A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: To continue with excerpts from the eBook DANCING LIGHTLY, from the chapter "More On Heaviness Vs. Lightness"
Those in the heaviness of the darkness will first require the light if a sense of lightness is to come, but those in darkness obviously cannot see the light. It is the darkness that renders one blind, and it is blindness that perpetuates the blind acceptance of falsehoods as truth, even in the absence of any investigation at all.
The blindness has multiple fathers: body identification only; being driven by the insane concepts taught by all cultures and stored in "minds"; the fear and desire agendas that come with all personalities; the emotional intoxication that results when fears and desires are triggered and inspire persons to shift into reckless and risky motion . . . into going and doing and zooming about blindly, abandoning any temporary harmony that might have been enjoyed in favor of chaos and disharmony instead.
And time and again, persons driven into motion by all of the above are surprised that once again they have rammed full-speed into a wall . . . or even run off the edge of a cliff. Blindness. Emotion. Motion. Action. Reaction. Overreaction. And then, misery and suffering. And all of that is rooted in mis-perceiving:
Maharaj: "The cause of suffering is in the identification of the perceiver with the perceived. Out of it desire is born and with desire, blind action . . . . "
Advaitin Louise Sterling explained what it can be like if the light shines forth and allows clear seeing to happen before all of those fathers mentioned earlier are allowed to breed more darkness . . . more blindness . . . more blind motion:
Louise: "I was feeling love for someone which changed dramatically to fear. 'I' slipped through the crack and realised instantly that love and fear are the same emotion. I laughed madly, felt wild and free, abandoned my work and hauled off to do some gardening (first time in years) while chuckling in delight."
Yes, "love" - which refers to that which in not Real Love - will never be far removed from fear. Both are rooted in emotion. Both generate blind motion. As for "slipped through the crack," spot on. When ego surfaces and is driven by desire or fear and egotism (all of which are self -supporting) there is only a slight and temporary opening back to Reality. One can fall through the crack of distortion, or one can slip though the crack and back into the stability of awareness. "Whoo! Another close call!" And another bit of self-generated misery avoided.
As in the first "Matrix" film, with its greater focus on non-duality than in the subsequent films in the series, Morpheus becomes convinced that Neo is "The One" who can crack open the Matrix and bring his people to both physical and psychological freedom.
As in this typically-mindful existence (where both physical and psychological freedom are clearly absent), this becomes the case: when the gravitational pull of ego-states and egotism begin to exert their drag, there is usually only a very small crack and a very narrow window of opportunity to abandon nonsense and return to one's senses, to turn away from the false, and to move back to Reality. When such blindness comes, it seldom goes on its own; thus, this from earlier:
Maharaj: "Either you live with somebody who knows the Truth and submit yourself entirely to his guiding and moulding influence, or you seek the inner guide and follow the inner light wherever it takes you."
The problem with the latter? When the personal is mistaken for the Real, Self-forgetfulness will come. Self-forgetfulness will foster blindness to the Real and block access to the inner guide; thereafter, the not-Real will be mistaken in the darkness for the Real.
In such circumstance, the rope might be perceived as a snake, a bit of blindness with little consequence. But what if the snake is perceived to be a rope . . . believed to be a rescue rope that is being tossed to one about to drown? What if in the darkness of the storm, the snake is grasped when it is mistaken for a rope that can provide a way out?
The additional relative problem with blindness is that it never ends on its own. On its own, it will only flourish; persons will fall through the crack into the darkness.
Maharaj: "The personal comes and goes, the universal is always with you. The entire creation is your universal body. You are so blinded by what is personal that you do not see the universal. This blindness will not end by itself - it must be undone skillfully and deliberately. When all illusions are understood and abandoned, you reach the error-free and perfect state in which all distinctions between the personal and the universal are no more."
And when all distinctions between the personal and the universal are no more, then only can one understand what is pointed to here with the term "not-two harmony." Recall: "This 'not-two' version of harmony is that which is Real, that which is the unity beyond the perceived, unreal multiplicity."
In Advaita, the not-two version of harmony is pointed to with Advaita's not-two summative statement of I AM THAT; I AM. Only when such harmony manifests can there be light, lightness, freedom, and peace. Discontentment ends. Restlessness end. Irritability ends.
Maharaj: "Pure sattva (harmony) is perfect freedom from . . . restlessness." Some ask, "If I am eventually to be free of even 'The Seeker' role, then why seek harmony?" You - the True Self, the Pure Witnessing - will not seek harmony.
You will come to know that it is already there, available as soon as You see everything which blocks the continuous recognition and manifestation of harmony - not mistaking fool's gold for gold; not mistaking the harder way for the easier way; and not working tirelessly for what can only be enjoyed near-effortlessly:
Maharaj: "What is the use of truth, goodness, harmony, beauty? They are their own goal. They manifest spontaneously and effortlessly, when things are left to themselves, are not interfered with, not shunned or wanted or conceptualised, but just experienced in full awareness. Such awareness itself is sattva. It does not make use of things and people - it fulfils them."
From the platform of Pure Witnessing while abiding as the awareness, the I AM THAT is seen perfectly and the I AM is seen perfectly. Only via non-duality can the supposed "inner" and "outer" - the Am-ness and the THAT-ness - be seen to be one.
Maharaj: "Harmony between 'the inner' and 'the outer' is happiness; on the other hand, self-identification with the outer causes suffering."
And that leads to the reason that it is the Nisarga Yoga that is offered here, distinguishing between (1) abidance as one's original nature and living naturally throughout the relative vs. (2) living under the insane influence of one's relative perceptions and mis-perceptions; not overlaying Reality on the relative; and not abiding as harmony rather than in disharmony;
Maharaj: "Nisarga yoga, the Natural yoga: it is the art of living in peace and harmony, in friendliness and love." Again, Louise explained exactly what is at play here: " . . . The true identity is the background of awareness in which both states of happiness and unhappiness happen."
From that true identity, the happiness of harmony can be enjoyed, up close (and the unhappiness of disharmony can be merely witnessed - and not closely at all). Witnessing everything from a longer distance always puts everything in proper perspective. The personal is always small and up close. The Real is infinitely large and limitless.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
16 March 2014
Those in the heaviness of the darkness will first require the light if a sense of lightness is to come, but those in darkness obviously cannot see the light. It is the darkness that renders one blind, and it is blindness that perpetuates the blind acceptance of falsehoods as truth, even in the absence of any investigation at all.
The blindness has multiple fathers: body identification only; being driven by the insane concepts taught by all cultures and stored in "minds"; the fear and desire agendas that come with all personalities; the emotional intoxication that results when fears and desires are triggered and inspire persons to shift into reckless and risky motion . . . into going and doing and zooming about blindly, abandoning any temporary harmony that might have been enjoyed in favor of chaos and disharmony instead.
And time and again, persons driven into motion by all of the above are surprised that once again they have rammed full-speed into a wall . . . or even run off the edge of a cliff. Blindness. Emotion. Motion. Action. Reaction. Overreaction. And then, misery and suffering. And all of that is rooted in mis-perceiving:
Maharaj: "The cause of suffering is in the identification of the perceiver with the perceived. Out of it desire is born and with desire, blind action . . . . "
Advaitin Louise Sterling explained what it can be like if the light shines forth and allows clear seeing to happen before all of those fathers mentioned earlier are allowed to breed more darkness . . . more blindness . . . more blind motion:
Louise: "I was feeling love for someone which changed dramatically to fear. 'I' slipped through the crack and realised instantly that love and fear are the same emotion. I laughed madly, felt wild and free, abandoned my work and hauled off to do some gardening (first time in years) while chuckling in delight."
Yes, "love" - which refers to that which in not Real Love - will never be far removed from fear. Both are rooted in emotion. Both generate blind motion. As for "slipped through the crack," spot on. When ego surfaces and is driven by desire or fear and egotism (all of which are self -supporting) there is only a slight and temporary opening back to Reality. One can fall through the crack of distortion, or one can slip though the crack and back into the stability of awareness. "Whoo! Another close call!" And another bit of self-generated misery avoided.
As in the first "Matrix" film, with its greater focus on non-duality than in the subsequent films in the series, Morpheus becomes convinced that Neo is "The One" who can crack open the Matrix and bring his people to both physical and psychological freedom.
As in this typically-mindful existence (where both physical and psychological freedom are clearly absent), this becomes the case: when the gravitational pull of ego-states and egotism begin to exert their drag, there is usually only a very small crack and a very narrow window of opportunity to abandon nonsense and return to one's senses, to turn away from the false, and to move back to Reality. When such blindness comes, it seldom goes on its own; thus, this from earlier:
Maharaj: "Either you live with somebody who knows the Truth and submit yourself entirely to his guiding and moulding influence, or you seek the inner guide and follow the inner light wherever it takes you."
The problem with the latter? When the personal is mistaken for the Real, Self-forgetfulness will come. Self-forgetfulness will foster blindness to the Real and block access to the inner guide; thereafter, the not-Real will be mistaken in the darkness for the Real.
In such circumstance, the rope might be perceived as a snake, a bit of blindness with little consequence. But what if the snake is perceived to be a rope . . . believed to be a rescue rope that is being tossed to one about to drown? What if in the darkness of the storm, the snake is grasped when it is mistaken for a rope that can provide a way out?
The additional relative problem with blindness is that it never ends on its own. On its own, it will only flourish; persons will fall through the crack into the darkness.
Maharaj: "The personal comes and goes, the universal is always with you. The entire creation is your universal body. You are so blinded by what is personal that you do not see the universal. This blindness will not end by itself - it must be undone skillfully and deliberately. When all illusions are understood and abandoned, you reach the error-free and perfect state in which all distinctions between the personal and the universal are no more."
And when all distinctions between the personal and the universal are no more, then only can one understand what is pointed to here with the term "not-two harmony." Recall: "This 'not-two' version of harmony is that which is Real, that which is the unity beyond the perceived, unreal multiplicity."
In Advaita, the not-two version of harmony is pointed to with Advaita's not-two summative statement of I AM THAT; I AM. Only when such harmony manifests can there be light, lightness, freedom, and peace. Discontentment ends. Restlessness end. Irritability ends.
Maharaj: "Pure sattva (harmony) is perfect freedom from . . . restlessness." Some ask, "If I am eventually to be free of even 'The Seeker' role, then why seek harmony?" You - the True Self, the Pure Witnessing - will not seek harmony.
You will come to know that it is already there, available as soon as You see everything which blocks the continuous recognition and manifestation of harmony - not mistaking fool's gold for gold; not mistaking the harder way for the easier way; and not working tirelessly for what can only be enjoyed near-effortlessly:
Maharaj: "What is the use of truth, goodness, harmony, beauty? They are their own goal. They manifest spontaneously and effortlessly, when things are left to themselves, are not interfered with, not shunned or wanted or conceptualised, but just experienced in full awareness. Such awareness itself is sattva. It does not make use of things and people - it fulfils them."
From the platform of Pure Witnessing while abiding as the awareness, the I AM THAT is seen perfectly and the I AM is seen perfectly. Only via non-duality can the supposed "inner" and "outer" - the Am-ness and the THAT-ness - be seen to be one.
Maharaj: "Harmony between 'the inner' and 'the outer' is happiness; on the other hand, self-identification with the outer causes suffering."
And that leads to the reason that it is the Nisarga Yoga that is offered here, distinguishing between (1) abidance as one's original nature and living naturally throughout the relative vs. (2) living under the insane influence of one's relative perceptions and mis-perceptions; not overlaying Reality on the relative; and not abiding as harmony rather than in disharmony;
Maharaj: "Nisarga yoga, the Natural yoga: it is the art of living in peace and harmony, in friendliness and love." Again, Louise explained exactly what is at play here: " . . . The true identity is the background of awareness in which both states of happiness and unhappiness happen."
From that true identity, the happiness of harmony can be enjoyed, up close (and the unhappiness of disharmony can be merely witnessed - and not closely at all). Witnessing everything from a longer distance always puts everything in proper perspective. The personal is always small and up close. The Real is infinitely large and limitless.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
16 March 2014
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
F.: Now, more excerpts from the eBook DANCING LIGHTLY:
From the chapter entitled "THE LIGHT AWAITS ALL"
If the light is not received, then there can be no lightness, much less a relative existence marked by an incredible lightness of being. Earlier it was noted that the light is always there, though blocked on occasion by the clouds.
The clouds that block the masses from seeing the light - and, therefore, from knowing the lightness - include personality-driven fears and desires; emotional intoxication and / or feeling-intoxication that triggers motion (i.e., actions and reactions and over-reactions); distortion and mis-perceiving;
a sense of entitlement that is rooted in ego-states and egotism which eventually bring about the feelings of anger and depression that come when one does not have what is thought to be deserved; anxiety and desperation and even panic that is generated by perceived needs that are not being met; and a host of other relative-existence-bonds that bind.
Yet the light and the lightness await all:
Maharaj: "If the seeker is earnest, the light can be given. The light is for all and always there, but the seekers are few, and among those few, those who are ready are very rare."
How to find that light and lightness. "Surely," many believe, "finding takes motion / action." For a time, yes, but the action to be taken is not of the type that most take.
It is true that Maharaj did say, "There is an action required," but he referred not to an action taken by an act-er or a do-er. Understanding the composite unity (which is nothing more than elements, air, and conscious-energy) makes clear that there cannot be in that mix any do-er at all that could be capable of taking action. So?
So, it is harmony that must be in action. The will of the True Self - that Pure Witnessing which sees and knows the Oneness - is the only source of harmony during the manifestation of consciousness. For most, harmony has to do with a sense of congruity that happens when various parts synchronize one with another to produce what seems to be a singular whole.
A sense of incongruity will be generated when the Self is forgotten and when a variety of not-selves drive whatever actions are taken; furthermore, among the Realized where there is no belief that there are separate parts that can come together as one, the already-existing harmony - which like the light, always is - need but be recognized. This "not-two" version of harmony is that which is Real, that which is the unity beyond the perceived, unreal multiplicity.
Yet note: just as seekers must find all that they are not before they can know Who / What They Truly Are, so all of the sources of disharmony must be seen and understood if the non-dual state of harmony - and therefore lightness - is to prevail. And what will disrupt one from seeing and understanding?
Always, the not-self . . . the not-selves. Always, the emotion-driven motions, movements, actions, reactions, and over-reactions that happen on the planet are driven by personality / personalities, all of which are false, all of which are as much a false illusion as a mirage in the desert during the heat of the day. Imagine what an existence will always be like when driven by so many illusions.
Driven by such an assortment of illusory influencers and motivators, there can only be a prevailing sense of disharmony. That is always the state of the not-self or not-selves, abiding in the fiction-filled "mind" and driven by the chatter of the thousand monkeys therein. Those "monkeys" are the screeching voices of each ego-state that has its own agenda and which is affected in multiple ways by things relative. Consider what happened with "Dave" who came for a retreat and was given the assignment to list every false role he had played over the last decade.
After some struggling, he arrived at a total of 87. He was shown how each of those had cares and concerns that numbered no less than seven in every case, concerns ranging from the financial impact that some ego-states took to be real to sexual or personal "relationship" problems that other false identities took to be real. A quick calculation (87 x 7) showed him how throughout any given day, he could easily hear over 600 voices within. He then understood the pointer offered here which explained to him why, even while driving down the highway alone, he was in group therapy.
How could any harmony possibly manifest in such an existence where scores of not-selves are all inserting a multiplicity of cares and concerns into the mix? How, when living under the auspices of the ever-in-motion consciousness, could any sense of harmony and peace possibly manifest? What is required for a sense of harmony and peace to be enjoyed is abidance as the original nature?
Maharaj: "Awareness, being lucid harmony (sattva) in action, dissolves dullness and quietens the restlessness of the mind and gently, but steadily changes its very substance. This change need not be spectacular; it may be hardly noticeable; yet it is a deep and fundamental shift from darkness to light, from inadvertence to awareness."
Why stop rather than go? Why be quiet rather than shift into chatter overdrive?
Maharaj: "If you do not disturb this quiet and stay in it, you find that it is permeated with a light and a love you have never known; and yet you recognise it at once as your own nature. Once you have passed through this experience, you will never be the same . . . again; the unruly mind may break its peace and obliterate its vision. but [the peace] is bound to return, provided the effort is sustained until the day when all bonds are broken, delusions and attachments end and life becomes supremely concentrated in the present."
When the inner resource - the inner guru - is tapped into, then the mis-perceptions about things that are "outer" will be seen to be distortions and illusions, not even slightly real, not even slightly threatening, not ever slightly harmful. In touch with the Self, one cannot be in touch with the outer not-selves that mistake delusions for truth and attachments as potential sources of freedom.
On occasion, an external guide is required to encourage the abandonment of an ego-state's inspiration to incessantly go and do and zoom, to listen quietly instead, to contemplate pointers that are offered, and to truly hear as the Consciousness speaks and points to the Real:
Maharaj: "Either you live with somebody who knows the Truth and submit yourself entirely to his guiding and moulding influence, or you seek the inner guide and follow the inner light wherever it takes you."
Or, "Option Three," you follow the inner misguiding of your blocked consciousness, refuse to submit, and fail to follow the light and thus stay in the darkness.
Many seekers may find that the Truth within begins to resonate when they hear the consciousness (via a "teacher") speak; they are sure that teacher / speck of unblocked consciousness can lead them to that which they seek; but then when the teacher sees exactly what the seeker requires in order to move to the next step on the "path" and therefore suggests - as Maharaj did - that "here is an action required in your case and it is 'this' or 'that'," then too often seekers respond:
"No, that part I do not need to understand. I'll let you lay out the process exactly, the process that worked for you and others, but I think I'll skip that piece." So it is, but then the guaranteed result is that there will be no movement to the next step with those (a) who claim that they have come to the teacher in order to understand but (b) who actually, secretly, believe that they already do.
They do not. So it is, again.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
15 March 2014
Now, more excerpts from the eBook DANCING LIGHTLY:
From the chapter "Leaving The Dance":
So someone might see Me ask a person to leave satsang or an Advaita seminar, as happened last week. Less than five minutes into what was to be a fifty-five-minute-one-on-one session, the session was ended because the person sitting opposite Me went into an anger-based, resentful rant about two co-workers.
As he reported the details regarding the ways that other persons had offended him, the volume of the voice and the physical twisting and shifting increased as the original emotional reaction was re-sent through the body and "the mind" of the man via this re-telling of his tales.
That re-sending of the original effects of the supposed offenses drove him to re-experience and even magnify the original reactions via the re-telling. Consider the way that re-sending supported and renewed “resentment” by understanding the roots of the words involved:
the French sentire = “to feel” and the French resentir = “to feel strongly” and / or “to feel bitter or indignant about.” Resentment was supported and amplified by re-sending the effects throughout a body-mind-personality triad.
The man was interrupted and was informed that the session would have to end. It was explained that, as in the case of oil and water, this speck abides as THAT, so one abiding in his fashion (with such intensity and anger and histrionics that were being used to reinforce his sense of separation and better-than-ness) cannot be engaged in the dance of unicity.
Recall the earlier pointer: Maharaj taught that “what is Real can never combine with the unreal.”
From the chapter "Fixating In The Lightness"
"Dance is lightness in motion, but The Light must precede the lightness." (F .H.)
The Realized perceive what is called "the world" - as well as all happenings that happen during the relative existence - by way of the luminosity of pure understanding; the non-Realized see only what is reflected in a dim and flickering light.
Because the non-Realized must, regretfully, suffer the slings and arrows of the ever-changing, unstable existence which they take to be the real, they can become attached to the relief and exhilaration of seeing "The Long-Awaited White Knight" arriving in his shining armor, perched high on his white horse and promising to put to an end the loneliness of being single or promising to bring to an end the vicissitudes of single parenting, only to eventually open the visor and see that it is "The Dark Knight of Unimaginable Suffering" underneath, thus forcing "The Rescued One" to experience the misery brought on as a result of finding out that another deception has been played out in consciousness;
or they can become attached to the happiness of paying off a car note, only to see the monthly mortgage increase on the house because of increased property taxes or a ballooning of the note; then they attach to that disappointment; or they can become attached to the happiness of seeing a partner's medical condition cured, only to learn that their child has an incurable disease and attaching to that misery;
or they can attach to the joy of a couple working for decades and finally retiring but then shortly afterwards discovering that greedy and extremely wealthy people have stolen 50% of the assets in their retirement fund, forcing both to begin seeking employment again.
Tossed into that mix are the yearly or monthly (and, eventually, daily) fluctuations of relationships, shifting from perfect at one point to just okay at another to finally being perceived as a total disaster.
Maharaj: "The mind that projects the world colours it in its own way. When you meet a man, he is a stranger. When you marry him, he becomes your own self. When you quarrel, he becomes your enemy. It is your mind's attitude that determines what he is to you." Of course his point was that the scenario above has nothing to do with Real Love. He said:
Maharaj: "Love is not selective; desire is selective. In Love, there are no strangers."
It is those fluctuations of the "mind" which shift one's view of another from "perfect" to "just okay" to "disastrous," the type of fluctuations that were adumbrated in the sequence that Maharaj used to describe the typical movement in relationships, the movement going from stranger to acquaintance to friend to lover to fiancé / fiancée to spouse to wonderful spouse to not so wonderful spouse to horrible spouse to enemy to mortal enemy.
And all of that is nothing more than a movement in consciousness, all involving misperceptions and labeling and ego-states being assigned and assumed. The options offered by various forms of Advaita to address all of that, and to replace the heaviness of fluctuations with the incredible lightness of being, include:
1. Stopping the "journey" at the True Self step. Many try that approach;
or,
2. "Moving" to the Absolute only, claiming to be THAT alone, rejecting the AM-ness totally. Yet THAT is still an identity, often assumed alongside the "Supreme Self." If the AM-ness is not totally rejected, then there can be the simultaneous assumption of the "Supreme Self" and "The Spiritual Giant," some taking that to be the I AM THAT and the Superior I AM. Close, but no cigar;
or,
3. Overlaying the Reality on the relative. Maharaj said that even with him, there is always a lingering speck of the original, primary personality type (in his case, the Type Four that is involved with the search for the Authentic Self). When that happens, there is no total detachment from the AM-ness, but there is no ever-present attachment to the AM-ness, either. There is that position of neutrality that allows feelings to rise, to be felt, and to fall away without suffering the insanity of emotional intoxication.
The deer in this neighborhood that abide naturally are free of the machinations of the mind that plague humanity; however, the deer are not free of the feelings that relative events can bring. To clarify, recall an event shared in other writings when the normalcy and naturalness of feeling short-term "situational depression" was discussed. Some depression might be situational and in such cases is natural. For example, during the years spent in the forest, various animals were seen to be “grieving” as they inspected the fallen remains of a companion. Here's an example:
One spring, a buck and doe were observed while grazing in one of their regular feeding spots. Later in the fall, they were seen on several occasions while mating; then, at the beginning of the following summer, it was seen that a fawn had joined in their grazing sessions.
In late August or early September, gunshots rang out near a creek. After following one of the trails that led toward the water, the following was witnessed: the fawn had been shot and had run some distance from the creek before falling. The doe and the buck both seemed to be smelling it and nudging it, trying to encourage it to rise and run, but they eventually realized it was not going to happen. They stood still and witnessed.
Both spent some time there involved in what was clearly an instance of situational depression. Their demeanor left no doubt that feelings were arising. Suddenly, two boys—hunting out of season and killing a fawn illegally—began making a great deal of noise as they approached. It was seen that the feeling of grief being experienced by the deer was being replaced by a feeling of fear. They were torn, moving away from the fallen animal for a moment, then returning for a few moments in a final effort to check on the fawn.
On another occasion, there was a recounting of an event that happened just feet away, right outside the window of the office where this book is being written. A fawn was still-born. The doe tried nudging the body to inspire the fawn to stand. The buck walked over and touched the body with its nose. That went on for many minutes.
Then, the doe and the buck began walking away, only to be driven to return and try again and again to test their offspring for signs of life. It was a long, heart-wrenching process, watching those two deer that were obviously so sad over this turn of events. There was the fluctuation between the earlier joy and pleasure of copulation and this sadness over the demise of their offspring.
So it is among some of the Realized that, in spite of being Realized, are nevertheless attuned to the ever-changing aspects of the relative but able to move beyond permanent attachment to things not permanent. That allows the Realized to avoid emoting but to forever be able to feel. Often the feelings are more powerful than at other times, but never is there an uncontrollable and uncontrolled urge to become emotionally-intoxicated and generate harm.
Remember when Maharaj was asked "if he cared" and he replied, "More than you will ever know." Does that sound like there were no feelings being felt? Does that sound like Maharaj had shifted to a state where he was void of feeling anything even though he was abiding as The Void rather than as anything identified or identifiable?
To the contrary, the case is this: in the quiet witnessing, understanding can come, and it is via that process that, again, the Realized are able to perceive what is called "the world" - as well as everything that happens throughout the relative existence - by way of the luminosity of pure understanding; the non-Realized see only what is reflected in a dim and flickering light.
In the luminosity of pure understanding, how could there ever be a manifestation of judgment which always generates a sense of separation and better-than-ment? There can be no judging of anyone if the driving forces behind thoughts and words and deeds are understood completely.
In the light of Reality and Truth, all can be felt. An entire gamut of feelings can happen. But they can happen without shifting into personality-driven thoughts and words and deeds that blindly drive persons into acts that anyone not emotionally-intoxicated could see are going to generate tremendous suffering as a result of the consequences.
For those seeking the lightness of being, however, the light must precede the lightness; the lightness can never come before the light.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
14 March 2014
From the chapter entitled "THE LIGHT AWAITS ALL"
If the light is not received, then there can be no lightness, much less a relative existence marked by an incredible lightness of being. Earlier it was noted that the light is always there, though blocked on occasion by the clouds.
The clouds that block the masses from seeing the light - and, therefore, from knowing the lightness - include personality-driven fears and desires; emotional intoxication and / or feeling-intoxication that triggers motion (i.e., actions and reactions and over-reactions); distortion and mis-perceiving;
a sense of entitlement that is rooted in ego-states and egotism which eventually bring about the feelings of anger and depression that come when one does not have what is thought to be deserved; anxiety and desperation and even panic that is generated by perceived needs that are not being met; and a host of other relative-existence-bonds that bind.
Yet the light and the lightness await all:
Maharaj: "If the seeker is earnest, the light can be given. The light is for all and always there, but the seekers are few, and among those few, those who are ready are very rare."
How to find that light and lightness. "Surely," many believe, "finding takes motion / action." For a time, yes, but the action to be taken is not of the type that most take.
It is true that Maharaj did say, "There is an action required," but he referred not to an action taken by an act-er or a do-er. Understanding the composite unity (which is nothing more than elements, air, and conscious-energy) makes clear that there cannot be in that mix any do-er at all that could be capable of taking action. So?
So, it is harmony that must be in action. The will of the True Self - that Pure Witnessing which sees and knows the Oneness - is the only source of harmony during the manifestation of consciousness. For most, harmony has to do with a sense of congruity that happens when various parts synchronize one with another to produce what seems to be a singular whole.
A sense of incongruity will be generated when the Self is forgotten and when a variety of not-selves drive whatever actions are taken; furthermore, among the Realized where there is no belief that there are separate parts that can come together as one, the already-existing harmony - which like the light, always is - need but be recognized. This "not-two" version of harmony is that which is Real, that which is the unity beyond the perceived, unreal multiplicity.
Yet note: just as seekers must find all that they are not before they can know Who / What They Truly Are, so all of the sources of disharmony must be seen and understood if the non-dual state of harmony - and therefore lightness - is to prevail. And what will disrupt one from seeing and understanding?
Always, the not-self . . . the not-selves. Always, the emotion-driven motions, movements, actions, reactions, and over-reactions that happen on the planet are driven by personality / personalities, all of which are false, all of which are as much a false illusion as a mirage in the desert during the heat of the day. Imagine what an existence will always be like when driven by so many illusions.
Driven by such an assortment of illusory influencers and motivators, there can only be a prevailing sense of disharmony. That is always the state of the not-self or not-selves, abiding in the fiction-filled "mind" and driven by the chatter of the thousand monkeys therein. Those "monkeys" are the screeching voices of each ego-state that has its own agenda and which is affected in multiple ways by things relative. Consider what happened with "Dave" who came for a retreat and was given the assignment to list every false role he had played over the last decade.
After some struggling, he arrived at a total of 87. He was shown how each of those had cares and concerns that numbered no less than seven in every case, concerns ranging from the financial impact that some ego-states took to be real to sexual or personal "relationship" problems that other false identities took to be real. A quick calculation (87 x 7) showed him how throughout any given day, he could easily hear over 600 voices within. He then understood the pointer offered here which explained to him why, even while driving down the highway alone, he was in group therapy.
How could any harmony possibly manifest in such an existence where scores of not-selves are all inserting a multiplicity of cares and concerns into the mix? How, when living under the auspices of the ever-in-motion consciousness, could any sense of harmony and peace possibly manifest? What is required for a sense of harmony and peace to be enjoyed is abidance as the original nature?
Maharaj: "Awareness, being lucid harmony (sattva) in action, dissolves dullness and quietens the restlessness of the mind and gently, but steadily changes its very substance. This change need not be spectacular; it may be hardly noticeable; yet it is a deep and fundamental shift from darkness to light, from inadvertence to awareness."
Why stop rather than go? Why be quiet rather than shift into chatter overdrive?
Maharaj: "If you do not disturb this quiet and stay in it, you find that it is permeated with a light and a love you have never known; and yet you recognise it at once as your own nature. Once you have passed through this experience, you will never be the same . . . again; the unruly mind may break its peace and obliterate its vision. but [the peace] is bound to return, provided the effort is sustained until the day when all bonds are broken, delusions and attachments end and life becomes supremely concentrated in the present."
When the inner resource - the inner guru - is tapped into, then the mis-perceptions about things that are "outer" will be seen to be distortions and illusions, not even slightly real, not even slightly threatening, not ever slightly harmful. In touch with the Self, one cannot be in touch with the outer not-selves that mistake delusions for truth and attachments as potential sources of freedom.
On occasion, an external guide is required to encourage the abandonment of an ego-state's inspiration to incessantly go and do and zoom, to listen quietly instead, to contemplate pointers that are offered, and to truly hear as the Consciousness speaks and points to the Real:
Maharaj: "Either you live with somebody who knows the Truth and submit yourself entirely to his guiding and moulding influence, or you seek the inner guide and follow the inner light wherever it takes you."
Or, "Option Three," you follow the inner misguiding of your blocked consciousness, refuse to submit, and fail to follow the light and thus stay in the darkness.
Many seekers may find that the Truth within begins to resonate when they hear the consciousness (via a "teacher") speak; they are sure that teacher / speck of unblocked consciousness can lead them to that which they seek; but then when the teacher sees exactly what the seeker requires in order to move to the next step on the "path" and therefore suggests - as Maharaj did - that "here is an action required in your case and it is 'this' or 'that'," then too often seekers respond:
"No, that part I do not need to understand. I'll let you lay out the process exactly, the process that worked for you and others, but I think I'll skip that piece." So it is, but then the guaranteed result is that there will be no movement to the next step with those (a) who claim that they have come to the teacher in order to understand but (b) who actually, secretly, believe that they already do.
They do not. So it is, again.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
15 March 2014
Now, more excerpts from the eBook DANCING LIGHTLY:
From the chapter "Leaving The Dance":
So someone might see Me ask a person to leave satsang or an Advaita seminar, as happened last week. Less than five minutes into what was to be a fifty-five-minute-one-on-one session, the session was ended because the person sitting opposite Me went into an anger-based, resentful rant about two co-workers.
As he reported the details regarding the ways that other persons had offended him, the volume of the voice and the physical twisting and shifting increased as the original emotional reaction was re-sent through the body and "the mind" of the man via this re-telling of his tales.
That re-sending of the original effects of the supposed offenses drove him to re-experience and even magnify the original reactions via the re-telling. Consider the way that re-sending supported and renewed “resentment” by understanding the roots of the words involved:
the French sentire = “to feel” and the French resentir = “to feel strongly” and / or “to feel bitter or indignant about.” Resentment was supported and amplified by re-sending the effects throughout a body-mind-personality triad.
The man was interrupted and was informed that the session would have to end. It was explained that, as in the case of oil and water, this speck abides as THAT, so one abiding in his fashion (with such intensity and anger and histrionics that were being used to reinforce his sense of separation and better-than-ness) cannot be engaged in the dance of unicity.
Recall the earlier pointer: Maharaj taught that “what is Real can never combine with the unreal.”
From the chapter "Fixating In The Lightness"
"Dance is lightness in motion, but The Light must precede the lightness." (F .H.)
The Realized perceive what is called "the world" - as well as all happenings that happen during the relative existence - by way of the luminosity of pure understanding; the non-Realized see only what is reflected in a dim and flickering light.
Because the non-Realized must, regretfully, suffer the slings and arrows of the ever-changing, unstable existence which they take to be the real, they can become attached to the relief and exhilaration of seeing "The Long-Awaited White Knight" arriving in his shining armor, perched high on his white horse and promising to put to an end the loneliness of being single or promising to bring to an end the vicissitudes of single parenting, only to eventually open the visor and see that it is "The Dark Knight of Unimaginable Suffering" underneath, thus forcing "The Rescued One" to experience the misery brought on as a result of finding out that another deception has been played out in consciousness;
or they can become attached to the happiness of paying off a car note, only to see the monthly mortgage increase on the house because of increased property taxes or a ballooning of the note; then they attach to that disappointment; or they can become attached to the happiness of seeing a partner's medical condition cured, only to learn that their child has an incurable disease and attaching to that misery;
or they can attach to the joy of a couple working for decades and finally retiring but then shortly afterwards discovering that greedy and extremely wealthy people have stolen 50% of the assets in their retirement fund, forcing both to begin seeking employment again.
Tossed into that mix are the yearly or monthly (and, eventually, daily) fluctuations of relationships, shifting from perfect at one point to just okay at another to finally being perceived as a total disaster.
Maharaj: "The mind that projects the world colours it in its own way. When you meet a man, he is a stranger. When you marry him, he becomes your own self. When you quarrel, he becomes your enemy. It is your mind's attitude that determines what he is to you." Of course his point was that the scenario above has nothing to do with Real Love. He said:
Maharaj: "Love is not selective; desire is selective. In Love, there are no strangers."
It is those fluctuations of the "mind" which shift one's view of another from "perfect" to "just okay" to "disastrous," the type of fluctuations that were adumbrated in the sequence that Maharaj used to describe the typical movement in relationships, the movement going from stranger to acquaintance to friend to lover to fiancé / fiancée to spouse to wonderful spouse to not so wonderful spouse to horrible spouse to enemy to mortal enemy.
And all of that is nothing more than a movement in consciousness, all involving misperceptions and labeling and ego-states being assigned and assumed. The options offered by various forms of Advaita to address all of that, and to replace the heaviness of fluctuations with the incredible lightness of being, include:
1. Stopping the "journey" at the True Self step. Many try that approach;
or,
2. "Moving" to the Absolute only, claiming to be THAT alone, rejecting the AM-ness totally. Yet THAT is still an identity, often assumed alongside the "Supreme Self." If the AM-ness is not totally rejected, then there can be the simultaneous assumption of the "Supreme Self" and "The Spiritual Giant," some taking that to be the I AM THAT and the Superior I AM. Close, but no cigar;
or,
3. Overlaying the Reality on the relative. Maharaj said that even with him, there is always a lingering speck of the original, primary personality type (in his case, the Type Four that is involved with the search for the Authentic Self). When that happens, there is no total detachment from the AM-ness, but there is no ever-present attachment to the AM-ness, either. There is that position of neutrality that allows feelings to rise, to be felt, and to fall away without suffering the insanity of emotional intoxication.
The deer in this neighborhood that abide naturally are free of the machinations of the mind that plague humanity; however, the deer are not free of the feelings that relative events can bring. To clarify, recall an event shared in other writings when the normalcy and naturalness of feeling short-term "situational depression" was discussed. Some depression might be situational and in such cases is natural. For example, during the years spent in the forest, various animals were seen to be “grieving” as they inspected the fallen remains of a companion. Here's an example:
One spring, a buck and doe were observed while grazing in one of their regular feeding spots. Later in the fall, they were seen on several occasions while mating; then, at the beginning of the following summer, it was seen that a fawn had joined in their grazing sessions.
In late August or early September, gunshots rang out near a creek. After following one of the trails that led toward the water, the following was witnessed: the fawn had been shot and had run some distance from the creek before falling. The doe and the buck both seemed to be smelling it and nudging it, trying to encourage it to rise and run, but they eventually realized it was not going to happen. They stood still and witnessed.
Both spent some time there involved in what was clearly an instance of situational depression. Their demeanor left no doubt that feelings were arising. Suddenly, two boys—hunting out of season and killing a fawn illegally—began making a great deal of noise as they approached. It was seen that the feeling of grief being experienced by the deer was being replaced by a feeling of fear. They were torn, moving away from the fallen animal for a moment, then returning for a few moments in a final effort to check on the fawn.
On another occasion, there was a recounting of an event that happened just feet away, right outside the window of the office where this book is being written. A fawn was still-born. The doe tried nudging the body to inspire the fawn to stand. The buck walked over and touched the body with its nose. That went on for many minutes.
Then, the doe and the buck began walking away, only to be driven to return and try again and again to test their offspring for signs of life. It was a long, heart-wrenching process, watching those two deer that were obviously so sad over this turn of events. There was the fluctuation between the earlier joy and pleasure of copulation and this sadness over the demise of their offspring.
So it is among some of the Realized that, in spite of being Realized, are nevertheless attuned to the ever-changing aspects of the relative but able to move beyond permanent attachment to things not permanent. That allows the Realized to avoid emoting but to forever be able to feel. Often the feelings are more powerful than at other times, but never is there an uncontrollable and uncontrolled urge to become emotionally-intoxicated and generate harm.
Remember when Maharaj was asked "if he cared" and he replied, "More than you will ever know." Does that sound like there were no feelings being felt? Does that sound like Maharaj had shifted to a state where he was void of feeling anything even though he was abiding as The Void rather than as anything identified or identifiable?
To the contrary, the case is this: in the quiet witnessing, understanding can come, and it is via that process that, again, the Realized are able to perceive what is called "the world" - as well as everything that happens throughout the relative existence - by way of the luminosity of pure understanding; the non-Realized see only what is reflected in a dim and flickering light.
In the luminosity of pure understanding, how could there ever be a manifestation of judgment which always generates a sense of separation and better-than-ment? There can be no judging of anyone if the driving forces behind thoughts and words and deeds are understood completely.
In the light of Reality and Truth, all can be felt. An entire gamut of feelings can happen. But they can happen without shifting into personality-driven thoughts and words and deeds that blindly drive persons into acts that anyone not emotionally-intoxicated could see are going to generate tremendous suffering as a result of the consequences.
For those seeking the lightness of being, however, the light must precede the lightness; the lightness can never come before the light.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
14 March 2014
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.
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.
You can scroll down through the book section below if interested in receiving a free copy of the eBooks entitled
"GOOD vs. EVIL?" or "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and INSANITY?"
or
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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
Anthology of six books
SELF-TRANSFORMATION MEDITATION GUIDE (VOLUME ONE)
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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.]
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WHY YOU MUST BE EMPTY IF YOU WOULD BE FULL
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"GOOD vs. EVIL?" or "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and INSANITY?"
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"THE VISION"
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
and
FINANCIAL BOOKS
are available at
Floyd Henderson's Website
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
Within minutes of purchase you can be reading any of the eBooks below on your mobile devices, including an iPhone, iPad, Android tablet, Android phone, laptop, home computer or on a Kindle reader.
For Apple and Android, either download the eBook directly onto your device or email the eBook file to your mobile device and open the file from your email. For Kindles or other similar devices, use your USB cable to transfer the eBook to your reader.
FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION OF THE NON-DUALITY UNDERSTANDING, AS NOTED ABOVE, SOME SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED BY USING THE METHODS BELOW, OR A COMBINATION OF THE METHODS:
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:
(Sorry, but for security reasons, we no longer have a clickable link. You will have to type in our gmail address above. By the way, your email addresses will never be used to contact you or your friends or relatives and email addresses will never be shared with anyone else.)
Simply state in your email that you want the book sent as a gift to you (or as a gift from you to as many people as you like. Copies are now ready to be sent.)
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)
