What Is Nonduality?

The word non-duality gets used a lot in spiritual circles.

And many meditations are described as being non-dual.

But what does that actually mean?

What is non-duality?

Most of us live as though we're a small self moving through a large world.

We feel separate and contained,

Trying to navigate everything out there.

That's not wrong,

You are having a relative experience.

But this view is incomplete.

The word non-duality itself means not to.

Nonduality says that an interconnected,

Unified consciousness is primary.

Not that everything becomes one undifferentiated blob.

You're still having a relative experience inside your body.

A tree is still a tree.

But here's the shift.

Awareness or consciousness.

I use these two interchangeably.

Isn't inside you looking out at the world.

A single unified awareness or consciousness is the space in which the world and everything is appearing.

At the absolute level,

Matter isn't actually contained of separate things floating in an empty universe.

Matter is more like temporary expressions of one unified field,

Waves in an ocean.

Think of it like this.

Every experience you've ever had.

Every thought.

Every sensation,

Every moment of joy or heartbreak.

Arose within consciousness,

That same consciousness.

That's here now.

And nothing has ever appeared outside of it.

Awareness or consciousness is the fabric,

The very ground in which every experience you've ever had has ever happened.

It's in which everything is arising now.

Let's take your current experience.

Right now,

Something is knowing.

That you're watching this video.

It's not just that you're having thoughts about it.

But there is a quiet,

Clear knowing in which my words and your experience is appearing.

And that knowing isn't something you have.

Or created.

It's what you are.

The stories of who you think you are,

The thoughts you're having about them.

In Tibetan Buddhism,

This Awareness is called Rigpa.

In Advaita it's called Self with a capital S.

Both are pointing to the same one consciousness or awareness.

And when you.

Return or connect with that ground of awareness even for a moment.

Something relaxes.

Awareness has the capacity.

And always has to be with the entirety of your experience.

Ultimately,

This non-dual understanding leads us to the recognition that peace and happiness are your true nature.

And that you share this nature.

With everything and everyone.

These aren't something you create or achieve.

It's what you are.

And that is where all true freedom lies.