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.
At the request of some visitors, further discussion or explanation of some of the Maharaj pointers shared recently is being provided.
A DEEPER LOOK AT SOME OF THE POINTERS OFFERED BY SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ
From yesterday:
Maharaj advised, “See the false as false.” Easier said than done.
His advice regarding the mind where false beliefs (lies) and false identities are stored would actually go far beyond the suggestion that the lies and identities stored in the mind should not be believed in.
Consider this headline and note how practical the actions were which were taken recently by a bomb squad:
Bomb squad detonates suspicious package in Wadsworth
June 17, 2019
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Washoe County sheriff's bomb squad detonated a suspicious package at a home in Wadsworth with a history of explosive devices.
In fact, it is actually fairly common for bomb squads to blow up houses and cars when it is suspected that they might contain explosives which could harm squad members or the public.
They frequently go with that approach as “Option One.”
“Option Two” would have been to delay, to inspect, and to take time and expend energy to study any and all potentially-deadly devices stored inside and then process them one at a time and possibly clear the house or car of devices which could be harmful to the squad members or the public at large and still never be sure that some other hidden devices might remain and explode later.
Those sharing non-dual pointers through the use of the Direct Path Method in conjunction with the Nisarga yoga would endorse the bomb squad’s detonate-it-all approach. Meaning?
In the case here, the long and grueling search was sabotaged time and again by my using an “Option Two”-like approach rather than an “Option One”-type approach.
Having been long intrigued with Grandmother’s talk of “casting aside phoniness and nurturing authenticity,” I spent years searching for "the truth" and “The True Self.”
Maharaj early on endorsed that (“spiritual,” “SELF-Enquiry,” seven-step) approach with the seekers that came his way. That approach is only recommended if one buys into the notion that the Ultimate Sickness has something to do with a “sick spirit” or a “spiritual malady.”
Later, however, when he became convinced that the Ultimate Sickness has nothing to do with knowing too-little-dogma and nothing to do with a "spiritual sickness," he endorsed a (four-step, self-inquiry / false-self, psychological inquiry) approach with the seekers that came his way.
Thus led to his his bomb squad, “Option One,” detonate-it-all approach, and in the example above, the house or a car can represent the minds of 99.99% of the masses, made up of "non-realized" persons.
Maharaj said that “there’s no such thing as peace of mind” (and I added, “there’s only peace if you are out of your mind”).
No one who has a mind filled – as do all among the “non-realized” masses - with the nonsense which always comes with programming, conditioning, etc. will ever live long enough to delay, to inspect, and to take enough time and expend enough energy to study each and every concept, notion, idea, thought, impression, image, opinion, view, theory, etc. (a.k.a., “beliefs”) stored in the mind and then test then for validity or falsehood and “see the false as false.”
Instead, the mind must go, period; then the remainder of the manifestation can happen under the auspices of the the no-mind, all-natural, elemental brain (which is exactly the way that every living thing on the planet does except for humans).
Thus, the point yesterday:
Once free of the mind, then nothing “deliberate is required. All will happen spontaneously, and that includes recognizing falsehoods instantly and rejecting the false as soon as it is heard.
Maharaj said: "I have no mind . . . ." and advised seekers to . . .
"Reach a state of zero-concepts" and said, “As to my mind, I have no such thing. There is consciousness in which everything happens” and "I am double dead: not only am I dead to my body, but to my mind, too" and "I find I have lost the mind irretrievably."
But there’s the rub: when I have shared that no-mind pointer in satsang or at retreats or in writing for years, the listeners or readers usually “checked out” with such reactions as, “That’s it – I’m gone” or “Impossible!” or “You’re nuts” or “It can’t be done.”
They needed a simple method for being free of the mind and abiding thereafter under the auspices of the brain, so I offer this:
Everything in your mind - be it considered a concept, notion, idea, thought, impression, image, opinion, view, or theory - is actually just . . . a belief.
That is all the mind is: a storehouse of thousands upon thousands of beliefs, most of which are filed away and are not consciously tapped into but which nevertheless determine all thoughts and words and actions.
Want to have no mind? You might try “Option Two” as I did for years. I wrote out what I took to be comprehensive lists of my belief systems and then tried to analyze them all for validity or falsity.
That is what is impossible. What eventually happened was that I realized it was all BS, as explained in Freedom from Beliefs:
The garbage actually just faded away after its value was finally questioned and seen to be worthless as a result of its senseless content. Yet note how much the ego-defense mechanism of arrogance (which protects the illusory “I”) hates any suggestion that would devalue all of the knowledge—all of the learned ignorance—that has been accumulated throughout a relative existence and stored in what is called a “mind.”
When ego (ego-states) and egotism were cast aside, there was nothing to defend and – as was the case with Maharaj – I reached a state of no-beliefs, of zero concepts.
The mind was gone.
Most, even those who have assumed the role of “The Ardent Seeker,” refuse to accept the bomb squad’s approach:
“They had a perfectly good house or car. They could have saved it and maybe helped the homeless or poor” or “They could have auctioned it off and given the processed to charity.”
Right, and in the process, the squad or neighbors may have been annihilated.
Annihilation among “non-realized” humans is usually a result of the beliefs in their minds. Their minds are far more dangerous than the houses and cars which are detonated by bomb squads.
Better that a house or car go, and better that the mind go.
I was invited to speak for an hour and a half to 300 or so people about reaching that no-mind, no-beliefs, no-thinking state, but when at the end an opportunity was offered to ask questions, the first question asked was:
“How does Floyd think about the Holy Spirit?”
Really?
I did not answer “Where in the hell have you been? Did you miss 89 of the 90 minutes of the discussion of the ways by which one can reach a no-mind, no-beliefs, no-thinking state?”
But what flashed into the consciousness was a passage I’d heard most of my life about what happened when Yeshu’a ("Jesus") saw that, after years of discussing non-duality with his disciples, what they said and did exposed the fact that they really didn’t grasp a damn thing he’d been talking about.
His reaction was reported thusly:
“And Jesus wept.”
No joke. I'm not surprised that he did so.
I did not reply, “I just told you I have no beliefs, so that would exclude any chance that I believe in some “Holy Spirit”; additionally, I just told you as well that I have no mind so I cannot think at all about a “Holy Spirit” or any other concept dreamed up by ignorant and controlling sleep-walking and sleep-talking men of ages past who abided when ignorance was widespread and wisdom was all but absent.
Instead, I used the opportunity to explain why “God” and “the Holy Spirit” etc. might be more accurately perceived if seen as a verb rather than a noun. (See the part in green text below.)
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 their god / their 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.
