"The disorganizing process of duality is a fragmented mental structure. Its predominant characteristic is the endless categories of what seem to be opposites locked in competition or conflict, like insiders versus outsiders, Catholics versus Protestants, Muslims versus Jews, Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader, and on and on. These perceived opposites give rise to endless divides between pretty-ugly, winner-loser, strong-weak, and the like. Our minds become trained to think in terms of hierarchies, and our language becomes distorted, structured in such a way that judgments and projections are mistaken for reality, and fear is confused with awe and veneration.

"When duality is activated, a pervasive belief in separation is inevitable, and fear is the overriding emotion. The perception of fear causes the body's cells, including the brain cells, to shift into survival mode, focused only on the perceived threat. Everything but this narrow band of perception is blocked out. As the cells are locked down in survival mode, they cannot grow or regenerate, making our persistent fear a slow march toward disease and death.

"Attack — mental, emotional, and physical — is the reaction to fear and the modus operandi for dealing with the so-called enemy. The need to attack is not questioned, only whether to do it now or later. These attacks are considered moral because the enemy provokes them and is blamed for what we do. This leads to thinking that harming others is a win, necessary to keep oneself from being harmed, which would be a loss. Thus, even killing others can be called a victory.

"Attack is sanctioned, of course, only when done by those authorized to impose control. Parents can spank, the state can kill, nations can annihilate, while certain others are punished when they attack. As no consistent logic is involved, who is punished for attacking is inconsistent and frequently unpredictable, producing distorted, meaningless results. No explanation we would want to hold up to scrutiny explains the disproportionate number of poor blacks and Hispanics locked up behind bars is one example.

"Duality and the physical world are inseparable. In the dualistic mind-set, the material realm is experienced as a place of constant lack. The fear of material scarcity affects every thing — beliefs about how much money, physical beauty, or the number of physical possessions one needs to have. Driven by fear, we strive to satisfy our cravings and the impulse to possess what we do not have by ensuring that others get less. Grasping and greediness, hoarding and scheming are coping mechanisms to deal with the driving fear that exists because, no matter how much one has, it is never enough.

"Immediate wants must be satisfied. Responsibility for duality's destructive consequences is shunned, and the cost is forced upon others who receive no benefit. Take the coal plant owners, for example, who maximize their profit by minimizing their accountability for the pollution their plant generates, while their employees suffer health problems or their neighbors' property values diminish.

"In duality consciousness, individuals see themselves as better or lesser than others, resulting in a hierarchy that mirrors the layers of fear. There is no common source that unites everyone within this system. Only fear is shared by all, but this commonality produces no bonds because its sources are as numerous as those who experience it.

"When fear is the problem, it cannot be cured by all the material possessions in the world. It's like trying to mend a broken heart by sticking a bandage on your chest. As fear is a mental structure that provokes an emotional reaction in the body that tells us a threat is present, it must be healed at the point of the fracture — the mental structure. Thus, only love can heal fear, as love's mental structure fills the body with the sensations that arise in the presence of lovingkindness, telling us all is well.

"We err in thinking that those who harm us are fundamentally different from us. Most of us respond in remarkably consistent ways to our environment, which is inevitably built upon one of these two distinct thought systems. One supports happiness, and the other promotes misery."