REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”: Freedom from Ignorance, Including the Ignorance of Believing in False Identifications

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that. 

TO REVIEW: Non-duality and non-duality-based seeking has . . .  

(1) everything to do with treating the Ultimate Sickness, a sickness which Maharaj eventually came to see has the symptoms of "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" and has . . .

(2) nothing to do with either knowing too little dogma or with having a "spiritual malady" or a "sick spiritual" or being "spirituality unfit." 

To that end, Maharaj would eventually explain that "realization" is simply a process by which a person can be restored to her or his original condition by "being free of all learned ignorance," including being free of all body and mind and personality identification which is also the result of learned ignorance. 

Hence . . .

REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL": 

Freedom from Ignorance, Including the Ignorance of Believing in False Identifications 

The results of several recent surveys of therapists, counselors, and psychologists who have been in practice for twenty-five years or more reveal that over the last several decades, the frequency of clients showing up with major personality disorders has increased significantly and that the severity of the mental disorders which they are diagnosing has increased as well. 

They are seeing narcissistic and sociopathic tendencies already manifesting in children as young as 5 and 6 and 7 and 8, and adult clients are showing up with severe levels of personality disorders and neuroses and psychoses including depression, anxiety, narcissism, the borderline disorder, the addictive personality disorder, as well as the bi-polar personality disorder. 

They reported that the levels of narcissism in adults now is often so high that what is called here “malignant narcissism” is manifesting and showing up alongside varying degrees of the sociopathic and / or psychopathic personality disorders. 

Those professionals are reporting that never in all their years of practice have they seen such high degrees of narcissism and self-importance, such high levels of ego-state assumption, and - therefore - such high levels of the use of ego-defense mechanisms. 

Again, Edgar Wallace: “The trouble with you is that you have no sense of unimportance.” 

Maharaj: “Selfishness is the cause of suffering.” 

One who studied with Maharaj: “It is not Self-Realisation that is transmitted, but self-importance” (and “Self-Importance” as well?) 

Consider the sources that have been the most influential over the last 5000 years regarding the spread of ego-states and the use of ego-defense mechanisms and the manifestation of extreme levels of self-importance, namely, religion and spirituality and the self-identifications which they foster and support and the assumption of a Self-Identity. Of course self-importance has been running rampant among humans for thousands of years. 

What’s more important to the 97% associated with one or another of the organized religions or to those who deem themselves to be spiritual and who think they are hooked up with a God or who have dreamed up their own concept of God or even think they are God? 

[The logical question at this point might be, "How can one be 'at one' with God or 'be God' if there is no such thing as 'God' in the first place?" How can that be proved? All is energy / matter, and neither energy nor matter can be created nor destroyed; therefore, all that is was never "created"; hence, no “Creator.” So where did the concept of God come from, besides being dreamed up? 

Maharaj: "First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and . . . you pray to that God for something good to happen to you."] 

Consider all of the religious workaholism and the spiritual workaholism that has gone on for at least 5000 years by people who have worked their tails off to please God; to know God; to find God; to be acceptable in God’s sight; to receive rewards now and to avoid punishment now from God; to receive eternal rewards from God and to avoid eternal punishments from God; to be at one with God; yada, yada, yada. 

Surprise! “You have invented a God!” Damnation! All that workaholism for nothing. All that rigidity for nothing. All that self-importance for nothing. All that role-playing for nothing. All that posturing for nothing. All that pleasure-avoidance for nothing. All that God-involved fearing and desiring for nothing! All that working to make a difference for nothing. Double damnation!

Then consider all of the work that seekers are putting into the “SELF-Inquiry” process, even though Maharaj said: “You need not find the answer to ‘Who Am I?’ It is enough to know who you are not.” 

Consider one of the examples used earlier in this series, namely, that of Dylann Roof - the man who walked into a black church in a community that has long been a hotbed of anti-black prejudice and who singled out nine people in that church to kill because they were black and because he wanted to trigger a race war on a national scale and because he had been programmed and conditioned and domesticated and acculturated in a community dominated by duality, by the belief that whites are different from blacks and that whites are better than blacks. Consider: 

For him to think that he had the right to decide who lives and who dies? That’s some evidence of self-importance. And for him to think that he had the ability to trigger a nationwide race war? Now that’s a major degree of self-importance. 

So it could be asked, "Could religion / spirituality have changed any of that?" Roof’s pastor described him as being "very religion and a good Christian," so the answer is assuredly, “No.” Then ask, “Well, couldn’t “Self-Inquiry” have changed that?” The answer is assuredly, “No.” Why? 

Dylann Roof did not need a change in religions to change his thoughts and words which led to his actions. Moreover, does anyone believe that working with a guru to complete the Self-Inquiry process would have changed his thoughts and words which led to his actions?

Suppose he and I had met and I had said to him before he gunned down nine blacks, “You know Dylann, you really and truly are at one with all, including blacks. If you shoot them, you are shooting yourself.” Would that have been the method to treat his Ultimate Sickness, or wouldn’t he most likely have shot me then and there and then gone on to shoot them? 

What Dylann Roof needed to understand was that he was no different from "them" - from "those others" - because of skin color and that he was no better than them because of skin color. He needed to understand why he believed that to be the case. 

Specifically, he needed to be de-programmed, un-conditioned, de-acculturated, etc. But what are the odds of that ever happening with him or with the millions of others who have been raised for decades in a milieu where the prevailing teaching and belief is that whites are different from and better than blacks? About the same odds that Maharaj gave of any sane realization happening with anybody who needs to be able to differentiate between that which is true and that which is false, the latter being what is presently driving them. Maharaj's final guesstimate in the regard? One in ten million.

To the programming and conditioning that come from the religious and spiritual and non-dual sources discussed above, add in not only the domestication which comes in the home but also the acculturation which happens in homes and schools and communities and the brainwashing and indoctrination which also happen everywhere. 

What is required to be free of the influence of the key sources of duality – religion and / or spirituality and / or “the journey which seekers are on” - all of which are influencing persons and determining their thoughts and words and actions without any conscious awareness of that fact? 

A totally new and totally different experience. 

Maharaj: “I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.” 

To be continued.

NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

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Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you. 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. 

THE EXPLANATION 

If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence. 

Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to." 

The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly"). 

Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part. 

"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you." 

Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on: 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" 

and 

"Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

and 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men" 

and 

"There is no hell."

REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”: Realization Requires A Sense of Unimportance

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that. 

REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL": 

Realization Requires A Sense of Unimportance 

To review some of the key pointers offered so far: 

1. Discussions are offered here which have allowed some to shift from the false “I” to the Absolute, but . . . that is not said to be “the end goal.” 

2. There must be a completion of the "third leg of the journey." [You may use the search feature at the top of this page for more on that.] 

3. Certainly, an understanding of the unicity might impact a false sense of pride and arrogance and egotism which come with a belief in the opposite of understanding the unicity, namely, a belief that one is “different-from” and, therefore, also “better-than.” 

4. Edgar Wallace: “The trouble with you is that you have no sense of unimportance.” 

5. Next, in order to be free of a false sense of pride rooted in one’s sense of importance, and to be freed from even the false sense of some Grand Identity (“My Supreme Self,” “The Supreme Self,” or even “I am God”) there must be a shift, not just from the “I” to the Absolute but from the Absolute to an understanding of the Nothingness. 

6. In the end, the process involves being free of all identities as well as any Identity. Why? Because the process is about eliminating all identification and Identification since any ego-state (or Ego-State) will trigger the use of ego-defense mechanisms (such as egotism and arrogance and entitlement and amazing levels of a sense of importance) which perpetuate identity and / or identity assumption and distortion and delusion. 

7. Maharaj endorsed identitylessness and Identitylessness and a sense of the nothingness because he witnessed first-hand the ways that religion and spirituality and “being Supreme” foster a mind and thereafter assure that a mind shall be filled with concepts and ideas and notions and perceptions / misperceptions (a.k.a., “beliefs”) which, in turn, have fostered a global sense of “different-from-ment” and “better-than-ment” which, in turn again, has led to the widespread duality and ignorance and insanity and instability and chaos which plague the masses all around the globe. 

8. The problem with all humans is their entrapment in identities or in an “Identity,” meaning both personal identifications as well as some lofty “Personal Identification.” 

[That is discussed in detail in the eBook, There is Nothing That is Personal (Including You and Including God.] 

9. Religions, while giving lip service to humility, do anything but lead to “a sense of unimportance,” what with their false personal identifications such as “The Reverend”; “The One Anointed as God’s Representative on earth” and “God’s Anointed People” and “God’s Chosen People”; “The Senior Pastor”; “The Supreme Leader”; 

or this official title of the one considered to be the most important of all Catholics: “His Holiness, Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Vatican City State, and Servant of the servants of God” as well as "The Holy Father" and “Father of Fathers” and "His Holiness the Pope"; 

or in Buddhism, “His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama”; 

or, among some Easterners and “non-dualists”: “The Master”; “One’s Universal Self”; “The True Self”; “The Real Self”; “The Supreme Self”; “The Pure One”; “The Divine Power”; “The Highest”; the “Supreme"; “Parama Siva”; “The Absolute” (meaning literally “one than whom nothing is higher” rather than referring simply to a field of energy which might or might not manifest temporarily as conscious-energy); “paramAtma”; “ParaBrahman”; and even “God” (as in “I Am God” or “I am at one with God”) or whatever other title or status state might be assumed. 

10. In such cases, one personality disorder is merely exchanged for another. Some come to see that they have long suffered from the ramifications of personality identification which led to the development of personality disorders such as: the Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (P.D.), the Addictive P.D., the Narcissistic P.D., the Borderline P.D., the Bi-Polar P.D., the Antisocial / Sociopathic P. D., the Pathological P.D., the Sadistic P.D., the Schizoid P.D., the Passive-Aggressive P.D., the Dissociative P.D. or many others. 

11. Among many who feel they have transcended all personality identification and have been freed from the effects of any and all past disorders, does it make any sense to trade one disorder for another by claiming that they are now “The Supreme Self” or have become “God,” only to be trapped in another personality disorder, namely, the God Complex or Narcissistic Personality Disorder (which is marked by a pattern of grandiosity and a grandiose sense of self-importance, a need for admiration, a lack of empathy, arrogance, egotism, a sense of entitlement, preoccupation with controlling others, fanaticism, megalomania, etc.)? 

12. Does it really make any sense at all to enter into a process or to adhere to the teachings of a philosophy or ideology or religion or spiritual movement and then say, “I am going to be free of all egotism and pridefulness and arrogance caused by personal identifications, and to achieve that I am going to replace all of those various identities with just one truly Lofty or Grand or Holy or Sacred or Hallowed or Divine or Saintly or Pious or Virtuous or Sublime or Supreme Identity"? 

13. Next, consider the vocabulary which has been developed and which is now being used by those who “have no sense of unimportance”: important, valuable, that which is the main, chief, principal, prime, paramount, significant, central, prized, needed, powerful, influential, high-ranking, prominent, eminent, preeminent, noteworthy, distinguished, esteemed, respected, prestigious, celebrated, famous, great, momentous, major, pivotal, weighty, etc., etc., etc. So much for any more than just a few seekers ever “having a sense of unimportance.” 

14. The problem Maharaj faced are the same being faced here today when inviting persons to transcend the third of seven steps on the seven-step “path” (where religious or spiritual personas are assumed as identities) and to leave behind both religious and spiritual role-playing and to focus instead on addressing the problems which are being generated by warped and nonsensical minds. 

15. To invite some Eastern-oriented seekers to “reject both identifications and any 'Identity' as well" would seem as foreign to them as it would be to ask Christians to “reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and as the One Who will be returning to earth any day now”; as it would be to invite some Buddhists to “re-consider if the Dalai Lama is really holy”; 

or as it would have been to have asked some past cult members, “Do you really believe you should drink that spiked Kool-Aid?” or “Do you 'Applegaters' really believe that you need to castrate yourself and commit suicide in order to meet up with aliens who are trailing along behind a comet?” 

16. Programmed is programmed. That applies to all, whether their programming has been of a Western style or of a Mid-Eastern style or of an Eastern style. It is all programming, and being programmed preempts any chance to be awake and aware and conscious. 

17. Thus, the restoration of sanity can only come by seeing and then eliminating all traces of one’s former programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing, and indoctrination which have resulted in a mind which is presently packed chock full of Western nonsense and “learned ignorance and insanity,” chock full of Mideast nonsense and “learned ignorance and insanity,” and chock full of Far Eastern nonsense and “learned ignorance and insanity.” 

To be continued.

NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you. 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. 

THE EXPLANATION 

If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence. 

Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to." 

The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly"). 

Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part. 

"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you." 

Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on: 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" 

and 

"Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

and 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men" 

and 

"There is no hell."

REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”: No you-ness, no YOU-NESS, No identity, and no IDENTITY

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

 [See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

[Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that.]

CONSIDER:

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men." 

 --Pope John Paul II 

"There is no hell." 

--Pope Francis, the current pope 

[in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari] 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"

and

"Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

 --Yeshu'a (Jesus)

REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL": 

No you-ness, no YOU-NESS, No identity, and no IDENTITY 

The “alternative Medicine” which Maharaj eventually prescribed after he abandoned the use of a religion / non-duality combination that did not work; after he abandoned the use of a spiritual / non-duality combination that did not work; and after he told seekers to “give up spirituality”; 

and after he told them that finding out who they are not is enough (that is, finding all of the “not-you’s" which can be uncovered by conducting a “self” inventory) would be enough rather than being bogged down in years of “SELF”-Inquiry.” 

Yes, some seekers are more than happy to let their fanaticism run wild and send a thousand examples of cases where Maharaj offered religious pointers, spiritual pointers, and pointers about the “Self.” Yet he abandoned all of those by the end, and that is why he told seekers to stop reading the book I AM THAT - called “a spiritual classic” – and to listen to his final talks only. 

So what of the something / Something vs. nothing duality? 

One person said, “Floyd, nothing is real.” That is not the teaching. The teaching is that everything is real (being energy / matter) but that nothing in this realm is as it appears. Appearance is mistaken for the real / Real. Look at any object via the use of an electron microscope and the object if viewed through the use of that instrument looks nothing like what it appears to be to the naked eye. 

Rather than seeing yourself as Something (and Something Special and Some Supreme Self or even concluding that “I Am God"), Maharaj recommended seeing “yourself” simply as . . . “nothing”: 

"Love says 'I am everything'. Wisdom says 'I am nothing'." 

and 

"There is nothing but the Absolute." 

And what is the Absolute? Simply a field of energy in which there is no awareness of anything and no one to be aware of anything and which has the potential to manifest as conscious-energy and – if “Realized” – can then be aware of itself, of the Absolute. Then only can awareness be aware of awareness. 

He said: “The hearsay goes . . . ‘I am’. ‘I am’ means the flow of the mind has started. Now whatever you say with that ‘I AM-ness’ through the mind about ‘you’, you have represented as yourself. But that is not so.” 

Once he switched to the use of a psychological / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine, he made clear that the mind must end; that he had become mindless instead of mindful; that seekers should give up all ideas about identity and Identity; that seekers should reach a state of “zero concepts” by purging the mind of all of concept / beliefs; and that they should thereafter simply enjoy being free and abiding naturally in the awareness of the nothingness. 

A seeker once asked, “So, Floyd, which is the real focus? Concentrating on the message in ‘From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)’ or the message in ‘From the Absolute to the Nothingness’?” 

The reply: “Both, and in that order. The messages in the first four books on the author’s website provide a progression in messages, each level-appropriate, offered in the same way that Maharaj modeled. Each builds on previous understandings. 

In the end, the process involves being free of all identity and Identity. Why? Because the process is about eliminating all identification and Identification because any ego-state (or Ego-State) will trigger the use of ego-defense mechanisms (such as egotism and arrogance and entitlement and amazing levels of a sense of importance) which perpetuate identity and / or identity assumption and distortion and delusion. 

What "benefit" can come from being “in touch with Reality” if it renders one "out of touch with reality” . . . with the present manifestation and relative existence? 

What "benefit" can come if the one uses a process which is intended to eliminate all false sense of “importance” if it only reinforces a sense of importance by generating Identification with “Things” or “A Thing” or “One” or “Something” that is supposedly all-important? 

Here, daily activities never involve reading about non-duality. Since 1989, if reading happens, it usually involves mysteries or detective novels. Many modern novelists are among the favorites, but one British author who wrote during the early 1900’s – Edgar Wallace by name – is especially enjoyed. (That is not a recommendation.) In one of his novels, one character says to another: 

“The trouble with you is that you have no sense of unimportance.” 

That adumbrates to the invitation here, to see that such is the problem with all humanity if trapped in identities or an “Identity”: they have no "sense of unimportance." 

Consider the methods which Maharaj tried but abandoned before offering an alternative: 

First, “Religion.” Why must that be abandoned if the intent is to reach an awareness of being nothing? If the intent is to “have a sense of unimportance”? Because of this: 

The persons considered the most important on this planet are religious people, especially religious leaders. Look at Iran. The elected officials can agree to whatever they want, but the most powerful one of all is the country’s religious leader, “The Supreme Leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

In the U.S., religious persons are the most powerful and most respected. They even control the U.S. Congress and they determine what elected officials can do and cannot do and what officials say and do not say. Five thousand years ago, cultures all around the globe were convinced by their religious leaders to allow those religious leaders to fornicate with parents' virgin daughters and then cut out their beating hearts while those females were still alive and then pass their hearts among the crowd so all could share eating the body and the blood in an act of "communion with the gods or with God." 

Imagine how important the masses involved in an act of “atonement” (of “at-one-ment” with God) must have considered themselves then and how important they consider themselves right up until today. 

[Next, “Selfness.” Let that previous pointer move the discussion to those who are concerned with “Self” and “The Supreme Self.” Compare that with “The Supreme Leader” referenced above. Not must difference in a “Supreme Leader” and a “Supreme Self,” is there, really? And imagine how important “Hindus” or “non-dualists” must consider themselves if they believe they are “A Supreme Self” or even “God.”] 

Finally, “Spirituality.” Consider “The Spiritual Ones” who brag “We are not religious! We are spiritual!” or “This is not a religious group! This is a spiritual group!” How very "different from" and "better than" they are than people who are merely religious. How important "Spiritual Giant" role-players consider themselves, even as they give lip service to their "high level of humility.” 

Maharaj endorsed identitylessness and Identitylessness and nothingness because he witnessed first-hand the ways that religion and spirituality and being Supreme foster a mind; the way they assure that a mind shall be filled with concepts and ideas and notions and perceptions / misperceptions (a.k.a., “beliefs”); 

and the way that had fostered a global sense of “different-from-ment” and “better-than-ment” - perceptions which lead to the duality and ignorance and insanity and instability and chaos which plague the existence of the masses all around the globe. 

To be continued.

NEW OFFER: 

Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

 If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

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Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you. 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. 

THE EXPLANATION 

If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence. 

Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to." 

The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly"). 

Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part. 

"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you." 

Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on: 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" 

and 

"Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

and 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men" 

and 

"There is no hell."

REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”: Freedom from the False Sense of Separation

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a video which includes a discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj] 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that. 

REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”:  

Freedom from the False Sense of Separation 

In the previous post, there was the conclusion of a description of a fellow who was raised with a sense of separation rooted in the dualistic beliefs of his family and culture which endorsed and spread a belief in different-from-ment and better-than-ment. 

With his family's Northern Europe heritage and his white Anglo-Saxon Protestant / Catholic roots and their white nationalist belief in - and dedication to - the concepts of eugenics and genetic superiority and with their belief that those living in "the heartland" in the U.S. are the only "Real Americans" anymore and with their Super Patriot beliefs and his families entrapment in body identification, then . . .

it should be no surprise that the family experienced separation from each other (except sexually); and from the rest of the country; and a xenophobia-inspired sense of separation from the rest of the people in the nation as well as around the globe, inspiring him to volunteer to go to Vietnam and kill "the others" there. 

But most of all he suffered separation from himself, meaning, from his true feelings and from any awareness of what his upbringing placed into a mind which would drive him to self-defeat and self-destruction throughout his entire relative existence. The trauma he suffered during his days on that Iowa farm left him dissociated from any ability to feel or to empathize and set up him up to practice denial and avoidance and escapism throughout his entire existence right up until its end. 

In the area in the South where I grew up, I saw the same belief in different-from-ment and better-than-ment and white nationalism and white supremacy and xenophobia-driven super patriotism. 

Some are aware that much of each year was spent in a slum area outside a city. The closest large city was Shreveport. Dad and I would ride the trolley downtown on Saturdays and get a malt at one of the whites-only counters in the drug stores or department stores downtown. 

In front of the courthouse, and still standing there, was "the Hanging Tree," right next to the monument erected in honor of Confederate soldiers who fought to preserve slavery in the U.S. We all knew about that tree and its history, and it was a source of terror each time I laid my eyes upon it.

The "Hanging Tree" and Confederate Monument today

It was where blacks were dragged by mobs and / or KKK members for hanging for such offenses as looking a white man in the eye or glancing at a while woman who might be walking by.

I was three years old when they hanged a man named Napier who would be the last man hanged publicly in front of the courthouse. Other executions would continue throughout my early years in that area, but they took place on the seventh floor of the courthouse in order to hide the reality of life for blacks in the community.

Napier's was hanged in front of the courthouse on a gallows which provided a quicker and less painful death with the neck-breaking drop which gallows provide; however, at least 590 blacks were strung up by rope from "The Tree" which resulted in a more painful slower, leg-kicking, chocking and gagging death; also, but hundreds more were hanged from two other Hanging Trees located in areas surrounding the city. 

Dad had only been back in the States for four years after being called up to fight those in the Axis Powers, their original pact having been signed in Berlin which had become the center of operations of the Nazis in Germany. By then, they were will along in the business of "exterminating" six million Jews (a term which came from their racist ideology which regarded Jews as “parasitic vermin”) along with six million others who were killed in the Nazis' death camps because they were gay or "deformed" (with physical or mental disabilities) or political dissidents or were sick or weak or old or "mixed race" or members of other minorities such as Gypsies, Poles, or those of African origin. 

Has the culture in that Louisiana city where I grew "evolved" nowadays? No. In 2015, Dale Cox - the acting district attorney who secured more than a third of Louisiana’s death sentences over the previous five years - said that "the state needs to kill more people" and "I want to kill a lot more people" and "I think the death penalty should be used more often" and "revenge is important for society as a whole." 

Has the culture in the U.S. as a whole evolved? Also, no. During the last presidential campaign and during that last fourteen months, Nazis have been accepted and praised by the current administration. There is much talk about "superior genes" and allusions to a "superior race." There has been much discriminatory talk about gays. Those with disabilities have been mocked. Political dissidents and journalists are under fire, along with those in racial minorities. 

Zeba Blay's writings have been shared here before. She wrote about duality and "the other" in the U.S., saying: 

Wake up. This is the America that people of color have always known. This is the America that has always existed. 

It is the "America" which was able to become a nation because 150,000,000 indigenous people were killed and 99% of their land was confiscated in an area from what is now called the northern part of Canada to all points south down to the tip of what is now called Argentina. 

The surprise is not that dog-whistle politics works so effectively in the U.S. as some politicians employ messaging with coded language which appears to mean one thing to the general population but has an additional, different or more specific resonance for a targeted subgroup. In fact, that "sub-group" may not be a "sub-group" at all but may well be the majority. 

What can address the beliefs generating a sense of separation and notions about different-from-ment and better-than-ment. Religion and spirituality? Those, for 5000 years, have a history of steadfast and unswerving dedication to the generation of dualistic beliefs which have resulted in separation into the 4,200 religions currently present on the planet and the 33,000 denominations and sects currently present on the planet. 

The question, therefore, becomes: "How likely are those who tolerate and even value separation to be the ones to unite and join all together?"

Throughout the history of humanity, the periods when (1) the highest levels of a sense of separation and the highest levels of a sense of different-from-ment and better-than-ment were at play have also been (2) the periods which have been devoid of peace and have been instead the periods of the greatest chaos and disjointedness and anger and fighting and wars and destruction. 

To be continued.

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Watch an updated seven-hour streaming video of a retreat with Floyd Henderson which can be viewed by anyone with internet access. (In this video; all seven of the steps on "the path" as taught by Maharaj are explained and discussed.) 

If interested; click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video. 

(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.) 

To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button: 

 

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. 

[NOTE: The four most recent posts are below. You may access all of the posts in this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.] 

In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you. 

Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. 

THE EXPLANATION 

If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence. 

Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to." 

The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly"). 

Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part.

"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you." 

Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on: 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" 

and 

"Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

and 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men" 

and 

"There is no hell."