THE CURSE OF HUMANKINDS’ RELATIVE EXISTENCE: IDENTIFICATIONS

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 newer 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. 

THE CURSE OF HUMANKINDS’ RELATIVE EXISTENCE: IDENTIFICATIONS

“Realisation is but the opposite of ignorance.”

--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

That which is natural is rooted in non-duality; all which involves unnatural thinking and / or supernatural thinking is rooted in duality. 

Whether speaking of (a) Maharaj's lesser focus on the Nisarga Yoga in the beginning or discussing (b) his near-total focus on abiding naturally in the end (as opposed to trying to live supernaturally and / or unnaturally) . . .

then granted - in both cases - all of that is relevant only to the AM-ness, but presently, what happens in the AM-ness impacts every person far more than anything to do with the THAT-ness. 

Consider if you will the pointers contained in these excerpts from a book  which discusses why - on “the journey” to realization - the nisarga yoga understanding in addition to the non-dual understanding is offered here:

A LITTLE LEARNING IS A DANGEROUS THING, BUT A LITTLE UN-LEARNING CAN BE EVEN MORE DANGEROUS

(No “Teachings” Present the Total Picture)

The Spring of 2023 marked the thirty-third year that the non-dual understanding has been offered here as a “package” including the Direct Path Method in combination with the Nisarga Yoga. 

[As with Maharaj, there has been an “evolution” in the message offered. In both cases, it involved an end to blending dogma or spiritual messages and exercises into the Ultimate Medicine mix and concentrating instead on the mental / psychological aspects of the Ultimate Sickness which are its actual basis and singularly form its core. ] 

But why both a “path” and a yoga for a time?

First, it should be said that nothing herein should be interpreted as a criticism of any of the other methods of teachings or any other yoga method which some use.

The content herein is based on seeing what finally “worked” after decades of fruitless seeking in dozens of other venues, including religion, spiritual programs, ideologies, Eastern and Western philosophies as well as trying other methods of non-dual teachings. 

“Realization” for the sake of “realization” - or for the sake of bragging about “being realized” and “better” and “Supreme” and “special” - is useless. 

If the understandings which come via realization are not overlaid on the relative existence (that is, “applied” in the absence of belief in an “applier”) and if a natural and spontaneous manner of abiding does not end all unnatural living and all efforts to live supernaturally and magically, then realization has not happened and all effort to that point has been a waste of time and effort and energy;

furthermore, “full realization” never causes the “fully realized” to dissociate, to be out of touch with the relative existence, to disconnect, or to detach (which is not to be confused with non-attachment). 

[So in the end, Maharaj made clear that realization has nothing to do with most of what dominated his talks for years, including the talks transcribed in the book I AM THAT, and that is why he eventually told seekers to stop reading the talks in that book and to heed what he was sharing in his later talks. Why? 

Because he came to realize that “realization is simply about being free from the effects that learned ignorance have on the relative existence.” Realization, he finally concluded, is not about finding some “True Self” and is not about finding some Supreme Self, Infinite Self, etc. but is about being freed of the ignorance which all persons are taught. 

And that understanding is what led Maharaj to start advising seekers to abandon SELF-Inquiry and the search for some “Real Identity” (or whatever) and to focus instead on conducting a thorough self-inquiry - actually “a false self  inquiry” - and to understand that “it is enough to know who / what you are not.”] 

“Full (rather than partial) realization” ends all distancing and all sense of separation, so the summative statement “I AM THAT; I AM” is not re-written post-realization to “I AM THAT ONLY; FORGET I AM.” It remains “I AM THAT; I AM” and the “not-two-ness” of the statement is clearly understood. 

[It is also understood post-realization that anything involved with THAT is guaranteed to function automatically and spontaneously per the laws of nature and that there is nothing that any human can do, or not do, that can affect THAT in the slightest;

thus, it is sane - for those that would bring about some change, such as a change which might end their misery and suffering and distortion and delusion - to focus for now on the AM-ness alone, realizing that 

(a) THAT is going to function as it does 

and that 

(b) no human or dreamed up Power is going to affect its functioning, either. It does not change and it cannot be changed. What does change and what can be changed? The way that the AM-ness unfolds during the temporary manifestation.] 

The non-dual teachings, if combined with the understanding that the “end game” is about Nisargan (natural) living 

and 

if both are properly presented,

then it will also be seen that all “teachings” actually have no significance at all and that a viable approach will focus on un-learning what has already been taught. 

[Again, that is why at the beginning of this blog and throughout the years when satsanga sessions were being offered prior to posting here, it was explained to seekers that they need not even begin this “journey” if the following is not clear to them:

“the understanding” and “realization” and “enlightenment” and finding some “Supreme Self” or “True Self” etc. are not “the goal” or “the objective” but are merely tools used along the way to reach a point where what was referred to as “Applied Advaita” could happen. What does that term point to? 

It points toward the fact that “the end game” is this: even in the absence of “an applier,” the understanding should provide an ability to be able to differentiate 

(1) between true and false 

and 

(2) between what is natural vs. what is thought to be supernatural - or what is thought to be natural when it is really unnatural - 

and, thereafter,

provide an ability to abide naturally, free of being driven by any of the keys symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness which Maharaj identified as “ignorance, stupidity and insanity.”] 

Yet consider the following from Alexander Pope which many take as “a guide for life” rather than totally ignoring what sounds, at first glance, to be sage advice when he said: “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” 

Here, the pointer is, “A little un-learning can be a far-more-dangerous thing.” 

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

THE NEWEST OFFER

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video, all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.

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:

 

 

 [NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]

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.

PAPERBACK VERSIONS OF SOME OF HENDERSON'S NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE.

If you prefer PAPERBACK copies

of some of Henderson’s non-duality books,

10 of his books are available in PRINT FORM
(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.]

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:

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.

THE EXPLANATION

If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence.

Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of god in the past was of a weak god, an absentee god, A Santa Claus-type god, a mean, punishing, vindictive god, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring god whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to."

The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a god that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly").

Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring god,' any supposed god that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'god' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part.

"That is, a non-narcissistic their god / their goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'god' and focus on the 'god as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you." 

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"

--Yeshu'a (Jesus)

and 

"Heaven and earth shall fade away."

--Yeshu'a (Jesus)

and 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places

but are states of mind, nothing more than

concepts dreamed up by men."

--Pope John Paul II 

"There is no hell."

--Pope Francis, the current pope

in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari,

a writer used by the Pope to issue off the record

teachings which become a part of the Papal Magisterium.

[That said, would that the popes who have shown the courage to reject a core concept of their dogma - namely, "hell" - would find the additional courage required to question the very existence of their institution in light of the centuries-long cover-up of their history of raping children and in light of the mental and emotional and psychological scarring of billions of their members past and present.

And that need for courage also applies as questions need to be asked about why so many other sky cults are still being supported and allowed to continue to exist as well. When certain types of programming and conditioning have been shown to blind the masses, they should end. Will they? Not likely. Why?

Because what the masses think and say and do is most influenced by the international crime families which hold sway over the masses as criminals conduct their planet-wide operations. What are the major international crime families and which are the most influential and have the largest memberships?

The Mafia / La Cosa Nostra; the Catholic Church (with it 1.2 billion followers) whose Vatican Bank worked for decades with the Mafia while laundering mob earnings (for a 15% all-profit charge by the Bank); Protestant and Evangelical Churches (with over 1.2 billion followers) like the one I was raised in where the youth director molested and sexually assaulted young girls; big business which has long created environments in which people have been abused; powerful political bodies like the U.S. Congress, etc., etc., etc.)

With all of those crime families, neither the followers nor the leadership ever voluntarily step down or shut down their criminal activities. Be they gangs, organized crime families, religions, big business, politicians, etc., they all want control and they all want power and they all want money, and nothing internal will interfere with the driving forces at play.

The masses must demand that all those in charge must step down and their groups and institutions must shut down, and there's the real problem because the continuation of their crimes are enabled not as much by the people running such crime organizations as they are enabled by the masses of people who - wanting some perceived "payoff" - remain involved with them and give them money and support them and aid and abet the continued existence of those criminal enterprises and thus facilitate the ability of church criminals and political criminals and other types of criminals to continue to commit their crimes.] 

Here's

the direct link to the VIDEO VERSION 

of the "Awakening Together" satsang session with Regina and Jacqueline referenced earlier, 

18 MARCH 2018

or

You can click on the picture link which has now been added for video "Number Ten" in the upper right-hand column on this page.

If preferred, here's the direct link to the AUDIO VERSION. 

You may click

here 

to visit Floyd's bookstore.