Crossing the Dharmic Threshold: On Dissociation, Power, and the Ethical Field

This essay reconceptualizes the ethical field as a dynamic, pluriversal ecology of interdependent relations, drawing on Sāṁkhya metaphysics, Mahāyāna Buddhist Pratītyasamutpāda, and relational ontology to argue that existence unfolds within a co-creative matrix of responsibility and intelligence. Dissociation from this field—crossing the dharmic threshold through the illusion of autonomy—fractures the ethical relation, fostering an adharmic crisis marked by extractive power and ecological impoverishment. By privileging relational intelligence (Buddhi) over fragmented relativism, the essay critiques colonial-modern epistemologies that prioritize autonomous relata over interdependent relationality. Through the practice of subtractive teleology, it proposes an ontological return to the ethical field, aligning human action with dharma as mutual flourishing. Integrating insights from contemporary thinkers like Barad, Bateson, and Levin, the essay envisions intelligence as an ethical ecology, offering a decolonial framework for restoring relational harmony in a pluriversal world.