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.
LESSONS
IN NON-DUALITY from TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE VISION
THE INTRODUCTION
When satsang was being offered here, and when seekers come for a non-dual retreat, what happens with them when the discussion of the vision unfolds is often exactly what happened with me as the vision unfolded originally.
There is almost always an “Aha!” kind of reaction to the clarity that comes with an understanding of the content of that vision.
It was a “game-changer” here and has often been a game-changer for seekers who have read it over the years and grasped the message or who have come here and heard it and grasped the message.
“THE VISION” and “The Seven-Step Path,” “The Three-Leg ‘Journey’,” “Reaching the Borderline,” “The Gross, Subtle, and Causal Bodies,” “Manifesting and Unmanifesting,” and More
Those familiar with “the journey” here understand
1. that it was far too long and far too arduous; and
2. that it is a self-deception of the highest order to use the dismissive, rationalizing, justifying statement, “I had to do everything I did.”
A train wreck in New York has left the tracks blocked; they will
remain that way for a period. Eventually, someone will have to come along and unblock the tracks if the journey from upstate to Manhattan is to be completed. The passengers who were involved in the train wreck cannot clear the tracks themselves.
They were totally involved in the train wreck, first hand, but they will only know after investigation what caused the train wreck and the blockage that must be cleared. The same applies to persons whose relative existence has become a train wreck:
Programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication and brainwashing and indoctrination have left them blocked . . . blocked from seeing truth . . . from seeing / understanding reality (during the AM-ness . . . and from seeing / understanding Reality (THAT). They will remain that way for a period (or for an entire manifestation).
If they are to complete the journey, someone will have to come along and unblock the obstruction (in their case, their minds) because they are constantly involved in their own train wreck and they cannot clear the obstructions themselves.
Specifically, they are totally involved in a train-wreck-of-an-existence, first hand, but they will only know after investigation what caused the wreck and the blockage and what all must be cleared away. Those familiar with “the journey” here also understand that
a. the stage was set early on to rebel against the programming,
conditioning, etc.;
b. that persons in authority eventually quelled the rebellion; and
c. that the quelled rebellion blocked authenticity and blocked knowing the truth and functioning thereas;
The familiar also understand
d. that the subconscious drive to escape from the frustrating sense of separation from truth - from the exasperating and maddening sense of being blocked from authenticity - took a serious toll;
e. that exposure to hundreds and hundreds of sources - including all of what Maharaj disparagingly called “the Big Name Teachers” who are to be avoided - did nothing to remove the blockage;
f. that finding the words of Maharaj began to remove the blockages somewhat (especially after exposure to the later non-religious, non-spiritual, purer Nisargan talks);
g. that even the pointers received from Maharaj did not remove the blockages (but did set the stage for turning back finally to the inner resource, the inner guru, that had been pointing out the culture’s BS from early on); and
h. set the stage to receive the inner vision that revealed the three-leg journey (1) to manifestation and then (2) to realization and then (3) back to reality with Reality overlaid upon it which has allowed for a sane and natural abidance, post-realization, after having completed the third leg.
[You may use the search tool at the upper right to find the full explanation of the three-legged journey and see why the path of the masses - like those train tracks in New York - are blocked and preventing completion of “the journey.” The fact: the non-realized masses only complete one leg of the three-leg journey so they will never realize and they will never abide sanely. So it is.]
So Maharaj set the stage for the vision that eventually revealed the functioning of the totality and the understanding that unblocked all of the former obstacles and obstructions to seeing Truth and reality and Reality.
Over the next few days, you will be invited to read the vision; to know that it made no sense after it first came; to understand that its message “hit like a lightning bolt” that brought the light and the explosive (“gunpowder”) force that blasted away the final obstructions and blockages ;that beyond its basic revelations regarding the non dual teachings, many other more subtle parts of the teachings were only seen and recognized over a period of days and weeks and months of re-reading the vision; and that the entire three-legged journey can be understood by you now- with no more long and arduous seeking required - if you understand what the vision reveals.
So, now, the vision. As you read it, please set aside time to sit in the quiet and contemplate the content and see if any further understanding comes regarding the way that you moved into the relative existence on the first leg; the way that the seeker must “go back” and “reverse” and return the same way that you came; how the third leg allows for Reality to be overlaid on the relative; and how that allows for the remainder of the relative existence to happen as your Original Nature and with an absence of the “ignorance, stupidity and insanity” that Maharaj said marks and mars the relative existence as experienced by the non-realized masses.
THE VISION
Envision yourself standing at one end of
an open field in a very remote area. At the far end of the field is the edge of
a forest. See yourself moving across the field and toward the woods. As you
walk closer to the edge of the forest, see a gap in the trees that allows clear
access to a trail. Follow that path through the woods, noticing the sounds
along the way. Walk until you reach the side of a small creek bed. Turn to the
right and see yourself walking along the bank of a “branch,” one of those
small, usually V-shaped mini-gorges, cut into the ground ten to twelve feet at
its deepest, not as much by rainwater as by constantly flowing springs that
surface from below.
Observe an emerald-green moss that covers the walls and the bed; it seems to
shine with a luminescence in spite of the fact that the thickness of the
overhead foliage prevents much sunlight from striking the creek bed or the
sides of the chasm. The earthen walls look rough-edged, for stones jut out all
along the way, their tips exposed by years of erosion. Colors typical of the
region come into view along the way: earth-tones, rust-colors, and sometimes
blackness, but always brightened by the ever-present grayish and
fluorescent-green moss.
As you parallel the edge of the creek on the beginning of this journey, see
yourself reaching a place where the land slopes sharply, and the watery swath
cut into the earth follows the oblique contour of the land. Next to the
slanting branch rests a series of natural, sandstone steps descending to a granite
arch twice the height of a human.
From the arch shines a pure white light. An illumination this bright should
easily blind you, but instead it soothes you. It seems to spotlight the steps,
and as you move down the stones, first your feet and then your legs and then
your torso become bathed in the glow. Eventually, by the time you reach the
dead-flat area at the bottom of the natural walkway, you stand before the arch,
and the luxuriance of the light baths you fully in its warmth. The clear spring
waters from the branch flow through the archway, and you follow.
Stepping inside, you look over your shoulder to see that your physical body has
remained outside the arch. You sense some degree of separation from the
material. When you turn to see where the arch has led, you notice that the
spring waters have suddenly multiplied into a slow-moving stream. The stream
runs the length of a plateau and then cascades over the edge at the far end.
You will soon see that the waters drop from the highland and then flow, in
waterfall fashion, down the cliff side and into a pool some twenty feet below.
Trees line either side of the stream, and you begin walking through them toward
the sounds of the water crashing below. Astonished, you noticed that you are
literally walking through the trees. As you progress, fauna of several species
join you: a black bear rubs against your leg in the manner of a docile
housecat; a cougar does the same on the opposite side, and each playfully swats
at the other as if to proclaim dominion over both of your legs; a lamb skips
along ahead as a heron brings up the rear. He walks as if on stilts, taking
more time than needed, looking rather judgmentally, it seems, at the wasting of
energy by his peers.
As you near the edge of the cliff, you walk across the top of the water, not
becoming wet at all; your new companions either lead or follow. As you approach
the left side of the plateau, the animals nudge you toward a winding walkway of
sorts, cut from the stone side of the cliff naturally, definitely not made by
man. After swinging down and around and back to your right, you find yourself
on a level piece of ground jutting out from the side of the cliff. You see that
a pond is overflowing, part of its waters cascading down the cliff side and
pooling in another flat below.
That same pattern repeats itself until the waters reach a level valley. You
watch the falling waters eventually form a river that winds its way across the
desert basin. Along the river has sprung up a variety of shade trees. All else
appears brown and dry. Then in the far distance, hills grow into mountains. In
the forefront arise huge columns of stone, cathedral-like, forming spires of
varying shapes and heights. The colors vibrate with life, offering images of
the blues and oranges and browns and beiges like those of Venetian palazzos
when reflected in the waters of the Grand Canal.
In the far distance to the left stand even grander mountain ranges. Puffy
clouds float slowly across the sky. You focus attention on a fire burning next
to the pool, and you feel yourself being nudged there by the bear, nudged in a
very persuasive way. Then, from behind the cougar lifts its front paws onto
your shoulders, forcing you into a cross-legged, seated position before the
campfire. Finally, all four animals form a semi-circle around you, from your
left side, behind you, and to your right.
Looking at the animals quizzically, you notice that each is focusing on an
object in the distance. Allowing your eyes to follow the path of theirs, see a
bird of some kind flying directly at you, drawing nearer by the second. Its
speed accelerates as it moves dart-like across the skies, aimed at your chest
like an avian arrow. Yet you feel very calm.
As the bird approaches closer and closer, you extend your arms and, with the
sides of your hands touching and your palms up, you form a landing area for the
fowl. A raven, the bird of death that comes from the spiritual realm, now slows
as it approaches even nearer. Why had you not made that association between spirit
and death and this bird? It swoops upward to curb its flight and, with only a
slight, backwards fluttering of wings, settles gently into your outstretched
hands. The other fauna watch but do not react.
The bird stares at you, and you at the bird. You sense the bird drawing forth
something from within you that is flowing out via your eyes and moving directly
into the eyes of the bird. You watch as the bird leaves, but you feel as if you
have left and that your mind has stayed behind. A second degree of separation
you seem to detect.
The raven soars over the valley, flying high, then flying low, and then flying
high again. Its spirit is high. Soon, it makes a direct course for the
mountains, for it us driven to try to reach the mountaintop. You no longer
watch from the cliff but see everything below through the eyes of the raven.
After missing the mountaintop, the raven passes beyond and begins a fast
descent toward an ocean which has come into view just after topping the peak.
The raven begins to dive lower, and lower, and lower yet.
Suddenly, the exuberance of the high-flying raven seems to be
unraveling into an imminent and deadly crash against the ocean’s surface.
Following a huge impact - one that you take to be the end of you - the waters first
splash upwards from the collision and then fall back into the ocean.
Ultimately, the waves settle, and the sea surface smoothes out to a mirror
finish. Suddenly, a bird’s head forcefully breaks the surface, but it is not
the head of a raven. Instead, the head of a gull - the bird of ignorance - comes
forth, gasping for air. You find that you are no longer observing the gull, but
have transitioned into the gull. A third degree of separation from what you had
left outside the arch, then by the pool, and now through the raven, has
manifested.
The gull surfaces further and then begins flapping its wings. Leaving behind
the cleansing, baptismal waters, you in the form of this gull fly and play and
dart. You feel like a child again, flying high, until suddenly crashing into an
eagle. More truthfully, you feel yourself merging into - maybe even dissolving
into - the eagle. For a time, the eagle soars, glides, and mainly just
witnesses. You feel the remnants of the gull; you sense the remains of a raven;
you look at “you” seated at a fire and see only a mental image; you look
through the arch and see the figment of a body imagined. Another degree of
separation.
But now you the eagle have no time to contemplate, for you feel yourself being
pulled deeper into the universe through a clear-walled tunnel in the remotest
part of the heavens. You feel yourself accelerating at the speed of light. In
fact, at the end of the tunnel, you can see nothing other than light. Your
speed now nearly doubles, and just as you reach that point of mach two, with
the deafening sounds of the winds racing by your ears, you crash through a veil
of sorts and find yourself in a mostly dark, crystal cave.
You stop abruptly and then are swooped into an upright position, floating near
the ceiling of the cave. You feel at this moment as if you are exactly between
nowhere and . . . nowhere. Never have you known such peace. Sensing yourself in
only the vestige of a human-like form, you drift toward a lake below that
covers most of the bottom of this huge cavern. You experience a fifth degree of
separation - as if estranged from all illusionary roles, as if removed from a
phony world left behind, as if moving closer to a degree of connection with the
Real.
Your slow descent allows time to study the cave. Across the way a dome glows
brightly, the source of the vivid light you’d seen through the arch and more
recently at the end of the tunnel. A huge pipe organ sounds from the highest
peak of a cliff on the far left side of the gigantic grotto. To your left and to
your right drift millions of forms, and on closer inspection, you see that they
are . . . you! Each looks to be a clone - maybe a transparent clone but a clone
nevertheless - of you! As you near the water, you automatically pivot so that your
back faces the opposite shore. Sinking shoulder-deep into the water, you feel
your feet rise.
Your entire body stiffens momentarily, your feet rise further, you float onto your
back and then you bob on the surface of the water. Now relaxed, you begin to be
moved along, gently propelled toward the opposite side of the cave. Your movements
just happen, no effort on your part required. The music of the organ - ethereal
and heavenly - sounds softly, beautifully; the waters are now calm and warm.
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:
