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. I have only two remaining 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.
The point in this series is that the non-dual message has long been widespread but has seldom been understood either then or now.
To continue:
THE NON-DUALITY MESSAGE AS OFFERED IN FILM
Today: “The Nines,” “Pleasantville,” and “Dark City”
“The Nines”
One reviewer wrote of the first of the three parts of this movie: “A movie star becomes obsessed with the number nine and begins to suspect that his world isn’t at all what it appears to be and that what he considers his identity may just be a role he’s playing, albeit in real life, instead of a TV show. That is, if such a thing as ‘real life’ even exists at all in his world.”
The second part is entitled “Reality Television” (spelled “R9ality T9l9vision”) and “takes the form of a reality show chronicling the birth of a TV series, but it’s also a meditation on the nature of creation. It depicts writers as infinitely powerful beings with the ability to create dazzling new worlds, people, and conflicts out of thin air.”
[Such “creation” is also the story of humankind as priests and preachers and mullahs and rabbis and gurus and politicians and military leaders and business leaders have historically become “powerful” in their cultures because they have used so-called “holy texts” and, later, speeches and other writings and advertisements to pass on their dreamed up concepts to the masses and "dazzled" unlimited numbers of unwitting humans with the fiction being presented to them as fact.]
“The third and final segment, ‘Knowing,’ again focuses on creators and creations and the slippery and elusive nature of identity and reality, this time through the story of video game creator and virtual world-builder Gabriel whose car breaks down in a secluded area, leaving him, his wife and his daughter stranded. Gabriel asks for help from a mysterious woman who doesn’t offer conventional assistance but does clue him in to the fundamental nature of his existence.”
One critic said, “I have no clue whether this is the most religious film of the year, or the most blasphemous film of the year.”
[I’ve found that if the masses think a song or poem or film or book or blog post has something to do with religion but is blasphemous, it might be that you’ve stumbled across something that might be offering some non-dual pointers.
Remember, Yeshu’a (“Jesus”) was deemed at one point to be “super religious,” passing along to adults the Jewish dogma which he had heard, but when he left organized religion and began sharing non-dual pointers, he was deemed to be “super blasphemous.” Same with Maharaj. Same here.
I was once dealing with a teenage male whose parents had “pieced together” a “creature” that – by the age of seventeen - was self-absorbed, destructive, ignorant, arrogant, neurotic, psychotic, cold, cruel, overbearing, devoid of discipline, and a blight on the neighborhood.
The man in charge of the institution where I was working and trying to deal with that teen called me into his office and said the fellow’s parents were on the way to his office to complain about me after the son had disparaged me to no end. As usual, they were preparing to take the son’s false version of events as the truth and go on the attack to defend their son.
When he repeated some of the lies the son had told and explained how much the son truly hated me, I replied, “Whoa. Thank goodness!”
The boss was dumbfounded at my reaction, expecting me to try to defend myself and to try to explain away each of the false charges and then give him some ammo to use against the parental attacks that he would soon face. He asked: “What do you mean ‘thank goodness'!?”
I replied, “You’ve been dealing with this kid for years. You know what he’s like.” Then I said something like, “Can you deny that the kid is self-absorbed, destructive, ignorant, arrogant, neurotic, psychotic, cold, cruel, overbearing, and devoid of discipline?”
He admitted, “No, not really.”
I said: “Then what would it tell you and the world if someone who is self-absorbed, destructive, ignorant, arrogant, neurotic, psychotic, cold, cruel, overbearing, and devoid of discipline was going about praising me and telling one and all how he really likes me and approves of me? Wouldn’t that be a major condemnation? I mean, it’d be like Hitler saying, “You know that guy Floyd? I really like that guy. I think everything he does in fabulous.”
I ended: “It’s a bit like algebra in that a negative times a negative is a positive. It’s proof that I’m on the right track is someone who is like that guy is attacking me.” As I was leaving, I said, “Good luck with your talk with his parents.”]
For the masses whom Maharaj described as “ignorant and insane” to attack Yeshu’a and Maharaj and me when we share pointers to the truth, well, that’s an endorsement, evidence that we are "on the right track." Yet the masses have long condemned those who point toward truth because the truth is the last thing they really want.
One person said: “People are so used to criticizing religion in whispers that a normal voice sounds like a shout.”
If one considers challenging the nonsensical beliefs set forth in the dogma of the religions which have disappeared or in the dogma of the modern vestiges of those which yet remain, understand that it will seem like shouting and like personal attack to those trapped in the dream of canon and creed.
The same applies to all of the components of the belief systems deemed to be dear among the masses and the way they regard any concepts or institutions or persons, etc.
If the ignorant and insane masses think that you’re ignorant and insane, it may well be an assurance that you are not ignorant and insane. Reach that understanding and then there will be no “one” that can be offended or feel threatened or feel hurt when any given individual or “friend” or “spouse” or the masses in general criticize or disparage.]
“Pleasantville”
One critic wrote:
“Pleasantville is a captivating parable about the search for personal meaning. As the story unfolds, we discover that both modern society and the society of “Pleasantville”, which both represent two distinct worldviews, have no inherent meaning.
On the surface, both worlds seem to provide some basis of meaning, but now, through the lens of the filmmakers, these two words are exposed as mere vanity that cannot satisfy. Why? Because both Pleasantville and the modern world pretend to offer meaning when in fact life itself has no meaning.”
Roger Ebert said: “The film observes that sometimes pleasant people are pleasant simply because they have never, ever been challenged . . . that it's scary and dangerous to learn new ways. The movie is like the defeat of the body snatchers: some people are freed to move on into the future. We observe that nothing creates fascists like the threat of freedom.”
A couple of “less-scholarly” viewers kept it simple while sharing the messages they saw:
*Our ideals of a "perfect world" are not worth living.
*Staying within your safety zone will ensure that you will live a boring life and will probably be unhappy.
*Repressing what's inside yourself will make you unhappy.
*Ideas and thoughts are infectious and spread quickly.
And the other said I noticed two themes . . .
*Old men suck
and
*Conformity is bad.
“Dark City”
One wrote: “Dark City presents a dream world which has perpetually been in a state of darkness. As one character accused of murder begins what might be an awakening, a Detective Bumstead picks up the work of a former cop who had gone mad. His madness turned out to be a form of intense paranoia linked to a realization that all their reality was an illusion.”
A few in the city are seeking self-awareness, but most are trapped in the collective consciousness (unconsciousness) of the masses.
Some points seen by that writer include these:
*Initially (post conditioning, programming, etc.) humans cannot distinguish between self and their outer nature.
*Through imagination, humans "create" subject / object boundaries.
*Humans project their own personhood on the exterior world, creating “god.”
*This projection at first helps unify society but then metastasizes into a psychological prison.
*Man recognizes god to be merely his projection and “re-ingests” the projection into himself.
In some cases this marks a break with the subject / object distinction, destroying the notion of ego itself, allowing humans to be integrated into the “all in one.”
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.
