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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DANCING LIGHTLY
“And
heavy is the tread of the living, but the dead returning lightly dance.”
(Edward Thomas)
“The
desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews.
Not to be born is the best for man.
The second best is a formal order.
The dance's pattern; dance while you can.
Dance, dance, for the figure is easy.
The tune is catching and will not stop.
Dance till the stars come down from the rafters.
Dance, dance, dance till you drop.”
W.H. Auden
THE LIGHTNESS OF WITNESSING WHEN NOT ACTING OR REACTING
One morning on Lake Conroe, one wave of storms passed and another was on its way. What to do? Do you see the insanity of even asking that question?
Do
you see the insanity of persons facing a desperate storm and concluding that
they must “do” something desperate, must go into
desperation-and-emotion-or-feeling-driven motion, must take desperate action,
must try to take charge, must work or manipulate to take control?
Here, the darkness and the sounds and the chill of storms are witnessed just as
the light and quiet and warmth of sunny days are witnessed.
The storms will come; the storms will go. The sunlight will only appear to
come; the sunlight will only appear to go.
Yet the light is what is always there, just as the availability of the elements and conscious-energy and the oxygen which make possible the temporary manifestation of “you” have always been; moreover, whatever has always been makes up the entirety of THAT.
(Is it possible that whatever has always been can evolve? Of course. Change is inevitable, but the core of whatever has always been . . . remains.)
If blocked off from the light by storms, you will not see the source of the light; if blocked off from The Light, you will not see that which is authentic vs. that which is perceived / misperceived to be the Real.
It is such misperceiving
which leaves the masses trapped in ignorance and capable of mistaking a rope
for a snake or a snake for a rope.
If functioning from a state of self-ness and self-ish-ness, persons will see
the false and mistake it for the Real: the false person; the false solution;
the false light; the false rescue rope that is mis-perceived and which is
actually a snake.
To remember that / THAT which is authentic to allow “the witnessing only” to
happen, and by standing still at the window and viewing all that just appears
to be happening outside the window - with no
desperation-or-delusion-or-emotion-driven actions being inspired - the storms
will be seen to do what storms do.
From that stance, there can be no insane notion that I must jump into the middle of the storm in order to do myself some good, that is, in order to do my “self” - some “false self” - some “good.”
The bliss need not be interrupted by the relative storms if the message behind the words of Maharaj are clear: “ . . . as with the sun comes light, so with the sense of [authenticity] comes bliss.” Conversely, he could have said,
“With
the absence of light and entrapment in the darkness, so with a sense of self
(or ‘self-ness’ or ‘self-ish-ness’) comes misery and suffering and even pain.”
The fact is that the masses are indeed trapped in the darkness of self, of
personality. Look at the nine basic, primary personality types which manifest
before scores of other personas are imposed by, or assumed within, the planet’s
cultures; then, try what the realized poet John Lennon suggested and imagine:
Imagine if the hidden agendas and drives and fears and desires of “The
Perfectionist” false self were abandoned and only the sense of the authentic
remained?
Imagine if the hidden agendas and drives and fears and desires of “The Rescuer
/ The ‘Love’ Seeker” false self were abandoned and only the sense of authentic
remained?
Imagine if the hidden agendas and drives and fears and desires of “The Image
Maker / Performer” false self were abandoned and only the sense of authentic
remained?
Imagine if the hidden agendas and drives and fears and desires of “The
Individualist” false self were abandoned and only the sense of authentic
remained?
Imagine if the hidden agendas and drives and fears and desires of “The
Knowledge Seeker” false self were abandoned and only the sense of authentic
remained?
Imagine if the hidden agendas and drives and fears and desires of “The Fearful
/ Dependent” false self were abandoned and only the sense of authentic
remained?
Imagine if the hidden agendas and drives and fears and desires of “The
Enthusiast” false self were abandoned and only the sense of authentic remained?
Imagine if the hidden agendas and drives and fears and desires of “The Controller”
false self were abandoned and only the sense of authentic remained?
Imagine if the hidden agendas and drives and fears and desires of “The Avoider”
false self were abandoned and only the sense of authentic remained?
In the darkness, whichever of those types are motivating thoughts and words and
deeds will join with the other forces of darkness - the other ego-states
assumed as true identities - and will drive away even the slightest chance for
Self-Remembering to continue:
Maharaj: “There is no darkness in the midst of light. Self-forgetfulness is the
darkness. When we are absorbed in other things, in the not-self, we forget ‘the
Self’.”
In the ignorance of darkness, a desire for attachment or attachments will
manifest. Independence will no longer be given any value and dependence will be
assumed to be the solution for any problem. Then, ignorance and harm and misery
will eventually prevail:
Maharaj: “Why forget ‘the Self’ through excess of attachment?”
Because
wisdom lies in understanding the authentic and in never forgetting the
authentic.
See that never forgetting the authentic means never slipping into any
personality and allowing fears and desires to drive you. Once a fear is
triggered as a result of having assumed a persona - such as, “The Homeowner Who
Is About to Lose Her / His Home” or “The One Who Deserves So Much More Than Has
Been Given” - then ‘the self’ and “the Self’ will be forgotten.
With the focus on the authentic, there is always enough; with the not-selves,
there is never enough, triggering want and fear and desire and, yes, even
depression and anger over not having more. When that happens, all that has been
understood is forgotten;
all
sense is forfeited; sanity is cast aside and then risky, reckless behavior and
attachment can follow. “Self-forgetfulness is the darkness. Again, when we are
absorbed in other things, in the not-self, we forget ‘the Self’.”
It is the “not-selves” which Maharaj mentioned that will take you out of
awareness of that which you truly are, which will cast you into darkness, which
will take away the lightness and will replace it with the heaviness instead and
which will eventually take you to ruin and injury and “harm of self and harm of
others” (relatively speaking):
Maharaj: “Forgetting [authenticity] is the greatest injury; all the calamities
flow from it. Take care of the most important; the lesser will take care of
itself. You do not tidy up a dark room. You open the windows first. Letting in
the light makes everything easy.”
The challenge: dealing with the relative and with the non-realized who are in
darkness. The most seasoned of those manipulators know exactly which cords to
pluck to make the music - that sweet-sounding but disaster-bringing music -
that can pull you away from authenticity and entice the not-selves to move “the
true ship that you are” onto a course which will take you to the rocks from
which all such sirens, both male and female, call.
Emotional intoxication, always rooted in the agenda of one or more
personalities, will call you into motion. Racing about, you will mis-perceive
the most destructive actions as being the most constructive actions. When a
siren calls, then an inner captain (an inner resource) should be heard as it “Blows
the Still”:
Maharaj: “When you stand motionless, only watching, you discover . . . the
light behind the watcher.”
Then, you will be placed back in touch with you - the authentic, pure awareness
understood via use of the pure, universal consciousness - which provides the
light and The Light:
Maharaj: “At the root of my being is pure awareness, a speck of intense light.”
It is that intense light which must first shine if lightness is ever to come,
and it is that light which must continue to shine if the continuation of
lightness is to manifest.
Only then can the joy of dancing lightly manifest.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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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)";
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“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”
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“When REALITY Is Overlaid on the RELATIVE.”
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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.
