Differences and Contrast represents life while unity and sameness represents stagnation and death...

So many people in the spiritual community talk about achieving oneness and non-duality. This is not the essence of life. Differences and Contrast is needed in order to distinguish one thing from another. Differences is what creates movement and personality.

All Experience we have are based on difference and change. If we only had one experience for all eternity, for example, an image of a white background, how could that be life? Now if that image of that white background CHANGES and becomes DIFFERENCE giving the illusion of movement, then it will seem like a continuous movement - a continuous happening - a continuous experience.

There is no "bright" without "dim" and there is no "cold" without "hot". There is no "this" without a "that".

Duality is truth and yet it has been demonized by those who want complete oneness in this world.

If it isn't eternity. It is in the duality changing from "this" to "that" and back to "this "again". The many changes that occur from the point of "this" to the point of "that" gives the illusion of "eternity".

The understanding of this was a bit difficult to express in words but I said this in a clear way.

Unity, oneness is as far as you can go on this level of the game. Unity moves you onto the beginning of the next level. The game goes on and on.....

reply to post by HUMBLEONE


You comment is off topic. We are talking about the idea that unity and sameness could mean stagnation while difference and contrast could mean life and movement. You didn't respond at all to the ideas of the original post...

A static white coin with black lettering has multiple levels of duality yet also never changes thus is "dead and stagnant".

The color spectrum is a unity where there are differences yet there is no division.

Duality doesn't inherently mean anything is changing (living).
Unity doesn't inherently mean a totally homogenous "void".

It's a difference of perception/description. Duality says there is a front and back to a coin. Unity says there is a coin. Both are correct, both are true, where the "usefulness" of either description depends on the context.

Originally posted by arpgme

Duality is truth and yet it has been demonized by those who want complete oneness in this world.

I talk about oneness a lot. I reject dualism. But that doesn't mean I want complete oneness in this world. And if I've made anyone feel demonized, then I apologize.

Dialectic Monism is my philosophy. I believe the ultimate nature of reality is one, not two.

But we aren't living in the ultimate nature of reality. For better and for worse we are living in a state that perceives unity as complementary opposites, represented by yin and yang.

"Really, the fundamental, ultimate mystery - the only thing you need to know to understand the deepest metaphysical secrets - is this: that for every outside there is an inside and for every inside there is an outside, and although they are different, they go together." -Alan Watts

Together yin and yang form a circle - the Tao. I love the Tao, but that doesn't mean I hate yin and yang. In fact I love them too, and sometimes its a love-hate thingy. I hate those. but I love them too. Dammit! This realm of space-time-ego personalities is a real treat.

reply to post by BardingTheBard

Originally posted by BardingTheBard
Duality doesn't inherently mean anything is changing (living).
Unity doesn't inherently mean a totally homogenous "void".

This is both true. Duality does not mean change, change means change, but change can only exist in duality otherwise it cannot change from "this" to "that".

Unity does not necessarily mean a "void". I'm talking about "Unity" as in "Oneness" or "Sameness" - so if that is he spiritual sense that people talk about then it is a "void" . If everything is the same as everything else, then it will appear that there is only one-thing or no-thing, either way there would be no individuals or distinctions so it might as well be a void.

reply to post by BlueMule


The website you linked to said this:

"Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness."

There seems to be two opposites but in reality there is only one thing (everything is the same essence)...

I would say I agree with this view but only in this way:

Poverty is just a lack of abundance and money, but just as abundance and money can be seen as the wealthy, poverty can be seen as the poor and homeless.

Presence is present and Absence is also present (when it happens). So everything is presence - everything is an appearance - a happening.

People say "darkness is just the absence of light", but when the light is gone that darkness is present - it is something appearing completely black where nothing can be seen.

Originally posted by arpgme
Now if that image of that white background CHANGES and becomes DIFFERENCE giving the illusion of movement, then it will seem like a continuous movement - a continuous happening - a continuous experience.

That white background is like the screen on a television - it is ONE screen, the screen is always present. When the television is switched off there are no pictures appearing on the screen and it is like you being in deep sleep - there is nothing at all appearing. When the television is switched on and pictures appear on the screen, the screen seems to disappear and be replaced by what seems to be many different things moving about but they make ONE image on the ONE screen. When you wake in the morning the light comes on - prior to the light there was nothing but an empty screen and then the light appears and is seen.
You are like the empty tv screen when in deep sleep and then the light comes on and an image is seen - it is ONE image appearing on the ONE screen - the screen and the image are ONE. The image cannot appear without the screen.

The screen is ever present as emptiness but it is full of image - emptiness is form.

The screen is the stillness that is ever present beneath all the movement. The screen is the stable one on which the light moves. All that appears is the light.

Originally posted by arpgme
I'm talking about "Unity" as in "Oneness" or "Sameness"

Emphasis mine.

If someone is using "unity" in the way that implies "sameness", then yes of course they are mistaken. There is an extreme singular instance where that concept is applicable, but it is woefully incomplete.

If unity is used to imply sameness, then yes, of course, that singular view is easily countered in the manner you have. However this does not lead to the inherent conclusion that unity is stagnation, and duality is life.