- Apr 2024
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scienceandnonduality.com scienceandnonduality.com
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there’s “me” and a world of “others” existing in an infinite and vastly unknown universe of disparate objects
for - quote - how things appear - quote - Nic Higham - key insight - duality
- Because of our narrowed, distorted focus,
- we’ve become apparently disconnected from our essential Aliveness, which is universal.
- We are so accustomed to perceiving a dualistic paradigm;
- there’s “me” and
- a world of “others”
- existing in an infinite and vastly unknown universe of disparate objects.
comment - Nic summarizes the dualistic perspective succinctly
- Because of our narrowed, distorted focus,
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On a deeper level, it’s imagined duality which creates all manner of separateness
for - quote - imagined duality - unpack - imagined duality
quote - imagined duality - author - Nic Higham
- On a deeper level,
- it’s imagined duality which creates all manner of separateness
- from the kind I call “dualistic isolation,”
- the sense that you’re identified with and alone in your body and your mind,
- to “existential loneliness,”
- a persistent sense of incompleteness that no amount of social or material connection can resolve.
- from the kind I call “dualistic isolation,”
unpack - imagined duality and existential isolation - Alone in your body and mind - in my younger days, I had a metaphor for this - Life is a movie theatre for one, yourself - Only you have access to this movie theatre - Nobody else is there to experience the totality of your experiences, except you. - You are the sole inhabitan of your YOUniverse -
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relate authentically to our own nature
for - insight - existential isolation - quote - existential isolation
- Because we’re unable to
- experience life genuinely, or
- relate authentically to our own nature and to others,
- we often suffer from a “dread of nothingness.”
- Loneliness, Moustakas says,
- is part and parcel of being, of existing, which,
- if embraced, can lead us to “
- deeper perception,
- greater Awareness and sensitivity, and
- insights into one’s own being”.
- Because we’re unable to
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But this other kind of anxiety was more like a quiet, unintelligible terror, a distant alarm bell, an uncaused danger
existential isolation - evocative description - See David Loy's description of the same thing as the fear of our own inherent emptiness
quote - existential isolation - Nic Higham
- .But this other kind of anxiety was more like
- a quiet, unintelligible terror,
- a distant alarm bell,
- an uncaused danger.
- It seemed more real and fundamental than any passing concern.
- Apparently arising from my innermost core,
- existential anxiety was a lurking, menacing mythical figure.
- It hid in the shadows of my very Being,
- coming at me from
- everywhere and
- nowhere.
- coming at me from
- It wasn’t an entity but an inescapable mood
- that cunningly evaded
-reason and
- remedy.
- that cunningly evaded
-reason and
- It was
- a constant undercurrent,
- an impending nothingness and hollowness,
- a strange intimacy with an enticing void,
- the cost of having a thumping heart and a free spirit.
reference - Ernest Becker - Denial of Death - https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?max=100&expanded=true&user=stopresetgo&exactTagSearch=true&any=denial+of+death - The Birth and Death of Meaning - https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?max=100&expanded=true&user=stopresetgo&exactTagSearch=true&any=the+birth+and+death+of+meaning - David Loy - https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?max=100&expanded=true&user=stopresetgo&exactTagSearch=true&any=david%2Bloy
- .But this other kind of anxiety was more like
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