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.
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THE TWO MOST COMMON ADDICTIONS: THE ADDICTION TO CONTROL AND THE ADDICTION TO POWER
“First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and . . . you pray to that God for something good to happen to you.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Some believe that humans want, more than anything else, power. To witness human behaviors all around the globe, it is easy to see why that misunderstanding is so commonplace. It certainly appears that human efforts are focused on getting power:
Personal power; corporate power; financial power; political power; coercive power; sexual power; informational power; social power; local power; state power; national power; international power; religious power; power in relationships; the power of influence; power over the weather; power over illness; etc., etc., etc.
Yet humans do not want, more than anything else, power. What they really want is control. To that end, they are driven to seek and acquire power in order to be able to control what they want to control.
The fact: Maharaj was spot on when he said, “You have invented a God” (or gods and goddesses).
To acquire power, no other single source has been as focused upon in order to get power than the power of a God or gods or goddesses.
DEFINING FREEDOM - CONVENTIONAL SOURCES
l. “Freedom” is the absence of ceremony and the ability to live naturally.
The questions for consideration today are,
A.”Are you interested enough in freedom, in total freedom, to abandon all of the myth-based and ignorance-based ceremonies in your culture that preempt realization?”
and
B. “Have you ever considered that ceremonies are one of the key tools that cultures use for programming and conditioning persons and for reinforcing their belief in superstitions, myths, and lies, thereby blocking any opportunity to see clearly and to see Truth?”
For millions of years, humans lived naturally, without ceremony. A few thousand years ago, language allowed concepts to arise and to be taught and allowed for ceremonies to begin.
Once ceremonies began, persons began living unnaturally and began trying to live supernaturally (that is, religiously or spiritually) in an effort to gain some things and to avoid some things.
Humans for millennia had migrated, following the food (that is, following the migrating herds and hunting animals for food) or visiting places on a seasonal basis (to search for certain edible plants that were ripe and ready to eat at different times of the year in different locations).
Once some humans stopped migrating because they had developed some basic agricultural skills, one of the earliest things they wanted was rain for crops, and they dreamed up a ceremony that they thought would guarantee that their crops would receive the needed water. That ceremony led to the ceremonies that dominate all of the religions of Abraham to this day.
While one advantage of agriculture was that people were no longer forced into constant travel, one disadvantage was that they became slaves to varying weather patterns. Simultaneously with language development came the tool that would be used to spread ignorance and insanity on a global basis as persons became slaves to ceremony.
THE BASIS OF SOME OF THE MOST PREVALENT CEREMONIES THAT DRIVE UNNATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL LIVING
The concept of gods in other worlds who control every aspect of life on this planet was dreamed up to explain what was not understood at the time by ignorant people, so self-appointed priests began programming people to believe, dualistically, that everything “good” or everything “bad” that happened on this planet was determined by whether the other-world gods were pleased or displeased by human conduct.
Ceremonies to keep the gods happy in order to gain reward began to flourish, and peace and contentment or lack thereof became tied directly to persons’ ceremonies and their fictional gods. The imaginary gods that were dreamed up included first a creator-god, a sustainer-god, and a god of punishment and destruction.
Other gods were added into subcategories of those three: a god of rain, a god of death, a god of the sun, a god of the moon, a god of war, a god of love, a god of the underworld, a god of growth, a god of agriculture, a god of wealth, a god of fertility, ad infinitum.
NOTE: The groundwork was laid for Abraham eventually to introduce “The Single God Theory,” but the ignorant masses merely rolled all of their gods into one and came up with the schizophrenic god that is worshipped today by billions.
Why schizo? Because “He” will create and will sustain, but He will, if provoked to anger, also destroy (though supposedly loving unconditionally . . . but not really):
“I created you. You are my child. I will care for you. I love you unconditionally, but I am also willing to cast you into an eternal flame and make you suffer physical pain and mental-emotional misery forever. But again, I do love you unconditionally.”
[As a six-year-old hearing that contradictory nonsense, it was exclaimed: “Say what?!” A few instances of corporal punishment later, questioning ended and “unquestioning faith” began.]
In the non-duality based fictional novel The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders, it is shown how the blending of multiple gods into one god has resulted in the Christian prayer that can be heard three times a day at mealtime, such as this breakfast prayer that starts most days among those affiliated with that faith:
“Dear God from whom all power and life and blessings come, we thank You for watching over us during the night. As our troops prepare for battle overseas, please give them strength and victory over the evil forces. We pray to you in your son’s name, God, to protect our boys and women and give them the strength needed. We ask Your blessing on my grandson and his wife, that they might become pregnant if it is in Your will. Now bless this food that You have given to us for the nourishment of our bodies. Amen.”
That morning ceremony has people talking in their sleep to ancient, pagan gods. Count the number they are speaking to: there is a creator-god, the empowering god, the blessing god, the father god of a savior son, the god of war, the god of fertility, and the god of agriculture.
So without having the slightest clue that they are praying to the multiple gods of the ancient pagan religions, two billion people speak the words they are programmed and conditioned to speak, trapped in their dreams and not free at all because of their ceremonies (including the ceremony of talking to multiple, imaginary gods before one can even eat a meal).
Thus, it can be seen how persons become trapped in their delusions because of their ceremonies which, practiced daily, preempt almost all opportunity for Realization to happen because of the constant “reinforcement by ceremony” of the lies that they believe throughout their cultures. Again, “freedom” is the absence of ceremony and the ability to live naturally.
One of the earliest ceremonies was the ceremony to the god of rain, and that was the basis of the first religious ceremony which is described as follows in the ebook, Spiritual Sobriety.
THE WORLD’S FIRST RELIGIOUS CEREMONY / SERVICE
The message from the first Medicine Man-Priest was: “All in the community must meet to learn about god / the gods.” Once gathered, he told them, “There is a god of rain who lives in another world. He told me that I am his chosen representative on earth. He also said he is not allowing it to rain because he is angry.” (Now, what appeases an angry male? Sex.) So the priest continued:
“The rain god wants a sacrifice - a virgin - and he told me that the one who is willing to die for him will be given a reward in his world. As the rain god’s representative on earth, I will have the virgin for him, sacrifice her to him, and then we’ll have an activity that allows us to commune with that god.
“We’ll cut out her beating heart, pass it around, and share in eating the body and blood; that way, we can all commune with god. Then, by sacrificing and communing, we will be blessed and get what we want from god.”
Thus, a self-appointed “Medicine Man” - claiming without challenge that he was hearing voices from another world - was about to pass on a message of hope to a naïve, superstitious, fear-based people who were in dread of starving.
From that single message and that single act of sacrificing a virgin, that “priest” set forth the basic tenets by which all future religions would operate.
And what was he addressing more than anything, fear notwithstanding? The desire to control.
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.
