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.
FREEDOM FROM BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and “No-Belief-ers”)
[Considerations for Re-Consideration in Light of New Pointers]
“People are capable sometimes of the strangest of transactions: they pay with their own lives for something as abstract and seemingly inconsequential as an idea."
(Costica Bradatan)
“This-ism,
that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m.”
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)
“
. . . Stop imagining yourself to be ‘this’ or ‘that.’ Just be.”
(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)
“Neti-Neti”
(Non-Duality Pointer to Identity-Less-Ness)
“Here,
there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to
believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you
have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, domesticated, indoctrinated,
and brainwashed to believe so that you can be free, period.”
(f.h.)
Those Who Have the Opportunity to Be Free of False Belief
In the previous
posts, the discussion focused on two of the most entrenched sets of beliefs:
1. those dealing with supposed “payoffs” from believing in a “personal god” (or
gods and goddesses); and,
2. those dealing with supposed “payoffs” from believing in one’s false “personal”
roles / identities.
Now, the focus will turn to those that have some chance of being free of their
beliefs in images and distortions and misperceptions and myths and
superstitions as opposed to those that typically do not any chance at all of
being free of the effects of their beliefs.
In the former group, there are those who are intelligent but who are functioning under the auspices of their wisdom-blocking “learned ignorance”; in the latter, there are those who are merely ignorant, period.
In the latter case,
there is also the presence of learned ignorance, but because there is also an
absence of intelligence, there is in those latter instances no reasonable
likelihood that wisdom will ever manifest.
The intelligent in the former group above have the potential to be free of the
effects of learned ignorance and to complete the “journey” to full realization and
freedom from believing in that which is false.
Those in the latter group above will most likely never understand that all notions involving ego or ego-states (or a sense of “a personal being” or belief in “a personal do-er” or the belief in “a personal god”) are all illusions . . . all mis-perceptions based in delusion.
So, for those with
the capacity to cast aside the accumulation of their “knowledge” (their “learned
ignorance”) which they are so very proud of prior to realization, the challenge
becomes, “How to be free of belief in illusions and to see truth instead?”
First, most persons - including those in “the intelligent group” - will never
be freed from their foolish beliefs. When intelligence is neutralized via
learned ignorance, then even the intelligent will be fooled and will most likely
remain in that state.
Yet some few will
understand the full import of these pointers and be free of their belief in
false ideas and concepts. Again, in those cases where ignorance is combined
with learned ignorance, the chances for enlightenment are practically nil. So
it is.
Secondly, if the intelligent are to be freed of entrapment in learned
ignorance, then all beliefs must be forfeited, without exception, yet who wants
to discard the beliefs that most persons prize so highly?
The fact is, however,
that to discard a thousand beliefs but to cling to even one as if it were “your
ultimate ‘sacred cow’ or ‘belief’” will avail you nothing.
Furthermore, to invite one who believes in a personal self and in a personal
god to consider the possibility that their beliefs are pure fiction will
usually only reinforce, not diminish, their attachment to their beliefs.
The very invitation
itself - to consider a different possibility - will usually inspire persons to “dig
in their heels” and stubbornly defend what they mistakenly take to be “their”
beliefs (which, as noted, are really the beliefs of other persons that have
merely been passed along to them . . . and passed along for generations).
Once the programming has extended beyond the age of 6 or 7 or 8, beliefs will
be taken by persons to be a part of what defines them . . . that help to
identify “who they are” as much as the labels that they have been assigned or
that they have adopted on their own.
They will cling
forever to their conceptual lies, and only a small fraction will ever be free
of the hold of beliefs (and thereafter realize fully). So blind have non-realized
persons been rendered by way of programming, conditioning, domestication,
acculturation, indoctrination, and brainwashing that even the intelligent among
them cannot begin to fathom the veracity of the facts that contradict their
beliefs, even when they hear them stated most clearly.
Should they happen to hear the consciousness speak to say, “Every belief you
have is a lie,” most persons will close themselves off from the voice of pure
consciousness and cling to the blockages that prevent the hearing and
acceptance of facts.
They will refuse to so much as consider the possibility offered by the consciousness when it says, “In fact, you have no beliefs. What presently fills ‘your mind’ are ‘their’ beliefs, not ‘your beliefs,’ yet you have adopted them with such conviction and pride that you behave as if those ideas were original to you.”
Again, to tell one
believing in a “personal self” that there is no such thing is to only reinforce
their belief in a personal self. To tell one believing in a “personal god” that
there is no such thing is to only reinforce their belief in a personal god and
will incite them to enter into defensive—and often offensive—modes.
Offensive modes by those who believe in a “personal god” or “gods and
goddesses?” Yes, absolutely and most assuredly. For 5000 years, Jews have been
killing non-Jews and non-Jews have been killing Jews; for 2000 years,
Christians have been killing Jews, Jews have been killing Christians, and
Christians have been killing others Christians that belong to different
denominations or religions;
For over 1300 years, Muslims have been killing Jews and Christians, Christians and Jews have been killing Muslims, and Muslims have been killing Muslims that belong to different sects.
Now, not a day passes without a report of how many Muslims killed other Muslims of a different sect, how many Christian soldiers killed how many Muslims, how many Muslims blew up how many Christians, ad infinitum.
The evidence of the results of their beliefs could not be clearer, but rather than saying, “Hey, maybe it’s not that ‘they’ are wrong . . . maybe the fact is that we are all in error,” instead, lines are drawn and opposite sides are taken as persons align against persons once their beliefs generate a false sense of separation and a false belief in “our rightness vs. their wrongness”;
after their beliefs foster erroneous, dualistic conclusions about “right beliefs vs. wrong beliefs”; and after their beliefs drive them to defend “the proper dogma supported by my god vs. the improper dogma supported by their god.”
The same roots -
erroneous beliefs - are the basis of every fight, including those in “relationships,”
between cities, between states, between nations, etc.
To all of the results generated by the beliefs above, add in not only the
results that are generated and disseminated by religious and spiritual and
philosophical and ideological “-ism’s” but also add in the beliefs disseminated
by political “-ism’s,” nationalistic “-ism’s,” economic “-ism’s,” governmental “-ism’s,”
etc.
See the hundreds of
thousands of beliefs that are driving the non-realized to feel “apart-from” and
that are blocking them from understanding the unicity.
Next, for freedom from believing in false beliefs to happen, the readiness of the intelligent seeker has to be there; only then can the teacher begin her / his task effectively. Here, there are seven steps required to shift from identification with the false “I” to abidance as the Absolute.
Too, there are three “levels” among seekers (“wet charcoal,” “dry charcoal,” and those at the “gunpowder stage”);
therefore, there is
the additional requirement of a teacher that can listen to a seeker, that can
determine “where” on “the path” that seeker is, and that can then offer
level-appropriate pointers that might facilitate a shift to the next step on “the
path.”
What is said to one seeker in regards to a topic may differ entirely when
addressing the same topic with a different seeker. Persons at the “wet charcoal”
level (which includes the masses) will likely never be able to understand
non-duality pointers (or much of anything else).
The teacher will never be able to “fire them up” enough to burn away their beliefs - their learned ignorance. Those at the “dry charcoal” level include persons who have completed some of the necessary study and reading and contemplation and in those cases, with much effort, the teacher might be able to generate a spark of light that can move them closer to The Understanding.
For those at the “gunpowder” level, they are very close to full realization,
being blocked by attachment to only a few remaining concepts and beliefs. With
the proper pointers offered by a teacher that knows “where they are on the
path,” the teacher can often say to those at the third (religious or spiritual)
level exactly what is required to trigger an explosion that blows away all of
their remaining beliefs and allows them to continue along the “path” in order
that full realization might happen.
What about you? Have you been fixated at the religious / spiritual / “personal
god” stage which is only the third of the seven, required steps to move away
from “personal identification” and to abidance as the Absolute and to
overlaying Reality upon the remainder of the relative existence?
Is the consciousness finally beginning to inspire some questioning? Might the consciousness have reached a level where it is beginning to sense that there might be “something else” to be understood beyond religious dogma and beyond “spiritual principles”? An alternative consideration was offered recently to a seeker in the U.K. that has been trapped at that level.
He was asked if he might be willing to set aside all of his spiritual exercises; if he might be willing to take a break from all of duality-reinforcing meditative practices during which he has been focusing on “positive” ideas in order to block out “negative” ideas;
and if he might consider taking a vacation from all of his other spiritual employment. If so, the alternate possibility presented for his consideration was this: that abiding might simply happen - and happen simply - without his continuing to turn mere “living” into another full time job.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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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."
from BARNES AND NOBLE by clicking here
or (sometimes less efficiently nowadays in terms of paperback delivery)
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 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.)
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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.
If you prefer PAPERBACK copies
(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."
from BARNES AND NOBLE by clicking here
or (sometimes less efficiently nowadays in terms of paperback delivery)
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 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:
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.
