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.)
The point in this series is that the non-dual message has long been widespread but has seldom been understood either then or now.
A DEEPER LOOK AT SOME OF THE POINTERS OFFERED BY SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ
At the request of some visitors, further discussion or explanation is being provided in regards to some of the Maharaj pointers shared recently.
4. Maharaj said, “From the Absolute no-knowing state, spontaneously, this consciousness ‘I am’ has appeared—there is no reason, no cause.”
“Absolute” has been defined variously as:
total / complete
or
existing independently and not in relation to other things; not relative or comparative
or
not qualified or diminished in any way
or
which may be viewed without relation to other things
or
“pure” / the same in all situations
or
free from imperfection.
Does that make the Absolute or THAT or Awareness-not-yet-manifested something special or Special?
Hardly.
Many things in nature can have a pure or nearly pure version, a “pure substance” being defined as any single type of material which has not been contaminated by another substance.
Pure hydrogen is a pure substance. So is pure honey, even though it consists of many different types of molecules. What makes both of these materials pure substances is that they are free from contamination.
Most of the "pure substances" which you encounter in your daily life have been made pure by people through refining, such as gold, diamonds, water, baking soda, table salt, alcohol, etc., yet even those can be contaminated to some degree. (For example, what is advertised as “pure alcohol” is actually only about 92% alcohol).
Consider the following about Absolute or THAT or Awareness-not-yet-manifested or awareness which has manifested in a space and in that form is referred to as “consciousness”:
All are merely a form of energy which can manifest in multiple ways.
Awareness-energy can manifest within a confined space, such as “a human,” "an acorn," a “bird,” etc. It would have previously been “free-ranging” and - as noted above - exists independently and is not in any relation to other things and is not relative.
When it manifests within the space formed by “a human,” “an acorn,” a “bird,” etc., it is no longer free-ranging and thus forfeits its original traits of not being qualified or diminished in any way and of not functioning in relation to other things.
Having manifested in a modified version or form of “conscious-energy,” it operates in a manner that could be compared to “pure witnessing” as opposed to “subject-object (relative) witnessing” which inspires a sense of separation and then generates a duality-based view which say “I” (subject) see “you” (object”) and “I can relate you and you can relate to me.”
Hence, “awareness” and “consciousness” are merely names which point to the same thing but are used to clarify the difference aspects of awareness which exist between it non-manifested state and a manifested state (as is the case with H20 which might manifest as "a puddle, a pond, a lake, a river, an ocean, sleet, snowflakes, a raindrop, a flood, ice," etc. . . , all the same but manifesting in different ways depending on surrounding conditions).
Manifested, awareness is as it was in its non-manifested state to the degree that there is no aware-of-ness; instead, consciousness prevails with its erroneous beliefs that “I am conscious of both me and of other things.” At that point, another original trait of consciousness / awareness is “lost,” namely, its “freedom from imperfections.”
What are those imperfections? They are the beliefs – concepts, ideas, learned ignorance, etc. - which are passed along via programming, conditioning, etc. and which are taught and which block the manifested consciousness from seeing accurately and which prevent the awareness from being aware of itself and its former, original, natural state.
To remove those blockages (via the realization process whereby all beliefs and all learned ignorance are discarded) allows for the “contaminated” or blocked consciousness to shift from its subject-object way of perceiving and to begin to see in a non-dual, not corrupted, not-blocked manner of perception rooted in the perception of the unicity . . . the oneness.
Seeing in that manner allows the pure consciousness to come to the forefront and that allows for the first time an understanding of pure, unblocked consciousness as well as an awareness of awareness.
When that happens, then one can abide naturally as one’s original nature, free of all duality-based concepts and dreamed up self-perceptions and Self-perceptions for the remainder of the manifestation.
Next, anther misunderstanding regarding awareness / consciousness involves the belief that persons have possessed some exact, ever-lasting quantity of consciousness.
That is a fallacy, based in beliefs about memories and the notion that having memories from the early age of whatever to the present age of whatever requires the presence of some ever-present quantity of consciousness which was “there” throughout all ages and which allows memories of events throughout the ages to now be recalled.
Now of that is accurate. Conscious-energy comes and goes, and no quantity of it remains in any given space or place.
Consider: if one were to stop eating, as some imprisoned Irishmen did during the Irish hunger strike of 1981 in order to protest the atrocities of British rule, then one would – as they did – eventually die after a period of 48 to 73 days.
In effect, those protestors “lost consciousness.” Consciousness is actually conscious-energy, and as with all forms of energy, humans must eat in order to replenish the stock of energy, including conscious-energy. Like all else, consciousness / conscious-energy forever cycles.
It does not manifest and then forever remain within the confines of whatever space it manifested in at some earlier point.
As with any composite unity – which is all a “human” is – there are earth elements, air, and conscious-energy moving into and out of the space formed by the element plant food.
All three “come and go.” Elements are replaced regularly, the skin being replaced every 28 days or so. Similarly, the stomach lining which is exposed to acids and enzymes which can tear down meat, for example, works to break down all food; exposed to a constant supply of acid, the lining must be replaced every few days.
The air cycles in and out of the space. Cut off the air supply and human life will typically end within a matter of minutes.
As for conscious-energy, the same applies: it comes and goes and must be replaced if consciousness is to remain in any specific case.
Moreover, because the "rule" is that all in the universe is changing and is in a constant state of flux, and because all on any given planet is changing and is in a constant state of flux, and because all in any composite unity / humans is changing and is in a constant state of flux, there is nothing on earth and nothing involving any human that is constant.
All in the relative existence is always changing and is impermanent, and what is permanent is only the energy / matter involved which is always changing and moving and contributing to the state of flux. What is real (energy / matter) is all that is real, and all else that is observed by the misperceiving masses is not the real.
The example here is that a brick is not what it is perceived to be by the masses. Studied under an electron microscope, it is seen to be a swirling masses of subatomic particles moving about in what is mostly otherwise empty space and - in reality - looks nothing at all like what persons believe they see when looking at what is called "a brick."
So it is throughout the universe, throughout all other universes, throughout the relative existence on planet earth and, in fact, throughout . . . all.
Finally, note that neither the Absolute nor THAT nor Awareness-not-yet-manifested have any sense of self-ness or Self-ness. The misconception and fallacious belief that there is any truth to a self identity now or a Self Identity later is impossible during any no-conscious-of-ness or no-aware-of-ness state. The unmanifested awareness which can be understood during the manifestation (if pure consciousness is functioning) was previously in a state of no aware-of-ness and will return to the same.
Prior to manifesting, (1) there is no conscious-of-ness and (2) there is no functioning conscious-of-ness energy (either "pure" or "blocked") prior to manifestation, and the same applies to aware-of-ness as well. The same also applies to the post-manifestation state to which conscious-energy shall return.
Thus, “From the Absolute no-knowing state, spontaneously, this consciousness ‘I am’ has appeared—there is no reason, no cause.”
The Absolute state is a "no-knowing state."
If manifestation happens, it happens "spontaneously," meaning, "There is no reason, no cause."
That means (A) there is no reason - "no purpose" - for which any speck of Am-ness comes into a state of temporarily-manifested beingness and (B) there is no cause, hence, no Causer, no Creator, no Grand Conductor who is making anything happen or controlling everything that happens.
Whatever happens, happens naturally, not supernaturally.
Whatever happens is part of a cyclical, on-going process.
Whatever happens, happens spontaneously.
Who does not want that to be the case? Those who want control and who therefore want a power available to whom they can appeal to give them what they want now and to allow them to avoid what they do not want now and to give them eternal rewards later and to allow them to avoid eternal punishment later.
In reality, control, power, rewards and punishment are all dreamed up concepts, used throughout the ages to control the masses by controlling, power-seeking humans, not by "gods."
"How do you know that, Floyd?"
"Easy: science. All is energy-matter and neither energy nor matter can be created or destroyed; hence, no Creator and no Destroyer / Punisher.
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
or
You can click on video "Number Ten" in the upper right-hand column on this page.
If preferred, here's
the direct link to the AUDIO VERSION
of that session.
