Beyond the Personal
The ancient quest to understand the fundamental nature of reality has led many philosophers to grapple with the apparent divide between the inner world of consciousness and the outer world of physical phenomena. Dual-aspect monism, when it identifies the underlying substance as consciousness,* suggests that what we perceive as mind and matter are not separate entities but rather two inseparable facets of a unified, conscious ground.
Such a perspective, where consciousness is the fundamental substance expressing mental and physical aspects, offers an elegant resolution to the mind-body problem without resorting to dualism.
However, this perspective presents a point of departure from the traditional concept of a personal God. The idea of God as an individual being, however powerful or transcendent, interacting with the world and its inhabitants, answering prayers, and possessing personal attributes like emotions and judgment becomes challenging to reconcile with dual-aspect monism.
If the underlying substance is consciousness, and we, along with the entire universe, are expressions of consciousness, how can a separate, personal God exist “out there.” Where would this personal God exist outside of the very consciousness that constitutes all reality? To assert a personal God as distinct from this fundamental consciousness introduces a duality that the dual-aspect monistic view seeks to overcome.
In this context prayer shifts away from a petition directed to an external being to simply resting in being, as being. From this sense of fullness, peace flows. The love and compassion often attributed to a personal God is indeed the very nature of this unified consciousness which recognizes that there is no fundamental other.
So, from the nondual perspective, what has often been called a personal God might be better understood as a dynamic, creative aspect within the unified consciousness.
While the language of “God” can be used to describe this underlying conscious substance, the attribute of “personal” is incongruent with the core tenet of dual-aspect monism grounded in consciousness. The ultimate reality, from this viewpoint, is an impersonal (in the sense of not being a separate individual), unified field of awareness that expresses itself as the animate and inanimate universe.
The divine is not something separate to be sought. It is the very is-ness of our being, the fabric of the universe.
That said, however, a “personal God” is real in the sense that the focused attention is real; the yearning in the heart is real; the spoken words are real; the feelings of grace and gratitude is real. In other words the experience of a personal God is real and potentially beneficial. It just may not be the whole truth.
*Or, to use religious language, God.