Q: You seem like a different person and far away from me in space.

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Central Nevada, halfway between Tonopah and Ely

You seem like a different person and far away from me in space.

How are you not?

I am a different person than you and I am far away… from the perspective of the separate self (the dualistic viewpoint). 

"From" a non-dualistic "perspective" there is no subject (thus no objects either) and therefore me, you, distance, etc cannot exist in any real sense.  Distance is the measurement between two objects and "you" and "I" would be objects (even as a subject, still an object), so "from" this "perspective" neither exists in any concrete sense.  (I've used quotes here because strictly speaking, there is no perspective at all)

We've communicated before, so I know you are immersed in the non-duality consideration and I therefore need not discuss it here.  Instead, let's play a bit of a perspective game and see if we can come up with another explanation of our common experience.

Imagine that you are sitting on a chair in a room 100 miles from me sitting on a chair of my own.  The room you are in is windowless and the door closed and other than the chair and you, there is nothing in the room.

As you sit there in the darkness, you know that I am sitting on my own chair 100 miles away.  ...Wait...  That's not correct.  Isn't it more true to say that you only imagine that I am sitting on a chair and that you imagine that I am 100 miles away?  After all, how do you know for sure?

Let's add a phone to your room.  You call me and I tell you I am sitting on a chair.  Do you now know I am sitting on a chair?  Isn't it possible I didn't tell you the truth and so therefore you still can only imagine that I am sitting on a chair (and even it were true, you still can only imagine it).

Let's translate this a bit.  From your experience, all you know about my experience is what you imagine of it.  Even when I tell you I'm sitting on a chair, you still have to conjure up words and images in your own mind to represent what you hear me saying, and thus you are really just translating my words into what you imagine my experience might be.  Said another way: your experience of my experience remains your experience alone.

Now this may seem too simplistic to model your real life, but let's test it a bit by taking it outside the confines of the little room. 

If you and I were to meet, would you know my experience as I know it?  No, of course not.  If I told you of my experience, would you then know it as I do?  Again, of course not.  ALL of your experience is from your perspective and thus everything you experience must be a singular view of experience, and therefore can never ever include the actual experience of another.

Stop for a moment and consider that.  We have just come up with a demonstration that the entire world, as viewed from your perspective, is entirely of your creation!

Let's move to the park and join a friend.  From your point of view, the tree over there is viewed only from your perspective.  Your friend standing next to you articulating her view of the same tree is heard by you and thus again translated into your understanding of her perspective (and therefore remains your perspective of hers).  And it's worth noting that the tree over there, from your experience, is really only your brain's translation of reflected light (a bunch of colors and shades), a translation that calls it "a tree over there".  From your immediate experience, you really have no idea what is actually happening… it is only a personal translation that gives you "evidence" of the "tree".

Yes, I seem to be a different person than you, but I can only be known by you through your own perspective and therefore (it can be argued) I am your creation and thus you. 

Yes, I do seem to be far away, yet if I were writing this in a house next door to yours, wouldn't your experience of me be the same as if I was 100 miles away?

See what we've done here?  We created another world-view that is different than the standard model (and yet still remains dualistic).  The common world-view is just… well, a certain world-view that is quite convincing... but only from within the limits of its perspective.  Yet when we acknowledge that it is dependent upon a number of assumptions, we open the door to other possibilities.  Conversely, when we fixate on a single perspective, there is little room for real exploration.  It is only when we free our mind from the responsibility to define our "world" that other possibilities become available.

Again to be clear: the example above was not one of a non-dual perspective (although admittedly, it hints toward it).  It was simply an exercise to create a different viewpoint that acknowledges that you and I can be one-and-the-same (and thus there would be no distance between us).

Let yourself explore your experience.  Really explore it.

Discover that all you really know is the experiencing itself.