Posted by Phil on November 16, 1998 at 07:15:26:
In Reply to: I AM ! AM I ? posted by Jboy on November 13, 1998 at 14:03:14:
Johnboy, you are a born metaphysician, and I think your post on this captures the paradoxes inherent in the duality/non-duality issue (which, no doubt, most people spend most of their time thinking about--no?)
At any rate, where I come out in this as a Christian is "qualified non-duality."
What this means is that I view the human creature as "in-Christ," just as a cell is "in" the body and participates in the life/soul of the body.
So, too, does the "I" participate "in" the Life/Soul of Christ. When it realizes itself at its root in "the vine" (Jn. 15), it "knows" that what it thought was its life is not really its own, but, rather, one participates in a larger life.
We know, too, however, that, like cancer cells, we are capable of acting contrary to the life of the mystical body, which "proves," in a way, the reality of an entity that is "other" than the Vine.
And so, is a cell in a body real? Darned right.
Is it completely autonomous, however?
Well, take it out of the body and see what happens?
Non-duality viewed from the mytical body paradigm is capable of situating both dual and non-dual experiences in proper context, I believe.
What say ye, dear community?
Love. Phil