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)
THE CURSE OF HUMANKINDS’ RELATIVE EXISTENCE: IDENTIFICATIONS
“The personality is but a product of imagination. ‘The self’ is the victim of this imagination. It is the taking of yourself to be what you are not that binds you. The person cannot be said to exist on its own rights; it is ‘the self’ that believes there is a person and is conscious of being it.”
“Beyond the self lies the unmanifested, the causeless cause of everything. Even to talk of ‘re-uniting the person with the self’ is not right, because there is no person, only a mental picture given a false reality by conviction. Nothing was divided and there is nothing to unite.”
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Many questions received from visitors to this blog since its inception in 2005 originated from that which is as far removed from full realization as possible, namely, body identification, mind identification, and / or personality identification.
Questions or comments about “fear of death,” about “the
well-being of the body,” about “religious and spiritual concepts and beliefs,”
and about their desires for “the eternal continuity of the body and mind” have
revealed just how absorbed persons are in their false identities. The “self” is
always about body-mind-personality, and the body-mind-personality is always
about self . . . self-absorption, self-centeredness, and self-concern.
One therapist who uses the Enneagram method to teach her clients their
personality types had been asked by some why they need that awareness. She
explains,
“Because
if you do not abandon the belief that your personality has anything to do with what you truly are - and 95% never will - then
personality and personality issues will be the forces which will blindly
drive you through life, that will determine what you do and how you feel, and
that will cause that misery which brought you to this office to continue.”
In fact, it is the phenomenon of personality which sustains the belief in duality
and prevents the realization of the truth of non-duality. All “personal assets
and liabilities,” and all notions about the “good qualities and bad qualities
of people,” are actually dealing with nothing more than personality traits
which are always dualistic by definition.
Thus, the non-dual understanding always includes certain
pointers about personality (along with an invitation to abandon all belief in
personality - and personas - while abandoning body and mind identification
as well).
While in Europe years ago, visiting with people involved with non-duality and
the ills of personality, much discussion was overheard as people talked about
the content of a report released in the United Kingdom that studied “the
reasons that women over 40 have sleepless nights.”
In the order of importance, the results showed their lack
of sleep resulted from the following fears:
1. Children’s future - 55 %
2. Health risks - 45%
3. Financial difficulties - 43 %
4. Breast cancer - 36 %
5. Rising crime - 27 %
6. Immigration - 19 %
7. Threat of terrorism - 12 %
8. Menopause - 12 %
9. Losing their partner - 11%
That report was released when? Yesterday? No, the research was concluded and
its finding were released to the public in . . . 2006.
So what do each of those really deal with?
1. Fears about “Children’s future” deal with BODY AND MIND AND PERSONALITY
IDENTIFICATION: (Reproduction is a BODY function. “The Mother,” which
automatically becomes “The Super Mother” once the role is assumed as an
identity, cannot exist without children, so MIND and PERSONAS are also
involved.)
2. Fears about “Health risks” deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
3. Fears about “Financial difficulties” deal with PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION
AND MIND IDENTIFICATION
4. Fears about “Breast cancer” deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
5. Fears about “Rising crime” deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
6. Fears about “Immigration” deal with BODY AND MIND IDENTIFICATION
7. Fears about the “Threat of terrorism” deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
8. Concerns about “Menopause” deal with BODY AND MIND IDENTIFICATION
9. Fears about “Losing their partner” deal with PERSONALITY AND MIND
IDENTIFICATION
So the women surveyed admitted that they are five times more concerned about
losing their children than about losing their partners, four times more
concerned about losing money than about losing their partners, and three times
more concerned about problems with their breasts than about losing their
partners. So much for “True Love” partners.
And if men answered honestly the same types of questions
in an anonymous survey, the priorities of men would be just as focused on body-mind-personality
“issues” and therefore just as “self”-centered as the women interviewed in the
study cited above.
Belief in one’s personality / personas will result in not knowing what you
truly are. That, in turn, results in the dualities revealed above . . . and all
duality then results in delusional fears and unmet desires. And of course all
fears and desires result in dis-ease.
Realization cannot guarantee that the realized (living out an AS IF existence) will never have to witness any relative existence happenings which will provide challenges and opportunities to observe feelings as they rise and fall;
however, the absence of realization will
guarantee that persons will be absorbed in the types of
emotionally-intoxicating issues that are causing the women surveyed to lose
sleep and to have their relative existence dominated by preoccupation with
fears and desires. The same applies to men. Worry and fear and desire are
merely the toll to be paid when body-mind-personality identification exists.
During that same trip to Europe, a travel partner had scheduled a visit with
Russ Hudson of the Enneagram Institute. That provided an opportunity to discuss
with Russ the role that the nine personality types play in fostering fears and
desires in personas (and thereby preventing true happiness from
happening among those driven by their various personality types).
Yes, personality typing amounts to nothing more than another set of concepts,
but since non-dualists employ thorns to remove thorns - concepts used to
eventually remove all concepts - the use of the Enneagram methodology can
stimulate the realization process among protégés.
Too, it was observed during certain satsanga
sessions in the past that the pointers offered to one personality type about
her / his basic desires and basic fears were ignored as irrelevant by those
present whose personalities were among the other eight types and who had
different fears and desires that were driving them.
By the end of this series, each site visitor should have discovered the dominant personality type(s) generating the most
basic fear and the most basic desire that is
driving her or him (that is interfering with realization and happiness, and
that is supporting the attachment to personality identification.) To identify
the source of the dis-ease is the first step to eliminating that
source and the dis-ease.
By comparison, the colon cancer that had manifested in this space was not
addressed and removed until its presence and nature were diagnosed and
understood. Freedom from cancer followed understanding the exact
nature of the problem . . . it did not precede that understanding.
So it is with personality and the fears and desires that personality identification generate: freedom from the relative effects of fears and desires cannot happen until persons are aware of the illusions surrounding their personality type, are aware of the effects, and are freed of the false beliefs about personality that will otherwise drive all of their relative existence behaviors and “feelings” (which among the non-realized are actually “emotions leading to emotional intoxication”).
To be continued.
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:
