Wednesday, January 31, 2018

THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE WHICH PROVIDES AN UNDERSTANDING OF "NO YOU-NESS," Part Twenty-Five

Table of Contents

Today's Considerations
Recent Posts and Archives
Tools for Realization
Author's eBooks
Author's Paperback Books
Free eBooks

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

 [See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

The discussion at this point in the series is now focusing on "The Most Influential Obstacles Of All" which have come via dreamed up myths and superstitions and via "religious" and / or "spiritual" sources, including religious and / or spiritual thoughts, ideas, concepts, notions, views, theories, inklings, perceptions, a.k.a., "beliefs." 

Yesterday, this was shared: The majority of the humans on the earth will never seek, convinced that the religious or "spiritual" teachings of their parents and ancestors are wholly and flawlessly sufficient. 

Of the relatively few who do seek, almost all of them will also seek in religious and / or spiritual venues. Most of the "non-dual seekers" I have met during the thirty years I have been sharing non-dual pointers with were doing exactly that. 

And why is that no surprise since most "non-dual teachers" have done the same or are doing the same? The various versions of the Ultimate Medicine which Maharaj used in the first two phases of his teachings were rooted in religion and spirituality, respectively. Same here. 

The point is, most have no clue that even among "non-dual seekers," most do not understand that realization can come without dogma, without continuous spiritual practices, and without an exclusive preoccupation with "the nature of reality and things noumenal." 

Why is that significant? At one point, I was using the same version of the Ultimate Medicine which Maharaj used during the first phase of his teaching, namely, a non-duality / religion compounded version of the Medicine. Using dogma, I of course became quite dogmatic, and I stayed that way until a man came to me after a talk and said, 

"I was abused as a child by a priest. I've done years of work to try to get beyond that, but where I am today is, I still cringe when people start talking religion to me. So my question is, for all the people who feels the way I feel, have you found a way to guide people to realization and freedom without using religion?"

At first I was speechless because there was an internal struggle under way as a religious ego-state did not want to set aside what I thought it knew; however, I was finally able to answer after allowing the man's needs - rather than my agenda - to take the forefront. I said, "Actually, no, but if you'll check back at some time in the future, maybe I can give you a different answer that will involve a different route." Eventually, that different route was found, but it was many years later. 

In spite of 5000 years of organized religions and in spite of a variety of spiritual movements more recently, one might ask, "And how's that worked for humankind?" If one looks objectively at the results, the modern history of humankind has been marked and marred by misery-and-suffering-generated disease and famine and civil wars and world wars and holocausts and the chaos which has resulted from the ever-increasing number of persons with personality disorders, neuroses, psychoses, and full-blown insanity. 

If the institutions and movements which have claimed to have the answers were to score their efforts and accomplishments honestly and objectively, they would have to give themselves an "F" for failure. Of course, they will not. They blame others for not following the plans set forth by their institutions and movements, ignoring their plans' deficiencies. 

Were that truth to be seen, then what would be called for would be a "different route" as opposed to the ineffective one which has been followed so far. 

In order to try “a different route,” one must understand some of the verifiable history regarding the plethora of routes which have been tried and understand what was determined first hand regarding the efficacy - or lack thereof - of those routes. Consider: 

Those who have found cures for physical diseases did so after studying the successes and failures of the work of the scientists and researchers who came before them; by discarding what did not work; by building on what did; and then finally by coming up with the method and medicine for curing the disease being studied. The same applies with any mental illness / Sickness as well. 

Maharaj said that science would one day advance to the point where it would confirm the non-dual teachings. “The non-dual teachings” he eventually endorsed were based in the science of psychology, not in religion and not in spirituality. Maharaj gave both of those earlier routes a fair chance; he experimented with those two methods and eventually discarded them after he saw neither was working to address the Ultimate Sickness which he came to see as a mind / mental sickness. 

Seeing the failure of both of those approaches, he formulated a version of the Ultimate Medicine - and a method for administering it - which had a greater possibility of addressing what was truly at the root of what he came to view as the Ultimate (a.k.a., Mental) Sickness. 

So what is revealed by way of the verifiable history of the routes he tried first hand before discarding two routes and settling on a third? In his case, there is a more-than-forty-year history available. After shifting beyond his “Forest Dweller” stage, he returned to Bombay and by 1938 was offering counseling informally. 

By 1951, he was “initiating” people and would offer two sessions per day in his loft for decades. Moreover, he offered the non-dual message almost right up to the time that mahasamadhi was taken in 1981, so overall he actually had nearly 43 years of first trying one approach / route / version of the Medicine and then another approach / route / version of the Medicine before he eventually settled on a third. 

During those years in his "laboratory" / loft, he was observing what did and did not work. After seeing clearly what was not working, he abandoned the use of religion as the Ultimate Medicine, abandoned the use of spirituality as the Ultimate Medicine, and in the end offered a form of the Ultimate Medicine which was based in psychological principles and methods. That was the route which he recommended for use in the end and which was - and still is - almost totally different from most all other routes. 

If one understands the “evolution” of his message and why it happened, then one might find the wherewithal to reject “the dogma route,” to reject any and every supposedly “divine or devout or other-worldly or saintly or holy or spiritual route,” and to reject any “mythical route.” Then at that point, there might come a readiness to seek the understanding by way of a method or route which has nothing to do with anything that is mythical but which points instead toward that which is most assuredly not “mythical” – meaning, that which is not based in myth or superstition and which is not based in what evolved from the ignorance of ancient, dreamed up myths and superstitions and misunderstandings and conjecturing. And what evolved from the ancient myths and superstitions and misunderstandings and conjecturing? 

Religions; spiritual movements and groups; ideologies; creeds; faiths; philosophies; and doctrines along with all sorts of other concept-laden, mythical-based belief systems and institutions and organizations and foundations and societies and associations and bodies and traditions and conventions and establishments and cults and sects and factions. 

Next, the ability to move along a different “path” or “route” requires one to be aware of these two understandings: 

(1) the one who is at least wise enough to know that it is time to undertake a “journey” - that is, to move away from where one is to where one would be - needs also to be wise enough to look first at a map (and that is what is provided here); then, 

(2) one must understand everything about “where one is” in order to know “where one would go” in order to lay out the proper route for that "journey." 

In the case of a young fellow seeking a “non-mythical route,” he was at least wise enough to understand “where he is.” And "where" is he? Trapped in personality, an understanding that came after careful study of what was revealed when he took the enneagram personality inventory which is offered here. Then this followed: 

“When we got to the conversation about the positive attributes to strengthen and the liabilities to reduce, his question was: “It is so much. How can I shift all of those things?” 

The reply:

The point about personality assets and personality liabilities is for Westerners. For the rest, that's just more duality. I dealt with a man yesterday who reported that he has suffered from low self-esteem all his life and he wanted me to tell him how to have high self-esteem. Ha. I told him he had definitely come to the wrong place. Maharaj said that those who are truly ready for the message are beyond both sin and virtue, beyond all notions about good and bad, beyond all belief in assets or liabilities. The applicable question, therefore, is not "How can I shift all of those things?" but is "WHO is the 'I' that is asking?" 

Then this: “On reflection, I have been asking myself – how do we actually shift personality?” 

The reply: Here is the key, relevant point at this juncture: there is no "shifting" of personality. That would be like saying, "I want to shift from being a mirage to being an optical illusion instead." Rather than shifting in regards to personality / personalities, there is merely a seeing of the personalities at play. “Enough just to know who you are not," Maharaj said. 

So the next stop along this “different route" is a stop at “liberation station” ("liberation" simply a term to use to point toward being free of being controlled unconsciously by the hidden agendas of each and every personality that is at play). Therefore, it is enough just for the True Self (the Pure Witnessing) - to stand back a bit and see the personalities at play (meaning, to become totally awake, aware and conscious in regards to all of the ways in which one’s assumed identities and their hidden agendas, along with the specific fear and desire of each) is driving a host of thoughts and words and deeds, even as persons erroneously believe that they are choosing what is said and done, (which is a great delusion in itself when they are actually being driven by the subconscious agendas of their false identifications). 

So next, one must practice stopping, pausing and turning. "Catch yourself" means "catch your false selves at play." When a harmony-interrupting thought comes, stop and ask, "WHO, what persona, is thinking that?" When a harmony-interrupting word comes, stop and ask, "WHO, what persona, inspired that?" When a harmony-interrupting action happens, ask, "WHO, what persona, inspired that?" 

So first, to follow a different route, one must see what routes have not worked long-term and what is not likely to work long-term; then, one must become willing to stop, to pause long enough to observe one’s false selves at play, and then – seeing how silly it is to react to mirages and to be driven by the hidden agendas of illusions – to turn from them. 

With decades of seeing what worked and what did not, Maharaj came to understand that it is not necessary "to seek the Self," "to know the Self," or "to assume the Self as a new and improved identity" in order to be free of the “ignorance and insanity”-based thoughts and words and actions which assigned and assumed personalities are always guaranteed to generate.

To be continued. 
NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 


If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

Buy Now 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE WHICH PROVIDES AN UNDERSTANDING OF "NO YOU-NESS," Part Twenty-Four

Table of Contents

Today's Considerations
Recent Posts and Archives
Tools for Realization
Author's eBooks
Author's Paperback Books
Free eBooks

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

The discussion at this point in the series is now focusing on "The Most Influential Obstacle Of All" in terms of blocking the seeing of truth and blocking realization and blocking the understanding of the "No-you-ness" and "No You-ness. 

That "understanding" refers to the fact that no identities ever assigned or assumed have any validity at all, be they among the identities played during the relative, phenomenal existence or be they among the so-called "noumenal" identities which supposedly exist (whether believed to have been prior to the manifestation or which are believed to supposedly exist post-manifestation). 

"The Most Influential Obstacles Of All" have come throughout human history via (1) dreamed up myths and superstitions and - for the last 5000 years or so - via (2) "religious" and / or "spiritual" sources, including religious and / or spiritual thoughts, ideas, concepts, notions, views, theories, inklings, perceptions, a.k.a., "beliefs." 

The majority of the humans on the earth will never seek, convinced that the religious or "spiritual" teachings of their parents and ancestors are wholly and flawlessly sufficient. 

Of the relatively few who do seek, almost all of them will also seek in religious and / or spiritual venues. Most of the "non-dual seekers" I have met during the thirty years I have been sharing non-dual pointers with were doing exactly that. 

And why is that no surprise since most "non-dual teachers" have done the same or are doing the same? The various versions of the Ultimate Medicine which Maharaj used in the first two phases of his teachings were rooted in religion and spirituality, respectively. Same here. 

The point is, most have no clue that even among "non-dual seekers," most do not understand that realization can come without dogma, without continuous spiritual practices, and without an exclusive preoccupation with "the nature of reality and things noumenal." 

Why? Because most know not what they seek, as was the case with Maharaj for decades and as was the case here for decades. Rather than being a process that is lofty and often nebulous or vague or imprecise or ill-defined or indefinable, per Maharaj it is simply "a process whereby a seeker can become free of belief in all learned ignorance"; in fact, it is a process whereby a seeker can become free of all beliefs and reach a state which Maharaj described as a "zero concepts state." 

What was eventually offered by Maharaj, after he came to understand that the Ultimate Sickness is a mental sickness - not a "too-little-dogma" sickness and not a "spiritual-malady-type" sickness - is what is offered here as well. And what Maharaj offered in the end and what is being offered here is only for certain seekers (usually few in number) that are ready for a different sort of “Realization process” than all the other sorts they have tried. 

The offerings here are for those who are tired, to one degree or another, including being tired of continuing to play phony roles, be their false identities those of "The Super Religious Persona" or "The Spiritual Giant Persona" or "The Super Seeker Persona." The pointers Maharaj offered in the end and which are offered here are for those looking for a method of seeking which might actually be just as simple as Maharaj claimed, which might actually be just as free of any need to learn more dogma or more scriptures or more supposedly holy concepts or more spiritual practices or more of anything. 

The irony is that while non-duality is about de-accumulation and less-ness, most seekers are still accumulating as they seek more and more and more. 

Maharaj in the end was advising seekers to be free of their drive to become more and more spiritual and to engage in spiritual practices, explaining that they actually need not be preoccupied with “THAT” or with things mystically-noumenal or with things supernatural and that they can actually abide in a contented fashion only if they cast aside all of their preoccupations and begin abiding naturally and spontaneously. 

How unappealing that will be to most, though, what with most seekers still wanting rather than having been freed from all wanting. In fact, that will be most unappealing to the majority of those I've met during the last thirty years of discussing non-dual subject matter who have wanted a B.A. Degree in Liberation, a Master’s Degree in Enlightenment, and a Doctorate in Realization. 

Oh what a burden so many seekers have taken on because they were being driven in their various quests by the fanaticism-inspiring Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, whether the quest is for the non-dual understanding, for religion-defined goals, for “spiritual fitness,” for a multi-decade period of sobriety . . . for whatever the quest might be. Their OCD levels have often been "through the roof." 

Few have understood Maharaj’s pointer that their "accumulated knowledge" amounts to nothing more than “learned ignorance,” so few have been interested in being un-taught and few have been interested in un-learning all that they have learned prior to their quest as well as during their quest. 

Most are attached instead to what they think they have supposedly "gained" from their “religious and / or spiritual workaholism” and from all of their “supernatural” going and doing and zooming, so they only want more of the same. 

How many are likely to be prone to abandon that which they believe is holy, consecrated, hallowed, revered, sanctified, sacrosanct, and sacred, that which they believe has provided them with so many benefits, and that which they believe will provide them with so many more benefits, both now and forevermore? Few. 

Only a few with ever see exactly what Maharaj saw, namely, widespread ignorance and insanity. Oh sure, they might spot it in others, but few will ever spot it in their own case. Yet were they to spot it – not just worldwide but within – and were they then to take the steps to be free of ignorance and insanity, then they would never be driven to misperceive again. 

Just as one cannot undo the effects on a clay pot which has been feed through a crushing machine, so one cannot undo the effects of finally seeing the true nature of the Ultimate Sickness and seeing the totally unawake, unconscious, and unaware condition of the masses all around this planet, self included. Most, however, will never see any of the craziness except the craziness which is driving “others.” 

However, for those 

(1) who are ready to become fully conscious, fully awake, and fully aware, freed from the effects of personality disorders and free of learned ignorance and programming, conditioning, etc. but 

(2) who are like one woman’s son who has considered and rejected seeking based in “the mythical route” or 

(3) who have found that “the Self -Inquiry route” is often warped into an approach that is so “theoretical or philosophical or impractical” that it inspires some to dissociate and to move into Foo Foo Land, or 

(4) who found that their religious and / or spiritual teachings imposed as much nonsensical programming and conditioning and brainwashing and indoctrination and acculturation and domestication and ignorance as they were exposed to in their homes and schools and communities and 

(5) who were convinced that “not being religious but being spiritual instead” was a far more effective route for being free of all of the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness but then found that was not the case at all, then 

for those seekers there is another option beyond everything which has been tried so far, and which has failed so far, to make a lasting difference in the way that their relative existence is unfolding. 

Thus, when the question was asked, “What can be offered to someone like my son who is interested in being free of the pull of personality but is not really interested in the mystical route?" the suggested approach shared with that son – an approach which might also prove to be a more viable method than found so far by many other seekers as well – included the following: 

First, consider that, here, there is also no interest in a "mystical route." The first post here thirteen years ago reported that the focus of this blog was going to be on "Applied Advaita" - that is, on the practical use of the understanding in order to be free of all misunderstanding and learned ignorance and then to abide thereafter in a practical, sensible, all-natural way for the remainder of the manifestation.

Yet, because (A) most seekers who show up here have been exposed for years to so many ineffective “plans” and “ways” and “means” and because (B) none who show up will admit that they are actually “novices” or that they have been fooled completely without knowing it, then the first requirement is that they be freed from all of their perceptions / misperceptions about what the “path” and the “journey” and "Realization” are truly about . . . and, more to the point, what they are not about. 

All the claims by some that “Self-Inquiry is the Ultimate Medicine” notwithstanding, Maharaj eventually said that self-inquiry would be enough, that "it is actually enough to know who you are not." Thus, for one not interested in things mythical or religious or spiritual; and for one not wanting to align with those who are trapped in some philosophical, Foo Foo Land mindset; and for one not interested in spending years in search of the answer to "Who Am I, Really?” then there is another option. 

To move beyond what has already been learned and must be un-learned, and then to be ready for a totally new understanding via a difference approach, certain key pointers offered here years ago must first be grasped fully. For the sake of ease, the relevant portions from those sharings shall be offered here again before moving on with a description of the rest of the suggested “route” which will be offered: 

There has been an old and still-ongoing debate about the true cause and the proper treatment (the proper Ultimate Medicine) for the Ultimate Sickness. Religious persons have asserted for thousands of years that the cause of the planet’s ills is rooted in those religious persons' belief that there are too few religious people. Some continue to make that assertion, but with 97% on the planet reporting an affiliation with one organized religion or another, that assertion should be a moot argument. A more recent belief is that the cause involves an affiliation “with the wrong religion or sect.” 

Others, many of whom tried religion but later shifted to “spirituality” (and now proudly announce “I am not religious! I am spiritual!”) often take the stand that the ills of the planet are rooted in “an untreated spiritual malady.” 

That kind of "from religion to spirituality" shift is uncommon, what with the attachment people have to their particular religion, but it does involve millions of persons around the globe who have assumed the false identity of "The Spiritual One" or - as a "real upgrade - "The Spiritual Giant." It even happened with Maharaj and it happened here as well. (In the eBook entitled Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj And His Evolution, the stages of his “development” or his "shifts in focus" are discussed in detail but a few points will be shared now.) 

Early on, Maharaj led visitors to his loft in bhajans - religious (Hindu) devotional songs expressing love for “the Divine.” Along with those religious messages, he began to intermingle spiritual pointers in his talks, so those talks evidence a combination of religion and spirituality. 

As his message evolved, especially with the arrival of more and more Westerners, he focused more on spiritual subject matter until he eventually abandoned both religious talks and spiritual talks, having seen that those did not address the Ultimate Sickness at all, long-term. The focus of his talks shifted more to the mental roots and emotional (ego-based) aspects of the Ultimate Sickness. 

Rather than agreeing that “too little religion” is the cause of the ills of persons on the planet, and rather than agreeing that the Ultimate Sickness is “a spiritual malady,” it became clear to him that humanity’s main problem was (and still is) centered in the fiction-filled mind which develops after exposure to perverted and ignorant and insane programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, indoctrination and brainwashing. 

So, Maharaj did not say that someday religious understandings would reach a point that they would confirm the veracity of the non-duality teachings. 

He did not say that someday spiritual understandings would reach a point where they would confirm the veracity of the non-dual teachings. 

What he did eventually say was that "scientific understandings would someday reach a point where they would confirm the veracity of the teachings." 

And which science, first and foremost, did he turn to after setting aside both religious and spiritual approaches to try to address the Ultimate Sickness? The science of the mind, the science of psychology. His focus in the end turned to the analysis and explication of the role that the mind plays in generating and spreading the Ultimate Sickness, so Maharaj's message changed after he came to understand that the Ultimate Sickness is a widespread mental illness. Here, it has been explained thusly: 

Maharaj’s loft was actually more of "a laboratory in a loft" in Bombay / Mumbai because he undertook in that loft many experiments in his efforts to find a form of the Ultimate Medicine which could treat the Ultimate Sickness effectively and successfully. In fact, he would run three laboratories over the years: he first ran "a Religion Laboratory," then later “a Spirituality Laboratory,” and eventually “a Psychology Laboratory.” 

Thus, the fact is that he (and “I”) tried religious methods and that he (and “I”) tried spiritual methods and that the use of those approaches continued until the scientific research and experimentation and observation proved that neither of those methods provided an effective treatment, long-term. 

It has been noted here that the third of seven steps (which is the step that includes the playing of religious or spiritual roles on a “path”) must usually taken rather than skipped. The fact that Maharaj (and “I”) played those roles and tried to use religious and spiritual concepts as the Ultimate Medicine was right in line with what is almost always done (as ineffective as that doingness is). 

Therefore, because of conditioning and acculturation, Maharaj’s first laboratory was a “religious laboratory.” He did bhajans five times a day simply because his guru told him to. Even after the alarm on his “BS” detector went off, he still used that approach for a while, saying, “I continue to obey his instructions, even though I know these bhajans are pointless.” 

Later, he would evolve beyond guru-bhakti, so eventually that practice ended; yet in the beginning, the only people among his early audiences were Indians / Hindus, so he followed the advice of his guru which amounted to this: “Draw them in and hook ‘em with religion and then sneak in the non-dual message at the end.” 

Thus, his early sessions included singing, some dancing about, and some narration, all of it only a bit less foolish than the emotionally-intoxicated worship-style of Pentecostals who raise their hands in the air and wave their arms about, who roll about on the floor uncontrollably, who dance wildly, who sing and chant, and who claim to “speak in unknown tongues.” 

Later, Maharaj's “religious laboratory” would be shut down and replaced with a “spiritual laboratory,” and eventually that laboratory would be closed and replaced with a “psychology laboratory.” 

Only then did Maharaj have his full and final “Eureka!” moment. Only then did he find the actual treatment for the Ultimate Sickness. Only then did the Ultimate Medicine contain exactly what is required to eradicate the Ultimate Sickness, not on a global basis but by treating sick personas (“persons”) one at a time. 

That eventual understanding about the real root cause of the Ultimate Sickness and about what does not work to treat it and about what can work to treat it led him eventually to say: 

"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." 

"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 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,” 

and 

“I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.” 

So here are the ways that three supposed bases or roots or sources of the Ultimate Sickness differ: 

The TOO FEW RELIGIOUS PEOPLE argument: “There is a place where God / gods / goddesses abide that is beyond what is experienced in ‘this world.’ There are places beyond 'this world' where one can experience reward or punishment. If people live in a way that earns an eternal reward, then life in ‘this world’ will improve.” 

The SPIRITUAL MALADY argument: "People are spirituality sick, and if they get spiritually well, it will cure whatever physical or mental problems they have as well. Establish conscious contact with God; be quiet and listen; then, you will hear his voice and you will hear him speaking to you, telling you anything and everything that you need to hear and what you need to think and believe and say and do." 

The MENTAL ILLNESS view: “All persons are programmed, conditioned, domesticated, acculturated, indoctrinated and brainwashed in the most nonsensical and insane ways imaginable. The Ultimate Medicine to treat the resulting Ultimate Sickness comes by moving through an Enlightenment stage, a Liberation (from personality) stage and a Realization stage, and all of that involves nothing more than using scientific, psychology-based methods in order to be freed from the effects of taught-and-learned-ignorance and personality disorders and even - in some cases - of insanity. 

To be continued.
NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 


If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

Buy Now 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 
 
In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you.

Monday, January 29, 2018

THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE WHICH PROVIDES AN UNDERSTANDING OF "NO YOU-NESS," Part Twenty-Three

Table of Contents

Today's Considerations
Recent Posts and Archives
Tools for Realization
Author's eBooks
Author's Paperback Books
Free eBooks

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

"Someday science will advance to the point that it will prove the validity of all of the non-dual teachings."
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

THE RATIONALE FOR PAYING HEED TO PROVABLE SCIENTIFIC FACTS RATHER THAN TO A CONCEPTUALIZED SUPER-BEING FROM ANOTHER WORLD 

Today you are invited to consider the following: 

1. If there is nothing that has ever been created and nothing that has ever been destroyed, and if all is merely cycling instead, then no "you" was created. Those called "your parents" merely cycled already existing energy / matter. No "you" has ever existed. What has seemingly existed are dreamed up but totally false identities. 

As for the commonplace belief among the masses that "we made a child, we made another human," nothing of the sort happened. 

There was energy / matter in a vast field of unconfined energy / matter. 

A series of events set the stage on earth for plants to flourish. Those plants absorbed energy. Plant cells with energy (including conscious-energy) can be consumed and - once digested - can be converted from plant cells into human cells, animal cells, etc.

Via that chain of events, previously "free-ranging energy" transferred into a different space . . . manifested into a confined space / body (as happens when humans consume energy and consume matter by eating plants or eating something which ate plants).

That is an all-natural process requiring no divine intervention, no supernatural influences, etc. It happens spontaneously, automatically, is all determined by the functioning of the totality and the functioning of conscious-energy / consciousness. 

Within an acorn is conscious-energy which can guide the process by which an oak can manifest and by which, eventually, a forest can manifest. Similarly, within humans is conscious-energy which guides the process by which "a human" (actually, a composite unity) can manifest and by which, eventually, "a race of humans" (actually, composite unities) can manifest. 

You are also invited to consider this: 

2. No "You" or "Supreme You" was ever created either, so no "You" or "Supreme You" has ever existed or will ever exist. Any perceived "You" or "Supreme You" which has seemingly existed was merely dreamed up and is a "False Identity." 

So what is the near-all-powerful drive which inspires 97% of the humans on the planet to affiliate with one religion or another and to worship gods and goddesses or a god? And what two factors drive most of the remaining humans to claim to be spiritual and in relationship with a god or a "Higher Power" or some other Power of their conception (or of someone else's conception)? 

The clue to the first factor is in the last sentence: 

A. Power. All humans become addicted at some point to something (or more often to many things as well as to another person or persons on occasion). While the object of their addiction can vary, one thing does not: they all have a primary and a secondary addiction which they share in common. 

The primary addiction of all humans is an addiction to control. 

Their secondary addiction is an addiction to power (or "Power") in order to be able to control. 

And secondly . . . 

B. Desires and fears 

There are nine basic personality types which are either set in place by the age of 6 or which will - to one degree or another - manifest in the coming years and will then last throughout the remainder of the relative existence. As is the case with every persona or false identity, each has a single, most basic desire and a single, most basic fear. 



The Type One’s BASIC FEAR that people might find out that they are wrong or imperfect 
The Type One’s BASIC DESIRE is to be seen as being right and perfect and knowing it all

The Type Two’s BASIC FEAR is the fear of not being loved 
The Type Two’s BASIC DESIRE is to be loved by all 

The Type Three’s BASIC FEAR is the fear of being seen as worthless or not being admired by the masses 
The Type Three’s BASIC DESIRE is to feel valuable and to be popular and famous and applauded and acclaimed and admired by everyone

The Type Four’s BASIC FEAR is the fear of lacking authenticity 
The Type Four’s BASIC DESIRE is to be authentic and to "march to the beat of a different drummer" 

The Type Five’s BASIC FEAR is the fear of not being perceived as being highly intelligent and having mastered a wealth of knowledge
The Type Five’s BASIC DESIRE is to be seen as an expert and an intellectual and all-knowing 

The Type Six has a BASIC FEAR of having no one to take care of her or his needs 
The Type Six has a BASIC DESIRE to be supported 

The Type Seven has a BASIC FEAR of being trapped, deprived or in pain (be it mental, emotional, or physical) and not being able to escape and play (no matter their age) and to have fun 
The Type Seven has a BASIC DESIRE to be free, to be stimulated and excited, to have enjoyable activities, and to avoid all pain (be it mental, emotional, or physical) 

Type Eights have a BASIC FEAR of be powerless, violated or controlled by others 
Type Eights have a BASIC DESIRE to have power, to have total control over their own lives, to control all other persons, and to be seen as "the greatest" and "a winner"

Type Nines have a BASIC FEAR of being disturbed by others or inconvenienced and failing to find someone who will care of them in the way in which they believe they are entitled to be cared for
Type Nines have a BASIC DESIRE for “peace of mind” and for reaping the benefits of their perceived entitlement and being taken care of 

That said, 97% of all persons will continue to cling to magical thinking and to beliefs rooted in nothing more than myth and superstition, and millions more will cling to their spiritual personas and have no interest at all in facts? Why? 

a. Because the masses are emotionally-intoxicated, and scientific facts do not generally trigger emotional reactions and "mental highs." Those are within the purview of religious services and spiritual meetings, not scientific understandings. 

b. Because of fear: when persons are raised to believe that they will suffer now and for eternity if they question the existence of the god of their parents' and ancestors' conception and raised to believe that if they do not have unwavering faith in the content of their supposedly holy texts, then most will never have the courage to investigate their parents' and ancestors' beliefs, much less challenge them, much less reject them. 

c. Because of humankind's fear-and-desire-based addiction to power / a Power and to the belief that power / a Power can and will protect them and can and will "bless" them, fulfilling their every desire maybe now but most certainly later and for eternity. 

d. And because the few that are willing to seek in different venues have greater-than-even odds of coming across a famous, "Big Name Teacher" (per Maharaj) who will claim to be sharing "something really different" or "non-dual pointers" but who are really just passing on a camouflaged and convoluted version of dogma and / or spiritual concepts which originated out of religions or came from ideas about "spirituality."

To be continued.
NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 


If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

Buy Now 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE WHICH PROVIDES AN UNDERSTANDING OF "NO YOU-NESS," Part Twenty-Two

Table of Contents

Today's Considerations
Recent Posts and Archives
Tools for Realization
Author's eBooks
Author's Paperback Books
Free eBooks

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

The discussion at this point in the series is now focusing on "The Most Influential Obstacle Of All" in terms of blocking the seeing of truth and blocking realization and blocking the understanding of the "No-you-ness" and "No You-ness. 

That "understanding" refers to the fact that no identities ever assigned or assumed have any validity at all, be they among the identities played during the relative, phenomenal existence or be they among the so-called "noumenal" identities which supposedly exist (whether believed to have been prior to the manifestation or which are believed to supposedly exist post-manifestation). 

"The Most Influential Obstacles Of All" have come throughout human history via (1) dreamed up myths and superstitions and - for the last 5000 years or so - via (2) "religious" and / or "spiritual" sources, including religious and / or spiritual thoughts, ideas, concepts, notions, views, theories, inklings, perceptions, a.k.a., "beliefs." 

You are invited to consider the amazing level of ignorance required for humans to conclude:

"When I look at 

1. the body of scientific evidence regarding energy and matter and the fact that scientists can now prove that there has never been anything "created," evidence which is current . . . today . . . right now

vs.

2. concepts and beliefs which people came up with and wrote down in so-called "holy texts" based on the limited understandings of humans living 1400 years ago and 2000 years ago and 4000 years ago and 5000 years ago and even earlier, 

I'm going to believe the stuff that people came up with 1400 to 5000 years ago rather than anything which  has been proven scientifically . . . now. Why?

Because I have been told that science is not holy but that texts written by humans 1400 to 5000 years ago are holy. See, what is being said by scientists nowadays is being said by mere men, but those texts do not contain words being said by men thousands of years ago but contain The Word of God."

From yesterday: 

With a Cherokee grandmother who had planted seeds of consciousness about religions not being a necessity and being a detriment to truth instead, and with her having endorsed natural (nisarga) abidance rather than trying to abide spirituality / supernaturally, how did I end ujp later in life playing the "The Super Religious One" and "A Spiritual Giant"? 

Maharaj, explaining why persons seem to grasp the understanding and then seemingly “lose” it. He said: 

(A) “You are so used to the support of concepts that when your concepts leave you, although it is your true state, you get frightened and try to cling to them again.” 

Or, 

(B) hidden agendas and fears can inspire one to abandon authenticity and play roles which another might want her or him to play. Is a spouse going to leave unless you assume the spouse's belief about religion or spirituality? Some concede or compromise they authenticity and conclude, "Better play the game to keep the peace," as if there is any peace when someone else is allowed to control, your thoughts and words and actions. 

Or, 

(C) Third, there's the unbelievably influential of continuing programming, conditioning, etc.

Why did Maharaj (already pre-wired to rebel by way of the agenda of his original, primary Personality Type Four) later "go along with the crowd" in many regards? Why did the same happen here? Recently, Andy Gugar, Jr. shared that he underwent the same experience. Why? 

As much as some children can detect early on that the BS they are hearing really is just that –just so much BS - there are pressures which can be exerted and which can result in the development of the desires or the agendas of other personality types which can later come into play and which can interrupt the full and final discarding of all BS. 

The answer to those questions above illustrates the weight of the pressure which can be exerted by such mighty influencers as parental pressures, friend and family pressures, and community pressures, especially when those pressures are combined with the influence of programming, or conditioning, or domestication and, yes, acculturation – often in spite of the fact that all of the agendas of those influencers are in opposition to each other. Talk about the confusion and chaos and insanity of being pulled in so many directions at once. 

Maharaj may have been pre-wired to rebel, yet many of his thoughts and words and actions would come to be influenced by parental pressures early on and by community pressures later on as well as by the effects of programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing, and indoctrination. 

When his guru asked him what he thought might happen to him if he were to "go against the Hindu grain" and eat lamb, Maharaj's response was something to the effect of “I’m sure I would punk.” 

Siddharameshwar's reply: "Tomorrow, be here at lunchtime and be prepared to possibly punk because I am going to prepare some grilled lamb for you to eat." 

While Maharaj's family members who lived on a farm in rural India had occasionally eaten meat, the case with Maharaj was this: because the beliefs ingrained in him via acculturation had taken such a hold, he did not sleep the night before the meal.

Siddharameshwar's luncheon, anticipating not only (1) the pending sickness that his guru’s food was going to induce but also (2) the relative guilt and shame which were sure to follow the consumption of anything other than plant food as well as (3) the imagined effects of his culture-imposed belief regarding the greater, negative, Noumenal effects which were also certain to haunt him well into the future. Ha.

Yet he did go, and he did eat the forbidden fruit (or, in that case, forbidden meat which had been banned for consumption by the religious persons in his culture). 

[Note the way that billions of persons today (a) allow their cultures and (b) allow their supposed gods or goddesses or “One True God” to control their every thought and word and deed and even what they eat and do not eat; and note the way they (c) allow the nonsense rooted in ancient creation myths and in thousands of other pagan myths - which have subsequently been accepted as truth by the billions who now follow unquestioningly the teachings of the three Abrahamic religions - to control their thoughts and words and deeds. 

As in the creation myth alluded to above - it is a God, a God which Maharaj said had been created by man, not the other way around – that has long been given the right to dictate what people eat or do not eat. Once, when pork could not be properly cooked or refrigerated, setting the stage for humans to be poisoned by the parasitic worms which cause Trichinosis, the ban on eating pork made some sense in terms of not eating it for one’s physical well-being but never made sense in terms of not eating it in order to maintain one's supposed religious or spiritual well-being. Yet to this day, pork – which can be consumed safely - remains a taboo among the billions of members of certain religions. 

What was dreamed up thousands of years ago in reference to dietary laws differs not at all from other religious beliefs which were dreamed up back then and which have been handed down from generation to generation and which are now adhered to blindly without any experience or questioning involved at all. The point that Siddharameshwar intended for Maharaj to understand via the use of a bit of lamb is as relevant today as ever, a point inviting all to question everything, to rely on one’s own experience rather than the word of others about their so-called experiences, and to accept nothing by way of blind faith.] 

Back to Siddharameshwar’s luncheon: Maharaj ate the lamb, but he did not punk. He actually enjoyed the titillating effects on his taste buds, effects generated by the flavor of the grilled, non-plant food which he finally experienced for the first time ever. 

After the lesson, Siddharameshwar did not encourage Maharaj to permanently alter whatever items he would include on his household’s menu; instead, the lesson was offered and understood: allow your own experience, never your culture, to determine your actions. Do not make assumptions about anything. Do not draw conclusions about any issue without first understanding all of the relevant facts in regards to any issue. And don't form "set in concrete" opinions about experiences which you have never had. 

Throughout his years of receiving visitors to his loft, Maharaj usually ate whatever plant food his visitors brought him, but he would be criticized because his children sometimes ate meat and (oh my gosh!) really enjoyed it. The criticism regarding even the slightest disregard for religious food laws mattered not to Maharaj, and if one is totally liberated, totally free, and totally independent, criticisms of any kind will not matter when the consciousness is being allowed to speak. Yet the criticism continued: 

Questioner: “You eat meat?” 
Maharaj: “I was born among meat-eating people and my children are eating meat. I eat very little -- and make no fuss.” 
Q: “Meat-eating implies killing.” 
M: “Obviously. I make no claims of consistency. You think absolute consistency is possible; prove it by example. Don't preach what you do not practise.” 

Here, as was the case with Maharaj there, there is no “for” or “against” kind of evaluating going on in regards to seekers’ reactions, in regards to religious fanatics’ reactions, in regards to spiritual giants’ reactions, or in regards to reactions from those who are supposedly in touch with a "Supreme Self." 

Here, as with Maharaj there, there is no attachment to outcome and no effort to dissuade anyone who is still firmly attached to things religious or things spiritual or things Noumenal. As noted, the playing of their religious and / or spiritual and / or noumenal roles is included as a part of the seven-step “path” offered here. 

Consider: there were years when living by a nearby forest allowed the taking of an hour-long walk through those woods either before going to work or between leaving work and returning home. Sometimes, on the latter walks, my young daughter wanted to accompany me. There were times on those walks when I pointed out examples of flora and fauna which she might enjoy. 

Once, a squirrel was seen lying flat on a high limb of a massive oak tree. I tried to point that out to my daughter, but her young eyes, which would soon need glasses to help correct her vision, were not able to see what I saw. She was frustrated, but was I? Of course not. 

It would be insane to be frustrated just because persons cannot see what I see or because they could not see what Maharaj saw. 

In his case, there was no “one” accepting visitors at the top of the stairs in Khetwadi, 10th Lane, who could become frustrated if seekers could not see what he saw. Here, there is no “one” who can become frustrated if seekers or non-seekers cannot see what I see. Here, there is no one with any beliefs at all, so there is most assuredly no one here that wants anyone to believe anything. There is only an invitation to un-believe all, to be un-taught all, to un-learn all. 

Bottom line: here, none of the agendas of persons matter at all (though those unconscious agendas which are driving them could well matter in regards to the way that the remainder of the relative existence of seekers unfolds. Yet that also is not to be - cannot be - determined here). The consciousness speaks, and anything associated with what it says ends with it being said. And what did the consciousness speaks via Maharaj? 

One, stop with all the religious-based thinking and talking and behaving that is being driven blindly by what has been taught and is now believed simply because it has been passed down for millennia from the time that ignorance-controlled persons dreamed up their nonsense which is being passed on now to persons who have an opportunity to investigate and to give up their beliefs which are based in ignorant teachings. 

Two, stop with all the spirituality-based thinking and talking and behaving which are all being driven blindly by what has been taught and accepted unquestioningly just because it has been passed down for millennia. 

Three, stop internalizing the thoughts of others; stop parroting their words; stop mimicking their insanity-driven behaviors. 

Four, have your own experience, take the steps to be restored to sanity, and then test any remaining beliefs against reality until those, too, are all discarded. 

Five, question it all. 

Six, eventually, reach a state of zero concepts, of no beliefs, of mindlessness; then, abide naturally, in the same manner as every other living thing on planet earth (with the only exception presently being mind-full humans). 

Seven, stop with all of the religious / spiritual / SELF-centered workaholism; relax; rest in the cool blue shade and take it easy for a change. 

In most cultures nowadays, the desire to accumulate – or the need to merely have enough to pay for the basics - are leading to this: far too much of humankind's waking hours are being devoted to work. Stop adding to the already-excessive workload by making a second job out of living by engaging in all sorts of religious, spiritual, or Inquiry work. 

Eight, stop allowing the nonsense dreamed up by persons more than 5000 years ago – persons whose thinking was driven by massive levels of ignorance – to ignorantly influence your thoughts and words and actions now. 

Ask: “Is it really possible that humanity overall has actually come nowhere since then? Is it really possible that humanity for the most part today has developed no further than those persons who were driven in ancient times by unmitigated ignorance? Is it possible – in spite of whatever ‘progress’ in terms of understanding which certain small pockets of humanity might have made along the way – that the masses have progressed not at all in terms of using true facts to replace false opinions? Is it possible that the masses overall have actually regressed and are now being influenced by the same levels of ignorance and irrationality as those ignorance-driven persons who lived thousands of years ago? Is it possible that those who held no concepts and who were not charmed or captivated by any beliefs - and who were, therefore, abiding naturally in the same fashion as all other living things on the planet at the time – were actually exhibiting far more sense than humans do today, humans who nowadays, for the most part, are thinking nonsensically, talking nonsensically, and behaving nonsensically?” 

Then ask, “How sane is it to work ceaselessly to mimic and parrot those from the past who came up with concepts which were rooted in abject ignorance (or to mimic and parrot those in the present who are being driven by abject ignorance and wretched insanity)? 

To be continued.
NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 


If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

Buy Now 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you.

Saturday, January 27, 2018

THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE WHICH PROVIDES AN UNDERSTANDING OF "NO YOU-NESS," Part Twenty-One

Table of Contents

Today's Considerations
Recent Posts and Archives
Tools for Realization
Author's eBooks
Author's Paperback Books
Free eBooks

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

The discussion at this point in the series is now focusing on "The Most Influential Obstacles of All" in terms of blocking the seeing of truth and blocking realization and blocking the understanding of the "No-you-ness" and "No You-ness."

That "understanding" refers to the fact that no identities ever assigned or assumed have any validity at all, be they among the identities played during the relative, phenomenal existence or be they among the so-called "noumenal" identities which supposedly exist (whether believed to have been prior to the manifestation or which are believed to supposedly exist post-manifestation). 

"The Most Influential Obstacles Of All" have come throughout human history via (1) dreamed up myths and superstitions and - for the last 5000 years or so - via (2) "religious" and / or "spiritual" sources, generating a near-infinite number of religious and / or spiritual thoughts, ideas, concepts, notions, views, theories, inklings, perceptions, a.k.a., "beliefs." 

When asked, "Who are you to talk about religion or spirituality and their effects of human thought, word, and deed?" there's no longer any wasting of energy to try to explain the "no-who-ness" and the no-WHO-ness." 

Instead, a Maharaj quote comes into consciousness: 

“I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.” 

The reason that this composite unity called floyd "has no faith in anything" anymore is because of "my own experience." 

I, too, became stuck for far too long at the third of seven steps on Maharaj's "path" where religious and / or spiritual roles are obsessively, fanatically played. 

I, too, took myself to be "The Super Religious One" and later "A Spiritual Giant." 

Finally, I stepped off the stage of The Theater of the Lie and took an audience seat and observed those two actors as they played out their roles and finally saw, via Pure Witnessing, not only how false those roles were but also how their hidden agendas were inspired and reinforced by the playing of those roles. 

With a Cherokee grandmother who had planted seeds of consciousness about religions not being a necessity and about their being a detriment to truth instead, and with her having endorsed natural (nisarga) abidance rather than trying to abide spirituality / supernaturally, how did I end up later in life playing the "The Super Religious One" and "A Spiritual Giant"? 

Maharaj, explaining why persons seem to grasp the understanding and then seemingly “lose” it. He said: 

(A) “You are so used to the support of concepts that when your concepts leave you, although it is your true state, you get frightened and try to cling to them again.” 

Or, 

(B) hidden agendas and fears can inspire one to abandon authenticity and play roles which another might want her or him to play. Is a spouse going to leave unless you assume the spouse's belief about religion or spirituality? Some concede or compromise their authenticity and conclude, "Better play the game to keep the peace," as if there is any peace when someone else is allowed to control your thoughts and words and actions. 

Or, 

(C) Third, there's the power of continuing programming, conditioning, etc. Certain seeds planted but not flourishing can be tended to in a garden-like fashion, as one horticulturist explained: 

"If you don't have a compost pile, you can spread fresh manure on your garden." 

A compost pile is a pile of organic, rotting refuse which decomposes to produce compost, that is, decayed organic material used as a plant fertilizer. 

Old, rotten beliefs can be fertilize the dormant elements in the garden of a mind. If those are not used, then new manure, such as new doses of bullshit via new programming, conditioning, etc. - can be spread and that crap (if added to the garden of a mind) can trigger the growth of new nonsense in a mind. 

REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH "THE NATURE OF REALITY AND ONLY THINGS NOUMENAL"

Maharaj said in his later teachings that "realization is nothing more than being free of belief in learned ignorance." 

Posts over the last few years have triggered among some (1) a variety of emotion-driven, mind-rooted, persona-based reactions as some attempt to defend their religious or spiritual or other-worldly identities; conversely, among some others, there have been (2) earnest inquiries which have obviously been well-considered by those searching for a method of seeking which differs from everything else which they have tried and which has all failed them so far. 

The latter inquiries have come from seekers that are beginning to look objectively - for the first time ever, many admit - at a different sort of "realization process" . . . 

which might actually be just as simple as Maharaj claimed; 

which might actually be as free of any need to learn more dogma or holy concepts, just as he suggested later on; 

which might actually be as free of any need to become spiritual and to engage in spiritual practices, just as he suggested later on; 

and 

which might actually be, as he proposed later on, totally devoid of any requirement to be concerned with or preoccupied with "THAT" or with supposedly mystically-noumenal things or with supposedly mystically-noumenal "supernatural" things. 

Usually those that exhibit an actual state of readiness have - as was formerly the case here - already tried dozens and dozens of other methods of teaching and seeking and working and serving and all sorts of "not-dealing-with-this-realm-but-going-and-doing-and-zooming-instead" as well as engaging in unbelievable loads of spiritual workaholism. 

Even inquiring can become a full-time job when trapped in those "new and improved and better" ego-states. 

Beginning as early as the age of five or six, inquiries here were made into "the actual nature of God" as there was an effort to try to make sense of what was being taught in a right-wing, evangelical church. What was being offered there would later be seen to be nothing more than a totally senseless set of teachings about a "God the Father" who was so co-dependent and emotionally-unstable that he can be made angry by "his children" on earth when they are bad or can be pleased / appeased by them when they are good. 

[As if the relative existence is not challenging enough for many, we are also advised that we must enter into a dysfunctional helping relationship with a god and nurse and support and enable that "Higher Power" who is a childish and emotionally unstable but supposedly "Supreme Being" that is struggling with his own sense of identity and who has an attachment and borderline personality disorder which renders him loving and happy at times but leaves him anger and willing to punishment or drown or otherwise kill at other times.] 

Later on the "journey" here, inquiries were made into something supposedly "beyond religion," namely, "spirituality," the difference only existing in the minds of those who assign a higher status to persons who are "spiritual" as opposed to those who are "only religious." 

At some point, the focus turned to an inquiry into the nature of Reality ("Reality" being anything which - if singularly focused on - will render persons completely out of touch with the relative "reality" when they no longer shift away from their monomaniacal preoccupation with said "Reality"). 

The overall "journey" was described this way in the non-duality-based novel entitled THE TWICE-STOLEN NECKLACE MURDERS: 

In his energy-consuming search for salvation, he's been dipped, dunked, sprayed, spayed, sprinkled, and neutered; in the quest for truth, he'd been blessed, cursed, cussed, lectured, scolded, and praised; in his pursuit of Life's Meaning, he'd been communion'd, Om'd, grape-juiced, wined, ashram'd, accepted, rejected, Mu'd, and yoga'd; in his chase for service-work-opportunities, he'd been pulverized, martinized, and frapped; and in the endeavor to attain Life Eternal, he'd been baptized, Buddha'd, new Aged, powwow'd, Far Eastern Indianized, incense'd, sage'd, Tao'd, Peru'd, Tibet'd, washed in the blood, dunked in the water, and purportedly purified. Then in the end, each of the religious or spiritual leaders had always charged him 10% of his total income for their holy / wholly sorry treatment, plus a building-fund-tax and a foreign-missions-surcharge to boot - all in spite of the complete ineffectiveness of their claims that they were going to "redeem and save." 

It was only after all of the spiritual workaholism and the supernaturally-based going and doing and zooming finally led to nothing other than complete mental and emotional exhaustion that the seeking slowed to a pace which finally allowed enough imposed stillness and almost-involuntary quietness to manifest and then allow a vision to come. (You may receive a free copy of the discussion of that vision in the "FREEBIES" section at the top of this page.) 

That vision made clear that all learning leads only to learned ignorance; that there was no need to learn more but that there was a call to unlearn all; and that there was no need for more teaching but that there was a clear call for un-teaching instead. 

As was the case with the way that Maharaj's version of the Ultimate Medicine evolved, it became clear here exactly what did not work during all those years of seeking and exactly what did work in the end. Only at that point did a simple "plan" come, providing a means by which seekers can move along the "path" to the end of the "journey" which provides, in turn, an end to seeking and inquiring, an end to "path transitioning," an end to "journeying," an end to "religious and spiritual workaholism," and an end to supposedly "supernatural" going and doing and zooming. 

Because nature abhors a vacuum, what fills the resulting, newly-emptied "space"? Calm. Peace. Relaxation. A sense of "okay-ness." 

The final process allowed a shift to happen beyond being trapped by those former go-do-zoom methods and for reaching a calm and peaceful and relaxing state or condition which is devoid of all going and doing and zooming. It was direct and truly simple. 

Also found was a means by which one can stop trying to use methods which any honest and objective observer would admit have provided nothing more than a temporary respite at best from the effects of the Ultimate Sickness. 

This process allowed the ready and willing seeker to move along the "path" which has provided, to a few, an effective treatment for what really ails the masses who are acting out their relative existence on the stage of "The Theater of the Lie" in the play called, "The Insanity of Mistaking a Nightmare For a Dream." 

To be continued. 
NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 


If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

Buy Now 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you.

Recent Posts and Archives

Tools Used by Other Seekers of Realization

WATCHING an Advaita Vedanta Retreat: Watch a Downloadable computer file version of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat (Downloadable on PC only, not Apple.)

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

III.
"Sapolsky, Maharaj, and the Non-Dual Teachings"

Dr. Robert Maurice 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.

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.

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.
Seeking

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:

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.

He tried a religious version of the Medicine, a Spiritual version of the Medicine, and finally settled on a version which addressed to Sickness at its core . . . at the mental and emotional level.

V.
"THE MOST DANGEROUS BELIEF OF ALL"

“Dangerous” is a term that can only apply during the relative existence, but of those who do commit suicide, for example, 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.

This 337-page eBook discusses those issues in detail.

To read any or all of the free eBooks, please double-click the "FREEBIES" link at the top of this page