These excerpts from Ken Wilber are the most potent pointers to non-duality I have ever come across. I was diagramming the concepts as I was reading it but it was essentially useless because every word in his writing needs to be there and is irreplaceably impactful. Here it is nonetheless since these days I am doing it for any concepts and systems that I am learning about since it helps me understand them by systematically structuring information this way. 

The text is very dense and in itself is a meditation to read through. It took me several weeks to read through and absorb it properly but the impact is worth it. I can just remember about it and enter the state that it induces, it’s incredible. I will note the most salient points with my comments below.

The Witness

“In the gap between the subject and the object lies the entire misery of humankind.” 

Just this alone points you to the entry into the non-dual seeing/mode. Everything else really just expounds on it. If you just merge with the “outer” reality from an identification perspective, you are done. Essentially, you can choose to be the whole world. We can shift this boundary of identification. That is why such concepts as class consciousness or group consciousness exist. Everything is alive and consists of consciousness, some of it is just blobbed into bigger groupings or subsets. But the superset of it all is also available for inhabiting. 

“The ever-present wonder of what is.” 

The text is permeated with punchy one-liners like this that can send you all the way to the other side immediately if you comprehend them fully. These have been very impactful for me as after reading them my mind stops and I just sit there abiding in what is for several moments. The quality of awareness suddenly changes, and you forget how to human. It’s all so fascinating.

“You actually feel that you are one with everything that is arising moment to moment.”

“Every single subject and every single object are erotically united in the Great Embrace of One Taste.” 

This unification of all forms and the experience of their connection/reflection further unfolds the center mass of the concept. The words are starting to fail at this threshold of trying to comprehend and communicate the meaning of what is being articulated. This is why these texts are so magical, it’s like they are talking in a non-Earthly language. 

It’s such a fresh perspective that you wouldn’t expect to encounter or figure out on your own unless you are gifted or lucky. Yet as the other passages point out, these perspectives are also entirely inevitable and unavoidable because of how true they are. “Spirit is not hard to find but impossible to avoid”

“A vast, spacious, empty, clear, pure, transparent Openness that impartially notices all that arises, as a mirror spontaneously reflects all its objects.” 

“Undeniable immediacy of now-consciousness.”

These metaphors of a mirror and indication of the immediacy of it all are also powerful pointers. Zeroing in on these qualities of one’s perception and experience makes one aware of this magical quality of reality that is glossed over in the default state of mind. It points to the nature of consciousness itself. That of which everything consists. The stuff that you would never notice as a fish that doesn’t notice water due to the dimension of water allowing for the fish to exist in the first place.

The Nondual Level

“There is just pure seeing. Consciousness and its display are not-two.” 

The result of this exploration process is the elimination of separation between the seer and the seen. There are varying degrees of stability for this and that’s why it is worth exploring this process until it becomes more familiar and stable. For now, I can only suspect that the way one lives their life with that mode being more permanent is very much different than the life of a small separate ego. What will be interesting to explore is the concept of agency with such a change of identification. Who is doing what in the case of everything being this one isness? There can only be a singular agent behind all action and manifestation.

“All is Mind. Mind is Empty. Empty is freely manifesting. Freely manifesting is self-liberating.”

The concept of emptiness is also introduced into the picture in these texts and that deserves its own life-long exploration. In all these spiritual contexts the concept of emptiness is talked about in a way that suggests we have no idea what true emptiness actually is. Here we get a glimpse into the nature of emptiness with the pointer of “freely-manifesting”. Which in turn means also “self-liberating”. What does it mean to manifest freely? I would say it means spontaneously and without any obstacles which means there is nobody to create those obstacles. 

Whatever self is or has is already being as it is at all times anyway. Words are starting to become useless here again. In other passages, Wilber notes that it is all about expressions of God but the interchangeable use of various concepts on the same level as emptiness becomes confusing without further in-depth study into the nature of both.

Emptiness can be understood as the unmanifest, formless Spirit. Form can then simply be all manifestations of reality. Form is not an obstacle to Spirit but its expression. This is how both can be seen as identical. This realization brings a profound freedom, as all things are seen as self-liberated, arising and falling within the expanse of consciousness.

“Nondual “state” is not itself another experience”

“The opening or clearing in which all experiences arise and fall”

“This realization is actually of the utter fruitlessness of experiences”

“The utter futility of trying to experience release or liberation”

“All experiences lose their taste entirely–these passing clouds”

This is where things are starting to become a bit scary. The author rapidly takes us through multiple paradigms as well as their transcendence, all in such a short amount of text. One has to use a lot of focus and attention to keep up here. Saying to somebody that their experience will lose any salience at all is a scary prospect from the standpoint of our default state of existence in modern culture. 

Thus the course of this exploration is taking the direction to go outside of human existence altogether. If this “state” is not another experience and one of its primary characteristics is recognition of the fruitlessness of experiences overall, it seems it’s about some kind of timeless aspect of reality that prevents distinctions among experiences from arising at all. 

Experiences are seen as transient, impermanent, and ultimately without inherent substance. The metaphor of “passing clouds” suggests that experiences, no matter how profound or ordinary, come and go, but they are not the fundamental reality.

The recognition of the ground in which all experiences occur reveals the timeless, unchanging awareness or Spirit. This awareness itself is not an experience but the “opening or clearing” that holds all experiences. It is ever-present and beyond the fluctuations of phenomena. The distinctions can only arise from the mind’s dualistic nature, and beyond that, there is an undifferentiated unity. 

Therein lies the choice of identifying solely with the temporary, conditioned self or with the timeless, unconditioned awareness that underlies all experience. Once one understands these pointers, there appears a clear way to go beyond the egoic self and the human-centered way of being. This way is about dissolving into the pure Witness, the timeless essence that doesn’t cling to the dualities of experience—pleasure vs. pain, good vs. bad. This doesn’t mean a denial of human life, but a shift in perspective, where human experiences are seen from a broader, more infinite context.

“There is nothing outside of you that you can want, or desire, or seek, or grasp”

“You are released into the All, as the All–you are the self-seen radiant Kosmos, you are the universe of One Taste, and the taste is utterly infinite.”

Here is where we embrace the infinity. It is ungraspable but is all of what is, so de facto we get it all should one just reach out to it through the meditations such as laid out in these texts. This reminds me of the notions about the holographic universe. Each part contains the whole and thus is inextricably linked to all. It’s all extremely paradoxical and mind-boggling but one must leave the limited mind behind at some point as reality is not that simple that it can be understood by a regular culture-limited human mind.

The Great Search

“The greater the Great Search, the more I can feel my own sensation of seeking, which defines the contours of my self”

It’s insights like this that revivify my faith in the power of language. I often get intuitions that language must be abandoned altogether at some point of ascension as an alphabet book is abandoned as soon as it is understood by a child never to be picked up again(those who know, do not speak). But in this quote, the pointer is to the seeking as a sensation which defines the self. It’s a powerful one because, in the same principle, everything you can think of defines the contours of the self. What is manifested is manifested by the self and thus conveys the self, and expresses it.

“The Great Search is the great enemy of what is”

“The effort to stop the Great Search is itself more of the Great Search”

Here come the seeming contradictions that one must reconcile to understand what the author is talking about. Luckily, that is immediately resolved with these gems:

“There is actually nothing the self-contraction can do to stop the Great Search, because the self-contraction and the Great Search are two names for the same thing”

“If Spirit cannot be found as a future product of the Great Search, then there is only one alternative: Spirit must be fully, totally, completely present right now—AND you must be fully, totally, completely aware of it right now.”

“To keep seeking would be to keep missing”

So when the self contracts it tries to zero in on a limited aspect or manifestation of itself. The very act of looking is distorting what self is in the eye of the self. Reminds me of the double-slit experiment…

“There is only Spirit, there is only God, there is only Emptiness in all its radiant wonder”

“The separate-self is simply a sensation of seeking”

Another profound recipe of entering the non-dual “mode”. Recognition of the limitation of the function of search itself liberates one from limiting oneself to the act of search which ironically allows one to find what they were looking for. 

“There must be something about our present awareness that contains the entire truth”

“Recognize this ever-present state of affairs, and not to engineer a future state in which Spirit will announce itself”

The realization contained here has another hidden layer of truth that can be stated separately. This act of recognition is one and the same with the act of manifestation. For in the act of re-cognizing something, the self, as the infinite all-powerful emptiness essentially generates whatever it “looks into”. News flash—that’s how reality is made.

To Meet The Kosmos

“We do not want to be choicelessly aware of the present; rather, we want to run away from it, or run after it, or we want to change it, alter it; hate it, love it, loathe it, or in some way agitate to get ourselves into, or out of, it”

To me, this speaks of some kind of rebellious non-acceptance that is driving all of the restlessness in our lives. To be choicelessly aware of the present would mean complete compliance with it. But on a long-term scale that would look like some kind of zombification from the standpoint of our familiar ego. Unless ego completely dissolves and only what is remains. In that state, there would be no human anymore though.

“The Great Search is the game, in its endless forms”. 

“In nondual meditation or contemplation, the agitation of the separate-self sense profoundly relaxes, and the self uncoils in the vast expanse of all space”

It is unclear why the game is there in the first place. Is it a form of divine escapism or some kind of puzzle? However, the exit seems to be pretty obvious at this point—just don’t participate in the game. Drop it.

The “game” could be seen as a natural consequence of dualistic perception—the sense of separateness that arises when consciousness identifies with the body-mind rather than its true, formless nature. The self believes it is incomplete and embarks on a quest to find what’s missing, even though the reality is that nothing was ever missing. This is in line with the idea of God playing hide and seek with himself, the Cosmic Joke. “Here I hid from myself! Here I am! Here I found myself! Haha!”—God, probably. 

In this way the search is ultimately fruitless because it is built on a mistaken premise: that we are separate from what we are seeking. The “puzzle” is self-created—it exists because of the misidentification with the separate self, and once this illusion is seen through, the game is over. The act of dropping the game is a metaphor for letting go of the identification with the egoic self and the idea that something is missing. It’s a recognition that the search itself is what keeps us trapped in the illusion of separation. To “drop it” means to stop striving, stop seeking externally, and simply rest in the realization that everything we’ve been searching for is already present within us as our true nature.

While the exit is simple, it’s often difficult for most people to just “drop it.” The mind is deeply conditioned to identify with the separate self, and the search is hardwired into our psyche through cultural, social, and personal conditioning. The process of spiritual practice or non-dual contemplation helps to unwind these layers of conditioning, gradually leading to the point where the game no longer holds any appeal or meaning. I can only assume at this point that the next step after such a realization is simply a different kind of game since God seems to like these. Or perhaps one simply grows out of games at that point and matures to deal with more “serious” or important matters of reality.

“Spiritual practice is a form of the Great Search, and as such, it is destined to fail”

“You cannot reach Spirit any more than you can reach your feet”

“Nondual meditation is a serious effort to do the impossible, until you become utterly exhausted of the Great Search, sit down completely worn out, and notice your feet.”

Another passage to drive the point home. It is akin to pointing out the futility of all effort which is again paradoxical. How do you achieve what currently is there without ANY effort? By dropping it all, let it all go.

“Stateless condition is the true nature of this and every conceivable state of consciousness, so any state you have will do just fine”

This points to going beyond the state in one’s focus and awareness. Penetrate beneath the surface of whatever you are experiencing. What lies there? Use that as an entrance. This is the good news, it can be that simple.

“Recognizing the Changeless is the point, recognizing primordial Emptiness is the point, recognizing unqualifiable Godhead is the point, recognizing pure Spirit is the point, and if you are breathing and vaguely awake, that state of consciousness will do just fine”

The names of what is, the unnameable—that’s what we find at the root of it all. This is where I feel like dropping the language is the next step. No words do justice to what one finds at the end of the finger pointing at the moon so no need to use them at THAT point.

“Traditionally, in order to demonstrate your sincerity, you must complete a good number of preliminary practices, including a mastery of various states of meditative consciousness, summating in a stable post-conventional adaptation”

“The point is to realize that change of state is not the point, and that realization can occur in any state of consciousness whatsoever”

This is an example of how spiritual search can keep going in circles with one finding more and more things to discover and try out. It never ends. Unless one chooses to go outside the dimension of the ever-changing states and abide in the changeless.

Ever-Present Awareness

“Pure Self or transpersonal Witness is an ever-present consciousness”

To become a transpersonal witness one needs to escape the confines of his earthly human identity. In my experience that has been a journey that took several years before I could make such a shift in perception but that also occurred that way due to only recently delving deeper into the core of non-dual teachings. I’m sure some can shift to that more spontaneously through kenshō type of experiences. 

The main pointer is to essentially go outside of yourself. Now that I’ve had glimpses into such experiences this makes complete sense to me but looking back I’m not sure if the idea by itself can be understood enough intellectually to cause the necessary shift in perspective. A compound approach like in Ashtanga yoga would be needed to realize this state, in my opinion. That’s what helped me.

“It takes no effort whatsoever to hear sounds, to see sights, to feel the cool breeze: it is already happening, and we easily rest in that effortless witnessing”

“Precisely because Spirit is the ever-present Seer, and not any limited thing that is seen, we can allow all seen things to come and go exactly as they please”

This allowing of anything to be as is has been a great revelation in meditation for me. Now that I have been meditating for around 5 years, I found a great way to meditate is through relaxation. It seems paradoxical when you consider that while learning meditation one must master the focus but to achieve a deep meditative state where thoughts don’t arise one needs to simply relax it all to such a degree that even the thought muscles can’t contract anymore. 

Knowing how to relax is a whole separate skill one needs to figure out for himself. You can’t just tell somebody to try to relax, that’s an oxymoron. Relaxation and acceptance is a form of intention that one has to embody, it’s not really an action. Similarly, the ever-present witness is accessible by dropping the effort and allowing for the present to flow as is without impediments. This completely frees up the witness from any constraints of the content that is being experienced since we have established that the seer isn’t the content and really has nothing to do with it. This way the seer is ultimately free.

“The Witness exists only in the timeless present”

“The timeless present is not hard to contact but impossible to avoid, and this becomes obvious when I rest as the pure and simple Witness, and watch the past and future float by in simple ever-present awareness”

This is a key realization as well that stands on its own as a very powerful insight and mode of being. When you realize that thinking about the past and future always happens in the present moment, that tells you that there only is the present moment. But then that means the present moment is all there ever is. And since you are the one witnessing that present moment, suddenly the concept of the ever-present witness makes much more sense: 

“I cannot start Witnessing; I can only notice that this simple Witnessing is already occurring” 

“This state never has a beginning in time precisely because it is indeed ever-present”

“When I rest in the simple, clear, ever-present Witness I am resting in the great Unborn, I am resting in intrinsic Spirit, I am resting in primordial Emptiness, I am resting in infinite Freedom”

“I am that opening or clearing in which the entire manifest world arises right now, but I do not arise in it—it arises in me, in this vast Emptiness and Freedom that I am”

More names and ways to describe the concept and drive it home. Initially, the abundance of the synonymous terms was confusing to me but after rereading the texts again and again I get it. They help overcome the hurdle of the lack of characteristics of what I AM is, that’s precisely the challenge with this realization and Wilber tackled it masterfully. He points to nothing and is successfully able to describe it, quite paradoxical and fully magical.

“When I rest as the timeless Witness, the Great Search is undone”

“You cannot go out looking for that which is the Looker”

This recognition of the fruitlessness of the drive to know oneself gets dispelled right here. You can’t know yourself because there isn’t any substance to know about. Mind-blowingly unassailable. 

“When I rest as the free and formless Witness, I am with God right now, in this timeless and endless moment”

This escape from time and form is like a magic trick. Nothing happened really but suddenly you are in a different place altogether. You can just fall out of it all at a moment’s notice to be neither here nor there as well as everywhere all at once.

“When I rest in the pure and simple Witness, I will even begin to notice that the Witness itself is not a separate thing or entity, set apart from what it witnesses”

“All things arise within the Witness, so much so that the Witness itself disappears into all things”

“Events simply arise as they are, without the constant and agitated reference to a contracted self or subject”

This removal of a focal point releases one into everything to be free and infinite as that everything. I find it interesting that I am reaching for a similar language to the one I am quoting when thinking about these concepts. It truly is a whole separate framework and language because it is connected to how these phenomena are being perceived and comprehended through the logical connections in language. 

At the same time, doing this sort of loops my attention back onto itself fairly consistently. Especially when I start pondering what is it that is doing the perception and thinking since upon entering the ever-present awareness mode the “I” kind of dissolves, it’s nowhere to be found. It stays a letter on the screen, an outdated convention, an anachronism, an obsolete simulacrum that can be left on the side of the cosmic road along with the rest of the grey faceless particles of dust that are doing their thing in the infinite soup of chaos.

“Saving face—saving an identity with the bodymind—is the very mechanism of suffering, the very mechanism of tearing the Kosmos into an inside versus an outside, a brutal fracture that I experience as pain”

This pinpointing of the root cause of suffering as the fragmentation of identity rings very true to me. It makes sense, especially minding the whole paradigm of spiritual seeking. The reason we search for God is because we long for him but it is a misperception that we are separate from him as the author explains here. How magical it is that this fracture can be undone so easily by simply losing your face, leaving nothing to hide behind, being the Kosmos itself. “The universe is One Taste, and I am That”

“That is the ultimate, secret, nondual practice, the practice of no-practice, the practice of simple acknowledgment, the practice of remembrance and recognition, founded timelessly and eternally on the fact that there is only Spirit, a Spirit that is not hard to find but impossible to avoid”

I find it funny that this collection of texts from the author is a monstrosity to wade through in the beginning but once you get it, it’s the most obvious thing in the world. It’s so paradoxical, I’m not even understanding what happened. It’s just that I no longer care 🙂

The Eye of Spirit

“Your entire bodymind will regenerate, resurrect, and reorganize itself around intrinsic Spirit, and you will arise, as from the dead, to a new destiny and a new duty in consciousness when: the Great Search is undone; the separate-self sense has been crucified; when the continuity of witnessing has stabilized in your own case; when ever-present awareness is your constant ground.”

This reminds me of the state of enlightenment. The following passages describe the various types of Buddha one could arise as. These sound mythological at this point of my understanding so not very practical but inspiring nonetheless.

 And It Is All Undone

“And whatever the form of your own resurrection, you will arise driven not by the Great Search, but by your own Great Duty, your limitless Dharma, the manifestation of your own highest potentials, and the world will begin to change, because of you”

“you will never flinch, and you will never fail in that great Duty, and you will never turn away, because simple, ever-present awareness will be with you now and forever, even unto the ends of the worlds, because now and forever and endlessly forever, there is only Spirit, only intrinsic awareness, only the simple awareness of just this”

The last part of the text talks about complete dissolution in everything that is. The final highest state reminds me of some kind of ultimately smooth and harmonious happening of everything where the Divine is fully realized and illuminated. There isn’t anything left to hide or to get to know.  Everything is as it is with all of it fully known to itself.

The ultimate realization is the collapse of duality and the direct experience of being one with the entire universe, a state of profound freedom, openness, and bliss.