TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. [See the offer in gold text 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]
2. 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 green text after today's post for the full meaning and implications of that.
3. 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." (See the details in the blue text after this post.)
4. My assistant found two paperback copies of the book co-authored with Mark Houston, A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Transformation, a potentially-effective gift for someone struggling with an addiction to alcohol (or to anything else, really). The book lists for $19.95 + Priority Mail shipping. To purchase, you may use the donate button at the top right of this page and include a note that the $27.60 is for the Twelve-Step book. Regrets to international visitors but this is only available within the U.S. because international shipping rates are prohibitive and time-consuming and cannot be tracked.
As this series ends today, let us review:
1. The pointer has been offered that “. . . although times, society and people change, the basic problems do not.”
2. The non-dual understanding addresses “the ancient basic problems” of humankind which are, indeed, “the present-day basic problems” as well.
3. Maharaj said that the three key problems among humans which are humankind’s “ancient basic problems” and which are also humankind’s “present-day basic problems” involve having thoughts and words and behaviors driven by “ignorance” and “stupidity” and “insanity.”
4. Harsh? No, not at all. He did not say that “non-realized people are ignorant and stupid and insane.” He said that persons abiding under the influence of ignorant and stupid and insane programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing, and indoctrination have no other choice than to be driven by “ignorance” and “stupidity” and “insanity.”
So, might it be spot on to suggest that “although times, society and people change, the basic problems do not”?
As is always the case here, let’s look at some concrete, specific examples to see:
In Elizabethan England, buildings “in-the-round” were erected which were dedicated to providing various forms of entertainment:
Some were used to present the plays of William Shakespeare before an audience which typically represented all three classes in London at the time. The upper class who could afford to pay the higher cost for the best seats in the house did so; the middle class theatregoers paid a mid-range price from higher seats; and the lower class attendees came to be called “groundings” in the lingo of the theatre of that day because they stood on the bare ground in front of the stage and looked up at the actors on stage from that not-especially-ideal area.
What became the most popular theatre among all of those attendees was called “The Globe,” co-owned by Shakespeare himself:
Certain other “in-the-round venues” in England during the late 1500’s and early 1600’s attracted those who were of a more barbaric bent, the same type as those in ancient Rome years earlier who went into their own theatre-in-the-round – The Coliseum – to watch blood being spilled and to watch living things (lions, tigers, elephants, humans, etc.) being killed.
Those cruel or brutal or more barbaric types in the capital of the U.K. went regularly to see one of two events, called “bear-baiting” or “bull-baiting.” In those venues, in a pit-area similar to where groundings stood to watch some of the most sophisticated entertainment in the history of humanity, the operators of in those theaters used that open ground in the center to stake out with chains and ropes either bears or bulls. Then dogs would be turned loss to kill the chained animals in a most vicious way:
Over the years, to turn the dogs into more efficient killing machines, the operators breed them to develop two traits: (1) a desire to kill, and (2) a flat face and strong jaws which allowed the dogs to jump up, bite down on the bear or bull, hang on as the animal twisted and flailed about in pain and occasionally tossed off a dog that took chunks of the animals’ flesh along with it before returning for another attack.
Those dogs that were bred to be vicious killers and that were released into the pit area of the theatre-in-the-round and allowed to attack chained up bulls until the bulls were killed were, logically, referred to as “pit bull dogs.”
That entertainment “normalized” in the minds of the attendees the act of shedding blood and the act of vicious slaughtering for nothing more than the sake of entertaining persons by allowing them to watch such killings as they happened.
Research by some psychologists nowadays makes clear that the normalization of the abnormal, of vicious behavior, of violence, and of killing has a negative impact on a culture.
Thus, that might be labeled “an ancient problem” of humankind which is, indeed, “a present-day problem” as well because some people are still organizing dog fights and cock fights which include bloodshed and fights to the death.
But what other examples are there of “an ancient problem” still manifesting as “a present-day problem” because those pit bull dogs are still around nowadays and often kept by families as pets?
One owner said of his pit bills: “This breed is one of the most loving, loyal, friendly and dedicated companions you can have.”
(I held a similar belief about a wife until she told me that she had prayed to her god every day for a year that he would kill me, preferably in a one-car accident “so no innocents would be harmed” as God arranged events to lead to my longed-for demise. She was sure that her concern for the innocent was evidence of the fact that she was still a kind and loving and friendly and caring Christian person.)
As for the other vicious breed under discussion - the pit bull dog - this headline was in the news last week:
“Dallas-area woman mauled to death by her own pit bulls while they were at vet hospital”
The back story:
"The dogs were involved in an incident earlier in the month in which they bit a man," said Irving PD Officer David Dickinson. "They were here at the animal hospital being quarantined per regulations.”
So what happened?
The owner went to the vet hospital to visit her pit bull / terrier mix-breed dogs. While there, hugging and kissing on them, they attacked her and they killed her.
It was in that same hospital a year or so earlier that a 19-year-old employee tried to put a leash on a pit bull / terrier mix-breed when the dog sunk its teeth into her neck. One staff member who tried to pull the dog away, said: “He was already latched on pretty tight" so she could not get the dog loose.
In the recent attack at that same hospital, the thirty-three year-old woman suffered a more serious attack by her pets and the staff could not break the dogs loose from their grips on their owner’s body.
Other relevant facts: There are about five million dog-bite cases annually in the U.S. Around thirty to forty people die each year from dog attacks, and an estimated 100,000 are injured badly enough to require plastic surgery or extensive suturing. Almost all of the fatal dog attacks involve . . . pit bulls.
See? “Although times, society and people change, the basic problems do not” because, at their core, old problems and newer problems all share in a commonality which Maharaj discussed in detail, namely, the “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity” which drives the masses.
Other examples in the news included these headlines which all appeared in the same morning edition of local newspapers:
“A woman raped a child as a man held him down”
“The mother of a maggot-infested baby was sentenced today to life in prison"
“A mom admits plotting her daughter’s death, confessing to the authorities that ‘I wanted her to go away’”:
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The mother of a girl who was raped, murdered and dismembered testified Wednesday that she helped plot the attack and carry it out, telling her daughter before her death that "I can't help you anymore."
Appearing to smirk at times, Sara Packer calmly recounted how she watched her boyfriend sexually assault her daughter, 14-year-old Grace Packer, then strangle her in a hot attic outside Philadelphia. She said Grace looked at her as she was being choked to death, and Sara Packer took her hand and told her it was "OK to go."
Also, here in the “Houston area, this was reported the same day:
“Wrong way deaths are on the rise in Houston.”
Yes, drivers are entering freeways via the wrong ramp and are driving head on into cars traveling in the proper direction.
Six deaths occurred in one 72-hour period. Past records show that there were thirty-six wrong-way collisions in one three-month period alone. Texas averages 237 fatalities per year as a result of wrong-way driving. (The number of annual fatalities in Texas due to wrong-way thinking is a much higher number.)
Billions of human have died throughout human history as a result of avoidable accidents. “Although times, society and people change, the basic problems do not.”
Then, it might have involved a mode of transportation. Today, it still does.
Then, it might have involved vicious dogs. Today, it still does.
Then, it might have involved abuse of alcohol. Today it still does.
But more often than not, Maharaj made clear that for the differences in humankind’s basic problem then and now, little has changed regarding "cause" to the extent that the problems have both long involved and still involve persons being driven by “ignorance” and “stupidity” and “insanity.”
In ancient days, when antibiotics were not available for parents to use to treat their children who had contracted simple infections, millions died.
The so-called Black Death in Europe killed 40% of all men, women, and children. The Black Death was actually nothing more than an untreated epidemic of bubonic plague, a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis which circulates among wild rodents where they live in great numbers and density and can be transmitted to humans via a bite from a flea that had also bitten a rat or other animal with the disease.
The treatment used back then?
Prayer.
Nowadays, antibiotics such as streptomycin, gentamicin, doxycycline, or ciprofloxacin are used to treat and cure “the plague.”
Yet some children nowadays with easily-curable infections are still dying because their parents refuse to provide antibiotics because their religion teaches that “parents should show their faith in God by using prayer alone to heal their children.” And if the children die? “It was God’s will” or “God needed another little angel in heaven.”
To reach the fourth step on “the path” is to have transitioned body and mind and personal identifications, including such false identities as “The Super Religious One,” “The Spiritual Giant,” or “The Super Seeker.”
All roles, be they the ones which a society deems to be “good ones” or roles which they deem to be “bad ones,” generate nonsense which block the seeing of truth and seeing facts and which generate conscious and subconscious agendas which are rooted in fear and desire and learned ignorance.
To be free of the belief in false identities is to be free of much of the chaos and misery and suffering which happen when persons are driven by the ignorance and stupidity and insanity which are, in turn, generated by the false roles, false identities, personas, etc. which manifest when body and mind and personality agendas rule.
Moreover, are the days of your relative existence being controlled by the spiritual workaholism involved with trying to find out “Who You Are?”
Are the days of your relative existence being controlled by the spiritual workaholism involved with trying to behave as something noumenal rather than phenomenal, be that something a so-called Infinite Self, or Supreme Self, or a Godhead, etc.?
Maharaj said: “I got involved in spirituality, in the business of spirituality; finally, I lost that love of Self also. I have no more love for the Self."
Or, are the days of your relative existence being controlled by the spiritual workaholism involved with trying to learn the dogma of one religion or another or the precepts of one philosophy or another?
All of that is the stuff of the final steps on “the path.” Yet Maharaj made clear that "You need not find the answer to 'What am I?' It is enough to know what you are not.”
That understanding only requires the completion of the first three steps where you transition beyond body identification, mind identification, and the assumption of false identities, be they considered “good ones” or “bad ones” in your culture, after which one returns to and rests in the no-identity, no learned ignorance, fourth step "Child No-Knowing State."
Maharaj said, “Only that person will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end."
Then, if one’s child needs an antibiotic, the prevailing conclusion can be, “Screw my virtue. Let’s get this kid to the doc and get our child the antibiotic it needs.”
Or then, in the case of a spouse whose mate worked eighty hours a week to earn the money needed to buy a house for that spouse and their children, that mate will not have to listen to the spouse saying to the friends and relatives who come to oooh and ahhh over the new home, “Yes, I am so grateful to God for giving us this home. God has truly blessed me. God is good!”
The fact: What would truly be the closest thing to “a blessing” would be an end to being exposed to the ignorance being spewed from the mouths of those who were exposed to nonsensical and ignorant and stupid and insane programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication and brainwashing and indoctrination and who now are talking in their sleep as they give voice to the scores of false identities which have been assigned or have been assumed.
Being “stunned into silence” would have been the greatest gift of all if it had happened to so many I ended up listening to as well as for so many who ended up listening to me.
Those perks await at the fourth step.
To be continued.
THE NEWEST 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:
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.
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"
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
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.
[That said, would that the popes who have shown the courage to reject a core concept of their dogma - namely, "hell" - would find the additional courage required to question the very existence of their institution in light of the centuries-long cover-up of their history of raping children and in light of the mental and emotional and psychological scarring of billions of their members past and present.
And that need for courage also applies as questions need to be asked about why so many other sky cults are still being supported and allowed to continue to exist as well. When certain types of programming and conditioning have been shown to blind the masses, they should end. Will they? Not likely. Why?
Because what the masses think and say and do is most influenced by the international crime families which hold sway over the masses as criminals conduct their planet-wide operations. What are the major international crime families and which are the most influential and have the largest memberships?
The Mafia / La Cosa Nostra; the Catholic Church (with it 1.2 billion followers) whose Vatican Bank worked for decades with the Mafia while laundering mob earnings (for a 15% all-profit charge by the Bank); Protestant and Evangelical Churches (with over 1.2 billion followers) like the one I was raised in where the youth director molested and sexually assaulted young girls; big business which has long created environments in which people have been abused; powerful political bodies like the U.S. Congress, etc., etc., etc.)
With all of those crime families, neither the followers nor the leadership ever voluntarily step down or shut down their criminal activities. Be they gangs, organized crime families, religions, big business, politicians, etc., they all want control and they all want power and they all want money, and nothing internal will interfere with the driving forces at play.
The masses must demand that all those in charge must step down and their groups and institutions must shut down, and there's the real problem because the continuation of their crimes are enabled not as much by the people running such crime organizations as they are enabled by the masses of people who - wanting some perceived "payoff" - remain involved with them and give them money and support them and aid and abet the continued existence of those criminal enterprises and thus facilitate the ability of church criminals and political criminals and other types of criminals to continue to commit their crimes.]
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.
