Friday, March 04, 2022

THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT BLISS

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TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

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[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."
 
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THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT BLISS

Revisit two of the most common definitions of bliss that were offered earlier: “compatibility with nature” and “harmoniousness.” Actually, the aware non-duality would not even agree with the “harmoniousness” definition to the extent that it implies, dualistically, that

(1) there is some “A” that is getting along with some “B”

or that

(2) there is some sort of congruity of parts with one another as well as with the whole.

Yet there is some relevance to the degree that the term points away from disharmony, which is the style in which the relative typically unfolds in the absence of realization.

In that absence, all seems to be out of harmony . . . all split, if you will. Persons believe that they are split in “time,” having a past and a present and, always hopefully and wishfully, a future. They are split into various identities. They suffer splits in “relationships.”

Such “divisions” mark the pre-realization relative existence and disharmony becomes the abnormal norm as everything eventually ends up involving supposed dualities with “this” not being harmonious with “that”; or,

“this one” not getting along with “that one”; or, “this one” running into “that one”; and then all sorts of constant confronting and all kinds of banging against, of challenging and being challenged; of tackling; of dealing with; of not dealing with, etc.

One that is realized recently referred to “this lineage,” to this “River of Truth that is continuing to run,” and to the river’s subsequent “bubbles of dissolution that bring enjoyment,” which could be another take on “bliss” and how it manifests.

Yet the non-realized would even view a river as being split into unrelated parts or disparate segments. Such are the distortions that are given credibility by the non-realized.

Note the way that a sense of being split and being totally incompatible with nature manifests by reviewing the actions taken by the members of one particular family that has been farming in south Texas since their ancestors migrated there from Germany in the mid-1800’s:

The father kills all birds that sing outside his window, birds simply singing as birds are prone to do, because they disturb his morning sleep; the daughter demands the killing of chirping crickets and croaking frogs, chirping or croaking as those are prone to do, because their sounds disturb her “peace of mind”;

their barn is adorned with a thousand trophy heads or horn sets from animals shot; and the son kills the pets of neighbors that stray across property lines, as dogs are prone to do.

This is an entire family that is out of harmony with nature . . . that has no “compatibility with nature” and, therefore, has no awareness of what authenticity is like and most assuredly no awareness of bliss.

Is it little wonder, then, that the family rules are, (a) "We don't hug," a hug being an outward token during the relative existence of an inner awareness of the Oneness and (b) parents saying “I love you” to their children (and claiming it’s fine because “they know it, or they should.”)

Such disharmony - such splitness into "selves" - dominates those types. So it is when a nisarga style of functioning does not manifest: they haven’t a clue.

The realized - compatible with nature as they are - can enjoy birds singing, crickets chirping, and frogs croaking. They are content to witness various species in the wild, not being driven in the least to gun down as many animals or birds or frogs or crickets as possible.

Such compatibility with nature provides an obvious distinction between blissful beingness and relative destruction that ends (with violence) a variety of nature’s varied forms of beingness.

By contrast, incompatibility with nature sets the stage for persons to be incompatible with “themselves,” and with all persons, so it is a small leap from gunning down animals to gunning down each other in their "soured relationships" or in battles between groups or in wars between states or nations.

No bliss can be known when dualistic incompatibility (“A” not getting along with “B”) becomes a dominant trait among persons on the planet.

That feeling of “split-ness” or “two-ness” or “multiplicity-ness” generates the frustration of never feeling complete. “The experience of the jnani,” Maharaj said, “is the same as your state prior to birth. It is a complete state.” That sense of completeness, of no-split-ness, is another form of bliss.

In light of the sense of splitness vs. an understanding of the unicity, consider some of the replies to the invitation to write descriptors of the relative existence were bliss to truly manifest:

“Peacefulness; absence of emotional reactivity; delight in what is ordinary and natural; sensory sensitivity”

and

“Although there is not much self-identity left, there is a sense that the vast no-self spaciousness would be the perpetual view - with no trace of the individual at all.” As a follow-up to that, this addendum was sent to me the following day:

“Today I would put it this way: There is the final understanding - via a peripetia moment (often described as an accident or grace and unrelated to any spiritual practices). The CONSEQUENCE of this understanding appears to be: bliss, love, joy. So . . . the relative life revealing its true nature in the absence of the filter of a miserable or suffering individual = bliss.”

Related to that state marked by the “absence of [belief in] a suffering individual,” Maharaj taught: “To know the Real is bliss; to forget is sorrow.”

He said, “I found that I am conscious and happy absolutely, and only by mistake I thought I owed being-consciousness-bliss to the body and the world of bodies. Bliss is more of the nature of a great peace.”

Not “continuous, rapturous joy?” No, not at all. In agreement with the pointer that bliss can be considered the absence of individuality or personal attributes - specifically, the “absence of the filter of a ‘suffering individual’ or ‘victim’” - Maharaj also concluded that . . .

“Bliss is not to be known. One is always bliss, but never blissful. Bliss is not an attribute.” Again, WHO could know bliss? WHO would be blissful? WHO could have attributes?

Many seekers are being set up for disappointment when erroneous notions about what bliss is are presented as dangling carrots that can never be reached.

When “floyd” was nothing more than a potentiality of unmanifested energy, a non-existing thing, there was no individual and, therefore, no chance for any possibility that a “non-blissful” state could materialize.

The same can happen even as the conscious-energy is manifested if it is understood that “floyd” is nothing more than a phantom, thus allowing abidance to happen as that pre-manifestation, natural, original state. In that regard, Maharaj said,

“First I thought I was the body; then, I experienced that I was not the body but I was the consciousness; then, I got the experience that this consciousness is not really me, and there is no form, no individuality, no nothing.

“That non-existing thing suddenly came into existence. What is the validity of its existence? It is an apparition only. It can't be the truth. That’s why I dare talk like this. This is a big hoax, a big fraud, created out of nothingness. Can you create something out of nothing?”

The “genesis vacuum” in a scientific lab notwithstanding, not usually.

Energy-matter has always been and always shall be, even when not recognized as such.

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.







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“Liberation (Attaining Freedom from Personality via Realization)”


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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.] 

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