Integral Monism

A foundational idea for any spiritual worldview is that “all is one”. This idea is as powerful of a general heuristic for the spiritual life as it is misleading in its simplicity if applied incorrectly in other domains. For how far afield can we be taken if we apply this idea indiscriminately? It certainly does not mean that there is no distinction between the objects we see in our normal field of experience as a pragmatic matter. It has been cited as the impetus for the romantic idea that we should go back to Nature, but there is no real hope for dissolving the boundaries between our modern industrial lifestyle and a life in the jungle. It has been made into a political slogan, but even if it is true at a very general level it still lacks the power to effect itself amongst the very real conflicts of human nature.

The most robust way of understanding this idea is with the Indian conception of Brahman. In this view, the manifested world is made up of a single indivisible energy; and there is an still an infinite existence beyond this manifestation which is also at one with it. This indivisible energy is Brahman and its nature is Satchitananda—existence, consciousness, and bliss. And yet, despite the positive assertions we can make about Brahman, we must also say that it is “neti, neti"—not this, not that. All of the descriptions I gave are schematics that mislead by their status as mental ideas. We mistake the description for the actuality of it, and fail to understand what the words are pointing to. Every interpretation at the level of the mind falls short of its reality.

Brahman can be known, however. In the chapter of The Life Divine "The Methods of Vedantic Knowledge”, Sri Aurobindo argues that the method of knowing Brahman is through “knowledge by identity”. Knowledge by identity is the same mode of knowledge that gives us our own psychological experience: I know that I am who I am, a person with a name and sensory experience, as opposed to another person entirely, through knowledge by identity. So can we through meditation or other psychospiritual techniques come to know that our consciousness is one with this infinite energy of Brahman. And a powerful argument comes out of this experience: the experience of the unity with Brahman can be so powerful and convincing that it seems to be more real and significant than that of the world. From this, it appears that the regular world is an illusion and only the status of unity with Brahman is real. This is the argument of illusionism—a philosophy that has had adherents from antiquity to the present day.

But as Sri Aurobindo notes, the real conclusion of monism would not separate the world and Brahman into two separate spheres and declare that one is illusion and one is reality; an integral monism would affirm the reality of the manifestation as well, and hold that the regular world is not separate from the Brahman (Sri Aurobindo 35). Both are reality; neither is illusion. This means that the normal reality we are familiar with cannot be dismissed as an illusion or impediment in the way of seeking God; it has to be accepted, affirmed, and perfected in any integral view.

Works Cited

Sri Aurobindo. The Life Divine. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department, 2005.