Reflections related to transduality, duality and an integral view.
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Sunday, November 23, 2003
Transdual Experience
Some notes on a transdual experience, from my own experience and that of others:
1. A transdual experience is within reach of everyone. Not everyone will experience it in a given lifetime, but it is always just a hairbreadth away from typical day-to-day awareness. Openings can occur through one or more of the following: (a) A regular and guided spiritual practice (prayer, meditation, yoga etc). (b) Drugs. Only some drugs, the setting must be right, and it tends to be somewhat out of control (not recommended, although it can be the beginning of a spiritual practice for some). (c) A luminous experiences triggered by nature, ritual, etc. Often something that opens for an experience of being a small part of an immensely large and beautiful whole.
2. A transdual experience can be integrated into day-to-day awareness through a regular and guided spiritual practice. The openings may be very strong, and difficult to ground in everyday life w/o the support of a daily practice and guidance of an experienced teacher.
3. It is trans-dual, beyond and integrating a dualistic experience. It integrates (a) oneness (all one, beyond dualities), and (b) differentiation (duality). Oneness w/o differentiation leads to an inability of choice and action (not grounded). Differentiation w/o oneness leads to blind attractions and aversions (not flexible). Both together leads to flexibility and choice.
4. It is the experience shared by saints, gurus and authentic teachers from all major (and many minor) spiritual traditions. Each expressed it in their own way depending on the situation (culture, existing spiritual traditions, what would be most useful for people to hear/learn, personal inclinations etc). It is shared by many more than these - only a few become (well known) teachers.
5. From a transdual perspective, it is really one mind - that reveals itself to itself through individuals. It can never be lost, never be stained. It is always there, although not always experienced consciously by individuals - and rarely or never fully and completely expressed in any individual's life.
6. From a transdual perspective, the world is beyond and embraces dualities: Existence and nonexistence, awareness and non-awareness, life and non-life, matter and spirit, mind and body, right and wrong. All these are expressions and born from what is beyond all dualities.
7. From a transdual view, the world is always more than and different from our experiences of it. (a) Everything is always in flux, nothing is fixed. There is nothing to hold onto. (b) We perceive only fragments and aspects of a much larger whole. Our ideas and views are always limited (and thus ultimately wrong). (c) The world is beyond duality. Words differentiate and can only express dualities (although poetry and seeming paradoxes can hint at the transdual).
8. A transdual experience has (at least) two major aspects: (a) Insight/mind and (b) compassion/heart. It leads to insights in the world and the human mind. It also leads to a spontaneous and naked gratitude and a compassion for all life.
18:23
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Saturday, August 02, 2003
Matrix
I saw the Matrix for the first time at Zen River in Holland. I was struck by how it matched not only the Buddhist philosophy (to be expected as it was intentional), but also the experience of Buddhist practice. Some parallels:
(a) Our "ordinary" experience of life is delusion. We experience separation where there is none, and fixedness where there is flux. Everything is in continual change. There is nothing to hold onto.
(b) Insight gives choice. When we realize the nature of our mind and the world, we have choice. We can choose to let go of suffering (pain will be there, but we can let go of suffering which we create by resisting). We can choose to stay with and hold uncomfortable situations. We can choose compassion and appropriate action where there was reflexive and habitual reactions. We can bend and break the rules.
23:30
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Friday, July 11, 2003
Human Maturity
The first signs of human maturity comes when we...
(a) Extend our circle of considerations to all beings. When we see all life as ourselves (by recognizing in ourselves what we see in the other). When we treat others as we would want to be treated if we were in their situation.
(b) Experience reverence for all phenomena. It is all expression of the same whole. It is all a miracle. It is a tremendous miracle that anything at all exists.
(c) Experience the whole - beyond polarities. Directly perceive the whole that all phenomena and polarities are an intrinsic part and expression of.
(d) Can let go of specific ideas and see situations more as they are.
(e) Realize that what we see in the outer world is also there in the inner world. We perceive them through recognition. There is no absolute separation.
(f) Experience all phenomena as expressions of that which is beyond polarities (God, Spirit, the Absolute). Beyond polarities of existence and nonexistence, life and nonlife, matter and spirit. Beyond limited conceptions and ideas.
(g) When these realizations emerge organically from direct experience and practice. When they are naturally expressed as our true nature.
(h) Directly experience inner and outer phenomena as expressions of that beyond polarities and aspects of a seamless whole. Experiences, thoughts, emotions, ideas, the sky, a mountain, cities, stars, galaxies, wars, disease, happiness, delusion, enlightenment...
(i) Experience true humility - realizing that our experience is always limited. The world is always more and different from our experience of it.
(j) Experience true compassion - from recognizing in ourselves what we see in others. We are all in the same boat. We share this life together.
(k) Embark on a practice to explore the nature of the world and our mind - and realize that it is a practice with no end.
(l) Realize that all phenomena are expressions of that beyond and embracing all polarities (God, Spirit, the Absolute). I am not "I". No phenomenon is limited to what it may appear to be.
(m) Experience all as flux. There is nothing to hold on to but the change.
(n) Experience that nothing exists separately from anything else. It is all expressions of that beyond polarities. It is all part of a seamless whole.
(o) Enjoy life as it is. No need to add or subtract anything (and we cannot even if we tried).
(p) Experience life fully - letting go of fixed ideas of future and past, right and wrong.
(q) Live our life in service to the larger whole - to human society, Earth, all life. Realizing we are all expressions of the same whole, and that beyond polarities.
(r) Realize that all is perfect as is, and there is always much room for improvement.
(s) Realize that these realizations are natural expressions of the nature of all that is.
(t) Realize that realization is only the first step. Living it is the main work - and there is no end to bringing it more fully into our lives. We are always at our first step - in this and all we do.
23:49
Sunday, June 22, 2003
Transformations
It seems that our personal transformations often mirror our collective transformations. [...]
06:33
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Thursday, April 03, 2003
Absolute & Relative
 Last night was the first class in a course on the Gaia theory (geophysiology) at ProtoTista.
A recurrent theme among the participants was the interplay between two perspectives: Seeing the Earth from the perspective of the Universe or the Earth as a whole, and seeing the Earth from the perspective of humans (one current aspect of the Earth). From the perspective of the Universe or the Earth as a whole, any changes are OK - everything is fine as it is. The Earth, as any system, is in continuous change and if current changes means that some species (including humans) goes extinct, that is fine. It will lead to something else and equally valuable as what has been before. On the other hand, changes that leads to suffering and possible extinction of species, especially for humans, are a disaster from a human perspective.
This is of course the interplay between the Absolute and the Relative, one of the central Buddhist teachings. From the perspective of the Absolute, all polarities are embraced, everything is part of a seamless whole, and everything is perfect as is. This is the transdual perspective. From the perspective of the Relative, there is a differentiation and there is much room for improvement. This is the dualistic perspective. Both are true and both offer essential insights.
Experiencing from only the Absolute perspective, we would not be able to differentiate between options and choices. We would be an idiot, although a happy idiot. Experiencing from only the Relative perspective, we think in us/them and either/or terms. We see the poles but not the polarity they are part of. We get caught up in the suffering of a blindly dualistic experience. Bringing in the Absolute gives us a light touch and space. Bringing in the Relative gives us differentiation and involvement.
Both are essential, and our experience of the two perspectives deepen through insights and experience (regular spiritual practice under guidance of an experienced teacher is invaluable.) Complexity theories and Buddhism has much in common, as reflected in the Gaia theory leading us to a glimpse of the interplay of the Absolute and the Relative.
11:07
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Thursday, January 02, 2003
Visual Representations & Transdual View
 When I started painting and drawing in my mid-teens, I had a strong sense that the most powerful paintings were those that would embrace all polarities: Whole and detail, abstraction and the figurative, aesthetics and content, timelessness and reflecting our time, shading and color, line and tone, robustness and elegance.
When I later saw the paintings of Odd Nerdrum, I realized that this was finally a contemporary painter who beautifully and strongly expressed this transdual and embracing view. Some examples:
1. Whole and parts. There is a strong and organic whole, and an immense attention to details beautifully integrated the whole.
2. Figurative and abstraction. There is a naturalism that makes human bodies come alive, and an abstraction in composition and background that is comparable with that of the best abstract painters.
3. Color and Shade. Vibrant colors and immense attention to light and shade.
4. Aesthetics and content. Beauty and message are strongly present.
5. Matter and spirit. Bodies infused with a sense of the numinous.
Our relationship with polarities goes beyond art.
In our culture, we are trained to emphasize one end of a polarity and deemphasize the other. Sometimes we take it further, assign values and see one end as "good" and the other as "bad". We fracture our world that way, and remove ourselves further from the nature of ourselves, the Earth and the Universe.
Modern art often reflects this blindly dualistic view, embracing one end of a polarity and rejecting the other. The same can be seen throughout our civilization. It is a view that leads to a sense of constant conflict, and to choices made out of blind attractions and aversions. We keep distance to one end of the polarity and seek the other, which leads to a neurotic relationship with our world.
The alternative is to embrace polarities. To become intimate and familiar with both ends of polarities - as they are expressed in ourselves and the outer world. Through this, we are freed up to make more consious choices of what we want to express - based on what seems appropriate in the situation. We act less from habit and aversions or attractions, and more from awareness and choice.
The world is a seamless whole, embracing all polarities. Everything just is.
22:11
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