The Human Experience
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
Part of Non-Duality teaching is to recognise there is an ego at play. The ego is the sense and belief of being a separate self. The ego doesn't really exist as a separate entity. It is a thought-based persona. The ego has developed in the human psyche as the mind has evolved in a harsh world, where it has needed to develop defences to survive. Attack is a form of defence, as is hiding, remaining quiet, or making a stand.
We find a range of egos in the human world, from the most humble to the most selfish. The strong ego has the strongest defence, and prides itself on maintaining its identity and borders. It accentuates its limits to maintain its identity. It may even seek to dominate others and place its own limits around them. The humbler ego gives up its defences and does not feel the need to force or push. Indeed, the humbler ego is more open and at peace with the world. It's fair to say that the human world is ruled by egos.
But in Non-Duality we recognise that this illusory ego has been dominating too long. We learn to not be taken in by it, as we have done in the past. We recognise that its selfish aims are contrary to the infinite oneness of life. We see it as a bundle of thought-energy that asserts itself as right and in charge of this body. Non-Duality practice is to depose this usurper and allow the true selfless Self to shine as the rightful Beingness in the human form. The true Self is without borders or limitations.
Our practice is in letting go of holding on. The ego holds onto things, people, beliefs, and its sense of self as different to others. Slowly we let this go. The ego becomes humbler, and recognises that it has been living with false selfish beliefs. This human is not the most important being on the planet. The ego turns to being of service to others and less dismissive. The ego opens up and lets down its barriers. If we practise Self Enquiry, as taught by Sri Ramana Maharshi, we seek to find this self. In seeking this self identity we find that it is non-existent. The ego has no real lasting substance. Once rooted out, there is no ego or sense of identity. This is Nirvana, the extinguishing of the sense of being a separate self. It allows the selfless Self to come through unhindered.
That's the process, but there are minds reading this at different levels of ego-identity. The important thing first of all is to recognise that this ego has been ruling your perception of the world. You will notice it when it asserts itself or when it seeks to hide away. This is fine. But the path to clarity and oneness is in diminishing the ego. We can start by helping others, being kind and forgiving. Being willing to put ourselves out for others without complaint. Yes, drop the complaining. That's the ego asserting itself again. There may be rightful causes to stand up for, but be cautious of getting caught up in the ego strengthening its identity as a warrior. Humility is the key.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
Humanity, and indeed planet Earth, is on a path of spiritual evolution. Life forms on the planet don't just randomly evolve. There is an underlying directive force in the universe, firstly a push towards outer limits, then a returning inwards to the limitless. This is all spread across a vast expanse of space and time.
Life on planet Earth appears at the far end of the spectrum of density. By density, I mean density of spirit. What we call matter is more like an appearance of limited, separated, dense spirit. It is the far end of the vibrational universe, where forms become more separate, dense, seemingly more limited, and less interactive and flowing. So life forms on planet Earth appear of a denser, solidified nature. Yet they are evolving to become freer, less limited and less dense. The natural interaction of forms at this far end of density is to be hardened and clashing, less collaborative and more competitive. Hence the survival of the fittest. Seemingly separate life forms compete against each other.
Nevertheless, animals on planet Earth are highly developed life forms. They've evolved, and they're evolving towards increased intelligence and awareness. Animals just see the world as it is. They've not progressed to the stage where humans are at yet. Humans have reached the stage where we can think about the world, label things, define things, and understand cognitively how the world works. I'm reminded of the 'Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil' mentioned in Genesis in the Bible. It's where humanity has moved on from the basic animal nature to thinking, gaining knowledge, and gaining self awareness, a recognition that 'I am this body'. In some ways it can seem like a step back, out of the blissful unaware state, into thinking, worrying, and seeing the challenges and difficulties of 'me and the world'. At this stage the ego develops - the mind's sense of being a separate being, defending its borders, strengthening its position, and asserting its importance. This ego nature rules the human world. It's an evolutionary step forward, but certainly not the culmination of evolution.
The next step for humanity is to develop this 'self awareness' further. For all humanity's confidence in its sense of being right, all its knowledge and conceptualising is inaccurate. Its sense of self is misplaced. Its sense of right and wrong, good and evil, is a separating of the world. The sense of separation, of me and the world, is flawed. Truly there is no separation. This appearance in planet Earth of many different life forms is illusory. It leads humanity to believe that separation is real and the ego is right. But it's not. These many life forms can also be considered as one planet expressing itself in seemingly many ways. There comes a change of perspective. A deeper understanding, that there is not 'me and the world'. There is only this.
As self awareness continues to develop, it turns inwards. It turns from seeing the world of many separate forms. It turns from the difficulties of competing against the world. It turns to a recognition of the underlying Oneness of what appears to be a multiplicity. As the ego nature continues its development it is recognised that the greatest ego is not the one that dominates and wins, it is the one that surrenders itself in service to the whole. The greatest ego gives up itself, reduces its sense of importance, lets go of its belongings and ideals, to bring peace to the world. In religious terms this can be recognised in the sacrifice of Jesus, giving up his life to save others. It's a move towards dropping the limits and defenses of the ego, in favour of the Oneness of the whole.
This next stage of evolution is in letting go of the limits that seem to define. Recognising that limits are illusory. There is only One Infinite Being, expressed as many beings and non-beings. What Is is expressed as what is and what is not. But truly there is only What Is. Humanity evolves to a point of enlightenment, where the separate individual, the ego, is seen to be false, and the Oneness of What Is is realised.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
The Non-Duality understanding clearly explains the reason for humanity's dissatisfaction with life and search for happiness. Desire arises as a consequence of the sense and belief of being a separate individual in the world. This is not who we really are. Reality is an infinite, indivisible Singularity. This is our true nature, our true Being. So when the mind identifies as a limited separate being, it will inevitably feel incomplete. It will never be satisfied. There will always be something missing. It will never be content.
On a lower 'physical' level the human body is somewhat incomplete and needs sustenance from the environment. There is a human urge for union with another human, primarily for the purpose of procreation, but humanity has evolved beyond the need to just survive and procreate. The human mind has evolved. Desire has evolved in the mind, arising from the sense and belief of identifying as a separate individual. This apparently separate individual has wants and desires beyond the 'physical' needs of the body. The mind itself is seeking the peace of union. Reality is Oneness, so this sense of being separate brings with it the feeling of being incomplete, wanting without satisfaction, and ultimately suffering, not being content.
The mind that identifies as separate will initially look outwards for what it feels it wants and needs. It tries to find satisfaction in the world. People look for love, search for happiness, use substances to give some relief or escape from this yearning and unfulfilled desire. They occupy themselves with things to do, to keep the mind from falling into loneliness and yearning for something. This is an understandable search, but ultimately nothing lasts. This is where the mind turns to spirituality, and spiritual teachings that say to practise meditation to bring about peace.
The mind seeks to end its suffering, and after trying to find peace and happiness in the world, it turns inwards to find peace in itself. Meditation seeks to calm the mind. In calming the mind, a clarity is found, a peace and contentment. Without the mind's chatter, and ultimately without the mind's sense and belief of being a separate individual, there is no sufferer and no suffering. The body may encounter pain still, but there is only an experience of this without the mind's sense of suffering.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
In Non-Duality teaching there is not a thinker or a doer. There is only Consciousness. Consciousness can't sing and dance, and it can't walk. But we seem to be able to move about. Let's understand this.
Consciousness is stillness beyond any sense of movement. Movement is the appearance of change within the unchanging Consciousness. We are not the body that seems to move about. So although you may say, "I'm going for a walk," it's not really you that goes walking. It's the body that walks, not Consciousness. The body and its movements are not who we are. We perceive the body and its movements. Most spiritually aware people could agree that they are not the body.
Then we have the mind. We might say, "I was thinking about what you said yesterday." But we don't do the thinking. The mind thinks, or rather thoughts appear in what we call 'the mind'. We are the Consciousness experiencing the mind, its thinking and thoughts. We perceive the thoughts appearing and the sense of identity in the mind that thinks it is thinking thoughts. We can't really define 'the mind'. It is what we call the field in which thinking, feeling, sensing and perceiving appears. Ultimately 'the mind' can be considered as a focusing of Consciousness.
It's important to remember that Consciousness is like a Singularity. It is dimensionless and formless. It doesn't go anywhere or do anything. There is nothing and nowhere other than Consciousness for it to be able to move or do anything. Consciousness is formless. If there is any form (including thought forms) or there is any movement, that's not you. That's not Consciousness. It appears in Consciousness, yes. But it is illusory in the sense that it is not a true portrayal of Consciousness. Consciousness cannot 'see' itself. So anything that is perceived cannot be it. Any appearance of forms will be imperfect compared to the Pure Perfection of Formless Consciousness.
So who thinks the thoughts? Nobody. The thoughts float by within Consciousness, as part of the mind and its conditioning. The mind forms a sense of identity, which is thought-based. This thought-based identity then thinks that it is thinking thoughts. It's all a flow of thought energy that reacts to the more dense forms of the body and the world. We can understand it like this: there is solid matter of the body that changes slowly, there is liquid matter in the body that moves around, there is gas also flowing through the body at a higher rate; then there is the less dense but more volatile flowing of the mind. The flowing of the mind is part of this system that interacts with the body and the world. The mind itself can have some fixed views and more flexible views. This is all perceived in Consciousness.
So there is nobody thinking. Thoughts flow. Consciousness witnesses this. The mind forms an attachment and identity as a thinker, believing itself to be a separate entity that can think. Truly Consciousness doesn't think. The nature of Consciousness is peace, stillness, and infinite oneness.