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.
IN TERMS OF “REALIZATION” AS A NON-DUAL PROCESS, THE MATH AIN’T MATHING
“The math ain’t mathing.”
Taraji P. Henson
“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
“Go
forth, unburdened with ideas and beliefs.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
. . . “Go home, take charge of your father’s business, look after your parents in their old age. Marry the girl who is waiting for you; be loyal, be simple, be humble. Hide your virtue, live silently.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“ . . . Question wisely. You will find you know nothing for sure - you trust on hearsay.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“A little learning can be a dangerous thing.”
--Alexander Pope
“Anything short of total un-learning is a far-more-dangerous thing.”
--floyd
Pre-”Journey” Considerations, continued
Alexander
Pope’s observation has been shared: “A little learning is a dangerous thing.”
Here, the pointer is, “Anything short of
total un-learning is a far-more-dangerous thing.”
Often when the work with a seeker begins, an intuitive sense here makes it apparent that - before the direct path, Nisarga teachings / un-teachings are offered - a need for the laying of a foundation is indicated.
In
such cases, some prior-to-beginning-the-”journey”-insights must be grasped if
the seeker is to have any chance at all of being led to the end of the “path”
where freedom and happiness and stability and a complete restoration of sanity
await.
If the Ultimate Sickness is consider “monstrous,” then the monster must be
wiped out; the last thing that should happen is that a new or different kind of
monster is created
(which
is exactly what happens with most persons who become fascinated with - or engrossed in, or captivated by - any of
the hundreds and thousands of philosophies, ideologies, religions, and
spiritual movements that have come and gone or that have come and stayed over
the centuries).
With the Direct Path Method used here - in conjunction with the Nisarga Yoga -
the first understanding required is that anything considered a “teaching” or a “concept”
is actually a thorn being used to remove thorns . . . to be tossed when the
understanding is firm.
Some,
however, cling to the thorns and use them to prick themselves or others, so
this explanation is intended to prevent that from happening.
Of all of the pre-”Journey” understandings that are necessary, next is the
summative statement of the Advaita teachings, specifically, “I AM THAT; I AM.” “Direct
Path realization” and the Nisarga Yoga are not “about” being THAT alone,
detaching from the AM-ness, or asserting that “nothing in the relative is real.”
Everything
in the reality that is energy or matter is real; the case is that nothing is as
non-realized persons perceive it to be. It is the perceptions / misperceptions
that are not real, that are not based in fact.
Next, why realize if what is realized is not “applied” in the relative (even in
the absence of any “applier”) so that freedom and peace and happiness can
manifest and be enjoyed at the only time those can be enjoyed, specifically,
NOW (for there is no “after-NOW”). Nisarga living IS “about” living naturally
now, freely now, sanely now, and happily and blissfully now.
So the seeker beginning the “journey” should understand that while the word “advaita”
means “not two” (that is, “non-duality”) the summative statement seems to some
novices to suggest two-ness. That is not the case.
Just
as frosting can be placed atop a cake but the end product is still a cake -
just one single treat - so it is when THAT (Reality) is overlaid on the
AM-ness: a far sweeter but singular treat is the result.
Note, therefore, that only the Oneness is being pointed to with the summative
statement, even though some might conclude that there are two aspects to the
One.
(Simply
because a human body might have a torso and two arms and two legs does not mean
that a person has multiple bodies. There is only one body in spite of what
appears to be some sort of multiplicity at work.)
Other additional points to be understood include the following:
1. The intent is not to generate a new, false identity of “The Philosopher”
(which would soon be ungraded by the ego-defense mechanism of egotism to “The
Super Philosopher”). There are more than enough (or even far too many)
philosophers running about;
and most so designated are unemployed, a college degree in philosophy presently
heading the list of the most useless degrees of all. Transforming the non-realized
masses from sleepwalkers and sleep-talkers into deep thinking and pensive and
overly-serious and instructive (and really boring) philosopher-types is not
what these teachings are “about.”
The intent, as far as the realized Nisargan is concerned, is not to inspire
seekers to eat, drink and sleep these teachings after full realization happens.
These points were offered in the book “Dancing Lightly”:
“The ‘end game’ with Advaita is not to be able to eat, drink, breathe, talk,
dissect, and analyze Advaita; nor is the ‘end game’ to spend all of one’s
waking hours pontificating about Advaita. The ‘end game’ according to Maharaj,
beyond all else, is this: “Realization is simply about being free of belief in
all of the learned ignorance which one has been taught.”
As a side effect, it is realization which also allows one to reach an understanding that results in a love of silence and solitude; that allows Reality to be overlaid upon the relative so that a Nisarga (natural) manner of abidance happens;
that allows all to happen spontaneously while, ironically, also happening deliberately; and that allows whatever happens - or whatever does not happen - to be enjoyed fully.
With
the sense of limitlessness that manifests post-realization, then all can be
relished: namely, the working required to assure independence, the walking, the
eating, the looking at what nature has to offer, the sitting, the sharing, and,
yes, the dancing”
and
“Moving through the relative existence post-realization is like moving smoothly
across a dance floor (not in some helter-skelter fashion and not in some roller
coaster fashion with excessive up’s and down’s but in a slow, deliberate, even,
level, steady, flexible, and effortless manner)”
2. The intent is not to generate a new, false identity of “The All-Knowing One”
(which would soon be ungraded to “The Super Sage”). That is not what “Direct
Path realization” and nisarga living are “about,” either.
3. The intent is not to generate new, false identities that fall at various
points along any spectrum, including such dualistic extremes as:
a. totally stoic at one extreme to totally uncaring at the other extreme;
b. totally nihilistic at one extreme to excessively concerned at the other
extreme;
c. totally in touch with THAT but not at all in touch with “this,” or
preoccupied with the THAT-ness while ignoring or devaluing the AM-ness;
d. forfeiting the ability to feel while seeking freedom from excessive emoting;
e. not caring at all to caring about everything;
f. reducing all things relative at one extreme to exaggerating all things
relative at the other extreme;
g. giving great value to the fact that one has his / her head in the clouds and
giving no value to having one’s feet planted firmly on the ground;
h. debating and arguing for the sake of debating and arguing rather than
enjoying the freedom of witnessing and the accompanying position of neutrality;
and
abusing the right of freedom of speech while ignoring the pleasure of freedom
from speech.
None of that is what realization and Nisarga / natural living are “about.”
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.
(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.]
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.
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.
(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.]
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.
