Non-duality
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
Where does the mind end and the body begin? This is an interesting question to consider. In Non Duality sometimes 'the mind' refers to the seemingly finite mind, sometimes it refers to Infinite Consciousness. There's no problem with this, as the seemingly finite mind can be considered as the peak of a wave on the ocean of Infinite Consciousness, which could equally be called Infinite Mind or Awareness. When the seemingly finite mind returns to Infinite Consciousness it is clear that it never really left and there never really was a finite mind.
This finite mind seems to get tangled up in identifying with the body, and limits itself accordingly. It's impossible to find where the mind ends and the body begins. The mind controls much of the movement of the body, and the state of the mind affects the emotions and even the physical health of the body. The eyes see the body (except from where they are seeing from) and other senses give a rounded picture of the body. We feel when there is a pain in the body, if the body is thirsty, hungry, tired or weak. All these perceptions and sensations of the body are experienced in the mind. It is the mind that is the centre of perception and sensation for the body. It is in this way that sometimes Non Duality teachers speak of the body-mind.
This understanding of perceptions and sensations appearing in the mind leads to a deeper recognition that the mind and the body aren't really separate. The mind is mistaken in its sense of identity with the body. The body and the world are perceived in the seemingly finite mind. Thoughts are also perceived in the mind, seemingly by the identity or ego. This ego or sense of identity is also witnessed. We witness our sense of identity in the mind. All that the seemingly finite mind perceives is witnessed by a deeper 'collective mind' or shared mind, that is Infinite Consciousness. Ultimately there is no finite mind, body, or world. There is only Infinite Consciousness.
- 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: Non-duality
There are many teachers of non-duality, including the world itself. But let's look here at the difference between those that say there is nothing that can be done and those that say there is something that can be done. If you look into Non-Duality enough you will encounter teachers who say that there are practices that can be done to reach self-realisation, and some who say that you can't do anything because your true nature is self realised already.
The latter is perhaps the most truthful. A core teaching of Non-Duality is that the separate self cannot achieve enlightenment or self-realisation. This may sound strange to some, but the reason is simple: there is no separate self. Separation is illusory. The sense of being a separate self is a mistake in the mind. The identity of oneself as a human separate from other humans is flawed. Your true nature is the formless Awareness of the human experience.
So, as much as human longing is for happiness due to the sense of separation and being incomplete, this is more of a muddle in the mind. The unhappiness arises due to the mistaken identity as a separate being. The true Self is the selfless self, which is complete, infinite, formless, without separation or division. It is the true Self seemingly at the heart of all apparently separate selves.
But humans are driven by this sense of being separate. We compete against and clash with 'others', we seek happiness, we have wants and needs, we are always incomplete. Even spiritually seeking enlightenment is an expression of this search for happiness, peace and wholeness. But the separate self cannot achieve it. True Peace is already here. True Peace is the nature of our timeless being. So the teachers who say that people can do nothing to achieve it are right. It is like trying to be yourself. You are yourself already. There is nothing to do. And, in fact, your true nature does not do. All actions and movement, space and time, are illusory. The True Self is unchanging, beyond concepts of space, time, distance and movement.
This high level of Non-Duality teaching does not help most people. It may for some bring about a leap from searching to self-realisation, where suddenly the illusory sense of being a separate self is shattered, and Awareness is as it is. But for many people there is no immediate satisfaction in this knowledge. Knowledge will not satisfy. People still want practices. People still feel the need for something to be achieved. It is for this reason that many Non-Duality teachers give practices and guidance for seekers to 'reach' self-realisation.
Are practices necessary? Well, yes and no. If they seem necessary and the spiritual urge rises in a person then they will be or seem necessary. Will they achieve enlightenment? Well, yes and no. If a person feels the need to reach enlightenment then spiritual practices may be the way to get there. But it should be recognised that 'there' is right here, right now. There is nowhere to get to. Enlightenment or self-realisation is not experienced by the illusory person, it is the underlying nature of what is.
Self-realisation is the core of the apparently separate world. It seems to be the Oneness at the heart of the separate being. But there is no separate being or world. There is only self aware Oneness. If a human feels the need to turn inwards and seek its true identity, then it will do so. The sense of separation will always seek unity or oneness, which consumes the illusion of separateness.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
Are you tall or short? Thin or wide? You are none of these. People may be relatively tall or short, thin or wide, but that's not who we really are. If you believe you are the body then you may describe yourself in these dualistic and relative terms, but generally if you have some spiritual insight you will know that you are not the body. So you should know and consider that you are neither tall nor short, thin nor wide.
The dimensions of the world in which the human form lives do not apply to our true nature. Truly we have no dimensions. Consider that. There is nowhere that is far from you or near to you. There is nothing that is outside you or within you. There is no-one separate from you or apart from you. What appears to be near or far, tall or short, thin or wide, is right here. Our experience of the world is right here. We experience the sense of depth, height and width, but we experience this right here.
Most people have seen a movie projected on a cinema screen. On the screen we can see tall mountains in the distance, faces close up, wide buildings and narrow streets that taper off into the distance. But this distance and size we see isn't real. It's an illusion of depth, width and height upon the flat screen.
The world appears in a similar way within the dimensionless nature of Awareness. Awareness is our formless unseen being within which the world of forms appears. The sense of depth, width and height reaches out from an apparent centre of awareness. There seems to be a centre from which we perceive the world's depth and distance. The centre is right here, from where we perceive. But it is not truly a centre. In the centre of being, the centre of awareness, it can be found that there is no depth or distance, and therefore no centre. There is only What Is, our formless, dimensionless being.
It is our formless, dimensionless being that allows the appearance of forms and dimensions from an apparent centre of awareness, like an explosion of dimension from an infinite core. The world of depth and dimensions is an illusory appearance within the formless, infinite Awareness or Consciousness, that is the reality of our being.