experience of non-dual awareness

[Allan Curry]

Srinivas Sista writes:

>One can assume whatever one pleases and argue its degree of
>reasonableness based on another set of assumed logical principles.
>The counter examples I gave(regarding dreams) are intended to show
>that the mind does not need any kind of external(if such a thing
>exists) environment to create, sustain and destroy realities.
>Note: I am not saying that you should assume that there is nothing
>      outside the mental representation. That would be as much a
>      postulate as the assumption that there is something "out there".

Sure, the mind can create a dream world from its own resources but
that does not prove it does not draw on something "out there" to
create its representation of the waking state world. Does it?

>If you are still thinking of non-dual awareness as a "state" then
>I have to say that whatever you have experienced was only a delusion
>of non-dual awareness(sorry, no offence meant). Your confusion as to
>whether you should regard it as more basic than other states just
>means that you had some experiences(based on what you read or deduced)
>which are no different from the other thought created realities. But
>it is good that you are questioning the validity of experiences, be
>they sublime or the trivial. That is surely a way to recognize the
>futility of pursuing experiences.

I used the word "state" in quotation marks because I don't know how to
think of it. I doubt if you are in any position to judge the veracity
of the non-dual awareness referred to Srinivas, but perhaps you meant
well by offering your opinion anyway.

This "state" is no more created by thought than a punch in the nose is. As
a matter of fact, far from being created by thought,it appears to be what
remains precisely after thoughts subside. There is no apparent object or
subject, just simple awareness without boundary.  It is certainly more
basic than thought because it seems to persist beneath it and it has most
definitely occured during dreamless sleep. Never the less, this  might just
be the most basic psychological state and reside on the same ontological
level as other modes of the brain/mind. Whether or not true non-dual
awareness has occured, it is a mere belief to say that non-dual awareness
is the ontological foundation of the universe. The view from *being*
non-dual awareness reveals no "other" of any kind. That does not prove
there is no other. It may just *seem* that way and the whole thing might be
cooked up by the mundane meat of the brain. Sorry. If you've got any proof
to the contrary, I'd be happy to hear it.

I am intrigued by what you refer to as "recognizing the futility of
pursuing experiences".  Can you please elaborate on that further?

deludedly yours,

Allan Curry