PSYCHOLOGY
MONISM
A Scientific Model of Unity
Through our surface perceptions, all of this "surrounding
energy" seems divided up, limited and
constantly changing. We see trees, cars,
animals and other people. As we calm
our reactive mind, we're able to intuitively perceive a deeper reality, which resides beyond the limitations
of our sense organs, beyond all of this surface change, fragmentation
and limitation.
We realize that the world appears as a
multiplicity because it's perceived through
the limitations of our sense organs and
reactive minds. The universe
is but the energy of Transcendence, dancing and evolving under the dynamic presence of the Divine.
Philosophy adapts and deepens as we're able to intuit a profound
unity.
A SIMPLE QUESTION
Swami Vivekananda
"Has God become divided into millions
of individual souls?
How can that infinite power and substance,
the one Being of the universe, become divided?
It's impossible to divide infinity. How
can that pure Being become this universe?
If He's become the universe, He's changeful,
and if He's changeful, He's part of nature,
and whatever is nature and changeful, is
born and dies. If our God is changeful,
He must die some day."
OUR LIFE IS BASED ON MISUNDERSTANDING,
ON LIMITED INTERPRETATIONS.
"So the non-dualists say, "The
whole of this universe, these Devas, gods,
angels, and all the other beings born and
dying, all this infinite number of souls
coming up and going down, are all dreams."
There's no Jiva (embodied soul) at all (in
an ultimate sense). How can there be many?
It's the one Infinity. As the one sun, reflected
on endless puddles of water, appears to
be many, and these millions of globules
of water reflect millions of suns, in each
globule will be a perfect image of the sun,
yet there's only one sun,. So all these
Jivas are but reflections of the One in
different minds."
EXAMPLES OF NON-DUAL EXPERIENCES
The Hua Hu Ching
"The Tao is always present and always
available...
If you're willing to be lived by it, you'll
see it everywhere, even in the most ordinary
things. Worlds and particles, bodies and
beings, time and space: All are transient
expressions of the Tao." -
Mundaka Upanishad
"He is fire and the sun, and the moon
and the stars.
He's the air and the sea, and the Creator,
Prajapati. He's this boy, he's that girl,
he's this man, he's that woman, and he's
this old man, too, tottering on his staff.
His face is everywhere".
"The Lord of Love is before and behind.
He extends to the right and to the left.
He extends above; he extends below. There's
no one here but the Lord of Love. He alone
is; in truth, he alone is."
Sogyal Rinpoche
"... we and all sentient beings fundamentally
have the buddha nature as our innermost
essence..."
Our minds are all reflecting the immortal
freedom and unity of Transcendence. But
we look for these absolute qualities in
externals.
Transcendence is being reflected in our
minds.
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
"These different minds are like so
many different globules, reflecting this
one Being. God is being reflected in all
these different individual souls. But a
dream can't be without a reality, and that
reality is that one Infinite Existence.
You, as body, mind, or soul, are a dream,
(unsubstantial, constantly changing) but
what you really are, is Existence, Knowledge,
Bliss. You're the God of this universe.
You're creating the whole universe and drawing
it in. Thus says the Advaitist. So all these
births and rebirths, coming and going, are
the figments of Maya (partial understandings).
You're infinite. Where can you go? The sun,
moon, and the whole universe are but drops
in your transcendent nature."
"The monistic Vedanta is the simplest
form in which you can put truth.
To teach dualism was a tremendous mistake
made in India and elsewhere, because people
didn't look at the ultimate principles,
but only thought of the process which is
very intricate indeed."
Are we strong? Do we feel strength?
"I've no objection to dualism in many
of its forms. I like most of them, but I
have objections to every form of teaching
which inculcates weakness.
This is the one question I put to every
man, woman, or child, when they're in physical,
mental, or spiritual training. Are you strong?
Do you feel strength? For I know it's truth
alone that gives strength. I know that truth
alone gives life, and nothing but going
towards reality will make us strong, and
none will reach the truth until he's strong.
Every system, therefore, which weakens the
mind, makes one superstitious, makes one
mope, makes one desire all sorts of wild
impossibilities, mysteries, and superstitions,
I don't like, because its effect is dangerous.
Such systems never bring any good; such
things create morbidity in the mind, make
it weak, so weak that in time it will be
almost impossible to receive truth or live
up to it."
"Strength, therefore, is the one thing
needful.
Strength is the medicine for the world's
disease. Strength is the medicine which
the poor must have when tyrannised over
by the rich. Strength is the medicine that
the ignorant must have when oppressed by
the learned; and it's the medicine that
sinners must have when tyrannised over by
other sinners; and nothing gives such strength
as this idea of monism (ultimate unity)."
Non-dualism and morality
"Nothing makes us so moral as this
idea of monism.
Nothing makes us work so well at our best
and highest as when all responsibility is
thrown upon ourselves. I challenge everyone
of you. How will you behave if I put a little
baby in your hands? Your whole life will
be changed for the moment; whatever you
may be, you must become selfless for the
time being. You'll give up all your criminal
ideas as soon as responsibility is thrown
upon you. Your whole character will change."
"So, it's not right to say the Impersonal
idea will lead to a tremendous amount of
evil in the world,
as if the other doctrine never lent itself
to works of evil, as if it didn't lead to
sectarianism deluging the world with blood
and causing men to tear each other to pieces.
"My God is the greatest god, let's
decide it by a free fight." That is
the outcome of dualism all over the world."
"You remember that passage in the
sermon of Buddha, how he sent a thought
of love towards the south, north, east,
and the west, above and below, until the
whole universe was filled with this love,
so grand, great, and infinite.
When you have that feeling, you have true
personality. The whole universe is one person;
let little things go. Give up the small
for the Infinite, give up small enjoyments
for infinite bliss. It's all yours, for
the Impersonal includes the Personal. So
God is Personal and Impersonal at the same
time. And Man, the Infinite, Impersonal
Man, is manifesting Himself as person."
"Don't blame any supernatural being,
neither be hopeless and despondent, nor
think we're in a place from which we can
never escape unless someone comes and lends
us a helping hand.
That cannot be, says the Vedanta. We're like
silkworms; we make the thread out of our
own substance and spin the cocoon, and in
time are imprisoned inside. But this isn't
for ever. In that cocoon we'll develop spiritual
realisation, and like the butterfly come
out free."
"Cry to all the gods in the universe.
I cried for years, and in the end I found
I was helped. But help came from within,
And I had to undo what I had done by mistake.
That's the only way. I had to cut the net
which I'd thrown round myself, and the power
to do this is within. Of this I'm certain
that not one aspiration, well-guided or
ill-guided in my life, has been in vain,
but that I'm the resultant of all my past,
both good and evil. I've committed many
mistakes in my life; but mark you, I'm sure
of this, that without every one of those
mistakes I wouldn't be what I am today,
and so I'm quite satisfied to have made
them. I don't mean that you're to go home
and wilfully commit mistakes; don't misunderstand
me in that way. But don't mope because of
the mistakes you've committed, but know
that in the end all will come out straight.
I can't be otherwise, because goodness is
our nature, purity is our nature, and that
nature can never be destroyed. Our essential
nature always remains the same."
Swami Vivekananda
