DUALISM - OHSAWA

"Dualism is the first and last enemy of humanity." - George Ohsawa

Dualism is truly the scourge of mankind - our sense of microcosmic separateness from the macrocosmic world and, worse, the schizoid sense of 'the ghost in the machine', of mind riven from body. Western philosophy is especially haunted by these dualities. We are led to suppose that philosophy is something we believe, rather than something we do. This is one of the great attractions of oriental philosophy, theoria and praxis are more united. 

The problem of duality is central to zen macrobiotics. There is no sundering of body and spirit. The encounter with the highest spiritual and philosophical principles starts in something as corporeal and physical as cooking. George Ohsawa, the great modern exponent of the macrobiotic arts, insisted upon this. More broadly, it is true of all alchemical systems. The spiritual is the physical, and vice versa. Never trust anyone who would try to persuade you otherwise. Alchemy is a spiritual system that starts with the basest of physical things. The path to the highest (gold) is through the lowest (lead).

For me, at least, after decades of studying and teaching cerebral philosophy - things you merely "believe" - I am now only interested in philosophy you "do". Michio Kushi - the other great exponent of modern macrobiotics - said something along these lines in an interview I read. He studied Aristotle, Socrates, he says, but then realised "Conceptual. No practice." Zen macrobiotics is different. It is an alchemy. It specifically seeks to overcome the dualisms that have so debilitated human beings throughout history. Dualism is the first and last enemy of humanity. 

Non-duality is not a notion alien to the West, though. After all, at the centre of Western civilization is - or was - a sacred meal of bread, the Eucharist, in which the duality physical/spiritual is resolved.