Some nondual or neo-Advaita folks seem to dismiss or downplay the human aspect of what we are and say things like “I am not this human”, “there is no self”, “I don’t exist”, and so on.
I understand where they are coming from. As our nature, we are not primarily this human self. There may be a human self in a conventional sense, but there is no inherently separate self here in my own experience. As capacity for the world as it appears to me, I don’t really exist.
They may want to emphasize the capacity and oneness aspects of our nature and downplay the human aspect, perhaps to compensate for others (or themselves!) viscerally over-emphasizing the human aspect out of habit.
At the same time, it does seem one-sided and perhaps a bit like an ideology. It can be quite misleading to others not familiar with that terrain. And it’s not terribly nondual. They seem to mentally create a split where there isn’t one and where it’s not strictly necessary.
HOW IT APPEARS TO ME
I find myself as….
Capacity for the world as it appears to me. As what allows it all to happen within my experience. As what forms itself into any experience.
As oneness. As what the world, to me, happens within and as. As the oneness the world, to me, happens within and as. (And with “the world” I mean any content of experience, anything seen here, heard, smelled, tasted, sensed, and thought.)
A part of oneness is this human self, as he appears in my sense fields including my mental representations. He is as much part of it as anyone and anything else that’s here.
And there is a special connection with this human self. This oneness has inside information from this human self in the form of all his sensory input. Others take me as him. And this oneness plays the role of and as him in the world.
INITIAL OUTLINE
- Nondual but dismissing the human?
- anything related to this human self, including identifying as it, is part of the whole of what we are
- Some like to downplay it, say “i am not this human self”, “I don’t exist”, etc.
- Is out of alignment with reality
- And, is not very nondual if that’s a concern
- For me, all of it, including this human self
- Is not what I most fundamentally am in my own first person experience, but doesn’t mean I am not this human self
- I am that too
- I find myself as….
- Capacity
- Oneness
- And as part of oneness, this human self
- And there is a special connection with this human self, inside information, others take me as him, this oneness plays that role in the world
DRAFT FRAGMENTS
At the same time, it does seem one-sided and perhaps a bit like an ideology. It can be quite misleading to others not familiar with that terrain. And it’s not terribly nondual. They seem to mentally create a split where there isn’t one and where it’s not strictly necessary.
As with any ideology, it seems a bit desperate and perhaps they are trying to compensate for something.