THE NEXT OBSTACLE (#11): BEING UNAWAKE, UNAWARE, AND UNCONSCIOUS

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. Some prefer paperback books even if they have to wait a day or so to receive it and have to pay more for a printed book and its shipment. Now, 10 paperback books by Henderson are in print and available in two anthologies through Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and over 40,000+ booksellers around the globe including in the Americas, Germany, India, Italy, Poland, Russia, China, Spain, Brazil and South Korea. See the end of this post in red text for details.

5. Would you like to have us send to someone as a gift from you a copy of any ebook in our inventory? See the offer in purple text at the end of this post.

6. You may click here to visit Floyd's bookstore
which offers both digital books and paperback books which deal with
non-duality, non-duality-based fictional adventures, recovery, financial sanity, financial planning, and more

Obstacle #11: BEING UNAWAKE, UNAWARE, UNCONSCIOUS: 

Specifically, Having No Consciousness of the Beckoning to Change Paths . . . 

No Awareness of the Cry to Change Paths

Once more, the question is asked: of the non-dual understanding which Maharaj offered, what might explain why he initially estimated that "only 1 out of 100,000 will ever get this" but later said that "only 1 out of 1,000,000 will ever get this" and eventually - after decades of working with seekers - modified that guesstimate to "1 out of 10,000,000"? 

Consider the enormity of the obstacles which one who works for 20 or 40 or 80 years with seekers of the non-dual understanding will witness:

What types will not usually consider the possibility of taking a different path from the one they have been following, even if it is generating relative miseries and suffering for them or those around them? 

One of the most obvious examples would be the alcoholic or any others with the Addictive Personality Disorder. No matter how much evidence is presented that the path they are on is not a path that is in their best relative interests, all signs and evidence will typically be ignored or denied. Real change seldom come.

Who else? 

The arrogant, the cocky, who display an "I've got the world by the tail; watch me strut, and eat my dust" attitude. Historically, those at the top of the hierarchies in societies (such as the super wealthy or the most powerful) are for maintaining the status quo. Have certain philanthropists among that segment come forth at times? You bet, but have those philanthropists been the rule or are they more often the exception? 

By contrast, the poor, the starving, and others at the bottom of a society's hierarchies, are the ones that will be willing to change. 

But who else will not usually consider the possibility of taking a different path? 

Those who have normalized their pain and suffering and those who have ennobled pain and suffering: "You just have to put up with the misery being handed to us in this life, knowing that in the next life we'll be rewarded for the misery that we suffered in this life." 

Usually, none of those types will seek a different path.

On the other hand, there are those that do nothing but seek. They are "The Super Seekers" and they are as addicted to seeking as addicts are to whatever they happen to be addicted to. The Catch-22 with that mindset?

When persons are attached to seeking, they shall not find because - were they to assume "The Finder" role - that would instantly and automatically nullify "The Super Seeker" role which they think they so enjoy playing. 

To give up that "Super Seeker" role, to stop "being" "The Super Seeker" would require that thereafter they would just be, and that is something they are not capable of. Not having realized fully, they feel driven to go and do and zoom and cannot relax and take it easy.

So which types might be inspired to seek, to find and then to just BE? 

Those that have an inner longing and suddenly become in touch with that yearning ache. Those that have followed a path devotedly but without actually finding what they seek and then finally conclude,

"There must be more than this (or maybe even 'less'?) I must find whatever 'that' is so I can stop allowing seeking to be a second job occupying my entire relative existence so much that there is no time - what with my first job that pays the bills and with my second, adopted job of seeking - to stop and take it easy and smell the roses."

Here, the case was this: my Cherokee grandmother had no formal education, but she was like "an absolute fount of wisdom." She began passing down to me, in tiny doses at a time, the non-dual understandings which had been passed down to her. 

When I became "stumped," she did not push it. She just sent me off to pick a basketful of baby cream peas and some tomatoes from her garden to prepare for lunch and dinner. 

In the book  

What a Cherokee Grandmother Passed On to a Grandson 

(100 pages with pictures) it is explained how it came to be that, by the ages of 5 and 6, I was already being offered pointers toward the non-dual understanding. And what astounding levels of duality I had already been exposed to!

The contrasts are illustrated via the differences between being raised in the darkness of an inner city eight or more months of each year vs. spending four months or so each year in the forests with a Cherokee Grandmother and spending four months or so each year seeing the light. (Yes, I was literally "living duality" during each of my early years, and the contrast was etched into my psyche.)

The book contains a discussion of how duality is modeled and copied by children who then become entrapped in dualistic thinking and talking and behaving for their entire relative existence; how some few are fortunate enough to receive at least a temporary respite and thereby be exposed to a 180-degree-opposite alternative; and how some will pursue that opposite mode of functioning and witnessing and seeing which can allow those few to have an opportunity to be freed from the darkness and to abide in the light. 

Above all, Grandmother was what some nowadays call “fully realised.” Was she also “a teacher” of non-duality? Yes and no. She passed on non-duality not as much by offering non-dual pointers as by modeling non-duality all day, every day, for the entirety of the relative existence when I was able to witness her.

Everything she shared was consistent with what the later Maharaj shared, and if ever anyone adhered to the nisarga (natural) lifestyle throughout an entire relative existence, it was Grandmother. She pointed the way to me, and she can also point the way to you as well by way of what she shared, some of which is included in the book mentioned above.

So the case here was that "seeds of consciousness" - seeds of the pure, universal consciousness - were planted early on. When the time came that the paths I had tried were not working, a peripeteia (that is, "a reversal of circumstances" or "a turning point") happened. Aristotle defined peripeteia as "a change by which the action veers round to its opposite, subject always to our rule of probability or necessity." 

Indeed, those who feel no "necessity," such as those mentioned above who are comfortable because of being stationed at the top of their culture's hierarchy, will never be drawn to change paths, but for the few that become aware of the beckoning, of the cry, they can have an opportunity that few will have: an opportunity alluded to by Robert Frost when he wrote: 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— 

I took the one less traveled by, 

And that has made all the difference. 

While all that Grandmother had shared had seemingly dissolved and when there was seemingly no consciousness of the beckoning to change paths - no awareness of the cry to change paths - suddenly the beckoning was recognized, the cry was heard. 

I instantly began to touch that inner longing and sensed the yearning ache which I had ignored for years. 

In you are interested in seeing what Grandmother shared which set the stage for taking the road less traveled, and if you realize that one truly can enjoy the difference which taking the road less traveled cam make, you may read the book now.

(Click to purchase for $2.99)

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.

PAPERBACK VERSIONS OF SOME OF HENDERSON'S NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE

If you prefer PAPERBACK copies
of some of Henderson’s non-duality books,

10 of his books are available in PRINT FORM
(collected in two anthologies).

Links for ordering are below with 
BARNES and NOBLE presently providing better service 
than AMAZON
when  it come to fulfilling orders for
paperback and hardcover books
as opposed to delivering digital books. 

[NOTE: Wherever you live, you can search for the books below by title with booksellers in your country. With 40,000+ retailers distributing my paperback books, you may order from U.S. stores or you may find someone nearer to you.] 

For NON-DUALITY AUDIENCES

The Advanced Seekers' Series (344 pages) is an anthology of four books that share Advaita-based, non-duality pointers that can guide seekers to abide as their original nature. Included in the anthology are

"From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality");

"Consciousness / Awareness: The Nature of Reality Beyond SELF-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding As the Absolute)";

"From the Absolute to the Nothingness";

and

"The Final Understanding."

Order a PAPERBACK copy of The Advanced Seekers' Series 
 from BARNES AND NOBLE by clicking here
or (sometimes less efficiently nowadays in terms of paperback delivery)

from AMAZON by clicking here.

Also for NON-DUALITY AUDIENCES

This anthology (438 pages) contains the six books that make up what has been called The Blissful Abidance Series for those seeking to live blissfully and happily for the remainder of the manifestation, including,

“What BLISS is and what BLISS is not”;

“There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind (There’s Only Peace If You’re ‘Out of Your Mind’)”;

“Liberation (Attaining Freedom from Personality via Realization)”;

“Freedom from Shifting Between States of Happiness and Unhappiness”;

“Why You Must Be Empty If You Would Be Full”;

and

“When REALITY Is Overlaid on the RELATIVE.”

Order a PAPERBACK copy of The Blissful Abidance Series 

from BARNES AND NOBLE by clicking here

or (sometimes less efficiently nowadays in terms of paperback delivery)
from Amazon by clicking here.

SEND A GIFT BOOK TO SOMEONE

To make an arrangement for us to send in your name as a gift from you any of our books to someone you choose:

(a) Visit www.floydhenderson.com. 

(b) Purchase the ebook you’d like to send.

(c) Contact us using the email below, tell us which ebook you just purchased, and provide the name and email address of the person you want to send the ebook to. (They will never be contacted again or solicited for any reason.)

Send your information to:

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 the picture link which has now been added for video "Number Ten" in the upper right-hand column on this page.

If preferred, here's

the direct link to the AUDIO VERSION.

You may click here to visit
Floyd's bookstore

which offers both digital and paperback books.