What is non-duality?

What this is about

Non-duality is a model that describes reality differently from our everyday sense of it.

In everyday life, we experience ourselves as a person in a body, interacting with an external world and with other people and animals. We experience an I-you duality. Dual means two.

Non-duality means not-two. Because there is only one nature.

In this view, there is only one nature, one universe. All living beings share the same universe – yours is the same as that of another. I believe this to be true; I cannot prove it to you.

But at first, our perception tells us something different… perhaps we feel separate from the world and our fellow human beings… everything is so far away… difficult and impossible…

Examining rigid judgements and habitual categories

When we begin to understand that everything in nature is one and natural, we will begin to perceive ourselves as a natural being within a natural world.

It is this self-knowledge, strengthened by energy work, mental work and meditation, that can change our perception.

Perhaps you notice something of this as you do so. You are nature. Nature is you. 🙂

In the following picture, you see trees, a dog and its surroundings. Where exactly does the dog end and the meadow begin? In practical terms, this is easy to say – when you look closely, the line becomes surprisingly blurred. Can you explore this on your next walk?

Duality arises in the mind

To a considerable extent, our thinking decides exactly where a boundary lies. That is why it becomes more flexible when thinking grows quieter and no longer holds on to every category.

Thinking is not switched off in the process. It remains alert and shares responsibility – it simply stops mistaking every distinction for the thing itself. Qi Gong, meditation and many other inner paths work in this direction.

Finding freedom

Here, being free means that thinking and feeling are no longer attached to dividing things into two.

Those who think less in such opposites often experience more calm and a joy that depends less on conditions.

Non-duality is already here and cannot be reached through doing

The reality we experience from moment to moment is already non-dual.

That is why you cannot reach non-duality by doing something. Instead, you can dissolve the doer in your mind.

The doer is the part of your thinking that identifies with acting/not acting and achieving/not achieving.

It is the part that believes it is the cause of your doing and not-doing.

And do not worry that dissolving the doer will mean you no longer act… 🙂

Look into the distance and recognise…

Once, a monk looked out of a train (so not all that long ago) and saw a mountain outside. In that instant, something dawned on him..!

At that moment, he understood that the mountain was an image within him and, in his direct experience, exactly 0cm away from himself.

How we judge the world and colour it through our judgement is therefore within our power.

Examples of dualities

What is meant here is the judgement, not the thing itself. Illness remains illness and pain remains pain – both call for treatment, not contemplation intended to make them disappear. What can dissolve is the grip with which we hold on to one thing and push the other away.

Here are a few dualities whose judgements you can examine in your thinking and feeling:

• I – You

• Near – Far

• Above – Below

• Fast – Slow

• Hot – Cold

• Heavy – Light

• Beginning – End

• Past – Future

Dualities like to hide

Many a duality likes to hide in our thinking, feeling and doing.

That is why we should always remain mindful and honest with ourselves. This is a good foundation for the inner path. ⭐

I wish you much enjoyment on your path, and see you soon, in the next article, video or training session. 🙂