TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
6. Or, you may purchase a Floyd Henderson Shopify Gift Card here for someone and offer recommendations for the books in Floyd's store which might be of assistance to them.
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
THE RATIONALE FOR REACHING A
"NO-BELIEFS,"
"ZERO CONCEPTS,"
"NO-MIND" STATE
AS RECOMMENDED BY MAHARAJ AND THEN ABIDING UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE ELEMENTAL BRAIN RATHER THAN THE DISTORTED, FICTION-FILLED MIND
(The series will continue with a
discussion of the way that personality-invoking "-ism's" are another
source which generates a plethora of distortion-riddled beliefs)
Additional Pointers Regarding the "Mind" As An Obstacle
and
Identity-less-ness
Efforts to quiet the mind or to ignore thoughts cannot succeed with any consistency. Only when full realization strikes, only when the "Oh my gosh!" moment happens - only then does the "mind" dissolve.
Why? Because the "mind" is
merely a conglomeration of distorted ideas and bogus concepts and learned ignorance (a.k.a., "false beliefs") . . .
which - most unwisely - are proudly-held,
which are given undeserved value and significance,
and
which are egotistically-defended.
Once enlightenment happens and paves the way for full realization (which, per Maharaj, is merely a state of being fully free of belief in any and all learned ignorance) then ideas and concepts and notions and perceptions and thoughts and views and perceptions and hypotheses and impressions and suppositions (all of which can be grouped together as "beliefs") are seen to be distorted, bogus and false;
pride is seen to have been nothing more than false pride; the false is no longer assigned value and significance; and once liberation from personality happens after the third of seven steps on the "path," there are no assumed ego-states / assumed personalities / assumed personal identifications; thus, there is no egotism and, therefore, there is nothing to be egotistically-defended.
Prior to the consciousness having reached that state of enlightenment, liberation, and realization, what's to be consider meanwhile?
It is true that, if you are instructed to "avoid thinking about an elephant," the first thing that you will think of is . . . an elephant.
Similarly, peace and freedom will not manifest simply by inviting persons . . .
to "question all beliefs,
to see that all beliefs are false,
to see that a false sense of separation (along with the subsequent misery and suffering) are rooted in beliefs,
and
to then abandon all beliefs."
Instead, there is a multi-step process which must be followed exactly in order to be free of an ever-churning, peace-robbing "mind," so, what is the answer to at least continuing to move toward freedom from beliefs when persons think their beliefs are so dear?
The answer is not to try to be rid of disturbing, always-belief-based thoughts. One answer is to ask when a thought is interrupting the peace, “WHO is thinking that thought?”
(That is, what ego-state is feeling so threatened or hurt or interfered with that the false identity can inspire the "mind" in which that false self resides to begin an endless flurry of belief-based thought-activity?)
Only by relinquishing belief in the false identities that inspire thoughts can the thoughts come to an end. Only by abandoning the "this" and the "that" in such beliefs as "I am this" (role) or "I am that" (role) will the peace and quiet of only the "I Am" ever happen.
Thus, the pointers offered earlier for consideration included Lennon and Oko identifying a key source of humankind's problems . . .
"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m"
and with Maharaj advising seekers to . . .
". . . Stop imagining yourself to be 'this' or 'that.' Just be."
Next . . . .
"Neti-Neti": The Non-Dual Pointer to Identity-Less-Ness
The "mind" is the instrument that supports personality via belief-based thoughts, and those thoughts are the instruments which will forever prevent "peace of mind"; in fact - as has been noted - there is no such thing as "peace of mind." There is only peace if freed of the "mind." There can only be peace if you are "out of your mind."
Consciousness is rooted in the
Absolute. The brain is rooted in the elements. The "mind" is rooted
in wrong programming and faulty conditioning and perverted domestication and
xenophobia-based acculturation and religious and political brainwashing and reason-blocking indoctrination along with all of the "-ism"-generated
lies and along with all of the concepts and ideas and superstitions and
falsehoods (beliefs) which are supported and spread by the "-ism's" in one's culture.
If trapped in personality / personalities / personas, then one is basically trapped within a play, playing a role, and believing that the role and the play are both real. One will be trapped on the stage of the Theater of the Lie while believing that things imagined are real. Why would one believe such nonsense? Because "the persona-filled mind" is the playwright, the author of every scene.
When Maharaj said, "You are not in the world, the world is in you," what did he mean? He meant, "You are not in the world," that is, there is no "you" that is real (that is, "as perceived") or in any world.
"The world is in you" means that "the world" which you think you are seeing is merely in your "mind" - merely a misperception, a conceptualization - and is nothing more than a figment of programming-and-conditioning-induced imaginings.
Everything that is said here is to be used to get rid of another false belief until all ideas and emotional intoxication and beliefs are gone and nothing remains but the unstated understanding. Only then can the constant churning and re-churning of the false beliefs of the corrupted "mind" finally cease.
Freed of beliefs, functioning happens naturally and spontaneously as the inner resource - rather than the content of the "mind" - becomes the "guiding" light . . . the "guiding force."
What is that inner resource, that inner guru? It is the vestige of pure consciousness which remains, deeply buried beneath the waste called “the mind,” and which manifests in full awareness post-realization.
What will be the prevailing circumstances among the non-realized who have not abandoned all of the "not-you's" as identities and whose functioning is not happening under the auspices of the inner resource?
The "mind” will continue to obscure the consciousness in all of those cases because the "mind" is so marred with its false beliefs and all of its so-called "knowledge" (that is, its accumulation of learned ignorance), that it will continue to render such persons insane to one degree or another. Why?
What else other than "insane" could describe the condition of one who does not recognize "himself" / "herself"? What else other than "insane" could describe the condition of one who does not even know who / what he or she is? What else other than "insane" could describe the condition of one who unquestioningly believes falsehoods?
What else other than "insane" could describe the condition of one who accepts, on blind faith alone, myth-and-superstition-based beliefs as "the truth"? What else other than "insane" could describe the condition of one who is convinced that he or she is fully awake though actually asleep, trapped in the dream of the planet?
What else other than "insane" could describe the condition of one who believes that - after those elements which took the form of a plant food body but which eventually return to the universal pool of elements - that some "form" of those elements will remain forever and will "have" the same "mind" and "memories" and personality and identities (roles) and family and spouse, also forever?
Because no personal body (or "subtle version" thereof) can remain forever, how can a "mind" or any of the beliefs contained therein remain forever? They cannot, and the wise will see how ideal a belief-free, mind-free condition can be.
Moreover, the truly wise realize as well that, if being free of the beliefs that cause the "mind" to churn away incessantly and that cause a constant disruption of the peace throughout the relative existence would be ideal "later" (post-manifestation), then the truly wise will also realize that it would also be ideal to be free of those peace-robbing factors right now.
The Ultimate Medicine offered by way of non-duality pointers can treat those suffering from the Ultimate Sickness that has left them out of touch with reality / Reality.
The wise that are moving along the "path" to realization see at some point that, through no choice of their own, they have been out of touch with Reality / reality (that is, out of touch with the understanding of "I AM THAT; I AM") and they see that such a condition in itself is insane.
Again, to be in touch with reality / Reality is sane, and in order to be sane, you must be out of your mind.
(By that way, in actuality, there is no such thing as "your mind" anyway. There is only "their mind" which was filled with nonsense that has been passed along to you and which - if not realized - is now stored in the mind part of your brain as well.)
For their suffering to end, persons must understand the functioning of the totality; must see that all suffering is rooted in the assumption of ego-states as false identities; must realize that they have no “mind” but instead are being driven by the content of the “minds” of others (which they now think is their own "mind");
must be aware of the fact that a “mind” is nothing more than the storehouse of all the cultures' lies and beliefs and ideas and concepts that must be cast aside in order to end misperceptions and misunderstandings and the subsequent misery and suffering; and must see not only the limitations of doingness but the timelessness and limitless nature of beingness . . . and non-beingness as well.
In this relative existence, nothing is going on but a breeziness of play, but persons are caught up in a tornado of work, in a storm of seriousness, and in a tempest of drama.
So-called “life” in this sphere of consciousness is just a process of functioning, and while the “mind” of a person will dream up notions about separation or differentiation, none exists.
The unicity-based process just keeps on happening in cycles, but nothing is being cycled except elements and air and energy. Nothing is being "preserved" or "saved" so it can "live forever." What remains forever is energy-matter, and the sane and wise understand both that and THAT.
A belief or a concept, a religion or a philosophy, a state or a nation, a hero or a villain . . . all are just part of an unhappy process of distortion-driven-functioning if the consciousness is blocked from seeing truth and reality / Reality. All of those labels above are just dreamed up names, and all such dreamed up names (dreamed up by that accumulation of corruptions called "the mind") generate a false sense of reality and block any sense of Reality as well.
The "journey" aims to put you fully in touch with reality to put you fully in touch with you. Again, to be out of touch with reality is to be insane. This process is about being truly restored to sanity.
This "journey" is about getting in touch with reality in order to be free of the bondage of the illusions and falsehoods and bogus beliefs stored in a "mind" that has been exposed to years of enculturation, and it is by the fourth step on the "path" that all beliefs finally fall away and the accelerated movement to true freedom happens.
[A man who came here for a retreat years ago said that when relatives gathered at his house for visits during holidays (visits which he described as always being "far-too-long"), the rule which he laid out from the very beginning of each gathering was "There shall be no discussion of politics or religion."
He said that he knew that visits would be calmer and more peaceful if those two topics were avoided, but he had not understood originally that the peace which had always been interrupted when either of those two topics was discussed was interrupted because of their dualistic nature.
He said after he began reading my books and posts that it became clear that, in his experience, nothing was more divisive than political beliefs and religious beliefs because they were so widespread and totally dualistic to the core.]
To fixate at the third step (where religious and / or spiritual roles are still clung to and played for a time) is to be forever trapped in believing false beliefs. And that is insane. The invitation is to complete the entire "journey" and then enjoy the remainder of the manifestation in a manner that is marked by total freedom.
Maharaj said that those trapped in the first three steps on "the path" (the body-mind-personality identification steps) will also be trapped forever in their kindergarten-level dogma and / or spirituality and will, therefore, never be free of having their every thought and word and deed controlled by the agendas of their false, illusory personality identifications.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of
contemplation.
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:
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.
If you prefer PAPERBACK copies
(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."
from BARNES AND NOBLE by clicking here
or (sometimes less efficiently nowadays in terms of paperback delivery)
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 Amazon by clicking here.
SEND A GIFT BOOK TO SOMEONE
(1) You may purchase
a Floyd Henderson Shopify Gift Card here
for someone and offer recommendations for the books in Floyd's store which might be of assistance to them.
Or,
(2) 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:
THE EXPLANATION
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"
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places
"There is no hell."