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- Dec 27, 2020
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Nonduality
The term nonduality is derived from the Advaita Vedanta branch of the Hindu tradition. Advaita is sometimes translated as, 'one without a second,' or, more simply, 'not two.'
Nonduality has gained popularity in the West, though the precise meaning can vary between individuals and cultures. I will attempt to provide an accessible definition which broadly does the subject some justice.
In the most superficial sense, nonduality refers to an understanding in Eastern traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Taoism that at the highest level, ultimate reality is a single, infinite 'thing.'
At that level, nonduality is the living reality of a pure state of consciousness that gets revealed through spiritual work. It is not merely a better way for a person to live, but describes is the true nature of reality, functioning by what Ramana Maharshi called 'automatic divine activity.' There is no longer a separate self, nor are other people or places viewed as separate.
Self and no-self
At this point, the notion of Self becomes undefinable. In the Buddhist tradition, ultimate reality is described as a void in which there is no self. Yet in Advaita Vedanta, everything is the Self (note the capital S). Despite appearing completely contradictory, both are slightly different perspectives on the same no-thing.
In plain terms, our sense of being a separate self is a mighty illusion. The false self will be exposed and therefore 'dies' via study and practice of the texts and methods of teachers within these respective traditions. Any of them can potentially work.
At this point, describing ultimate reality verbally is a fool's errand, since the level of conceptual abstraction reaches a point of absurdity; everything is nothing and nothing is everything. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. There is no self, and everything is the Self. This kind of talk sounds like utter nonsense to the human mind, though after liberation it becomes profoundly moving and meaningful.
Speaking of the Unspeakable
If the 'Tao that can be told is not the true Tao,' then why speak of it? Language used at this high level of spiritual discourse tends to openly frustrate the mind by being paradoxical, slippery, intangible and ethereal.
This lofty kingdom of supreme truth-seeking can be reached via skilful practices and understandings of various traditions, yet ultimately bears no resemblance to commercial or mainstream religion, much less reductionist materialism. There are no creation myths here, no gods and ultimately no practitioners. No tasty food for the mind and its separate ego-self. All these things come from, and vanish back into the Tao.
Despite the enormous limitations of language - language which is dualistic by its very nature - clumsy attempts to communicate the nature of ultimate reality can serve a couple of purposes.
1) The state of people who achieve liberation can be analogous to a lit candle, the flame of which is capable of lighting other candles. Even their words are prone to have this effect for a sufficiently mature seeker.
2) Even for the majority of aspirants, the esoteric nature of sagely language still carries a power that benefits the process of exposing and discarding layers of falseness.
Nonduality or Oneness?
If we take the Buddhist perspective of ultimate reality being a void, it logically follows that Self-realisation will result from a subtractive process. That is, deleting our beliefs, ideas, worldly attachments and finally the very self at the centre of our human experience. Dissolving into truth.
Now, it is correct to say that all things are one. Even in the physical world, it is perfectly accurate to say that Earth is not separate from the universe, and a human body is not separate from Earth, therefore you are one with the universe. However, that leaves us with a belief system added onto a little self who also believes in its own thought-based identity.
Because the term nonduality speaks in the negative about reality - that is, talking about what it is not rather than what it is - it has a greater power in the subtractive work of the liberation process. Understood deeply, it directs the seeker away from mental conceptualisations and towards the nothing-everything of ultimate reality in the present moment.
Beyond Duality
As perceived by humans, the physical world is constructed out of dualities. The human mind enjoys (or not!) the unending playground of exploring dualities and defining its ever-changing identity. Each duality is a double-sided coin of polar opposites, with the nondual Self containing and transcending both. Let us get practical by exploring some basic dualities:
Subject/object: The most fundamental duality is that of self and other. Or a 'me' and 'the world.' In lesser states of consciousness, this is an extremely convincing illusion. But, like waking from a dream, it is seen that all of the contents of the world, the 'me' and 'others' are all unreal appearances that appear before the uninvolved Self.
Life/death: The greatest causes of suffering occur within this life-death duality. Our selves are (apparently) born and must face their own mortality, as well as the temporary nature of every person or thing in existence. Alas, the Self was not born and does not die; this is known with conviction, beyond mere belief, to those who have awakened.
Male/female: One of the most fundamental dualities of the human experience is men and women. The first hint that something is wrong comes through phenomena - be it subtle examples of nonconformity to gender norms or the wide gamut of LGBT communities - that reduces a simple duality to something very complex to define. Then, when the lid of truth is finally blown wide open, the Self (pure consciousness) is neither male nor female, yet contains both.
Man/God: Humans are frustrated little creatures struggling in a cruel world, while God is a deity that created it all. Therefore, God is implicitly at least somewhat cruel. At this point, all the great religious debates are raging. But alas, an emotional outpouring awaits when truth of this dramatic game is revealed; beneath the mask of the human body, God dwells as the only one in existence.
Victim/villain: This follows on from the previous point. (And worth noting that this message is rarely appropriate in the context of human abuse and trauma.) Most of us have experienced both victimhood and villainy. The human collective - very unenlightened as it is - is great at both, and it is worth noting that an enlightened society would function radically differently at every level. That is because an advanced society knows there is only the Self.
Man/nature: Our modern culture has bulldozed many older, nature-worshipping societies such as Native Americans and Indigenous Australians, along with quite a lot of the world's forests. Because man sees himself as separate from, and even threatened by nature, he is shameless in plundering and pillaging it. But sadly for him, it will become clear that humans are very dependent on nature; in fact, there is no separation between the two.
Good/evil: Another great religious debate erupts; indeed, entire wars are ablaze. We agree that some events are atrocious. But when looking deeply, it gets harder to define which is which. The cruelest people can't help themselves, shifting blame onto neutral pacifists. The battles can be traced back indefinitely since someone else started it. The heroes massacre their way to victory. When all the needless noise and insanity finally falls to silence, we realise we were our own enemy all along.
Pleasant/unpleasant: One of the core teachings of Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta is to develop dispassion for the world in order to transcend it. This ultimately means having no preference even for 'positive' or 'negative' events as viewed from a conventional perspective. This detachment is something that can be worked on in a practical sense, but is already the case at the level of the Self.
Past/future: The immediate present perches precariously on a timeline between past and future. At least, so says the human mind. Greater minds, like Einstein, speak of time as being strangely unified with space, or even an outright illusion. Today, the most popular spiritual book, Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now, features the eponymous technique of discarding the mind-made past and future. The Self is aglow here and now.
Here/there: It is said that in advanced states of consciousness, the sense of distance and separation dissolves. The world looks and feels different and may actually take some getting used to. Sometimes people, particularly children, spontaneously have strange nondual experiences, such as feeling they are in two places at once. Unfortunately, parents are more likely to send them for psychological evaluation than to appreciate their insight into reality.
Mere Philosopy, or...
Nonduality does not address mundane practical matters of finance, relationships, living arrangements or careers. At least, not unless it triggers such a seismic shift that, like Eckhart Tolle, the result is spending 2 years sitting on park benches in a state of uninterrupted joy.
Beyond maintaining a hopefully uncomplicated life, the goal of nonduality is to use this lifetime for its highest possible purpose - ending suffering for oneself and others and even overcoming death. So let's make this simple and practical.
First, there needs to be a willingness to consider realisation of the nondual Self as a real possibility for you. Then, a need to give it some sort of priority. A world of books, techniques and teachers will inevitably be discovered by the sincere seeker, then discarded after use. But let's start with something immediate.
Something to Try
Stop everything and put away all your ideas, preconceived notions and belief systems. All thoughts are worthless in this space.
Where do you look to test out the hypothesis that you are not what you think you are?
Look and see: is it true that your entire life consists solely of this immediate present moment, with past and future mere thoughts?
Who or what is looking out through your eyes right now? Even your body is just another object in the room in its presence. Is your consciousness a mere belief? Is it a distinct entity? Does it have a shape or a size?
When dreaming, you function as a self interacting with others in a world. All of it is exposed as false upon awakening. Yet an even more fundamental Self is there throughout the waking and dreaming states to make the experience possible at all. That Self is here now. What is it? What will remain of you even after awakening from this apparent world?
This mere act of looking is the most direct opening to reveal nondual reality.
The term nonduality is derived from the Advaita Vedanta branch of the Hindu tradition. Advaita is sometimes translated as, 'one without a second,' or, more simply, 'not two.'
Nonduality has gained popularity in the West, though the precise meaning can vary between individuals and cultures. I will attempt to provide an accessible definition which broadly does the subject some justice.
In the most superficial sense, nonduality refers to an understanding in Eastern traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Taoism that at the highest level, ultimate reality is a single, infinite 'thing.'
At that level, nonduality is the living reality of a pure state of consciousness that gets revealed through spiritual work. It is not merely a better way for a person to live, but describes is the true nature of reality, functioning by what Ramana Maharshi called 'automatic divine activity.' There is no longer a separate self, nor are other people or places viewed as separate.
Self and no-self
At this point, the notion of Self becomes undefinable. In the Buddhist tradition, ultimate reality is described as a void in which there is no self. Yet in Advaita Vedanta, everything is the Self (note the capital S). Despite appearing completely contradictory, both are slightly different perspectives on the same no-thing.
In plain terms, our sense of being a separate self is a mighty illusion. The false self will be exposed and therefore 'dies' via study and practice of the texts and methods of teachers within these respective traditions. Any of them can potentially work.
At this point, describing ultimate reality verbally is a fool's errand, since the level of conceptual abstraction reaches a point of absurdity; everything is nothing and nothing is everything. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. There is no self, and everything is the Self. This kind of talk sounds like utter nonsense to the human mind, though after liberation it becomes profoundly moving and meaningful.
Speaking of the Unspeakable
If the 'Tao that can be told is not the true Tao,' then why speak of it? Language used at this high level of spiritual discourse tends to openly frustrate the mind by being paradoxical, slippery, intangible and ethereal.
This lofty kingdom of supreme truth-seeking can be reached via skilful practices and understandings of various traditions, yet ultimately bears no resemblance to commercial or mainstream religion, much less reductionist materialism. There are no creation myths here, no gods and ultimately no practitioners. No tasty food for the mind and its separate ego-self. All these things come from, and vanish back into the Tao.
Despite the enormous limitations of language - language which is dualistic by its very nature - clumsy attempts to communicate the nature of ultimate reality can serve a couple of purposes.
1) The state of people who achieve liberation can be analogous to a lit candle, the flame of which is capable of lighting other candles. Even their words are prone to have this effect for a sufficiently mature seeker.
2) Even for the majority of aspirants, the esoteric nature of sagely language still carries a power that benefits the process of exposing and discarding layers of falseness.
Nonduality or Oneness?
If we take the Buddhist perspective of ultimate reality being a void, it logically follows that Self-realisation will result from a subtractive process. That is, deleting our beliefs, ideas, worldly attachments and finally the very self at the centre of our human experience. Dissolving into truth.
Now, it is correct to say that all things are one. Even in the physical world, it is perfectly accurate to say that Earth is not separate from the universe, and a human body is not separate from Earth, therefore you are one with the universe. However, that leaves us with a belief system added onto a little self who also believes in its own thought-based identity.
Because the term nonduality speaks in the negative about reality - that is, talking about what it is not rather than what it is - it has a greater power in the subtractive work of the liberation process. Understood deeply, it directs the seeker away from mental conceptualisations and towards the nothing-everything of ultimate reality in the present moment.
Beyond Duality
As perceived by humans, the physical world is constructed out of dualities. The human mind enjoys (or not!) the unending playground of exploring dualities and defining its ever-changing identity. Each duality is a double-sided coin of polar opposites, with the nondual Self containing and transcending both. Let us get practical by exploring some basic dualities:
Subject/object: The most fundamental duality is that of self and other. Or a 'me' and 'the world.' In lesser states of consciousness, this is an extremely convincing illusion. But, like waking from a dream, it is seen that all of the contents of the world, the 'me' and 'others' are all unreal appearances that appear before the uninvolved Self.
Life/death: The greatest causes of suffering occur within this life-death duality. Our selves are (apparently) born and must face their own mortality, as well as the temporary nature of every person or thing in existence. Alas, the Self was not born and does not die; this is known with conviction, beyond mere belief, to those who have awakened.
Male/female: One of the most fundamental dualities of the human experience is men and women. The first hint that something is wrong comes through phenomena - be it subtle examples of nonconformity to gender norms or the wide gamut of LGBT communities - that reduces a simple duality to something very complex to define. Then, when the lid of truth is finally blown wide open, the Self (pure consciousness) is neither male nor female, yet contains both.
Man/God: Humans are frustrated little creatures struggling in a cruel world, while God is a deity that created it all. Therefore, God is implicitly at least somewhat cruel. At this point, all the great religious debates are raging. But alas, an emotional outpouring awaits when truth of this dramatic game is revealed; beneath the mask of the human body, God dwells as the only one in existence.
Victim/villain: This follows on from the previous point. (And worth noting that this message is rarely appropriate in the context of human abuse and trauma.) Most of us have experienced both victimhood and villainy. The human collective - very unenlightened as it is - is great at both, and it is worth noting that an enlightened society would function radically differently at every level. That is because an advanced society knows there is only the Self.
Man/nature: Our modern culture has bulldozed many older, nature-worshipping societies such as Native Americans and Indigenous Australians, along with quite a lot of the world's forests. Because man sees himself as separate from, and even threatened by nature, he is shameless in plundering and pillaging it. But sadly for him, it will become clear that humans are very dependent on nature; in fact, there is no separation between the two.
Good/evil: Another great religious debate erupts; indeed, entire wars are ablaze. We agree that some events are atrocious. But when looking deeply, it gets harder to define which is which. The cruelest people can't help themselves, shifting blame onto neutral pacifists. The battles can be traced back indefinitely since someone else started it. The heroes massacre their way to victory. When all the needless noise and insanity finally falls to silence, we realise we were our own enemy all along.
Pleasant/unpleasant: One of the core teachings of Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta is to develop dispassion for the world in order to transcend it. This ultimately means having no preference even for 'positive' or 'negative' events as viewed from a conventional perspective. This detachment is something that can be worked on in a practical sense, but is already the case at the level of the Self.
Past/future: The immediate present perches precariously on a timeline between past and future. At least, so says the human mind. Greater minds, like Einstein, speak of time as being strangely unified with space, or even an outright illusion. Today, the most popular spiritual book, Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now, features the eponymous technique of discarding the mind-made past and future. The Self is aglow here and now.
Here/there: It is said that in advanced states of consciousness, the sense of distance and separation dissolves. The world looks and feels different and may actually take some getting used to. Sometimes people, particularly children, spontaneously have strange nondual experiences, such as feeling they are in two places at once. Unfortunately, parents are more likely to send them for psychological evaluation than to appreciate their insight into reality.
Mere Philosopy, or...
Nonduality does not address mundane practical matters of finance, relationships, living arrangements or careers. At least, not unless it triggers such a seismic shift that, like Eckhart Tolle, the result is spending 2 years sitting on park benches in a state of uninterrupted joy.
Beyond maintaining a hopefully uncomplicated life, the goal of nonduality is to use this lifetime for its highest possible purpose - ending suffering for oneself and others and even overcoming death. So let's make this simple and practical.
First, there needs to be a willingness to consider realisation of the nondual Self as a real possibility for you. Then, a need to give it some sort of priority. A world of books, techniques and teachers will inevitably be discovered by the sincere seeker, then discarded after use. But let's start with something immediate.
Something to Try
Stop everything and put away all your ideas, preconceived notions and belief systems. All thoughts are worthless in this space.
Where do you look to test out the hypothesis that you are not what you think you are?
Look and see: is it true that your entire life consists solely of this immediate present moment, with past and future mere thoughts?
Who or what is looking out through your eyes right now? Even your body is just another object in the room in its presence. Is your consciousness a mere belief? Is it a distinct entity? Does it have a shape or a size?
When dreaming, you function as a self interacting with others in a world. All of it is exposed as false upon awakening. Yet an even more fundamental Self is there throughout the waking and dreaming states to make the experience possible at all. That Self is here now. What is it? What will remain of you even after awakening from this apparent world?
This mere act of looking is the most direct opening to reveal nondual reality.
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