What is nonduality and why should you care?

We cannot actually define nonduality in words, particularly in English, because we are limited to the dualistic subject-object rules of language. In order for something to exist (such as a “me”), it must be dual - it must be separate from other things (such as a “you”).

The duality of language is helpful because it makes sense of things. It puts things into categories. It takes no-thing and creates things out of it. But these categories do not reflect the reality. They are like maps used to name and describe the wild terrain. The map is not the reality, but it helps us make sense of it. The mountain is not actually a “mountain.” That which we call “mountain” just is, and is not truly separate from the “ground” or the “trees” or “clouds” or “sky.” There is no real point of separation.

Duality helps us make sense of life, but as the philosophic entertainer Alan Watts once said, The greatest trick they ever played on us was convincing us things are supposed to make sense.

The problem arises when we become attached to the map, to things making sense the way we want them to, when we do not see that the map is artificial, when we take the map to be the final truth. When the dualistic map is all we see, we suffer, because our life is based on the map and not the terrain it represents.

We can use the map to help us make sense of things while also realizing there is no sense to be made. There just is. “I” am part of this unspeakable is-ness in the same way “you” are.

The act of meditation, for example, we become silent enough to feel the underlying is-ness. In doing so, we receive a refreshed viewpoint that can’t be seen from the level of the map. The expanded view puts the problems of the map into universal perspective and inevitably provides relief, because I remember that I am not just “I.” I am the whole thing.

”I” am the unspeakable is-ness. And so are “you.”

Below you’ll find a visual representation of nonduality that was originally posted on my Instagram (you can view the Instagram post here). This idea is expounded upon in my recent book, The Will to Do Nothing - link here.

We are both X and Infinity…

I do my very best in the book to provide the read with a feeling of this is-ness. The intellectual content is less important than the experiential feeling. When you feel it, there’s nothing left to say.

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