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]
Yesterday’s post ended with this:
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.
The non-realized, living as six-year-olds in adult bodies, do not know how to eat, how to purge and cleanse, how to sleep. As children they did all of that naturally, but as programmed and conditioned and acculturated and domesticated and indoctrinated and brainwashed adults, they have not the wherewithal to carry out even the simplest of infant-level functions.
Their bodies are reflections of their “minds”: stopped up, clogged up, filled with poisons and toxins . . . now exhausted . . . totally useless . . . both detriments only.
Sleep seldom reaches the delta level for the non-realized, so even that intended respite is usually marked by fluctuations as well.
At the delta level, there is no notion that “This is who I think I am” . . . no notion that “I am this role or that persona.” Yet the non-realized, knowing no peace during the day, know little peace at night, either.
At the theta level, they are still dreaming - just as when they were walking about earlier during the day. And in those dreams - or nightmares - they are “this” or “that” again and facing all sorts of relative challenges that seem real - again, just as when they were walking about in their sleep during the day.
And even identification with the consciousness provides no rest, for even when asleep, I - the consciousness - know that sleep is happening. It is I that must stay on task, directing the lungs to expand and contract, directing the heart to expand and contract.
No rest even then. The stable peace and silence comes to stay not with abidance as “a being” or as “the consciousness” but with abidance as that original, natural state.
If delta level sleep does happen among the non-realized, even then there is only a temporary release from self, but upon returning to the awake state, the belief in the self / selves also returns, bringing with it all of the nonsense of the relative.
Now some have reported, “For me, there is only the Self, whether in that deepest level of sleep, or while going into and out of the samadhi state, or in the turiya state.”
Yet where is the stability there when going to sleep and awakening, when going into and out of samadhi, or when in the turiya state? But wait. What of turiyatita?
[The following is for those seekers at the “highest” level only: have you considered not only that which is prior to consciousness but also that which is beyond realisation? Do you understand the distinction between the consciousness and awareness? If so, do you understand that which is beyond even that? Have you understood the pointers offered in the book from The Absolute to the Nothingness? There is the subject matter for your consideration.]
For those not realized or not fully realized, have you considered the irony that the realized - now fully awake and witnessing the relative existence unfold from an AS IF mode - are enjoying the peace and silence that are typical of the uninterrupted, deep sleep state?
Are you seeing that the non-attachment of that deep-sleep-like existence provides the same respite as what some who believe in “death” refer to as “The Big Sleep”? Your consideration for the day, should you be willing to consider, is this:
Is it not the case that “the person” can be taken to be real during both the waking state and the dream state? Is it possible that the Self is also “the stuff” of the turiya state and the deep sleep state?
Is it possible, however, that - beyond those states that are all associated with the manifest consciousness - that there is a “bigger sleep,” a “bigger silence,” a “bigger peace,” a “bigger Nothing” which (like that “Big Sleep” concept) is “bigger” than all relative somethings combined?
If you would be free of the fluctuations of the relative, then there is that state in which true fixation can happen. There, peace and silence are in a fixed state rather than an ever-fluctuating state.
Here, there is no “one” going into samadhi or out of samadhi. What could possibly be appealing about a temporary respite, especially now that a permanent respite is happening?
The invitation is to take the pointers offered by a realized guide, read the words of a realized guide, consider them not from a state of “deep meditation” but from a state of alertness, and come to know that which is beyond the beingness and the non-beingness and the self and anything else that has seemingly been “realized.”
3. THE UNIVERSAL RESPITE FROM ALL RELATIVE PROBLEMS: DEEP SLEEP
Having transcended those three mental, personal states of waking, dreaming and sleeping, there is no drama, no stage, no acting, no role-playing, and no preoccupation with any personal identity.
The
body is yet “living,” but that is happening from the platform of that “deep
sleep” state - that is, from the platform of being awake, aware, and attentive
while also functioning AS IF soundly and deeply “asleep.”
[This was shared: For the 300+ “hits” by visitors to the site this week from
India, and for any other seekers that might be interested, this side note is
offered: Some speak of the nirivikalpa samadhi state when they talk of this
transcendence. All belief in experience has ended, as has all first-level
witnessing, as has “the mind,” as has belief in duality.]
Therefore, this is what happened with the speck called “floyd”: first, abidance
happened as Awareness (and note that post-manifestation, Awareness is, but it
is not “aware of.”)
Now,
abidance happens as that which is even beyond Awareness . . . prior to manifested
and purified consciousness and prior to aware ness of awareness both.
Here is the way a visitor named Ginny views it:
G.:
You write of the state that is after the stop and before the go. After the wave
joined the sea and before it formed again.
F.:
Yes. In fact, long before the go . . . allowing the going itself to stop.
Of course the writing about that state could only follow the abidance as that
state, allowing for the abandonment of all going (and doing and zooming) as
well as the abandonment of all belief in go-ers and do-ers as well.
As a result, all attachment has ended. For the non-realized, the curse of
attachment is the anchor that prevents taking flight and being free and feeling
light and unburdened. Here is the way Maharaj described the dilemma that the
non-realized face:
“ . . . all your preoccupations with yourself are only in your waking hours and
partly in your dreams; in sleep all is put aside and forgotten. It shows how
little important is your waking life, even to yourself, that merely lying down
and closing the eyes can end it. Each time you go to sleep you do so without
the least certainty of waking up and yet you accept the risk.
“In deep sleep you are not a self-conscious person, yet you are alive. When you
are alive and conscious, but no longer self-conscious, you are not a person
anymore. During the waking hours you are . . . on the stage, playing a role,
but what are you when the play is over?
“You are what you are; what you were before the play began, you remain when it
is over. Look at yourself as performing on the stage of life. The performance may
be splendid or clumsy, but you are not in it.
You
merely watch it - with interest and sympathy, of course - but keeping in mind
all the time that you are only watching while the play (“life”) is going on.”
To abide in such fashion as being “alertly asleep” or being in a state of “wakeful
sleep” is to enjoy the peace and silence that happen post-realization but prior
to mahasamadhi.
Here, it is almost AS IF mahasamadhi has happened as well, being free of
anything to do with the relative or with its dualistic fluctuations between
being content and discontent; being joyous and miserable;
being free and restricted; being light and heavy; being relaxed and constricted; or, as in many cases, being mired in suffering without any variation or fluctuating at all.
FROM A VISITOR: All the recommendations so far seem like your [sic] telling people to just run away. I choose to try to help people and make the world a better place. You cannot deny that some people help and other people hurt.
F.: First, there is no suggestion at all to run away. The only thing that persons (the non-realized) could run away from would be the mirages that they take to be real - illusions that generate fiction-based misery and suffering;
yet even that would never be suggested, any more than it would be suggested that persons should run away from ropes that look like snakes.
Furthermore, to be free of belief in the false selves - and their desires and fears which perpetuate instability at the least and misery and suffering more often than not - does not require running anywhere.
If you consider yourself a seeker, understand that You are where you would go and You are that which you seek. Understand also that what is sought can only be found and known and understood “now” and “here,” not by running away to somewhere you seem to take to be “there.”
Maharaj was once similarly charged with recommending “escape.” His reply was different from the response above, but it provides another means for understanding the difference in escapism and realization and also addresses your idea about helping “people” and “the world”:
“The only way to renewal lies through destruction. You must melt down the old jewellery into formless gold before you can mould a new one.
“Only the people who have gone beyond the world can change the world. It never happened otherwise. The few whose impact was long lasting were all knowers of reality. Reach their level and then only talk of helping the world.”
Of course, when it comes to “ego-states” or mirages or any illusions, there is no real “destruction” since that which does not exist cannot be destroyed. Belief in it can come to an end, though, simply by seeing clearly.
As for “some helping and some hurting,” of course that can be applicable as far as the relative existence goes. But all dualities (including helping vs. hurting) are “the stuff of which dreams are made,” and the relative is nothing more than a dream.
If you want to try to help, try to help, but the invitation is to do so with a clear understanding of what can and cannot be done in the absence of any “do-er.”
Otherwise, you will miss the truth that you cannot provide any permanent help to “persons” or to what you take to be “the world” any more than you can help a mirage. “Realized non-dualists” make clear that you are not in the world . . . that the world is in you.”
You might make some temporary “difference” in terms of the relative’s ebb and flow between light and darkness, between peace and war, between preserving lives vs. ending lives.
But no permanent change will come, so to engage in any such actions from a standpoint of non-realization will only generate frustration along with fluctuations between an egotistical sense of success and a debilitating sense of failure.
When Maharaj was asked in the ‘70’s about war and suffering that were occurring at the time, his answer further clarifies the pointer offered in the previous paragraph. The way he explained it was as follows:
“I am reading newspapers, I know what is going on! But my reaction is not like yours. You are looking for a cure, while I am concerned with prevention.
“As long as there are causes, there must also be results. As long as people are bent on dividing and separating, as long as they are selfish and aggressive, such things will happen.”
“If you want peace and harmony in the world, you must have peace and harmony . . . ; such change cannot be imposed; it must come from within. Those who abhor war must get war out of their system. Without peaceful people, how can you have peace in the world?
“As long as people are as they are, the world must be as it is. I am doing my part in trying to help people to know themselves as the only cause of their own misery. In that sense I am a useful man. But what I am in myself, what is my normal state, cannot be expressed in terms of social consciousness and usefulness.
“No doubt, striving for the improvement of the world is a most praiseworthy occupation [if] done selflessly . . . . but soon man will realise that he pursues a mirage.
“Local and temporary improvement is always possible and was achieved again and again under the influence of a great king or teacher; but it would soon come to an end, leaving humanity in a new cycle of misery.
“It is in the nature of all manifestation that the good and the bad follow each other and in equal measure. The true refuge is only in the unmanifested.”
That last sentence should make clear that the three pointers offered so far in this series are not about “running away” but are very much about being in touch with Reality and aware of THAT, here and now.
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.
