How the Non-Dual Experience Protects the Metaphorical Protection System of the Mind

The mind is programmed to ensure basic needs are met. It perceives reality metaphorically, recognising patterns. Metaphors, as patterns of reality, trigger emotional responses in various ways depending on inherited and learned responses to the adequacy of meeting needs. Based on this inherited and learned learning, a metaphor or pattern is recognised as safe or otherwise, constituting part of a primitive protection mechanism. This system is highly risk-averse to err on the side of caution. It involves a physical protection process that is essential and instinctual, but unless metaphors are seen for what they are – simply the way the mind recognises reality – then they will be invested in as if they are reality. The non-dual experience liberates us from this investment in metaphors as reality. Thus, we retain the useful aspect of the metaphorical protection process while freeing ourselves from the unhelpful aspect that unnecessarily restricts us.

For instance, instinctually, the thought of public speaking triggers fear in most people, stemming from inherited and learned responses rooted in the dangers of such acts in human society's origins. Despite this, public speaking is a natural form of human expression and can expand various opportunities. The primitive parts of the brain match sensed external and internal patterns to the conclusion of threat, resulting in unpleasant emotions and limiting action through negative, self-critical thoughts, often leading to avoidance of public speaking. Psychology can help alleviate this emotional response by reframing negative thoughts and disrupting the mind's metaphors about sensory experiences.

However, addressing psychological aspects individually as they arise is necessary if we work solely on the psychological level. For those who realise their natural state of non-dual awareness, mistaking the mind's metaphors for reality ceases, undercutting all potential embedded pattern recognitions in one stroke. This reveals the metaphorical interpretation of reality as just that – a metaphor, not reality – and offers a deep experience of the underlying oneness of reality, providing a sense of safety. This cuts through the fundamental fear that the mind's metaphors create, which only restricts freedom of action within a narrower range than desirable.

For example, in the case of public speaking, rather than avoiding it due to perceived threat, we can freely enjoy the activity, recognising that the audience is not separate but merely appearances of the same reality, and any physical sensations are natural occurrences. However, this process does not negate the essential protection of mind and body, such as evading oncoming danger. Nevertheless, even with the non-dual experience of Oneness, addressing especially entrenched or traumatic metaphors may benefit from additional psychotherapeutic intervention, for which a range of highly effective treatments are available. 

Love,

Freyja