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#3802 -
The Nonduality
Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
This issue features some
recently written definitions or explications of what
nonduality is.
But first, in the
news....
Mining giant
slammed over sacred land
UK mining resources giant
Vedanta was criticised today for planning to exploit an Indian
forest held sacred by tribal people without their "informed
consent," following an appeal to Avatar's director James
Cameron for help.
Amnesty International
attacked Vedanta's plans to mine vast deposits of bauxite in the
Niyamgiri Hills of eastern
The tribe believes the
lush hills are the home of its god Niyam Raja and they depend on
the land for their crops and livelihood.
Their plight chimes with
the tribe in Cameron's hit movie Avatar, who seek to stop humans
from mining under their sacred "home tree."
Survival International, a
group which campaigns on behalf of indigenous people, appealed
Monday to Cameron to help stop the mine going ahead in an
advertisement in
The opencast mine planned
by India-focused Vedanta is intended to feed a nearby $US900
million ($1,030.77 million) alumina refinery already built by the
company in the mineral-rich Orissa state.
Amnesty also said in a
report the refinery, which is being fed with bauxite from other
Indian states, is already causing air and water pollution that
"threatens the health of local people."
http://garyswordsofwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/12/so-what-does-nondualism-mean.html
So what does nondualism
mean?
Hold an arbitary object in front of you, such as a pencil. Are
you a pencil? The answer would seem blatantly obvious - of course
not. Everything in your experience and understanding tells you
that the idea is preposterous. When however you look further into
exactly what a pencil is and what you are, deeply disturbing
questions arise about the fundamental nature of everything.
I have explored this
question and reached a startling conclusion. I am not the first
to reach it, in fact countless millions have over millennia. It
is no less shocking to any mind brought up in Western culture.
There is no doubt in my awareness that everything I am aware of
is actually one thing. All that is within awareness is one
universal consciousness. This is at first impossible to grasp,
meaningless twaddle to common experience, but there is one very
good model by which you may understand - that of the dream.
Consider a dream. When
you are having a particularly vivid dream, it seems very real at
the time. It provokes real emotions that carry into
consciousness. For example when you wake from a nightmare, you
can wake up feeling terrified. And yet what was the whole
experience made of? What were the true nature of the other people
and objects in your dream? Clearly they were all simply your
consciousness, as separate and physical as they may have felt.
In the same way, whilst
apparently wide awake, what are you experiencing right now? On
the most fundamental physical level, energy is simply changing
form. It is YOUR MIND that is turning it into the experience that
you call "your life". What you think is happening is
actually far removed from true reality as much as the dreamworld
is from the conscious world. This true reality is nondualism, the
acceptance that all things are actually one universal
consciousness.
As shocking as the
implications are, to embrace this truth makes very little
immediate impact on your life, any more than waking
"reality" affects a dream. You still experience the
dream until you wake. In the same way, knowing what you truly are
does not stop you experiencing life. What you will get in time is
relief, total peace of mind, that no life experience can take
from you. If that is attractive, maybe you should explore
further. For those who like logical/scientific argument, follow
this link for an excellent beginner's explanation.
Kenneth Madden
http://www.kennethmadden.ie/?p=1016
Understanding is of no importance when it comes to Non- Duality.
The word Advaita (meaning Not Two, I use Advaita and Non-Duality
interchangeably) points to something that is totally beyond
understanding. It is a very interesting subject (and the
equivalent of watching paint dry for many, if not most), but
getting your teeth into it and understanding it and being able to
discuss and describe it in an intellectual or intelligent manner
is of no relevance what so ever. There are many who are claiming
to be liberated and have an enormous intellectual grasp of the
topic and clearly there is still a personal agenda, clearly they
are still offering something to the individual. The language used
is very similar to other uncompromising messages (e.g. there is
no one, this is it etc) but there is still something on offer to
the individual and the ‘teacher- student’ game is
played out, even though the teacher is claiming not to be one.
Non-duality or Advaita
then becomes the last refuge of the individual who is under
threat. It is fodder for the mind. It becomes the new, best
concept in town as it were. There can be a certain clarity that
it brings which eases the search for the individual in the sense
that it is seen that there is nothing that can be done. That is
not liberation however, understanding that there is no separate
individual is not liberation as there is (apparently) a separate
individual left who understands that. Understanding is seen as
king when in fact it has nothing to do with what is in fact being
sought. Understanding simply arises in being, is it just another
apparent happening. It is of course married to ignorance or
confusion. One is dependent on the other for existence.
What is being pointed to
has no room for the concept of duality or non-duality/Advaita. It
has no room, no space for concept. It is so immediately THIS and
so simply and obviously what IS that the Duality - Non Duality
debate has as much significance as a leaf scattering along cold
concrete. Wholeness arises as confused message and wholeness
arises as a clear message.
The juicy sweetness, the
boundless freedom of everything, the unconditional love that is
This is speaking to you always and is totally beyond
understanding. It is already what is, already this. What is being
sought is already what is. So simple, so open, so ordinary and
also totally beyond any effort to describe its beauty.
Amazing.
Peter Cohen
http://www.meetup.com/SpiritQuestAK/calendar/12505719/
WHAT???? “Nonduality”—Definition #10,216.6: A word
used to point towards Ultimate Truth, or Reality, or God, or
whatever other name you want to use. The Nondual (or
"Advaitic") approach differs radically from all other
approaches in that it is not really an approach at all, but
rather a direct confrontation with the raw nature of being
itself. Refers to the ripping away of all obscuring beliefs,
concepts, traditions, practices and dogmas, only to reveal the
Wizard Herself, standing naked behind the curtain, exactly where
She has always and already been: Ohh!
Pete
If we are riding on the same bus, and we both fall asleep and we
both are sleeping without dreams, how is your sleep different
from mine? Without stories, we are one, without stories, we are
no one. Nonduality is the one, that is no one.
Durga
You ask what does 'nonduality' mean. I once tried
to ask for a definition of the word on some discussion
lists, and I received a variety of answers which
supplied diverse meanings.
Recently there was a
conference held in California
titled, 'Conference on Science and Nonduality.'
Again I would say that a variety of meanings
of the word nonduality was given by different
speakers.
I can try to tell you
what the teachings of
Advaita/Vedanta say nonduality is, as that is
the tradition in which I study.
The word nondual (or in
Sanskrit advaita) means
that there are not really two things which have
absolute existence, or there is really only one
thing which exists absolutely despite all
appearances to the contrary.
That statement and the
premise itself may seem very strange
initially, as everything that one sees and experiences
is apparently different one thing from another.
There are certain
teachings (like Advaita/Vedanta)
that use logic and method to conduct an inquiry
into the nature of one's self and reality, which
enable the student to arrive at the direct recognition
that all that is seen, perceived and experienced in reality
has only one being. That being is your being.
That
being is my being. Being only one, that being cannot
be different.
IMO it isn't easy to
arrive at this recognition without
very clear guidance, as all of our experiences seem to
point in an opposite direction. However, with good
guidance, and over time, one can come to recognize
that what is nondual is the only 'thing' which is
ultimately 'real.' That recognition is called
moksha or enlightenment in the tradition of
Advaita/Vedanta.
All of that being said, I
can only offer you my
understanding of what the word means. This understanding
is the one given by teachings themselves which are
so very ancient as most likely to be the oldest
teachings which use the word advaita/nondual (AFAIK).
However, these days the
word nondual has become
very popular, and it is used and understood
variously. Thus if you ask the question of
many people, you will most likely receive
many different answers according to each
person's definition.
Lots more descriptions
here:
http://nonduality.com/whatis.htm
What is your definition
of nonduality? Send it to us in a reply to this email!