Monday, October 03, 2011

"There Is A Little Niggerhead In All of Us" If Full Realization Has Not Happened, Part One

Table of Contents

Today's Considerations
Recent Posts and Archives
Tools for Realization
Author's eBooks
Author's Paperback Books
Free eBooks
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.

As for Maharaj, you will find here some of his early pointers for beginners but some of his later pointers that are for seekers farther along the "path." During his last years, he said of I AM THAT: "That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today" and am "emphasizing different aspects." What he offered later differed considerably from his earlier talks, making clear that the pointers in I AM THAT will take you to the midpoint of "the race" but that his final talks point the way to "the finish line."

The Newest Release:


You may click the link below for more information or to order:
GOING CRAZY / GOING SANE

F.: In a discussion of what "the non-duality journey" is about - and what it is not about - a comment from a protégé in May of 2005 was shared again last month:

There is likely no greater misunderstanding than about why the "path" is to be followed and why "the journey" is to be completed. In the first pages of the book FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE, this pointer is offered:

It has been found that one must either find a working philosophy or be doomed to adopt "their" ideology instead, and my experience shows that nothing is more destructive than buying into "their" ideology. For the most part, however, the version of the Advaita Vedanta (Non-Duality) message that I offer has been characterized by one protégé as being “Applied Advaita.”

The Nisarga Yoga's invitation to abide naturally and to fix one's feet firmly on the ground is rejected most often by those who think that they have Realized and that - as a result - they are now detached from the relative, from the Is-ness, from the AM-ness entirely.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj's invitation to seekers to abandon their "learned ignorance" and what he called their "stupidity" and their "insanity" usually triggered - and triggers - an arrogance-based, egotism-based reaction which exposes the presence of one of more ego-states and affirms the fact that Realization has not happened at all.

Yet if one considers calmly and objectively the talk here of "applying" the non-duality understanding, and if one considers calmly and objectively the call to abandon ignorance and stupidity and insanity, then it should be clear that Realization is about results and that results only matter NOW, in the relative.

To that end, the Advaita understanding can expose the roots of current conditions around the globe that generate misery and suffering in order to eliminate some of those effects. And the fact is that the roots which are exposed differ not at all from the same roots that have been addressed by sages for thousands of years.

The continuum runs thusly:

programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation ...

plant the seeds of a sense of separation

and

plant the idea that false identities are real

and generate

the false sense of self-ness which sets the stage for

the belief that "this self" is most definitely" not "that self" (eliminating any chance at that point of understanding the unicity - the sense of Oneness that is Truth - and replaces that with the senses of apart-ness and separation and different-from-ness and better-than-ness.

And there are the results of the dualistic beliefs that are at the root of all misery and suffering.

In what was the spring of 2011 in the U.S., the fall of 2011 in South Africa's southern hemisphere locale, travels throughout sections of Cape Town and its environs often led to passing by what are called "townships" there. Those are not unlike the improvised ghettos in the U.S. and are not unlike the shanty towns around the globe where cultures isolate those they arrogantly consider to be "less-than."

The absence of the old "Apartheid" laws notwithstanding, there remains a divide: Cape Town is not unlike many of the towns in the South in the U.S. that were - and in some cases still are - called "Sundown Towns." Meaning?

Meaning that if you are black, you can come into the city and work for white people for wages that other white people would not find acceptable for their services, but by sundown, you better be gone. You better have disappeared.

While the official line in S.A. is that "apartheid" has ended, the arrogance-based sense of "apart-ness" has not. Yet the conditions in the U.S. nearly fifty years after the violence of the "civil rights movement" has passed make South Africa look like a utopia in comparison. Not since the days of the "Civil" War has such a sense of division been present.

And what is happening in Cape Town and in the U.S. is also happening globally. These are not "particular" examples; they are universal examples.

The current divisions in the U.S. and around the globe are not new. They are rooted in the duality and ignorance and stupidity and insanity of the egotism-inspired establishment of hierarchies where persons are arranged in a descending order of lightness at the top to darkness at the bottom;

and the lightness and darkness have nothing to do with intelligence, ability, or wisdom but have only to do with the color of one's skin or one's tribal heritage and affiliation or one's geographic location or one's economic status.

Moreover, the planet is really just one, large, Sundown Town, so the call is as great as ever for persons around the globe to receive the understanding and to apply the understanding in order to address the false sense of self that generates a false sense of superiority that generates a false sense of separation and a sense of better-than-ment.

Those claiming some "benefit" of Realization are self-deceived if the understanding is not "applied" in the relative existence in a manner which would allow for the manifestation of a sense of unity rather than a false sense of separation; that would allow peace to replace fighting; and that would allow the wisdom of equality to eliminate the dualistic belief in inequality that exists around the globe, that generates misery and suffering, and that is rooted in arrogance and ignorance.

In the U.S., there is a new opportunity to witness the roots of duality and ignorance and stupidity and insanity as the focus in the current presidential campaign will - at least for few days - spotlight the most recent example in the states of the arrogance and egotism and ignorance-based sense of separation and better-than-ment.

The current subject of such focus: the name of the thousand+-acre hunting camp where the governor of Texas hosted groups of people for Texas-style entertainment (which includes heavy eating, heavy drinking, and the killing of deer and wild turkeys and wild hogs and any other creature that crosses the path of the guests).

For those not familiar, no word in the English language better represents "duality and arrogance and separation in practice" that the term used by some whites in the U.S. to describe blacks, namely, "nigger"; thus, the fact that the governor's hunting camp was named "Niggerhead" is in the spotlight because he presently is in the race to be the Republican's candidate in the 2012 election for the President of the United States .

What is currently being debated is "what did the governor know, and when did he know it?"

Beyond debate is the fact that the governor knew early on that the hunting camp that he used was named "Niggerhead." The term was painted on a large rock at the entrance to the hunting estate. What is being disputed is his claim that he had the name painted over shortly after buying an interest in the hunting camp vs. the claim by many who knew him and went there with him who are suggesting that he left the name on the rock at the entrance to the estate for years.

In an article written by Chauncey DeVega, the point is offered that Throckmorton County, where the hunting camp is located, was for years considered a virtual no-go zone for blacks because of old stories about the lynching of a black man there.

Just as the white part of Cape Town is a Sundown Town, so too was the town where the governor was raised, a town that he often refers to nostalgically as the place that gave him his fine, right-wing, conservative values.

Why, when the Advaitin teachings deal more often with the universal than with the particular, should such a singularly particular story be discussed here? DeVega points out that "a distraction can still be instructive and productive."

DeVega notes that "racism and Conservatism overlap in America; the Conservative political imagination yearns for a return to the 'good old days' and is blinded by a myopic White nostalgia for the past."

Devega asserts that:

"the Whiteness of history is glaring" and that Governor "Rick Perry, as demonstrated by his love for [the name] Niggerhead, is just one of many Americans who are transfixed by it. Nevertheless, Rick Perry’s Niggerhead moment is teachable history. For that reason it is important."

Thus, this discussion here. While the Nisarga Yoga invites the Realized to take the universal understanding and to apply it to each particular moment in the relative existence in order to eliminate the misery-causing ignorance and the suffering-generating sense of separation and better-than-ment that the sages have warned humanity about for thousands of years, so the particular can teach the universal.

It can draw back the curtain that is hiding deep-seated prejudice and separation and a sense of better-than-ment, expose it to the light of day, and invite the universality of the understanding of the unicity to be considered as an alternative.

When DeVega writes, "Remember folks, there is a little Niggerhead in all of us … for some like Rick Perry, a good deal more than others," that is a call to all that have not transitioned beyond all dualistic thoughts and ideas and beliefs and concepts to consider the alternative that Full and True Realization offers.

In the U.S., no term has perpetuates a sense of duality and separation more that the term "nigger." DeVega is inviting persons to consider if the statement "there is a little Niggerhead in all of us" is accurate or not for each of them. To that end, the statement includes the invitation to consider what levels of duality - and ignorance and arrogance and egotism and stupidity and insanity - might be present ... or not.

And that invitation is a totally Advaitin, Nisargan non-duality invitation to its core.

Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

If you would like to support the site or to help insure that those seeking this understanding have someone available, you may click here to donate.

For those seeking the full explanation of the topics addressed on this site: there are non-duality books offered below as well as retreats and Skype or telephone sessions available at
  • Floyd Henderson's Website

  • The full explanations are also available in the books in the author's collection that explain in detail all of the non-duality, nisarga teachings offered here:
    1. Most non-duality books below are available through Amazon.com.
    2. Read Kindle books on your own device by downloading a free app.

    The available books are arranged on the carousels below. Use the arrows to move each book to the forefront; then, you may click on any book that you might be interested in to find more information or to purchase.

    THE ADVANCED SEEKERS' SERIES
    From the I to the Absolute
    Consciousness / Awareness
    From the Absolute to the Nothingness
    The Final Understanding
    The Advanced Seekers' Series in
    paperback
    The Two Meditation Guides




    The BLISSFUL ABIDANCE SERIES, PART ONE
    What BLISS Is and What BLISS Is Not
    Why You Must Be Empty If You Would Be Full
    When Reality Is Overlaid Upon the Relative
    Freedom from Shifting Between States of Happiness and Unhappiness
    Liberation
    The Blissful Abidance Series (6 books) in
    paperback



    The ADVAITINS Collection
    with THE MAHARAJ QUATRO, including:
    (1) Why NISARGA YOGA in addition to the ADVAITA TEACHING?
    (2) Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and His Evolution
    (3) A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
    (4) Going Crazy / Going Sane
    Jesus Christ the Advaitin
    William Shakespeare the Advaitin



    The FREEDOM FROM THE MIND Series
    Instability / Insanity: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot) Address
    PROGRAMMING, CONDITIONING, DOMESTICATION, AND ACCULTURATION
    The Ultimate Sickness, The Ultimate Medicine
    Going Crazy / Going Sane
    There's No Such Thing As "Peace of Mind" (There Is Only Peace If You're Out of Your Mind)
    Dancing Lightly




    The BLISSFUL ABIDANCE SERIES, PART TWO
    Overcoming the Fear of Being Totally Independent
    I AM THAT (vs. "This Is Who I Think I Am")
    The Essence of the Teachings
    There Is Nothing That Is Personal (Including You and Including God)
    Lessons in Non-Duality from Travels in South Africa
    The Path to Freedom vs. the Path to Misery




    RECOVERY LITERATURE, the RELATIONSHIP books
    A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Realization [Kindle]
    A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Realization [Paperback]
    A Guide for Working the Twelve Steps (In the Manner Used by the Founders)
    The Twelve Steps and Advaita / Non-Duality: A 21-Day Plan for a Psychic Change
    Finding Real Love in An Unreal World
    Casting Light on the Dark Side of Relationships



    The NO DEATH books, NON-DUALITY IN FICTION, FINANCIAL SANITY
    The Myth of Death
    What Happens When I Die?
    The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders (Non-Duality) [Kindle]
    The Board of Directors of Wars (Non-Duality) [Kindle]
    The Board of Directors of Wars (Non-Duality) [Paperback]
    Living Within Your Means
    How Your Personality Type Shapes Your Spending Habits




    NON-DUALITY BOOKS, EACH CONTAINING A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING ONE OF THE SEVEN STEPS ON THE PATH TO REALIZATION



    FOR THOSE WHO PREFER PAPERBACK, THE FOLLOWING PAPERBACK BOOKS ARE ON SALE NOW
    (Click the pictures for information on the paperback versions)



    (FOUR BOOKS IN ONE)





    (SIX BOOKS IN ONE)








    FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION

    An online Advaita Internet Course is offered here. The price of the course includes the four Advaita eBooks used as the texts; questions sent after completion of the assigned readings; replies to your answers; and follow-up as required.

    The price of the course includes the four Advaita eBooks used as the texts; questions sent after completion of the assigned readings, replies to your answers, and follow-up as required.

    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. To get started now now, click the pay button below and receive the $365 course for a discounted price of $325.00.

    Purchase at Discount the Advaita Internet Course with Floyd


    by
    Clicking the Buy Now Button below:

    Or, if you prefer, begin by arranging a one-hour Advaita session via Skype with Floyd:

    Next, you can now 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, Seven-Hour Video (DVD) Set of an advaita retreat, or the downloadable file version. To find out more or to purchase the DVD or downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
    DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
    International buyers: note the separate option for those outside the continental U.S.

    2. BY READING the explanations offered in the collection of non-duality books that are available on this site.

    3. BY ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes

    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 information or use the link below to pay for your first Advaita session.

    You may click the BUY NOW button below to begin arrangements for your first Advaita session with Floyd via Skype and he will contact you to schedule:


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

    Sunday, October 02, 2011

    THE "FOREST DWELLER STAGE" IS REQUIRED, THOUGH AN ACTUAL FOREST IS NOT, Part Two

    Table of Contents

    Today's Considerations
    Recent Posts and Archives
    Tools for Realization
    Author's eBooks
    Author's Paperback Books
    Free eBooks
    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.

    As for Maharaj, you will find here some of his early pointers for beginners but some of his later pointers that are for seekers farther along the "path." During his last years, he said of I AM THAT: "That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today" and am "emphasizing different aspects." What he offered later differed considerably from his earlier talks, making clear that the pointers in I AM THAT will take you to the midpoint of "the race" but that his final talks point the way to "the finish line."

    [The following post is also an excerpt from GOING CRAZY / GOING SANE,
    NOW AVAILABLE at Amazon]:


    You may click the link below for more information or to order:
    GOING CRAZY / GOING SANE

    F.: So how does one enter into the "Forest Dweller Stage" even if going to the forest is out of the question? Consider: the title of Thomas Hardy’s novel Far from the Madding Crowd is taken from Thomas Gray’s poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."

    How to find the solitude of a quiet, remote churchyard in the English countryside when you cannot stay on a permanent vacation but must deal with financial issues and / or car and house repair issues and / or a failing business issue?

    How to find the peace that comes when far away from the madding crowd when you cannot stay far away from the madding crowd but must deal with employer or employee issues and / or family and relationship issues and / or neighbor issues?

    There is a natural preference for being in a quiet, country setting vs. a noisy, concrete and steel setting and there is a natural appeal for being in the presence of soothing, natural sounds (such as might be heard next to a gently-flowing stream or that might be heard if sitting outside early in the morning and listening to the birds as they express their joy over the comfortable temperatures brought by the fall season's first cool front).

    Any inclination to prefer a concrete and steel setting rather than a tranquil setting in nature, or to prefer noise and chaos over peace and stability, is a result of perverse acculturation and programming and conditioning.

    There is a natural appeal for the natural, the result of which is an archetypal drive among most to find a geographic place with some very specific traits for retreat and re-treat and that is far from the crowd. That innate drive will support the belief that there is a place (or places) that people must travel to in order to find Self and freedom and peace and happiness.

    Over a period of thirty-three years, nearly 5,000 persons were polled by the author during discussions concerning the movement away from the madding crowd. (Most of those polled - as is the case with the majority of the people on the planet - did not have the option of arranging a permanent retreat from society.)

    Prior to the polling, the participants were told that most humans have in their imagination a quiet place, a place that they would consider to have all of the attributes of "the perfect hideaway" or "an ideal place for escape."

    It was explained that they were not to try to describe a geographical place that they have actually visited but were to tap into the deepest recesses of the consciousness and describe that place which can only be visualized and that has always been within. Next, they were asked to list the words that best described the place and its surroundings.

    In 95% of all responses, six common traits were always mentioned:

    1. remote
    2. quiet
    3. a place of solitude because no other humans are anywhere near (meaning one can be alone there without feeling lonely)
    4. water
    5. the natural sound of the movement of water (waterfall, brook, stream) and sometimes the sound of a gentle breeze blowing through the trees
    6. wildlife, esp. birds

    The author's Cherokee grandmother used a term employed by the indigenous peoples to describe that “non-place place”: she called it “The Medicine Place” or “The Healing Place,” reached by conducting a “Spirit Journey.”

    Do not conclude that a "Spirit Journey" has anything to do with 'being spiritual." It is merely a "journey" that happens in a non-physical way. Humans can "visit" their quiet place of retreat which has all of the six traits above without having to go anywhere literally.

    Do most require at least some time with a teacher to address one-on-one the seeker’s questions? Often that seems to be the case; however, no expensive trip is required for you to reach that "healing place" where the True Self can be known.

    Note that enlightenment is about touching that Original Understanding which predated both language and world travel. There is an “inner guru” or “inner resource” that can be tapped into; however, programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation have created such a barricade of blackness that more light is required to penetrate the barriers than most will ever muster alone.

    So, in order for Realization to happen (and for peace and happiness to continue thereafter), must one travel to a geographically-remote area and reside there in order to be removed far from the madding crowd? Of course not.

    Post-Realization, all is seen for what it is, and the madding crowd is recognized to be as grand an illusion as everything else that is misperceived by the non-Realized. A mirage in the road ahead can only be troublesome for those who are deceived and who believe that illusions are real.

    Instead of having to take endless trips around the planet, yours must be a “non-journey journey” to the “non-place place” where the no-thingness awaits. The no-thingness? Yes. To understand that it is the nothingness that is found at the end of this “path” prevents most from ever even starting an Advaita-based “journey” that is marked ...

    by annihilation … not gain;

    by elimination of all of the learned ignorance that has been collected … not acquisition of more knowledge;

    and

    by de-accumulation … not accumulation.

    If all that awaits at the “end” of your quest is understood, you will know that there is no benefit, no one to benefit, no purpose, and no meaning. Know that and your quest will lose that frenzied drive that might be characterizing your current efforts. That will allow a calmer state to manifest, which is the only kind of state in which Realization can happen. Best regards on that "non-journey journey."

    Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

    If you would like to support the site or to help insure that those seeking this understanding have someone available, you may click here to donate.

    For those seeking the full explanation of the topics addressed on this site: there are non-duality books offered below as well as retreats and Skype or telephone sessions available at
  • Floyd Henderson's Website

  • The full explanations are also available in the books in the author's collection that explain in detail all of the non-duality, nisarga teachings offered here:
    1. Most non-duality books below are available through Amazon.com.
    2. Buy a Kindle reader at the end of this posting or
    3. Read Kindle books on your own device by downloading a free app.

    The available books are arranged on the carousels below. Use the arrows to move each book to the forefront; then, you may click on any book that you might be interested in to find more information or to purchase.

    THE ADVANCED SEEKERS' SERIES
    From the I to the Absolute
    Consciousness / Awareness
    From the Absolute to the Nothingness
    The Final Understanding
    The Advanced Seekers' Series in
    paperback
    the two Meditation Guides




    The BLISSFUL ABIDANCE SERIES, PART ONE
    What BLISS Is and What BLISS Is Not
    Why You Must Be Empty If You Would Be Full
    When Reality Is Overlaid Upon the Relative
    Freedom from Shifting Between States of Happiness and Unhappiness
    Liberation
    The Blissful Abidance Series (6 books) in
    paperback



    The ADVAITINS Collection
    with THE MAHARAJ QUATRO, including:
    (1) Why NISARGA YOGA in addition to the ADVAITA TEACHING?
    (2) Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and His Evolution
    (3) A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
    (4) Going Crazy / Going Sane
    Jesus Christ the Advaitin
    William Shakespeare the Advaitin




    The FREEDOM FROM THE MIND Series
    Instability / Insanity: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot) Address
    PROGRAMMING, CONDITIONING, DOMESTICATION, AND ACCULTURATION
    The Ultimate Sickness, The Ultimate Medicine
    Going Crazy / Going Sane
    There's No Such Thing As "Peace of Mind" (There Is Only Peace If You're Out of Your Mind)
    Dancing Lightly




    The BLISSFUL ABIDANCE SERIES, PART TWO
    Overcoming the Fear of Being Totally Independent
    I AM THAT (vs. "This Is Who I Think I Am")
    The Essence of the Teachings
    There Is Nothing That Is Personal (Including You and Including God)
    Lessons in Non-Duality from Travels in South Africa
    The Path to Freedom vs. the Path to Misery




    RECOVERY LITERATURE, the RELATIONSHIP books
    A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Realization [Kindle]
    A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Realization [Paperback]
    A Guide for Working the Twelve Steps (In the Manner Used by the Founders)
    The Twelve Steps and Advaita / Non-Duality: A 21-Day Plan for a Psychic Change
    Finding Real Love in An Unreal World
    Casting Light on the Dark Side of Relationships




    The NO DEATH books, NON-DUALITY IN FICTION, FINANCIAL SANITY
    The Myth of Death
    What Happens When I Die?
    The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders (Non-Duality) [Kindle]
    The Board of Directors of Wars (Non-Duality) [Kindle]
    The Board of Directors of Wars (Non-Duality) [Paperback]
    Living Within Your Means
    How Your Personality Type Shapes Your Spending Habits




    NON-DUALITY BOOKS, EACH CONTAINING A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING ONE OF THE SEVEN STEPS ON THE PATH TO REALIZATION



    FOR THOSE WHO PREFER PAPERBACK, THE FOLLOWING PAPERBACK BOOKS ARE ON SALE NOW
    (Click the pictures for information on the paperback versions)



    (FOUR BOOKS IN ONE)





    (SIX BOOKS IN ONE)








    FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION

    An online Advaita Internet Course is offered here. The price of the course includes the four Advaita eBooks used as the texts; questions sent after completion of the assigned readings; replies to your answers; and follow-up as required.

    The price of the course includes the four Advaita eBooks used as the texts; questions sent after completion of the assigned readings, replies to your answers, and follow-up as required.

    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. To get started now now, click the pay button below and receive the $365 course for a discounted price of $325.00.

    Purchase at Discount the Advaita Internet Course with Floyd


    by
    Clicking the Buy Now Button below:

    Or, if you prefer, begin by arranging a one-hour Advaita session via Skype with Floyd:

    Next, you can now 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, Seven-Hour Video (DVD) Set of an advaita retreat, or the downloadable file version. To find out more or to purchase the DVD or downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
    DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
    International buyers: note the separate option for those outside the continental U.S.

    2. BY READING the explanations offered in the collection of non-duality books that are available on this site.

    3. BY ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes

    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 information or use the link below to pay for your first Advaita session.

    You may click the BUY NOW button below to begin arrangements for your first Advaita session with Floyd via Skype and he will contact you to schedule:


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

    Saturday, October 01, 2011

    THE "FOREST DWELLER STAGE" IS REQUIRED, THOUGH AN ACTUAL FOREST IS NOT

    Table of Contents

    Today's Considerations
    Recent Posts and Archives
    Tools for Realization
    Author's eBooks
    Author's Paperback Books
    Free eBooks
    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.

    As for Maharaj, you will find here some of his early pointers for beginners but some of his later pointers that are for seekers farther along the "path." During his last years, he said of I AM THAT: "That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today" and am "emphasizing different aspects." What he offered later differed considerably from his earlier talks, making clear that the pointers in I AM THAT will take you to the midpoint of "the race" but that his final talks point the way to "the finish line."

    [The following post is also an excerpt from this soon-to-be-released book]:


    GOING CRAZY / GOING SANE

    F.: Some have asked about "the experience here," about how the "going crazy" to the "going sane" process unfolded here:

    It has been noted that here, learned ignorance and insanity came later than in some cases, but it eventually came. The delay was for one reason only: the Type Four Personality developed here (as happened with Maharaj) as a result of rebelling against authority figures and their abusive behavior and their messages of distortion and delusion. Thus, it took longer for "them" to "get to me," but they eventually did.

    Maharaj noted that "insanity is universal." It is noted here that, while insanity is indeed global, there are a few places on the planet where sanity reigns, namely, in all-natural settings.

    That is why the "forest dweller stage" is required, though an actual forest is not. Insanity is marked by patterns of behavior that are either unnatural or supposedly supernatural (a.k.a., magical, metaphysical, religious, spiritual, etc.)

    If it is sanity that is being sought, then either unnatural and supposedly supernatural patterns must be broken or, if they are not, then the person will eventually be broken.

    Consider the circumstances of a man who came here last week. He had been criticized and rejected by his father throughout his childhood and teen years. Now, approaching the age of forty, he reports that he has never married although he has been involved in over fifty relationships with women. In each case, he claimed, he felt that he was going to find someone who would "accept him and be with him forever."

    He said last week, "I cannot stand to be alone. I am driven to have a woman with me all the time. I'm fairly handsome and I own my own law firm that has made me rich, so my pattern is that I'll meet a woman and within a week, I'll offer her a mansion to live in for free and most will accept that offer immediately. Then, I have them where I want them, dependent on me and willing to give me what I want ... or they lose their housing."

    Floyd: "Ah, so in fact you're not involved in the legal profession at all - you're involved in the sex slave trade."

    Visitor: [Silence. Stony stare.] "Why don't we keep this civil?"

    F.: "Continue."

    Visitor: [Exasperated. Deep breath. Long exhale. Then ...] "I'm driven to have sex with women constantly, but the relationships never last. I came here because a friend told me you could relate and that you found a way out of these patterns that are wiping me out mentally and emotionally and physically. It's easy to get women to move in, but it's damn hard to get them to move out when I'm ready for them to go. You helped my buddy and I want you to help me."

    F.: "Has your being with fifty women really been about the sex, or is it possible that it has been about the message that you believe is being sent by their willingness to have sex with you? To 'accept' you? If that is the case, then the next questions to be asked are, 'How many women will have to "accept" you before the trauma of your father having never accepted you is alleviated? How many women will finally be enough'?"

    [No comment]

    F.: "The answer is, "There will never be enough instances of women 'accepting' you in order to undo that which is inside you and which you are trying to address with that which is outside of you."

    Visitor: "So what do I do? How did you get free?"

    F.: "There was a two-fold approach. First, a trained professional dealt with the residual effects of the trauma that drives thoughts and words and deeds and which inspire patterns - the repetition of actions that do not work but that are repeated continuously anyway. Then, I had to go to the forest."

    Visitor: [Sarcastically] "Go to the forest?"

    F.: "If you are living unnaturally and supernaturally among the insane masses, where better to treat such insanity than in a natural setting where the occupants are not insane?"

    Visitor: "What?"

    F.: "Here, it was the same way it was with Thoreau. He said, 'I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived'."

    "During my youth, that involved living for months at a time with a Cherokee Grandmother in a remote section of woods in East Texas. As an adult, it involved seeing the destructive patterns of behavior and then physically removing myself from every venue where those patterns were being played out with insane persons who were willing to play the insane games.

    "That meant that I purchased an off-road vehicle and camping supplies and went into the forest for twenty-five months. I was not running away from women or running to women. I settled into a position of neutrality. What happened or did not happen was not just accepted. It was relished.

    "I did not run away from intoxicants or other things that had been used in an effort to try to escape from that which I could not escape because I had always taken along with me everywhere I went the core problem, namely, the Ultimate Sickness ... the insanity. I eventually settled into a position of neutrality about all things. Whatever happened or did not happen was not just accepted. It was relished.

    "So I went to the woods to see what the woods and the inhabitants there had to teach me. I went into the forest to see what lessons it might teach about how to stop living unnaturally and supernaturally, both of which had been tried and both of which had failed miserably.

    "In the forests, I watched the deer as they modeled a natural style of living. I watched a spider build a web and then it showed me that, after doing all that it could do, it then did nothing. It waited patiently for what might happen ... or might not.

    "I avoided bears in Arizona and found that it is best to know that I really have no power and that it is insane to enter into battles that cannot be won and that should not be entered into at all. I learned that confrontations can be seen to be truly hopeless only if the arrogance of assumed power is cast aside.

    "I walked trails in East and South Texas where I came across copperhead snakes lying in the sun across the path, refusing to move an inch, ignoring all of the surrounding commotion and noise and hoopla that I created in an effort to try to scare them off or make them go away.

    "I watched how those deadly creatures allowed me to use the bear claw on the end of a walking stick to move them away, a stick that has been loaned to me by a Cherokee medicine man (who could legally own such a stick with such a claw, though I could not).

    "I watched how the snakes did not react when the claw was slipped beneath the belly at the midpoint of their length, how they did not panic when they were being moved to the side of the trail, and how they went back to resting wherever they were placed after events beyond their control had temporarily determined what was happening to them.

    "I watched in other cases as I tried to move away from cottonmouth water moccasins, only to have them go ballistic and attack even though they were not being threatened or attacked, even though they were not even being approached, even though all efforts were being made to leave them alone. It was seen that the consciousness within them was predisposed to being more proactive in an effort to ensure that the consciousness maintain its present continuity.

    "And by way of those snakes, I saw how I had been like the moccasins, and how I had associated with those who were like the moccasins. I saw that after leaving the forest, I could choose to deal with copperhead-types rather than with water moccasin-types.

    "And I saw that, if I made that choice, how much calmer and easier and simpler the existence can be when dealing with copperhead-types rather than with water moccasin-types.

    "I saw how some nations - such as the one where I lived - were more warlike than others, were more prone to hate peace and to relish war; and I saw how there were other nations that preferred being 'lovers' and not 'fighters'.

    "After learning the lessons of the woods and returning to 'society,' it was seen that what the not-insane creatures in the forest had taught me during the twenty-five months there translated and transitioned very smoothly to the relative existence that has unfolded ever since leaving the forest.

    "It became clear during those twenty-months that (1) nothing in the forest is crazy and that (2) little that is not in the forest is sane; that is, it was seen that (3) that which is natural is sane and that (4) that which is unnatural and / or supposedly supernatural is insane.

    Visitor: "Good for you, but I can't leave my practice for two years and go sit and sleep and walk in the forest."

    F.: "And you need not. In 1937, Maharaj abandoned his family and his business with twelve prosperous shops and began visiting temples and places of religious interest; yet his mind was restless. What he was seeking, he discovered, could not be found in temples or places of organized religion.

    "So he traveled north, determined to live in the Himalayas and never to return home; however, while walking through the remote forests and mountainous regions, he chanced to meet a fellow-disciple of his guru who told him that his wanderings would avail him nothing and that they were not necessary at all. He suggested that Maharaj should go home and live an active life as a householder and as a selfless servant to the poor.

    "The invitation to you is the same: abide in the natural way, even when not in a natural setting. You need not go the forest. You need only to learn to differentiate between that which is natural (and therefore sane) and that which is unnatural and / or supposedly supernatural (and therefore insane).

    "You have gone crazy. The invitation is for you to take the steps now that are required for you to 'go sane'."

    Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

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    THE ADVANCED SEEKERS' SERIES
    From the I to the Absolute; Consciousness / Awareness; From the Absolute to the Nothingness; The Final Understanding; The Advanced Seekers' Series in paperback; the two Meditation Guides



    The BLISSFUL ABIDANCE SERIES, PART ONE
    What BLISS Is and What BLISS Is Not; Why You Must Be Empty If You Would Be Full; When Reality Is Overlaid Upon the Relative; There's No Such Thing As "Peace of Mind" (There Is Only Peace If You're Out of Your Mind); Freedom from Shifting Between States of Happiness and Unhappiness; Liberation; The Blissful Abidance Series (6 books) in paperback



    The BLISSFUL ABIDANCE SERIES, PART TWO
    THE MAHARAJ TRILOGY, including: (1) Why NISARGA YOGA in addition to the ADVAITA TEACHING? (2) Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and His Evolution and (3) A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE via the NON-DUALITY TEACHINGS and the NISARGA YOGA; The Ultimate Sickness, The Ultimate Medicine; Dancing Lightly; Overcoming the Fear of Being Totally Independent; I AM THAT (vs. "This Is Who I Think I Am"); The Essence of the Teachings; There Is Nothing That Is Personal (Including You and Including God); Lessons in Non-Duality from Travels in South Africa



    RECOVERY LITERATURE, the NO DEATH books, the RELATIONSHIP books
    A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Realization [Kindle]; A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Realization [Paperback]; A Guide for Working the Twelve Steps (In the Manner Used by the Founders); The Twelve Steps and Advaita / Non-Duality: A 21-Day Plan for a Psychic Change; Instability / Insanity: What the Advaita Teachings Can (and Cannot) Address; The Path to Freedom vs. the Path to Misery; Finding Real Love in An Unreal World; What Happens When I Die?; Casting Light on the Dark Side of Relationships; The Myth of Death



    FREEDOM FROM PROGRAMMING, THE ADVAITINS, NON-DUALITY IN FICTION, FINANCIAL SANITY
    PROGRAMMING, CONDITIONING, DOMESTICATION, AND ACCULTURATION: The Sources of the Ultimate Sickness and the Non-Duality Treatment; Jesus Christ the Advaitin; William Shakespeare the Advaitin; The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders (Non-Duality) [Kindle]; The Board of Directors of Wars (Non-Duality) [Kindle or Paperback); Living Within Your Means; How Your Personality Type Shapes Your Spending Habits



    NON-DUALITY BOOKS, EACH CONTAINING A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING ONE OF THE SEVEN STEPS ON THE PATH TO REALIZATION



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    FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION

    An online Advaita Internet Course is offered here. The price of the course includes the four Advaita eBooks used as the texts; questions sent after completion of the assigned readings; replies to your answers; and follow-up as required.

    The price of the course includes the four Advaita eBooks used as the texts; questions sent after completion of the assigned readings, replies to your answers, and follow-up as required.

    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. To get started now now, click the pay button below and receive the $365 course for a discounted price of $325.00.

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