Monday, February 20, 2012

The intersection between dual and nondual experience

First week of post-duality awareness. I am leaving any conscious effort to make my writing accessible to general readers. This begins an academic manifestation
of ideas and thoughts that will serve as a drawing board for later finished work, and begins some dissertations about enlightened or nondual awareness, based on the current body of literature, my direct experience of the present moment, and all of the subjective and objective information known by my mind.
The origin. or inspiration of this writing is itself of interest (to me). I'm waking several times a night, noting the clock, and observing unattached thoughts. At 4am i stayed alert and it occurred that the gap between dual and nondual awareness needs to be beter resolved. Previously, i conceived of a "bridge" as a metaphor for the Great Heart. "Great heart" is a clumsy metaphor, but i use it in lieu of something better. Then, i described a "point" that can be fingered. Now, it arises that "interesection" may be closer to an ideal way of communicating this.
I reviewed websites and articles for several hours yesterday, and indexed several in my Spirituality desktop folder. They range from poetic to academic, yet without much coordination. The writers are obviously erudite, with extensive qualifications and experience. Some are teacher's trainers, Having an acadmic background myself, it occurs to me that these materials present a body of information that is academically awkward. How the authors define or don't define terminology, refer to current (eg Adyashanti) or older literature (eg Mahayana texts), and vary greatly in style, are for me disconcerting. This is more than a matter of being "free to read what one wants to read." The work here cannot be defined as actual work for a writer employing fully realized consciousness. But there is actual work going on, and this should be recognized. The work is in "looking back." It has been described as the desire to awaken others coming from a great heart of compassion (again i will need to break down the Lankavatar Sutra to support some of this), Given a level of awareness great enough, that which is aware has no need to help others awaken. It seems to me that those who seek to help others also have no need to do so, but they do, and this action qualifies as "work." The semantics of all of this needs to be better worked out. Negating can only go so far, I believe, until the process of negating itself becomes untruth. We can find places where both dual and nondual awareness can agree.
As I read the current literature on nonduality, it occurs that the word itself is poorly and inconsistently defined. I can't determine if there are any submission criteria. Since the same author names tend to reappear, and writers belong to the same organization(s) and/or work at certain academic institutions, the presence of status quo or even an oligarchic structure is a real possibility, if not now then soon. This can be understood if there are only a few people who can grasp nonduality enough to put it onto the page.
In this moment, I see some ways i can contribute to the overall work of looking back. Most inspiring is the idea of "an intersection between dual perception and nondual awareness." I've been maintaing that the underlying need for this is the failure to systematically close the gap between seeker and finder. Negating may be the most common approach, but by appearances has abysmal results. The literature does identify other approaches, but very little attention is given to the heart, or love, that attention coming in disconnected fragments.
The other is the concept of an event horizon, in which the shift in perception occurs at or near the horizon. From the event horizon, looking back can be done, where an enlightened being does the work of helping others to awaken. Beyond the event horizon there is no looking back, and the totality of beingness disappears, into the "black hole" of nothingness. If this metaphor resembles truth, then the event horizon is the place at the end of the path to enlightenment, and the path is actually a map through the experience of duality moving toward nondual awareness. If this model is accepted, it can be said that nondual awareness, because it is looking back, cannot be the penultimate experience. That experience is reserved for the deepening beyond the event horizon. It occurs to me that many more layers of understanding can happen when we refer to better models of the process of awakening.
The process that results in what is the manifestation of looking back needs further inquiry. In my case, something i read grabs my attention, later causing answers to arise before the questions. From an answer I recognize the question, and additional answers come to the same question, leading to recognition of more questions in the manner of a branching tree. It's a mental hopscotch working by itself with no players. I sometimes judge it as odd or wonder if its an egoic attachment, but it goes on anyway. I allow it, because i can't stop it. I hope it's not all-consuming, but what if it is? Maybe this is my way of looking back to help others.
As i cross-reference my ideas with what is written and said, it is apparent that i should wait until i have a thorough grasp of the work of others before i present anything I'm doing as complete. Failure to do so risks trivialization, competition, or ostracization. I have little doubt that most awakened writers convey ego attachments based on how they use assertions and on their lack of referal to a great heart. It's difficult for me to not judge some literature as awkward, clumsy, banal, or poorly conceived. Yet, it's heroic work, and it's obvious that most are not getting significant ego gratification from it.

Key concepts:
"Looking back" as the actual work of many realized people (who say they do nothing, etc).
"Work" in this context refers to the looking back. Just define once, and repeat "looking back."
Standardized definition of nonduality. Broadened definition.
The Great Heart as a metaphor for fullness. Find a better term.
The duality of emptiness and fullness and how that relates to the intersection.
The duality as a constantly repeating/arising event, the intersection occuring on an "event horizon."
Event horizon to replace the term path?  Fewer and fewer dualities exist as the event horizon is approached. the intersection at the event horizon is in the final duality of fullness and emptiness. Beyond the horizon events

Personal note: No replies from Shantimayi, Janak, or Dorothy. The ground remains pulled out from under me, yet it is safe. If there is a net beneath me, it is my wife:)

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