21 levels of Self-Deception: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

T W E N T Y - O N E L E V E L S

Such discussions therefore often use the term ‘nondual’, meaning simply, ‘not two’. This is really the closest that we can come in words to describing the indescribable. (Indeed, Wilber is one of the chief contemporary proponents of nonduality.)

Nonduality might seem at first a subject rather distant from our concerns of the self’s search for satisfaction of desire and meeting the needs of others. However, Jerry Katz, in his book Essential Writings on Nonduality, speaks about desire and the self being entwined:

‘Our heart’s desire and who, what and where we are, are not separate.

‘Our pursuit for truth is for the full recognition of non-separation, not-two-ness, or nonduality. The value of this quality of desire is confirmed in the first verse of the scripture from Hindu tradition known as the Avadhuta Ghita, or Song of the Free:

“Through the grace of God alone, the desire for nonduality arises in wise people to save them from fear.”

‘The need for knowing nonduality, or non-separation from truth, is grace, a profound gift arising from truth. The desire, the Avadhuta Ghita says, arises in wise people. We could say the hunger for nonduality is wisdom. Wisdom is allowing the desire for nonduality to unfold. That is the way to be saved from fear.’

Jerry Katz — Essential Writings on Nonduality

Katz goes on to explain the nature of the fear that nonduality saves us from. One fear is simply our own non-existence in death, the other fear is that we may be spending our lives desiring the wrong things. We will return to

24