MARTYN WEBBER

How does one square the circle of devotion to deities in nonduality?

It’s a mystery. And I mean that in a technical sense. It’s an apparent truth that the mind can’t fathom or explain. But what’s a spiritual rationalist to do with this kind of essentially faith-based view?

Loosely speaking there are at least two kinds of nondual spiritual sensibilities and approaches. One is the rationalist kind who is completely on-board with the first-person introspection, observation and reflection that characterises the method of Self-inquiry and meditation. But who eschews any admission of the mystery at the heart of being. And any suggestion of Grace or spiritual action at a distance such as transmissions tend to make them squirm.

Another kind is someone who, while they embrace Self-enquiry and the direct apprehension of reality and the deconstruction of false concepts, they also embrace the dualities inherent in nonduality. The multiplicities of beings contained in the unity of being. And importantly they appreciate the non-material mysterious spiritual nature of the consciousness that we are. They recognise, accept and utilise the spiritual energetic transmissions of places and people in the service of their own awakening. Including the devotion to deities who are also none other than the Self.

But who am I to judge anyone’s doubt? Grace is a living reality for me. It’s not an act of faith but of recognition. Blind faith is (perhaps rightly) hard to sustain. But acceptance of certain realities on the basis of direct personal experience is entirely rational even if it can’t be reproduced in a lab.