Indigenous Consciousness—the Beauty of a Lily and a Rose

Lily Rose

An Indigenous Consciousness is a consciousness of interpenetrative radical nonduality—a oneness of being.

If you have read my posts or profile, you would have come across the term radical nonduality. And you may not be familiar with its meaning as it is radically different from nonduality—thus the name radical nonduality.

Radical Nonduality states that Principle (Heart) and Knowledge (Mind) are nondual. Macrocosmically, Principle is the entire cosmos – Knowledge is the Divine Consciousness that permeates and interpenetrates the entire cosmos. The unseen world and the seen world are not opposed or separated but are two aspects of a single reality.

In contrast to radical nonduality, duality states that reality is composed of two diametrically opposite forces, such as night and day. Then we have nonduality, which believes that dualism is an illusory phenomenon. There is no self and other in this concept of nonduality. It prescribes to an ultimate reality that is neither of the body or mind and may be termed the one. This state of being may not be achieved while on earth, only after death. Branches of this philosophy deem the earth and our physical body as corrupt and evil. People will refer to this as oneness—a state of being, possibly achievable only after physical death.

On the contrary, our Indigenous Consciousness of radical nonduality sees a reality where there is no separation between mind and body, dark and light, or spirit and matter. The most profound and essential nature of things is not distinct from the things recognizable by our senses. In other words, our sacred self and our profane self are nondual and interpenetrate; likewise, all other sentient beings’ (things’) sacred identities and profane identities are nondual and interpenetrate. This is true oneness. And we may awaken to this Indigenous Consciousness while still alive in this imperfect and corruptible body and mind.

Our Indigenous Consciousness is “first knowledge.”[i] It is knowledge that is woven throughout and found in all the “first people” (i.e., indigenous) spiritual and religious traditions on this earth. This “first knowledge” has been referred to as primordial knowledge or the Primordial Tradition (perennial philosophy). As such it portrays universal themes, principles, and truths. In other words, “the term Primordial Tradition is utilized to describe a system of spiritual thought and metaphysical truths that overarches all the other religions and esoteric traditions of humanity.”[ii] Furthermore, “the perennial philosophy proposes that reality, in the ultimate sense, is One, Whole, and undivided—the omnipresent source of all knowledge and power. We do not perceive this reality because the field of human cognition is restricted by the senses. But the perennial philosophy claims that these limitations can be transcended.”[iii] And yes they can.

At birth our consciousness was one of radical nonduality. Within an unknown period of time our indigenous consciousness was over-shadowed by our dualistic consciousness. Our journey in life is to awaken back to our birth Indigenous Consciousness of radical nonduality.

 

 

[i] In October of 1993, my wife, Sherry, and I conducted a spiritual journey to the Big Island of Hawaii. To begin the journey, we conducted a spiritual, or religious, ceremony called a burning or feeding the spirits of the ancestors. We performed the ceremony the day before my vision at dusk. In the predawn hours, less than twelve hours later, I experienced the divine call both as something heard and something seen—in the form of a vision and a voice. “This star is you; you are this star. The purification is of the people; all are one.” This star was Venus, the morning star.

The next morning at the Big Island’s White Sand Beach, my native Hawaiian healer friend gave me a message from one of his ancestors who came to him during the burning. “My ancestor brought me a message…but it’s for you. My ancestor said that you are a kahuna po’o (high priest)…you are a prophet bringing back ‘first knowledge’—the lost knowledge and sacred teachings that have been misunderstood, forgotten, and corrupted.

You have a message, path, and way to share with this world, but do not identify it as being from these islands or other lands. This only separates people and does not unite them. Name it whatever you like. Don’t get discouraged with the resistance you will face; it’s your destiny.”

The name I chose was Divine Humanity. Briefly, all things are divine with the spark—the starlight of God, the Great Mystery, the All—within them. In other words, the divine is within all things (seen and unseen), and all things are within the divine. This is radical nonduality or oneness, where spirit and matter, the absolute and relative, interpenetrate. One important aspect—there is no original sin, only original divinity.

Divine Humanity believes that each and every person has an immortal spark within him or her—an indestructible seed of divine light—the divine immanence. This indestructible seed of divine light may be likened to a mustard seed within our hearts. Our indestructible seed of divine light is our Indigenous Consciousness and may be awakened bringing the light and love of our heart out to others and to the world.

[ii] http://www.primordialtraditions.net/.

[iii] G. Philippe Menos and Karen A. Jones Menos, Revelation and Inspiration: Paranormal Phenomena in Light of the Kundalini Paradigm (May 21–23, 1989): 3.

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