The Uniqueness of My Life and the Power of Non-Duality

The two come together: the uniqueness of my life and the power of non-duality.

The uniqueness of my life is the present moment. Leaving all residue of a previous movement of my life’s energy in the form of memory and conditioning, I find myself afresh in this NOW.

In a dark room I light a match and swirl my outstretched arm in front of me describing a large circle with the flame of the match. The fact is the burning wood of the match. It is at one single point of the circle at any given time. However, the eye sees a complete circle of fire. One could say that the circle is an illusion, created by the eye holding on to the impression of the path of the flame through space in the dark room.

The comment on my blog was written, sent and read by me days ago, however it is still alive in my perception because I am remembering it. When I let go of that memory, or clearly see it as a past movement of my energy, it is gone and my perception is free of it.

Afresh in the NOW my eyes take in with a sense of newness, never before seen, a unique view, a unique seeing. The seeing energy is pristine, free of the past and it feels its own movement of seeing with total clarity.

Non-duality is the power of absolute disintegration of all beliefs, concepts, ideas and all frames of reference. I get a taste of it every now and then and it is magnificent. Tuning in to and aligning with the vibration of non-duality anchors my existence in non-existence. Thus a field of vastness and emptiness is created, within which the energy of seeing comes into relation to the seen as an extension of itself. There is no interference by anything that is not itself.

The seeing light of consciousness takes in all that appears in its light. This light stems from the Inner Effulgence, which can also be called the Inner Sun. It is immobile and groundless. It exists out of Itself and is beyond all states and attributes. When all Its reflections and refractions are reduced to their essential substance, It is our true nature and It is no-thing.

The power of non-duality is the power of this one fact that reduces all forms (which make up what we call the “world”) to naught, from which they stem. When I attune myself more and more clearly to this felt sense of non-duality, all attachments, illusions and fondly cherished concepts of all kinds begin to dissolve under my feet. I am left in the formless, or rather, in that which IS before form, which is present while form is maintained and also after its dissolution. While my mind says that it gives up trying to follow, another part of me knows what I mean.

This felt sense of non-duality is the ground upon which I experience the uniqueness of my life, for out of nothing something appears for the first time, afresh out of the void, and it is untainted by anything that may have appeared “previously”. The overlay, or superimposition of old impressions, judgments, concepts and frames of reference onto what appears fresh is a function of my memory and the conditioned movements of my mind as it holds on to the “known” – the past.

Attuning myself to the power of non-duality coming together with the uniqueness of my life entails a vigilance towards the conditioned movement of my mind in order to ensure a radical departure from the old paradigm and create the space needed for the new paradigm to flower.

A relevant story: A newlywed came to his friend after the wedding night. “Can you imagine what happened? A cat snuck into the room and was yowling all night, so how could romance happen?” His friend said he would do him a favor, so he switched places with him that night.

The next morning the two meet and the groom asks how it went. “Wonderful! You are such a lucky man! Such a loving and affectionate wife you have!” “And the cat?” asked the groom. “Oh, that – off with his head!” replied the friend.

Please, dear cat friends, of which I am a great one – no harm was done to any living creature, and the story makes sense if you substitute the word “conditioned thinking” for “cat”, and the word “mastery of your life” for “wife”.