable DVD version of an actual retreat, available below).

Some found that which they were seeking by reading the author's book that deal with non-duality subject matter. Via all of those venues, the steps are taught in their proper order. The essays available on this site will remain for those interested in searching for a discussion of a particular non-duality topic without charge, but the focus here until mahasamadhi is taken is going to be on offering the teachings in the step-wise fashion that has been seen to work.

THESE PAPERBACK BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON.COM
(Four by Floyd Henderson and two by Dennis Waite. Click the picture for more information or to order)

* * * * * * *

ALL EBOOK AND PAPERBACK VERSION OF HENDERSON'S NON-DUALITY BOOKS and RECOVERY LITERATURE and FINANCIAL BOOKS are available at

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Within minutes of purchase you can be reading any of the eBooks below on your mobile devices, including an iPhone, iPad, Android tablet, Android phone, laptop, home computer or on a Kindle reader. For Apple and Android, either download the eBook directly onto your device or email the eBook file to your mobile device and open the file from your email. For Kindles or other similar devices, use your USB cable to transfer the eBook to your reader.

FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION OF THE NON-DUALITY UNDERSTANDING, AS NOTED ABOVE, SOME SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED BY USING THE METHODS BELOW, OR A COMBINATION OF THE METHODS:

WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:

I. 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, 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.

II. BY READING the explanations offered in the collection of non-duality books that are available on this site and at www.floydhenderson.com.

III. 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

IV. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.

V. BY ARRANGING a one-hour session via Skype or telephone with Floyd. (Skype is a free service.)

Click the button to pay and you will be contacted to arrange a date and time for the call.

VI. ALL OF THE FOLLOWING BOOKS are available at

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and ALL CAN BE SENT TO FRIENDS OR FAMILY MEMBERS AS GIFTS [details at floydhenderson.com. Once on that site, click on the picture of the book you would like to send as a gift for details]

FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE: A Seven-Step Journey to the Absolute