Advaita Vedanta: OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF TOTAL FREEDOM

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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."

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.

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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.)

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

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]

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.

OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF TOTAL FREEDOM

“ . . .You are afraid of freedom!”

-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Realization is but the opposite of ignorance.”
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Those in the modern day fighting-and-war-prone cultures which have historically been among the warrior societies (EX.: Germany, the U.K., the U.S.) and those that are newcomers to the ranks of the fighting cultures have an especial challenge, having been programmed and conditioned so that they now normalize conflict.

To that end, religions have long encouraged its members to be willing to “fight for their beliefs,” to “stand up for their God” and to proselytize . . . to go forth and spread their message and encourage others to join them. At times, that assignment has generated arguments, fights, debates, and violence.

Religious wars have been central throughout the last 5000 years of human history as they have been prone to conquest and land-grabbing in order to take the resources of subjugated peoples and their lands. At one point in what is now called Israel, there were two kingdoms and twelve tribes.

The Jews chose a stance that provides a popular rational for invading all of the land of the others: “God said that he wants us to take over all of your territory and spread our dogma and beliefs and teachings. Oh, and by the way, to substantiate our position, you should know that God said he chose us . . . that we - not you - are his chosen people. Everything we do, therefore, is God-approved and whatever we take is deserved by us since we’re His favorite among all.”

To that end, the early history of the Jews shows how involved they were in a continuous series of wars with different tribes from a different kingdom to take what God supposedly promised them. Eventually, the Jews prevailed in most of the wars of land ownership and control.

Today, the pattern is being played out again. Look at a current map of Israel and see what has happened since November 20, 1947 when the U.N. voted to partition what was then the free and autonomous state of Palestine into two states and give large parts of Palestine to Jews.

The Palestinians part of their homeland grew smaller and smaller until today about 5 million Palestinians live in one of three small areas (all of which have been occupied and controlled by Israel since 1967)

The Israeli government disputes the accuracy of this series of maps below showing how the Palestinians’ homeland has been taken away from them; however, objective reports from outside observers back up this map showing in green the territory which they occupied in 1946 and what they occupy now.

[The same would happen when Europeans decided to kill 150,000,000 of the indigenous peoples in what is now called North, Central, and South America and confine the relative few “savage, pagan survivors” of the American Holocaust to small reservations of land and take all of the rest of their land and resources without payment.]

Yet even the grabbers descendants in present societies have available to them a process that can move them beyond the effects of such programming so that they can be free and independent and then be truly at peace. The questions are, “Are you really interested in total peace?” and “Are you really interested in total freedom?”

DEFINING FREEDOM - CONVENTIONAL SOURCES (cont.)

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 bloody, virgin-gutting ceremony that they thought would guarantee that their crops would receive the needed water. That ceremony led to the similar ceremonies which 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, allowing self-appointed priests to program them 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, I exclaimed: “Say what?!” A few instances of corporal punishment later, questioning ended and “unquestioning faith” - or at least silence - began.]

In the non-duality based fictional novel The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders, it is shown how - pre-Abraham - there were multiple gods and goddesses who each had a “specialty”: protecting believers while they slept; protecting believers while they fought wars; granting fertility to believers; providing food and the rain that was required to grow it; etc., etc., etc.

The blending of multiple gods into one god by Abraham 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. My mother for decades prayed that prayer without knowing she was calling upon ancient Greeks and Roman gods and goddesses to grant her favors and wishes.

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.

To be continued.

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.]

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