Reconstruction Vol. 15, No. 3

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An Inquiry Into a Literary Depiction of the Construction of Reality Through the Use of Nondualism in Vandana Singh's Distances / Amanda Meyer

Abstract:

Vandana Singh's Distances reasons why existence is its own purpose from the framework of nondualism (Advaita Vedanta in Hindu philosophical nondualism). Singh uses her knowledge of concepts from nonduality and represents that which underlies existence for the Advaitan. The concept of a primary state is depicted through the use of nondualist philosophy and the symbol of Vara in Distances. The representation of the binary or triadic structure inherent within nonduality is depicted as Singh creates philosophical realms to construct a novel of latticed meaning-ultimately questioning understanding over experiencing. Singh weaves together a challenging work that lends a poetry to the novella's ultimate depiction of the significance of reality. Distances develops the character Anasuya, her worlds, and myths. Distances myths and use of comparisons to the reader's world both hint at a larger ontological answer to reality through the philosophy of nondualism. Anasuya's life as a mathematician and creator leads her to her eventual journey of self-discovery.

The novella is interesting for its use of mythology and representations of the philosophy of nondualism with a critical eye toward the western concept of progress. The novella preferences diversity over standardization.

Keywords: Literature, Philosophy, Science & Technology

Introduction

<1> I could teach an entire course about the construction of reality in art on works ranging from children's novels, such as The Velveteen Rabbit 's Skin Horse speech [1] , to the Wachowski's The Matrix-the film's premise being an overt declaration that what is thought to be reality is merely a construction. While writing my thesis that explored this concept, my director told me I had to read Vandana Singh's Distances; she creates a novel dealing with both the appearance of reality and the purpose of its construction. I read the novella and there was my thesis-that Distances is depicting reality as its own purpose.

<2> Vandana Singh uses the philosophy of nondualism (or Advaita Vedanta in Hindu philosophy) in her science fiction novella Distances to signify a boundary that suggests experience of life is preferable to an understanding of it (a cognitively imaginable concept, but not an empirically provable one). Distances depicts a potential next phase of understanding concerning the purpose of existence-a phase that signals an appreciation of present reality-and portrays reality as the purpose of life. The unknown as the limit of understanding is articulated by authors like Fredric Jameson in Archaeologies of the Future: A Desire Called Utopia where he describes the limitation of utopia being its conception; if utopia is possible, its particulars elude human imagination, and most definitely invention. Yet, humanity continues to imagine. In opposition to Ockham's Razor [2] , considering the limits of the human mind, any answer derived by the mind in determining the meaning of existence would likely be far simpler than the unfathomable complexity of which the known universe is comprised (I do not understand? Ockham razor would gladly lead to accept the simplest meaning instead of the unfathomable complexity??) . In the close of Neil deGrasse Tyson's hit show Cosmos, he explains the limits of human understanding concerning the laws of the universe, since humanity is unable to explore beyond the event horizon and explain dark matter, which Tyson calls "a code word for our ignorance" (Degrasse Tyson). It seems, whether discussing philosophy or physics, that there is a natural stopping point to understanding the complexities of the world-that being human cognition. Imagining is the only possibility left, which science fiction authors take quite seriously. Sf author Ursula K. Le Guin uses the genre to explore a world based in the conception of reality by the mind (e.g. the dreaming of reality in The Lathe of Heaven). Singh uses the sf genre to imagine a perceived reality at the hypothetical limit of understanding that inquires beyond, while remaining within, the reality of the mind, words, and identification. Ultimately, Distances projects that the purpose of existence is not in the discovery of the mysteries of the world, but in the experience of life.

<3> Distances details multiple worlds, some realistic, but more of them reflections on idealist potentials. What if beings understood one another because of an innate physical awareness? What if these beings were not only aware of their connections with others, but ideologically positioned in a society which appreciates interconnectedness? Singh depicts an empathic world of the sea that demonstrates a true understanding and appreciation for others (i.e. all citizens of a society connected by a grand unifying theory); but Distances depicts how, even in a society founded on interconnection, the point of existence is not to deconstruct reality to understand its nature, but for each being to grow through an understanding of self and the other. The novella imagines the meaning of life as an unfathomable gift (more specifically, the gift of the other); Singh's work describes the larger purpose of life being to experience it with others rather than understand it. Conflicting Socrates' examination of life as its key worth, Distances' protagonist Anasuya searches the whole novel for the equations to unlock the mysteries of existence only to lose hold of her identity once she solves the equations to existence. At the novel's close, she is unaware of the meaning of her own discoveries. Anasuya's journey in the novella is akin to allowing a child to open a present once they have already peaked inside-the child will feel cheated because the excitement of their gift is ruined. What we know about ideology from the works of Jean Baudrillard [3] suggests reality is merely a mass of representations. According to Baudrillard's theory of the simulacra, there is no distinction between the real and representations of it. Distances uses the construction of reality premise within the philosophy of nondualism to show Anasuya's creation of her reality and her abandonment of her role as creator in favor of a meaningful experiencing of the world that privileges diversity over standardization and the relative over the absolute. She gifts the world with the meaning of their existence and, even as they exalt her to a god-like status, she is released to her own ignorance, disappears among the city's masses, and sets out to live her creation. Therefore, Singh preferences the experience of life over the discovery of its purpose and kindly gives Anasuya the ultimate opportunity of being an imperfect citizen over a flawless god.

<4> In Distances, Anasuya is a mathematical artist who originally comes from the sea. Her special gift, an athmis, allows her to see "mathematical harmonies" (Singh 4) and ride waves, mapping space by intuition where "she traverses the coalesced space-time in her mind" (Banerjee 301). Distances' protagonist Anasuya rides waves in a machine called an amnion. Singh uses multiple worlds to intertwine pluralities of realities (Singh uses the term "lattice" throughout the novella).

<5> Anasuya's world of origin, the sea (Sagara), is where Anasuya experiences a way of life that assumes interconnection, and where most beings have some variation of an athmis that allows each of them a special power. Singh's use of the philosophy of Hindu nondualism (Advaita Vedanta) ontologically posits an objective reality along with subjective realities (Castellano). Through the investigation of parallel theories to physical systems (i.e. wave function), Singh makes comparisons that suggest the metaphysical importance posited by the philosophy of nondualism-that reality is the ideal state because anything else would be a negation (non-reality). This theory is similar to Hegel's theory of being and nothingness in his "Science of Logic." Vandana Singh demonstrates the intersection between the discovery of the truth of reality and the loss of its purpose (which is not what Hegel wanted!!). Singh furthermore shows how conceiving reality's purpose would require understanding how all things are interconnected to grasp the complete meaning.

<6> Singh accomplishes the favoring of reality above all other conceivable states through the philosophy of nondualism, which posits the interconnectedness of subjective selves and an objective self. Author Henry Swift explains, "Consciousness is the primary reality, there is only one consciousness, and the material universe arises out of it as an epiphenomenon." Nondualism encompasses this belief within the wider belief in an underlying state. In Hindu philosophical nondualism, both a projected reality (containing many subjective realities) and an underlying objective state exist simultaneously, which can also be referred to as superimposition: "to describe the relation between the initial sensation and the succeeding thought-constructions of recognition and volitional reaction. . . . Sankara . . . uses [this term] to describe the 'relation' between Brahman [absolute reality] and the phenomenal world" (Loy 65). Advaita Vedanta posits that a projected, mutable reality (maya) is pervaded by an immutable reality of a singular, complete self (Brahman), which can only be assumed or implied: "Sankara claims that our perception of the universe is a continuous perception of Brahman" (Loy 60). So, "the Advaitans view immediacy as the basic character of the absolute Consciousness, of which the knower, the known, and the process or mechanism of knowledge are apparent differentiations due to ignorance" (Loy 60). In Amit Goswami's book The Self Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World, he argues that "quantum consciousness" (attributed to Eugene Wigner) is a consciousness that transcends mind and matter, in the sense that there is a primary state that underlies cognition and reality. To further convolute the subject, Goswami states that the concept he describes is "monistic idealism" while describing "a new psychophysical parallelism" (Lloyd). While it may be difficult to consider Goswami's philosophy as monistic idealism while also understanding mind and matter as separate entities which arise out of a single immutable state, it is possible within nondualism. Goswami explains his theory of consciousness further:

. . . it is consciousness that collapses the quantum possibility wave. It is consciousness that chooses which possibility will manifest in actuality. All the objections (paradoxes) to this resolution are due to an almost universal misconception among scientists about the nature of consciousness. They tend to think that any positing of consciousness collapsing the possibility wave must refer to a dualistic consciousness--a consciousness separate from matter. . . I . . . have shown that if one understands consciousness as the ground of being (I call this ontology monistic idealism), then all objections find simple satisfying answers. . . [.] (Goswami)

<7> Goswami is referring to consciousness as an unqualified state rather than only the cognition of the mind. Peter Lloyd questions Goswami's concept explaining, "Depending on how it is interpreted, Goswami's philosophy might even be not dualistic but triadic." Goswami is stating that mind and matter are different, but only within the realm of reality as it is. He is suggesting that there is a third sense underlying the mind and matter. Therefore, Goswami's argument accepts dualism as a philosophy in maya (reality), yet if he is to imagine a philosophy past reality, Goswami must synthesize the totality: what is mind and matter, but also what underlies it? He must, then, deconstruct its parts. In his deconstruction, Goswami is using the triad while maintaining the totality (the projection of reality by a single, objective entity).

<8> The triadic structure Lloyd references suggests the philosophy of nondualism (yet still can signify a monistic idealism if superimposed), which is present in many religious and philosophical theories (David Loy discusses this in Nondualism: Studies in Comparative Philosophy). The nondual structure explains how consciousness could be positioned in such a way to be both monistic and triadic (where a pluralistic structure is present within a greater totality-relativity and absence within a totality dependent on the juxtaposition of the two other categories), each part being integral to the total composition for its metaphysical meaning. The nondual structure is just that-pluralistic and monistic allowing for a primary "creative consciousness" (a referentless existence) and mind/matter-based consciousness (the subjective sentient selves of reality or maya), then the totality that houses them both. The underlying self is only suggested, and while, theoretically, reality is superimposed upon it, the primary creative essence is not available to conscious memory, but without the assumption of this primary essence, the other states would not be possible in the theory of nondualism. Nondualism suggests that reality is imagined by this "creative consciousness," and the ultimate self includes the recognition of the sum of its parts (the objective reality and the subjective realities); Distances posits that reality (the distinct "you" and "I") is created by a primary self for the sole purpose of having other separate consciousnesses (the purpose of reality, then, being othering or diversity). Nondualism is, in a sense, pluralistic monism-as contrary as this may seem-and is preferable to fragmentation (or binary identification) because, while it allows for identification through rejection, it preferences inclusion (of everything in reality, even the rejection). Nondualism also releases the thinker from the pressure of monism (which requires a unified view of reality) as it is inherently unified (the subjective being a projection by the objective). Moreover, nondualism does not assume the privilege of diversity over nothingness, but rather each is highlighted by the other. Singh's novella, though, depicts the obvious diversity of the world being preferable to its opposite: absence. The nondual totality-a triadic structure-is, then, the ontologically significant structure because it implies the importance of the experience of the manifestation of reality. The totality is a grandly unifying construction.

<9> To further explore the idea of the forgetfulness of this primary state suggested in nondualism, Herbert Muller describes this infinite and unchanging state as an MIR and explains:

If we talk about supposedly mind-independent reality (MIR) we use extrapolations from ongoing experience with help of the created structures. MIR structures are not accessible to experience (Plato, Kant ??? for Kant space and time as a priori are totally independent from any man's mind but are still accessible to experience!!)). They cannot possibly include 'consciousness' (unless the term is restricted to objective products of conscious activity). Subjective experience is the center of consciousness, and must be included for its study (and I apologize in advance for sounding repetitive concerning this point.).

<10> David Loy explains the concept of an MIR in philosophy of Advaita Vedanta:

The nondual whole is 'spiritual' because the One Mind includes my mind, but how consciousness could be incorporated has not been explained. The world is not really experienced as a whole if the subject that perceives it is still separate from it in its observation of it. In this way the second sense of non-duality, conceived objectively, is unstable and naturally tends to evolve into a third sense. This third sense . . . must be understood as a negation. (25)

<11> The concept of ultimate self (atman) in nondualism allows Singh's work to subvert binaries through the recognition of an assumedly fundamental state without cognition, and through the juxtaposition of the realization of this absent state, the diversity of the universe is highlighted. Therefore, it is the totality (that requires the juxtaposition) from which the ontological meaning is derived. In the Advaitic tradition, self is not defined by any referent to anything else, meaning it does not seek identity through binary opposition, but is rather an implied identity. If knowledge and reflection are two separate states, then a primary immutable state could project a reality while being disconnected from the awareness of itself doing the projecting. Maya implies the concept of reality as a construction or a dream of reality projected infinitely by a fixed state.

<12> Nondualism utilizes the concept of a transcendental reality combined with a constructed reality that satisfies the need for constancy, stasis, and flux-attributing the ephemeral world with meaning through its juxtaposition alongside an enduring reality. In Advaita Vedanta:

The world has no separate existence apart from Brahman[,] . . . the ultimate, transcendent and immanent God of the latter Vedas[.] . . . The experiencing self (jīva) and the transcendental self of the Universe (ātman) are in reality identical (both are Brahman), though the individual self seems different as space within a container seems different from space as such. These cardinal doctrines are represented in the anonymous verse 'brahma satyam jagan mithya; jīvo brahmaiva na aparah' (Brahman is alone True, and this world of plurality is an error; the individual self is not different from Brahman). Plurality is experienced because of error in judgments (mithya) and ignorance (avidya). Knowledge of Brahman removes these errors and causes liberation. (Menon)

<13> Interestingly, "this claim is by no means unique to Vedānta; it is found in virtually all the Asian philosophies" (Loy 27). Multiple consciousnesses are latticed-a term which Singh uses-in Distances to depict Anasuya's subjective and objective reality as one while the objective self (depicted as an absence) projects the subjective selves. The nondual structure allows for the metaphysical meaning in Singh's novella: that reality is inherently meaningful.

A Latticed Existence in Vandana Singh's Distances

<14> Anasuya comes from Sagara, the sea, where she lives among others who have an athmis. Her athmis (derived from the Sanskrit word "atman" meaning soul or self) allows her to access the interconnections between herself and others and tap into a broader awareness of her reality. Sagara is seemingly perfect-a society of kindness or a harmonious microcosm where the citizens remain blissfully unaware of their own precariousness (the danger of disconnection)-save one exception: "the cave of delusion."

<15> The Cave of Delusion was a place of reverence with "clan-poems" from the sea children. The cave was a record of the history and art of the sea and people; it is depicted as a place not meant for exploration, but for contemplation. When Anasuya was young though, she went to explore the cave. As Anasuya explores deeper within the cave, it cuts her off from the sea and the cave is described as having "no more openings, only little cracks that let in some light" (Singh 102). The cave is the place between the interconnected world of the sea and disconnection from the sea's harmonious circle. At the cave's end, Anasuya confronts darkness where she experiences a disconnection from those she loves-"She thought she heard her image calling to her" (Singh 103). Anasuya is left with only reflections of herself at the cave's exit point. In addition, the myth of the Cave of Delusion is a comforting tale told to elders who are dying in Anasuya's world of the sea. The myth of the cave starts with a man named Dara.

<16> The story of Dara begins with a man seeking shelter deep within the cave to wait out a storm. As he is waiting, he begins to experience thirst. Dara drinks from a pool of rainwater that crept in through the cave's cracks, but finds he cannot pass the water; soon, his thirst becomes ravenous. He again, drinks from the pool, but again, unable to pass the water, experiences a resurgence of thirst, and this pattern continues many times. Finally, Dara, instead of drinking from the pool of water, looks into it and sees his reflection. He states that "only I exist" and his image answers "You are not yourself here, nor is this place what it seems. This is not water but the drink of delusion. You must climb out of this cave and return to the sea, or you will stay in this place for eternity, alone" (Singh 105). Here Dara, like Anasuya, sees only himself, and is left with his loneliness. Dara then wakes up and finds himself on a beach, feeling less alone because at least the sea exists around him. He then realizes the age and sickness his body has endured over the years and realizes he needs "the peace death brings" (Singh 105). Dara assumed the cave to be a place of repose, but discovered it was "the place where there is nothing at all, and only enough water to see your face in" (Singh 106). Singh utilizes her own myths based in Hindu philosophical nondualism (where Brahman or ultimate reality and self are one) to explain the absolute state's necessity for the construction of reality and subsequent forgetting of self as creator (creator is not the perfect term here, because the self as creator is not aware of its own creative capacity, but the term will help connect with the novella's meaning). The Mahavakyas or "Great Sayings" of The Upanishads state that self and ultimate reality (Brahman) are one; reality is superimposed upon ultimate reality and self may theoretically recognizes itself as the objective self in an enlightened state:

(1) Prajnanam Brahma - Consciousness is Brahman; (2) Aham Brahmasmi - I am Brahman: (3) Tat Tvam Asi - That Thou Art; (4) Ayam Atma Brahma - This Self is Brahman. (Krishnananda)

<17> Returning to the cave myth, Dara is next washed and anointed, then carried to the sea's bottom and to his death. The last line of the section is, "He opened his eyes" (Singh 106). The description of "his eyes" implies he is not in an immutable state, but re-enters a "wider circle," suggesting Dara returns to the cycle of subjective reality (106). The description of the cave as a place where both Anasuya and Dara experience loneliness, a complete separation from others, and Dara, aged and weak, dies only to re-awaken signifies Singh's representation of the necessity (and only experiential state) of existence. Distances implies that "to be one unto yourself, without people, and fish, and the sea" would be a loneliness that craves companionship. As explanation for a philosophical abstraction, Distances demonstrates the hypothetical emotional longing of a single, unconscious being as poetic and justified. Singh's myth utilizes "the principle of "superposition," where an object can be in an existentially indeterminate physical state, or simultaneously in contrary physical states" (Castellano). Singh continues to represent the systems of creative consciousness or ultimate reality (Brahman) and self (atman) as one (the idea of superimposition) with the added intention of meaningfulness through the use of nondual philosophy.

<18> The creation myth in Distances is the story of the Nameless Goddess. Her followers claim "not only is she the only real thing in the universe, she is greater than reality. She is what holds reality, they say, whatever that means" (Singh 73). The Nameless Goddess is a shell of reality; her later traits describe her clearly as the creative consciousness. The Nameless Goddess is connected to The Tale of the Two Lovers (Ekatip and Shunyatip) who existed in perpetual play and "took the forms of men and women according to their whim, and found all different ways to join together in love" (Singh 74). But then, the gods discover "the secret of Number, which they kept hidden in a cube made of bone. This magic cube gave them the power to count, to draw maps and to make sense of the world" (Singh 74-75). The cube's three dimensionality hints at a connection to the sensory world. As the two gods existed as a dualized, interwoven being, they were given the vision of separateness too, but the Nameless Goddess personified as wind came, and the two lovers were pulled toward a dark cave. Within the cave, they were enticed to make love to a gorgeous woman "who was none but the Nameless Goddess herself" (Singh 75). It is the Nameless Goddess here who not only represents the pervasive and mysterious, but we find her calling the combined lovers into her cave of illusion; therefore, the Nameless Goddess is both the illusion and that which pervades it. The cave, as previously stated, represents the place prior to an immutable state and so is depicted as lacking characteristics-an ideal place in which to find the elusive goddess. Shunyatip then hides the magic cube within his mouth, and the Nameless Goddess is not able to find it as they all make love. In the heat of the orgy, another god enters and "when it was all over they found that the stranger was the lesser-god Anhutip himself" (Singh 75). The god of illusion (Anhutip) enters the orgy and Shunyatip attempts to hide the cube that grants the gods the Secret of Number. It is important to recall that reality (maya) is marked by this compartmentalization and enumeration of things. The story continues that when Shunyatip eventually pulls the cube from his mouth, he finds,

That what he held in his hand was a stone. . . . Immediately the two lovers realized that Anhutip must have stolen the cube in the middle of the orgy and exchanged it with the stone. . . . So they decided that they needed to peer into the past to see at what point Anhutip had stolen the cube, and into the future to see where he might have hidden it. . . . They did not notice when Anhutip . . . crept close to them and retrieved the stone[;] . . . all he had done was to change the appearance of the cube to look like a stone. (Singh 76-77)

<19> The secret that the two lovers were granted from their idealistic state of play makes them able to completely view the world as separate parts. Their original world of complete nonduality where they existed, before the disruption from the other gods, expanded to include subjective realities through Anhutip's gift of illusion. Reality does not change, but perception does, like the cube disguised as the stone; the many realities are off-shoots of the one. This separates the two lovers from their interlocked state; Singh describes this bit as triggering the disappearance of the Nameless Goddess-thus suggesting they have integrated into her. While awareness of nonduality is founded on interconnection, there is no recognition of separation, "god from not-god" or intention of wholeness: "nonduality is [an] experience in which there is no such distinction between subject and object. However extraordinary this and counterintuitive such nonduality may be" (Loy 25-26). In Anasuya's world of Sagara, everyone not taken by the Nameless Goddess "found their way to the city" where there was "no promise of wholeness" either (Singh 123), signaling a move toward a pluralistic reality.

<20> A young Anasuya left her home under the sea to study with her caretaker, Lata, who taught her to develop her gift of recognizing harmonies. Distances explains that Anasuya "learned the art of rendering abstractions into visual symbols drawn on wet sand with a finger-spirals, circles, lines wavy and straight, fraught with meaning" (Singh 23). She makes concrete the abstract as a metaphor for creation from nothingness. Anasuya also writes poetry in practice of recognizing harmonies. After a recitation, Lata tells her that her:

Poem is true . . . but it is only a small part of the greater truth. . . . So know this: that no poem we speak is ever a complete poem. No truth we can utter is ever a complete truth. Everything is what it is because of other things as well as its own nature. So there is no thing removed from other things. Thus you are Anasuya, but you are also the sea, and the fish, and the athmis that is in us all. . . . [T]hus we end all poems with the phrase: My poem is incomplete! (Singh 21)

<21> These lines contain the multifariousness of existence (reality), the nondual triad, and the supposition of a fundamental state. To further support the point, the word fish is both singular and plural. Reality, or maya, is represented by the ideological with the relationship of signs and signifiers that bring objects or people their identity through language as each thing is identified by its comparison to other things. Lata explains identification to the young Anasuya: "[y]ou can tell a fish by the shape of the water that closes around it as it swims. All we are is impressions on the water, ripples in the sea. All we are-circles, feedback loops, cycles of the seasons, of being and becoming" (Singh 25). The categorization that is inherent in thought construction is comparable to the ignorance inherent in maya. The only possible expressions of self, then, are quantifiable, so any expression of self that cannot be described is then ignored. Anasuya is a hybrid, a collective of origins as she "always exists in between" (Banerjee 300), and the athmis is that which connects her to all in her harmonious perception.

<22> Anasuya's poems progress with her understanding of the intricacies of the harmonies of life. As Lata teaches her, her budding awareness of the ever-present "self" grows:

Raindrops on still water.

Circles, ever expanding.

Only the Great Proportion

Stays the same.

If the circle were to spread

Across Sea and Earth and Sky

Would the Great Proportion remain?

It remains the same and yet

It contains infinity

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

My poem is incomplete. (Singh 24)

<23> Anasuya cannot express the inexpressible through language, and her poem must have its incomplete completeness. Her ability to see connections and the understanding she gains from this perspective on the world is being charted through her artistic capabilities. As Anasuya moves toward appreciating her own world, her body physically pulls away from the interconnected space of an apparatus Distances refers to as an "amnion." Anasuya's skin begins to turn brown and she starts to lose her perception of harmonies. As she loses what she believes contains her identity, she learns to better appreciate the beauty of her world outside the amnion and those who comprise it.

<24> Anasuya eventually moves to The City where she finds a home with her "pentad" of mates. In The City, Anasuya works in "The Temple of Mathematical Arts," mapping the sthanas (space) with her athmis (soul). The Temple utilizes an apparatus called an amnion to help wave riders like Anasuya focus their abilities. The sthanas that Anasuya maps is the sthanas of Nirx: a mathematician from another world. There is an abstract world of mathematical spaces in the amnion. Reality within the amnion functions as a nondual (Advaitic) state where Anasuya explores mathematical and creative spaces hoping to probe the infinite. There are also hints at an absolute state or supreme self (Brahman) reflected in the character of Vara. Distances' utilization of the mathematical and philosophical allows Anasuya to explore the ontological.

<25> Inside the amnion, Anasuya maps space by riding waves. Singh received her Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics, which impels the connection between Anasuya's wave riding and wave-particle duality. The principle:

State[s] the mutual exclusiveness and joint full completeness of the two (classical) descriptions of quantum systems. . . . [T]he wave-particle duality, or wave-particle complementarity, could be expressed by stating that it is impossible to build up an experimental arrangement in which we observe at the same time both [particle] and wave aspects. (Boscá Díaz-Pintado)

<26> Wave-particle duality essentially explains nonduality where two things can be viewed as mutually exclusive (the basic cognition of things dualistically by the mind and a pervasive reality that encompasses the dualistic one as well) and fully fused (reality as theologically immanent and only experiential), and the inability for the polarizing mind to view both simultaneously. As interconnections are vivid to Anasuya within the amnion, she maps space, but also desires to create.

<27> While Anasuya's job is mapping space, she wants to create art within the amnion as well. A vision called Vara comes to her at times in the amnion and, through her wordless communication, Vara imprints upon Anasuya's mind that she must create. Creation is another element that weighs heavy with significance in the nondual philosophical tradition. Most of all, Anasuya does what comes naturally and joyfully to her, and the reader is told that the whole point of these creations is as an offering to the god, Anhutip (the illusionist). Anasuya is being instructed to construct reality by the bland-faced Vara: a "reflection" of herself that desires creation. Similar to the depiction of the Nameless Goddess, Vara is the immutable state that perpetuates realities; Anasuya does not recognize herself as Vara (the creator).

<28> Another interesting aspect of Anasuya's world is that it does not consider progress (esp. constant production and economic gain), a proper goal of life and the temple chemist explains to Nirx and the aliens from the stars, "efficiency as a moral principle is not the norm here" (Singh 62). Nirx's world is a highly ordered and utilitarian world. Singh uses nondualism to describe how, if reality is a projection of a singular cognition (myself and the other) creating (like Anasuya in the amnion) a diverse reality, then true madness would mean rejecting the singular cognition's desires to construct the illusion of diversity. The homogenization of the universe and its societies would be the destruction of reality's purpose in nondualism because it would mean the denial of diversity; Anasuya barely recognizes this in Singh's novella, noting:

The incredible variety of artificial harmonies mimic . . . the natural ones: the plain rectangular geometry of the cabin, the carefully skewed symmetry of an abstract painting, the perfection of the circular bowl that [holds] . . . tea. It broke upon [Anasuya's] consciousness that here were things made by use of mathematical harmonies. All made-things, a shameless exploitation of the patterns and relationships taught to her by Lata! In the shock of it all she discovered that some of the things were beautiful" (Singh 122).

<29> The construction of reality is compared to a beautiful painting and the creation of existence is depicted as the ultimate artistic endeavor. Anasuya ultimately chooses this existence over non-existence (however perfected and utilitarian that non-existence may be).

<30> Furthermore, "Nirx's team maintained that the "Lattice" was the inspiration behind Nirx's discovery of the new sthanas [the space Anasuya is tasked with mapping] although the Lattice was only the launching point, the idea seed that had given rise to Nirx's equations" (Singh 79). The Lattice being described as leading to the new sthanas is interesting when connected with the idea that portions of the sthanas are "a natural system" (Singh 79). This suggests the sthanas Anasuya maps is constructed reality. If Anasuya's reality is the seed reflected within the new sthanas, and her reality is constantly pervaded by perpetually existing, blank spaces, this can be compared with nonduality-the suggestion being that the new equations may contain the hint of a state pervading the mutable one. Anasuya describes how, when mapping Nirx's mathematics "she was waiting for the confluence of the . . . mysteries, for enlightenment to come to her at last, but right now she could only imagine it or dream it. . . . Vara's face appeared and disappeared in her dream" (Singh 66). Anasuya's discovery of the sthanas is the recognition that Vara (the space lacking attributes) is projecting Anasuya's reality-she is mapping reality. Because Anasuya does not put her discovery together with her creation, she misses the full significance-that she herself is creating reality (through Vara).

<31> Upon discovering the secret of the sthanas (space) of Nirx, Anasuya announces "this sthanas of Nirx's equations . . . is the geometry of meta-reality. The four-d manifold is our space and time" (Singh 85). Anasuya did not create or experience ultimate reality; she merely removes her limitations to recognizing it is all around her (Marcel Duchamps was aiming at something like that when he built his Grand Verre ). Although, she is still blind to its significance. Anasuya hopes that by solving the mystery of the new sthanas, she can defy wave-particle duality by experiencing everything at once, and find a "short-cut through the topography of the sthanas" (Singh 85) toward the discovery of a true reality (Brahman). Upon Anasuya's discovery concerning the sthanas, she notices:

[T]he depths of the sthanas, space and time tangled in non-linear whirlpools; here, pricking out of the darkness were dazzling mosaics so intricate that the viewer might find her gaze falling into them for eternity. In this topography, there were hints of Vara. . . Here were hyperbolic delights of the body and the mind, the seaweed forest in all its silver variety, silver quickfish darting in the shallows, their ripples breeding complexity upon complexity until they dissipated or turned into tidal waves. In places there were hidden currents, yearning toward the open sea like functions toward asymptotes, where eternity waited with open jaws. This was the path, the way, the map of Vara. (Singh 131-32)

<32> All of reality is encompassed in Vara (the myth of the Namless Goddess), which is Anasuya as well (atman as Brahman or self as god). The intricacies of reality and the mapping of the soul are depicted as beautiful, yet the Temple Master is overwhelmed; he "said it was boundaries. . . make us who we are. . . wrong, you did wrong to. . . remove boundaries" (Singh 134). Anasuya unveils the unknown. It is the continuing identification of ourselves in relation to our world and others that gives meaning to existence. In removing the boundaries of "self" and "other," Anasuya tapped into the fear of hybridity; the implication being that although identification is limiting, reality is interconnected, and fear of interconnection is fear of reality. To know may be too much.

<33> The novella does not end with Anasuya's discovery. She then travels to the Desert City without ever recognizing that to attain the completely experiential state would mean a loss of her multitude of sensations in exchange for nothingness. Since complete being is described as lacking characteristics, like a void, this suggests that to connect with ultimate reality or recognize Brahman is pointless because it is a state of absence; its only function is to manifest the diversity capable of being experienced in projected reality. Nirx is accused of trying to conceal the truth, which is a kindness as the dangers of the truth are depicted later in the Temple Master's suicide. Nirx asks Anasuya, "why is it we must seek answers? Why can't we be content with our ignorance?" (Singh 129). Nirx is referring to humanity's endless gluttony of knowledge over the experience of life as it is. To show that Anasuya is discovering the mystery of her existence through the equations of Nirx, Nirx explains that they do not see the imperfections of Anasuya's reality as negative. Instead Nirx's people view it as the truer reality of experience and non-homogeneity: "we call it . . . [the] higher-dimensional space" (Singh 85). Nirx demonstrates to Anasuya the value of a diverse and flawed reality through Anasuya's realization of the suggestion of her ultimate self (atman as Brahman). Anasuya is not meant to exist in or realize ultimate reality; she is meant to experience her connection with? it. Anasuya bridges the gaps between concrete space and 'paraspace' only to discover that everything that exists is exactly how it should be; there is nothing greater, only the realization of what already exists: "the spiritual path involves eliminating only the delusion of duality. . . . [T]he goal is simply to realize and live this nondual nature" (Loy 27).

<34> Anasuya acknowledges her athmis is fading as her skin turns brown. Upon Anasuya's realization of her fading connectedness, she travels, reluctantly, to the city. How poetic, for god (the creator of all that is) to disappear into the crowd; As Anasuya approaches her own work of art, the depiction of reality hidden in plain sight amongst the city-dwellers, she hears the people of the city discussing her, the great Anasuya, who mapped the sthanas of Nirx. Anasuya had "gathered that they were discussing her work, or the work of the person she had been. But it was like hearing about a person one had known and half-forgotten" (Singh 142). Anasuya's forgetfulness of her own creation implies the superimposition of meta-reality upon the creator herself.

<35> Distances next depicts a phenomenal reality, the city, where "the citizens went about their business" still "unaware of the beauty of their environs . . . and their skin was brown, not green like Anasuya's" (Singh 15). While the disconnected and in-tune live in the same world, it is the athmis which changes reality for each, so fragmented and connected perspectives on the world co-exist side by side. It is true self (Brahman) which is not meant to be experienced and to exist in it purely would effectively mean death (loss of cognition) instead of being conscious: "Brahman is the ultimate reality which is the ground of all universe. . . . I am and always have been Brahman" (Loy 198). The narrator admits that Anasuya finds "the City had made her welcome; she even had . . . companionship and intimacy" (Singh 15). Although Anasuya states that she feels more in touch with the world in the amnion, she appreciates the world of sensations with her "pentad" of lovers (Singh 15). The City is the flawed world of the illusion of reality (maya). The narrator states that,

The city itself was an artifice. . . . [T]wice a year . . . the City played host to two great migratory gatherings, that had (in some forgotten past) birthed the original habitation that was to become the City . . . [and] as was appropriate for visiting deities, the guest gods were taken in processions to meet the old gods of the desert, Anhutip and the Two Lovers, Ekatip and Shunyatip. (Singh 16)

<36> The illusory world here is depicted as created by a collective. Anhutip, the mischief maker (Singh 17), is placed alongside the Two Lovers in whose temple "few things were taboo" (Singh 17), and the people of the city pay homage to the illusionary gods indicating a preference in the city for illusion (diversity formed of subjective realities) over the Nameless Goddess (the immutable, ideal state). The illusory reality or "māyā in its more original meaning [is] 'magic trick' . . . whose objectivity is as delusive as the illusions of a magician. Sankara makes maya more 'concrete' when he also describes it as a positive, beginningless material causal force responsible for creating the world" (Loy 67). As the nondual unifies multiplicity, "even the followers of Anhutip were welcome at the Temple of Two Lovers, despite the fact that Anhutip was the one who had played a trick on the two gods" (Singh 17). This creative polytheism is another way to advocate a world accepting of hybridity and diversity or a world unified by its interconnectedness. While the migratory gods birthed the City, it was Anhutip "who had breathed the world into being" (Singh 17). Again, this represents the cyclical relationship of the pervasive Brahman whose sole manifestation is known reality (maya).

<37> Singh depicts how all things are explainable, philosophically and mathematically, but if that were the point, the novella would end at the close of Anasuya's discovery/creation. Distances continues to chart Anasuya's loss of identity and embrace by her former housemates. Distances' ending questions the constructed separations inherent in cognition (i.e. the divisions and limitations of the categorical mind). When Anasuya was young, she had once asked Lata, "what is it for?" and Lata answered: "the order and patterns of the world are meant to be discovered, experienced, and celebrated. To ask what they are for is a meaningless question, because they simply are. To use them, to apply them, is to step outside the world, to no longer experience it. Only some knowledge can be utilized for our needs, and that too with great circumspection. . . " (Singh 96). The young Anasuya had known even then "she would one day betray all that" (96). Although Anasuya discovers and creates reality, she never recognizes what she has done; she only senses it. She is able to return to the City "where she could finally learn the things she hadn't time to learn before" (152). She finally sees interconnection (without her athmis) within the city:

<38> She saw herself gazing up from the water, a brown face with dark eyes, mobile, broken in pieces, mingling with the reflections of other people around her. Her hair streamed from her face, a black cloud, silver-edged in the light. Lights danced off the water, making patterns, sculpting forms, illusions. In that vast, flickering collage, arising from the multiple images, between ripples and disturbances, she saw, at last, Vara. (Singh 150-51)

<39> Anasuya unknowingly finally sees herself as creator in the city. Alone in the rain, Anasuya recognizes one of her lovers and tells him, "One plus one is two" (Singh 151). She realizes nothing after constructing reality, but finally values reality through her relationships with others. The novella's ultimate discovery is the meaning of existence through the experience of interconnection.

Conclusion

<40> Nondualism is capable of being reduced to a projection by a underlying fixed state, which does not negate the relative 'realness' of subjective reality, but rather offers a unification theory concerning existence. If society questions the binary mentality (I am "this" or "that") in most every respect, then nondualism is the ontological answer to a world based in binary thought. Nondualism addresses the largest binary: segregation of the material from immaterial. Director Gabrielle Burton discusses the options offered by the outdated gender binary. She explains that there are three possible options: one being to identify clearly as one thing or another (in her talk, this is either male or female), another option being to opt-out of the system entirely through suicide (an obvious return to negation or absence to avoid contradiction), or to transcend and live as a hybrid of male and femaleness. Similarly, the boxes offered on any voting form no longer encompass the whole of a person's ethnic, or even racial, background. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, or Other is simply not diverse enough for the hybridity present in reality. So, why should reality be forced to identify any differently? It cannot fit into a single box only (monistic), and life is so much greater than the sum of its parts-consciousness and unconsciousness. Therefore, there should be an option for transcendence and a box marked nondualism. In this philosophy, the world "as is" is a collection of living entities, which moreover gives it its purpose, and, symbiotically those entities receive their worth through the world's development of their subjective reality as well.

<41> Anasuya's journey mapping the soul is a metaphor for self as creator and the projection of reality as the meaning to life is depicted by the philosophy of nondualism. Advaitans do not traditionally accept the identification of self as creator (rather they believe existence a happy accident), but Singh develops a metaphysical meaningfulness to the world through nondualism. Lata once told Anasuya, "'Even our feelings have patterns. . . Understanding the harmonies of the mind, the soul that holds the athmis . . . now that would be a great thing!'" (Singh 115). She then predicts Anauya will rise to greatness, which she does. A statue is erected in her honor, but Anasuya no longer resembles her old self, and the statue means little to her. She maps the interconnections of the soul, while their purpose is not to need discovery. Anasuya "saw then what she had done, in its fullness. Opened not only the doors of heaven, but the gateways to the children of the sea" (Singh 149). Distances depicts the limits of cognition for good or ill supposing humanity may save itself from experiencing some future turmoil through recognition of its own ignorance, or, perhaps, human beings will seek answers past the boundaries they have known and explore the unexplored falling off the edge of the world like some Christopher Columbus prototype; or even more hopefully, humanity will question its environment as it learns to appreciate it-a balanced inquiry-which seeks to know the world in equivalence with its own growth. The striking relevance of the world that Singh depicts is, then, humanity. Humans destroy life in the search of immortality, they learn to discover what is not hidden, and the irony of life's purpose fits the investigation perfectly-life destroys itself only to become.

Notes

[1] "'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand" (Williams).

[2] "The principle gives precedence to simplicity; of two competing theories, the simpler explanation of an entity is to be preferred" (Encyclopedia Britannica).

[3] Reference to Jean Baudrillard's Theory of the Simulacra taken from Baudrillard's and Arthur B. Evans' "Simulacra and Science Fiction."

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