IDENTIFICATION: Something, or No thing? Part Two

[EXCERPTS from the soon-to-be-released book FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS]

FROM A SITE VISITOR: No identity at all? Everybody is SOMETHING, and whatever that SOMETHING is, is our identity.

F.: Again, the postings in this series are not for the beginner. Beginners cannot move from some point that is even before step one of a seven-step “journey” to Realization (that Realization coming at the seventh step) without understanding many paradoxes that are presented at each of the steps in between.

They will first see what they think they see; they must next understand that everything that they have ever thought they were seeing was not that at all; afterwards, they must see all of the false in order to prepare for seeing the Real; and then only can they finally fixate firmly in the no-concept, non-dual Reality.

Thereafter, they can be truly free while abiding as the Absolute; can abide as Awareness that is not even aware of awareness; and can thereby live in a natural, AS IF fashion…at peace for the remainder of the manifestation. The exhaustion of living unnaturally ends, as does the toil of trying to live in a supernatural fashion. Only if abiding as the Awareness that is not aware of awareness can natural (nisarga) unencumbered living happen, spontaneously. Disciplines and considerations end. Toiling and working and searching and seeking end.

Ultimately, to try to support any “identity” alongside “the no-concept, non-dual Reality” is itself contradictory. At the “highest level” of understanding, any identity is also seen to be conceptual. Preoccupation with identifying “what the generic THAT is” becomes another concern that can continue to disturb even those who have transitioned kindergarten spirituality, who have understood the I AM, and who know the True Self but are not functioning as the unaware Awareness.

"Bliss" is merely an undisturbed, unconcerned vibration. Preoccupations and concerns activate a disturbance when the natural vibrational pattern of anything is forced to shift. Apply what is happening to the phenomenal planet to grasp what can happen to the phenomenal body-“mind” under those conditions: because ice caps are melting as a result of global warming, a slight tilt is happening along the axis of the globe. That is triggering not only all of the physically-observable results on the planet but is also generating mental and emotional effects on life forms as well.

When vibrational patterns shift from natural to unnatural movements, phenomenal effects result because of the disturbance of that which is natural. Only the natural vibrational pattern of Awareness will allow “bliss” to happen (again, “bliss” being nothing more than that undisturbed, unconcerned vibration mentioned earlier).

At the “highest level,” having understood the no-concept, non-dual Reality completely, WHO/WHAT remains to be concerned with any “identity” or to be disturbed by not being able to apply another man-made label to the man-made pointer called "THAT"?

Persons are so sure of all they believe. After being challenged to question it all and not being so sure, they nevertheless return to that state of being certain at the third step on the "path" after assuming religious or spiritual roles. Many at that point think that they have found the “Advaita Understanding.” They have not. They have substituted one egotism-generating belief system for another. They are mistaking the dawn for high noon.

The ultimate Advaita understanding is that there need not be any understanding. (Again, that pointer is not for the beginner.) Yet AS IF living (based in the no concept, non-dual Reality) is seldom modeled among “humans”; thus, one need not look there to find examples of such "living." Look to nature instead.

True AS IF living is a mode of natural living, modeled in nature by...(continued in the book)

To order your copy of FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS ($16.99+ S&H) go to http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm, complete all of the information, and in the “Special Message” box, type in FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS.

Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
READINGS RELATED TO TODAY’S POSTING:
WORKING ON LEARNING TO QUESTION IT ALL AND BEING FREE OF THE FALSE (BUT HONORED) CONCEPTS AND BELIEFS OF YOUR CULTURE?

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

WORKING ON BEING FREE OF RELIGIOUS PROGRAMMING AND DOGMA?

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

WORKING ON BEING FREE OF BODY AND MIND IDENTIFICATION?

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

WORKING ON BEING FREE OF MIND AND PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION?

Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

and

Click LIBERATION

WORKING ON “THE FINAL PIECES” AND "PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER"?

Click THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS

and

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

RELATIVE RESULTS OF NOT-REALIZING: Dependency, Co-Dependency, Multiple Personality Disorder, & Detachment from Reality (Belief in False Identities)

From a site visitor: I have tested as a type four personality with a strong helper component. I bought your book LIBERATION to understand myself even better, but instead you attacked me and those like me who choose to try to help people and make the world a better place. What is your problem with people helping people? What do you think is wrong with helping?

F.: During satsanga, it is often asked after offering a pointer, “Now, what did you hear?” That component was added after years of hearing at the end of sessions, “I really agreed with you when you said…,” followed by something that was not said at all. Clarification is often required, and never any more than in your case, seemingly. So the concise version is this:

1. If you are a type four, there is no “strong helper component.” There is, instead, an indication that you have disintegrated from anything that persons might call “the assets of a Four” into what persons might call “the liabilities of a Two.” For a Four to behave as a Two shows evidence of the presence of that which causes disintegration: either high stress or high piety accompanied by spiritual arrogance. Research shows that one or both of those always precede disintegration of the psyche.

2. It is not “yourself” that you need to “understand better.” The invitation is to see that you are not yourself—that you are not what you take yourself to be—and then to find That Which You Truly Are. The synopsis of the book LIBERATION should have made clear that the intent of the work is less to help you understand personality and more to free you of the effects of personality.

3. How many personalities do you think are beneficial? To abide as even one persona is troublesome enough—relatively speaking—but to be trapped in multiple personalities is far more troublesome...relatively speaking.

4. The fact that "you" believe that there is a "you" who was attacked and that there is a “me” doing the attacking shows that you have much more to understand in regards to the Advaita Teachings.

5. You are not “choosing” to do anything when you are driven to behave as a type you are not (in this case, a type two helper).

6. There is no world, so there certainly is not any possibility of your making it better. Organized religions with a history of trillions of members and trillions of trillions of dollars have claimed that to be their goal, but after thousands of years in which to accomplish their goal, they haven’t changed anything for "the better." But your ego is telling you that the world is real, that it is "bad," and that you are going to play a key role in making it "good." So it is, when the warping of the consciousness results in belief in such dualities.

7. The “problem with helping people” is your belief that you know what people need and can provide it. An educated man who was living on the streets of Houston explained that his drug use deprived him of the motivation to find employment, to work, to earn a way to pay for his shelter and food, and to become independent—not just from drugs but from his Dependent Personality Disorder that drove him to depend on others to meet his needs. He spoke of the thousands of dollars collected during his years on the street, money that was given by "well-meaning" persons who thought they were helping him by dropping money into his cup. He explained that what they thought was their “helping” was really their “harming” since it allowed him to continue to avoid employment and to continue his drug use.

The intent is not to open a discussion of societal ills but to offer one specific example where persons who had adopted the role of “helper” did not have a clue about what that particular individual “needed” to shift him beyond his drug dependency and his dependency on “helpers.”

8. As for "What do you think is wrong with helping?" Nothing. If so-called “helping” happens, it happens. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t. The "problem," relatively speaking, is when persons are trapped in personality, when they disintegrate into another personality type, when they reinforce dependency, when they reinforce co-dependency, when they reinforce Multiple Personality Disorder, when they encourage the assumption of—and belief in—false identifies, and when they encourage persons to detach from reality.

As an example, many among the current generation of dependent and co-dependent young adults now live with mom and/or dad. Those parents believe that they are “helping” their children by encouraging something so unnatural. It has been pointed out that if one is truly Realized, he lives in the style of the deer in many ways. The doe feeds the fawn for a short time. The buck is there to protect, if need be. Soon, however, the fawn must meet its own needs for food and shelter. That is natural, and nisarga yoga is the method that guides persons beyond body-mind-personality identification, beyond dependency and co-dependency, and to a means of living a natural, AS IF existence.

Grown deer does not depend on a “mother” or “father” to provide food. They find their own food or they starve. They do not wait for a “father” or “mother” to find shelter or to build a bed of straw for sleep. The Realized live in a natural fashion in all ways. To live in a supernatural fashion (as “The Religious One” or “The Spiritual Giant”) is most unnatural. Similarly, it is unnatural to live with any dependency or to assume any identity or to seek out helpers who are willing to care for an adult as if he/she were a child. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
THE FEATURED ITEM FOR THIS WEEK’S SALE IS THE DAILY MEDITATION GUIDE II (The two guides are self-contained and can be read in either order. Each provides six months of readings and considerations. 15% off the price of Meditation Guide II through July 1st.)

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WORKING ON BEING FREE OF MIND AND PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION?

Click LIBERATION

MISTAKING UNCONSCIOUS ACTION FOR CONSCIOUS CHOICE, Part Seven in This Series

From a site visitor: [Received 10 June 2007] Today you said history shows religion leads to separation and judging and even killing. That’s not true. For me, my religion leads to peace and power. I stay in conscious contact with Him with prayer all day, every day, and He empowers me and gives me guidance and peace so I can be happy for as long as by His grace I am allowed to live. I hope you can find your way to Him so that you can have peace in this life and joy forever. Signed, John (as in 3:16)--A Child and Agent of God

F.: The result of accepting ancient myths and superstitions as truth is that those legends and lies now control the thoughts and lives and words of people today, thousands of years after those fictional tales were dreamed up. Billions of persons have been programmed to believe lies. Then, they unconsciously allow those lies to determine what they do, what they say, how they feel, how they act, and how they react.

The result of that absence of truly being awake and aware of Who/What They Are is that persons are being driven by subconscious motives and unconscious influences without having the slight clue that such is the case. The result of that scenario is a planet populated with persons who behave as if they are destructive robots that (a) have been built with an ability to destroy things and people and places and relationships and that (b) have been programmed to do just that. John believes that he choose to write the e-mail above. In fact, he wrote from a state of unconsciousness and warped consciousness, driven by what he thinks are "his beliefs" but having no clue at all that he's merely repeating in his sleep some words he heard and that reinforce fictional tales that were dreamed up thousands of years ago.

It took Pavlov little time or effort to condition his dogs to behave unnaturally. People can be conditioned with as little time or effort as well. After attending only a few gatherings of religious groups or spiritual groups and hearing what persons there are saying and watching what persons there are doing, the newly-arrived are soon talking the same talk, soon praying the same prayers in unison, and soon repeating (as if an expert) the same phrases and expressions that they first heard only a few days before. Persons can be conditioned to behave in a zombie-like fashion and to unconsciously mimic other persons about them in very short order.

Some people talk in their sleep and don’t know what they’re saying; some people get drunk or high and say things they don’t even know they’re saying; others are functioning under the influence of their personality so that anything that they say is “personality-speak,” merely an ego-state talking away in an effort to support its false self. In all of those cases, the words and actions of persons are being controlled by factors that they are completely unaware of. And you, John—along with those who believe what you believe—are no different. As you pray “all day, every day,” you’re saying words and doing things that are rooted in myths and false beliefs that were, and are, pure fiction…dreamed up millennia ago and blindly repeated today.

Talk about not being present to the moment. Talk about being asleep but thinking you’re awake. Talk about believing myths and disseminating fabrications. Talk about spreading lies and hoodwinking the masses. Talk about believing that you’re making conscious choices when totally unconscious actions are really taking place. It’s one thing to take a drug and not know fifteen minutes later why you’re doing what you’re doing and why you’re saying what you’re saying. It’s something else entirely when you’re talking and behaving under the influence of something that is not fifteen minutes old but that is thousands of years old instead. GHB, Rohypnol and Ketamine are date-rape drugs; your ideas, concepts, and beliefs are brain-rape drugs.

So the considerations for today are: Are you beginning to see why you’re really saying what you’re saying? Are you beginning to see why you really believe what you believe? Are you beginning to see why you’re really doing what you’re doing? Do you not see that your entire life, “all day, every day” is based in heresay? If you think you have free will and are making choices but the fact is that you don’t even have a clue about why you’re believing what you believe and why you’re saying what you say and why you’re doing what you’re doing, how insane-like is that? Maharaj said:

"After the information given to you by the mother, that you are a boy or girl, all your further acquisitions are by hearsay."

How trapped are you in beliefs and ideas and concepts that are pure hearsay…pure nonsense…pure fiction? How out of touch with reality is that? Functioning from within a hypnotic state as a result of being programmed and conditioned, persons are totally asleep but are convinced that they are completely awake. While persons talk proudly about their lofty “minds” that “separate them from the animals,” they are actually living nothing more than a “monkey see—monkey do” existence. Living under the influence of ancient pagan beliefs and the additional concepts that modern cultures have added, the non-Realized have been intoxicated both emotionally and spiritually. They are high on an ancient drug that is a blend of unquestioning faith, superstitions, mythologies, legends, and an ego-based desire for power.

In CASTING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIONSHIPS, seventeen factors that drive people unconsciously (and that end up destroying “relative-existence-relationships”) are catalogued and explained, including conditioning and programming; internalizing mates and/or parents; archetypes and genetics; the subconscious “mind”; ideas and concepts; reactions inspired by ego-state-generated emotions; beliefs; obsessions and compulsions; events from the past that impact the present; personality type; and all of the other factors listed and discussed in detail in the book.

Even as persons think they are making choices and decisions, they are really being driven blindly by factors that they are not even aware of, and many of those factors are rooted in ancient fictional tales that are now considered to be “holy teachings” that are considered “sacred” and thereby “beyond questioning.” How powerless is that? As with the Advaita Teachings, Casting Light not only identifies what drives persons blindly but also offers steps that can be used to be free of those subconscious motives and unconscious influences which control persons, factors which they are totally unaware of.

Until you identify what it is that is making you do what you do and think what you think, you will never stop behaving in an insane-like fashion and you will never be rid of the incessant chatter that is being generated by the fictional “mind” that resulted from the warping of the consciousness. Nor will you be able to live naturally; instead, you will be trapped in the effects of your programming and conditioning and will live in an unnatural, or supposedly supernatural, manner. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
THE FEATURED BOOK FOR THIS WEEK’S SALE IS CASTING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIONSHIPS (which identifies problems and their causes and offers suggestions for creating healthier relationships—relatively speaking. 15% off through today.)

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FOR MORE ON BEING FREE OF RELIGIOUS PROGRAMMING AND LIVING NATURALLY

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DE-ACCUMULATION…IN EVERY WAY

FROM A SITE VISITOR: So I read and re-read these words during the silence of contemplation that you always ask us to enter…“Do you grasp fully the functioning of the totality? Do you understand completely what cycles, how it cycles, what does not cycle, what remains forever, and what is only temporarily manifested?” Suddenly, it hit me. I have thought that I needed more and more knowledge to ever hope to understand “the functioning of the totality” but I see now that there really isn’t that much to grasp at all, is there? So this explains why you suggest getting rid of spiritual knowledge too, right? Also, does all other knowledge have to go as well? If so, how do I continue to understand the functioning? (PS. sorry for the length--just a lot being considered right now) Thanks, Robert

F. Hello, Robert. You've raised a wide range of issues, but each will be addressed in the response today.

First, yes, it’s all so simple, supposedly complicated only by the “mind” that is generated by the corrupting of the consciousness. To see that there is not much to grasp is to move further along the “path” and nearer to the Fifth Stage of “De-accumulation.”

NOTE: There are Seven Steps to Realization, and for some they are transitioned in short order while for others the process can take years. (Maharaj reported that it was a three-year process in his case…probably about the same in “mine.”) The transitioning of those seven steps should not be confused with “The Five Stages.” The first two stages provide a picture of the typical lives of persons. The last three stages provide a picture of those who turn to the road less traveled and ultimately realize.

Stage One: Twenty years of being programming to accumulate
Stage Two: Typically, twenty years of trying to accumulate
Stage Three: For most (up to 95% ?), the efforts to accumulate continue for the entire lifetime as most persons will never realize, but for the few who are awake enough to be aware of the emptiness of years of focusing on accumulation, Self-Inquiry begins
Stage Four: The Seven-Step Realization process mentioned above happens
Stage Five: De-accumulation follows

Seekers move through the fourth stage and towards the fifth stage when they truly grasp the simplicity of natural functioning. The relative is maddening to persons; as the Absolute, madness cannot happen since there is no “mind.” Similarly, “something” can always be maddening to persons; the Nothingness can have no effect at all…“good” or “bad.” The Nothingness is the essence of AS IF living after Stage Five de-accumulation.

If the fifth stage is reached, then de-accumulation happens in all ways. As with persons who are controlling and arrogant and delusional and deceptive, de-accumulation happens in all ways or not at all. None of those traits exhibited by persons can be compartmentalized. One cannot be controlling at work and not be controlling at home, in stores and in traffic; one cannot be arrogant with employees but not arrogant in other interactions; one cannot be reasonable and logical at some times and delusional at other times; however, dual-minded persons are unstable in all ways, so they can appear to be compromising, humble, reasonable and perceptive at those times when they are on stage in the Drama of the Lie and when deceiving themselves and others with their assumed images.

Four sure signs of Realization include the following: (1) stability happens and the mood swings associated with the emotional intoxication generated by personas ends; (2) the addiction to going and doing and zooming stops, so the love affair with chaos ends; (3) de-accumulating begins to happen in all ways; and (4) authenticity preempts phoniness. De-accumulation is not compartmentalized and applied selectively; instead, "less" becomes the new standard in every aspect of the relative existence, and it happens automatically and spontaneously. “Getting rid of” rather than “getting” starts to happen automatically, and it begins by getting rid of all of the ideas and concepts and beliefs and false identities that are at the core of self-deception, image-building, and image-maintenance.

That leads to your question of being rid of “all knowledge.” As you may have observed, the single largest body of “learned ignorance” takes the form of religious and spiritual knowledge. Relatedly, it has been asked, “What of chemical imbalances and fluctuating moods due to physical conditions? Shouldn’t even the Realized be knowledgeable of what is required in those areas?” Those aspects of the relative existence have been recognized and addressed on the site before. It has been noted that physical imbalances—beyond the mental and emotional, but linked to them—can certainly impact the relative existence.

For example, the food supply has been bastardized, affecting body performance and mood fluctuations. Humans face variables that did not exist 35,000 years ago when Realization alone generated peace. Most persons do not have even the slightest clue that three different body types exist and that each type can only thrive on the one-of-three food plans that is designed specifically for their type. (So much for “government-recommended diets that everyone should follow.”) Being aware of one’s body type and following the specific food plan for that type could be an example of “knowledge” that could have relative existence application, of course.

(When a “spiritual guide” demands that all protégés follow the one, specific food plan prescribed by the guide, two out of three who take that advice will be committing slow suicide by following such uninformed advice: the sympathetic and parasympathetic aspects of the nervous system will crash; the base/alkalinity balance will end; and those effects along with other under-functioning organs will manifest mental and emotional, as well as physical, ills.)

But note: Realization does not prevent being reasonable and behaving in a sane manner, so the Realized address those issues. Awareness in regards to factual, not imagined, body requirements happens, and it happens without identifying with the body or attaching to the body or giving undue attention to the body. The space in which the consciousness is manifested is given common sense consideration as it functions in an AS IF style of living. (The deer living in a totally natural fashion never becomes so “at peace” or “so aware” that it stops eating and starves itself or that it starts eating substances that are not a part of its natural food plan and that harm its body.)

As for “spiritual knowledge,” the de-accumulation of religious or spiritual knowledge (a.k.a., “learned ignorance”) happens during the Realization process, not at the “end-point” of the Realization “journey.” If the third of the seven steps to Realization happens, such “knowledge” falls away at the instant that the persona of “The Religious One” or “The Spiritual One” falls away. Technically, then, every step on “the path” involves de-accumulating, discarding the various concepts previously considered valuable or sacred by the corrupted consciousness, and behaving in a sane-like fashion rather than in an insane-like fashion, relatively speaking. Thanks for writing. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

LIVING IN THE STYLE OF A REALIZED TEACHER, OR A HERON, OR A DEER, Part One

FROM A SITE VISITOR: I have read what you have written about the mind and have pre-ordered your book on the mind, but another teacher talks about using the “working mind” and not the “thinking mind.” Will your book clarify (or maybe reconcile) what the two of you are teachings? Andi

F. Hello Andi. The book you’ve ordered does not address the “working mind-thinking mind” terms, but some clarifying pointers are offered about the “working vs. thinking mind” in the book THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS.

When seekers have come here for satsanga, sometimes they have been invited to walk down the terrace to the harbor or to walk along the edges of one of the coves nearby and watch a Great Blue or Great White Heron. (The same exercise was used with deer when sessions were being offered in a location that was near a forest. Why? Nisarga Yoga is an invitation to live naturally. If you could spend an extended period of time in the presence of a Realized Teacher, you might see natural living being modeled. For most who cannot arrange such an opportunity for witnessing, why not at least witness a bird or animal that is truly living naturally? Most can arrange that right now.)

When they returned after having witnessed one of the birds or one of the deer for a period, the participants were asked to write in their notebooks a contrast of the way that the heron/deer was living as opposed to the way that they were living. Inevitably, the participants always noted certain observations that were common to most of their lists: the deer/heron’s “peace”; the way that the deer/heron seemed not to be bothered by anything at all; or the way that, if it was disturbed by humans that approached, the way it just relocated to a quieter place.

Some of the more creative descriptors that some seekers have written include words such as “natural” or “unencumbered” or “free” or “unregulated” or “not burdened” or “just being.” Then participants were asked to write a second list using words that described the way they were living. (The words were never as appealing as those used to describe the lifestyle of the deer/heron.)

Then the participants were asked to write answers to the following:

“Why does the life being lived by a deer/heron seem to be preferable to your own?”

“Are you more intelligent and more knowledgeable than a deer/heron? If so, why is it able to live a life that seems to be preferable to yours?”

“Why does the deer/heron not need to Realize and why does it not need to go through the "Seven Step Journey to Reality"? That is, what have you experienced that the deer/heron has not?”

“Do you believe that the deer/heron has any kind of mind at all or that it is merely functioning via the auspices of the brain and natural instincts?”

“Do you believe that the deer/heron was ‘thinking’ or merely witnessing?”

“Have your minutes and hours and days and years been passed from a “thinking mode” or from a “witnessing mode”?

“Is your mind ‘working’ more than you want it to?”

“The deer/heron is born with its clothing, eats food that is free, and pays nothing for shelter. Most humans don’t have that privilege, and employment must happen for you to meet your food, clothing and shelter requirements. But if a shift in perspective were to happen, how could you meet those basic requirements and still live in a fashion that would be more natural, less encumbered, far freer, less burdened, and marked by ‘just being’?”

“The deer/heron has accumulated little…a temporary place for bedding only. How could de-accumulation allow an adjustment to happen in your lifestyle that might be preferable to the way that you are living now?”

So, Andi, the same invitation to try that exercise is offered to you and to all site visitors: go to the woods or a park or some place where you can quietly observe a bird or animal in its natural habitat. If possible, focus on one bird or animal alone. Then return home and write answers to the questions above; then, read the answers until a new understanding manifests. For additional explanation, see the book below. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
Interested in more on “the working mind vs. the thinking mind,” on “manifestation vs. unmanifestation,” on “free will vs. no free will,” on “the seven degrees of separation from reality,” on exercises for focused meditation, on what “the ‘higher power’ is vs. what it is not,” and on “natural living vs. unnatural or supernatural living”?

Click THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS

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