A conceptualisation of Brahman, Atman, Maya and experience

[Hedge90]

I've recently become interested in traditionalist metaphysics, and Advaita Vedanta in particular. In my country, there is a pretty strong community of traditionalist writers and thinkers, and for some reason they made the concept of solipsism their central idea (nevermind that there's no hint of solipsism in almost any traditional work). One of these writers wrote a strong critique of this concept, which I fully agreed with, but made me think about a few things. I'll present my thoughts below, and I'd really be interested in your perspective - and I'm looking at you now, Cleric.

In Advaita, Brahman is God, the all-encompassing infinity that contains the totality of existence. Atman is the Universal I, the Witness that experiences, but all experience is Maya: dream, illusion. It can be conceptualised like this: Brahman is the Sun, containing all potential, and the Atman is a prism through which this potential is shattered into the many colours of existence. Maya is the manifold pattern drawn from these many colours: an infinite tapestry, on which everything that ever happened or will happen in any universe appears. The patterns of Maya bloom in a fractal-like manner, which, from within Maya, appears as causality. A living being is simply a pattern that is so complex that it gives rise to thoughts (which are also merely a part of the pattern, just more complex than "matter") a self-referential sense of identity.
Since everything - your body, your mind, all your actions - are just part of the pattern, subject to the causality of the fractal mathematics of the tapestry, then nothing is really happening or changing. You are simply watching a story unfold. You think you are a person with free will and actionality because the Witness is currently experiencing a pattern that thinks these things. But only the Witness is ultimately real, and the Witness does nothing, it just experiences.
This is nothing new. So, what does this have to do with solipsism?
Well, why should we suppose that the Witness is experiencing anything at all other than what is experienced in this very moment? (BK hints at this same thing in More than Allegory btw). This doesn't mean that other living beings do not have their mental processes and sensations, it just means that the Witness is currently not looking at that part of the tapestry that contains those sensations. From my perspective, as I write this, and as you answer, I don't have to experience your mental processes needed to answer this, since it is not the Witness that is doing those things (as it is also not the thing that is writing these lines - it's - or rather, "I AM" - just experiencing the act of writing these lines). Those mental processes are just part of the tapestry.
Of course when this ego that the Witness is currently experiencing dies, the Witness will choose another part of the tapestry to experience - hence, reincarnation. Maybe "next time" the Witness will experience one of those patterns reading and responding to this thread.
In the Eastern traditions it is also said that awakening clears all karma. What I described can clearly answer why. Karma is the accumulation of causal effects on the tapestry. The Witness is bound to experience the things that follow from the things that are "earlier" in the tapestry. Unless it ceases to look at it. Then there's no more cause and effect.
There's also a teaching that says "If you awaken, the world awakens with you." Now, there have been many alleged awakenings, yet the world hasn't awakened yet. This can also answer why. There is no time. There is just the tapestry. Awakenings, wherever they are located temporally, are just parts in the pattern where a pattern reaches the conclusion of realising the nature of its existence, or rather, non existence. The fact that I'm not awake simply means that the Witness haven't looked at one of these patterns "yet".
What do you think about all this, fellow patterns?

[Cleric K]

What do you think about all this, fellow patterns?

What do I think?
Does it even matter if I'm just a witness following thoughts emerging on the tapestry? These questions don't require thinking, they require climbing on the thinking-tree and cutting the branch on which I sit.

[Hedge90]

Well that's of course a reasonable answer but maybe you have more empirical experience on the matter

[Cleric K]

Well that's of course a reasonable answer but maybe you have more empirical experience on the matter

Unless we find the place of thinking, it's all about picking a belief of choice. It sounds very appealing that it's enough to 'awaken' and all my karma is eradicated. But why take the trouble of awakening when Jesus has already died for my sins and I can now enjoy carefree life with my room in the Heavenly mansion reserved? Or maybe spent some high quality time with the seventy-two virgins on cloud nine? Hmm.. what do I choose, what do I choose ...

Whatever I choose will be cutting a different branch from the thinking tree. So why not investigate the living organism that I'm cutting from instead?

[Hedge90]

Well that's of course a reasonable answer but maybe you have more empirical experience on the matter

Unless we find the place of thinking, it's all about picking a belief of choice. It sounds very appealing that it's enough to 'awaken' and all my karma is eradicated. But why take the trouble of awakening when Jesus has already died for my sins and I can now enjoy carefree life with my room in the Heavenly mansion reserved? Or maybe spent some high quality time with the seventy-two virgins on cloud nine? Hmm.. what do I choose, what do I choose ...

Whatever I choose will be cutting a different branch from the thinking tree. So why not investigate the living organism that I'm cutting from instead?

Believe me I'm not looking for comfort in these lines of thought - if I did this wouldn't be my chosen one. To answer your last question:
1. Because I don't know how to do that
2. Because I'm afraid of what will I find out

[Cleric K]

Believe me I'm not looking for comfort in these lines of thought - if I did this wouldn't be my chosen one. To answer your last question:
1. Because I don't know how to do that
2. Because I'm afraid of what will I find out

Well, the threads of Destiny are very complicated. If the things that are discussed here, for example in the recent phenomenology thread, don't give you a hint of the 'how', I guess you just need to keep the faith and continue going. If you want to know, you will.

Our states of being evolve through a very complicated non-linear oscillatory patterns, like spiritual Lissajous figures. Our interests, ideas, goals, desires swing us all the time in the most varied directions and we circumambulate around the center. For example, you want to solve 1 but 2 resists as magnetic repulsion. This reminds me of another example for a non-linear pendulum based on magnets. These are all symbols for something that each of us goes through. We desire one thing but things shift in another direction. If we want to tilt the axis of a gyroscope forward and we naively push in that direction we'll be surprised that it goes sideways. So we need Wisdom - we need to push sideways and it will go forwards. Such are the complicated ways in which we oscillate within the pendulums of destiny. Yet there exists the possibility to find the vantage point within ourselves from which all this movement begins to gradually make sense. It's not some kind of a clever life hack. It's a process of gradual and patient gaining of self-knowledge and turning it into self-mastery. There's no universal recipe that fits all, since everyone swings between different sets of magnets. But what is universal is that we can conceive in our heart the love for a High Ideal. We're constantly becoming into something new, whether we want it or not. It is up to us to rise as a High Ideal the being that we want to become. You may not know any of the details of it but you know that this future being which you can become, lives in the coherent understanding of reality and conducts its life accordingly. So seek that being. Turn to it, seek to be inspired by it. This will act as litmus paper in your life. When you're at a crossroad, a strange premonition will barely perceptibly send a spark or two. One of the roads will bring you closer to your ideal, the other will distance you further. Since you have worked upon your High Ideal, it gently rings in resonance with one of the paths. If you haven't tried to merge with your ideal, to breathe it, to think it, then both roads will be equally dark and you'll say that it's all up to the squared amplitude of the wave function to determine where you'll land.

And remember that you are never alone. There are always beings around - visible and invisible - which have their greatest joy if they can help a fellow traveler.

[Hedge90]

And remember that you are never alone. There are always beings around - visible and invisible - which have their greatest joy if they can help a fellow traveler.

See, that's what I'm afraid of. This High Ideal you talk often sounds good to my ego. It gives a sense of having a purpose. Yet, if you look at the reports of mystics, from ancient times to modern, there's a clear tendency in what they are clear about: at the core is the One, the Universal I, which does not want, does not think, does not need. It's content in its solitude and eternal actionlessness and thoughtlessness.
And my ego is afraid of this. See, if it turns out that the highest state of being is inaction and thoughtlessness, then what will I live for? In my mind this is equivalent to the loss of all meaning.

[Eugene I]

See, that's what I'm afraid of. This High Ideal you talk often sounds good to my ego. It gives a sense of having a purpose. Yet, if you look at the reports of mystics, from ancient times to modern, there's a clear tendency in what they are clear about: at the core is the One, the Universal I, which does not want, does not think, does not need. It's content in its solitude and eternal actionlessness and thoughtlessness.
And my ego is afraid of this. See, if it turns out that the highest state of being is inaction and thoughtlessness, then what will I live for? In my mind this is equivalent to the loss of all meaning.

I honestly find the Advaitic approach very limited. It awakens us to the Awareness of the One, which is great, but then turns its back to the creative force of the same One, dumping it as a worthless and illusory Maya. Buddhists had a more encompassing view where they saw all aspects of the One - the Emptiness/Beingness (=Sat=Dharmakaya), Awareness (Chit= Sambhogakaya) and also the form-creative activity (Thinking=Nirmanakaya) with all of these aspects inseparable from each other and equally wonderful. Buddhists realized that there is no inherent problem or fallacy with the creative activity of the One, but it has unlimited freedom to unfold in any possible way and therefore there is a danger for it to go astray. The problem with Maya is not that it manifests, but it is when it's perceived as a dualistic existence of separate subjects and objects, which inevitably entails in the development of ego and psychological suffering. There is nothing wrong with creating and perceiving a rope, the problem comes when we become deluded and interpret it as a snake. As Ramana said: "The world is unreal if viewed as apart from the Self and real if viewed as the Self"

So yes, the Beingness-Awareness aspect of the One indeed does not want, think or need anything, but the Creative-Thinking aspect does, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, on the contrary, it is wonderful. But Thinking is a skill that needs to be perfected, what's needed is acquiring a mastery of skillful thinking and creating that avoids getting stuck into deluded and dualistic perception of the universe of forms.

See, that's what I'm afraid of. This High Ideal you talk often sounds good to my ego. It gives a sense of having a purpose.

The problem here is with the ego, not with the purpose. There is nothing wrong with purposeful activity. The problem is when the ego takes the ownership of it and identifies with it. Many people (in non-duality community) take a run-away approach and think that the only way to avoid this catch-22 scenario is to turn away from any purposeful activity. But they are addressing a wrong problem. The real problem is with the ego and its identification. Indeed, that is not an easy problem to solve, we all know it, and for many the run-away solution may seem easier, but it's a trap of stagnation. There is a better way - liberation from the grip of the ego without abandoning our participation in the purposeful activity of the One, but this is a challenge. Yet, it is definitely doable.