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: Non-duality
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 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.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
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 ever one, the indivisible Infinite One.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
It's important for all humans to realise that the separation we perceive and assume to be true is not true. We see a world of many different forms, different creatures, different plants and rock formations. We see humans and animals moving about independently. You can look about you now and see many different objects, maybe ornaments and furniture in your room, or outdoors with blades of grass, grains of sand, clouds, cars, or mountains.
But this multiplicity that we perceive is not what it seems. Even if we consider the world as matter, the singularity of it can be recognised. The many physical forms of nature that we see on the planet can be understood as just the one planet appearing to be many forms. The mountains, the people, the animals, the trees, even the cars, are all formations within the planet and not separate from the planet. You may think that humans, animals and plants are separated by the air around them, but the air is also the planet. It's all just the planet flowing within itself, expressing through different formations within itself.
If you consider the view of Earth from space you see one planet with forms and colours. There are no separate creatures discernible. There is just the Earth. On closer inspection there appears to be separate creatures that rise and fall in the flow of creation and destruction within the planet. But the planet neither gains nor loses when a tree rises or falls. There is no gain or loss in creation and destruction. The planet remains as one, whether there appears to be more trees or less trees. There is only an appearance of many within the singularity of the planet.
Okay, so you may say there are several planets. But there is only the appearance of separate planets within the oneness of the universe. The universe appears as if a singularity has exploded into many forms, which combine, clash and interact. But this is a play of multiplicity within the singularity of the universe. The seeming multiplicity of the universe is a play within its singularity. The space that seems to separate the singularity of the universe is also the singularity, only seeming to separate itself from itself.
We can go a step further and recognise that all we ever perceive is in consciousness. The rocks that we say are made of stone, the clouds that we say are made of water vapour, and the trees that we say are made of wood, all appear within consciousness. Our experience of them is in consciousness. All that consciousness can be made of is consciousness. So the multiplicity of 'things' that we perceive is solely consciousness. Nothing is ever known other than consciousness.
We perceive what we consider to be our own human form in consciousness. It is consciousness. The rest of the world that we perceive is made of consciousness. There is only Consciousness. We are Consciousness, an infinite aware singularity that gives rise to the appearance of separation whilst remaining infinitely one.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
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.