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, and financial budgeting.
I AM THAT vs. “This Is Who I Think I Am”
(Continued from yesterday)
The movement through the relative existence can happen while (A) abiding as THAT and seeing clearly via the unblocked, pure consciousness or while (B) identifying with the conditioned, blocked consciousness and believing that what is seen with two eyes is real.
Regarding “A”: THAT is silent; THAT is body-less, mind-less, and persona-less; therefore, THAT cannot be in fear, cannot be driven by desires, and cannot be offended. To overlay the unconditioned, no-attribute Reality on the relative is to be in perfect peace for the remainder of the manifestation.
Regarding “B”: By contrast, the consciousness is ever in motion among the non-realized and is ever stirring up fears and desires. Identified with personality and driven by “the mind” (which is just consciousness that is both blocked and ever in motion), persons are either . . .
. . . constantly seeking respect and receiving it from others who are asleep or
. . . constantly being offended as personas seek respect but do not receive it.
Once authenticity and accuracy and validity are lost, then so is all possibility of understanding THAT. When the understanding of THAT is blocked by the manifested and then “conditioned” aspect of itself and is blocked by the “mind” / warped-consciousness-in-motion, then personas / false identifications (including body and mind and personality identifications) will be assumed and their imagined attributes will be taken to be real.
From that point, no consistent peace can manifest; thus, pointers are being offered which can allow the manifestation to unfold spontaneously - and therefore peacefully - by eliminating belief in the body, the mind, the personality, attributes, and the fears and desires that accompany those and that generate misery and suffering.
So, to review the pointers offered which can provide a sane and non-violent means by which “this world” can be cast aside by those that (1) long for freedom from the insanity and brutality and nonsense and those that (2) would experience the bliss, now:
1. Witness only
2. Be done with the notions of experiences and an experiencer
3. Abide as the “awakened / alert sleep” state
4. Be unflinchingly true to truth
Either you will be authentic and able to differentiate the true from the false (and will be willingly to do so) or you will try to be true to your false self / selves, and trying to be true to the false is an act of total insanity or overwhelming ignorance or extreme misunderstanding.
To try to be true to a mirage is further evidence of insanity or ignorance or misunderstanding (or all three); yet efforts to validate a mirage can be witnessed daily as relative roles are assumed and played out by the non-realized in their “Theater of the Lie,” including such roles as:
“the cheating spouse” formerly thought to be “the dedicated husband”; “the self-absorbed woman” upgraded to “the charming wife”; or “the megalomaniac” believed to be “the caring leader.”
None of the persons embroiled in the game-playing that accompanies the assumption or assignment of those roles (or any others) have the slightest chance of knowing the bliss.
Other persons try to negotiate with Reality, abiding occasionally as THAT but trying at other times to live a separate, relative existence. Here, there is no negotiation.
Reality is unwaveringly overlaid on the relative, so the relative is consistently marked by total freedom and independence, so Reality then enjoys dominion over all (including over that which is false but is assumed by the masses to be true).
If there is no freedom, there can be no bliss. Maharaj said, “If you desire to be free, neglect not the nearest step to freedom. It is like climbing a mountain: not a step can be missed. One step less and the summit is not reached.”
With realization came an understanding of the non-dual “path” and its steps to freedom which must be taken in a specific order. The first step - the “nearest step” - is to be free of body identification.
While many try to eliminate egotism by studying the “mind” / personality connection that leads to the assumption of ego-states (which, in turn, triggers egotism), fewer consider the fact that the elimination of body identification can also prevent the manifesting of egotism that fosters such beliefs as “I deserve respect” and “I am offended because I did not get respect.”
If one were to understand the true nature of the body - and how it is erroneously assumed to be part of an overall “identity” - then one could move a step closer to freedom from the desire for respect as well as from the relative problems that accompany that desire.
[PLEASE NOTE: Few grasp how an understanding of what the body is and what the body is not can (a) eliminate egotism and can (b) free persons of a desire for “respect” and can (c) free persons from feeling “offended” when such respect is not given.
Such elimination and freedom require an understanding of the reality of any given set of elements, breath, and manifested consciousness. A more thorough explanation is offered in a series of videos which can be viewed for a more thorough discussion of this issue.]
When Maharaj was asked if there was any way to be free of the “horrors” of the relative existence (especially destructiveness and desires and fears and anger and hatred and war), he offered this consideration:
“When more people come to know their real nature, their influence, however subtle, will prevail and the world's emotional atmosphere will sweeten up. People follow their leaders and when among the leaders appear some [that are] great in heart and mind and absolutely free from self-seeking, their impact will be enough to make the crudities and crimes of the present age impossible. A new golden age may come and last for a time and succumb to its own perfection.” He said, “ . . . ebb begins when the tide is at its highest.”
So much for trying to overlay permanency on the ever-changing relative existence. Such distortion easily leads to delusions like, “This body-mind-personality triad will have ever-lasting continuity”
and
“You can be at peace now if you follow our rules for what to do with your body and our rules about what thoughts should be in your mind and our dictates about which ‘good’ personas you should adopt to replace your old ‘bad’ ones”;
or
“You will enjoy an eternal reward or suffer ever-lasting pain and misery.”
It is, as Maharaj noted, an awareness of one’s “real nature” that can provide relief during the manifestation from the effects of believing distortions and from the perceived impact of what was labeled above as relative “horrors.”
Presently among the masses, the relative existence is a most unnatural state - made even more unnatural when persons try to live in a supernatural manner in what is merely a natural “realm.” The only chance for relief comes via abiding as that original, natural state rather than abiding as if the relative were the Real.
To believe that (1) a coming-together of a set of elements can help define what you really are; and to believe that (2) the dualistic “mind” can know truth; and to believe that (3) roles that are being played have anything to do with that which you truly are . . .
. . . will all guarantee that every high tide that comes along during the relative manifestation will soon be lowered by an ebb tide of equal impact. Fluctuation and chaos will be the rule, not the exception.
To stand on a beach and watch the tide coming and going can be a pleasant enough activity for some, but to feel as if you are the tide that is constantly reaching a high that does not last but that is soon pulled by external forces to an all-time low (and to “experience” that in as unending a manner as happens with oceanic waves) is quite a different matter.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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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."
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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.”
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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.
