Non-Dual Living in Duality

Duality litmus test: Awareness of the 'notion' of individuality.

As soon as you are aware of yourself, that is, as soon as you are aware of the Individuality thought / the 'I'-thought / ego, the notion of 'you' different from a 'world' arises; two things, 'you' and a 'world' i.e. duality. For non-duality, the 'I'-thought should not arise. When individuality disappears, the situation is non-dual.

Note the distinctions made here among the following:
a) awareness, by itself,
b) awareness of 'I'-thought and
c) awareness of thoughts and things other than 'I'-thought.

Only when there is awareness of the 'I'-thought (case 'b'), there is duality.

Non-dual experience litmus test: Disappearance of the 'notion' of individuality.

1) Dreamless sleep: When in deep, dreamless sleep, neither the sense of 'self' nor the 'world' is present. Awareness is by itself (case 'a'). Non-dual experience.
2) Flow: 'You' lose yourself when doing something that you like or have a passion. For varying amounts of time while watching a movie, hearing good music, reading a book, talking to your sweetheart, exercising, doing your job if you like what you are doing etc, you are aware of other things of interest but not your ego (case 'c'). Non-dual experience.

Side Note: What is the evolutionary reason for the thought of 'individuality' / 'ego'? Is it present in all animals? What purpose does it serve in functioning of a biological organism? Can't that same functioning be accomplished without the sense of 'individuality'?

The following was added to this blog post a few years later (18Feb2012) after the initial post; :

Maybe there won't be a difference between machines and humans if not for our experience of duality. Machines only have non-dual experiences; they are either shut down (deep sleep) or operating on a given instruction with full attention (flow). Humans on the other hand, in addition to non-dual experiences also have dual experiences which is both a blessing and a problem. It is a blessing because it gives us choice; the freedom to choose unlike a machine which is completely pre-programmed. It is a problem because, most humans don't know on what basis to choose, as there is clearly no absolute, objective, black and white answer to our questions. That is why we have created religions to set ourselves some boundaries, to give a distinction of right choice from wrong. I have outlined my take on god and religion here.
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The Situation

This post is a summary of earlier posts:

1. Observation: There are multiple "worlds", for example, the world of ants, the world of dogs, the world of aliens from another galaxy, the world of humans etc. The causal world of humans is just one of a kind. The following points, briefly, suggest a theory to explain this situation.

2. Theory - Part 1: Each world is an appearance that is a function of the physical and psychological composition of the individual/species and not the "ultimate" reality out there. However, the appearances are grounded in that transcendental, ultimate reality. Humans too are grounded in that ultimate reality.

3. Theory - Part 2: The ultimate subject / seer / the mind's eye immediately known to oneself, that which observes the thoughts including the 'I'-thought, is non-different from the transcendental ultimate reality.

4. Some philosophical/religious references: God revealed himself as "I am that I am" in Christian Bible. Prophet Muhammad said, "He who knows his self knows his Lord". In Hindu Upanishads, its written, "The self is the transcendental reality".

Reality Check

As the Observer is the common ground of all multifarious experience, the experience itself is purely only a function of the mental and physical faculties and not of the disinterested Observer. So, we can say our experience of a causal world is intimately tied to the mental and physical composition of the body. From this viewpoint, causality is not an objective view of reality.

Nevertheless, as a human, the world we experience is a causal world. Causality is on the side of reason and adaptable science and not on the side of absolutes and ideologies. From the point of view that causality is an experiential truth, we have to accept that the present moment is perfect. Denying that is denying causality. Denying that is denying science, reason and first-hand experience. There could be no alternative to the present moment (present moment is an effect of earlier causes). When times are bad, instead of complaining about the present moment, we just need move on and do what needs to be done.

Having said all this, we should again emphasize that our experience of causal world is only a product of our body and mind and not ultimate reality. Although we can figure out the cause for birth/sustenance/death of a star for example, the primordial cause of entire existence will always remain a mystery because of the question; what is the cause for the first cause? leading to infinite regress. Similarly, the purpose of this existence will also always remain a mystery as parts (ideas, concepts, theories etc) cannot be used to describe the purpose of the whole ('existence' that includes these ideas, concepts and theories). So, the situation is: the cause of every 'observable' thing (like a star, a tree or a thought) can be found but the cause and purpose of the entire existence itself will remain a mystery.

The preceding paragraph gives the reasons why any metaphysical or mystical ideas to understand or realize ultimate reality (not subjective reality) should be seriously looked at and reflected upon.

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Observer

Who are you?

Let's make one assumption: if you can observe something then you are not that thing. For example, you can observe a distant star, hence you are not that star.

Under the above assumption, you are not the body because you can look at the body. You are not the thoughts because you can observe the thoughts. You are not the emotion because you can feel the emotion. You are not the conditioned brain because you are aware of the conditioning.

What are you? You are the Observer of all these things. A disinterested Observer at that. (Disinterested because conditioning is very much observable). The disinterested Observer is the essence of you-ness. The very fact that we are able to make this claim about an observer indicates that the Observer is somehow self-aware. There is no second observer observing the first observer; that is contradictory to our experience and logically would result in infinite observers.

We think we are the body, thoughts and conditioning because: a) Only we can voluntarily control our body, nobody else can and b) Only we are aware of our thoughts, nobody else is. I think these are sufficient reasons to distinguish them from say a star or a tree and to claim them as part of oneself. But, along with that, the silent witness in the background should also be noticed and acknowledged.

What is the contribution of the Observer? I think it is two-fold; a) It is the ground for the sense of self ("I") and b) It is needed for the awareness of any 'other' thing ("I am not that thing").

[If you don't make the assumption made in the beginning, the counter-assumption is, if you can observe something then you are that thing. Under this assumption, you are everything you observe. So, either you are none of these things or you are all of these things.]

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Probable Solutions

Progression of ideas:

1. What is the situation? Awareness of Self and World.
   
2. What is the general problem? A sense of doership coupled with a lack of purpose.
3. What is the symptom of the problem in human? All knowledge is subjective and all actions are a result of conditioning. The situation is unsettling.
4. From inquiry, what are the probable solutions to the problem? a) Get rid of dualism to eliminate self-other split, b) Get 'objective' knowledge to understand everything, c) Live in duality and operate with subjective knowledge but understand you are not the doer.
   
5. Probable Sol #1: Get rid of dualism. Hint: Lose yourself, what remains is non-dual.
   
6. Probable Sol #2: Get objective knowledge. Hint: Lose the subject, what remains is objective.
   
7. Probable Sol #3: Understand non-doership. Hint: Reflect on the core of your being. (Subject of next blog.)
   

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Dissolving Duality: an Unsolvable Problem

As long as the ego (sense of 'I') exists in an individual, duality exists. Actions of an individual, motivated by reasoning on imperfect knowledge is bound to have effects on the individual as the ego presumes responsibility for the knowledge, reasoning and actions. As there cannot be any objective judgments such as right/wrong, good/bad etc about such actions, the individual is in limbo.

When the ego dissolves (this depends on whether ego is a real/illusory entity!), I think, all actions will become completely unselfish. When there is no doer (ego), there is no ground for the effects of actions to affect the doer.

How can an individual with ego attain the state of dissolved ego? I don't think it is possible because all actions of the individual with ego produces effects that affects the ego and only bolsters its presence.

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Root Cause: Duality

Effect: Uneasiness due to uncertainty

Cause: Duality

Cause -> Effect: {Duality + Body/Mind} -> Imperfect knowledge -> Uncertainty -> Uneasiness

Symptom of the correct solution to the problem: To be at ease every moment

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