David Hall's Non-Duality Blog
My name's David Hall. I'm the creator of this web site and its content. I live in Wales in the UK.
I developed the Celtic design software KnotWorker, I create electronic music as Goldcup7, and I've written books on spirituality and non duality.
Hope you enjoy this Non Duality blog. New blogs are added on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Please use the Contact page if you have any questions or would like me to discuss a topic.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
Time can be understood as the continual transition of change. We know that planet Earth spins on its axis, giving the appearance that the sun spins around it. We divide one whole spin into 24 hours and call it a day. We divide one hour into sixty minutes and each minute into 60 seconds. We use these methods to measure what we call time.
Time is the flowing appearance of the universe. Without any change or flowing there is no time or sense of time. Time doesn't really go faster or slower. If the planet were to spin on its axis once in 12 hours that wouldn't make time faster. So time is constant in that sense.
It's important to realise that there are not really moments in time. There are never any definable chunks of time, like seconds and minutes. These are just human ways of measuring the continual flow of change. An hour isn't really made of 60 minutes. It is continual and indivisible. There isn't one minute then another then another and so on. Change just flows. So there are no real moments of time.
Really, there isn't even time. There is just an appearance of flowing change. This all appears Now. The appearance of change is a reflection and dispersion of a singular unchanging Oneness. Change is a reflection of Stillness. Stillness is the nature of Reality. There is truly nowhere to go and nothing to do, but in this Here and Now the dimensions of time and space can appear.
So there are no moments of time, just One. Well, really it's not even a moment of time. It's more like No Time. It can't be understood logically except by reflection of what it's not. Complete Stillness cannot be perceived, but by perceiving motion and change we can understand Stillness.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
Space has no limits. If we look up on a clear night our vision is only limited by the distant light being able to reach the eye. There is no end to the universe.
If we look down a street as far as a building that blocks our view it is only an appearance of solidity that prevents light traveling through it. The building isn't truly a limitation. It isn't truly completely solid. Although light can't pass through the bricks of the building, light is only a range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Other ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum can pass through it. Limitations are illusory.
There is no end to the space outside us or inside us. Truly there is no outside or inside. There is no real division to make it so. Our understanding of inside and outside is conceptual and based on the appearance of limitation of form. But there is no real limitation. The human body, for example, is a flowing form. It's porous, and although it seems to have an outer shell there is no real separation between the 'inside' and 'outside'. There is only a conceptual inside and outside.
So the space ahead of us, inside us, and behind us is simply unlimited space, Infinite Space. To go even further, really there is no space. The appearance of distance that gives the illusion of space is created by the seeming solidity of forms. The space is the place these forms take and the distance between them. Or so it seems.
The Infinite Space is No Space. It is all right Here. No-one has experienced any place other than here. We may perceive places 'over there' but once we get there we are still Here. Distance and space are only an appearance in the No Space right Here.
Where is Here? It cannot be described as it is the only place, but it is no place. It is no distance from anything. There is no distance. Yet this Infinite Spaceless Space allows the appearance of space and limitation.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
There is some wisdom to be found in understanding the four classical elements: earth, water, air and fire. They may seem a little dated these days when we have classified many elements in the periodic table and we know that water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, and that air contains a number of different elements like nitrogen, oxygen and argon. But there is a simple wisdom in the understanding of the four elements.
You see, the four elements are the expression of the reality that underlies the universe. Earth symbolises stability, unmoving, unchanging solidity. Water symbolises fluidity and continual change. Air symbolises boundlessness, transparency, clarity, being imperceptible but essentially present. Fire symbolises energy, vibration, expression and power. Even from a basic perspective we can see the progression from fire to air to water to earth. It shows the expressive force of fire contracting to air then water then earth. There is a range or spectrum of energy, from the most energetic to the least, from the most unstable to the most stable.
What's this got to do with Non-Duality? It's a way of understanding how the true non-dual nature of Reality is expressed in the appearance of the world. What that means is that the true non-dual nature of Reality is unseen, indivisible, unmoving, unchanging life energy. It's expressed in and through the world in the apparent separation of a Singularity into a spectrum of elements that range from near to far, from high to low, from light to dark, from fire to earth, from life to death. The four elements are the play of the Singularity expressed as an explosion and condensing of frequencies of vibration. In other words, the world of energy, gases, liquids and solids, is an expression of a Singular Reality as if blown apart. High energy is close to the heat, light and source of Life. Low energy becomes cold, distant and dark. Once apparently separated they can then interact as though they are different elements.
But even the most cold and distant of solid forms is not truly impermeably solid. There is only an appearance of solidity. Reality is a Singularity. It doesn't really get blown apart into a range of frequencies. That's just how it appears. The Reality is that there can never be anything other than the Singularity. The four elements are a play of separation that form the building blocks of the world, whilst the world remains timelessly as the Singularity.
The Singularity is the Quintessence. It seems to be the centre of the cross of the four elements, the place from which they have come, the source which separates outwards to form the elements. But truly the Quintessence is timelessly the whole of the elements, without separation. Picture a cross and consider each arm of the cross to be one of the four elements. It's not that the centre is the Quintessence. It is more like the Quintessence is the whole of the cross. The cross is truly undivided. The four elements are never truly separated. They only give the appearance of separation whilst remaining timelessly Whole, eternally One.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spiritual Practice
Following the Non-Duality understanding, it's important to recognise that we are not the doer and we are not the thinker. Actions are part of the flow of the world, and thoughts are also activity flowing with the world. We are not this. We perceive the flow of thoughts and actions.
There is a sense of 'I am this' that is thought based but pervades the body and its actions. There is a sense of 'I am this body'. There is a belief that 'I choose', but all choices made are influenced by the world, so free will is not as free as it seems to be. What we perceive is a sense of 'I am this' thinking, choosing and doing. But it is not accurate.
Firstly 'I am this body' is too vague a definition. It cannot be said accurately where the body begins and ends. The reason for this is that the body doesn't begin or end. It is a flowing 'part' of the world. It continually changes and breathes with the flowing nature of the apparent world. So really the body is infinite. That ultimately means there is no body. What we consider to be a 'body' is a vague idea of a limited form in an infinite indivisible universe. The idea of separate forms is useful but not accurate.
Secondly, we cannot be what we perceive. We perceive the body and its actions. We are not it. We perceive thoughts and the sense of identity. We are not this. This is where Detachment comes in. In spiritual practice we recognise that we are not anything that we can perceive. We are perceiving. The eye cannot see the eye, and deeper still: Awareness cannot perceive itself directly. Yet all that is perceived is nothing other than Awareness. The world appears within Awareness, but Awareness is not defined or limited by it.
So the Detachment we seek is a letting go of identity. This is not for us, this is for the human mind and the false sense of identity. We perceive the thoughts and the sense of identity trying through spiritual practice to achieve enlightenment, nirvana, or self-realisation. The false sense of self is trying to free itself from its confines of identity and be who we really are. But we are right here, perceiving this play of identity, the play of limitation and freedom.
The practice for the body-mind is to release itself from its limitations and just be. So it is a letting go of identity with thinking and doing. We do not think or do. We perceive this. Perceiving, or rather, Being Aware, is the natural state. It isn't a doing. It is the natural state of simply being. The world appears in this. The sense of self rises and falls in this. The practice is to just be aware and not get caught up in the plays and drama of the world.
It doesn't mean that the mind and body should distance itself from the world, shut itself away. It doesn't mean that the body-mind should give away all belongings. It doesn't mean that the body-mind abandons friendships and loved ones. It is more that the mind recognises there is only One, an Infinite Indivisible One. So we cannot be this or that. There is no-one other than the One. So the body-mind gradually changes so that its thoughts and actions fall into line with this deepening understanding of Oneness.
Ultimately, of course, the sense of separate self will fade away as the belief of limitation evaporates. It doesn't mean that there is a huge change. We are here all along. It just means that the selfish identity no longer gets in the way. There is an improved clarity between the true Selfless Self and the body-mind through which it is expressed in the world.