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 Universe
- Hits: 423
How many moments are there? What is a moment? A moment is a vague concept of an unspecified length of time, generally considered to be a small point in time. But are there any real points in time? Can time really be divided into points of time?
Although we use a system of years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds, these are all manmade measurements of time. A year is based on the orbit of the planet around the sun, and a day is based on the rotation of the earth relative to the sun. There is a natural pulse and cyclic repetition in the world that allows for a sense of periods of time. But that's not to say that periods of time are really set.
We come to accept and believe in our terms for time, assuming that time is really divided in this way. But time cannot truly be divided. It is a flow of change. We will find no true beginnings, ends or divisions of time. Time cannot be truly grasped and labelled.
It is more accurate to understand time as the appearance of change within an unchanging permanent. That is, the appearance of change that is perceived as the flow of time is known relative to One who remains unchanged and unmoving. Namely, Consciousness.
It is in Consciousness that the experience of change is perceived. Consciousness is unchanging and timeless. Change appears as a reflection of the unchanging nature of Pure Consciousness, like floating clouds reflected on the still water of an infinite lake. The lake remains still and unchanged whilst change appears within it.
There are not moments in time. There are no seconds or minutes etc. There is only Now. Now is not a point in time. Now is timeless, experiencing the illusion of time. Now is the Pure Consciousness which allows the perception of its opposites. But there is nothing other than Now, only an illusory appearance of 'not now'. There is only Now.
- Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
- Hits: 422
The pattern of 'Many from One' is everywhere we look. It's important to notice this pattern, as it speaks of the formation and reality of the universe. There are examples throughout the planet. Flowers open their numerous petals from a central stem. Many tree branches grow from a central trunk, each branch produces many twigs, and each twig produces many leaves. Each leaf in turn shows the pattern of many form one in its many veins from its central midrib.
Oceans flow into many rivers that flow into many streams. Animal and human forms develop according to the pattern of Many from One. Feathers, arms, legs, fingers, toes, hairs, whiskers, veins and senses, all show this pattern. There is also the evolution of species, where many species develop from a single source.
This pattern is a repetition of the creation of the universe, where many seem to have come from one. I say 'seem' because of the deeper recognition, that although the world of many seems to have come from one, the one remains. Just as there may seem to be many twigs in a tree, there is just the tree. The twigs aren't separate from the tree. It is just the mind that thinks in terms of branches and twigs. It is the mind that seems to divide the world.
So, although there is a clear pattern throughout the world of 'Many from One', there is only every one, the indivisible Infinite One.
- Category: Spirituality
- Hits: 406
The world is a dream in the Mind of God. That's a useful way to understand the world. There is nothing other than God. Although there may seem be to be beings that are close to or far from God, this is all God. It's as if the Supreme Being dreams a dream of limitation and separation, when truly the Supreme Being is neither limited nor divisible.
This dream is like a reflection of God's true nature. The world moves, reflecting God's Stillness. The world changes, reflecting God's unchanging Timelessness. The world clashes, reflecting God's Peace. The world appears as many, reflecting the Oneness of God. The world seems limited, reflecting the Limitlessness of God. Creatures in the world battle and fight, reflecting God's Love. It is all a play of opposites.
But there is no real separation. There are no real limits. There is not this one fighting that one. This is the illusion of God's dream, that there can be many beings and forms that clash and interact. But truly there is nothing other than God. The dream is the play of the Mind of God.
Though the world can seem cruel, and lifeforms suffer and die, this is the illusory reflection of God's Love, Peace and Timeless Life. Human beings are like evolving beings in the Mind of God. They can wake up to the dream and recognise that there is only God. Where is God in the dream? God does not appear in the dream, the dream appears in God. But every being is like a portal of Awareness in the dream. The heart of every being leads to God. It is God that is the Awareness at the heart of all perception. It is God that sees and knows all. God is where we are looking from.
At least that's the play of the dream - that God can be found at the centre, at the heart of the experience. God is the dreamer of the dream, and the dream seems to be what God is not. Yet it is all God. The heart of the dream world of opposites is the centre of indivisible Oneness, the stillness and peace in which there are no opposites, the Infinite One in whom there is no inside or outside. There is only The Infinite One, The Supreme Being, God, The Self.
So what should humanity do about this? Wake up to the dream, and know that you are God. Not that the limited human you is God, but that God is the heart and whole of the world. Every place is the Heart of God, every seeming moment is the timelessness of God. Every experience is God's experience.
When you look at another being, they are the same being as your own, different on the surface but the same Infinite One at heart. Know that God is the Heart and Whole of the world, and live accordingly. Know that what pertains to goodness, truth, love, life, freedom and oneness appears to be closest to God, and is the right way to live in accordance with Truth. But know that there is no close to or far from God. That's the play of the dream in the Mind of God. There is only God.
- Category: Non-duality
- Hits: 418
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 is 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: The Human Experience
- Hits: 403
The world isn't meant to be easy. Human life isn't supposed to be all wonderful. Don't expect life to be kind to you. You're not necessarily going to succeed in what you want to do and get what you want. That may sound harsh, but sometimes people expect that life should be good, fun and full of happiness. But that's not the case. There may be some fun times and some happiness, but there will certainly be some trouble. Let's understand why.
The simple answer is this: humanity is mixed up. There is a general human sense that, "I am this human being, these are my things, and I'm focused on myself and my life." If we live a lie like that, or rather if we live by a mistaken belief like that, the world is going to challenge us. If I believe that I am a human then problems occur, because it's a mistake. Humans are not really defined and limited, and that's not who we are. At the core of all humans, and for that matter all apparently separate beings, there is a Oneness. One Consciousness. We are that One Infinite Consciousness, not many different beings - that is the illusory play of form in formless Consciousness.
When this error of identification takes hold, when Infinite Consciousness is drawn into the belief of being a limited being, it creates an imbalance. It's like we've fallen out of unity and got caught up in a world of opposing forces. Then there needs to be a rebalancing. We need to be shaken out of it, effectively. That means that life is going to be tough, until we get to the point of realising that something is wrong here.
Humanity is caught up in this clashing of identity - I am this, that belongs to me, you are nothing to do with me, you offend me, I will win. The root of all evil is not money, it is the delusion of separate identity. A limited being defends its limits, imposes its limits on others, and encroaches on others' limits. That's where all the clashing comes from in this human experience.
There have been enough human experiences for us to confidently say that it's normal for human life to have problems. What can we do about this? Accept it. There's no point fighting against the world. The world is this rocking, rolling wave of forces clashing sometimes and quietening sometimes. That's the world, but that's not you. You are not in this rocking, rolling world. You are the still Infinite One Consciousness, within which the world appears.
In truth you have not fallen out of unity into the world of opposites. You remain as you are, the Infinite One, beyond time and space. The human experience is the play of the human world, experiencing limitation, clashing, distancing, the push and pull, the joys and sorrows. Know it is not you. You are unbroken by the appearance of the separate world. Your infinite nature remains unblemished by what seems to come and go.