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

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and formlessness. The flux between form and formlessness is an important aspect of life, to which we will return. In the meantime, we can relate these ideas back to what was said about nonduality in Chapter 2. According to Ngakpa Chogyam, nonduality has two sides:

‘One is the empty, or nonduality, and the other is form or duality. Therefore, duality is not illusory but is instead one aspect of nonduality. Like the two sides of a coin, the formless reality has two dimensions — one is form, the other is formless. When we perceive duality as separate from nonduality (or nonduality as separate from duality) we do not engage with the world of manifestation from a perspective of oneness, and thereby we fall into an erroneous relationship with it. From this perspective, it is not “life” or duality that is Maya or illusion; rather it is our relationship to the world that is illusory.’

Ngakpa Chogyam (As quoted by Mariana Caplan in Eyes Wide Open; Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path.)

A literal nothing is very difficult to conceive. When the term is used in common parlance it is in a more circumscribed manner. For instance, we may speak of ‘empty’ space, a cloudless sky or a street devoid of people or cars. In so doing, it is realised, of course, that this is not a literal nothing. However, that emptiness or vacancy of which we speak has a lot more to say to us than an inaccessible and literal nothingness. It is the spaces between thoughts and words. The small silences in a piece of music. The time of rest between work or action in the world. The time spent alone in between time spent with family,

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