I would also like to point out that I will be adhering to talking about painting in the applied part of the exposition to come.
This is because the imagery in this form of art gives us a wider temporal perspective into creation, as we have access to creation that is fifteen thousand years old, as well as more contemporary works. Further, this is also due to practical reasons - as painting can be reproduced in good fidelity on this platform, as it is a two dimensional, non temporal art form.
The reason I am stating this is to point out that, even though I am taking this branch of art as a showcase, the points I am making can be found in other art forms as well, and should not be seen as applicable only to this one format.
Advaita translated from Sanskrit means ''non- dual'', while Vedanta loosely means "the ultimate knowledge of the vedas".
Together, these two terms stand to represent the notion that all is one and one is all. Making a parallel with Western philosophy, this world view could be seen as idealistic monism.
In essence, Advaita Vedanta proposes that the nature of all is non-dual, meaning that dualism stems from the seeming differentiation of the self from the absolute, real, or the nature of the world and universe.
In order to easier demonstrate the core differences between Dualism and Non-dualism, I believe these two following illustrations would be useful as a guide.
As we see in the illustration, dualism is based on the idea that we become aware of an outer world, and that awareness is something out or beside of the essence of the integral subject.
On the other hand, a non-dualistic approach is one that proposes that the subject of awareness in in fact one with awareness itself. The subject appears in the field of awareness and is awareness itself.
Having come across this approach, I have further deducted that within a system such as the Advaita one, the subject is, in fact, a process that makes a spatial- cognitive access points and shaping stimuli in and for awareness across all tree directions of time and space.
Also, this means that subjects are much ''wider'' than the limited temporary conscious flow that we can even ever become aware of. The limitation comes form the fact that the subject is shaped trough previous experience - somewhat like water shapes the soil with the force of a river.
Not to go into this notion in more detail now. Still, for the more curious ones among the readers, I will include this graph that suggests a integrated ''self'' within the sensory presence of a subject of consciousness. This system uses the 5 aggregate system that form a self in the Vedic thought.
