CHERRIOS vs. CHERRIOS DUST; HUMANITY vs. RACE, COLOR, NATIONALITY, SEX; and UNICITY vs. MULTIPLICITY, Part One

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.

First, a note of appreciation to Louise for once again providing an excellent series of spot-on pointers to Reality and to Your True Nature. Thanks, Louise.

F.: When my daughter was in the third grade, she was preparing a breakfast of Cherrios cereal to eat before she had to leave for school. The package contained enough for one bowl of cereal, but it was noted that she stopped short of emptying all of the remains into her bowl.

When asked, "Why don't you just finish the contents - there's not enough for another breakfast?" she held up the clear package for viewing and said, "That in the bottom is dust, and I don't eat dust."

When the reply was, "It's all Cherrios," her lips twisted into one of those sardonic smiles that said without words, "Do you really think I'm dumb enough to buy into that? I mean, did someone slip into my room while I was asleep and write 'STUPID!' on my forehead without my knowing it?!"

The same derisive smile has been seen to form on the lips of many persons, not when they are told "It's all Cherrios" but when they first hear, "It's all consciousness"; or "I see the world as it is, a momentary appearance in consciousness" or "It's all the same thing" or "All is one in essence" (Maharaj);

or "there are no real disparities" or "It's all one and only appears different because of variances in frequencies that result in altered vibrational rates." Louise recently shared a quote from Maharaj as he addressed this issue thusly:

"Just like gold made into ornaments has no advantage over gold dust, except when the mind makes it so, so we are in being - we differ only in appearance." He said, "To take appearance for reality is ... the cause of all calamities."

Yet how many at any given time on the planet will be Realized...will understand the unicity...will be free of any sense of separation...will be free of "calamities"? Maharaj's estimate: only a few thousand at any given moment.

The result? A global population of persons - that is, a global population of those who are trapped in personality and who are convinced that their "personal identifications" are real. That leads to a near-universal population of persons who think...

** ...that Cherrios dust is different from Cherrios;

** ...that race or skin color provide valid and factual distinctions as expressed in dualistic terms such as "different from," "smarter than," "more moral than," and "better than";

** that one's nationality also makes persons "different from," "smarter than," "more moral than," and "better than";

** ...that they have the right to control the sexual preferences and behavior of other persons;

** ...that they have the right to demand that some persons change their sexual preferences;

** ...that it is their business what other humans do with their own bodies and that they have the right to pass laws that deprive humans of the right to decide what they want to do with their bodies; and

** that planet-wide calamities are normal or acceptable or, in some cases, preferred.

If wisdom is knowing the unicity and understanding that everything is one, then ignorance is believing in multiplicities and not understanding the Oneness of all. On this subject, Maharaj said of supposed differences that "...separation is an appearance."

The pointer is offered here that the perception of differences is rooted in ignorance, a teaching also offered regularly by Maharaj. All beliefs about differentiation are lies, so the question is, "How to find truth and eliminate ignorant beliefs and ideas?"

Maharaj said, "The discovery of truth is in the discernment of the false. You can know what is not. What is - you can only be. Knowledge is relative to the known. In a way it is the counterpart of ignorance. Where ignorance is not, where is the need of knowledge? By themselves neither ignorance nor knowledge have being. They are only states of mind, which again is but an appearance of movement in consciousness which is in its essence immutable."

TOMORROW: How humans developed a "mind" and how it eventually deteriorated from a tool for survival and became the driving force behind planet-wide tendencies to believe in separation that drives persons to judge, beat, abuse, maim, kill, destroy and even self-destruct.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

Much of what Louise has shared has resonated with many site visitors. to that end, some have inquired recently if Louise offers the online Advaita Internet Course. The answer is, "Yes."
Whether taking the course with Louise or Floyd, the price of the course includes all 11 of the Advaita eBooks, questions sent after completion of the assigned readings, replies to your answers, and follow-up as required.
With either teacher, you will be guided through all seven of the steps, in order, that lead from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond). For more specific information and details about the course, you may click on the link to the right.
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Now you can receive for $40 a downloadable computer file version of the same 7-hour satsang that seekers receive when they visit for the Advaita Retreat with Floyd. You will be guided through the seven steps from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond).
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat

SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:

1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond
Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.
To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
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For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.
[It is recommended that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]

2. BY READING these books in this exact order:
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS
[Provides the final preparation for the seeker to be directed along the “path”]
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
[Directs the seeker along the “path”]
CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute)
[Allows the seeker to understand the functioning of the totality, the manifestation, and what is involved with the un-manifestation]
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
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NOTE: When you order this package, you receive three additional ebooks free: CASTING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIONSHIPS, FINDING REAL LOVE IN AN UNREAL WORLD and THE TWICE-STOLEN NECKLACE MURDERS (offering the Advaita teachings in a fictional novel format)

You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.

3. BY ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes

Received 19 August 2010 from one that just completed the entire course:

I would like to extend deepest appreciation towards you for these teachings that you have offered. It has been most valuable towards what may not have been revealed throughout this manifestation labeled "anthony." Understanding Truth and finding words for gratitude are one as is all. Thank you again for pointing "me" to THAT and the understanding that came as well. Hopeful for future "contact"! Sincerely, Anthony M. W.

For information, visit Information on the Advaita Classes on the Internet
To enroll visit Enroll in the Advaita Internet Course

4. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat for satsang with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.

5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session

6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.

The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders offers the non-duality message by way of a mystery-adventure novel, discussing the movement from pain to healing to awakening to peace.
From Dr. R.F. Maley, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus and former Head of the Department of Psychology, University of Houston: "Floyd Henderson's book, The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders, is a fun read and an interesting mystery, but perhaps more importantly it serves as a vehicle for blending Eastern Philosophy and Native American Spirituality to make an intellectually challenging novel. The book's insights into both relationships and authoritarian conditioning of people in our society make it a must read, tracing the roots of narcissistic, sociopathic and psychopathic behaviors to the very core of the culture. This truly witty and politically-incorrect study of the aggressive nature of 'the American character' offers not only a diagnosis but also a treatment plan, making the book an excellent supplemental reading in courses such as psychology, anthropology, philosophy, sociology and counseling."

You may purchase your copy of the ebook version of THE TWICE-STOLEN NECKLACE MURDERS then start reading within minutes:

The Sequel to The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders:
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS

For a paperback or eBook version of the book, click:

The Board of Directors of Wars

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Please enter the silence of contemplation.

REMOVING FALSE CONCEPTS – HOW POINTERS PURIFY THE MIND AND CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR YOUR TRUE NATURE TO EMERGE.PART 10– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.

(Please note: The Annual Fall Book Sale is now under way. Most Non-Duality eBooks at floydhenderson.com are on sale at 30-50% off regular price.)

The only difference between us is that I am aware of my natural state, while you are bemused. Just like gold made into ornaments has no advantage over gold dust, except when the mind makes it so, so we are in being - we differ only in appearance. We discover it by being earnest, by searching, enquiring, questioning daily and hourly, by giving one’s life to this discovery. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

You are already Your True Nature. How could it be otherwise? You cannot not be Yourself. The eagle may believe it is a pigeon; but it is still an eagle despite its false beliefs about itself.

Why then does the seeker feel separated from this Natural State? Why does the seeker experience suffering and the endless ups and downs of the relative existence? Why then the exhausting quest?

The seeker is the victim of programming, conditioning and enculturation that have resulted in a mind filled with false concepts and beliefs about the Nature of Reality. As a result, the seeker functions from a limited and personally bound sense of self-identity. In this way, the layers of false understanding create sheaths or barriers which prevent simply being one’s True Self.

Imagine the seeker is in Cape Town, but believes she is in Houston, Texas. This false belief will prevent her from simply and effortlessly being in Cape Town. She may buy map books or use street directories for Houston, Texas, and then become hopelessly lost because she cannot find her way around. Can you see that she is in Cape Town – but she might as well be anywhere else in the world, as she simply cannot see where she is located with clear sight?

How might the seeker be “cured” of her false ideas about location? She will have to be systematically de-programmed, so that her false notions about where she is located are removed. Can you see that she does not need to be taken to Cape Town – she is already there. All that is required is the removal of the false ideas she has. Without these false notions, she will be able to look around her and see for herself that she is in Cape Town.

The seeker is already free. However, it is useless for the teacher to simply present this fact. The conditioning is too deeply engrained. The mind is too entrained in particular lines of thinking and identification. Each false concept, belief or identification creates a bar of a cage in which the seeker is imprisoned. The seeker is not really in prison, but she may as well be, since she thinks, believes and behaves just like a prisoner.

However, there is hope. Since the prison bars are false or the “not real” – these falsities can be pointed out to the seeker. Each false layer of understanding that creates a veil or sheath that separates the seeker from Reality can be removed in a step-by-step manner, until the seeker as an identity dissolves and the True Nature of Reality shines without obstruction.

There is a pre-requisite though. The seeker must accept that she is lost in a sea of false ideas, and she must wholeheartedly want these false layers to be removed. As Maharaj explains:

It may seem arduous, but it is easy if you are earnest. And quite impossible if you are not. Earnestness is both necessary and sufficient. Everything yields to earnestness.

Do understand that you are destined for enlightenment. Co-operate with your destiny, don’t go against it, don’t thwart it. Allow it to fulfill itself. All you have to do is to give attention to the obstacles created by the foolish mind.

This series has examined the mechanism by which the false is removed and the mind of the seeker de-programmed. The Advaitin pointers are these false-exploding devices – when the mind of the seeker is ready and they are taken into silent consideration. Often seekers find this mechanism too simple. They want techniques and mantras, and postures and visualization. Maharaj himself explains that these types of activities are only used to keep the body-mind busy when the seeker is hopelessly bound in misidentification. When there is stability and clarity, all that is required is to take the pointers into silent consideration. Just as bubbles blown by children burst and disappear when touched, the false concepts dissolve in the light of true understanding.

Understand then, the inexpressible value of each Advaitin pointer. You need not read and study endlessly. Simply follow the step-by-step instructions for removal of all that is false. As each layer is removed, there is a lightness and freedom and stability not felt before – so the benefits even during the process of de-mystification are apparent.

Follow the Teacher’s advice, however. Don’t get stuck on some pleasant, grassy false summit. Complete the journey you have started. Be Yourself – unconditioned and limitless. As Maharaj describes:

To me nothing ever happens. There is something changeless, motionless, immovable, rock-like, unassailable; a solid mass of pure being-consciousness-bliss. I am never out of it. Nothing can take me out of it, no torture, no calamity.

Find the stability he describes, by stepping out of the prison of relative life and its slings and arrows. Use the Advaitin technology. Be free.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – and removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

REMOVING FALSE CONCEPTS – HOW POINTERS PURIFY THE MIND AND CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR YOUR TRUE NATURE TO EMERGE. PART 9– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.

(Please note: The Annual Fall Book Sale is now under way. Most Non-Duality eBooks at floydhenderson.com are on sale at 30-50% off regular price.)

How can you be Yourself? First you need to discover all that you are not. Everything that you observe is temporary, fleeting, ephemeral – a temporary combination of elements that will soon un-combine. This morning, sitting in the sunshine, everything observed is of this temporary nature: the pot with the palm tree, the bare feet resting on the log, the bees buzzing amongst the nasturtiums. The naming of objects can go on and on. There is an apparent variety, yet the fundamental characteristics are the same – temporary, changing, finite.

Can you see that because of these characteristics, all that is observed is false? The Advaitin Teachings tell you to back away from all that is false and to locate what is unchanging, infinite, stable, and permanent. For this reason, at the outset the pointers assist you to draw the consciousness back from this multitude of objects.

Eventually, this backing away from untruth will have the desired effect, and the seeker will rest in the sense “I Am” without attributes. From this vantage point, consciousness is simply witnessed without attachment and involvement. WHO would attach? WHO would get involved? This sense “I Am” is impersonal consciousness – pure and unadulterated.

Yet, the “I Am” too is a temporary resting place, and ultimately the same deconstruction must be applied. However, it is only when stabilized as the pure consciousness, that the seeker will be able intuit the meaning that You Are What is Prior to Consciousness. See how these pointers, level appropriate for the seeker stabilized in the sense “I Am” guide you back still further.

“You are that, which is prior to the arrival of I-am-ness.” – Maharaj

This ‘I am’ is an announcement, it is not the real, it has come out of something else. What the real is, I am not trying to tell you, because words negate that. Whatever I am telling you, is not the truth, because it has come out of the ‘I am’ – Maharaj

Originally, I am untainted - uncovered by anything, without stigma - since nobody existed prior to me. Nor do I entertain any concepts about somebody existing before me. Everything is in the form of the manifest world, after the appearance of the knowledge "I am" with the body. Together with the body and the indwelling "I-am-ness," everything is. Prior to the appearance of this body and the knowledge "I am," what was there? – Maharaj

[The final "stages” of the “journey” are described by floyd in two ebooks: Consciousness/Awareness: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization and From the Absolute to the Nothingness.]

At the outset, following the Advaitin pointers can seem like going mountaineering in the dark. Although you have a map and directions, the terrain is unfamiliar and it is easy to get lost. It is also easy to doubt the map and directions. In fact, at times it can even feel tempting to sink back into the unquestioning cult of society and forget the whole expedition. (However, once the desire to find yourself has been awoken, it is not easily abandoned. The vagaries of relative life will sooner or later prompt a return to the “search”. )

For the mountain climber, when the summit is attained it is possible to look back down the mountain and to see the path with perfect clarity. It is possible to spot obstacles, cul de sacs and false summits. However, when on the mountain itself, it is impossible to see with clear sight.

The Advaitin pointers are that direct map; they are the clear directions. They are expressed via the Pure Consciousness and their purpose is to guide the seeker from body identification to the Final Understanding of Reality.

Let’s end with a quote from Consciousness/Awareness:

“Being in touch with Reality” is actually about being in touch with nothing…freed from being in touch with anything that is not real, that is phenomenal, and that is mind-generated or culture-generated.

Awareness removes all identification with anything other than the void or nothingness, which means there is no identification at all.

Abidance as the awareness can happen even during the manifestation of consciousness and is the unconditional “condition” referred to by the terms Fully Realized, Enlightened, Liberated, Actualized, etc." – Floyd Henderson

Tomorrow – the conclusion.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – and removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

REMOVING FALSE CONCEPTS – HOW POINTERS PURIFY THE MIND AND CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR YOUR TRUE NATURE TO EMERGE. PART 8– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.

(Please note: The Annual Fall Book Sale is now under way. Most Non-Duality eBooks at floydhenderson.com are on sale at 30-50% off regular price.)

“You can only know your self by being yourself without any attempt at self-definition and self-description. Once you have understood that you are nothing perceivable or conceivable, that whatever appears in the field of consciousness cannot be your self, you will apply yourself to the eradication of all self identification, as the only way that can take you to a deeper realization of your self. You literally progress by rejection—a veritable rocket. To know that you are neither in the body nor in the mind, though aware of both, is already self-knowledge.”– Nisargadatta Maharaj

Pointers to Your Own True Nature are designed to eradicate the false. The false is unreal – and will easily dissolve with investigation. The Real can never be dissolved or eradicated.

The Advaitin Teachings offer You the message that:

• You are not the body.
  
  
• You are not the mind.
  
  
• You are not the personality.
  
  
• You were not born.
  
  
• You will not die.
  
  
• You cannot be defined and described.
  
  
• You are nothing perceivable or conceivable.

Can you see that the Advaitin message removes concepts since Who You Are cannot be defined or described ?

Can you see that the Advaitin message adds nothing, but removes everything?

The cult of society offers You the message that:

• You are the body.
  
  
• You are the mind.
  
  
• You are the personality.
  
  
• You were born.
  
  
• You will die.
  
  
• You can be defined and described.
  
  
• You are perceivable or conceivable.

Can you see that the cult of society’s message adds concepts that attempt to describe Who You Are?

Can you see that the cult of society’s message adds many concepts, but removes nothing?

The seeker, especially in the beginning stages, may find the radicalism of the Advaitin pointers difficult to metabolize. For this reason, the seeker often unconsciously ignores the pointers and allows some cherished or much loved concepts, beliefs or identifications to remain intact. However, for the pointers to have their effect, they must be rigorously and systematically applied. Clinging to any concept, thought or identification creates the abyss of separation.

“See that you are not what you believe yourself to be. Fight with all the strength at your disposal against the idea that you are nameable and describable. You are not. Refuse to think of this or that. There is no other way out of misery, which you have created for yourself through blind acceptance without investigation. Suffering is a call for inquiry, all pain needs investigation. Don’t be lazy to think.” – Nisargadatta Maharaj

See the insistence of the pointers offered by Maharaj. To break free of your programming and conditioning is no easy matter. You have assumed that what you parents and what your society has told you is true. Perhaps you even think of yourself as a critical thinker – yet, the message offered here is that you have made assumptions about yourself without looking into the matter. You have accepted “facts” about yourself through hearsay. You may have to swallow the bitter pill that you are a sheep, guilty of “blind acceptance without investigation”. This is not a pill that is easy to take.

However, once the understanding dawns that your suffering is because of your false beliefs, ideas and assumptions, you may be open to rejecting them and allowing them to dissolve. Remember though, it is not possible to be selective. This is an all or nothing game.

For example, perhaps you believe that you accept the pointer that you are not the mind, yet cling to occasional random thoughts that take your fancy. Step outside of the whole mess. Observe the mind with silent detachment and you will see the thoughts as they are produced: happy, sad, judgmental, compassionate, insightful, neurotic, naive …every flavor and color of thought will be produced. Observe them all without attachment. That is the way to be free of the assumption that you are the mind. Let go of the self-indulgent idea that the thoughts are particular and personal. Let them spew forth without paying them attention. Eventually, you will not even notice them, yet you will find yourself functioning easily and effortlessly.

This rejection of the false requires vigilance and attention to detail. Remember,

“The way to truth lies through the destruction of the false. To destroy the false, you must question your most inveterate beliefs. .” – Nisargadatta Maharaj

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – and removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com