Post by dwbh1953 on Jan 15, 2009 0:39:59 GMT -5
I came across this and felt that the words are so very rich is describing what I and others have experience as non duality that I wanted to share it with the group. It as if the author got into my head and started writing.
Enjoy
Randyji
Direct Realization
Your mind is the thinking process—the process of labeling, describing, defining, separating, categorizing, and judging. It's the mental process of dividing the absolute into the relative. In the absence of your mind, which is the absence of thought, there are no separate parts to the world—it's one absolute, undivided whole. Thought does not actually separate the world into parts, it merely creates the appearance of separation. Even with the presence of thought, the world remains one undivided whole.
All experience and knowledge is relative. There is no way to experience or know the absolute. By definition the absolute is not divided into subject and object. The absolute is one. All objects of experience and knowledge are relative to a subject. The only apparent subject is your mind, the thinking process.
Your knowledge and experience of the world have no absolute reality or existence apart from your own mind. Your mind is the only tool you have to experience and know the world. Without exception, everything you know and experience is a product of your mind.
Your world is your own mind.
You can realize this quite easily in your own direct experience. Start with one simple object and then expand the realization to include everything you experience and know. Continue expanding this realization until your world, everything you experience and know, and the entire universe is known to be your own mind.
To start, any simple object will do. Take a look at your chair. Does your chair describe itself to you? Does it tell you, "I'm a chair! I have four legs, I'm made of wood, and I'm to be used for sitting." Or does your mind define, describe, and create an object called a chair? From your mind's relative point of view it is a wooden chair for sitting. But to a termite your wooden chair is a potential home and meal.
The chair you're sitting on has no absolute, independent existence or reality. In absolute terms it is not a chair—it has no absolute existence. It has relative existence as a chair simply because your mind defines, describes and creates it. Do you see this? Without your mind, the chair does not exist. The chair is your mind. There is no separation between your mind and the chair. The chair and your mind are one.
You can expand this realization to include everything and everyone you know and experience. Everything in the universe is your own mind. Your mind is the universe. The subject and the object are one. There is no separation. The universe and your mind are one absolute, undivided whole. It's all you.
Seeing this clearly, the concepts of non-duality are no longer merely a philosophy, but your own direct realization.
