The Experiential Basis of the Spiritualist /Materialist Duality

All experience is the product of some relation of Existence to Itself. More specifically, all experience is the product of some relation of an Individual Existence to some other part or aspect of Existence, as that product is apprehended from the Individual's side of the relation. Thus, all experience is the product of a relation in which the Individual that is apprehending the experience is involved. Therefore, in the absence of the Individual's involvement in a particular relation, there is no particular experience created and apprehended by that Individual. Conversely, every experience which an Individual apprehends requires the involvement of the Individual in some relation in order to create what is apprehended as the experience.

And for every relation in which an Individual is involved creating a particular experience, there is a mutually exclusive relation in which the Individual cannot be simultaneously involved, which mutually exclusive relation is necessary to create the opposite experience. Therefore, for everything we experience there is something else we cannot, in that same moment, experience. This is because experience is not what's there, but is always something we ourselves are involved in creating, according to our involvement in some relation with some other part or aspect of Existence.

I call this limitation the principle of the impossibility of an Individuals simultaneous apprehension of opposites. It is this principle that is responsible for wave-particle duality and quantum uncertainty. It is this principle that makes it impossible to feel good when you feel bad and vice versa. It is this principle that makes it impossible to know that the Earth is round as long as you think it is flat. It is this principle that makes it impossible to believe in evolution while believing in the biblical version of creation.

And it is also this principle that fuels the Spiritualist/Materialist, or Spiritualist/Science debate, because it is this principle that makes it impossible for the Materialist to apprehend what the Spiritualist knows as long as they continue to see the world as composed of what is only experience. Because as long as they are involved in the relation in which they see the world as composed of matter or energy, of some physical experience, or even a mental experience, it is not possible for them to become involved in the relation in which they can apprehend that the world is composed of Existence, of Spirit, of Consciousness, i.e., composed of that which is not an experience, composed of that which is the opposite of experience.

All experience comes in pairs of opposites or complements because all experience is the product of a relation, as that product is apprehended from one side of the relation that creates it. And so what we experience is always one side of a two sided coin, so to speak. And for every relation in which an Individual can be involved that creates one experience, there is an opposite, mutually exclusive relation which, if the Individual were involved in that relation, would create the opposite or complementary experience. Put another way, for every relation that creates the Individuals experience of one side of the coin, there is an opposite mutually exclusive relation that would create the Individuals experience of the other side of the coin. (Remember though, there is no coin in the absence of the Individuals involvement in the relation that creates it. ) And so we have hot/cold, good/bad, wanted/unwanted, wave/particle, light/dark, etc, etc. But owing to the principle of the impossibility of an Individuals simultaneous apprehension of opposites we can only experience one or the other of these experiences, or some portion of both, in any moment, because they are all the products of opposite and so mutually exclusive relations, which means that of we are involved in one relation creating one experience then we cannot be involved in the opposite relation necessary to create the opposite experience.

There are three different types of experience: emotional, mental, and physical, and each of these three different types of experience has a different fundamental duality that derives from the opposite and mutually exclusive relations in which Existence can be involved that create that particular level of experiential reality. The most fundamental relations are those that create emotional reality, and these are relations of either aligned or oppositional Existential flow, which create wanted or unwanted emotion, respectively. The next level of relation is the one that creates mental or conceptual reality, and those opposing relations, which I have yet to specifically identify, create the concepts of Existence and experience. Lastly there are the relations that create physical experience, and those opposing relations, which are penetrating or penetrated, create wave and particle experiences.

The important thing here is that at each level of experiential reality, emotional, mental , and physical, there is a fundamental experiential duality and owing to the impossibility of an Individuals simultaneous apprehension of opposites, being involved in the relation that creates one of these experiences makes it impossible to be involved in the relation necessary to create the other experience. And so it is that when you feel bad you can't feel good, because while you are flowing in opposition to your Self you can't be flowing in alignment with your Self. And so it also is that when physical reality appears as a particle it cannot appear as a wave, because the relations that create each experience are mutually exclusive of each other.

And for the same reason, when you see the world as composed of experience you can't see it as composed of Existence, as composed of Consciousness, as composed of that which through relation to Itself both creates and apprehends experience. The Materialist, or Experientialist, be they a scientist or otherwise, can no more comprehend the validity of spirituality than can someone who is looking North simultaneously also look South. It is not the fault of the Materialist or Experientialist that the other side of the coin remains hidden, it is just that they have a perspective that does not allow the other side to be seen, to be created as something they can experience. The Materialist or Experientialist is being limited by an experiential mechanism of which they are not aware, and of which they cannot possibly become aware unless and until they release their grip on their idea of the primacy of experiential reality, on the idea of experiential reality as having an existence that is in any way Experiencer independent, because that idea is mutually exclusive of the idea of experience as being completely Experience dependent.

The Experientialist sees experience as primary and that which apprehends experience as secondary, which is why they try to account for Consciousness as the product of some sort of neurological mechanism. Conversely, the Existentialist sees Existence as primary and experience as secondary, and so tries to explain experience as the product of Existence or Consciousness. Both cannot be correct. One sees these two realities in their actual relation, the other sees them in what is the opposite of their actual relation.

We cannot do other but view ourselves, i.e., Existence, through the lens of experience, and that lens presents ourselves to us in the form of experience, in the form of emotional, mental, and physical experience, and moreover, in the form of emotional, mental, and physical dualities. And so when we feel we must feel good or bad, and when a physicist tries to identify the character of a thing it must appear as wave or particle, and when we conceive of what we are, when we conceive of the world, of our nature and its nature, we must see it in terms of Existence or experience, as composed of either Existence or experience, for those are the most fundamental conceptions of reality and themselves represent the fundamental reality duality.

The question often posed is: What is the nature of reality? However, this is really a trick question because reality as a whole consists of two completely different and yet related realities, and the overall nature of reality can only be understood in the context of these two realities and their relation to each other. Thus, the nature of reality is that there are two realities; the reality of experience and the Reality that, through relation to Itself, both creates and apprehends experiential reality. And though these two realities are completely different in nature, in as much as one is created whereas the other is uncreated, they are nonetheless inseparable, like a mirror and the reflection contained within it.

We think that what we experience as reality, and especially what we experience as physical reality, is what's actually there. For example, we see a rock and we think that what's there where the rock appears to be is just that, i.e., a rock. However, what we experience as reality isn't what's actually and directly there where the experience seems to be, because what we experience as reality is just a boundary that's created where Existence here and there meet, as that boundary is apprehended from the perspective of our Individual Existence as we take part in the relation that creates that boundary, that relative existence, which we then apprehend as experience. Put another way, what we experience as reality isn't what's actually and directly there where the experience seems to be, because what's actually and directly there is the fundamental Reality of Existence, and experience is just what seems to be there, the same way a reflection can seem to be what's actually there where there's really only a mirror or some other reflective surface.

And just as we look out at the world and think that what's actually there is what we experience as being there, so it is that we look at ourselves and think that's what's actually here where we are is also some sort of experience. That is, we look at ourselves and see a man, a woman, we see short, we see tall, we see black, we see white, etc. etc. However, just as what's actually and directly there where we see a rock, or any object, or even empty space, is the fundamental Reality of Existence, what's actually and directly here where we see ourselves is that same fundamental Reality. However we don't see ourselves as that, we don't know ourselves as the fundamental Reality, because we instead know ourselves as the other type of reality, i.e., as an experiential reality, as what is only a reflection that rests on the surface of our True Nature.

This condition, wherein the fundamental Reality sees Itself and the world as being composed of what is only an experiential reality, and in so doing loses sight of Itself, loses sight of its True Nature, is referred to as self-ignorance or maya, and how this condition is created and maintained by an Individual point of Existence can be understood when one understands not only the Experiencer dependent nature of all experiential reality, but also the limitation by which any Experiencer is bound in their creation of experience. That limitation is that for every experience you are creating there is an opposite experience you cannot create in that same moment, because every experience you create requires that you be involved in some relation with Existence and your involvement in that relation makes it impossible for you to be simultaneously involved in the opposite relation necessary to create the opposite experience.

Thus, it is the nature of experience as being the product of a relation that creates the Spiritualist/Materialist duality as an extension of the fundamental Existence/experience mental-conceptual duality, while it is the unavoidable and inviolable limitation inherent in the creation of experience that blinds the Materialist to the Reality apprehended by the Spiritualist. It is also true that the Spiritualist can be blind to the reality of the Materialist. Experiential reality is not unreal, it's just not as real as that which, through relation to Itself, both creates and apprehends it.