I was just thinking that my biggest desire as a nonduality teacher is to be wrong—to be proven that I am describing this completely incorrectly and always have been. Why? Because that means there is a better way to describe it.
For a nonduality student, if your biggest desire is to be wrong, it means you are literally on the right path. If you are stuck in duality, you cannot see nonduality. Therefore, if you can just accept, “Okay, everything I think is wrong,” then you are practicing nonduality.
“Not two.” Literally every thought is a divisive thought.
It’s the same for me trying to express this. Every way I can think of to tell you how to be yourself, or how to figure out who you are, is just wrong. There must be better ways to do it. So, I am constantly studying how other people talk about it. Are there new methods emerging that are working for people?
I am constantly searching for enlightenment stories, asking: How exactly did someone go from not understanding to understanding? It is usually in a flash. There can be a “slow burn” getting to the point where you are willing to realize, “Oh, I’m me.” But there is always an actual moment of recognition that happens. So, the “wronger” I am now, the better off it is for everybody later. If I can think of better ways to express this, then simply watching my videos might enable you to “get it.”
Back to you as the student. The more you can simply admit that something is “off,” the better. Something is just not quite right in the way you perceive reality.
There’s nothing wrong with reality, truth, or you. There is just your habit of perception. Looking at it from the point of nonduality, it matters where you are perceiving from. If you try to perceive the world through your assumptions and descriptions, you will always be wrong.
We want no filter between us and reality.
We usually define reality as the “outside reality” (whatever is not in your body) and the “inside reality” (what is inside your body).
Here’s a funny thing I thought of to explain this better: We tend to think our inner world is just our thoughts and feelings. Why do we make that division? Why isn’t our heart beating part of our inner world? Why isn’t our blood pumping part of it? Those physical processes are as much your inner world as what you think is happening when you shut your eyes.
Look: My eyes are open; “Oh, I’m in the outer world.” Now I shut them; “Oh, now I’m in the inner world.” Did anything actually change? No. Your heart beats whether your eyes are open or closed.
We’re trying to get into that reality. We’re trying to turn our perception into a tool we use to live, rather than an addiction to the past, the future, and our concepts. So, we need to practice being wrong. That’s a tough one. When you suddenly see you’ve done something wrong, you have to be on your toes to say, “Yes!” rather than reacting with shame, guilt, and all those terrible things.
So, let’s admit we’re wrong. I am absolutely wrong in the way I’m describing this. I know there’s a better way to do it, and I’m looking to find it. You are wrong in your interpretation of it.
The second you understand what enlightenment is, you’re there. That is why it’s a total waste of time to try to imagine what it’s like or describe what it’s going to be. Every imagination you have about it is wrong. Every thought you have about it is wrong. Everything you’ve ever read in a book is wrong. Your interpretation of what I’m saying right now? Wrong.
This is why nonduality is so fun. It’s a bummer when people turn it into a dry brain exercise, trying to get away from reality by claiming “everything is an illusion.”
Let’s get to the truth.