Dualism... Without it there can hardly be good literature. With it, there most certainly can be no good life.
"I" affirms a separate and abiding me substance, "am" denies the fact that all existence is relationship and change. "I am." Two tiny words, but what an enormity of untruth! The religiously minded dualist calls homemade spirits from the vasty deep; the nondualist calls the vasty deep into his spirit, or, to be more accurate, he finds that the vasty deep is already there.
The universe wants to play. Those who refuse out of dry spiritual greed and choose pure contemplation forfeit their humanity - those who refuse out of dull anguish, those who hesitate, lose their chance of divinity - those who mold them themselves blind masks of ideas and thrash around seeking some proof of their own solidity end by seeing out of dead man's eyes.
Viruses of the mind are not some far-off future worry like the sun burning out or the earth being hit by a comet. They are here with us now—have been with us since before recorded history—and they are evolving to become better and better at their job of infecting us. We are being infected in some new ways—television, popular music, sales techniques—but also in very ancient ways—education, religious teachings, even talking to our closest friends. Our parents unwittingly infected us when we were kids. If you have children, chances are you are spreading the viruses to them every day.
Read a newspaper? Catch a mind virus. Listen to the radio? Catch a mind virus. Hang out with your friends and shoot the breeze about nothing in particular? Catch one mind virus after another. If your life isn’t going the way you would like, you can bet mind viruses are playing a large part. Having relationship problems? Mind viruses take over parts of your brain and divert you from what would give you long-term happiness in a relationship. Having trouble in your job or career? Mind viruses cloud your future and steer you along a career path that supports their agenda, not your quality of life.
Cult religions are springing up everywhere, the result of more and more powerful mind viruses. These cults take control of people’s minds and make members engage in bizarre behavior ranging from odd rituals to mass suicide. If you think you’re immune, remember: nobody ever set out intentionally to join a cult and have their mind taken over. It’s the work of tricky and pernicious mind viruses. And once the founder of the cult starts the process, the virus of the mind takes on a life of its own.
