Non-Dual Spirituality

Spirituality is for everybody. It is part of the human journey to understand our inner semantic worlds as life imposes its challenges in our external world of symbols. What I view Spirituality to be is a science of consciousness, a result oriented practice expressing the human spirit recognizing itself through direct transcendental experience. Consciousness gives us the ability throughout our lives to experience Being in this world emerging from the free will of our decisions. The human life is facilitated by what I define as a Self-Ecology, a complex classical-quantum ecosystem processing conscious experience through our body, mind, and intellect. This view of spirituality is collective and pluralistic because of its focus on a shared, interpersonal experience of reality. Once this foundational view is established, our religious experiences, moments of personal transformation, the joy in consciousness expanding discoveries, and the love one expresses to life around us becomes clear attributes to spiritual realization. 

The dynamic choices we freely will into being by our thoughts and actions allows us to deviate away from inner spiritual growth, and that is expected because that is life! The real consequence is making the conscious choice to learn, reflect, and change. This is the ideal mindset for any student approaching a consequential topic that impinges on their current beliefs, such as the topic of non-duality, the many spiritual paths that follow this worldview, and its growing interest in the West as a counterbalance to what we will describe as a materialist worldview. How this module progresses examines the relationship between consciousness, life, and free will (the spiritual) interacting with technology and human nature (the social as described in Sustainability) in times of planetary crisis (meta-crises). This core, dynamic relationship is a constant presence in our lives and understanding the tension between each element as it acts on the whole (and the whole working its way down) is a systemic approach we will take in this Exploration. The dualities found between a spiritual and social life presents itself in a materialist-driven world by undermining both spiritual and social development, a robotic life to make profits for a handful of people. 

Non-Dualism

Non-dualism is a concept describing a philosophical and metaphysical view on the nature of reality grounded in a singular experiential field of awareness which we call consciousness. We find non-dualist interpretations in many religious and indigenous belief systems. Buddhism and many Eastern schools address Emptiness (Shunyata) and Idealism. Hinduism with its ancient Shaivite practices and well formed teachings of Adi Shankar in Advaita Vedanta. Lao Tzu and the teachings ofTaoism. A variety of Islamic practices of Tasawuuf (Sufism) which developed across the many cultures of the Ummah. Christian mystics reflecting on Greek metaphysics. Kabbalah and the lifelong study of natures inner expression emanating through us as a designed experience. We finally make our way West to the Eurocentric Age of Enlightenment with German Idealists of Hegel, Spinoza, and Schopenhauer, and many growing modern Western thinkers mentioned further. 

My personal connection with this spiritual approach is based on a lifelong self-study of religion, philosophy, mythology, science, and the history of conflicts in the world. I make an attempt to not label my beliefs and will reject to “Hindu”, these are simply impediments to obtaining knowledge and does not reflect the plurality of beliefs that come from the diverse backgrounds of thought experienced over my entire life. Non-dualism is the direct experience of One. One what? What non-dualism suggests is that the world we all share is an experience within a single unified field of awareness on which our consciousness resonates with the frequencies of life that emanates every thing. This view has gained recent traction amongst physicists, philosophers, computer scientists, and those disillusioned by belief systems that do not accurately reflect direct conscious experience or even disregards consciousness entirely!

The resistance to this worldview is a hang up on an authoritative, materialistic, reductive, mechanistic perspective of reality that renders the human life as robotic, meaningless, and avoidant of reaching its latent human potential. Many of us may share the same view, but lack the means to comprehend the world we experience as is or as you want it to be. Non-dualism offers this worldview that dissolves not only the metaphysical boundaries to understand our transcendent nature, but also the divisive social barriers that prevents us from meaningful change that represents our existential needs and conditions that enable us to flourish.  

With that being introduced, there is are a range of topics and practices that are directly and indirectly related to non-dualism that will intersect with other Explorations in the future. Does this spirituality include physical exercises, dietary recommendations, forms of devotion, and other esoteric practices? Yes, but, the appreciation for these activities is predicated on the knowledge of the human condition and its potential to emerge and confront existential risk to allow these activities to continue. Those practices will be covered in other Explorations to provide the focus each topic will need, such as food and diet courses that are connected to community meal programs or actual Yogic asanas and their physiological effects on the conscious experience. My aim is to explore the way cultures developed its understanding of the inner Self (Self-Ecology) with the conflicts of the external world with the goals of consciousness raising, capacitation development, and liberation attaining. 

Paths, Gurus, McMindfulness

There was a phrase that stuck around with me since I was small that makes me pause each time I would go to make an expensive purchase, “caveat emptor”, buyer beware (you’re in for a scare). If you think about it, you might find contradictions that can save you receiving a headache or the pain of regret immediately or later down the line. This is reasonable advice anywhere you go but its mileage goes further when you are putting yourself on a journey of self-discovery and you are seeking to heal from suffering, trauma, or the mundane nature of the pursuit of capital. However, it is a dangerous to go alone on the path of self development without a sword to cut through the bullshit that you will encounter.

People on their spiritual journey are like honey bees going from flower to flower gaining inspiration to bring back to the hive to enrich themselves and the people around them. Consider the distance needed for the bee to travel to reach a field of flowers, or the type of pollen they collect to bring back to the hive, or the result of the honey that emerges from the combs. This is a simple metaphor that connects our awareness of the problems we have to the actions needed to gain a desired result. Do you have to go across the world or to a church to obtain this awareness? Does exposure to one set of knowledge allow us to know this type of awareness? Are the actions I am taking (or money I am investing) allowing me to see the problem clearly or is it toxic and obfuscates the path further? Some of the rhetorical questions asked are completely valid in the broader spiritual, religious, or adjacent communities. 

Pre-modern traditions for spiritual development involved going to a specific teaching, and by extension, a specific guru, philosopher, spiritual teacher, or spiritual organization. You had to be there. In a literal sense, you have to just be you in front of a guru, where the agitation of the mind is challenged by the presence of an “Individual” that unspoken provided support just through well observed reflection. With a non-dual approach, you are always here witnessing, reflecting, and acting in interest of self-discovery. I do not come from a Dharma lineage, the Arya Samaj that my family attended to are not an organization that directs such beliefs in hierarchal knowledge of realization, and certainly anyone can give moments of deep spiritual awakening where the responsibility of communicating this experience is up to the individual. There are direct experiences that can transmit the necessary living information that molds worldviews, but those experiences involve further metaphysical knowledge covered in our upcoming module.

Modern spiritual gurus are a strange bag of wisdom, repetitive teaching styles, and merchandising. There is value in consuming their content, but let us keep the honey bee metaphor in mind, it has a lovely sting when exposing malicious practices. What the SolarPunk Sangha’s curriculum aims for in spiritual development is the discernment necessary to know and be aware of good or bad advice, we cover this in the Epistemology module. The subtle aim at critiquing modern mindfulness practices in Capitalist Spirituality, the majority of Western applications of mindfulness found in media content, is eminent amongst the upcoming material in the Axiology module. Beyond grifting, we have to apply ourselves to move beyond the limitations we experience today. 

Spirituality and Social Liberation

True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity. False charity constrains the fearful and subdued, the "rejects of life," to extend their trembling hands. True generosity lies in striving so that these hands—whether of individuals or entire peoples—need be extended less and less in supplication, so that more and more they become human hands which work and, working, transform the world.
-Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970)

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Liberation is a term widely used for social emancipation and spiritual enlightenment. From the shackles of Haitian revolutionaries wrapped around the necks of their French slavers to the reality-changing conscious experience of deep awakening of inner awareness, people and their contemplations of the world manifest through their actions. Oppression is scientific, observable, measurable, and permitted because of our relationship to power structures. We are familiar with how power corrupts people and coerces others to perform violence to uphold power; whether that is policing, passing consequential public policy, austerity programs for resource extraction, or many other forms of cultural assimilation that we will uncover in case studies of Zionism. 

The separation of church and state is a recognized precedent established by the first amendment to the United States constitution enabling a plural, secular approach to public policy. A tendency to reflect this notion of separation of belief from action enables people in decision-making positions to impose their beliefs through political action as we see in our healthy Floridian public education system. Supremacist theology (all of which I do not consider true reflections of their theological foundations), whether it’s modern Evangelical Christianity, Zionist Judaism, Wahhabism, Hindutva, or other organized violent beliefs, they are found in every State system. Liberation comes at a great personal cost in both social and spiritual pursuits, we will learn of sacrifice and the variety of cultures that understood this notion to be an essential component to their Liberation pedagogy in presence of a social system that utilizes faith for power.

Examining the relationship between Church and the State is a major course of study that the SolarPunk Sangha will undertake in multiple Explorations, where the Critical Sustainability course establishes a discourse in Liberation Theology in its application towards a Dharmic theological practice beyond its Christian foundation. Liberation theology emphasizes the preferential option for the poor, an obligation following Christ’s teachings to promote social justice and care for the most vulnerable in society. In a society influenced by the collective spirit of the people, liberation from collective oppression is tandem to liberation from individual suffering. Liberation Theology is found throughout world history, implying that it is a multi-faith, multi-cultural social psychological approach to the injustices faced during incredible times. Yet there is a constant thread of power and injustice amongst those that resist it, finding that thread of principled beliefs and excavating the lessons in history will provide us with a comprehensive look at social and spiritual discourse.

As mentioned, there is an inherent connection between social and spiritual liberation and its effects on conscious experience in our everyday life. In our modern Western society, we are still operating under the guise of liberty, equality, and fraternity for just a few people. This supremacist ideology is dominant in our way of being and the answer to domination is liberation and the practices we will design forth. Look forward to the upcoming modules and lessons!

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