Philosophically, perhaps logically, ONE cannot exist for who could then make the observation, "ONE"? If "illusion" is all, then who or what makes that observation? I can't remember the Hindi term but it corresponds, somewhat, to "epiphany"; maybe that is why that experience is best described as ineffable! Many parallels there are between Christianity and Hinduism. Many Christians are afraid to acknowledge that fact but I would attribute that to either ignorance (most likely) or lack of faith, or both! If I remember right Vivekananda was one of the early pioneers who introduce the Western world to the dualistic form of Hinduism. I'm really shooting form the hip here as it has been a LOT of years since I read his main opus. I have it somewhere in my stacks! Using Google would be cheating. Another light on the non-dualistic side of the equation would be Paramahansa Yogananda of the Eternal Light Fellowship (Again, I'm guessing) located in Mt Washington, Los Angeles. I met him some years before he died, He was a very interesting and intelligent fellow and was well acquainted with the religions of the world. I may have to check those out and refresh my memory. You've got me intrigued now!

As for individuality? Hmmm? There was, presumably, an eternity of nothingness before your consciousness and upon your arrival you did not have self-awareness. If you were really blessed you may recall the moment when you first differentiated yourself from others and your environment. At any rate, you became an aware being and an individual. That means many things in a world full of individuals. You spend a lifetime learning how you are different and how you are the same. You discover that your thoughts are not your own, for your language is not your own. You discover history and culture. You learn where the walls are. If you are really sharp you see what a really rare thing an original thought is! You reflect and ponder your mortality for shortly after coming to self awareness you learn of the reality and universality of death. And, in this world at least, you know that self awareness can go away and that death puts a final end to that individual that was you.

In the passage I cited above, Job says "Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever. For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another..." (Job 19, 23:27a). The continuance, the persistence of awareness and individuality resides in most everybody, the hope of or the sure knowledge of. IT is the stuff of religion.

A friend of mine from college days wrote a sonnet which I have always kept. I lost track of John Pair many years ago and on more than one occasion have tried to discover his where abouts. The copy I have appeared in the UC Bakersfield College press "Orpheus" 1976. Assume all rights his own:

BLACK WINE
by John Pair

Along the closing shadowed day-track drifts
The bearer of black wine. His flack of dreams
Beneath a sable silent cloak, he seems
To carry lightly the burden of dark gifts.
His steps are slow, unseeing eyes he lifts
To blankly mirror a sunset's fading gleams.
A phantom announced by the night hawk's sudden screams
Taps the stones with his staff as twilight sifts
Over his shoes with dust. We sit and drink
The blind man's wine in summer's bright cafes
And in silent sun-struck windows of old hotels.
In moon-dim salons of the laughing dead we sink
Into ourselves and grasp for all the ways
To cheat this living wine the phantom sells.