You Are Not Two
Welcome to my course on Nonduality… a step by step guide that uses stories, science and even a giraffe to bring you back home to your true nature. Below you will find this as videos, and edited transcripts. Please do it all in order as each section builds the story in a clear manner.
Prefer reading? This course is also available as a book on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle form.
Get started now with lesson 1…
We are more connected to everything than we can imagine. The secret of Nonduality is saying that our mind is not big enough to fully see this, but consciousness is it.
There are not two things happening. Words can’t describe it. Consciousness can be it.
An easier way to say this is that the entire dictionary of words in every language, every thought that has ever formed in a human mind, still only grasps a small sliver of reality.
However, you can BE it. In fact, you ARE it. It’s tempting to think of it as infinity, but that only complicates things. No matter what stories are running in your imagination this vastness of being is best conceived as nothing. Remove all complexity and what you have left is nothing.
The question before us is how do we, today in this world, do that? The simplest way is to remove the idea of infinity and replace it with the mystical idea of zero. Infinity is huge and complex. Nothing is simple. Any human can relax into the beauty and enormity of nothing. This is the abiding place of peace and connectivity.
This is why being human is a marvelous adventure. We are all built perfectly, just exactly as we are.
There is only this one thing happening. Let us jump from our chattering minds and see it.
This is a simple course on Non-Duality. It comes with a money back guarantee that nothing will happen and no money will be returned. It’s not what you expect so if it doesn’t meet your expectations, then I’ve been successful.
If nothing really happens, you will be transformed forever. So, get started right away.
What is Not Two?
So what is Nonduality? Particularly… How can this be made simple?
The idea itself is very simple. It means “Not two.” It means that there are not two things happening in you: All is one. You are it.
It is a technique to find out who you are. It means that you are not divided. There’s just one you: you. Your very nature is wholeness. We just happen to see lots of things that seem to be “out there,” both in the world, and in our minds, and we tend to project ourselves onto those things.
Nonduality teachings get murky because the nature of the universe is unity. You being ‘you’ doesn’t mean that you are a separate individual of you’ness floating around in a separate universe. You are intricately part of everything to the point of there being no edges as to where you stop and anything else begins. This gets murky because discussions on Nonduality can go two ways. The teaching is specifically a technique to help you discover who you are: There are not two of you. But it often gets defined as saying that multiplicy or duality does not exist at all. And then we can start thinking that “Not two” means that nothing exists at all. This misinterpretation brings out our nihilistic tendencies and takes us further and further from discovering our true being.
Non Duality is a razor blade we use to cut through the apparent illusion that there are two things happening in your consciousness. While you search for yourself it’s best to leave the rest of the world alone. The rest of us do exist (including mountains, rivers, societies, etc. )
Nonduality brings you home because who you are searching for is also the you that is searching.
From day one of your Nondual studies you should feel more real in yourself, more connected to reality and trusting of the process. If this hasn’t happened for you before it’s because the steps have been misinterpreted. So start over and reset. Follow the steps in this book and we’ll work slowly to disassemble the untrue and reveal the true.
To find your true being we use the razor of Nonduality to slice through all the different concepts and beliefs that come into our consciousness. Ask the question over and over, “Is that two?” The answer is almost always yes. Eventually we stop believing in the separate thing. Using this razor we can cut it down and down until you get to the point where you can see that you are you and everything is unity. Really see and experience it, not just think about it.
Why do we have to do this?
It’s because the thinking brain is designed to put things in order, to make sense of the outside world where tigers roam. This is good because there’s a lot of stuff about the world that we need to make sense of. The problem comes when we don’t have a base in fundamental truth. Then we easily get confused and start making up insane stories to explain other insane stories that are based on a basic misunderstanding… as if it were true. We create Dogma to explain things that we’ve made up and don’t understand.
Non duality is a conscious decision to avoid doing that as often as possible. It can actually be fun.
What Are You?
What Are You?
The main question with Non Duality is, “Who are you?” But let’s change that a little bit. Instead of “Who are you?” Let’s ask, “What are you?” That question is a bit more accurate about what we’re actually looking for, because we’re not looking for a Who? quality at all.
When you think “Who are you?” The typical answer is, well, I’m an American and I’m a woman. I’m this, I’m that, and the other thing. We don’t want to go there with Non Duality because those are always dual answers. We can use our razor to cut things more quickly if we’re asking “What are you?” We can start applying it immediately to our actual experience of yourself.
Just think. What is your youngest memory of yourself as a child? Maybe you remember yourself when you were three. Maybe you remember yourself when you were ten. Think back and recall that the “Who” of what you were at that time feels exactly the same as the “Who” of what you are now. The essence of you.
Anyone who’s older has experienced this. You know, you’re getting wrinkled and you’re getting gray hair and all sorts of things, but you still feel like, “I am me,” the me that I always was. You can do this to the point where you are actually surprised when you look in the mirror. You look and go… whoa wait a second. Who is that?
So you have this sense that there’s something that has always been you. What is that?
Think of it this way: it doesn’t have anything to do with what you see. Say you go blind? You’re still yourself, you just can’t see. Say you go deaf. Same thing.
What if you break a leg? There’s no question. You’re still exactly you, but in this different condition. That’s one of the secrets that we’ll be looking at. What’s the unchanging you? If it’s something that can change, then that is not the unchanging you.
We are looking for what is unchanging.
Remember back to our last video where we were talking about the fact that if you don’t have a ground in reality then you tend to make up all sorts of answers for things. We’re looking for that grounded reality. What is that? Some people call it the ground of being. The awakened self. What is that? What are you?
Exercise: Four Steps from the Universe
From Two to Not Two
Here’s a fun exercise. In four steps we can get a sense of moving from the illusion of “two things” to “not two.”
First. Why do we say “not two” instead of oneness?
The reason is because the idea of one has a sense of division that we usually don’t see. It’s easy, even natural, for the idea of “one” to become something outside ourselves. There is oneness over there. I’m over here. I’m one person right here, and you can be one person over there. Or even “I” am inside oneness.
So how do we move from duality to Not two?
We can experience this through a four step process, moving from a sense of more division to less division. We are going to move from the idea of being one with the universe; to being inside the universe; to having the universe inside you; and finally to being the universe experiencing itself.
Step 1. Oneness
Start by thinking about the idea of oneness, or the idea of the universe. These are interchangeable ideas the way we use them today. We’re looking for oneness. We’re wanting unity. We think of the universe as a benevolent entity concerned with our well being. “What does the universe want me to do?”
Don’t try to outguess this process as we move through these four steps. Your idea of oneness and the universe may be much more subtle than this. We are trying to clearly see the two-ness involved in the typical way of seeing these things.
The way we typically call in the universe we don’t notice that it’s a concept of something ‘out there.’ It’s a subtle concept of duality. Let’s look closer.
What’s the universe? It’s everywhere. It’s everything. It’s infinite. It spreads everywhere. Yes?
But look closer. Imagine this universe in your mind’s eye. Where is it?
Perhaps it’s glittering in the sky. We see the stars. Out there into infinity goes the universe. Clearly something outside of ourselves.
We can do the same thing with Oneness. The mind subtly views oneness as something that we can see. If you stop to notice how the mind works it, sees oneness as something out there that we can unify with. See how that’s dual?
Two things: There’s me here and I’m seeing the universe out there. Perhaps it’s all around me, but it’s still out there. Or there’s me here, and I’m trying to be one with the universe. Still two things.
With Non Duality we are here trying to move towards not-two.
Step 2. I’m Inside the Universe
Now let’s make a shift. A simple shift. Once you see the separation inherent in our fist step it’s easy to make this adjustment. The universe isn’t floating around out there in the sky. It’s everywhere. It’s surrounds me. It’s everywhere I am inside of it. With a little imagination you can expand yourself into it.
We can do this with oneness as well. It’s everywhere. It’s like 360 degrees, a bubble, surrounding us. It’s above me, It’s on the side of me. It’s everywhere. I am within this amazing oneness. I am within this universe. I am a part of it.
Is there still division? Yes. There are still two things. I’m inside the universe, but there is still a sense of ‘I.’ Me standing here inside the universe, inside of Oneness.
Again, don’t cheat and try to make your idea of oneness more refined. The clearer you can see the two things involved here the easier it’ll be to take the next step. This idea of being enveloped in oneness is more refined and closer, but there is still two. There is you and there is the universe which is enveloping you. We haven’t come to not two yet.
Non duality is like a game. See how we’re slicing it with our razor? We’re getting a little closer. See how we’ve gone from universe way out there floating in the sky as a complete separate thing to a more subtle interpretation: I am inside the universe.
Now let’s move on to step three. How do we get even less division? How do I cut it with my razor?
Step 3. The Universe Is In Me
It’s easy to take this step now. You start realizing “Okay. I’m inside this amazing universe. It’s up and down, top of me, bottom, front, back. It’s everywhere. All around. AND it is INSIDE me.”
I’m in it and it is in me. All my molecules, my thoughts, my soul, my emotions, my breath, everything about me, is part of this universe. I am in oneness and oneness is in me.
You can feel yourself dissolving into this universe, the oneness. When you really get a sense of this, it’s a mystical experience. The universe is there. I am in the universe and the universe is inside me.
But we aren’t there yet. There’s still a subtle two. It’s really hard to see at this level. The universe is everywhere and in me, but I still have a me experiencing the oneness.
So, let’s take the fourth step. Let’s go one step further.
Step 4. The Universe Looking Through Itself
I’m in the universe. The universe is completely inside me. I’ve dissolved all my molecules, my thoughts and everything is disappeared in the universe. The universe is looking out through my eyes, and hearing with my ears. The universe is thinking with my brain. I am nothing.
Now step into it: the universe is me looking out of my eyes at the universe. Now there is not two. Only one thing is happening. The same thing looking at itself.
Thoughts Begin in Silence
In the Diamond Sutra, Buddha says, “Thoughts begin in silence” As we work through these steps of Nonduality it’s good to stop, occasionally, and feel the beauty of what we’re looking for.
Non-duality teachings can feel like we are stuck in the head, even painfully so, because we’re trying to dismantle misconceptions about who we are and what life is. Life is not this pain.
Life itself is a fantastic blooming experience of unity. This is what we’re looking for. This blooming reality is down under our thoughts and misconceptions. It is there, down under the noisy mind, and we want to experience it.
Thoughts begin in silence. Buddha has said this. We tend to think that our thoughts are really noisy and that it’s hard to slow them down. But thoughts always come from this place of silence, and if we just ignore the thoughts and turn our focus to the silence, it’s easy to hear.
Even here while reading this chapter, stop for a moment and immediately. Don’t power through all the words before you. Stop regularly and feel the beauty of the silence.
We tend to get it backwards. We think that silence comes when thoughts stop, but silence is actually the sea of consciousness out of which our thoughts come. So when we pause, even for just a second, the silence is always there. Thoughts arise from it.
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