Non duality ?
The circle of lost seekers
The non-dual movement is besieged by fear.
Reading certain specialized forums on Internet or overhearing certain comments as people leave Satsangs is like witnessing a well-organized flight. Both reveal the extent of a painful confusion reigning within a confined space.
This confusion is based on a terror of being which has managed to disguise itself under the drapes of spiritual accomplishment. The victims of non-dual thought (i.e. of the intellectual understanding they have of non-duality) know all the principles off by heart and these can be used by any intellect.
So, non-dual concepts serve an unexpected cause - flight from the self, in an "impersonal" attitude, which, more often than not, provides a clean break with a disturbing, unrelished universe.
If we are to believe certain followers, there is "no longer anyone". And yet this sleight of tongue cannot hide the palpable tension or the anger welling up behind the screens of equanimity and mimicry.
I have met with dozens of non-duality adepts and most of them are hemmed in by a fallacious system of detachment, mental spirituality, negation and arrogance. They wield a perfect mastery of language but are quick to react whenever there is a risk of touching on a sensitive chord.
Light needs to be shed on this pathetic and harrowing flight for, in its purest inspiration, the non-dual perspective is not a mascarade. It invites us to relinquish our masks. The apparent advantages of the non-dual mask are derisory with regards to what non-dual wisdom designates as the advent of a living reality.
In non-dual circles, emotion is a no-man's land guarded by austere, armor-plated brains.
How does such a downslide come about ?
After numerous detours in his spiritual quest, desperate at being unable to rid himself of these emotions and pervasive torments, the seeker encounters the "thought" which non-duality has become and which provides appeasement in the form of a mental tranquillizer.
The non-dual adept's key question: "Who am I?" is thus interpreted as denying the disturbing "humanity" which spiritual seekers compulsively want to get rid of.
Of course, there was no question of avoiding anything at
all. Not avoiding what goes through us does not mean that we shall be stuck with these things, but we have to understand that the inflexible will to ignore any one aspect of existence is a flight.
It then becomes an intellectual game.
In fact there is "a middle way". The torment of incarnation must be welcomed, if not we are only denying an evidence which will come and whisper sweet words in our ears at any time.
The answer to "Who am I?" may incite whoever makes a mental dialogue out of it to assume a position of refusal. The mental spirituality victim then begins to try and adapt his behavior to resemble his conception of peace and equanimity. He conforms to mental images, fantasies.
And yet the answer to "Who am I?" dictates nothing, neither an agreed verbal expression, nor any attitude whatsoever. Because "I Am" is Living, the forms it assumes to express itself eternally only "impassion" whoever is still seeking to please or who aspires to belong to a group, an elite. It is always the ego who plays its cards on the surface of the Living, in what it then considers to be the "premier league".
We must listen out for the Meaning. As we know, thought listens to itself and enjoys its illusory power.
Non-duality is the Meaning. It shows itself as an infinite cascade of fleeting truths revealed by thought. And this is fine, so long as thought does not see itself as the be all and end all of everything.
Sometimes it is enough to go and shake the hand of the little person hiding behind the screen to rediscover a freshness that had been muzzled... and find infinite relief.
By opening up in this way, it is possible that non-duality reveals its true nature. For although we can assert that it is "already there", it is not enough to say so from a bed of terror and lies for the Peaceful nature of the being to be unveiled.
Thierry
You may also read, on the same subject of non duality :
The whisper of the Call in the fortress of understanding
My lecture at a non-duality Conference
Report from the core of the Divine fire (a facetious reply ton non-duality extremists)