Beyon Nonduality: Transcending Form, God, and Even Existence Itself

Beyond Nonduality: Transcending Form, God, and Existence This work is dedicated to my wife, Jackie. Nothing would be possible without you! Copyright © Andre Halaw 2023 All rights reserved. Original Mind Zen Publications. Cover photo borrowed with permission from Creative Commons user Dewy_spider_web.jpg. Foreword I have procrastinated writing this book for at least three years. My reluctance stemmed from several factors, including the fact that I practice Buddhism, and this book runs counter to some fundamental Buddhist tenets. Yet, in order to remain truthful to myself, I knew that I would have to reconcile Buddhist teachings with my own experiences, for lack of a better word. In the end, I submit this short work in the hopes that it remains free from all labels, including “Buddhist.” The other major hurdle I encountered was summoning the audacity to pen such a work in the first place. For who was I to think that I could add to the wisdom of the greatest sages? More specifically, how dare I elaborate upon or even challenge what the spiritually enlightened had taught? There’s no easy way to muster up the chutzpah for such a task, so I just waited until I couldn’t wait any more, until the need to write overpowered my doubts. What remains is a distillation of my own understanding, as best I can express it at the present moment. I will be the first to admit that serious practitioners must transcend all verbal descriptions and plunge into the raw ocean for themselves. Words or concepts cannot accomplish this for you. My hope is that this book helps a few people to do just that. This work is divided into three parts. The logic of this structure, I hope, will become evident as you continue to read. Since we must first understand duality in order to grasp Nonduality (at least intellectually), the first section is devoted to duality. The second focuses on Nonduality, the experience of the unity of all existence. The third and final section is dedicated to Nothingness, that which lies beyond or before all else, including even Nonduality. Hopefully, this book will untie more knots than it unintentionally creates. Safe travels. Best, Andre 5/9/2023 Overview Here’s a brief overview of the book to help you decide if it’s worth spending your money on: Living in a world of discrete, separate objects makes us feel like we’re losing our minds, as we seek to control our lives, which is ultimately an impossible task. We cannot control other people, the environment, the economy, or even ourselves, because control is an illusion. We cannot control our emotions any more than we can raise the Dow Jones Industrial Average at will. Nor can we micromanage other people’s actions, regardless of how much we attempt to. Still, we try. And the resulting failure leaves us frustrated at a world that won’t follow our bidding. We don’t get the job or raise in salary that we wanted; our neighbors decide to cut down a tree overhanging our property, which raises our heating and cooling bills; crooks get elected to office and appoint their friends or relatives to positions of power; criminals break the law with impunity; even our emotions resist control. The pressure from a maddeningly violent world full of so much discord will inevitably drive even the most resilient heart into feelings of meaninglessness, confusion, frustration, and rage. After all, how can people treat one another so terribly? Doesn’t anyone even care about people other than themselves? Taking one look at the environmental disaster that is looming, we wonder how humans can be so thoughtless and selfish? Wouldn’t the planet be better off without us? Why is life so unfair? How can God be so cruel? This emotional turmoil results from feeling separated from everyone and everything else in the world, pitted against what feels like a hostile, indifferent universe. To find answers to these painful questions, we often seek shelter in religion or spiritual practices, and perhaps even find a sliver of peace there. For when we look past all of the confusion that people create, we discover a fundamental shared experience: everyone suffers, and everyone seeks happiness (ironically, our quest for the latter often induces the former). This knowledge can open a gateway for us to experience a new way of being, an oasis of sharing. Where there was once separation, there is now connection. The once solid world of individuals now blends into a sea of relationships to the point where we can no longer identify anyone or anything in isolation. Now all that remains unity, or networks of mutual interdependence. This vision of Nonduality, as it is called, can heal the injuries inflicted from the fragmented world of dualities that we ordinarily inhabit. The feelings of isolation that have haunted us all of our lives dissolve. We are no longer broken, alone, or incomplete. That existential emptiness of duality fills with the splendid joining of…just being. Our once singular existence swells to encompass the entire universe. We are at One with everything. Spiritual travelers often revel in these newfound feelings of union and completeness, as seen in spiritual texts throughout the world. And from the point of view of our once fractured existence, nonduality feels like a hot bath of much needed succor. For once we have shed the yoke of duality (with its petty rivalries, concerns, and worries), are we not free? Filled with the universal spirit of love, have we plumbed the deepest depths of the world’s mysteries? Are we not finally at peace? No, Nonduality is not the panacea that it appears to be. The purpose of this book is to address a shortcoming that I believe is prevalent in modern spiritual circles. Namely, a preoccupation with or addiction to the Oneness of all existence. Now this may seem like a strange sort of contention to raise, given all of the controversial subjects related to contemplative practice (abuses of power, prejudice in spiritual circles, hypocrisy and corruption,