Changing what already is
In physical terms, has any human being ever stepped out of the world of duality? I suggest not...as long as the heart beats there's a knowing that one day it will stop. Physically, existential duality is inescapable except through death, even for the self-styled 'enlightened' ones.
Ultimately, reality is nondual. This offers a different perspective on life. Separation is seen as false. The self is seen as no more than a mind-made concept. There is no one to become, no one to blame. Hooray!
The concept of nonduality, seen clearly, opens a door to freedom from fear. The search ends and we can get on with just being.
We are life expressing in one of a myriad forms...unique organisms with different inherited genetic, physical, psychological and socio-economic characteristics living our apparent stories.
So, there's ultimate reality, to which nonduality points. Oneness, if you like concepts. And there's duality, from which in a physical sense there's no escape until death.
From the perspective of ultimate nondual reality there is "no need for security or to change what already is". There's just this, what is, unfolding through us in mysterious, unfathomable ways.
However, in the everyday reality of inescapable duality - the organism and its story - there may be a need for security and improvement to circumstances.
This organism here has a natural need for security, as per Maslow's "hierarchy of needs". Without a basic level of security its humanity is reduced to the animal. Each organism's security needs differ...and of course, this individualistic consumerist society does its damndest to convince us that our needs are much greater than they actually are, and then fails in so many ways to provide support for those who lack the life skills or capacity to meet even their most basic survival needs.
So in order to survive, some organisms have a need "to change what already is"...not that "oneness" cares a damn about whether an organism survives or not (there is no "oneness" to care or not, there's just what is).
Venture onto any estate in any area of socio-economic deprivation on this planet and you will see a need for individual and community change to what already is.
The idea that everything's just perfect as it is may be true at the level of ultimate nondual reality, in the sense that nothing can ever be any different to what is.
However, contained within the holon of ultimate nondual reality is everyday inescapable duality, where nondual gurus drive BMWs and children are bombed to death on a daily basis. Both dreaming and
waking stories are real to the characters in them.
Confuse these levels, apply the higher truth to the lower level, and you find delusional ostriches with their heads buried in sand. Nondual philosophy is a highly inflammable substance in the hands of people who fail to make this distinction. (Perhaps it should be added to the list of banned materials on air flights :-)
The nondual truth of no-self has only limited relevance to the need for security and change in the world of everyday inescapable duality.
All that changes with genuine nondual awakening is a paradigm shift that evaporates inner conflicts, releasing energy for whatever actions or non-actions arise from the organism's preferences.
Chopping wood and carrying water may be carried out with renewed vigour, or something new may arise, or not.
Life is, well, extraordinary and ordinary...magnificent in all its dual and nondual respects.
Or so it appears from here...
Ultimately, reality is nondual. This offers a different perspective on life. Separation is seen as false. The self is seen as no more than a mind-made concept. There is no one to become, no one to blame. Hooray!
The concept of nonduality, seen clearly, opens a door to freedom from fear. The search ends and we can get on with just being.
We are life expressing in one of a myriad forms...unique organisms with different inherited genetic, physical, psychological and socio-economic characteristics living our apparent stories.
So, there's ultimate reality, to which nonduality points. Oneness, if you like concepts. And there's duality, from which in a physical sense there's no escape until death.
From the perspective of ultimate nondual reality there is "no need for security or to change what already is". There's just this, what is, unfolding through us in mysterious, unfathomable ways.
However, in the everyday reality of inescapable duality - the organism and its story - there may be a need for security and improvement to circumstances.
This organism here has a natural need for security, as per Maslow's "hierarchy of needs". Without a basic level of security its humanity is reduced to the animal. Each organism's security needs differ...and of course, this individualistic consumerist society does its damndest to convince us that our needs are much greater than they actually are, and then fails in so many ways to provide support for those who lack the life skills or capacity to meet even their most basic survival needs.
So in order to survive, some organisms have a need "to change what already is"...not that "oneness" cares a damn about whether an organism survives or not (there is no "oneness" to care or not, there's just what is).
Venture onto any estate in any area of socio-economic deprivation on this planet and you will see a need for individual and community change to what already is.
The idea that everything's just perfect as it is may be true at the level of ultimate nondual reality, in the sense that nothing can ever be any different to what is.
However, contained within the holon of ultimate nondual reality is everyday inescapable duality, where nondual gurus drive BMWs and children are bombed to death on a daily basis. Both dreaming and
waking stories are real to the characters in them.
Confuse these levels, apply the higher truth to the lower level, and you find delusional ostriches with their heads buried in sand. Nondual philosophy is a highly inflammable substance in the hands of people who fail to make this distinction. (Perhaps it should be added to the list of banned materials on air flights :-)
The nondual truth of no-self has only limited relevance to the need for security and change in the world of everyday inescapable duality.
All that changes with genuine nondual awakening is a paradigm shift that evaporates inner conflicts, releasing energy for whatever actions or non-actions arise from the organism's preferences.
Chopping wood and carrying water may be carried out with renewed vigour, or something new may arise, or not.
Life is, well, extraordinary and ordinary...magnificent in all its dual and nondual respects.
Or so it appears from here...
