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Duality – A mind in black and white
“Mind cannot think without duality. Duality is the way of thinking.” Rajneesh
Duality in mental training refers to our way of perceiving the world, it relates to our construing things in isolation.
We experience objects as separate and independent from ourselves, ‘so what’ you may ask? well…
Our making distinctions creates a rift, there is Me standing here and the rest standing over there.
According to the Buddhist view, the division between self and what we consider outside of ourselves is wrong and potentially harmful.
Our take on reality
To fully grasp at the hidden dangers of the ‘dualistic mind’, we must understand how it works.
We rely on mental functions to assess and evaluate reality, such as comparing, categorizing, and linking.
These mostly operate under the radar of our awareness; our mind spontaneously uses the information it has in store.
Ideas and experiences link together to make out the filters through which the sense world is appraised and borderlines are made.
Duality – A world seen through the lens of separateness
“FROM OUR OWN innate tendencies and the repeated use of language, we have adopted — without reservation — the belief that the body, thoughts, and feelings are “me,” and that everything outside the body is “not me”.” Guy Armstrong, Joseph Goldstein
Our mind sets imaginary boundaries to distinguish between subjects, to define concepts such as you and me, this and that.
True, the space between us appears tangible, we use terms as distance, in and out because our sight supports it.
Our senses delineate what’s us and what’s not, our body marks the edges, that in turn gives rise to what’s mine.
But it also opens the door to our defining location, what belongs and what doesn’t, and that strengthens duality.
Another mental habit
We might be unaware of it but the rift is of our own making, it’s our labelling that makes it real.
The fact is we mistakenly and constantly contribute to our viewing things as separate from ourselves.
We draw circles around, label the people and objects that belong, the closer to me the more important.
In contrast, the farther out something seems, the less connected we feel, the more estranged we are.
A recipe for negativity
“All the beings in space have no inside, no outside, and no in and no out.” Tony Page, Kosho Yamamoto
The illusory frontiers we set-up in our minds bear on our sense of self for the good and the bad.
As the lens of duality highlights who and what’s ours, it also clearly points at what’s not, it’s a double-edged sword.
The greater our circles and possessions the higher your confidence and sense of belonging, but that can bring about fear.
Equally, the smaller our circles, the less we deem we have, the more susceptible we are to insecurity and discontents.
Insider or outsider
These categories have major implications on our perspective and ultimately, they affect our state of mind and behaviors.
Consider those you see as ‘insiders’ at home, at work, amongst friends, do you care for them?
What about the stranger next door, what about him, does he fit in? Is he worthy of the same concern?
Our answer will depend upon his apparent likeness to ourselves, if he’s like me I’ll care, if not I won’t bother.
Caught in a web of opposites
“We always have to divide the world into opposites or categories in order to be able to think about it.” Alan Watts
The mind functions so that it places objects in their respective ‘cells’, this way each form takes on meaning and function.
Although these are just imputed ideas devoid of substantial foundations, we accept them as real and solid.
We grasp the world through a web of comparatives born from subjective perception, our experiences are mind-made.
The resulting feeling is based on its recognizing characteristics and traits it identifies as fixed, permanent and concrete, when they’re not.
Duality | blind as a bat
While the mechanism is useful, it has drawbacks, for one it reinforces our belief in the existence of opposites.
Furthermore, it fails to consider whether or not what it has defined as in and out, good and bad, are sound.
Lastly, it’s oblivious to the fact that it is biased, adopting gladly what it deems appealing and pushing away the unattractive.
If we’re not mindful of the idiosyncrasies that govern our mind, we will buy-in the feelings they bring up.
From duality to nonduality
“All phenomena in the universe are one in the total unity of non-duality.” Lama Yeshe, Nicholas Ribush
The mode of operation that governs our mind fails to recognize the whole of life is interconnected and in constant transformation.
We may not be aware but nature is organized so that everything contributes to its evolution.
All that exist is involved in its keeping, from the tiniest organisms in the ocean to the farthest phenomena in space.
That includes ourselves, yet we behave as if we’re not part of it, in the long run that has disastrous results.
Cultivating the non-dual mind
The mistaken view runs deep, after all it stems from a mechanism embedded in the mind, so we need a change of mind.
If you’re not convinced take a moment to consider the environmental changes that we’ve brought upon ourselves.
The karmic effects of our actions spread far beyond our immediate grasp, in both space and time, that’s proof of nonduality.
What we did in the past impacts the present, what we do now will affect the future, we can do better.
Change your thinking
“The direction of life is from duality to unity.” Deepak Chopra
Looking around makes clear the urgency, we must take responsibility for our actions for the benefit of the generations to come.
Our very survival depends on it, so the sooner we realize we have a role to play the better we all are.
It takes work but it’s worth the effort, once we lift the veil that blocks our vision our actions change.
We don’t have to start big; we can begin by considering of our immediate surroundings and widen our view from there.
Turn away from dualistic views
Thinking in terms of interconnectedness needs practice as we often forget that our very existence rests on it.
We’ve come into the world through the grace of our parents but that does not stop there, it took a village.
So, every time you catch yourself thinking, saying or doing something that is motivated by one-sided views, stop.
Bring to mind the idea of reciprocity, we all have our share in creating happiness and pain, what will it be?
Meditate on emptiness
“We have to practice because human beings have this poverty-stricken attitude toward themselves.” Traleg Kyabgon
Virtually nothing comes to be out of nothing, for something to become all its elements have to come together.
That includes the environment and the conditions it meets at a certain point in time, that’s no accident.
But we’re so busy with what is immediately at our reach we neglect the big picture, one that extends in time.
When it comes to creation, past, present and future are involved just the same, what we contribute is up to us.
Bring your practice to life
Insight meditation is the tool we use to remedy our shortsighted view, it helps uncover the inherent connectedness of all things.
Taking apart objects piece by piece reveals their complexity as well as their dependence in relation to everything, including our mind.
Once we appreciate opposites are mere conventions that exist only in our heads, our mindset shifts towards inclusiveness and non-discrimination.
Then it dawns on us to make the effort, to become team players, to engage with the world with genuine gratitude.
Hold the right attitude
“Deluded experience leads to nothing other than delusion; destroy dualistic perception!” Padmasambhava
At Plum village monastic community, you’re greeted with a post-it at every door, it reads “You are home, you have arrived”.
These words invite you to embrace and recognize yourself in every person and everything you touch.
That’s the spirit we want to adopt, our outlook should be welcoming, we ought to feel at home wherever we are.
Enmity loses its grasp when we’ve finally dissolved the illusory line that separates us, close or far become meaningless.
Duality brings disharmony
No matter who we are and what we believe in, we are all motivated by the hopes and fears of duality.
As long as we keep under their hold, we’ll easily fall back on our tendency to care exclusively for our own.
The world, that is you and all it contains, relies on our shifting from duality to unity, from ‘me’ to ‘all’.
Widening our view is the only way to live peacefully, in harmony; it’s in everyone’s interest, now and in the future.☮️
Nathalie Bizawi, founder of Wisdom & Mindfulness meditation center. Senior Meditation, Mindfulness and philosophy instructor, From Wingate Academic College. M.A in Education from TAU University, Tel Aviv.
Wisdom & Mindfulness your meditation center in Tel Aviv