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: God
This may seem far from the truth, but the world is an expression of God. By 'God' I mean the Infinite Indivisible One Being. And by 'the world' I mean this human experience of the universe. I'll explain.
We could say that the world is a manifestation of God, a creation of God. It 's an expression of the Infinite Timeless Being. The world isn't separate from God, but we wouldn't generally say that it is God. One way to put it is that the world is an expression of God that is less than God but made of God. God, being infinite, is not detached from the world we experience. We can substitute the word God for Spirit or Consciousness, meaning the One Being.
How can the world be an expression of God if it is so flawed? How can evil, suffering and despair be an expression of God? Well, the expression of God needs contrast to appear. When you consider that God is an Infinite Formless Being, the only way this can be expressed is by contrast; and by 'contrast' I mean the use of opposites or reflection. That means that the world that appears uses opposites to express God's nature. And further, the appearance of the world is itself the opposite of God. The world is flawed because it is an expression of the pure perfection of God.
In other words, the Invisible is expressed by use of the visible, the Formless is expressed by use of forms, Imperceptible Perfection is expressed by the use of imperfect forms. Also, Stillness is expressed by use of movement and change, Life is expressed with the contrast of death, Imperceptible Peace is expressed by the use of disturbance, and Oneness is expressed by the appearance of separation. The world that we experience is this expression of God/Being/Spirit/Pure Consciousness as a world of opposites. The Infinite Oneness of God expresses itself as a world of separate finite forms. Or so it seems. It's not wholly accurate, because the expression is imperfect. The visible cannot truly express the Invisible. Sound cannot truly express silence.
So the world that appears is not actually a world of opposites or a world of separate forms. It only appears to be this. In reality it is nothing other than God. The expression of God, though not a wholly accurate representation of God, is nonetheless God, as there is nothing other than God. It's not really possible for God to create something outside or separate, because this infinite indivisible oneness is the nature of God.
It helps to understand that what appears as the world is a flowing, changing universe that seems to have fallen out of a Singularity and divided. It hasn't really fallen out of a Singularity, but it is playing the game of separation through what we call space and time. The sum total of the expression of space and time is zero. I mean that the opposites ultimately balance out, as the timeless Singularity is never lost. Nothing is gained and nothing is lost in the universe. God remains timelessly as God is.
The further understanding of this is that we are not other than God. The human expressions are inevitably flawed, and some may seem more flawed than others. Some humans may seem to be far from God in their behaviour, thinking and actions, and some may seem closer to God. The ultimate truth of this is that God/Being/Spirit/Consciousness/Oneness is never far or near. God is right here, throughout this expression of what is like God and what is not like God. Truly there is only God.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: God
Aware Being is the fabric of the universe. There is no universe outside of consciousness. The universe appears in consciousness, made of consciousness, known by consciousness. All that you can ever know is consciousness knowing itself. That needs a bit of exploration and explanation.
What are you aware of right now? Maybe some warmth from the sun, rain on the window, a comfortable carpet underfoot, a soft bed or sofa, or a firm chair. Maybe you can see the inside of a room or the expansive outdoors. You may hear voices or distant sounds. You may feel the wind blowing on your face or body. It may feel hot or cold. And what of the mind? When reading this the thoughts appear in the mind. If you pause reading for a while, the mind considers other thoughts. They float along, from this to that, and disappear.
All this that you perceive is in consciousness. The thoughts, the sounds, the sights, the smells, the tastes, the feelings, the buildings, the cars, the animals, the people, the music. All of life. Everything that you've ever known has been in consciousness. It's not possible to get outside of consciousness, because you are consciousness. It is the root of all that is perceived. It is awareness or knowing. It doesn't mean there is a knower, a separate self that is aware of other things. The sense of identity is thought based, and this too is perceived. Who perceives the sense of who you are? Consciousness, or Aware Being.
The universe is the play of Consciousness or Aware Being. It's a play of opposites, of what is and what isn't, of this and that, of me and other. Yet there is no other. There is no this and that. There is no what is and isn't. What isn't cannot exist. The play of opposites and reflection is necessary for the universe to appear. It's the contrast of opposites that allows for manifestation to happen. It is the seeming separation of subject and object, the perceiver and the perceived. But it is all a play of separation into opposites. Remember, there is no other. There is One Infinite Aware Being. We are This. This is all there is, everything and nothing.
It helps to understand intellectually that nothing can ever be experienced outside of consciousness. Nothing can ever be proved to be outside of consciousness, and ultimately the whole of our experience is consciousness itself. The whole universe is a fluctuating, reverberating flow of consciousness within itself. There are no limits to consciousness. There are no limits to the universe. There is nothing outside the universe. There is truly no inside or outside. Opposites and limitation are the play 'within' Consciousness.
This Aware Being that is the universe plays at being and not being, being aware and not aware, alive and not alive. But Aware Being, or the Universal Being, is Life itself. Life plays at being alive and not alive. By this use of opposites within the singularity of Being, Consciousness expresses itself within itself.
We are One Universal Being, and this Being that we are expresses itself by nature of opposites, giving rise to a multiplicity of forms. The appearance of many beings arises from the play of opposites within the One Universal Formless Being: Consciousness.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
A common mistake about Non-Duality is that it is something to be attained, or it is a state of consciousness that we can reach beyond this world of duality. But Non-Duality is really an explanation of the nature of reality - that it's not two, meaning that there is not a duality or a multiplicity, there are not many. Sometimes people may feel that it is necessary to overcome duality by drawing inwards to a point of Non-Duality, but that's not the case. It is rather a recognising that there is no duality, no inside or outside, that reveals the true nature of reality as a Non-Duality. Let's understand this some more.
Most people may have no concept, understanding or interest about whether reality is a oneness or not. There is a generally accepted view amongst humanity that there is this and that, me and you, me and them, these and those. It is what we call a dualistic view, seeing the world as consisting of many separate forms. People generally don't realise it in that way; it's just how the world appears and their everyday view of life isn't really questioned or highlighted. The Non-Duality understanding points it out. It highlights that we see the world in this way, mentally - that we have a mental view of the world as made of separate forms and separate beings. I describe it as a World of Opposites, because not only does the world appear to be made of separate forms, but there appears to be a force of opposites through the world, where these opposites seem to be stretched apart. For example, we conceptualise high and low, good and bad, near and far, stillness and movement, permanence and change, and so on.
So it's useful to recognise this apparent World of Opposites, and that the world behaves as if there is a push and pull between opposing forces. Moreover, it's useful to recognise that we see the world that way and we believe that this separation of opposites, or the separation of the world as a multiplicity, is true and real. That's an important recognition. But Non-Duality goes further. It says that this apparent separation and appearance of the interplay of opposites in the world is not really how it is. There's not really a separation. There are not two. There are not many. Only an Infinite One.
Just as a painting appears to contain many forms but is one, just as a movie on a screen appears to have many forms but is one, the appearance of the world in consciousness is one. The play of an unfolding universe is one. Although it may seem that the universe came from an unmanifest Singularity, bursting forth into opposite forces that interacted and multiplied, really the Singularity remains. There is no creation and destruction. What appears or disappears from the Singularity is always the Singularity, although it may appear to be its opposite. The universe now is no more or less than ever.
So Non-Duality is not something to be reached. It's right here now. It's not something for which we need to raise our consciousness to attain. Rather, it is recognised in the letting go of the ingrained human belief of separation. It's not that we live in duality and need to reach a state of Non-Duality. There is no duality. There is only Non-Duality; there is only an Infinite Indivisible Oneness. The world is not a duality. It appears to be, but what appears is a play of opposites within the Oneness of Reality. The world cannot appear without a play of reflection: what is and what is not. But it is all What Is.
It's hoped that humanity can take this on board and start living in a way that recognises the Oneness of life. Non-Duality does away with selfishness, competition, fighting and war. There are no separate selves. There is only Infinite Oneness.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
This is perhaps a useful way to understand Non-Duality. We think of the world as being outside of us, and we are on the inside. If we believe we are the body, then we still think of ourselves as thinking from the inside of the body. If we believe we are a soul, we may think that we are the soul inside the body. If we think that we are consciousness, then we see the thoughts as inside our consciousness and the body and world as outside of our consciousness. That's a generalisation, but people often think along those lines.
However, in the Non-Duality understanding there is no inside or outside. All that we know is Consciousness. The apparently internal and external 'worlds' appear in Consciousness. The thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations and perceptions that are experienced are all within Consciousness. Nothing is ever truly experienced outside of Consciousness.
So from that perspective what appeared to be the inside and the outside are found to both appear inside Consciousness. But we need to go a step further and recognise that 'inside' Consciousness isn't really accurate. When everything is 'inside' then there is no 'inside'. When 'outside' doesn't exist then the word 'inside' has no meaning. It just is as it is.
This is Non-Duality. There are not two. The opposites that we believe to be real are not really real. When we withdraw inside to the heart of experience we find that everything is 'inside' Consciousness or Awareness, and then there is no dualistic term by which 'inside' can hold any accuracy. So we recognise the duality, then go to the heart of where we perceive this from and realise that really there is no duality. The Heart is the Whole.
Similarly, we can say that when it is recognised that there is only Consciousness or Awareness, then these terms mean nothing. We can switch to the term What Is. Even the term 'Being' loses its meaning when all there is is Being. So the Truth is inexpressible. When we try to explain it we hide it somewhat. Yet it is never hidden.