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: Non-duality
There is a core point of our being that is pure stillness. It is from that point of unchanging stillness that the world of change is experienced. When attention is focused on and caught up in the dynamic world we overlook that still silent point of being. If we don't notice it, how do we find it again?
The root to that true stillness is through the sense, "I am." Search who it is that experiences the world. Some think they are the human body. Some think they are a soul in a human body. But look deeper. Look for that point from which everything is perceived. We need to go deeper than thoughts. Thoughts and thinking are perceived. Who is it that perceives thinking?
Whether there are wild uncontrollable thoughts or gentle peaceful thoughts, there is still a deeper point that perceives them. Thoughts form an identity of, "This is me! Here I am!" But it is a mistaken identity, where thinking holds onto the human form. It is a sense of identity that changes. We perceive this changing identity and the thinking from a deeper level, from a point of changeless being.
Look for that true stillness that is the placeless place and timeless time, here and now. Although from the human perspective it is at the heart of our being, like the hub of the wheel of life, when it is found and recognised it will be known to be both the heart and the whole. It is the stillness within which the world of change appears. All things come and go within the timeless stillness of being. There is not truly a heart of being. There is only being. There is only perfect, peaceful stillness. It is within this still awareness of being that the world plays out its dynamic expression, like a movie on the still permanent screen.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
The ego is the sense and belief of being a separate self, being a human separate from the rest of the world. The ego forms in the mind as a child develops, where the mind thinks that this body is me and these things are mine. Often as the ego grows, it develops its sense of separate self by belonging to a group and embracing that identity, or being distanced from a group, which also strengthens its sense of identity.
In human society identity is super important. We identify with our gender, ethnicity, nationality, political view, or religion. But truly none of this is who we are. The ego isn't real. The ego is a mistaken identity assumed in the mind.
Just because the mind perceives the human experience and identifies as a human, with a human history, it doesn't mean it's true. And just because the mind also holds on to objects and calls them mine, it doesn't mean they really belong to it. We need to go deeper than the mind to find the truth.
Truly we are Consciousness perceiving human experiences. We perceive the mind, the ego identity, the thoughts, the human feelings and sensations, and the perceptions. We perceive the ego identity saying I am this, these are mine, and I did that. We perceive the ego assuming identity and assuming separation is real. Separation isn't real. There is only One. There are no separate objects, and there are no separate identities who own them. It is all a play of separation.
Recognition of this understanding leads the ego to a deeper understanding of reality. As the truth dawns, the ego fades. Its ways of selfishness are no longer relevant. The phantom ego effectively disappears, but it was never a real thing anyhow. This realisation will come to the soul, to the human and to humanity. Humanity will in time awaken to the realisation of not being separate. It's spiritual development will bring it to the realisation of Oneness.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
The world appears as a flow of continual movement and change. Where stillness appears in the world it is illusory. For example, if you're sat at home on a sofa or on a bed, sat on a bench in a park, or even if you're sat on a train, there is a sense of stability and stillness. But the stillness of the sofa, the bed, the bench or the seat on the train, is illusory. It is a relative stillness. The seat on the train is relatively still in relation to the train, as it maintains its steady motion with the train. The sofa is relatively still in relation to the Earth, whilst the planet spins around. The Earth is continually spinning and swirling through the universe, and the universe is in continual motion.
This illusion of stillness in the world of motion is merely a play of opposites. What we see in the world is a reflection of the truth. Stillness is the reality, and motion is the illusion. But I don't mean the stillness that you can see. True Stillness is an infinite Singularity that has no form, no outside, no inside, no distance and no change. It is Stillness beyond any appearance of stillness, beyond space and time.
The appearance of The World of Opposites is the way in which the Singularity becomes visible. So the illusory world appears as the opposites motion and stillness, where motion is the opposite of the Singularity and stillness is its likeness. Yet the appearance of the world of opposites is itself the opposite of the Oneness of the Singularity. Hence the stillness that appears is not true stillness.
It is in this way that space and time appear as the opposite of the unseen Singularity that has no form, location, separation or change. This World of Opposites or the World of Motion is wholly illusory, yet infused with the reality of the Singularity. Space seems to stretch out indefinitely within the Hereness of the Singularity. Time appears to stretch out within the Nowness of the Singularity.
Distance and change appear within the Here and Now of the Singularity. So the illusion or maya of the world is itself illusory. There is only Reality. The illusion is held by the belief of space and time over the truth of the Singularity. Where is this Singularity, this True Stillness? It is right Here and Now. Wherever you may seem to go, however you may seem to have changed, you remain here and now as the True Stillness witnessing the world of movement and change.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
You probably know the song Imagine by John Lennon, which says, "Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do.... Imagine no possessions. It's easy if you try." Well, let's look at the reality of countries and possessions here.
The song invites us to imagine there is no heaven or hell, there are no countries, no religion, and no possessions. In a way it invites us to imagine there are no limits. Really what we need to do is stop imagining that there are limits. Leaving heaven, hell and religion aside for now, certainly countries and possessions are imaginary.
Countries are set by imaginary boundaries that humans have defined. The planet is not naturally divided into countries. Humans through history have fought over land and sea boundaries, and it continues to this day. Ultimately these man-made limits end up limiting and defining us. We believe that we are Welsh, English, French, American etc. But truly we are not this.
When our claimed boundaries are threatened we strengthen them. As apparently separate individuals and separate nations, our imaginary limits harden the more they are threatened. The human ego defends itself and strengthens its boundaries, and the collective ego does the same. But these ego limits are false. There are no true limits that define us, only imaginary ones.
Equally possessions are imaginary. We have no right of ownership of anything except under human law. Possession and ownership is again man-made. If I create something, if I buy something, or if something is given to me I may think that I own it. But the planet has no system of ownership. It is a human belief of ownership, but there is no universal law of ownership which makes possession true. It is a case of man-made limitations again.
I'm not suggesting here that we give up all possessions, as we truly have none. Better to give up the belief that possession is true. Also, I do not suggest that nations let go of their borders. Better to recognise that borders are not true and let go of the false belief that we are separate and different. There is a oneness that underlies the variety of the world. It is an infinite unlimited oneness. Believing that we are limited is an error.