The Illusion of Solidity: Reality as a Dualistic Wrapper
What you think you're touching, you're not touching at all
I face a familiar experience: the world that appears made of solid objects, with boundaries that leave no room for doubt. The table I touch... this sharp, almost brutal resistance, a barrier that seems to tell me "this far, no further." And I wonder how this sensation of solidity has become so deeply rooted in my experience, so much that I consider it intrinsic to matter itself. Perhaps it's just an interface, a practical way the brain has found to help us survive in this environment.
But then, almost with a shiver, physics revealed something completely different to me. It told me about atoms—these tiny worlds where a nucleus, charged with positive energy, is surrounded by negative electrons in a perpetual movement that almost makes my head spin. When I watch two objects approach each other, I can no longer see a simple collision—no, now I see electromagnetic fields intertwining invisibly in the air.
Repulsion
The repulsion between negative electrons... that's what I call "resistance." There is no real contact, no interpenetration of matter - just forces repelling each other, creating the illusion of solidity, a barrier that doesn't exist. It's as if the world were telling me: "What you think you're touching, you're not touching at all." It’s science, not philosophy.
This is where dualism emerges as an almost childlike simplification. My hand on one side, the table on the other—this sharp distinction makes me feel separated from the world. Dualism is useful, certainly, a cognitive "prêt-à -porter" that allows me to grasp objects, move around, and avoid obstacles.
But how real is it?
There is no boundary—only a gradual transition between energy fields. The "barrier" is a macroscopic interpretation of something much more subtle and mysterious.
Non-duality
Non-duality enters my mind like a revelation: what if reality were single, indivisible, omnipresent? What if all these distinctions were just illusions, manifestations of a single fundamental truth?
Maya, a concept from Vedanta philosophy, now appears to me as a perfect metaphor: the veil of illusion that makes me perceive a world of distinct objects and individuals. However, beneath this veil, only Brahman exists. This single non-dual reality pervades everything.
Solidity thus becomes a vivid example of how Maya operates: it makes me believe in a sharp distinction between "self" and "object," when this distinction simply doesn't exist at a fundamental level. It's an illusion born from my limited perception, a "dualistic sweetener" that makes the world comprehensible, manageable, and perhaps less true.
And…so?
I pause to consider the implications of all this. How does my vision change, knowing that I'm not truly separated from others? I feel a growing sense of empathy and compassion. My isolation dissolves as I understand this fundamental interconnection. My awareness expands, embracing a deeper vision of the world.
As my hand moves across the table on an ordinary evening, a smile opens in the silence. The electrons repel each other in the invisible, and in this force, I feel on my skin, the most refined deception is revealed: distance is just a necessary illusion, a thin veil on this dualistic package that is reality. In the apparent space between flesh and wood, in the void that seems to divide us, we are already one.
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