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. Also, by clicking on NUMBER FOURTEEN," visitors can also see the introductory discussion on non-duality on Walter's non-duality site and then a Q and A session which followed.]
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 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?
6. 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.
ARE YOU AT THE WET CHARCOAL STAGE OR THE GUNPOWDER STAGE?
(Most haven’t a clue and must be told)
Pointers from Maharaj make clear that both (2) keeping the relative existence simple rather than complicated and (b) casting aside belief in any and all personality identifications are vital.
“. . . Personality is only an obstacle.”
“The dissolution of personality is followed always by a sense of great relief, as if a heavy burden has fallen off.”
“How utterly dependent is the personality.”
“It is all very simple”
“Truth is simple and open to all. Why do you complicate?”
“Be simple, be humble.”
“You are deeply complex, mysterious, hard to understand.”
“Give up all ideas about yourself and simply be.”
“It is all very simple; it is the presence of the person that complicates.”
“It is the simple that is certain, not the complicated.”
“It is all very simple”
and
“Be simple, be humble”
and
“Give up all ideas about yourself and simply be”
and
“It is all very simple; it is the presence of the person that complicates”
and
“You are afraid of being impersonal”
and
“It is the simple that is certain, not the complicated.
So, we reviewed the case of a man who was so insane that he believed that multiple false identities which are just mirages of the mind can actually be threatened; thus, he became driven by his mirages to kill his wife whom he thought was threatening those mirages.
Then we reviewed the case of a man who was so insane that he believed that multiple false identities which are mirages of the mind can actually be threatened, thus, he returned to the workplace where he has been fired and he killed people there.
Now, the question is, “Are those examples of the destructive, thermonuclear power of personality identifications the most typical illustrations of what it is like when the masses abide under the influence of the hidden agendas of their false personal identifications?” The answer is, “No. Of course not.”
So what are the more typical effects? Pain involves the suffering which the elemental plant food body can experience during the relative existence. Misery involves the suffering generated by the human mind. And what in the human mind generates the most misery?
Belief systems including the belief that fictional identities are real; that fictional identities can be threatened; and that action must be taken to defend one's fictional identities, those mirages of the mind.
If you’ve been following this discussion or visiting this site regularly, you understand the functioning / dysfunctioning of the human mind and the ways that personality identifications have hidden subconscious agendas which can unconsciously determine and control the thoughts and words and actions of the billions of non-realized humans on the planet.
Consider this exchange from 2006:
From a site visitor: “You’ve mentioned personas as being
at the core of all relative existence problems and you’ve mentioned the high
divorce rate in the U.S. It appears my wife and I may be headed there. Is there
anything in the teachings that can help?”
F.: There are certain “relative existence problems” that do
not involve personas, but usually personas are - as you say - at
the core of most. An example of problems that don’t deal have personas
at the core might be the damage caused by tornadoes and hurricanes; yet even
then personas are typically exposed when humans use their supernatural
beliefs to try to explain totally natural events.
Recently, a man living in the Midwest stood with a reporter before the remains of what had been his house but had been reduced to a slab littered with the remaining debris.
The tornado that destroyed the home was a natural occurrence, but once this actor was placed on a national stage, the supernatural role that he had assumed said, “The good Lord wanted it so he took it . . . nothing I can do about it but rebuild.”
The fact that he believes his “Lord” to be “good” after having destroyed his home exposes the dualistic thinking which accompanies personas (“good” vs. “bad”). He also exposed his religious programming - his learned ignorance - by expressing a belief . . . that a Lord is “good” even if he decides arbitrarily to destroy your home.
[Recently I heard a woman whose personas drove her to say something totally insane about a granddaughter who had been murdered: When an interviewer from a national news network asked about the misery she was still experiencing years after that murder, she said:
“You know, if she had died from a disease or from an accident, it would not hurt because I would know that would have been ‘God’s Will,’ but to be murdered? That not ‘God’s Will.’ Her killing was a whole different deal.”
That was not “grandmother” speaking. That was “The Super Religious One”
speaking, “The Programmed One” speaking, “The Proselytizer” speaking, “The One Trapped
in the Learned Ignorance of Blind Faith” speaking.]
The invitation to you is to try a different tactic: try to separate the perceptions you have about
what is happening in your relative existence from the reality and to allow the
events to unfold without overlaying any unnatural or supernatural perspectives
on these relative events you’re facing.
Too, the pointer is offered that you can witness these proceedings as they happen without complicating the relative events, which is what will result if your personas drive you to take actions that would only exacerbate your problems.
Next, use the search tool at the top of this
page to find the phrase “as if” and see what it is like post-realization to
live “as if” any of this matters while knowing full well that it
doesn’t. A different perspective might bring some relative relief.
That said, let the focus move from problems which evolve from natural
influences to the “relative existence problems” which evolve from belief in personas.
Why?
So the non-dual understanding might guide you to become free of the
influence of those personas and the misery which they generate. With
the problems in your “relationship,” personas - and their accompanying
egotism - are always at the core. Look at the continuum of personas
and roles that were probably played in this “relationship” you speak of:
Likely, the first roles being played were “strangers.” Next
came “acquaintances” followed by “friends”
followed by “confidants and communicators” followed by “lovers”
followed by “spouses” followed by “non-communicators”
followed by “strangers again” (e.g., ‘I don’t even know
who you are’) followed by “enemies” followed by “mortal
enemies” who will try to destroy each other.
(In place of all that,
why not allow the illusory ego-states to be destroyed?) It is suspected if you
look objectively at the sequence above, you’ll see where most of those roles
were assumed. How could a “relationship” based in so many lies and some many
false identities and so much game-playing possibly succeed? The majority do
not.
Is there anything in the understanding which might “help”? Here are a few
considerations:
To see that there is no “one” who needs help would be one suggestion, but as
embroiled as you likely are in the misperception that you’re dying, that will
be difficult. To see that what is actually happening - that a role which was
being played is about to be played no more - might allow you to transition
beyond some of the relative-existence turmoil.
That would allow you to realize that nothing is happening to you and that something merely appears to be happening to certain roles that were not you. But to see anything clearly when in a state of emotional intoxication is usually impossible, whether that emotional intoxication is being generated by . . .
. . . a pending divorce,
. . . by a “death,”
. . . by a rousing religious service,
. . . by spiritual giantism,
or
. . . by any persona that mistakenly believes it must be supported, that it is under attack, and that you must strike out to survive the attack . . . none of which is true.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
To watch the most recent talk and Q&A with Walter and his guests, 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 and why learning more is not the answer and why unlearning is the answer, click:
