Nondualism is certainly a concept in vogue among the New Age West today, but what does it mean? It ultimately depends on who you ask. At its most basic level, it is the notion that reality is really “one substance” beneath the appearance of diversity. From what I’ve seen there are two basic conceptions of nonduality, and I’m going to explain why one of them is complete and utter crap. This is because one of the ideologies that calls itself non-dualistic is actually monism masquerading as non-dualism. This monism denies diversity, and ultimately commits itself to tyranny over the individual and any difference whatsoever. Let’s look at the two types of attitudes that call themselves “non-dualism.”
Here is a monist quote from Mary Baker Eddy, author of A Course in Miracles founder of Christian Science.
“There is but one I, or Us, but one divine Principle, or Mind, governing all existence” – continuing – “. . .whatever reflects not this one Mind, is false and erroneous, even the belief that life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and material.
Here is non-dualist quote from from writer Ken Wilber (someone who has probably read more on the topic than anyone alive).
The Realization of the Nondual traditions is uncompromising: There is only Spirit, there is only God, there is only Emptiness in all its radiant wonder. All the good and all the evil, the very best and the very worst, the upright and the degenerate — each and all are radically perfect manifestations of Spirit precisely as they are. There is nothing but God, nothing but the Goddess, nothing but Spirit in all directions, and not a grain of sand, not a speck of dust, is more or less Spirit than any other.
There is a subtle, but extremely important, difference between these two conceptions of non-duality. In the Mary Baker Eddy quote, anything that is not the “One” is considered an error. By definition, this includes all of our experience as diverse beings in a diverse world. In my experience, the idea that “there is only the one” is propagated as non-dualism most frequently by the followers of A Course in Miracles (ACIM), a channeled work which actually characterizes itself as a purely “non-dualistic” thought system. I would instead label its version of “non-duality” as “monism” which is a term far better suited for it.
Adi Shankara – Public Domain
If we want a true understanding of “non-dualism” actually is, we just need to look at the term itself. Non-dualistic religions have repeatedly characterized ultimately reality “not two” instead of “one.” This is true of both Hinduism and Buddhism to some degree. The distinction is important. If these sages meant to say that reality was one and everything else was false, they would have said so. Instead, they said it was “not two.” It is important to note that neither of these mystical schools consider the physical world or diversity to be unreal. In the Advaita (not two) Vedanta, the physical world is considered Maya, or illusion, but it is still a part of Brahman and therefore existentially “real.” In the Mahayana Buddhist Scriptures, form and emptiness are considered non-different from one another, meaning that ultimate reality is present in physical experience.
If you want to follow the doctrine of the One, do not rage against the World of the Senses. Only by accepting the World of the Senses can you share in the True Perception. -Zen Patriarch Hsin Hsin Ming
Unlike the monist new thought schools that wear the non-dualism label, authentic non-dualism admits the existence of the world and its diversity. If reality is really “one” as both suggest, then how can true non-dualism be comfortable with diversity? This is where the mystical sense of paradox comes in. As beings in the physical world, we are used to reasoning that if one statement is true, then its opposite must be false. The intuition of the non-dual mystics is that at higher levels of reality, this line of true/false, is/is not reasoning simply does not apply.
“The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.” – Niels Bohr
These same sages frequently speak of ultimate reality as a ground, source, or emptiness out of which all things emerge. It cannot be conceptualized because it is the origin of all possible concepts. Apparently separated things like mountains, trees, and other people are actually a manifestation of a unity. However, that unity is itself a product of the diversity. So, it is an error to get lost in the apparent diversity of the world, but it is just as big of an error to get lost in its unity too. In zen, this teaching is described by the statement “not one, not two.” Eastern mystics tend to teach about reality by negation or “neti neti” (no this, not that), because the only way ultimate reality can be described is by removing any positive idea of what it is (something bound to be limited by human concepts). The idea of an undifferentiated oneness is just as much a limiting human concept as is our idea of a bunch of separated “things”. The “one” of which the non-dualist sages speak then, is not a unity or a diversity, but rather something that isn’t really either but manifests as both. Science has discovered entities the behave like this in the form of subatomic structures that manifest as both waves and particles (things thought to be mutually exclusive opposites before the advent of Quantum Mechanics).
Yin Yang
The greatest mystics speak of “non-duality” instead of “no duality.” Non-duality does NOT mean that opposites don’t exist. What it means instead is that apparent opposites are actually deeply united on a level we might not be able to immediately perceive. For example, “Hot” and “cold” are apparently opposite forces, but once you understand that each of them is energy behaving differently the notion that they are mutually exclusive opposites vanishes. “Hot” and “cold” still exist, but you understand them better and how they’re connected. This is expressed by the yin yang symbol of Taoism. There are two apparently opposing forces united as one, and each contains the seed of the other. Unity implies diversity, and diversity implies unity. Good Implies evil, and vice versa. All supposed distinctions are ultimately the same “force” behaving differently.
If [a mystic] saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them. -GK Chesterton
The “no-duality” monism of Christian Science and ACIM is actually a serious spiritual error. It’s like saying only “hot” exists and “cold” is illusion because you think “cold’ is “bad.” To deny one is to deny the other since you’re talking about what is basically the same “thing” in different appearances. This is what Seth means when he says: “To say that physical life is not real is to deny that reality pervades all appearance, and is a part of all appearance.” And again in this statement: “In the same manner, God does not exist apart from or separate from physical reality, but exists within it and as a part of it, as he exists within and as a part of all other systems of existence” (SS Session 560).
Any philosophy that supposes any error in this physical experience or any other cannot properly be called non-dualistic. As Ken Wilber says above, the non-dual vision is uncompromising: everything, and i do mean everything is a manifestation of spirit. The highest heights are spirit, but so are the lowest lows. One cannot exist without the other. As our Buddhist friends would say: Nirvana and Samsara are one. If you hold the notion that one speck of anything, anywhere, whatsoever isn’t spirit, you cannot consider yourself a true non-dualist. So here’s to hoping that monist/no-duality schools of thought like ACIM start being a bit more honest about what they actually teach. True non-duality scandalizes many people because it admits that even suffering, evil, and death are just as much spirit as anything else. If that does not appeal to you, then non-dualism is simply not for you.
Process and Spirituality 