This is one of the most common questions I'm asked, especially by people with experience in the more mainstream fields of self-help and personal development.
The simplest answer is this:
People with a nondual understanding of life tend to be happier, indeed the deeper the nondual perception, the deeper the happiness/freedom/compassion... And those people tend to find they navigate life with more ease and grace, whilst fully engaged in all the roller coasters and challenges.
But if it's not true, to the extent to which we can claim truth, I'm not sure a nice feeling would be enough to hold me.
So, what brings me to a nondual paradigm, and what keeps me here?
It would be easy to answer this question with, "Well, that's just life unfolding." But the unfolding includes the experience of choosing. And I choose nonduality as my paradigm because I can collate plenty of evidence for it, and none against it. There is no situation where it doesn't hold true. And I'm not needing to believe in something that isn't in my direct experience. (Direct experience being that which I can know without reference to external information, thoughts, feelings, sensations of the body or the five physical senses.)
If I enquire into direct experience, I can report that I am knowingly aware. That's a buck stopper. A full stop. I don't need to ask who knows I know, because, "I am knowingly aware," is a complete circle. Of course, I can keep exploring - but what changes is my understanding of 'I', of the nature of awareness. Not of the primary fact.
With Love, Sara
Photo by Ana Municio on Unsplash
