inner world

[FallingLeaves]

i was wondering, is it possible to try for nonduality while looking only at the inner world? Because I was thinking, preferring the inner to the outer seems like a strong preference for duality... not much better in nondual terms than preferring the outer to the inner...

[alanantic]

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

i was wondering, is it possible to try for nonduality while looking only at the inner world? Because I was thinking, preferring the inner to the outer seems like a strong preference for duality... not much better in nondual terms than preferring the outer to the inner...

I thought in non-duality, inner/outer is part of the Illusion.

[HITESH SHAH]

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

i was wondering, is it possible to try for nonduality while looking only at the inner world?

Probably not . Outer world is inseparable part of Non-duality.

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

Because I was thinking, preferring the inner to the outer seems like a strong preference for duality... not much better in nondual terms than preferring the outer to the inner...

Yet there can be various options suited to one's taste/preferences provided one is genuine , honest, consistent and disciplined . There can be different responses of 2 different persons in same situations valid from different POVs.

[Miss Hepburn]

Well, as many have said..Everything you see with your eyes open is illusion.
If that helps you with your question.

[Native spirit]

I would Echo what has already been said


Namaste

[Unseeking Seeker]

Ramana or maybe Nisargadatta or both purportedly propounded neti neti - not this, not this, suggesting that what whatever comes and goes is an illusion, unreal. A quick Google search shows that it is credited to Sage Yajnavalkya … a snippet for the cocktail circuit!

In my view, the mental concept of non-duality is academic, since we don’t really know or appreciate it, at level of mind. Mind dissects and bisects and fragments. The ‘knowing’ is when we are so ‘shown’ by God or the Universe, in an understanding that transcends limited mind.

Swami Sarvapriyananda is an eloquent speaker on traditional non-duality or Advaita Vedanta. It’s always a delight to hear him speak on the subject. Then, we have Rupert Spira, Mooji and many others. All great to get a perspective and make mind tranquil.

On a basic level, if we begin with duality, separateness, for that is what we see, at our core, we feel incomplete. Oscillating like a pendulum between fleeting joy and dark despair is not our cup of tea.

We are right! If we choose to follow this innate impulse, we slowly shift from separateness to interconnectedness. Lower aspects of love manifests as empathy and kindness. Our attention softens. We learn to yield. Our heart becomes mellow. It is no longer necessary for us to ‘win’ or be ‘street smart’. We are then in but not of the world, so to speak.

Perhaps ‘oneness experiences’ may be offered. Who can tell? Yet the so called ‘oneness experiences’ aren’t true oneness because we are there and the void (or manifestation) is there. One but yet two.

As we proceed, depending upon what attribute of God consciousness is bestowed, let’s say bliss for example, then at a time deemed optimal by the universe, we may enter a state of non-permanent Samadhi. We disappear, time and space disappears and we be to become throbbing, elixirous bliss in renewal, self-existent, as one without a second. Oneness.

As a footnote, I’d add that we cannot exit Samadhi, simply because we are not there. Through an unknown mechanism, we drift out of the Samadhi experience and renter mind-body with full memory and cognition of the validity of the oneness experience.

Proceeding further, if so graced, we may feel consciousness expansion, encompassing all that there is. Oneness.

If so enabled, we may be to become God’s vital breath, in-dwelling all forms. Oneness.

Then again, here we are in this mind-body! It seems that the trailer of the movie is not the full movie. Yet our appetite has now been whetted!

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Well, as many have said..Everything you see with your eyes open is illusion.
If that helps you with your question.

why isn't the stuff I see with my eyes closed also an illusion? What basis do I have for saying 'this part of the reality is real, and this part an illusion'?

[FallingLeaves]

also by discernement, by saying 'this is real, and this isn't' we go back to my original question, aren't we just creating another duality through such statements?

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

not much better in nondual terms than preferring the outer to the inner...

Outer and inner is Duality, non-Duality and Duality is Duality, non-Duality is Duality, what exists and what doesn't exist is Duality. No wonder you're confused, and the problem is your inner world.

There are three things going on, not the two of Duality. There is 'this'/inner world, there is 'that'/outer world, and there is 'both'/consciousness. And then you become conscious that you are becoming conscious.

[HITESH SHAH]

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

also by discernement, by saying 'this is real, and this isn't' we go back to my original question, aren't we just creating another duality through such statements?

There no need to fear duality per se. Duality in fact aids play and in effect it leads to fun n excitement. Only that too much of duality kills nonduality in us and that tarnishes /clouds our blissful /peaceful state.

So try to discover an optimum balance which keeps shifting as we travel along in life.

And nonduality (oscillating between duality n nonduality) is real. Excellent people makes everything in this oscilliation excellent.