NO OTHERNESS

Suppose that you and everything you observe are unreal – that despite what you sense, there is no detector and no detected.

Suppose instead there is only detection itself, undivided — that all divisions and multiplicity are really just appearances.

Suppose too that detection itself is the uncaused state that preceded everything.

We can call that antecedent the Absolute. It is unity, uniformity and wholeness. It is without divisions and is permanent.

It is infinite, with infinite possibilities. It is potentiality, with nothing predetermined.

There is no mechanism of manifestation. Instead the potential for differentiation is inherent in the Absolute, and differentiation can manifest. Eventually it dissolves back into the absolute.

Our universe is a false appearance of differentiation, complexity and separate entities. Everything in it is a fleeting illusion of change. We know that dreams and hallucinations are illusions because they are impermanent. If they were permanent, they would be real. And because of its temporal nature the universe itself is unreal, by definition.

Taken together the Absolute and the universe do not constitute a duality, because the Absolute is nondual. It is even outside of existence, because existence and nonexistence are a duality. 

Detection does not arise from any particular arrangement of matter. It is intrinsic to all phenomena. Even inanimate objects are conscious in some sense, however rudimentary. 

And the very act of detection gives rise to the illusion of duality, because it introduces a subjective, personalized perspective. To detect requires duality and creates it. This false perception obscures the underlying reality of nonduality.

The Absolute is not confined to subject and object. It is pristine, undiluted and unadulterated. It is free from the interference of events, emotions, thoughts and perceptions. It does not detect this illusory universe, and we do not detect it.

The Absolute is not a series of discrete events, nor a localized phenomenon. It is an omnipresent force. It can not be located in space and time, because it permeates all levels of manifestation. It lacks any external referent or observational framework. It is everywhere, and so it is unapproachable and unmovable.

The Absolute is outside of physics and metaphysics. It surpasses the limits of language and comprehension.

From the depths of the Absolute comes an eternal cycle of arising and dissolving, a ceaseless creation and destruction. Every event, every being, every phenomenon comes from the Absolute and returns to it. Even time itself will rejoin the Absolute.

As events manifest from the Absolute, they take on a semblance of autonomy. They unfold according to their own laws and patterns, but even though they seem to stand apart from the Absolute, they are still connected to it, drawing their sustenance from its infinite wellspring.

And yet, just as events unfold, they also begin to refold. They dissolve back into the Absolute, their forms and patterns vanishing. The very appearance of existence begins to unravel, leaving only the Absolute.

In this state, the boundaries between form and formlessness blur. The Absolute is all that remains, a limitless expanse of pure potentiality. There is no sense of self or other, no feeling of individuality or separation. You are not a separate entity experiencing the world around you; you are undivided. You are pure awareness, unencumbered by thought or emotion.

This is a state of profound peace and tranquility, a sense of being fully realized and complete. There is no longing or desire, for all needs are already met in the vastness of the Absolute. There is no fear or desire, for there is no possibility of separation or loss.

Our real nature is unrelated to birth or death, or to anything else. Our individual identities are transitory manifestations from the eternal Absolute.

The universe is marked by scarcity. This creates our passions of fears and desires, and their resulting conflicts. But recognizing the reality of the Absolute can bring us dispassion and relieve our suffering.

Your consciousness, though an illusion, is an emanation of the Absolute. If you will reject the passions that spring from the appearance of incompleteness, you can realize that you are complete here and now.

This is the ultimate truth of existence: that everything comes from the Absolute and returns to it. It is a cycle without beginning or end, only an eternal unfolding and refolding of creation and destruction. But in this cycle, you can find your true nature.

The Absolute is your real identity. 

References

– Nisargadatta, M. (1973). I am that: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (M. Frydman, Trans.). Chetana Publications.
– Nisargadatta, M. (1990). Prior to consciousness: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (J. Dunn, Ed.). Acorn Press.