The Nature of Reality

One and Many

Mystics from East and West have, for teaching purposes, distinguished the One Divine Spirit and Many Phenomena, the Absolute and Relative, the Changeless and Changing (which are finally realized to be not-two). Here, in graphic form, are the polarities (Absolute on left, relative on right), ultimately subsumed in the nondual One Divine Reality. Be sure to read the explanatory text near the bottom:

The One ----------------------- the many

Formless Reality -------------- play of forms

The No-thing ------------------ things

The Absolute ------------------ relative processes

Consciousness ----------------- contents of consciousness

Pure Awareness ---------------- objects/ideas/images

God (“Godhead”)---------------- creation/creatures

Spirit --------------------------- body-mind-souls

Ground of Being --------------- the landscape of distinct beings

Divine Dreamer ---------------- dream figures

Primordial Energy ------------- material world(s)

Supreme Self ------------------ myriad selves/personalities

Subject ------------------------- objects

I (Am)--------------------------- I am this/that

Noumenon ----------------------- phenomena

Knower/Perceiver/Seer ----------- known/perceived/seen

the “upstream” Source ----------- “downstream” products

Essence/Heart/Core/Center -------- peripheral matters

Right Here ------------------------ “over there”

Immediate Reality--------------inferred reality,perception-based

Infinity -------------------------- finite events

Open space ---------------------- apparently solid things

Changeless background ----------- changing figures

Substratum/Substance ------------ compounded things/processes

The Simple -------------------------- the complex

The Seamless Whole ------------------ the differentiable parts

No-feature/no-color/no-shape --------- features/colors/shapes

Soundless ------------------------------ sounds

The Spacious Room ------------------- the furniture

Raw Gold ------------------------------ the ornaments

(Meister Eckhart:) Home --------------- abroad

(Vedanta:) Nirguna Brahman -----------Saguna Brahman

(Yoga:) Purusha ------------------------- prakriti

(Tantra:) Siva -------------------------- Sakti

(Sufism:) Allah ------------------------- Allah’s “veil”

(Taoism:) Tao ------------------------ the “ten thousand things”

(Mahayana:) Sunyata/Void ------------ nama-rupa/forms/stuff

(Zen:) “Host” ------------------------- “Guest”

(Tib. Buddhism:) Clear Light ------ opaque forms, samsara

(Kabbalah:) Ain Sof ---------------Sefirot tree, creation (yesh)

[Left side:] One cannot “know” This, one can only be This, live This, come from This, abide as This

[Right side:] All these are perceived or known via 5 senses & mental faculties operating dualistically (subject-object, perceiver-perceived split)

* * * * * * * * *

In the first stage of spiritual realization, the via negativa, or apophatic mysticism, one disidentifies from all limited, narrow identifications (I am “this” or “that”), until there is an intuitive realization of Self as the changeless I, the Absolute No-thing of pure Divine Spirit.

When this realization of formless, transcendental Reality (“I am no-thing”) is authentic, a second stage, re-identification occurs, for it becomes spontaneously obvious that “I am everything.” The God-Self is realized not just as transcendent formless openness, but also as the immanent heart of the world: “Siva is Sakti,” “Emptiness is form.” Then whatever happens (truly a “no-thing happening” dream) is the unhindered, free play of God’s Prema-Love and Ananda-Bliss.

SBI!