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.)
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HOW RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL AND NON-DUAL MESSAGES HAVE BEEN WARPED BEYOND RECOGNITION
You have no choice, only the illusion of it.
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“This is the function of the Guru is to make us see the madness of our daily living. Life makes you conscious, but the teacher makes you aware” [of having been fooled’].”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“There is nothing to seek and find . . . .”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Give up all and you gain all.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“You have accumulated knowledge and experience; this cannot be denied. But of what use is it all to you?”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
THE REQUIREMENT FOR CLEANING
(continued)
Yesterday several examples were offered regarding what the real obstacles is in not seeing clearly.
The non-realized views are marked and marred by their seeing ambiguously, imprecisely, incoherently, obscurely, falsely, mistakenly, irrationally, ineptly, disconnectedly, chaotically, and selfishly.
The parallels:
Outside Louise’s newer cottage, there was beauty and loveliness to be seen and enjoyed, but she neither saw nor enjoyed anything outside her window.
The view remained the same, but the blockages or obstacles to seeing clearly involved a buildup of clutter, dirt, dust, uncleanliness, grim, soil, contamination, and filth.
The mirror mentioned yesterday can prevent persons from seeing themselves as they truly are. Why? Because the image of everything in front of a mirror is reflected backward.
What one thinks is being seen in front of a mirror is an accurate image, but - in fact - the image is a 180-degree reversal of what truly is. Others see you as the reverse of what you believe you look like.
[The term “the honeymoon is over” refers to the moment when all of one’s false images collapse and one is seen for the way that she or he truly is.]
Moreover, the build up of dirt, dust, uncleanliness, grim, soil, contamination, and filth on a mirror can also cause one to become unable to see themselves as they truly are, which is the case with the build up of beliefs in the brain which cause persons to see everything ambiguously, imprecisely, incoherently, obscurely, falsely, mistakenly, irrationally, ineptly, disconnectedly, chaotically, and selfishly.
Weather forecasters have been heard to report, “There’ll be no sun today.” Really? Of course the sun is where it always is. One simply cannot see it because of cloud cover. That's just more of the distortion which is commonplace among the non-realized masses.
Isaiah Berlin said, “‘Negative liberty’ is the freedom from external obstacles or constraints. ‘Positive freedom’ is freedom from internal constraints.”
Now non-dualists would not speak of “negative” vs. “positive” liberty, but the distinction between external obstacles or constraints and internal obstacles and constraints is valid. Those that would realize fully must understand the two.
Abandoning the addictions to control and to attaining the power to be able to control is all about external obstacles and constraints.
The 12.5 million Africans who were rounded up and shipped to what is now called “the U.S.” and who were placed into the then-legal institution of human chattel slavery were dealing with external obstacles or constraints.
[Be not misled by the right-wingers such as Gov. Ron DeSantis and his similarly-warped, like-minded cohorts who endorse a “Slavery As Being A Good Thing” Curriculum in schools, claiming that “enslaved blacks were taught job skills that served them very well after their emancipation.” As one taking a different perspective said, “Anybody that is implying that there was an upside to slavery is insane” - or more likely, is a liar to the greatest degree.]
Along with slaves who were dealing with external obstacles or constraints were those dealing with religious fanatics of a Puritanical bent who were tortured, tried in court by those fanatics, and burned to death. They were dealing with external obstacles or constraints.
So were the women in the U.S. who were not allowed to vote until 1920 and who are still, to this day, seeking pay parity and seeking freedom from being “grabbed by their . . .” well, you know. Only a sociopath would claim that to be his “right.”
Women (and medical providers) have lost the right to choose what can be done with the bodies of women - or patients - in terms of reproduction. They are once more seeking freedom in the U.S., along with freedom from being raped by powerful, usually white men who are still being protected by their powerful usually white male friends who control the good-ole-boys' networks.
People being bombed this morning and killed by the thousands are dealing with external obstacles or constraints as a nation of humans who were once the most abused have become the most abusive.
Children being sexually molested by their religious leaders or relatives or educators are dealing with external obstacles or constraints.
Those who would be free of the effects of present or would-be political leaders who are dictators or fascists are dealing with external obstacles or constraints.
And the list could go on and on, identifying the trillions who have had to deal with external obstacles or constraints and came out on the “losing end.”
The focus of the guide Maharaj and of the guide posting here has long been to focus on the internal obstacles and constraints, especially those stored in the fiction-and-caca-filled minds of humans.
Reportedly, at the age of twelve, Yeshu’a was lecturing Jewish adults in the temple, regurgitating what he had been taught. What happened in the eighteen or so “Lost Years” after he abandoned organized religion and showed up at the age of 30, sharing non-dual pointers?
There’s some evidence of the pointers he was exposed to during their years, but little is known for a fact. But it is reported that he said, “A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways.”
Dual-mindedness is an internal obstacle and constraint, and no matter how limited one might be as a result of the power and influences of external obstacles and constraints, the addressing of internal obstacles and constraints can happen.
As Marley sang, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery / None but ourselves can free our minds.”
The realized guide would say, “Another might show you why you need to be rid of the content of your mind, but a guide cannot free persons from being driven by the ignorant and stupid and insane beliefs stored in their minds. Only those afflicted by the Ultimate Sickness who are given an effective version of the Ultimate Medicine can accomplish that freedom for themselves.”
Because all in
the relative existence truly is relative - that is, all observed and judged via
differing and varying misperceptions only - then the very notions or beliefs
about what is “good vs. bad” and “right vs. wrong” and “better vs. worse” and
“spiritual vs. not spiritual” and “religious vs. not religious” or “spiritual
enough vs. not spiritual enough” and “changed for the better vs. changed for
the worse” will vary from one person to the next. Who, then, could possibly
claim to know which of the above elements in those dualistic pairs are the
“right” ones?
Who believes that he or she can define in absolute terms any or all concepts
and beliefs when all beliefs and concepts are totally relative and not absolute
at all? Only the programmed and conditioned and domesticated and acculturated
and indoctrinated and brainwashed;
only specks of blocked consciousness that have assumed the most arrogant of assumed personas; only those who take themselves to be right and perfect and capable of judging dualistic pairs and determining - without any doubt or question - which of the opposite elements in each pair is at play in any given situation.
Yet all the
time, they might as well be debating “sasquatches vs. unicorns”; “satanic reps
vs. guardian angels”; “tooth fairies vs. Easter bunnies.”
No element of a dualistic pair has any more or any less credibility than the
opposite element in the dualistic pair. All duality is false. It is all a part
of the dream; all a part of the scheme; all a part of the scene. It all amounts
to nothing more than a flash across the screen of blocked consciousness.
Persons viewing movies in 3-D have been seen to jump back in fear when it appears that something has left the screen and is racing towards them. Their perception / misperception is that they really are about to be struck by whatever they think is flying directly at them.
And that is the way that the non-realized masses traverse the relative existence, seeing images and believing that they are all real; believing that some of the images they see are “good”; believing that some of the other images they see are “bad”;
believing that some of the formerly “bad” images have changed or improved and are now “good”; and believing that some of the formerly “good” images have suddenly been exposed and revealed to have been “bad” all along.
It is freedom from internal constraints which is the subject matter of the actual non-dual message, and those constraints are stored in the originally-not-existent parts of the brain called “the mind.”
When large barnacle colonies attach to ships, they can increase weight and drag by 60%. Some barnacles attached to animate objects can be parasites. Such is the case when humans attach to the barnacle-like beliefs stored to the brain via the mind parts therein.
Minds can build up the clutter of beliefs which can then block the consciousness from perceiving clearly (exactly as dirt, dust, uncleanliness, grim, soil, contamination, and filth can do with mirrors and windows) and just as beliefs can do when stored in minds.
Tomorrow: Clearing away the final vestiges of beliefs
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
A talk and Q&A session on Walter Driscoll's non-dual site provided an opportunity to see some totally artificial ego-states fighting for their (imagined) lives.
To watch that talk and Q&A, click:
Walter Driscoll and Floyd Henderson
To watch the interview when Walter and Floyd discussed the fact that the Ultimate Sickness is a mental / mind sickness
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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.
