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(“Dragon’s Eye”, 2024, original encaustic)

Nonduality

Nonduality is at the heart of both physical reality
And all spirituality
The non duality of the two being its essential meaning
But still as simple and obvious as this is
It is easily misunderstood 
Perhaps because it is simple and obvious.

The way it is usually approached
Is by pointing out there is no duality
No you and me, us and them
That we are in fact One
And this is the same for all traditions
From a materialist’s Energy 
In the form of molecules, atoms and quarks
To a spiritualist’s Source
In the spirit of God, Love, Truth, Emptiness.

As it is said, in The Middle Way,
This form and emptiness is the same
Not as two opposites somehow existing as one
But as synonyms for the same 
Seen through the different lenses
Of matter and mind, substance and psyche,
But this remains within the refined realm of intellect.

What is it in our actual lives?
How is it that this oneness, 
Which is not even a union
Because there has never been or could be
A separation into parts,
Is experienced within the duality of appearance?

First there is recognition and then confidence;
Recognition that this is the truth of what is,
And confidence that there is no other.
And with this comes familiarity
Familiarity with simply what is
Without trying to change it, 
Make it what it isn’t 
Through either suppression or transformation.

Poetically the stages of grief come to mind
As Life is clearly the embodiment of this!
What we reject and resist in the end we accept.
And in our lives, this very moment,
This means knowing it will all work out
That it is in fact All Good
And that even at our ugliest and most confused,
We are really never apart 
From the wisdom, truth, love and beauty,
That is Life itself.
We know this simply because we are alive
Warts and all.

Nonduality is at the heart of all traditions
Expressed in symbols as diverse
As circles and snakes, labyrinths and crosses
And stars
Radiating out 
To manifest as all the stuff of our universe
And the mind that can open its eyes.

(11/9/24)
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