REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL”: Facts vs. fiction, the reasonable vs. the illogical, and sanity vs. insanity

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a retreat on video which includes a detailed 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 everything to do with treating the Ultimate Sickness, a sickness which Maharaj eventually came to see has everything to do with "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" and has 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": 

 Facts vs. fiction, the reasonable vs. the illogical, and sanity vs. insanity 

Flat characters are those who are one-dimensional and who only care about a single issue which they obsess about constantly (such as their religion, spirituality, abortion, racial superiority, racial entitlement, victimization, etc.)

A round or rounded or well-rounded character is one who encounters conflict and is changed by it, who wakes up to the fact that whatever it is that she or he is involved with or whatever he or she has been doing or tolerating is not working in their best interests, relatively speaking. Round characters tend to be more fully developed psychically and more aware than flat or static characters. 

In the U.S. and in parts of Western Europe nowadays and in parts of eastern Europe and in other countries around the globe, most are flat characters, and more than 50% of voters are flat characters in that they are often single issue fanatics / single issue voters. 

For example: 

1. "I am an evangelical Christian character who is - above all else - a fanatic about abortion and who therefore believes that if a pregnant woman's doctor has determined unequivocally that she is going to die if she goes full-term and tries to deliver a child, that is irrelevant. She must go ahead and die so the child can live. I believe that if a woman has been raped and impregnated, she still needs to carry her rapist's child full term. 

"That is why I gave lip service for decades to morality and to the standards called for in the Ten Commandments but at the same time can now support wholeheartedly a man who has bragged that he had assaulted women, who makes sexually-explicit, incestuous comments about his daughter, who raped his first wife, who had sexual affairs while married, etc. but who is anti-abortion. Because of my one issue which he supports, he gets "a mulligan" and my unequivocal support." 

Or, 

2. "I am a white supremacist / white "nationalist / neo- Nazi / American Preservationist / America Firstar / White Tribalist who is obsessed with my whiteness and with protecting my white privilege even as I complain that it does not exist while also believing that I am different from and therefore better than non-whites, so I can give lip service to the most lofty principles and concepts about "America" while wallowing in any other swamp-like filth without concern. 

[Are assault, incest, rape, and extramarital affairs all a part of the relative realm? Absolutely, but the fact remains: It does no good to drain a swamp if you replace it with a cesspool, yet single issue voters / single-issue fanatics could not care less about anyone doing exactly that.]

3. And what if one who is opposed to abortion or who is a white supremacist is also a pathological liar? That's irrelevant to all who are fanatical, flat-character, single issue voters as long as their liar stands firm about the single issue which such fanatic, monomaniacal types are focused on and obsessed with. 

If persons ask, "How can they continue to support and excuse such a person?" then the persons even asking such a question are putting on displaying their extreme naiveté and foolishness and are totally missing the fact that supporters who are fanatically focused on only one issue in the current post-truth, post-fact cultures around the globe will unwaveringly continue to give their support if their leaders continue to support the one issue such types are concerned with. 

What does any of that have to do with non-duality and non-duality-based seeking? Everything. 

Any instance of being fooled or conned regularly calls for an awakening. 

Repeated instances of believing lies call for an awakening. 

Believing that one has the right to control women and dictate them what they can and cannot do with their own bodies calls for an awakening. 

Believing in racial superiority and the concepts of different-from-ment and better-than-than and separation by skin color calls for an awakening. 

Moreover, it explains the small number who will ever arrive at the non-dual understanding and then realize (meaning, become totally free of what Maharaj called their "learned ignorance"). 

PLAYERS OF RELIGIOUS OR SPIRITUAL ROLES

For those who are playing their "good" religious and / or spiritual roles in order to gain status and respect, they will remain attached to those roles as long as they are providing what is sought, no matter how false such roles are. Why seek via a non-dual process if one's present misunderstanding seems to be working so well? 

PLAYERS USING ROLES IN ORDER TO "SIN AT WILL" BUT THEN GAIN ABSOLUTION

For those seeking to do anything they want to do to others but then get a clean slate by going to their temple or mosque or church, they will continue to live the lie that they are living in order to get absolution and then start the sin-absolution-sin-absolution process all over again. Why seek via a non-dual process if the desires of the agenda of one's present roles seem to be working so well? 

PLAYERS OF RELATIONSHIP ROLES AND GAMES

For those seeking to please spouses or lovers by playing those roles, and if their spouses or lovers stay in a relationship with them as a result, then they'll keep playing their roles and their games. Why seek via a non-dual understanding if one's present roles seems to be working so well? 

Additionally, being asleep and fooled cannot be compartmentalized. The effects of being asleep to truth and being fooled will cross the span of every aspect of one's relative existence and will not be limited to believing the most outrageous claims made by religious or spiritual leaders. 

PLAYERS  TRAPPED IN THE ROLES OF "THE FOOLISH ONE" AND "THE SLEEPWALKER"

If persons are being fooled by false ads and have habitually given their money to scam artists, they will continue to do that unless they wake up and see what their foolishness has cost them, relatively speaking; otherwise, they will not seek anything beyond what they already think they know. 

PLAYERS OF POLITICAL ROLES TO SATISFY A SINGLE ISSUE WHICH THEY ARE OBSESSING OVER

If their political leaders steal their money and pass it along to the friends of the political leaders, their followers will not object as long as the stance regarding their single issue is being satisfied. 

PLAYERS OF THE ROLE OF "THE TOLERANT ONE"

A. If workers are being abused in the workplace, unless they wake up to the fact that they need to acquire a new set of skills which will allow them to leave their abusive employers, they will stay. 

B. If spouses or mates are being abused in the home, unless they wake up to the fact that they need to acquire a new set of skills which will allow them to leave their abusers, they will stay, telling themselves the lie that "It could be worse" or "It's not really that bad . . . my bills are being paid and I have a roof over me head." 

PLAYERS OF "THE LIAR ROLE"

When persons accept the lies of others in order to hang onto some sort of supposed "gain," they soon join in and begin lying to themselves as well. Such lies in those cases lead to justification, excuse-making, denial, avoidance, and mental escapism rather than to the actual physical escapism which the abuse they are tolerating should inspire. 

The key points: 

In terms of the relative existence, nothing is more costly than being fooled by those who lie. 

In terms of the relative existence, nothing can generate more suffering and misery than being conned repeatedly. To be conned and fooled repeatedly is evidence of the fact that one is sleepwalking through life and needs to wake up. 

The rub? The politics and religions and spiritual programs and businesses and work conditions and relationships which people are involved with all depend on putting persons to sleep and keeping them asleep in order to strip them of their independence in order to control their thoughts and words and actions. 

Yet who that prefers the familiar - no matter how miserable it is - wants change? Typically, none. And who that thinks that they are comfortable being asleep want to be awakened? Typically, none. 

And it is those commonplace mindsets among humans which explains why Maharaj estimated that only 1 out of 100,000 will ever wake up, revised later to only 1 out of 1,000,000, and revised eventually to 1 out of 10,000,000. 

The odds are slight that sleepers will wake up enough to seek outside the venues in which they have typically functioned and are slight that liars will stop lying or that those who have been conditioned, programmed, etc. to believe lies will ever see the falsity of those lies and seek truth instead. 

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”: Facts vs. fiction, the reasonable vs. the illogical, and sanity vs. insanity

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a retreat on video which includes a detailed 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 everything to do with treating the Ultimate Sickness, a sickness which Maharaj eventually came to see has everything to do with "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" and has 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": 

Facts vs. fiction, the reasonable vs. the illogical, and sanity vs. insanity 

These pointers were shared earlier: 

The problems with listening to liars and accepting as truth anything they say is this: 

Memories can be forgotten but they remain in "the mind part" of the brain even if they do not remain in "the conscious part." Most persons do not understand that because they do not access most of the forgotten memories. 

Moreover, even if something seen or heard triggers a recall of a forgotten memory, the recall is almost always distorted because all of the memories of non-realized persons at the time they were being stored were being viewed via distorted and delusional seeing and hearing. 

So lies, once heard, remain in the mind and can subconsciously drive thoughts and words and actions. Hear 3000 lies in 14 months? Then 3000 lies are stored in the mind and can consciously and / or subconsciously control behavior. Garbage in. Garbage out. Moreover, the same effects can result from one major trauma event or a series of minor trauma events. 

Lao Tzu said that "The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao, understanding that "truth cannot be taught" and that "the moment you say something about truth, it is no more true." 

Maharaj agreed that the truth cannot be spoken but that it can be understood. All pointers merely point seekers away from the false in order to re-create the child's original, post-manifestation "vacuum" which truth can rush into and fill. 

What else did Maharaj have to say about the topic discussed the last few posts? He advised: 

"See the contradictions, the incongruities, the falsehood and the sorrow of the human state, the need to go beyond." 

He said:

"The way to truth lies through the destruction of the false. To destroy the false, you must question your most inveterate beliefs" 

and 

"Truth gives no advantage. It gives you no higher status, no power over others; all you get is truth and the freedom from the false." 

A questioner said: "Surely truth gives you the power to help others."

Maharaj replied: "This is mere imagination, however noble! In truth you do not help others, because there are no others. You divide people into noble and ignoble and you ask the noble to help the ignoble. You separate, you evaluate, you judge and condemn — in the name of truth you destroy it. Your very desire to formulate truth denies it, because it cannot be contained in words. Truth can be expressed only by the denial of the false — in action. For this you must see the false as false and reject it. Renunciation of the false is liberating and energizing." 

Q: "When do I know that I have discovered truth?" 

M: "When the idea ‘this is true’, ‘that is true’ does not arise. Truth does not assert itself, it is in the seeing of the false as false and rejecting it. It is useless to search for truth, when the mind is blind to the false. It must be purged of the false completely before truth can dawn on it." 

Once, when the presently most powerful politician in the U.S. was called out by Billy Bush for lying, he replied: "Billy, look, you just tell them and they believe it. That’s it. They just do." 

A phrase associated with P. T. Barnum (an American showman of the mid-19th century) supposedly said, "There's a sucker born every minute." Although there is no factual proof that he actually said that, the statement would only be accurate if it said: 

"There are 258 suckers made every minute."  Why?

There are over four children per second "born" on the planet. None are suckers at birth because none have any beliefs at that point, but they will all soon be make into suckers and fools via programming and conditioning and indoctrination and domestication and brainwashing and acculturation. 

And the key contributors to the acculturation which generates fools and suckers are those with the widest audiences, including: the "Big Name Teachers" whom Maharaj warned seekers to avoid; relatives; teachers; politicians; cult leaders, such as preachers, priests, rabbis, ayatollahs, and speakers in so-called "spiritual programs"; gurus; so-called "Truth-Sayers"; big business leaders and their ad writers, etc. 

In other words, those who are most listened to. 

Therefore, is it any wonder that so few nowadays can differentiate between the facts and the false? Between the reasonable and the illogical? Between sane and insane? 

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”: The Near-Impossible Task of Breaking the Hold of Beliefs -Especially Religious and / or Spiritual Beliefs

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a retreat on video which includes a detailed 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 everything to do with treating the Ultimate Sickness, a sickness which Maharaj eventually came to see has everything to do with "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" and has 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": 

The Near-Impossible Task of Breaking the Hold of Beliefs -Especially Religious and / or Spiritual Beliefs 

The problem with listening to liars and accepting as truth anything they say is this: 

Memories can be forgotten but they remain in "the mind part" of the brain even if they do not remain in "the conscious part." Most persons do not understand that because they do not access the majority of their forgotten but nevertheless remaining memories. 

Moreover, even if something seen or heard triggers a recall of a forgotten memory, the recall is almost always distorted because all of the memories of non-realized persons at the time they were being stored were being viewed via distorted and delusional seeing and hearing. 

So lies, once heard, remain in the mind and can subconsciously drive thoughts and words and actions. Hear 3000 lies in 14 months? Then 3000 lies are stored in the mind and can consciously and / or subconsciously control behavior. Garbage in. Garbage out. Moreover, the same effects can result from one major trauma event or a series of minor trauma events.

During the last two decades, major advancements have been achieved in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy which has proven to be effective in treating trauma and unprocessed memories. Francine Shapiro, Ph.D. reports that "three randomized studies have demonstrated that 84 to 100 percent of those suffering from a single trauma no longer had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after an average of three 90-minute sessions. Changes that typically took months or years with other forms of therapy occurred within weeks." 

"When an event is too disturbing, it can overwhelm the information-processing system, and this negative experience is stored in memory along with the unpleasant emotions, physical sensations and beliefs. Since everything that happens in the present links into the memory networks to be interpreted, any future encounter with the person can trigger these unprocessed memories and the negative responses arise." 

In her book, Getting Past Your Past, the doctor reports that "traumatization is a widespread problem. In fact, recent research has demonstrated that general life events can cause even more symptoms of PTSD than major trauma. Many of the negative emotions, thoughts, and body reactions people have are caused by unprocessed memories stored in the brain." 

[Why else consider the effects of trauma? Most believe that trauma follows addiction as persons with the Addictive Personality Disorder generate fighting and chaos and  misery and suffering. The fact is, however, that trauma precedes addiction. Trauma happens and then addictions follow in order to try to cope with the effects of untreated trauma and unprocessed memories of the trauma.]

Dr. Shapiro shows "how mental problems are actually caused by physiologically stored, unprocessed memories." As noted here over the last thirty years of sharing non-dual pointers, there are some conditions which the understanding can address but there are others which require professional assistance in order to be treated effectively. 

Maharaj had this to say on the subject: 

"Onto the screen of the mind destiny forever projects its pictures, memories of former projections and thus illusion constantly renews itself. The pictures come and go — light intercepted by ignorance. See the light and disregard the picture" 

and 

"We consider memories only when they come into the present. The forgotten is not counted until one is reminded which implies bringing into the now." 

Yet can a bogus belief or idea or notion or impression from that past that is brought into the now suddenly and miraculously be not-bogus? No, for the memories were based in imaginings. 

Maharaj: "Imagination based on memories is unreal." 

Even the author of The AA Big Book told people that there are "doctors, psychologists and practitioners of various kinds" who can offer the additional assistance which those with the Addictive Personality Disorder often require; nevertheless, many in step groups ignore that recommendation and claim that their program has all of the answers anyone needs and that the answers all involve "becoming spiritual" and, yes, even becoming "Spiritual Giants."

Some non-dualists speak of "samskaras" or "mental impressions" or "residual impressions" which are the stored residue from events and happening (events and happening which were not understood and which were misperceived and which, therefore, will generate misperceptions. Those delusions and distortions, in turn, can drive erroneous thoughts and senseless actions for an entire relative existence). 

Too, there are what psychologists call "unprocessed memories," the residue of usually traumatic events that come into consciousness far less often than samskaras - if at all - but that subconsciously drive thoughts and words and actions in what are (relatively speaking) the most destructive and self-defeating and harmful ways imaginable. 

Additionally, there are recollections rooted in "learned ignorance." Those might be addressed via the non-dual understanding. 

Of all of that, Maharaj said: "The main point to grasp is that you have projected onto yourself a world of your own imagination, based on memories, on desires and fears, and that you have imprisoned yourself in it. Break the spell and be free." 

He said: "Experience leaves only memories behind and adds to the burden which is heavy enough" 

and 

"If you could only keep quiet, clear of memories and expectations, you would be able to discern the beautiful pattern of events. It is your restlessness that causes chaos" 

and 

"The person is a very small thing. Actually it is a composite; it cannot be said to exist by itself. Unperceived, it is just not there. It is but the shadow of the mind, the sum total of memories." 

This pointer was offered five years ago on this site: 

The non-dualist is aware of all of the chaos and discontentment that result when mental impressions, residual impressions, unprocessed memories, and implanted non-memories end up driving the totally delusional members of an entire population." Then this was asked: 

Is it not time to "break relationship with your mind"? With the memories stored therein? With the xenophobic nonsense stored therein? With all things personal and personality-oriented stored therein? With the fiction-based memories stored therein? With the false "implanted non-memories" stored therein? With the lies stored therein which are assumed to be factual and true?

Maharaj's solution to the dilemmas which come with unprocessed memories? Understand this: 

"Having seen that you are a bundle of memories held together by attachment, step out and look from the outside. You may perceive for the first time something which is not memory. You cease to be a Mr-so-and-so, busy about his own affairs. You are at last at peace. You realize that nothing was ever wrong with the world — you alone were wrong and now it is all over. Never again will you be caught in the meshes of desire born of ignorance" 

and 

"The experience of being empty, uncluttered by memories and expectations; it is like the happiness of open spaces, of being young, of having all the time and energy for doing things, for discovery, for adventure" 

and 

"Accept no guidance but from within, and even then, sift out all memories for they will mislead you." 

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”: The Near-Impossible Task of Breaking the Hold of Beliefs -Especially Religious and / or Spiritual Beliefs

TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

[See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a retreat on video which includes a detailed 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 everything to do with treating the Ultimate Sickness, a sickness which Maharaj eventually came to see has everything to do with "ignorance, stupidity, and insanity" and has 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": 

The Near-Impossible Task of Breaking the Hold of Beliefs -Especially Religious and / or Spiritual Beliefs 

But who (trapped in the belief that their religious institution or spiritual program or guru is already providing all of the answers they will ever need) will seek anything, much less a totally different experience? 

Now, with 97% claiming an affiliation with one organized religion or another (in most cases, the one which was thrust upon them by their parents) and with millions more bragging that they "are not religious but are spiritual," what chance is there for a new experience of their own? Practically nil. 

Maharaj: “Trace your misunderstandings and abandon them.” Yet who is likely to engage in such “tracing” when almost all humans - because of egotism and arrogance and because of their blind-faith-based beliefs - are convinced that those beliefs and teachings have produced no misunderstandings at all? 

Who is likely to have a new and different experience with such unfounded confidence in, and dedication to, their belief systems, no matter how nonsensical and ignorant and insane their beliefs are? 

Who is likely to be willing or even able to make a conscious decision to declare: “I am willing to set aside everything I think I understand; willing to admit that there is a possibility that what I have been told and what I have read might not be true; willing to admit that there might be a chance that, through no fault of my own, I have lost the ability to differentiate true from false; 

willing to question everything in an objective and reasonable fashion (which likely will require guidance for a while from someone else)” willing to become educable; and willing to seek a totally new experience"? 

Yet it can occasionally happen. That is the state of willingness which Andy Gugar, Jr. had to reach in order to come here for a retreat the first time we met. In the introduction to the four-book anthology entitled "The Advance Seekers' Series," Andy wrote: 

“I had reached a point where I felt as if I were going to pop right out of my skin from all of the suffering and misery and anxiety and stress that had characterized my existence. 

“For me, it had to get so bad that I became willing and ready - ready to give up all of the ideas and beliefs that had served me not at all and to seek the Truth that was obviously beyond all of the concepts I had ever taken to be the truth. 

“Eventually, I went to a retreat at Floyd's home and left three days later having found that I was not only willing to give up all of those concepts but had become willing to give up this fear-based "Andy" that had been at the root of my problems.” 

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 generating a sense of self-importance (or “Self”-Importance)? 

An understanding of this: 

Maharaj: “There have been thousands of avatars and great men, and important personalities. Has a single one of them been able to do anything to change the natural course of events in the world?” Of course, his answer was, “No.” 

He asked: “Who is to take care of what? I know what has come upon my original state, and there is nothing to take care of that. It is a happening that has come and will take care of itself. And whatever has happened, I have not been affected. 

So, again, 'WHO' is to take care of what? I am not concerned with taking care of anything. The world has been in existence for millions of years” but, again his query was, "has anyone ever been able to do anything to change the natural course of events in the world?” Of course not. 

So Maharaj made clear that no one has every made a difference as far as "changing the natural course of events in the world.” An understanding of that pointer should shake loose some of any person's sense of self-importance, but the point will almost always be debated, argued, and rejected. What other "self-importance-interrupting" facts are available? 

At its most basic level, Maharaj clarified that “the you” which persons take themselves to be is actually nothing more than what he called “a composite unity.” That three-part combination involves (1) a temporarily-manifested elemental plant food body with its parts continuously coming together and coming apart; 

(2) the air which circulates into and out of the space formed by those elements which are forever coming and going; and (3) the conscious-energy which also circulates into and out of the space formed by those elements. (Yes, the consciousness is also forever coming and going, so humans must eat regularly in order to replenish the supply. Only the distortions of “memory” result in a false sense of continuity.) 

As for those who believe that they are important enough and talented enough and intelligent enough to “make a difference,” Maharaj’s advice was basically this: 

Want to work to try to make a difference? Go ahead and give it a shot, but understand that, in the long haul, you will not make a dent in the ignorance-and-insanity-rooted problems of humanity. 

He understood that he was not going to make a dent and he understood that those who came to loft were not going to make a dent and he would have understood that I am not going to make a dent and he would have understood that you will not make a dent. 

Still want to give it a shot? Go ahead. Might as well, if it can happen from the position of the impartial witnessing. Lay it out without attachment to results and then have some fun with the process while dancing lightly. Whatever. But the key question remains: 

If one wants to be about the business of giving people "what they need," then that begs the question, “WHO, what ego-state, believes that she or he really knows what anyone needs?” 

To be continued.

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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 

XX"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."