One

Big Thing

If you’re interested in alternative ways of doing spirituality then you might have heard of non-dualism. There’s a lot of podcasts and books out there talking about this idea. It is big idea, a theory of everything. But what does it mean and why does it matter?

Non-dualism = Monism

It’s an unfortunate name, “non-dualism”, because it is stated in the negative. It tells what it is not rather than what it is.

We know from the name that it is not dualism. I take this to mean that it is not about binary opposites like good/evil, body/spirit and so on.

There is another word for “non-dualism” that allows us to explore more about what it is for, not just what it is against. Non-dualism can also be called ‘monism.’

This tells us something specific. Monism is the idea that the universe is actually One Big Thing. That is, despite the experience that we all have of life where there are many different things that we experience - other people, animals, trees, rocks, cars, the colour blue - it all boils…