A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
F.: So, the shift is from all-important (relatively speaking) to not important at all (both relatively speaking and noumenally speaking).
It is like this: if you have an accident and cut an artery in your leg, it is all important (relatively speaking) to seek immediate medical care. Most humans would likely seek the necessary treatment. After a period of continuing treatment and healing, and after physical health is restored, the emergency medical care which was sought so desperately becomes totally unimportant.
The problem with humanity: the key symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (identified by Maharaj as "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity") bring about a continuous chain of events which require immediate emergency treatment as well, of the mental and emotional type. Yet most humans will likely never seek the necessary treatment.
For the few who do, if sanity is restored after a period of continuing mental and emotional treatment and healing, then the treatment (that is, the use of the Ultimate Medicine which restored sanity and allowed logic and reason and wisdom to manifest) becomes totally unimportant.
Consider what happened here in certain instances with the elemental plant food body:
1. Cancer was diagnosed. As soon as the treatment for cancer was complete, I was released for the hospital.
2. Internal hemorrhaging was diagnosed. Once the hemorrhaging was stopped, I was released from the hospital.
3. In an accident, both major bones in the lower right leg were broken; there were seventeen fractures in the right foot and ankle areas; there were three fractures in the left hand; and the shoulders and hips were dislocated. Once those were treated and once months of therapy were completed, I was released.
Had I said, “I do not want to be released . . . I want to seek treatment forever,” I would have been insane. If I had said, "I'm well so I am now going to heal others," tehn I would have bveen suffering delusuons of grandeur. (Such is the case with those offering treatment to persons suffering from grave mental and emotional and personality disorders, addictions, etc.: they are deluded, believing that they are helping; they are egotistical to a grand degree, thinking they can treat disorders which they have never been trained to treat.)
Now most will never seek, via the Realization process, the mental and emotional treatment which is so needed among the masses. And why is it needed by almost all? Because all have been perversely programmed and conditioned and acculturated and domesticated and brainwashed and indoctrinated.
But if they do seek and then find the proper and effective treatment, and if sanity is thereafter restored, then no further seeking will happen. They will have been released. He or she who has found sanity will not seek sanity. That would be insane to do so. Those who have been healed and restored are released. Yet there are those who claim that they have Realized Fully but continue to seek.
Realization is about being restored to sanity. If Realized, then one is sane, and one who is sane does not continue to seek sanity. Those who are truly healed and restored are released.
At the point when sanity is restored, a human will join the ranks of every other living thing on the planet and abide sanely and naturally and simply. The deer in this neighborhood seek food for the elemental plant food body if hungry, seek shelter for the elemental plant food body if a heavy rainstorm rolls in, and seek limited companionship. That’s it. They are not insane. So they do not seek more and accumulate more than is required for the temporary manifestation to continue for a period.
This has nothing to do with those that have Realized yet occasionally make contact here. The “dancing lightly” which follows Realization can happen without a partner, but on occasion it is entertaining to dance lightly with a companion. That is why such contact might continue. Beyond that, nothing is being sought and nothing is needed.
No “moreness.” No lifetime treatment. No lifetime “maintenance” to hang onto what was found. No complications. No insanity. No chaos. No supernatural beliefs or any other beliefs. No meetings or services or sessions to attend. Just natural abidance.
When all three legs of the "journey" are completed, then the understanding which comes to some via Realization (and which bvrings sanity, wisdom, logic, and reason) will be overlaid on the relative and will remain overlaid for the remainder of the manifestation.
(Post-manifestation, the fourth and final leg will be completed as all of the parts of the triad called “the composite unity” will return to the pools from which they came. End of story.)
Coming up:
A discussion of the legs of the “journey” and Maharaj’s Plan “A” for attaining freedom from the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, which he abandoned after seeing it did not work;
Maharaj’s Plan “B” for attaining freedom from the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, which he abandoned after seeing it did not work; and
Maharaj’s Plan “C” for attaining freedom from the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, which he used for the remainder of the time that he shared the revised version of the teachings after seeing Plan "C" can work for some.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
Section Two offers other recent posts. (All of the nearly 2,400 posts as well as any specific topics which you’re interested in can be accessed by using the search feature at the top of the right column.)
Section Four offers five free eBooks, compliments of Andy Gugar, Jr.
Section Five discusses parallels in Maharaj's and Floyd's "journey" and provides a chance for you to see if you've had any such parallels as well.
Section Six offers information on paperbacks that are available through Amazon.com for those who prefer a book in hand.
* * * * * *
SECTION TWO:
It is like this: if you have an accident and cut an artery in your leg, it is all important (relatively speaking) to seek immediate medical care. Most humans would likely seek the necessary treatment. After a period of continuing treatment and healing, and after physical health is restored, the emergency medical care which was sought so desperately becomes totally unimportant.
The problem with humanity: the key symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness (identified by Maharaj as "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity") bring about a continuous chain of events which require immediate emergency treatment as well, of the mental and emotional type. Yet most humans will likely never seek the necessary treatment.
For the few who do, if sanity is restored after a period of continuing mental and emotional treatment and healing, then the treatment (that is, the use of the Ultimate Medicine which restored sanity and allowed logic and reason and wisdom to manifest) becomes totally unimportant.
Consider what happened here in certain instances with the elemental plant food body:
1. Cancer was diagnosed. As soon as the treatment for cancer was complete, I was released for the hospital.
2. Internal hemorrhaging was diagnosed. Once the hemorrhaging was stopped, I was released from the hospital.
3. In an accident, both major bones in the lower right leg were broken; there were seventeen fractures in the right foot and ankle areas; there were three fractures in the left hand; and the shoulders and hips were dislocated. Once those were treated and once months of therapy were completed, I was released.
Had I said, “I do not want to be released . . . I want to seek treatment forever,” I would have been insane. If I had said, "I'm well so I am now going to heal others," tehn I would have bveen suffering delusuons of grandeur. (Such is the case with those offering treatment to persons suffering from grave mental and emotional and personality disorders, addictions, etc.: they are deluded, believing that they are helping; they are egotistical to a grand degree, thinking they can treat disorders which they have never been trained to treat.)
Now most will never seek, via the Realization process, the mental and emotional treatment which is so needed among the masses. And why is it needed by almost all? Because all have been perversely programmed and conditioned and acculturated and domesticated and brainwashed and indoctrinated.
But if they do seek and then find the proper and effective treatment, and if sanity is thereafter restored, then no further seeking will happen. They will have been released. He or she who has found sanity will not seek sanity. That would be insane to do so. Those who have been healed and restored are released. Yet there are those who claim that they have Realized Fully but continue to seek.
Realization is about being restored to sanity. If Realized, then one is sane, and one who is sane does not continue to seek sanity. Those who are truly healed and restored are released.
At the point when sanity is restored, a human will join the ranks of every other living thing on the planet and abide sanely and naturally and simply. The deer in this neighborhood seek food for the elemental plant food body if hungry, seek shelter for the elemental plant food body if a heavy rainstorm rolls in, and seek limited companionship. That’s it. They are not insane. So they do not seek more and accumulate more than is required for the temporary manifestation to continue for a period.
This has nothing to do with those that have Realized yet occasionally make contact here. The “dancing lightly” which follows Realization can happen without a partner, but on occasion it is entertaining to dance lightly with a companion. That is why such contact might continue. Beyond that, nothing is being sought and nothing is needed.
No “moreness.” No lifetime treatment. No lifetime “maintenance” to hang onto what was found. No complications. No insanity. No chaos. No supernatural beliefs or any other beliefs. No meetings or services or sessions to attend. Just natural abidance.
When all three legs of the "journey" are completed, then the understanding which comes to some via Realization (and which bvrings sanity, wisdom, logic, and reason) will be overlaid on the relative and will remain overlaid for the remainder of the manifestation.
(Post-manifestation, the fourth and final leg will be completed as all of the parts of the triad called “the composite unity” will return to the pools from which they came. End of story.)
Coming up:
A discussion of the legs of the “journey” and Maharaj’s Plan “A” for attaining freedom from the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, which he abandoned after seeing it did not work;
Maharaj’s Plan “B” for attaining freedom from the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, which he abandoned after seeing it did not work; and
Maharaj’s Plan “C” for attaining freedom from the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, which he used for the remainder of the time that he shared the revised version of the teachings after seeing Plan "C" can work for some.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
NOTE: Sections Two through Six follow:
Section Two offers other recent posts. (All of the nearly 2,400 posts as well as any specific topics which you’re interested in can be accessed by using the search feature at the top of the right column.)
Section Three offers ways that seekers have Realized, tools which some have used, and information on floyd's books.
Section Four offers five free eBooks, compliments of Andy Gugar, Jr.
Section Five discusses parallels in Maharaj's and Floyd's "journey" and provides a chance for you to see if you've had any such parallels as well.
Section Six offers information on paperbacks that are available through Amazon.com for those who prefer a book in hand.
* * * * * *
SECTION TWO:
Other Recent Posts
Previous post
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
F.: One of the key contributors to the Ultimate Sickness which the non-dual teachings can sometimes address is the tendency of programmed and conditioned persons to assign singular, specific cause.
Of that, Maharaj said, “Like everything mental, the so-called law of causation contradicts itself. Nothing in existence has a particular cause; the entire universe contributes to the existence of even the smallest thing; nothing could be as it is without the universe being what it is. When the source and ground of everything is the only cause of everything, to speak of causality as a universal law is wrong. The universe is not bound by its content, because its potentialities are infinite”
and
“When I say a thing is without a cause, I mean it can be without a particular cause”
and
“For everything there are innumerable causal factors.”
Rather than trying to assign cause, he recommended instead that persons should “deal with the causes of obscuration” (obscuration being a condition in which one has obscured perceptions or has been deluded, deceived, mislead, conned, fooled, or duped). And there is no greater delusion that blinding and arrogantly believing that one can identify the exact, single cause of an event (or worst, blindly believing that every event is cause by "a god abiding in another world that is controlling everything event in this world" or by "the universe" or by a "Higher Power").
Maharaj: “Everything is inter-linked; therefore, everything has numberless causes.”
Contrast that non-dual understanding with the belief of those who think they can assign a single cause to every event. As noted yesterday . . .
the Dalai Lama identified the single cause of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall taking place at New Orleans, Louisiana, claiming that it happened because of an accumulation of negative karma.
Televangelist Joel Osteen identified the cause as being “an act of god."
A woman in a Louisiana store identified the cause as being God’s desire to send a message.
And hundreds of men have come here over the years to report, “I am suffering because my wife left me. She’s killing me.” So a "she" and "her actions" are the singular cause of all their problems?
Those trapped in their new role of “The Suffering Ex-Husband” who have come this way have been witnessed to be in deep depression, experiencing high levels of anger, and trapped for decades in their resentment of “the wives who left them.” (Few of those men had seen their part which – in many cases - helped drive her away.)
The consideration offered: Or is it possible that you are suffering because a false role which you were playing can no longer be played? Is it possible that what you think has been “killed off” is actually just a false role which required someone to play the co-dependent, counterpart role which all roles require in order for a mind to believe the role is real?
What has been witnessed in so many cases? Years of a long-standing sense of offense as well as depression, anger, resentment, hostility, bitterness, and hatred. By whom? By the composite unities that were sitting in my presence and expressing offense, depression, anger, resentment, hostility, bitterness, and hatred? No. By a WHO – by a false identity – which was played but is no longer being played.
When a long-running play on Broadway closes, the actors do not think that they are being hurt or threatened or assaulted or killed. It was just a play. The play came to an end. They move on to the next job. Yet those who had assumed the role of “The Husband” as a primary identity and as the key role they played on the stage of their relative existence, short of Realization, seldom pull that off when their role-playing comes to an end.
The invitation extended to them is to see clearly what is really at play and to move toward the freedom which comes after seeing WHO is protesting or angry or depressed and feeling attacked or threatened or “killed.”
That may well be all that is necessary. Not once have I tried to go beyond that and encourage them to understand THAT. They need not see THAT Which Is, to use one term. They need but see who / what they are not.
Included in the eBook FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE are transcriptions of a multi-session series of satsang gatherings conducted many years ago. The notion of “specific causation” was discussed. This is the part of that series which dealt with the topic of the fallacy of singular causation:
F.: “Upon realization, another duality disappears: the credit-blame duality. The realized know that assigning credit to one source or assigning blame to one source is to ignore the reality of an infinite chain of happenings. Here’s a simple example that might be relevant. Last week, driving along the road that leads out here, the rear tire of a car ahead of me threw a pebble against my windshield and cracked it. You’ve all probably had a similar experience? [Nods in agreement] What caused that?”
Q.: “The rear tire of the car ahead of you.”
Q.2: “Actually, the driver of the car was responsible. I think people who do that should have to pay for the cost of the repair.”
F.: “I’m glad you said that since your comment will let us see how wrong that type thinking is and let me offer the pointer about ‘cause’.” [Participant displays a mock frown. Laughter from group] As I passed that car and drove farther along the road, I caught up with a truck that was hauling gravel … and spilling it all along the roadway. The pebbles in the road, one of which was thrown into my windshield earlier, most likely came from that truck. Now who’s to blame for my cracked windshield?”
Q.2: “The driver of the dump truck.”
Q.3: “The manager of the hauling company who allowed the truck to haul gravel without a cover over the top to prevent slippage.”
F.: “The manager? Or could it have been the owner of the hauling company who was too cheap to provide covers or too negligent to be certain that covers were being used?”
Q.4: “I’ll play along: it was the fault of the highway patrol that is not efficient enough to pull over those creating hazards on the road.” [Laughter from group]
F.: “Or the legislators who misappropriated funds to their pet projects and underfunded the highway patrol? [More laughs] Okay, enough. You get the picture. A series of events evolved in a way that, at a particular moment, a particular set of circumstances also evolved that resulted in a broken windshield on my vehicle. And if we wanted to play this game a little longer, you’ve already shown that we could trace the cause back millions of years to the circumstances that resulted in a boulder being broken down into pebbles, one of which millions of years later struck my windshield. But billions of years before that, an atom appeared in a vacuum, maybe even spit forth from an adjacent universe. And that atom split and then split again and then formed a mutated atom and those two collided and … bang … that collision caused a chain reaction that resulted in our boulder being formed billions of years later. And then millions of years after that, the boulder atrophied into huge stones and then rocks and then pebbles, and because of that happening and because of a truck and an owner and a manager and a driver and a construction project and an inefficient highway patrol and a driver and a car ahead of me, my windshield broke. Ha. Look at the billions of events that had to occur over a period of billions of years in order for my windshield to be damaged. Yet arrogantly, persons want to claim that they know exactly what's causing any particular happening. Persons want to tell you the one cause that they think is behind whatever is happening. They want to credit one thing or one entity or one power. Or they want to blame one thing or one entity or one power.”
Q.: We’re back to the pointer you offered before.”
F.: “Specifically?”
Q.: “About over-simplifying the ‘cause’ of anything. You said something like ‘the cause of everything is everything that’s happened before’.”
Q.2: “And you said that if we don’t realize that, we'll buy into the ancient myths about a single causer and a single creator of matter and energy. And you said that if one can imagine infinity beyond this manifestation, then one should be able to know the infinity before this manifestation.”
F.: “Well, that’s not quite the way I put it, but your version is accurate enough. The point is just as you said: the cause of all is all that has ever happened. Forget seeking a prime cause. Who wants to know why a particular happening is happening? Who wants to be the one who understands it all? Who wants more knowledge and more learning and more information and more proficiency and more wisdom than others have? The Eternal Truth cannot be spoken. What’s to know? What’s to say? After the thorns have removed all thorns, who cares about any of the thorns? Enjoy the thorn-free relative existence of less knowledge, less learning, less . . . period.”
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
Previous post
Of that, Maharaj said, “Like everything mental, the so-called law of causation contradicts itself. Nothing in existence has a particular cause; the entire universe contributes to the existence of even the smallest thing; nothing could be as it is without the universe being what it is. When the source and ground of everything is the only cause of everything, to speak of causality as a universal law is wrong. The universe is not bound by its content, because its potentialities are infinite”
and
“When I say a thing is without a cause, I mean it can be without a particular cause”
and
“For everything there are innumerable causal factors.”
Rather than trying to assign cause, he recommended instead that persons should “deal with the causes of obscuration” (obscuration being a condition in which one has obscured perceptions or has been deluded, deceived, mislead, conned, fooled, or duped). And there is no greater delusion that blinding and arrogantly believing that one can identify the exact, single cause of an event (or worst, blindly believing that every event is cause by "a god abiding in another world that is controlling everything event in this world" or by "the universe" or by a "Higher Power").
Maharaj: “Everything is inter-linked; therefore, everything has numberless causes.”
Contrast that non-dual understanding with the belief of those who think they can assign a single cause to every event. As noted yesterday . . .
the Dalai Lama identified the single cause of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall taking place at New Orleans, Louisiana, claiming that it happened because of an accumulation of negative karma.
Televangelist Joel Osteen identified the cause as being “an act of god."
A woman in a Louisiana store identified the cause as being God’s desire to send a message.
And hundreds of men have come here over the years to report, “I am suffering because my wife left me. She’s killing me.” So a "she" and "her actions" are the singular cause of all their problems?
Those trapped in their new role of “The Suffering Ex-Husband” who have come this way have been witnessed to be in deep depression, experiencing high levels of anger, and trapped for decades in their resentment of “the wives who left them.” (Few of those men had seen their part which – in many cases - helped drive her away.)
The consideration offered: Or is it possible that you are suffering because a false role which you were playing can no longer be played? Is it possible that what you think has been “killed off” is actually just a false role which required someone to play the co-dependent, counterpart role which all roles require in order for a mind to believe the role is real?
What has been witnessed in so many cases? Years of a long-standing sense of offense as well as depression, anger, resentment, hostility, bitterness, and hatred. By whom? By the composite unities that were sitting in my presence and expressing offense, depression, anger, resentment, hostility, bitterness, and hatred? No. By a WHO – by a false identity – which was played but is no longer being played.
When a long-running play on Broadway closes, the actors do not think that they are being hurt or threatened or assaulted or killed. It was just a play. The play came to an end. They move on to the next job. Yet those who had assumed the role of “The Husband” as a primary identity and as the key role they played on the stage of their relative existence, short of Realization, seldom pull that off when their role-playing comes to an end.
The invitation extended to them is to see clearly what is really at play and to move toward the freedom which comes after seeing WHO is protesting or angry or depressed and feeling attacked or threatened or “killed.”
That may well be all that is necessary. Not once have I tried to go beyond that and encourage them to understand THAT. They need not see THAT Which Is, to use one term. They need but see who / what they are not.
Included in the eBook FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE are transcriptions of a multi-session series of satsang gatherings conducted many years ago. The notion of “specific causation” was discussed. This is the part of that series which dealt with the topic of the fallacy of singular causation:
F.: “Upon realization, another duality disappears: the credit-blame duality. The realized know that assigning credit to one source or assigning blame to one source is to ignore the reality of an infinite chain of happenings. Here’s a simple example that might be relevant. Last week, driving along the road that leads out here, the rear tire of a car ahead of me threw a pebble against my windshield and cracked it. You’ve all probably had a similar experience? [Nods in agreement] What caused that?”
Q.: “The rear tire of the car ahead of you.”
Q.2: “Actually, the driver of the car was responsible. I think people who do that should have to pay for the cost of the repair.”
F.: “I’m glad you said that since your comment will let us see how wrong that type thinking is and let me offer the pointer about ‘cause’.” [Participant displays a mock frown. Laughter from group] As I passed that car and drove farther along the road, I caught up with a truck that was hauling gravel … and spilling it all along the roadway. The pebbles in the road, one of which was thrown into my windshield earlier, most likely came from that truck. Now who’s to blame for my cracked windshield?”
Q.2: “The driver of the dump truck.”
Q.3: “The manager of the hauling company who allowed the truck to haul gravel without a cover over the top to prevent slippage.”
F.: “The manager? Or could it have been the owner of the hauling company who was too cheap to provide covers or too negligent to be certain that covers were being used?”
Q.4: “I’ll play along: it was the fault of the highway patrol that is not efficient enough to pull over those creating hazards on the road.” [Laughter from group]
F.: “Or the legislators who misappropriated funds to their pet projects and underfunded the highway patrol? [More laughs] Okay, enough. You get the picture. A series of events evolved in a way that, at a particular moment, a particular set of circumstances also evolved that resulted in a broken windshield on my vehicle. And if we wanted to play this game a little longer, you’ve already shown that we could trace the cause back millions of years to the circumstances that resulted in a boulder being broken down into pebbles, one of which millions of years later struck my windshield. But billions of years before that, an atom appeared in a vacuum, maybe even spit forth from an adjacent universe. And that atom split and then split again and then formed a mutated atom and those two collided and … bang … that collision caused a chain reaction that resulted in our boulder being formed billions of years later. And then millions of years after that, the boulder atrophied into huge stones and then rocks and then pebbles, and because of that happening and because of a truck and an owner and a manager and a driver and a construction project and an inefficient highway patrol and a driver and a car ahead of me, my windshield broke. Ha. Look at the billions of events that had to occur over a period of billions of years in order for my windshield to be damaged. Yet arrogantly, persons want to claim that they know exactly what's causing any particular happening. Persons want to tell you the one cause that they think is behind whatever is happening. They want to credit one thing or one entity or one power. Or they want to blame one thing or one entity or one power.”
Q.: We’re back to the pointer you offered before.”
F.: “Specifically?”
Q.: “About over-simplifying the ‘cause’ of anything. You said something like ‘the cause of everything is everything that’s happened before’.”
Q.2: “And you said that if we don’t realize that, we'll buy into the ancient myths about a single causer and a single creator of matter and energy. And you said that if one can imagine infinity beyond this manifestation, then one should be able to know the infinity before this manifestation.”
F.: “Well, that’s not quite the way I put it, but your version is accurate enough. The point is just as you said: the cause of all is all that has ever happened. Forget seeking a prime cause. Who wants to know why a particular happening is happening? Who wants to be the one who understands it all? Who wants more knowledge and more learning and more information and more proficiency and more wisdom than others have? The Eternal Truth cannot be spoken. What’s to know? What’s to say? After the thorns have removed all thorns, who cares about any of the thorns? Enjoy the thorn-free relative existence of less knowledge, less learning, less . . . period.”
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
Previous post
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
F.: [Continued from yesterday]
Maharaj was criticized by locals in Bombay / Mumbai when he moved away from offering bhajans and Hindu-based messages. Later, he was criticized when he abandoned his spiritual message and began to focus on the “mind” roots of the Ultimate Sickness.
WHO did he really “offend”? Supposedly religious persons who had assumed religious identities and who were playing religious roles, none of which were (or are) real; and, supposedly spiritual persons who had assumed spiritual identities and who were playing spiritual roles, none of which were (or are) real.
Similarly, it is impossible for my words to offend anyone, so these “truth-revealing” questions were offered: “WHO (what ego-state) feels hurt or threatened by the pointers herein; and, WHO (what false identity) feels upset?”
There is no WHO and there is no persona and there is nothing personal. There is a composite unity of elements and air and conscious-energy.
Can the elements be offended? No. Can the air be offended? No. Can pure conscious-energy be offended? No. What can supposedly be offended? The fiction-filled mind which has been programmed, conditioned, etc. to believe in whatever false concepts are being challenged.
It was seen yesterday that the non-Realized masses - after having been programmed, conditioned, domesticated, acculturated, brainwashed, and indoctrinated - move through the relative existence while being driven unconsciously by what Maharaj called "their ignorance, their stupidity, and their insanity."
Programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing, and indoctrination also lead to one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation of false concepts which are accepted as fact with no proof at all; thus, such programming, conditioning, etc. sets persons up (a) to be driven by beliefs (non-facts) rather than by facts and (b) to be driven by having blind faith in their beliefs, that is, in the vast accumulation of non-facts which they unquestioningly take to be facts though based in nothing more than hearsay.
That’s what ignorance and stupidity and insanity involve: an inability to differentiate between true and false.
While billions believe in “an afterlife,” there is not one single fact which can prove unequivocally that their beliefs about an afterlife are based in fact. All of those beliefs about an afterlife are based in hearsay, rumor, unconfirmed reports, blind faith, and in the assignment of supposedly supernatural causes to things which are, in fact, totally natural.
For example, meteorologists and scientists can explain exactly why hurricanes form off the west coast of Africa and move along westerly and north-westerly paths across the Atlantic ocean; why, after reaching the warmer water coastlines or a gulf and encountering cold fronts or warm fronts or other weather systems, they either turn south or go straight into Mexico or turn north before reaching North America or go into the Gulf of Mexico and turn north where landfall eventually happens. Those are the facts.
What are the non-fact beliefs about hurricanes? They are said by some to have been “god made” or “made by the controlling powers of the universe” to “sent to send messages” or “to punish” or "to restore karmic balance."
When such non-factual beliefs take hold, ignorance and insanity soon follow, so when Hurricane Katrina stuck New Orleans, the Dalai Lama offered a non-factual explanation for why that happened, suggesting that the hurricane hit New Orleans because of the negative karma of the people there, and also all of the accumulated negative karma around the world. And all of his followers nodded in agreement.
Joel Osteen, a televangelist at a mega-church in Houston TX, said to Larry King during a post-Katrina interview that "It’s an act of god." And all of his followers nodded in agreement. So much for a god who really loves unconditionally in their belief system.
And then there was the woman overheard as I was in a Louisiana store, paying for the gasoline I’d just used to fill the tank on my car. She said of a hurricane that had passed north from the gulf and reached that area the day before: “God is trying to tell us something.”
All of those pronouncements by the Dalai Lama and Osteen and a woman and millions more like them were based in non-factual beliefs rather than in scientific facts and evidence.
Another provable fact was offered yesterday: what is believed to be "a person" is really just a composite unity, a triad of plant food elements which are forming a space which is circulating air and which is temporarily housing a form of energy called ‘consciousness’ or ‘conscious-energy’ which also circulates into and out of that form for as long as the form and the energy are manifested.
Also provable, as noted yesterday, is this: The elements will return to the universal pool of elements, the final breath of air will be released into the universal pool of air, and all of the specks of conscious-energy will eventually be released and will return to the universal pool of conscious-energy; therefore, it is impossible that there can remain from that triad any "one" to know, experience, feel, gain or suffer in an afterlife;
it is also impossible that there can remain from that triad any "one" to be reborn, time and again; to sprout wings and become half human and half bird and then float about worshipping a god who wants to be worshipped or to float about invisibly over persons whom they are “guarding.” (Yet over 80% of the persons in the U.S. believe in such guardian angels, though there has never been one scintilla of factual evidence to support that belief.)
See, this understanding is not about what Maharaj or I know vs. what the masses do not know. It is about fact vs. faith, proof vs. no proof, and about factual evidence vs. non-facts which are nevertheless taken unquestioningly to be truth.
Realization is about being restored to sanity and clearing away all the mental wreckage of programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing, and indoctrination. The result of that purging process? The ability to allow wisdom to guide one through the remainder of the relative existence, as opposed to “ignorance, stupidity and insanity.”
If there were any “benefit” to Realizing, it could only manifest NOW. Why? Because there will be no one later to receive any “benefit.” As for “the payoff” that can come via change? The only thing that can be changed is one’s perspective, NOW. What happen later (post-manifestation) will be determined solely by natural laws, so, therefore, what happens post-manifestation cannot be changed by any efforts or actions now. It is beyond anyone's control, and how the non-Realized masses hate to hear that fact.
Any belief to the contrary about an afterlife is just that, a belief. And beliefs, by definition and by their very nature, are something that cannot be proved by fact but are hearsay taken to be truth. The non-dual teaching: the Truth can be known, but it cannot be stated. Beliefs can be stated, so they are not Truth.
Facts, on the other hand, can be witnessed accurately by the wise, and it is they alone who can differentiate between fact and fiction, between Truth and non-truths, and between facts and non-facts, a.k.a., “beliefs.”
Here, there is no “one” who believes anything, so there most certainly is no “one” here who wants you to believe anything. Nor is there anyone here claiming to know everything while others know nothing; however, there is, among the Realized, an ability to witness objectively and wisely. That is the only difference.
Maharaj: “There is absolutely no difference between me and others, except in my knowing myself as I am. I know it for certain and you do not. The difference is only in the mind and temporary.”
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
9 February 2015
Maharaj was criticized by locals in Bombay / Mumbai when he moved away from offering bhajans and Hindu-based messages. Later, he was criticized when he abandoned his spiritual message and began to focus on the “mind” roots of the Ultimate Sickness.
WHO did he really “offend”? Supposedly religious persons who had assumed religious identities and who were playing religious roles, none of which were (or are) real; and, supposedly spiritual persons who had assumed spiritual identities and who were playing spiritual roles, none of which were (or are) real.
Similarly, it is impossible for my words to offend anyone, so these “truth-revealing” questions were offered: “WHO (what ego-state) feels hurt or threatened by the pointers herein; and, WHO (what false identity) feels upset?”
There is no WHO and there is no persona and there is nothing personal. There is a composite unity of elements and air and conscious-energy.
Can the elements be offended? No. Can the air be offended? No. Can pure conscious-energy be offended? No. What can supposedly be offended? The fiction-filled mind which has been programmed, conditioned, etc. to believe in whatever false concepts are being challenged.
It was seen yesterday that the non-Realized masses - after having been programmed, conditioned, domesticated, acculturated, brainwashed, and indoctrinated - move through the relative existence while being driven unconsciously by what Maharaj called "their ignorance, their stupidity, and their insanity."
Programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing, and indoctrination also lead to one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation of false concepts which are accepted as fact with no proof at all; thus, such programming, conditioning, etc. sets persons up (a) to be driven by beliefs (non-facts) rather than by facts and (b) to be driven by having blind faith in their beliefs, that is, in the vast accumulation of non-facts which they unquestioningly take to be facts though based in nothing more than hearsay.
That’s what ignorance and stupidity and insanity involve: an inability to differentiate between true and false.
While billions believe in “an afterlife,” there is not one single fact which can prove unequivocally that their beliefs about an afterlife are based in fact. All of those beliefs about an afterlife are based in hearsay, rumor, unconfirmed reports, blind faith, and in the assignment of supposedly supernatural causes to things which are, in fact, totally natural.
For example, meteorologists and scientists can explain exactly why hurricanes form off the west coast of Africa and move along westerly and north-westerly paths across the Atlantic ocean; why, after reaching the warmer water coastlines or a gulf and encountering cold fronts or warm fronts or other weather systems, they either turn south or go straight into Mexico or turn north before reaching North America or go into the Gulf of Mexico and turn north where landfall eventually happens. Those are the facts.
What are the non-fact beliefs about hurricanes? They are said by some to have been “god made” or “made by the controlling powers of the universe” to “sent to send messages” or “to punish” or "to restore karmic balance."
When such non-factual beliefs take hold, ignorance and insanity soon follow, so when Hurricane Katrina stuck New Orleans, the Dalai Lama offered a non-factual explanation for why that happened, suggesting that the hurricane hit New Orleans because of the negative karma of the people there, and also all of the accumulated negative karma around the world. And all of his followers nodded in agreement.
Joel Osteen, a televangelist at a mega-church in Houston TX, said to Larry King during a post-Katrina interview that "It’s an act of god." And all of his followers nodded in agreement. So much for a god who really loves unconditionally in their belief system.
And then there was the woman overheard as I was in a Louisiana store, paying for the gasoline I’d just used to fill the tank on my car. She said of a hurricane that had passed north from the gulf and reached that area the day before: “God is trying to tell us something.”
All of those pronouncements by the Dalai Lama and Osteen and a woman and millions more like them were based in non-factual beliefs rather than in scientific facts and evidence.
Another provable fact was offered yesterday: what is believed to be "a person" is really just a composite unity, a triad of plant food elements which are forming a space which is circulating air and which is temporarily housing a form of energy called ‘consciousness’ or ‘conscious-energy’ which also circulates into and out of that form for as long as the form and the energy are manifested.
Also provable, as noted yesterday, is this: The elements will return to the universal pool of elements, the final breath of air will be released into the universal pool of air, and all of the specks of conscious-energy will eventually be released and will return to the universal pool of conscious-energy; therefore, it is impossible that there can remain from that triad any "one" to know, experience, feel, gain or suffer in an afterlife;
it is also impossible that there can remain from that triad any "one" to be reborn, time and again; to sprout wings and become half human and half bird and then float about worshipping a god who wants to be worshipped or to float about invisibly over persons whom they are “guarding.” (Yet over 80% of the persons in the U.S. believe in such guardian angels, though there has never been one scintilla of factual evidence to support that belief.)
See, this understanding is not about what Maharaj or I know vs. what the masses do not know. It is about fact vs. faith, proof vs. no proof, and about factual evidence vs. non-facts which are nevertheless taken unquestioningly to be truth.
Realization is about being restored to sanity and clearing away all the mental wreckage of programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing, and indoctrination. The result of that purging process? The ability to allow wisdom to guide one through the remainder of the relative existence, as opposed to “ignorance, stupidity and insanity.”
If there were any “benefit” to Realizing, it could only manifest NOW. Why? Because there will be no one later to receive any “benefit.” As for “the payoff” that can come via change? The only thing that can be changed is one’s perspective, NOW. What happen later (post-manifestation) will be determined solely by natural laws, so, therefore, what happens post-manifestation cannot be changed by any efforts or actions now. It is beyond anyone's control, and how the non-Realized masses hate to hear that fact.
Any belief to the contrary about an afterlife is just that, a belief. And beliefs, by definition and by their very nature, are something that cannot be proved by fact but are hearsay taken to be truth. The non-dual teaching: the Truth can be known, but it cannot be stated. Beliefs can be stated, so they are not Truth.
Facts, on the other hand, can be witnessed accurately by the wise, and it is they alone who can differentiate between fact and fiction, between Truth and non-truths, and between facts and non-facts, a.k.a., “beliefs.”
Here, there is no “one” who believes anything, so there most certainly is no “one” here who wants you to believe anything. Nor is there anyone here claiming to know everything while others know nothing; however, there is, among the Realized, an ability to witness objectively and wisely. That is the only difference.
Maharaj: “There is absolutely no difference between me and others, except in my knowing myself as I am. I know it for certain and you do not. The difference is only in the mind and temporary.”
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
9 February 2015
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
F.: [Pre-reading alert: if today’s post "upsets" you, then the questions to ask are, “WHO (what ego-state) feels hurt or threatened by the pointers herein" and "WHO (what false identity) feels upset?”]
Between . . .
the five methods of teaching non-duality
and
the hundreds or thousands of bastardized permutations of those methods
and
the many types of yoga which may or not be combined with those methods
. . . is it any wonder that what “the path” is thought to involve and what “the journey” is thought to be about and what the real “end game” is about amounts to one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation?
And it is any wonder that when the “path” to something is one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation that the interpretation of what is at the end of that “path” is also one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation?
So for all the passion that is shown by “non-dualists” or “Advaitins”; or for all the passion that is shown by Hindus or Christians or Jews or Muslims or Buddhists or Sikhs (or whatever form of religion a person uses to reach the status of “The Super Religious One”);
and for all the passion that is shown by all of the Big Name Teachers and everyone else who is claiming that they have found what they were seeking or who are claiming to be “Fully Realized” or who are claiming to be “saved” or claiming to be “spiritual giants” or “adherents of Native American spirituality,” etc., the fact remains that whatever it is that they think they are seeking or believe they have found or have faith that they will receive post-manifestation or whatever they think will happen to their “souls” involving whatever kind of ”recycling” they believe in . . . the fact remains that all of their conclusions are one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation.
Right now, if someone is asked, “Who, or what, are you?” then the most accurate response she or he could give would be, “Consider whatever you are seeing and think to be a person is really just a composite unity, a triad of plant food elements which are forming a space which is circulating air and which is temporarily housing a form of energy called ‘consciousness’ or ‘conscious-energy’ which also circulates into and out of that space for as long as the form and the energy are manifested.”
And right now, if someone is asked, “What is going to happen to that composite unity ultimately?” then the most accurate response they could give would be, “The elements will return to the universal pool of elements, the final breath of air will be released into the universal pool of air, and all of the specks of conscious-energy will eventually be released and will return to the universal pool of conscious-energy. At that point, for the sake of discussion, the energy can be called ‘awareness,’ but that is a ‘dormant’ form of energy to the degree that there is no ‘aware-of-ness’ (nor any conscious-of-ness, either). There will be no ‘one’ to know, experience, feel, gain (as in ‘a reward’) or to suffer (as in, ‘punishment’), and any belief to the contrary – as is the case with all beliefs – is a lie, dreamed up by men and passed down by men and women for millennia, used for all of that time to try to control their followers; thus, all dreamed up concepts about what is to be sought, and why it is to sought, and what is to found, is also one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation.”
If there is no “one” that survives this temporary manifestation of a composite unity, then what is more relevant: the I AM THAT? Or the I AM? Maharaj made clear that THAT need never be understood in order to be restored to sanity and to abide thereafter in a sane and rational and wise manner. All that is required to be freed from ignorance and insanity is to know what you are not and to stop allowing what you are not to drive every thought and word and action that happens.
Mirages should not have any effect on a composite unity. They should not be able to control the thoughts or words or actions of a composite unity. Yet they do, and that’s the height of insanity.
In the U.S., 59% of all women killed annually are killed during a breakup with a lover or spouse. If one thinks that he is “The Lover” or “The Husband” and she says, “I’m leaving,” then that false identity cannot continue to exist (in his mind). Every false identity requires a co-dependent player of the counterpart role which is required for any false identity to be assumed to be real. Hence, the insanity is that, “She’s killing me, so I must strike first to protect myself.”
So the false “me” thinks that in order to protect itself, it must kill the co-dependent player of the counterpart role that is allowing an illusion to be taken as something real in the first place? That’s insanity at play. That's how ignorance and insanity function when driven by a mind which is always (post-programming, post-conditioning, etc.) one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation.
Next, is it possible that “Realization” is really - and simply - about realizing that one is suffering from the Ultimate Sickness (which Maharaj said has as its key symptoms “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity”) and then doing what is required to find the Ultimate Medicine? If that is the case, then all of the lofty, superior, soaring, grand, exalted, elevated, noble, and distinguished concepts that are attached to “Realization” are nonsense.
Moreover, those who claim that they are “Realized” or “saved” or “at one with god / the gods” have missed the key element of the non-dual understanding:
Belief in personality must end in order to put an end to one’s thoughts and words and actions begin driven by the hidden agendas of mirages / images / false identities / personas. That is one effect of being restored to sanity. If there is no personality at play (that is, if no ego-states are being assumed and being supported by the ego-defense mechanism of egotism) then there can be no arrogant, narcissistic sense of being “different from” or “better than.”
Yet who that claims to have “Realized” or “been saved” or claims to be “at one with god / the gods” can honestly say that there is not some belief now about being “different from” or “better than”? The very claim about being “Realized” or “saved” or “at one with god / the gods” is evidence of ego and egotism.
Feel like protesting that point? Then the question becomes, “WHO” (what ego-state / false identity) feels driven to protest that point?”
Who that is wearing special robes to signify one’s status and identity can honestly claim that there is no sense of “different-from-ment” or “better-than-ment”? The robes themselves signify the presence of a belief that one is “different from” or “better than.”
Who that is wearing a cross around the neck to signify one’s status and identity can honestly claim that there is no sense of “different-from-ment” or “better-than-ment”? The wearing of the cross itself signifies the presence of a belief that one is “different from” or “better than.”
Who that is yelling “Allahu Akbar” after killing someone can honestly claim that there is no sense of “different-from-ment” or “better-than-ment”? The very acts of yelling that phrase and believing that one has the right to decide who lives and who dies signifies the presence of a belief that one is “different from” or “better than.”
Any claim that one is “different from” or “better than” or is “A Member of This Spiritual Group” or “A Member of That Recovery Group” or “A Member of This Church / Synagogue / Temple / Ashram / Mosque, etc.” or “A Member of The Small Select Group of the Realized” or any other kind of "Member" is assuming an identity which shows in itself that (1) no degree at all of understanding or awareness has happened and that (2) no absence of pride and arrogance and narcissism has happened.
Now surely you would not protest that, right, for it is impossible to protest if there is no “WHO” to do the protesting, correct? :-)
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
8 February 2015
Between . . .
the five methods of teaching non-duality
and
the hundreds or thousands of bastardized permutations of those methods
and
the many types of yoga which may or not be combined with those methods
. . . is it any wonder that what “the path” is thought to involve and what “the journey” is thought to be about and what the real “end game” is about amounts to one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation?
And it is any wonder that when the “path” to something is one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation that the interpretation of what is at the end of that “path” is also one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation?
So for all the passion that is shown by “non-dualists” or “Advaitins”; or for all the passion that is shown by Hindus or Christians or Jews or Muslims or Buddhists or Sikhs (or whatever form of religion a person uses to reach the status of “The Super Religious One”);
and for all the passion that is shown by all of the Big Name Teachers and everyone else who is claiming that they have found what they were seeking or who are claiming to be “Fully Realized” or who are claiming to be “saved” or claiming to be “spiritual giants” or “adherents of Native American spirituality,” etc., the fact remains that whatever it is that they think they are seeking or believe they have found or have faith that they will receive post-manifestation or whatever they think will happen to their “souls” involving whatever kind of ”recycling” they believe in . . . the fact remains that all of their conclusions are one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation.
Right now, if someone is asked, “Who, or what, are you?” then the most accurate response she or he could give would be, “Consider whatever you are seeing and think to be a person is really just a composite unity, a triad of plant food elements which are forming a space which is circulating air and which is temporarily housing a form of energy called ‘consciousness’ or ‘conscious-energy’ which also circulates into and out of that space for as long as the form and the energy are manifested.”
And right now, if someone is asked, “What is going to happen to that composite unity ultimately?” then the most accurate response they could give would be, “The elements will return to the universal pool of elements, the final breath of air will be released into the universal pool of air, and all of the specks of conscious-energy will eventually be released and will return to the universal pool of conscious-energy. At that point, for the sake of discussion, the energy can be called ‘awareness,’ but that is a ‘dormant’ form of energy to the degree that there is no ‘aware-of-ness’ (nor any conscious-of-ness, either). There will be no ‘one’ to know, experience, feel, gain (as in ‘a reward’) or to suffer (as in, ‘punishment’), and any belief to the contrary – as is the case with all beliefs – is a lie, dreamed up by men and passed down by men and women for millennia, used for all of that time to try to control their followers; thus, all dreamed up concepts about what is to be sought, and why it is to sought, and what is to found, is also one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation.”
If there is no “one” that survives this temporary manifestation of a composite unity, then what is more relevant: the I AM THAT? Or the I AM? Maharaj made clear that THAT need never be understood in order to be restored to sanity and to abide thereafter in a sane and rational and wise manner. All that is required to be freed from ignorance and insanity is to know what you are not and to stop allowing what you are not to drive every thought and word and action that happens.
Mirages should not have any effect on a composite unity. They should not be able to control the thoughts or words or actions of a composite unity. Yet they do, and that’s the height of insanity.
In the U.S., 59% of all women killed annually are killed during a breakup with a lover or spouse. If one thinks that he is “The Lover” or “The Husband” and she says, “I’m leaving,” then that false identity cannot continue to exist (in his mind). Every false identity requires a co-dependent player of the counterpart role which is required for any false identity to be assumed to be real. Hence, the insanity is that, “She’s killing me, so I must strike first to protect myself.”
So the false “me” thinks that in order to protect itself, it must kill the co-dependent player of the counterpart role that is allowing an illusion to be taken as something real in the first place? That’s insanity at play. That's how ignorance and insanity function when driven by a mind which is always (post-programming, post-conditioning, etc.) one big confused, baffling, bewildering and misunderstood discombobulation.
Next, is it possible that “Realization” is really - and simply - about realizing that one is suffering from the Ultimate Sickness (which Maharaj said has as its key symptoms “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity”) and then doing what is required to find the Ultimate Medicine? If that is the case, then all of the lofty, superior, soaring, grand, exalted, elevated, noble, and distinguished concepts that are attached to “Realization” are nonsense.
Moreover, those who claim that they are “Realized” or “saved” or “at one with god / the gods” have missed the key element of the non-dual understanding:
Belief in personality must end in order to put an end to one’s thoughts and words and actions begin driven by the hidden agendas of mirages / images / false identities / personas. That is one effect of being restored to sanity. If there is no personality at play (that is, if no ego-states are being assumed and being supported by the ego-defense mechanism of egotism) then there can be no arrogant, narcissistic sense of being “different from” or “better than.”
Yet who that claims to have “Realized” or “been saved” or claims to be “at one with god / the gods” can honestly say that there is not some belief now about being “different from” or “better than”? The very claim about being “Realized” or “saved” or “at one with god / the gods” is evidence of ego and egotism.
Feel like protesting that point? Then the question becomes, “WHO” (what ego-state / false identity) feels driven to protest that point?”
Who that is wearing special robes to signify one’s status and identity can honestly claim that there is no sense of “different-from-ment” or “better-than-ment”? The robes themselves signify the presence of a belief that one is “different from” or “better than.”
Who that is wearing a cross around the neck to signify one’s status and identity can honestly claim that there is no sense of “different-from-ment” or “better-than-ment”? The wearing of the cross itself signifies the presence of a belief that one is “different from” or “better than.”
Who that is yelling “Allahu Akbar” after killing someone can honestly claim that there is no sense of “different-from-ment” or “better-than-ment”? The very acts of yelling that phrase and believing that one has the right to decide who lives and who dies signifies the presence of a belief that one is “different from” or “better than.”
Any claim that one is “different from” or “better than” or is “A Member of This Spiritual Group” or “A Member of That Recovery Group” or “A Member of This Church / Synagogue / Temple / Ashram / Mosque, etc.” or “A Member of The Small Select Group of the Realized” or any other kind of "Member" is assuming an identity which shows in itself that (1) no degree at all of understanding or awareness has happened and that (2) no absence of pride and arrogance and narcissism has happened.
Now surely you would not protest that, right, for it is impossible to protest if there is no “WHO” to do the protesting, correct? :-)
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
8 February 2015
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
F.: Yesterday, the consideration was, "Why
will religious persons or spiritual persons or even the most ardent
seekers of 'the understanding of an Eastern philosophy' or 'the Advaitin
perspective' or 'Eastern knowledge' or 'a comprehension of non-duality'
refuse to give up the false identities which they work so hard to
sustain and just abide simply and naturally instead?"
Some of the reasons offered yesterday included perceived “risks”; an acute addiction to their roles and the perceived payoffs that those roles can supposedly bring”; and an intense attachment to the dependencies and co-dependency which those roles foster.
As for “the addiction factor,” many will deny they have any addiction because they “do not abuse drugs or alcohol.” Yet when it comes to “seeking or worshipping or growing spiritually” and to a supposed do-er who is totally consumed by all of her or his doingness, a variety of addictions can manifest which are seldom considered.
First, some are addicted to chaos. They are so bored that they are driven to constantly stir things up and driven to "stay busy." They must go and do and zoom, continuously racing about from one “holy site” to another; from one religious festival or another, the hundreds dying regularly in the human stampedes that mark so many of those festivals be damned; going to one church or temple or ashram activity or another; and attending one spiritual retreat or another.
Those who cannot sit still in the silence must run in order to try to escape themselves. More specifically, they are trying to escape the noise going on between their ears – that chatter of a thousand monkeys – that incessant noise which is being generated by the multiple personas which they have adopted as identities and which are all constantly having their say about what they need, or what they have and want to hang onto, or what they do not have but desire.
Some become addicted to the very process of obsessing itself as their false identities rattle on constantly about their fears and wishes and wants and hopes; yet all of those are the stuff of unreality, merely transient things dreamed up via the hidden agendas of ever personality identification assumed.
Maharaj’s take on that? “Transient things only ‘appear’ and have no substance”
and
“Transiency is the best proof of unreality.”
Yet persons fail to address the source of that noise, and most will fail to find the means by which they could rid themselves of the source of all that noise which is driving them to become addicted to running and going and doing and zooming in order to try to escape the disturbance and misery rooted in the ever-cycling racket and clatter and clanging and clanking and banging commotion that is generated by a fiction-filled mind. Yet being based in false identifications, none of that noise has anything to do with reality but is all based in imagination.
Maharaj: “There is only imagination. It has absorbed you so completely that you just cannot grasp how far from reality you have wandered.”
The addiction to racing about is rooted in the subconscious drive to experience harmony. The mind is the root of all disharmony. The insanity of humanity is that - in an effort to address the overwhelming discontentment that most non-Realized persons experience all day long - humans try to address the racing mind issue with a racing body.
When the mind is going 100-mph hour (about 161 k.p.h.), then the body feels pressured to “do something” in an effort to reach a state of equilibrium where mind speed and body speed are in sync. To address that sensation of feeling, “I am totally out of sync” and to allow one to be able to relax and take it easy, the mind and the body must both be in an equalized, balanced state of equilibrium.
(Of course that cannot happen, for the mind can never relax and take it easy, but that’s the subconscious goal nevertheless. Few, by contrast, will come to see that they must be rid of the mind if the body is every going to be able to relax and take it easy.)
Rather than being balanced, the masses are unbalanced. An Advaitin reportedly said 2000 years ago, “A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways” and an unstable person cannot relax and take it easy.
A woman who lives on the opposite side of the street is a go-er, do-er, zoom-er. One neighbor said, “I get exhausted just watching her keep up that pace.”
Yesterday, as I left the house and headed to town to run some errands, she fell in behind my vehicle. The first part of the route out of the subdivision is a two-lane road that is always too busy to allow for passing another car, so she was tailgating me all the way, riding my bumper so to speak, trying to force me to speed up or get off the road to allow the body inside her car to move at a speed that is more in line with the speed of her racing mind. Her efforts to try to force me to also drive at the same speed as her mind were futile.
Once the road widened into four lanes, she rocketed by me as if she were shot from a cannon. Yet for all of her driving at 70 m.p.h. in a 40 m.p.h. section of the road and recklessly changing lanes but still being trapped behind one car after another, the fact was that when I reached the traffic light at the main highway, I pulled in right behind her. A sort of turtle-and-hare story played out.
Once on the multi-lane highway with a 55 m.p.h. speed limit, she raced out of sight at 80-90 m.p.h. Many thought they were seeing “a crazy driver” or “an unbelievably aggressive driver who was behaving as if she were on a race car track.” What I witnessed was a woman whose mind is driving her insane with the high speed at which it is functioning and with the high levels of noise being generated between her ears by that speeding, noisy mind.
She is addicted to going and doing and zooming because she is trying to get the body in sync with the mind, and that is no different from those whose going and doing an zooming does not involve a car but involves their religious doingness, their spiritual doingness, or their traveling to one retreat or "special" site after another. It’s all the same addiction, and it's all driven by a desire to escape the stillness and the silence which is intolerable because of the ever-present disturbance of a noisy mind.
Yet the doing and doing and zooming activities look far more noble when viewed through the “eyes” of a false identity, be it “The Super Religious One,” “The Spiritual Giant,” or “The Super Seeker.” Thus, after abandoning the use of a religious / non-dual combination as the Ultimate Medicine, and after abandoning the use of spirituality as the Ultimate Medicine, Maharaj advised person’s to stop reading that so-called “spiritual classic” entitled “I AM THAT” and offered these pointers instead:
He said:
"First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and ... you pray to that God for something good to happen to you."
"Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion. All this is happening in the objective world. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud."
"Only that person will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end."
"There is no question of elevating to a higher level. Here it is only a question of understanding."
"Both the mantra and the faith in the mantra will get dissolved."
"There is no progress."
“Whatever you have tried to understand during your spiritual search will prove false.”
“From birth, what has made the body grow? It is no power in the world. It is the power of beingness, the atom, the Self, the consciousness … call it what you will.”
“When the birth is disproved, the great noble meaning of spirituality and the meaning of this world – everything - is disproved.”
“If they come face-to-face with that root, they will be stunned into silence.”
“I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.”
He spoke of seekers’ "kindergarten-level spirituality."
He noted that "there are so many who take the dawn for the noon, a momentary experience for full realisation . . . .”
For all the spiritual and religious and philosophical talk in "I AM THAT," the most direct pointers he offered contained less and less of the earlier "beating around the bush"; thus, he said to two visitors, "Forget spirituality."
He encouraged seekers to follow "their normal inclinations," that is, to follow their natural tendencies, to abandon all of their spiritual work and just abide naturally - not unnaturally and not supernaturally (i.e., neither "religiously" nor "spiritually" nor "philosophically").
He told visitors, "Do your normal duties" and "just give up spirituality."
In other words, give up your obsession with, and addiction to, all of the religious and spiritual going and doing and zooming that prevent you from enjoying the stillness and quietude. How? Be rid of the mind which is driving all of the going and doing and zooming. How? By abandoning all beliefs and thereafter relaxing and taking it easy, abiding naturally rather than unnaturally and / or supernaturally.
What else drives persons to remain trapped in their addiction to seeking and religious and spiritual doingness? A desire to escape from an often boring existence at home. What better justification for leaving the house and going and doing and zooming than to do all that in the name of “improvement” and “growth” and “service to others” (as if one not trained to provide the therapy that those others need can still address their psychological issues).
What else do those types become addicted to? The supposed status that comes with a public display of their accumulated “knowledge” or their dogma-based “righteousness” or their “high level of spirituality.” Served up as a side dish to their public status is an elevation in their level of “self-esteem.” Key there is the word “self.” Esteem based in the image of a “self” – a false identity – is no esteem at all. Anything based in the illusion of a false ego which is supported by egotism is nothing more than self-delusion.
Along with that is the related addiction to "attention" and "admiration" and "love," all offered up by those who are impressed by persons who seem to be "especially religious" or "especially spiritual."
Again, Maharaj: “There is only imagination. It has absorbed you.”
Additionally, Maharaj said of those who visited loft and were to have at least some chance of actually understanding the message: “Only that person will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end.”
Show up thinking that you're a vile sinner? You're not ready. Show you thinking that all of your religious and / or spiritual work has rendered you virtuous? You're not ready. If one is clinging to the delusion that he or she is “virtuous,” then they can never grasp the freedom-providing understanding. They will remain trapped in their narcissistic self-image.
What else do those types become addicted to? The supposed “power” which they think they can tap into if they work constantly to stay close to some other-worldly “Power” or “Powers.”
Of all the things that persons can become addicted to, the primary addiction of all humanity is the desire to control, actually, to have control over everything and everyone.
The secondary addiction of humanity is the desire to have power – both relative power and divine Power – in order to be able to control.
Control. Power. Nothing is desired more by the non-Realized masses.
An additional addiction can involve knowledge-gathering which can then be used, supposedly, to impress others, and what knowledge could be more impressive than a mastery of all things holy or all things Noumenal?
Another addiction is to the notion that “one is at one with ______ .” (Fill in the blank with any one of the many things that persons think they are "at one with"). Yes, there is the Oneness, there is the unicity. But there is no chance at all of being “at one with.” That in itself suggests duality, “A” now finally being at one with “B.” Impossible.
Another addiction, related to the concepts of power and control is an addiction to leadership, being "in charge" because of one's "years of membership in a group" or one’s “level of religiosity or spirituality which exceeds that of all others in the group” or one’s “level of learning or intelligence which exceeds that of all others in a group.”
Obsessing over religion or spirituality or seeking is rooted in the obsession of the mind which is what drives all addictive thinking and addictive behaviors, and if one wants to grasp the relative effects of dealing with miserable - and misery-sharing persons - study what it is like to try to interact with those addicted to anything (including things deemed to be "bad" as well as to things that some deem to be "the good things" that a person can be addicted to).
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
7 February 2015
Some of the reasons offered yesterday included perceived “risks”; an acute addiction to their roles and the perceived payoffs that those roles can supposedly bring”; and an intense attachment to the dependencies and co-dependency which those roles foster.
As for “the addiction factor,” many will deny they have any addiction because they “do not abuse drugs or alcohol.” Yet when it comes to “seeking or worshipping or growing spiritually” and to a supposed do-er who is totally consumed by all of her or his doingness, a variety of addictions can manifest which are seldom considered.
First, some are addicted to chaos. They are so bored that they are driven to constantly stir things up and driven to "stay busy." They must go and do and zoom, continuously racing about from one “holy site” to another; from one religious festival or another, the hundreds dying regularly in the human stampedes that mark so many of those festivals be damned; going to one church or temple or ashram activity or another; and attending one spiritual retreat or another.
Those who cannot sit still in the silence must run in order to try to escape themselves. More specifically, they are trying to escape the noise going on between their ears – that chatter of a thousand monkeys – that incessant noise which is being generated by the multiple personas which they have adopted as identities and which are all constantly having their say about what they need, or what they have and want to hang onto, or what they do not have but desire.
Some become addicted to the very process of obsessing itself as their false identities rattle on constantly about their fears and wishes and wants and hopes; yet all of those are the stuff of unreality, merely transient things dreamed up via the hidden agendas of ever personality identification assumed.
Maharaj’s take on that? “Transient things only ‘appear’ and have no substance”
and
“Transiency is the best proof of unreality.”
Yet persons fail to address the source of that noise, and most will fail to find the means by which they could rid themselves of the source of all that noise which is driving them to become addicted to running and going and doing and zooming in order to try to escape the disturbance and misery rooted in the ever-cycling racket and clatter and clanging and clanking and banging commotion that is generated by a fiction-filled mind. Yet being based in false identifications, none of that noise has anything to do with reality but is all based in imagination.
Maharaj: “There is only imagination. It has absorbed you so completely that you just cannot grasp how far from reality you have wandered.”
The addiction to racing about is rooted in the subconscious drive to experience harmony. The mind is the root of all disharmony. The insanity of humanity is that - in an effort to address the overwhelming discontentment that most non-Realized persons experience all day long - humans try to address the racing mind issue with a racing body.
When the mind is going 100-mph hour (about 161 k.p.h.), then the body feels pressured to “do something” in an effort to reach a state of equilibrium where mind speed and body speed are in sync. To address that sensation of feeling, “I am totally out of sync” and to allow one to be able to relax and take it easy, the mind and the body must both be in an equalized, balanced state of equilibrium.
(Of course that cannot happen, for the mind can never relax and take it easy, but that’s the subconscious goal nevertheless. Few, by contrast, will come to see that they must be rid of the mind if the body is every going to be able to relax and take it easy.)
Rather than being balanced, the masses are unbalanced. An Advaitin reportedly said 2000 years ago, “A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways” and an unstable person cannot relax and take it easy.
A woman who lives on the opposite side of the street is a go-er, do-er, zoom-er. One neighbor said, “I get exhausted just watching her keep up that pace.”
Yesterday, as I left the house and headed to town to run some errands, she fell in behind my vehicle. The first part of the route out of the subdivision is a two-lane road that is always too busy to allow for passing another car, so she was tailgating me all the way, riding my bumper so to speak, trying to force me to speed up or get off the road to allow the body inside her car to move at a speed that is more in line with the speed of her racing mind. Her efforts to try to force me to also drive at the same speed as her mind were futile.
Once the road widened into four lanes, she rocketed by me as if she were shot from a cannon. Yet for all of her driving at 70 m.p.h. in a 40 m.p.h. section of the road and recklessly changing lanes but still being trapped behind one car after another, the fact was that when I reached the traffic light at the main highway, I pulled in right behind her. A sort of turtle-and-hare story played out.
Once on the multi-lane highway with a 55 m.p.h. speed limit, she raced out of sight at 80-90 m.p.h. Many thought they were seeing “a crazy driver” or “an unbelievably aggressive driver who was behaving as if she were on a race car track.” What I witnessed was a woman whose mind is driving her insane with the high speed at which it is functioning and with the high levels of noise being generated between her ears by that speeding, noisy mind.
She is addicted to going and doing and zooming because she is trying to get the body in sync with the mind, and that is no different from those whose going and doing an zooming does not involve a car but involves their religious doingness, their spiritual doingness, or their traveling to one retreat or "special" site after another. It’s all the same addiction, and it's all driven by a desire to escape the stillness and the silence which is intolerable because of the ever-present disturbance of a noisy mind.
Yet the doing and doing and zooming activities look far more noble when viewed through the “eyes” of a false identity, be it “The Super Religious One,” “The Spiritual Giant,” or “The Super Seeker.” Thus, after abandoning the use of a religious / non-dual combination as the Ultimate Medicine, and after abandoning the use of spirituality as the Ultimate Medicine, Maharaj advised person’s to stop reading that so-called “spiritual classic” entitled “I AM THAT” and offered these pointers instead:
He said:
"First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and ... you pray to that God for something good to happen to you."
"Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion. All this is happening in the objective world. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud."
"Only that person will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end."
"There is no question of elevating to a higher level. Here it is only a question of understanding."
"Both the mantra and the faith in the mantra will get dissolved."
"There is no progress."
“Whatever you have tried to understand during your spiritual search will prove false.”
“From birth, what has made the body grow? It is no power in the world. It is the power of beingness, the atom, the Self, the consciousness … call it what you will.”
“When the birth is disproved, the great noble meaning of spirituality and the meaning of this world – everything - is disproved.”
“If they come face-to-face with that root, they will be stunned into silence.”
“I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.”
He spoke of seekers’ "kindergarten-level spirituality."
He noted that "there are so many who take the dawn for the noon, a momentary experience for full realisation . . . .”
For all the spiritual and religious and philosophical talk in "I AM THAT," the most direct pointers he offered contained less and less of the earlier "beating around the bush"; thus, he said to two visitors, "Forget spirituality."
He encouraged seekers to follow "their normal inclinations," that is, to follow their natural tendencies, to abandon all of their spiritual work and just abide naturally - not unnaturally and not supernaturally (i.e., neither "religiously" nor "spiritually" nor "philosophically").
He told visitors, "Do your normal duties" and "just give up spirituality."
In other words, give up your obsession with, and addiction to, all of the religious and spiritual going and doing and zooming that prevent you from enjoying the stillness and quietude. How? Be rid of the mind which is driving all of the going and doing and zooming. How? By abandoning all beliefs and thereafter relaxing and taking it easy, abiding naturally rather than unnaturally and / or supernaturally.
What else drives persons to remain trapped in their addiction to seeking and religious and spiritual doingness? A desire to escape from an often boring existence at home. What better justification for leaving the house and going and doing and zooming than to do all that in the name of “improvement” and “growth” and “service to others” (as if one not trained to provide the therapy that those others need can still address their psychological issues).
What else do those types become addicted to? The supposed status that comes with a public display of their accumulated “knowledge” or their dogma-based “righteousness” or their “high level of spirituality.” Served up as a side dish to their public status is an elevation in their level of “self-esteem.” Key there is the word “self.” Esteem based in the image of a “self” – a false identity – is no esteem at all. Anything based in the illusion of a false ego which is supported by egotism is nothing more than self-delusion.
Along with that is the related addiction to "attention" and "admiration" and "love," all offered up by those who are impressed by persons who seem to be "especially religious" or "especially spiritual."
Again, Maharaj: “There is only imagination. It has absorbed you.”
Additionally, Maharaj said of those who visited loft and were to have at least some chance of actually understanding the message: “Only that person will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end.”
Show up thinking that you're a vile sinner? You're not ready. Show you thinking that all of your religious and / or spiritual work has rendered you virtuous? You're not ready. If one is clinging to the delusion that he or she is “virtuous,” then they can never grasp the freedom-providing understanding. They will remain trapped in their narcissistic self-image.
What else do those types become addicted to? The supposed “power” which they think they can tap into if they work constantly to stay close to some other-worldly “Power” or “Powers.”
Of all the things that persons can become addicted to, the primary addiction of all humanity is the desire to control, actually, to have control over everything and everyone.
The secondary addiction of humanity is the desire to have power – both relative power and divine Power – in order to be able to control.
Control. Power. Nothing is desired more by the non-Realized masses.
An additional addiction can involve knowledge-gathering which can then be used, supposedly, to impress others, and what knowledge could be more impressive than a mastery of all things holy or all things Noumenal?
Another addiction is to the notion that “one is at one with ______ .” (Fill in the blank with any one of the many things that persons think they are "at one with"). Yes, there is the Oneness, there is the unicity. But there is no chance at all of being “at one with.” That in itself suggests duality, “A” now finally being at one with “B.” Impossible.
Another addiction, related to the concepts of power and control is an addiction to leadership, being "in charge" because of one's "years of membership in a group" or one’s “level of religiosity or spirituality which exceeds that of all others in the group” or one’s “level of learning or intelligence which exceeds that of all others in a group.”
Obsessing over religion or spirituality or seeking is rooted in the obsession of the mind which is what drives all addictive thinking and addictive behaviors, and if one wants to grasp the relative effects of dealing with miserable - and misery-sharing persons - study what it is like to try to interact with those addicted to anything (including things deemed to be "bad" as well as to things that some deem to be "the good things" that a person can be addicted to).
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
7 February 2015
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
F.: From yesterday:
Andy offered the following for consideration:
On the seven-step “path” which is taught here, the third step can include the roles of “The Super Religious One” and “The Spiritual Giant” and “The Greatest Seeker of All.” But no matter how much “better” those roles are thought to be when compared to other roles which have been played or which can be played, they are still just roles . . . are still just false identities.”
The invitation: “Stop everything [that is, stop all of the role-playing] and then enjoy natural beingness.”
Then he asked: Why will most not accept that invitation? Most are not willing to take what only seems to be “a risk.” Most are not willing to pay the price of the ticket to move beyond the third step where religious roles and / or spiritual roles (all rooted in blind faith) are played.
What that avoidance actually involves are (A) perceived risks (based in unfounded fears) or (B) addiction or (C) a psychological dependency / unhealthy attachment or a combination of all three.
(A) PERCEIVED RISKS
What are the (imaginary) “risks”? That beliefs based in magical thinking (a.k.a., “religious thinking” or “spiritual” thinking) might actually have something to do with reality, leaving the possibilities . . .
that one might actually be born again and again and again (though no one is ever even born once);
or
that there might be a god who says he loves you unconditionally but really will burn you forever in fire;
or
that there might be a god in a heaven that is waiting to give you an eternal reward that one might otherwise lose if not religious and / or spiritual (a belief which, for example, billions of Christians cling to though their so-called “Savior” was reported to have said: “No one shall ever see the kingdom of heaven, for it is within”). Add to that nearly five billion members of other religions which all teach their followers (key word, “followers”) that there is some kind of an afterlife . . . an eternal life.
The fact: thinking is thinking and reality is reality and never the twain shall meet.
(B) ADDICTION
Consider the definitions of addiction as they might apply to though who are consumed with a religious or spiritual personality / persona / self / identity / role / stage character: “Addiction” is defined as “a strong and harmful need to regularly have something or do something”; “an unusually great interest in something or a need to do or have something”; “a persistent compulsive use of something and seen by all except the addicted as being physically, psychologically, or socially harmful”; or “a habit or dependency.”
From the American Society of Addiction Medicine: “Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and / or relief by substance use and other insane, antisocial behaviors.”
NOTE: Pathological behaviors or emotions are those which are not based in reason and which cannot be controlled by the person (that is, a persona) or persons experiencing them. Anything that is pathological involves a mental disease; hence, a psychopath is (1) a person suffering from a chronic mental disorder or multiple personality disorders or who is highly neurotic or psychotic; is (2) therefore, a person suffering from insanity; and is (3) a person who will at times exhibit abnormal or violent social behavior.
Many will want to criticize the behavior of members of a religion or sect that differs from their own, so nowadays ISIS is often cited as an example of “a bunch of religious psychopaths”; yet the President of the U.S. last week stirred up Christians nationwide and around the globe when he spoke at Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast (an annual event organized by one of the most right-wing, fanatical Christian groups in the U.S.)
Addressing religiously-motivated conflict abroad, Obama reminded all that “Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”
He might also have mentioned that it was European Christians who killed 150,000,000 of the indigenous people when they invaded what they came to call “The Americas.”
Consider those actions as they relate to the definitions above:
a strong and harmful need to do something;
a persistent compulsive use of something (such as “genocide”) that is physically, psychologically, or socially harmful;
a chronic disease of brain reward and motivation;
psychological, social and spiritual manifestations, such as “a god who wants us to kill off others and expand his early kingdom”; and
psychopaths pursuing reward via insane, antisocial behaviors.
The reply to Obama: “That was then, not now,” yet there are Christian leaders in the U.S. who want to pass a law that says a woman who is going to die unless she has an abortion is just going to have to die.” The U.S. military issues rifles – which have been used to kill Muslims during the last decade – have etched into their metals parts references to Biblical verses.
[One of the citations on the gun sights, “2COR4:6,” is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."]
The members of both sides in the on-going, religion-associated global conflicts are killing in the name of their god (which, by definition, involves totally pathological, insane behavior.]
All of the religious / spiritual insanity which has continued “throughout human history” and which still continues all around the globe, is a manifestation of the insanity which accompanies role-assumption and role-playing.
The reply heard here from many over the years: “But I am using my religion / spirituality for good, not for evil.”
The members of ISIS say the same. Those who killed 150,000,000 in “The Americas” said the same. Those who have killed in the name of one god or another for 5000 years all said the same. It’s all driven by the addiction that persons have to their false personality identifications, especially "the good ones."
So why do those trapped in those third step roles not want to abandon them? Because those roles are rooted in the most powerful addiction on the planet, the one which promises both present and eternal rewards.
(C) PSYCHOLOGICAL DEPENDENCY / UNHEALTHY ATTACHMENT
A Dependent personality disorder is characterized by “a long-standing need of a person to be taken care of and a fear of being abandoned or separated from important individuals in his or her life. This leads the person to engage in dependent and submissive behaviors that are designed to elicit care-giving behaviors in others.”
Whether persons / personas are attached to an identity of “The Lover” or “The Spouse” or “The Parent” or “The Patriot” or “The Super Religious One” or “The Spiritual Giant” or “The Super Seeker” or “The Supreme Self” or “The True Self” or “Brahman” or “The True Reality” or “THAT” or “That Which Is Divine,” those are still just identities and are identities which foster dependency and co-dependency.
A false identity cannot be assumed unless there is someone else or something else which can be used as the player of the counterpart role which every ego-state / false identity requires.
“The Lover” cannot exist in the mind of the one assuming that role unless someone else is willing to play the counterpart role of “Lover” and “The Spouse” cannot exist in the mind of the one assuming that role unless someone else is also willing to play the counterpart “Spouse” role.
The same applies to “The Parent” and “The Patriot” and “The Super Religious One” and “The Spiritual Giant” which require, respectively, “The Child,” “The Best Country on the Planet,” “A God and Fellow Congregants” and “A God and Fellow Spiritual Giants Who Can Observe the Gigantic Level of Spirituality Which Is On Display.”
Maharaj said in the end that
he was no longer interested even in The True Self
and that
Next to you spiritual giants, I am a spiritual pygmy.
The non-dual teachings invite persons to abandon all of the personality identifications which have been assigned or which they have assumed and to then move beyond the playing of all of the third-step roles which are deemed to be “really good ones.”
Additionally, the Nisarga Yoga, as Andy said, invites all to stop everything [that is, stop all of the role-playing] and then enjoy natural beingness.
Why will religious persons or spiritual persons or even the most ardent seekers of “the understanding of an Eastern philosophy” or “the Advaitin perspective” or “Eastern knowledge” or “a comprehension of non-duality” refuse to give up the false identities which they work so hard to sustain and just abide simply and naturally instead?
Because of perceived “risks”; because of an acute addiction to their roles and the perceived payoffs that those roles can supposedly bring; and because of an intense attachment to the dependencies and co-dependency which those roles foster.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
6 February 2015
Andy offered the following for consideration:
On the seven-step “path” which is taught here, the third step can include the roles of “The Super Religious One” and “The Spiritual Giant” and “The Greatest Seeker of All.” But no matter how much “better” those roles are thought to be when compared to other roles which have been played or which can be played, they are still just roles . . . are still just false identities.”
The invitation: “Stop everything [that is, stop all of the role-playing] and then enjoy natural beingness.”
Then he asked: Why will most not accept that invitation? Most are not willing to take what only seems to be “a risk.” Most are not willing to pay the price of the ticket to move beyond the third step where religious roles and / or spiritual roles (all rooted in blind faith) are played.
What that avoidance actually involves are (A) perceived risks (based in unfounded fears) or (B) addiction or (C) a psychological dependency / unhealthy attachment or a combination of all three.
(A) PERCEIVED RISKS
What are the (imaginary) “risks”? That beliefs based in magical thinking (a.k.a., “religious thinking” or “spiritual” thinking) might actually have something to do with reality, leaving the possibilities . . .
that one might actually be born again and again and again (though no one is ever even born once);
or
that there might be a god who says he loves you unconditionally but really will burn you forever in fire;
or
that there might be a god in a heaven that is waiting to give you an eternal reward that one might otherwise lose if not religious and / or spiritual (a belief which, for example, billions of Christians cling to though their so-called “Savior” was reported to have said: “No one shall ever see the kingdom of heaven, for it is within”). Add to that nearly five billion members of other religions which all teach their followers (key word, “followers”) that there is some kind of an afterlife . . . an eternal life.
The fact: thinking is thinking and reality is reality and never the twain shall meet.
(B) ADDICTION
Consider the definitions of addiction as they might apply to though who are consumed with a religious or spiritual personality / persona / self / identity / role / stage character: “Addiction” is defined as “a strong and harmful need to regularly have something or do something”; “an unusually great interest in something or a need to do or have something”; “a persistent compulsive use of something and seen by all except the addicted as being physically, psychologically, or socially harmful”; or “a habit or dependency.”
From the American Society of Addiction Medicine: “Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and / or relief by substance use and other insane, antisocial behaviors.”
NOTE: Pathological behaviors or emotions are those which are not based in reason and which cannot be controlled by the person (that is, a persona) or persons experiencing them. Anything that is pathological involves a mental disease; hence, a psychopath is (1) a person suffering from a chronic mental disorder or multiple personality disorders or who is highly neurotic or psychotic; is (2) therefore, a person suffering from insanity; and is (3) a person who will at times exhibit abnormal or violent social behavior.
Many will want to criticize the behavior of members of a religion or sect that differs from their own, so nowadays ISIS is often cited as an example of “a bunch of religious psychopaths”; yet the President of the U.S. last week stirred up Christians nationwide and around the globe when he spoke at Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast (an annual event organized by one of the most right-wing, fanatical Christian groups in the U.S.)
Addressing religiously-motivated conflict abroad, Obama reminded all that “Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”
He might also have mentioned that it was European Christians who killed 150,000,000 of the indigenous people when they invaded what they came to call “The Americas.”
Consider those actions as they relate to the definitions above:
a strong and harmful need to do something;
a persistent compulsive use of something (such as “genocide”) that is physically, psychologically, or socially harmful;
a chronic disease of brain reward and motivation;
psychological, social and spiritual manifestations, such as “a god who wants us to kill off others and expand his early kingdom”; and
psychopaths pursuing reward via insane, antisocial behaviors.
The reply to Obama: “That was then, not now,” yet there are Christian leaders in the U.S. who want to pass a law that says a woman who is going to die unless she has an abortion is just going to have to die.” The U.S. military issues rifles – which have been used to kill Muslims during the last decade – have etched into their metals parts references to Biblical verses.
[One of the citations on the gun sights, “2COR4:6,” is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."]
The members of both sides in the on-going, religion-associated global conflicts are killing in the name of their god (which, by definition, involves totally pathological, insane behavior.]
All of the religious / spiritual insanity which has continued “throughout human history” and which still continues all around the globe, is a manifestation of the insanity which accompanies role-assumption and role-playing.
The reply heard here from many over the years: “But I am using my religion / spirituality for good, not for evil.”
The members of ISIS say the same. Those who killed 150,000,000 in “The Americas” said the same. Those who have killed in the name of one god or another for 5000 years all said the same. It’s all driven by the addiction that persons have to their false personality identifications, especially "the good ones."
So why do those trapped in those third step roles not want to abandon them? Because those roles are rooted in the most powerful addiction on the planet, the one which promises both present and eternal rewards.
(C) PSYCHOLOGICAL DEPENDENCY / UNHEALTHY ATTACHMENT
A Dependent personality disorder is characterized by “a long-standing need of a person to be taken care of and a fear of being abandoned or separated from important individuals in his or her life. This leads the person to engage in dependent and submissive behaviors that are designed to elicit care-giving behaviors in others.”
Whether persons / personas are attached to an identity of “The Lover” or “The Spouse” or “The Parent” or “The Patriot” or “The Super Religious One” or “The Spiritual Giant” or “The Super Seeker” or “The Supreme Self” or “The True Self” or “Brahman” or “The True Reality” or “THAT” or “That Which Is Divine,” those are still just identities and are identities which foster dependency and co-dependency.
A false identity cannot be assumed unless there is someone else or something else which can be used as the player of the counterpart role which every ego-state / false identity requires.
“The Lover” cannot exist in the mind of the one assuming that role unless someone else is willing to play the counterpart role of “Lover” and “The Spouse” cannot exist in the mind of the one assuming that role unless someone else is also willing to play the counterpart “Spouse” role.
The same applies to “The Parent” and “The Patriot” and “The Super Religious One” and “The Spiritual Giant” which require, respectively, “The Child,” “The Best Country on the Planet,” “A God and Fellow Congregants” and “A God and Fellow Spiritual Giants Who Can Observe the Gigantic Level of Spirituality Which Is On Display.”
Maharaj said in the end that
he was no longer interested even in The True Self
and that
Next to you spiritual giants, I am a spiritual pygmy.
The non-dual teachings invite persons to abandon all of the personality identifications which have been assigned or which they have assumed and to then move beyond the playing of all of the third-step roles which are deemed to be “really good ones.”
Additionally, the Nisarga Yoga, as Andy said, invites all to stop everything [that is, stop all of the role-playing] and then enjoy natural beingness.
Why will religious persons or spiritual persons or even the most ardent seekers of “the understanding of an Eastern philosophy” or “the Advaitin perspective” or “Eastern knowledge” or “a comprehension of non-duality” refuse to give up the false identities which they work so hard to sustain and just abide simply and naturally instead?
Because of perceived “risks”; because of an acute addiction to their roles and the perceived payoffs that those roles can supposedly bring; and because of an intense attachment to the dependencies and co-dependency which those roles foster.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
6 February 2015
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]
F.: From yesterday:
The experience here - after trying everything else first - was that the DIRECT PATH METHOD, if offered in combination with NISARGA YOGA, allows some to “get it” and start abiding naturally rather than unnaturally or “supernaturally.”
Yet few really want to be totally independent and totally free and thereby be done with all of their persona-inspired, never-ending religious work; or all of their persona-inspired, nonstop spiritual exercises; or all of their persona-inspired, incessant seeking. So it is.
What did Andy Gugar, Jr. share in regards to abiding “naturally” vs. abiding “unnaturally or supposedly supernaturally”? In his introduction to the free eBook “The Most Dangerous Belief of All,” he addressed that which causes the shift away from the natural and toward the unnatural and / or supposedly supernaturally:
(ON THE NATURAL VS. THE UNNATURAL)
Andy: The capacity for natural development exists at what persons call “birth,” yet at that point, no one is born into the mind. The mind is put into them, into that section of the brain where storing and retrieving happens.
That is natural, but what is put into the mind is most unnatural. The natural state goes away – that is, it becomes suppressed – when the contaminants of unnatural and supernatural beliefs are introduced.
Natural abidance happens spontaneously when the existence unfolds via the guidance received from a contamination-free brain, but unnatural or so-called supernatural abidance lead to nothing more than wishful thinking.
Fears and wishes are rooted in personality. Thinking is rooted in programming, conditioning, etc. There is nothing natural about wishing or thinking or wishful thinking.
What becomes hoped for has nothing to do with what is true. When driven by fears and wishes, one will be lost in the ignorance Maharaj referenced. When ignorance subsides, then blind faith will be seen as just another concept. At that point, you can report that You Are, and that’s it. STOP! End of conversation. So STOP!
Stop believing. Stop everything other than enjoying that natural beingness.
(ON THE NATURAL VS. THE SUPPOSEDLY “SUPERNATURAL,” a.k.a., "THE SPIRITUAL" or "THE RELIGIOUS")
Andy: Why will most not accept that invitation? Most are not willing to take what only seems to be “a risk.” Most are not willing to pay the price of the ticket to move beyond the third step where religious roles and / or spiritual roles (all rooted in blind faith) are played.
On the seven-step “path” which is taught here, the third step can include the roles of “The Super Religious One” and “The Spiritual Giant” and “The Greatest Seeker of All.” But no matter how much “better” those roles are thought to be when compared to other roles which have been played or which can be played, they are still just roles . . . are still just false identities.”
Beware. That third step will catch you; but it also can provide the opportunity to be free because if seekers see that they are playing those roles – and see that they are really just that, mere roles – then that third step can be transitioned.
It is a point of separation which can lead to a sense of unification, to the understanding of the unicity. To transition those roles is what separates those who really want to know the truth from those who do not.
The reason that so many years of fruitless searching ended when I went to Floyd’s the first time for a non-dual retreat was because a determination had been made before I arrived. The determination was that “I am so sick of living in fear and being robbed of happiness and freedom that I am now prepared to risk what had been called “my eternal soul.”
The way I explained it in some of the other books that Floyd and I have published together is this:
“I had reached a point where I felt as if I were going to pop right out of my skin from all of the suffering and misery and anxiety and stress that had characterized my existence.
“For me, it had to get so bad that I became willing and ready - ready to give up all of the ideas and beliefs that had served me not at all and to seek the Truth that was obviously beyond all of the concepts I had ever taken to be the truth.”
If those roles are abandoned as identities, then the idea of “a separate me” also comes to an end.
Floyd will share some pointers from Nietzsche. A quote from him has long seemed relevant to the topic is this one:
"‘Faith’ means the will to avoid knowing what is true.”
Indeed, having beliefs means not wanting to know what is true.
Best regards as you move along the steps on the “path” and complete “the journey” – the “seeking” – once and for all. – Andy Gugar, Jr.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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. BY USING EBOOKS available at
Floyd Henderson's Website
Anthology of four books
Anthology of six books
SELF-TRANSFORMATION MEDITATION GUIDE (VOLUME ONE)
WHY YOU MUST BE EMPTY IF YOU WOULD BE FULL
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS
The following eBooks are available without charge for you or for friends:
I.
"GOOD vs. EVIL?" or "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and INSANITY?"
II.
"THE VISION"
III.
24. both made the decision that whatever amount of the relative existence remains shall be spent in sharing the teachings in the way that has been seen to be the most effective method: not suggesting that there are not enough religious persons; not suggesting that the Ultimate Sickness is caused by being "spiritually-unfit"; but by seeing that the problem centers in the mind (which must come to an end, which it will the moment all beliefs are abandoned)
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.
SECTION SIX:
The experience here - after trying everything else first - was that the DIRECT PATH METHOD, if offered in combination with NISARGA YOGA, allows some to “get it” and start abiding naturally rather than unnaturally or “supernaturally.”
Yet few really want to be totally independent and totally free and thereby be done with all of their persona-inspired, never-ending religious work; or all of their persona-inspired, nonstop spiritual exercises; or all of their persona-inspired, incessant seeking. So it is.
What did Andy Gugar, Jr. share in regards to abiding “naturally” vs. abiding “unnaturally or supposedly supernaturally”? In his introduction to the free eBook “The Most Dangerous Belief of All,” he addressed that which causes the shift away from the natural and toward the unnatural and / or supposedly supernaturally:
(ON THE NATURAL VS. THE UNNATURAL)
Andy: The capacity for natural development exists at what persons call “birth,” yet at that point, no one is born into the mind. The mind is put into them, into that section of the brain where storing and retrieving happens.
That is natural, but what is put into the mind is most unnatural. The natural state goes away – that is, it becomes suppressed – when the contaminants of unnatural and supernatural beliefs are introduced.
Natural abidance happens spontaneously when the existence unfolds via the guidance received from a contamination-free brain, but unnatural or so-called supernatural abidance lead to nothing more than wishful thinking.
Fears and wishes are rooted in personality. Thinking is rooted in programming, conditioning, etc. There is nothing natural about wishing or thinking or wishful thinking.
What becomes hoped for has nothing to do with what is true. When driven by fears and wishes, one will be lost in the ignorance Maharaj referenced. When ignorance subsides, then blind faith will be seen as just another concept. At that point, you can report that You Are, and that’s it. STOP! End of conversation. So STOP!
Stop believing. Stop everything other than enjoying that natural beingness.
(ON THE NATURAL VS. THE SUPPOSEDLY “SUPERNATURAL,” a.k.a., "THE SPIRITUAL" or "THE RELIGIOUS")
Andy: Why will most not accept that invitation? Most are not willing to take what only seems to be “a risk.” Most are not willing to pay the price of the ticket to move beyond the third step where religious roles and / or spiritual roles (all rooted in blind faith) are played.
On the seven-step “path” which is taught here, the third step can include the roles of “The Super Religious One” and “The Spiritual Giant” and “The Greatest Seeker of All.” But no matter how much “better” those roles are thought to be when compared to other roles which have been played or which can be played, they are still just roles . . . are still just false identities.”
Beware. That third step will catch you; but it also can provide the opportunity to be free because if seekers see that they are playing those roles – and see that they are really just that, mere roles – then that third step can be transitioned.
It is a point of separation which can lead to a sense of unification, to the understanding of the unicity. To transition those roles is what separates those who really want to know the truth from those who do not.
The reason that so many years of fruitless searching ended when I went to Floyd’s the first time for a non-dual retreat was because a determination had been made before I arrived. The determination was that “I am so sick of living in fear and being robbed of happiness and freedom that I am now prepared to risk what had been called “my eternal soul.”
The way I explained it in some of the other books that Floyd and I have published together is this:
“I had reached a point where I felt as if I were going to pop right out of my skin from all of the suffering and misery and anxiety and stress that had characterized my existence.
“For me, it had to get so bad that I became willing and ready - ready to give up all of the ideas and beliefs that had served me not at all and to seek the Truth that was obviously beyond all of the concepts I had ever taken to be the truth.”
If those roles are abandoned as identities, then the idea of “a separate me” also comes to an end.
Floyd will share some pointers from Nietzsche. A quote from him has long seemed relevant to the topic is this one:
"‘Faith’ means the will to avoid knowing what is true.”
Indeed, having beliefs means not wanting to know what is true.
Best regards as you move along the steps on the “path” and complete “the journey” – the “seeking” – once and for all. – Andy Gugar, Jr.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
SECTION THREE:
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. BY USING EBOOKS 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 Kindle reader.
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")
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)
SECTION FOUR:
FIVE FREE eBOOKS
(Compliments of Andy Gugar, Jr.)
FIVE FREE eBOOKS
(Compliments of Andy Gugar, Jr.)
The following eBooks are available without charge for you or for friends:
I.
"GOOD vs. EVIL?" or "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and INSANITY?"
The
content of this eBook deals with one of the most common but erroneous
beliefs that the non-Realized masses cling to and which they will fight
about (and even kill over), namely, that there is a planet-wide duel
going on between “the forces of good and evil” in the universe.
Maharaj said of each that visited his Bombay loft, “Only that person will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end.”
He also said that the problems of humankind are problems associated
with the Ultimate Sickness and that three of the key traits of the
Ultimate Sickness are "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity."
To
that end, either (1) the ancient view is spot on: that the "ills of the
planet" are rooted in evil people, in people not being religious enough
or spiritual enough, and are caused solely by bad morality; or, (2) the
"ills of the planet" are rooted in ignorance, stupidity and insanity
and "being good" or "being moral" does not put an end to ignorance, does
not eliminate stupidity, and does not treat insanity in any way.
II.
"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.
“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.
III.
While in South Africa in 2011, I was introduced to A Primate’s Memoir (2002)
by Dr. Robert Maurice Sapolsky. Sapolsky is an American
neuroendocrinologist; a professor of biology, neuroscience, and
neurosurgery at Stanford University; a researcher; an author; and a
Research Associate at the National Museums of Kenya.
A Primate’s Memoir (which documents Sapolsky’s years in Africa while studying baboons), was recommended because there is much that a non-dualist or Advaitin or Nisargan can relate to by comparing and contrasting what Sapolsky reveals about the way certain troops of baboons live in Africa with the way that humans abide all around the globe. The book also portrays an unconventional way of studying neurophysiology to determine the effects of stress on life expectancy. (And the reduction or elimination of stress among humans is one of the aims of the non-dual understanding.)
Now Sapolsky’s recent findings are offered in a documentary film entitled “Stress: Portrait of a Killer.” [The 56-minute film is available on YouTube in many countries.]
This 152-page eBook catalogues the common, non-dual message shared by Sapolsky and Maharaj and reveals the ways that Sapolsky’s scientific research supports the non-dual pointers offered by Maharaj.
In “PART ONE” it will be seen that most persons on the planet are not seeking, and most will never seek, but for those who are seeking, most will face several obstacles:
Often, many do not really know WHY they are seeking. Too, many who are asked WHAT they are seeking often offer no clear-cut answer beyond the standard talk about "Realization" or "Enlightenment." For those who have come this way and have a clear notions about why they are seeking and what they are seeking, many have not yet found anyone that has shown them exactly HOW to go about the process. The content in "Part One" offers some considerations about all three.
In “Part Two” of this book, it will be seen why many criticized Maharaj for “changing his message in his later talks.” It will be seen that the changes were not about changing the message per se as much as about changing his methodology as he experimented with one version of the Ultimate Medicine after another in order to try to find an effective means for addressing the Ultimate Sickness.
Maharaj’s loft was actually more of a laboratory in a loft in Bombay (now “Mumbai”) because he undertook in that loft many experiments in his efforts to find an effective form of the Ultimate Medicine that could treat the Ultimate Sickness effectively and successfully. In fact, he would eventually have three laboratories:
He first ran . . .
** a “Religion Laboratory,” then later
** a “Spirituality Laboratory” and eventually
** a “Psychology Laboratory.”
All three will be discussed in detail in "Part Two."
“Dangerous” is a term that can only apply during the relative existence. Among the Realized, there are no beliefs about “birth” so there are no beliefs about “the danger of death” (or the danger of anything else, for that matter).
[Sorry - for security reasons, no "clickable" link is provided. You'll need to type the address in to your emailed request manually. Also, the initial response to free eBook offerings is usually significant so it takes some time to process the requests. A new series will begin after those initial responses are taken care of. THX.]
A Primate’s Memoir (which documents Sapolsky’s years in Africa while studying baboons), was recommended because there is much that a non-dualist or Advaitin or Nisargan can relate to by comparing and contrasting what Sapolsky reveals about the way certain troops of baboons live in Africa with the way that humans abide all around the globe. The book also portrays an unconventional way of studying neurophysiology to determine the effects of stress on life expectancy. (And the reduction or elimination of stress among humans is one of the aims of the non-dual understanding.)
Now Sapolsky’s recent findings are offered in a documentary film entitled “Stress: Portrait of a Killer.” [The 56-minute film is available on YouTube in many countries.]
This 152-page eBook catalogues the common, non-dual message shared by Sapolsky and Maharaj and reveals the ways that Sapolsky’s scientific research supports the non-dual pointers offered by Maharaj.
IV.
In “PART ONE” it will be seen that most persons on the planet are not seeking, and most will never seek, but for those who are seeking, most will face several obstacles:
Often, many do not really know WHY they are seeking. Too, many who are asked WHAT they are seeking often offer no clear-cut answer beyond the standard talk about "Realization" or "Enlightenment." For those who have come this way and have a clear notions about why they are seeking and what they are seeking, many have not yet found anyone that has shown them exactly HOW to go about the process. The content in "Part One" offers some considerations about all three.
In “Part Two” of this book, it will be seen why many criticized Maharaj for “changing his message in his later talks.” It will be seen that the changes were not about changing the message per se as much as about changing his methodology as he experimented with one version of the Ultimate Medicine after another in order to try to find an effective means for addressing the Ultimate Sickness.
Maharaj’s loft was actually more of a laboratory in a loft in Bombay (now “Mumbai”) because he undertook in that loft many experiments in his efforts to find an effective form of the Ultimate Medicine that could treat the Ultimate Sickness effectively and successfully. In fact, he would eventually have three laboratories:
He first ran . . .
** a “Religion Laboratory,” then later
** a “Spirituality Laboratory” and eventually
** a “Psychology Laboratory.”
All three will be discussed in detail in "Part Two."
V.
"THE MOST DANGEROUS BELIEF OF ALL"
Regarding the content in this 337-page book:
“Dangerous” is a term that can only apply during the relative existence. Among the Realized, there are no beliefs about “birth” so there are no beliefs about “the danger of death” (or the danger of anything else, for that matter).
Certainly,
therefore, there are no concerns about “dying,” “an afterlife,” or
“receiving reward vs. punishment.” Additionally, the Realized make no
judgment about suicide or the “rightness” or “wrongness” of that act.
But
of those who do commit suicide, how many shoot themselves in the foot
over and over until they “bleed out”? None. They shoot themselves in the
head. Why? In order to try to stop the noise - to try to stop the
chatter of a thousand monkeys – to stop the noisy mind which is the area
that stores the ideas, notions, concepts, mind-stuff, etc. which drives
them into the depths of insanity.
And
what are those ideas, notions, concepts, etc. called, collectively? "Their beliefs." The irony? They are
not their beliefs at all.
They are the beliefs of “others” that were set in place via programming,
conditioning, etc. and which persons then think are their own.
And
what are those beliefs rooted in, and what reinforces those beliefs and
convinces persons that they are sacred and worth fighting over and even
sometimes worth dying for? Blind faith.
So how can “dangerous” have any relevance alongside an understanding which has no beliefs
about birth, death, or an afterlife? It is relevant only in terms of the
way that the relative unfolds.
Strictly relatively speaking, there are those who move through the
relative existence without being driven by what Maharaj called “ignorance and stupidity and insanity”
and there are those who move through the relative existence while being
driven by all three of those symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness.
Persons in the latter group who are driven by those three traits are the most
likely to generate, relatively speaking, hazard / menace / chaos /
danger . . . call it what you will.
While the Realized give no validity to any "a" vs. "b" duality, the Realized are
wise enough to stand (a) outside the tigers’ cage at a zoo rather than (b) enter
into the tigers’ cage.
If
a wise one were to somehow magically have the option of meeting either
Gandhi or ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a dark alley, the wise one
would be interested in the beliefs of neither and would be in awe of
neither but would likely choose Gandhi over Abu Bakr, based in a wise
one’s tendency to seek peace rather than peril and wellbeing rather than
danger.
Yet that choice would be based in sanity and wisdom rather than in fear or fright; it would be based more in a tendency to end suffering rather than a propensity for increasing suffering.
Yes,
to bring an end to the fear in which one might be trapped, the non-dual
teacher will gladly point out that that the rope in the dark corner of a
barn is a rope rather than a snake, but the teacher will be equally as
glad to point out the pending “danger” to the seeker who is about to try
to pick up a snake because she or he is mistaking it for a rope.
Again, Maharaj: “The teacher does not evaluate. His sole concern is with suffering and the ending of suffering.”
The
Realized understand that, in the end, those persons with the most
blind-faith-based beliefs are usually going to be the ones who are least
concerned about peace and the ones most likely to generate chaos and
relative dangers.
The
reason for offering the pointers in this book are in alignment with the
same reasons that any true non-dual pointers are offered: to cast light
onto the darkness; to allow those who cannot see to finally see; to
provide a method by which those who cannot differentiate between the
true and the false may finally do so;
to
offer an effective version of the Ultimate Medicine in order to
alleviate the ignorance-and-insanity-induced-suffering which results
from the Ultimate Sickness; and thus to facilitate the opportunity for
those seeking peace and light and True Love to succeed in their quest.
To that end, best regards.
To receive free copies, or to have us send free copies to your friends or
relatives, send the request (or their email addresses) to the following name:
nondualfloyd@gmail.com
[Sorry - for security reasons, no "clickable" link is provided. You'll need to type the address in to your emailed request manually. Also, the initial response to free eBook offerings is usually significant so it takes some time to process the requests. A new series will begin after those initial responses are taken care of. THX.]
SECTION FIVE:
COMPARE YOUR "JOURNEY" AND SEE IF YOU'VE UNDERGONE ANY EVENTS THAT PARALLEL THOSE OF MAHARAJ AND FLOYD
COMPARE YOUR "JOURNEY" AND SEE IF YOU'VE UNDERGONE ANY EVENTS THAT PARALLEL THOSE OF MAHARAJ AND FLOYD
The "experiences" of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Floyd share many parallel. Many visitors have said that they have also shared some of the same parallels. Can you relate to any of these?
1. Both grew up in very poor families
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 initially tried to address the Ultimate Sickness with religious teachings but realized that did not work, so both tried to address the Ultimate Sickness with spirituality, only to see eventually that "being spiritual" did not cure the Ultimate Sickness either
8. both then realized that the main problems of humanity center in the mind so both turned to the sharing of psychology and scientific-and-fact-based pointers to free persons of the effects of programming, conditioning, acculturation, domestication, brainwashing and indoctrination
9. both had highly religious wives who were quite displeased with the shift away from religion
10. both had grown 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 initially tried to address the Ultimate Sickness with religious teachings but realized that did not work, so both tried to address the Ultimate Sickness with spirituality, only to see eventually that "being spiritual" did not cure the Ultimate Sickness either
8. both then realized that the main problems of humanity center in the mind so both turned to the sharing of psychology and scientific-and-fact-based pointers to free persons of the effects of programming, conditioning, acculturation, domestication, brainwashing and indoctrination
9. both had highly religious wives who were quite displeased with the shift away from religion
10. both had grown 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 (and no longer having a husband who brought in huge sums of money)
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 offered satsang
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 (and no longer having a husband who brought in huge sums of money)
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 offered satsang
21. both saw that most who hear the teachings are still not going to understand
22. both, therefore, offered pointers without expectation, without attachment to outcome, and without any concern about the way that persons react to hearing Truth
23. both suggested that seekers focus on the exact, step-wise "path
22. both, therefore, offered pointers without expectation, without attachment to outcome, and without any concern about the way that persons react to hearing Truth
23. both suggested that seekers focus on the exact, step-wise "path
24. both made the decision that whatever amount of the relative existence remains shall be spent in sharing the teachings in the way that has been seen to be the most effective method: not suggesting that there are not enough religious persons; not suggesting that the Ultimate Sickness is caused by being "spiritually-unfit"; but by seeing that the problem centers in the mind (which must come to an end, which it will the moment all beliefs are abandoned)
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.
SECTION SIX:
FOR THOSE WHO PREFER A BOOK IN HAND TO READING eBOOKS, 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)
