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One of the states of duality is the sense that there is an I which resides inside a body, and then there is a world outside the body.
I look out through these eyes to a computer screen on which text is appearing as I type. For most practical purposes this view of me and my relationship to the outside world works. It allows me to function in the world, to interact with the world, to communicate with other people in the world.
What is really going on here? There may indeed be a computer screen in front of me, but I cannot see it as it really is. Light passes from the screen into my eyes. These light waves are then interpreted by the brain which then constructs an image which I label computer screen. Am I seeing the screen out there or is it in here, inside my brain?
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I was watching a video on the internet today. It was a talk by a man who had been involved in research into the secret of a long life. He looked at several areas of the world where the average lifespan is considerably longer than the average.
He showed slides of 102 year olds water skiing, a 97 year old heart surgeon and a 103 year old grannie. They all appeared to live happy and active lives. When he looked into why they lived longer, one thing that these people had in common was a strong social life and a religious belief. In American, there is a community of Seventh Day Adventists who spend 24 hours every week worshipping God and socialising. Research has shown that a religious faith can add about 4 years to your life.
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The human brain has evolved to do complicated things. Whenever I see a scientist pictured in front of a blackboard covered with equations, I think to myself how complicated the equations look, and what a brilliant mind the scientist must have to figure it all out.
I’ve just finished a computer program Life Manager Pro that involved hundreds of lines of computer code. My brain managed to sort out all the complex interactions involved to make the program do what it is supposed to do.
The human brain is great at complex stuff like this, but when it comes to non-duality there is a tendency to over complicate what it is all about. If you go to Non Duality Press you will find lots of books written about non-duality. If you read them all there is the danger that you mind will make non-duality into some intellectual puzzle that needs solving.
I was thinking of how to express the essence of my perspective in as few a words as possible. How do I reduce all the ideas and concepts to their essence?
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A few years ago when I was single I decided that what I needed in my life was a girlfriend. To find one I joined an internet dating site. When I was creating my profile I ticked the box that said spiritual. I regarded myself as a spiritual seeker, so it seemed right to tick the spiritual box.
When looking for suitable women to contact I looked to see if they had ticked the spiritual box. I met several of them. It was then that I realised just how vague the word spiritual is. One woman interpreted spiritual as being to do with mediums and psychics. To another to be spiritual meant being a christian. To another spirituality was Transcendental Meditation.
One lady asked if I had ever seen a fairy. When I answered no, she declared that I could not possibly be spiritual if I had not at least seen a fairy!
Now I do not give myself the label of spirituality.
Spiritual implies duality. There is the:
- Sacred and the secular
- Spiritual and profane
- Spiritual and not spiritual
- Devotee and non-devotee
My non-dual perspective does not make me spiritual. If I did use that word then I would say that there is nothing that is not spiritual. Equally I could say nothing is spiritual. Everything just is as it is.
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I saw this interview with a lady who claimed to have had a spiritual awakening. During her awakening Princes Diana came to her as an ambassador of the dead to reveal that we survive after death.
One inescapable truths is that everything is impermanent.
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This weekend I went to see the film Final Destination. It was an entertaining but gory film with lots of people meeting their death in horrible ways. When I looked at the screen the images were all blurry, but when I put on the special glasses I had been given, my brain was fooled into thinking that I was watching everything in 3D. This meant that various object came out of the screen and appeared to be heading straight towards me so that I too would share the fate of the characters on the screen as their heads came away from their bodies.
The 3D technology is fascinating. One day I will be able to interact wityh the 3D images, have conversations with holographic characters in a virtual reality world, get to hold a virtual gun to shoot virtual people in the ultimate video game.
Imagine that you are standing in a room next to me and that we are both looking at a picture. We may believe that we are sharing the same experience of looking at a work of art. In fact you and I are having different experiences. We see the picture from different angles. I may judge the picture to be a great piece of modern art. You may think that it is rubbish and not worth the price of the canvas that it is painted on.
You live in a world that you call reality. In this world are sounds, sights, smells, thoughts and feelings. It certainly looks real, but this world is in fact constructed by your brain.
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Sometimes when I talk about non-duality to people the subject of choice comes up. Someone may say:
“If there is no self, then there is no self to choose, so there is no such thing as choice.”
Then I find myself reading the menu in a restaurant. There are 2 main courses that I fancy – salmon with parsnip mash and wild mushroom risotto. I have a thought conversation with myself:
“I fancy salmon today. But the risotto looks good. I do not have the appetite to eat them both so I must choose. Hmm…salmon or risotto?”
After a minute or two deliberating I make my choice.
I am writing this in a hotel room in Orlando, Florida. I ‘ve just been on the Spiderman ride in a theme park. You sit in an open topped car and go on a journey through a city. As the ride continues characters from the Spiderman comics jump on to the front of the car. Then the car flies through the air,climbing to the top of a skyscraper before falling down at great speed straight towards the road below.
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Yesterday I watched the movie Slumdog Millionaire. the main character in the story lived in the slums of Mumbai – a harsh life where survival is difficult. After may adventures and set backs, the story had a happy ending with the main character overcoming all obstacles. When it was over I ejected the DVD from the player. It had not really happened. It was a film with the main character an actor pretending to be someone else.
