No More Seeking

There is no more seeking.

The Non-duality of Omniscience & Ignorance

Conceptions of Non-duality & the Paradox of Truth

The truth about non-duality is paradoxical, so the philosophy presented here, will be done so in an almost nonsensical way. The concepts will be stated in contradictory terms which have no proof and may seem meaningless. Do not jump to conclusions about it. Instead, try to see that there might be some deeper truth in it.   

This philosophy is not a logical one. Logic and reason, indispensible for their practical application in daily living, are nevertheless limited philosophically because they themselves lead to paradoxes – as Zeno pointed out 2500 years ago. No one knows where logic comes from, why it exists, or why its rules are necessarily correct.    

This philosophy proposes a new kind of ‘logic’ based on the rules of non-duality, rules which can provide a more accurate framework with which to understand reality.

The four fundamental laws of non-duality are: 

1. 0 = 1
2. 1 = infinity
3. A = B (where A and B represent all possible quantities and qualities)
4. 1 + 1 = 2

Equations one through three describe a state of non-duality, and equation four describes a state of duality. Notice how the fourth rule of duality is included in this list. Notice also the contradictions inherent within the first three rules, as well the contradictions among the rules, particularly how the fourth rule of duality contradicts the first three rules of non-duality.

These equations alone, if deeply grasped in an intuitive, experiential way, are sufficient to explain the rules of non-duality. If not, the rest of what follows is designed to explain conceptually these four fundamental laws to facilitate further understanding.

Non-duality is everything and the nothingness from which it arises. It is the infinite totality and unicity of everything, as well as the totality’s separation into finite parts. Non-duality is everything objective and subjective (physical and experiential). Consider all the ways in which philosophers define mind-matter principles and the distinctions between them: non-duality necessarily encompasses them all. 

Non-duality is indescribable and unknowable. It cannot be conceived, particularly by a mentality conditioned by duality. Dualistic mentality obscures non-duality because duality is rational and non-duality is irrational.

This philosophy then is an attempt to describe the irrational nature of non-duality.

One of the interesting things to consider when talking about his subject is that anything we can ever say or think about non-duality is non-duality. Everything that goes on in our heads about it, our thoughts, concepts, feelings and beliefs, all of that subjective content about it is necessarily at-one with everything else that exists in the universe. All philosophies and concepts about non-duality are non-duality in this sense; they are at-one with non-duality. Just because we can talk about non-duality objectively does not grant us some special power to exist beyond it. This discourse, attempting to describe non-duality, is non-duality. Non-duality could never be fully understood or described conceptually by a human mind. Nevertheless, the concepts presented here have the privilege of being the very thing they seek to represent.   

To understand non-duality better, this discourse, rather than trying to articulate a perfect conception of non-duality, seeks rather to dissolve the dualistic conceptualization obscuring non-duality. Rationality prevents one from understanding it. 

What is it really that we are talking about when we say “non-duality”? To understand it better, this discourse will sometimes refer to it by other names, to emphasize different aspects of it: God, Lord, Presence, Awareness, Consciousness, Self, Absolute, Infinity, Source, etc. Non-duality is the Ultimate Reality and because of that it will hereafter be spelled with a capital “N” to emphasize its Supreme nature.

Non-duality, by any designation, cannot be known rationally. Concepts serve only to obscure non-duality. Conceptualization acts as a blindness to Non-duality; it is a lens, a pair of glasses if you will, which only allows for a sight of the finite. As long as these glasses are worn, only duality can be seen. The glasses must be taken off if Non-duality is to be seen nakedly. Impersonal consciousness, One’s real Eye, must do the looking, for One’s real Eye is Non-duality’s Eye. Whenever you see with this naked Eye, it is really Non-duality’s sight from the Original Perspective, the origin and root of all perspectives.

Since the Subject of this Eye is no different from the Object It sees, there is nothing to see but Non-duality itself, for Non-duality is truly all there ever is and could ever be. All sight is always Non-duality’s Sight of Itself. Self-awareness and Omniscience are synonymous in this sense because when Non-duality, being everything, knows Itself, it necessarily knows Itself as Everything. The only Subject in existence knows Itself as the only Object in existence. Non-duality can only be known in this way: by Non-duality seeing Itself, the Source of all Awareness seeing its own Beingness as the Source of all Awareness. Non-duality can only be known by that part of us which always knows Self-evidently and non-rationally the Truth about Itself.

But even these concepts designed to show the inadequacy of conceptualization are nothing more than further obscuration of the Truth. The ultimate goal behind these concepts is to inspire the reader to stop conceptualizing altogether and simply find where their self-consciousness comes from, where it originates. For where the root of consciousness is found, therein lies Non-duality’s vision of Itself.

Lacking a clear and personal vision of Non-duality however in no way represents a lack of Non-duality in one’s life. On the contrary. Non-duality is your life, always. Your finite consciousness is Non-duality, and not in some diluted way where It exists ‘within’ you in a fractured sense; It is you totally. Your very own ignorance of Non-duality’s omnipresence is Non-duality itself in fullness. Your ignorance is Non-duality’s omniscience. There is no lack of Non-duality in your limited subjective duality. Your duality is Non-duality. In fact it is Non-duality’s vision of duality. It is Non-duality being and seeing ‘your’ duality.

Non-duality is every aspect of your life: your awareness, thoughts, feelings, hair, job, shirt, nails, employer, breath, car, political views, sense of humor, lust, greed, garbage, art, poetry, socks, and pillow. You are Non-duality. Your experience of duality right now is Non-duality’s experience.

Everything about humanity is Non-duality. Humanity’s creations are “nature”. Those parts of us that seem unnatural, out of tune with nature, are themselves merely by-products of nature, permutations of Non-duality’s Substance. Nature’s creations can only create more nature. At no point in the endless cycle of creation can anything step outside of that natural cycle. Smart phones are nature. The light of the universe organically produced them through us. Concrete buildings and barbed wire fencing are as natural as sycamore trees and ivy; they are all electrons, protons, and neutrons – or whatever other essential material – all the same. At no point can electrons, protons, and neutrons create anything other than electrons, protons, and neutrons. At no point can a consciousness give rise to another aberrant, unnatural form of consciousness. All consciousness is natural. All matter is natural, whatever its form. Humanity’s sense of alienation therefore and all its destructive tendencies and malignancy are perfectly natural and benign. Pollution is natural. Our subjectivity of being severed from the source is natural. The dynamics of the solar system produced it. All forms of existence simply constitute one energy configuration transforming into another. At no point can one energy configuration be any less natural than another. If humanity is causing global warming, it is the solar system causing it by causing us first; it simply constitutes one gas form changing into another. If humanity destroys itself it is because it is time for the energies of the solar system to naturally change form; if not, then that too is destined and natural. Whatever happens can only be natural and perfect. If impersonal energy evolved into humanity, how could humanity be unnatural? Indeed the very concept of ‘unnaturalness’ is itself natural; it is a product of nature like everything else. Our reality in all its complexity therefore is the substance and product of Non-duality. Everything is Non-duality.

All of these words of course are nothing more than concepts, and as such, take them or leave them. They are nothing more than a narrow perspective on the Absolute, but existing as and within the Absolute. Like everything else these concepts are Non-duality in Substance. All levels of truth, all levels of subjectivity . . . indeed all levels of anything are Non-duality. Even if my concepts about Non-duality are completely wrong, they nevertheless are Non-duality. They ‘are’ and ‘their’ Is-ness makes them at-one with everything else that ‘is’.

Non-duality is not just the unified Totality of Existence then. It is also the separate and finite parts within that Totality. It is not only infinity in this sense, but finitude as well, the multiplicity of everything – in both appearance (form), as well as in actuality (substance).

Non-duality is the very existence of duality. It is both infinity and finitude. This is the fundamental alogical rule of Non-duality. Non-duality is the equality of infinity and finitude, a logical paradox, an absurdity. Non-duality is the bridge between infinity and finitude, connecting them into a unity. Non-duality connects that which is separate with that which is not separate; it connects finitude to infinity. It is simultaneously omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, as well as all forms of powerlessness, and all forms of limited being, and not just in substance, but in subjectivity as well; and so therefore, Non-duality comprises all forms of ignorance. Non-duality is not only every part’s material existence, but also every part’s subjective experience as well.

To better understand what this means imagine a scientist peering into a human brain using the most advanced technological instrumentation to see and read the neural electrical activity going on inside that brain. That which the scientist can measure and see objectively, the synaptic energy firing this way and that, is Non-duality. But even more than that, Non-duality is also that which the scientist cannot see, namely the subjective experience itself. Scientists cannot go into a brain’s subjectivity and experience the world from the inside out, from the brain’s own perspective and identity. But Non-duality can. Non-duality can enter and peer into a brain’s consciousness and experience what is going on in there. It can experience the experience exactly as the brain itself does, from the inside out, from the brain’s own personal eye view and perspective, from that brain’s sense of ‘I’ or finite identity. It can become the brain’s sense of identity as it subjectively experiences itself and the world around it. Non-duality can experience the experience exactly as a finite experiencer itself can, so much so that one could even say that Non-duality is the finite experiencer. Indeed that is the Truth, always, for everyone, for all finite perspectives. That is actually what everything is, what we all are: Non-duality. That is what is always occurring in us at all times. That is our True Identity. Non-duality is our finite selves experiencing the world the way we do, from the inside out, looking out through our ‘own’ eyes. Our individual eye belongs to Non-duality. Our eye is Non-duality’s eye.

Non-duality is in every finite perspective, and experiences every finite perspective, even non-human ones. Scientists cannot peer into an amoeba’s, rabbit’s or whale’s subjectivity and experience their experience in exactly the same way as those creatures themselves do. But Non-duality can and always does experience those creature’s experiences – as those very creatures themselves.

Non-duality experiences every finite experience, for It is the antecedent Experiencer at the root of all experience, the antecedent Identity witnessing all perspectives. More than that, Non-duality is also the finite experiencer as well. Non-duality clothes Itself in every finite being, entering into its subjectivity, assuming its identity, and experiencing its experience in exactly the same way as those finite identities themselves do; so much so that there is absolutely no difference between the individual’s experience and Non-duality’s experience of that individual’s experience. Indeed all finite experience is experienced finitely by Non-duality in this way.

Even if the electrical circuitry in the most complex computer programming constituted some form of nascent awareness, human beings would never be able to access it or experience it, for generally speaking, human beings cannot experience subjectivities other than their own. But Non-duality can and would necessarily experience an artificially intelligent form of experience. For Non-duality is everything. That is what It Is. It is not only the energetic material of consciousness, but also the subjectivity of consciousness as well. Non-duality is the Context within which all reality and all subjectivity exists, as well as the infinite Eye and totality of finite eyes witnessing it all.

Most interestingly, Non-duality is each and every finite eye seeing each and every finite perspective. Non-duality witnesses all finite perspectives in this way, from the finite being’s own perspective or personal eye view. Non-duality experiences all forms of awareness, nascent, biologically derived, finite or otherwise. Non-duality in this sense is not only the physicality of experience, seen or measured objectively from a secondary observer, but also the subjectivity of each and every first-person experience. Non-duality is the finite experience and the finite experiencer.

It is also the omniscient perspective aware of the totality of everything, the infinite Experiencer and the infinite Experience, as well as the infinite Substantial component of all Experience. Non-duality is the Witness and Substance of everything in this sense.

What this means is that Non-duality is not only omnisciently aware of all experience, but also ignorantly aware of all experience as well. In other words, Non-duality experiences both omniscience and ignorance. It is both the Experiencer and experiencer. Non-duality paradoxically experiences finitude omnisciently and ignorantly. What this means is that Non-duality experiences finitude as God and as each and every finite creature. Put another way, Non-duality experiences finitude as Itself, from Its Own Perspective, which is to say omnisciently, as well as from a finite being’s own perspective, as those finite beings themselves do, which is to say ignorantly.

Paradoxically, the finite perspective is unaware of Non-duality’s omniscient perspective within it; the finite perspective is unaware of Non-duality’s Presence within; it does not know that Non-duality is the original and antecedent Witness of its own finite experience. It does not know that Non-duality is its True Self.

But this ignorance, properly speaking, is not the finitude’s own. Rather, it is Non-duality’s ignorance. How could it not be? For Non-duality is everything. Non-duality is both the Experiencer and experiencer of each and every finite subjectivity. Non-duality is That Which Sees Everything and that which sees only some things. Non-duality knows the Totality as the Totality, and knows each and every part as each and every part.

Non-duality is indeed both omniscient and ignorant in this sense. It is simultaneously the Subjectivity experiencing everything omnisciently, as well as the subjectivity experiencing some things individualistically and ignorantly.

Non-duality then is not only the omniscient Experiencer of all duality, It is also the ignorant experiencer of all duality. It is the Self and the self, the Non-dual Perspective and the dual perspective. This is the alogical truth about reality.

Infinity is not just infinite in this sense, it is also finite. Non-duality is Non-duality and duality simultaneously. Non-duality does not just experience omniscience, it also experiences ignorance.

Notice the subtle but significant difference between these two perspectives. What they essentially mean is that God knows that He knows (omnisciently) what it feels like to be ignorant of Himself, and He also just experiences that ignorance (ignorantly) as that ignorance itself, experiencing itself ignorantly. In other words God simultaneously and paradoxically knows Himself and does not know Himself within His creatures. Or to put it differently, He knows that He knows His ignorance, and He also does not know that He knows His ignorance.

These two perspectives seem similar but they are significantly different. The first demonstrates how God always knows His Total Self within each and every part; and the second demonstrates how God paradoxically experiences each and every part’s ignorance individualistically – from and as those ignorant perspectives themselves. In this sense God experiences Himself omnisciently in every finite perspective, and also experiences an ignorance of Himself in every finite perspective. God knows Himself in every creature, and does not know Himself in every creature. He knows Himself omnisciently in all creatures, and also knows Himself as those creatures themselves, in exactly the same way as those creatures know themselves, which is to say ignorantly of the Non-dual perspective embedded within them. In this way God knows His Totality in every creature, and does not know His Totality in every creature.

God is both omniscient and ignorant simultaneously in this paradoxical way which transcends logic and conceptualization.

This is the alogical Truth.

God knows Himself in every part, and does not know Himself in every part. God experiences His ignorance (His finite perspectives) omnisciently and ignorantly.

All subjectivities are indeed His own. They are Him in Substance and in Subjectivity. For His Substance is His Subjectivity. And conversely His Subjectivity is His Substance. Non-duality swallows everything indiscriminately, incorporating all essences and all realities, objective as well as subjective, into Its Self. It is in this way as well that all finite subjectivities are paradoxically His Own. It is in this way that Non-duality can experience duality as duality and as Non-duality simultaneously and paradoxically.

Non-duality is indeed everything. It experiences everything, and is the experience of everything.

Non-duality is the Experiencer and the Experience, the Subject and the Object, as well as the experiencer and the experience, the subject and the object.

Non-duality is duality in this sense in such an alogical way that the latter simply could not exist – logically speaking. But paradoxically, duality can and does exist.

This is a logical absurdity, of course. For if Non-duality were truly at-one with duality, such that Non-duality literally was duality (i.e. separate), then that duality – if it were truly inseparable from Non-duality – could never really be separate; it would necessarily be a part of the infinite oneness of Non-duality. Duality could not exist: Non-duality would absorb it, canceling it as a duality.

Likewise, there could never really be an ignorant subjectivity, for its at-oneness with Non-duality would necessarily make it omniscient. Non-duality’s omniscient perspective would trump it, transforming that ignorance into omniscience. For how could there be an ignorant perspective separate from omniscience? Wouldn’t an omniscience – knowing absolutely everything – be able to know and experience that ignorance? And if so, if omniscience was experiencing that ignorance, how could that ignorance remain truly ignorant? Some part of that ignorance would necessarily be connected to that omniscience, rendering that ignorance not completely ignorant.

Logically speaking, this is correct. If Non-duality and duality were one, only one of them could exist, for, by definition, one would necessarily cancel-out the other.

What this philosophy proposes, however, is that Non-duality and duality are one, such that both exist without cancelling each other out – an alogical proposition.

One way to conceive this is to see that duality is duality to duality. Duality is real in this sense. It is real and truly separate when viewed from the dualistic perspective. It is experienced. That which witnesses experience can witness that which is logical and that which is not. Whether the finite experience is logical or not, the ignorant experience of duality is witnessed, experienced. Duality is real to duality, in this sense, because that is how the experience is. It is the appearance of separate things to a separate observer. Even though a mirage is not really water, the appearance of water is real. In the same way, the existence of finite experience is real.

Looking at duality from within the dualistic perspective, however, makes it appear much more final and actual than it really is, making it appear like the absolute condition of things. What is most interesting about dualistic experience then, is that the concept of duality itself, when conceived of from within the dualistic perspective, must be either absolutely real or else unreal; it must be either true or false, actual or illusory, but never both, for these are the only two logically possible dualistic options available within the dualistic perspective. Reality must either be dualistic or else Non-dualistic, never both; for both would constitute a paradox, an impossibility that could not exist within the dualistic perspective.

This is indeed how the dualistic perspective is limited, the rational construct restricting and limiting its conceptualizations and experience. Duality is an either/or reality. The experience of one thing excludes the experience of another thing. The experience of duality then, when viewed from within that duality, must either be an experience of separation or else an experience of oneness; it cannot be both; for – within the logical constructs of duality – an experience of separation would exclude necessarily an experience of oneness; and conversely, an experience of oneness would exclude necessarily an experience of separation.

Separation and oneness, therefore, are mutually exclusive realities, or mutually exclusive subjectivities, to the dualistic. Separation and oneness cannot exist simultaneously in such a logical paradigm. One way that it can operate (in such a paradigm) is to designate one a reality and the other an illusion or mirage. Duality to the dualistic must either be real or unreal; otherwise, it can also be considered either an actual separation from the Totality or else an illusory one.

From the Non-dual perspective, however, duality can be both real and unreal paradoxically at the same time. Duality can be what it is, namely separate, while simultaneously being at-one with Non-duality. The paradoxical can occur within Non-duality because it is a perspective, a reality un-constricted by the logical rules of duality. The experience of one thing does not necessarily exclude the experience of another thing. The impossible can happen within Non-duality by virtue of its happening, by virtue of its existence, by virtue of its being experienced, and by virtue of the existence of that experience.

And yet by happening within the Context of Non-duality, how could an actual state of duality truly exist? Wouldn’t Non-duality, by definition, necessarily trump it, absolving it into Its Oneness and Omniscience? The answer is no. What Non-duality can do is truly impossible, incomprehensible and alogical. Non-duality can create two mutually exclusive realities. It can create an actual state of Non-duality and an actual state of duality. It can create an infinite oneness paradoxically at-one with actually separate finite entities. Non-duality can do the impossible, know the incomprehensible, and witness the inconceivable. It can create a subjectivity that is ignorant and disconnected from Itself, and yet paradoxically and secretly experience that isolated subjectivity omnisciently. Such is the nonsense, the sheer impossibility, of this stupendous paradoxical absurdity. The human mind is incapable of understanding it conceptually – except as a paradox – because the human mind is bound and conditioned by dualistic reasoning.

The paradox is this: firstly, God knows His omniscience and thus all the ignorant experiences in duality – via the unique perspectives and experiences of finite creatures; and secondly, He does not know His ignorance in duality. In other words, He experiences His ignorance omnisciently, knowing Himself simultaneously within the ignorance of creatures; and He also just experiences His ignorance ignorantly, as those very ignorant creatures themselves do, without prior knowledge of the infinite Self’s omniscience. Non-duality is both perspectives and experiences both perspectives. It is the substance (or Self) and subjectivity (Witness) of omniscience, as well as the substance and subjectivity of ignorance. Non-duality is the Reality and Witness of omniscience and ignorance alike. Non-duality is the infinite Identity and the finite identity; the Self and the self; God and the individual. Non-duality is the infinite Being and finite being, the Experiencer and experiencer, the Identity and identity.

Non-duality is the Subject of all experience, and It is also just ‘you’ knowing that you are you, knowing that you’re the only subject of your one and only “isolated” experience. Non-duality is God knowing He is God within you; and He is also just ‘you’ knowing that you are only you – without any prior knowledge of an at-oneness with God. In other words, Non-duality is God and your limited sense of knowingness, your unique sense of individuality.

Your very own perspective, whatever that may be, your unique subjectivity and its linear history retained in memory, the totality of your experience at any given time, which, for most people, is usually limited to you alone, your very own sense of being only just you, is Non-duality being only just you. Your limited awareness is Non-duality’s limited awareness. Your conscious existence is not just yours, it is God’s finite conscious existence.

For Non-duality is omniscience as well as ignorance simultaneously. God experiences and does not experience His ignorance simultaneously – in a way that is completely incomprehensible to that ignorance. For God is both the Subjectivity of omniscience as well as the subjectivity of ignorance. He experiences both subjectivities simultaneously and paradoxically.

Non-duality is the experience of everything, the experience of some things, and the experience of nothing. It is the Infinite Experiencer, the finite experiencer, and the non-experiencer. Everything, and every subjectivity experiencing things, is Non-duality. Non-duality is it all, and experiences it all, including the experience of not knowing it all, and experiencing nothing.

That which is and knows Itself to be in everything (and be everything) also knows what it feels like to be separate from that omniscient omnipresence. God is so omniscient in this sense that He can even experience total ignorance. His omniscience is so all encompassing that ignorance itself is paradoxically known to Him. The finite subjectivity therefore that knows what it feels like to be separate, isolated, trapped within itself, cut-off from everything, that very experience itself, is Non-duality, and it is Non-duality experiencing that ignorance knowingly (via omniscience) as well as unknowingly (total ignorance).

In other words Non-duality is simultaneously God experiencing you and you experiencing you.

Impossible? Yes. But true. If you do not know this fact, I will say your unknowingness is Non-duality’s unknowingness. Because that is the truth of the matter. All experience, even the experience of ignorance, is Non-duality’s experience.

It is in this sense that all people are created equal because all people have the same Self and are seeing with the same Eye; all people are experiencing the world with the same Consciousness. This is the truth upon which the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution were founded, the equality of consciousness within sentient beings.

It is in this sense that all experiences are equal as well: the samadhi states are not superior to non-samadhi states. A scientist’s subjectivity is not superior to an ant’s subjectivity. All subjectivity is equally the Self’s Subjectivity. All content is equally at-one with the Non-dual Context within which it exists.

There is no hierarchy of experience therefore. Hierarchy may exist in duality, but it is trumped and absorbed by Non-duality’s radical egalitarianism and homogeneity. The omniscient perspective is always at-one with your own limited perspective, for they exist eternally within each other, even though paradoxically they do not appear as such.

Faith in Non-duality or God is the highest belief because it reflects the truth. Likewise a loving, selfless and life-affirming attitude is the best way to be because it mirrors the loving, impersonal and living nature of Non-duality. Verifying the truth about Non-duality personally and experientially through one’s consciousness is everyone’s fate, for Non-duality is the permanent, original State.

Non-duality is the infinite Context within which everything exists, the water enveloping all fish in the sea, as well as the substance and subjectivities of the fish themselves. Non-duality is both the whole and the finite parts within it, in such a way that the parts are indeed separate but ultimately absorbed into the whole. 

Everything including your own subjectivity is Non-duality. Your subjectivity is Non-duality’s subjectivity. Though you know it not, your unknowingness is Non-duality’s unknowingness.

God experiences you at all times and not just in Samadhi when you are aware of Him. Your ignorance itself is God’s ignorance. God experiences you as you thinking you are ‘you’ right this very moment as you read this sentence. Your self-consciousness right now, your isolated sense of inner-world, is God’s. It is God’s self-consciousness; it is God’s limited awareness. And if it is God’s subjectivity, do you think He is unaware of it? Do you think your secret innermost thoughts are unknown to Him? If you are aware of yourself, then God is you being aware of yourself as you. Do you think your subjectivity can be separate from the universal Subjectivity from which it arises?

Yes and no; and in this sense, reality transcends logic.

For you are ‘you’ ignorantly unaware of your Non-duality; and you are also God omnisciently Self-aware of Himself within you and as you.

The truth of this is hard to accept for the unenlightened because it is irrational and does not accord with most people’s ordinary lived experience. When the unenlightened agree or disagree with a philosophy – conceptually, emotionally, instinctively, and even have faith in a certain position – they can never be certain of that position’s truth until the subjective witness within each person witnesses the Non-duality of all witnessing.

To the unenlightened, a perceived separation from God equals a real one, not just a perceptual one. They believe their duality trumps Non-duality; they believe their ignorance trumps Non-duality’s omniscience because they have not yet seen the Unity of ignorance and omniscience, and thus they cannot grasp the alogical nature of their paradoxical oneness and separation. They have not yet seen the Non-dual Origin of their dualistic consciousness, so they believe in the dead-end of their limited subjectivity. They have not yet seen their subjectivity’s at-oneness with Non-duality’s Subjectivity.

The unenlightened state to the unenlightened is therefore considered to be independent of others and independent of God, a kind of aberrant unreality because of its being apparently broken off from everything else.

The unenlightened subjectivity to the unenlightened is believed to be so isolated, so confined to its self that it constitutes a radical inaccessibility to God’s omnipresence and omniscience. The unenlightened consciousness cannot see anything outside itself, or its own sphere of limited awareness, so it doubts the very possibility of its being connected to or at-one with such a transcendent Subjectivity.

Whereas the enlightened see duality as both real and unreal at the same time, because of Non-duality’s ability to create an impossible separation from Itself and then void that impossibility with Its paradoxical omnipresence and omniscience, the unenlightened, conditioned by rational duality, can only see duality in terms of being either real or unreal, but never both at the same time. Dualism to the dualistic, to those experiencing dualism, is seen to be an either/or reality: real or unreal, actual or illusory, dualistic or Non-dualistic, but never both simultaneously; for the rules conditioning the experience of dualism dictate that it must be either one or the other, never both. Duality when viewed from within the dualistic perspective, then, must either be real or illusory, dualistic or Non-dualistic.

The unenlightened who conceive of duality as real tend to see it as a substance, a material; and subjectivity, mind or Non-duality becomes for them an ephemeral unreality, a non-existence – a conceptual position often leading to a materialistic-atheistic denial of God.

The unenlightened on other hand who conceive of subjectivity, mind or Non-duality as real tend to see that as the only true substance; and a materialistic duality becomes for them an ephemeral unreality, a false perception, an illusion – a conceptual position often leading to an idealism or spiritualism, or a denial and condemnation of a materialistic duality. The unenlightened holding this idealist-spiritualist position often deny and condemn their own finite existence in this way, condemning their souls as ignorant, unnatural, or fallen – seeing their dualistic selves as an illusion which only seems to exist.

Because the unenlightened have not yet seen deeply enough the Non-duality of mind and matter, they consider one element to be more essential or real than the other – a conceptual stance leading to a materialist/spiritualist divide.

Materialists think matter is the ultimate antecedent reality, believing mind to be a subsidiary by-product of matter. They see mind as a non-existence compared to matter, which is considered more tangible and real. Spiritualists or idealists on the other hand think the opposite. They think spirit, mind or some sort of subjective experience is the ultimate antecedent reality, believing matter to a byproduct of mind. Matter in their estimation becomes a hardened, crude existence fundamentally less pure in comparison to the fundamental, transcendental mental-spiritual reality from which it derives.

In a way, materialists and spiritualists alike posit a form of Non-dualism, for they both imagine their preferred essence to be fundamental and infinitely extended. They are dualists, however, for by denying the reality of one aspect of the mind/matter polarity, they outcast that one aspect from the Non-duality which would otherwise unite them. In other words by saying one aspect of the polarity is not real or less real than the other, they break that which is truly homogeneous and Non-dual into a duality. They imagine a duality by imagining Non-duality’s inability to unite everything equally. By claiming something is not God, or less than God, or qualitatively different or other than God, by saying something is more essential than another, they attempt to diminish or eliminate one aspect of God’s creation to non-existence when such elimination is impossible. For nothing can be separate or different from Non-duality, not even separation itself. Nothing, not even duality, can ever be banished from Non-duality. Non-duality trumps everything, absorbing everything into Its omnipresent homogeneity.

Only a belief, concept or knowledge of duality, knowledge of opposites, knowledge of good and evil, or a preference for one thing over another, or a belief that something can be qualitatively distinct, different or other than Non-duality . . . only such beliefs in duality itself, or duality’s ability to trump Non-duality in some way, however small, can the appearance of duality exist. In other words, only by knowing, imagining or believing in duality can duality appear to exist.

Once duality appears perceptually and the concept of it is crystallized into a word-view, a limited perspective is engendered allowing the holder of that new perspective to believe in the primacy and independence of that new perspective. In other words once duality is seen, it becomes possible within that dualistic sight to see only duality, to be blinded to Non-duality’s omnipresence, to forget Non-duality’s antecedence, and then ultimately to deny the very possibility of Non-duality’s existence.

A new perspective is thereby created where sight is limited and constricted. Seeing through this lens makes it possible to believe in the dualistic perspective’s exclusive reality; for the laws conditioning this world-view makes it difficult to see the paradoxical Non-duality of everything. Non-duality’s omnipresence is concealed in a vision that can see only separation and distinction; for Non-duality contradicts duality; it is its antithesis.

The dualistic lens enables Non-duality, the Divine Looker, to forget Himself so to speak, like being on a drug-induced mind-trip whereby the User experiences a temporary amnesia, forgetting Himself, His whereabouts, His infinite family, everything.

The dualistic lens focuses on duality, excluding sight of Non-duality. It excludes sight of the oneness and homogeneity of everything, in both quantity and quality, allowing only for a view of things separate and distinct, separate from the whole, and separate from all other finite parts. Such a view is one of infinite difference and multiplicity, blind to the underlying sameness and unicity of all things.

Non-duality Itself, the Original Perspective, the Real Looker, the True Self and Identity, is excluded from this view because it is the very antithesis of that new dualistic view, for the new view is a duality only perspective.

Imagine for a moment taking a sophisticated human mind and making it experience life through a tiny little ant’s mind or consciousness. As soon as that human mind entered into an ant’s mind, all memory or cognition of ever being human would be completely lost, for the ant’s mind would be incapable of processing human cognition. Imagine, for example, a human mind entering into an industrious little ant’s mind as it explored his little world, perhaps atop a neon-lit McDonald’s Golden Arches sign; for indeed, ants are everywhere. Everything that that human mind once knew about and associated with that big bright yellow ‘M’ logo could never be processed through that ant’s mental mechanism. To an ant, the McDonald’s ‘M’ sign would likely just represent a hot flat surface with an absence of food on it. It certainly wouldn’t represent the same thing to an ant as it would to a human being. One’s new awareness as that ant would be wholly incapable of perceiving and comprehending the significance of what that sign at one time represented to the human mind – and all that sign’s complex social, economic, nutritional, and culinary ramifications. Furthermore, all the complex memories and contextual social knowledge contained within that human mind would be lost instantly and inaccessible to the ant mind, for the cerebral mechanisms capable of registering such human experiential content would be absent within the ant’s mind. There would only be ant brain mechanisms, so the resultant experience would be severely limited and constrained to an ant-only perspective. All past human knowledge and experience would be completely inaccessible to that new ant perspective. The only content remaining, the only content available or possible would be such content that an ant brain could process.

In the same way human consciousness is mechanically unable to process and experience the infinite oneness and homogeneity of Non-dual Reality. This is precisely what happens when God enters a human brain. He forgets Himself, much like we would forget our original human identity and experience if we entered an ant brain. Brains are consciousness focusing or filtering mechanisms; it focuses on certain things to the exclusion of others.

And yet all awareness is originally Non-duality’s awareness, which experiences all things. It is that which experiences life through our seemingly separate objective bodies and ignorant subjectivities. This impersonal consciousness enters into our mental mechanisms as it were, and experiences life from the inside out, from our separate first-person point of view, temporarily forgetting Its Original Identity in a moment of amnesia in the context of eternity.

The miracle of Non-duality is that it can create and enter into finite perspectives and be privy to constrained experience, limited and isolated in ignorance, and experience these perspectives omnisciently as well as ignorantly. Non-duality can experience what it is to be an ant while remaining paradoxically Self-aware. Non-duality can also just experience what it is to be an ant in total ignorance, completely unaware of Its Original Self.

A difficult thing to fathom about this paradox is that while Non-duality can enter into such ignorant perspectives and experience them, these movements or reductions in consciousness constitute no loss, diminution or alteration in Non-duality’s infinite being or awareness. For Non-duality can exist and operate in illogical ways. It can create duality, difference and distinction in an infinite variety of ways, creating diverse objects and subjectivities, while paradoxically absorbing and cancelling-out these realities into a homogeneous omniscient infinite wholeness.

The dualistic conceptual mind finds this difficult to fathom, for a finite mentality cannot see how something can be both infinite and finite at the same time, or how an omniscient being can simultaneously not know something. It makes no sense to the dualistic mind. It is nonsense, illogical, impossible. And it is impossible for a dualistic mind. A dualistic mind cannot experience omniscience and ignorance simultaneously. Such paradoxes cannot be experienced by a dualistic mind, just like an ant could never comprehend the significance of the McDonald’s logo. The complexity of human mentality is completely inaccessible to ants, so much so that the mere contemplation of such complexity could never even occur; and if it did occur, for example, if an ant experienced for one moment what a typical human experienced, such an ‘illuminating’ experience would likely constitute various illogical impossibilities for the ant (such as the experience of three-dimensionality); for such complex human realities cannot occur within an ant’s consciousness. In the same way humans are not equipped to comprehend anything beyond the dualistic human mind. Humans cannot experience Non-duality with the dualistic mind. To experience the Non-dual Mind, the human mind must be suspended and the Self’s Antecedent Awareness must see Its Self directly. 

Non-duality can only be experienced by Non-duality Itself, the Original Root-Mind of all subjectivity. Non-duality can only be experienced by that part of us which already knows Its Self to be Non-duality.

Because Non-duality is typically not apparent to the dualistic mind, the “unenlightened” mistake this lack of awareness, this isolated subjectivity, to be their “own” and therefore actual and truly “separate” from God, separate and disconnected from God’s omniscience. They believe “their” lack of awareness of God somehow does not belong to God, belonging rather to their finite “selves” alone and exclusively. “How could an ignorance of God be God’s?” they ask, reasoning accurately. “God, the omniscient, must necessarily know Himself; for if a consciousness was truly unaware of God, it could not, in fact, be God’s consciousness.” This is the logical chain of reasoning the unenlightened construct, and it is indeed correct, logically; but it is wrong nevertheless because it is not true. The opposite is true:  an ignorant consciousness is God’s. The Truth about Non-duality, in this sense, transcends logic.

Non-duality transcends duality by paradoxically being duality. “But how can that be?” ask the unenlightened. “For if Non-duality were truly dual, ‘It’ would necessarily be duality and therefore not-Non-duality.”

The enlightened would reply that “the truth is irrational precisely because infinity transcends finitude by being both infinity and finitude simultaneously.” In other words, Non-duality exists in duality imminently while remaining Non-duality transcendently. This is the alogical truth that is apparent to the enlightened because they have experienced the Non-duality within their duality.

The enlightened, having seen clearly from Non-duality’s Perspective, know that all derivative perspectives come from that original Perspective. They see how all derivative viewpoints, including the most ignorant, come from and permanently reside in Non-duality, and how Non-duality’s imminence within duality makes finite mentality no different from its origin. The enlightened therefore see how an ignorance of God literally is God, and is God’s ignorance, not the so-called individual’s.

The enlightened see how all ignorance of Non-duality exists within Non-duality and is experienced by Non-duality. The enlightened know that the unenlightened state equals the enlightened one, that ignorance of God constitutes no separation from Him, for they know the paradox that God is simultaneously the omniscient witness of all subjectivity as well as the ignorant witness of all subjectivity.

Because the unenlightened do not see this alogical truth, or have not seen it clearly enough they believe their ignorance constitutes a separation from God, whereby God’s omniscience is not privy to their ignorance. They believe their subjectivity is inaccessible to anyone, including God. This conviction in their subjectivity’s isolation, however, does not make it so. The ignorant conviction of ignorance is total, and it is meant to be, so that God can experience ignorance. What the ignorant do not know, what they cannot know with the rational mind, is that their ignorance is simultaneously real and unreal, actual and illusory. Ignorance is real and unreal because God’s omniscience can penetrate ignorance without the ignorant perspective knowing about it. Just because the dualistic mind is incapable of conceiving of this fact and experiencing it does not change the alogical nature of reality. 

Duality cannot stop Non-duality from penetrating it. Ignorance cannot prevent omniscience from witnessing what goes on within its limited sphere of awareness. Duality’s isolated ignorance, which is real to itself, is trumped by a reality, a dimension, a non-dual impersonal awareness, which can allow the former to be what it is, namely ignorant, while negating it in a way that is incomprehensible to that ignorance. Duality’s experience of separation, therefore, does not constitute an actual separation from Non-duality’s omniscience.

Non-duality experiences duality in a way incomprehensible to duality. Non-duality is duality’s subjectivity as well as Its Own Non-dual Subjectivity. Non-duality is both cause and experiencer of duality. And that is how it is supposed to be. Duality was made to be what it is. It was made to be and feel ignorant. It was made to experience itself as a separate being. Duality is a perfect expression of what it is supposed to be. It is a belief, a conception, an assumption, a conviction, an experiential reality that was created to believe and experience precisely what it does. Duality was made to feel separate so that Non-duality could secretly and paradoxically understand what it feels like to be separate.

The experience of duality therefore is Non-duality’s and not solely the individuals – who ‘claims’ ownership of it. Even the ‘erroneously claiming sole ownership of one’s own duality’ is a product of Non-duality. Nothing is caused by duality. It all comes from, exists within, and is experienced by Non-duality. And since duality, or we who identify as separate beings, are not responsible for creating our own sense of individuality, the individual entity is equally not responsible for eradicating their own sense of individuality. The entire process of creation and dissolution of individuality is impersonal.

Everything about individuality is impersonal, including freewill. Non-duality created the individual’s freewill. Non-duality is the context within which it exists, and is the omniscient and ignorant subjectivity experiencing and willing it. Nothing the individual claims ownership of truly belongs to the individual. Everything, including freewill, or the individual’s sense of personal doer-ship, is Non-duality’s. The individual did not create it; the individual did not create its own sense of freewill; the individual did not create any aspect of itself.

The unenlightened are made the way they are so that Non-duality can experience un-enlightenment. They are made to feel responsible for (and even proud or guilty about) their own condition, to suffer the pains and pleasures of individuality, to feel responsible for sustaining their own survival, for procuring their own happiness, and eventually, for transcending their own individuality.

The unenlightened are made to be aware of dualistic polarities, so they may seek the life-giving and avoid the life-destroying. They are made to be aware of the polarities of good and evil, pleasure-pain, health-sickness, life-death, light-dark, non-duality-duality, and so on, so they may sustain their individual life and avoid death. The unenlightened are made in this way to sustain individuality by preferring and choosing that which is ‘good’ for itself over that which is ‘bad’.

Eventually an individual learns that the highest ‘safety’ and ‘good’ are to be found in one’s connection to the impersonal, the universal, Non-duality, God; that the only way to truly sustain life and happiness is by eradicating individuality altogether, by dissolving duality into Non-duality, ‘becoming’ at-one with the omnipresent and eternal reality of God. And because the unenlightened first become aware of this goal while their sense of individuality and personal doer-ship are still intact, they naturally come to believe that such a process of self-transcendence must be conducted and accomplished by themselves alone, via their own personal effort. And practically speaking, such is the case; one must strive for and will transcendence in order for it to happen. The willingness must be there. But when one does so, when the will is activated, it is because God willed it. This is the ultimate paradox:  freewill versus predetermination.

The Truth is: one’s freewill is predetermined by God. But that doesn’t mean freewill does not exist. On the contrary, it does. But paradoxically, freewill is simultaneously both free and not-free. The unenlightened see this paradox as an either-or conundrum; they believe it must be one or the other; there must be either freewill or predetermination, not both. The enlightened do not see it this way; they see freewill and predetermination as both true.

An individual must therefore choose enlightenment, but when one does so, that willingness comes from Non-duality. The whole process, the individual, the experiential states of finitude and infinity . . . it is all Non-duality in substance, and it is also Non-duality’s willingness to choose such a process to unfold through certain individuals. The entire procedure is brought about and experienced by Non-duality Itself.

And when enlightenment does occur and individuality is transcended, the individual as such, is not the one to register the experience of it. Rather, Non-duality registers the experience of Non-duality, knowing instantly that all experience, even the most ignorant, is always experienced by Non-duality Itself.

And yet simultaneously the experience of ignorance is also experienced in total isolation by that ignorance itself. Indeed the ignorant perspective occurs in total isolation, and yet paradoxically, unbeknownst to that ignorance, Non-duality experiences ‘its’ ignorance. How this happens is not apparent to the ignorance; it is only apparent to Non-duality how this happens.

It is always apparent to Non-duality how a lack of awareness of the whole is paradoxically experienced by the whole. The omniscient Eye knows how a non-awareness of the Eye is experienced by the Eye nevertheless, in a way incomprehensible to the ignorant perspective. It is not apparent to the ignorant, but it is so to the omniscient, for only Non-duality knows how omniscience and ignorance can go together and be witnessed simultaneously.

The enlightened perspective of Non-duality is always aware of Its Self – before, during and after a descent into ignorance. A descent into total ignorance paradoxically constitutes no loss of at-oneness with – or disconnection from – Non-duality’s omniscient subjectivity.

Knowing this Truth about Non-duality, even for a fraction of a second, provides immeasurable relief to the enlightened. The revelation essentially means the individual need never worry about anything ever again. If the Self-realization is deep enough, the individual need also never seek a re-experience of it, for the awareness of Non-duality in that moment is eternal and omnipresent. It is not merely the individual’s experience but rather Non-duality’s experience. Non-duality’s awareness, in that momentary flash, is seen to be safely couched and eternally present in Non-duality Itself. What happens thereafter – to the individuality or in general – is irrelevant, for everything everywhere is always known to be alright. More than that, everything is always seen to be in a state of perfection, or even beyond perfection. Non-duality’s perfection is seen to be beyond comprehension. One’s individual experience at all times, no matter what is occurring, is always seen to be perfect because it is always inclusive of the Non-dual perspective, which is unchangeably perfect always.

What this means for the individual is eternal salvation. In fact, it is much greater than eternal salvation, or a mere certainty of an individual’s eternal continuance in heaven. Enlightenment is the revelation that one is Non-duality Itself. It means that one is the everlasting indestructible omnipresent totality. It means that one’s true Self is God. Such a realization is beyond comforting. It transcends liberation, for the realization demonstrates how even the realization is unnecessary, for it demonstrates how both non-realization and realization are equally Non-duality. In other words, the realization reveals how liberation is the status quo – with or without the realization; it reveals how all there is and can ever be is Non-duality and therefore infinite Liberation.

When the truth of Non-duality or Liberation is revealed deeply enough, the need to seek a repeat experience of Non-duality is annihilated. And yet discordantly, and perhaps even hypocritically, the individual may continue to desire more experiences of it. If the truth of Non-duality is seen clearly enough, it is seen not by the individual, but by Non-duality Itself; the individual sees that its antecedent identity is Non-duality, always, no matter what the individual is experiencing. Thereafter, whether an emotion arises within an individual is irrelevant. It is of course relevant to the individual having the emotion, but not to the Non-dual Perspective within him. Non-duality trumps duality in this way by showing how all duality is Non-duality.

When the realization of Non-duality is deep enough, the ego’s dualistic experience and self-seeking motivations can be diminished, for in that moment of clarity the ego’s conviction in its own isolation is shattered. The ego’s source of awareness is seen to be impersonal and Non-dualistic, existing simultaneously within and outside of the ego’s ‘solitary’ sphere. The experience of this impersonal consciousness is registered by that impersonal consciousness, prior to its entering the ego. The experience of Non-duality then is properly speaking, Non-duality’s, not the ego’s. The ego – or locus of dualistic experience – nevertheless sees that its consciousness is not its own, but rather impersonal in origin, existing transcendently of the ego, prior to the ego’s having access to it and assuming it to be a product of its own. The realization of this Truth is the Self’s, which exists both transcendently of and imminently within the individual. Non-duality registers the Truth about Its Self while the ego shares in the experience of it.

The revelation of Non-duality can weaken the ego subsequently and gradually over time, undermining the ego’s perspective, taking the juice, intensity, and necessity out of it. The ego’s usual survival-based motivations are often deflated because the false premise of the ego’s isolation has been exposed. The habits and tendencies that do remain are seen to be the ego’s, not the Self’s. Egocentricity comes to be seen more and more as a benign, innocent, and natural function through which Non-duality expresses and experiences Itself dualistically. Egoistic tendencies are no longer seen to be the product of the ego, but rather products of the Self. Even the ego’s sense of personal doer-ship is no longer seen to be the product of the ego, but rather the programming designed for and implemented into that ego by Non-duality. The content of one’s subjectivity is increasingly seen with a greater sense of non-attachment; one may begin to take oneself less seriously. The external and internal realities of life are seen to arise out of and permanently reside within a Context of Non-duality. The concept of evil can thereafter be de-energized or re-contextualized, for whatever an individual thinks, says or does is seen to be a product of Non-duality and therefore natural and in a sense, perfect, for everything is always as-it-is-supposed-to-be. No matter what happens, Non-duality is exactly that. The ego’s limited, dualistic experience – with all its ‘imperfections’ – is itself seen to be the substance of Non-duality and therefore always perfect.

After Non-duality is revealed, dualistic experience may not be eliminated, but rather simply re-contextualized. Enlightenment is not the exchanging of one type of experience for another. It is seeing how all experience is witnessed by Non-duality and therefore how all experience is Non-duality. Enlightenment is not an alteration, expansion, or perfection of experience: it is a transcendence of experience. It is seeing how Non-duality is unaffected by all experience while paradoxically being all experience. Enlightenment is seeing Non-duality equally in everything – in the mundane, commonplace, and normal, as much as in the miraculous, paranormal, or blissful.

Enlightenment involves a certain degree of aloofness or non-attachment to the form, content or quality of experience because it is realized deeply that nothing can alter Non-duality’s perfection. Enlightenment does not eliminate emotional reactivity to phenomena, but it can re-contextualize those reactions to be a part of Non-duality. The enlightened may still get disturbed by life, but may not see such disturbance as separate from or inferior to Non-duality.

Enlightenment can gradually alter dualistic experience in a positive way as well. To begin with, the raw experience of Non-duality is full of an experiential energy that is akin to love, bliss, and peace. These ‘Satori’ and ‘Samadhi’ experiences in their own right, often considered the greatest of boons, can lead to many positive changes within an individual – such as increasing one’s capacity to love and to see beauty. The essence of Non-duality is an all-encompassing energy of love, at-one with all that is.

As good as these Samadhi experiences can be in their own right, the re-contextualization of life that occurs after enlightenment, the radical alteration of world-view that results, can lead to the most profound changes within an individual. After realizing one’s true identity is Non-duality, the separate identity of the ego is known to be an erroneous thought. This weakens the dualistic ego’s perspective which can diminish the intensity of its automatic survival responses, selfishness and egocentricity. Moreover, after realizing Non-duality’s perfection, negative emotions – like anger, hatred, lust, fear, despair and shame – are seen to be ‘okay’ because they are known to be incapable of altering Non-duality’s perfection. When negative feelings arise, they are no longer resisted to the same extent, and are thus more likely to be accepted and forgiven. This forgiving re-contextualization of negativity has a de-energizing effect on ‘sin’, which can reduce its occurrence and lead to a more positive, happier and stress-free life – which interestingly is a mindset conducive to more Samadhi experiences.  

On the other hand, enlightenment can also lead to psychological stress and even physical death, particularly following an attenuation of egocentric survival responses. To begin with, enlightenment is an intense experience bio-energetically, and the radical changes that can take place physically and psychologically can be difficult for any individual to cope with. The initial realization is such that the ego sees that it is no longer necessary, that it is no longer needed to do anything, and that indeed it is not even real – in the sense that it is a separate entity. All of this amounts to a kind of ego-death.

The ego-perspective that remains can thereafter come to be seen as an encumbrance – with all its habitual striving and negativity. The comfort and reassurance brought on by subsequent Samadhi experiences are reprieves, but even these can be seen as irrelevant and unnecessary; for if identification with the Non-dual Self is deep enough, subsequent Samadhi experiences are seen to comfort and benefit the individual only, not the Self (although the Self does revel in Its own blissful nature). The Non-dual Self needs no comforting because it is known to be eternally complete in Itself, no matter what the individual experiences. Everything everywhere is known to be perfect, always, so what need an ego do? Why need it exist? The answer, and one that the ego finds dreadful, is that the ego does not need to exist.

Undermining the ego’s sense of reality and importance in this way, and its belief in the necessity of its own functioning to control its environment to stay alive, can de-energize the ego, devaluing it to the point where it can become self-antagonistic. This can lead to either an ego or physical death – whichever comes first.

It can also lead to an ego-resurgence. When an ego faces the truth of its illusory nature, it can flail and overreact emotionally in an attempt to prove its relevance, importance, and reality, to stay alive. At that point, all unconscious negativity within an individual – that has yet to be faced – may resurface, come to awareness, forcing the individual to deal with it. Ironically, if an ego cannot accept the negativity, it can survive, perpetuate ‘its’ dualistic perspective, by clinging to the juice of the intense emotionality involved in keeping one’s individuality alive.

The enlightenment experience affects different egos in different ways. In some, it can lead to a movement toward to the Self. The opposite can also happen: it can lead to an increase in the ego, decreasing the Non-dual perspective to the point where it is entirely forgotten – much like it was prior to the enlightenment experience.

Since the Non-dual perspective is not a property of the individual, it being an unchangeable infinite reality, a permanent condition, it is unaffected by dualistic experience. Awareness of Non-duality is the universe’s awareness, not the ego’s; it is an impersonal default permanent condition of the universe existing as the original awareness, source and substance of all dualistic perspectives. Individuals ‘see it’ only to the extent that they see how their dualistic perspective emerges out of and permanently resides in the Non-dual.

Individuals can lose sight of this Non-dual perspective, but if the structure of the ego’s relationship to Non-duality is apperceived deeply enough, even if just for a second, an ego will likely never be the same, as it will no longer be able to fully believe in the ego’s isolation.

By clinging to the dualistic perspective, however, an individual can forget Non-duality and learn to act as if it were an isolated individual again. In other words, an individual can become ‘unenlightened’ again; it can ‘fall from grace’.

Many things can happen to an ego after enlightenment; the content and quality of an individual’s experience can fluctuate in any number of ways. It can go up and it can go down. It can become more positive emotionally (as the Non-dualistic perspective prevails) or it can become more negative (as the dualistic perspective prevails). The point is though, that whatever happens to an ego after enlightenment is irrelevant from the standpoint of Non-duality – because from the standpoint of Non-duality, nothing ultimately changes; everything is always perfect.

From the standpoint of the ego, however, things do matter. ‘What happens’ matters to the ego. The ego desires its own well-being, happiness and sense of meaning. The ego’s innate self-love and desire to live and be happy are natural drives, designed by Non-duality. The ego does not create itself; its programming is a product of and substance of Non-duality. Because the ego is Non-duality’s creation, and is Non-duality, whatever happens to the ego does matter to Non-duality, from a certain point of view. Since the individual finds happiness only to the extent that it nears the Self, Non-duality desires individuals to return to Itself, to the perspective of the Whole.

Duality matters to Non-duality. The universe is full of creation and destruction, but nothing is ever really destroyed. Reality is in a constant state of change. ‘That which is’, the substance and essence of life, is akin to the energy of love. Moreover, there is a kind of parent-child relationship between Non-duality and duality, the Creator and the created, so there is a kind of personalized loving-care by ‘the Father’ for each created ‘Son’. Genuine appeals to Divinity for assistance are heard and answered with love when conditions are favorable. Near-death-experiencers encounter not only a loving God, but loving and supportive angelic beings as well.  

Pain, suffering and evil are real to an individual experiencing it, but this ‘negativity’ is not a permanent reality. It exists temporarily as dualistic experience – for as long as, and to the extent that such dualistic perspective prevails. The paradoxical freewill of each finite being determines its proximity to the Non-dualistic perspective, which corresponds to its proximity to love and happiness. The closer one is to the Non-dual perspective (moving away from the dualistic perspective), the greater the amount of happiness experienced. The farther one is from the Non-dual perspective (moving towards the dualistic perspective), the greater the amount of suffering experienced. Evil then is not the presence of something real, but rather an absence or distance from the Non-dual perspective. Evil is the suffering from the negativity involved in the dualistic perspective striving to keep its separate ego alive.

An enlightened sage knows the Non-dual perspective to exist in fullness in all perspectives, in all states of being and awareness, enlightened as well as unenlightened. To be clear, it is never the sage that is enlightened; it is the omnipresent and permanent state of Non-duality within him that is enlightened. A sage’s ego, privy to this knowledge of its relationship to Non-duality, realizing its origin and permanent abidance in and as the Self, nevertheless continues to function as an ego, and may even continue to progress in awareness. A sage may ascend the latter of enlightenment in this way by incrementally dismantling or de-energizing the dualistic perspective, while increasing the Non-dual perspective to greater degrees. It is in this sense that a sage grows from grace to grace, replacing selfish tendencies with selfless ones, fear with love, evolving in consciousness as an individual by diminishing individuality, while never really changing at all as Non-duality Itself.

The degree to which the Non-dual perspective reigns within an individual, relative to the dualistic perspective, constitutes the degree of enlightenment. So too does the amount of selflessness relative to selfishness indicate the degree to which Non-duality’s perspective dominates that ego’s world-view. Similarly the ratio of fear to love indicates the extent to which an individual considers itself an individual or an impersonal expression of God.

‘Degrees’ or ‘levels’ of enlightenment refer only to dualistic perspectives. The Non-dual perspective never changes. It is beyond levels. It is the infinite context within which levels occur, the raw awareness aware of all levels. Pure consciousness, or the ‘witnessing mind’, is not a level. ‘Levels’ refer only to individuals because what is being measured is the content or quality of an ego’s dualistic experience: thoughts, feelings, opinions, and beliefs, and how these influence individual actions. What is being measured is the ego’s base-line experience and relationship to Non-duality, to the world at large, to others, and to one’s self.

Greater familiarity with Non-duality’s perspective (or the witnessing mind) changes an individual. It leads to a greater homogenization of experience. All experience, good or bad, becomes increasingly the same, in the sense that it is all regarded as dualistic experience. The unchanging Non-dual perspective within, which an individual remembers, re-experiences from time to time, or increasingly, and then permanently abides in, remains aloof. Suffering and bliss are not equal to an individual, but they are equal to Non-duality. The dualistic perspective, judging and condemning phenomena to be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ because it stands to lose or gain from it, is itself not judged or condemned by the Non-dual witnessing mind. The ego’s experiences are simply witnessed with a sense of aloofness, understanding, forgiveness, and unconditional love, stemming from the fact that the Non-dual perspective is permanently perfect and unaffected by what the ego experiences. The world’s great religions extol the virtues of positive mindsets and behavior because it aligns with the Non-dual perspective – which is entirely devoid of negativity.   

The enlightened are characterized by an unusual acceptance of everything because they’re essentially just witnessing whatever’s happening, including what their own egos are doing. Non-acceptance may arise, but the Non-dual perspective within is able to trump that non-acceptance by just watching it, by watching whatever happens and accepting it. Witnessing and accepting non-acceptance in this way de-energizes it and transforms it into acceptance. The more the witnessing mind is prevalent, the greater the amount of acceptance there is. Attempts to reproduce this acceptance thwart it because the presence of ego-directed mind is the absence of the witnessing mind. The Non-dual perspective does not do anything except witness.

It is in this sense that the enlightened act without attachment to phenomena because they are essentially just watching everything play out. They watch their own thoughts and actions as the impersonal consciousness or witness, not as the personal ‘experiencer’ or doer. The degree to which this witnessing mind prevails in an individual constitutes the degree of enlightenment.

The enlightened continue to live their life as individuals, but progress and work through karma more willingly and happily than most because they can remain more aloof about the entire process; for the witnessing mind gives them a sense of distance from the whole process, and constantly reminds them that the Non-dual perspective is always perfect and never affected by the dualistic experience that’s being witnessed.    

The witnessing mind is always aware, independently of what the ego may be experiencing at any given time. Pure ‘impersonal’ consciousness never stops being aware. It exists before, during and after an individual’s life. It is always watching, whether it’s in the background or foreground of an individual’s experience – although the witnessing mind, itself, is not an ‘experience’. It is the default Reality, the Experiencer, a ceaseless ‘watching-ness’ without-a-subject-and-without-an-object, continually arising out of the Void forever.

People can train themselves through meditation and contemplation to focus on the witnessing mind. It is easier to see when the mind is turned inwards, focused on awareness itself or the source of awareness, rather than turned outwards, focused on phenomenal experience. With practice, the witnessing mind can be found and consciously sustained. In time, if the practice matures, the witnessing can occur naturally, arising spontaneously, and then more frequently, and then sustained automatically for longer periods of time, until eventually, it can become a permanent condition. Personal volition is therefore necessary in the beginning. To repeat:  an individual must begin by desiring and choosing to focus on the witnessing mind, discovering what it is at first, then becoming more and more familiar with it in time. With perseverance, it can be sustained consciously for longer durations, and then by integrating it into one’s daily life persistently, it can begin to activate involuntarily, becoming, in the end, an automatic, permanent, non-volitional state of mind. At that point, full enlightenment is said to occur.

Before full enlightenment occurs, an individual on his way to enlightenment will understandably prefer the witnessing mind – and the Samadhi experiences associated with it – over dualistic mind. Sages, on the other hand, do not prefer one thing over another because they are desire-less. At peace with everything, they witness all phenomena, “good” or “bad”, with perfect equanimity. They have compassion for the suffering of others, but also know that suffering promotes growth and is an integral part of the perfection of everything. Sages therefore are unconcerned about Samadhi or enlightenment, their own or anybody else’s, because they know that the witnessing mind is the antecedent of everything and that everything is enlightenment and thus sanctified.

The extent to which a person is desire-less and the witnessing mind dominant is never in a person’s control. The permanent condition of enlightenment at the core of all life and experience never ceases to shine. It never stops witnessing. It only becomes a permanent “reality” or “experience” within an individual when that which obscures it, i.e. an individual’s thoughts, are eradicated. But the cessation of thoughts, “thinking-ness”, or dualistic mind is equally never in a person’s control. A person becomes a sage when, in the process of earnestly seeking and abiding in the witnessing mind, the thinking mind ceases functioning on its own due to an atrophy as a result of non-use. At that point, the habit of thinking-ness ceases and the witnessing mind shines forth because when the energy behind thinking-ness is depleted, impersonal witnessing is all that remains. 

When the thinking mind is surrendered, it is not the individual surrendering it. Individual freewill, an aspect of Divine will, is necessary and must assent to the process, but such a radical transformation in consciousness involves a complexity of contextual factors that are far beyond an individual’s scope of comprehension and control. When conditions for the cessation of thinking-ness are appropriate and enlightenment occurs, the witnessing mind takes over automatically – which the individual experiences as “Grace”.

The state of enlightenment is not neutral experientially, it being a profoundly positive condition. In a way, enlightenment is experientially “better than” or “preferable to” all unenlightened states. It is more powerful energetically and more peaceful experientially. But in another way, both conditions are fundamentally the same. A non-sage is not different from a sage precisely because the thinking mind is the witnessing mind; both minds constitute one substance, one essence of consciousness. The diluted form of consciousness that is the thinking mind does not constitute an alteration or diminution of the fundamental essence of witnessing mind (or pure awareness) from which it derives. Thinking mind is simply the witnessing mind unaware of itself. Thinking mind is unaware of itself because of its preoccupation with the phenomena of subject/object-based experience; it is focused on content.

Enlightenment occurs when the witnessing mind sees what it is directly, independently of experiential content. This enlightened condition is witnessed by the impersonal condition of “seeing-ness” itself, not the individual. The Self becomes self-evident to Its Self. The Self witnesses Its Self as pure witnessing, prior to dualistic experiential phenomena.

When this impersonal condition occurs “within” an individual, the ego interprets it as an “experience” with correlating thoughts and concepts to understand it. There are as many interpretations of this enlightened condition as there are people. If the condition is experienced deeply enough though, the ego will realize that what it once thought was its own separate consciousness is not really its own, nor truly separate. The ego sees that its consciousness is impersonal. Dualistic thinking and experience may continue but with the understanding that it is ultimately Non-dualistic in nature. The thinking mind is revealed to be the witnessing mind. Indeed all “mind” is revealed to be “Mind”.

A sage helps others to become enlightened then, knowing that the unenlightened are already Enlightenment Itself at their core, so when they help others, they do so with the understanding that all thinking minds are already the witnessing mind. They know that the state of un-enlightenment is “okay”, and even more than that, “perfect” because it is known to be Non-duality’s un-enlightenment and therefore divinely sanctioned.

Sages therefore assist the unenlightened to see the truth about enlightenment, not out of a sense of necessity, or with the intention to eliminate an “imperfect” or “unnatural” state of being, but out of compassion to alleviate suffering. Sages help remove ignorance out of love and compassion for the temporary suffering of others. They help like a father does a child who is irrationally afraid of the dark, not because such darkness poses any real danger to the child, and not because the child’s fear causes any real damage, but because the child’s fear is unpleasantly real to that child in the moment. The sage understands that suffering is experientially “real” to that which is suffering it, so they help others to realize their true nature because such knowledge constitutes an absence of suffering and a Presence of permanent peace. Sages dispel the ignorance which causes fear by removing the ignorance of Non-duality – the ignorance which perpetuates the irrational fears inherent within the dualistic perspective. Sages alleviate suffering then by revealing the ignorance-dispelling Truth.

A sage speaks the truth then precisely because it is true. Omnipresent Enlightenment is a fact. It is Absolutely True. It is not relative. It is true for everyone and everything, always. Sages are that Truth, in realization. So when they reveal the Truth, they merely reveal themselves, or rather, their “Self”.  

The removal of ignorance upon Enlightenment is not the removal of the individual’s ignorance; it is the removal of Non-duality’s ignorance within that individual – which is paradoxically not really ignorant at all because of its at-oneness with Non-duality. Non-duality at the highest level never stops being aware of Its Self. In creating a dualistic perspective, Non-duality simply superimposes upon its omniscience an ignorance which is temporarily unaware of Its Self – due to a narrowed focus on duality.

When enlightenment occurs within an individual then, what really happens is, Non-duality dissolves its ignorance into its omniscience. Non-duality reveals to its ignorance how its omniscience is the antecedent witness of all perspectives. The Self shows its “self” how it is the “Self”. Non-duality reveals how duality is Non-duality, how finitude is infinite, how the individual is God.

The most interesting thing about Non-duality’s created ignorance is that it is made to believe its ignorance is its own. Although omniscient, it is made to be ignorant of its Self, ignorant of the unalterable fact of its permanent omniscience. In other words, it is made to be cognizant only of its own private, limited perspective. So while such created ignorance is simultaneously being experienced by omniscience, the ignorance is made to be completely unaware of it.

In creating such ignorance, Non-duality has accomplished the impossible. It has created a reality paradoxically separate from itself, a subjectivity that is unaware of itself. It has created a separate reality that is experienced by that separate reality alone.

The truth of this paradox, at the heart of Non-dual philosophy, can be better understood by looking at the following contradictions – where each statement is equally true: there is separation/there is no separation; there is ignorance/there is no ignorance. Granted, it is impossible logically for each statement to be true simultaneously. However, they are true. Failure to see their truthfulness lies not in the inaccuracy of any of the statements themselves, but rather in the system of logic denying their possibility.

But how, one might ask, is it possible for an ignorance which is simultaneously omniscient to experience itself ignorantly? Addressing this question in greater detail is instructive.

Ignorance is ignorant in two ways: one, because it is temporarily unaware of its omniscience; and two, because it believes its ignorant perspective to be its own; it takes ownership. For these two reasons, the unenlightened consider “their” limited subjectivity to be independently real and exclusively their own.

It is for this basic reason that the unenlightened consider themselves to be inferior to God (or “less than” the infinite totality) – and understandably so, given the limited awareness available to them. Ironically, however, such an inferiority complex leads to a sense of superiority because it allows them to consider their limitation, their isolation from everything, a special status, allowing them to reign supreme over a private little kingdom of their own. Ignorance and inferiority then become the basis for a narcissistic superiority, stemming from the possession of a seemingly autonomous subjectivity, independent of God. Surely a finite being separate from infinity must be great indeed to accomplish such a feat. Having such a finite existence then, a limited subjectivity of “one’s own”, to witness and experience in isolation, coupled with the freewill to control it, becomes the legitimizing proof of the ego’s existence, which becomes a kind of “god” in its own right. As the ignorance crystalizes, there may even be a denial of the Creator Itself.   

The most interesting thing about this process is that the ego’s “special status” of being finite or separate from God is not created by the individual itself, but rather by the very God it would choose to deny. The individual’s taking responsibility for its own existence is itself a function assigned to it by God. Likewise, even the ego’s sense of personal doer-ship is not “its own”. The unenlightened are created this way, to think and act precisely the way they do. Without a clue as to how or why they exist, and having no memory of having created themselves, the unenlightened are nevertheless created to presume they have no Creator. Their entire existence, which is simply switched on upon conception without their know-how, is presumed to be a product of their own making somehow. Every thought – of which they claim ownership – arises out of a void by unknown processes; yet the unenlightened continue to see their thoughts as “their” thoughts precisely because they are made to do so. They are made to come to these basic conclusions about themselves, based on the limited data of their finite awareness.  

Since the state of Non-duality is concealed from their dualistic perspective, the ignorant are made to experience their ignorant perspectives in apparent isolation. They feel it, see it, and sense it. Their experience is legitimately limited and isolated, shared by none. Seemingly without their consent, they are cast into finite existence, un-aware of Non-duality. Not only does their physicality appear separate, but their subjectivity contained within that physicality appears to be separate as well. The sum of this evidence is taken as proof that duality is “real”. Duality for them becomes the only possible reality because it is the only one for which they evidence for.   

Suffering is further evidence to the unenlightened that finite existence is not only real, because it is experienced as such, but also that it is inferior, aberrant, and some might even say sinful or evil – a sort of “imperfect” existence requiring amending, atoning, or saving. Seeing themselves as innately “flawed” or “unnatural” then, the unenlightened judge, blame and condemn their finite selves or God or Nature for creating such an imperfect existence. Since their existence as “duality” is condemned, everything else in the dualistic universe is condemned as well; for if the “self” is condemned for being separate, so too must the “other” be condemned for being equally separate.

Seeing separation and therefore imperfection everywhere, the ego suffers, and yet, ironically, the ego is designed to love itself and its life and to prefer health and happiness, in other words, to survive. Its sole task is to keep alive in a hostile world, to protect its vulnerable body from “other things” that might harm it, and thus to procure its well-being. To this end, judgment is employed to divide everything into that which is “good” for the ego and that which is “bad”. That which is good is desired and sought, and that which is bad is feared and destroyed. Because the ego requires certain favorable conditions to stay alive, the ego naturally prefers such conditions, and so learns how to discern them better and how to replicate them; this is why a knowledge of opposites is born: so individuals may manifest the favorable and eliminate the unfavorable, so that they may tip the balance of opposites in the ego’s favor. This is how and why humanity was made to evolve, by adapting intelligently to their environment.

Eventually in this process of separating the good from the bad for ‘self-betterment’, judgment itself is condemned, because with spiritual insight, judgment is seen to be a principal cause of suffering. So to increase one’s happiness then, judgment is to be eliminated. Judgment in this ways begins to condemn itself; it turns upon itself, judging itself to be the new “evil”. It is in this way that the unenlightened develop a hypocritical anti-judgmentalism, a moral relativism, and a denial of truth. The quest for self-improvement turns into a process of self-condemnation; the quest for perfection, a war on imperfection; the quest for enlightenment, the assassination of the ego.

Because the unenlightened are made in this way to see their imperfect egos as the obstacle to overcome, they condemn themselves. But by not accepting, forgiving and loving the ego, it is strengthened; its hold upon the individual is tightened, for ‘ego non-acceptance’ is the ego’s non-acceptance – because all non-acceptance comes from the ego. Trying to kill the ego is an egoistic action. Ironically, it represents the ego’s attempt to stay alive because the ego survives so long as it continues to judge and condemn – even if it is judging and condemning itself.

Enlightenment is the ego’s absence. When the ego’s judgment-function is inactive, Non-duality’s properties of acceptance, forgiveness and love naturally begin to dominate – automatically – because where the ego sees imperfection, there isn’t any in Reality. The Non-dual perspective sees only perfection because that is all there truly is. Where the ego sees and condemns illusory mistakes, Non-duality sees and loves real perfection. Where the ego experiences temporary separation and evil sin, the Self experiences a permanent oneness and an omnibenevolence that precludes even forgiveness – because from this perspective it is known unequivocally that there is nothing really to forgive.

The ego is a ‘self’-survival mechanism, a desire-to-live mechanism designed to keep the individual alive. God designs and inputs this program into finite perspectives as a means for them to survive. Egos sustain their existence through the intelligent and self-interested discernment of dualistic polarities. Seeing the ego as a natural and benign function through which God expresses Himself in duality then, is an accurate assessment of what the ego really is. Ironically, such a compassionate view of the ego is non-egoistic; this is precisely how Non-duality views it. The ego, on the other hand, views itself much more negatively.   

Although there is absolutely no evil in the ego (or in Reality in general), the ego nevertheless perceives it. Evil is real to the ego, in this sense, precisely because it perceives it, particularly such content that might represent threats to the ego’s survival. The fact that the ego perceives evil, however, does not mean that the egoistic perspective is itself evil. In other words, just because the ego can choose to condemn itself, does not mean that it can actually condemn itself in reality. The temporary perception of evil cannot alter Non-duality’s eternal perfection. Omniscient perfection trumps ignorant sin – by allowing the latter to exist temporarily but not permanently, in a paradoxical way that transcends reason. 

Interestingly enough, however, the evolving ego must begin with a condemnation of itself because it must be realized that all suffering comes from the ego, is the ego’s suffering, and that the ego is indeed the ‘sufferer’. In other words, the ego must begin by seeing itself as the enemy; covet its own destruction; realize that its absence would equal an absence of suffering.

Furthermore, the ego must begin to see that its primitive controlling and survival mechanisms are (more often than not) the principal agents undermining its implicit goal of establishing well-being. To be more effective, the ego must learn to replace selfish greed, suspicion and pride with selfless generosity, trust and love – because the latter are far more advantageous. In other words, the ego must learn that being “egotistical” is dangerous.  

It is at this stage that the ego tries to become a humble ‘do-gooder’ out of self-interest because it pays to do so; benevolence is more profitable. The motivation is still egoistic though, for the ego still desires something out of it, namely the survival, happiness and success that result. Thus the ego begins to desire selfishly to be selfless, desiring to be the least, the most loving, so that it can be the greatest individual; and when such aims are seemingly accomplished, the ego becomes hypocritically proud of its “humility” and “saintliness”.

The security and happiness begotten from this kind of self-interested benevolence is short-lived, for as long as the individual’s primary concern is for personal gain, suffering will result, for desire itself, the emotion of it, is suffering; experientially, it is inherently troubling. Moreover, desires are insatiable, and frustrated desires are limitless. Plus, desire leads to anger when that which is desired is denied; and there remains a hatred for that which is undesirable, a tacit animosity towards the “not-good”. All of this negativity increases suffering further by making the individual feel guilty and ashamed for harboring such thoughts. This cycle solidifies the schism between the polar opposites of “good” and “bad”, and thus a more pronounced sense of duality results; and with that, more judgment, more condemnation, more guilt and more suffering. Elimination of the “bad” is a never-ending, futile process. Antagonisms to the ego can never be eliminated, and thus the attempt to do so, the attempt to eliminate one half of the good/bad polarity, constitutes an impossibility – and hence an endless torture.

Resistance or negation of the bad leads to suffering because it is a denial of the truth of reality’s perfection. Discernment of difference, judgment, preference and condemnation are the biblical knowledge of good and evil constituting man’s fall from Non-dualistic Grace. Dualistic perception itself is the original sin, reenacted every day with each and every condemnation and non-acceptance of reality. Dualistic perception is in error because it does not see Non-duality’s perfection.

Unconditional acceptance, forgiveness and love eliminate suffering because they de-energize the dualistic perspective. Having no preferentiality, no desire to change things to suit the ego’s wishes is synonymous with love because it embraces Reality, the way it is. Desire-less-ness reflects Non-duality’s perfection and love; for if reality is always perfect as is, there is no reason to desire to change it. Accepting and embracing duality, then, is the only way to transcend it. Resisting duality only strengthens and perpetuates it.  

Habitual unconditional love and acceptance for its own sake (not for personal gain) invites Non-duality’s perspective to supplant the dualistic one. Transitioning from the dualistic to Non-dualistic perspective begins when an individual actively and consistently chooses a positive and loving mindset, which becomes increasingly dominant, automatic and impersonal in nature – until the individual’s freewill is dissolved into Divine will. When this happens, it becomes evident that individual freewill is always Divine will, synonymously. It is only after Enlightenment, though, that this paradoxical truth is fully understood.   

One’s level of happiness increases in proportion to the extent that Non-duality’s perspective reigns. Love and acceptance feel good experientially. They attract effortlessly all the survival, synchronicity and happiness the ego strives for selfishly, but in vain. And love and acceptance lead to Samadhi, raw experiences of Non-duality Itself, which can eventually lead to a permanent abidance in the Non-dual witnessing mind, which constitutes the pinnacle of human happiness.  

Transitioning from the dualistic to the Non-dualistic perspective, then, is a natural process that, from a higher perspective, is completely orchestrated by God, and from a lower perspective, evolves as a consequence of an individual’s choice and effort, his assent to the process and earnest determination to see it through.

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So until God makes His Non-dual Perspective dominant within the individual, when the individual is adequately prepared for it, He will continue to make the ego dominant. He will sustain the ego’s dualistic perspective. He will keep the unenlightened unenlightened. He will continue to make them judge and condemn themselves and the world, making them feel sinful and guilty. He will continue to make them believe that they must purify themselves in order to attain enlightenment; that they must transcend themselves in order to reunite with the Father. He will continue to make them strive for enlightenment in this way by striving to eradicate their own humanity, by striving to eradicate their own strivingness.

Thus God will continue to make them believe that their subjectivity is isolated and exclusively their own, that their individuality constitutes an actual separation from Him. And He will continue to make them believe that such a state of being is their own fault, that their separation is a result of their own wrong doing, a consequence of their own corrupt natures.

And He will continue to make them believe that their separation must be undone, and by themselves alone, through their own efforts, by implementing a righteous freewill, and by aligning this stainless freewill with the highest ideals of perfection so that they may be good enough to be included in Non-duality’s oneness; so that they may return to the pure source of God’s kingdom from which their bad behavior had them banished from in the first place; so that they may be pure enough to receive the Father’s forgiveness, love and divine perspective.

By injecting these basic assumptions and drives into humanity, God compels the unenlightened to seek for in vain that which they already are. The quest for enlightenment is vain, not because the individual may fail to reach the goal, but because the individual is already the goal. The goal is already one’s True Nature. The attainment of the goal is inevitable, for it has already occurred, because all there is and can ever be is enlightenment.

The quest to purify oneself is therefore futile and counter-productive because it inaccurately presupposes one’s initial impurity; it inaccurately presupposes one’s initial unenlightenment; it assumes falsely that one’s individuality is not already Non-duality.

Moreover the endeavor itself, the struggle to be perfect, activates the judgmental and preferential mindset which only strengthens and solidifies the dualistic perspective.

The way to transcend duality therefore is not to eradicate it, nor is it to purify it, but to love and accept it unconditionally, by seeing the Non-duality already within it, by seeing the infinite Context of Goodness within which duality always exists.

The individual therefore need only know one thing: that there is absolutely nothing one need do. Everything is Perfect. All around one, within one’s very own consciousness, everywhere is always Non-duality. Period. The end.

And whether or not the individual knows this Fact is irrelevant, for it does not change the Fact. The ignorant perspective although seemingly isolated, is not isolated. Non-duality can see what the individual sees, secretly, without the individual’s knowledge of it.

Reality in this sense is Non-duality at all times, under all circumstances, and that is the final Truth, forever. The individual’s very own ignorance of this Fact is sanctioned, and is actually a necessary part of the perfection of all things.

The desire to transcend ignorance is equally a part of the perfection of all things. The search for enlightenment is enlightenment and is absolutely perfect in this sense. The drive for perfection is perfection, for it is Non-duality already. Every progressive step towards an awareness of Non-duality is already being Witnessed by That fully realized Non-duality.

Accepting everything as perfect therefore means to do absolutely nothing. It means to let whatever happens happen, as if one could not be bothered with it. It means accepting one’s thoughts, feelings and desires at all times, including one’s inability to accept, by just letting all experience go the way it will go, as if one were too ill to bother to change it, as if one were too indifferent to care about the outcome or how one’s personality handles the outcome.

Acceptance therefore means to accept the ego’s innocent and benign, yet futile quest for things, including enlightenment itself. It means accepting the ego and its drive to be better, happy, loving, and at-one with God; and to be accepting of one’s own guilt and self-condemnation when one fails to live up to these expectations; and conversely it means to accept the pride one may feel when these expectations are exceeded. Acceptance is not wanting to change the ego’s desire to change things.

Acceptance means having no desire to change anything at all. Desire may still arise, but with radical acceptance there is no longer a desire to change the desire. Whatever happens is simply allowed. Everything is allowed to be What It Is. All experience is experienced non-resistantly. One’s life and karma, no matter what that entails, are embraced and lived out willingly. Allowing desire to happen in this way de-energizes desire, diminishing its potency, expediting its departure, and increasing the likelihood of more radical acceptance.

Cultivating acceptance in this sense is to accept non-acceptance so deeply that one begins to see the perfection in everything, including non-acceptance.

This is why the enlightened, when they first become enlightened, realize that they have always been enlightened, and that everything is always only enlightenment. For not only do they see how their mind had always been Mind the whole time, they also realize how all their past non-acceptance of That Which Is was in fact That Which Is during those moments in time. All their egoic involvement, striving and suffering in the past was the very Substance of God the whole time. Knowing this the enlightened see how everything is always only That Which Is. They see how everything is always the very Substance of Non-duality and therefore Perfect.

Radical acceptance therefore means accepting that one’s individuality is not just one’s own. It means to accept that one’s thoughts, feelings, and willingness to do things are never really one’s own, but rather Non-duality’s as well.

One of the highest forms of acceptance then is to see how acceptance itself could never be in the individual’s control. Like all things, an individual’s acceptance or non-acceptance is predetermined by God alone, and is therefore God’s Acceptance.

Knowing this Truth is the Radical Understanding which brings about Acceptance, but controlling this Radical Understanding is equally not in the individual’s control. Like all things the Radical Understanding of one’s True Nature which engenders Acceptance comes and goes by the Will of God alone. Impersonal Mind and Acceptance rises and falls as only It wills.

Therefore, in the final analysis, all one can do is try one’s best, to do one’s best at all times, according to what one knows and feels in one’s heart at any given time to be the highest Good, the highest Right, and the highest Truth.

Being an expression of Goodness in this sense is the highest path, for it represents a channeling of God’s omnibenevolent Will and Perspective. Being Good for its own sake, without thinking of personal rewards, is to be an expression of Non-duality’s Perspective because when it is done correctly, it is done with the impersonal Mind. One indeed becomes the impersonal Mind, for the practice of goodness for goodness’ sake is not simply doing good, but becoming Goodness itself. It is to make goodness an integral part of one’s being, so much so that goodness is radiated out of oneself automatically, unself-consciously, habitually, as if one had no other choice but to be good, as if one could be no other way. Striving to be better in this way, in this selfless, impersonal way – without attachment to the fruits of one’s actions – is to be an open conduit through which Non-duality’s Perspective can spread Its life-giving omnibenevolence to duality.

Sages in this respect channel God’s Love to His Children, Who are no different than Himself. In this way sages act to uplift all of humanity, to assist in Creation’s evolution by spreading the Life-giving Love inherent within the Non-dual Perspective.

A sage’s duty, therefore, his dharma so to speak, is to be a constructive force in the evolution of dualistic life, to be an instrument through which Non-duality’s Perspective of Truth, Love and Life can expand in consciousness throughout the dualistic creation, so that duality as a whole may awaken and evolve to a greater understanding and awareness of its innate Non-duality. By embodying Non-duality’s Perspective in this way sages help counterbalance the suffering, negativity and evil perceived and experienced within the dualistic perspective.

The enlightened help all life in this sense by propagating the Truth which is eternal Life. For Non-duality is the Reality That Lives eternally. Eternal Life is True because it is Real.

Out of love and compassion, therefore, sages help alleviate dualistic suffering by promoting an understanding of one’s True Nature, the knowledge of which brings Peace.

Sages communicate this Truth to all but only in accordance with each person’s capacity to understand it. They help all life evolve in this sense by giving to each what they need, by providing only the level specific information an individual requires to take the next immediate step towards a greater awareness of Non-duality. In this way sages help others climb the ladder of understanding slowly and incrementally, helping them bit by bit to remove the ignorance of their True Nature: the awareness of which brings peace and joy; the ignorance of which brings sin and suffering.

Out of love and compassion for the suffering of others, therefore, sages uplift all by giving to each specifically what they need in order to advance to the next level of awareness, understanding, love, integrity, and peace. If this means holding back higher levels of knowledge beyond an individual’s capacity to comprehend, then a sage does exactly just that; he holds back such knowledge, though it be a higher level of Truth. For sages know that when individuals are given too much, or are given something when not ready, or not hungry enough to receive it, the knowledge is rejected or improperly digested, and thereby wasted. Providing such knowledge in the wrong context like this is impractical, and sages are nothing if not practical. Knowing how this kind of untimely instruction can lead to confusion, disillusionment, and retarded progress, sages employ strategic means to provide only such knowledge an individual can digest at any given time. In this way sages intuitively provide the most appropriate, critical point measure to produce the most significant, positive, and sustaining results. A true sage therefore gives to each according to their need; and it is only in this strategic and altruistic way that sages help all life advance positively in the right direction.

And the right direction is always Love, for Non-duality’s Perspective is Self-evidently omnibenevolent. A sage therefore inspires others to fall in love with Love, to be as loving as one can for its own sake, to assist all life at all times in all capacities, great or small, as an expression of love. For indeed Life is the expression of God’s Love. Assisting Life therefore is Love.

Sages inspire others to express Non-duality’s Perspective in this way, in this all-inclusive way, with the altruistic intention of raising humanity’s collective level of consciousness: so that in raising the level of the sea, all boats may rise. In this way sages alleviate the ignorant’s suffering by propagating the Joy that comes from Right Intention and the Peace that comes from Right Understanding.

This is why sages encourage others to be Good: so that all life may access the boundless happiness and love couched within the Non-dual Perspective.

This is also why sages encourage others to be Truthful, for when the Truth is told one honors That Which Is Real: Non-duality. Being Truthful then is to represent Non-duality’s Perspective.

Sages encourage others to take the straight and narrow path in this sense by pointing out the positive benefits in doing so. They encourage others to be Good and Truthful, or Righteous, by demonstrating how it leads to greater Life.

Through verbal instruction and through their living example sages inspire others to be the best that they can be, by igniting their willingness to try, by emboldening them to persist, and by giving them the hope and courage to succeed.

Sages inspire others to seek Righteousness ardently in this way, knowing that the amount of effort one puts forth is always commensurate with the amount of effort God Wills into one’s very being. For sages know that the stronger and more determined one’s will for Righteousness is, the stronger and more determined it was always meant to be, for God so predetermined it that way. Indeed God Wills an individual’s will to be exactly what it is at all times. Everything an individual does is always in concert with Non-duality’s omnipotent Will.

All anyone can ever do therefore is try one’s best. In fact this is what everyone is always doing by default, whether they know it or not. It may not appear so, but everyone is always doing their best, for if one could do better, they would necessarily; but because they are no better or worse than what they are, they have no choice but to express themselves in precisely the way that they do. If one could actually be better therefore they would necessarily, for they would be that better person; but because they are not, because they are who and what they are, they cannot but express themselves in exactly the way that they do; for what they are is always synonymous with what they are capable of and what they do.

So if everyone has no choice but to be their best, and in this sense express exactly what they are at all times, one need only continue trying: without caring about the results. It is in this sense that the enlightened advocate an ardent struggle for Righteousness: without an eye to the past, without a concern for the future, and without worrying if one’s best is good enough; for it is good enough. Sages know that one’s best is always good enough, for it always represents the best that one can do at any given time.

The unenlightened, though they know it not, are trying their best at all times, but their best is never good enough for them. Or else it is too good, inflaming their pride, then rebounding back to shame and guilt as that pride is inevitably recognized and condemned. The result of their efforts rarely lives up to their expectations in this sense, for their efforts are always measured, counted, judged and condemned, or else exalted and then re-condemned. It is because of this that the unenlightened oscillate perpetually between pride and guilt, and find it difficult to forgive themselves and others, for they are unable to shut off the judgmental mind which prefers and condemns.

The enlightened on the other hand forgive easily. They forgive unconditionally even before a sin is transgressed, for the enlightened do not judge sin to begin with. By not judging sin in this way the enlightened have no reason to forgive, for they do not see anything worth forgiving.

It is not they cannot see what others consider to be sin. Because they do. Sages indeed see all manner of sin, evil, selfishness, and non-integrity, perhaps knowing what it looks like better than most. But their vision of sin is non-judgmental. What they see at all times rather is love and perfection, even in the midst of sin. They see everything always unfolding directly out of God’s omnipresent omnibenevolent Being, without ever leaving that Being. And they see everything as a direct product of God’s omnipotent Will. They see everything changing form at God’s Command, and within God’s infinite Context of changeless Perfection. And thus everything they see is always only God and therefore divinely sanctioned and perfect.

Sages know therefore that God wills everything to be exactly the way it is, that Reality could be no other way than what it is. In other words they know that God determines everything, including people’s behavior.

So while sages can and do see sin, their understanding of God’s omnipotence casts sin in a different light for them; for a deep certainty that all sin is predetermined by God preemptively trumps all potential judgment of that sin. Sages know that humanity’s predetermined ignorance equals their innate innocence. They know that the ignorant, not knowing what they do, know of no other way of being, and are therefore innocent because their ignorance is not in their control. They know that an individual’s ignorance is not his own, but rather given him by God. They know that humanity’s ignorance is God’s, and is God.

So when sages advocate Righteousness, they do so with an unconditional pre-forgiveness of all ignorance and sin, for they know the Truth: they know that humanity’s evil is intrinsically innocent, divinely sanctioned, and Substantially at-one with Non-duality.

The unenlightened on the other hand do not know this Truth, for they are made to be ignorant of it. And so they advocate righteousness from a perspective of ignorance.

They preach goodness with an antipathy, fear and condemnation toward evil. Evil in their estimation is not a part of God. Evil constitutes that which is separate from God.

By conceiving of evil as separate from God in this way, the unenlightened solidify the dualistic perspective by reifying a dualistic conception of reality. By imagining two separate, independent realities, by separating evil and God conceptually in their minds, the unenlightened deepen their dualistic perception.

God’s goodness is conceived of as being the only reality, while evil, God’s polar opposite, is consigned to an unreality. But by making evil an unreality separate from God’s reality in this way, the unenlightened nevertheless create a dualism; for an unreality separate from God is still a ‘something’, an existence of some sort which is distinct from God.

Rather than being at-one with everything equally, as Non-duality should be, by trumping and absolving everything – including evil – into Its Homogeneous Unity, the God they conceive of banishes evil to a distinct realm outside of God. The God they imagine therefore is dualistic, for He is seen to exist apart from evil. By separating God and evil in this way, by exiling evil from God’s omnipresence, the unenlightened conceive of an existence apart from God, and to that extent self-existing, and thus equal to God.

The enlightened and unenlightened’s struggle for goodness therefore may appear the same, but they are not the same. They are different. They pursue righteousness in different ways and for different reasons.

The biggest difference is that the unenlightened pursue righteousness for a reason, for a purpose. They strive to be good to get something by it. They are not being good for its own sake. They strive to be good to get something from it, namely enlightenment. They strive to remove the evil they think is keeping them apart from God. They strive to be good enough for God so to speak, so that they may rejoin Him in oneness, so that they may be good enough to be at-one with His omnibenevolence. Indeed the unenlightened presume themselves to be evil, for they have judged and condemned themselves as such; and so they consider themselves banished from heaven, banished from Divine Subjectivity, and to that extent separated from God.

The unenlightened are indeed unenlightened in this sense because they do not know that they are God. They do not understand how an impossibility, a contradiction, can represent the Truth about themselves. Their rational minds do not comprehend the Truth because the Truth is incomprehensible to that rational mind. The rational mind is unable to comprehend how evil is both evil and Good simultaneously, how ignorance is both ignorant and omniscient simultaneously, how individuality is both individualistic and Non-dualistic simultaneously. Because the rational mind cannot apperceive this Truth, the unenlightened, who are ruled by the rational mind, are unable to understand how unenlightenment and enlightenment are One, how duality and Non-duality are One, how they are one another paradoxically. Such non-rational Truth is unapparent to the rational mind.

The unenlightened therefore come to the rational conclusion that duality can only exist if Non-duality does not, and vice versa that Non-duality can only exist if duality does not. In other words their conceptions about duality and Non-duality are straightjacketed by the limitations of dualistic reasoning, by the confining parameters of logic.

Logic dictates that duality and Non-duality represent a paradox, an impossibility, a contradiction, for they signify mutually exclusive realities whereby the presence of one automatically cancels out the other. It stands to reason therefore that only one of the two may be real. In other words if duality is real, Non-duality cannot be; and if Non-duality is real, duality cannot be. Duality’s ignorance in this sense can only be real if it constitutes a negation of Non-duality’s omniscience.

In other words the unenlightened’s conception of duality’s ignorance is such that they think it must necessarily trump and destroy Non-duality’s omniscience if it is to exist at all. For ignorance by its very definition must necessarily not be omniscient; its limited awareness must be confined to those limitations, confined to those parameters representing a limited ‘self’. Duality’s ignorance then, according to that ignorance, according to that rationally conditioned mentality, must either be the exclusive property of that ignorance, or else not really ignorant at all.

It is in this way that a rationally conditioned mentality comes to see itself as a self, as a dualistic entity, as a dualistic identity and ignorance having exclusive ownership of its own ignorant perspective.

This ignorance then, this rationally conditioned mentality, can only conceive of that which is rational, and a result of this limitation, it can only experience that which is rational; for indeed it is always one’s conceptions, one’s a priori mental constructs which predetermine one’s experience, convictions, unconscious beliefs, thoughts, feelings and perceptions of the world.

The unenlightened therefore seek to transcend this rationally conditioned mentality, this ignorance, which they conclude to be exclusively their own, and council others to seek this goal as well, because they see it as an object worth attaining. In other words they see it as an object, a superior state of being or subjectivity distinctly Other than their own. For in their estimation they are still a finite subject, separated from the divine Object they seek.

In other words the unenlightened identify with their ignorance and imagine omniscience to be something distinct from, and incompatible with that ignorance. They conceive of the finite and infinite perspectives as being two mutually exclusive realities.

Some glimpse Non-duality in deep and prolonged episodes of samadhi, but the unenlightened remain unenlightened so long as they persist in identifying with the dualistic perspective, so long as the egoic perspective continues to dominate the interpretation of that samadhic experience. The unenlightened remain unenlightened in this sense because the experience of Non-duality is interpreted to be something ‘Other’ than what the individuality is interpreted to be. The finite mind persists in seeing itself as different from the infinite Mind it momentarily sees its origination and at-oneness with. In other words the individual fails to see deeply enough how mind and Mind are permanently One. That which witnesses samadhi is still the finite self, which they persist in identifying with unconsciously, rather than That samadhi Itself. In other words a full and complete transfer of identification with That has not yet occurred. Samadhi is still seen as an infinite Subject in contradistinction with the finite subject, themselves, doing the witnessing. God and the individual are still interpreted to be two fundamentally distinct realities.

Some begin identifying with That samadhic experience, and even speak from the Divine Perspective Itself, for indeed samadhi is a Divine Perspective, but the unenlightened remain unenlightened so long as they continue to conceive of samadhi as being more real than, or superior to non-samadhic experience, so long as Mind and mind are considered to be two fundamentally distinct and separate subjectivities.

The unenlightened remain unenlightened in this sense, even after experiencing an at-oneness with Non-duality, because they continue to conceive of their duality as being inferior to or substantially ‘other’ than Non-duality. They continue to believe their perception of duality constitutes an illusion, an unreality compared to that ultra-real samadhic apperception, for the dualistic mind within them, being dominant, remains conceptually unconvinced of its ignorance being at-one with omniscience.

It is precisely because the unenlightened think their duality is illusory, or less essential than Non-duality in this way that they consider it necessary to eradicate their perception of duality altogether; for they consider it an irrevocable barrier to a permanent attainment of their Goal.

Ironically the unenlightened sustain the dualistic perspective indefinitely in this fashion by trying to eliminate it permanently. They strive in vain to eradicate all traces of duality by accumulating as much Non-duality as they can because they continue to believe implicitly that Non-duality should trump duality in such a way that duality must disappear altogether if that Non-duality is to truly exist, if that Non-duality is to remain permanently.

But it never does. Duality continues to exist as duality, which is to say perceptually, ignorantly and separately from Non-duality, and so the unenlightened resist that perception of duality, and try to eliminate it, for they continue to believe implicitly that duality’s presence constitutes a rejection, an annihilation of Non-duality’s Presence.

The unenlightened struggle in vain to eliminate all traces of dualistic consciousness in this way because they have not yet apperceived deeply enough how their limited consciousness is neither limited nor exclusively their own, but rather unlimited and also God’s. They have not yet seen this paradoxical Truth deeply enough to get a sustaining non-rational Certainty of It.

Thus they continue to interpret the samadhic experience predominantly with the rational mind, which is to say dualistically, for they remain unable to conceive of how a perception of duality can exist simultaneously in conjunction with a perception of Non-duality, how an ignorance can be paradoxically what it is while remaining simultaneously omniscient.

In other words, even though they apperceive their at-oneness with Non-duality during those moments of samadhi – where the finite and infinite are temporarily and experientially fused – the dualistic mind inevitably gets restored after each and every episode and continues to function exactly as it did before: dominating the individual’s subjectivity with a dualistic interpretation of Non-duality.

The unenlightened remain unenlightened therefore because they have not yet apperceived deeply enough the non-rational exactitude of duality and Non-duality, the Truth of which – when recognized deeply enough – shatters the dualistic mind’s capacity to rule thereafter the individual’s conceptualization and subjectivity.

The unenlightened remain unenlightened then because they have not yet apperceived clearly enough the intrinsic at-oneness of ignorance and omniscience. They have not yet seen clearly enough how mind is Mind, how subjectivity is Subjectivity. They have not yet reached that deeper, more penetrating level of samadhi which makes the Truth of duality and Non-duality’s exactitude more permanently known within the individual’s consciousness. They have not yet apperceived this paradoxical Truth clearly enough to scatter the clouds of rational doubt preventing a more permanent non-rational Certainty of that Truth.

Thus the unenlightened who have glimpsed samadhi continue to believe that Non-duality and duality contradict each other such that the latter still seems an impossibility, an unreality, an illusion, a separate, detached, ephemeral, inferior, derivative substance paling in comparison to the Former’s obvious brilliance, superiority, antecedence and permanency. But in conceiving of duality as separate, illusory, and inferior to Non-duality in this way, the unenlightened persist in making duality into an anti-reality of sorts, an anti-existence capable of ‘existing’ in some transcendent fashion apart from Non-duality.

In other words by negating duality theoretically in their minds, by trying to oust it from Non-duality’s omnipresence, the unenlightened ironically destroy Non-duality. For by conceiving of an ousted reality separate from Non-duality, they diminish Non-duality’s ability to unite and be everything equally and homogeneously, including duality itself.

By trying to exclude duality from Non-duality then, the unenlightened ironically include it. They literally produce it by splitting duality and Non-duality apart, by making them into a duality. The act of exclusion in this sense is a process of dualistic mentality, for it is an act of separating, of disjoining that which is joined, of disuniting that which is united. Trying to exclude duality from Non-duality conceptually therefore is the very process of mind which produces that sense of duality to begin with.

It is in this way that the unenlightened ironically allow duality to trump Non-duality conceptually in their minds, by trying to do the opposite: by trying to get Non-duality to trump duality so totally that it eradicates duality altogether.

In other words by negating duality conceptually, by saying it is not real, by rejecting it, by not accepting it, by not forgiving it, by not loving it, by considering it inferior or unworthy to be included in Non-duality’s omnipresence, by consigning it an unreality separate from Non-duality, by disuniting duality from Non-duality in any way, the unenlightened split apart conceptually that which is really One.

Unenlightened vs. enlightened conceptions of Non-duality, therefore, can be summed up in the following way:

The unenlightened think Non-duality trumps duality such that Non-duality becomes the only reality, while duality disappears altogether, becoming an illusion, a non-existence. In other words they think Non-duality plus duality equals Non-duality only . . . minus duality.

Unenlightened: Non-duality + duality = Non-duality (- duality)

The unenlightened subtract duality from Non-duality in this way, in order to produce Non-duality only, but in so doing, by trying to exclude duality, by subtracting it so to speak, they try to divide something from Non-duality. They try to take the actuality of the dualistic perception away from the Non-duality which would otherwise be at-one with it.

Subtracting duality from Non-duality therefore does not equal Non-duality; rather it equals Duality; it equals a transcendent duality, an illusory anti-existence irrevocably ‘other’ than Non-duality. Denying duality therefore equals a dualistic conception of reality, producing a dualistic perception of reality.

Negating duality conceptually in this fashion then is to give it life, is to give it birth; for it is an attempt to subtract the reality of something which exists perceptually from the Non-duality which would otherwise be that perceptual reality. Dismembering duality from Non-duality then is an attempt to diminish Non-duality’s ability to be everything, including an existence which is paradoxically separate from everything. Trying to negate duality conceptually therefore only serves to create and sustain it.

The enlightened, on the contrary, think Non-duality trumps duality such that Non-duality is that duality. What this conception does is allow duality to exist as a duality, while simultaneously allowing Non-duality to exist as a Non-duality, such that Non-duality can be paradoxically at-one with that duality without erasing its duality.

In other words the enlightened think Non-duality plus duality equals Non-duality plus duality.

Enlightened: Non-duality + duality = Non-duality + duality

The enlightened therefore include duality. They incorporate duality into Non-duality, into That which can be and incorporate all, without ever negating duality’s existence as a paradoxical separation. In other words they accept duality and the perception of duality as real, and then say “Non-duality is that reality” . . . “Non-duality is that duality”.

In so doing the enlightened make a true conceptual representation of how Non-duality trumps everything paradoxically, the truth of which is verified by their equation’s mathematical equivalency; for nothing has been subtracted from existence; nothing that exists – both perceptually and actually – has been rejected by That which can truly accept everything into Its Infinite Non-duality.

By including duality and the perception of duality in this way the enlightened effectively include everything; but most significantly they include that which is paradoxically separate from that everything. They make a true oneness in this way by trumping all twoness by being all twoness.

By being duality and the perception of duality in this paradoxical way, Non-duality truly trumps it, for it incorporates rather than rejects duality’s actuality as a duality.

The act of inclusion in this sense is a process of Non-dualistic Mind, for it is an act of infinite and paradoxical Inclusion, of unconditional acceptance, of enfolding, of adding, of multiplying, of keeping intact that which is already joined, of keeping unified that which is always and paradoxically unified, of acknowledging the existence of That Which Is, both perceptually and actually. For indeed the perception of duality exists, just as Non-duality is that perceptual existence.

Incorporating duality into Non-duality conceptually therefore is the very process of Mind which mimics the paradoxical all-inclusiveness of Non-duality. Uniting mind and Mind conceptually in this fashion is to affirm the Truth that one’s individuality already Is.

Exposing oneself to accurate non-rational conceptions of Non-duality like this, reflecting upon them honestly and with good intentions, and incorporating them into one’s life and world view, all facilitate a greater understanding and awareness of Non-duality’s Mind and Perspective.

The unenlightened therefore misconceive what Non-duality is because they use predominantly dualistic concepts. Their concepts are limited because they are bound by the precepts of reason, by the logic of finitude, by the a priori constructs of time and space, which dictate that one separate finite thing cannot be another separate finite thing at the same time.

Seeing through this rationally constricted lens then, the unenlightened falsely presume Non-duality to abide by the same rules of logic as everything else does within that rationally constricted perspective. In other words they falsely presume Non-duality to be subject to the same laws of duality as duality itself is. Because of this unenlightened assumption in the primacy of dualistic law, Non-duality and duality are misconceived of as being two separate realities unable to coexist, for the presence of one is believed to negate the presence of the other.

The enlightened’s conception of Non-duality on the other hand is more accurate because it is conditioned by a deeper, more penetrating, non-rational apperception of Reality, the truth of which reveals the radical at-oneness of everything, including that which is paradoxically separate. And so when the enlightened conceive of Non-duality, they do so with a mind set free of, and unhindered by the constraints of reason. They use another kind of logic, a logic of infinity if you will, where the single dominating rule dictates that everything, no matter what it is, and no matter how impossible, must be equally and homogeneously at-one with everything else that is, such that even a paradoxical existence of separation can be at-one with that infinity equal to One.

The unenlightened on the other hand reject duality conceptually, and do so ironically with a dualistic rationality, a process which amounts to no less than duality negating itself. The unenlightened reject themselves in this way, for they consider themselves to be that duality.

The dualistic perspective comes to see itself as the enemy like this, the barrier-like subjectivity or reality preventing itself from apperceiving and abiding in That which should already be in everything and every subjectivity to begin with. It is in this way that the unenlightened come to consider themselves the very problem which needs fixing, the subjectivity which needs purifying, the reality which needs transcending, the obstruction which needs to be removed, so that a clear sight of the infinite may be attained.

For the unenlightened presume their ignorance of God is not God’s but their own, as if their subjectivity existed independently of God’s Subjectivity. They assume their finitude shuts out infinity. They assume their duality is duality only, a transcendent reality strong enough to exist irrevocably outside of and independently of Non-duality, a transcendent anti-existence, which if real, Non-duality could not negate it, paradoxically or otherwise; and so the unenlightened interpret their dualistic perspective in this way to be some sort of aberrant subjectivity existing outside of Non-duality’s Subjectivity.

It is in this sense that the unenlightened come to believe that ignorance is evil, for they believe it constitutes a transcendent isolation, a damned subjectivity banished from God’s omniscience. They add to this condemnation of ignorance by considering each instance of it to be the sole source and cause of its own condition, its own ignorance.

The enlightened on the other hand do not see the finite perspective as evil, and hence they do not see it as something which needs transcending or purifying. The enlightened are indeed enlightened because they know that mind is Mind. They know the paradoxical Truth that finitude is infinity. They know that ignorance is at-one with omniscience and therefore divinely sanctioned, innately innocent and Good.

Both minds, both perspectives, remain distinct to the enlightened, but they are united paradoxically into One. For the enlightened see how all mind is trumped by Mind, but not in a way that eradicates the reality of mind. Rather, they see how all mind can be what it is, namely separate and dualistic, while being paradoxically the Non-dualistic Mind secretly witnessing it. Sages understand in this sense how mind can be both dualistic and Non-dualistic simultaneously. They see the non-rational Truth of how finitude and infinity are one another, how the Eye is the eye always.

The enlightened therefore see how duality is duality and Non-duality simultaneously, such that duality can remain separate from Non-duality, and Non-duality can remain paradoxically at-one with duality.

Because sages apperceive this non-rational Truth deeply with the non-rational Mind, they understand how that Mind can experience ignorance ignorantly as well as omnisciently – in a way completely incomprehensible to that ignorance, but completely comprehensible to That omniscience, such that the ignorance is allowed to remain completely ignorant, and the omniscience is allowed to remain completely omniscient.

Sages know this Truth because they apperceive how a mind can be at once dualistic without ever leaving the Non-dualistic Mind Context within which all mind exists. Sages therefore see how all subjectivities can be simultaneously their own as well as Non-duality’s. They see how all eyes can have their own unique and separate branches, while remaining Rooted in the same infinite Eye, the Source and Witness of all eyes.

Sages apperceive this non-rational Truth because they have apperceived it deeply enough to shut down the rational mind obscuring that Truth. They have transcended the rational mind upholding the dualistic perspective. They have apperceived with Non-duality’s naked Eye, and therefore know that Eye to be their Own as well their own. Sages know in this sense that the omniscient Eye is the ignorant eye.

Sages understand then how the Eye is equally at-one with Everything It Sees. They see how God is the only Subject in existence witnessing the only Object in existence. They see how God’s Subjectivity is identical to His Substance, and how Mind is Matter and vice versa. Sages can see in this sense how God is everything and every subjectivity combined, and thus how God’s omniscience is truly omnipresent, such that even the experience of ignorance is paradoxically known to Him.

The enlightened see in this sense how every finite point in the universe is exactly God’s center, and how every finite perspective is ultimately His Own, such that even the experience of ignorance is experienced ignorantly by Himself alone as that very ignorance itself.

Sages know in this way that there could never be a place where God is not present, nor a subjectivity He is not privy to, not even a real subjectivity composed entirely of ignorance.

The unenlightened however are made ignorant of these facts. They are made to believe that their subjectivity is exclusively their own, existing independently and in isolation of God. They are made in this sense to believe that their ignorance and evil exist outside of God, extended out from God’s imagined source of consciousness or center of purity. The unenlightened therefore imagine themselves to be that extension, that exiled reality, separate and independent of God; they consider themselves the extension and God the hypothetical center.

The unenlightened may consider themselves attached to God in a way, but only through some sort of proxy reality capable of bridging the distance between themselves, the Creation, and God, the Creator. They envision themselves connected to God via a hypothetical cord, lever, or fulcrum, whereby God can control His creation at a distance, while remaining transcendently outside of that creation.

Rather than dwelling imminently within them, or as them, as sages understand Divinity to be, the unenlightened consider God to be something Other than what they are. They consider themselves the creation of God only, not God Himself, the Creator.

Thus the unenlightened erect another duality where there is not one; they erect a dualistic ontology of being where there is not one, this time between the Creator and the created.

The unenlightened consider themselves in this way God’s material only, not the omnipotent Mind shaping that material. They see themselves as God’s substance, the formed manifestation of the cosmos, not the causal Essence, Idea, or Mind-principal shaping that manifestation. God the Creator is seen in this sense to be exclusively Mind, and to that extent more Essential and Real, while they themselves, the creation, are seen to be less essential and illusory, the imaginary playthings of that omnipotent Mind.

Thus a complex series of dualities are superimposed conceptually upon a single false premise: that the Creator and creation are dual.

Since ignorance is unaware of how God omnipotently forms and shapes the universe, the unenlightened equate this ignorance of God’s creative process to be a non-participation in that process, or an exclusion from that process. For the unenlightened do not see, as sages do, how one’s ignorance and relative powerlessness are not really one’s own, but rather God’s. They do not see, as sages do, how one’s finite perspective and will are not really one’s own, but rather Non-duality’s. They do not see how an ignorance of one’s True Nature is at-one with that True Nature, and is being secretly and omnisciently experienced by that True Nature, without ever canceling out that ignorance’s actuality as an ignorance. In other words they do not see how duality’s evil, ignorance and powerlessness are created, experienced and determined by Non-duality Itself.

In short the unenlightened consider themselves distinct from God’s creative process because they are simply unaware of the full extent of their True Nature. They know not that Their omnipotence is secretly and paradoxically controlling their freewill; they know not that Their omniscience is secretly and paradoxically experiencing their ignorance; they know not that Their Identity is imminently at-one with their identity. In other words the unenlightened know not the full extent of Who They Really Are; they know not that all individuality is God Himself, always, temporarily pretending to be ignorant of Himself, and experiencing that temporary ignorance as the unenlightened individual.

So whether or not the individual realizes this Truth about his True Nature is irrelevant, for That True Nature is that individual’s ignorance.

The unenlightened do not know this paradoxical Truth because they are made not to. They wander around in darkness, lost and blind searching for light, not realizing that their darkness is light; that all there is is light. They seek to escape the prison-like reality of duality, not realizing that duality is already free, and already Non-duality. They struggle to end their ignorance, sin and suffering by eradicating the finite perspective they think caused it all, not realizing that the infinite perspective caused the finite perspective to begin with, and therefore is the original Cause of it all, and the original Witness of it all.

The unenlightened are nevertheless compelled to see and study duality as if it were real, as if it were a machine-like entity working in mechanical independency of God. And it is because they think it is real in this sense, or an irrevocable barrier to God, that they try to understand, control and balance it: so that they may transcend it. They pursue practical knowledge of the dualistic creation in this way, in order to transcend it, by inaccurately presupposing it is dualistic and flawed in the first place, not realizing that it is already Non-dualistic, and thus always complete and flawless.

In other words the unenlightened fail to see how everything is perfect because they fail to see how God is His Creation. The unenlightened fail to see how God is the Creator, Sustainer, Destroyer, and Experiencer of Himself alone, and how He alone Manifests His Own Actualized Body every moment continuously out of His Own Unmanifested Potentiality to do so.

The unenlightened therefore do not know the full extent of how Creation is Created. They fail to see how God’s Perfect Beingness arises perpetually, every moment, out of God’s Perfect Non-beingness, how the Manifest is birthed constantly out of the Unmanifest every second, without ever leaving that Unmanifest, without ever departing from It. In other words they fail to see how the Creator and Creation are always at-one, how they exist within each other perpetually. They fail to see in this sense how the Potential Creation and the Actual Creation are a Single Perfect Entity, how they abide within each other always, how they are United forever Non-dualistically.

And it is because of their ignorance of how Reality works, or how Creation is Created, that the unenlightened misconceive what ‘change’ means. They conceive of change in the same way they do everything, which is to say dualistically; for they believe change to be the nature and essence of duality only, and they believe changelessness to be the nature and essence of Non-duality only. In other words their conception of change and changelessness is as dualistic as all their other concepts.

Indeed the unenlightened are unenlightened precisely because of their dualistic conception of Non-duality. They believe duality and Non-duality constitute two separate mutually exclusive realities, such that the existence of one must negate the other, such that only one of the two may be Real. In short they think Non-duality can be only Non-duality; and they think duality can be only duality. In other words they consider it impossible for both to be each other simultaneously.

The unenlightened therefore do not see the paradoxical Truth that Non-duality can be both Non-duality and duality simultaneously, in a paradoxical way where both can remain exactly and impossibly what they are distinctly, while being at-one with each other homogeneously.

The unenlightened cannot conceive of this non-rational Truth with the rational mind because such a Reality constitutes an impossibility to the rational mind, much like the complex reality of the McDonald’s Golden Arches Sign constitutes an impossibility for the ant’s mind.

The enlightened on the other hand are indeed enlightened precisely because of their Non-dualistic conception of Non-duality. They believe duality and Non-duality constitute One Reality. They believe duality is real and truly separate; and they believe Non-duality is real and truly at-one with everything, including duality. In other words they know that the impossible is True. The paradox, the rational impossibility of such a Reality does not hamper the sage from apperceiving It, from knowing Its Truth, and from conceiving of it properly.

The unenlightened on the other hand can only conceive of and see that which is rationally possible. They see everything dualistically because they see the world through a dualistic lens, through a dualistic conceptuality. That Which is True cannot be seen by them because it is impossible to see such a non-rational Truth with a rationally constricted eye.

The unenlightened therefore cannot see how Non-duality is everything, including separation itself. They cannot see how Non-duality knows everything, including ignorance itself. They cannot see how change is changelessness, how motion is rest. They cannot see in this sense how all things are One, including that which is paradoxically two.

The unenlightened therefore do not see how change and changelessness are One paradoxically, how they are united Non-dualistically. They do not see how the Creation’s perpetual emergence out of, and eternal abidance within the Creator means that all Manifest change is rendered changeless insofar as it is always at-one with the Unmanifest’s changelessness. They do not see in this sense how all Manifest motion is rendered motionless insofar as it is always at-one with the Unmanifest’s rest. They do not see therefore how change and changelessness exist within each other incomprehensibly, how the Manifest and Unmanifest are one another paradoxically.

The unenlightened nevertheless look for rational and spiritual causes and effects operating independently of God’s Direct Will, not realizing that such independent operations do not exist. They fail to see how Reality really works. They fail to see how the universe is always only the product of God’s Beingness unfolding directly out of His Non-beingness, the shape and form of which is always predetermined by God’s Will alone. They fail to see how the Unmanifest Creator and Manifest Creation exist within Each Other always, the sum total of which is always Non-dualistic. They fail to see how all Created change is simply the Creator manipulating Himself, while nevertheless remaining changeless within that perpetual change.

Unaware of this Truth the unenlightened study how the universe operates, hoping that with a better understanding of its rational and esoteric causes and effects they may better predict its movements, control its direction, and channel its evolution towards desired outcomes; not realizing that their very own decision to do so, their very own desire to harness nature for self-serving and self-transcending purposes, is predetermined by God, and is God’s Own decision to alter Himself through His Manifestation, through His Creatures, whose finite wills He controls omnipotently . . . as He would control Himself.

The unenlightened’s conception of Non-duality is therefore wrong because it is dualistic. And it is dualistic because it is made to be dualistic. It is wrong in this sense because it was made to be wrong.

Although being Non-duality, the dualistic perspective is nevertheless made to experience duality. It is made to experience an ignorance of Itself, an ignorance of Its Non-duality. It is made to be limited and incomplete so that Non-duality can misconceive Itself and experience the corollary subjectivity stemming from that misconception. Non-duality creates and experiences all finite subjectivity in this way, by determining the conception or lens through which It can experience Itself in limited ways.

The unenlightened are therefore unenlightened because their concepts are made to be unenlightened. Their concepts are made to be dualistic so that God can experience a mentality conditioned by dualism.

The enlightened on the other hand are indeed enlightened because their concepts are made to be enlightened. Their concepts reflect Non-duality because they are made to reflect a Reality and a Subjectivity apperceived from the Non-dual Perspective.

And it is precisely because of this Sight from the Non-dual Perspective that sages are said to exist beyond conceptualization. Sages transcend conceptual mentality in this way, just as Non-duality does, because sages are Non-duality. Sages Identify with Non-duality. The Non-dual Mind and Perspective are none other than the sage’s Own.

Sages know unequivocally in this way, just as Non-duality knows, that all concepts, all mentalities, all perspectives, are equally at-one with Non-duality, and equally witnessed by Non-duality’s Perspective. Sages know that all reality and all mind are equally Non-duality, and equally experienced by Non-duality’s Mind. They know in this sense the paradoxical Truth that duality is both real and separate while simultaneously being at-one with That Which is Real and Non-separate.

Sages know, therefore, the Liberating Truth that everything is always only That Which Is and therefore always Perfect, including that which is paradoxically unliberated and imperfect.

And they know with the deepest possible conviction that all concepts – of Non-duality or otherwise – are equally Non-duality, and equally witnessed and produced by Non-duality. They know that everything is Non-duality, and conversely, that Non-duality is everything, including the void-like Nothingness from which the Allness arises.

Sages therefore know that Non-duality can never be fully conceived. They know that Non-duality can never be wholly comprehended, for they know that Non-duality is equally the absence of conceptualization just as It is the totality of conceptualization.

Non-duality therefore is every aspect of this discourse

More than that . . . It is That Which Existed before this discourse was born and That Which Will Exist after it dies . . . and everything else besides.