My personal problems with monism

[nameless]

It is a lonely universe regardless, is it not?

wont feel lonely i think, there is no duality, 'existence' and 'non-existence' becomes one.

 

[Mr Cheese]

wont feel lonely i think, there is no duality, 'self' and 'no-self' becomes one.

self
no-self
duality
non-duality

are all concepts though.
Thus inherantly they are wrong.

It would be more accurate to say "There is"
and end it there.

.............

Jesus
Are you listening?
Up there
To anyone at all

We are the fossils
The relics of our time
We mutilate the meanings
So they're easy to deny

 

[DreadFish]

Bump.. Just wanted to see anyones opinion on my last post.

 

[Onkara]

Thanks for the replies. I thought of something to post, as an example of what I feel (and really hope im right) about the relationship between the soul and God (or atman and brahman.) A while back I had a great experience while I was laying in bed meditating (like I do many nights) and I dont remember it as clearly now, but, I remember feeling myself rise out of my body and seeing just golden light (like when you have your eyes closed and its really sunny outside, except brighter.) Just to note, a little while before then I had read about enlightenment and the authors comment about all the things you thought you knew about the world just dissolved. SO, I remember feeling slightly anxious about letting go of myself and everything in my life (because I had to, as that was the nature of the experience, had I not, then I feel like I would have just come back down), but I decided "ok, i'll just let go" and I remember feeling the greatest feeling of ecstasy and unity, and I remembered thinking back on that thing I had read about everything I thought I knew dissolving, and I remember it did. Now the unity I experienced wasnt like I was God, I didnt have the same concept of myself, but I was still a conscious entity, but still a part of the whole, so I may not have had an ego, but I wasnt one big consciousness, I was a part of, but not, God.

Anyway, I wanted to share this and see what anyone thought of this experience. It was a very encouraging experience, and it took away my fear for a while because I wanted to feel that bliss again. But as time has gone by I have kind of forgotten the feeling and have come back down in the fear.

Thanks and peace!

Hi Dreadfish
Your account sounds like an out of body experience to me personally, this is an interesting topic too. Someone might say you are becoming more aware of the subtle body. That is not to say that with an out of body experience (or any experience) we do not come closer to understanding that we are one with God (based on monism or advaita), for example a walk in a forest could lead to a non-dual sensation. However being one with God does not imply it needs to be an experience. Do not search for an experience as all experience must logically be part of the whole. If I say that one experience was all it took for enlightnement then it would imply that the lack of that experience equally means that I am now no longer enlightened (because enlgitenment is reduced to an experience which is temporal in its very nature).

Best wishes, Onkarah.