My beginner level questions on non-duality

[kralaro]

My heart sank when i read "There is no person or god other than You". Isn't non-duality sad & lonely that there's no one, not even God, except you/me? Isn't apparent existence of this universe & duality a proof that i as singular consciousness is so lonely that i'm imagining everything to keep myself distracted? Maybe God / i as singular consciousness doesn't know whether there is any other consciousness beside itself, this seems dark to me. Some time ago i read someone's experience with a natural psychedelic, i roughly remember reading that on the psychedelic the person experienced being only existing consciousness with no one else existing and nothing else existing, and the person felt so lonely that he re-created the universe. I'm Not finding non-duality "bliss"full.

Is there any logical proof of non-duality?

When i sleep, my dreams are produced by my brain, i don't consciously create those dreams. A power different from myself, i.e. my brain, produces the dreams and i experience them. Similarly, isn't this world being designed & moved by a power different than me? - Since i'm not consciously doing it. So there are at least 2 consciousness: myself and God? When i jump, some other power pulls my body back to earth; if i'm the only consciousness who is God then why won't i stay afloat in air if i desire so?

This is an interesting conundrum.

We can find fear in being tiny and isolated mortals destined to perish and also the concept of being the ultimate eternal reality without a second.

[HITESH SHAH]

Originally Posted by kralaro

Is there any logical proof of non-duality?

Alternating state is a way of life . Day& life , sleep and awake state ,shining on and off twinkling starts , High and low tide , sorrow and happiness etc point to a certain pattern in life .In sleep you are alone and nobody exists (even your loved ones ) for you . Mere existence (which is proved by your functioning organs and continued breathing) also is great.

This indicates we need both bliss of sleep which is refreshing and recharging and fun/sorrow of the play which gives excitement and thrill .

It is quite possible depending on the one's stage in life journey one may not like bliss or fun of play (when one is undergoing through vagaries of life) . An ideal situation is we require best of both state at a better frequencies to improve our life .

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by kralaro

My heart sank when i read "There is no person or god other than You". Isn't non-duality sad & lonely that there's no one, not even God, except you/me? ... When i jump, some other power pulls my body back to earth; if i'm the only consciousness who is God then why won't i stay afloat in air if i desire so?

The paradox is that we are each alone, even while connecting with others and enjoying their company. Everything we experience is our own subjective experience.

When we are with friends and family we experience them as sense impressions (sight, hearing, touch) and our mind interprets these impressions as pertaining to particular individuals. We may also feel an emotional or mental connection which is more subtle than the senses, but this is still our own subjective experience. We are each living our own separate existence, alone.

This is actually quite liberating. If all we know is our own subjective experience then we are free to choose how we are with people. We can choose to feel love and compassion for all these people who come and go within our conscious awareness.

Regarding non-duality, we can say that "There is no person or god other than You." But what do we mean by "You"? It is not kralaro or iamthat or anyone else. These are just limited expressions of individualised Being. The real "You" is limitless unchanging Being.

Identification with this one limitless Being is neither sad nor lonely. It is a state of completeness, a state of wholeness. Nothing is missing, nothing can be added. We have no need of a separate God to cheer us up or keep us company.

And as for jumping in the air, it is not kralaro who is the state of Being inseparable from the Divine. So the body may jump in the air and kralaro may desire to float, but the body is subject to gravity so it falls back to the ground. Being has no desire to stay afloat or do anything. It simply is, and allows all things to be.

As for logical proof, the only proof lies in realisation.

Peace

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by kralaro

if i'm the only consciousness who is God then why won't i stay afloat in air if i desire so?

regardless of whether the premise you've asked about is true (and by the way you have a choice as to whether to believe it and go off into a lonely life, or not belief it and have friends, which is totally independent of whatever things really 'are'), the answer to that is that simply having the thought 'I desire to do so' isn't enough to overcome inertia and make it so... think of it this way at this point you've collected a number of other 'desires' that are in conflict with this goal (chief among which is to have a common manner of relating to others), and just having another random one isn't going to magically cancel out what went before.

[pixiedust]

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

regardless of whether the premise you've asked about is true (and by the way you have a choice as to whether to believe it and go off into a lonely life, or not belief it and have friends, which is totally independent of whatever things really 'are'), the answer to that is that simply having the thought 'I desire to do so' isn't enough to overcome inertia and make it so... think of it this way at this point you've collected a number of other 'desires' that are in conflict with this goal (chief among which is to have a common manner of relating to others), and just having another random one isn't going to magically cancel out what went before.

If we have many desires, how do we clarify?

[ayar415]

QUOTE Post 1 EXCERPT:

Originally Posted by kralaro

My heart sank when i read "There is no person or god other than You". Isn't non-duality sad & lonely that there's no one, not even God, except you/me?

I would find it scary. One is all there is. JustASimpleGuy, HITESH SHAH, iamthat, FallingLeaves, pixiedust, ayar515 are all You.

Is it possible to live without splitting up into different people, each with a different point of view?

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by pixiedust

If we have many desires, how do we clarify?

for me things seem a little clearer than if I'd been allowed to stay on the 'desiring what I want, denying what I don't' bandwagon. Now that I've been made to accept a certain amount of stuff I thought was unnacceptable, at least I can clearly see how the very process of choosing what to desire and what to run away from seriously boxes one in...

on the topic of jumping in the air and falling back down, there is a lot in the global consciousness about that topic. Pretty much all of it leads to the conclusion that it either isn't possible to levitate or it isn't desirable to levitate. Those who get past that pair of problems are presented with a reason to seal their lips...

kneeling in prayer helps clarity though.

[pixiedust]

Thank you FL

[kralaro]

The
"There is no person or god other than You"

I interpreted as that all persons (beside myself) are just my imagination, like characters in my dreams, they aren't conscious, and so they don't feel anything.

But you guys have given a different interpretation, that other persons are also conscious, it's just 1 consciousness kind of splitting itself into different bodies and seeing things from perspectives of all those bodies.

Interpretation given by you guys is seeming more correct, because of the "brain producing dreams" argument i've given in the OP. But then what should i make of this story about a popular ancient king named Janaka, i'm summarizing it, it was something like:
~~
Janaka had a nightmare of his kingdom being conquered by another king and he being exiled from his palace, and then facing serious hardships and bad luck. When he woke up and people of this world tried talking to him, he only said "Was that real, or is this real", people tried talking to him again and every time he repeated this same sentence. News spread that the king has gone mad. The king's teacher was on visit to the kingdom, he met the king and asked him how is he, the king replied the same "Was that real, or is this real". The teacher, who could read minds, said "Oh King, when you were conquered by the another king, leading you to roam around begging for food, but people weren't feeding you in fear of the new tyrant king, so you traveled to neighboring kingdom, you were tired and starving, and whatever food you could scrape off was also taken away from you, when all this was happening, did this current world exist?". Getting his mind read, the king for the first time replied something else: "No". The teacher then said "Now you're in comfort of your kingdom, surrounded by your queens, does that world exists now?", king again replied "No". The teacher said "Then neither that world nor this world is real, only constant in both the situations is you, you're real".
~~
Now doesn't this story show that like my dream characters are unreal, the people of this world are unreal too?

I've noticed that after reading "There is no person or god other than You", i'm not attracted to girls anymore like i used to.