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.
“DO NOT SEARCH FOR THE ANSWER TO ‘WHO AM I?’ IT IS ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND ‘WHO / WHAT YOU ARE NOT’.”
Maharaj
spent years guiding seekers to an understanding of “who / what they are.”
In the end, he saw that was a waste, so he began advising seekers thusly: “Do
not search for the answer to ‘Who am I?’ It is enough to understand ‘who / what
you are not’.”
With that guidance came a shift from his use of a seven-step “path” to a four-step “path.” Did he ever use numbers to discuss the steps? No, but a wise witness could read the transcripts of his talks and see the seven steps which he was using.
Later, when he shifted away from a religious / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine and away from a “spirituality” / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine, he shifted . . .
to a psychology / non-duality version of the Medicine and focused in the end on the handicaps of the mind and on the use of four-steps to return to what non-dualists have long referred to as “The Child Ignorance Stage” or what is usually referred to here as “The Child No-Knowing State.”
With the focus being on finding and eliminating any and all beliefs in personality identifications, no longer would there be any need for engaging in a delusion-and-illusion-based SELF-Inquiry.
So the first three steps are used to address what a seeker is not in order to shift seekers to the identity-less, zero concepts, no-beliefs fourth step, “The Child Ignorance Stage” or “The Child No-Knowing State.”
Those first three steps will now be discussed.
STEP ONE
THE FIRST DEGREE OF SEPARATION FROM REALITY:
Body Identification
What I call “The
Arms-Legs-Organs Consideration” can assist seekers with being freed of the
limiting, false belief that they are the body. Of the various self-concepts which block most humans from realizing who
/ what we truly are, body identification is the most basic and most entrenched but least sophisticated
identity.
Belief that one is the body preempts engagement in false-self-inquiry and - unless transcended - will prevent one from ever coming to know THAT which we absolutely are. I offer that “Arms-Legs-Organs Consideration” now to you:
If
you were to lose your right arm, would you still be you?
You would still be you, right, even without that arm? If you were to lose your
left arm, would you still be you? You would still be you, even without that arm
. . . correct?
And
if you were to lose your left leg, would you still be you? You would still be
you, right, even without that leg? If you lose your other leg, wouldn’t you
still be you? You would still be you, right, even without that leg? Would you
still be you if you have a heart transplant? You would still be you, yes? And
if you have a lung transplant, are you still you? You would still be you,
right, even without your original lung or your original heart?
And if you looked into your own eyes in a mirror, wouldn’t you still know that
you are you, even though your physical body is only a shadow of what it once
was? Then, the question becomes Who / What are you? Who / what
you truly are must be something beyond the physical body.
If more than half of of the body which most consider to be “you” were to be lost, Who
/ what is it that “you” which remains? Moreover, who is that you that is sensing and understanding
that you would still be you, and would still be complete, even after the loss
of four body appendages and the replacement of two original organs?
With those that are only beginning this “journey to realization,” Maharaj always first addressed the illusion of body identification, so I too begin with that beginning. What’s the problem with thinking you are your body?
That
misconception leads to chaotic behavior, insane conduct, and problems in
relationship . . . especially with yourself. Regarding problems with others,
occasional chances for a respite occur, but the problems with yourself are
24/7; worse, they not only create occasional misery and grief but often result
in self-destructive behaviors as well.
Body identification can be chaotic and even fatal. Here’s how. I once had a dog
that, when it saw its reflection in a mirror, would go ballistic. He fought
with that false self, biting at the mirror and trying to destroy himself / his
own reflection.
(Among
humans identified with their bodies, the deep-seated need to destroy the ego
and false roles and to be authentic is a subconscious, driving force that leads
to self-destructive behavior or even suicidal assaults against the physical
body. If
I am my body and I am having overwhelming problems, then the way to be rid of
those is to be rid of the body, so the unconscious, fallacious reasoning goes.)
In fact, one need not be free of the body to be content, merely free of body
identification and other false identifications as well. The goal of non-duality
is to use preemptive strikes to eliminate the notion that the illusion is real,
for illusions incite all insane, destructive behavior.
Of course when my dog looked at an image and became fear-based and angry, he was never seeing anything but a reflection; however, once he took the reflection to be real and separate and threatening - thinking the reflection to be an “other” - he fought the foolish fight.
Humans do the same. They fight the foolish fight when they see reflections or illusions that they take to be the real.
Despite my greatest efforts to help
the dog realize that what he thought he was seeing was not the real, he reacted
as do most humans: "If I can see something right before my very eyes, you are
the one who must be insane to suggest it’s not real."
How does believing in an illusion complicate one’s life? The dog illustrates
the point perfectly. When he took the image to be real, the dog tried to make
himself appear even tougher. He adopted a phony persona and behaved more
violently.
He tried to appear to be even more intimidating than the image that he thought real; thus, he became even more aggressive. The more the illusion seemed to be attacking him, the greater his counterattack.
The greater his counterattack, the more real and threatening the illusion appeared to be. He was trapped in a vicious cycle of war, all based in image.
Humans are forever behaving like the mind-challenged Don Quixote / Alonso Quixano in the novel The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (a.k.a., The Man of La Mancha). He was engaging in jousts with windmills which his mind led him to believe were actual - not imaginary - enemies of giant size.
If trapped in personality identifications, one will seemingly face hundreds or thousands of imaginary enemies throughout a relative existence.
Those are the rageaholics in every culture who consider any “other” to be a gigantic, threatening foe which must be defeated. They feel most normal when they are at their most abnormal.
They
are forever at war with others but their greatest war is within . . . within
their own delusion-driven, fictional-beliefs-filled minds.
Persons are at war with themselves - with their false selves and false
identities. Persons are at war with others, and those wars are based in
illusion as well. By trying to appear to be tougher and to be something he was
not, the dog reinforced the imaginary self in the mirror and became even more
frightened, more confused, and more miserable.
And
the more frightened and confused and miserable he became, the more chaotic his
life became and the more those around him were impacted by his chaos.
Consider the result if persons in leadership positions were enlightened . . . not
frightened by their faulty perceptions, not thinking that their illusions are
real, and not utterly confused; instead, the enlightened can become completely logical and rational and wise instead.
Imagine the effect if the Don Quixotes of the world realized that the windmills are just windmills and that they are not threatening opponents.
The
leaders could then stop their jousting, could stop trying to inspire duality-based
divisiveness among their populations, and then those around them would no longer be
impacted by their “personal” war and the chaos that the unenlightened create. That is what “Applied Advaita” would
look like.
But what about you? You now see the irony with my dog, yes? There never was any
duality. All his madness was based in misconception and illusion. There was not two; there was just (1) the
“real thing” and (2) a perceived image.
Such is the case with persons. To believe that one is the body is to believe that “others” are separate and threatening and that the illusions and images reflected before one’s eyes are real.
As
with the dog, just because a person can see a body does not mean that it is
real, and just because a person can see the body does not mean that the body
defines Who or What He or She
Really Is.
Is it seen that all duality is false, based as duality is in supposing that one
or more real parts can co-exist with one or more other parts which are
illusions? No “parts” exist and no illusion can “exist.” It really is just
illusion, period.
Only the One Is Real, and by removing the Degrees of Separation (which prevent most from ever finding what The One Is), you will ultimately find the ability to distinguish between the true and the false, the authentic and the fake.
Your body is not It. Are you seeing the lie of duality and the truth of non-duality more clearly?
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:
