Beyond Black and White: Writing from a space of Non-Duality

An invitation to resist the temptation to divide the world into neat, digestible categories.

I AM A BROWN WRITER

With a white mother
and a black father
I have become a brown writer

And so in my “brownness”
I refuse
to write things
in black and white

Just like everything in me
I see the complex melting
as a law of nature
in which black and white
is not a category of existence
not a category of understanding
but just a transitory state
in the union of things
that only the humans, so often,
seem to resist.

I am a brown writer
and even if my screen is white
and the letters are black
my writings are always in brown.

WRITING FROM A SPACE OF NON-DUALITY

Dear Friends,

As a “brown” writer, born to a “white” mother and a “black” father, I carry the complexity of “both worlds” in my blood, bones, and identity. Yet, my story—like all stories—resists the simple binaries of “black” and “white”. The unity of my parents taught me about “brown”. In my “brownness,” I refuse to write in absolutes, to reduce life to easy categories that flatten human experience. Just as my heritage is a union of seeming contrasts, so too is the world I observe and write about.

Black and white are not just colors, they have become shorthand for polarities: right or wrong, good or bad, us versus them. These binaries shape the way we categorize not only others, but also ourselves, making the world appear simpler, more defined. Yet, this is an illusion—a construct we cling to for power, or for comfort or any other reason—but a construct nonetheless. In nature, there is no clear-cut division between black and white. There is blending, there is fusion, there is evolution. The world, in its essence, is a living symphony of colors, tones, and layers. The human condition is no different.

The more I live, the more I learn that black and white thinking limits not only how we view others, but how we understand ourselves. It constrains our thinking and our experience through rigidity, instead of embracing the full spectrum of what it means to be human and to be alive.

My “brownness” is not even about the color of my skin, —it is the texture of my thoughts and a rejection of dualism. It is a recognition of the rich, nuanced space that exists between binaries, a space where freedom begins.

The daily act of seeing beyond black and white is an act of liberation. It liberates us from the weight of categorization, from the need to fit into predefined boxes that often shrink our potential and our humanity. Non-duality—the recognition that seeming opposites are part of a greater whole, constantly intertwining—offers a path to deeper understanding. It asks us to move beyond oversimplification, beyond the need to label and judge, and to instead hold space for complexity, paradox, and ambiguity.

In this space, we discover that human beings are not fixed identities. We are fluid, dynamic, and interconnected. We, and our thoughts and feelings, can be many things at once—brown, black, white, or none of these—without having to choose one over the other. Embracing this truth, however uncomfortable or unfamiliar, opens us up to a more authentic existence. It allows us to see the world, and ourselves, in fuller, richer shades of being.

As a writer, I see my work as a medium for exploring this non-duality, for revealing the complexity and interconnectedness of human experience.

Even though I type black letters onto a white screen, my writing is always “brown”—alive with layers, nuances, and the refusal to settle for easy answers. It is an invitation to my readers to dwell in the gray and in the colorful areas, to resist the temptation to divide the world into neat, digestible categories.

This non-dual, nuanced space is where real freedom lies. It is a space where we can honor our multiple dimensions, and where we can begin to recognize that the “other” is not separate from us, but a reflection of the same intricate, shared humanity.

In a world that too often insists on black and white, the challenge—and the freedom—comes in seeing all the colors that lie in between and in us.

QUOTES FOR INSPIRATION:

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
– Rumi

“We are all so much more complicated than our categories. We are all more fluid, more nuanced, more dynamic than the boxes we fit ourselves into.”
– Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
— Albert Camus

“ Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.”
— Walt Whitman

“There is no black-and-white situation. It’s all part of life. Highs, lows, middles.”
— Van Morrison

Stay tuned…

… In my next post I will be exploring yet another way to embrace non-duality through the eyes of my daugther.

Love,
Rose

💛I hope these thoughts mean something to you. If so, it would mean a lot to me if you take a moment to comment, share or like the post. And if you haven’t subscribed to my newsletter yet, please do. 💛