A u t h o r 's   n o t e

For me, there is only one path to the enlightened realization of Non-duality, or Oneness. It is through the utter and irrevocable certainty that duality “exists.” To deny this fundamental fact is to deny my own human experience. I defy anyone to claim exclusion from the dual experiences of pleasure and pain, joy and grief, gain and loss, youth and old age. Yet I feel it is through these experiences that we are able to formulate meaning—although there are no “meanings” to formulate. Still, our search for meaning lies at the very core of our being, at the very core of being human. Because of my complete acceptance that duality is “real,” I am able to recognize and move beyond the illusion of resistance it inevitably attracts. But this does not mean I ignore the illusion, or even have the option to do so. Instead, I “work with” the illusion, knowing it will make me stronger. I also know it will compel me to search within and question, to seek answers, to seek meaning. While I know there are no definite answers to find (no definitive meanings to uncover) I am at least satisfied to have searched tirelessly for the futility of their presence. I am also satisfied to know that only by the Unknown is my “knowing” defined. And I know that only by engaging fully in this chaotic and exhaustive dance of duality am I able to define the true meaning of rest. 
 
—Max Stone