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How Non Duality Leads to Mental Freedom
05
Aug
Aug
(The above video is word for word what is written below and provides visuals that compliment the subject matter)
Hello, I’m Sam and today I’d like to share a perspective on non duality. These are but my subjective thoughts on the topic but I do believe considering these thoughts can help expand the mind. So maybe consider them for a moment.
When the question of whether we have free will arises, I like to ask are you consciously choosing who you are at every moment? Do you choose every reaction your have in your life? Do you choose every thought that reaches your mind? Probably not. And not just you. All of us don’t. There is a part of the mind that automatically chooses the way we perceive the world and how we react to it … that part is called the ego.
The internal dialogue in our minds is just a program running by default, dictating our personality based on thoughts and behaviors of the past… It automatically closes our minds to what we have come to believe reality is and isn’t. Might this not be a limiting perspective to have in a universe of infinite possibility? Even if it were finite, not being able to fathom anything, in a mind that could touch infinity, seems like a grand limitation.
This means there are barriers in our minds that block it from being able to think in any way possible because of what we’ve come to believe. Limiting beliefs like I am too old or too young, I am ugly, I am always broke and will never make enough, I don’t deserve wealth or happiness… or even beliefs that generalize things like people are untrustworthy, a certain race of people is inferior, life is miserable…that reality is one way and every other way is wrong.
This is the opposite of freedom as you are constrained to these mental barriers and can no longer think in any direction.
You should know because you weren’t always so limited before.
You started out in this world as a blank slate. A mind of nothingness… able to take in everything. An openness that allowed your mind to imagine anything possible… but as your parents, environment and experiences began to shape your perception of the world… your mind began closing itself into a box of what you know and believe reality to be. And as you grew, your mind would begin automatically judging what is right, what is wrong, what you like, what you don’t like, what you do, what you don’t do, how you think, how you don’t think. From here on out, you developed a consistent ‘personality,’ being more of ‘this’ or less of ‘that’… (or opposite and in many degrees)
A duality that would always define you. For you are just as defined by what’s outside your comfort zone than by what’s inside of it. And so there is always an inner conflict with what you disagree with, deem as wrong or are afraid of. Whenever you come across one of these things, your mind automatically reacts with discomfort. This is why you can rarely choose how you would like to feel. It is predetermined by the belief system you have developed over time.
A belief system that processes random thoughts in your mind that you automatically identify with as if you are thinking them… thoughts based on memories of the past and desires of the future. Often, thoughts of worry or sorrow…Or thoughts that judge the world around you… Distracting you from the present moment in where reality… just is. No right, no wrong. Just a neutral isness where everything is essentially undefined.
As Lao Tsu says, When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Before and after follow each other. Difficult and easy support each other. High and low depend on each other.. The yin is the yang and the yang is the ying. You can’t define one without the other. So to see the bigger picture is to see that it is all one. Non duality is to be one with the essence which is non judging and at peace with all that is. The Non Dual state of mind is present here and now, does not automatically judge and has the ability to choose what to think and what to feel. It is free.
Being dual as we are now is to automatically judge the world in ways that makes you at odds with certain parts of it… Accepting only some parts of the world and rejecting other parts of it. Duality is conflicting by nature. And is a state of being you become stuck in for the rest of your life.
What if I told you that you are still the blank slate that came into this world? That you are infinite potential… a consistent probability. The mind like clay that can be molded in any shape you intend. This is true mental freedom. But we are stuck in the clay that we have molded and come to believe that we are this clay. Like an actor coming to believe the mask is his real face.
No, you don’t have a real face. Your face is ever changing. Open to all possibilities. And through them, define yourself anew in every moment. Or not define yourself at all. You can Just be. Exist. And be one with all of life as it now rather than one with thoughts that close you into the predetermined and linear world in your head. You’d have choice rather than have the ego choose for you. This is wholeness and true happiness at its core.
To reach this is a process. It is a journey. All you must begin to do is pay more attention to the present moment. Follow your breath. Stay aware of what is happening. And observe your mind as if it were a friend. Listen to it attentively. Be aware. And while being aware and observing your mind, understand that everything is but a possibility. Every perception that arises is a maybe… in an ever expanding universe from which every person, being, animal and other organic life perceives it a different way. We can’t know anything to be 100% true because we are limited to only 1 perspective and can’t perceive reality from every single angle and in every possible way.
If reality is subjective to the individual experience… then every thought that arises in you is also subjective. It is all a maybe. Nothing is or isn’t. But thinking with maybe or even most likely, brings subjectivity back into your thinking and still leaves your mind open to all possibilities. And so, you have no conflict and can always be at peace with things.
Through understanding this, your mind can begin to break away from the patterns that ‘objectively’ define you and the world. It can stop automatically judging and become fully open again.
As you observe those patterns that automatically judge the world, you will also observe the patterns of desire. Patterns that pull you into one thing or another. Observe this pulling. Observe how desire emphasizes a lack of having. Observe how the ego chooses what you desire… pulling you in specific directions without you having any choice in the matter. Understand that you aren’t these desires. Desire is seeking that which is not present now. It is disconnecting you further from the present, where you are essentially connected to everything and therefore feel that you have everything. The State of no desire, is an abundant state of being that draws in what you might desire without the endless seeking. This might seem impossible to grasp for now but the more you observe the patterns of desire, the clearer it becomes… as you’ll see how desires disconnect you from what is now and any lasting feeling of fulfilment. How they override your awareness and aren’t even consciously chosen by you. So let go. Be free of the pulling that controls your being.
And through breaking away from these patterns of thought, you’ll begin to separate your consciousness from the ego and not identify with the thoughts. You’ll begin to see the illusion of self and disassociate from all the patterns… to the point where your mind is free and able to forever create new ones… steering the wheel of your mind rather than be steered. And through this awareness, grow more connected to what is here and now in the present. Where, you can be finally be at peace and in control and not have to ever depend on anything for it… for it shall be your natural state of being. This is the end of suffering and beginning of freedom in this journey we call life… in the Non Dual State of being.
Thanks for listening and considering the ideas presented in this video. I understand the difficulty in becoming present and silencing the mind so I will be making a follow up video on an advanced pranayama technique that I believe can be a very helpful tool in silencing the mind and inducing trance. If you are interested in more videos like this one, I would suggest subscribing to GAIA as they have a multitude of mind expanding videos covering yoga, meditation and spirituality overall. It is certainly a useful resource to have in one’s journey. Check it out @ https://www.gaia.com/portal/sapien-medicine
Wonderful video! I was worried to be led astray by false healing again but I believe in you Dreamweaver, thank you for everything you are doing 😀