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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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.
How Dualistic Thinking Reinforces Ignorance, Justifies Inaction, and Prevents the Understanding of Causation
[Continued from yesterday]
Because everything dealing with duality is false, then all duality-based
thinking is false. A study of "The Big Lies" in human history shows that - as far as the relative goes - their results can have global impact and can lead to millions of deaths.
Being based in lies, duality-based thinking accommodates the belief in lies, and beliefs (which are all duality-based) are the lies which set the stage for . . .
a sense of separation, for a belief in false statements about cause, for prejudice, for fearing “the other,” for blaming “the other,” and for attacking “the other.”
That leads to global ignorance and fighting and wars which set some citizens against their fellow citizens and can even lead to international wars.
One of the “Great Lies” in human history which led to 85,000,000 people dying during WW II was the
duality-based lie told to the German people by the Nazis that “you are poor and starving and being abused by the
Jew-run banks and other business enterprises.”
That led to the belief in the duality-based lie that “therefore, the Jews are the cause of all of Germany’s problems.”
That led to belief in the duality-based lie that Germans are different from Jews, that Germans are better than Jews, that Germans are always right, and that Jews are always wrong.
And that led to belief in the duality-based lie that Jews do not deserve to live and to the acceptance of the rounding up of Jews, the transporting of them to work / death camps, to the contracting of German industry to mass produce gas chambers for killing Jews, and to the mass production of crematoriums to dispose of the bodies of the six million Jews the government killed along with the bodies of six millions other people who were . . .
physically or mentally disabled, who were gypsies, who criticized the government, who were homosexuals, who were blacks, who were among the dissenting clergy, who were resistance fighters, who were Slavic, and who were from the artistic communities whose opinions and works Hitler condemned.
The Nazis’ justification for genocide was the ancient claim, passed down through Nordic legends, that Germans were superior to all other groups and constituted a “master race.”
Eighty-five years later, Putin's public justification for annihilating Ukraine was not that Jews do not deserve to exist but that “the entire nation of Ukraine does not deserve to exist.”
In the U.S., a “Big Lie” led to an attempt on January 6, 2021 to overthrow the government and democracy itself and has left millions with a thirst for a second “war between the states.”
Other “Big Lies” deal with magical-thinking-based causes of illness and disease, the notion being that “God does not reward immoral and bad people, so if those types get sick and die, it’s God’s will and God’s punishment.”
Belief in that Big Lie hampered the treatment of leprosy for centuries and HIV and AIDS, sickle cell anemia, tropical diseases striking predominantly-black nations, ebola, and 20 to 30 more on the “neglected illnesses list.”
The Big Lie, too, leads to a duality-based, magical-thinking
based belief that “since illnesses and diseases are caused by God’s will as He
uses them to punish immoral and bad people, then getting right with God and
being religious or spiritual is the only way to address those issues.”
To the contrary, Maharaj - especially in his later talks, but occasionally even in some earlier talks - made clear that spirituality was not the treatment for the Ultimate Sickness.
(In fact, spirituality is not the cure for anything and is
merely used to bring about an illusory replacement of old, “bad” roles with new
and improved “good” roles).
Thus, Maharaj's comments regarding the fact that (A) no god created humankind
but that fearful and desiring humans created god, that is, dreamed up the
concept of a god (or gods and goddesses) and that (B) you should “give up
spirituality.”
Some look at Maharaj's advice to seekers which was offered in his later talks
and dismiss those pointers completely, preferring to accept totally his earlier
comments which (1) seemed to support spirituality and the adoption of spiritual
identities;
such persons prefer to totally ignore the more evolved message which (2)
advised giving up spirituality and giving up the inventing of a god or gods and
goddesses.
Beyond that variance in messaging, there are other cases where people have
criticized Maharaj for inconsistencies and seemingly self-contradictory
pointers. All of that is discussed (and explained) in detail in the eBook “Sri
Nisargadatta Maharaj and His Evolution”:
This is offered in that book:
On some level, his evolution might be outlined in the following way, though
Maharaj never adhered to one type of yoga consistently until he finally settled
into what might be called an “all-nisarga” approach:
FROM
guru-bhakti and bhakti
TO
bhakti and jnana (and mention of “atma”)
TO
jnana and nisarga
TO
nisarga
So, yes, there were shifts in the focus of his talks as he shifted from one
yoga to another, and the same happened here over the decades. Such evolution,
in fact, can lead to a “mea culpa,” as was offered in “Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
and His Evolution”:
In the case of the first 8,000 or so who came to hear “floyd,” the fact is
this: the consciousness - yet blocked - was not able to speak (to the relative
misfortune of those who listened). As with “Early Maharaj,” some came for what
they took to be “a religious message,” and they heard one.
Others came later for what they took to be “a spiritual
message,” and they heard that. In both cases, those early seekers were often
hearing “Diet Floyd” or “Maharaj Lite” when compared to the later
offerings.
Both drinks were intoxicating for those who came for nothing more than
reinforcement of their bogus beliefs and who were actually content to remain
thirsty . . . totally dry . . . even parched as they settled for being spiritually intoxicated.
Both “Maharaj Lite” and “Diet Floyd” were adulterated (or at
least “blocked”) and therefore unable to quench the thirst for the misunderstood “Realization” which some were seeking.
Later, when the unadulterated versions of the drinks were offered, either (a)
more popular teachers were sought or (b) seekers left because their false
religious or spiritual or philosophical roles were not being reinforced.
Many who come now claim that they are placing an order for a “Big Gulp of a
BS-Free Beverage,” but when the order is filled and they receive their first
taste, it becomes clear that they really just wanted a big dollop of “Super
Sweet Spiritual Cream” dropped on as a topping in order for that “Heavenly
Splotch of Sugary Syrupiness” to provide a more palatable taste, a flavor more
like what they are accustomed to. In the end, though, the “goal” of Maharaj
(and in the understanding as presented by this author) were to
1. remove ignorance, including the ignorance that inspires attachment to
religious or spiritual or philosophical concepts and exercises and
accoutrements and to
2. bring to an end all thoughts and words and deeds that support
unnatural / supernatural living, giving way to
3. living in an all-natural fashion as one's Original Nature.
Moreover, the charge regarding Maharaj's overall message being “inconsistent”
and “self-contradictory” is not a valid one. To understand why that is the
case, one must understand “level-appropriate pointers.”
Yes, some people have criticized Maharaj for “inconsistencies” and seemingly “self-contradictory pointers,” especially from one talk to the next in the collection of transcripts in book “I AM THAT.” Those charges are addressed in detail in the eBook “Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and His Evolution” in which this is explained:
Some have written that “Maharaj is constantly contradicting himself.” One read “I AM THAT” and then read some of the last talks and wrote that Maharaj “declined” over time, meaning that Maharaj's abandonment of the earlier “ultra-spiritual” talks that reinforced the critic's “Spiritual Giant” persona was no longer reinforcing the false identities of that “Judge / Critic / Super-Spiritual One / Super-Rigid One.”
Maybe pointing to the truth WILL set persons free, or maybe pointing to the truth COULD set persons free, but more often than not it is only going to really infuriate those who come seeking more rather than less or who come seeking reinforcement of their ideas and concepts and beliefs and attitudes rather than seeking a way to be completely rid of all ideas, concepts, beliefs, and attitudes.
Thus, persons who were reading Maharaj's earlier talks that reinforced their beliefs were dismayed when he eventually said of the talks transcribed in “I AM THAT”:
“That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today”
and
I am “emphasizing different aspects” now.
What he offered later differed considerably from his earlier “spirituality-focused” talks, making clear that the pointers in “I AM THAT” will take you to the midpoint of “the race” but that his final talks point the way to “the finish line.”
Furthermore, it is also true that the “later Maharaj” or “Pure Maharaj” offered less and less tolerance for those “hanging out” at the third of seven steps to Realization (that is, the step where religious or spiritual personas are adopted and played).
Yes, the religious or spiritual or philosophical roles almost always have to be played for a time, but the longer Maharaj taught, the less tolerant he was of the tendency to fixate at a place on the “path” that is not even the halfway point of the “journey.”
That having been said, though, the charge that Maharaj's pointers in “I AM THAT” were “inconsistent” and “self-contradictory” is not a valid one. To understand why that is the case, one must understand “level-appropriate pointers.” Thus, these questions were asked:
Rather than being contradictory, is it possible that Maharaj was able to detect where on the “path” any given seeker might be after hearing only a few statements from her or him? Certainly. Then, is it possible that what Maharaj offered would be level-appropriate for any given seeker? Yes.
And would that mean, in turn, that he might offer a certain pointer to a seeker at a certain place on the “path” that would differ from a pointer that he would offer to a seeker at an earlier point on the “path” or at a later point on the “path”? Yes again.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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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.
