Welcome to The Lethargist Newsletter, where you will find my irreverent perspectives on religion, metaphysics, philosophy, psychology, science, and spirituality.
Within our mind there is a spacious, silent, empty, formless field of conscious awareness in which we experience everything. This takes place through the brain’s Bayesian representation of internal and external stimuli and the electrochemical responses that they trigger in the central nervous system.
If we pay close enough attention, we will notice that the entirety of our subjective experience consists of the sensations, perceptions, emotions, thoughts, and mental images that appear in awareness. These objects of awareness are inseparable from awareness itself. Much like the relationship between a television screen and the programs it displays, consciousness is undivided from its contents,
By turning our attention inward in an exploration of awareness, we will come to recognize that there is no separate “self” who exists apart from that awareness. The notion that “I am aware of this” comes from our habitual way of thinking. We mentally separate the subject from the object.
The “I” that is aware is simply a concept that we have constructed because our thoughts are based in language, and language is inherently dualistic. If there is a “high,” it must appear in contrast with a “low.”
As a result, there is a psychological and social convention that we are a self who is aware. The underlying reality is that we are the awareness in which an imaginary self-image appears, much like the images of ourself that appear in our dreams. We identify with our dream-self, while being unaware of the dreaming state of consciousness in which the dream-self and all the other objects in the dream appear.
Non-Duality and Meditation
The philosophical description of non-duality (aka non-dualism) refers to a fundamental oneness of an underlying reality. A non-dualistic perspective challenges the conventional belief in a separation between self and other, subject and object, observer and observed. Beyond this interplay of polar opposites there exists a realm in which language-based thoughts recede into the background. We can access this realm through the practice of meditation.
Traditions such as Advaita Vedanta, Zen Buddhism, and Dzogchen suggest that the apparent division between individual consciousness and the world is an illusion created by the mind. However, that concepts such as duality versus non-duality are representative of dualistic thinking. Ultimately, words can never express the ultimate reality. At best, they can only point in its general direction.
Meditation is one of the most effective methods for experiencing non-dual awareness. Through a deep meditative practice that focuses upon the direct recognition of an ever-present awareness, the boundaries that define a separate self begin to dissolve, allowing an experience of pure being. Techniques such as self-inquiry, mindfulness, and open awareness can help advanced meditators shift their focus away from conceptualizations and into the present moment, where non-dual awareness can naturally emerge.
One of the primary obstacles to realizing non-duality is the habitual tendency of the mind to categorize, judge, and create distinctions. Meditation trains the mind to observe those tendencies with detachment, allowing the deeper, unified nature of reality to reveal itself. In this state, the practitioner no longer feels like an isolated entity, but rather as being an inseparable expression of existence itself.
The realization of non-duality through meditation has profound implications for everyday life. It fosters a sense of deep peace, compassion, and interconnectedness, dissolving the fear and suffering that comes from clinging to the ego and its attendant illusion of separateness. This shift in perspective can lead to greater harmony in relationships, increased resilience to the inherent stress of changes and challenges, and a more profound appreciation of the present moment.
Non-duality is not something to be achieved or conceived. It can only be directly experienced when we let go of all concepts. Meditation serves as a preparation for this experience, allowing one to rest in the natural state of non-dual awareness that lies beyond all the conceptual divisions. In this expansive space, life is no longer felt to be a continual series of fragmented experiences. Instead, it becomes a seamless, ever-present flow of being.
Dissolution of the Ego
The concept of the self, just like any other thought or mental image, can be emotionally laden and powerfully persuasive, but it is just like any other object that appears in awareness. Although some concepts have important practical applications, our focus here is to recognize them only as objects appearing in awareness. If we try to locate a separate self as the creator of consciousness, or as an observer that stands apart, we will be unable to find it. If you look for it, you will see that the sense of being a separate and independent self is an illusion.
If you don't believe me, close your eyes, relax, turn your attention inward, and see if you can find your identity as anything other than a mental construct. We can easily verify through our own experience the transient appearance of a multitude of objects of which we are aware. At the same time, if our attention is not entirely captured by those objects, we can notice the empty field of awareness in which those objects appear. This is known as being aware of awareness.
Shifting our perspective between awareness and its objects is like alternating our attention between a perceived figure and its background. We can do this repeatedly, until we recognize that figure and ground are two inseparable aspects of an undivided whole. Similarly, we can shift our identification with our fictional self-image (figure) to the all-encompassing awareness (ground).
Because of he inherent duality of thought, an intellectual recognition of this underlying reality cannot take the place of directly experiencing the non-conceptual, non-dual nature of reality. We can, however, experience lucid moments of non-duality through the realm of the senses when attention is fully focused in awareness of the present moment.
Instead of habitually becoming lost in thoughts while being unaware that we are lost, we can practice recognizing thoughts as thoughts, and noticing their appearances and disappearances, when we meditate. Meditation is a collective term for the practices and techniques that train people to be present in their attention.
There is an important distinction between being aware of passing thoughts, or getting lost in them; thinking without being aware that we are thinking. Being aware that we are thinking means that we can recognize our thoughts as transient objects appearing in the empty field of awareness. We can be awake and aware of what is here and now, or become lost in our thoughts while operating on auto-pilot.
Notice that the objects that appear in awareness are either perceptual, the impressions produced by mental interpretations of sensory inputs, or conceptual, produced by thoughts and shaped by emotions. As we sharpen our meditative skills we are more easily able to observe the workings of our own mind. It then becomes easier to identify and distinguish between concepts and percepts as the contents of consciousness.
When we have learned to recognize thoughts as objects, we can turn our attention to seeking the thinker of those thoughts. By making a repeated effort, what we discover is that a thinker, separate from the thoughts, cannot be found, no matter how hard we look for it. The thinker exists only as a concept. Under introspective scrutiny, our ego or self-image, will be revealed as imaginary, despite our emotional investment in it.
Cultivating a Habit of Mindfulness
Being mindful is being fully present and aware of whatever we are experiencing in each and every moment. It involves paying close attention to whatever is happening. That means seeing what we are looking at, hearing what we are listening to, feeling what we are touching, and so on. If we are to any degree lost in thought, we cannot fully taste what we are eating, nor be aware of the myriad odors that surround us.
Cultivating mindfulness involves noticing whether we are being aware of the flow of our here and now experiences, or if our attention is either totally distracted or is divided by preoccupations about the past, future, and things that are elsewhere. We are either being mindful, or we are not. Being absent-minded is like sleepwalking. We may eventually get to our destination, but we won't fully know how we got there.
We can eat mindfully, walk mindfully, and with enough practice, even talk mindfully. Doing a daily walking meditation is a great way to train the mind to pay attention. It combines a mental exercise with a health-promoting physical activity.
Thank you for reading. Please let me know if this information is useful. Subscribers can contact me by replying to any emailed newsletter.