BEING FREE OF THE CONSTANTLY-CHURNING, PEACE-DESTROYING MIND

 

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[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."

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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.)

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BEING FREE OF THE CONSTANTLY-CHURNING, PEACE-DESTROYING MIND

“It is one thing to see children engaged in and controlled by their magical thinking (including Santa, the tooth fairy, guardian angels, floods from an angry god, and - as George Carlin said - ‘same as the four-leaf clover and the horseshoe, same as the voodoo lady who tells you your fortune by squeezing the goat's testicles,’ etc.”

“It is quite another thing to see adults being driven by a childish, magically-thinking mind. The most widespread evidence of their magical thinking is this: all around the globe, there are adult-aged (but child-minded) persons who think that natural events are really supernatural events, caused by god to “send a message.”

“Their examples include hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, blizzards, cyclones, wildfires and pandemics, ad infinitum.”

 --Floyd

It was noted that some people have criticized Maharaj for “inconsistencies” and seemingly “self-contradictory pointers,” especially from one talk to the next in the collection of transcripts in book I AM THAT. Those charges are addressed in detail in the ebook Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and His Evolution

 in which this is explained: 

Some have written that “Maharaj is constantly contradicting himself.” One read I AM THAT and then read some of the last talks and wrote that Maharaj “declined” over time, meaning that Maharaj’s abandonment of the earlier “ultra-spiritual” talks that reinforced the critic’s “Spiritual Giant” persona was no longer reinforcing the false identities of that “Judge / Critic / Super-Religious One / Super-Spiritual One / Super-Rigid One.” 

Maybe pointing to the truth WILL set persons free, or maybe pointing to the truth COULD set persons free, but more often than not it is only going to really infuriate those who come seeking more rather than less or who come seeking reinforcement of their ideas and concepts and beliefs and attitudes rather than seeking a way to be completely rid of all ideas, concepts, beliefs, and attitudes. 

Thus, persons who were reading Maharaj’s earlier talks that reinforced their beliefs were dismayed when he eventually said of the talks transcribed in I AM THAT: 

“That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today”

and 

I am “emphasizing different aspects” now. 

What he offered later differed considerably from his earlier “spirituality-focused” talks, making clear that the pointers in “I AM THAT” will take you to the midpoint of “the race” but that his final talks point the way to “the finish line.” 

Furthermore, it is also true that the “later Maharaj” or “Pure Maharaj” offered less and less tolerance for those “hanging out” at the third of seven steps to Realization (that is, the step where religious or spiritual personas are adopted and played). 

Yes, the religious or spiritual or philosophical roles almost always have to be played for a time, but the longer Maharaj taught, the less tolerant he was of the tendency to fixate at a place on the “path” that is not even the halfway point of the “journey.” 

That having been said, though, the charge that Maharaj’s pointers in I AM THAT were “inconsistent” and “self-contradictory” is not a valid one. To understand why that is the case, one must understand “level-appropriate pointers.” Thus, these questions were asked: 

Rather than being contradictory, is it possible that Maharaj was able to detect where on the “path” any given seeker might be after hearing only a few statements from her or him? Certainly. Then, is it possible that what Maharaj offered would be level-appropriate for any given seeker? Yes. 

And would that mean, in turn, that he might offer a certain pointer to a seeker at a certain place on the “path” that would differ from a pointer that he would offer to a seeker at an earlier point on the “path” or at a later point on the “path”? Yes again. 

Why did Maharaj finally start offering a non-spiritual message to visitors?  

1. Because he knew - as did the author of the book discussed in the beginning of this series - that the main problem with humanity centers in the mind. 

2. Because he knew that the mind is the source of all thinking - which produces the incessant, endless grinding and churning between the ears that - in turn - generates all human misery and suffering and emotional intoxication. 

3. Because he encouraged seekers to reach the no-mind, zero-concept, thinking-free state since that state prevents all magical thinking as well - which is all that supernatural thinking (a.k.a., religious thinking and / or spiritual thinking) amounts to.

4. And because his own observations with seekers who came his way led him to predict that only 1 in 100,000 would realize, revised later to 1 in 1,000,000 and revised later to 1 in 10,000,000. His own experience with them and his own observations made clear that the spiritual approach was not leading to realization. 

Add to that the fact that at the end he was offering a purer version of the Nisarga Yoga which recommends natural living over unnatural (religious) living and over supernatural (spiritual) living. Once natural living manifests, one lives in the same manner as all things natural: without religious beliefs or identities and without spiritual beliefs or identities. 

Thus, he said to two visitors, “Forget spirituality.” 

He encouraged seekers to follow “their normal inclinations,” that is, to follow their natural tendencies, to abandon all of their spiritual work and just abide naturally - not unnaturally and not supernaturally (i.e., neither “religiously” nor “spiritually” nor “philosophically”). 

He told visitors, “Do your normal duties” and “just give up spirituality.” 

Again, to move beyond the misery and suffering that are the effects of the Ultimate Sickness (one symptom of which is magical thinking and the nonsense which that generates) requires that one must move beyond the influence of the content of the mind. 

The problems of humanity are centered in the mind; the mind generates unnatural and supernatural (magical) thinking; so to be sane and logical and at peace, then being influenced by the content of the mind (that is, beliefs) must be transcended. 

While the realized non-duality teacher would ultimately lead the seeker to reality - to full realization - that is not the “end goal” if the Nisarga Yoga is also understood. Maharaj’s advice to “forget spirituality” and to “do your normal duties” and to “just give up spirituality” are also invitations to be free of magical thinking, to get in touch with Reality, but to then also overlay on the relative the understanding that Reality provides in order to not only be in touch with Reality but also to be in touch with “reality.”

Some have countered, “That is so totally ignorant, Floyd. Do you not understand the teaching that ‘nothing is real’?” Regulars on this site know the response given to one woman who teaches that non-fact: 

If you are certain that is the case, then test your claim. Count off fifteen paces from a brick wall, turn and face the wall, bend until your upper torso is parallel with the ground and the top of your head is aimed at the wall, begin running towards the wall as fast as you can, and ram your head into the wall as hard as you can. When you come to, you can then report whether the brick wall is real or not. 

To the contrary of the claim by some teachers that “nothing is real,” the actual fact is that everything is real. It is just that nothing is as it “appears” to be. Place a brick from the wall under an electron microscope and you’ll observe a swirling mass of subatomic particles. 

To be in touch with Reality is not to be removed from “reality.” (The entire summative statement of non-duality is “I AM THAT; I AM,” not just “I AM THAT.”) 

More on that tomorrow.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

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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

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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. 

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