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.
TRYING TO TREAT MENTAL AND PHYSICAL PROBLEMS WITH DOGMA OR WITH “SPIRITUALITY”
I’m going to share some background information on one of the best-selling books of all times because it is a book that is spreading a “spiritual message” on a worldwide basis and is leading millions to believe that being spiritual can eliminate mental illness.
There was a man in New York who was planning to write a how-to book on treating and recovering from alcoholism. His plan was to write a 500-600 page work in which he would use the first 150-175 pages to introduce to the readers a summary of what was, at the time, the current medical opinions on alcoholism;
a summary of his own riches-to-rags downfall as a result of abusing alcohol; a
recounting of how he eventually recovered; and then a detailed analysis of the
method that he and certain non-professional associates used to guide others to
recovery from alcoholism.
He intended to include elements of certain Far Eastern philosophies that he had
been attracted to over the years and which he felt could broaden the
perspective of persons and inspire some to visualize things on a grander scale
and to see “The Big Picture.”
He also intended to provide some additional understanding
of the way the universe functions while shifting persons away from focusing
solely on the silliness and pettiness of the relative existence.
After that, he intended to include around 400 pages of “personal stories” and “personal
testimonies” that would give credibility to the efficacy of the method he was
touting.
Then, the bigger plan was to open a network of hospitals around the globe, each
with a professional staff of medical doctors and psychologists who would
address the mental and emotional root causes of addiction - including the
untreated effects of trauma that were common to most sufferers - and then
reverse the insane, self-destructive behavior that manifested alongside
alcoholism.
He arranged for the funds to publish the first edition of the book and began
writing, not really intending to collaborate with the people in Ohio where he
first sobered up. He was not intending to seek any input from them except for
the 400 pages of stories he needed to flesh out the book and to give
credibility and standing to his message.
He was surprised when they began playing “hardball” by demanding to see
chapter-by-chapter previews of the manuscript before they were sent to the
publisher, threatening to withholds to stories he needed to complete the book.
He was further surprised when the first major argument broke out over his
statement that “the main problem centers in the mind.” Being a group of people
who had bought heavily into the religious roots of the plan they had used to
sober up (which was not the author’s plan but was the plan that he was copying
and modeling his method on) they objected to that line.
They believed that “moral
shortcomings” were the root cause of all addictions, including alcoholism, so
the original program called for “moral rearmament.”
The author stood fast, saying something to the effect that all of the
professionals in the field agreed that the roots of the illness were mental and
emotional - along with a physical quirk or allergy that was also recognized. At
that point, a form of blackmail began when the Ohio group said,
basically:
“You can only include the line about ‘the problem centering in the mind’ if you
add another line that says if alcoholics become religious (which they agreed to
call “spiritual” to make the process more palatable to rebellious drunks) then
those alcoholics would heal both mentally and physically,” according to them.
He tried to stand fast again, saying that “being spiritual” had nothing to do
with addressing the mental and emotional issues that the doctors had identified
as what had to be treated to be free of the effects of alcoholism.
Their reply was something along these lines: “Refuse to make the point that
spirituality is the end cure for alcoholism and we will refuse to submit our
stories, which are going to be a major part of the book you plan to
write. No spiritual cure, no stories; no stories, no book.”
He caved. The result: millions upon millions of people over the last 75+ years
have studied the most widely-read book ever on the subject of treating addiction
and alcoholism.
Millions
upon millions have been convinced that they do not need professional treatment
for the trauma and mental and emotional issues that drive their illness but
that they instead only need to be super spiritual.
The author did get the final word in, but only via an appendix, so few every
reach that point in their reading because it is the 569th page of 575 pages in
the third edition. Therein, he inserted a line that went back to the original
point that he and the professionals intended to make all along regarding the
root problem with the alcoholic.
So he
wrote (“sneaked in”) a major point at the end of the book, as if an
afterthought and in a small font that the Midwest crowd accepted, and he
included another of the Far Eastern-based pointers (regarding the inner guru or
the “inner resource” as opposed to an outer resource such as “a God in another
realm”). He wrote:
“With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unexpected inner
resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power
greater than themselves” (that is, greater than their false selves).
So “the
Power” is an inner resource, not an outer resource, he said (which is a purely
Eastern pointer).
The author then differentiated between their religious and non-religious
members, using the term “awareness” to refer to that which came to the
non-religious members and then saying of the other group-within-the-group: “Our
more religious members call it God-consciousness.”
“God-consciousness” for one group; “awareness” for the others.
So much for those who brag that they are in a “spiritual program, not a
religious program” but then mention God and God-consciousness.
In that very
act, according to the co-founder of their program, they are by definition “religious”
if they talk about “God” instead of an awareness of that which comes via the
inner resource.
So what has been the end result for the millions of persons who use that book
and focus on a “spiritual” cure for what is actually a physical and mental
illness?
A $20,000,000 worldwide study of the current effectiveness of their
plan reveals a 1.5% to 3.5% average “success rate,” and “success rate” was
defined in the study as maintaining at least five years of sobriety.
The message for non-dualists is the same message that was intended originally
by that author: the main problem on this planet nowadays centers in the mind
and is rooted in what Maharaj called “stupidity verging on insanity.”
While insanity can most assuredly have a physiological component (chemical imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, etc.) insanity is primarily a mental issue, so the problem of the “mind” must be addressed, whether trying to treat addictions of the Ultimate Sickness itself.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
“The NEWEST OFFER
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.
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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.
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SEND A GIFT BOOK TO SOMEONE
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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.
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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.
