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.
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LIBERATION
(Attaining Freedom from Personality via Realization)
In the relative existence, the problem is always personality identification; moreover, personality always presents in multiples. The personalities - those assigned or assumed ego-states - are always accompanied by the use of ego-defense mechanisms. The non-dual understanding offers an invitation to put an end to belief in egotism-and-arrogance-driven egos by ending all false beliefs in ego-states. [March of 2005]
--f.h.
Nine Relative Existence
Actions that Can Help Shift Personas from Unhealthy Stages of Disintegration to
Liberation (continued)
Eight of nine relative existence actions which can help shift personas from unhealthy stages of (1) disintegration to (2) liberation were discussed. Now we turn to “Action Number Nine” which involves a vision which came to me years ago.
When satsang was being offered here, and when seekers come for a non-dual retreat, what happens with them when the discussion of the vision unfolds is often exactly what happened me we as the vision unfolded originally.
There is almost always an "Aha!" kind of reaction to the clarity that comes with an understanding of the content of that vision.
It was a "game-changer" here and has often a game-changer of seekers who have read it over the years and grasped the message or who have come here and heard it and grasped the message.
That said, please read the following description of a vision and focus on the symbolism throughout.
THE VISION
Envision yourself standing at one end of an open field in a very remote area. At the far end of the field is the edge of a forest. See yourself moving across the field and toward the woods.
As you walk closer to the edge of the forest, see a gap in the trees that allows clear access to a trail. Follow that path through the woods, noticing the sounds along the way. Walk until you reach the side of a small creek bed.
Turn to the right and see yourself walking along the bank of a “branch,” one of those small, usually V-shaped mini-gorges, cut into the ground ten to twelve feet at its deepest, not as much by rainwater as by constantly flowing springs that surface from below.
Observe an emerald-green moss that covers the walls and the bed; it seems to shine with a luminescence in spite of the fact that the thickness of the overhead foliage prevents much sunlight from striking the creek bed or the sides of the chasm.
The earthen walls look rough-edged, for stones jut out all along the way, their tips exposed by years of erosion. Colors typical of the region come into view along the way: earth-tones, rust-colors, and sometimes blackness, but always brightened by the ever-present grayish and fluorescent-green moss.
As you parallel the edge of the creek on the beginning of this journey, see yourself reaching a place where the land slopes sharply, and the watery swath cut into the earth follows the oblique contour of the land.
Next to the slanting branch rests a series of natural, sandstone steps descending to a granite arch twice the height of a human. From the arch shines a pure white light. An illumination this bright should easily blind you, but instead it soothes you.
It seems to spotlight the steps, and as you move down the stones, first your feet and then your legs and then your torso become bathed in the glow.
Eventually, by the time you reach the dead-flat area at the bottom of the natural walkway, you stand before the arch, and the luxuriance of the light baths you fully in its warmth.
The clear spring waters from the branch flow through the archway, and you follow.
Stepping inside, you look over your shoulder to see that your physical body has remained outside the arch.
You sense some degree of separation from the material. When you turn to see where the arch has led, you notice that the spring waters have suddenly multiplied into a slow-moving stream. The stream runs the length of a plateau and then cascades over the edge at the far end. You will soon see that the waters drop from the highland and then flow, in waterfall fashion, down the cliff side and into a pool some twenty feet below.
Trees line either side of the stream, and you begin walking through them toward the sounds of the water crashing below. Astonished, you noticed that you are literally walking through the trees.
As you progress, fauna of several species join you: a black bear rubs against your leg in the manner of a docile house cat; a cougar does the same on the opposite side, and each playfully swats at the other as if to proclaim dominion over both of your legs;
A lamb skips along ahead as a heron brings up the rear. He walks as if on stilts, taking more time than needed, looking rather judgmentally, it seems, at the wasting of energy by his peers.
As you near the edge of the cliff, you walk across the top of the water, not becoming wet at all; your new companions either lead or follow.
As you approach the left side of the plateau, the animals nudge you toward a winding walkway of sorts, cut from the stone side of the cliff naturally, definitely not made by man.
After swinging down and around and back to your right, you find yourself on a level piece of ground jutting out from the side of the cliff. You see that a pond is overflowing, part of its waters cascading down the cliff side and pooling in another flat below.
That same pattern repeats itself until the waters reach a level valley. You watch the falling waters eventually form a river that winds its way across the desert basin.
Along the river has sprung up a variety of shade trees. All else appears brown and dry. Then in the far distance, hills grow into mountains.
In the forefront arise huge columns of stone, cathedral-like, forming spires of varying shapes and heights.
The colors vibrate with life, offering images of the blues and oranges and browns and beiges like those of Venetian palazzos when reflected in the waters of the Grand Canal.
In the far distance to the left stand even grander mountain ranges. Puffy clouds float slowly across the sky.
You focus attention on a fire burning next to the pool, and you feel yourself being nudged there by the bear, nudged in a very persuasive way.
Then, from behind the cougar lifts its front paws onto your shoulders, forcing you into a cross-legged, seated position before the campfire.
Finally, all four animals form a semi-circle around you, from your left side, behind you, and to your right.
Looking at the animals quizzically, you notice that each is focusing on an object in the distance.
Allowing your eyes to follow the path of theirs, see a bird of some kind flying directly at you, drawing nearer by the second. Its speed accelerates as it moves dart-like across the skies, aimed at your chest like an avian arrow. Yet you feel very calm.
As the bird approaches closer and closer, you extend your arms and, with the sides of your hands touching and your palms up, you form a landing area for the fowl.
A raven, the bird of death that comes from the spiritual realm, now slows as it approaches even nearer. Why had you not made that association between spirit and death and this bird?
It swoops upward to curb its flight and, with only a slight, backwards fluttering of wings, settles gently into your outstretched hands. The other fauna watch but do not react.
The bird stares at you, and you at the bird. You sense the bird drawing forth something from within you that is flowing out via your eyes and moving directly into the eyes of the bird.
You watch as the bird leaves, but you feel as if you have left and that your mind has stayed behind. A second degree of separation you seem to detect.
The raven soars over the valley, flying high, then flying low, and then flying high again. Its spirit is high.
Soon, it makes a direct course for the mountains, for it is driven to try to reach the mountaintop. You no longer watch from the cliff but see everything below through the eyes of the raven.
After missing the mountaintop, the raven passes beyond and begins a fast descent toward an ocean which has come into view just after topping the peak.
The raven begins to dive lower, and lower, and lower yet. Suddenly, the spiritual exuberance of the high-flying raven seems to be unraveling into an imminent and deadly crash against the ocean’s surface.
Following a huge impact - one that you take to be the end of you - the waters first splash upwards from the collision and then fall back into the ocean.
Ultimately, the waves settle, and the sea surface smooths out to a mirror finish. Suddenly, a bird’s head forcefully breaks the surface, but it is not the head of a raven.
Instead, the head of a gull—the bird of ignorance—comes forth, gasping for air. You find that you are no longer observing the gull, but have transitioned into the gull.
A third degree of separation from what you had left outside the arch, then by the pool, and now through the raven, has manifested.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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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";
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"The Final Understanding."
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“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”
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“When REALITY Is Overlaid on the RELATIVE.”
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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."
teachings which become a part of the Papal Magisterium.
