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 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? 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.
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.
HOW RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL AND NON-DUAL MESSAGES HAVE BEEN WARPED BEYOND RECOGNITION
“There’s no such thing as peace of mind.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“There’s no such thing as peace of mind. There’s only peace if you are out of your mind.”
--floyd
“Originally, every human was mindless.”
--floyd
WHEN DRIVEN BY IGNORANCE OR STUPIDITY OR INSANITY:
Does It Matter?
A man recently asked: “So Maharaj said that the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness are ignorance and stupidity and insanity. I’ve spent a great deal of time considering that and what I don’t understand is this: What is the difference in those three?”
The reply: “Well, do you suppose that you are capable of setting aside egotism and any of the other ego-defense tools you use and become capable of laughing at yourself for a moment rather than taking yourself so seriously?”
Man: “I don’t figure this is going to take me anywhere I want to go. Haha.”
F.: We shall see. To begin, consider that it would be evidence of ignorance (a) if someone taught a person to spend a great deal of time trying to find the difference in ignorance and stupidity and insanity and then (b) that person actually did exactly that.”
Maharaj: “Realisation is but the opposite of ignorance.”
Man: “I was certain this was coming.”
F.: “To continue: It would be evidence of stupidity if the man wasted a great deal of time trying to find the difference in ignorance and stupidity and insanity because he lacked the level of realization and brainpower which would prevent a person from being concerned in the very least with finding the distinction between the three.”
Maharaj: “Man alone can destroy in himself the roots of pain. Others can only help with the pain, but not with its cause, which is the abysmal stupidity of mankind.”
F.: “And it would be evidence of insanity if the man wasted a great deal of time trying to find the difference in ignorance and stupidity and insanity because he was being driven by the hidden agenda of multiple personas, by extreme pedantry and nitpicking and pretension to try to differentiate between ignorance and stupidity and insanity (which would block one from seeking an understanding of the bigger picture”).
I recently shared this pointer from Maharaj: “Insanity is universal. Sanity is rare. Yet there is hope, because the moment we perceive our insanity, we are on the way to sanity. This is the function of the Guru - to make us see the madness of our daily living. Life makes you conscious, but the teacher makes you aware.”
Man: “I should have known not to ask.”
F.: “That’s not the case, either, if you are willing to advance your level of understanding to the point that you move closer to a state of realization. I might be wasting my time to address the implications of your question or I might not. It depends on the effect my reply has on you. So let's try this: Have you ever been cheated out of money?”
Man: “Yes. Definitely.”
F.: Do you know of cases where your friends and / or relatives and / or businesses have been cheated out of money?
Man: “Absolutely.”
F.: “Have you heard of cases where people (often including older people) who have lost their entire life savings to romance scams, grandparent scams, technical support fraud, and other common grifts conducted by scam artists or overseas criminal or stateside crooks and those offering ‘surefire and sky-high returns’ on certain stocks and commodities and capital investment opportunities and other offerings rooted in investment fraud?”
Man: “Obviously.”
F.: “Have you heard of political supporters who are scammed by politicians who appeal to their fears, their anger, their greed, and their desire for control but who refuse to listen to those who tell them that the politicians collecting money from them are total frauds and are not spending a cent of the money donated for the causes which donors are interested in but are spending their money on the politicians’ themselves?”
Man: “Every day.”
F.: “Those running such scam are able to steal tens of billions of dollars from people in the U.S. every year, and the politicians make those totals seem minuscule, taking in trillions during their campaigns. The majority of the national politicians in the U.S. have become millionaires and will retired with many millions in their coffers which are theirs to keep. Next, have you heard of any people who have been scammed out of all of their money by spouses whom they loved and were certain the love was reciprocal, only to find that they had been fooled and felt like suckers afterwards?”
Man: “Don’t even ask. Been there. Done that. And I’ve seen women fall for smooth-talking gigolos and lose fortunes.”
F.: “So have you ever ‘spent a great deal of time’ trying to understand if the trillions lost regularly were lost because of ignorance or stupidity or insanity?”
Man: “Ha. Got me.”
F.: “The realized non-dual guide does not try to divide persons with the Ultimate Sickness into three groups, have them gather a thousand yards away, and use one type of sniper’s rifle to shoot in the head those driven by ignorance, to use another type of sniper’s rifle to shoot in the head those driven by stupidity, and to use a third type of sniper’s rifle to shoot in the head those driven by insanity. No, the realized guide will get up close and use a shotgun with a wide ‘shot spread’ and knock out the contents of all of the heads of all of those being fooled for whatever reasons. I’ve heard people conned by criminals in Russia, Nigeria, and India, with the U.S. leading the planet as the country with the most people scammed annually. I’ve worked up close with thousands of persons who bemoaned the fact that romantic partners and family members robbed them of everything they worked for. While I might tweak one treatment plan for ignorance-driven persons and offer a more intensive and diversified treatment plan for those driven by insanity and personality disorders, neuroses, and psychoses (often referring some of them to professionals); but effects often outweigh causes in terms of where the focus will be. The bottom-line is that some 99% of persons on the planet likely suffer from one form or another of the Ultimate Sickness. When realized, one abides spontaneously and instinctively and on auto-pilot, and what is shared will automatically be level-appropriate and spot on. So to you: waste no more time focused on minutiae and spend time instead on realizing fully; then, freed from being driven unconsciously by ignorance and / or stupidity and / or insanity, you may find that the pointers you share are level-appropriate and relevant for any particular, earnest seeker.”
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:
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