Recorded at the 2019 SAND Conference

Opening points:

People get polarized in different perspectives. The more they focus exclusively on their perspective, the more justification for it they find.

Learning to appreciate paradox; accommodating different viewpoints within a broader perspective.

Enlightenment as Totality. Only Totality can realize Totality.

Totality has no difficulty reconciling paradoxes.

Getting comfortable with paradox might be conducive to our realization of Totality.

Examples of contradictory realities:

free will vs. determinism

personal self vs. no-self

Are we already enlightened, or must enlightenment be attained?

Is practice an aid or an obstacle?

Is the guru model dead?

Does non-duality imply that there are no stages of spiritual growth?

direct vs. progressive paths

patience vs. determination on the spiritual path

Additional points covered:

Acting in accordance with your own experience, not a concept of someone else’s.

Absolute reality does not negate relative realities.

Radically different realities at different levels of nature’s functioning are perfectly compatible with one another.

Incorporating universal and individual perspectives – ocean and wave, boundless and boundaries.

My experience in doing BatGap.

Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 27, 2019.

Summary and transcript of this talk.

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Previous talks on BatGap:

2018 SAND Conference Q&A and Interview by Shakti Caterina Maggi

SAND 2017: "The Ethics of Enlightenment"

Talk at Berkeley Open Circle Center

Talk at SAND 2015

Interviewed by Fax Gilbert

Interviewed by Richard Miller

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 - Different levels of consciousness

00:01:49 - Perspectives and Justifications

00:03:04 - The Knower of Brahman is Brahman

00:04:32 - The Debate on Free Will

00:05:40 - The Concept of Freewill

00:07:03 - The trouble of taking someone else's perspective

00:08:24 - Debating the Existence of Reincarnation

00:09:27 - Mithya: The Concept of Dependent Reality

00:10:43 - Subsuming Perspectives and the Totality of Brahman

00:12:14 - Shift in Perspective and the Sun's Perspective

00:13:30 - Rising to the Experience

00:14:49 - The Role of Practice in Spiritual Development

00:16:08 - The Role of Gurus in Contemporary Spirituality

00:17:21 - Respect for Different Spiritual Paths

00:18:43 - The Seamless Wholeness of Existence

00:20:05 - Progress in Spiritual Practice

00:21:19 - The Progressive Dyeing Process

00:22:36 - The Value of Life and Balance

00:23:57 - Levels of Complexity and Hierarchical Arrangements

00:25:25 - Different Levels of Reality

00:26:38 - Embracing Paradoxes and Ambiguities

00:28:05 - Cultivating Awareness and Focus in Meditation

00:29:34 - Finding Freedom in Confinement

00:30:53 - The Ethics of Feedlots and Advanced Beings

00:31:56 - Paradoxes and Personal Judgment

00:32:55 - The Beauty and Diversity of Life

00:34:11 - The Thrill of Interviews and Exploring Different Perspectives

00:35:22 - Being of Service to Others

00:36:42 - Surrendering to the Moment in the Spiritual Experience

00:37:44 - Comparing Yourself on the Spiritual Path

00:38:52 - Paths of Devotion, Intellect, and Meditation

00:40:05 - Balancing Heart and Mind