Post by enigma on May 26, 2011 11:41:12 GMT -5
E. wrote, "As another example, the realization of oneness is the noticing that the idea of separation is actually false and was only an idea. There isn't some new oneness knowledge acquired because it's not necessary. Oneness is just a concept that points to the absence of the concept of separation. without the belief in that idea, there is no problemo."
I suspect that most people do not REALIZE oneness as much as they EXPERIENCE oneness directly. IOW, I suspect that most people who get interested in non-duality do so because they fall into a state of oneness (through drugs, meditation, despair, etc) and instantly discover that oneness is the underlying truth of existence. Their normal dualistic outlook instantly disappears and is replaced with a unified perspective. Granted, in order for this to happen, selfhood cannot be present, so there is no separate experiencer, but the event is remembered as a concrete experience, with a beginning and an end. In essence, people say, "I was here, then I disappeared, and then I was here again, and what was experienced in my absence was the most important event of my life. I want to get that back!" This is a logical but incorrect conclusion about what happened to them.
The realization that oneness is all there is, and that the one seeking oneness does not exist, and that everyday life is also oneness, usually occurs only after a lot of unsuccesful searching.
Right, which is why I tend to downplay experience of such mind states as the goal, and yet at the same time I don't mean to dismiss the direct experience as inconsequential. Folks can go on for decades trying to repeat what is seen as a personal experience of no-person without realizing that the person is what's preventing it from being experienced. The experience happened because, for whatever reason, the person seeking it was absent.