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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IS YOUR RELATIVE EXISTENCE HAPPENING AS IF YOU ARE DANCING LIGHTLY OR AS IF YOU ARE DOING A STIFF, BOOT-STOMPING, GESTAPO-STYLE MARCH?
Today:
Being Judgmental Blocks Lightness
To the recent pointers on harmony, disharmony, and the “not-two harmony,” there has been added an element of judgmentalism by some. Let it be said that, here, there will be no endorsement of any of the many so-called “teachers” who report that they are teaching this or that;
Moreover,
there will be no talk of one method being superior to another method. Five main
methods of passing on the non-dual message have long existed along with
hundreds or thousands of new variations and distorted “takes”; seekers can
investigate and determine on their own which might be relevant to their search.
As with Maharaj, there are cautions against false prophets and big name
teachers in general, but those seeking to debate the pro’s and con’s of “individuals”
or desiring to discuss “things personal” about teachers will have to continue
their search.
Let
it be said that there is much misunderstanding among those who think they have
realized and who now want to judge teachers and draw conclusions about what
amounts to nothing more than the variety of ways that the relative existence
can unfold post-full-realization. Consider:
Questioner: “Must I not examine the teacher before I put myself entirely into
his hands?”
Maharaj: “By all means examine! But what can you find out? Only as he appears
to you on your own level.”
Q: “I shall watch whether he is consistent, whether there is harmony between
his life and his teaching.”
Maharaj: “You may find plenty of disharmony - so what? It proves nothing. Only
motives matter. How will you know his motives?”
Q: “I should at least expect him to be a man of self-control who lives a
righteous life.”
So one who believes he had the ability to judge a teacher of non-duality speaks
of controlling a “self” and speaks of the duality of “righteous” (vs.
unrighteous). Interesting.
Of course one must be awake to the words being shared for there are far more
false prophets than so-called “teachers.” Maharaj’s warning about aligning with “the
big name teachers” differs here only in that he said that “if you do that, you’ll
get what you deserve.” Here, the message is, “if you do that, you will not get what you
deserve.”
Judging and critiquing and ascertaining and assessing and testing and all other
such nonsense of the type that led to two people being tossed from this
electronic loft recently are futile exercises. Those recent exchanges here
differed somewhat from the Q” and “M” exchange above. Again, here’s the crux of
the exchange with M.:
Questioner: “Must I not examine the teacher?”
Maharaj: “By all means examine!”
The recent exchange here went like this:
Questioner: “Must I not examine the teacher? I have examined you and find that
you fall short.”
F.: “Better that you examine yourself.”
So many who think they have walked into the light are not there at all and want
to point out all the ways that the realized are “not living the way that a realized
one would live.”
Such belief will block any seeker from understanding the
pointers being offered here regarding light and lightness, harmony and
disharmony, and everything else as well.
First, there is no pattern or mold or standard by which those standing in the
full light of the noonday sun must live out the relative existence. Some guide;
some do not. Some indulge ego and egotism while some will toss an egomaniac out
of a loft (or the living room in a home) tout de suite.
Some
post-realization withdraw fully; some merge. Some continue with past relations; some end them.
But the more relevant point is this: you need not enter into an ego-driven act
of judgment to determine authenticity or lack thereof. Whatever you think you
are seeing outside of you is never what you think it is. “Better you examine
yourself.”
If that happens, then one of several things will follow:
1. There will be a resonance triggered within. You may not know Truth, but you
will know that you are hearing pointers to Truth;
2. There might be no immediate resonating within, but if you stay long enough
to be guided through a process of self-examination rather than
teacher-examination, that resonance may manifest eventually;
3. You fail to hear what your ego-states want to hear, so you continue to seek
and search, often seeking the bigger name teacher who surely has the bigger,
better method.
What then of the “not-two harmony” being discussed here? Cannot a test for
harmony be part of the teacher-test that some want to engage in? How valid is
the “harmony vs. no harmony” test? How could one possibly know what is within
the teacher if it is not within the examiner?
Maharaj: “Jnani understands a situation fully and knows at once what needs be
done. That is all. The rest happens by itself, and to a large extent
unconsciously. He is supremely confident that once a situation has been
cognised, events will move in adequate response.
“The
ordinary man is personally concerned, he counts his risks and chances, while
the jnani remains aloof, sure that all will happen as it must; and it does not
matter much what happens, for ultimately the return to balance and harmony is inevitable.
The heart of things is at peace.”
In order to guarantee an environment in which those ready to hear were able to
hear, there were times that Maharaj removed from the loft those who would move
the spotlight from the message to themselves . . . to their false selves.
It certainly appears to many that those removals were “evidence of Maharaj’s
disharmony” and, therefore, “his lack of full realization.” Not so. Recently
during a walk around the lake, a mother was ignoring the fact that her child
was hitting ducks with rocks.
He and his mother both would report to you that “this floyd fellow certainly has no harmony,” but my putting an end to his throwing rocks at ducks happened spontaneously; then, my walk continued as before.
[Maharaj was once asked what he would do if he saw someone beating up a vulnerable person. Maharaj said, “I cannot tell you. When realized, all happens spontaneously, automatically, in the moment. Whatever I might do in that scenario cannot be predicted in advance.”]
Shortly on my walk, there was a shooing away from the face a swarm of gnats. Would that also be deemed evidence of disharmony? When a deer moves away from noise, is that evidence of the deer’s disharmony?
Hardly.
But it must be asked, why the focus on the harmony or disharmony of “others”
when the only thing that is any of your business is your own harmony or
disharmony?
Maharaj: “You create disharmony and then complain! When you desire and fear,
and identify yourself with your feelings, you create sorrow and bondage.
“When you create with Love and wisdom, and remain unattached to your creations, the result is harmony and peace. But whatever be the condition of your mind, in what way does it reflect on you?
“It is only your self-identification with your mind that makes you happy or unhappy. Rebel against your slavery to your mind, see your bonds as self-created, and break the chains of attachment and revulsion.
“Keep in mind your goal of freedom until it dawns on you that you are already free, that freedom is not something in the distant future to be earned with painful efforts but perennially one’s own, to be used!
“Liberation
is not an acquisition but a matter of courage, the courage to believe that you
are free already and to act on it.”
Yet some claim, “It is my inner voice that is telling me about that person,
that teacher, etc.” Understand: when in the darkness of being separated from truth,
the inner voice being heard is not the inner guru but is the voice of one
personality identification after another.
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.
