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: Non-duality
- Hits: 1232
What is meant by Awareness, Consciousness and Mind? There are differing views as to what is meant by Awareness, Consciousness and Mind. Similar to Rupert Spira, I use Awareness and Consciousness interchangeably for the same innate quality of Knowing, which is the nature of our shared Aware Being. Mind is then considered to be that field in which thoughts, feelings, sensations, perceptions and the world are experienced. The mind is known by Awareness/Consciousness.
Ultimately in Non Duality there are not these three different 'things'. The mind is not separate from Infinite Pure Consciousness or Awareness. The mind only thinks it's a mind.
It is like the mind is a movie of a limited human experience on the screen of Infinite Pure Awareness/Consciousness.
The intelligence of the mind is not the pure knowing of Awareness. The mind's intelligence is artificial in a sense that it is based on relative terms. For instance, we may feel that we know the sky is blue, because we know what the sky is, we know what blue is, and we see the sky appearing to be blue. The intelligence of the mind connects accepted terms and beliefs, which are based on other accepted terms and beliefs. The mind can construct a complex network of shared relative terms that can either be considered as true or false knowledge. Just like that sentence.
That's what the mind does. But it is ultimately flawed. No matter how accurate knowledge can be, it's never truly accurate. It can only describe something based on terms accepted as true, and knowledge can never be what it pertains to know. For example, if we study Love and gain intellectual knowledge about Love, this knowledge is not the same as knowing Love. Or if we study what is known of a Kestrel, that knowledge is not the Kestrel itself.
So back to Awareness, which can be considered as Pure Knowing. There is no object to this knowing. There is nothing other than Awareness to be known. Awareness is Self-Knowing.
- Category: Non-duality
- Hits: 1230
Are you tall or short? Thin or wide? You are none of these. People may be relatively tall or short, thin or wide, but that's not who we really are. If you believe you are the body then you may describe yourself in these dualistic and relative terms, but generally if you have some spiritual insight you will know that you are not the body. So you should know and consider that you are neither tall nor short, thin nor wide.
The dimensions of the world in which the human form lives do not apply to our true nature. Truly we have no dimensions. Consider that. There is nowhere that is far from you or near to you. There is nothing that is outside you or within you. There is no-one separate from you or apart from you. What appears to be near or far, tall or short, thin or wide, is right here. Our experience of the world is right here. We experience the sense of depth, height and width, but we experience this right here.
Most people have seen a movie projected on a cinema screen. On the screen we can see tall mountains in the distance, faces close up, wide buildings and narrow streets that taper off into the distance. But this distance and size we see isn't real. It's an illusion of depth, width and height upon the flat screen.
The world appears in a similar way within the dimensionless nature of Awareness. Awareness is our formless unseen being within which the world of forms appears. The sense of depth, width and height reaches out from an apparent centre of awareness. There seems to be a centre from which we perceive the world's depth and distance. The centre is right here, from where we perceive. But it is not truly a centre. In the centre of being, the centre of awareness, it can be found that there is no depth or distance, and therefore no centre. There is only What Is, our formless, dimensionless being.
It is our formless, dimensionless being that allows the appearance of forms and dimensions from an apparent centre of awareness, like an explosion of dimension from an infinite core. The world of depth and dimensions is an illusory appearance within the formless, infinite Awareness or Consciousness, that is the reality of our being.
- Category: Non-duality
- Hits: 1225
Where does the mind end and the body begin? This is an interesting question to consider. In Non Duality sometimes 'the mind' refers to the seemingly finite mind, sometimes it refers to Infinite Consciousness. There's no problem with this, as the seemingly finite mind can be considered as the peak of a wave on the ocean of Infinite Consciousness, which could equally be called Infinite Mind or Awareness. When the seemingly finite mind returns to Infinite Consciousness it is clear that it never really left and there never really was a finite mind.
This finite mind seems to get tangled up in identifying with the body, and limits itself accordingly. It's impossible to find where the mind ends and the body begins. The mind controls much of the movement of the body, and the state of the mind affects the emotions and even the physical health of the body. The eyes see the body (except from where they are seeing from) and other senses give a rounded picture of the body. We feel when there is a pain in the body, if the body is thirsty, hungry, tired or weak. All these perceptions and sensations of the body are experienced in the mind. It is the mind that is the centre of perception and sensation for the body. It is in this way that sometimes Non Duality teachers speak of the body-mind.
This understanding of perceptions and sensations appearing in the mind leads to a deeper recognition that the mind and the body aren't really separate. The mind is mistaken in its sense of identity with the body. The body and the world are perceived in the seemingly finite mind. Thoughts are also perceived in the mind, seemingly by the identity or ego. This ego or sense of identity is also witnessed. We witness our sense of identity in the mind. All that the seemingly finite mind perceives is witnessed by a deeper 'collective mind' or shared mind, that is Infinite Consciousness. Ultimately there is no finite mind, body, or world. There is only Infinite Consciousness.
- Category: The Universe
- Hits: 1227
It's important for all humans to realise that the separation we perceive and assume to be true is not true. We see a world of many different forms, different creatures, different plants and rock formations. We see humans and animals moving about independently. You can look about you now and see many different objects, maybe ornaments and furniture in your room, or outdoors with blades of grass, grains of sand, clouds, cars, or mountains.
But this multiplicity that we perceive is not what it seems. Even if we consider the world as matter, the singularity of it can be recognised. The many physical forms of nature that we see on the planet can be understood as just the one planet appearing to be many forms. The mountains, the people, the animals, the trees, even the cars, are all formations within the planet and not separate from the planet. You may think that humans, animals and plants are separated by the air around them, but the air is also the planet. It's all just the planet flowing within itself, expressing through different formations within itself.
If you consider the view of Earth from space you see one planet with forms and colours. There are no separate creatures discernible. There is just the Earth. On closer inspection there appears to be separate creatures that rise and fall in the flow of creation and destruction within the planet. But the planet neither gains nor loses when a tree rises or falls. There is no gain or loss in creation and destruction. The planet remains as one, whether there appears to be more trees or less trees. There is only an appearance of many within the singularity of the planet.
Okay, so you may say there are several planets. But there is only the appearance of separate planets within the oneness of the universe. The universe appears as if a singularity has exploded into many forms, which combine, clash and interact. But this is a play of multiplicity within the singularity of the universe. The seeming multiplicity of the universe is a play within its singularity. The space that seems to separate the singularity of the universe is also the singularity, only seeming to separate itself from itself.
We can go a step further and recognise that all we ever perceive is in consciousness. The rocks that we say are made of stone, the clouds that we say are made of water vapour, and the trees that we say are made of wood, all appear within consciousness. Our experience of them is in consciousness. All that consciousness can be made of is consciousness. So the multiplicity of 'things' that we perceive is solely consciousness. Nothing is ever known other than consciousness.
We perceive what we consider to be our own human form in consciousness. It is consciousness. The rest of the world that we perceive is made of consciousness. There is only Consciousness. We are Consciousness, an infinite aware singularity that gives rise to the appearance of separation whilst remaining infinitely one.
- Category: The Universe
- Hits: 1215
Eckhart Tolle famously wrote about The Power of Now. Let's look at the Power of Here. Essentially Here and Now are the same, just considered from different perspectives.
Wherever you go you are Here. You could go on a climb to get to the peak of a hill or mountain, and when you get there you are still Here. Wherever you go you still have a sense of being Here. Yes, you can say you're at the top of a mountain, you're on a boat in the sea, you're on a beach, you're flying in a plane, or relaxing at home. That's the world in which the body lives. But you're not the body. You are the presence right here, and it's not possible to be anywhere other than where you are.
The world gives us an experience of being somewhere other than here, but it's a play of space, depth and distance within our Infinite Hereness. Truly all space appears Here. We never experience anywhere other than here. If we look to a distant hill, bridge, building, or even a distant star, we perceive it right here. The three dimensions of space are experienced right here in spaceless Consciousness.
This understanding can help us to become centred. There's no real centre, of course, but when we believe that we have gone out into the world and become a lost soul, we can find our way home by returning to the centre of stillness within the appearance of the world. What that means is that we can remind ourself that we are not lost, we are not confused, we are not a human being trying to cope in a vast world. We are simply Here.
We can observe thoughts that seem to be in front of us, but they appear within us. The space of the world seems to go out from our Centre of Awareness. But rather the thoughts, body and the world appear within Awareness right Here.
So rest right Here, as you are. If you find yourself becoming entangled in thoughts, return yourself right Here where you observe thoughts. If you find yourself believing you are the body caught up in problems, return yourself right Here. Here is the placeless place of our shared being. It has no dimensions. It does not get lost or drawn out. You remain perfectly as you are right Here.
Here is the presence of our being. The dimensions of the world seem to stretch out from Here. But Here has no depth. It is infinite. All space is Here. All time is Here. All space and time is Here and Now.