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 Human Experience
When asked who I am I may give my name. That's usually the expected answer. But that's not really who I am. That's just what people call me, or call this human being. Am I this human being? Let's explore.
Let's analyse what I am if I consider myself to be a human being. Okay, so the human is a complex organism, but what I'm concerned about is: where are the limits of this human being? We can assume that this human form is limited by its skin, hair and nails. That sums up the outer 'shell' of the human form. But there's a problem. It's always changing. The skin is in a constant flow of change. We don't really notice, but dead skin falls off and is continually replaced. Hair and nails are always growing. We cut our hair and nails and consider then that they are no longer part of us.
So this superficially stable defined human outer shell is always changing. There's another problem. The human form interacts with the environment (the planet of which it is made) by breathing in gas, eating solids, drinking liquids, assimilating some of this and ejecting some (in a transformed manner). This human form is always changing. Not a second goes by without the body changing. You don't really notice it. There is an appearance of temporary permanence, but really the body never stops changing.
There are also questions about my limits in time if I am a human being. When did I begin? We may arbitrarily say it was when I was conceived. But that isn't a fixed point in time. There is a slow process of bringing a new human form into being. If we consider it carefully enough it can be seen that there is no real beginning. We say we have a family tree, where we come from. This human form comes from the flow and interactions of the human beings that preceded it. There isn't a true starting point that defines where a human being begins.
Similarly, at the death of this human form, it will break down into elements that return to the flow of the planet. I say 'return to' but they never left. This human body is really an expression of the flow of the planet. It is not truly an independent discrete form. It only seems to be that way.
The human mind develops the sense of independent discrete identity based on the way the body and world appears. But it's not true. I'm not really a human being, because I find no ends to the form that I superficially call a human being. There is only an appearance of limits to this human form. To identify with it is to believe in a false limitation.
Truly there are no limits. There is no limited identity. I am not this or that. I am.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
It's a well-known question without a clear answer: Do we have free will? The reason for the unclear or unsatisfying answers is that the question has some flaws. The question is based on a vague assumption of 'we'. Really we need to know who 'we' are, then we can look at whether 'we' have free will.
The usual assumption is that 'we' are humans. But if you understand enough of what I've written previously this won't be a surprise: we are not humans. The 'human' is not really defined, as it is a flowing, changing quality of planet Earth and the universe. The 'human' is not separate, and although seemingly distinct, it is not truly distinct from the universe. If we trace inward to the core of our being we find that we are not 'human'. We are the same Infinite One Consciousness that is the nature of all seemingly separate beings.
So this separate individual 'me' can never be clearly defined. It is a flawed identity. Our true nature is limitless Consciousness. So instead of asking, "Does Helen decide what drink she will have?" it could be worded as, "Does Consciousness decide what drink Helen will have?" It's still a bit flawed, because 'Helen' isn't really precise and accurate, but we'll go with that.
In answering this we have to recognise that the flow of thoughts in Helen's mind decides what drink she will have, based on tastes and preferences developed through the human experience. Taste buds, availability, and life events all come into play for this simple decision. So it seems wrong to say that Consciousness is making the decision. Maybe if Helen's mind was pure and clear, untainted by thoughts, then Consciousness would shine through in all Helen's actions, including choices. For example, instead of Helen choosing coffee with three sugars based on an addictive preference for coffee and sweetness, a drink of water may be more conducive to Helen's health. Consciousness would have no preference as such, but the natural flow would be more in line with the true nature of Consciousness lighting up the human experience with love, goodness, peace and wellbeing.
So generally the mind plays a part in choices. The mind thinks that it is a separate identity making choices. But really there isn't a true identity, and what choices seem to be made are influenced by the flow of experiences. In other words, just as the 'human' is a flowing quality of the planet, so are the choices that the mind seems to make. It is all the flowing of the universe. There is no true division to enable us to say 'I' chose 'that'. There is a play of choice, an illusion of a chooser choosing choices. Truly there is only Consciousness.
But Consciousness is certainly free. There are no true boundaries to Consciousness. Consciousness is freedom itself. Consciousness doesn't choose, restrict, deny or allow. It just is what it is. What appears, appears. We're getting to the deeper questions of: Does Consciousness create the world, does it co-ordinate what happens in the world, and does it pre-ordain events to happen in the world?
Again we have some flaws in the questions here. There is an assumption that there is a 'world', but there is only Consciousness. There is an assumption that events really happen. Consider this: it would be wrong of someone to say, "I flew to the moon last night whilst I was sleeping." We know that it was a dream of flying to the moon - that didn't really happen. It is similar with the appearance of the world - it is like a dream within Consciousness. It doesn't really happen. There is no space or time for things to travel and change. Nothing ever happens.
So in an absolute sense, there is no choice, there is no choosing, because nothing ever happens. Consciousness just is what it is. This is the Absolute Truth, where no movement or change happens. Realise that so-called beginnings rise out of Infinity, and so-called ends return to Infinity, all the while being Infinity. So to say that Infinity begins or ends something is flawed. There is only ever Infinite Consciousness.
But we can make a concession, a step down from Pure Truth to relative truth, and say something to satisfy the mind somewhat. Well, I'll give it a try anyway. The appearance of the world arises in Consciousness, made of Consciousness, perceived by Consciousness. It is Consciousness that allows this appearance by means of opposites as if the Singularity of Consciousness splits into opposites and multiplies. As part of this splitting, the opposites of Creation and Destruction arise from the Singularity simultaneously. So although Consciousness/God doesn't make anything happen, from the human perspective it can appear that Consciousness/God created the world, whilst seeming to destroy the Singularity.
But the opposite forces we perceive as separate are not really separate. The world isn't created and the Singularity isn't destroyed. The force of creation/will that seems to make things happen is cancelled out by its opposite, destruction/restriction. Everything that seems to be done must be undone, so the nature of the Singularity remains. This is the Law of Opposites that applies to all aspects of the appearance of the world. The Singularity of Consciousness/God remains as it is. The appearance of the world of multiplicity is illusory.
So, to answer the question: Do we have free will? There is no 'we', no separate individual that makes choices. There is no will to do something, because nothing really happens. But there is freedom. Freedom is the pure nature of our Infinite Being.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
Ever wondered what being human was all about? We're going to take a look here at what I call 'the human experience'. It helps to have an understanding of Non-Duality, which I can very briefly summarise as the spiritual teaching that there is not a multiplicity, there is only What Is, which is our true nature, and has been described by sages as Sat-Chit-Ananda or Being-Consciousness-Bliss. Non-Duality is the recognition that we are not limited human beings, we are the Infinite One Consciousness, also known as God or the Self of Selves, and our nature is peace.
If that resonates with you, read on. If not, you can find out more from some of my other blogs.
So, looking at the world from the Non-Duality perspective, what is this human experience? Let's start from the beginning. Okay, there isn't really a beginning. The beginning only seems to appear from the timeless Infinite Being. Let's start there. The Infinite One, the Supreme Being is Pure Consciousness, formless and perfect peace. There is no movement in the Supreme Being, because there is nowhere to go. There is nothing other than the Infinite One.
Imagine the perfectly still surface of a lake. Perfect Peace. Now imagine that in the centre of that lake there is a motion, a fluctuation, causing a ripple, then multiple ripples, flowing outwards from the centre till they reach the limits of the lake. This is how the universe appears in the Supreme Being, in Consciousness. Vibration and fluctuation appears within the stillness and ripples out, till it reaches limits. See how the spiritual realms are created from the initial fluctuation in the Stillness, and multiplicity seems to spread outwards from the Still Centre. The Still Centre then stands as the shining light of the universe, as God the Creator of all. Spiritual beings are formed close to the Centre, and they go outwards in exploration across the lake, experiencing a range of frequencies in the fluctuation, from close to the Centre to far from the Centre, from close to the Light to far from the Light.
Close to the Centre the spiritual beings are near God and in God's likeness. But as they stretch further away they become less and less like the Centre of Peace. They become hardened, increasingly dense, and their limits seem more defined. It is in these denser realms, seemingly far from the Heart of God, that the human experience arises. Planet Earth develops, forms within the planet develop and evolve. Humanity evolves to a point of dominance, developing intelligence and concepts of itself as important.
The human being is far from the Heart of God. So much so that its qualities are a poor reflection of God. Further from the peace of God, humanity becomes warlike. Further from the Selfless Whole Being of God, humanity becomes selfish and incomplete. Further from the Spiritual Being of God, humanity becomes heavy, hardened, burdened, restricted and confused. Humanity loses sight of its connection with God. Humanity believes in itself above others. It loses touch with the Fullness of Life, and finds itself struggling in a world of opposites, knowing good and evil, love and hate, joy and sorrow, life and death. This is the stretching of opposites far from the Infinite Oneness of God.
This is the human experience. It may be considered that we are spiritual beings that have flowed out from the Heart of God and incarnated in these dense bodies to learn from the human experience. What do we learn? We experience what it's like to be limited. We experience what we are not. We are not truly limited, although in the human experience it can feel that we are. The collective human mind is still evolving. Generally it feels that it is limited and encased in the human body. We experience this sense of being encased in human dense form and clashing and competing with other dense forms. We experience opposites at an extreme level. We experience qualities that are the far opposite of God's nature - hate, cruelty, confusion, selfishness, war, ignorance, division, separation, sadness, darkness, lack, greed, torment, restriction. These qualities can only be experienced far from God. But their opposites are also experienced to a degree.
So this is the human experience, where many things are possible that would not be possible close to the Infinite Light of God. But you may have heard of Samsara, where it is considered that the spiritual being or soul becomes caught in the attractions of the world, entangled in the opposing forces of karma, and cannot escape from the endless cycle of rebirth. The soul becomes attached to human life and reincarnates seemingly endlessly, until it becomes aware of its 'fall' and turns around, arises from the density of matter to spiritual freedom, or Moksha, Liberation, or Self-Realisation.
This Self-Realisation is not a letting go of identifying as human and recognising that I am a soul. It is more accurately a recognition that there is only God. This lake of ripples we imagined is God alone. There are not truly many spiritual beings. There is nowhere that can be far from God. God is infinite and indivisible. The spiritual realms and the denser material realms are always Spirit, or Consciousness, or the Mind of God. There is only God. It only seems that the human experience is far from God.
There are no limits. There only seem to be limits. There is no death, only life. We do not become souls or humans. There is only God, infinite, limitless, peaceful Consciousness, within which the play of vibrations, fluctuations and opposites appears.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
It's useful to imagine a singularity. Really, I should say the Singularity, as there can only be one singularity. You can't have many singularities floating around, overlapping or bumping edges, because there are no edges to a singularity. The Singularity has no beginnings or ends, no inside or outside. It is formless, indivisible and dimensionless. Let go of the notions of time and space - they don't exist in the Singularity. There is no space or distance, no time or change. The Singularity is complete in its perfect, still, untainted nature.
Now, let's recognise what we're talking about here. This Singularity I've asked you to imagine is what was before the universe began. It's what was before time and space appeared. So really there is no 'was' about it. It's timeless. Confusion arises about this and we wonder, "How can something exist before time began?" The answer is that time is illusory. There is no 'before' time, because time only seems to appear. All we ever know is right now.
But let's continue imagining the Singularity. We're talking about the Singularity that gives rise to the apparent multiplicity of the universe here. Imagine it like a seed, completely contained and unexpressed. The opposing forces that will come into play in the universe are unexpressed, and we could consider that they are cancelled out, although really they've not split open yet.
We need to go further in understanding the nature of this Singularity. It is this Singularity that gives rise to the life of the universe. But life doesn't appear by chance. Life is the nature of existence or being. This Singularity is Life itself. The Singularity is alive before time begins. In the Singularity, this 'alive' means nothing. It just is what it is. It is only from our human perspective of conceptualising what seems to be either alive or not alive, that we can understand the Singularity as being Life itself, pure unexpressed Life.
What happens next? Well, there isn't a next. There only seems to be a next. It only seems that the Singularity burst forth into an expression of multiplicity. The universe seems to have appeared from out of the Nothing of the Singularity, dividing in two, splitting and reuniting, multiplying across the universe. This is the appearance of distance and change that we call space and time. The universe appears in the Singularity as if the Singularity opens up into a multiplicity and closes again, much like the opening and closing of a flower through the day. The universe continues to express the moment of creation right now.
It seems as if the Singularity divides itself and experiences separation and imbalance. It would be expected that the end of time and space will be the reuniting and rebalancing of the universe into the Singularity again. It's useful to understand this, because it's the reason for human life as we know it on planet Earth. But it's not strictly true, unless you recognise that the universe only seems to happen. The Singularity is right here now. It never went anywhere. It never broke. It never split. The Singularity does not change. Distance and change are illusory. There is nowhere other than the Singularity and there is no change in the timeless Singularity.
The conclusion is that there is no universe. There is only the Singularity. What we call the universe is a play of separation and limitation within the indivisible, unlimited Singularity. We must conclude then another aspect of the Singularity: that it has the ability to imagine. Not only is the Singularity alive, but it can imagine and create an illusory universe within itself.
You may think that it's not too dissimilar to the human mind, and you'd be right. The human mind is a natural development in the evolution of the illusory universe, expressing the unexpressed nature and origin of the universe. It's a development of becoming self expressing, creative, and self aware. The Singularity is alive and aware. It is the Heart of Awareness. From the perspective of the universe and beings in the universe, the Singularity shines like the heart of awareness in each being, the Being of all beings, the Heart of all hearts, the Self of all Selves. Although there is nothing other than the Singularity, the world appears as a division or stretching of the Singularity into what is close to it and what is far from it. The Singularity then appears to be the light of life at the heart of all beings. Pure Conscious Awareness.
But truly the Singularity encompasses all space and time. In the heart it is the whole. There is no far or near. There is no past or future. There is only the Pure Consciousness of the Singularity.