Who Are We? Non-duality and our identity as a chord made of notes

Evolving Spiritual Practice

You will find exceptions to these generalisations. With that caveat here we go: Different traditions say different things about who we are, and they often contradict each other. Could it be that they are all right but have a part of the truth that they are trying to hold up as the whole truth? If we use the metaphor of each tradition being a musical note, each moment presents itself as the different notes integrated into a chord. That is the oneness of our identity. It can be hard initially to get any traction with this mushy oneness blend until we have seen the manyness as well. Our identity can be separated out in a great many ways but let’s look at the 3 main ones that crop up in spiritual traditions and psychology. Our individual personality - you know the one we love and hate! Mother Nature - if you don’t believe Mother Nature is part of your identity try not eating, drinking and breathing and see how that works out for you. Formless awareness- awareness is a rather bland word but it’s all we have in English. Awareness is formless because it has no colour or shape, and no simple location, yet it is unmistakably a key aspect of our identity. Awareness is not just an “it” we can talk about but is also an “I” as the core of subjectivity. Western psychology tends to lean towards our limited personality being the only real identity. It doesn’t often deal with our transpersonal nature. Ecology tends to lean towards Mother Nature being the only real identity. We are the web of biological connections, seamlessly integrated into our environment. We are Mother Nature. Many meditation eastern traditions lean towards formless awareness being the only real identity. This is because formless awareness is the only unchanging part of our identity throughout our lives or moment to moment. Just because it’s permanent doesn’t mean it’s better than our ever changing personality or ever evolving Mother Nature. Is a stone better than a flower? Try making music with just one note and it’s pretty crap. Each moment is 3D, technicolour, surround sound etc. Do you want your identity and life to be a rich piece of music or a one note monotone? A chord is still one thing, one moment / our identity presented in its totality all at once. But a chord is also made of several notes. Once you’ve seen the notes on their own you better understand what makes the chord. Even though all these aspects of your identity are present simultaneously, each will naturally come to the forefront at different occasions when appropriate. When your 4 year old son proudly shows off his Lego model to you he wants you to reach out with your personality and warm him up with your appreciation and affection. He doesn’t want or need you to sink into formless awareness and present him with silence. When meditating it is entirely appropriate at different stages along the path to zero in on formless awareness rather than meditate over identified with your personality. If you a sitting on a mountain peak it’s appropriate to revel in the miracle of you shared embodied identity as and with Mother Nature. Enjoy your life in 3D folks.

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