AAP 2026 CONFERENCE

According to Asian nondual traditions, the apparent separation between subject and object is an illusion. If this is true, then how do we understand the nondual experience and even more importantly how do we experience it? I argue that we can distinguish between two types of nonduality: (1) Nonduality by exclusion: An experience in which there is no distinction between subject and object. (2) Nonduality by inclusion: An experience in which subject and object are non-separate, but in which an experiential distinction can still be drawn. While there are certainly many reports of contemplative experiences that involve the former, I am particularly interested in how to experience the latter in everyday life. To explore this and most importantly to experience nonduality directly for ourselves, I will guide the audience through a series of Douglas Harding’s first-person experiments. While conceptualisations of the phenomenology of nonduality may never be entirely adequate, I believe that different accounts can be useful for bringing out different aspects of these experiences. I will hence conclude by outlining five potential accounts: reductive identity (the bundle theory), substance-mode, the paradoxical account, co-constitution and the dialectical account.