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Non-duality is the most devious thing ever. It’s supposed to serve the great escape but mostly serves the great entrenchment.
Many of us, when we have reached the point of non-duality during our years of spiritual searching, think that’s it. We’ve reached the end. Non-duality is the truth we’ve been looking for.
But non-duality is not a destination.
It’s not a destination because it simply is what is. Nonetheless, for our purposes, namely seeing through delusion, deception, and falsehood, non-duality is another thing.
What is Non-Duality?
Non-duality is a weapon. It’s a razor-sharp machete ready to slash through every vine obstructing our path in the jungle of hypnosis. Every vine slashed is like a hypnotic spell broken.
Although religious teachings themselves are a jungle of hypnosis, sometimes there seems to be a lucid sentence that points in the right direction, even in the Bible:
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” — Hebrews 4:12
The word of God is I Am, which is the only fact there is. This also means that no army of Gods could ever know more than you. I Am/Existence/Aliveness is the only thing you can know for sure, and it is the weapon that is sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts through everything — soul, spirit, joint, marrow, and watermelons.
“It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” means that you use this weapon to sever emotional attachments. The reason to do this is that emotional attachments make you see what is not and not see what is.
Unfortunately, for most of us, this weapon is not alive and active. Instead, we use the machete to carve wooden Buddhas, build Bamboo huts, and maybe for protection. This is all fine and well but it’s a waste of something so powerful. It’s like using an atomic bomb to cook an egg — overkill.
Nothing is Separate
Many of us assume that the goal is to reconnect separated parts so that everything is one again. So we start working on “healing the split” without ever questioning the basic assumption behind this apparent separation.
This can be a most unfortunate trap.
Non-duality is not about reconnecting a disconnected universe. One honest look (or rather a few honest looks) in your direct experience shows that there is actually no separation anywhere to be found.
This doesn’t even take long to see. Underlying spiritual beliefs tell us that seeing through separation leads to a profound experience with bells and whistles. But the funny thing is that there is nothing to see through because separation is nothing but an idea.
Take sounds for example.
You might say “Well, I experience myself hearing a sound,” which implies that there is a trifecta of hearer, hearing, heard. But where is that point of demarcation? Where do hearer, hearing, heard begin and end respectively?
Nowhere.
You can’t draw a line because there is none. There is no hearer, hearing, heard. If anything, there is only hearing. There is just one smooth function.
Don’t believe me. Do this for yourself. All it takes to see this is one honest look. Isn’t that crazy?
It’s so simple and ordinary that we assume it can’t be what we’re looking for. The only reason why we don’t see what is so obvious is that we never look at it. But if we have eyes to see, which we do, we can look at it.
Your work is not to be the connecter of a separated universe, but to open your eyes and see that 1. nothing is disconnected and 2. that there is no universe outside yourself.
The Pitfall of Neo Advaita
Another more insidious pitfall is the claim of neo-Advaita that everything is already non-dual and there is nothing you can do to realize it.
Ultimately, this seems to make sense because, well, there is no you, and whatever you are is not different from what is, meaning there is no you that can realize non-duality. The knife cutting itself kind of thing and all that.
No process, technique, realization, or experience can dissolve something that never was there to dissolve in the first place. Sure, that’s true but not doing anything doesn’t seem like it’s doing anything, does it?
Anyone who tells you that there is nothing you can do is either not where they claim they are or wants to make their job easy by skipping the trickiest part, which is offering an effective vehicle to a destination that seems impossible to reach.
In all honesty, doesn’t this sound like bullshit? “You don’t have to do anything; you are already where you are so just stop going.”
Again, sure, this is right but believing this and knowing this are two different things. And knowing is reached by going on an arduous journey of unknowing which is a world- and self-deconstruction which is what you can use non-duality for.
Perhaps there are some blessed individuals that need to hear neo-advaitic message once to be enlightened (I doubt it) but usually, it takes more than that.
Usually, you have to do a whole lot of metaphorical killing and blowing up.
Non-Duality is Not a Philosophy
It’s easy to treat non-duality as some kind of superior philosophy. But anyone who has a theoretical grasp of non-duality can see how nonsensical this is.
All non-duality means is not-two. As soon as we start constructing a philosophy on top of it, we’ve deviated from not-two into the realm of two or three or one hundred forty five.
Non-duality is not about happiness, or bliss, or peace, or being more spiritual. It’s all about figuring out what’s true. And if non-duality is right in its claim of not-two, which it is, there is not much that can be true.
The only thing you need to understand is the logical impossibility of zero and two. Now, if you understand this, all you need to do is take this sword of understanding and start swinging it at everything.
And when I say everything, I mean everything. Nothing is too good, too holy, or too self-evident not to deserve cleaving.
If you’ve reached the non-dual insight you’ve come a far way and there’s nothing wrong with taking a rest and enjoying the views. But taking a rest and enjoying the views can quickly turn into setting up camp and building a community and forgetting that you’ve had a journey to complete and so forth. All while your weapon that can destroy the universe rots in a corner and collects dust.
It might be good to mention that there’s no right or wrong here. You can do and not do whatever you want. But if you want to use non-duality for its intended use, then you need to actually use it for its intended use, which is, as we have determined, to destroy the universe.
By talking about destroying the universe what we mean is blasting through layers of falsehood.
How Do You Use Non-Duality?
One such common layer of falsehood is the belief that non-duality means that all is one and everything is connected. This certainly sounds good and profound, but it’s flabby thinking.
If there is one, there is no everything, nor is there connected. The expression: “We are all one.” is a contradiction in terms. We and one are mutually exclusive. There is either we or one and contra to common belief, we don’t stand a chance against the one.
Again, the point of non-duality is not to turn it into a life philosophy, but to turn it into a universe-devouring virus.
Every time you think you know something, you think you’ve discovered some profound truth, or are convinced your problems are important and deserve your attention, you throw the non-dual bomb on it.
After the dust has settled, you can inspect and see what’s left. And when it comes to knowledge, profound truths, and personal problems the inspection always yields the same result — nothing is left.
As long as there is something left to blow up, you keep blowing stuff up.
After you’re done with your act of spiritual terrorism, meaning after you’ve bombed everything there is to bomb, you’ll see what’s left. This is when non-duality has served its purpose. You have no more use for it.
Now you look around and bask in the aftermath. If you’ve been thorough, the aftermath looks pretty desolate — like a barren wasteland with nothing left.
This nothing is not what we think about when we think of nothing. The reason is simple. We can’t think of nothing. When we think of nothing, we really think of something.
But the fun thing about this nothing is that it really seems like something, and obviously, something is. This something has been called by many names, which we won’t list because it doesn’t matter.
Getting a map of the jungle and planning a clear path seems like it makes sense and is important. But the only thing that makes sense and is important is getting up and making the journey.
And here is a good first step for the journey:
What do you know without a trace of doubt is true? What do you know without needing belief, knowledge, ideas, and teachings? What is not built upon unverified assumptions?
Answer this question and you’ll be surprised to look back and see the carnage you’ve left behind.
You’ll reach the point where all that is left in this barren wasteland is you. Now the only thing to dispose of is exactly that — you — which is another way of saying severing emotional attachments.
Refuting the world might be relatively quick, but disposing of yourself might take a while. If this is the journey you’re on, you better buckle up because you never know what waits around the corner until you are around the corner.
This is when you’re using non-duality to its full potential.
Luka
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Came back to read this today and it was just the truth I needed to hear to forge ahead with my sword 🙂 Thank you Luka! ❤️🙏🏼