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
If there is One Infinite Consciousness why can't we know other people's thoughts? Some people may find it difficult to accept that there is One Consciousness. We perceive a world of differences. There are many people with different beliefs, languages, cultures, ethnicities, fashions and interests. We all seem to have our own mind, think our own thoughts and make our own choices. How can I be the same consciousness as all those other people? I don't know their thoughts. Surely I would know all thoughts if I was the same consciousness.
Let's understand this better. I could say that in my mind I experience my thoughts, images and dreams. However, I'm already limiting my mind there. It would be more accurate to say that in my mind I experience thoughts, images, dreams, feelings, perceptions, the body and the world. It would be fair to say that all my experience is in my mind. I don't experience anything of the world outside my mind. Even my sense of inside my mind and outside my mind is actually all in my mind. The mind only seems to be inside the denser human form. So where does my mind end?
Truly we cannot find a limit to the mind. I can close my eyes and reach out indefinitely in the mind without finding a limit. Even the perception of the universe I experience in my mind when I look up at the sky on a clear night has no end. We will search forever trying to find true limits.
Is this mind then the same as Infinite Consciousness? Yes, but we call it the mind when it has a sense and belief of being limited and separate. It's not really 'my' mind, and really there is no mind. There is only Infinite Consciousness. But Infinite Consciousness cannot know a multitude. It cannot know many. The human experience allows Infinite Consciousness to seemingly focus and limit itself to perceive itself as a being in a world of many. Our dream experience is a smaller representation of this, where we experience our mind through the activities of a being in a dream world. The sense of limits in the dream world are weaker but it's not unusual to meet a character in the dream world and not know what they are thinking. Yet the dream is wholly the mind. In a dream my character, the other characters and the places I go to are all the mind.
This world that we experience then is wholly Infinite Consciousness appearing to be limited and separate. The apparently limited mind is like a mini Consciousness, with similar qualities. What happens in the mind is that thought forms develop a sense and belief of separation, limitation and identity. If we truly let go or dispel these false senses and beliefs of limitation, the mind sinks back into its true nature of Infinite Consciousness. This is what we call Nirvana, Moksha, Self Realisation, or Enlightenment.
This doesn't mean then that an Enlightened One can hear all thoughts or indeed know all things. The thoughts, the being and the world only appear by Consciousness focusing and condensing. When Self Realisation occurs it is a withdrawing of focus and a letting go of limits. As mentioned earlier, Infinite Consciousness cannot know the many. Although Infinite Consciousness is at the heart of all experiences, the experiences of the many beings belong in the apparently separate world, not in the Awareness of Pure Being. As far as Infinite Consciousness is concerned, there is not a world, there are not many people, nothing happens, and there is no space or time.
So it is not that Infinite Consciousness knows all things. Infinite Consciousness knows only itself. Although it is the essence of intelligence it does not know many things, because 'many things' is not the reality. Infinite Consciousness is the reality and the peak of knowing. It is the Pure Clarity of Being. It is our core nature, self knowing and knowing no other.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
True Peace and Stillness has nothing to do with the body or the mind. The body and the mind vibrate and flow with energy. Trying to still the mind or body is impossible, like trying to still the turning of the planet. It's possible to slow or calm the mind and the body, but they will continue to flow.
In meditation we may still the body somewhat and settle the mind's agitation. But the True Peace and Stillness we seek is beyond the world of time and space. It is the core of our being, the core of Aware Being that perceives the movements of the world through the senses and through the mind.
So do not be concerned by the body or the mind's agitation. It is not you. Pure Peace and Stillness is the heart of your being. It is your unchangeable nature, within which the world of change is perceived. Let the world change, and be as you are.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
Practise just being aware, without attachment, judgement, action or identification. There's no need to stop thoughts. Be aware of thinking also. Although effort seems to be needed at first, really the mind is being drawn to your natural core effortless state of being aware.
Let go of seeking or avoiding, liking or disliking, partaking or abstaining, and be as you are. Let the world unfold as you witness it. You are, and you are aware. You perceive the thinking, the human form and the world. You are not the thinking, the human form or the world.
Practise just being aware throughout the day. When it occurs to do this, let go of holding on, let go of judging, let go of identifying with form, thought and action. Rest in the peaceful state of just being aware. It is your nature. Identifying with form (as a human) and thinking, leads to the sense and belief of the ego. It is the phantom ego that attaches to identity and ownership. It is the ego that judges what it likes and doesn't like, what is right and wrong. It is the ego that identifies as the doer of actions.
All the while you are the peaceful aware beingness. So let go of attachments and rest as the simple clear Awareness that you are, without form, without identity, without otherness.
You are naturally aware. No effort is needed to be aware. It is the nature of your being. You can perceive the efforts of the mind trying to just be. It cannot succeed in becoming just aware. You are the awareness within which the mind and it's efforts are perceived.
It is you, Awareness, in whom the mind dissolves when it seeks the true effortless nature of being.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
We are not troubled by thoughts. We perceive troubled thoughts. Rest in Awareness, in the clear knowing, without identifying and without attaching to thoughts and the body.
There are times when thinking seems to get the better of us. We might try to calm the mind, but it even fights against that. We know that a calm mind is a good thing. We know that's how we should be. But sometimes the mind gets tangled up in trouble.
It may be that the mind starts dwelling on something that happened. It may be that the mind has negative thoughts about someone, maybe even our own self. It may be we are trying to meditate, and thoughts keep butting in and we fight back, trying to calm this troublesome thinking. And then we get frustrated that we can't stop it, and it all seems difficult.
But none of this is who we are. This is the mind tangling with itself, with its sense of self. Just as a torchlight cannot shine directly on itself, so we cannot objectively perceive our being. What we can perceive can never be what we are.
We are the Awareness that perceives these thoughts. We perceive the troublesome thoughts, and we perceive the sense of self that is unhappy with them. We perceive the struggle to stop thoughts and we perceive the sense of frustration when this is difficult. Truly we are the witnessing of this.
So what do we do about troublesome thoughts and the sense of self that we perceive. We do not do. Let them be. Do not get caught in the belief that you are there trying to do something about the thoughts. Who is it that is unhappy? Not you. You simply witness whatever appears within.