Advaita Vedanta

BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Twenty

2012-02-14T07:51:00.006-05:00

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

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

[Note: These pointers are excerpts from a book to be released by Amazon.com in late February 2012]

Regular visitors to the site know that they receive a preview of the content of any upcoming releases before Amazon.com publishes those books.

The postings in this series are excerpted from

FREEDOM FROM BELIEFS
(Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")

From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

" ... Stop imagining Your Self to be 'this' or 'that.' Just be."
(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

"Neti-Neti"
(Non-Duality Pointer to Identity-Less-Ness)

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

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: Consider the two reactions to Maharaj's plain-spoken and straightforward revelation about the primary problem of humanity that also explains why the Ultimate Medicine is now universally-required for the universally-manifesting, belief-based, Ultimate Sickness:

Maharaj: The problem is "stupidity, verging on insanity."

What have been the two types of reactions to that pointer? Some responses heard here have included: "There's no cause to be mean about it" and "I prefer a teacher who expresses love, not hate" and "There's no need to be so direct and hurtful."

The reaction here the first time those words were heard was one of gratitude. Years of exposure to a plethora of platitudes had led to one dead end after another, and years of sugar-coating and whitewashing and denial of the real problem - the actual and Ultimate Sickness - had also led to one dead end after another.

The requirement for a new and totally different path was clearly indicated after the first glimmers of light began to expose the falsity of long-held beliefs.

Hopelessness and powerlessness and insanity can happen for decades without one being aware of those conditions; severe depression can happen for decades without the level of that condition ever registering; and the most ignorant (dare one say, "stupid"?) thoughts and words and deeds can occur all day long without any awareness of how ignorant - and even crazy - those thoughts and words and deeds truly are.

Oh sure, judgmental persons all day long can note how hopeless and ignorant and insane "others" are, but the fact is this: if you spot it, you've got it; if you can see it, you can be it. To project one's own mental or emotional defects onto "others" will block those who are doing the projecting from ever seeing their own sickness and from ever addressing that.

Unless one truly experiences his or her own hopelessness and powerlessness and insanity and depression and ignorance-based thoughts and words and deeds when all of that has marked and marred much of one's relative existence, then the Ultimate Medicine will not be sought and the Ultimate Mental and Emotional Sickness will never be treated.

So those in the first group who find Maharaj's words offensive might ask:

"WHO - what egotism-supported ego-state - is offended by Maharaj's words or the words of anyone else?"

and

"WHO is calling Maharaj's words 'mean' when they amount to a spot-on diagnosis that can lead to identifying the real problem and then prescribing the proper Medicine for that which ails a person?"

and

"WHO wants a teacher who is indirect and evasive rather than direct?"

When a doctor some fifteen years ago diagnosed the presence of cancerous and pre-cancerous polyps, he did not say, "There is a little boo-boo that you might want me try to make so away" or "You might want to find a holy man and pray for your boo-boo's to go away" or "Tonight, you might go outside and look into the heavens and wish upon a star that your boo-boo's will magically go away."

He was quite direct when he said, "You have polyps. Some are cancerous. It is clear that I must excise them, and the sooner ... the better." Was he being "mean"? "Hateful?" Too "direct"? Too "insensitive"? Or was he merely stating the facts - and stating them quite clearly - regarding my condition?

No. There was nothing "personal" about his words, any more than there is anything "personal" about Maharaj's words. His words are actually about an illusion, so WHO could be offended by that? Only one who is taking himself / herself to be a person.

If Maharaj was not talking to a person but to the blocked consciousness in his listeners, then "ignorance" or "stupidity" are not describing a particular person but are actually describing one's beliefs that are stored in an illusory "mind."

If Maharaj was not talking to a person but to the blocked consciousness in his listeners, then "insane" is not describing a particular person but is describing belief-based thoughts and words and deeds that are being driven subconsciously by assumed personas. (Thus, "personality disorders" or "insanity.")

The invitation here regarding beliefs is to begin at the beginning by asking, “Why should ideas, concepts, emotional intoxication, and attitudes / beliefs be cast aside? What would be the 'payoff,' relatively speaking?"

To understand that the answer is to be free and to end all personal suffering and misery, the task might be easier. Holding onto beliefs and behaviors that result from programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation makes no sense, yet if one is in denial about one's relative state and condition, then the Truth shall never be seen and the Sickness shall never be treated.

Many say, “Sometimes I see the insanity … but,” after which there is a return to the same old thinking and talking and behavioral patterns and no permanent change is sought.

Moreover, the occasional admission that certain actions that were driven by insane beliefs does not assure that the steps will be taken that are required to be free of the effects of ignorance and insanity. Admissions such as, "I can't believe I did that" or "I can't believe I was dumb enough to fall for that" or "That was really stupid on my part" typically provide little or no respite from the same old patterns that are soon repeated.

Some even say, “I’m convinced I should do this or seek that or change this," yet such comments are usually followed by " ... but” and then by a return to the old ways.

Again, projecting one's relative faults and seeing the insanity is easy when seeing it in “others.” How many times in a day do many use the phrase, “Look at that idiot” or “He’s crazy” or “She’s totally nuts”? And they may be on to something.

Yet most often, persons only see the insanity of “others" and seldom admit to their own, so their own insane behaviors and insane talk almost always continue. Occasionally “seeing it” - and then forgetting what was seen - changes nothing when the power of programming and conditioning are still in play.

Consider the parallel: Pavlov’s dogs were not “crazy.” Prior to conditioning, those dogs only salivated when smelling something they could consume, as is natural. But after conditioning, they behaved in the most unnatural way imaginable: they salivated when they heard a sound rather than when they smelled food. Conditioning can even drive dogs to behave unnaturally. Why should humans fare any better after conditioning?

The additional invitation is to consider this as well: the consciousness, once conditioned, can be said to be "blocked" or can be described by some as being "impure and corrupted and distorted and adulterated."

The blocked or corrupted consciousness is the knower of concepts, the thinker of thoughts, the accepter of lies as truth, the emoter of emotions, the experiencer of pain and suffering, the accepter of ideas rooted in myths, and the believer of false beliefs.

If not yet Fully Realized, what might free you of the effects of having been conditioned and programmed? Some have read pointers on the subject, such as these, and then taken them into the silence and considered them.

Some require a teacher that is willing to "tell it like it is." Some require a diagnosis of the real problem (which centers in the "mind," which drives insane thoughts and words and actions, and which results in being dominated by the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness).

Some require a Realized teacher - a "specialist in internal medicine" - capable of diagnosing the problem, willing to tell you directly what the problem is, willing to tell you specifically what must be done to address the problem, and who knows exactly how to administer the Ultimate Medicine that is required to treat the Ultimate, Internal Sickness.

Forget trying to reach a temporary “no-mind” state. The problem requires a permanent removal of the seat of the Sickness. You are invited on this site to take the seven steps that lead to a permanent state of “no-minded-ness,” even as the consciousness remains manifested.

Only then can one be completely free of the symptoms of the belief-based Sickness described by Maharaj in the quote above.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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(QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

The work contains quotations and pointers not only from scores of non-duality books and talks but also offers non-duality pointers that have appeared in works of non-fiction, fiction, classic literature, and movies.

The nine parts of this book include the following:

PART ONE provides an introduction.

PART TWO includes quotations that other seekers / readers have indicated that they found to be significant.

PART THREE arranges non-duality quotations and pointers by category and subject matter. The rationale: when offering non-duality quotations, some collections provide key pointers that are offered in no particular order, but here the approach is to group pointers according to subject matter so that a seeker dealing with "body identification issues" can find quotations addressing body identity while a seeker dealing with "being free of the influence of the mind" can find quotations and pointers that offer information on that topic. Other subjects in this part of the book include personality, the child ignorance or no-knowing stage, the two types of witnessing, the Absolute, the Void or the Nothingness, and many more.

PART FOUR continues the offering of non-duality quotations and pointers by category and subject matter but from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj exclusively.

PART FIVE offers quotations and pointers from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj that discuss nisarga yoga and nisarga living.

PART SIX provides miscellaneous non-duality quotations and pointers which are relevant to Advaitins and that have been offered by philosophers and sages and seers of truth from various periods, including Plato, St. Francis of Assisi, Desiderius Erasmus, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Richard E. Lingenfelter; Robert Burton, Daniel H. Boorstin, Gary Zukav, E. Bayda, Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Brad Thor, Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr.; Nelson Mandela, Immanuel Kant, Bruce Lipton, Clive Cussler, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Lewis Thomas, Max Planck, Heinrich Hertz, and others.

PART SEVEN provides certain non-duality pointers that have appeared in the non-fiction writings of Ralph Klein and in the works of such scientists as Barbara McClintock, Erwin Schrodinger, Fritjof Capra, Niels Bohr, David Bohm, Neil deGrasse Tyson. Also, there are selections from the works of Marvin Kaye, S.H. Sharp, Paul Krassner, Ken Kesey, Russell Brand, G.I. Gurdjieff; and a variety of examples of the non-duality messages that are contained in the body of Native American wisdom as well as non-duality pointers that can be found in the book "ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS" (a.k.a., "the A.A. Big Book").

PART EIGHT offers non-duality messages that have appeared in the fictional works of Jack Kerouac, Michael Connelly, Mary Shelley, Victor Hugo, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Abraham "Bram" Stoker and others.

PART NINE deals with the non-duality message as offered in film with a list of over thirty movies that are based in non-duality, including The Matrix (Part One), The 13th Floor, Inception, The Truman Show, Dark City, Existenz, Avatar, and many more.

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

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

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

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The Myth of Death
What Happens When I Die?
The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders (Non-Duality) [Kindle]
The Board of Directors of Wars (Non-Duality) [Kindle]
The Board of Directors of Wars (Non-Duality) [Paperback]
Living Within Your Means
How Your Personality Type Shapes Your Spending Habits

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

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

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BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Nineteen

2012-02-13T09:41:00.004-05:00

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

From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

" ... Stop imagining Your Self to be 'this' or 'that.' Just be."
(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

"Neti-Neti"
(Non-Duality Pointer to Identity-Less-Ness)

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: In the Internet Advaita Course offered here online, seekers answer a series of questions that drive them farther and farther into (1) an analysis of their belief systems and into (2) a position from which they can witness their beliefs objectively by understanding how they came to believe what they believe (and - in some cases - how they came to believe what they believe quite blindly without ever having questioned any of those ideas and concepts and beliefs at all).

Other seekers might also see the beliefs (a.k.a., "lies") that are driving their thoughts and words and actions by writing a thorough list of their beliefs, seeing where those beliefs really came from, and then questioning their validity.

(In fact, no one’s beliefs have really come from the present generation of parents or pastors or priests or rabbis or ayatollahs or politicians or other authority figures in their cultures. The most widely-held and most respected beliefs today are thousands of years old;

were dreamed up by ignorant - but shrewd - controlling men during ancient times; were passed down to the ignorant masses; and have been repeated and accepted as truth for thousands of years by billions and billions of non-Realized persons among the also-ignorant masses as a result of having learned the ignorance taught in their homes and taught by way of their cultures' institutions and "-ism's" rather than by having crossed paths with one that can point them away from the false and toward the Truth.)

The writing exercise can reveal to honest and willing and thorough and objective seekers the fact that they have no beliefs that are their own but that they have only adopted the beliefs of others. That blind, unquestioning acceptance of the erroneous beliefs of others now prevents them from realizing what they have always known, within, but have forgotten. The exercise of studying one's belief systems objectively can show that there is no basis in fact for accepting as fact the bogus concepts and false ideas and erroneous beliefs that have been adopted from others.

The process can expose the fact that those beliefs are driving them into an unstable existence that is marked by fluctuations between "being OK if alone vs. not being OK at work"; between "enjoying the pleasure of pleasant situations vs. suffering the misery of unpleasant situations"; and between "feeling spiritual at times vs. not feeling spiritual at other times."

Consider: the house here has a thermostat that has been programmed to cool the inside air in the summer and to heat the inside air in the winter. The thermostat is programmed to maintain temperatures within a certain, limited range of +/- 6 degrees Fahrenheit. If it has not been programmed, it will not function. Its program determines what it does or what it does not do.

Similarly, persons do nothing that they have not been programmed or conditioned or enculturated to do. Unfortunately for persons, they do not choose their programming any more than a thermostat chooses its programming. As in the case of the thermostat that limits temperature ranges, the programming of persons limits the way that they function as well.

It may appear that the thermostat is making a decision when it activates or deactivates "automatically," but obviously it is not. It has no power of choice because it is programmed. That same type of programming leaves persons totally helpless even though they believe that their ideas and beliefs and concepts are chosen, are a source of power, and are a benefit. They mistakenly think that they are freely making choices rather than understanding that they are being driven blindly by the subconscious agendas of their belief systems.

How deceived they are. They were programmed in the way that certain key role-players in their early years choose to program them. The people who lived next door to where they grew up as a child would have likely given them a totally different program. Those of one religion will program people in a way that is completely different from the programming that people of another religion are given.

Those of one denomination will program people in a way that is completely different from the programming that people of another denomination are given. People of one political party will program people in a way that is completely different from the programming that people of another party are given.

People with one type of boss will become conditioned in a way that is completely different from the conditioning that people with a different type of boss will be given. And it is a person's conditioning and programming that will determine how they emote in any given circumstance.

The invitation is to take all seven steps to Realization and then persons will no longer co-dependently allow strangers or people at work or anywhere else to determine how they feel. Eventually, there will be no "personal self" that has any agenda that can supposedly be interfered with. They will be free of any identity that can imagine it has been hurt or threatened, and then they will function spontaneously and freely as the True Self.

Persons are separated from the awareness of That Which They Truly Are, and only awareness of That can result in peace and happiness during the manifestation. If not yet Fully Realized, know that "your" case is not unique, so there’s no need to take any words as criticism; nor is there any need to criticize your “self” (or selves).

Your search has finally led to finding the teachings / "non-teachings" of Advaita (of "not-two-ness"); you have found the means that might eliminate at the root all of the frustration and anger that you think you’re experiencing at certain times.

To be free, though, you'll be required to abandon all identification with “The Experiencer of Frustration and Anger” or “The One Who Is Driven by Unmet Expectations, by Deep-Seated Fears, and Unfulfilled Desires” and, most of all, by "The One With Significant Beliefs."

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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

Now available at Amazon.com in
the US, the UK, GERMANY, FRANCE, ITALY and SPAIN:

For more information, click
(QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

Click to purchase
( QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

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

Floyd Henderson's Website

Amazon.com Widgets

(8) The "Final" Talks of Floyd Henderson

(9) QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

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

Amazon.com Widgets

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

(FOUR BOOKS IN ONE)

(SIX BOOKS IN ONE)

FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION

BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Eighteen

2012-02-12T08:37:00.012-05:00

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

From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

" ... Stop imagining Your Self to be 'this' or 'that.' Just be."
(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

"Neti-Neti"
(Non-Duality Pointer to Identity-Less-Ness)

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: With beliefs, there are two phases which both involve traps. In the first phase, the trap is set (a) as one false belief after another is passed on from adults to children and (b) as a "mind" begins to form and (c) as the part of the brain that stores and retrieves information begins to be filled with myth-based concepts and superstition-based ideas and more and more cultural nonsense as well as the duality of "this-world" nonsense and "That-World" nonsense.

In the second phase, the trap is sprung. Short of Full Realization, you become entrapped in the deceit of duality. Why? Because as soon as you accept that your ("their") beliefs are true, then you will accept that those who agree with you (and with "them," your programmers) have beliefs that are "right." They will reinforce your beliefs, and you will echo them back and reinforce theirs, all of which are the same set of belief systems.

At some point though, you will be exposed to differing views. At that point, you will believe that your beliefs are "right" and their beliefs are "wrong." You will also believe that you are "good" because of your "right" beliefs and that they are "bad" because of their "wrong" beliefs.

You will be introduced to judging and to believing in better-than-ment and different-from-ment. You will begin to believe in hierarchies and levels and ranks. With the new-found skills for judging and supposedly differentiating, you will then be driven to practice dualistic upgrading and downgrading:

"this world" will be upgraded to a "better world" called Heaven, or some such; or "this world" will be downgraded to a "horrible world" call Hell, or some such.

Or you will believe in reincarnation and multiple births and never understand that if you were not born once, then you most certainly cannot be "born again" or experience multiple births and multiple deaths as you move through dreamed up hierarchies and levels and ranks.

If Realization does not happen, then what will happen is believing in beliefs and beliefs and more beliefs, leading to duality and duality and more duality.

There will be the belief in a "mind"; in myth-based concepts; in superstition-based ideas; in cultural nonsense; in "this-world" vs. "That-World"; in deceits and deceptions and illusions; in "right" and "good"; in "wrong" and "bad";

in judging; in better-than-ment; in different-from-ment; in hierarchies and levels and ranks; in upgrading and downgrading; in continuity of body and mind and personality in a "better world" or in continuity of body and mind and personality in a "worse world"; in a timeline of birth-life-death-judgment-and-eternal-reward-or-eternal-punishment; or in reincarnation; in multiple births; in identities; in personas; and then, in the "-ism's" of your culture.

You will believe in - and be driven by - the dogma or precepts or values of Judaism or Protestantism or Catholicism or Islamism or Mormonism or Buddhism or Hinduism or cultism or puritanism or spiritualism or supernaturalism or symbolism.

You will believe in - and be driven by - the precepts or values of - relativism; of workaholism and materialism; of tribalism; of sexism; of individualism; of irrationalism; of colonialism; and of conformism.

You will believe in - and be driven by - the misperceptions that lead to dysfunctionalism; chauvinism; egocentrism; egotism; elitism; emotionalism; escapism; perfectionism; idealism (followed by reductionism or the devaluing of those previously idealized); and narcissism.

You will believe in - and be driven by - the values of your culture that support authoritarianism; patriotism; superpatriotism; heroism; nationalism; militarism; xenophobianism; favoritism; and more.

You will believe in - and be driven by - the indoctrination that gives value to capitalism; commercialism; communism; consumerism; corporatism; or neo-colonialism.

Eventually, the total count of your ("their") beliefs can only be pointed to with the term "ad infinitum." How to be rid of all beliefs, all of which are based in that which is nonsense and that which is non-factual? Can one investigate one belief at a time, find that the belief is false, discard it, and then move on to the next?

The relative existence cannot possibly be long enough for that approach to purge the "mind" of all of the nonsense and learned ignorance stored therein and then be free and peaceful and harmonious and sane and rational and stable and happy.

During the "period of investigation," enough of the false must be seen to be false in order to dry out the wet charcoal; then, as the period of investigation continues, there must be enough clarity to see how widespread false beliefs are throughout every culture;

then only might you join the few seekers that experience the peripetia mentioned in the previous chapter and undergo the explosion that can happen during the gunpowder stage when all beliefs are blown away.

Here is the way the subject is addressed in the fictional, non-duality, adventure novel The Board of Directors of Wars via a conversation between two of the lead characters named Kirk and Brett:

“You seem at peace in the middle of this chaos. I want that peace,” Brett almost demanded.

“Brett, you’ve been shown the answer all your life. It was there for you to see in every play, in every movie, in every mystery you’ve ever read. Shakespeare borrowed the dramatic technique from the Greeks,” Kirk began. “Today, it’s the basis of all mystery and suspense stories, and it’s also the basis of realization.”

“I’m lost,” Brett confessed.

“Well look at every drama you’ve ever seen. The main character, who represents you and me and everyone, runs around like a chicken with its head cut off. He is confused and in the dark. Those who are in a position to sit back and witness the drama objectively can see that he’s just an actor on the stage and that none of the drama is real. But for entertainment’s sake, he and the witnesses can pretend it’s real. Both, in fact, can get so absorbed in the role that they take it to be the real for a time.

“But even amidst all of the drama, a time comes, that moment in the play when even the actor finds out the truth. It is called the peripetia in drama—that moment in the play or the movie when the lead actor finds out that everything he thought to be true is really false; when he sees that he was being misled at every turn; when those he thought he could trust the most, and who thought they were telling him the truth, were also wrong.

“It’s the moment of freedom that comes when one finds out that everything he ever thought or believed or held sacred (or thought worth fighting for) was a lie. The freedom comes when he gives up all of the concepts he bought into, drops his head in relief and amazement, shakes his head back and forth, wonders for a moment at how he had bought into all their crap, smiles at how easily he was duped, watches how all of the rest of the play unfolds automatically until its end, and leaves the stage after saying to himself, ‘Well, sonofabitch. I’ll be damned.’ And then he laughs. He laughs at it all. And then he’s done with it, once and for all.”

The prerequisite for freedom from beliefs is the realization that it really is possible that all that "they" taught and all that "they" believe really can be false. That provides the readiness to begin discarding all of the false and then eventually seeing all of the Truth.

When that happens, the understanding of the functioning of the totality manifests and you will be free, liberated from having thoughts and words and deeds determined by false personas; free from believing "their" lies;

free of the learned ignorance with which they have strapped your relative existence; free of belief in "This-ism" and "that-ism"; free of "imagining Your Self to be 'this' or 'that'"; free totally; free, period.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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(8) The "Final" Talks of Floyd Henderson

(9) QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

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BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Seventeen

2012-02-11T08:15:00.002-05:00

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

From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

" ... Stop imagining Your Self to be 'this' or 'that.' Just be."
(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

"Neti-Neti"
(Non-Duality Pointer to Identity-Less-Ness)

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: If ideas and concepts and beliefs are not forfeited (and if one is not thereby freed of the influence of old mental and emotional wounds and old “memories” and old programming and old conditioning) then changing jobs, houses, cities, circumstances, friends, lovers, spouses, denominations, sects, or anything else will have no lasting impact on changing one’s emotional state and on changing the subconscious agendas that are unknowingly driving thoughts and words and actions.

Some try time and again (1) a "relationship cure" or (2) the "marriage cure," the "divorce cure," or "the divorce-and-remarry-cure," never realizing that they are repeating the same patterns and are often "marrying the exact same person over and over," so to speak, though the chain of lovers or spouses usually have different names.

Some try to address the Ultimate Sickness with a "geographic cure," based in the belief that they can run away to another city or state or nation or continent and leave their problems behind, yet they take with them wherever they go the main problem - the infected "mind."

If the "mind" is eliminated by casting aside all ideas and emotions and beliefs and attitudes, then "the place" where one abides is always the same, sole, singular "place," namely, in the "place" pointed to with the term "in One's Original Nature."

In the last year, the form or space called "floyd" traveled from the North American continent to the African continent, but I remained in the one and only "place" where Floyd has remained for more than two decades since Realization.

In the last year, the form or space called "floyd" traveled to a cardiac surgeon's operating room and twice traveled to a gastroenterologist's operating room, but I remained in the one and only "place" where Floyd has remained for more than two decades since Realization.

In the last two months, the form or space called "floyd" traveled from Houston to Dallas to witness the one called "mother" sink into a condition of immobility and a state in which she can no longer recognize "floyd," but I remained in the one and only "place" where Floyd has remained for more than two decades since Realization.

In that "place," there is no identity and there are no concepts or beliefs or ideas. There is only the Pure Witnessing (which allows all to be witnessed but to be witnessed without attachment to any belief-driven angst about whatever is happening during the relative existence).

In each of those cases, as a physical form moved about from one physical place to another, there was not a one of those places where feelings did not happen, but there was simultaneously not one place where emoting happened. Some observers might have concluded that they saw "floyd" being happy, "floyd" being sad, "floyd" being accepting, or "floyd" being dualistically "up" and / or "down."

Those observers would all be mistaken, for they were seeing "floyd" but they could not see Floyd. They could see the various locations of the physical form, but they could not see the Actual Substance or the True Essence or the Real Self / the Real Floyd. The same error occurred when persons claimed that they "saw Maharaj get angry and emotionally upset and then toss someone from the loft." That never happened, though some were indeed barred from remaining in the loft.

Those watching "floyd" during the last year could well have witnessed feelings as they occurred, but if they mistook those for displays of emotion (or as evidence of the emotional intoxication that can only manifest in the presence of ego-states or personas) then their perceptions would have been in error.

During the last year (and during the last two decades) a variety of feelings were felt and were witnessed as they rose and fell, but in the absence of beliefs, attachment to the feelings was impossible. Abiding in the No-Concept Original State as My Original, Belief-Free Nature, it is

a. possible for feelings to happen but "here" it is

b. impossible to enter into any state that is different from That Original State, including entrance into an emotional state.

It is in a belief-supported, concept-laden, idea-burdened emotional state where persons are robbed of all logic and reason and sanity and peace and harmony and stability and happiness.

It is in the no-belief, no-concept, no-idea, no-duality state of Reality where persons are in touch with the sane and logical and reasonable inner guru (or inner resource or intuitive sixth sense) and where peace and harmony and sanity and stability and happiness manifest.

If the seemingly endless chain of desires and expectations that are fostered by beliefs are not forfeited, then one can acquire and accumulate everything that she or he might wish for or hope for or long for, but consistent happiness and consistent peace still will not manifest. Full Realization, on the other hand, will exert a lasting impact on the remainder of the relative existence.

But Full Realization cannot happen as long as persons think that the beliefs of their parents, the beliefs of their teachers, the beliefs of their preachers, the beliefs of their priests, the beliefs of their imams, the beliefs of their rabbis, the beliefs of their politicians, or the beliefs of any "authority figures" are Truth.

Moreover, any of “their” beliefs which have become “your” beliefs will block you from finding Truth, and when out of touch with Truth, then one will also be out of touch with logic and reason and sanity and peace and harmony and stability and happiness.

And by the way: you are not invited to believe that! Nor are you invited to be a "Non-Believer of What You Have Believed" and then become a "Believer of Something Different That Is Offered Here." There are no beliefs offered here because there are no teachings or learning offered here.

What is offered here is never an invitation to "learn more" but an invitation instead to "un-learn it all"; thus, there are actually no "teachings" offered here at all. There are only pointers that can serve temporarily as tools to be used for "un-teaching."

Then, in the end, it is like this: one need not be a "Believer in Mirages" and one need not claim that she or he is a "Non-Believer in Mirages." If the truth about mirages is seen, then one will never waste so much as another second dealing with mirages, considering mirages, contemplating mirages, wondering about mirages, claiming mirages, disclaiming mirages, or deciding time and again to reject all former beliefs about mirages (much less form new beliefs about mirages).

So it is with the beliefs that cultures hold dear and spread by way of the "-ism's" they teach and tout. Once they are all seen to be lies, then belief in the lies ends. That happens in the moment of peripetia after one moves beyond the wet charcoal stage, moves beyond the dry charcoal stage, reaches the gunpowder stage, and then enjoys the freedom that comes after that final explosion blows away the final vestiges of the distortions that were taught in ignorance and accepted by faith (and without any questioning or considering at all).

Following that explosion, what remains after all beliefs have been blown away? What remains is the re-purified, no-concept, no-idea, no-beliefs, non-dual consciousness; thereafter, the remainder of the relative existence will unfold in a logical and reasonable and sane and peaceful and harmonious and stable and happy fashion, marked by being fully awake and fully aware.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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

Floyd Henderson's Website

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(8) The "Final" Talks of Floyd Henderson

(9) QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

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BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Sixteen

2012-02-10T09:11:00.003-05:00

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

[Note: These pointers are excerpts from a book to be released by Amazon.com in late February 2012]

Regular visitors to the site know that they receive a preview of the content of any upcoming releases before Amazon.com publishes those books.

The postings in this series are excerpted from

FREEDOM FROM BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")

From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

" ... Stop imagining Your Self to be 'this' or 'that.' Just be."
(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

Neti-Neti"
(Non-Duality Pointer to Identity-Less-Ness)

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: So what was Maharaj's "take" on the subject of "beliefs"? The following are offered for consideration by readers:

"All happens as it needs, yet nothing happens. I do what seems to be necessary, but at the same time I know that nothing is necessary, that life itself is only a make-belief."

"See that You are not what you believe yourself to be."

"Stop imagining, stop believing."

"You are taking so many things for granted. Begin to question. The most obvious things are the most doubtful. Ask yourself such questions as 'Must I believe all I am told about myself?'"

" ... He is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong."

"We believe in so many things on hearsay. We believe in distant lands and people, in heavens and hells, in gods and goddesses, because we were told. Similarly, we were told about ourselves, our parents, name, position, duties and so on. We never cared to verify. The way to truth lies through the destruction of the false. To destroy the false, you must question your most inveterate beliefs. Of these, the idea that you are the body is the worst. With the body comes the world, with the world - God, who is supposed to have created the world and thus it starts -- fears, religions, prayers, sacrifices, all sorts of systems - all to protect and support the child-man, frightened out of his wits by monsters of his own making. Realise that what you are cannot be born nor die and, with the fear gone, all suffering ends."

"I am offering you exactly what you need -- awakening. You are not hungry and you need no bread. You need cessation, relinquishing, disentanglement. What you believe you need is not what you need. Your real need I know, not you. You need to return to the state in which I am - Your Natural State."

"Go forth, unburdened with ideas and beliefs."

" ... Question wisely. Instead of searching for the proof of truth, which you do not know, go through the proofs you have of what you believe to know. You will find you know nothing for sure - you trust on hearsay. To know the truth, you must pass through your own experience."

"You believe you know the world and yourself - but it is only your ignorance that makes you say: 'I know'. Begin with the admission that you do not know and start from there."

"What is the drug which you call 'karma' or 'destiny'? It made you believe yourself to be what you are not. What is it, and can you be free of it? Before you go further you must accept, at least as a working theory, that you are not what you appear to be, that you are under the influence of a drug. Then only will you have the urge and the patience to examine the symptoms and search for their common cause."

"As long as we believe that we need things to make us happy, we shall also believe that in their absence we must be miserable. Mind always shapes itself according to its beliefs."

"After one or two years [a child] comes to know itself, the mother, etc. When the child knows itself, its knowingness has started. Prior to that it is ignorance; although it is no-knowingness, it is ignorance. Then the knowledge 'I Am' is attained: it does not know who it is but it knows it is something. Later on the child starts collecting concepts and ideas which other people feed it and develops certain concepts or images about itself and others. The mind has developed. Then comes deep sleep and the waking state, the daily cycle. In the waking state, in whatever state of mind you are, you know the world, together with your concepts, and then you fall into sleep. Now, technically, you can call that deep sleep no-knowingness. But this is not that no-knowingness beyond which the Absolute lies. Let us proceed again from the child: ignorance, knowingness, accumulation of concepts, meeting the Guru. The Guru tells you, 'Get rid of concepts, just be YourSelf.' So, when you are, only you are. This is the first step: to abide in the consciousness that you are, without words. When the child started knowing itself, there was also knowledge, but that is a general knowledge and is common to all. The seeker, having understood what the Guru said, gets rid of the concepts, and now, as the first step, the seeker dwells in the state 'I Am', just being."

"Once you know with absolute certainty that nothing can trouble you but your own imagination, you come to disregard your desires and fears, concepts and ideas. [You] live by truth alone."

"You give reality to concepts, while concepts are distortions of reality. Abandon all conceptualisation and stay silent and attentive."

"Go beyond your concepts and ideas; in the silence [and in the absence] of desire and thought, the truth is found."

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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

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Click to purchase
( QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

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

Floyd Henderson's Website

Amazon.com Widgets

(8) The "Final" Talks of Floyd Henderson

(9) QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

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FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION

BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Fifteen

2012-02-09T10:04:00.007-05:00

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

[Note: These pointers are excerpts from a book to be released by Amazon.com in late February 2012]

Regular visitors to the site know that they receive a preview of the content of any upcoming releases before Amazon.com publishes those books.

The postings in this series are excerpted from the book

FREEDOM FROM BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")

From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

" ... Stop imagining Your Self to be 'this' or 'that.' Just be."
(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

Neti-Neti"
(Non-Duality Pointer to Identity-Less-Ness)

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: Why is it that the peace and harmony and happiness that Maharaj referenced cannot manifest if there is a "mind" (which he reported he no longer had after Realization)?

That understanding is discussed in full in the book There's No Such Thing As "Peace of Mind" wherein it is made clear that "there is only peace if you're out of your mind." [Also available at Amazon]

That is, there can only be peace and harmony and happiness if you are out from under the influence of what is taken to be "your mind" when, in fact, there is no such thing as "your mind."

What there is among the not-Fully-Realized is "their mind" which is always taken in error to be "your mind." Why is it "their mind"?

Because whatever is in it, you did not put there. "They" put it there. Who are "they"? The members of your family of origin, relatives, friends, teachers, religious and / or spiritual influencers, political leaders, and all who were in positions of "authority" during your childhood and who exposed you to their ideas and concepts and beliefs which you have adopted as "your own."

And the adoption of ideas and concepts and beliefs continues even now, into adulthood, for all that are not Realized. The "mind" has been filled with fiction; with beliefs that are based not at all in fact; with beliefs that have never been questioned;

and with beliefs that have been accepted with no evidence at all but have been accepted on "blind faith" alone. Among the masses, the contents of the "mind" are now held in such esteem that people are willing to fight for - or, as noted in the previous chapter - even willing to die to defend.

How has the "mind" evolved from its original purpose of storing survival-related, retrievable data to its present state of storing distorting, deluding, misleading, fooling, peace-robbing, harmony-destroying, happiness-blocking nonsense?

The "mind" is a part of the brain where information can be stored and retrieved, originally used as a "constructive" tool for survival; now, it is a destructive force that drives nonsensical behaviors that are based in nonsensical thoughts generated by the "mind."

What types of information are stored there? Ideas, concepts and beliefs, beliefs that were set in place by programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation.

The "mind" is an illusion because it is an area now used for storing an entire network of belief systems that are generated from the dreamed up "-ism's" that are valued by cultures and societies but that are based in non-facts rather than facts.

It is the area of the brain that accepts beliefs such as "I am this" and "I am that," and the false personas that are mistakenly believed to identify who you are will subconsciously drive thoughts and words and deeds, removing all ability to choose and resulting in the non-Realized masses being driven by agendas that are stored in the fictitious "mind."

Moreover, the persons being driven have no clue at all about what the hidden agendas are and how they block any opportunity to be awake, aware, conscious, sane, reasonable, rational, and to be in charge of what they say, what they do, and how they traverse the relative existence.

And all the while, they are convinced that their beliefs give their relative existence some worth and value and purpose and meaning and direction and power and control.

To see the actual effects of one's beliefs, to be able to look back objectively and to realize that every destructive and insane act was based in one or more beliefs, is to ease the transition away from belief-based ignorance and belief-based insanity and to pave the way for being free of living under the influence of "their" ideas and concepts and beliefs that have been driving "you" in ways that have not proven to be to your benefit at all - relatively speaking.

The following was offered to a visitor in 2006:

The transcendent (re-purified) consciousness gives no credibility to concepts or ideas or attitudes (i.e., beliefs). It understands the unicity; conversely, the conceptual consciousness erroneously accepts beliefs and takes the perceived multiplicity to be real.

The transcendent consciousness, being free of delusion and illusion, allows for the abidance as the Absolute. Then, even the concepts offered by Advaitans will have been transcended.

Years and years of the accumulated mental and emotional and spiritual garbage of the culture can be tossed ... and tossed without concern, without dread, without any sense of loss. Later, it will be realized that it wasn’t even tossed because there is no “tosser.”

The garbage actually just faded away after its value was finally questioned and seen to be worthless as a result of its senseless content. Yet note how much the ego-defense mechanism of arrogance (which protects the illusory “I”) hates any suggestion that would devalue all of the knowledge—all of the learned ignorance—that has been accumulated throughout a relative existence and stored in what is called a “mind.”

The books offered here provide pointers that - in the end - are nothing more than thorns that can be used to remove thorns, scalpels that can excise the cancerous, Ultimate Sickness within the "mind" wherein the main problem is centered.

Value the conceptualized content of "your mind" and you will be attracted to the contents of "their contaminated mind" and you will then attach firmly to all of the bastardized content of "their minds."

A house cannot begin to be refreshed until one takes out ALL of the garbage, and the space which houses the consciousness cannot be refreshed - that is, restored to sanity - unless all of the garbage in the "mind" is removed.

And only if all of the garbage is removed can peace and harmony and happiness manifest and fill that newly-re-purified space.

Such is the sane course of action regarding garbage. Only the arrogance of ego-states, which are revealed via the talk generated by conceptualized consciousness, would inspire efforts to try to give value and meaning to the garbage of cultures and dogma and movements and "-ism's."

The consideration is that you let fade away all of the garbage—all of the concepts and beliefs and learned ignorance—and be free of the effects of the concepts-and-beliefs-laden consciousness; then You’ll merely witness the AS IF living as it happens, without attachment.

Yet that AS IF living can happen only after the body and “mind” and the last of any assumed roles all fade away. Therein lies the challenge since the body and "mind" and personality are the very illusions that take the consciousness and "the mind" to be so worthwhile.

So what must a protégé be alert to as he / she listens for the re-purified consciousness to speak? Each must develop a detector that can differentiate between (a) that which emanates from the transcendent consciousness as opposed to (b) what is heard when the concept-and-belief burdened consciousness engages in "mind-speak."

Conceptual consciousness is easily recognizable because its talk is peppered with concepts and beliefs (all of which are dualistic and all of which are dreamed up by men) including "things worth dying for," "things worth killing for," “God,” "Gods and Goddesses," “noble birth,” “sacred,” “praiseworthy humans,” “patriotism,” “Brahman,” and “reward”;

including “good,” “best,” “hallowed ground,” "different from," "better than," and “reverent oaths”; including “a flag that is due respect,” “great,” “famous,” “them,” “us,” “wise men,” “awful,” “loyalist,” “birth,” “creation of babies,” “life after life,” “hell,” “heaven,” “guru,” and “holy.”

The sages have taught for thousands of years that what is real cannot be named, so that which is named cannot be real, and nothing is more steeped in the duality of conceptual consciousness than what one has named "my beliefs."

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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

Now available at Amazon.com in
the US, the UK, GERMANY, FRANCE, ITALY and SPAIN:

For more information, click
(QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

Click to purchase
( QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

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

Floyd Henderson's Website

Amazon.com Widgets

(8) The "Final" Talks of Floyd Henderson

(9) QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

Amazon.com Widgets

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

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

(FOUR BOOKS IN ONE)

(SIX BOOKS IN ONE)

FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION

BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Fourteen

2012-02-08T08:31:00.004-05:00

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

[Note: These pointers are excerpts from a book to be released by Amazon.com in late February 2012]

F.: Regular visitors to the site know that they receive a preview of the content of any upcoming releases before Amazon.com publishes those books.

The postings in this series are excerpted from
FREEDOM FROM BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")

From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

" ... Stop imagining Your Self to be 'this' or 'that.' Just be."
(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

Neti-Neti"
(Non-Duality Pointer to Identity-Less-Ness)

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: Consider the implications of two quotations from Maharaj:

"I have no mind"

and

" ... What I call 'nisarga yoga', 'the Natural Yoga' ... is the art of living in peace and harmony .... The fruit of it is happiness, uncaused and endless."

How many of the seven billion+ persons on the planet are seeking either peace or harmony or happiness? How many believe that their beliefs - or even additional beliefs that they might acquire by gathering more information and knowledge - will lead them someday to peace or harmony or happiness?

Yet Maharaj makes clear that happiness is "uncaused"; furthermore, his pointer that he had no mind proves that the happiness which that sage enjoyed during the relative existence had nothing to do with the content of a "mind" or with beliefs that were stored in a "mind."

The peace and harmony and happiness which were enjoyed did not manifest in the presence of a "mind," in the presence of a belief-filled-"mind," or in the presence of more and more gathered information and more and more accumulated beliefs.

The peace and harmony and happiness that was enjoyed manifested in the absence of a "mind," in the absence of beliefs, and in the absence of a gathering of more and more information and more and more beliefs.

The peace and harmony and happiness that was enjoyed came after beliefs were discarded, flushing away the contents of the "mind" entirely and thereby putting an end to the "mind" completely.

Bill Wilson wrote in a book composed in his home in New York, "The main problem centers in the mind." Yes. The solution (which he was forced to include in the book as a result of pressures exerted from a religious faction in Ohio) was reported to be something beyond the "mind." To the detriment of his readers ... no. That is not the case.

There is nothing beyond the "mind" that can heal the "mind" any more than one can go to the desert and serve as an outside source and heal all of the mirages there. If sane, one would know that mirages cannot be healed. They can be seen for what they are and need only be seen for what they are: mirages.

Once they are seen to be mirages, then there is no belief that mirages are real and, therefore, no belief that a mirage needs healing. So it is with the "mind": if it is see that the contents of the "mind" are fictional and are based in myths and superstitions and falsehoods and learned ignorance, then the purging of those beliefs will end the "mind" and will thereby re-purify the brain and allow it to function normally / naturally once again.

Bill Wilson was familiar enough with certain non-duality pointers to understand that the "mind" was the source of most of humanity's relative problems (storms, floods, hurricanes, etc. notwithstanding).

He included in his book a quotation from a doctor who said that the problems of the people they were dealing with were rooted in the fact that " ... they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false."

That is a "mind" problem, and that is not a problem that is unique to that book's audience. It is the main problem of almost all of the seven billion persons on the planet who can be counted among the non-Realized masses. The main problem of humanity does indeed center in the mind.

And what is in the "mind"? Beliefs, ideas, and concepts, all of which the masses are willing to fight about and all of which many among the masses are - literally - willing to kill and / or die for.

It was beliefs that inspired a series of wars called "The Crusades" in which millions of Christians and Muslims died, defending the "-ism's" of Catholicism and Islamism. Their belief-based conflict continues to this day as they have been killing each other, off and on, for 1300 years.

It was beliefs (such as the belief in "Manifest Destiny" and belief in the "-ism's" of colonialism and Catholicism) that inspired Europeans to invade lands to the west and kill over 150,000,000 of the indigenous peoples during what is now call "The American Holocaust." The invasions were supposedly justified by the belief that the invaders were going to create a "Christian nation" to be an example to the rest of the world and serve as "a beacon on the hill" that would enlighten all the people on the planet with their dogma / beliefs.

It was beliefs that inspired religious leaders to begin "The Inquisition" which resulted in the killing of millions who were deemed to not be faithful enough in their beliefs.

Along with a desire to accumulate, it was the beliefs of the members of one religious group that they were "right" and their belief that the members of another religious group were "wrong" that inspired World War II and that resulted in the killing of an estimated 55,000,000 to 72,000,000 people.

It was beliefs that inspired kamikaze suicide bombers to fly their airplanes into the ships in a fleet that the one called "floyd's father" was sailing on during that same war.

It is beliefs that inspire suicide bombers to strap on vests of explosives and blast themselves into pieces in order to blast into pieces as many other people as possible for having different beliefs.

The absence of peace and harmony and happiness that marked all of those historical examples occurred in the presence of beliefs, not in the absence of beliefs. The absence of peace and harmony and happiness in homes and "relationships" and businesses and in traffic and in the political arena occurs only in the presence of beliefs.

Moreover, peace and harmony and happiness cannot come when seekers are engaged in going and doing and zooming and accumulating knowledge and storing more beliefs in their "minds." Return now to the implications of the quotations by Maharaj at the beginning of this chapter:

if the endless happiness that comes post-Realization via the Nisarga Yoga is uncaused happiness, then what is with all of the persons who are claiming that they are Realized but nevertheless continue to do all sorts of things to "maintain" their happiness or to cause the happiness to continue?

The art of living in peace and harmony and happiness during the remainder of the post-Realization period is uncaused, so it is most certainly not caused by beliefs and ideas and concepts (all of which actually block any opportunity for peace or harmony or happiness).

There is no cause and there are no requirements. Peace, harmony and happiness are not caused by knowing, joining, worshiping, meeting, sharing, learning, tithing, being "good," or receiving;

they are not caused by going, doing, zooming, smelling scents, wearing special clothes, entering special buildings or regions, ringing special bells, humming, chanting, swooning, swaying, and rolling about on the floor;

and they are not caused by accumulating and discussing ideas and concepts and beliefs. To the contrary, all of the above block the manifestation of peace and harmony and happiness.

It is the remaining period of the post-Realization Am-ness that is marked by happiness, and post-Realization there is nothing, according to the words of Maharaj, that must be done to cause the happiness to happen or to cause the happiness to continue. It happens automatically and spontaneously, unplanned in the absence of any planner, when the "mind" is purged of all concepts and ideas and beliefs.

Maurice Frydman said of this natural yoga,

"The Nisarga Yoga, when persevered in and brought to its fruition, results in one becoming conscious and active in what one always was [active in, but] 'unconsciously' and passively. There is no difference in kind - only in manner - the difference between a lump of gold and a glorious ornament shaped out of it. Life goes on, but it is spontaneous and free, meaningful and happy.

"Maharaj most lucidly describes this natural, spontaneous state, but as the man born blind cannot visualise light and colours, so is the unenlightened mind unable to give meaning to such descriptions. Expressions like dispassionate happiness, affectionate detachment, timelessness and causelessness of things and being - they all sound strange and cause no response."

Additionally, Nisarga (natural) living will never happen if you believe that your post-Realization state is a special state. In fact, you have not Realized at all if you believe anything - including the ego-based notions of being special, of being good and no longer bad, or of being better than you were or better than others.

Few persons on the planet will ever undertake “the journey”; fewer still will ever “finish,” meaning most will never abide for the remainder of the manifestation in a non-dual, non-personal, no-concept, no-thinking, no-identity, no-beliefs state of post-Realization, unblocked, re-purified Am-ness.

Therefore, few will ever know the bliss that can happen when the remaining period of manifested Am-ness is passed “something like a deer taking rest in the shadow of a tree,” a bliss state which can only be known during the Am-ness and which can only happen from the "mind"-less, belief-less state in which the deer and birds and fish abide.

Having been fooled and thus having no clue at all regarding the beingness and non-beingness, most persons involved in religion, spirituality, philosophy, or ideology will never grasp that the only time the bliss can be enjoyed in NOW, in the absence of religious beliefs, spiritual beliefs, philosophical beliefs, ideological beliefs, and in the absence of all "-ism"-based beliefs.

Most—having been fooled—will (A) downgrade the potentialities of the post-manifestation Am-ness and will (B) upgrade the illusion of “this world” and believe in some really wonderful post-manifestation world and existence where they will finally experience non-stop bliss.

Little do they know that if there is no experiencer NOW, there most assuredly will be no post-manifestation experiencer LATER. [See "What BLISS Is and What BLISS Is Not" for the full explanation.]

The Nisarga Yoga is the yoga that offers a means by which natural being / abidance can happen. With Nisarga Yoga, there is no working-to-join-a-personal-individual-with-a-universal-spirit plan;

there is no engaging-in-all-the-acts-of-worshipping plan; there is no working-to-control-and-discipline-a-personal-self plan; there is no staying-forever-focused-on-the-Self plan; there is no forever-seeking-knowledge plan; and there is no work-to-accumulate-all-of-the-beliefs-that-you-possibly-can plan.

There is (in the post-Nisargan-Realization period) no plan at all, no planner at all, and no “one” to carry out any plan at all. Does that mean that "post-Realization, nothing is"? Of course not. What is, is; but what is not is any belief in any personal identity such as:

the worker, the one improving, the one that has been improved, the improver, the knower, the worshiper, the believer, the non-believer, the one joined with someone or something else, the holy one, the one who is holier than thou, the one engaged in self-discipline, the one in the self-improvement group, ad infinitum.

WHO would want that, right? Only some supposed WHO would want that. WHO’s find even the suggestion to abandon their WHO-ness to be anathema. WHO’s want to set themselves apart from all aspects of the Am-ness (which they downgrade) and abide only as THAT (which they upgrade).

For them, the summative statement is, “I AM THAT; I AM NOT.” It is one thing to understand I am "not this" and I am "not that" ... to understand the Neti-Neti. It is another thing entirely to assert “I AM NOT” and “Nothing Is.” Either assertion would beg the question, "WHO is making that observation?"

It should be seen that all misery and suffering and pain, and all fighting and war and killing, are all rooted in beliefs. Consider this, shared yesterday with one involved with these non-duality teachings / unteachings:

It is not unlike the drunk who feels all the pain and all of the misery and all of the suffering associated with alcohol abuse but who keeps on drinking. So it is with believing, and it is just as difficult to see that beliefs cause pain and misery and suffering as it is for the drunk to see that booze causes pain and misery and suffering.

Moreover, even if it IS seen that beliefs do cause all of that - just as booze contributed to all of that - it is just as difficult and just as rare that either is given up even if the results are seen. Thus the insanity of the masses that non-duality pointers attempt to alleviate.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Thirteen

2012-02-07T08:15:00.003-05:00

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

[Note: These pointers are excerpts from a book to be released by Amazon.com in late February 2012]

F.: Regular visitors to the site know that they receive a preview of the content of any upcoming releases before Amazon.com publishes those books. The postings in this series are excerpted from:

"FREEDOM FROM BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and 'No-Belief-ers')"

From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

" ... Stop imagining Your Self to be 'this' or 'that.' Just be."
(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

Neti-Neti"
(Non-Duality Pointer to Identity-Less-Ness and Belief-Less-Ness)

A. As used by Advaitins, "Neti-Neti" generally means "neither this, nor that" or "not this, not this" or "not this, not that."

Next, consider:

B. Full Realization leads to an effortlessly-spontaneous manner of abidance.

Then consider this:

C. Effortlessness never precedes the understanding of the non-duality pointer "Neti-Neti"; however, it does always follow if functioning is happening from the "Neti-Neti platform."

Meaning? Meaning that if one does not believe that she or he is "this" or "that," then there will be no effort to try to persuade others, convince others, coerce others, or force others to believe "this concept" or "that concept" (which are always used to try to maintain an image ... a false identity);

there will be no effort to try to persuade others, convince others, coerce others, or force others to accept the teachings of one or more "-ism's" and accept "this idea or tenet or principle or belief" or "that idea or tenet or principle or belief";

moreover, if there are no ideas, beliefs or concepts that are held dear, there could be no basis for any sense of separation; there could be no judging, no ostracizing, no fighting, no infighting, no quarreling, no offense, and no disagreements;

there could be no differences, no divergences, no incongruities, no disputes, no quarrels, no misunderstandings, no discord, no conflict, no wrangling, no dissent, no clashes, and no fallings-out; there could be no battles, no wars, no skirmishes, no tensions, no broken "relationships" and no fracases;

there could be no opposites or opposition; no false sense of better-than-ment, no false sense of different-from-ment, and no false hierarchies or rankings; there could be no untouchables and there could be no people who are "worse" than others; there could also be no people who are "the best" in any society; there could be no "only-average" people; and there could be no "beautiful people as opposed to ugly people."

There could not be any "Believer" vs. "Non-Believer" duality, and there could be no notion among "Believers" that they are better than and smarter than and holier than "Non-Believers."

Among most that have visited this site for nearly six years - and among those that have come here for retreats - most would report that "Neti-Neti" describes as well as any term the "identity-less platform" from which functioning and witnessing now happen. In that regard, the following pointers have been shared with some visitors:

Among persons, all trapped in duality as they are, their beliefs and “values” will display an element of artificial ranges of alternatives as expressed via “either-or.” An understanding of the "Neti-Neti" pointer can expand and then facilitate a shift away from the duality that typifies the belief systems that drive the masses and a shift away from "either-or" thinking. Consider an example of that kind of thinking:

"Either it is 'right' to lie or it is always 'wrong' to lie."

Yet consider this scenario which was offered on the subject in 2006:

Is it wrong to lie? “Yes,” many say. Well, imagine that you are living in 1940’s Holland and are hiding Jews in a closet. The Green Police arrive with a Nazi backup force and ask if you're hiding Jews. You lie. You say "No." Is that wrong?

There can never be anything in the relative existence that can be accurately categorized as being “absolutely right” or “absolutely wrong.” Instead, there is the "Neti-Neti" alternative. That is why "the relative" is called "relative."

It's all relative, and the term "The Absolute" (which is merely used for the sake of discussion to point to a field of specialized energy) has nothing to do with "absolute truths" in the relative. It does not apply. The belief in false absolutes is just another belief. Because all beliefs are false, then the belief in "absolutes" is also false.

Another example: is it wrong to kill another person? “Yes,” many say. Would it be wrong if a man broke into a house, was going to kill a father's daughter, but the father killed the intruder who was bent on murder in order to protect the daughter?

If a man is living in India and his family members are dying of starvation, would it be wrong to kill and eat the cow that he owns?

One who was asked that question years ago said:

Visitor: “Yes, because I’d rather die than eat a vessel of the sacred life-force.”

F.: "But you’ll eat plants?"

Visitor: “Yes.”

F.: "So what do you believe is the source of the life-force in animals if not the plants that they eat? You do not know that animals derive that life-force by eating plants? Since the plant is the primary source of the life-force on this planet, wouldn't the plants that you are eating be even more sacred than the animal that you are not eating? If your adherence to your beliefs were truly constant, then you would not eat plants either, for they are also 'vessels of the sacred life-force,' as you call it. Thus, you face a belief-based dilemma: now, you cannot eat plants, and you cannot eat meat, either. Your organs will be undernourished and they will under-perform. Fortunate you are that 'you would rather die,' for your days will be marked with sickness and debilitation, and the coming of mahasamadhi will be hastened at a most unnatural pace as a result of your following a diet based in your supernatural - and most unnatural - beliefs."

Combine the concepts of “sacred” with the concept of “eating in a holy manner” and people will starve before eating beef or will go hungry rather than eat meat on Fridays or will die while pork rots in their presence. The 2/3’s of the population that need protein in order for their organs to function properly will suffer as a result of deprivation that is inspired by faulty programming and insane conditioning and bizarre beliefs spread throughout their culture. Then expand that to the fact that all suffering and misery among persons results when they believe in false absolutes as well as the rest of the lies that they have been taught in their culture.

Next, what happens after the "Neti-Neti" understanding eliminates all former identities and beliefs and then facilitates Realization? The elimination of duality; the elimination of beliefs;

the elimination of "either-or" dilemmas arising from a belief in limited, artificial ranges of alternatives; the elimination of judgmental thoughts about “good values” or “bad values”; and the elimination of all “either-or” reasoning fallacies.

The following has also been shared with some visitors:

I do not live anywhere because I do not live at all. I am manifested ... not born ... not dying ... not living. I just AM, for now. I do not abide as anything "personal," though I do currently abide as the AM-ness and as THAT because here, the absolute has been "overlaid" upon the relative. The summative statement of non-duality - "I AM THAT; I AM" - does indeed describe the state of this temporary beingness.

The "I" in "I AM" refers to the temporarily-manifested conscious-energy. Energy does not "live." Nor is energy "born"; nor does energy "die." More to the point, this specialized form of energy, called "consciousness" for the sake of discussion, cannot believe anything. This specialized form of energy cannot "think" either, but it can, instead, merely allow witnessing to happen.

Just as the electrical energy that is available at a wall outlet in one's kitchen cannot be born, cannot die, was not created, cannot be destroyed, cannot think, cannot believe, cannot conceive, cannot dream up ideas, and cannot blindly and unquestioningly accept dreamed up ideas as fact, the same is also the case with conscious-energy.

Thus, it should be simple to understand exactly how it is that the following can be said and understood as fact: "I do not believe anything. How is that possible? It is the case, unequivocally, because I - a temporarily-manifested speck of energy - have no more capacity for believing than does electrical energy or any other form of energy."

Here, there is no "one" to believe or to not believe. Compare: an acorn-cum-consciousness has manifested within its space the specialized conscious-energy that is the prerequisite for the formation of a forest. The specialized form of energy within the acorn can facilitate the manifestation of an entire forest, yet the acorn has no ideas, no beliefs, no attitudes, no concepts.

Additionally - among the Realized abiding as THAT - there are no “either-or” possibilities, there are no concepts, there is no duality, there are no limits, there are no dilemmas, there is no chaos, there are no fluctuations, there is no instability, there is no false-world-concept to deal with, and there are no personality disorders because there is no personality.

There is neither a heaven nor a hell; there are no dual-minded persons; there is no sin; there is no virtue; there is no god, no goddess, no gods, no goddesses; there is neither power nor weakness; there are no countries; there are no races. There is no one who is either good or bad; in fact, there is no "individuated one" at all.

There are no impressions, no misperceived memories and no dogma. Eventually, a state was reached where there are neither lessons to learn nor anything to study, though the “journey” was marked by both, as well as by “questioning it all”; there is no faith, so there is certainly no blind faith; there are neither fears nor desires.

There is no “mind” and there are no traditions that must be blindly followed just because persons for decades or centuries before did those things blindly; there is no learned ignorance nor refusal to transcend spiritual and / or religious roles.

There are neither ideas nor attitudes nor concepts. There is neither mental intoxication nor emotional intoxication nor spiritual intoxication. There is nothing unnatural and there is nothing “supernatural.”

There are no personas so there is neither ego nor egotism. There is no thinking, so there is most assuredly no magical thinking of the type that assigns "supernatural cause" to naturally-occurring events.

When the consciousness speaks, there are no words in the vocabulary to express such concepts as “better than,” “not good enough for,” “different from,” “separate from,” “ownership,” “doer-ship,” “personal attributes,” or "individuality."

Finally, for advanced seekers that would further their understanding of the functioning of the totality, try applying the "Neti-Neti" pointer to the “self vs. Eternal Self” paradigm. Then understand that THAT is beyond the beingness and non-beingness, beyond self and Self, and beyond self-ness and Self-ness as well.

If you would understand Your Original Nature and dwell for the remainder of the manifestation in the perfect peace that can happen only if all of your culture's anthropomorphic and xenophobic notions are abandoned, then complete the seven-step “journey” to Realization and be free of all selfishness and all concepts of self-ness and Self-ness as well.

Find THAT which preceded the AM-ness, THAT which preceded the THAT of this universe, and then You will understand how it is that I was present for the formation of this universe ... and for the formation all others as well. And then You will understand how it is that You were, too.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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

Now available at Amazon.com in
the US, the UK, GERMANY, FRANCE, ITALY and SPAIN:

For more information, click
(QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

Click to purchase
( QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

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

Floyd Henderson's Website

Amazon.com Widgets

(8) The "Final" Talks of Floyd Henderson

(9) QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more)

Amazon.com Widgets

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

Amazon.com Widgets

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

(FOUR BOOKS IN ONE)

(SIX BOOKS IN ONE)

FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION

BELIEVERS AND THEIR "-ISM'S," NON-BELIEVERS, AND "NO-BELIEF-ERS," Part Twelve

2012-02-06T08:33:00.006-05:00

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

NOW AVAILABLE
at
Amazon.com
in
the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Spain

(Details following this post)

From "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"
(John Lennon / Yoko Ono)

"This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m."

" ... Stop imagining Your Self to be 'this' or 'that.' Just be."
(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

FROM A SITE VISITOR (Received 18 January 2012): Today's post, the part when John and Yoko wrote about is-ms, really triggered something. Do any of your books discuss is-ms? If so, which ones?

F.: Consider the linkage between dreaming and beliefs in the following:

Maharaj: " ... All you need is to realize that you are dreaming. Stop imagining, stop believing. See the contradictions, the incongruities, the falsehood and the sorrow of the human state, the need to go beyond. Within the immensity of space floats a tiny atom of consciousness and in it the entire universe is contained."

He made clear that, only if you " ... stop imagining Your Self to be 'this' or 'that'" can "Your True Nature" emerge.

Interesting, is it not, that persons can catalogue decades of misery and suffering, see via the results of the enneagram personality inventory the way that all of their misery and suffering was generated by beliefs and personas that drove thoughts and words and deeds and self-destructive behavior, but then still want to cling to those false identities?

Maharaj's advice regarding the delusional fear of loss was to understand that if You will give up all, then You will gain all. If You understand the wisdom beyond the irony of that statement, You might be prepared to abandon belief in the false and then see the Truth and the Real.

The pure consciousness is the knower of the false and the witness of truth. Yet the re-purification of consciousness cannot be accomplished in one step. It requires seven steps. They might be revealed to you via meditation or you can read the guide that takes you (the corrupted consciousness) through all seven stages from the false "I" to the state of absolutely pure consciousness. Try one. If required, try the other.

Continue the “journey” until you reach the end and find that You had nowhere to go ... that You Were always “there” all along. At the end, all belief in ideas, emotions, and attitudes will end, and the bliss of AS IF living will begin.

When cancerous polyps developed here years ago, the doctor excised all of them. He did not pick and choose; he did not discard some and leave some; he removed them all. The intent was to be totally free of cancerous growths, not partially free.

Such is the approach that must be used with all of the ideas and attitudes and beliefs and concepts that are stored in the “mind” if one would be totally free. To be free of being driven by the fiction-filled “mind” requires emptying it of all of its contents, all of which are bogus.

Yet the content of the “mind” is taken by the masses to be “gospel truth.” The mindset is, “I believe what I believe, and the reason I believe it is because it is true.”

Yet all that one believes was told to him or her by someone else ... by some person or persons identified with false selves and by some person or persons still believing the first lie ever taught (namely, the lie of "WHO-ness").

How could those who believe in such deception - and who allow the lies of "WHO-ness" and "false self-ness" to determine and control all of their words and thoughts and actions - possibly use their deception-based words and their persona-driven words to pass on any belief based in truth?

That would be impossible. Completely impossible. Moreover, because Truth can be known but cannot be stated, then everything that one believes that has ever been stated is - by default - untrue.

Furthermore, if beliefs from ten years ago were found to be false and thereafter discarded and then replaced with new beliefs (new learned ignorance) then logic would suggest that the person who found old beliefs to be lies might be more willing to question current beliefs.

Yet such is seldom the case among the non-Realized masses. Seeing that old beliefs were lies never inspires the masses to reassess current beliefs objectively.

Present beliefs are held not only with esteem but are jealously guarded when an invitation to reassess is offered; thus, current beliefs will be thought now to be as valid as those old thoughts were believed to be before they were seen as lies.

(Thus the example offered earlier: "I believe in God. I know there is a God. I know God is real, and I am shocked that you and your acquaintance do not believe in God." This from one who was equally assured at one point that Santa Claus was real. This from one whose parents lied about Santa Claus. This from one whose parents admitted later that they were lying about Santa Claus. This from one who now accepts that those same parents who lied and admitted lying must be believed without question when they report that "there is a God" and that their "God is real.")

Next, no patient can remove his / her own cancerous polyps; similarly, the seeker that would cleanse the “mind” of erroneous beliefs cannot find and discard erroneous beliefs.

The earnest seeker must objectively take into consideration the pointers spoken by the pure consciousness; otherwise, the seeker will not be the protégé of the consciousness which speaks but will become the protégé of the charlatans that walk the planet en masse.

Why would you choose a plan - offered by one such popular charlatan nowadays, for a large sum of money - which amounts to nothing more than this:

Accept that you will continue to practice "judging" and "psychological projection" all of your life, so the way to handle that judging and projecting is to use specific steps to reprocess the conclusions drawn by your “mind” during judging and projecting.

Why do persons agree to such a complicated, life-long process, to such an exhausting way of moving through each and every day for the entirety of a relative existence?

Could it possibly be because they have never been told that if they

(1) abandon all belief in personas as false identities and have never been told that if they

(2) abandon their belief in the false content of their fiction-filled “minds” completely, then they

(a) cannot judge and

(b) cannot project and - therefore - they

(c) will not have to use a multi-step "plan" all day every day to process their misperceptions and their false beliefs.

Not having been told all of the above, then those paying for the plan sold by those whom Maharaj warned about (namely, "big name teachers") will never abide spontaneously and automatically, will never abide in a simple manner, and will never live in a natural and free and peaceful way.

Why do persons pay thousands of dollars to other charlatans to attend seminars where they are supposedly told "how to get power" rather than seeing that there is no such thing as power?

Why do persons spend thousands of hours in services or meetings where charlatans tell them that they have no power, that they need power, and that the charlatans can show them how to get power rather than seeing that "power" and "Power" are arrogance-based, fear-based concepts which are desired by controlling and / or frightened persons?

The big name teachers know that they can take advantage of the master addiction of the masses (the addiction to control) and can take advantage of the secondary addiction of the masses (the addiction to power / Power that can supposedly satisfy the desire for control).

As a result, the masses will continue to play the role of "The Seeker" and "The Believer" and "The One Who Works Four Steps or Seven Steps or Twelve Steps All Day Long, Every Day" rather than completing a set of steps along a "path" that are to be completed one time only and then being work-free once and for all.

Why do so few look to the deer or the bird or the fish, all of which do quite well even without any power other than what comes naturally via the body and the brain?

If you studied those models, would you not see the way that you too can live a simple, easy life rather than a life marked by the plethora of “mind”-games that are assigned by various mentors for you to play on a daily basis?

I am neither "A Mentor" nor "A Model" nor "A Teacher" nor "A Knower" nor "A Believer" nor "A Non-Believer." I am only a temporarily-manifested speck of conscious-energy that is pointing you away from insanity and away from endless tasks and toward the only models that can show you the way to live if you would function naturally and spontaneously:

namely, the deer and the fish and the birds that are functioning via the brain and the sixth sense in the same natural fashion as all of the mindless, uneducated animals and birds and fish and in the same natural fashion as the mindless - that is, "Realized" - humans that happened to find the means by which belief in the fiction-filled content of the "mind" was seen to be false and thereafter discarded posthaste.

Why seek all of the knowledge of the East and all of the knowledge of West when you will need no more knowledge at all if you would but reject your belief in learned ignorance? Why not see that the actual models of peace and bliss and freedom have no knowledge at all? Have you considered what it really is that inspires persons to assign and defend the "high value" placed on the contents of the "mind"?

Could it be because they have not understood that the “mind” is the seat of all of their complex problems and that they cannot be free of those problems until they remove all belief in the ego / the guardian that is actually protecting the source of their problems?

Have you seen that each belief and concept that you have held dear became one of the bars that formed the prison that has been your (actually, "their") “mind”? Why seek the freedom-robbing knowledge / learned ignorance of the East or the West when the pure / re-purified consciousness which speaks offers the freedom-providing Love and the freedom-providing wisdom of the entire universe that come with the Love-revealing sense of oneness and the no-belief, no-concept, no-identity wisdom of no-one-ness?

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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