Schematic overview: unity and diversity

Stance	Monism	Dualism	Participation
Summary	All is One	I am clearly distinct from everything and everyone else	Reality is indivisible but diverse
What it denies	Differences, boundaries, specifics, individuality	Connection, dynamic interplay, unbounded responsibility
What it fixates	Unity; also over-emphasizes connection	Boundaries, separateness, limitations, definitions
The sales pitch	You are God	Clarity gives you control
Emotional appeal	I am all-powerful, all-knowing, immortal, invulnerable	I am not contaminated by other beings, and have only specific, limited responsibility for them
Pattern of thinking	Willful stupidity	Distrust	Engagement
Likely next stances	Eternalism, mission, true self, specialness	Can combine with either eternalism or nihilism
Accomplishment	Directly perceive all things as One	Perfect independence	Self and other neither distinct nor identical
How it causes suffering	Have to blind self to diversity of physical reality	Alienation due to being cut off from world and others
Obstacles to maintaining the stance	Obviousness of diversity	Obviousness of connection	Difficulty of understanding the philosophical view
Antidotes; counter-thoughts	Appreciation of diversity	Appreciation of connectedness
Intelligent aspect	I am not entirely separate from anything	The world is endlessly diverse
Positive appropriation after resolution	Provisional understanding of indivisibility	Points toward appreciation of diversity

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