The Non Duality Course
Published: Wed, 11/30/22
The Razor of Not Two
Non Duality Intro
This is a short course about simple nonduality, taking what can seem like a complicated and even obtuse spiritual training, and turning it into something that can radically change our lives for the better. Let’s challenge the way we look at the world, the way we interact with the world, and the way we think about spirituality and the spiritual search itself
It’s going to be composed of a number of very short videos. Please go through them in order as each one will add on to the one before it, expanding the concepts and ideas.
We’ll have some fun exercises. Let’s get started.
What is Not Two?
So what is nonduality? Particularly… How can this be made simple?
The idea itself is very simple. It means “Not two.” It means that there are not two things happening: All is one. You are it.
It is a technique to find out who you are. It means that you are not divided. There’s just one thing: you. Your very nature is wholeness. We just happen to see lots of things that seem to be “out there,” both in the world, and in our minds, and we tend to project ourselves onto those things.
Non Duality is a razor blade we can use to cut through the apparent illusion that there are two things.
To use the razor we look at all sorts of different things that come into our consciousness and ask the question, “Is that two?” The answer is almost always yes, so we stop believing in the separate thing. Using this razor we can cut it down and down until you get to the point where you can see everything is unity. Really see and experience it, not just think about it.
Why do we have to do this?
It’s because the thinking brain is designed to put things in order, to make sense of things. This is a good thing because there’s really a lot of stuff about the world that we need to make sense of. The problem comes when we don’t have a base in fundamental truth. Then we easily get confused and start making up insane stories to explain other insane stories that are based on a basic misunderstanding… as if it were true. We create Dogma to explain things that we’ve made up and don’t understand.
Non duality is a conscious decision to avoid doing that as often as possible. It can actually be fun.
What Are You?
The main question with Non Duality is, “Who are you?” But let’s change that a little bit. Instead of “Who are you?” Let’s ask, “What are you?” That question is a bit more accurate about what we’re actually looking for, because we’re not looking for a Who? quality at all.
When you think “Who are you?” The typical answer is, well, I’m an American and I’m a woman. I’m this, I’m that, and the other thing. We don’t want to go there with Non Duality because those are always dual answers. We can use our razor to cut things more quickly if we’re asking “What are you?” We can start applying it immediately to our actual experience of yourself.
Just think. What is your youngest memory of yourself as a child? Maybe you remember yourself when you were three. Maybe you remember yourself when you were ten. Think back and recall that the “Who” of what you were at that time feels exactly the same as the “Who” of what you are now. The essence of you.
Anyone who’s older has experienced this. You know, you’re getting wrinkled and you’re getting gray hair and all sorts of things, but you still feel like, “I am me,” the me that I always was. You can do this to the point where you are actually surprised when you look in the mirror. You look and go… whoa wait a second. Who is that?
So you have this sense that there’s something that has always been you. What is that?
Think of it this way: it doesn’t have anything to do with what you see. Say you go blind? You’re still yourself, you just can’t see. Say you go deaf. Same thing.
What if you break a leg? There’s no question. You know you’re still exactly you, but in this different condition. That’s one of the secrets that we’ll be looking at. What’s the unchanging you? If it’s something that can change, then that is not the unchanging you.
We are looking for what is unchanging.
Remember back to our last video where we were talking about the fact that if you don’t have a ground in reality then you tend to make up all sorts of answers for things. We’re looking for that grounded reality. What is that? Some people call it the ground of being. The awakened self. What is that? What are you?
Exercise: Four Steps from the Universe
Here’s a fun exercise in four steps to get a sense of how we can move from the illusion of “two things” to “not two.”
First. Why do we say “not two” instead of oneness?
The reason is because the idea of one has a sense of division that we usually don’t see. It’s easy, even natural, for the idea of “one: to become something outside ourselves. There is oneness over there. I’m over here. I’m one person right here, and you can be one person over there.
So how do we move from duality to not two?
We can experience this through a four step process, moving from more division to less division.
Start by thinking about the idea of oneness, or the idea of the universe. These are interchangeable ideas the way we use them today. We’re looking for oneness. We’re wanting unity. We think of the universe as a benevolent entity concerned with our well being.
The way we typically call in the universe we don’t notice that it’s a concept of something out there.
When we think about unity and spirituality we tend to think, “The universe. It’s everywhere. It’s everything. It’s infinite. It spreads everywhere.”
But check yourself out. loser. Imagine the universe. Where is it?
You’ll notice that we tend to think of it as something out there. Glittering in the sky. We see the stars. Out there into infinity goes the universe.
We can do the same thing with Oneness. The mind subtly views oneness as something that we can see. If you stop to notice how the mind works it sees oneness as something out there. See how that’s dual?
Two things: There’s me here and I’m seeing the universe out there.
But with Non Duality we are here trying to move towards oneness.
Now let’s make a shift. A simple shift. Start realizing that oh, wait a minute. The universe isn’t out there. It’s everywhere. It’s surrounds me. It’s everywhere I am inside of it. With a little imagination you can expand yourself into it.
We can do with with oneness as well. It’s everywhere. It’s like 360 degrees surrounding us. It’s above me, It’s on the side of me. It’s everywhere. I am within this amazing oneness. I am within this universe. I am a part of it.
Is there still division? Yes. There are still two things. I’m inside the universe, but there is still a sense of I. Me standing here inside the universe, Inside of Oneness.
We are getting more refinded and closer, but there is still two. We haven’t come to not two yet.
Non duality is like a game. See how we’re slicing it with our razor? We’re getting a little closer. See how we’ve gone from universes out there as a complete separate thing to a more subtle interpretation: I am inside the universe.
Now we’re on step three. How do we get even less division? How do I cut it with my razor?
Well, it’s easy. You start realizing “Okay. I’m inside this amazing universe. It’s up and down, top of me, bottom, front, back. It’s everywhere. All around. AND it is INSIDE me.”
I’m in it and it is in me. All my molecules, my thoughts, my soul, my emotions, my breath, everything about me, is part of this universe. I am in oneness and oneness is in me.
You can feel yourself dissolving into this universe, the oneness. When you really get a sense of this, it’s a mystical experience. The universe is there. I am in the universe and the universe is inside me.
But we aren’t there yet. There’s still a subtle two. It’s really hard to see at this level. The universe is everywhere and in me, but I still have a me experiencing the oneness.
So, let’s take the fourth step. Let’s go one step further.
I’m in the universe. The universe is completely inside me. I’ve dissolved all my molecules, my thoughts and everything is disappeared in the universe.
Now step into it: the universe is me looking out of my eyes at the universe. Now there is not two. Only one thing is happening. The same thing looking at itself.
