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.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
Consider that before the world appeared from the Big Bang there was a Singularity, a state of no time, no space, no form, no change, no limits. For a True Singularity there is nothing else. It is Pure Perfection, Flawless, Pure Clarity, Completeness, Emptiness, Nothing, Everything, Wholeness, Peace, Oneness.
Similarly, imagine Infinite Light. It is Pure Imperceptible Clarity. It's not something that can be seen. For Infinite Light to be perceived it needs a contrast. It must seem to divide itself into what is like it and what is not like it. So a light appears in the darkness. In creating the perceivable world, the Singularity seems to divide itself into its likeness and its opposite. Interaction ensues and a multiplicity branches out. It sounds a bit like the Adam and Eve story...
Anyway, the Singularity seems to scatter itself into a range of what is close to it and what is far from it. Infinite Light appears as a range from bright light to darkness. This pattern multiplies throughout the universe. We can see it here in the formation of trees, flowers, and the fingers of human hands on human arms from a central torso. The universe seems to scatter outwards from a central point, and the pattern repeats.
What we see in this world of time and space is what seems to be an Infinite Singularity divided through dispersion and reflection. Oneness becomes one and many. Pure Light becomes light and darkness. Perfect Harmony becomes harmony and disharmony. Order becomes order and chaos. Peace becomes peace and war. Life becomes alive and not alive. Or so it seems.
Well, it's not what it seems. The opposite of Reality cannot really exist. Darkness doesn't really exist. Opposites don't really exist. The Light of Life is Infinite. There is no real end of this Infinite Life. Life only seems to come and go in a play of opposites. There is no distance in the Infinite, no far away or near. There is no past or future in the Timeless. The timeless Singularity can never end, or begin. The Singularity didn't really end when the perceivable universe began. The Singularity remains exactly as it timelessly is.
So what was there before time began? Time never did begin. The Singularity never changes. It only seems to change. There is no past or future. Nobody can experience these, only conceptually, not really.
And where does this universe end? It doesn't. It appears in the Infinite, stretches out across the Infinite, and returns to the Infinite. But it doesn't go anywhere. Nobody can ever experience being anywhere other than Here. 'Over there' is only conceptual. Distance only appears far away. What seems far away is only ever experienced right Here.
The Timeless Singularity can never become anything other than that. The world is a play of reflection and dispersion within the Infinite Consciousness of the Singularity. The Singularity is Reality. Dispersion and reflection are illusory. Yet there is nothing other than Reality.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spiritual Practice
We continually experience activity. The world is always moving and changing. We perceive this movement and change. Maybe we're mesmerised by it. Even when all seems still, it's an illusory stillness, as the world keeps on turning. But this is the reflection of Reality.
In meditation we calm the activity of the body and the mind, but they can never be perfectly still. The body and the activity of the mind belong in the world of movement and change. They can slow down or speed up, but not really stop. In meditation we slow them down. Breathing becomes more relaxed, and mind activity can be settled to a degree. The important thing to realise is that we are not the activity of the body or the mind. We perceive this activity from a placeless place of Stillness.
True Stillness cannot be achieved. Not because it is impossible, but because it is already here. The activity we perceive is a reflection of the Stillness in which it is perceived. The movement of the world appears in the Stillness of Being. All space and time appear Here and Now.
So in meditation we sink back into the true nature of Being. We sink back into the Stillness which perceives the apparent motion of the world. We perceive the breathing and the wandering mind activity. We are not that. We are not moving at all. Our nature is Perfect Peace. Pure Clarity. Let the world turn. Let the mind wander. But know that you are not turning or wandering. You are the Stillness right Here.
There may seem to be a 'me' that moves about or thinks thoughts, but that sense of 'me' is made from thought activity itself. It is also perceived. We are That which perceives any sense of me or other. We perceive the mistaken sense of identity. It doesn't change us. The one who may be mesmerised by the movements and activity of the world is not really who we are. We perceive this 'being mesmerised' or 'being caught up in the world'. The world moving and the thoughts thinking appear within the Stillness of Pure Consciousness.
In the world stillness appears illusory, whereas in Reality movement is illusory. The world appears as a reflection of Reality, yet it is nothing other than Reality. All apparent activity appears within the Non-Activity of Stillness, the nature of Perfect Peace, which is the heart of all and the whole of all.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
I often write about opposites. I've written about the Law of Opposites and the World of Opposites. You will also hear mention of the 'interplay of opposites' in Non-Duality teaching. What have opposites got to do with Non-Duality? Opposites would mean duality, right?
I call this world 'The World of Opposites'. The reason is that the world appears to be an imbalance, a splitting of a singularity into opposite qualities or opposite energies that separate and interact. The opposites seem to spread out and rejoin, over and over, creating the multiplicity of life that we see in the world. We understand the qualities of good and bad, right and wrong, high and low, true and untrue, real and illusory, strong and weak, formless and form, free and restricted, boundless and limited. This interplay of opposites forms the building blocks of the universe. It repeats in the falling of rain and rising of vapour, the flowing tides, the flow of breath, the procreation of life forms, the creation of night and day, magnetic forces, and so on.
This splitting of a singularity into opposing forces gives rise simultaneously to the Law of Opposites. The Law of Opposites pervades the universe. It is the inevitable interaction between opposites, bringing repulsion and attraction, dispersion and reunification. What is done must be undone, what goes up must come down, what goes out must come in etc. The Law of Opposites maintains equilibrium in a universe that has seemingly fallen out of unity. The opposites that appear are like and unlike the singularity from which they have seemingly separated.
But that's not the whole picture. The Non-Duality understanding is that this is a play of opposites. The Singularity doesn't really divide itself into what it is and what it isn't. There is never anything other than the Singularity. The Singularity remains Whole. It's infinite. It has no limits. The universe can never be less than or more than what it is. The Singularity seems to split in two and interact within itself, with what is like it and its opposite. Hence the World of Opposites is a reflection of Reality. Reality is an Indivisible Infinite One Aware Being. Division and limits are illusory.
Let's consider as an example, Light. The Singularity is neither light nor dark in itself. It has no form, no space or time, no distance. Yet it is perfect clarity, which is the purest Light. The Singularity is Aware, it is alive and knows clearly. Light and darkness arise when the Clarity of formlessness seemingly divides itself into formless and form. Form appears to block the clarity. The blocking of clarity develops into darkness. We can then understand the Singularity as Pure Clarity, or Pure Light. Its opposites - darkness, obstruction and confusion - give the contrast to demonstrate the nature of the Singularity. So from Pure Light there appears the opposites of light and darkness, but they are never separate. There is a Continuum of Light ranging from most light to least light (or darkness). The most light is closest to the Singularity. The least is furthest from it.
Another example may help. Consider the range from white to black. White and black seem like opposites, but if you imagine or see the gradual shading from white, through greys to black, then it can be understood that the opposites are not truly separate. It is a continuum of shading.
So even when opposites appear they are not really divided. It is more of an apparent stretching out of Oneness into what is like it and what is not like it, with a range or continuum in-between. But truly there can never be anything other than Oneness. The opposites are illusory. There is only Reality.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spiritual Practice
If asked, you could probably say where you are now and what the time and date is. But that's not really where and when you are. That's where the body is relative to the planet and according to the accepted timekeeping of the area. We can only say where something is relative to where something else is, so there's a never-ending relativity of location. There's no definitive or absolute location. Similarly with time, we can only give a date and time relative to the accepted timekeeping system.
For example, if I say I am in London in the UK, and the current time is 10am on January 5th 2025, that gives a rough idea of the time and place of where this body is in relation to the planet. 'London' isn't very specific. We could be more specific by giving a street name, post code, or even giving geographic coordinates. The location detector on a phone could detect exactly where this body is, thanks to geolocation techniques utilising satellites. Well, not quite.
The location is never perfectly accurate, in that it cannot specify the exact location by millimetres or less than that. (We could go on and on to find the finest most accurate measurements.) There is always some vagueness. Besides, this isn't a universal location, as the planet is always spinning through the universe. The universal location is continually changing. Also, the time is based on the accepted timekeeping system for the area. At that time it was a different time on other parts of the planet. Even 10am isn't accurate. Time is always flowing on. We can't give a perfectly accurate time for now.
There's good reason why space and time are only relative. They are illusory. The distance of space is only ever experienced Here. The change of time is only ever experienced Now. It is the play of the formless unchanging singular nature of Reality to give the appearance of distance and change.
It's useful to find where you really are, although it can never be found. In meditation recognise that you are not the body, nor the mind activity. You perceive the mind activity and the body activity. Go deeper in to find that placeless place Here. There is no weight, distance, time, form or disturbance in this still spaceless place. Wherever the body goes it's still Here. Whilst time seems to pass, Now remains as it is. Here and Now doesn't get caught up in the dreamlike world of space and time. Space and time play on without disturbing the timeless unchanging peace that is always right Here and Now. It's helpful to 'find' this in meditation. You can't really find it, because it's right Here already. It's where you're looking from.
Here and Now is the Reality of Being. Some call it Consciousness, Awareness, or Presence. It is the same placeless place that permeates all space and time. It is the heart and whole of all perception. It is the Beingness of every being and apparent non-being. It has no airs and graces, no pretences of grandeur. It's simply here all along, beyond time and change. We are This.