Spirituality
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
The aim of spiritual seeking is often enlightenment. With Non-Duality the aim, once one understands the teaching, is to realise the non-dual nature, to achieve Liberation, Enlightenment or Self Realisation. There are lots of questions about this, sometimes about the fear of totally letting go of everything. Let's consider that.
Certainly, for Self-Realisation there is a need to let go of everything. The other terms mean the same really, Liberation, Enlightenment, Moksha, Nirvana, etc. They all point to that recognition of Reality as it is. That Reality is without limits or division. So the person we think we are is not who we really are. Spiritually minded people, of course, would recognise that they're not the human body. Some may believe that they are a soul.
The soul is and isn't accepted in Non-Duality. It is accepted as being part of the play of Maya, the illusion that is the appearance of the world. There is the material dense world that humans live in, and there is the finer, hidden world of souls and the spiritual realm. This includes the development of the soul, incarnating in human form, getting caught in the wheel of Samsara, the endless round of rebirth. The soul lives life after life after life, learning, making mistakes, getting tangled up in karma. But in Non-Duality this is seen as the play of the Infinite One Being seeming to become many, but not really.
We could consider souls as sparks of divine spirit. But that's not strictly true. They're not really sparks of the divine spirit released into the world. The world is the Divine Spirit, only appearing to be less like or more like the divine. Just as the human body isn't really limited, neither is the soul. There really is no divide in the Infinite One. What seems to divide the Infinite One is also the Infinite One - the space and the substance are the Infinite One.
So we can say the soul seems to be limited but really isn't. It takes on human form and experiences human life. That's what's happening here. The human world is heavy and dense. Dark clouds loom over it sometimes. Humanity is limited by the hardened physical limitations of matter and the hardened mental limitations of the human mind. The human mind develops a pointed sense of itself as a separate individual in a competitive world. This is the opposite of Reality, which is selfless and limitless, whole and complete. But the human experience allows a lot of possibilities. Personalities develop. There is a great variety in the One. All humans are different and express their particular developmental experiences as well as the influence of the soul.
The release of the soul from the endless round of rebirth comes when the soul's attachment to matter and form is dissolved. This comes about when the sense of being a separate self is released. It is the Self-Realisation that there is no self. It is Nirvana, the extinguishing of the sense of being a separate self. It is Liberation, freedom from the bondage of illusory limitation. When this Enlightenment occurs, when the sense of being a separate self is no more, there is no subjugation to karma. It is clear that not only is the body unlimited, the mind and the soul are unlimited. This means that there is no body, no mind, no soul. There is only What Is. This What Is is here right now. It is only the sense and belief of limitation that makes it seem otherwise. But that is the development of humanity in this time.
So when Self-Realisation occurs, it doesn't mean that the world ceases to exist, being sucked back into the Singularity. The Singularity is always timelessly here. Nothing changes, only the sense of being a separate self is nowhere to be found. The human in which this realisation occurs does not identify as a human, a mind, a soul, or anything. It just is. Yet the human life continues. The Awakened Human (for want of a better expression) still has its personality but without the person. It has its flow and role in the human world, as momentum has always been active in it anyway. The human life changes in a way that it is no longer guided by the selfish aims of a separate self. There is no ego in the Awakened Human, so the human life flows naturally with the way of What Is.
Similarly with the soul. It doesn't mean that the soul is dissolved upon Self-Realisation. The soul flows with the spiritual nature of the universe in further play and adventure, in the Divine Play of Multiplicity.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
It may seem that the spiritual journey is a long one, or indeed a never-ending story. Well, it is and it isn't. It can seem like there's a lot to learn. Some people practise meditation all their life and feel they never reach the goal, so to speak. The goal for meditation and other spiritual practices is often Enlightenment. There can develop a frustration for the spiritual seeker, that they have been meditating for many years, they have changed their diet, they have studied the enlightened masters, but they still haven't become enlightened.
The problem is that the seeker never will become enlightened. True Enlightenment, Self-Realisation, Nirvana or Liberation, is the loss of the seeker. Self-Realisation is the recognition that there is no seeker and there never was a seeker - there is only What Is. This realisation is more like the dropping away of identity, the sense of limitation and separation, whereby what really is is revealed to have been always as it is. This Infinite Reality is not something objective that can be found. Searching for it is an error. Trying to achieve it is flawed. Yet we search and try, because the seeker feels a need to be complete, to achieve enlightenment, oneness or happiness.
This Infinite Reality, the revealing of which is called Enlightenment, is never hidden. The seeker develops as a sense of being a limited being that longs for wholeness. Wholeness is the natural state, but when there is a sense of being limited it feels that we have fallen from the blissful state and we need to find it again. Not only is this evident in spiritual seeking, but in all humanity's search for happiness. Humanity's sense of separate identity gives rise to the sense of being incomplete. Being an individual and being separate from the whole are two sides of the same coin. But it's a mistake. There are no limits or divisions in the Whole.
Enlightenment, Self-Realisation, Nirvana or Liberation, is the dropping of the belief and sense of there being limits. The seeker will remain dissatisfied until its sense of being a limited being is dropped. So in Liberation there is no seeker. The seeker never was. Who achieves this self-realisation when the realisation is that there is no limited self?
Nobody achieves it. It is a recognition of Nothingness. Well, it's not even a recognition. It's just the natural Beingness without the clouding of the human sense of identity and limitation. It's the end of the ego, the end of the identity, the end of the person. That can sound bleak. It is a death of sorts. It's not something that people generally want to hear or accept. Who wants to hear that the person they think they are isn't real, and in fact they are Nothing?
But it's not really bleak. This dropping of identity and limitation is Freedom. It is Liberation. Truly you have no limits, to the extent that there is no 'you' or 'me' or 'them'. There is only What Is. But while we still seek to find it we chase our own tail. It doesn't mean we have to stop meditating or start acting in a free way, doing what we want, because it makes no difference. It means that the answer is here already whatever seems to happen.
It helps to know that you are not the limited being that was assumed to be limited. It helps to know that it isn't a world of 'me' and 'them'. There is just What Is. Knowing this, why not live that way? Of course, it's not really you that does this or that, or chooses this way or that way, or even you that assumed you were limited. You are none of this. Are you the seeker? No. The apparent seeker is perceived. The sense of being frustrated is perceived. The sense of feeling incomplete is perceived. The realisation that there is no 'me' is the end of frustration and feeling incomplete. But it doesn't happen to anyone. It just is. Reality just is. It can't be found by looking for it. It's here already.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
Humanity tends to label some things or places as sacred, holy, or spiritual. For example, there may be a sacred spring that has been considered to be a stream or well with spiritual significance. There are churches, mosques and temples that are considered holy. Even in my writing I describe some symbols as being spiritual. These things and places seem to have a peace and holiness about them.
This is wonderful, and there are some places that seem more spiritually significant than others, but in Non-Duality we recognise that there is only the Infinite One. There can't really be anything other than the Holy One. There can't be a place that is holy and another place that is not. There can't be a spiritual object or person and a non-spiritual object or person. There is only the Holy One.
This appearance of spiritual and non-spiritual, holy and unholy, sacred and profane exemplifies the error of dualistic thinking. It is just a play within the holiness of the Infinite One. We may consider these opposites and recognise that they are not clear cut, black and white. There is a spectrum or continuum of difference between them. So between the sacred and profane there is a wide scale of difference, including what we may describe as 'most sacred', 'secular', 'irreverent' and 'unholy'. This is the way with opposites. They can be considered as a continuum.
But this continuum of opposites is just a play of stretching out Oneness into otherness. There seems to be what is close to Infinite Oneness and what is far from Infinite Oneness, but Infinite Oneness is all there really is. Nothing can be far from the Infinite One. It can only appear to be near or far. This 'spiritual' recognition breaks down the whole dualistic view of reality. There is not a divide of the Holy One into holy and unholy. Even in the supposed division, we can recognise a non-separate continuum. Indeed, this continuum is the only way that a division can seem to appear. It's not a division at all. More like a stretching out of Oneness.
We're getting to the recognition here of the nature of the apparent separation in the world. This apparent separation of the Holy One can never happen. It can only pretend to happen. Separation, near and far, can only appear in Infinity by method of illusion. There is no unholy. There is no heaven and hell or a world in-between. There is only the Holy One, no matter what appears to happen.
There is only the Sacred. There is only the Spiritual. Reality is this sacred, holy, spiritualness. We give it these special names and utilise the sense of opposites to emphasise its significance. Really, the Holy One isn't special or not-special. It just is. There aren't holy or unholy places or people, there is just what is. But it's not a mundane What Is. It is holier than can be imagined.
It is the higher of the opposites that points to that which is beyond appearance, and the lower of the opposites that allows it to seem to appear by contrast. This Holy of Holies doesn't really appear. Appearance is its opposite. It is unseen, for who can see it? There is none other than the Holy of Holies. We cannot say here it is or there it is. It is right here, everywhere and nowhere. In no place and all places.
If we search for holiness we mistakenly presume it isn't here already. If we think we have found holiness, then we mistakenly believe that there is something other than holiness. So what do we do? We rest assured that there is only the Holy of Holies. If we think otherwise, recognise that this thinking is just a play of opposites. There is only the Holy of Holies.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
In spiritual development there is a point where it is recognised that the body is not me. If I am spiritual then I'm not this apparent material form. I'm not a human. I don't have arms and legs. It is reasoned that I am the one who animates the body, I am not the body, but the body is mine.
This sense of detachment from the body can continue and develop, so that the sense of 'me' itself diminishes. This is because the hardened 'material' form has a greater density and feeling of separation from the whole. It is not separate from the whole, of course, but that's how it feels at the point of density and apparent limitation of the human form. The ego identity that is the sense of being separate from others gradually recedes as spiritual development progresses. There is a greater sense of oneness with the whole, and the ego and identity that were so important and dominant lose their power. The peace and joy that is naturally present is experienced more and more as the ego diminishes and the sense of 'me' fades.
As this sense of 'me' fades, the sense of 'mine' also fades. Where before we may have had strong attachments to objects, considering them to be our property, seeking new things to buy and own, this becomes less interesting. The sense of attachment and ownership diminishes. So also with people. We don't rely on people so much to make us happy. We don't cling to people as before. We don't crave company. It doesn't mean that we dislike people or stop loving them. It means we have a healthier approach to people. The boundaries between 'me' and 'other' thin out more and more.
But we still have some attachments during this process. We still have a sense that although the body isn't me, it is mine: I see the world through this body, so it is mine. This too will diminish as spiritual development progresses, because it is not 'mine'. Nothing is 'mine'. The culmination of spiritual development is the dropping of 'me' and 'mine' and knowing clearly that there is only What Is. This Clear Knowing is here already. Clear Knowing is the nature of What Is. It is Pure Consciousness.
Once the sense of 'me' fades completely the sense of 'mine' also disappears. It is then that Clear Knowing is no longer clouded by the mistaken belief of 'I am this' and 'This is mine'. There are no boundaries, limitations, divisions. There is only the perfect peace and clarity. There is no 'me' who has problems, who grows, changes, lives and dies. There is only What Is. It is in Consciousness that this play of identity, possessions, gain and loss, and spiritual development plays out.