A Living Mirror: Unity of Faith in Omnivoyance and Drstisrsti Vedanta

In De Visione Dei (DVD), Cusanus outlines the non-reciprocal dependence of vision and appearance as the metaphorical reflectivity of an infinite and vivifying mirror that serves as a semeiotic device for the dynamic relational triad of observer, observing, and observed. This image resonates deeply with the pseudo-phenomenological approach to non-duality as exemplified in the Vivaraṇa school of Vedānta developed from Ādi Śaṅkarācārya through Padmapāda and Prakāśātman. Additionally, the “seeing-only” doctrine of Vedic non-dualism establishes a peaceful communion of learned ignorance transcending and including ordinary perception that alternatively illustrate the catholicity of Cusanus’ embodied theology. Cusanus’ emphasis on the unifying power of vision parallels the synesthetic and experiential dimensions central to the pedagogical transmission of dṛiṣṭisṛiṣṭi and pratibimbavāda. Both frameworks, in their own ways, highlight how the senses serve as channels toward supra-sensuous luminosity, and conduits for diffraction. The flexibility of approaches used by both Cusa and Advaita thinkers in this regard display a relativization of rites that suggests a wider unity of faith than perhaps originally intended.