With in the schools of Mysticism there are 2 prevalent schools of thought. Which are you? Read further please.

Question

These 2 primary schools of thought are dualism & non-dualism. Which do you adhear to? Is one correct & the other error? Maybe it is both? Please give me your belief & understanding & please explain.
On a side note, I am relatively new here, & have just been awe struck by the love & acceptance I have recieved from some of you {and you know who you are}. You have my gratitude.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question & Blessings to all!

It's early AM here, & I must leave my home to care for an ailing older friend. When I return I will respond to all these beautiful answers. Why did I have to come to Yahoo answers to find others with such clarity & purpose of Path? Please believe me when I say I am grateful for each & all of you. Until this afternoon Be Blessed!

I am now down to the wire & must pick a best answer. I want all to know that I saw no wrong answers, & each of you have added to my understanding & given me different POV to examine. Thank you all & of course, remember you are Blessed!

Answer 1

Mysticism to my mind is most beneficially approached in terms of experiential practices, rather than conceptual ideas. And especially given that the experiences involved are more original and fundamental than words, it's often a mistake to take the words too literally.

If you take mystical language literally, you're not taking it seriously enough.

The "dualist" Christian author of The Cloud of Unknowing and the "non-dualist" Zen teacher Dogen, lived on opposite sides of the world and had very different spiritual languages. But when you look at (and practice) what they were actually DOING, in terms of contemplative techniques, it's essentially identical.

And, of course, for those folks, it wasn't about believing. It was about experiencing a kind of sobriety more wonderful, more intimate and more obvious than a belief.
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Answer 2

Phae, If you ask me all dualities are triads. If one chooses one of those "schools of thought" over the other they are in effect eating of the fruits of dualism. The reality is, if one understands, that the 2 is really one, while the 2 maintains its reality on their respective lower planes, the 1 in which the two unite is of a plane that transcends the limitations of the two polarities or paradoxes. Paradoxes are good, it shows that the individual does not have a firm grasp on either concept or reality since they can not bring about a harmonized third force or neutralizing factor.

This question is answered in the esoteric understanding of male/female. The two become one within the child and the child represents the birth through the center. This is salvific, the Third Force quality, the the oneness of the Triad.

There is always a battle that ensues within an individual, the problem is that the world in regards to its concrete appearance is a projection of mind/consciousness and thus projects OUR own inner divisions of mind which we must bring into a unified whole. There is male and there is female, but we must make them "one flesh," there is the ONE and there is the individual as nothing can exist apart from the ONE and the one can not exist apart from the sum of its parts, or it suffers loss. The many nourish the ONE with its growing experiential knowledge and all things are holographic, as above so below, the microcosm is the macrocosm. Polarities and opposites invoke each other and they initiate one another. This is so by reason of balance and this balance is catalyst for movement and progression. Just like there is night and day, we know that the polarities of night and day are caused by one source, that being the sun as the earth moves. The dualities that one sees is a process of balance. Without the many in the ONE all searching and expanding in self discovery, the ONE would have no means to evolve itself. There really should be no argument, but rather everyone should reevaluate what they think they know within themselves.

So that which is "dual" from a higher perspective is a Triad as their is a level where the 2 becomes one, equally true within a third force. So there is duality and there is not, there is the ONE and there is the many within the ONE. There is the body and there is the many facilities within the body. Oneness is not a thing of negation but rather of harmony of substance and being.

Shalom.

Answer 3

To wit I quote:

" With in the schools of Mysticism there are 2 prevalent schools of thought [...] These 2 primary schools of thought are dualism & non-dualism [...]


The inquiry here speaks to the reflexive nature of it:

" 'One correct & the other error. Maybe it is both? "

'That', sire, 'is' duality. Inescapable. Whether we think it to be or not, it 'is' -- regardless -- and there exists nothing that will or can be done about this -- surely as there is a night, then a day; an up, then a down; the king, then the plebian.

Q.E.D.

No true school of Mysticism -- if such school is 'truly' of mysticism -- dares waste the high economy by arguing a great Truth endemic to all life here. 'Mind you -- 'here'.

Even the greenest of novitiate will have long solved the riddle of duality before even placing one shoe through the doorway that passes one into the great Empties of Mysticism. This must be resolved, for there follows an entirety that far surpasses mysticism: quite frankly, mysticism is not even a first step into what lies above, beyond, and beneath. And the Mystic well knows this -- the true Mystic.

Answer 4

I believe in non-dualism. I think dualism can be very destructive to our mental and spiritual growth. Religions dictate a certain course of thinking according to the way the scriptures are interpreted.
Example: All sins are equal in God's eyes. How can all sins be equal? Murder does not equal a white lie. This is the kind of thing that twists us up in knots and prevents us from doing our own thinking and growing.
I acknowledge that I was raised in a strong Western tradition and culture, so I am sure I have not been able to completely purge dualism from my thinking.

Answer 5

Dear shy friend,

You are welcome and you will have a nice time here.

Monotheism or Advaita believes in the oneness of Godhead but it also postulates that the God head manifests Himself in different forms. On the other hand, the dualist or the dwaitist would say that the Paramathma or God head and the Jeevatma or the Self within us are distinct entities and the latter shall ever live in supplication of the former. There is a master and servant or dasa relations between them. There is a third category called Vasishtadvaita which postulates that the Paramathma and Jeevathma are not entirely the same but the latter is akin to the former and is within Him.

Which is true is indeed a good question. Kanchi Paramacharya, a great exponent of Advaita said all these philosophies are true in their own ways. As long as our consciousness remain separated and dual perception persists, our relations with the God will be one of dwaitism or duality. You reach the other end of advaitism, once you are spiritually in an advanced state. Your consciousness should have completely merged with the higher consciousness. The river loses its identity, once it drains itself into the sea. Vasishtaadvaita is an intermediary stage.

Answer 6

I think we (egos) adhere to that which resonates the most with us.

Not to say this negatively, but the underlying problem we all face, is that our egos seek confirmation and we get it from our beliefs and by getting others to agree with us. That which we like gives us confirmation and we want more of it, that which we don't like is that which doesn't give us confirmation, so we don't want it and reject it. This game of confirmation is what keeps us - as egos - intact. Knowing about this game is primary to get out of it.

Confirmation for the ego, is all about convincing ourselves that we matter, that we are alive. This is the trick we are all playing with ourselves. We don't know who we truly are. If we did then we wouldn't have the need to split ourselves up and take sides with one school or the other.

Love thy enemies comes to mind, and question everything and especially one's beliefs. What I know today is that there is no school of thought, nor any method of being, such as being compassionate, being dual or non-dual that will work. A flowing spirit can't be contained by any preconceived idea or mold. Perception & knowing all follow the truth and can point to it, but no technique can be used to simulate truth or of being alive. I don't know how to state this more clear.

There is only one truth, yet from the 'identified one's' perspective it gets split into all kinds of knowing and beliefs.

Personally, I don't adhere to any school of thought.

On a side note, I accept you just how you are right now, yet I relate to what you express as I see it. Because I have no need to get confirmation for myself of being in any particular way, then I am free to express myself. If when I do that, it turns out that I don't give you confirmation then does that mean I'm a bad person, non-loving or can it be felt that I'm an unwanted influence? If you can't resonate with what I say, then is that the same thing as meaning I'm not loving and compassionate? Just curious what you think.

Betsy

Answer 7

The illusion seems to be very real till you think about it for a while. Then you start to see the little cracks between the places where it is stuck together. When you start to see the light shining through these little cracks you can no longer believe the illusion is real. You start to wonder how you ever believed it at all.

This is more easily understandable if one considers the actual scale of the components of an atom. If one takes into account the fact that the neutrons, protons and electrons of an atom actually have huge spaces between them it becomes clear that the atoms that make up seemingly solid objects are made up of 99+ percent empty space.

This alone does not seem too important till you add the idea that the atoms that make up seemingly solid objects are more of a loose conglomeration that share a similar attraction but never really touch each other.

At first glance this does not really seem relevant, but closer analysis reveals that this adds a tremendous amount of empty space to solid objects that are already made up of atoms that are 99 percent space. When so-called solid objects are seen in this light it becomes apparent that they can in no way be the seemingly solid objects they appear to be.

We ourselves are not exceptions to this phenomenon.

These seemingly solid objects are more like ghostly images that we interpret as solid objects based on our perceptual conclusions.

From this we must conclude that Perception is some sort of a trick that helps us to take these ghostly images and turn them into a world we can associate and interact with. This clever device seems to be a creation of our intellect that enables us to interact with each other in what appears to be a three dimensional reality.

I hope that helps to answered your question.

Love and blessings Don

Answer 8

i see dualism in the world. It's two fundemental sources opposing each other. The way i like to explain it is:
With every action their is a reaction. If we eat , we sacrifce hunger. If we are awake, we sacrifice sleep. Now let's get more metaphysical. Good verses evil. which get's complex. more common is right verses wrong. black vs. wrong. the bottom line is like i explained earlier. with everything there is an opposite. that is dualism in 50 words or less....

Answer 9

I have seen it as both. I saw duality till I I could see that the ego could not be real, then I saw singularity, or at least some aspects of it. I think the one that is correct depends on who is looking & where they stand. If a person really thinks they are dual, then for them it is true. If someone believes they have "overcome" their ego, in all the aspects that they understand, then this is what is real for them. Is it the ultimate reality? I don't know, hope one day I will.

Answer 10

To try and explain this I will focus on left handed Tantra, however the truth is not in concepts but experience. The whole Earth, Universe, and everything is the flowing, pulsing, orgasmic power of Kundalini. This is every-ones real experience only most don't know it. In Tantra a couple makes a child, this child is Kundalini and is very beautiful, as it grows or rises as the Serpent power within and threw themselves it is seen to be their Mother, every-things mother, it is in fact themselves, very beautiful. But to experience this it needs to forget itself to come together in love of the pairs of opposites, real love where there is no good or bad, no judgments. So this is why it is called the perfect path, oneness is OK as is being separate, both are required. Now as there are no more judgments, only the blissful arising of Kundalini, who is to say there is oneness or duality? And besides, this is a path I love to practice. One more thing, if I love something enough do I become that thing or must I be able to see, taste smell, hear and feel that thing to love it? : )