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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BEING
MADE CRAZY, CRAZY, STAYING CRAZY or AWARE OF CRAZINESS AND SEEKING SANITY
“Insanity is universal. Sanity is rare. Yet there is hope because the moment we perceive our insanity, we are on the way to sanity.”
--Sri
Nisargadatta Maharaj
“This is the function of the Guru - to make us see the madness of our daily living.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Be empty of all mental content, of all imagination and effort, and the very absence of obstacles will cause reality [and Reality] to rush in.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
THE MASQUERADE:
“Covering” and Concealing Insanity and Phoniness and Cons
Would that there were some way to peer into the depths of the warped minds that are difficult to detect when cultures camouflage and normalize abnormalities.
Alas,
most have no ability - or willingness - to see such abnormalities, especially
if “love” is involved. (The case in not that “love is blind”; the case is that “love”
is color blind, unable to see red flags when they are being waved
before one’s very eyes).
Consider, if you will: some might think it would be nice if everyone on the
planet who is suffering from personality disorders or clinically-diagnosable
insanity could be required to have a glassy-eyed or blank or dazed or dull or
empty or glazed or vacant stare to make clear their mental disorders.
Yet many among the mentally-ill masses are masters at “covering” and concealing, common tools used by cons and would-be controllers and advertisers and politicians and religious or “spiritual” leaders.
Andrew Lloyd Webber addresses that issue in the lyrics of the opening song to Act II in his version of The Phantom of the Opera. Act II begins with the ensemble descending a grand staircase and singing a song which mocks humankind’s affinity for playing false, phony roles:
CHORUS
Masquerade! Paper faces on parade . . .
Masquerade! Hide your face,
so the world will never find you!
Masquerade!
Every face a different shade . . .
Masquerade! Look around -
there's
another mask behind you!
Flash of mauve . . .
Splash of puce . . .
Fool and king . . .
Ghoul and goose . . .
Green and black . . .
Queen and priest . . .
Trace of rouge . . .
Face
of beast . . .
Faces . . .
Take your turn,
take a ride on the merry-go-round . . .
in
an inhuman race . . .
Eye of gold . . .
Thigh of blue . . .
True is false . . .
Who is who . . .?
Curl of lip . . .
Swirl of gown . . .
Ace of hearts . . .
Face
of clown . . .
Faces . . .
Drink it in, drink it up,
till you've drowned in the light . . .
in
the sound . . .
RAOUL / CHRISTINE
But who can name the face . . .?
ALL
Masquerade! Grinning yellows, spinning reds . . .
Masquerade! Take your fill -
let the spectacle astound you!
Masquerade! Burning glances, turning heads . . .
Masquerade! Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you!
Masquerade!
Seething shadows breathing lies . .
Masquerade!
You can fool any friend who ever knew you
Masquerade!
Leering satyrs, peering eyes . . .
Masquerade! Run and hide -
but
a face will still pursue you!
(The
ENSEMBLE activity becomes background, as certain characters come to the fore
and engage in dialogue. Then the singing continues)
ALL
Masquerade! Paper faces on parade Masquerade!
Hide
your face, so the world will never find you!
Masquerade!
Every face a different shade
Masquerade! Look around,
there's another mask behind you!
Masquerade! Burning glances,
turning heads Masquerade!
Stop and stare
at
the sea of smiles around you!
Masquerade!
Grinning yellows, Spinning reds
Masquerade! Take your fill,
let the spectacle astound you!
Some might prefer an obvious, physical type of “early warning system” or a kind
of “Relationship DEFCOM System” (that is, an early-warning, “Defense Readiness
System”) that sounds a blaring “ah-ugggg-ah” alarm when one is in the presence
of another with severe personality disorders or a developing or full-blown case
of insanity. [By the way, the system exists internally, but most never use it
when blinded by the fears and desires of their personas.]
Some would probably appreciate such a system that would begin sounding a
fairly-quiet “DEFCOM Level 5” warning as you were being approached by a
truly-disturbed individual who is able to hide quite skillfully her or his disturbances;
with
such a system, the closer that person comes, the louder the alarm would sound,
reaching a “DEFCOM Level 1” full alert which would make clear that an “Emergency
Condition” is present inside the one approaching.
Such a system could trigger an awareness inside you when exposed to the mental
and / or emotional toxicity of one suffering from personality disorders and
mental and emotional illness.
Yet the limbic brain would likely override the
alarm system if you found the one approaching to be “really attractive,” doing
what that part of the brain always does and allowing distorted perceptions to
supersede good sense.
Again, to the vexation of those who end up dealing with persons with
personality defects and mental problems, most who are suffering from
personality disorders or milder degrees of insanity or even
clinically-diagnosable insanity can - and usually do - appear to be quite sane
for a time; thus, the realized non-dualists' warning about . . . “appearances.”
This has been shared on occasion:
Grandmother and the others among her tribe now called “Cherokees” as well as
among many other tribes asserted that “Truth is nothing more than the space
between exhalation and inhalation.” Do you understand why some non-dual guides
offer the pointer that “silence speaks”? Again,
(A) Truth cannot be stated, so only in the silence can the Truth be known;
(B) only in the silence can the inner resource / inner guru be heard; and
(C) only in the space between exhalation and inhalation can Truth be realized.
Yet all of the blockages to being able to differentiate the true from the false
must be revealed by a realized guide to a seeker before anything in the silence
can be understood.
Just as one cannot know what she or he does not know, those who are dysfunctional as a result of personality disorders do not know (or will deny) that they are dysfunctional, and those who are insane - to whatever degree - will deny that anything is wrong with them at all.
[One woman said some time ago, “I really never considered that my frequent mood
swings and my shifts . . .
from being turned on by a man one moment to being turned off by him the next
moment or
from being very happy one day to being very sad the next day or
from being totally available to someone one moment but totally unavailable to
him the next moment or
from being warm and affectionate with someone one moment to being cold and mean
to him the next moment
was abnormal until you brought it up.
“I
have always thought the shifts were just part of the normal ebbs and flows
going on inside my body and that, since I have always thought of them as being
normal, then everyone else should as well. And if they didn’t accept it, I didn’t
care. But I’m certainly willing to undertake an objective inventory and look at
myself.”
[It didn’t happen. A glance at the possibility of being abnormal both mentally
and emotionally came and went, and no understanding or clarity or change
manifested at all. In fact, the only thing that manifested was egotism, which
then inspired the writing and sharing of an extensive list of her assets - a
list that included no liabilities at all.]
Thus: as sane as it is to be able to spot disorders and insanity in others who
are going crazy or who are already insane, it is evidence of far more sanity
when persons are able to see that they are going crazy or that they are already
insane to one degree or another as a result of faulty programming, totally
nonsensical conditioning, warped domestication, and exposure to the most
perverted and twisted and sick acculturation and indoctrination and
brainwashing processes imaginable.
The estimate is that 100% of the people on the planet suffer from some
personality disorder to one degree or another, and most suffer from a
combination of several.
(Therefore,
guides of non-duality for thousands of years have warned people of the ill
effects of personality and have offered a means by which persons can be free of
the ill effects of personality assumption if they are seeking and willing and
ready.)
Furthermore, the cases of those around the globe who are suffering from mental
and emotional illnesses are increasing geometrically.
Add to that both ignorance and learned ignorance - which are running rampart all over the face of the planet - and never before has there been a greater need for the use of all of the means and methods available to address ignorance;
never
has the need been greater to wipe out the consequences of learned ignorance;
never has the need been greater to make persons aware of the heavy toll of
personality entrapment and the subsequent disorders that come with assuming
personas as identities and with adopting ego-states as identities;
and never has the need been greater than now to address and reduce the high
levels of what Maharaj (not too gently) called widespread “ignorance” and “stupidity” and “insanity.”
[Note: Do you find offensive the terms Maharaj used? Then ask, “WHO is offended?” The fact is, the truth will set you free, but it will likely anger and infuriate you to no end before doing so.]
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.
