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 Fridays.
Please use the Contact page if you have any questions or would like me to discuss a topic.
- Category: The Human Experience
- Hits: 661
Thoughts are not always a problem, but sometimes they can seem like they are. It may be that we can't stop thinking about something that worries or troubles us, or we just can't stop thinking at all and we want a break from it. Let's look at what it means to be free from thoughts and thinking, and how to achieve that.
Here's where I have to say that we can't stop thinking. Thinking happens by itself. If you've ever tried to stop thinking you'll have probably found that there is a brief cessation, then thinking starts up again. But we can raise our understanding of what is happening with thinking and move away from being a victim of negative or incessant thought.
What actually happens when we feel we have become frustrated with thoughts and they just won't stop is that thinking has created an idea of itself, and it is this mental sense of identity that becomes frustrated with all its mental activity. The frustration is itself mental activity, and the one frustrated is mental activity. Attempting to stop this mental activity is also mental activity. Mental activity can't actively stop itself, because that's just more mental activity. So the sense of being the one who is frustrated, the frustration, and the thoughts at which the frustration is aimed, are all the flow of the same mental activity. It's mental activity that separates itself out into, "Me annoyed about thinking."
The important point here is to recognise that we are not the thinking. That means we are not the worrying thoughts, the frustrated thoughts, the pleasant thoughts, or any mental activity. We perceive all of this. We perceive the flow of thoughts, we perceive the frustration or annoyed thoughts, and we perceive the sense of there being a 'me' who is troubled by this. So, to overcome being troubled by thoughts, and to be free from thinking, there needs to develop the awareness that we are not the thoughts, they don't trouble us anyway, and the 'one' who is troubled is also perceived. It's not that we perceive a being or entity or human that is troubled. The root of it is that we perceive the egoic sense of a 'me' that is troubled. But if we really look for who that is it can't be found. It is a 'me' made out of imagination. It is a sense of 'me' that is formed by mental activity.
This 'me' becomes entangled and frustrated by its own mental activity. It wants to stop it and achieve some freedom from distressing thoughts, and maybe it goes on to seek freedom from all thoughts, to attain the highest peace. But it's all mental activity itself. We are the untainted witness of all this thinking. Our nature is Perfect Peace. We are never the one who is troubled. The core of Being is formless, timeless and unchanging. We are Freedom itself. We have no limits. It is only mental activity that imagines there are limits and it finds itself trapped by its own thinking.
So the answer to be free from thoughts is to let them go. To be free we need to detach. This isn't strictly true, as we are Freedom already and always. There is nothing that we need to do. Remember, it is only mental activity that seeks freedom. For the mental activity to find freedom it needs to let go of itself. We are never attached to this. We are never limited. By withdrawing attention and attachment to thinking, not being entangled in it, the mental activity naturally untangles itself and finds the freedom that is always here. The mental activity needs to give up its sense of 'me' and allow the clarity of unbounded peace to just be as it is.
The practice (for the mental activity) is to let go of its belief of identity, to see and assimilate the recognition that the 'thinker' is itself a thought, and both the thinker and thinking are perceived by our True Being.
- Category: The Human Experience
- Hits: 656
It's useful to understand what loneliness is and why we feel lonely sometimes. When we feel lonely it may be because we miss someone who used to be around, or they are usually around but not with us at the moment. It may be because there is no-one around who is close to us, and that could be because we haven't had a relationship like that or we used to have a relationship like that. So the surface reason can be that we have lost someone we were close to, or they are not with us for a while, or we've not had a close relationship with anyone.
That's the surface reason. But there is a deeper reason or meaning for the feeling of loneliness. It's about Oneness. Simply put, loneliness is the feeling of separation and the need for oneness. When we feel close to someone we feel the warmth, happiness and peace of oneness. We feel less separate from the world. There's a sense of unity. It's similar to being part of a team or a close family, being a supporter or follower of something, like a religion, culture or ideology. This reduces our feeling of isolation and separation.
When we feel lonely, it is a feeling of the lack of oneness, love and peace. We feel that we want others around, or we want someone to be close to. There is a natural instinct in the human being to need a companion, which leads to a feeling of being incomplete when we don't have someone close to love and who loves us. Love is Oneness. It is the shared Oneness of all. When we experience love we feel the oneness of life, that mystical principal that unites all seemingly separate beings.
So loneliness is the feeling of being separate from Love. It's natural for this to be a difficult feeling to cope with. We are not supposed to just cope with it. It tells us something. It tells us that the belief of separation has got such a hold that we feel we need others and that we are lacking what we need to be happy. Being one separate from others is the opposite of True Being. Our true nature, the simple nature of Being, is Oneness. At the heart of the experience of being a separate individual is the shared Oneness of Being. It's like the centre of the wheel of life. We are One. There really is no 'we'. Just One Being experiencing what it's like to be many separate beings. And that means pain, hurt, loss, lack, need, and at the extreme point, loneliness.
As real as loneliness can seem when we are caught up in it, it's not permanent. It passes, like all feelings. This separation isn't real. It's what the mind perceives reality to be. Oneness is reality. Separation is the opposite of reality. That's what the pain of separation points to. It highlights that separation is wrong. Oneness is right. Or rather, separation is false, and Oneness is true. The answer isn't in finding someone to feel at one with, although that's okay. The real answer is in finding the Permanent Oneness that is right here all along. It means recognising that there is always Oneness here, despite what the mind thinks, and living this recognition that we are truly One.
Some may think that if there is only One Being, then it must be lonely. But that's not true. Loneliness is a feeling of lack, need, and separation from others. Loneliness is the lack of wholeness, completion and oneness. The One Being is a complete, whole Oneness, where there is no loss or separation.
- Category: Non-duality
- Hits: 633
The Peace of Being remains timelessly as it is. Being is permanently present. You can't lose it or find it. It's not hidden and it's not revealed. It's here now. It never changes. It never moves.
Catching a bus, a boat, a train or a plane doesn't move Being. Walking down the street, it's only the body that walks. If we feel upset or overjoyed, it is the mind that feels this. Being remains content as it is. If we think anxious thoughts or thoughts that lead to great developments, Being remains as it is. Being does not think, feel, walk or travel. Being is simply timelessly aware.
Being isn't destroyed when life seems to end. Being remains always present. Being is the life itself, in which the forms of the world seem to come and go. We are not the forms. We are Being.
Being is who we are. We could say it's the core of who we are, but in the Heart of Being there is no inside or outside. It is everywhere and nowhere. The core of who we are is just this. Being. It's not in here or over there. It's not in some place out of reach. It is permanently, formlessly, timelessly here, where here is nowhere.
It is this timeless Being that we are. Not the human beings that come and go. We see the world coming and going. Being is Aware. Awareness isn't moved by the movement it perceives. Being is Self Aware. There is only the Self of Being. There is nothing that Being can be aware of that is not Being. There is nothing outside limitless Being. Being is timelessly Self Aware. Being is intelligent in that Being knows. But it's not that Being knows knowledge. Being is just Knowing. Awareness is Knowing. I know, therefore I know I am. I am Self Aware.
- Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
- Hits: 653
There are patterns in life, in what we know as the universe. Patterns appear because of the underlying forces that create and develop the appearance of the universe. For example, a core pattern is bifurcation, where one splits into two. This stems (excuse the pun) from the moment of creation (or destruction) where the Oneness of the Singularity separates itself to form two. From that separation into two the pattern repeats to create a multiplicity, seemingly ending the Oneness of the Singularity.
So it's not a surprise that we see bifurcation a lot on this planet. We see bifurcation in the branches of trees, forked lightning, rivers flowing into streams, and in the evolution of life forms. Animals develop claws and fingers that separate out from limbs that separate out from a central torso. Branches of trees grow out from a central trunk and continue to separate out, repeating the pattern. In leaves we can see the pattern continue, as the stems separate out. We see it in evolution too, where species branch out from an initial origin.
It's natural that perception would separate itself out into separate senses. It's natural for animals to develop two eyes rather than one. And it's natural for life forms to have symmetry, where the left side is almost a mirror image of the right side. I say 'almost', because the world isn't perfect. Imperfection is natural in the appearance of the universe. Perfection is the unmanifest Singularity before the universe appears, before even space and time appear. The Singularity was perfect as it was. The splitting of the Singularity causes the appearance of opposites, and thus imperfection.
So we can see that the human form is a natural expression within the universe, which itself is an expression of the Singularity in separation. Arms and legs stem from the central torso, and fingers and toes stem from those. These form simultaneously as opposite reflections, creating the symmetry of the human form. Within the head, the senses are separated, with ears on either side, 'pointing' in opposite directions, and vision separated into two eyes. The sense of smell is filtered through the two apertures, the nostrils, and the mouth separates with an upper and lower jaw. We could say this pattern of separation and reflection underlies the development of all life forms. This isn't just due to planet Earth. It's a universe-wide pattern. It suggests that life forms on other planets would evolve in a similar fashion. It suggests that life forms from other planets would also have symmetrical bodies, limbs from a central body and extensions from these, like fingers.
There is another evolutionary pattern - rising from low to high. Humans, as we currently understand them, have evolved from creatures that had four legs and then rose up to walk on two legs. The rising up could be presumed to be the evolutionary result of reaching up for tree branches or food up high. That may be the case, but there is also the underlying force behind evolution that will causes the branching out and reaching upwards from the ground to the sky.
So lifeforms evolve upwards, from a base to a higher level, and outwards from a single point, branching out. This leads to lifeforms that can stand up on two feet and reach out to the world. They rise up from a ground level and take to the air. We see this in birds, but also in humans, as humans have developed the intelligence to lift themselves up from the ground and into the air with ballons, helicopters, airplanes and spacecraft.
Are there alien life forms on distant planets that are similar to the human form? It's very likely. The evolution of life forms isn't an accident. It's a force of nature.
- Category: God
- Hits: 633
Aware Being is the fabric of the universe. There is no universe outside of consciousness. The universe appears in consciousness, made of consciousness, known by consciousness. All that you can ever know is consciousness knowing itself. That needs a bit of exploration and explanation.
What are you aware of right now? Maybe some warmth from the sun, rain on the window, a comfortable carpet underfoot, a soft bed or sofa, or a firm chair. Maybe you can see the inside of a room or the expansive outdoors. You may hear voices or distant sounds. You may feel the wind blowing on your face or body. It may feel hot or cold. And what of the mind? When reading this the thoughts appear in the mind. If you pause reading for a while, the mind considers other thoughts. They float along, from this to that, and disappear.
All this that you perceive is in consciousness. The thoughts, the sounds, the sights, the smells, the tastes, the feelings, the buildings, the cars, the animals, the people, the music. All of life. Everything that you've ever known has been in consciousness. It's not possible to get outside of consciousness, because you are consciousness. It is the root of all that is perceived. It is awareness or knowing. It doesn't mean there is a knower, a separate self that is aware of other things. The sense of identity is thought based, and this too is perceived. Who perceives the sense of who you are? Consciousness, or Aware Being.
The universe is the play of Consciousness or Aware Being. It's a play of opposites, of what is and what isn't, of this and that, of me and other. Yet there is no other. There is no this and that. There is no what is and isn't. What isn't cannot exist. The play of opposites and reflection is necessary for the universe to appear. It's the contrast of opposites that allows for manifestation to happen. It is the seeming separation of subject and object, the perceiver and the perceived. But it is all a play of separation into opposites. Remember, there is no other. There is One Infinite Aware Being. We are This. This is all there is, everything and nothing.
It helps to understand intellectually that nothing can ever be experienced outside of consciousness. Nothing can ever be proved to be outside of consciousness, and ultimately the whole of our experience is consciousness itself. The whole universe is a fluctuating, reverberating flow of consciousness within itself. There are no limits to consciousness. There are no limits to the universe. There is nothing outside the universe. There is truly no inside or outside. Opposites and limitation are the play 'within' Consciousness.
This Aware Being that is the universe plays at being and not being, being aware and not aware, alive and not alive. But Aware Being, or the Universal Being, is Life itself. Life plays at being alive and not alive. By this use of opposites within the singularity of Being, Consciousness expresses itself within itself.
We are One Universal Being, and this Being that we are expresses itself by nature of opposites, giving rise to a multiplicity of forms. The appearance of many beings arises from the play of opposites within the One Universal Formless Being: Consciousness.