Our Second Editorial:  Gary Nixon, PhD

In working with individuals and groups in nondual psychotherapy, I always laugh a little black-heartedly to myself when the “rubber hits the road”, and I see terror rising in people’s eyes as they start to figure out what the process is all about. As controversial author Jed McKenna (2002) wrote of this central issue:

"Fear of the hollow core. Fear of the black hole within. Fear of non-being. Fear of no-self. The fear of no-self is the mother of all fears, the one upon which all others are based. No fear is so small or petty that the fear of no-self isn’t at its heart. All fear is ultimately fear of no-self. And what is enlightenment…but a swan dive into the abyss of no-self" (p.7). What a wonderful definition for this journal: “a swan dive into the abyss of no-self”. 

McKenna (2004) invited us to embrace the “break-out archetype”, which he called both “the unknown archetype because the wakened state is an undiscovered and unsuspected country”  and “the ultimate archetype because it is the final archetype, and it is final because it breaks out of the confines within which the dramatic play of all archetypes occurs” (p. 105). This journal is a chance to capture the spirit of the break-out archetype as we discover ways, understandings, and processes of breaking out into no-selfhood and abiding in nondual being.

This is, of course, a tricky process. What is being pointed at is ineffable, and a mystery.  As the famous Lao Tzu saying goes, “The Tao that can be told of, is not the Absolute Tao.”  It is a seeing beyond language, knowledge and concepts in which nothing remains to hang onto.  When asked by the emperor who he is, Zen Master Bodhidharma went straight to the point by replying  “No knowing” (Osho, 1988).  This was beautifully put, a total dissolution of self into the clarity and intensity of the moment.

Does that mean this journal is a failure by pointing towards something that can not be described? Yes, in a way Paradoxica is a wonderful gift of total failurehood. But from this total failurehood, one never knows. Maybe a passage or a particular article will be helpful to a reader, mirror back a certain experience or understanding, or be a catalyst to the falling away of self and a clear seeing in the moment… one never knows. So, humbly, here is our second issue. Please e-mail us with your comments or give the journal the gift of your own submission. In the meantime, keep on embracing the break-out archetype and abiding in nondual being.

References

Mckenna, J. (2002). Spiritual enlightenment: The damnedest thing. USA: Wise Fool Press.

McKenna, J. (2004). Spiritually incorrect enlightenment. USA: Wise Fool Press.

Osho (1988). Live Zen. Osho International Foundation: Pune, India.