Evidence · Case 05 · Relativism
The Advaita “levels of reality” reply (competing explanation)
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
A Hindu response, especially from Advaita Vedanta, is that apparent contradictions dissolve across two levels of reality, an everyday level where distinctions are real and an absolute level where all is one. On this view “personal” and “impersonal” describe reality at different depths rather than clashing outright.
Sources
On the two levels of reality (vyavaharika and paramarthika) in Advaita Vedanta
Objections & responses
- Christian theology also uses a two-level framework: analogical language about God, apophatic theology, Aquinas on the limits of concepts. Doesn’t the question about relocating the clash to a higher level apply to Christian apophaticism as well?
The parallel is fair: Christian theology also holds that God exceeds our concepts. The difference is that Christian apophaticism denies that our concepts capture God fully while affirming that God is truly personal, not less than personal; Advaita’s higher level denies that God is personal at all, so that the personal God of bhakti is finally provisional. That is a real disagreement about whether personality is ultimate or penultimate, and it is the disagreement to name rather than a generic complaint about relocating the clash.