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.)
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I AM THAT vs. “This Is Who I Think I Am”
[Continued]
Yesterday’s post ended with these questions:
So what is the non-dual response to seeing the hatred and darkness that has been catalogued in this series and throughout “human history”? How can Love be known during a relative existence which is driven by self-ish “love” rather than Real Love?
1. WITNESSING
For the realized, abidance happens “there,” so that which is thought to be “here” can only be witnessed (and even then for the brief period of the manifestation). Contrary to the charges set forth in some mail received from complainants, that / That is neither a psychotic state nor a state of dissociation.
Those would both involve a lack of awareness, whereas abidance as That is abidance as the epitome of awareness . . . as awareness itself here during the manifestation as well as the original nature when “there.”
The masses witness in a duality-based subject-object manner; the pure witnessing which can happen post-realization involves clear and accurate non-dual perceiving.
From that platform where an overlaying of Reality upon the relative allows for both levels of witnessing to be observed, it can be reported that, at most, there is but a casual amusement at what some would call “what life throws Floyd’s way.”
Such rather bemused or non-attached viewing of the battle between the sexes, or the battles between couples maneuvering for control, or the ever-continuing battles between nations, or the conflicts that mark what is called “life” in general does not indicate a lack of caring and compassion.
The spontaneous functioning during the remainder of the post-realization manifestation simply allows for no more reaction to any of those happenings than would occur during a drive through the desert when it appears that a mirage has manifested and appears to be real.
Do tears flow at times as a result of the compassion felt for those yet in misery? Of course. Tears can still flow even after Reality is overlaid on the relative.
Do some among the realized spontaneously function in ways that try to “change things” or “improve things?” Yes, of course, that too can happen; however, it will happen spontaneously and with full awareness that it only involves the “stuff” of the relative.
To see that the perceived snake was only a rope, to see that the mirage is just an illusion, and to see that the relative is nothing more than a play in light (and yes, in shadow) is to allow the opportunity to ignore the not-Real and to also see both the Real and Real Love (if fully realized).
Whereas most are embroiled in their “love” vs. “not love” debates and fights and wars, never realizing that what they perceive as “love” and “the absence of love” are both illusions, the realized understand that both are just appearances . . . just misperceptions.
It is that clear seeing - that accurate witnessing - which allows an
understanding of those who are driven by their (false) love of self vs. the realized
that understand what truth is and what the not-Real is and what Real Love is (which is free of all dualistic beliefs which suggest that Real Love can involve love of the subject-object type which the non-realized masses speak of.)
It has been shown that the relative existence has been, and will continue to be, marked by a sense of separation and fighting and breakups and wars among the non-realized masses. The question was asked . . .
So what is the non-dual response to seeing the hatred and darkness that has been catalogued in this series and throughout “human history”? How can Love be known during a relative existence which is driven by self-ish “love” rather than Real Love?
The first non-dual strategy set forth earlier was “witnessing.” The first type of witnessing happens along the “path” to realization but prior to full realization, so that tool is available even to those seekers who have not yet realized what “THAT” is.
The second level of witnessing actually happens via the no-identity beingness (i.e., via the temporarily-manifested triad of elements and oxygen and conscious-energy which circulate through humans, etc.);
thus, that kind of witnessing becomes a second tool which is available to those who would abide in the turbulence-free fashion described by Maharaj when he said,
“The waters of life are thundering over the rocks of objects - desirable or hateful. Remove the rocks by insight and detachment and the same waters will flow deep and silent and swift . . . . ”
The next recommendation for guaranteeing freedom from the tumultuous relative existence with its desires and hatred and fighting is this:
2. COME TO THE UNDERSTANDING THAT NOTHING IS EXPERIENCED
The early stages of four-step “journey” to realization must provide freedom from identification with any part of the body-mind-personality triad. When that happens, the end of belief in all concepts can follow and “only witnessing” can happen consistently.
When freedom from personality is reached, then belief in the persona of “The Experiencer” falls away. If that role falls away, along with belief in all other ego-states, then the egotism that accompanies the assumption of ego-states as identities must also fall away.
When egotism falls away, and when belief in ego-states that always need defending comes to an end, then the most basic requirements for a sense of separation and for fighting and for harming and for killing will necessarily fall away as well.
To fight with a person or a co-worker or anyone is to bay at the moon; is to argue with a mirage in the desert; is to joust with a windmill; is to try to fight off a charging unicorn; is to hide in the bushes because you’re sure that you heard the sounds of a sasquatch stomping through the woods on his way to attack you;
is to arm yourself in preparation for a Martian invasion; is to stand frozen in a dimly-lit room, petrified by the snake/rope in the corner that you are certain is about to strike.
The non-realized take the experiences of their ego-states to be real experiences, failing to understand that there cannot be an experiencing of anything in the absence of the belief in any “experiencer.”
Watch not only “others”; watch also the self which imagines that it is experiencing something. Watch for the ego-states that arise and that find offense of the same nonsensical variety as the person who is offended that someone had the audacity to step on his/her shadow.
To end the attachment to personas that are taken to be real is to end participation in the conflict and fighting and arrogance and supposed separation that marks and mars and pollutes the relative existence.
If relative happenings are merely witnessed alongside an absence of belief in the experiencer, then an ego-state's hatred or fear or desires cannot then be mistaken for real experiences. In the realm of the Absolute, knowing THAT and having abandoned the notion that “This is who I think I am,” then nothing will be known. In fact, nothing can be known if abiding as THAT.
Later, the discussion will be expanded so that seekers might understand that, ironically, Nothing - the Nothingness - can be known when abiding as THAT while still manifested. When that happens, the ultimate peace happens.
[Nothing? Recall Maharaj’s pointer: “Love says I am everything. Wisdom says I am nothing. Between the two my life flows.”
To understand how one can be “everything” without assuming any relative identities and without believing that there is any kind of “who-ness” is to understand the one-ness, the non-dual, the same-ness.
That means there is no such thing as “different-from,” so there can be no such thing as “better-than.” The non-dual understanding thereby eliminates subject-object witnessing, ends belief in ego-states and all identifications, and thus prevents the use of ego-defense mechanisms including egotism and arrogance
Abidance as the nothingness provides another dose of “the ultimate medicine.” As the nothingness, there is nothing that can be accepted or rejected, loved or hated, lost or kept, so all notions about duality truly come to an end.]
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.
