The Challenge of Non-Duality

I've always had a penchant for deeply philosophical books, even though I try to mix it up a little with some fiction, I inevitably return to books about spirituality. It's just in my nature, and I dare say it's part of my mission. I recently returned to a book I'd read before, Devotional Non-Duality by David R. Hawkins. Hawkins passed over last month at age 85, and so in tribute to his long life of spiritual research, I revisited the book.

This book is Hawkins at his literarily densest. I will spend 30 seconds on one sentence in an attempt to mine the subtleties and ramifications of what those words in that particular order really mean to me. Books like these are not meant to be galloped through for some sort of overall "point" or "experience"--they are meant to be meditative books, and they can change your life.

In "Devotional Non-Duality" Hawkins provides many thought experiments, metaphors and analogies that de-construct the mind and its creations--namely physical reality. As we have learned, nothing can exist without its opposite: there can be no "hot" without "cold", no "hard" without "soft"--for example, if everything was soft, we'd have no concept of "hard" because of a lack of something to compare it to.

Ultimately, there can be no "reality" without some sort of "non-reality" to compare it to. The reason this is crucially important when it comes to health is that human societies tend to setup a dichotomy between "health" and "disease". Hawkins points out that if all one's perceptions and evaluations of the their body were of health--no matter the clinical condition--there would be no disease. For example, the concept of "de-toxing" is a re-defining of a range of uncomfortable physical symptoms. Where one person would consider de-toxing desireable, another may run to their conventional doctor who may provide a diagnosis of a disease. In the de-tox case, the person may make it a point to drink more water, breathe more deeply, exercise more and cut out the junk food and return to a comfortable, joyous place. The person with the disease diagnosis is now embroiled in the diagnostic morass of fears, symptoms, testing and drug treatments which may or may not return them to "health".

This is a crucial understanding, particularly when it has been shown that, for example, 93% of all cancers resolve on their own, and do so without any medical intervention. What this demonstrates to me is that what we call "cancer the disease" is really simply another strategy the body uses to maintain health.

Hawkins makes the point that there is really only one thing: Love. All creation is caused by it, and all things return to it. And this is what is called "non-duality thinking". In other words, there is no condition other than love, and thusly by analogy it can be said that love equals health equals well-being equals joy, etc. etc. By accepting this premise you have no choice but to realize that everything you experience is loving and good, despite its outward or initial appearance. It requires a re-purposing of the mind so that there are no good/bad polarities--only loving goodness.

In the case of extreme tragedies, losses, injuries and the various "evils" humanity brings upon itself, there is an element of eternal love somewhere within these experiences. Does not tragedy create the necessity of its opposite? Does not "evil" require "good"? In most religious traditions there is an "evil" force, entity, or faction that has come to existence "from a loving eternity" or is embodied as a "fallen angel" or as something "separate from God." In each case, it is some opposite phenomenon to its creator, but as the story plays out, that phenomenon or force returns to its creator.

Hawkins further demonstrates that it is the mind and the ego that create the differences in the world for the purpose of giving individuality to the personality. By replacing these perceptions of separation with those of connection and unity, one can return to a complete view of the world as a loving, compassionate, peaceful place. Yes, my pet died, but it is returning to love--it is returning to who I truly am. Yes, there is a pain in my back, but it is just another experience of how my body re-adjusts to continued joy and well-being.

By living in non-duality, health is all there is--even if another person defines a symptom or condition as disease. This is not denial--it is an awareness that every tiny expression of sensation and feeling is ultimately bringing you back to love and joy. It is a process--a coming to fruition, a celebration of creation in love.

To live this way is challenging, but it is extremely rewarding because life begins to make more and more sense, and after a while becomes miraculous.

In vibrant health,