A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: Now, more excerpts from the eBook DANCING LIGHTLY, this from the chapter “Dancing Lightly Sets the Stage for Laughter”:
A visitor said: You talked about the Dalai Lama's explanation about why Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans which, he said, involved "cosmic rebalancing" and was the fault of the negative karma of the people of New Orleans. (Damn you, karma!) So when I heard the Dalai Lama protesting the fact that the Chinese have invaded Tibet and turned it into what he called “hell on earth,” I knew exactly why that happened. Thank you for sharing the Lama's wisdom; otherwise, I might be feeling sorry for the Tibetans and never know that their present hell on earth is really just about their negative karma and "cosmic re-balancing at work."
The reply: "Now don’t you come across as quite the little rabble-rouser?! Welcome to these teachings—you’ll fit like a glove with the crowds that visit here. By the way, it’s those like you—so light on your feet—that make Me happy I’ve come to this dance."
This from the chapter "Dancing Without ‘A Dancer’":
Much has been written regarding AS IF living, living AS IF any of this is really as it appears to be or as if anything on this planet is really significant or important – cosmically speaking - but knowing it is not. From that position, husbanding or wifing can happen . . . or not; employment can happen, bill-paying can happen, dancing the Advaita dance can happen; yet it is understood that there is no husband, no wife, no employee or employer, no bill-payer, no dancer, no . . . "one" . . . only One.
Over the years, some have written or shared at times when visiting here that they finally “got it”; some wrote to advise that I would burn forever in the torturous flames of their dreamed-up hell; some wrote to say that They are having fun doing this dance with Me; a few have reported that they are now Advaitin Teachers; some said they love me; some said They Love Me; some said they hate me. So it is. Here, the dancing happens in the absence of any "Dancer," so none of those statements have any effect. If you relish the applause of the village, be prepared to accept the scorn of the town.
From the chapter “Interrupting The Dance”:
A visitor said, "I was sent by a friend who told me to read your article on death and Mumbai. I started reading that and wondered why he told me about it but when I got further into it I understood. I started feeling suicidal at Thanksgiving and with Christmas coming up because those were the first holidays since my wife left me. I read what you wrote and I am seeing that you are right. The end or “death” of my relationship with my wife seems more painful than the actual deaths of people I’ve loved. I haven’t cared about anybody else since she left except me. It’s all been about me. What you write about is pretty foreign to me but somehow I am getting out of myself at least a little bit, but I need more help. Anyway, thank you for what you wrote. It seems like maybe it has helped even if it is not the total solution."
The reply: Earlier, the pointer was offered that when the Realized “come here for a retreat or satsang, it is for entertainment . . . just a chance for pure consciousness to dance with pure consciousness . . . to dance with ItSelf.” To the suicidal writer above (who reported later that he is "doing better now") and who currently has no “partner” with which to dance, this consideration is offered: peace and happiness and even bliss can happen with the realization that one can dance the dance of joy, with or without "A Partner."
If you do not come to understand the “not-two” dance, then any pleasure derived from the “two-dance” will be inconsistent or fleeting. If you cannot enjoy the dance without “A Partner,” then you will not enjoy the limitations that will eventually manifest during a dance with a “partner”; moreover, you will miss out on the expansive lightness of dancing with “A Partner.”
In fact, never has such joy and bliss been witnessed at a dance as when an elderly woman in a corner at a wedding reception was observed while dancing slowly—without a partner—a picture of perfect contentment as she swayed slowly to the rhythms. On the floor were those persons who appeared to be dancing with “others”; in fact, much of their dancing appeared to be only about “self” rather than about being with a partner or “The Partner” or about being “together.”
That is a metaphor for so many “relationships.” On the main dance floor, there was a show of egos and egotism under way. “Individualized” and personal image-creating and image-sustaining moves were being conducted. Such has nothing to do with being “A Couple.” It has nothing to do with “togetherness” (actually the unicity). Almost all of that acting had everything to do with self. So much for the illusory, dualistic concept of “a couple” and “being together.”
Unencumbered peace and happiness, by contrast, was being experienced by that one who appeared to be “alone in the corner,” enjoying the temporary manifestation . . . exhibiting that incredible lightness when involved only with the beingness.
In the movie "Zorba the Greek," the lead character Alexis Zorba is what some would call “a non-attached loner,” described in the novel on which the movie was based as “a living heart, a large voracious mouth, a great brute soul, not yet severed from mother earth” (a.k.a., nisarga or “natural”).
Zorba, with his joyous, spontaneous manner and self-abandoned happiness that finds expression through his dancing (even sans “Partner”), provides a sharp contrast to his rigid, uptight boss who knows no joy. Exposed to Zorba’s zest, elements of the boss’s rigidity begin to fade even as “losses” happen. By the end, the boss’s severity collapses entirely after extended exposure to Zorba’s joyous nature. He finally asks Zorba, “Teach me to dance, will you?” In the final scene, sometimes Zorba dances with a “partner” and sometimes he dances without.
In the case with the "ex-husband" above, his “mind” cannot consider such a possibility as continuing to enjoy the dance even without a partner. Either way with Zorba, the joy is there. With a “partner” or without, happiness happens. In the case of that speck called “zorba”—“not yet severed from” the natural—Wisdom Is, Joy Is, Happiness Is, Love Is.
The one assuming the role of "The Ex-Husband" was invited to the dance via these teachings. It is I—the Pure Consciousness—that extends the invitation to the dance.
He was told, "You danced with what you took to be a 'partner.' Now, during this period when you mistakenly believe that you are 'alone,' you are invited to continue the dance. Merely because the one you took to be 'Your Partner' has chosen to dance with you no more, that is no reason at all for You to stop the dance. So dance.
"If You Realize, You will come to know that I can be Your Zorba. I can teach You to dance even without 'The Partner,' and by enjoying the dance even without a 'partner,' You will find that You have never been 'alone,' that You cannot be 'alone,' that You shall never be 'separated' or 'alone,' and that the dance can go on . . . with joy.
"The concepts of 'with' or 'without' be damned. You can find that happiness and peace can manifest NOW and that freedom and joy can manifest whether dancing with a 'partner' or not. Just come to the dance.
"Then, You can know that You Are Zorba and that even without a relative 'partner,' the dance can go on . . . with spontaneity, with joy, with happiness, with peace, with freedom. Dance, won’t you?"
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
13 March 2014
A visitor said: You talked about the Dalai Lama's explanation about why Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans which, he said, involved "cosmic rebalancing" and was the fault of the negative karma of the people of New Orleans. (Damn you, karma!) So when I heard the Dalai Lama protesting the fact that the Chinese have invaded Tibet and turned it into what he called “hell on earth,” I knew exactly why that happened. Thank you for sharing the Lama's wisdom; otherwise, I might be feeling sorry for the Tibetans and never know that their present hell on earth is really just about their negative karma and "cosmic re-balancing at work."
The reply: "Now don’t you come across as quite the little rabble-rouser?! Welcome to these teachings—you’ll fit like a glove with the crowds that visit here. By the way, it’s those like you—so light on your feet—that make Me happy I’ve come to this dance."
This from the chapter "Dancing Without ‘A Dancer’":
Much has been written regarding AS IF living, living AS IF any of this is really as it appears to be or as if anything on this planet is really significant or important – cosmically speaking - but knowing it is not. From that position, husbanding or wifing can happen . . . or not; employment can happen, bill-paying can happen, dancing the Advaita dance can happen; yet it is understood that there is no husband, no wife, no employee or employer, no bill-payer, no dancer, no . . . "one" . . . only One.
Over the years, some have written or shared at times when visiting here that they finally “got it”; some wrote to advise that I would burn forever in the torturous flames of their dreamed-up hell; some wrote to say that They are having fun doing this dance with Me; a few have reported that they are now Advaitin Teachers; some said they love me; some said They Love Me; some said they hate me. So it is. Here, the dancing happens in the absence of any "Dancer," so none of those statements have any effect. If you relish the applause of the village, be prepared to accept the scorn of the town.
From the chapter “Interrupting The Dance”:
A visitor said, "I was sent by a friend who told me to read your article on death and Mumbai. I started reading that and wondered why he told me about it but when I got further into it I understood. I started feeling suicidal at Thanksgiving and with Christmas coming up because those were the first holidays since my wife left me. I read what you wrote and I am seeing that you are right. The end or “death” of my relationship with my wife seems more painful than the actual deaths of people I’ve loved. I haven’t cared about anybody else since she left except me. It’s all been about me. What you write about is pretty foreign to me but somehow I am getting out of myself at least a little bit, but I need more help. Anyway, thank you for what you wrote. It seems like maybe it has helped even if it is not the total solution."
The reply: Earlier, the pointer was offered that when the Realized “come here for a retreat or satsang, it is for entertainment . . . just a chance for pure consciousness to dance with pure consciousness . . . to dance with ItSelf.” To the suicidal writer above (who reported later that he is "doing better now") and who currently has no “partner” with which to dance, this consideration is offered: peace and happiness and even bliss can happen with the realization that one can dance the dance of joy, with or without "A Partner."
If you do not come to understand the “not-two” dance, then any pleasure derived from the “two-dance” will be inconsistent or fleeting. If you cannot enjoy the dance without “A Partner,” then you will not enjoy the limitations that will eventually manifest during a dance with a “partner”; moreover, you will miss out on the expansive lightness of dancing with “A Partner.”
In fact, never has such joy and bliss been witnessed at a dance as when an elderly woman in a corner at a wedding reception was observed while dancing slowly—without a partner—a picture of perfect contentment as she swayed slowly to the rhythms. On the floor were those persons who appeared to be dancing with “others”; in fact, much of their dancing appeared to be only about “self” rather than about being with a partner or “The Partner” or about being “together.”
That is a metaphor for so many “relationships.” On the main dance floor, there was a show of egos and egotism under way. “Individualized” and personal image-creating and image-sustaining moves were being conducted. Such has nothing to do with being “A Couple.” It has nothing to do with “togetherness” (actually the unicity). Almost all of that acting had everything to do with self. So much for the illusory, dualistic concept of “a couple” and “being together.”
Unencumbered peace and happiness, by contrast, was being experienced by that one who appeared to be “alone in the corner,” enjoying the temporary manifestation . . . exhibiting that incredible lightness when involved only with the beingness.
In the movie "Zorba the Greek," the lead character Alexis Zorba is what some would call “a non-attached loner,” described in the novel on which the movie was based as “a living heart, a large voracious mouth, a great brute soul, not yet severed from mother earth” (a.k.a., nisarga or “natural”).
Zorba, with his joyous, spontaneous manner and self-abandoned happiness that finds expression through his dancing (even sans “Partner”), provides a sharp contrast to his rigid, uptight boss who knows no joy. Exposed to Zorba’s zest, elements of the boss’s rigidity begin to fade even as “losses” happen. By the end, the boss’s severity collapses entirely after extended exposure to Zorba’s joyous nature. He finally asks Zorba, “Teach me to dance, will you?” In the final scene, sometimes Zorba dances with a “partner” and sometimes he dances without.
In the case with the "ex-husband" above, his “mind” cannot consider such a possibility as continuing to enjoy the dance even without a partner. Either way with Zorba, the joy is there. With a “partner” or without, happiness happens. In the case of that speck called “zorba”—“not yet severed from” the natural—Wisdom Is, Joy Is, Happiness Is, Love Is.
The one assuming the role of "The Ex-Husband" was invited to the dance via these teachings. It is I—the Pure Consciousness—that extends the invitation to the dance.
He was told, "You danced with what you took to be a 'partner.' Now, during this period when you mistakenly believe that you are 'alone,' you are invited to continue the dance. Merely because the one you took to be 'Your Partner' has chosen to dance with you no more, that is no reason at all for You to stop the dance. So dance.
"If You Realize, You will come to know that I can be Your Zorba. I can teach You to dance even without 'The Partner,' and by enjoying the dance even without a 'partner,' You will find that You have never been 'alone,' that You cannot be 'alone,' that You shall never be 'separated' or 'alone,' and that the dance can go on . . . with joy.
"The concepts of 'with' or 'without' be damned. You can find that happiness and peace can manifest NOW and that freedom and joy can manifest whether dancing with a 'partner' or not. Just come to the dance.
"Then, You can know that You Are Zorba and that even without a relative 'partner,' the dance can go on . . . with spontaneity, with joy, with happiness, with peace, with freedom. Dance, won’t you?"
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
13 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: Now, more excerpts from the eBook DANCING LIGHTLY:
Advaitin Louise Sterling spoke of the dance in these terms: "Life in the relative unfolds spontaneously. Without the patterning of desire and fear, there is no attachment to things happening one way or another way. However, there does seem to be a strong movement towards what is SILENT, what is STILL and what is NATURAL. This silence allows a seeing with the interior eye – a dance of Love with the mystery of life expressing in this constantly changing show. This affinity to where silence and stillness are naturally present is like LOVE drawing itself to itself."
Among “advanced seekers,” there is far less use of outer resources and far more use of the inner resource (a.k.a., the inner guru) in order to understand truth, in order to become fixed in a state of non-identification, in order to bring activity and searching to an end, in order to simply enjoy the dance to whatever music they choose, and in order to live naturally and without being encumbered with doingness.
One seeker attending satsang years ago when the term "non-identification" was employed in a talk said, “Non-identification? I’ve read every transcript of every talk your teacher offered—some many times—but that’s the first time the term has really registered.”
Yes, non-identification. Be satisfied and relax into the comfort of those words that invite you to an awareness of what you are not and then take it easy. Enjoy the dance. Is it not now time to simply relax? If you do so, then the beingness for the remainder of the manifestation can still have Reality overlaid upon it. After that happens, a Show of Love can happen, and Bliss can happen, and Joy can happen, and fun can happen, and the dance can happen.
And it will all happen in a "much more wonderful" manner than ever imagined possible. Some share what has happened as a result of a certain awareness that came while reading some of the Advaita writings, but even that is mere entertainment, just a part of the dance shared here.
As Maharaj went about the process of removing the effects of conditioning, nothing about that speck appeared to be “special.” While enjoying the entertainment that resulted from the dance, his comments at times might seem to have revealed a “separatist” tone, but at the core it was all nothing more than amusement, even as pointers were being offered that could alter the relative existence for the entirety of the remaining manifestation.
Dance the dance of joy if you choose, but be not deceived that the elemental body (which results some nine months after a simple act of friction) is a result of a ménage-à-trois with you and a mate and a god. Dance the dance of happiness, but do not believe that you are dancing to music that is being provided by a celestial choir.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
12 March 2014
Advaitin Louise Sterling spoke of the dance in these terms: "Life in the relative unfolds spontaneously. Without the patterning of desire and fear, there is no attachment to things happening one way or another way. However, there does seem to be a strong movement towards what is SILENT, what is STILL and what is NATURAL. This silence allows a seeing with the interior eye – a dance of Love with the mystery of life expressing in this constantly changing show. This affinity to where silence and stillness are naturally present is like LOVE drawing itself to itself."
Among “advanced seekers,” there is far less use of outer resources and far more use of the inner resource (a.k.a., the inner guru) in order to understand truth, in order to become fixed in a state of non-identification, in order to bring activity and searching to an end, in order to simply enjoy the dance to whatever music they choose, and in order to live naturally and without being encumbered with doingness.
One seeker attending satsang years ago when the term "non-identification" was employed in a talk said, “Non-identification? I’ve read every transcript of every talk your teacher offered—some many times—but that’s the first time the term has really registered.”
Yes, non-identification. Be satisfied and relax into the comfort of those words that invite you to an awareness of what you are not and then take it easy. Enjoy the dance. Is it not now time to simply relax? If you do so, then the beingness for the remainder of the manifestation can still have Reality overlaid upon it. After that happens, a Show of Love can happen, and Bliss can happen, and Joy can happen, and fun can happen, and the dance can happen.
And it will all happen in a "much more wonderful" manner than ever imagined possible. Some share what has happened as a result of a certain awareness that came while reading some of the Advaita writings, but even that is mere entertainment, just a part of the dance shared here.
As Maharaj went about the process of removing the effects of conditioning, nothing about that speck appeared to be “special.” While enjoying the entertainment that resulted from the dance, his comments at times might seem to have revealed a “separatist” tone, but at the core it was all nothing more than amusement, even as pointers were being offered that could alter the relative existence for the entirety of the remaining manifestation.
Dance the dance of joy if you choose, but be not deceived that the elemental body (which results some nine months after a simple act of friction) is a result of a ménage-à-trois with you and a mate and a god. Dance the dance of happiness, but do not believe that you are dancing to music that is being provided by a celestial choir.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
12 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: There are all sorts of ways that a variety of persons traverse the relative existence:
some retreat into the inner darkness and droop before eventually wilting away; some wander throughout the relative existence as if lost completely; some sleepwalk through the entire event; some go and do and zoom during the entire existence; some march their way through in a stiff and rigid and inflexible fashion; some stomp and trample their way through;
some work and overwork their way through the existence, forever searching aimlessly, forever accumulating knowledge, forever seeking the next right big name teacher who will bring them that which they seek without their really even knowing what they are after at all; some tread most heavily; and a few dance lightly through the occasions and happenings of their relative existence.
Some are convinced that it is so much about “something,” and all they need to do is find that “something” in order to be happy now; or to escape a series of births and deaths and rebirths; or to earn a place in heaven instead of hell; or to gain rewards both now and later.
Few realize that it is all about nothing so they involve themselves in “much ado about nothing.” How can that be? Some ask, “Where is the proof of that, Floyd?”
The proof is this: on a grand universal scale or a small "personal" scale, one cycle applies to all, namely, from a void to a temporary interim to a void.
Understand the functioning of the cosmos, of the universe, and of all universes that have come and gone and this can be understood: from a void, a universe can manifest. As in what is called “this universe” by persons presently abiding on this third rock from the sun in this solar system, there are all kinds of things going on; eventually, one of those things will involve the sun in this solar system expanding and consuming the earth. [No need to rush about right now to wrap up your “loose ends” . . . another 7 billion years or so shall pass before that event.]
Will the fate of this universe be the same of others that have come and gone or will it be among those that continue longer than most? It matters not. The point is that there will forever be cycles that involve cycling from a void to manifestations and back to a void again.
Because persons are presently occupied with happenings that are occurring during a short, temporary interim between two everlasting voids, then it can be concluded that the short, temporary interim really is just “much ado about nothing.”
What is really nothing-nothing-nothing is mistaken for nothing-something-nothing or for nothing-something-and-something else-either-better-or-worse-later.
That is the proof that nothing involving this planet or this solar system or this universe - much less that involves “you” – matters at all. What is taken to be about “something” now will all eventually be about nothing, so look at what will happen with “you” to see the proof of the nothingness:
After an act of friction and a period of gestation, there manifested a composite unity that came to identified as “you.” Within that composite unity originally, there was a brain but no mind. After years of programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication and brainwashing and indoctrination, there came concepts and ideas and notions and perceptions / misperceptions and learned ignorance and thoughts and impressions and theories and hypotheses, and views (a.k.a., “beliefs”).
Whether one follows the “path” of Realization and discards all of those beliefs now, or whether one clings to and values those beliefs until taking mahasamadhi, each particular collection of beliefs will end at some point.
So the case is this: whether a cycle deals with a universe or with “you,” the cycle is guaranteed to follow the pattern . . .
from void to “seemingly something” to void.
If one discards all of the beliefs that warp the interim period between voids, then one can dance lightly.
For the masses who will cling to all of those beliefs that warp the interim period between voids, then they shall not dance lightly.
Instead, they shall
retreat into the inner darkness, droop and wither; or
wander about as if lost; or
sleepwalk and talk in their sleep; or
constantly go and do and zoom; or
march about, stiff and rigid and inflexible; or
stomp and trample things and people; or
become spiritual workaholics and forever search and accumulate knowledge and seek the knowledge (learned ignorance) shared by big name teachers; or
tread most heavily.
Most will never have any other options. Only a few might cross the path of one that will not try to give them more and more and more but that will take away all instead. That is what the Nisarga Yoga is about:
taking away all that has been "added" in the interim between voids and allowing all ignorance and insanity to be eliminated at the only point during the void-interim-void cycles where it can put an empirical and observable and practical end to the relative effects of ignorance and insanity, namely, NOW.
The dance is not for those burdened with heavy loads of ignorance and insanity and whose prison is located between their ears (with each belief that they hold dear forming one of the bars of their jail).
The dance is not for those who cannot move unreservedly because they have been incarcerated by their bogus beliefs.
The dance is only available to those that are free and that can move about freely – and thus joyfully and blissfully - and without restraint or attachment or limitation.
Robert De Niro advised in “Heat”: “Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat . . . .”
Grandmother’s Cherokee ancestors for centuries accumulated nothing than what could not be carried away instantly in a sack. That made their trip through the relative a rather light and simple journey for the most part.
Even during those last twenty years when I passed hours and days and weeks and months at a time with her, Grandmother would have been willing to walk out on her cabin in seconds, would have been willing to walk out on the few sparse furnishings therein in seconds, and – eventually - was willing to walk out on the relative existence in seconds.
And it was that willingness to walk out on whatever had been accumulated that provided for her the same manner of abiding that her ancestors enjoyed for centuries, burdened with nothing that could not be forfeited in an instant and thus making her trip through the relative into a rather light and simple journey.
If you were to review your relative existence honestly and objectively, has it been a heavy affair or a truly light affair, overall?
If you would change that, it might well be that a simple seven-step “path” could lead you to an alteration, to a transformation of the style of your relative existence.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
11 March 2014
some retreat into the inner darkness and droop before eventually wilting away; some wander throughout the relative existence as if lost completely; some sleepwalk through the entire event; some go and do and zoom during the entire existence; some march their way through in a stiff and rigid and inflexible fashion; some stomp and trample their way through;
some work and overwork their way through the existence, forever searching aimlessly, forever accumulating knowledge, forever seeking the next right big name teacher who will bring them that which they seek without their really even knowing what they are after at all; some tread most heavily; and a few dance lightly through the occasions and happenings of their relative existence.
Some are convinced that it is so much about “something,” and all they need to do is find that “something” in order to be happy now; or to escape a series of births and deaths and rebirths; or to earn a place in heaven instead of hell; or to gain rewards both now and later.
Few realize that it is all about nothing so they involve themselves in “much ado about nothing.” How can that be? Some ask, “Where is the proof of that, Floyd?”
The proof is this: on a grand universal scale or a small "personal" scale, one cycle applies to all, namely, from a void to a temporary interim to a void.
Understand the functioning of the cosmos, of the universe, and of all universes that have come and gone and this can be understood: from a void, a universe can manifest. As in what is called “this universe” by persons presently abiding on this third rock from the sun in this solar system, there are all kinds of things going on; eventually, one of those things will involve the sun in this solar system expanding and consuming the earth. [No need to rush about right now to wrap up your “loose ends” . . . another 7 billion years or so shall pass before that event.]
Will the fate of this universe be the same of others that have come and gone or will it be among those that continue longer than most? It matters not. The point is that there will forever be cycles that involve cycling from a void to manifestations and back to a void again.
Because persons are presently occupied with happenings that are occurring during a short, temporary interim between two everlasting voids, then it can be concluded that the short, temporary interim really is just “much ado about nothing.”
What is really nothing-nothing-nothing is mistaken for nothing-something-nothing or for nothing-something-and-something else-either-better-or-worse-later.
That is the proof that nothing involving this planet or this solar system or this universe - much less that involves “you” – matters at all. What is taken to be about “something” now will all eventually be about nothing, so look at what will happen with “you” to see the proof of the nothingness:
After an act of friction and a period of gestation, there manifested a composite unity that came to identified as “you.” Within that composite unity originally, there was a brain but no mind. After years of programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication and brainwashing and indoctrination, there came concepts and ideas and notions and perceptions / misperceptions and learned ignorance and thoughts and impressions and theories and hypotheses, and views (a.k.a., “beliefs”).
Whether one follows the “path” of Realization and discards all of those beliefs now, or whether one clings to and values those beliefs until taking mahasamadhi, each particular collection of beliefs will end at some point.
So the case is this: whether a cycle deals with a universe or with “you,” the cycle is guaranteed to follow the pattern . . .
from void to “seemingly something” to void.
If one discards all of the beliefs that warp the interim period between voids, then one can dance lightly.
For the masses who will cling to all of those beliefs that warp the interim period between voids, then they shall not dance lightly.
Instead, they shall
retreat into the inner darkness, droop and wither; or
wander about as if lost; or
sleepwalk and talk in their sleep; or
constantly go and do and zoom; or
march about, stiff and rigid and inflexible; or
stomp and trample things and people; or
become spiritual workaholics and forever search and accumulate knowledge and seek the knowledge (learned ignorance) shared by big name teachers; or
tread most heavily.
Most will never have any other options. Only a few might cross the path of one that will not try to give them more and more and more but that will take away all instead. That is what the Nisarga Yoga is about:
taking away all that has been "added" in the interim between voids and allowing all ignorance and insanity to be eliminated at the only point during the void-interim-void cycles where it can put an empirical and observable and practical end to the relative effects of ignorance and insanity, namely, NOW.
The dance is not for those burdened with heavy loads of ignorance and insanity and whose prison is located between their ears (with each belief that they hold dear forming one of the bars of their jail).
The dance is not for those who cannot move unreservedly because they have been incarcerated by their bogus beliefs.
The dance is only available to those that are free and that can move about freely – and thus joyfully and blissfully - and without restraint or attachment or limitation.
Robert De Niro advised in “Heat”: “Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat . . . .”
Grandmother’s Cherokee ancestors for centuries accumulated nothing than what could not be carried away instantly in a sack. That made their trip through the relative a rather light and simple journey for the most part.
Even during those last twenty years when I passed hours and days and weeks and months at a time with her, Grandmother would have been willing to walk out on her cabin in seconds, would have been willing to walk out on the few sparse furnishings therein in seconds, and – eventually - was willing to walk out on the relative existence in seconds.
And it was that willingness to walk out on whatever had been accumulated that provided for her the same manner of abiding that her ancestors enjoyed for centuries, burdened with nothing that could not be forfeited in an instant and thus making her trip through the relative into a rather light and simple journey.
If you were to review your relative existence honestly and objectively, has it been a heavy affair or a truly light affair, overall?
If you would change that, it might well be that a simple seven-step “path” could lead you to an alteration, to a transformation of the style of your relative existence.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
11 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: Yesterday, this from DANCING LIGHTLY: “That is what the Realized teacher does, in the end. She / He invites you to the dance, but you must leave all thoughts outside the dancehall, all words outside the dancehall, and all personas and beliefs and ideas and concepts outside the dancehall.
“In the dancehall of Realization, there is everything and there is nothing; therefore, there is Love and there is Wisdom, and neither of those requires a thought or word to manifest.”
If one watches certain ballroom dancing shows on television, it can be seen that, overall, there are two types of dancers: those who are thinkers (counting 1 . . . 2, 3 – 1 . . . 2, 3 - 1 . . . 2, 3) who end up moving about in a very stiff, jerky, rough, and erratic fashion; and there are those that have advanced beyond the thinking stage and are truly feeling the music, the harmony, with no interfering thoughts at all. They are in accord; thus, they are moving along in a soft, smooth, flowing, and even manner.
The difference between moving through the relative existence in the latter manner rather than in the former is like the difference between being rubbed with velvet vs. being rubbed with sandpaper.
In non-duality terms, the same applies: there are the thinkers and there are those in a no-identity, non-dual, no-mind, no-thought state that is beyond consciousness in which awareness witnesses itself as awareness. Such specks of unblocked consciousness know the difference between “love” and “True Love” and thus feel the Oneness; yet, they also have “felt their definitions fade away” and have been “reduced to not even consciousness but just to abiding as the awareness itself.”
A well-received HBO series entitled “True Detective” ended this past week, and in the final scene, one detective (Rust) shared with his partner (Marty) the following vision that came while he was unconscious (“in the dark”) in a hospital bed, recovering from an assault:
Marty: “Talk to me, Rust.”
Rust: “There was a moment, I know, when I was under in the dark, that something . . . whatever I’d been reduced to, not even consciousness, just a vague awareness in the dark. I could feel my definitions fading. And beneath that darkness there was another kind—it was deeper—warm, like a substance.
I could feel man . . . I could feel [my daughter] . . . the peace of my Pop, too. It was like I was part of everything that I have ever loved, and we were all, the three of us, just fading out. And all I had to do was let go, man. And I did. I said, ‘Darkness, yeah.’ and I disappeared. But I could still feel her love there. Even more than before. Nothing. Nothing but that love. And then I woke up.”
Rust breaks down, sobbing. Then . . .
Rust: “I tell you Marty . . . [there’s] just one story. The oldest.”
Marty: “What’s that?”
Rust: “Light versus dark.”
Marty: “Well . . . it appears to me that the dark has a lot more territory.”
Rust: “Yeah, you’re right about that.”
Rust insists that Marty help him leave the hospital, and Marty agrees. As they head to the car, Rust makes one final point to his former partner.
Rust: “You’re looking at it wrong, the sky thing.”
Marty: “How’s that?”
Rust: “Well, once there was only dark. You ask me, the light’s winning.”
Okay, that last line notwithstanding – which was a sentimental, “new-earth-type” take on things - was obviously inserted to generate a swoon-inducing response from the audience (unsubstantiated by the facts which show that the continuing prevalence of the ignorance and stupidity and insanity that Maharaj identified as the typical traits of the state in which the non-Realized masses are trapped).
[As far as Marty’s observation (“Well . . . it appears to me that the dark has a lot more territory”), even that is not accurate.
If one looks at what is called a “full moon” on a cloudless night, it appears that there is an orb that is bathed in light but otherwise surrounded in darkness. That is not the case at all. In fact, there is light throughout, all around the moon and beyond, but all that is seen by humans is the light that is being reflected off of the surface of the moon (like the light reflected off a movie screen that Maharaj spoke of). The surrounding light – not reflected – cannot be seen, but it is there.
That is what the "path" and the "journey" are about: having the unseen light of the unblocked consciousness that is already there "flipped on" for you (so that what was mistakenly taken in the dim light to be a snake can be clearly seen in bright light to be nothing more than a rope and so that what was mistakenly taken in the dim light to be a rope can be clearly seen in bright light to be a snake).
So, to clarify: the case is not that “there are more enlightened humans than ever.” The case is that ignorance cannot dispel ignorance and crazy cannot fix crazy; thus, both ignorance and insanity are on the rise all around the globe and are not decreasing at all. Maharaj's predictions: “Only 1 in 100,000 will every Realize,” modified later to “only 1 in 1,000,000 will every Realize,” and eventually modified to “only 1 in 10,000,000 will every Realize.” And he included in those predicted totals the seekers visiting him and big name teachers such as Ramana Mahârshi, et. al.]
So what can be taken from the exchange with Marty and Rust?
In order to dance lightly, it is accurate to note that persons must “feel their definitions fade away” (including the "really good ones" such as "The Super Religious One" and "The Spiritual Giant") and must be “reduced to not even consciousness but just to the awareness itself.” That is, in order to dance lightly, then (1) all identities must be abandoned and (2) consciousness must be unblocked so that the unblocked consciousness can then witness the Original Nature of awareness and abide thereas, that is naturally, with no sense of personhood or selfness or Selfness at all.
Then, dance on.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
10 March 2014
“In the dancehall of Realization, there is everything and there is nothing; therefore, there is Love and there is Wisdom, and neither of those requires a thought or word to manifest.”
If one watches certain ballroom dancing shows on television, it can be seen that, overall, there are two types of dancers: those who are thinkers (counting 1 . . . 2, 3 – 1 . . . 2, 3 - 1 . . . 2, 3) who end up moving about in a very stiff, jerky, rough, and erratic fashion; and there are those that have advanced beyond the thinking stage and are truly feeling the music, the harmony, with no interfering thoughts at all. They are in accord; thus, they are moving along in a soft, smooth, flowing, and even manner.
The difference between moving through the relative existence in the latter manner rather than in the former is like the difference between being rubbed with velvet vs. being rubbed with sandpaper.
In non-duality terms, the same applies: there are the thinkers and there are those in a no-identity, non-dual, no-mind, no-thought state that is beyond consciousness in which awareness witnesses itself as awareness. Such specks of unblocked consciousness know the difference between “love” and “True Love” and thus feel the Oneness; yet, they also have “felt their definitions fade away” and have been “reduced to not even consciousness but just to abiding as the awareness itself.”
A well-received HBO series entitled “True Detective” ended this past week, and in the final scene, one detective (Rust) shared with his partner (Marty) the following vision that came while he was unconscious (“in the dark”) in a hospital bed, recovering from an assault:
Marty: “Talk to me, Rust.”
Rust: “There was a moment, I know, when I was under in the dark, that something . . . whatever I’d been reduced to, not even consciousness, just a vague awareness in the dark. I could feel my definitions fading. And beneath that darkness there was another kind—it was deeper—warm, like a substance.
I could feel man . . . I could feel [my daughter] . . . the peace of my Pop, too. It was like I was part of everything that I have ever loved, and we were all, the three of us, just fading out. And all I had to do was let go, man. And I did. I said, ‘Darkness, yeah.’ and I disappeared. But I could still feel her love there. Even more than before. Nothing. Nothing but that love. And then I woke up.”
Rust breaks down, sobbing. Then . . .
Rust: “I tell you Marty . . . [there’s] just one story. The oldest.”
Marty: “What’s that?”
Rust: “Light versus dark.”
Marty: “Well . . . it appears to me that the dark has a lot more territory.”
Rust: “Yeah, you’re right about that.”
Rust insists that Marty help him leave the hospital, and Marty agrees. As they head to the car, Rust makes one final point to his former partner.
Rust: “You’re looking at it wrong, the sky thing.”
Marty: “How’s that?”
Rust: “Well, once there was only dark. You ask me, the light’s winning.”
Okay, that last line notwithstanding – which was a sentimental, “new-earth-type” take on things - was obviously inserted to generate a swoon-inducing response from the audience (unsubstantiated by the facts which show that the continuing prevalence of the ignorance and stupidity and insanity that Maharaj identified as the typical traits of the state in which the non-Realized masses are trapped).
[As far as Marty’s observation (“Well . . . it appears to me that the dark has a lot more territory”), even that is not accurate.
If one looks at what is called a “full moon” on a cloudless night, it appears that there is an orb that is bathed in light but otherwise surrounded in darkness. That is not the case at all. In fact, there is light throughout, all around the moon and beyond, but all that is seen by humans is the light that is being reflected off of the surface of the moon (like the light reflected off a movie screen that Maharaj spoke of). The surrounding light – not reflected – cannot be seen, but it is there.
That is what the "path" and the "journey" are about: having the unseen light of the unblocked consciousness that is already there "flipped on" for you (so that what was mistakenly taken in the dim light to be a snake can be clearly seen in bright light to be nothing more than a rope and so that what was mistakenly taken in the dim light to be a rope can be clearly seen in bright light to be a snake).
So, to clarify: the case is not that “there are more enlightened humans than ever.” The case is that ignorance cannot dispel ignorance and crazy cannot fix crazy; thus, both ignorance and insanity are on the rise all around the globe and are not decreasing at all. Maharaj's predictions: “Only 1 in 100,000 will every Realize,” modified later to “only 1 in 1,000,000 will every Realize,” and eventually modified to “only 1 in 10,000,000 will every Realize.” And he included in those predicted totals the seekers visiting him and big name teachers such as Ramana Mahârshi, et. al.]
So what can be taken from the exchange with Marty and Rust?
In order to dance lightly, it is accurate to note that persons must “feel their definitions fade away” (including the "really good ones" such as "The Super Religious One" and "The Spiritual Giant") and must be “reduced to not even consciousness but just to the awareness itself.” That is, in order to dance lightly, then (1) all identities must be abandoned and (2) consciousness must be unblocked so that the unblocked consciousness can then witness the Original Nature of awareness and abide thereas, that is naturally, with no sense of personhood or selfness or Selfness at all.
Then, dance on.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
10 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: Yesterday, this: “The call is to clear away all that blocks the heart, to allow YourSelf to hear the joyous tune of Realization, and to come to the dance." What many do not realize is that dancing lightly does not require music but usually happens in the silence, never in the presence of noise but always in the absence of noise: no chanting, no singing, no shouting, no holy rolling, no preaching . . . no noise, period.
Such lightness can only happen if all is merely being witnessed; if it is seen that less – not more – of everything is required, including less knowledge (a.k.a., “learned ignorance”), less dogma, fewer ideas and concepts (a.k.a., “beliefs”) until all is discarded and the original “no-mind” state returns;
and if one finally realizes that one cannot dance lightly if strapped with the heavy and burdensome weight of egotism, narcissism, self-centeredness, self-concern, self-infatuation, self-interest, self-involvement, selfishness, self-obsession, self-regard, conceit, false pride, self-importance, and self-indulgence.
Chapter Two of DANCING LIGHTLY presents “THE INVITATION TO ENTER ‘THE DANCE HALL’” along with further explanations of the points above:
There should be nothing about a "no-mind" existence that is difficult to accept. Anyone who has gone to see a movie or a play on the stage of a theater has entered into that no-mind state for a least part of the time.
All is merely being witnessed with the witness remaining totally silent. The "mind" goes into neutral, at least for part of the time there, so no thought at all is arising as all of the events are being witnessed.
So what makes the movement along the "path" so challenging when the point is reached where the "mind" must be left behind if the "journey" is to be completed in full? In the book, "The Path to Freedom vs. The Path to Misery," this pointer is offered:
For most, the search begins when seekers think that they need new concepts to replace their old ones. And there’s the rub. Many versions of the Advaita Vedanta teachings will fill that bill, but here, the Nisarga approach affirms that no 'replacement beliefs are necessary.' The direct path method and the Nisarga yoga make clear that there is no replacement and that it is senseless to try to make sense of the senseless."
When the doctors removed cancerous polyps, they were not asked, "So what are you going to put in their place?" It would be insane to have the source of misery removed but to want something substituted in place of that source of suffering.
Possibly an understanding of the way the "mind" has shifted from "friend" status to "enemy" status can break the hold. The full explanation is available in the book, "THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS 'PEACE OF MIND' (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)," but here is some additional explanation for now:
Human and human-like forms have walked the planet for millions of years (not for 6,600 years). Minds began to form only at the very end of that period, at least in evolutionary terms.
Yet humans worked together, foraged together, hunted together, survived today, reproduced together, fought together, and played together for millions of years, all without language and, therefore, all without thought.
After the mind formed at the end of the evolutionary progression, if something was stored in the mind and retrieved, it was for the sake of perpetuating the species that was otherwise functioning under the auspices of the brain, the intuition, the sixth sense, and the inner resource.
No one ever had to ask anyone else, "Would you please just shut up for a few minutes?! Can you allow me to enjoy just a few minutes in the peace and quiet?! Can you please stop talking for just that long?!"
No, the peace and quiet was the norm, not the exception.
[Pause for a moment to consider that (A) dancing lightly happens without sounds or noise and that (B) that kind of silence was once the norm among humans vs. the current hatred of silence among most persons on the planet.
Thoreau was asked during his Walden Pond days why he was isolating from people rather than enjoying the company of others. He made clear the distinction between being isolated vs. enjoying the solitude and explained: “I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the morning, when nobody calls.” The “company” included peace and quiet and solitude and privacy and seclusion, but not loneliness or lonesomeness or isolation.
When Maharaj was asked why he never remairried aftert his wife took mahasamadhi, he replied, "I am married . . . married to freedom!" (And the freedom referred to was mainly freedom from the noise that came to dominate a marriage between one trapped in the playing of her personal religious role and demanding that her spouse join her and play that role as well vs. one that was devoid of all things personal and thus all role-playing as well.)
Years ago when visiting my sister in her very small home, I had to sleep on some padding she had laid out on the floor of the living room. When she awoke, she entered the room and woke me by turning on the television and then leaving the room.
I finally joined her in the kitchen, noted her rudeness, and asked why she would turn on the television and then leave the room and not watch it at all. She answered, “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just a habit. I turn it on every morning as soon as I get up so I can have some background noise throughout the day.”
Background noise, used by persons to try to drown out the foreground noise, that is, the incessant mind noise that now plaques humanity.
Among the Realized, there is no attraction to sound intensity, measured in “decibels” (dB) and in the way that humans hear any given sound (dBA). Among the Realized, there is no need for any sound – sound and noise being a tool used by most humans to drown out something much like the chatter of a thousand monkeys that is the typical condition inside their overactive “minds.”
With the Realized, an environment with zero dBA is just find, but consider the point above that “the peace and quiet are now the exception” in many cultures. For comparison, consider also that a soft whisper at three feet will produce sound at the rate of 30 dBA;
that a hair dryer can produce a sound level of 90 dBA; and that cars with a trunk full of speakers (boomboxes) will produce over 150 dBA of noise, equivalent to being at an airport where a Boeing 747 is racing its engines in preparation for takeoff.
By contrast, Grandmother could walk through the forest for an hour and the deer might pick up her scent but they never heard her make even the slightest sound. She never once even broke the smallest twig as she navigated through the woods collecting herbs for the medicinal teas she prepared to treat the sick who came her way. She generated zero dBA in the woods, zero decibels throughout most of the day inside her cabin, and zero dBA sitting on the front porch in her rocking chair at night.
The question is, “While there is a discussion regarding carbon footprints, have you ever paused to consider as well what your dBA footprint is?” The deer that just paused in the front year to feed on the grass before moving on generated zero dBA. The birds singing outside - after yesterday’s storms passed and has given way to a crisp, sunny morning - are generating about 5 dB.
But nowadays, in many societies, noise is the abnormal norm and the unstated, self-centered message is, “You will listen to me, whether you want to or not,” and that message might come from the driver of a car with speakers that can be heard from many blocks away;
can come via unwanted email spam; can come via unwanted calls from telemarketeers; can come from uninvited door-to-door solicitors; or can come from local churches or temples that send out through blaring speakers their sounds, chants, bells, or music that can be heard up to twenty blocks away.
Ego seeks noise and makes noise; the absence of ego allows for a spontaneous gravitation toward the silence. What is your level of tolerance for silence? Have you considered that dancing lightly can happen – and most often does happen - without accompanying music?]
To continue:
Why was the silence the norm for most of the millions of years on the planet? As with all most forms abiding on the planet, it would be insane to be noisy and thereby attract animals that would love to feast on you. The silence and the quiet were tools for preservation. (They still are, but are seldom used among the masses.)
Quite a contrast to the egotistical way that so many persons function nowadays, yes? Now humans move about with a demand to "Look at me!" and the attitude that "You will listen to the noise I make and to my incessant talking, whether you want to hear any of it or not."
So here's the state now that is quite different from the state of humankind for millions of years: now, all moves in a progression from thought to word to deed. All actions begin with a thought, are expressed orally, and then result in an action.
Thoughts make for a noisy mind; words make for a noisy planet; and the fears and desires of each assumed personality make for a noisy planet as well as their hidden agendas drive noisy thoughts and noisy words and noisy actions.
A trip out-of-state to conduct a seminar required traveling through the city of Jasper, Texas. Events that shined a national spotlight on that town have been discussed before when several white supremacists killed a black man.
The whites first had the thought "I am different from black people and I am better than black people." Then they began organizing meetings in Jasper where whites stood before other whites and expressed orally their hatred for blacks.
Thoughts lead to words, and words led to the deed of three men kidnapping the black man James Byrd, taking him to a remote, country road, placing a chain around his neck and attaching it to the back of their truck, and pulling him along the road until he was decapitated.
Thought . . . word . . . deed. That is the current modus operandi of humans. They think; then they talk and talk and talk about what they are thinking and believing, showing off their supposed knowledge, showing how wise they are, pushing their beliefs on others; then, they act on those words. Their thoughts drive their words and their words drive their behavior.
And because the thoughts among the masses are based in ignorance at best - and insanity at the extreme - then their behaviors can be nothing other than ignorant and insane as well. The mind that served the species well has now turned on its hosts and is devouring them from within.
Where the untapped inner guru could be leading to constructive behavior (relatively speaking) the tapped "mind" is doing the opposite. The brain says from the stupor of a morning hangover, "I'll never do that again!" Wise counsel from the brain indeed.
But by 5 P.M., the "mind" says, "Well, you could have just one drink. You know you need it before you go home and face what's waiting there." Overriding the constructive messages from the brain, the "mind" is hell-bent on destroying the self.
Now, communication and talking flood the airways, businesses, carpools, homes, everywhere. Because thoughts are racing, then words are racing, and with words racing, endless going and doing and zooming are the behavioral result.
The unconscious drive is to allow the speed of the body to catch up with the speed of the "mind" so some sense of equilibrium might manifest, but it will never happen; thus, going and doing and zooming combine with talk and talk and more talk to become the rule, and it all happens on a "thinking-mind-to-thinking-mind" level. Only if seeking begins, and only if a Realized teacher is found, can other types of communication possibly happen.
If the seeker follows the "path" in a step-wide fashion, only then might "communicating" happen in a consciousness to thinking mind manner; in a consciousness to working mind fashion; in a consciousness to inner guru / inner resource mode; in a pure consciousness to unblocked consciousness style; in an inner guru / inner resource to inner guru / inner resource mode; and eventually in an awareness to awareness style, after which nothing needs to be said.
Then, in the absence of thoughts and words, the behavior that erupts spontaneously is "The Dance" ... merely "Dancing in Silence," "Dancing in the Quiet," "Dancing in Peace."
That is what the Realized teacher does, in the end. She / He invites you to the dance, but if you would truly enjoy the dance, then you must leave all thoughts outside the dancehall, all words outside the dancehall, and all personas and beliefs and ideas and concepts outside the dancehall.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
9 March 2014
Such lightness can only happen if all is merely being witnessed; if it is seen that less – not more – of everything is required, including less knowledge (a.k.a., “learned ignorance”), less dogma, fewer ideas and concepts (a.k.a., “beliefs”) until all is discarded and the original “no-mind” state returns;
and if one finally realizes that one cannot dance lightly if strapped with the heavy and burdensome weight of egotism, narcissism, self-centeredness, self-concern, self-infatuation, self-interest, self-involvement, selfishness, self-obsession, self-regard, conceit, false pride, self-importance, and self-indulgence.
Chapter Two of DANCING LIGHTLY presents “THE INVITATION TO ENTER ‘THE DANCE HALL’” along with further explanations of the points above:
There should be nothing about a "no-mind" existence that is difficult to accept. Anyone who has gone to see a movie or a play on the stage of a theater has entered into that no-mind state for a least part of the time.
All is merely being witnessed with the witness remaining totally silent. The "mind" goes into neutral, at least for part of the time there, so no thought at all is arising as all of the events are being witnessed.
So what makes the movement along the "path" so challenging when the point is reached where the "mind" must be left behind if the "journey" is to be completed in full? In the book, "The Path to Freedom vs. The Path to Misery," this pointer is offered:
For most, the search begins when seekers think that they need new concepts to replace their old ones. And there’s the rub. Many versions of the Advaita Vedanta teachings will fill that bill, but here, the Nisarga approach affirms that no 'replacement beliefs are necessary.' The direct path method and the Nisarga yoga make clear that there is no replacement and that it is senseless to try to make sense of the senseless."
When the doctors removed cancerous polyps, they were not asked, "So what are you going to put in their place?" It would be insane to have the source of misery removed but to want something substituted in place of that source of suffering.
Possibly an understanding of the way the "mind" has shifted from "friend" status to "enemy" status can break the hold. The full explanation is available in the book, "THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS 'PEACE OF MIND' (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)," but here is some additional explanation for now:
Human and human-like forms have walked the planet for millions of years (not for 6,600 years). Minds began to form only at the very end of that period, at least in evolutionary terms.
Yet humans worked together, foraged together, hunted together, survived today, reproduced together, fought together, and played together for millions of years, all without language and, therefore, all without thought.
After the mind formed at the end of the evolutionary progression, if something was stored in the mind and retrieved, it was for the sake of perpetuating the species that was otherwise functioning under the auspices of the brain, the intuition, the sixth sense, and the inner resource.
No one ever had to ask anyone else, "Would you please just shut up for a few minutes?! Can you allow me to enjoy just a few minutes in the peace and quiet?! Can you please stop talking for just that long?!"
No, the peace and quiet was the norm, not the exception.
[Pause for a moment to consider that (A) dancing lightly happens without sounds or noise and that (B) that kind of silence was once the norm among humans vs. the current hatred of silence among most persons on the planet.
Thoreau was asked during his Walden Pond days why he was isolating from people rather than enjoying the company of others. He made clear the distinction between being isolated vs. enjoying the solitude and explained: “I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the morning, when nobody calls.” The “company” included peace and quiet and solitude and privacy and seclusion, but not loneliness or lonesomeness or isolation.
When Maharaj was asked why he never remairried aftert his wife took mahasamadhi, he replied, "I am married . . . married to freedom!" (And the freedom referred to was mainly freedom from the noise that came to dominate a marriage between one trapped in the playing of her personal religious role and demanding that her spouse join her and play that role as well vs. one that was devoid of all things personal and thus all role-playing as well.)
Years ago when visiting my sister in her very small home, I had to sleep on some padding she had laid out on the floor of the living room. When she awoke, she entered the room and woke me by turning on the television and then leaving the room.
I finally joined her in the kitchen, noted her rudeness, and asked why she would turn on the television and then leave the room and not watch it at all. She answered, “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just a habit. I turn it on every morning as soon as I get up so I can have some background noise throughout the day.”
Background noise, used by persons to try to drown out the foreground noise, that is, the incessant mind noise that now plaques humanity.
Among the Realized, there is no attraction to sound intensity, measured in “decibels” (dB) and in the way that humans hear any given sound (dBA). Among the Realized, there is no need for any sound – sound and noise being a tool used by most humans to drown out something much like the chatter of a thousand monkeys that is the typical condition inside their overactive “minds.”
With the Realized, an environment with zero dBA is just find, but consider the point above that “the peace and quiet are now the exception” in many cultures. For comparison, consider also that a soft whisper at three feet will produce sound at the rate of 30 dBA;
that a hair dryer can produce a sound level of 90 dBA; and that cars with a trunk full of speakers (boomboxes) will produce over 150 dBA of noise, equivalent to being at an airport where a Boeing 747 is racing its engines in preparation for takeoff.
By contrast, Grandmother could walk through the forest for an hour and the deer might pick up her scent but they never heard her make even the slightest sound. She never once even broke the smallest twig as she navigated through the woods collecting herbs for the medicinal teas she prepared to treat the sick who came her way. She generated zero dBA in the woods, zero decibels throughout most of the day inside her cabin, and zero dBA sitting on the front porch in her rocking chair at night.
The question is, “While there is a discussion regarding carbon footprints, have you ever paused to consider as well what your dBA footprint is?” The deer that just paused in the front year to feed on the grass before moving on generated zero dBA. The birds singing outside - after yesterday’s storms passed and has given way to a crisp, sunny morning - are generating about 5 dB.
But nowadays, in many societies, noise is the abnormal norm and the unstated, self-centered message is, “You will listen to me, whether you want to or not,” and that message might come from the driver of a car with speakers that can be heard from many blocks away;
can come via unwanted email spam; can come via unwanted calls from telemarketeers; can come from uninvited door-to-door solicitors; or can come from local churches or temples that send out through blaring speakers their sounds, chants, bells, or music that can be heard up to twenty blocks away.
Ego seeks noise and makes noise; the absence of ego allows for a spontaneous gravitation toward the silence. What is your level of tolerance for silence? Have you considered that dancing lightly can happen – and most often does happen - without accompanying music?]
To continue:
Why was the silence the norm for most of the millions of years on the planet? As with all most forms abiding on the planet, it would be insane to be noisy and thereby attract animals that would love to feast on you. The silence and the quiet were tools for preservation. (They still are, but are seldom used among the masses.)
Quite a contrast to the egotistical way that so many persons function nowadays, yes? Now humans move about with a demand to "Look at me!" and the attitude that "You will listen to the noise I make and to my incessant talking, whether you want to hear any of it or not."
So here's the state now that is quite different from the state of humankind for millions of years: now, all moves in a progression from thought to word to deed. All actions begin with a thought, are expressed orally, and then result in an action.
Thoughts make for a noisy mind; words make for a noisy planet; and the fears and desires of each assumed personality make for a noisy planet as well as their hidden agendas drive noisy thoughts and noisy words and noisy actions.
A trip out-of-state to conduct a seminar required traveling through the city of Jasper, Texas. Events that shined a national spotlight on that town have been discussed before when several white supremacists killed a black man.
The whites first had the thought "I am different from black people and I am better than black people." Then they began organizing meetings in Jasper where whites stood before other whites and expressed orally their hatred for blacks.
Thoughts lead to words, and words led to the deed of three men kidnapping the black man James Byrd, taking him to a remote, country road, placing a chain around his neck and attaching it to the back of their truck, and pulling him along the road until he was decapitated.
Thought . . . word . . . deed. That is the current modus operandi of humans. They think; then they talk and talk and talk about what they are thinking and believing, showing off their supposed knowledge, showing how wise they are, pushing their beliefs on others; then, they act on those words. Their thoughts drive their words and their words drive their behavior.
And because the thoughts among the masses are based in ignorance at best - and insanity at the extreme - then their behaviors can be nothing other than ignorant and insane as well. The mind that served the species well has now turned on its hosts and is devouring them from within.
Where the untapped inner guru could be leading to constructive behavior (relatively speaking) the tapped "mind" is doing the opposite. The brain says from the stupor of a morning hangover, "I'll never do that again!" Wise counsel from the brain indeed.
But by 5 P.M., the "mind" says, "Well, you could have just one drink. You know you need it before you go home and face what's waiting there." Overriding the constructive messages from the brain, the "mind" is hell-bent on destroying the self.
Now, communication and talking flood the airways, businesses, carpools, homes, everywhere. Because thoughts are racing, then words are racing, and with words racing, endless going and doing and zooming are the behavioral result.
The unconscious drive is to allow the speed of the body to catch up with the speed of the "mind" so some sense of equilibrium might manifest, but it will never happen; thus, going and doing and zooming combine with talk and talk and more talk to become the rule, and it all happens on a "thinking-mind-to-thinking-mind" level. Only if seeking begins, and only if a Realized teacher is found, can other types of communication possibly happen.
If the seeker follows the "path" in a step-wide fashion, only then might "communicating" happen in a consciousness to thinking mind manner; in a consciousness to working mind fashion; in a consciousness to inner guru / inner resource mode; in a pure consciousness to unblocked consciousness style; in an inner guru / inner resource to inner guru / inner resource mode; and eventually in an awareness to awareness style, after which nothing needs to be said.
Then, in the absence of thoughts and words, the behavior that erupts spontaneously is "The Dance" ... merely "Dancing in Silence," "Dancing in the Quiet," "Dancing in Peace."
That is what the Realized teacher does, in the end. She / He invites you to the dance, but if you would truly enjoy the dance, then you must leave all thoughts outside the dancehall, all words outside the dancehall, and all personas and beliefs and ideas and concepts outside the dancehall.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
9 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: During the various stages of the “too-long and far-too-arduous and far-too-multi-venued journey” here, it was observed that those who were not dancing lightly – those who were instead focused on "a problem" and trapped in the paralysis of a mental loop of thoughts about one current “issue” or another – were really trapped in a monologue-inducing, hypnotic-like state that was focused solely and entirely on the agenda of one or more assumed ego-states that were either not getting what they desired or that were in fear, or both.
Those persons may have mentioned someone else in their monologue, but the real focus was on themselves . . . on their selves . . . on their false selves. It is “The Way of the Planet,” such self-focus.
Recently, when a son in California and his mother in Louisiana were making arrangements for a Skype session, he said he would “call at 9:00.” That’s all. Nothing to clarify if that would be 9:00 California time or 9:00 Louisiana time with a two-hour differential.
Why did he take her into consideration and clarify by saying “9:00 o’clock, your time” or “9:00 o’clock, my time?” Because (A) he was talking in his sleep but mainly because (B) his focus was limited to a range of less than one foot in length.
The Realized take the long view, the full perspective. They understand the functioning of the totality of the universe (and of all universes that are or that have ever existed).
By contrast, the non-Realized - trapped as they are in ego-state-assumption and in the self-absorption that results when massive quantities of egotism try to support those ego-states - take the shortest view possible, the limited perspective. That seldom allows the non-Realized to see beyond the tips of their noses . . . beyond themselves . . . beyond their “selves.”
The motto of humanity, therefore, is this: “It’s all about me” (without having a clue that there is no “me” at all.) Their theme songs might as well be, “I’m in the mood for me” and “To know, know, know me is to love, love, love me, and I do.”
One definition of “self-absorbed” is “overly-concerned with one's own desires, needs, or interests,” but the “one” referred to is seldom understood to be the “false one,” the false self or selves.
Every false self has a primary desire and a primary fear. Consider the burdensome nature of a relative existence when one’s focus is forever occupied and preoccupied with the issues of mirages. How could one ever solve “the problems of a mirage”? One cannot, so the problems of the most among the non-Realized masses will remain – as always - unsolved (as a simple, objective review of history would reveal).
To use one of Maharaj’s pointers, for a person to talk about himself or herself, either person might as well also talk about the child of a barren woman. There is no such thing, as a “himself,” as a “herself,” or as “the child of a barren woman.” All three are fiction, and to try to live out an existence in the relative without any clue about either “relative realities” or factual Reality is to be burdened with the problems and desires and fears of false ego-states that are erroneously assumed to be factual rather than fictional.
To try to solve “the issues of a mirage” is as impossible as trying to solve the problems of a child of a barren woman or the problems of a false identity. It is enough to see a mirage as a mirage and a false identity as a false identity. To be unable to do so is evidence of the widespread insanity among the masses which Maharaj referenced.
Because a mirage is not real, and because the child of a barren woman is not real, what a waste it is to be concerned with the imagined issues of a mirage or the imagined issues of a child of a barren woman. And the same applies to the imagined issues of one’s false selves.
The only thing that can come from such distortion is a plethora of consequences that leave one in a state of being egotistical, narcissistic, self-centered, self-concerned, self-infatuated, self-interested, self-involved, selfish, self-loving, self-obsessed, self-oriented, self-regarding, self-seeking, self-serving, conceited, pompous, prideful, proud, self-glorifying, self-important, self-indulgent, and self-opinionated as well as smug, vain, and vainglorious.
Is it any wonder that the Fully Realized, when a choice is presented, prefer the quietness and the solitude over interacting with those always-noisy types of self-centered persons?
Ego-state assumption and the egotism that is used to try to support false identities will forever prevent any chance to dance lightly, and abiding for an entire relative existence with those traits listed above – all exhibited by non-Realized – results in their being driven by the empty and worthless and hollow agendas . . .
of mirages, of fantasies, of imaginings, of hallucinations, of illusions, of delusions, of dreams, of fancies, of hopes, of wishes, of desires, of unreality, of ignorance, of caprice, of whims, of make-believe mental inventions, of insanity, of energy-consuming play-acting, of tiresome role-playing, of flights of the imagination, and of a preoccupation with “somethingness” rather than relishing the void, the nothingness, and the absence of a false sense of personhood.
Here, you are invited to realize that there is no "one" present. There is merely Presence.
There is the duality of “nothing vs. something,” yet it can be see that those who have nothing and those who seemingly “have it all” can both be miserable; and being miserable with nothing or miserable with something can both lead to a sense of emptiness and boredom and discontentment, and a sense of emptiness and boredom and discontentment will always eventually inspire the generating of chaos and a desire to control (which generates even more chaos).
That leaves the masses around the globe in chaos and instability, for “a dual-minded person will be unstable in all ways.”
The Ultimate Medicine provides a hearty dose of truth that leads to self-forgetfulness, to being selfless, to being identity-less, to identifying with the nothingness rather than with the dreamed-up somethingness that persons are so attached to.
Only if no longer attached to something and no longer attached to anything, like a ship that is no longer attached to a dock, can one then move freely and independently. And only if free and independent can one then dance lightly.
The Nisarga Yoga invites all to (1) abide like everything else on the planet abides except for humans, namely, in a natural manner; to (2) do it now, which is the only time it can be done; and to (3) find bliss now, which is the only time that can be done.
In DANCING LIGHTLY, this is shared from the book "What BLISS Is and What BLISS IS Not":
"There is no need to wait. There is no need to believe that the end of suffering must involve 'future' opportunities. The only opportunity is here and now"
and
"Bliss and freedom and happiness and compatibility with nature in the Nisarga fashion can only happen NOW."
In DANCING LIGHTLY, this is shared from the book "THE MYTH OF DEATH":
"Now there is no post-manifestation dancing going on, but all of this now is the dance for those 'returning' . . . returning to their natural state and abiding as that / THAT. And indeed those who have 'died the death' of ego and egotism are the only ones currently 'dancing lightly'."
And also from DANCING LIGHTLY:
Understand, if you would dance lightly, that there is an ever-present, oh-so-sweet, melodic tune being played by the Presence as it strums gently on the strings of the heart. It cannot be heard . . .
if the strings on which it is played have been rendered dissonant by programming;
if persons have been made cacophonous by conditioning;
if they have been reduced to something quite jarring by acculturation;
and
if they have been left inharmonious by domestication.
Only a peace-robbing, peace-ending harshness will register. The call is to clear away all that blocks the heart, to allow YourSelf to hear the joyous tune of Realization, and to come to the dance."
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
8 March 2014
Those persons may have mentioned someone else in their monologue, but the real focus was on themselves . . . on their selves . . . on their false selves. It is “The Way of the Planet,” such self-focus.
Recently, when a son in California and his mother in Louisiana were making arrangements for a Skype session, he said he would “call at 9:00.” That’s all. Nothing to clarify if that would be 9:00 California time or 9:00 Louisiana time with a two-hour differential.
Why did he take her into consideration and clarify by saying “9:00 o’clock, your time” or “9:00 o’clock, my time?” Because (A) he was talking in his sleep but mainly because (B) his focus was limited to a range of less than one foot in length.
The Realized take the long view, the full perspective. They understand the functioning of the totality of the universe (and of all universes that are or that have ever existed).
By contrast, the non-Realized - trapped as they are in ego-state-assumption and in the self-absorption that results when massive quantities of egotism try to support those ego-states - take the shortest view possible, the limited perspective. That seldom allows the non-Realized to see beyond the tips of their noses . . . beyond themselves . . . beyond their “selves.”
The motto of humanity, therefore, is this: “It’s all about me” (without having a clue that there is no “me” at all.) Their theme songs might as well be, “I’m in the mood for me” and “To know, know, know me is to love, love, love me, and I do.”
One definition of “self-absorbed” is “overly-concerned with one's own desires, needs, or interests,” but the “one” referred to is seldom understood to be the “false one,” the false self or selves.
Every false self has a primary desire and a primary fear. Consider the burdensome nature of a relative existence when one’s focus is forever occupied and preoccupied with the issues of mirages. How could one ever solve “the problems of a mirage”? One cannot, so the problems of the most among the non-Realized masses will remain – as always - unsolved (as a simple, objective review of history would reveal).
To use one of Maharaj’s pointers, for a person to talk about himself or herself, either person might as well also talk about the child of a barren woman. There is no such thing, as a “himself,” as a “herself,” or as “the child of a barren woman.” All three are fiction, and to try to live out an existence in the relative without any clue about either “relative realities” or factual Reality is to be burdened with the problems and desires and fears of false ego-states that are erroneously assumed to be factual rather than fictional.
To try to solve “the issues of a mirage” is as impossible as trying to solve the problems of a child of a barren woman or the problems of a false identity. It is enough to see a mirage as a mirage and a false identity as a false identity. To be unable to do so is evidence of the widespread insanity among the masses which Maharaj referenced.
Because a mirage is not real, and because the child of a barren woman is not real, what a waste it is to be concerned with the imagined issues of a mirage or the imagined issues of a child of a barren woman. And the same applies to the imagined issues of one’s false selves.
The only thing that can come from such distortion is a plethora of consequences that leave one in a state of being egotistical, narcissistic, self-centered, self-concerned, self-infatuated, self-interested, self-involved, selfish, self-loving, self-obsessed, self-oriented, self-regarding, self-seeking, self-serving, conceited, pompous, prideful, proud, self-glorifying, self-important, self-indulgent, and self-opinionated as well as smug, vain, and vainglorious.
Is it any wonder that the Fully Realized, when a choice is presented, prefer the quietness and the solitude over interacting with those always-noisy types of self-centered persons?
Ego-state assumption and the egotism that is used to try to support false identities will forever prevent any chance to dance lightly, and abiding for an entire relative existence with those traits listed above – all exhibited by non-Realized – results in their being driven by the empty and worthless and hollow agendas . . .
of mirages, of fantasies, of imaginings, of hallucinations, of illusions, of delusions, of dreams, of fancies, of hopes, of wishes, of desires, of unreality, of ignorance, of caprice, of whims, of make-believe mental inventions, of insanity, of energy-consuming play-acting, of tiresome role-playing, of flights of the imagination, and of a preoccupation with “somethingness” rather than relishing the void, the nothingness, and the absence of a false sense of personhood.
Here, you are invited to realize that there is no "one" present. There is merely Presence.
There is the duality of “nothing vs. something,” yet it can be see that those who have nothing and those who seemingly “have it all” can both be miserable; and being miserable with nothing or miserable with something can both lead to a sense of emptiness and boredom and discontentment, and a sense of emptiness and boredom and discontentment will always eventually inspire the generating of chaos and a desire to control (which generates even more chaos).
That leaves the masses around the globe in chaos and instability, for “a dual-minded person will be unstable in all ways.”
The Ultimate Medicine provides a hearty dose of truth that leads to self-forgetfulness, to being selfless, to being identity-less, to identifying with the nothingness rather than with the dreamed-up somethingness that persons are so attached to.
Only if no longer attached to something and no longer attached to anything, like a ship that is no longer attached to a dock, can one then move freely and independently. And only if free and independent can one then dance lightly.
The Nisarga Yoga invites all to (1) abide like everything else on the planet abides except for humans, namely, in a natural manner; to (2) do it now, which is the only time it can be done; and to (3) find bliss now, which is the only time that can be done.
In DANCING LIGHTLY, this is shared from the book "What BLISS Is and What BLISS IS Not":
"There is no need to wait. There is no need to believe that the end of suffering must involve 'future' opportunities. The only opportunity is here and now"
and
"Bliss and freedom and happiness and compatibility with nature in the Nisarga fashion can only happen NOW."
In DANCING LIGHTLY, this is shared from the book "THE MYTH OF DEATH":
"Now there is no post-manifestation dancing going on, but all of this now is the dance for those 'returning' . . . returning to their natural state and abiding as that / THAT. And indeed those who have 'died the death' of ego and egotism are the only ones currently 'dancing lightly'."
And also from DANCING LIGHTLY:
Understand, if you would dance lightly, that there is an ever-present, oh-so-sweet, melodic tune being played by the Presence as it strums gently on the strings of the heart. It cannot be heard . . .
if the strings on which it is played have been rendered dissonant by programming;
if persons have been made cacophonous by conditioning;
if they have been reduced to something quite jarring by acculturation;
and
if they have been left inharmonious by domestication.
Only a peace-robbing, peace-ending harshness will register. The call is to clear away all that blocks the heart, to allow YourSelf to hear the joyous tune of Realization, and to come to the dance."
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
8 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: Dancing lightly cannot happen when involved in the heavy, burdensome task of impersonating – a job that itself consumes every waking hour. The Light comes via completion of all of the steps on the seven-step and after completing all three legs of the “journey.” Only after that can the lightness come, and the lightness brings – among other things – the following:
1. an end to impersonating;
2. abidance “in” an unperson state;
3. insignificant moments;
4. insignificant happenings;
5. an elasticizing of “time”;
6. an eventual rejection of the concept of “time” because all things previously deemed to be linear in nature are seen to be cyclical instead;
7. a rejection of all things abnormal, unnatural, supposedly supernatural and then a return to your natural, "normal inclinations" as you abide as Your Original Nature;
and then a relative existence marked by
8. an overall lightness.
To explain:
When impersonating comes to an end after the Realization-and-overlaying-of-Reality-on-reality-process is complete, then the lightness comes spontaneously because the process leads persons (persona-players) to an unperson state.
It is seen that only insignificant moments are happening which lead to a series of insignificant happenings that permeate the remainder of the manifestation, and those moments and happenings are understood to be “much ado about nothing.”
What persons call “time” first becomes elastic, then eventually discounted completely. There is no longer a dualistic perception of “regular days vs. special days” or of “holidays” (i.e., “holydays”) vs. ordinary days” (though any occasions can be entered into lightly while dancing through them).
Now, to continue with the excerpts:
From DANCING LIGHTLY: “An Exchange with the Author”
In the "Editor's Note" to the anthologies of Advaita books entitled The Advanced Seekers' Series" and "The Blissful Abidance Series," Andy Gugar, Jr. wrote of his first visit to the home of Floyd Henderson for an Advaita retreat:
"I went to Floyd's that first time with a considerable fear of death (rooted, I would learn, in body and mind and personality identification). He suggested that if I was so afraid of death that the best thing I could do would be to 'go ahead and die now.' Of course that was an anger-invoking, shocking comment to hear, but before I left, I understood that I could not die because I was not born - that what he was saying is that my ego(s) and my egotism must 'die.' I understood after that retreat that I cannot truly live joyfully until this ego - this illusion - dies.
"To that point, I was entering Floyd's house one morning through the door he leaves open while he is preparing breakfast for participants. As I entered, I shouted, 'Knock knock ... anybody home?' He yelled back, 'No.'
And I got it! I knew exactly what he meant, and that understanding has remained and I have since enjoyed the freedom every day of knowing I am no body . . . nobody."
To suggest that “... heavy is the tread of the living, but the dead returning lightly dance” is not to suggest that one can only enjoy "dancing lightly" if they die. It happens for those that return to that "place" from whence they came - in the reverse order - and for those that then "come back" to the relative with a new understanding.
That understanding includes an understanding of the functioning of the totality, an understanding of how a speck of conscious-energy manifested and eventually became blocked from seeing Truth and was left in a condition of ignorance and even insanity that prevents seeing Reality and blocks all opportunity to differentiate the true from the false.
But if you complete this "journey," you’re going to see exactly, step-by-step, how you got from the Absolute state to the false belief that you’re a body. And you’re going to see how to get from believing that you are a body to Realization of the Absolute. And seeing that complete cycle, then you’re going to understand all the cycles (including how the "cycling in" happens and how the "cycling out" happens).
You will understand each step of the "way in," all the way from the Absolute to body identification; then you will understand why the way to Realizing (and abiding as) the Absolute happens only when each of those steps is taken again, in reverse order.
Maharaj: “…You should go back, reverse, to the source”
and
“Follow the same path by which you came.”
In the statement that it is "the dead returning that lightly dance," the "death" referred to is the death of ego . . . to the end of the assumption of ego-states as identities and the end of the use of egotism to defend those false roles. "Returning" refers to "the journey" by which seekers return to their Original Nature and then overlay the understanding of that nature on the relative existence.
And as a result, the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (which Maharaj identified as “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity”) will disappear.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
7 March 2014
1. an end to impersonating;
2. abidance “in” an unperson state;
3. insignificant moments;
4. insignificant happenings;
5. an elasticizing of “time”;
6. an eventual rejection of the concept of “time” because all things previously deemed to be linear in nature are seen to be cyclical instead;
7. a rejection of all things abnormal, unnatural, supposedly supernatural and then a return to your natural, "normal inclinations" as you abide as Your Original Nature;
and then a relative existence marked by
8. an overall lightness.
To explain:
When impersonating comes to an end after the Realization-and-overlaying-of-Reality-on-reality-process is complete, then the lightness comes spontaneously because the process leads persons (persona-players) to an unperson state.
It is seen that only insignificant moments are happening which lead to a series of insignificant happenings that permeate the remainder of the manifestation, and those moments and happenings are understood to be “much ado about nothing.”
What persons call “time” first becomes elastic, then eventually discounted completely. There is no longer a dualistic perception of “regular days vs. special days” or of “holidays” (i.e., “holydays”) vs. ordinary days” (though any occasions can be entered into lightly while dancing through them).
Now, to continue with the excerpts:
From DANCING LIGHTLY: “An Exchange with the Author”
In the "Editor's Note" to the anthologies of Advaita books entitled The Advanced Seekers' Series" and "The Blissful Abidance Series," Andy Gugar, Jr. wrote of his first visit to the home of Floyd Henderson for an Advaita retreat:
"I went to Floyd's that first time with a considerable fear of death (rooted, I would learn, in body and mind and personality identification). He suggested that if I was so afraid of death that the best thing I could do would be to 'go ahead and die now.' Of course that was an anger-invoking, shocking comment to hear, but before I left, I understood that I could not die because I was not born - that what he was saying is that my ego(s) and my egotism must 'die.' I understood after that retreat that I cannot truly live joyfully until this ego - this illusion - dies.
"To that point, I was entering Floyd's house one morning through the door he leaves open while he is preparing breakfast for participants. As I entered, I shouted, 'Knock knock ... anybody home?' He yelled back, 'No.'
And I got it! I knew exactly what he meant, and that understanding has remained and I have since enjoyed the freedom every day of knowing I am no body . . . nobody."
To suggest that “... heavy is the tread of the living, but the dead returning lightly dance” is not to suggest that one can only enjoy "dancing lightly" if they die. It happens for those that return to that "place" from whence they came - in the reverse order - and for those that then "come back" to the relative with a new understanding.
That understanding includes an understanding of the functioning of the totality, an understanding of how a speck of conscious-energy manifested and eventually became blocked from seeing Truth and was left in a condition of ignorance and even insanity that prevents seeing Reality and blocks all opportunity to differentiate the true from the false.
But if you complete this "journey," you’re going to see exactly, step-by-step, how you got from the Absolute state to the false belief that you’re a body. And you’re going to see how to get from believing that you are a body to Realization of the Absolute. And seeing that complete cycle, then you’re going to understand all the cycles (including how the "cycling in" happens and how the "cycling out" happens).
You will understand each step of the "way in," all the way from the Absolute to body identification; then you will understand why the way to Realizing (and abiding as) the Absolute happens only when each of those steps is taken again, in reverse order.
Maharaj: “…You should go back, reverse, to the source”
and
“Follow the same path by which you came.”
In the statement that it is "the dead returning that lightly dance," the "death" referred to is the death of ego . . . to the end of the assumption of ego-states as identities and the end of the use of egotism to defend those false roles. "Returning" refers to "the journey" by which seekers return to their Original Nature and then overlay the understanding of that nature on the relative existence.
And as a result, the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (which Maharaj identified as “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity”) will disappear.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
7 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: It has been asked over the years, “If there is nothing after ‘this,’ why even try to Realize?”
The reply: “Only to effect change now, if change is indicated or if change is sought. In the end, Realization is not what should be sought. An elimination of the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (including ‘ignorance, stupidity, and insanity,’ per Maharaj) should be the intent of following the ‘path’ to its end and completing all legs of the ‘journey’.”
For those with no desire to be free of arguing, struggling, fighting, hostility, conflict and chaos, then the “journey” and Realization will have no appeal. For those that would be free of those, then the effects of Realization can effect a change, but only NOW. That (THAT) which is permanent is unchangeable. The only change that can manifest is a change during this AM-ness.
Why Realize, then? Because all arguing, struggling, fighting, hostility, conflict and chaos are rooted in duality, in the belief in “differences,” in a false sense of “different-from-ment” and in a false sense of “better-than-ness.”
And who are those on the planet right now who are most attached to their belief in “differences” and in a false sense of “different-from-ment” and in a false sense of “better-than-ness”? People who take things and themselves to be holy. (Recall that Maharaj said that the only ones who will be truly ready to receive the message offered in the loft were those who had already transitioned beyond belief in both "sin and virtue," or beyond any belief in the duality of things "unholy" vs. things "holy").
If the non-dual understanding happens and is then overlaid on the relative existence, then all beliefs concerning the concept of “holy” will end, instantaneously and spontaneously. Consider:
Most who speak of things (or Things) holy have no clue about what the word “holy” actually means. It simply means, “different.” How about the word “Bible”? That’s from the Greek word “biblia” meaning “the books.”
So “Holy Bible” refers to a “Different Book,” supposedly because the men who wrote it were “different,” (that is, "holy") men who were supposedly hearing a god or gods speak and then passing on what they claim to have heard (a.k.a., either "schizophrenia" or a pure con job).
And the same applies to all organized religions – and to many so-called “spiritual groups” – all of whom claim to have a book or books that are prized and deemed to be “inspired” and “holy.” Thus, there are so-called “holy men of God” and so-called “holy women” and other so-called “holy texts” and so-called “holy land” and so-called “holy sites,” et cetera, et cetera, and et cetera, blah-blah-and-blah.
There has been discussed on this site what can be referred to as “The Vocabulary of Non-Duality.” There are words that the Realized simply do not use, words such as “different” for example. The Realized understand that all is One, and Oneness preempts any and all belief in “different-ness.” There is nothing that is “holy.”
[“The Vocabulary of Non-Duality” is not unlike the language of the Cherokees, a language which the one I called “Grandmother” spoke. That language, like the language of other indigenous peoples (who had some understanding of the Oneness and whose "Native American" lineage can be traced back to Asia / India) included no words that supported dualistic concepts / beliefs. For example, Grandmother’s original language had no words for “different,” “dissimilar,” “diverse,” unlike,” “distinctive,” “special,” “singular,” “atypical,” “unique,” or “separate.”]
Nothing that is rooted in duality can result in lightness, much less Light or enlightenment, so to continue with more excerpts from the eBook below entitled DANCING LIGHTLY.
For billions of religious monomaniacs around the globe, their dogma and agendas have become their single focus. For millions more, the same is the case with their philosophies or ideologies or programs.
For some interested in Advaita Vedanta, that interest can also become an obsession, constantly dominating their every waking moment. Don't all types who are obsessive or compulsive about anything - including their dogma, their ideology, their philosophy, their program or anything else - eventually prove to be rather boring company? Realization results in lightness, not heaviness. A sure sign of Realization is evidenced by a lack of excessive seriousness and the presence of frequent laughter. Post-Realization, any further involvement with the teachings is just for entertainment, is just part of the dance.
Sure, when persons visit here for retreats, Advaita is the primary topic. When visits are paid to seekers in other cities, other countries, or on other continents, of course they want to talk about Advaita. That is all fine and is as it should be at that point.
Yet none of that is a part of the daily routine or happenings here. Posts are posted on the Advaita website in the morning, and once that is done, Advaita is also done for the day (some non-duality writing projects or Skype sessions or retreats or email responses notwithstanding). After that, there is just the enjoyment of the freedom that has come via the understanding.
Do some among the Realized call here to discuss some element of the teachings that brought a new awareness? Yes. Do some read the latest books released here? Yes. But it is all for entertainment. With Realization, the seeker dissolved, so seeking is not going on. Only entertainment is going on. Some Realized teach, some do not, but even with those teaching, it is mere entertainment.
If someone visits or calls and they are Realized Advaitins, what more needs to be said or shared or discussed? Nothing, really, yet totally for the fun of it, totally for entertainment alone, there can be a dance that is entered into or shared. It is a dance that does not interrupt the lightness but that can be a fleeting part of the lightness when DANCING LIGHTLY happens. Again, Post-Realization, any further involvement with the teachings is just for entertainment, is just part of the dance.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
The reply: “Only to effect change now, if change is indicated or if change is sought. In the end, Realization is not what should be sought. An elimination of the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (including ‘ignorance, stupidity, and insanity,’ per Maharaj) should be the intent of following the ‘path’ to its end and completing all legs of the ‘journey’.”
For those with no desire to be free of arguing, struggling, fighting, hostility, conflict and chaos, then the “journey” and Realization will have no appeal. For those that would be free of those, then the effects of Realization can effect a change, but only NOW. That (THAT) which is permanent is unchangeable. The only change that can manifest is a change during this AM-ness.
Why Realize, then? Because all arguing, struggling, fighting, hostility, conflict and chaos are rooted in duality, in the belief in “differences,” in a false sense of “different-from-ment” and in a false sense of “better-than-ness.”
And who are those on the planet right now who are most attached to their belief in “differences” and in a false sense of “different-from-ment” and in a false sense of “better-than-ness”? People who take things and themselves to be holy. (Recall that Maharaj said that the only ones who will be truly ready to receive the message offered in the loft were those who had already transitioned beyond belief in both "sin and virtue," or beyond any belief in the duality of things "unholy" vs. things "holy").
If the non-dual understanding happens and is then overlaid on the relative existence, then all beliefs concerning the concept of “holy” will end, instantaneously and spontaneously. Consider:
Most who speak of things (or Things) holy have no clue about what the word “holy” actually means. It simply means, “different.” How about the word “Bible”? That’s from the Greek word “biblia” meaning “the books.”
So “Holy Bible” refers to a “Different Book,” supposedly because the men who wrote it were “different,” (that is, "holy") men who were supposedly hearing a god or gods speak and then passing on what they claim to have heard (a.k.a., either "schizophrenia" or a pure con job).
And the same applies to all organized religions – and to many so-called “spiritual groups” – all of whom claim to have a book or books that are prized and deemed to be “inspired” and “holy.” Thus, there are so-called “holy men of God” and so-called “holy women” and other so-called “holy texts” and so-called “holy land” and so-called “holy sites,” et cetera, et cetera, and et cetera, blah-blah-and-blah.
There has been discussed on this site what can be referred to as “The Vocabulary of Non-Duality.” There are words that the Realized simply do not use, words such as “different” for example. The Realized understand that all is One, and Oneness preempts any and all belief in “different-ness.” There is nothing that is “holy.”
[“The Vocabulary of Non-Duality” is not unlike the language of the Cherokees, a language which the one I called “Grandmother” spoke. That language, like the language of other indigenous peoples (who had some understanding of the Oneness and whose "Native American" lineage can be traced back to Asia / India) included no words that supported dualistic concepts / beliefs. For example, Grandmother’s original language had no words for “different,” “dissimilar,” “diverse,” unlike,” “distinctive,” “special,” “singular,” “atypical,” “unique,” or “separate.”]
Nothing that is rooted in duality can result in lightness, much less Light or enlightenment, so to continue with more excerpts from the eBook below entitled DANCING LIGHTLY.
For billions of religious monomaniacs around the globe, their dogma and agendas have become their single focus. For millions more, the same is the case with their philosophies or ideologies or programs.
For some interested in Advaita Vedanta, that interest can also become an obsession, constantly dominating their every waking moment. Don't all types who are obsessive or compulsive about anything - including their dogma, their ideology, their philosophy, their program or anything else - eventually prove to be rather boring company? Realization results in lightness, not heaviness. A sure sign of Realization is evidenced by a lack of excessive seriousness and the presence of frequent laughter. Post-Realization, any further involvement with the teachings is just for entertainment, is just part of the dance.
Sure, when persons visit here for retreats, Advaita is the primary topic. When visits are paid to seekers in other cities, other countries, or on other continents, of course they want to talk about Advaita. That is all fine and is as it should be at that point.
Yet none of that is a part of the daily routine or happenings here. Posts are posted on the Advaita website in the morning, and once that is done, Advaita is also done for the day (some non-duality writing projects or Skype sessions or retreats or email responses notwithstanding). After that, there is just the enjoyment of the freedom that has come via the understanding.
Do some among the Realized call here to discuss some element of the teachings that brought a new awareness? Yes. Do some read the latest books released here? Yes. But it is all for entertainment. With Realization, the seeker dissolved, so seeking is not going on. Only entertainment is going on. Some Realized teach, some do not, but even with those teaching, it is mere entertainment.
If someone visits or calls and they are Realized Advaitins, what more needs to be said or shared or discussed? Nothing, really, yet totally for the fun of it, totally for entertainment alone, there can be a dance that is entered into or shared. It is a dance that does not interrupt the lightness but that can be a fleeting part of the lightness when DANCING LIGHTLY happens. Again, Post-Realization, any further involvement with the teachings is just for entertainment, is just part of the dance.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
You can scroll down through the book section below if interested in receiving a free copy of the eBooks entitled
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Comments regarding the free eBook entitled “THE VISION”:
“My thanks to you and Andy.” – Andrew “Mac” McMaster
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“Greatly appreciate having “THE VISION” added to my Henderson resource library that is situated on the right side of my bed for easy access! Eternally grateful for what was received and what was given.” – Robert Rigby
“ ‘THE VISION’ is such a well-written, condensed version of the Nisarga Yoga approach to understanding and enjoying Reality that I feel it can serve as a must-read ‘meditation guide’ for all earnest seekers.” – Andy Gugar, Jr.
Submit to:
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.
* * * * * * *
Anthology of four books
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SELF-TRANSFORMATION MEDITATION GUIDE (VOLUME ONE)
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[Please note: When the Direct Path Teaching Method is offered in conjunction with the Nisarga Yoga, something unique results when compared to what happens via the approach used by religions, spiritual movements, philosophies, ideologies, etc.:
rather than inviting seekers to learn more, the invitation here is to unlearn all; rather than offerings teachings, what is offered are unteachings; rather than offering to provide seekers more of anything, seekers will find that the process will take away everything. And via that process, the bliss of Your Original Nature will manifest and remain until mahasamadhi is taken.
To that end, the content of this book will seem radical to the seekers of more, but for those truly ready to be totally free and totally independent - and for those who are truly ready to abandon efforts to accumulate and to de-accumulate instead - the pointers in this book might be relevant.]
To receive your free copy, or to have us send a free copy to your friends or relatives, send your email address (or their addresses) to the following:
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Comments regarding the free eBook entitled “THE VISION”:
“My thanks to you and Andy.” – Andrew “Mac” McMaster
“Thanks so much for the book! And, by the way, it is brilliant and the most effective pointing that you have done. It has served to help clear the remaining blockages.” – Stan Cross
“Greatly appreciate having “THE VISION” added to my Henderson resource library that is situated on the right side of my bed for easy access! Eternally grateful for what was received and what was given.” – Robert Rigby
“ ‘THE VISION’ is such a well-written, condensed version of the Nisarga Yoga approach to understanding and enjoying Reality that I feel it can serve as a must-read ‘meditation guide’ for all earnest seekers.” – Andy Gugar, Jr.
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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";
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.
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
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)
(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
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FINANCIAL BOOKS
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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.
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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:
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
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
Floyd Henderson's Website
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE: A Seven-Step Journey to Reality
CONSCIOUSNESS / AWARENESS
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
THE FINAL UNDERSTANDING
THE ADVANCED SEEKERS' SERIES
Anthology of four books
THE BLISSFUL ABIDANCE SERIES
Anthology of six books
SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ AND HIS EVOLUTION
THE FINAL FIFTEEN TOPICS DISCUSSED BY SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ
A TWELVE-STEP JOURNEY TO SELF-TRANSFORMATION
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
A GUIDE FOR WORKING THE STEPS (IN THE MANNER USED BY THE FOUNDERS)
THE TWELVE STEPS AND ADVAITA / NON-DUALITY: A 21-DAY PLAN FOR A PSYCHIC CHANGE
SELF-TRANSFORMATION MEDITATION GUIDE (VOLUME ONE)
SELF-TRANSFORMATION MEDITATION GUIDE (VOLUME TWO)
WHY NISARGA YOGA IN ADDITION TO THE ADVAITA TEACHINGS?
A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE via the Non-Duality Teachings and the Nisarga Yoga
YOUR ORIGINAL NATURE
GOING CRAZY / GOING SANE
INSTABILITY / INSANITY: WHAT THE ADVAITA TEACHINGS CAN (AND CANNOT) ADDRESS
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (THERE IS ONLY PEACE IF YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR MIND)
FREEDOM FROM SHIFTING BETWEEN STATES OF HAPPINESS AND UNHAPPINESS
THE ULTIMATE SICKNESS / THE ULTIMATE MEDICINE
PROGRAMMING, CONDITIONING, DOMESTICATION, AND ACCULTURATION (THE SOURCES OF THE ULTIMATE SICKNESS & THE NON-DUALITY TREATMENT)
"WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?"
THE MYTH OF "DEATH"
THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS: THE SIMPLICITY OF REALIZATION
FINDING REAL LOVE IN AN UNREAL WORLD
CASTING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIONSHIPS
OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF BEING TOTALLY INDEPENDENT
THE NON-DUALITY POINTERS OFFERED BY YESHU'A ("JESUS THE CHRIST")
NOW ACCEPTING REQUESTS FOR FREE COPIES OF THE FOLLOWING EBOOKS:
A free copy of the 278-page eBook entitled
"GOOD vs. EVIL?" or "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and INSANITY?"
and / or
A free copy of the 267-page eBook entitled
"THE VISION"
is available to be sent to you and anyone else you choose.
[Please note: When the Direct Path Teaching Method is offered in conjunction with the Nisarga Yoga, something unique results when compared to what happens via the approach used by religions, spiritual movements, philosophies, ideologies, etc.:
rather than inviting seekers to learn more, the invitation here is to unlearn all; rather than offerings teachings, what is offered are unteachings; rather than offering to provide seekers more of anything, seekers will find that the process will take away everything. And via that process, the bliss of Your Original Nature will manifest and remain until mahasamadhi is taken.
To that end, the content of this book will seem radical to the seekers of more, but for those truly ready to be totally free and totally independent - and for those who are truly ready to abandon efforts to accumulate and to de-accumulate instead - the pointers in this book might be relevant.]
To receive your free copy, or to have us send a free copy to your friends or relatives, send your email address (or their addresses) to the following:
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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE ADVAITIN
WHEN ONLY THREE HOURS OF MANIFESTATION REMAIN (THE "FINAL" TALKS OF FLOYD HENDERSON)
I AM THAT (vs. "This Is Who I Think I Am")
QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS DEALING WITH NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA, AND MORE
DANCING LIGHTLY
THE PATH TO FREEDOM VS. THE PATH TO MISERY
THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS PERSONAL (INCLUDING YOU AND INCLUDING GOD)
LIBERATION (ATTAINING FREEDOM FROM PERSONALITY VIA REALIZATION)
WHY YOU MUST BE EMPTY IF YOU WOULD BE FULL
FREEDOM FROM BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")
WHEN REALITY IS OVERLAID ON THE RELATIVE
THE RELATIVE RESULTS OF RETURNING TO "THE CHILD IGNORANCE STAGE" OR "THE CHILD NO-KNOWING STATE"
WHAT BLISS IS AND WHAT BLISS IS NOT
THE TWICE-STOLEN NECKLACE MURDERS
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS
LESSONS IN NON-DUALITY FROM TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA
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
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (RECOVERING WHAT RELIGIONS LOST)
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (AND WHY KNOWING IT SETS YOU FREE)
