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
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In spirituality circles you may hear of Maya or Illusion. It refers to the illusory nature of the world. So what's so illusory about it?
The term 'Maya' comes from Indian philosophy and means illusion or magic. It generally refers to the appearance of the changing universe from and in the Unchanging Reality. The illusion is that there is a world that seems to move and change, whilst Reality is unmoving and unchanging. There appear to be many limited forms but the Reality is a formless Infinite Indivisible One.
Is the world really an illusion? Well, yes and no. The illusion is that the world appears to be other than the Divine Reality. The world appears to be something it is not. There can be nothing other than the Infinite One, so what appears to be other than the Infinite One is illusory. So, is there an illusion or isn't there? The illusion is that there is an illusion. There is only Reality.
This may sound confusing. It needs an example. The traditional example is of the snake and the rope. From a distance there appears to be a snake in the road. This is illusory, because on closer inspection it is found to be just a harmless piece of rope. So the 'illusion' is really a mistaken understanding. The rope appeared to be something it wasn't. The rope didn't really change its appearance to become a snake. It was simply as it was. There was really no illusion, just a mistaken understanding.
And so it is with the world and Reality. From a seemingly limited perspective the world seems to move and change, and have many limited forms that come into being and disappear again. It is the seemingly limited perspective that projects this view of the world. The world appears as if it is a reflection of the Unseen Unchanging Formless Reality. There appears to be a play of opposites that makes What Is appear to be what it is not. The Permanent Reality appears to be changing, but it remains the same.
This is the human experience - a seemingly limited experience of Reality. The human experience allows the Unseen Infinite One to be seen. Well, kind of, although whatever is seen will always be less than the Whole, seemingly limited. The human experience allows an appearance of many, of me and other, of beginnings and ends, here and there, now and then. It appears that the Infinite One is divided into many. There appears to be a me and what is not me. This is the illusion of the world, that there can appear to be something other than the Infinite One. But it doesn't really happen.
The Great Illusion is this play of opposites that allows countless experiences within the One. The One cannot be divided, but it can appear to be divided. Just as the rope can't become a snake, but it can appear to be a snake if the perspective is skewed, if clear seeing and knowing is seemingly limited. The Great Illusion is that I am this and not that, when there is truly no division in Reality. I do not really become this or that. It can only seem that I am this or that. Reality remains as it is. The illusion is in the mistaken perspective.
The Great Revelation then is that it is what it is. There is nothing other than Reality. There are not really many forms. There is no separation or division of the Whole. The Singularity of Reality remains timelessly as it is. Reality is qualityless though of the Highest Quality. There only seems to be less than the Whole. The world of opposites that seems resplendent with division, incompleteness and imperfection is truly the Complete Perfect Oneness of the Whole.
- Category: The Universe
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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.
- Category: Spirituality
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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.
- Category: The Universe
- Hits: 929
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.
- Category: Non-duality
- Hits: 925
Can the Infinite be understood intellectually? Some may say it's impossible. But it is possible to have a limited understanding of the Infinite intellectually. We can understand the Infinite in finite terms, but we can't understand anything in infinite terms - there are no infinite terms. Even the word 'Infinite' uses the term 'finite'. We say it is not finite. It is un-limited. It is un-bounded. It is in-divisible.
Our whole intellectual understanding and knowledge base is founded on finite terms. We use measurements for time, distance, weight, energy etc. These measurements intellectually divide up the indivisible. Time isn't really made of segments. Time is the continual flow of change. But intellectually we measure it in segments of seconds, minutes, days, years etc. Similarly with distance. Distance isn't really split into segments of metres, miles, kilometres etc. These finite measures are used by the human mind to understand portions of infinity.
What we have is an infinite world being understood in finite terms. These finite terms can be useful but never truly accurate. Humanity can develop a great intellectual understanding of the universe in finite terms, and that's useful, but it needs to be recognised that it will never be wholly accurate. Any theory about the universe, reality and existence will be inaccurate. It's just that some are less inaccurate than others. Knowledge is seemingly limited.
There is a difference between knowledge and knowing that may be overlooked. We may have knowledge about how to make a spaghetti bolognese, but there is a knowing of this knowledge. The knowing of knowledge is the same knowing of feelings, sensations and perceptions. When a bird is seen to fly past, a car is heard driving by, or a train of thought flows by, these are known in the same way that knowledge is known. There is a Knowing. This Knowing, in Non-Duality terms, is Aware Being. It is the Awareness or Consciousness in which the world is perceived. It is the Formless that perceives form.
It is this Infinite Knowing in which the apparently finite knowledge of the infinite appears. Nothing is truly finite. All seemingly finite things appear in the Indivisible Infinite. Time is not divided. Space is not divided. Forms flow continually from this to that, without ever truly being divided into this or that. We have knowledge in finite terms, but the Truth is Infinite.