Awakening to non-dual awareness does not change the physical reality. It changes our perception and the attitude with which we see life. The greatest shift in perception is that things are seen for the way they are. It is a direct and unfiltered perception of reality. The reality is not separate from what happens out there. In fact, there is neither here nor there.
Even when Nisargadatta Maharaj said I AM THAT, the word THAT includes this or what is apparently happening here and now. The measure between this and that comes from the belief in separate existence – the subject-object relationship. Therefore, the non-dual awareness is devoid of the pseudo-subject “me” which lives in relationship with the “other.” In THAT, there is neither “me” nor the “other.”
The non-dual awareness implies the breakdown of the subject-object relationship. So the apparent subject “me” becomes one of the objects among many. Without the sense of separate existence, there cannot be a measure (separation) between anything. Everything becomes a seamless whole. It is only the mind that divides and sees things conceptually.
We never see the world as it is. We see things as happening that result from an individual’s actions. We believe that people initiate a particular action based on complete personal volition. The persona is a concept that we superimpose on others based on our conditioning. Therefore, when we hate, blame, shame, and condemn others, we are, in effect, doing those things to ourselves. We only give what we have. We cannot give what we do not have.
Within this happening, when our true nature is revealed, we do not see what’s happening as brought about by one single agency with a sense of personal volition. We see every action as a movement in wholeness which is both the cause and effect simultaneously. Then, there is no one to blame, shame, or condemn. However, every action has consequences. Therefore, the apparent agency that seems to initiate an action will receive the consequences.
Wholeness or awareness does not have an agenda. It is neither trying to punish us nor trying to make us better. It simply is the Isness. It is only the fragmented human mind that remains concerned with the purpose and meaning of life. And so, the mind looks for methods, prescriptions, and techniques to become better and whole, not realizing that it is already what it seeks.
