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.
CONSCIOUSNESS AND AWARENESS:
Paradoxes, not Contradictions
Another seeker said, There’s all these contradictions. The part I don’t get is “there’s only consciousness” but at the same time “in the Absolute state there is no one to be consciousness of anything.” Then Maharaj talked about “even in the sleep state the consciousness still is conscious” but at the same time “even in the Absolute state there is consciousness or awareness but no one to be aware of it.” Then, “neither matter nor energy can be created nor destroyed” but “this is finite while that is infinite.”
The reply was: there are no contradictions in the teachings but there are paradoxes and there are seeming contradictions because Realization happens by passing through specific stages. No teacher will offer a seeker at Step Two of “The Steps to Realization” the same pointers that will be offered to a seeker at Step Three.
That said, much confusion does exist regarding “awareness as opposed to consciousness,” regarding the nature of conscious-energy, regarding what “the Absolute” is, and regarding what “The Absolute” is not, so some additional clarifications will be offered to try to eliminate the confusion.
First, everything in this universe (and in all universes) is energy/matter. Consider energy and matter to be one reality, to be one in essence with two aspects. Look at a steel beam under an electron microscope and you’ll see that the beam, considered by many to be only “matter,” is a swirling mass of energy.
At the core of atoms are subatomic particles, and one of those (the electron) is really a small particle of light. [The non-dual guide of old did not say, “I am the light.” That speck of consciousness said, “I AM Light,” I AM manifested energy, namely, conscious-energy.]
Second, recall from any basic science course that neither energy nor matter can be created nor destroyed. There was no creation. There is nothing being created now. There will never be anything created. Furthermore, there is no destruction and there will be no destruction. Energy/matter merely cycles.
Third, to the confusion you reference in regards to the statement “in the Absolute state there is consciousness or awareness.” Understand that the Absolute is the awareness that consciousness is “in,” meaning that awareness exists and “makes it possible” for consciousness to happen whenever there is an object . . . that is, whenever consciousness manifests and whenever there is something to be “conscious of.”
One attribute of conscious-energy is just that: an ability to be conscious of something, and therein lies the basic flaw of consciousness: duality.
By definition, consciousness at its most basic level must deal with duality since an object has to be present in order for consciousness to be conscious of.
That only happens after the consciousness has undergone re-purification. So there are three pointers about consciousness, subjects-objects, and the eternal Subject that might help clarify what is often misunderstood:
[1] Manifested, consciousness can become aware of itself and that which it takes to be objects.
[2] Unmanifested, consciousness can be conscious of particles of energy but not conscious of itself. For example, the electron can be conscious of the nucleus around which it is swirling even as the electron is not conscious of itself; or, the consciousness that was manifested and called “you” will remain as energy which can be conscious of surrounding energy or particles but cannot be conscious of itself after no longer being manifested.
[3] Manifested and realized, the re-purified consciousness can be conscious of the Oneness (of the unicity . . . of the eternal Subject) while no longer taking the illusion of “observed” objects to be real. [NOTE: This tip is for the advanced seeker: it is not that a tree is not “real,” relatively speaking. It is that a tree is not that which the non-realized take it to be.]
Next, take awareness to be the original “state,” prior to the manifestation of consciousness and its post-programming, Subject-Object class of witnessing. See that awareness is primary and that consciousness is secondary. See that awareness is antecedent and that consciousness is subsequent to awareness.
To abide as the Absolute is to abide as awareness, freed throughout the remainder of the manifestation from the machinations of the consciousness which was bastardized by programming and conditioning and acculturation. (Thus, it has been noted: “Ultimately, even identification with the pure consciousness fades as the realized transcend and abide as the Absolute.”)
Abiding as the Absolute - as the awareness - you are aware of the functioning of the totality. You are not conscious of objects any longer, having understood that no “object” (which can supposedly be perceived) is actually as it appears to be. It becomes clear that nothing which can supposedly be seen by the eye is actually THAT;
therefore, all subject-object witnessing is transitioned and pure witnessing happens for the remainder of the manifestation. More exactly, that is the only witness which remains . . . that awareness, which you can also take to be “unicity-awareness.”
At that point of awareness, the realized have been “re-membered,” so to speak. You could, at that point, know THAT which you were prior to consciousness and prior to the corruption or blocking of the manifested consciousness. There never was anything other than the unicity, and upon realization the unicity is understood and all assumptions of duality cease.
But keep it simple now as you revisit one pointer that has been a quandary for many: “It’s all consciousness . . . there’s only consciousness” but at the same time “in the Absolute state there is no one to be conscious of anything.” Now you should be able to see from the example of the atoms that they are conscious of the presence of each other; that they move in relationship to each other; and that their movements influence the behavior of each other.
However, even as atoms were conscious of the presence of other atoms, there was no “one” - no “being” with a nervous system - that could allow the consciousness to be conscious of the fact that it is; nevertheless, the consciousness still IS, though it is not conscious of the fact that it IS. The same is the case with “you” prior to manifestation, and the same shall be the case with “you” post-manifestation.
It has been shown how consciousness IS even though there is no witness of that consciousness when unmanifest; therefore, the consciousness was and is definitely “there,” the atoms were and are conscious of the presence of each other, and they all acted and reacted and continue to act in a certain way as a result.
Even in a pre-manifestation state, consciousness was functioning, even without any consciousness of consciousness. (So much for the concept of "sacred contracts.") The same happens each night as you sleep.
Even as you are not conscious while in deep sleep, consciousness continues to function and guides the brain and heart and other organs through their functions, automatically and spontaneously. You need not try to stay awake and be aware of your heart and lungs in order for them to work. Consciousness does that. Yet awake or asleep, you need not be conscious of the consciousness that is guiding the lungs to inhale and exhale and that is guiding the heart to contract and pump.
That parallels abidance as the Absolute: as this temporarily- manifested conscious-energy called “floyd” functions as consciousness that is conscious of, there is no “one” - no person - who is there and witnessing it. It’s all just happening, spontaneously, by itself. Post full realization, all abidance happens as the Absolute awareness.
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:
