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
It's useful to consider this: Does the universe really change? Does the universe ever become something other than what it is? By 'universe' I don't mean one universe out of many different universes, as some may theorise. I mean the Whole.
Certainly the universe appears as though it is continually changing, but there is something that remains unchanged. The universe can't really become something other than what it is. It is neither more nor less than what it always is. There is nothing from which the universe can gain, and nothing to which the universe can lose, because there is nothing else.
It seems that the universe is changelessly changing. Even from the human perspective, the Earth and other planets spin around the Sun, clouds come and go, temperatures rise and fall, plants grow and fade, animals multiply and roam around the planet. Even when we are unaware of any noticeable movement we know that there is always change. The body breathes, food is digested, skin cells die and are replaced, right now. I hesitate to say 'every moment' because there are not really many moments. It's the appearance of continual flowing change in the Now.
The universe appears to be moving continually, but where can it go? Does the universe ever go anywhere other than where it always is? Since the universe contains all, there is nothing beyond it. So the universe cannot really be said to move somewhere else. There isn't somewhere else, although movement appears to happen within the universe. Even 'within' isn't accurate, as the universe has no limits to be within. There is really neither insider nor outside the universe. There is just What Is.
From the human perspective this moving, changing universe is observed from an unmoving, unchanging point. The body may move around in the world, but this movement is observed. No matter where you seem to go, you are always Here. No matter how the universe seems to change it is always perceived Now, and it can never be anything other than what it is.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
It seems a strange question: was the universe created? It's generally assumed that the universe was created, whether it's believed that God created the universe or the universe exploded from a Big Bang. How could it not be created? Here we have a universe with stars and planets, and planet Earth with humans, animals, plants, and so on. Something must have made this happen...
The problem with creation is that it implies there is a cause. It implies cause and effect. But cause and effect are only conceptual terms for what seems to happen in the world. It's a useful model, but not wholly accurate. It would be more accurate to say that there is continual consequential change. It's not that one 'thing' causes something to happen, then that other 'thing' causes another 'thing', and on and on. There are not really any discrete or separate 'things'. So the terms 'cause' and 'effect' have an assumption of defined, limited, separate 'things'. The real experience is that there is not one then another then another. It's more that the universe unravels or unfolds continually.
There may appear to be lulls in the flow of change, but these are temporary and ultimately also part of the change. Any appearance of no change is illusory. There is only ever a pretence of stillness in the universe. Just as we may assume that cars parked out in the street are still, whilst really they are spinning through space on a planet that never stops spinning and moving.
We can assume that this appearance of the universe as change and movement came from a point of no change or movement. We can assume that the apparent universe did appear from nothing, yes. But it would be a full, complete Nothing - an unmanifest Singularity, from which everything appeared and in which it appears. An unmanifest Singularity has no time or space. It has no limits. So the creation of the universe is the appearance from this complete unmanifest Nothingness. What caused the appearance of the universe? That's the question.
Cause and effect are already questionable, so can we consider that nothing caused the appearance of the universe? Well, possibly, as what appears appears out of Nothing and in Nothing. Also, there is no appearance without the witnessing of it. Effectively, no seen without the seer. The seen and the seer arise simultaneously - what appears and the witness of this appear simultaneously. The universe and I appear simultaneously. The Singularity seems to divide into the knower knowing the known. It doesn't really divide, because the Singularity is always maintained.
It's difficult to accept that the universe only appears once there is one to witness it. It's generally accepted that the universe appeared long before it created beings that could perceive it. But all we can reasonably say is that the universe that I perceive seems to have existed before I perceived it. But by 'I' we mean the human being. The human being is part of the universe. Is there a possibility that the universe was perceived by that which created it or in which it was created?
So we come full circle to the question of whether the universe was created? Well, what exists is here timelessly, uncreated. Existence itself, or Being, is permanently timeless and formless. This is the universe. The visible or perceivable universe of forms that seems to appear in time and space is like an expression or reflection of Timeless Dimensionless Being. The universe isn't created or destroyed, it only appears to be created and destroyed within the permanence of Being.
That sounds like a complicated answer. The simple answer is that Being is the nature of the universe. It just is.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
Planet Earth seems like an extreme expression of separation. Plants, animals and humans fight for survival. It's a planet of competition. Survival of the fittest. Let's understand what's happening here.
The planet appears as a heavy dense world of competing and clashing forms. Heavy tectonic plates separate and crush against one another, building up harsh, dense mountain ranges. Plants grow where they can. They compete with other plants that have separated from them in evolutionary history. They change and develop to survive. Animals develop, protecting themselves from other animals and the environment. Some animals hunt other animals and need to kill and eat them to survive. Even animals of the same species or family fight against each other, to defend their chosen territory or to protect themselves or their offspring.
Humans fight other humans, physically and verbally. They fight their close family members and those who are further separated from them. They build walls and fences. They mark out imaginary borders between territories and fight to keep these in place. Fighting, harming, abusing and killing is the extremity of separation. It is the furthest limit of limitation.
Why is this so important to understand? Because it explains the world as an expression of Oneness far removed. The expression of many separate limited forms is the reflection of the reality of Infinite Oneness. The universe appears as if the Singularity has exploded into a multiplicity. There arises an appearance of distance and separation out of the unmanifest unity of the Singularity. Planet Earth is an expression of this at the far reaches of separation, where forms appear solid, separate and clashing.
The apparent density of form is an expression of limitation, which in turn is a reflection of the Limitless. The scattering and evolutionary development of plant forms and animal forms is an expression of separation. Differences arise, to further express separation. Individual identity seems to arise, solidifying the appearance of separate forms distinct from one another. Fighting to survive becomes the natural way at the far reaches of separation. Some forms team together, but even teams fight against each other. Tribes fight against other tribes. Gangs fight against other gangs. Countries fight against other countries. It is a catastrophic demonstration of limitation and separation.
But we can see through it. Solid forms aren't as solid and impermeable as they seem. The limits we assume are not true limits. The world is only an appearance of limitation and separation. That is not the reality of it. The Reality is that the Infinite Oneness is never divided, never broken. The universe doesn't appear 'from' the splitting of a singularity, it appears 'in' the Singularity. There is no true division or separation. There is only ever One appearing to be many. Planet Earth is an experience of separation, but not a reality of separation. Even the Earth can be considered singularly.
There is only ever an Infinite One, no matter how limited, divided and separate it may appear. The appearance of limitation and separation is illusory. It appears as the reflection and contrasting opposite of Infinite Oneness. Humanity has the ability to recognise this and choose to live in line with Oneness. There are no others, only the appearance of otherness. Differences are the play of the world. Differences are to be celebrated as expressions of the Oneness in which they appear.
So, yes, planet Earth may be an expression of extreme separation, but this is a reflection of the reality of Oneness in which it appears. There is only One appearing to be limited and divided. It is the play of the World of Opposites within the Indivisible Infinite One.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
What is it that prevents enlightenment? We may understand the spiritual theory but still feel like we are a long way off from being enlightened. We may understand Non-Duality and know that there is only One, an Infinite Indivisible One. We may understand that concepts, labels and forms can never truly be defined. We may recognise that there are no limits, and there isn't a multiplicity. We may understand that this means we are not the separate identity that the mind thinks we are. We may grasp the teaching that identity is thought-based, and thoughts appear and disappear in the Awareness or Consciousness or What Is, and we know that we are That. But this knowledge, no matter how thorough it is, doesn't make us enlightened.
So what is it that is stopping enlightenment if I know and believe all the theory? It's the separate self, or rather the sense of being a separate self. It can't really be defined, because it's not real, it's a thought-based identity. Let's call it the ego. It's the ego that thinks it knows all this. It's the ego that claims it is the one who knows and believes Non-Duality theory. It's the ego that wants to be enlightened, or at least wants to find peace and contentment. But the ego generally values its identity too much. Without its identity it is nothing. If it lets go of its sense of self then it effectively dies or disappears. Enlightenment is the death of the ego, the end of the separate self that never really was. It is the ego that feels the need for enlightenment and the ego that prevents enlightenment. Kind of.
The 'kind of' issue is that the ego doesn't really prevent the enlightened state. The enlightened state is here already. It is the natural unlimited, undefined state of being. The ego is the sense and belief that it is a defined and limited being. So although the ego may claim the knowledge that there is no separation, the ego is still waving its flag of identity whilst it does so: "I know that there is no separate me!" This is where the issue lies.
The separate self cannot attain enlightenment. Only in making the ultimate sacrifice of itself is the enlightened state revealed. This means the death of separate identity, not death of the body. Some call the enlightened state the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the placeless place where there are no limits, there is only Freedom. The separate self cannot enter. It needs to discard its limits and its definitions of itself, which is what makes it a seemingly separate self. Only then, when there is no ego, is the Kingdom of Heaven revealed to be always here. Paradise is right here. Freedom, Peace, Love and Contentment is right here in the natural state of being. It is hidden or missed because of the ego's ignorance to it. The ego itself is the ignorance of the infinite indivisible nature of Reality.
The knowledge that we gain can only point to What Is. Knowing about Reality is not enough. We need to loosen and drop the identity of the one who claims to know it. This can take time and effort. The ego needs to work at unravelling itself, using the knowledge and practices learnt. Self Enquiry seeks out the source and nature of the identity, and realises that it is illusory and non-existent. The Infinite One is all. Worship and service to the whole lessens the strength of the ego identity, till the devotee is lost in the Infinite One.
Who realises this? No-one. Reality is an Infinite Singularity. It has no true accurate name or definition. It is no-one, yet all appear within it. It is Nothing yet Everything.