DESIGN FOR NOTHING IN-DEPTH, SERIES NO. 2
2834 words · 11 min read

Let's have fun today and use the analogy of a game to represent the world we live in. But first, here is a recap of my previous post. Reality is a unified, indivisible consciousness where the Self aligns with the ultimate reality. The concept of the One Mind echoes through nondual philosophies like Advaita Vedanta. Eastern philosophers have long considered everything as part of a unified reality—Brahman in Hinduism, the Tao in Taoism, or the Buddha-nature in Buddhism. In 'A Course In Miracles' (ACIM)—a non-dualistic philosophy from the late 60s using Christian terminology that introduces concepts and interpretations that diverge from mainstream Christianity in substantial ways and is somewhat akin to Advaita Vedanta in Hinduism—they use Christ Consciousness. For years, through studying nondual philosophies, practicing meditation, and self-inquiry, I researched the levels of consciousness. I have delved into understanding the potential of my true nature and my place in the world.

This journey ensued in the unfolding of more questions than answers. I have never been more excited than by the nature of these questions. I still struggle with uncertainty about our true nature and with being at peace with what is. The mystery of what we truly are seems impossible to unravel. The truth transcends intellectual understanding, and the experience of it cannot be fully captured or proven by conventional means of knowledge, just as nondual masters often emphasize. Spiritual teachers offer pointers to guide understanding before experience evolves into true knowledge.

I am always looking for markers to help me understand what I have learned and what it means practically in my everyday life. I keep a close eye on the intersections found between ancient nondual thought and modern scientific insights. Having committed to a nondual perspective in life and as an artistic framework, I still frequently seek validation through empirical evidence and science. However, it has become more of a habit than a necessity. 

Quantum research is a domain I delve into for inspiration. The quote from Quantum theorist David Schrum, in his September 2023 article in Pari Perspectives, hit me: "Quantum theory shows the universe to be an indivisible whole, rather than a complex mechanical structure of parts, where the 'part' is not truly separable except in an idealized approximation." It suggests that separable parts do not accurately depict the true nature of reality at the quantum level, illustrating particle interconnectivity no matter the distance between them.

Certain traditions, such as Advaita Vedanta, emphasize that the perceived duality between the Self and the universe is an illusion. In 'A Course In Miracles,' the world is described as the result of a "tiny, mad idea" by a part of the One Mind desiring to experience separation, thereby creating an ego. The ego, incapable of changing our true nature, would have us experience the illusion of separation. A chain of events leads parts of the mind to believe in what we consider "reality." 

Advaita Vedanta, Dzogchen, Zen Buddhism, and ACIM, among other nondual philosophies, teach us this world is an illusion designed to prevent us from remembering our true Self. Before engaging with this content, I adhered to conventional perceptions of reality. However, these revelations made me realize I had been dreaming all along.

As an artist, I trust in the limitless and ever-evolving nature of the creative process; in short, I keep an open mind. I've always felt spiritual but not tied to any particular doctrine. Yet, nondual philosophies have illuminated my understanding of life with such a bright light that I can hardly contain my excitement. In general, and on a practical level, it is the nondual thought found in texts like the 81 meditations of the Tao Te Ching, which discuss taking action in harmony with the flow of life, and the Zhuangzi texts, which encapsulate dialogues on embracing spontaneity and wisdom in action without seeking specific outcomes, that have greatly inspired my behavior toward others, the world, and the unknown. Other foundational texts of nondual philosophy have profoundly shaped my understanding, with passages that continue to reveal themselves anew as I practice mind training visually, spiritually, and artistically.

Before starting the game analogy story, let's recap again:

I am one with the One Mind, the ultimate reality. In this world, I recognize myself as the observer. I can transcend worldly attachments by positioning myself above the fray, present in the moment, and observing my thoughts, body, and surroundings from a distance. I seek this clarity of mind, but the allure of the illusion is so strong that part of my mind oscillates between various levels of consciousness, including a 'sleep' state in which most people operate. In that sleep state, no one realizes they are dreaming.

Questions arise: Why don't we naturally know ourselves as one? Why can't we visualize the reality of all parts being unified if we are unity itself? What is the motivation behind hiding my true nature from myself? 

The complexity of these questions reminds me of an Escape Room game, where deciphering clues and solving puzzles is essential to finding a way out. I enjoy these games with friends and family, including dice games like Perudo, a.k.a. Liar's Dice, where chance and chaos are key elements. Perhaps the world is like the Minotaur's labyrinth, navigating through complex illusions; the quest for the Holy Grail, symbolizing the search for eternal truth; or the journey of Odysseus, representing our trials and quest for enlightenment. So many analogies can be made about the life we all experience.

The game analogy: Let's start with the purpose. Imagine being the creator of a virtual game of life over which you have dominion. You created an artificial intelligence with the sole purpose of making you experience a perpetual separation from your true Self. Your true nature abiding in complete unified consciousness will no longer be perceptible. Now, visualize yourself closing your eyes and turning on an earpiece. A soothing meditation guides you into a trance-like state. 

A sort of Big Bang occurs the next instant, and you find yourself immersed in a hyper-realistic virtual world. At that point, you know you are not merely what the computer has created—it feels akin to watching a movie. In virtual reality, you appear as a distinct species, surrounded by other species in a world of wonders. Every appearance perfectly crafts the illusion of living, breathing organisms, and the experiences arising in your consciousness keep you hooked. You remain aware that this is a hypnotic trance and your subconscious hasn't blocked all "peripheral" awareness yet—you know Yourself, you remember the Ultimate Reality.

Like self-induced hypnosis, this game demands such focused attention and creates such a narrow scope of awareness that you begin to forget the creative power of your true Self that made it all possible. The game's artificial intelligence eventually creates male and female characters with brains designed to learn and remember everything about this world except who you truly are. Providing senses that make it all feel real and creating an environment conducive to the auto-creation of 'personal' and 'collective' histories, the game becomes a write-your-own-adventure where you are the hero. Initially, a dozen heroes populate it. The ingenuity of the AI introduces the concept of loved ones and the reproductive system. Eventually, there are billions of them. The idea of love, once an all-encompassing union with the ultimate reality, is now reduced to the likelihood of finding soulmates or the companionship of a few family members and friends. By this point, the mind is addicted to the stimuli created by emotional input offered by births, deaths, and all other aspects of life. This virtual reality has effectively obscured the creator's true sense of Self. 

Your true nature as the game's creator is of Mind. You were aware of yourself as Mind. This knowledge underlies all existence. The game's universe is of Mind, conscious of itself as complete wholeness and unaware of the apparent separation. Annaka Harris provides a fascinating intersection between consciousness studies and nondual spirituality in her 2024 talk, Is Consciousness Fundamental?: "There are no subjects. All the universe essentially is, at bottom, conscious experiences arising." The "subjects" we perceive are convenient fictions or constructs that help us navigate the world, but they do not reflect the true nature of reality, which is undivided and interconnected. 

The game's artificial intelligence implemented a simple yet challenging rule: You must experience what is impossible about Yourself to make the separation feel real. Consequently, the game world's made-up causes and effects are unlike your natural Self. Over time, social conditioning gives rise to unnatural and troublesome attributes such as anxiety, fear, and doubts about your own identity. In reality, you are not separated from the source and will never be. You can't possibly be anxious since you are eternal, unchanging, and inherently whole. At the truth level, fear is impossible because what doesn't truly exist cannot be real. 

Additionally, introducing the concept of inevitable bodily death in the game served as the ultimate illusory barrier to your return to Reality, or what in the game is called awakening. Ultimately, if you are 'lucky,' death might offer a glimpse of what seems like an afterlife through near-death experiences. This experience could lead you to believe that death is a 'gateway to heaven'—a notion prevalent in many theological narratives, where it is said that the dead are 'better off' and may rest in peace. However, all this does in the context of the dream is reinforce the idea that you are primarily a body, not a spirit or soul, and it obscures your true nature as the game's creator. By that point, the intellect is deeply entrenched in human existence, captivated by the pleasures it might continue to experience if it returns in another body—or even as a cat. Once caught in the cycle of reincarnations—often referred to as the karmic wheel in Hindu and Buddhist philosophies—thousands of years and hundreds of lifetimes could pass in the game before you find yourself reading this blog post and wondering—What's really going on here?

This game has such power over the mind that created it: You. You might be fundamentally eternal and unchangeable, but the game makes you believe things that are not of your true nature. The part of your mind that is the game's creator fell asleep in a trance from which you haven't fully awakened since. At this point, the game's world is all there is, so it seems. The game's one purpose, separation from your true Self, gave the AI carte blanche to build a barrier to the Ultimate Reality so high that it is almost impossible to figure out a way out. Consider additional game designs that have made it particularly challenging: You enter this world as a baby, allowing social constructs, genetics, and personal experiences to shape your perceptions, skills, and identity. 

Despite all efforts to forge your own path, one path seems to take precedence over every other—the path that inevitably leads you to a predetermined end: death. In this virtual reality, it might logically appear that the world is the cause and humans are its effects. Yet, in truth, the only real Cause is the ultimate source and creator, the One Mind, and the only true Effect is eternal and unchanging—and that is You.

What is the exit-the-game button, then? It has always been available to us all—To exit the game; one must remember that the game has never even changed what and who you truly are. In Reality, where you are now, as the game's creator, you are still intact, undead, and at peace in Oneness, with the rest of the unchanged, unborn, unified One Mind. Remember, and do not fear the truth about You. You are That "I Am," the observer, the Self. Where are you? Remember, and do not fear the truth about You. You are That 'I Am,' the observer, the Self. Where are you? From the game's perspective, you are comfortably 'seated' in your chair with VR goggles on, but in reality, you are both nowhere and everywhere at once—you are the Ultimate Reality.

The game's AI would have you believe that the goal of its hero's journey is to chase dreams that are yours to pursue. One of your characters in the game might have already seen beyond those dreams and realized they were in a world whose motto is 'seek but do not find.' Some characters who have walked this world saw through the deception of the ego world and figured out they were inside a dream. 

Figures such as Buddha, Jesus, and Ramana Maharshi understood the deeper reality beneath the surface of life's illusions. What these enlightened beings left behind is akin to game cheat codes. These are accessible to everyone at your local or online bookstore—the nondual texts, their teachings, and philosophies that guide us toward Loving Awareness, transcendental release from all illusions, and a glimpse into the ultimate oneness of Reality.

Let's continue with the game analogy to avoid confronting the ego with potentially condemning ideas: In addition to the enlightened masters listed above, many characters in the game grew disinterested in the drama, suffering, and fear associated with the game of separation and wanted out. They felt used and abused by the game. It wasn't enjoyable anymore. Consequently, more and more want to remove their VR goggles; it feels like a favorite childhood toy that we abandon as we mature. Individually or with the help of a guru, through meditation practice, retreats, and hallucinogenics, the characters feel like they can escape the world, sometimes temporarily and sometimes forever. But something recently came to my attention about the game. The AI concealed one more challenge, which most people on spiritual paths need help understanding. In 'A Course In Miracles,' I read a passage that was a revelation to me: 'You do not know yourself because you do not know your Creator. You do not know your creations because you do not know your brothers, who created them with you.' 

While you are inside the game, in a trance, and mesmerized by its content, you are out of your natural environment, and you stop "Knowing"; not only do your brain provide thoughts but also feelings and sense perceptions that are not You. 

Ultimately, the journey to remove the VR goggles symbolizes our collective quest to awaken from the game's illusions and rediscover our true essence, transcending the artificial limits imposed by the ego and its world.

True unification and total freedom of the One Mind can only be recovered when all its parts are awakened from the dream of separation, making spiritual relationships a cornerstone of breaking through the game. While many have found awakening in solitude, collective consciousness requires unity, and we cannot reach this without each other. When you help someone by recognizing their value, you acknowledge both their ability to create and your own. By seeing their worth, you affirm the creative power in both of you. Denying their creative power also means denying your own.

The more of us find the way out, teach how to apply the nondual teachings, and awaken from the dream, the better. Do not take the path to awakening alone—Relationships that focus on the same material are crucial to this journey. Our collective support fosters a realization of the interconnectedness that unites us all. For those parts of the One Mind caught in this 'tiny, mad idea' to awaken to their Reality and embrace its wholeness, each individual must awaken to their inherent nature of peaceful, loving awareness. This transcends our perceived roles as mythical or fictional 'heroes in the game.' The truth will emerge from our collective spiritual awakening in recognition of our unified Reality.

The VR 'game of life' analogy underscores the plan for all beings to eventually return to their true nature. You don't have to be awakened from the dream to feel the peace of Mind surfacing. Just know you have always been that One Mind, the only Loving, Ultimate Reality. The game analogy highlights the need for guidance and shared goals with others. 

Unfortunately, what started as a playful, creative experiment by part of the One Mind to shake things up a bit became a prison for the soul—a paradox for a mind that is inherently free. That part of the Mind once knew itself but engineered its forgetfulness by mistake. Be forgiving to Yourself; you're just an innocent little part of the One Mind playing a VR game. 

Experiencing separation may have felt like a stressful plunge into the unknown, an abyss where the light of Truth barely penetrated. However, with nondual texts, meditation practices, mantras like 'piece of mind,' and the 'Design for Nothing' approach, we can escape suffering and achieve lasting happiness through the knowledge of the Self. Together, we will develop tools to build confidence around these concepts and guide the creation of the mental space necessary for awakening.