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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IS IT POSSIBLE THAT YOU MIGHT BE AFRAID OF FREEDOM AND TOTAL INDEPENDENCE?
This has been considered here for years:
“Is there some level of unawareness being revealed by some guides or gurus when they begin any discussion with the assumption that they really know what the seekers being addressed actually want?”
So often there are pointers offered about how seekers can find freedom or total independence when many of those seekers might not want that at all, truth be told?
It is suspected that even the many seekers who nod their heads in agreement that freedom and total independence are desired are not aware that - at their core - they do not really want either of those at all.
Of the thousands of pointers offered by Maharaj that proved to be germane to seekers, one ranks among the most pertinent and unequivocal and illuminating that he ever shared:
“ . . . You are afraid of freedom!”
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
In the early stage of beginning some “work” with a guide, he asked a qualifying question: “How free do you want to be?”
The reply: “Why, totally.”
His response: “We shall see.”
And soon, he did indeed see. What was seen by both that guide and this seeker was that there was no more of a desire to be TOTALLY free than there is a desire among the non-Realized for the manifestation of the consciousness to end instantly.
It would be years before full realization happened, and it would not be until full realization happened that TOTAL freedom not only manifested but was gladly welcomed.
Why do persons (the non-realized) really not find total freedom appealing at all, truth be known? What is it about most cultures that nurture and even reward dependence? What is it about personality and personas that automatically require dependence and co-dependency rather than independence?
The billions polled worldwide who said that they are affiliated with an organized religion are taught early on to be dependent on one god or another (or even many). The millions in step groups are taught to be dependent on an external, otherworldly power.
Too, every ego-state adopted as an identity must have a co-dependent counterpart and will be dependent on another person to sustain the false identity assumed.
(For example, a spouse must have a spouse to supposedly “exist”; an employee must have an employer to supposedly “exist”; a teacher must have students to supposedly “exist”; etc.)
Add to that the fact that fifty-percent of the people on the planet are Personality Types Sixes who are embroiled in fear and are thus dependent types; add to that a large percentage who are Personality Type Twos and Threes and Nines who have a strong sense of entitlement and are therefore dependent types.
In fact, most cultures on the planet inspire dependence rather than independence, so it is little wonder that so few will realize fully and actually become totally free.
Yet freedom is the prerequisite for peace, so it is also little wonder that so few will realize fully, then be able to differentiate between the true and the false, and then relax and be at peace.
So the questions for every seeker and reader are,
“How free do you really want to be?”
“Is it possible that Maharaj's pointer – ‘You are afraid of freedom’ - might be based at least to some degree in fact?”
and
“If so, might you be interested in certain considerations that might assist in overcoming that fear of total freedom?”
DEFINING FREEDOM - MAHARAJ
First,
How did Maharaj define freedom? “Freedom means letting go. People just do not
care to let go everything.”
And that lack of willingness to let go is not confined to the 97% among the masses who are trapped in the ignorance of their prized, myth-based dogma.
Some
of the most dogmatic of all persons are self-declared “Advaitins” or “Traditional
Advanta Vedantins” or “Pseudo-Advaitins” or “Neo-Vedantins” or “Neo-Advaitins”
or “Direct Path Advaitins” or “The Real Advaita Vedantins.”
Freedom is freedom from all dualistic beliefs, from all concepts, from all
identification. Yet many who claim such freedom are in self-delusion. For
example, some come here and remain for the entire dance; others, however, come
for a brief visit or two and stay
(a) not long enough for their ego-states to be eradicated but only
(b) long enough for their ego-states to feel hurt or threatened or interfered
with or offended.
They leave quickly, staying long enough to report that non-duality is not
understood at all here or long enough to leave a profane rant because “Floyd
does not pronounce Eastern words properly.” And such persons can take
themselves to be fully realized and totally free? Yes they can.
It might be asked, “Of which version of Advaita Vedanta do they speak?
Traditional, neo-Advaita, neo-Vedanta, Pseudo-Advaita, Direct Path?” and “Of
which yoga do they speak? Hatha, bhakti, raja, gnana, nisarga, or some other?”
Is their issue that they think they know all there is to know about Advaita
Vedanta though they have been exposed to only one method of teaching or to only
one yoga?
Did they reach the mountaintop with a pack mule carrying their equipment? Does
that mean that one whose equipment was carried by a sherpa and is standing on
the same mountaintop has not really reached the mountaintop because he / she
did not arrive in the exact, same fashion as the one deciding who has reached
the mountaintop and who has not?
Is it possible that the one who is not free at all and who is making such
judgments is having to look upward, not really having reached a mountaintop at
all? Is it possible that the truly Realized see no such levels of “higher vs.
lower” . . . “top vs. not-top”?
Or does it mean that the judgmental types have no freedom at all, that they are
driven by their egotism-supported ego-states to move through the relative
existence while making their uninvited visits to one place after another,
telling all who are different from them how wrong they are?
Is the preoccupation with such differences that drives their “me vs. them”
campaigning actually evidence of how totally embroiled in duality they really
are?
To
use Maharaj's words, what is it that they are not willing to ‘let go of’?” The
role of “The Knower”? The ego-state of “The Spiritual Giant Who Is Cursed to
Walk Among Spiritual Lilliputians?”
Are there roles that you, similarly, prefer not to “let go of”? Could Maharaj
be correct? Could it be that if you were truly objective, you might have to
admit that, indeed, you are to some degree afraid of freedom (at least freedom
that is the only real type of freedom that there is, namely, total freedom)?
Beyond the 97% in the past (with that number falling as many abandon religion) who
were or are lost in the dream of the superstition-based teachings of the major
sky cults, consider also those who might stumble upon the teachings here but
are lost in the role and in the agenda of “The Real Advaita Vedantin” mentioned
above:
Is there any real freedom exhibited by their behavior that is so obviously
driven by the subconscious agenda of a persona? The questions to be asked
include ...
. . . “WHO” (what false ego-states) are so attached to personhood that they
have no clue at all that their thoughts and words and actions are determined by
their egotism-driven persona(s)?
. . . WHO (what false ego-states) are so lost in the illusory sense of “having
Realized” that they cannot see that they are not free at all?
DEFINING FREEDOM - LOUISE
Louise
is a non-dualist abiding in Cape Town, S.A. What did she have to say about that
type of blind behavior when she defined freedom?
“Freedom is impersonal - how can you expect to find it when you are so attached to your personhood? Freedom is formless - how can you expect to find it when you are committed to your form?
“Freedom is limitless - how can you
expect to find it if you are defined by what is particular and limited? Freedom
is without attributes - how can you expect to find it when you define yourself
according to your characteristics?”
DEFINING FREEDOM – CONVENTIONAL SOURCES
And
what are some of the conventional definitions of freedom that are offered in a
variety of dictionaries? Here are a few:
a. the power to act or speak or think without externally-imposed restraints;
b. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.;
c. the power to determine action without restraint;
d. exemption from the presence of anything specified - for example, freedom
from fear;
e. ease or facility of movement or action; and,
f. in philosophy, the power to exercise choice and make decisions without
constraint from within or without; autonomy; self-determination.
Yet consider: when personality determines thought, word and deed - which
personality does - then none of the above forms of freedom can manifest. If one
is driven by the agenda of a personality, then there is no power to act or
speak or think without the externally-imposed restraints of personality.
The person cannot be exempt from the external control and interference and
regulation of one or more agenda-driven personas.
Living under the auspices of personality, there can be no ability to
determine action without restraint.
Living under the auspices of personality, there is no exemption from the
presence of such personality-specified aspects such as desire and fear.
Living under the auspices of personality (which determines all thoughts and all
words and all actions) there can be no ease or facility of movement or action.
Living under the auspices of personality, there can be no power to exercise
choice and make decisions without constraint from within or without.
As long as all is self-determined (determined by the false self / selves), then
there can be no determinations which are based in the natural, spontaneous
aspects of the unblocked, pure consciousness.
Realization is, among other things, about freedom from ignorance and
irrationality and insanity . . . about being restored to sanity.
What could be more ignorant and irrational and insane that believing that one is free when one is bound up in personality, imprisoned by delusions, trapped in the cage of one's “mind,” and living under the auspices of imaginary, egotism-driven ego-states?
To be continued.
Tomorrow: More on the 50% of all humans on earth who do not want independence, and that's just the beginning.
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.
