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]
What a mess the relative existence is, not just polluted with belief in dualities and duplicity but with phoniness showing up in multiplicities . . . in triplicate and more:
There are the public personas displayed for others to see; there are the private personas displayed behind closed doors with friends or family; and then there is the secret life that no one is intended to view.
What a trying existence; what an anxiety-inducing way of living; what a stress-filled affair; furthermore, when one does not understand THAT but instead takes the comment “this is who I think I am” to be a statement of truth, then the relative unfolds thusly:
“The Experiencer” goes about supposedly experiencing public and private and secret happenings, but in fact all of that which is supposedly real, but is not, is only happening in the “mind” of the one who is believing that she / he is “someone” who is experiencing something (as opposed to being a particular form of energy that is only capable of witnessing something but is not capable of doing anything).
Truth involves being aware of THAT, being conscious of the presence of consciousness, aware that it is in awareness itself that all happens during the manifestation. How could the consciousness possibly experience anything? It cannot.
It can but witness, if manifested. You may as well believe that a motherless child can fetch tea or that a legless dog can fetch a tossed ball. Consciousness cannot do anything - it is but a mere speck of energy. Consciousness cannot experience anything - it can but witness what appears to be an experience.
In reality, there is just myself, and being myself is all that is happening. Nothing more is going on, contrary to appearance . . . contrary to the machinations of “the polluted mind.”
It is that “mind” which Maharaj invited his visitors to be free of. Understand that and then the following pointer from Maharaj can be understood as well:
“Everything that exists, exists as myself. There is nothing which is different from me. There is no duality and, therefore, no pain. There are no problems.
“It is the sphere of love, in which everything is perfect. What happens, happens spontaneously, without intentions - like digestion or the growth of the hair.
How much attention do you pay to the growing of hair? That is the same amount of attention that should be paid to anything in the relative. How much control do you have over the growing of hair or over the not growing of hair? That is the same amount of control that you have in the relative existence.
Only a fool pays attention to the nonsense of the relative and thinks it has meaning or significance. Only a fool becomes attached to the relative, thinks he / she has meaning or significance, and thus tries to control events.
Specks manifest;
specks unmanifest. All in-between is perception / misperception among the non-realized.
So to continue:
2. COME TO THE UNDERSTANDING THAT NOTHING IS EXPERIENCED (Con’t.)
Understand that in the absence of a belief in the role of “The Experiencer,” it becomes clear that no experiencing is really happening and that nothing thought to be an experience can be real.
Knowing that, consider the freedom that must follow. To move beyond the subject-object witnessing level and to reach the level of “Pure Witnessing” it can later become possible to transcend even the belief that “I am the Pure Witness.”
The notion that “I am what I believe I am” is transcended and so is identification with the witness, or with anything else. With disbelief in “The Experiencer,” belief in experience and experiencing will end.
Unmanifested, the awareness knows not that it is awareness. Understand that and then one might understand what Maharaj meant when he said that, post-belief in “The Experiencer” and the experience, then “unidentified being remains.”
That is, the impersonal Am-ness remains manifested but abides as its original state, not as a beingness state with an identity. The beingness remains for a period, but it is “unidentified” instead of identified . . . with anything.
The manifested speck comes to understand that which is beyond both beingness and non-beingness. And to abide there as, how can any of the nonsense of the relative existence have any effect on you - on that impersonal, non-dual, no-concept, identity-less THAT which you truly are?
The only thing that can believe that “it has been affected by something or someone” is an imagined ego-state, and nothing imagined is real, including ego-states or any other assumed identity.
Yet a “mind” packed with nonsense will accept neither identity-less-ness nor rest. The emptiness of a mirage stands a better chance of finding peace than the fullness of a “mind.”
Continue to accumulate concepts and ideas and beliefs and store them in that “mind” and no peace shall happen. De-accumulate by casting aside all ideas and emotions and beliefs and then peace shall manifest; however, peace will only be sought by those who have overcome their addiction to chaos.
3. THE UNIVERSAL RESPITE FROM ALL RELATIVE PROBLEMS: DEEP SLEEP
The non-realized settle for the temporary respite from all of the nonsense of the relative which deep sleep provides. The invitation on this site is this: Why settle for temporary? Why not fixate in the only state that provides continuous respite, even as the consciousness remains manifest?
Much has been written on the site regarding AS IF living, living AS IF any of this is real or important but knowing it is not. From that position, husbanding or wifing can happen . . . or not; employment can happen, bill-paying can happen, dancing the non-dual dance can happen;
yet it is understood that there is no husband, no wife, no employee or employer, no bill-payer, no dancer, no . . . “one” . . . only One.
What is the only means for the non-realized to be devoid of the drama of relative happenings, to be free of the tension, to be unencumbered by the desires and fears and fluctuations between joy and misery? The only means for them is sleep.
There is no stability in the non-sleep state for the non-realized. There is only the instability of constant movement, wanting something today, getting it, and then not wanting it tomorrow. Living like immature children, laughing out loud one moment, screaming out loud the next.
Engaging in battles at home and abroad, in the neighborhood or at work, in traffic or in stores, carefree one moment, worried the next. Happy one moment, miserable the next. Feeling light one moment, feeling heavy and burdened the next.
Feeling secure one moment, feeling threatened the next. Being pulled about with no liberation at all from the illusory personas that control thoughts and words and actions. Maharaj described it thusly:
Our life is full of contradictions. Yet we cling to it. This clinging is at the root of everything. Still, it is entirely superficial. We hold on to something or somebody with all our might, and next moment we forget it - like a child that shapes its mud-pies and abandons them light-heartedly. Touch them - it will scream with anger; divert the child and he forgets them. We love variety . . . even the play of pain and pleasure.
We are fascinated by contrasts. For this we need the opposites and their apparent separation. We enjoy them for a time and then get tired and crave for the peace and silence of pure being.
For the realized, there is consistently and permanently the peace and silence of pure being (and that which is beyond pure being). For the non-realized, the only chance for a few moments of peace and silence is by way of the temporary respite of sleep. Yet even that is elusive.
More on that tomorrow.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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:
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.
If you prefer PAPERBACK copies
(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."
from BARNES AND NOBLE by clicking here
or (sometimes less efficiently nowadays in terms of paperback delivery)
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 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:
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.
