THE ULTIMATE MEDICINE

Ultimately all suffering results from a difference between “what we experience” and “what we want.” Whenever these differ we suffer. When the difference is dissolved we experience peace and freedom. The power of nondual awareness lies in the possibility of experiencing ourselves as a centerless field of awareness, were we are no longer the victim of our preferences. When we rest in awareness, we discover we have everything we could possibly want, because we need nothing. We see that we never need more than what we have. No matter who we are, what we have and don’t have, the present moment always takes care of itself.
Here we are right now, for example, me writing this, you reading it. There is nothing we need to add to this, or take away from it. We can’t change the moment anyway. If you don’t have time to finish this, no problem, you move on. If you do, you continue in a relaxed and easy way.
Hundreds of thousands of masters in Zen, Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism and other mystical traditions have shown us that what we all strive for—a state of real and lasting fulfillment—is achievable. Furthermore, through their lives and teachings they provide a model for our own evolution.

The healing power of nondual awareness

The experience of the nondual awareness takes us outside the cycle of reactive responses and emotions by connecting us with the nature of our mind as pure, unstructured awareness. When we rest in this experience, we are intimately connected with everything within and around us, yet beyond being disturbed in any way. We come home to ourselves in a totally natural and uncontrived way. In the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism this experience is called indestructibility. At the same time that we fully accept our finite and conditioned existence, the quality of our experience can’t be damaged or degraded by the presence of any thought, feeling, or sensation.
In Buddhism the experience of nondual awareness is called the “ultimate medicine.” Other types of medicine—like therapy—have limitations. They work for some people, some of the time. The ultimate medicine is universally healing. Every mind touched by the experience of its unconditioned nature moves closer to the experience of real freedom and liberation. Sometimes the experience may gently encourage us to acknowledge our higher potential. In other instances it may produce a radical reorientation of our experience of reality.
The more time we spend resting in our ultimate nature, the more familiar we become with “this.” When opportunities arise to let go of our preoccupations and daily concerns, we find ourselves moving effortlessly and without resistance into a more open and expanded way of being.

Impossible to create “lack”

The experience of nondual awareness heals us in two ways. First, it relieves us of the need to “fix things up.” It offers us a profound experience of clarity and contentment—of being in total harmony with ourselves and the world. In Buddhism this is called “going beyond loss or gain.” In this state of consciousness everything is present exactly as it is, but we find it impossible to construe that anything is missing. We’ve moved beyond the familiar cycle of having problems and finding solutions. This experience is “priceless,” not because we’re attached to its value, but because nothing can increase or enhance our fulfilment.

Reconditioning our body-mind

The other way in which nondual awareness heals is by restructuring our thought-patterns so that we become increasingly open to the ultimate state of awareness. We become less reactive and defensive—and so better able to release our fears and insecurities. In this way, the effects of the experience percolate through the layers of our conditioning long after we’ve finished resting in the state itself.
The Yoga Tradition of Buddhism describes this process as the “transformation of the structural foundations of our being.” Through contact with an unstained stream of pure being, the energies and mechanisms that condition our present and future existence lose their power to distort our experience and cause suffering. Other nondual traditions describe how the experience of the unconditioned mind infuses the conditioned mind like a sweet perfume or a soothing breeze.
It’s impossible to predict how this healing will unfold. It occurs at its own pace and rhythm, sometimes smooth and gentle, at other times rough or abrupt. The unconditioned mind doesn’t discriminate in terms of “how” healing occurs—it doesn’t generate a plan or strategy because it exists beyond such conceptual formulations. The healing that occurs can’t be controlled in a mechanical way. Each of us is infinitely complex and our path to full spiritual evolution is unique and often mysterious. Healing is a function of staying open and accepting reality with equanimity and trust.
Peter Fenner, Ph.D.