Re: The realm of the Demiurge
Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 1:08 pm
I need to comment to clarify a common confusion about the traditional approach to nonduality. There are different stages on the path. Rupert Spira call them “I am something -> I am nothing -> I am everything”, and Ramana Maharshi called them (skipping the first one) “The world is an illusion, Brahman is the only reality -> The world is Brahman”
1. The first stage is a common dualistic state where we all start and where we identify with our separate self, be it a human being with a body, or a soul. The two basic premises are: “I am a self, a subject that experiences the outer world as an object” and “The outer world is a multitude of separate selves and objects”. This is “I am something” stage.
2. The second stage is where we realize that it is not our imagined separate self that is aware, that thinks and wills, and that our sense of self is just a thought-sense form that is being thought and experienced. We start distinguishing between the Self which is “doing” awareness/experiencing and the “content” that is being experienced as two different “layers” of reality, between the permanent and impermanent, and we tend to label the permanent Awareness-thinking-Self as “real” and its non-permanent content as “illusory”. This is an important step of the practice, but many people interpret it as the final stage of “enlightenment” and get stuck there. There is still dualism in such state (a separation and distinction between the “real” Self itself and “unreal” content of experience), and nihilism (as the content is disregarded as “unreal”). This is “I am nothing” stage.
3. The third stage is the final integration which happens with realization that the World is as real as the Self and not different from the Self (“I am everything”, “The World is Brahman”). In this state there is no longer a distinction or separation between permanent and impermanent, real and unreal, everything is simultaneously Oneness and multiplicity, permanent and impermanent, One and many, inseparable but diverse. Or more precisely, these old dualistic concepts simply no longer apply, they turn out to be abstractions no longer relevant to Reality. That does not mean that this state is non-explicable, it just means that it is directly and experientially known with new meanings. It is the same Thinking that knows Itself intimately and directly in all its forms beyond the outdated dualistic concepts. Unfortunately, these “nondual” meanings have no proper words in human language.
One may ask then why do we need the second stage? Can we skip it and go directly to #3? I think in principle it may be possible, but the transition from #1 to #3 is just too dramatic, it’s too far of a reach, and most people need to go more gradually through #2 but with the risk of misinterpreting it as the final stage and getting trapped there.
PS: The phrase "final integration" does not mean that it is a final destination point of the souls' evolution, on the opposite, it's only a beginning of a next level of the path free of the dualistic delusion. The word "final" only means that is the final stage of the transitional process between dualistic and nondual states of consciousness.
1. The first stage is a common dualistic state where we all start and where we identify with our separate self, be it a human being with a body, or a soul. The two basic premises are: “I am a self, a subject that experiences the outer world as an object” and “The outer world is a multitude of separate selves and objects”. This is “I am something” stage.
2. The second stage is where we realize that it is not our imagined separate self that is aware, that thinks and wills, and that our sense of self is just a thought-sense form that is being thought and experienced. We start distinguishing between the Self which is “doing” awareness/experiencing and the “content” that is being experienced as two different “layers” of reality, between the permanent and impermanent, and we tend to label the permanent Awareness-thinking-Self as “real” and its non-permanent content as “illusory”. This is an important step of the practice, but many people interpret it as the final stage of “enlightenment” and get stuck there. There is still dualism in such state (a separation and distinction between the “real” Self itself and “unreal” content of experience), and nihilism (as the content is disregarded as “unreal”). This is “I am nothing” stage.
3. The third stage is the final integration which happens with realization that the World is as real as the Self and not different from the Self (“I am everything”, “The World is Brahman”). In this state there is no longer a distinction or separation between permanent and impermanent, real and unreal, everything is simultaneously Oneness and multiplicity, permanent and impermanent, One and many, inseparable but diverse. Or more precisely, these old dualistic concepts simply no longer apply, they turn out to be abstractions no longer relevant to Reality. That does not mean that this state is non-explicable, it just means that it is directly and experientially known with new meanings. It is the same Thinking that knows Itself intimately and directly in all its forms beyond the outdated dualistic concepts. Unfortunately, these “nondual” meanings have no proper words in human language.
One may ask then why do we need the second stage? Can we skip it and go directly to #3? I think in principle it may be possible, but the transition from #1 to #3 is just too dramatic, it’s too far of a reach, and most people need to go more gradually through #2 but with the risk of misinterpreting it as the final stage and getting trapped there.
PS: The phrase "final integration" does not mean that it is a final destination point of the souls' evolution, on the opposite, it's only a beginning of a next level of the path free of the dualistic delusion. The word "final" only means that is the final stage of the transitional process between dualistic and nondual states of consciousness.