2.9 Summary, contemporary stagnation in academic philosophy & causes of enstrangement from the public
84. To summarize, in Western thought, the concept of non-duality has evolved over time as follows:
- In Antiquity, Non-duality was expressed as a sense of shared beingness.
- During the Middle Ages, non-duality found expression through the ontological argument, which sought to establish the existence of God based on reason.
- In the Enlightenment period, non-duality became absoluteness or permanence, encompassing what is relative or changing. As a consequence, diversity was seen as expressing absolute harmony rather than chaos.
- In the beginning of modern times, particularly through the philosophy of Hegel, non-duality emerges as the outcome of a dynamic process, from opposition to self-consciousness or self-recognition.
85. Many theories concerning non-duality have emerged since the 19th century, all drawing upon or commenting on these four authoritative works. Despite ongoing exploration, there has been little notable progress beyond these authoritative texts. Today, the main three schools of non-duality in the Western context are:
- Materialistic Monism is known as physicalism or materialism. This form of monism asserts that the fundamental substance of reality is physical matter. According to materialistic monism, everything, including thoughts, consciousness, and emotions, can be explained in terms of physical processes. Since monism implies absolute stability (permanence, infinity), materialistic monism is a seriously flawed theory as matter is relative, unstable, and impermanent (finite).
- Idealistic Monism: Idealistic monism holds that the fundamental substance of reality is mental or spiritual in nature. This viewpoint suggests that the physical world is an extension or manifestation of a deeper, mental or spiritual reality.
- Neutral Monism: Neutral monism proposes that neither physical matter nor mental substance is fundamental, but rather there exists a neutral substance or principle from which both the physical and mental aspects of reality emerge.
As you can see, except for physicalism, which should be excluded from non-dualistic philosophies, the last two remaining schools tend to gravitate around the foundational works of Parmenides, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Hegel. Since the question of Beingness and Wisdom is central to philosophy, not making progress here means a stagnation of philosophy as a whole in the West, and obviously, from stagnation, all kinds of confusion and endless debates lacking practicality.
86. Practicality is the core of philosophy. Thought is useful inasmuch as it serves action and informs and harmonizes our individual and collective lives. When philosophy ceases to be practical and focuses on abstraction and theories that have no direct proof in life, it is bound to stagnate, degenerate, and it is only logical and consequential that the people in the city lose interest in it.
87. The father of philosophy in the West, Socrates, has been described by his disciple Plato as an active, practical force within the city. Engaging with poets, artists, thinkers of all schools, politicians, youth, and the common man. Questioning them so they can experiment with ideas actively in their lives and find answers, with active knowledge and wisdom applicable to existence individually and universally, not endless abstract quests.
88. Plato depicted Socrates, regarded as the father of Western philosophy, as a force within the city. His constant interactions with the citizens, questioning poets, artists, thinkers from various schools of thought, politicians, youth, and ordinary citizens aimed at liberating their intelligence from opinion. He practiced a method called “maieutics,” the art of bringing forth meaning. The purpose of this approach was to reveal enlivening ideas, wisdom that was applicable to both individual and universal contexts, rather than getting lost in endless abstract debates. Socrates even died like that, as he left us a live description of his own death and its effects on consciousness that resembles a moving piece of poetry in the Katha Upanishad, a canon of Hindu poetic philosophy describing the extinction of all senses as the soul leaves the body and unites with Brahman, the universal consciousness or God.
89. From an etymological perspective, philosophy indeed means “love of wisdom.” Neither love nor wisdom is abstract. Love is practical, so is Wisdom. Love and wisdom are matters that concern everyone, not just professional thinkers. When philosophers, from the East, West, South or North, neglect to cultivate and share this love for wisdom with their fellow citizens, chaos prevails in society.
This concludes Chapter 2 on Non-Duality in the West. The reader is asked to maintain focus as we discover how Non-duality has been expressed in Africa.