Nondualism: – just not sexy enough…
July 17, 2009 at 6:08 am (Thought of the day) (Crucifying the Ego?, ego, Nondualism, oneness, tonypinfold.com, unconditional love, we are one)
I have been on the road with my art work for just over two and a half years. In that time I have met thousands of people, yet I have met very few that have got excited by the concept of Nondualism ‘oneness’. Often when I have explained the concepts behind my art that touches on this subject I see a glazed look form over the people’s faces, so I usually quickly change the topic.
This puts me in a dilemma because my train has finally come into the spiritual station so to speak, the seeking and the searching has been called off. I am happy with what I have discovered the ‘ is’ness’ of life, the all encompassing oneness that is where it (me, you, everything) is at. Via self inquiry inspired by my work I have found my truth, sadly it seems it’s just not sexy enough.
I guess very few people would used the word sexy to describe spiritual beliefs but I have come to believe that often religious and spiritual beliefs are formed on what looks or feels good. Nondualism requires no mantras, services, ways of dressing, books, diets etc… It, by it’s very nature is doing free. You can have all those aforementioned things if you so wish, but as everything is as it should be and nothing ‘more’ is required it really doesn’t matter. And that my friends, I repeat once again, just isn’t sexy for people.
Nondualism raises a lot of questions in the egoic mind. Sadly for those that need words nondualism side steps dialogue. It is a slippery eel of a subject, and in many ways some of the ‘spiritual’ questions don’t get answered. I, myself in some ways feel I have been dumped back on the same bit of road that I started this journey in late 2006, yet with one massive difference. In late 2006 I felt that I was lost, incomplete, a failure, that I had to find something that would fix me up now I know that just isn’t true. Life has no point, no finishing line, it requires no-thing from you. So failure is just a mind-made perception and never a truth, as that old song goes ‘Everyone’s a winner baby’
Nondualism, depending on how you perceive it, can appear cold and indifferent but it can also be the universal and unconditional love my work points to. Think about it, can True love really be love and have conditions? I would say not but in truth most of us have never experienced such a love and such a love could seem to a mind brought up on conditions as totally uncaring. How you judge a parent that says to a child ‘do what you want?’ is basically how you may view nondualism, is such a parent loving and supporting no matter what, or totally indifferent and unloving. Of course because it’s nondualism you don’t judge and it is in fact both but our minds can’t even know what that is.
So I return to my favourite description of everything as ‘just is’. Life ‘just is’ and so we come full circle for the mind ‘just is’ doesn’t cut the mustard and isn’t sexy for it answers nothing in a way we understand.
Personally something that is everything that can and can’t be seen, heard, touched, thought about sounds pretty darn amazing to me. So if Nondualism was a single person you could share a night with it would look you straight in the eye and say ‘do what you want’ now in my book that sounds sexy to me :-)
My New Image ‘Crucifying the Ego?’
Like all my works this image challenges ones perceptions rather than makes a statement. It is down to you, through self inquiry to contemplate on what you think the ego is or isn’t. Personally I do not now see the ego as some insane ruler that lives in it’s own kingdom (even if i have created a image by the name Kingdom of the ego). I also do not believe Crucify the poor blighter is the answer or even possible for humans. The ego is the motor behind the doing of life (not the being), it does appear to cause a lot of problems but would you really want to live without it?
Also what would a egoless person really look like, and how would they act ?
Could a egoless Person in truth really exist on earth?
Ultimately whatever conclusion you arrive at it really doesn’t matter but every time you question yourself I believe you open up a possibilities to see the world from a universal perspective in which no answers are really ‘the answer’ and that the world of definitive black and whites, rights and wrongs is just a illusion and that everything as i have said before ‘Just is’.
If you would like to support what i do you can buy this image on my Pathway gallery http://www.tonypinfold.com/pathways.html
Thank You for being you.
--Tony Pinfold