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Non-duality

Category: Non-duality

The limited person is the reflection of the Impersonal Infinite Reality.Reality is impersonal. Reality has no limits to divide this from that. There is only an appearance of limits. We may assume or believe that there are limits. But these limits are never truly and accurately defined. Consider a wave on the ocean. It has no limits, no beginning or end definition. It is really just the ocean appearing to have the form of peaks and troughs. There isn't one wave separate from another, yet we assume that 'a wave' really is something.

Similarly with the branches of a tree. There aren't really branches. It is just the tree. We may look at the tree and say, "Here's a branch. Here's another branch. There are many branches." But it is just the tree. The human mind has labelled 'a branch' without really accurately defining where 'a branch' begins and ends. It has no beginning or ending. Just as with the wave.

These labels are useful, yes. But are they wholly accurate? No.

So, back to the person and the Impersonal. We may consider that we are a person and we know other persons. It's useful to have that understanding, but it's not wholly accurate. Truly there is no divide between persons. We might say, "My body is separate from their body, so we must be different separate people." But there is no clear definition where this 'body' begins and ends. The body is a flowing, interactive formation within the planet. It's not separate from the planet, from the solids, liquids and gases that flow through it. Although it may seem that 'air' separates 'this body' from 'that body', again this is just the human mind labelling things that are not clearly defined. We can vaguely accept it, and that's fine. But is it true? No.

If we really want to find truth we need to recognise that the words we use to define things are never accurate, because there are not truly many things. There is only This. Reality is a complete undivided whole. It may appear as many, but that is a play of division and separation. Reality is always Whole.

So if we are not this person, then who are we? We are the Whole. We are This.

Why does it seem that there are many separate life forms? Because This can only appear through a play of separation and reflection. The limited person is the reflection of the Impersonal Infinite Reality. The individual is the opposite of the Whole. The Whole can only be expressed by use of opposites, so what appears within the Whole is a reflection of the Whole. What appears seems to be incomplete, stretched out from here to there, fallen out of balance, drifting far from Here, conflicting and clashing. What appears seems to be far from Oneness, Wholeness and Completeness. But Reality is One, Whole and Complete. It never can fall out of harmony.

There only ever seems to be many. There only seem to be multiple persons. The Truth is right Here, not over there. Reality remains complete and content. We are This.

Category: Non-duality
Reality is Harmony itself.The idea of world peace seems to be a distant, perhaps impossible, utopia. It's a world where all people get along, where there are no harsh divides between one nation and another. Humanity would be considered one nation. Not a homogenous nation where everyone dressed the same and looked the same, but a unified nation of diversity. A place where diversity is accepted but with an underlying unity or companionship between people of different appearances. Unity in diversity.
 
That's the idea, anyhow. It may seem distant and impossible, but it is achievable to a degree. I say, "to a degree," because True Harmony is not something that can be manifested. True Harmony is not something that can be achieved. The simple reason is that the world itself appears by aid of disharmony. Why so?
 
The world appears as an expression of what some have called the Supreme Ultimate. Some call it God. Some call it the Self or What Is. The world is an expression of the underlying Reality. What is seen, known or experienced as the world is not a true appearance of Reality. Reality is without appearance. So any expression of it is inadequate. It is like trying to express silence with sound. It will always be less than accurate. Reality is really inexpressible, so no expression can be perfect.
 
But what about True Harmony? Reality is True Harmony. Reality is a whole, complete and inexpressible, an unmanifest Singularity. It is perfectly balanced beyond any notion of imbalance. Reality is Harmony itself. It can only be expressed by aid of reflection and opposites. Smoke and mirrors maybe?
 
The world appears as a World of Opposite in order to express the inexpressible Reality. The world is not other than Reality. Reality can only appear by aid of reflection and separation, seemingly dividing itself to be able to observe itself. Yet it remains timelessly unseen. The True Harmony is expressed as imbalance, separated and fluctuating between opposites. There can be an appearance of balance and harmony relative to disharmony. But it can't accurately portray True Harmony.
 
Just as we can perceive a sense of stillness if we sit in a quiet room, whilst the room spins on a planet flying through space, it's not True Stillness. The underlying Reality is True Stillness, but it can only be expressed through use of relative motion and stillness. It is the same with Harmony, which is expressed through relative disharmony and harmony. The peace we may seek cannot truly be found in the world of expressions. Yet it is right here all along.
 
We cannot perceive True Harmony because it is timelessly ever present. Just as silence can never be heard. Harmony, Peace and Stillness are the inexpressible qualities of Reality. It is this Singular Reality that underlies the world. The world is its attempt at expression. True Harmony is inevitably the goal for all civilisations. It is the Reality of Life. Recognising this underlying Reality of Harmony and Oneness is the step towards the greater expression of harmony in the world.
 
We recognise the great importance of Harmony as the nature of Reality, and we work towards the greatest expression of this. We recognise that it cannot be wholly expressed, but we know that it is ever present and underlies all apparent disharmony.

Category: Non-duality

Space begins in the infinite and time begins in the timeless.It's generally assumed that the universe is limited and that individuals are limited. It is considered that the universe has a beginning and an end in time and space. It's also thought that we are individual beings with beginnings and endings. How can I put this? It's just not true, and there really has never been any valid evidence to say it is true. Let's explore it and see what the evidence shows.

No-one has ever found the beginning or end of time or space. It is generally accepted that the universe appeared from a singularity, bursting forth into expression, outwards from this centre. It is this bursting forth that is space and time itself. Before time and space the singularity was in a spaceless place timelessly. Only when the explosion of the universe happened could it be later said that it began there. But we can't really say when it began, because there was no time before, then there suddenly seemed to be time. Similarly with space, in the singularity there was no reference of separation and distance, so there was no space before space suddenly seemed to appear.

Really, if we consider the beginning of the universe we find that space begins in the infinite and time begins in the timeless, which means that the universe has no beginning or end. Similarly, if we look towards the end of the universe, space can only come to an end in the infinite, and time can only come to an end in the timeless. Where are the limits we have assumed were there? They cannot be found. If there were limits to the universe then that would mean there was something other or outside the universe limiting it. But when we consider that the universe includes everything, then there can't be anything else.

If we look at our individual limits, generally humans assume they are limited by the body, and anything that is not the human body is not them. But there are no fixed limits to the human body. The outer layer or skin isn't really separate from the environment. The skin is constantly being replaced by new skin as the old skin flakes off into the environment. Air flows into and out of the body. Food and liquids come into the body and go out. Really the body is a constantly changing appearance of a life form made of and within the planet. The body is never really separate from the planet, so the body is never really limited.

So our ideas of limitation are flawed. There is no limitation. That means there is no 'me'. What we think we are is not really who we are. We cannot be defined. We are nothing other than what the universe is. There is no real outside or inside of 'me'. Although there are thoughts that we are the thinker and the body, and everything else is outside us, that's not true. Thoughts are perceived but there is no limited individual that perceives them. Thoughts of being limited or not are perceived. The sense of identity is perceived, but there is no true identity, because identity means separation from what it is not, and that doesn't happen because there are no true limits that divide.

So where does this leave us and the universe? We are the universe. There are no others. There is only This. It means we can drop the old beliefs of limitation and live freely. Although there may appear to be limitations, we know that limitations are only make believe. We have no beginning or end. We have no restriction. We are freedom itself. The full recognition of this we call Liberation, Moksha or Enlightenment, where the sense of separate identity is cast aside and we are as we are.

Category: Non-duality

We cannot directly describe an infinite indivisible reality. We have to refer to what it is not.Let's consider Truth. There is Absolute Truth and there is relative truth. Relative truth is what we're used to. It's where we say, "Today is Tuesday," and it is a Tuesday. Or we say, "Four plus three equals seven." Those statements seem to be true enough, but they are dependent on other information being true. "Today is Tuesday" is dependent on a shared understanding of what "today" means and what "Tuesday" means. For a German speaker today might be Dienstag. For someone on the other side of the world our today could be their yesterday or tomorrow. It sounds silly, but the point is that it's not wholly true.

In fact, nothing can be said is wholly true. Anything that can be said or thought is at best relatively true, or at worst relatively false. One of the reasons behind this is that nothing can be truly and accurately defined. All the words we use are at least slightly vague. We cannot say with precise accuracy where "today" begins and ends. In fact "today" is a made-up reference to a span of 24 hours, which are themselves human made divisions of time. Time is not truly divided into hours or days. These are terms that we share an understanding of, and they are only then relatively true.

We can go further and recognise that relative truth is not the truth. It is not true truth. Nothing that can be thought or said is true. Thoughts, words, ideas and theories are useful but never true. Truth itself cannot be expressed. This means Absolute Truth. What is Absolute Truth? Absolute Truth is reality. What does that mean? It means that Absolute Truth is right here all along, no matter what falsehoods are expressed. Absolute Truth is the unchanging constant reality. Truth is Reality.

I cannot write what Truth really is. I can only write what it is like or not like. I can write that reality is a singularity, that there is no division of things. But that is only to correct a human misunderstanding that reality is divided into things. The statement isn't wholly accurate, because it depends on relative ideas and a sense of "division" and "things", which it denies. We understand what a "singularity" is by reference to what it is not. Again, as mentioned elsewhere, we use the negative or reflective term to indicate reality. Just as the term Non-Duality refers to the non-existence of duality (separation or division).

You see, we cannot directly describe an infinite indivisible reality. We have to refer to what it is not. This is a strange one, as what it is not does not exist. But human thinking has assumed that the reflective qualities are real. Human thinking assumes that relative truths are real truths. Better, perhaps, to recognise that Absolute Truth is inexpressible but evident in all that seems to be expressed, and that words, ideas and theories cover a spectrum of untruths that in a sense are closer to or further from Absolute Truth.

Let's break that down. Absolute Truth is inexpressible. The world is an expression of it, and is not other than it, yet it cannot wholly and accurately represent Truth. Any expression of Truth is less than it, yet exists within it. Truth allows the expression of untruths. All words, ideas and theories are not wholly True. They can point to Truth more or less closely. For instance, "Love is All" points closely to Truth, whereas "Hate is All" is far from the Truth. (Love is an expression of the Oneness of Reality, whilst hate is its reflection, expressing division.)

So we have Absolute Truth as the measure of all things that are not the truth. How does this help? Well, we know that no matter what thoughts think, they are not accurate. Why should we pay so much attention to thoughts when they are never really accurate anyway? Truth is silent and unspoken, always here, often overlooked. This reminds us to respect the silent stillness that is here. It encourages us to turn towards Truth and Stillness rather than get caught up in the drama of thinking and the world. It reminds us that we are not right and others wrong - all ideas are wrong. Just being, in silence and stillness, is closer to Truth than anything that can be said.

  1. Where Am I?
  2. The Idea of Me
  3. Not Many Things
  4. Form and the Formless