Advaita Vedanta: NEEDLESS WORK, COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE ACCEPTANCE and THE CURSE OF HABITS

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.

NEEDLESS WORK, COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE ACCEPTANCE and THE CURSE OF HABITS

“There are three means of abidance - natural, unnatural, or supernatural - and only one of those allows for the abidance to happen in a sane, logical, realized, awakened, and no-false-beliefs manner.”

--Floyd Henderson

NEEDLESS WORK

Would you classify “working needlessly” as being natural unnatural, or supernatural?

The DSM-5 (the current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is a handbook used by health professionals to help identify and diagnose mental illness. There are nearly 300 mental disorders listed in that volume.

Some past editions of the DSM included workaholism and many professionals have criticized those behind the current edition as being in error for not continuing to list it as such.

Those professionals claim, “Work addiction, often called ‘workaholism,’ is a real mental health condition. Like any other addiction, work addiction involved the inability to stop the behavior. It often stems from a compulsive need to achieve status and success or to escape emotional stress.”

All of that notwithstanding, in the DSM-4 edition, in the section devoted to the Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCD), it refers to “an excessive devotion to work. DSM-5 also lists OCD as a “disorder.”

So, is a psychological disorder - or a personality disorder - natural, unnatural, or supernatural? Of course it’s unnatural.

It have been noted that “Workaholism may be a result of anxiety, low self-esteem, and / or intimacy problems; furthermore, workaholics tend to have an inability to delegate work tasks to others and tend to obtain high scores on personality traits such as neuroticism, perfectionism, and conscientiousness.”

Yet it is also often rooted in and encouraged by other factors, including the agendas of supernatural, religious, or spiritual ego-states.

How many are working excessively in an effort to assure that “their eternal life” which they believe is real shall be spent in a place where heavenly rewards rather than heavenly punishments are dispensed?

How many are working excessively to “know God”; to stay “close to a god” whose power they can tap into when trapped in their fears and / or desires;

to please a partner who is fanatical about spirituality, religion or other concepts deemed to be supernatural; or to control others by having then attach to a religious or spiritual leader’s work-work-work and volunteer-volunteer-volunteer agenda;

or to enhance their image in their community; or to “erase and refresh their slate of current sins” so they’ll be ready whenever god calls because one can die at any second, right?

The experience here is that years were wasted in traveling all around the globe in a mad dash to find what I was seeking when what I was seeking was a way to sit still and relax and take it easy. What a Catch-22 type of trap! What insanity!

I have experienced the (a) go-go-zoom-seeking addiction and I have experienced the (b) no longer seeking anything. From experience, it can be said that the only sane method of abiding in throughout the relative is by using approach “b” above.

Among therapists, psychologists, and addictionologists around the globe, workaholism holds as prominent a place on their list of mental health conditions which need to be treated as any drug or alcohol or nicotine or sex or shopping addiction . . . along with scores of other addiction which call for treatment.

In almost all cases, the effects of some early trauma is present, along with an attachment disorder which drives workaholics to be able to avoid mates, family, exercise, etc., and to be unavailable to anyone seeking to be close.

Workaholism is a most unnatural disorder.

COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE ACCEPTANCE

I spoke recently to a woman who was struggling with herself and her hand-me-down beliefs even though she thought she was struggling with a rude, demanding priest who had been able to convince her to give hours of unpaid labor to him and his church

and

with elderly, ultra-conservative, critical members of her community and church who did not accept the way she dresses, the way she behaves, etc. (though her manner of dress and behavior adhered to typical conservative church expectations).

Yet she acquiesced to the priest’s demands on her time and energy and she internalized the criticism of the elders.

When I asked when she had visited a variety of mainstream churches of various denominations - Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutheran, Anglican, Pentecostals, or any of the 45,000 denominations that exist.

Then I asked when she had made the conscious choice, after studying all of the denominations, that Catholicism was “the right one” and the “right one for her”?

Of course, her answer was “never.” The same is the case with most of the 2.2 billion Christians “believers”:

“their religion” is the one their parents introduced them to. They have never made any conscious choice about that, and they have never made an honest inventory about the church they are devoted to.

The problem with “acceptance” is that it usually comes in the form of “blind acceptance” or “unquestioned acceptance” or “unconscious acceptance based in faith.” Either way, their acceptance has removed their ability to make conscious choices though they will gladly assure you that they do that all day long, every day.

Being controlled by blind or unquestioning or faith-based acceptance is a most unnatural disorder.

THE CURSE OF HABITS

Related to being an active member of a church which one never chose to be a member of is related to many habit-based insanities.

It has been said that “Basically, a habit can be anything that is repeated enough times to become automatic. One reaches a point where one does not consciously determine to follow the habit anymore. That just happens, unconsciously, while sleepwalking or sleep-talking or sleep-driving one’s way through the relative existence.

Next, habits are all about duality. Why?

While non-duality is about being awake, aware, and conscious, habits are about being unawake, unaware, and unconscious. Moreover, persons love to talk about “good” habits and “bad habits.” Pure duality.

Some define a habit as being “an acquired mode of behavior that has become completely involuntary”; thus, habits rob humans of the ability to make conscious, voluntary choices, even as they are ready to claim that they are making conscious choices and decisions. More insanity.

Living as a creature of habit is a most unnatural disorder.

Persons give lip service to “wanting to be totally free.” That cannot happen if one is being driven to work excessively, if one is being driven by blind acceptance of others’ expectations, and / or if one is being driven by unconscious habits.

Peace, Unity, Love, and Light.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

The NEWEST OFFER

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video, all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.

If interested, click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video.

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.)

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button:

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the postsin this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you.

PAPERBACK VERSIONS OF SOME OF HENDERSON'S NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE.

If you prefer PAPERBACK copies

of some of Henderson’s non-duality books,

10 of his books are available in PRINT FORM
(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."

Order a PAPERBACK copy of The Advanced Seekers' Series&
from BARNES AND NOBLE by clicking here
or (sometimes less efficiently nowadays in terms of paperback delivery)

from AMAZON by clicking here.

Also for NON-DUALITY AUDIENCES

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 BARNES AND NOBLE by clicking here

or (sometimes less efficiently nowadays in terms of paperback delivery)
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:

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.

THE EXPLANATION

If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence.

Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of god in the past was of a weak god, an absentee god, A Santa Claus-type god, a mean, punishing, vindictive god, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring god whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to."

The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a god that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly").

Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring god,' any supposed god that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'god' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part.

"That is, a non-narcissistic their god / their goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'god' and focus on the 'god as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you."

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"

--Yeshu'a (Jesus)

and

"Heaven and earth shall fade away."

--Yeshu'a (Jesus)

and

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places

but are states of mind, nothing more than

concepts dreamed up by men."

--Pope John Paul II

"There is no hell."

--Pope Francis, the current pope

in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari,

a writer used by the Pope to issue off the record

teachings which become a part of the Papal Magisterium.

[That said, would that the popes who have shown the courage to reject a core concept of their dogma - namely, "hell" - would find the additional courage required to question the very existence of their institution in light of the centuries-long cover-up of their history of raping children and in light of the mental and emotional and psychological scarring of billions of their members past and present.

And that need for courage also applies as questions need to be asked about why so many other sky cults are still being supported and allowed to continue to exist as well. When certain types of programming and conditioning have been shown to blind the masses, they should end. Will they? Not likely. Why?

Because what the masses think and say and do is most influenced by the international crime families which hold sway over the masses as criminals conduct their planet-wide operations. What are the major international crime families and which are the most influential and have the largest memberships?

The Mafia / La Cosa Nostra; the Catholic Church (with it 1.2 billion followers) whose Vatican Bank worked for decades with the Mafia while laundering mob earnings (for a 15% all-profit charge by the Bank); Protestant and Evangelical Churches (with over 1.2 billion followers) like the one I was raised in where the youth director molested and sexually assaulted young girls; big business which has long created environments in which people have been abused; powerful political bodies like the U.S. Congress, etc., etc., etc.)

With all of those crime families, neither the followers nor the leadership ever voluntarily step down or shut down their criminal activities. Be they gangs, organized crime families, religions, big business, politicians, etc., they all want control and they all want power and they all want money, and nothing internal will interfere with the driving forces at play.

The masses must demand that all those in charge must step down and their groups and institutions must shut down, and there's the real problem because the continuation of their crimes are enabled not as much by the people running such crime organizations as they are enabled by the masses of people who - wanting some perceived "payoff" - remain involved with them and give them money and support them and aid and abet the continued existence of those criminal enterprises and thus facilitate the ability of church criminals and political criminals and other types of criminals to continue to commit their crimes.]

Here's

the direct link to the VIDEO VERSION

of the "Awakening Together" satsang session with Regina and Jacqueline referenced earlier,

18 MARCH 2018

You can click on the picture link which has now been added for video "Number Ten" in the upper right-hand column on this page.

If preferred, here's the direct link to the AUDIO VERSION.

You may click

here

to visit Floyd's bookstore.