Posted by Johnboy on November 12, 1998 at 11:44:18:
In Reply to: Duality and Non-Duality posted by Phil on November 06, 1998 at 08:09:39:
perhaps there is primal ground, primal being, primal support
perhaps we have issued forth, are held in existence by and are destined toward same
perhaps there is ultimate truth, beauty and goodness
perhaps there is a singularity of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, omnibenevolence, etc
perhaps ultimate reality consists of manifold separate and distinct attributes
perhaps ultimate reality experiences manifold intentionalities
perhaps there exists an intentionality expressed as a permissive will which we experience as creation's design template and which echos across the void: "I may"
perhaps there exists an intentionality expressed as a desiring will which wills that the design "be" and which echoes across the void: "I would"
perhaps there exists an intentionality expressed as an efficacious will which echoes across the void: "I can"
perhaps the permissive, desiring and efficacious intentionalities/wills are so perfectly aligned that the singularity of omniscience, omnipresence, omnibenevolence is expressed as a mandatory will and echoes across the void: "I must"
and in that eternal moment all truth, beauty and goodness issue forth
and we have only begun to suggest that this might correspond to Anselm's "that than which nothing greater can be conceived" and we only begin to intuit our relationship as part of this mystery
are we contained within the mystery?
is the mystery contained within us?
we experience duality and nonduality.
my moments of greatest duality, whether in a rational/irrational or nonrational modality of experience are mostly related to my experience of NOT sharing the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, ominpresence and of not having my intentionalities correspond to that voice which echoes: "I may" or "I can".
my moments of greatest nonduality, whether in a rational/irrational or nonrational modality of experience are mostly related to my experience of at least imperfectly sharing the attribute of omnibenevolence and of having my intentionality corresponding to that voice which echoes: "I would"
if there is one attribute which ultimate reality can "share" with contingent reality it is the attribute of goodness, even to the fullest extent of omnibenevolence. this attribute can be shared without "compromising" the integrity of the Omnipotent, the Omnipresent, the Omniscient. it would be a logical absurdity for contingent beings to be endowed with absolute knowledge and absolute power. Noncontingent being can share goodness and the desire for goodness without limit, without logical absurdity. this is the attribute of ultimate reality which is experienced nondualistically. this is the attribute of ultimate reality which contingent being acquires through progressive transformative processes until one's very "desiring will" echoes "I would" in perfect unison with the Omnibenevolent. it is this image to image, likeness to likeness that is the destiny of those who would live the Unitive Life.
we do not access the complete inner nature of God vis a vis certain attributes and we experience this inaccessibility dualistically. we will access the complete inner nature of one of God's attributes and we experience this, progressively, nondualistically.
as Jesus had attributes of God, He did not deem His equality with God as something to be grasped at and thus entered freely into a dualistic modality regarding his human estate vis a vis omnipotence and omniscience, while remaining in an absolutely nondualistic modality regarding omnibenevolence and His constant perfect alignment with the desiring will of the Godhead. it tells us something about the okayness of our human estate and how omnipotence and omniscience are not our inheritance but that omnibenevolence will be.
our benevolence is at-one-ment with one aspectof the consciousness of the cosmos. there is no fragmentation between our inner goodness and the goodness that lies "outside". this is not a concept that is grasped but is a reality that grabs hold of us, sometimes instantaneously and sometimes progressively. all of our goodness IS God residing within and IS an accessing of one of the inner natures of God.
i have felt that my nondualistic experiences of God contained, inherently within themselves a knowledge of goodness, of love and was a "knowledge" experienced in fullness. these were not experiences of God that contained the fullness of knowledge vis a vis truth itself. i believe we progress from image to image toward nonduality as regards goodness. this progression does not include a march toward omnipotence or omniscience or absolute nonduality. that this dynamism of dualism-nondualism pervades and perdures in eternity seems to be the very essence of eternal relationship.
the goodness, the Goodness---that we pray to ---is not fundamentally different from the goodness we experience as self. we can say this at the same time that we maintain a dualistic posture regarding God's other attributes which we will never experience as self. God can be watching, judging, approving and intervening in our lives in as much as it is not our bodies, our minds, our souls which "become" God but our wills which are being transformed by the very gift of God's Self. being perfectly conformed to His Will and sharing His every desire and participating boundlessly in His Goodness do not necessitate our "becoming God". as we come to "know" our own true nature, we will come to know the very nature of God's goodness. we will not, however, come to participate fully in His other attributes. that this is okay is one of the lessons we learned from the Incarnation. that God is other than myself is an inescapeable dualistic notion based on my numinous experiences.
that the goodness within me, within the cosmos is none other than God is an inescapeable nondualistic notion based on my numinous experiences.our consciousness may be nothing more or less than one aspect of God's inner nature (once ultimately transformed). this is not to say that the converse would be true, that God is nothing more (or less) than our own consciousness.