In regards to the mystical experience, Plotinus and Plato seem to be covering two sides of the same coin: monism and dualism. In Plotinus’ monistic view, the event of a mystical experience causes one to readily identify with the world around them. It is as if the mystical experience has either given the person a new set of eyes or has removed some type of opaque film, thus enabling said person to see the connections between all things and haw they themselves are connected to all things, as well. On the other side of the issue is Plato’s argument for dualism. As evidenced in his Myth of the Cave, Plato sees a separation caused by the mystical experience. The person having the mystical experience, in Plato’s view, goes through several levels of separation/distancing: He or she is separated from those that he or she once dwelt in darkness with; he or she no longer has the reference points of firelight and shadow; during their decent out of the cave; he or she has to make an adjustment from the “falsehoods” of the cave existence to what is now real for them; and, unlike Plotinus where this new reality could just be acknowledged as part of the All, the person in question in Plato’s view would need a long period of acclimation to process this new phase of their existence.
While both views have their merits, it is extremely difficult to choose a concept that is more realistic over the other. By giving a little personal background, I may be able to explain my point in a much better way. When I was seventeen-years-old I had my own cave-like experience. I was shot in the stomach and was clinically dead for two-and-one-half-minutes. When I came to, I was in was in an oxygen bubble with tubes running from my arms and nose. I existed like this for a week-and-a-half until I stabilized. When I was finally able to walk again, it was if I were a child who was just learning the things that my body had known and done so well without me actually being conscious of it.
I had to concentrate on my vision, forcing myself to accept the changes in light and contrast of shadow, without freaking out. Walking, a task that I used to thoroughly enjoy was now something wholly alien.
My entire recovery was one of realization and contemplation. During this time, I had to reintroduce myself to the world, announce my bodily and psychic intentions and be completely deliberate in my actions. Before I embarked on anything as simple as sitting up, turning to take the pitcher from the nightstand, use my other hand to pick up a cup, tilt my wrist to pour some water in the cup, put the pitcher back down, open my mouth, tilt the cup to my mouth—remembering to drink slowly so that I wouldn’t cough and rip my stitches—put the cup down, lean back on my pillow and then swallow, I had to enter into a contract with myself. I had to think on if the drink of water was worth the possible pain that I might feel from twisting incorrectly.
I was no longer of my former world; I was now to worlds removed: pre-gunshot, lengthy hospital stay with oxygen bubble, the painful world of recovery and finally the doctor’s say-so that I was fit to resume any and all of my previous activities. I was healed. I may have been healed, but there was no way that I could go back to my cave experience and not—quite literally—lose my mind. Even though it took me a while to orient myself to my new world/existence/reality/truth, my pre-gunshot world might as well have been someone else’s life. I once saw and experienced the world in one way, but due to a shocking event, I now saw the world in a completely different light. But it was by passing through this threshold that I transitioned from the cave into a world of beauty and interconnectedness.
Now that I was fully recovered and could do what I wanted to physically, I returned to practicing the martial arts that I held so dear. No longer were punches just punches and kicks just kicks; they were hands and feet connected to a person who was quite talented in the martial arts, and they had family, a job, wants and needs and being that I had these same things, I saw how we were related and connected because we came from the same essential stuff.
So, in my direct experience, I find it difficult to discern whether the monistic or dualistic view is the more realistic orientation. At various times, both were realistic and viable and served me for where I was at the time. But if I had to give a semi-definitive answer, I would have to conclude that I find monism to be the most realistic view for this time in my life. I say this because I like myself better as a person because I am possessed with the ability and desire to see how all of this (meaning my worldview) is one thing made up of the same stuff. And instead of thinking on it, trying to figure out what it all means, I can just accept it and move freely throughout my life without contemplation stopping my forward motion.
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