The Human Experience
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
There is a theory that this planet is a simulation. I'm no expert on this theory, but we can examine and explore it from a Non-Duality perspective. The theory goes something like this: the planet is a simulation or virtual reality, which is controlled by possibly hostile beings. Some may say it is like in The Matrix movie, where we are trapped in a virtual world believing it to be real, whilst our real selves are in a form of trance state, where other beings control 'the matrix' and harvest energy from us.
Certainly, what we perceive is not what it appears to be. We could look further and further out to space and find no end. We could look deeper and deeper into the atomic realm and find no end there either. No beginnings or ends can be found in this world. Solid walls aren't really as solid and impervious as they seem. They are made of porous atoms. The firm ground that we walk on is not really firm. It is always moving, shifting slowly and spinning through space.
So it's right to question the nature of reality, because reality is not what it appears to be and it's not what people generally consider it to be. Humanity has a general belief that there are limits to things, that things begin and end, and that things can be defined. But that's not really the case. Walls aren't impervious. The sky doesn't end. A rainbow isn't really divided into seven colours - it's the mind that divides it.
In some ways we could say that yes, this world is a simulation, because there is a magical quality to Nothing appearing as Everything. This world that we perceive is amazing, when we understand that the reality is an unmanifest infinite indivisible Singularity. How does a timeless, dimensionless Singularity explode into a multiplicity through time and space? The answer is that it doesn't. It only seems to. This apparent world of opposites and motion is a simulation of multiplicity within the indivisible Singularity.
So do we accept the simulation theory? Not exactly. There is a flaw. The flaw is that there are no 'other' beings besides the great Beingness of the Singularity in which the world appears. We are not in a simulation. The simulation is in us. The seeming world of opposites appears within the Singularity, which we are. We aren't human, and we aren't some other being on the other side of this world. There are not many beings. Multiplicity is the illusion of the world. The Singularity is the reality. Let's say, for instance, that we broke out of the trance state of the illusion of this world, and we saw (like Neo in The Matrix) that the world was a very different place, who's to say that that isn't also a simulation. One could fall through endless simulations trying to find reality.
But the Reality is right here. There is no 'over there'. There is no other place. There is no place. Only Here Now. Distance, time and movement are the illusion within the unmanifest Singularity right Here Now. You never go anywhere, as there is nowhere outside of you. There is not you and something else, only This. You are This. We are This. This has no limits. You can never be trapped. There can only be a simulation of being trapped - an experience of being limited. That is the human experience - the notion of being limited and separate from others. It's the ego trap. But the ego isn't really the being it thinks it is. It's a complex bundle of thought that forms the notion of being limited and being trapped.
The Singularity (who we really are, and all there really is) seems to experience limitation and separation through this simulation of multiplicity. Humanity can indeed break free from the ego trap and the limitation of the simulation. It is done through revealing that there are no limits and there is no separation, and allowing this recognition to permeate through and dispel the ego delusion.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
In Non-Duality we don't really dwell on the issue of the soul and its existence. Non-Duality points to a truth higher than both worldly and spiritual things. Truth with a capital T is that there is only This. It means that there isn't really a multitude of objects and beings. There is just One, an Infinite One. It's not even one, it's no number. Reality is indivisible infinity.
Let's understand this a little. Consider that there is only One. There is nothing other than this One, because that would mean there are more than one. For this One to be all there is it can't really have any limits. There is nothing else that could limit or form a boundary around it. So this One is infinite. But if it's infinite then it's not really one. Hence it is no number. We can't really understand infinity, as it defies explanation. Even the words infinite, limitless, boundless, unending, have to use the opposite terms to describe what it is. We have to say, it's 'not' finite or limited, and it is 'without' boundaries or ends. It's a bit like describing silence as soundless.
It's important to understand this essential aspect of Non-Duality before discussing the soul. Just as we are not a human, we are also not a soul. There are no true limits that divide the Infinite One into a multitude. Multiplicity is a play within the reality of indivisible infinity. The world appears as a play of separation, where the reality of indivisible infinity seems to be divided up into separate forms. So the world appears to be full of many creatures or beings, and we can also consider that there seem to be many beings at a less dense level of separation and solidification, which we call souls. We may view that a soul inhabits a human body in a similar way to how a human would put on a diving suit to be able to interact in the underwater world.
So there is the real Truth that there is only one indivisible infinite This, and then there is the play of the world, where things are not wholly true but appear to be closer to the Truth or further from the Truth. Though in reality there is only ever the Truth. With all that said, accepting that the world is a play, we can fairly ask what is playing out here on Earth?
Earth can be considered as a school for souls. There are many things here for the soul to experience and learn. We can consider that in the play of the universe souls go outwards exploring, developing and experiencing. The principal experience here on Earth is what seems to be dark, heavy, hardened, resistant, dense separation. The soul experiences what it's like to be a being separate from the world. This separation seems to be much more defined than in what we would call more spiritual realms. We even think of the planet and human life as material, where it is simply spiritual formation at a lower, denser level.
We can consider that the soul incarnates as a human and experiences a life of being close to some and distant from others, uniting with some and clashing with others. The soul can also experience what we call "rock bottom" where the content, complete, fullness of Oneness is reflected as the distraught, lacking, isolation of being separate from others. The soul experiences the opposite of its true nature here on Earth. It experiences severe limitation and separation. That's the extreme opposite of the reality of indivisible infinity. The soul can experience the terrifying extremity of limitation, where the play of the universe seems to become a cruel reality of its own. But this is only a temporary experience.
The play of separation is within the apparent world of opposites and reflection. So the soul seems to live and die, recede and return, over and over. But as the soul develops through this play, it goes through the limitation process, hits rock bottom, then starts to recede. It's a similar natural process as the tides rushing in and rushing out, or the lungs breathing in and breathing out. The soul eventually turns inwards from the outside world. The soul experiences 'being' human, then recedes and knows that it is not human. It recedes further and knows that this also means it is not a soul.
The grand awakening from this initiation of the soul on planet Earth is the revealing that it is not these things. The true nature of the human and the soul is This Infinite Oneness. The human and the soul are found to be only a play of limitation and separation. The reality of Indivisible Infinite Oneness is revealed.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
This article is similar to the 'How to Find Your Stillness' article but looks at it from the angle of finding freedom. Many people feel trapped in some way. We may feel trapped in our commitments, our life situation, a relationship, or job. We may feel trapped in the body. The body may feel sick or broken, as may the mind, and we may feel trapped in this. People end their lives because of this feeling of being trapped in a dark difficult situation. We want to be free. Freedom is the high goal that many would like to achieve.
How do we achieve freedom? Well, it can't be achieved because it's already here. You may recoil and say, "This is nonsense, I'm not free to do everything I want. I'm not free to fly into the air and take myself to somewhere peaceful away from my problems." But what I mean is that true freedom is here along, although overlooked. The mind believes, "I am this human and I am limited in what I can do. I am trapped in this." But that is just mind activity. You perceive this mind activity, but you are not limited by it.
The world appears to be a place of limited forms that have their own boundaries. There seems to be resistance and separation. The world can seem to be a hard place because of its restrictions, limitations, boundaries and resistance. These things are what hold the objects of the world together and prevent them from being merged into oneness. Without boundaries and resistance, the world would merge into a singularity. That's how it seems anyway, but let's look closer.
Consider a brick wall. It seems impervious. Humans can't walk through brick walls. If a human was surrounded in a closed room of brick walls, they would be unable to get out. But that's not the end of the story. If the human inside the closed room had a device that could send radio waves, then they could send a signal through the brick walls. Radio waves can travel through what seem to be impervious walls because of their long wavelengths. We know that what seems to be completely solid is only really relatively solid.
Now, the human in the closed room is relatively trapped because of the density of the body in relation to the density of the walls. The mind isn't trapped, but its identity with the body concludes it to think and feel that it is trapped. The mind then wants to be free. This is understandable in a room like this, but a similar thing happens with the mind in everyday life. The body may not be trapped in a room, but the mind can think and feel that it is trapped in a difficult life situation.
Really there is no true lack of freedom. The mind is always free, but it believes that it isn't. The mind takes on what it perceives as the restrictions and limitations of the world and assumes that it is trapped in these. This feeling and belief can intensify, causing the mind to continually worry about its situation, and become caught in its own mind-made web of restriction.
Let's get to the root of this, as that's the way to true freedom. The world can only appear as a world by aid of separation and restriction. The world appears as though a singularity split into opposite forces, where repulsion and attraction separate and unite, multiplying and spreading across the universe, before ultimately returning back to the singularity from which it came. As mentioned above, it is the restrictive force that keeps the universe from returning to a singularity. Or so it seems.
The reality is that the timeless, dimensionless Singularity that was before the universe is still here now. Really it is Here and Now, due to its dimensionless nature. So the Singularity doesn't really become two and spread out, multiplying. This is only a play of separation within the Singularity. As we saw with the brick wall, the restrictions that divide are only relative; they are not true restrictions. So the world of restrictions that appears is not truly restricted. There are not truly many objects in the universe. It is One Infinite Indivisible Singularity seeming to separate and divide itself, whilst remaining ever indivisible.
What this means to the human is that its freedom is in the dropping of imagined boundaries, because they are not real. The identity of the human is not its body, nor even its active mind. Its true identity is the endless Singularity. The body has no real limits and the mind has no real limits. The limits are only in the beliefs of the mental activity we call the mind. Dropping of these false beliefs brings about a clarity, an unhindered perspective of Life as Freedom itself, as One Infinite Indivisible Whole. Not a concept or idea of this, as that is still a mental picture that clouds the clarity of clear seeing. Just seeing without ideas or beliefs. Seeing Life as it is. Pure Awareness.
This isn't easy for the human, of course. But we can start by recognising the fact that the universe is endless and indivisible, and that we are not a being separate from others. At the very least, we can start living life that way and some clarity will come. We will recognise that we are not limited by the human form and the life situation. We will see that the life situation is a play of experiencing limitation. Life will seem to become freer and less serious than it was before. There is a further recognition that we are not limited by the mental activity that we perceive. This is all perceived in the Infinite Awareness that we are.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
Life is full of activity, people busying about doing things, and if they're not doing things they're often sat watching other people on a screen busy doing things. We may take ourselves away from the busy world to somewhere tranquil, but still the mind can be busy thinking about things. Many people want to find some peace and stillness in their life.