How To Understand Duality In Spirituality: A Simple Explanation

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Duality has always been part of our universe’s architecture. Everything has a shadow, for the laws of physics depend on it. Light does not exist without darkness, life does not exist without death. Everything in our universe has an opposite, but have you ever wondered why? Is duality simply a property of the universe, or does it play a role in a larger spiritual framework?

The concept of duality extends into every aspect of life as we learn to understand it – rationally, philosophically, and spiritually. Here we’re going to focus on duality in spirituality so that you can better navigate yourself within this bizarre realm of polarity.

What is duality?

You can look at duality as a mechanism of our universe and other realms of consciousness too. In a nutshell, duality translates to separation. Where separation exists, duality exists. In realms or states where separation doesn’t exist, duality doesn’t exist.

Think of it this way…

There must be two sides to the same coin to create contrast. Without opposite but complementary values, one constituent cannot exist. It’s this polarity that creates space for narrative, as life is experienced within this polarity.

In other words, for a gradient or varying degree of something to exist, there must be two opposite extremes. Imagine that each condition can be seen as a string (or spectrum) from A to Z, and when we put all of these strings together, our universe becomes a circus of all sorts of wild and wacky experiences.

For example, if malevolence didn’t exist, neither would benevolence because these constructs are opposite sides of the same string. You can’t simply cut out one side without breaking physics – Because good, bad, neutral, and everything in between are varying points along this same string.

Likewise, you can’t just have heat without cold, because temperature wouldn’t exist. You see… this would be an issue. Remove a variable and the entire program breaks – leading to error 404: Reality not found.

Duality is an inherent property of our universe for it’s coded into the laws of physics. If you took duality out of our universe, it wouldn’t function because duality is the program our universe operates on.

Now we’ve determined that duality is a core ingredient of physics, but you might be wondering why. Is there a deeper spiritual reason behind this law? Let’s have a look at what duality in spirituality means, and why this design principle matters.

What is the Law of duality in spirituality?

So what’s the point of it all? Well, from a spiritual perspective, duality creates diversity of experience and a broader expression of consciousness. Life is strange, bizarre, and just about every label you can imagine because of contrast.

Think of our universe as a cosmic playground for consciousness to undergo a wide range of experiences.

If this universe is the architecture, duality is the design principle. It’s a spiritual law of the universe and a core ingredient of it, but it’s also a part of other realms too which is why duality is a spiritual phenomenon.

If dark spirits and light spirits (and individual spirits in general) exist on some level of reality, it’s because duality allows it. Without duality, there is no separation. All existence is one with absolutely no degree of separation, so wherever consciousness can exist individually, duality exists.

But it’s not just me thinking this. Duality is a prevalent spiritual doctrine seen in many religions around the world including:

Taoism: The yin-yang symbol comes from Taoism, and depicts duality as complementary rather than opposing forces.
Hinduism: Teachings of Hinduism recognize duality as Advaita Vedānta, in which we strive to achieve states of nonduality (divine union with god).
Buddhism: Duality is recognized especially within the context of happiness and suffering.
Zoroastrianism: This is where the concept of good and evil and the struggle for salvation took root.
Shamanic traditions: People who follow these bodies of wisdom believe in balance with the natural forces of nature, and dualistic paradigms.

When there is a common theme amongst various spiritual beliefs, it tells us that there’s something more to it. As different traditions believe in duality in spirituality rather than just a part of this universe, it shows us that there’s more than what meets the eye.

Disconnection from god creates duality

Duality in spirituality is generally seen as a feeling of separation from the universe, or god. If you have spent time exploring different spiritual traditions, you’re probably aware that some divine state of consciousness exists, where separation doesn’t.

This state of consciousness is generally perceived to be the deepest layer of consciousness – the core of the onion, and is labeled as god, the collective consciousness, ultimate reality, oneness, source, and many other names depicting the same phenomenon – that we are all the same consciousness on the most fundamental level of reality.

After all, this is the cream of the crop for any spiritual seeker – to find our way back to god.

So let’s break this down.

There are different layers to reality. You can imagine these different layers as different realms, or dimensions. For example, material reality, or the realm of man is just one layer of consciousness. The astral planes, or the realm of the soul is another layer of consciousness. And then ultimate reality, or the realm of god is another.

Let’s imagine realms as tiers. In this example, ultimate reality is the highest tier, and the source of all existence. This is the ultimate truth where duality does not exist. All that exists is god as one collective entity of all consciousness without separation.

I understand the astral realms as a middle tier. This is where individual souls exist in an energetic space void of Earthly constructs like time, space, and form. Since we exist here as individual souls, duality also must exist, otherwise a soul wouldn’t exist as a separate entity from god.

Being somewhat disconnected from god, there may be some duality, but not as much as in the material realms which are considered to be very separate from god.

That brings me the the lowest tier – material reality. Here, we exist as seemingly completely separate entities from one another and god. The experience of consciousness within our universe is very separate, meaning it’s the most disconnected from god – or source.

This is how I understand duality in spirituality – as a separating mechanism of the realm. The further a realm is from god, so to speak, the more disconnected and individualistic it becomes. The closer to god, the more that all things converge into a singular consciousness where souls, spirits, beings, realms, and dimensions don’t exist. All things simply are, and that’s what we understand as nonduality.

Duality and the ego

In a nutshell, duality stems from our experience of separation from God or the universe. The more disconnected consciousness becomes from god, the more duality exists.

We’ve explored how duality is an inherent feature of dimensions depending on the proximity of source, but what actually causes separation?

The ego can be seen as the mechanism that separates consciousness from god. If something has an ego, it has some form of individual identity. Wherever there exists ego, there exists separation.

Humans obviously have egos, but do souls have egos? I believe so, because without an ego, it wouldn’t be a soul. A soul implies that it’s an individual, therefore, for it to exist as a separate entity, it must have an ego. Perhaps not to the extent of a human’s ego, but an ego nonetheless.

Other entities, energies, and expressions of consciousness exist separately too, meaning that all things that exist separately to god have an ego.

Inherently we must have egos, otherwise we wouldn’t exist the way we do now. But we tend to separate ourselves even further by labeling the self and other which reinforces the experience of separation.

Although people can experience ego-death which leads to the experience of absolute oneness with god via meditation and spiritual practice, that’s not the aim of it. As human beings, we should not strive to kill the ego, but to find balance with it, knowing that the ego is a core part of the human experience, and without it, we wouldn’t be here.

What is nonduality (Totality)?

Nonduality does exist, but as the deepest level of reality. People may tap into nonduality to experience the absolutism of consciousness, exemplified by monks who achieve states of samadhi during meditation, or a shaman who is dissolved into the cosmic rift with plant medicine.

Nonduality is a state of consciousness where there is no division whatsoever. All existence is a singular phenomenon without difference, separation, contrast, or polarity.

Everything simply is.

Here’s my view about how totality fits into the framework.

Within reality, duality exists because we live in a dualistic realm. We are separate individuals, but there are also divine states of consciousness where duality does not exist. The further we journey into spirit, the more we converge with god – a single consciousness that all things (and all dimensions) are manifestations of.

Within nonduality, there is nothing besides one infinite consciousness. Some individuals may be able to experience nonduality while humans but must return to duality, otherwise, there would be no controller for their human vehicle.

Nonduality seems to be the ultimate goal of every soul, and every spiritual belief system – to eventually return back to god like raindrops returning to the ocean.

How does a soul transcend duality?

The path to oneness is generally understood to be achieved via spiritual practice and the pursuit of union with God – much like the journey that figures like Jesus and buddha are believed to have undergone.

Within the spiritual interpretation of duality, you first need to recognize the distinction between the body and the spirit. The body is a just vessel for a deeper consciousness, but it’s not ‘you’. Recognizing the body as something you have rather than are is the first step in disconnecting from the material and realizing a deeper oneness that is always there beneath the surface.

Therefore, there is only one way of transcending duality, which is to rejoin god as the only expression of consciousness that ever has, and ever will exist.

It may take many thousands of lifetimes to make your way back to god, but I do believe it’s every soul’s dharma – to transcend the illusion of duality, sooner or later, and recognize the only truth that really exists.

We have been given the perfect opportunity to learn, boot camp Earth – and it’s a tough one! We are free to experience all the contrast that the universe has to offer, and there’s so much to experience. Therefore, enjoy all that this dualistic realm offers while you’re here, because it’s certainly an interesting journey with a lot of learning and a lot of growth.