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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I AM THAT vs. “This Is Who I Think I Am”
(Continued)
C. Note also that the realized do not need to be surrounded by people if that requires exposure to inanity. The company kept by most people on the planet will subject one to hearing statements of duality, of separation, of judgment, of arrogance, and of falsehoods set forth by persons who are talking in their sleep.
So . . .
D. If you are hearing statements about love and unity but seeing actions that expose beliefs about being “better than” or a belief that “we alone know the right way and you must learn what we have to teach and live accordingly,” then move.
The non-dual guide will never tell you that you must learn anything; instead, that guide will invite you to unlearn what you have been taught if you would be free and at peace.
E. If you hear talk of unity but see separation by denomination or sect or subsets, or if you hear people talking about love while breaking relationships with those who do not think and talk and behave as they would have all people think and talk and behave, then move. You are not in the presence of the kind of company recommended by Maharaj.
Another e-mail was received that is so typical of what has been seen for decades. Maharaj’s pointer regarding the type of company to keep and the type of company to move away from cannot be made clearer than by sharing some portions of the letter received:
It is funny and somewhat eerie that the daily posts here always seem to address some happening occurring to this 'speck', and no doubt others as well, as we all are One.
To be specific, there has been a family 'intervention' of sorts as to my 'spiritual crisis'. In other words, people are beginning to get highly offended that after two years, I still choose not to [attend] church.
I cannot and will not defend my position . . . . I should like to say that I think it's all crap, but I want to spare them the agony of going through life being vexed over my impending stint in eternal hell.
Even my non-religious family members want to know why I am not in church anymore. (They think it's OK for them not to go, but I should because I have young children and they should be in church).
Well, my children were brainwashed long enough. I don't want them exposed to that manipulation. 'Good deeds' if they are to be done, don't need to be cloaked in religion, anyhow. They can be done as a private citizen.
So, the post seemed timely in that, being undone from all my roles is undoing some of my relationships. Not by my choice, but by theirs. I don't choose to have animosity towards those who want to practice a religion. But it seems that they want to have animosity towards me because I don't.
Her courage was noted. To return to what was shared with Gerald: there is a final pointer for your consideration: check all of the internal signals, and if the vibrations are suggesting you are not in the presence of a person that is speaking but are instead in the presence of the pure consciousness that is speaking, then courage is called for.
You are invited to muster the courage to question, to move away from messages of disunity and separation and arrogance and “better-than-ness” and find a place where the consciousness speaks and sets off that inner response which registers the hearing of pointers toward Truth.
12. Understand that a refusal by a non-dualist to associate with certain persons or groups does not suggest that the non-dualist does not still understand the Oneness.
F.: In fact, what is happening is this: when keeping the type of company
prescribed by Maharaj, one speck of consciousness is merely guaranteeing that
it is in the presence of specks of consciousness that know the Oneness rather than associating with the non-realized
who believe in the “not-at-one-ment.”
The non-dual understanding
differs from all philosophies
and religions and ideologies in one particular way: these pointers contain no actual contradictions if the guide offering pointers is truly
realized. On the other hand, they do contain many paradoxes and they do
contain level-appropriate pointers.
Therefore, for Maharaj to suggest that seekers find a specific kind of “company” - and thus move away from all other kinds of company - is
not a contradiction or a case of a teacher of Oneness endorsing separation and
the not-Oneness.
To move away from groups or from environments wherein messages of duality and
separation and arrogance and judging are the standard is not elitism or
separation on the part of an Advaitin.
For example, consider both of the non-dualists
discussed recently. They now refuse to associate with dogmatic, controlling
persons who are trapped in programming and conditioning; however, neither
attacked or judged or rejected the persons who attacked and judged and rejected them. So it is among the realized.
Consider as well: if one were (1) imprisoned in an Iranian jail and in the company of non-realized
persons who were torturing that person and subjecting that person to misery and
suffering by order of religious rulers,
and
if
that prisoner were (2) able to escape, would that former prisoner suddenly
decide to return to the jail voluntarily in order to socialize with the non-realized persons who were
subjecting him to their senseless beliefs and behaviors? No.
If one was (a) sequestered in a mental institution, (b) treated by a team of
professionals while there, and (c) restored to sanity and discharged from the
facility, would the one that is sane voluntarily re-admit himself / herself to
the mental institution? No.
Is that to say that the one restored to sanity now hates all of the people
still in the mental institution? Of course not, but being sane, the one
restored to sanity has no belief that she / he needs to be in the company of
the insane.
Consider Maharaj’s pointer regarding the type of company to seek which was
offered in the following exchange:
Questioner: I have understood that all spiritual practice consists in the
elimination of the personal self. Such practice demands iron determination and
relentless application. Where to find the integrity and energy for such work?
Maharaj: You find it in the company of the wise.
Questioner: How do I know who is wise and who is merely clever?
Maharaj:
If your motives are pure, if you seek truth and nothing else, you will find the
right people. Finding them is easy. What is difficult is to trust them and take
full advantage of their advice and guidance.
The non-dual guide’s pointer
that sane and Loving company be sought is not a recommendation to develop an
attitude of separation or judgment or “better-than-ness.” It is simply an invitation
to guard the progress made along the “path” to Realization and beyond and to
associate only with the wise.
That is the natural way to behave if freed of learned ignorance. The tendency
among those that have cast aside their ignorance is not to associate with those
yet trapped in their ignorance (unless those are seeking freedom from
ignorance). The practice of the no-longer-ignorant is to associate with the
wise, with the no-longer-ignorant.
The sane naturally move toward sanity. The quiet naturally move to the
quietness. If chaos occurs in its vicinity, the deer naturally moves to a
peaceful place.
If
you see the deer behaving in that fashion, would you accuse the deer of being
judgmental or arrogant or thinking it is better than those generating the
chaos? No. It is merely behaving naturally and moving to a place that is free
of chaos.
Furthermore, there are no “realized persons” moving away from “other
persons.” There are but temporarily manifested specks of consciousness, and
when those specks are unblocked and able to witness purely, then those specks
of energy will naturally move toward like energy.
So it is with persons who were formerly trapped in body-mind-personality
identification after the Nisarga understanding manifests. All happens naturally,
and separation, arrogance, and judgment are not natural; however, wise
discernment is.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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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.
