SHIFTS IN CONSCIOUSNESS, SHIFTS IN DEEDS, Part Ten, The Conclusion

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Do you think that the realized should be able to tolerate any kind of environment or any kind of people? It sounds like you are saying that. I’ve been reading your writings for several months and lately, there are people I spent a lot of time with before but now I’m not spending time with them at all. I’m not realized, but even if I were, I feel certain that there are some people I just wouldn’t want to be around. Art

F.: So, Art, it has been shown that there are times when some persons leave other persons out of egotism and that there are times when some persons with hidden agendas seek out or stay with other persons in order to use them to sustain ego-states and to meet relative desires and to avoid relative fears.

There are also instances when relative-only factors are involved with staying or going, such as when someone is being abused mentally, emotionally, and/or physically; such as when someone is being used and realizes that their enabling is causing someone to remain dependent instead of being free; or such as when the “relationship” should never have been entered into from the start.

As for the notion that the Realized should “tolerate” others, if that means “passively permitting or putting up with,” understand that all happens spontaneously with the Realized. Some among the Realized might appear to be passive; some might appear to be active. What happens…happens.

If “tolerate” means “to suffer something to be done by not hindering or prohibiting it,” understand that Realization does not result in being disengaged from relative happenings. And it certainly does not result in trying to control relative happenings.

Yet the Realized are not insulated from happenings with employment, from dealings that involve children or mates, or from events such as wars or fires or earthquakes or robberies or assaults. What does mark the relative existence, post-Realization, is a non-attachment to false identities and an absence of being driven blindly and irrationally by personality or agendas or desires or fears or emotional intoxication.

Maharaj was once asked a question about what he would do if he saw someone being beaten. Would he rush in to aid the victim of the beating or not? He explained that the cause of any action is the cause of all prior actions, so he did not predict. Whatever happened, if that circumstance were presented, would happen spontaneously. The cause of whatever action was or was not taken would be a result of the accumulation of all causes up to that very instant.

More relevant than those types of “what if” scenarios, however, is this question: does a shift in consciousness result in a shift away from the type of deeds or actions that were happening during the period of non-Realization? Of course, and it all happens automatically and spontaneously.

Now Art, a final pointer on your questions about “spending time with certain people” and “tolerance”: when belief in the illusion of “self” is eliminated, it will be understood that there is no "one" to tolerate (or not tolerate) anything. You’ll understand that the Realized do not have to “go” anywhere to be at peace, though many do seem to pass more time in natural or natural-like settings (meaning, calm and undisturbed by the type of doingness that drives persons).

Yet even in a crowd, even in a chaotic workplace, peace can happen if witnessing without attachment happens. Indeed, there is nothing to do to maintain the peace. Peace is about beingness, not doingness. Beingness and peace happen in the absence of a “do-er,” not in the presence of a supposed “do-er.”

Many who are attached to all of their so-called “spiritual exercises” have not understood this point. Post Full Realization, there is no "do-er" to do exercises and no “maintainer” to work daily to maintain anything. All just happens spontaneously.

Peace happens no matter the surroundings, though there is, post-Realization, a shift toward the peace and quiet and silence as self-lessness (and eventually even SELF-lessness) are understood.

At that point, there is no longer any assumption that there is any “one” to “move” or “stay” or “go.” Whatever happens happens spontaneously and naturally. “But what if I am being abused?” someone asked in an e-mail. The response: "Is it natural to be abused? No, so if abuse is happening in one place, the Realized would automatically move toward another place."

Might the movement toward the silence reduce the number of persons invited into your environs who could disrupt the silence? That often is the case, and you mentioned that there were persons you spent a lot of time with before but now spend no time with at all. That is not uncommon as the “journey” to Realization happens.

However, let it be emphasized that Realization does not mean that the Realized cannot be involved at all in “ordinary life” or in the “relative existence.” Quite to the contrary. A relative existence marked by pleasure and joy and beingness is engaged in far more fully than during any pre-Realization life that was marked by turmoil and chaos and noise and doingness and dissociation and disengagement.

Belief in the duality of “with” vs. “apart from” is nonexistent. Too, the solitude is not sought out. It just happens. There is no “one” that is moving toward or away from, unlike the persons in the case studies in this series who all feel certain that they can maneuver and manipulate events to their will and who all believe that they can make certain they get what they want. The fact is that the relative existence is devoid of certainty.

The only certainty is You. Via the tapping into the inner resource—the inner guru—that which is certain (namely the Absolute, the Awareness, the Void) can be understood.

Understand, though, that happiness cannot happen before independence happens. Who that is not free could truly be happy? Who that is driven by thoughts and words and deeds which they do not select (but that have been pre-selected because of programming and conditioning) could possibly be happy, even though their delusion is that they have power and the ability to choose?

When a shift in consciousness happens (that is, when the obstacles to seeing truth and reason are removed) then a spontaneous and automatic shift happens. Both sin and morality disappear; unfounded fears of punishment and empty dreams about rewards disappear; and an understanding of the functioning of the totality appears. Then peace happens, automatically and spontaneously. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

RELATED TO TODAY’S TOPIC:

Click CASTING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIONSHIPS

Click FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality

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BEYOND THE BEINGNESS AND THE NON-BEINGNESS

FROM A SITE VISITOR: I cannot understand “beyond the beingness and the non-beingness.” Can you clarify? Thank you, David

F.: Of course, David, but understand that any discussion of beingness and non-beingness will happen on one level for seekers at one point and at a different level for seekers at another point. Since your place on the "path" is not known, an introduction to this subject matter is treated in several chapters of the book FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE. The response today will be directed toward those who are at the advanced stages on the “journey” and are ready for final clarification. That point made, here are three considerations:

1. “How can that which is illusion, and therefore has never been, possibly be thought to ‘be’?”

2. “How can that which is illusion, and therefore has never been, possibly be thought to ‘have been at some time’?”

and

3. “How can that which is illusion, and therefore has never been, be thought to ‘not be’ now?”

The three keys, of course, are to understand first that everything you see is illusion...that nothing perceived with "your eyes" is as you perceive it. Next is to understand that nothing that is perceived with a programmed, conditioned, and enculturated "mind" is as the "mind" thinks it is. And third, nothing that you assume as a persona is real. Freedom from belief in images and illusions is the prerequisite for detaching from the beingness and the non-beingness and understanding that which is beyond.

For further clarification, consider this relative existence experience: when “floyd” was married, a discussion about baby names took place. It was determined that if there were a female child, she’d be named “Ashley” and if there were a male child, he’d be named “Kyle.” A daughter was born.

Now, we can talk about Ashley, if you like, but can we talk about “Kyle”? Would you take Ashley to “be” but Kyle to “not be”? To that end, the non-Realized will (mistakenly) take Ashley to be “a being” and would have to (mistakenly) take Kyle to be “a non-being,” as of now. They would also take “floyd” as “a being” now but, post-manifestation, to be a “non-being.” (That can be a starting point for those beginning the "journey," but truth is beyond even that.) As Advaitins for ages have noted, all such talk would be no different from discussing “the child of a barren woman.”

The reason that Krishna discounted the beingness and the non-beingness (ultimately making them both a moot issue) was because the Absolute is beyond any relative existence illusions about (1) something “being” or about (2) something that “had been” but is now “not being” any more. If that which “has only been imagined to have been” via the warped consciousness is and was only imagined, then why speak now of something (which never was) as “not being”? The being/non-being notions, as with all aspects of the Advaita Teachings, are not complicated once logic and reason are applied.

(Tomorrow, a discussion will begin of a person suffering tremendous misery as her assumed role of "wife" is now coming to an end. She thinks her "husband" is "not being himself" now that he's leaving her for another woman but will "come to his senses" and return. What she is not seeing is that he cannot "not be" what she only imagined he was to begin with, namely, "a loving, faithful, caring spouse who will honor his vows and me forever.")

Understand the following: that which has only been a figment of the imagination never did have any "be-ness" at all and, therefore, cannot logically be said to "not be" now. The most that can happen is for persons to awaken to reality and understand that what they thought they were seeing was not that at all.

Is there a step on the “path” when the seeker must be introduced to "being and non-being pointers"? Of course. The consciousness is manifested and this AM-ness is perceived to be happening, yet everything in consciousness is ultimately about duality and therefore not real (since to be “conscious of” implies something being consciousness of something else…even if that something else is the unicity). Eventually, the consciousness will not be manifested and any currently perceived Is-ness will not be perceived. The temporary is not the real and never was.

So why even discuss "beingness and non-beingness"? The only grounds for sharing any Advaita terms or concepts along the way is to point to the various stages by which the consciousness was warped (and thereafter to point to the steps that must be transcended in reverse order to be free of the relative effects of the warped consciousness). Post-Realization, all of the terms or concepts will be cast aside, including beingness and non-beingness as well.

Another accurate pointer could be that “post-manifestation, there is no 'self' or 'Self' that can be aware of, or conscious of, anything.” Syllogistic reasoning can then be used to uncover the facts regarding this topic:

(A) the Absolute is beyond both beingness and non-beingness;
(B) the Absolute is that which is real; therefore,
(C) neither the beingness nor the non-beingness can be real, so I (the Absolute) am beyond both.

Understand those pointers and you might understand why...

...“the world” is only in you and why

...You are not in the world and why

...the illusions of beingness and non-beingness are also in you.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.
FOR A DETAILED EXPLANATION OF BEINGNESS AND NON-BEINGNESS:

Click FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)

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CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS, Part Two

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Please explain consciousness as opposed to awareness. Thank you. Harish

F.: Hello, again, Harish. Now the discussion begun in Tuesday’s post will continue. In the no-concept, non-dual reality, there is nothing “opposed to” anything else, but the terms are pointers used in explanations of energy manifested, energy not manifested, pure energy, corrupted energy, and energy unmanifested. Know first, though, that since reality is non-dual, consciousness/awareness is not two, just as I Am/I Am That is not two. That said, “attributes” can nevertheless be pointed to for the sake of discussion and understanding.

In the consideration offered in the 1 May 2007 post, did you find an understanding in the “light analogy”? Those who missed the analogy can review this summary:

A storm approached; skies darken. Along a walkway, lights on posts came on automatically. Water puddled and the lights cast diagonal reflections that appeared to become a thousand smaller lights. The reflections were not the real light, were they? The appearance of a thousand different lights was also a misperception. The actual light fixtures in the background were the source of the perceived perceptions, but they are only a temporary combination of elements that happened as a result of human conduct. Ultimately, behind/beyond the light bulb and the supposed reflections and the supposed smaller lights was a form of energy that actually allowed the entire scene to happen.

In that analogy, the bulb temporarily Is because of human behavior, just as an act of friction involving two humans made possible the temporary Is-ness of the short-term manifestation of consciousness presently being called “Harish.” Because that bulb (consciousness) Is, the reflections seem to be. Yet neither the consciousness (bulb) nor the perceived reflections are real; that is, neither are That Which Is permanent. The bulb (consciousness) will someday not be as the elements combined as the space called "a bulb" will return to the pool of universal elements. When the consciousness (bulb) is manifested no more, then the reflections that only appear to be real will no longer be perceived at all. What remains? The energy that made possible the temporarily manifested consciousness (the lit bulb), which had made it possible for false reflections to seem real and which made it possible for the false smaller lights to seem real.

That Which Is behind and beyond the bulb—the Awareness—allowed the consciousness to be temporarily manifested. The temporary manifestation of consciousness generated the temporary misperceptions. Thus: “Those alone who understand that I, the Absolute, am beyond the states of being and non-being realize my true nature, and all others are fools.”

Here's another analogy that might provide more clarify for some seekers regarding the nature of reality beyond Self-Realization:

Consider glue sticks. Happenings by humans result in elements being combined and result in the temporary manifestation of glue sticks. Glue can be described as “sticky” but, ultimately, “stickiness” is why it can be sticky. Similarly, Consciousness is what allows consciousness of to happen, but Awareness is why the Consciousness can happen. (To extend the metaphor, and possibly the understanding, Awareness is the “stickiness” that allows the sticky glue of Consciousness to happen. The sticky glue is temporary; "stickiness" is the nature of the glue that is eternal.)

NOTE: The full treatment of this subject matter is book-length. All aspects of Consciousness/Awareness are explained completely in the soon-to-be-released book, CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute). For now, here’s an excerpt from the book, which is only for those who have already Self-Realized. The “glue stick” passages might provide some clarity for you:

Realize that glue, while a temporary combination of physical elements, has no independent and eternal existence apart from that fundamental background of “stickiness.” Similarly, Consciousness, while manifested via a temporary combination of physical elements, has no independent existence apart from its fundamental background of Awareness.

To illustrate, look at this picture taken from a window of the apartment used during stays in Tuscany:

In the foreground, preparation is being made to harvest crops; a new house is being built; some people are driving to work; down the road to the right, people are waiting to catch the local bus to the mercato in nearby Villafranca; someone is making a delivery in the white van approaching from the right. In the foreground part of the picture, drivers are conscious of obstacles and intersections and traffic signs and lane markers. It appears that there are do-ers and it seems that they are doing. Take the background to include the portion illustrating trees, mountains, clouds and sky. Beingness, rather than doingness, appears to be happening there.

Now, you’re invited to study the picture and (a) determine the ways in which the foreground might represent Consciousness manifest and (b) determine what the background might reveal about Awareness. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

ADVAITA TEACHINGS: Relevant, or Not? Part Three

[Several visitors, after understanding why “the mind” has become a liability, are getting free of additional concepts. For those who asked about samskaras and are now getting rid of another concept, see the posting for June 14, 2006]

From a site visitor: OK, so I read the posts from the last days, and you did admit that the I AM is a part of the I AM THAT I AM, so the question is, how is any of that talk about consciousness and witnessing have any relevance to the I AM I’m trying to navigate through? Tom

F.: To continue with the pointer offered at the end of yesterday’s post, today’s post will be directed to “Tom the Seeker,” though you aren’t aware of the degree to which you have assumed that role. Don’t despair since most are trapped in the same ego-state and most haven’t realized that either.

Like all persons, you are seeking many things. Beyond seeking "others" and "things" to make them happy, persons also seek (1) control and (2) power that will guarantee the ability to control. That becomes the trap that guarantees relative existence imprisonment for persons. Nothing outside Your Self can provide consistent happiness, and control and power are conceptual illusions. The closest you shall ever come to “having power” is to enter into the witness states. Were you to witness objectively, you would see that all of your thoughts are merely flickerings on the screen of consciousness.

You would see that there are no "your thoughts" but there are only the thoughts that arise as a result of your having been programmed and conditioned to develop a "mind," a repository of concepts and beliefs and dogma/spiritual knowledge (which is only learned ignorance). All content of the "mind" is false, and it is that “mind” that has left you in a position to "try to navigate" your relative existence rather than reporting that you have navigated it to its end and have transcended the relative completely.

Trapped in the desire for power and control, as all persons are, you want to know what can be expected and what plans can be made so that control is guaranteed. You have not seen your own pattern or that of other persons: that which is unexpected is what shall come, and that which is planned will never come exactly as planned. The way that a character in a John D. MacDonald novel puts it is:

Not one of us ever grows up to be what he intended to be. Not one of us fulfills his own expectations.

They who know that They already Are That Which They Have Always Been are free. They who have no expectations are free. Only a fool would say, “I became exactly what I wanted to become.” Only a bigger fool would reflect over the events of a lifetime and say, “Yeah, that went exactly as planned.” And only the biggest fool would believe, “Well, there’s a god in charge of everything, so it went exactly the way it was supposed to go…suffering and misery included.”

In order to be free of the disappointments of unmet expectations and the disappointment of not being what one wanted or planned to be, find That Which You already Are. I Am complete, fixed and stabilized; in your efforts at “trying to navigate” through this existence, you are incomplete, not fixed and fluctuating. Awareness is absolute; consciousness is relative. You are trapped in consciousness, specifically, in contaminated consciousness. Therefore you cannot be absolutely free. Since the relative is always in motion, always in a state of flux, your relative experiences will require that you always be in motion, in flux. Ego is about going and doing and zooming, so no persona has any tolerance at all for stillness. Therefore your sense of freedom, like your sense of happiness, will come and go, at best.

In “trying to navigate” through your relative existence, you reveal another role that you’re playing: “Tom the Captain,” the one in charge of where the ship goes and how the ship goes. (Again, there’s that desire for control.) Everything in the relative existence which involves “trying” is always wearisome and frustrating and tiresome. Who could possibly feel any sense of freedom or joy if the life they are trying to negotiate is wearisome and frustrating and tiresome? Were you to Realize, you could understand the complete compatibility of the I AM you mentioned and the I AM THAT. You would understand that passions can be felt, that dispassionate actions can happen, and that you need not become a forest dweller in order to “navigate” the I-Amness or to try to be free of having to try so hard as a result of your unmet desires and your perceived fears.

Knowing the Perfect Self, You would reach that state wherein nothing can be added and wherein nothing can be taken away. When it is known that nothing can be added, how could any nagging desire manifest? When it is known that nothing can be taken away, how could any nagging fear manifest? To know that You Are beyond being added to or stripped of, to know that You Are beyond the beingness and even the non-beingness, is freedom. Only then can you relax. Only then will the restless search end.

Yet you question the relevance of a discussion about witnessing? The relevance of the witnessing will truly come when you reach the witnessing stages, when you then turn the witness upon yourself, and when you see that there is neither seeker not witness. Then you will understand when it is said that I Am both subject and object, when it is said that I Am the Eternal Subject, when it is later said that I Am neither subject nor object, and when it is said even later that I Am beyond all of that, witnessing included. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

YOU CANNOT STOP THE “MIND,” SO YOU MUST ELIMINATE IT COMPLETELY, Part Three

[Continued from yesterday]

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Hi Floyd, Angie here. I read your blogs from time to time and although I have some difficulty understanding the concepts you speak of, I am definitely interested in some of the ideas. The thing is, I have been thinking about the self/Self for a while now and asking a lot of questions. For the last few days, I have had some images running through my mind. The first includes the words \"look\" and \"see\", and the second is only a question...\"What do I ask now?\" I usually find that the answers come, but I\'ve walked into the hallway of a building full of closed doors. I think sometimes I lose my mind in the best way, but now...she\'s back in gear. Any insights? THank you for taking the time to read this. Angie

F.: Now, regarding your other comments and question:

ANGIE: “For the last few days, I have had some images running through my mind. The first includes the words \"look\" and \"see\"…

F.: Maybe after yesterday’s pointers, it is more obvious why the vestiges of pure consciousness from deep within are suggesting that You “look” and “see.” Now, note that “look” and “see” are invitations to witness. That means you have to stop so much doing that you finally pause long enough to realize that there is no do-er at all…that all the personas/do-ers that have been inspiring all of your doing are not real. If you moved through the first four steps of the seven-step “journey” to Reality, you would enter two stages of “witnessing”: subject-object witnessing and then Pure Witnessing, the latter happening via the Pure Self or the True Self which you can only come to understand if you discard all of the false selves/personas/identities/ego-states and all of their doership and doingness. The beingness awaits.

ANGIE: …and the second is only a question...\"What do I ask now?\"

F.: Hopefully, after yesterdays’s pointers, you now know to ask (at least while at your current point on the “path”) “What persona thinks it is being hurt or threatened or disrespected and is therefore ‘gearing up’ the ‘mind’ again?”

ANGIE: I usually find that the answers come, but I\'ve walked into the hallway of a building full of closed doors.”

F.: If the doors are all closed along the hallway you’re traveling, that might facilitate your “journey.” It might be that those doors, if opened, would take you to that which you are familiar with. It could be that at the end of the hall is an exit out of the “world” that you imagine to be real, out of the “building” that you’re familiar with, and into a "realm" of understanding beyond anything that your overly-busy “mind” might imagine. (And if it’s from your “mind,” it will be an imagining.)

Next, understand the difference in pure-consciousness-inspired visions and “images running through your mind.” Visualizing the suggestion to “look” and “see” could be pure consciousness inspirations. By contrast, any “image running through the ‘mind’” is going to be part of the refuge that makes up that fictitious “mind,” implanted therein by cultures past and present and by programmers and conditioners.

If the images are traces of visions that are generated from the pure consciousness and not the “mind,” then this might be happening: it might be that a previously-blocked awareness is trying to break free of the subdued pure consciousness, is trying to break through the filters of contaminated consciousness, and is thus trying to offer an opportunity for You to visualize that which You are already aware of—deep within—but that has been suppressed by all the garbage of enculturation.

To receive the full message, you might consider using a tool that is offered at http://floydhenderson.com/spiritjourney.htm. As an alternative, you might receive at least part of the message that is trying to break into your full awareness by reading the description of the vision at http://floydhenderson.com/article1.htm. If you read that description, see if you can find the seven degrees of separation that block persons from being in touch with reality. The “path” is available for those ready to complete the entire “journey.” Please enter the silence of contemplation.