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.
"SEEK NOT TO FIND WHO YOU ARE. INSTEAD, SEEK TO FIND ALL YOU ARE NOT."
THE FOURTH DEGREE: MOVEMENT TOWARD REALITY
(Excerpted from a 2004 Satsang session)
Before we complete the discussion regarding the Fourth Step which is where seekers are shifted to a movement toward reality by having abandoned all body-mind-personality-identifications, it’s time to share with you a few parts of a vision which came years ago.
The vision will address the understanding of the four levels we’ve transitioned. I’ll be offering the vision in parts, and I suggest that - after reading each part - you enter the silence of contemplation.
The goal will not be to reach a bogus “superconscious” state at this point. The goal will be to become so awake, so aware and so conscious of what is being revealed through the vision that you know the truth of the pointers offered regarding each level we have discussed.
Eventually - via your meditating upon the content of the vision - you will complete the journey on your own through the remaining levels.
In today's part of the vision, see the first of the shifts as you leave behind on the journey all which you’ve believed defined “you” and begin discarding belief in all of that which is not you.
After reading today's segment of the vision, you’re invited to close your eyes, feel your presence in the vision as you walk through it again on your own, and contemplate the content until you know the truth of what it reveals.
Parts of 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 bathes 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.
Keeping your eyes closed, I now invite you to consider: are you fully convinced that you are not a body?
After you read the next part of the vision, close your eyes and picture yourself in the setting. Relate the content to the level of separation that we discussed earlier.
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 house cat; 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.
The heron 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 and forces 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 (in literature, the “bird of death”) now slows as it approaches even nearer.
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.
Keeping your eyes closed, I now invite you to consider: how convinced are you that you are not your mind?
The vision has exposed what must be understood during the first two steps of the journey.
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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