Thank you Laura. The quote from Kahlil Gibran is quite good and is a reminder to me to be careful in how I phrase things.
To really describe the experience is not easy without writing reams, but I'll do my best to keep it short.
The non-dual state I was in was likely not complete, but it was powerful enough for me to recognize the state and to better understand the nature of duality. After the experience I read many, many books and religious texts. My mind was now open to ideas that I had formerly rejected. One book was by Jack Kornfield entitled "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry". In the book he interviewed many people who had enlightenment experiences and the experiences of all of those he interviewed in the book was very similar to my own (though with some very important differences as well).
One constant for all in the book as well as myself was that the experience only lasts about 3-5 months. Afterwards one returns to normal. Kornfield argues that no one, not even the Buddha, remains in the state forever - that it is always a temporary state (not so sure I agree with his argument even though it was true for me).
Now I had studied Buddhism for over 20 years (while never becoming a "Buddhist") and of course have heard the teachings of nonduality, but I never truly understood it until the epiphany.
I can only describe the state as being completely at peace, with no desire whatsoever. There was no desire to accomplish this or that, no desire for food or wine, etc, no desire for anything whatsoever.
Also the state felt completely natural - not foreign at all. The really interesting thing for me is that it took no effort to remain in this state. It went far beyond what I was capable of doing on my own. So many religious texts seem to exhort the individual to try harder, to use their will power. But when this state is achieved, there is no effort.
In regards to the state of enlightenment, the Ashtavakra Gita states:
"Liberation is when the mind does not long for anything, grieve about anything, reject anything, or hold on to anything, and is not pleased about anything nor displeased about anything." 8.2
U.G. Krishnamurti said:
"God or enlightenment is the ultimate pleasure, uninterrupted happiness. No such thing exists. Your wanting something that does not exist is the root of your problems. Transformation, moksha, liberation, and all that stuff, are just variations of the same theme: permanent happiness... The peacefully functioning body doesn't care one hoot for your ecstasies, beatitudes, or blissful states."
The state I experienced validates for me these teachings and is in my opinion exactly what Jesus, the Buddha, et al. were trying to describe. The state of enlightenment isn't about permanent bliss or happiness. Those states are products of duality. If one experiences happiness, they will in turn also experience sadness. This is also the teaching behind yin and yang.
The nondual state is neither joyful nor painful. In the Gospel of Thomas, one of the earliest Christian texts (estimated to have been written between AD 200 to AD 250), Jesus says the following:
"When You make the two one, and when You make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when You make the male and the female one, so that the male will not be male nor the female female ... then will You enter the Kingdom."
—Gospel of Thomas (22)
Clearly Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of God rests in nonduality - neither male nor female. This is why Adam and Eve fell from God's grace when they learned of "good and evil" - the knowledge of "good and evil" is just another way of expressing the knowledge of the opposites. When we recognize the opposites, we are in the world of pleasure and pain, happiness and sadness, creation and destruction and is why we suffer.
The nondual state has been described in the Hindu Puranas as the primordial state - the state that exists before creation. Creation requires polarity - the "opposites". But duality is always changing and impermanent, thus causing gain and loss, joy and sadness, pleasure and pain.
Bhagavadgita states:
"...the true Renouncer, firm and fixed,
Who—seeking nought, rejecting nought—dwells proof
Against the "opposites"."
And the Ashtavakra Gita teaches:
Truly dualism is the root of suffering. There is no other remedy for it than the realisation that all this that we see is unreal, and that I am the one stainless reality, consisting of consciousness. 2.16
Hello Xbalanque
Interesting post.
Reading it a few things come to mind.
Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. (from Kahlil Gibran of Self-Knowledge:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5484/Gib17.htm)
This article come to mind about interesting new facts on animals that apparently have a code of behaviour/ morals...
There is evidence of altruism, with some animals acting disinterestedly for the good of others. Animals which live in communities, the scientists say, often exhibit signs of morality which resembles human behaviour.
They say there is scientific backing for their claims, with huge implications for human use of animals.
....
"Animal sentience has been a matter of debate down the centuries.
"We can't prove absolutely even that another human being is sentient, though it would obviously be unreasonable to assume they are not.
"But the weight of scientific opinion is that it's certainly right to give the benefit of the doubt to all vertebrates."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3014747.stmAlso I think we would be very interested to read about your experience on non-duality .
love
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