The wellspring of peace and happiness lies inside us. To discover it, we must move beyond our notion of an outside.
The Bodily Self
Beneath the noise of thought, an ever-present tingling lingers on our skin. In the mind’s eye, it appears as the nebulous shape of our body, visible even in complete darkness.
This sensation and its mental counterpart make up the bodily self. It forms the foundation of our individuality, creating the boundary between what is us and what is not. While our bodily self is intrinsic to how we engage with the world as distinct beings, it has become unnaturally heightened.
Our bodily self now stands as a barrier, splitting our reality into two. From this silent rift, inner and outer have been born—encased within our bodies, we feel separated from the rest of the world. We find ourselves in duality, a realm that knows only opposites and turmoil.
Duality reduces us to hollow shells, draining our lives of their essence. In our efforts to replenish this void within, we search the world for meaning yet find mirages instead, becoming lost in numbness and disconnection. A profound disquiet settles in as we identify with the body. We forget who we truly are.
The path beyond duality leads us into the core of our being where selfhood unveils itself as insubstantial. There, we uncover the canvas upon which our lives come to be, the reality that lends all appearances their existence.
As we step onto this path and begin to see through our sense of separation, the bodily self gradually dissolves. With this dissolution, our very experience of space changes.
The Illusion of Space
An imbalanced bodily self not only weighs on us emotionally but also warps our perception of the world.
A heightened bodily self fragments our vision, manifesting as empty space between ourselves and what we see. Objects then seem distanced from us, as though they exist independently outside our own bodies.
As the bodily self dissolves, so does the impression of space. Perceptions draw closer to us, until no boundary appears between self and other.
In the absence of duality, the division of subject and object resolves into a singular flow of experience. Our eyes open to a direct, unfiltered view of reality, and we no longer feel detached from our surroundings.
While the illusion of space mirrors our dualistic condition, the underlying cause of this separation remains overlooked.
Self-contraction
We carry a deep tension within our bodies, often without realizing it.
A persistent contraction has anchored itself in our muscles, becoming so ingrained that our identity is entangled with it. This state blends into the background of our lives, leaving a knot in our chests and stomachs.
Self-contraction exists as an aspect of our being that is both intimate and unseen. This pattern is imprinted from early childhood, gradually hardening into a reflexive habit as we conform to unspoken social pressures. We bear the tension as though it were expected of us, molding ourselves not only as individuals but also collectively as humanity.
This clenching operates as a defense mechanism, a remnant of our distant past. It crystallizes our embodiment, sharpening our sense of physical form in the face of perceived threat. We tense up to feel grounded and guarded, yet in the modern era this activity has outlived its evolutionary function.
We move through our days in self-contraction, with sleep as our respite. It generates the sense that we are agents who cause our actions, and serves as a means by which we try to keep discomfort at bay. As painful thoughts and feelings creep in, we tighten this grip on our bodies in search of security, not seeing that it can only make us vulnerable.
Self-contraction heightens the bodily self, binding us in duality. It is the root of our separateness and suffering—the obstacle we must overcome to reach liberation.
The armor we trusted to shield us is unmasked as the prison that confines us. With dawning clarity, our attachment to it begins to erode, and the walls we uphold lose their solidity. Resistance gives way to acceptance of what is. We surrender the helm of control.
As we let go of the self-contraction like unclenching a fist, a great burden lifts from our shoulders. With this release, relaxation takes hold, and the struggle to swim against the current of life ends. We recognize the part of ourselves that was never real, a contracted fabrication now shed.
We are free from the shackles of our own making. Life unfolds unperturbed, and the bodily self dissolves as we no longer cling to it. A new purpose greets us; effortlessness guides our path.
Non-duality
Our journey comes to a close. The next chapter begins.
The bodily self dissolves to its natural state, receding from the foreground of our experience. Space and distance disappear from our view, while the grip of self-contraction remains but a memory.
Inside and outside merge into one another. There is no center within us to grasp. As the veil of separation falls, we see the impermanence of the self. The bounds of our bodies become porous and transparent: we are liberated from the constraints of duality.
Nature witnesses itself through our eyes. What was hidden now appears in plain sight.
We awaken to non-duality, the ultimate reality in which no division exists. It is the fabric of the universe, without qualities or parts, where beingness and becoming weave together as a limitless whole. From this primordial oneness spring all forms and phenomena, endlessly arising and subsiding back into their source.
Non-duality is the depths of the ocean undisturbed by surface waves. It is consciousness itself, the very substance of which we are made. Upon this timeless recognition, we transcend the vessel of the body, our minds freed from conceptions that never had inherent reality.
Our identities as individuals are no more, yet this awareness is what brings us into harmony with the world. Held by the eternal unity of life, we remember who we are.
From beneath the emptiness that once resided within us, a sense of pure fulfillment rises and washes over us. Boundless joy suffuses all. Yearning and suffering cease. We reach the end of the path, becoming one with the ocean of peace.