Recently, I reconnected with a friend from college—really, a former professor of mine—who, in the 25 years since we lost touch, went on his own spiritual journey which took him from Judaism, to Buddhism, to Christianity, and finally back to Buddhism. (Admittedly, this is a gross oversimplification of his story.) Talking with him about his spiritual evolution, I was forced to think about the differences between Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta. On the whole, I find these two great traditions more similar than different. Nevertheless, there are some important differences. The video embedded below will serve as a great explanation of the intersections and divergences between these two traditions, but I will do my best to summarize the contents.

To completely empty the mind is to die a psychological death—a death that is necessary if you hope to become fully present. A full mind is diametrically opposed to being present in the Now. A mind occupied with thoughts lives exclusively in time: When we think, we think of either the past or the future—i.e. we lament something that has happened, replay a pleasant experience we want to hold onto, savor the fading delectation of a snack just finished, anxiously anticipate a presentation we have to give at work later in the week, etc.

Bear with me--there is a reward.

The infinite can only know the infinite. If the infinite were to ever find something finite, that finite thing must necessarily occupy space in the infinite and there would be a hole in the infinite where the infinite is not, which would render the infinite not infinite. This is absurd. Similarly, the finite cannot know the infinite. If the finite were to ever come into contact with the infinite, the finite would instantly recognize itself as the infinite since the infinite is all encompassing/all pervading/all-there-is, and so the finite that seeks the infinite eventually realizes itself as never having been finite but rather as always having been the infinite all along, as always having been itself part of the whole. If the finite can ever be said to exist, it is only as the infinite seeming to forget its true nature, and then going out in search of itself, not knowing that it was itself for which it was in search all along. The finite is illusory, there was always only the infinite, there can only ever be the infinite. The existence of the infinite precludes the existence of its opposite.

I like sitting inside things. The other day at work, for example, I sat inside an empty room and examined the spot where a wall meets the ceiling. It was gorgeous--such a perfect meeting of two things. I got to thinking how well insulated the wall must be, why the planners decided on beige, whether I was the only one to ever love this wall.

I cannot think of a better way to start a blog than by offering the following words from Jiddu Krishnamurti’s “Freedom from the Known” (published by HarperOne):

“So now we are going to investigate ourselves together—not one person explaining while you read, agreeing or disagreeing with him as you follow the words on the page, but taking a journey together, a journey of discovery into the most secret corners of our minds. And to take such a journey we must travel light; we cannot be burdened with opinions, prejudices and conclusions—all that old furniture we have collected for the last two thousand years and more. Forget all you know about yourself; forget all you have ever thought about yourself; we are going to start as if we knew nothing.