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.
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CAUSATION and RELATIVE EVENTS AND BEHAVIORS:
“Evil?” or “Ignorance, Stupidity, and Insanity”?
A REVIEW OF THE KEY POINTERS REGARDING THE DUALISTIC BELIEF IN “GOOD” VS. “EVIL”
(Continued)
87. From psychologist Dr. Jeffrey A. Schaler:
Schizophrenia is said to be characterized by hallucinations, i.e., self-reported imaginings. Belief in God is a socially-acceptable, self-reported imagining.
Another example of self-reported
imaginings, i.e., hallucinations, is the popular belief in the existence of
angels. This belief is considered normal by persons thought by their culture to
be “mentally healthy.” Belief in the existence of aliens is considered abnormal
and is a sign of mental illness.
88. Conceptualizing a God from another world? That is considered “mentally
healthy” by billions of persons on the planet.
89. Conceptualizing an alien from another world? That is considered “mentally
unhealthy” by vast numbers of persons on the planet.
90. Yet, insofar as [God] and angels and aliens are all hallucinations (that
is, self-reported imaginings), there is no difference between believing in [a
God or gods and goddesses] or angels and believing in aliens.
91. Moreover, people who believe in [God] or angels are just as adamant in
claiming the reality of [God] and angels as are those who insist on the reality
of aliens. The difference between these two hallucinations has to do with the
effect of these self-reported imaginings on others. That effect is determined
by the values of the culture or context within which the self-report
occurs.
92. When the term “acculturation” is used on this site, reference is being made
to that fact that what is taught and learned from one's culture - any culture -
is going to result in twisted, delusional, magical, supernatural thinking and
twisted, delusional, magical, supernatural beliefs.
93. In the case of the Boston Marathon bombers, acculturation and the formation
of beliefs were the prerequisites for the killing and maiming of people who had
done nothing to them and who were no threat to them.
94. In the case of the so-called “shock and awe” bombing offensive on Iraq by
the Bush Administration in the U.S., acculturation and the formation of beliefs
were the prerequisites for the killing and maiming of people who had nothing to
do with the 9 / 11 attack.
[To find more of the Bush Administration’s motives for wanting to invade Iraq while knowing full well Iraq had nothing to do with the 9 /11 attacks, read some of the comments made behind closed doors by Dick Cheney during the run-up to the Iraqi invasion.
Cheney, one of the major “oil men” in U.S. history, served as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Halliburton (one of the world's largest providers of products and services for the industry.)
His
comments made clear that he and Bush and their cronies wanted to take over the
oil fields in Iraq and increase shipments of that commodity to the U.S.]
95. Yet some in the U.S. culture dualistically call the bombing of Iraq “good” but the bombing of citizens in Boston “bad.”
96. And some in other cultures dualistically call the bombing of Iraq “bad” and
the bombing of citizens in Boston “good.”
97. Such differentiations and dualities and distortions are a result of
ignorance, stupidity, and insanity.
98. Moreover, those perspectives are all “relative,” and that is typical of the
kind of senseless, irrational duality that the relative existence generates
when persons' thoughts and words and actions are determined subconsciously by
the hidden agendas of personality.
99. Why is praying for naught? It could be asked, “Why is talking
to someone who is not there for naught?” It could even be asked, “What is the
mental state of a person who talks to someone who is not there?” Would that not
be “delusional,” or “neurotic,” or even “psychotic”?
100. Maharaj explained that no God created humankind in “his own image” but
that humankind “invented” a god in man's (or woman's) own image. What persons
have “invented” is the conception of a God (or of gods and goddesses), and
conceptions are just “dreamed up things.” Thus, he said:
101. “First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself.
Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented
a God. Then you worship such a God and . . . you pray to that God for something
good to happen to you.”
102. As a result, humans over the ages have prayed to a conceptualized god or
gods but have also wished upon a star or at a wishing well; have put faith in a
four-leaf clover or a rabbit's foot;
have believed that hanging a horseshoe
affixed over a door will protect those entering; have believed that if garlic
is hung inside a home that it will provide protection against evil spirits; ad
infinitum.
103. Many have tried to upgrade their image by claiming to be “spiritual, not
religious,” but Maharaj discounted their spiritual image, and all images. He
made clear that “spirituality” has been proven meaningless:
104. “When the birth is disproved, the great noble meaning of spirituality and
the meaning of this world – everything - is disproved.”
105. When a visitor said, “The scriptures say that we have our karma and our
sins and that is why we are here,” Maharaj answered: “That is for the ignorant
masses. One who has realized the 'I AM,' for him these stories
are of no use.”
106. There is a modern version of the snake-oil salesman or saleswoman that is
alive and doing well, financially. The modern snake-oil salespeople are also
presenting a supposed cure-all that could be called “Fix-It-All-Dogma” or “The-All-In-One-Spiritual-Fixer-Upper.”
107. But not unlike the medical community's efforts to address a polyp problem
here with antibiotics, antacids, Imodium, Pepto-Bismol, and Kaopectate, people
are reaching into their grab-bags of dogmatic and spiritual remedies and
pulling out that which Maharaj made clear is “of no use.”
108. So when dogma or spiritual exercises are prescribed as a treatment for
addiction, emotional illness, personality disorders and neuroses and psychoses,
trouble with “relationships,” health problems, family crises, financial
predicaments, physical pain, endless misery and suffering, grief, guilt,
resentment, body issues, mind issues, and / or personality issues, that is not
a treatment at all.
109. 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. Same with its cousin, religion.)
110. Some accept only Maharaj's early pointers which seemed to support the
adoption of spiritual identities.
111. Such persons prefer to ignore totally the more evolved message which
advised seekers to give up spirituality and to give up inventing a god or gods
and goddesses and to abide naturally (instead of trying to abide
supernaturally).
112. What course did his evolution follow? His focus shifted over the years
from a combination of guru-bhakti and bhakti; to a combination of bhakti and jnana
(and mention of “atma”); to a combination of jnana and nisarga yoga; and
finally to the nisarga yoga alone.
113. Thus, three possibilities are available as means for moving through the
relative existence:
114. One possibility is to abide unnaturally;
115. A second possibility is to try to abide supernaturally (a.k.a.,
religiously or spiritually, driven by magical thinking that is rooted in the
myth-and-superstition-based dogma of ancient sky cults that evolved into the
organized religions of today);
116. That supernatural manner of abidance also happens to be unnatural;
or
117. There is the third option . . . to abide naturally.
118. Only the third can lead to being totally free of “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity”
(Maharaj) because that option alone is free of ignorant beliefs, stupid
beliefs, and insane beliefs.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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"From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality");
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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.
