Theos-Talk Archives (October 1995 Message tl00520)

Adam:<I had always argued (to myself) that as Spirit and Matter (or Substance)
is
the prime duality, and as Spirit is equated by HPB with consciousness, then
consciousness is one of the two poles of EXistence. Thus Life which is a non
polar, non dualistic term must precede consciousness ... which is what I
thought the SD was saying.>

I have always argued (to myself) that subjectivity (I) and
objectivity (Not-I) were the prime duality. However, a good case can be
made for existence and non-existence also. The very fact that life
can be unconscious suggests to me that consciousness is dominant.
On the other hand, we can set up a duality of consciousness and
unconsciousness...

It all comes down to semantics in the end. This is why I
prefer nonduality, so I can just let the two poles fight it out amongst
themselves :-)

 I am not so sure that "life" is non-polar. It depends on
how you want to define it. Some say it is opposed by death. If we
think of death as a final process, then it would be opposed by birth
rather than life. But what is the polar opposite to bardo? Some
may say that life is motion or action, in which case it would be
opposed by stagnation or inertia. However you define it, you can
oppose it.

What I am trying to say, is that, there is virtually no word
at all for something that is truly non-polar (nirvana comes close).
Nonduality itself is opposed by duality. Our human mind functions only
in dualisms. To reach nonduality, we must raise consciousness far
above the human mind, where there are no words left at all.

Jerry S.