Tuesday, March 01, 2022

THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT BLISS

Table of Contents

Today's Considerations
Recent Posts and Archives
Tools for Realization
Author's eBooks
Author's Paperback Books
Free eBooks

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

ANNOUNCEMENTS
 
[Walter Driscoll asked to interview me in order to preserve on video some of the latest modifications and evolutions in the versions of the message offered here since 1989. He would label the discussion, "Unlearning with Floyd Henderson."
 
Please note: For those who have a problem hearing what is being shared, the video offers a fairly accurate set of closed captions which some listeners might want to activate. 
 
The interview is available for viewing by clicking on video "NUMBER THIRTEEN" in the column to the right.]

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. 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.

7. 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.







THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT BLISS

How many seekers are frustrated by not having attained bliss? How many seekers think that they have failed or that their teacher has failed when what they believe to be bliss does not manifest or when they think that bliss comes on occasion but does not remain?

Here, many visitors / passersby abandon the message before hearing it all and contemplating it all. Why?

The power of their programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and indoctrination and brainwashing? Yes, partly. Why else?

For bliss-seekers,  an invitation to focus less on attaining bliss and more on admitting that the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness are present, including ignorance and insanity, and agreeing that the elimination of those influencers should be the primary task at hand is usually a "turn-off."

Relatedly, ego and egotism can be seen as another obstacle because some are admired for seeking bliss but fewer are admired for being driven by ignorance and insanity, for admitting that, and for addressing those issues.

Those obstacles and beliefs of seekers identify the ones who are at what Maharaj called “the kindergarten level of spirituality.”

How many feel that their goal to become “perfectly spiritual, and thereby perfectly blissful” is being thwarted at every turn?

Maharaj said, “No ambition is spiritual. All ambitions are for the sake of the 'I am'. The ambitions of the so-called Yogis are preposterous. A man's desire for a woman is innocence itself compared to the lusting for an everlasting personal bliss. The mind is a cheat. The more pious it seems, the worse the betrayal.”

Regularly, seekers who speak of “the darkness” and of “higher levels of consciousness” are told that there is no darkness and that there are no levels of consciousness.

The so-called "darkness" in which the non-realized live is not really darkness but is merely an absence of light caused by the blockages that have accumulated, and the consciousness is merely consciousness that is either blocked from seeing accurately - and from seeing truth - or is not.

When so many blockages accumulate, then the light cannot penetrate and all seems dark, but that absence of witnessing the light does not mean that the light is not there. It is simply not observable because of a separation from the source of the light - either because the light has been blocked or because there is nothing available to reflect the light.

The higher level of understanding in regards to this topic is that (1) not only is “no ambition spiritual,” nothing is spiritual; and (2) not only is “the mind a cheat” but the content of the "mind" is actually as much an illusion as the darkness.

If the seeker would “find bliss,” then the seeker must know what bliss is and what it is not. If one that is in kindergarten is sent to the store to buy the materials needed to build a “what-cha-ma-call-it,” the kindergarten-age-child will not have the slightest clue about what he is seeking and neither will anyone else that he asks to help with finding everything required to build a “what-cha-ma-call-it.”

The reason most never “find bliss” is that they are as mistaken about what bliss is and what bliss is not as persons are mistaken about what “the world” is and what it is not.

In order to appreciate the pointers in this series - and in order to end the challenges involved with “occasionally experiencing bliss but not being able to hold on to it” or with “not finding the bliss that others claim they have found” or with “dealing with the frustrations of wanting bliss but not having found it” - the reader is invited to take a few moments to complete the following preparatory exercise:

(A) List all of the ways you would define bliss.

(B) List all of the ways that bliss could be evidenced during the manifestation.

(C) Write a description of what you think the relative existence would look like for you if you were to “attain bliss” once and for all.

Your writings might be used to reveal the prevalent beliefs that exist in regards to bliss and to distinguish between myth and fact as the discussion continues.

Over the years, so many have come to complain about the fact that - after all of their seeking - “permanent bliss still has not come.” They were told that they may as well complain, “I have dedicated my life to climbing mountains and searching in the nests of eagles for that one unique case where a fish is living among the birds of prey.”

They are searching in the relative for that which will never be found in the relative; furthermore, they could be asked, “And exactly what form of fish do you think can fly into the mountains and live without being in the water and live without consequence among that which would eat the fish?” They are searching in nests for that which is not in nests.

And it is as if they answer, “Well, my wise teacher has spoken often of such a fish.” Then the reply would be, “You cannot differentiate wisdom from ignorance, so rather than search for such a fish out of water, it is suggested that you search for a different teacher.”

Those who have been asked to define specifically the “bliss” that they seek either parrot some words they have heard but have not understood or they parrot the words that were used by “holy men” or “holy books” in order to program them.

One of the invitations offered earlier was to “list all of the ways you would define bliss.” When that exercise is conducted during non-duality retreats here, it is rare that even one of the responses comes close to identifying bliss as it can happen during the relative existence.

Most efforts to define what “bliss” is revealed no evidence at all of what the respondents know, what they have come to realize by having tapped into the inner guru, but were a regurgitation of concepts they have collected from such sources as Hinduism or Buddhism:

“Bliss is what comes at the end of the cycles of reincarnation when desire and suffering both end.”

“Bliss is liberation from the effects of karmic rebalancing.”

“Bliss is finally being free from rebirths.”

"Bliss is freedom from pain and suffering."

So it can be seen that even among those reading “Advaitin pointers,” many seek not the purest messages which non-duality can offer but are seeking a blend of non-duality (or pseudo-non- duality) and other concepts to which they are yet attached.

The responses to those statements will be invitations to reach a different understanding . . . an understanding rooted in logic and reason rather than in concept-filled texts. First, to the statement that “bliss is freedom from pain and suffering.”

Freedom from that misperception requires an understanding of the difference in “pain” on the one hand and “suffering” on the other.

Pain is of the body, suffering (and misery) is of the "mind." Pain is felt because of nerve and brain activity, a process that is usually considered to be an asset to the degree that it can reveal physical problems that might otherwise go undetected or to the degree that it can bring an end to activities that are damaging to the body.

For one person to pick up a hot pan without experiencing pain is to assure that far greater damage will come to that person than to one who can feel pain and would immediately drop a hot pan before any further physical damage occurs. To explain in more detail:

For the body to no longer feel pain, you would have to undergo some degree of paralysis, nerve damage, or brain damage. You would be deprived of one tool that is intended to protect the body for the time that the elements remain together.

For example, if you touch any extremely hot object, pain sends a message to the brain that one should stop touching that object immediately. Without pain, you could continue to grasp the object and would undergo severe physical damage to an appendage.

Do you really desire that your body forfeit all ability to experience pain if the consequences would include damaging the body regularly and severely as a result of having no means for sending signals to the brain to stop behaviors that are damaging the body?

If you must undergo severe nerve damage? If the body must be paralyzed in order to fulfill your desire to feel no pain? If you would have to undergo brain damage in order to fulfill your desire to experience a pain-free relative existence?

One old adage is, “Be careful what you wish for - you might get it.” The non-dual pointer is, “Stop wishing, period, especially if you have no actual clue at all about that for which you are wishing.”

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

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:
Buy Now
 
 [NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the postsin 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


(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:




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.

Recent Posts and Archives

Tools Used by Other Seekers of Realization

WATCHING an Advaita Vedanta Retreat: Watch a Downloadable computer file version of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat (Downloadable on PC only, not Apple.)

ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes For information, visit Information on the Advaita Classes on the Internet To enroll visit Enroll in the Advaita Internet Course

ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat with Floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.

ARRANGING a one-hour session via Skype or telephone with Floyd. (Skype is a free service.) Click the button to pay and you will be contacted to arrange a date and time for the call.

Five Free eBooks

Compliments of Andy Gugar, Jr.,
the following eBooks are available without charge for you or for friends:

I.
"GOOD vs. EVIL?" or "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and INSANITY?"

The content of this eBook deals with one of the most common but erroneous beliefs that the non-Realized masses cling to and which they will fight about (and even kill over), namely, that there is a planet-wide duel going on between “the forces of good and evil” in the universe.

Either (1) the ancient view is spot on: that the "ills of the planet" are rooted in evil people, in people not being religious enough or spiritual enough, and are caused solely by bad morality; or, (2) the "ills of the planet" are rooted in ignorance, stupidity and insanity and "being good" or "being moral" does not put an end to ignorance, does not eliminate stupidity, and does not treat insanity in any way.

II.
"THE VISION"

Comments regarding the free eBook entitled “THE VISION”:

“My thanks to you and Andy.” – Andrew “Mac” McMaster

“Thanks so much for the book! And, by the way, it is brilliant and the most effective pointing that you have done. It has served to help clear the remaining blockages.” – Stan Cross

“Greatly appreciate having “THE VISION” added to my Henderson resource library that is situated on the right side of my bed for easy access! Eternally grateful for what was received and what was given.” – Robert Rigby

“‘THE VISION’ is such a well-written, condensed version of the Nisarga Yoga approach to understanding and enjoying Reality that I feel it can serve as a must-read ‘meditation guide’ for all earnest seekers.” – Andy Gugar, Jr.

III.
"Sapolsky, Maharaj, and the Non-Dual Teachings"

Dr. Robert Maurice Sapolsky is an American neuroendocrinologist; a professor of biology, neuroscience, and neurosurgery at Stanford University; a researcher; an author; and a Research Associate at the National Museums of Kenya.

There is much that a non-dualist or Advaitin or Nisargan can relate to by comparing and contrasting what Sapolsky reveals about the way certain troops of baboons live in Africa with the way that humans abide all around the globe.

This 152-page eBook catalogues the common, non-dual message shared by Sapolsky and Maharaj and reveals the ways that Sapolsky’s scientific research supports the non-dual pointers offered by Maharaj.

IV.
Seeking

In “PART ONE” it will be seen that most persons on the planet are not seeking, and most will never seek, but for those who are seeking, most will face several obstacles:

In “PART TWO” of this book, it will be seen why many criticized Maharaj for “changing his message in his later talks.” It will be seen that the changes were not about changing the message per se as much as about changing his methodology as he experimented with one version of the Ultimate Medicine after another in order to try to find an effective means for addressing the Ultimate Sickness.

He tried a religious version of the Medicine, a Spiritual version of the Medicine, and finally settled on a version which addressed to Sickness at its core . . . at the mental and emotional level.

V.
"THE MOST DANGEROUS BELIEF OF ALL"

“Dangerous” is a term that can only apply during the relative existence, but of those who do commit suicide, for example, how many shoot themselves in the foot over and over until they “bleed out”? None. They shoot themselves in the head. Why? In order to try to stop the noise - to try to stop the chatter of a thousand monkeys – to stop the noisy mind which is the area that stores the ideas, notions, concepts, mind-stuff, etc. which drives them into the depths of insanity.

And what are those ideas, notions, concepts, etc. called, collectively? "Their beliefs." The irony? They are not their beliefs at all. They are the beliefs of “others” that were set in place via programming, conditioning, etc. and which persons then think are their own.

And what are those beliefs rooted in, and what reinforces those beliefs and convinces persons that they are sacred and worth fighting over and even sometimes worth dying for? Blind faith.

This 337-page eBook discusses those issues in detail.

To read any or all of the free eBooks, please double-click the "FREEBIES" link at the top of this page