Variables and Control

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years.

One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. "Maybe," the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed. "Maybe," replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "Maybe," answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "Maybe," said the farmer.

Taken from: http://www.katinkahesselink.net/tibet/zen.html (Sept 26, 2009)
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Living In Duality

Abandon the search for Absolute, Synthesize a Point-of-Reference

Although we experience duality, we are unable to satisfactorily understand the truths about duality. Our deepest craving is to know the unsublatable truths about origin, nature, purpose etc of duality. Neither Religion nor Philosophy or Science has provided us with unambiguous and irreplaceable answers.

Concept	Religion	Philosophy	Science
Existence	Existence was created by God.	The ground of existence is the transcendental, timeless, ultimate reality.	Big-bang is a popular origin theory. The ground of existence is some fundamental particle.
Self	You are not God.	The self immediately evident to you is non-different from the ultimate reality.	The self is a product of brain’s processes.
Path to Truth/God	Live a life of faith following scripture to approach God in after-life.	Cultivate mental poise that is conducive for realization of the truth.	Look forward to better theories to explain reality.

All the three approaches; religion, philosophy and science agree on the presence of Existence but differ on its origin and nature. All the three agree on a self but differ on its nature. All the three agree that it is a process to obtain the truth and not immediately available to anyone at any time. So, our answer to questions about duality is: we don’t have unsublatable truths to understand duality at the moment.

If we look closely at the proposed paths towards truth, one way is to live a life of faith by following a religion. Another way is to live with noble ideals of an ascetic/monk which is required for mental poise as rationalized by the Philosophy. Yet another way is to pursue a career in fundamental physics or neuroscience to better understand the fundamental particle or the brain respectively. Some folks of faith may indeed pursue the above paths in search of absolute truths (rather than as a profession to make a living). But for most people, it is not very convincing just because of the lack of communicable proofs.

In this blog, I present a logical solution to only those people (including myself) who cannot commit themselves to the paths proposed by religion, philosophy or science. It’s based on the fact that life continues even without figuring out the so-called absolute truths. In light of that fact, it seems to me that the sensible thing to do would be to continue living life in duality and forget about the quest for truth. If the question arises in mind, be aware of it and ignore it. Move on and do the usual stuff. Ignore existential questions, indulge in duality is the mantra. However, can this be done?

Without the unsublatable truth there is no real point of reference for life in duality. Nothing is right/wrong, good/bad, better/worse unless there is a point of reference. Without a point of reference, living in duality is miserable as there is no way to form ethics and rules for decision-making when faced with choices etc. Metaphorically speaking, we need a map when we are lost.

A point-of-reference is an over-arching set of ideas that would explain in a very broad stroke all the happenings in duality. This set of ideas is knowledge we create by reflection on experiences in duality and are not equivalent to the intangible, absolute truths. Such a point-of-reference is our map; it should explain all the happenings of duality in a satisfactory way for us to lead a life in duality with a certain peace of mind. So, a point of reference has to be synthesized by us if we are to relinquish the quest for absolute truth.

Non-Dual Living in Duality

Duality litmus test: Awareness of the 'notion' of individuality.

As soon as you are aware of yourself, that is, as soon as you are aware of the Individuality thought / the 'I'-thought / ego, the notion of 'you' different from a 'world' arises; two things, 'you' and a 'world' i.e. duality. For non-duality, the 'I'-thought should not arise. When individuality disappears, the situation is non-dual.

Note the distinctions made here among the following:
a) awareness, by itself,
b) awareness of 'I'-thought and
c) awareness of thoughts and things other than 'I'-thought.

Only when there is awareness of the 'I'-thought (case 'b'), there is duality.

Non-dual experience litmus test: Disappearance of the 'notion' of individuality.

1) Deep-Sleep: When in deep sleep, neither the sense of 'self' nor the 'world' is present. Awareness is by itself (case 'a'). Non-dual experience.
2) Lost in Action: 'You' lose yourself when doing something that interests you. For varying amounts of time while watching a movie, hearing good music, reading a book, talking to your sweetheart etc, you are aware of other things of interest but not your ego (case 'c'). Non-dual experience.

Side Note: What is the evolutionary reason for the thought of 'individuality' / 'ego'? Is it present in all animals? What purpose does it serve in functioning of a biological organism? Can't that same functioning be accomplished without the sense of 'individuality'?
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The Situation

This post is a summary of earlier posts:

1. Observation: There are multiple "worlds", for example, the world of ants, the world of dogs, the world of aliens from another galaxy, the world of humans etc. The causal world of humans is just one of a kind. The following points, briefly, suggest a theory to explain this situation.

2. Theory - Part 1: Each world is an appearance that is a function of the physical and psychological composition of the individual/species and not the "ultimate" reality out there. However, the appearances are grounded in that transcendental, ultimate reality. Humans too are grounded in that ultimate reality.

3. Theory - Part 2: The ultimate subject / seer / the mind's eye immediately known to oneself, that which observes the thoughts including the 'I'-thought, is non-different from the transcendental ultimate reality.

4. Some philosophical/religious references: God revealed himself as "I am that I am" in Christian Bible. Prophet Muhammad said, "He who knows his self knows his Lord". In Hindu Upanishads, its written, "The self is the transcendental reality".

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Reality Check

As the Observer is the common ground of all multifarious experience, the experience itself is purely only a function of the mental and physical faculties and not of the disinterested Observer. So, we can say our experience of a causal world is intimately tied to the mental and physical composition of the body. From this viewpoint, causality is not an objective view of reality.

Nevertheless, as a human, the world we experience is a causal world. Causality is on the side of reason and adaptable science and not on the side of absolutes and ideologies. From the point of view that causality is an experiential truth, we have to accept that the present moment is perfect. Denying that is denying causality. Denying that is denying science, reason and first-hand experience. There could be no alternative to the present moment (present moment is an effect of earlier causes). When times are bad, instead of complaining about the present moment, we just need move on and do what needs to be done.

Having said all this, we should again emphasize that our experience of causal world is only a product of our body and mind and not ultimate reality. Although we can figure out the cause for birth/sustenance/death of a star for example, the primordial cause of entire existence will always remain a mystery because of the question; what is the cause for the first cause? leading to infinite regress. Similarly, the purpose of this existence will also always remain a mystery as parts (ideas, concepts, theories etc) cannot be used to describe the purpose of the whole ('existence' that includes these ideas, concepts and theories). So, the situation is: the cause of every 'observable' thing (like a star, a tree or a thought) can be found but the cause and purpose of the entire existence itself will remain a mystery.

The preceding paragraph gives the reasons why any metaphysical or mystical ideas to understand or realize ultimate reality (not subjective reality) should be seriously looked at and reflected upon.

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Observer

Who are you?

Let's make one assumption: if you can observe something then you are not that thing. For example, you can observe a distant star, hence you are not that star.

Under the above assumption, you are not the body because you can look at the body. You are not the thoughts because you can observe the thoughts. You are not the emotion because you can feel the emotion. You are not the conditioned brain because you are aware of the conditioning.

What are you? You are the Observer of all these things. A disinterested Observer at that. (Disinterested because conditioning is very much observable). The disinterested Observer is the essence of you-ness. The very fact that we are able to make this claim about an observer indicates that the Observer is somehow self-aware. There is no second observer observing the first observer; that is contradictory to our experience and logically would result in infinite observers.

We think we are the body, thoughts and conditioning because: a) Only we can voluntarily control our body, nobody else can and b) Only we are aware of our thoughts, nobody else is. I think these are sufficient reasons to distinguish them from say a star or a tree and to claim them as part of oneself. But, along with that, the silent witness in the background should also be noticed and acknowledged.

What is the contribution of the Observer? I think it is two-fold; a) It is the ground for the sense of self ("I") and b) It is needed for the awareness of any 'other' thing ("I am not that thing").

[If you don't make the assumption made in the beginning, the counter-assumption is, if you can observe something then you are that thing. Under this assumption, you are everything you observe. So, either you are none of these things or you are all of these things.]

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Probable Solutions

Progression of ideas:

1. What is the situation? Awareness of Self and World.
   
2. What is the general problem? A sense of doership coupled with a lack of purpose in life.
3. What is the symptom of the problem in human? All knowledge is subjective and all actions are a result of conditioning. The situation is unsettling.
4. From inquiry, what are the probable solutions to the problem? a) Get rid of dualism to eliminate self-other split, b) Get 'objective' knowledge to understand everything, c) Live in duality and operate with subjective knowledge but understand you are not the doer.
   
5. Probable Sol #1: Get rid of dualism. Hint: Lose yourself, what remains is non-dual.
   
6. Probable Sol #2: Get objective knowledge. Hint: Lose the subject, what remains is objective.
   
7. Probable Sol #3: Understand non-doership. Hint: Reflect on the core of your being. (Subject of next blog.)
   

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