TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Following eye surgery, clear focusing has not returned and eye strain results from anything other than a brief exposure to a computer screen; moreover, two follow up procedures must be arranged to "fine tune" the effects of the surgery; hence, postings may happen sporadically for awhile.
2. [See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a retreat on video which includes a detailed discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj]
3. Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that.
4. A new video ("Number Ten: Awakening Together Satsang, March 2018") has now been added in the far right column of this page, offering the opportunity to view a recent 2018 satsang session with Floyd being interviewed by Regina and Jacqueline of "The Awakening Together Group."
Now, to expand on the previous points as the "message of the three birds and what they symbolized became clear":
As with many people, there was already a general understanding of some of the symbolism of the three birds.
The raven was known to be associated with the concept of "death"; the gull associated with ignorance and with not knowing; and the eagle with keen and clear observation / witnessing, with a sharper focus and more accurate perception than any persons and with a capacity for moving at incredibly fast speeds.
The answer to "Why did a body stay outside the arch?" was answered when the answer first came to this: "What was the body that was walking through trees and across water? Certainly that could not be a physical body."
[Note: The quotes being catalogued here are what some might claim were like a "disembodied voice," but that was not the case. Here, there has never been any schizophrenic hearing of "the voice of God" or "the universe speaking" or "a message from something beyond." No, what is being quoted are the emanations that came from the inner resource (via the pure consciousness, the inner guru) as the final blockages were falling away and allowing access to that which had always been known, within.]
At that point, it became clear that what was moving through the trees and across the water could not be physical so it had to be . . . mental. Working back from that, the body outside the arch has to be the physical, elemental plant food body . . . the "gross body."
That left this: "So what's the deal with the raven, and what is transferred from the body by the fire and into the raven?"
If the body outside the arch represented the physical and the form entering into a different realm inside the arch was mental, then that leaves the body by the fire (fire being a long-standing symbol of purification) as . . . what?
A third part, or merely a part of the mental body?
Then two passages that had been read more than a year before in "I AM THAT" flashed into consciousness:
Questioner: "Between the body and pure awareness stands the ‘Inner organ’, antahkarana, the ‘subtle body’, the ‘mental body’, whatever the name"
and then a later pointer offered by Maharaj to another seeker:
Maharaj: "As long as the bodies, however subtle, last, the ‘I am’ appears as many. Beyond the body there is only the One."
So there is the "body" walking through trees and across water that is also the "mental body" and the body containing the illusions of personality. Then it hit: "Aha! Body! Mind! Personality! Easy as 1, 2, 3!"
[What was also becoming clear was that the vision was depicting certain "steps" or components of a movement, a shift, a "journey," and by understanding that the mind is left behind after the second step is completed, then this became clear: "The mind is not needed to reach the full understanding; in fact, it must - evidently - be an impediment (just extra baggage, if you will) that must be discarded early on if the 'journey' is to advance." Then, the words of Maharaj returned: "It is only your mind that prevents Self-Knowledge" and "What prevents you from knowing YourSelf as all and beyond all is the mind based on memory. It has power over you as long as you trust it. Don't struggle with it; just disregard it" and "There is no such thing as mind."]
Then, this came: "So what is transferred from the body by the fire and into the raven ... the 'bird of death'?"
The French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss proposed a theory which suggested that the raven (like the coyote) obtained mythic status because it was a mediator between life and death. As a carrion bird, ravens became associated with the dead, and in the myths of many cultures, the raven is associated with things "spiritual."
"So the transference deals with what? It must be the final vestige of personality: the false religious-spiritual persona that is adopted. The sense of a spirit within had to leave, had to be given up! So is that the final role? Yes! That's it. No wait. The vision goes on. There's more to be sought because there is more to be revealed.
So that's it: 'The Seeker' role must continue for a while even after transitioning beyond the assumption of the false identity of 'The Religious-Spiritual One!' Got it! That's it!"
So to review: first, there's a movement away from the physical body and its focus on the physical realm. Then there's a period of experiencing the mind and personality in a realm somewhat removed from the physical but still acted out in that realm. Old 'bad' roles are left behind and new 'good' roles are assumed. "Hummm."
Then the question: "So why is the religious-spiritual role 'siphoned off' into the raven? Well, see what happens to it: it comes to an end. It is allowed to "die."
It leaves the mental body where the belief in false roles are stored, leaving that body "free" of the impurities that led to a belief in fiction and non-truths.
The end of the raven, therefore, is symbolic of the end of things "spiritual" (that is, "spiritual beliefs") which finally come to an end with the transformation into a gull - the symbol of "not knowing" and "personal freedom." (More on that to follow).
Again, the fire came into consciousness. "That must signal the need to purify the 'mind.' No, wait. That's nonsense. Maharaj said he has no mind . . . that he had reached a state of 'zero concepts.' So it is not about purifying the mind. How can garbage be purified? It cannot. It must be about being rid of it! Yes!"
Then, arose the question that I've subsequently been asked a thousand times since: "But how?"
Then it came: "By giving up belief in the content of the mind! That's the next piece! That's it! Then belief in those 'good' roles also ends, but seeking continues for a spell."
Simultaneously and instantaneously another piece of the puzzle was solved: "That's it - the raven gives way to the gull, so beliefs - even spiritual beliefs - give way to no beliefs at all."
In some cultures the gull represents personal freedom; with non-dualists, that would read, "Freedom from the person, from personality identification, from belief in personhood." So giving up the playing of the role of "The Spiritual Giant" sets the stage for finally being free of all assigned and assumed personas.
With many, the seagull represents a carefree attitude, a lack of rigidity, and total freedom, so the piece dealing with the raven-to-gull transformation was suddenly easy to solve by that point because the gull is associated with "ignorance" . . . with "not knowing." Immediately, what came into consciousness was the phrase "The Child Ignorance Stage! Yes!")
Then there was a "re-direction" of sorts. "No, make that 'The Child No-Knowing Stage,' because both the manifestation and knowing nothing precedes the ignorance that is passed on to the child via programming, conditioning, acculturation, domestication, indoctrination, and brainwashing."
Then I reviewed: "Physical body; mind; personality; the Child No-Knowing State. Yeah! So let's see; so far ... 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 parts . . . four messages or clarifications or . . . what?"
[They were not yet seen as specific steps that must be completed in an exact, step-wise fashion that related to Maharaj's advice to "go back" and to "reverse" and to follow the path back to the Source by the same way that You came in. Yet that awareness was flickering about on the edge of consciousness.]
Then, I asked "My Self": "But why birds? For their various symbolic values alone? Seems valid. But do birds symbolize anything else? Of course! Freedom! And why are they free? Because they are not attached to anything. They are the epitome of freedom! So the message there?
"I cannot be free . . . I cannot move on to the next stage if I am attached to anything, be it a role or a person or a thing. Does that mean I can't care? That I won't know Love vs. love? No. Do birds care . . . about their young, for example? Of course. They tend to their young early on, but eventually, they - like all things in nature - set them free to abide on their own.
"Similarly, the black bear in torn when she leaves her cubs once she is sure they have all that is required for the rest of their journey, and she feels pulled back to them when she hears their cries, but eventually she does what is wise and natural and moves on. Wow! That is Love (which looks nothing like what the non-Realized take 'love' to be!) Double wow!"
That is what I saw up to that point as I studied the vision and contemplated its many messages. Now, what are You seeing?
To be continued.
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Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns.
THE EXPLANATION
If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence.
Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to."
The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly").
Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part.
"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you."
Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on:
"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men."
--Pope John Paul II
"There is no hell."
--Pope Francis, the current pope
[in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari,
a writer used by the Pope to issue off the record
teachings
which become a part of the Papal Magisterium]
Here's
the direct link to the VIDEO VERSION
of the "Awakening Together" satsang session with Regina and Jacqueline referenced earlier, 18 MARCH 2018
If preferred, here's
the direct link to the AUDIO VERSION
of that session.
