From Zero to One
To embody the non-dual view is to realize that a separate and unique identity dividing the world into subject and object is a figment of the imagination. To enter the nondual becomes an act of assuring the mutual destruction of the separate self and the world ‘out there.’ I say mutual in the sense that the world is an actor upon us just as much as we are actors in the world. Entering nondual space confirms both the agency of the world upon us as well as the flimsy basis of any notion of separation. In a relative sense, we absolutely participate in the primary delusion and ongoing attachment to the idea of identity, the idea of self. But neither self nor other truly exist in any substantive sense. Not only do we know this from biology, from the philosophical view of emptiness, but now we know this empirically when we realize what Lattanzio calls the ‘false self’ system, the ongoing centralization of a self that ‘takes it all personally.’ He adds, ‘The deconstruction of the false-self system is the only path to embodying nonduality.’
This is perhaps the most difficult aspect of non-dual reality for us to assimilate. We believe ourselves to be material. Our existence is harnessed to our physicality. But really, as we view the self from the imperturbable seat of timeless awareness, we realize any reference to self is a matter of simple practicality, a convenience for the sake of navigating materiality. I distinguish between the eternal awareness associated with this body and the impermanent nature of the body itself. While this temporally limited manifestation is my personal vehicle of existence, I also realize consciousness engages in intimate and profound relationship with everything. In fact, consciousness already is everything. Turning self into ‘nothing’ becomes our engagement with everything just as it is now. Past and future fall away.
When the illusion of being a separate identity collapses, all that’s left is a sense of a body-mind organism that functions. But there isn’t any sense of experiencing or knowing what is happening here. There is only what is happening here. Nobody is doing anything. —Tony Parsons
For practical purposes, we manage our relations in the world which contextualizes our existence. We are constantly driven to re-assert that context in myriad ways throughout life depending on our relative attachment to identity. ‘I’ is the puppet of ego. We are engaged in an ongoing accumulation of useful and necessary ornaments of identity, patterns of behavior and thought throughout life, creating ‘me.’ Some of it is rewarding. Some of it is not. Some of it is transcendent; some of it is tragic. But we continue to grasp for context because without it, we are lost. We seem to have no other choice. Context makes us ‘somebody.’ We are continuously engaged in recreating ourselves in the image of the identity we believe ourselves to be. It’s all quite convincing.
If there is no separate self, what is there? Other commentaries may refer to nothingness. Such references may be based in western philosophical tradition or to what eastern traditions refer to as emptiness. But even though we can’t say that ‘I’ truly exists, neither is there any such thing as nothingness. Transcending ego, experiencing the dissolution of self does not throw us into nothingness at all. It’s a realization of everything as One Thing, a vibrant living dynamic condition of the unending emergent multiplicity of creation. It’s the opposite of a Nietzschean void.
If there is no unique self, there is also no Other, any thing that remains separate from us. There is only an ongoing promiscuous fluid engagement with multiple materialities at wildly different scales, constantly breaking rules in a field of reciprocal influence. There is nothing fixed about any of it. Suddenly we are in relationship with all. Appearance and emptiness remain in inseparable union. Our temporal and eternal nature remain in union until death. Or, as Vajrayana would say, nondual realization is the union of the bliss of Oneness with the world of suffering.
There is only uninterrupted and indivisible union between what we mistakenly regard as two. Objects, thoughts, sensations, and perceptions are realized as both real and illusory—yes, emanating as a being, but not the essence ofBeing. To experience the unity of all things is to reveal how squishy, how imprecise our notion of identity, or self, truly is. But even more than that, we witness in all things and embody the intrinsic, vibrant aliveness of that realization. This aliveness is an expression of intrinsic potential, always renewing, always in flow, always pregnant with possibility. Things are not things at all; everything, despite superficial appearance, is embodied potential.
We may realize the empty nature of things, the intrinsic Absence of any identity within everything, what we may call its zero-nature. However, though we may arrive at an indestructible faith in the equality and union of everything, we are not granted a mandate or permission to remain passive, marinating in our private spa of realization. The call is entirely otherwise. To realize the zero-nature of phenomena is a prerequisite for acting with the empirical integrity of nonduality. Zero-nature is not merely experiencing the inherent lack of substance to material appearances, it is the platform from which the compassionate impulse arises. We are inspired. Reality inspires us; we are enveloped in a cloak of natural ease.
As the illusory nature of our identities becomes apparent, as we settle more deeply into connecting with ourselves as a hologram of earth, with a spacious and infinitely inclusive heart, we find our egos, clever as they may be, to be illusory as well. Something greater than personal gain, recognition or ‘self-actualization’ now drives us. The self-improvement project becomes something else—an unfolding entry into intrinsic nature. Having experienced the radical impermanence of our ego-identities, we gain a measure of freedom. Spiritual materialism is seen for the contrivance it is. We become fearless, even free of the fear of death. We are awakened to act for life.
Because we are of the world, precisely because materiality is real as well as illusion (which is to say duality and nonduality fully interpenetrate), we are constantly presented with opportunities to respond deliberately to the dynamics of appearance since the union of the two is integral to an ongoing embodiment of our realization. We are bound to act on behalf of the whole because we experience the world as whole. Morality and ethics apply precisely because in realizing both emptiness and the material nature of phenomena, we are given a clear choice about how to be in the world because the discrepancy between the two is so dramatic. From the view of emptiness, the roots and mechanisms of personal suffering are clearly apparent as never before. We are moved to render balance. True presence (Oneness) requires nothing less. To realize intrinsic absence within all phenomena commands us to realize presence as they arise together. We reside continuously in the paradox of separateness from and union with everything, in the intrinsic aliveness and potential of every moment. This becomes an imperative for ethical living.
Whatever moments we spend in the dualistic view, we are accepting the limitations of a relative view of time. In the nondual view, time is no longer linear. Past and future are undivided. There are no discrete ‘events.’ All events arise simultaneously. Therefore, there is no moment in which we are separate from nature, no Ground, no Path, and no Fruition. Just Being. A continuous, uninterrupted, unitary state of total inclusion, spontaneous, free, empty of any intrinsic quality or nature, connected with everything, as everything, infinitely creative, and warm. A space in which nothing need be done, or even could be done, constantly changing at high frequency.
To have an authentic experience of essence nature is to realize a unique and extraordinary embodiment that supersedes every prior version we might have known. Being is experienced as an inexhaustible naturally effervescent source of love and compassion and a vision for a new justice. We become an intrinsic comprehension of the perfection of Being with a natural impulse to generate justice, even though acting from the nondual view is to realize our view of justice may diverge from the commonplace (dualistic) definition. Our motivation is not to simply transcend suffering, but to alleviate it.
How is this possible? Because the nondual perspective attunes us acutely to the sources of suffering. Transcending human suffering is not necessarily the object of this journey. It is to realize the depth and nature of suffering and to reflect another view. Suffering does not arise from duality itself, but from failing to recognize the unity of duality and nonduality. In recognizing that unity, all acts become expressions of balance, a compulsion to seek balance because we ourselves embody balance. We are driven by a natural, visionary total comprehension and compassion for the poignant journey in which we are all captive, a total and bottomless love for and commitment to the welfare of all beings. Any distinction between one’s separate nature and an impulse to act on behalf of the welfare of all beings has been entirely extinguished.
Having realized the unitary nature of Ground (View), Path and Fruition (Conduct), the inseparability of appearance and emptiness, we are morally and ethically bound to act on behalf of all beings according to the ethic of the nondual view and the bodhisattva imperative, to become the mind of enlightenment, bodhicitta or, if you prefer, agapé or Divine Love. This becomes our meditation, to address the many ways the prevailing interpretation of phenomena wanders from those principles and generates more suffering in the world rather than less. There is no refuge to be found in ignoring material realities even if we reside in the emptiness of material nature. After all, we embody that knowing. We are rooted in it, sacralized. That is the whole point.
We are here, more so than we could ever articulate. It is that very being here that demands a fulfillment of the Path in the way we conduct ourselves in the world. Our mandate is to realize the natural guidance of Fruition extended into the (non-existent) ‘post’-meditative state of non-meditation (Conduct). We are compelled to act according to the profound entanglement and continuous change inherent to quantum reality. No longer do we inter-act with Others or Things. We explore a far wider definition of self. We enter a domain in which humans may no longer be considered the sole holders of agency in the world. In realizing an irrevocable union with the world, we also come to know ourselves within a matrix of mutual influence. According to Karen Barad’s agential realism, we intra-act with the whole, as the whole acting as itself, acknowledging and celebrating that unity. From this view, we make no distinction between short-term, parochial, or individualistic agendas commonly identified as the basis of identity politics or with a more subjective definition of justice. On a nondual level, since we are One, we seek justice not for the few or even the many, but for the One.
Spontaneous Presence 