Non-duality explained simply. . .

I have not encountered anyone who directs attention to the non-dual nature of reality more clearly than Keith Popko:

The dualistic world is comprised of "me" and everything other than "me". Everything in the dualistic world is viewed in relation to how it affects "me". This "me", the me that is believed to be different than all others, is comprised soley of thought forms which bundled together and identified with is commonly referred to as ego.

When using [Eckhart Tolle's] portals or self-inquiry this ego entity is eventually discovered to disappear or fade away. In its absense there is no more sense of separation from anything, there is just "what is" which is witnessed by the authentic "You", awareness itself. This is the nondual world. Remember, it is the ego/mind that takes "what is" and filters it according accumulated beliefs, and which then names things and labels them as "good" or "bad".

Without "me" there is wholeness, oneness, no "other", just "what is" arising innocently and spontaneously within awareness; with "me" there is also "other". It is this "other" which the me can find so threatening, so it is always wary of "other" because it needs to protect itself in order to stay alive. That's the reasoning it resorts to - it's survival at all cost, no matter what it does to "other". Herein lies the root of suffering and conflict; it all arises out of the sense of separation, which is the defining characteristic of every egoic entity.

Two people can see the same thing and come to very different conclusions as to whether it is a "good" thing or a "bad" thing. Why is that? It's because mind has constructed two different egoic structures, both of which are only thought forms that are identified with as being real. Perhaps each of these egoic structures has been conditioned by two different religious traditions or cultures - in a broad sense this is evident in the Arab/Israeli situation, Sunni/Shiite problems, and Christian/Muslim situation. On a smaller scale, at the level of "me", there are individual differences of conditioning which filter events. In both cases, the individual sense of me and the collective sense of "us", this sense of separation stimulates actions and thoughts which spur self-preservation at all cost.

Finding the nondual pulls the rug out from beneath the feet of the egoic entity. There is then nothing which creates separation. The ego no longer has the reins of control when it is seen/realized not to be real. There will still be a place for it, but only as a tool to be utilized when appropriate on the level of form, but it then drops away again after its usefulness is over, so that the nondual nature of your essential nature is no longer overshadowed.