As soon as I hear someone utter the words, “I’m a non-dualist,” I know they have no idea of what they just said. In fact, I’m beginning to view users of that term with some disdain, though to do so would surely brand me with the error of dualism.
In fact, during a recent discussion, I was accused of dualism. I was trying to paint a picture of my internal experience – of the ebb and flow of the strength of the manifestation of this world and the presence of something Real. “That’s dualism!” was shouted out by more than one person. Apparently, I had been unmasked, exposed, and was ready to be drummed out.
Dualism, however, makes it easy to turn the tables.
“What are you,” I said, “other than dualism?” Are you not living in this world? Are you not speaking with words, employing a body and brain, existing in a mind that cannot conceive of anything other than this and that, self and not-self? Or are you imagining within that mind, what is perhaps (!) beyond the mind?
Not that my accusers were non-dualists. They did, however, have a box into which they crammed all their conceptions of non-duality, enlightenment, the Absolute, and what-have-you. They, and you, carry around that box and measure what you hear against it, rather than listening with your intuition or heart.
It is better to know nothing that to be bogged down with preconceptions and misconceptions. It is better to be utterly confused than mistakenly confident. It is better to feel you just awoke in a strange room, than that you are going to sleep in your familiar bed.
One last thought to ponder in case you are ever accosted by a non-dualist or find your self drifting in that direction: would a true non-dualist even be visible to us?