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: Non-duality
The world appears as a flow of continual movement and change. Where stillness appears in the world it is illusory. For example, if you're sat at home on a sofa or on a bed, sat on a bench in a park, or even if you're sat on a train, there is a sense of stability and stillness. But the stillness of the sofa, the bed, the bench or the seat on the train, is illusory. It is a relative stillness. The seat on the train is relatively still in relation to the train, as it maintains its steady motion with the train. The sofa is relatively still in relation to the Earth, whilst the planet spins around. The Earth is continually spinning and swirling through the universe, and the universe is in continual motion.
This illusion of stillness in the world of motion is merely a play of opposites. What we see in the world is a reflection of the truth. Stillness is the reality, and motion is the illusion. But I don't mean the stillness that you can see. True Stillness is an infinite Singularity that has no form, no outside, no inside, no distance and no change. It is Stillness beyond any appearance of stillness, beyond space and time.
The appearance of The World of Opposites is the way in which the Singularity becomes visible. So the illusory world appears as the opposites motion and stillness, where motion is the opposite of the Singularity and stillness is its likeness. Yet the appearance of the world of opposites is itself the opposite of the Oneness of the Singularity. Hence the stillness that appears is not true stillness.
It is in this way that space and time appear as the opposite of the unseen Singularity that has no form, location, separation or change. This World of Opposites or the World of Motion is wholly illusory, yet infused with the reality of the Singularity. Space seems to stretch out indefinitely within the Hereness of the Singularity. Time appears to stretch out within the Nowness of the Singularity.
Distance and change appear within the Here and Now of the Singularity. So the illusion or maya of the world is itself illusory. There is only Reality. The illusion is held by the belief of space and time over the truth of the Singularity. Where is this Singularity, this True Stillness? It is right Here and Now. Wherever you may seem to go, however you may seem to have changed, you remain here and now as the True Stillness witnessing the world of movement and change.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
You probably know the song Imagine by John Lennon, which says, "Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do.... Imagine no possessions. It's easy if you try." Well, let's look at the reality of countries and possessions here.
The song invites us to imagine there is no heaven or hell, there are no countries, no religion, and no possessions. In a way it invites us to imagine there are no limits. Really what we need to do is stop imagining that there are limits. Leaving heaven, hell and religion aside for now, certainly countries and possessions are imaginary.
Countries are set by imaginary boundaries that humans have defined. The planet is not naturally divided into countries. Humans through history have fought over land and sea boundaries, and it continues to this day. Ultimately these man-made limits end up limiting and defining us. We believe that we are Welsh, English, French, American etc. But truly we are not this.
When our claimed boundaries are threatened we strengthen them. As apparently separate individuals and separate nations, our imaginary limits harden the more they are threatened. The human ego defends itself and strengthens its boundaries, and the collective ego does the same. But these ego limits are false. There are no true limits that define us, only imaginary ones.
Equally possessions are imaginary. We have no right of ownership of anything except under human law. Possession and ownership is again man-made. If I create something, if I buy something, or if something is given to me I may think that I own it. But the planet has no system of ownership. It is a human belief of ownership, but there is no universal law of ownership which makes possession true. It is a case of man-made limitations again.
I'm not suggesting here that we give up all possessions, as we truly have none. Better to give up the belief that possession is true. Also, I do not suggest that nations let go of their borders. Better to recognise that borders are not true and let go of the false belief that we are separate and different. There is a oneness that underlies the variety of the world. It is an infinite unlimited oneness. Believing that we are limited is an error.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
Is it night or day where you are? If the sun has gone down you would say it's night. If the sun hasn't gone down you would say it's day. But these sentences are full of errors.
We know that the sun doesn't rise or fall. We know that the sun only appears to rise and fall whilst the Earth stays still. Really the sun stays still whilst the Earth spins on its axis. But even that isn't correct. The sun doesn't stay still at all. The sun is always moving. This swirling solar system is in the flow of a swirling galaxy. It would appear that everything in the universe is moving.
Let's get back to the initial question: is it night or day where you are? Okay, so we understand that it's not the sun moving round the Earth. If the sun isn't in the sky then it's night. But night isn't a real thing. It's just a word or concept we humans use to describe that period of time when the sun isn't in the sky. Is there an exact point where day becomes night? Well, you could try and be very precise about it, as the sun disappears below the horizon, or when the sun's rays are no longer visible. But all that's happening here is that we are trying to give absolute definition to words that are vague and don't hold any reality in themselves.
I'm using night and day as examples here, but the point is to highlight the errors of words and concepts. They are full of flaws. We cannot rely on words and concepts to accurately portray truth. The best they can do is point to indescribable truth. So, it is safe to say that whatever is said is not the truth. Nobody can speak the truth (or write it, for that matter). Words and communication can range from close to truth to far from truth.
It is silence that speaks perfect truth.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
All that we know is in consciousness. Nobody has ever known anything that is outside of consciousness. The sound of a car going past is picked up through the perception of hearing and is known within consciousness. The visible perception of the world is, via seeing, known in consciousness. The feel of material in our hands is known in consciousness. The smell of freshly cut grass is known in consciousness.
The physical pain we feel when we stub our toe or have backache is known in consciousness. The emotional pain we feel when we lose someone close, and indeed the love we feel when we embrace someone close, is all known in consciousness.
Everything comes down to consciousness. Even the sight of a distant star is known and experienced right here in consciousness. Thoughts in the mind are known in consciousness. Dreams during sleep are known and experienced in consciousness.
The point here is that all your experiences and everything you can ever know is known in consciousness. You've never experienced anything outside of consciousness. You may think that the sound of a bang is far away, or the moon in the sky is a tremendous distance away. But your experience of it is right here in consciousness.
Therefore there is no truth that we can be sure of outside of consciousness, and there is no firm evidence that anything exists outside of consciousness. It's impossible to even attempt to find the outside of consciousness. We could try some experiments, but the experiments would only appear to be done outside of consciousness. Our whole perception of them would be within consciousness. So who can say where consciousness ends?
You may feel that you are a human and consciousness is in your mind. But there are flaws with that. Can you truly see yourself? Can the eye see the eye? Can one see one's self? Consciousness is aware of the believing in the mind, the seeing through the eyes, and the body and world perceived through the body's senses. The human body is a changing, flowing appearance within consciousness. The body is not as solid as it appears.
You may feel that you are not conscious of what someone else thinks, so there is a limit to consciousness. It would be more accurate to say there is the appearance of limitation, and solidification, in consciousness. The dense world of matter is the appearance of solidified consciousness. It can only be experienced in consciousness and made of consciousness, yet it appears solid. Though subtler still, the mind appears also as a condensing or separating of consciousness into the apparently separate limited mind.
Thus the world of matter and mind appear as the condensed levels of consciousness within consciousness, made of consciousness. One Infinite Consciousness appears as many minds within many bodies in a world of varying degrees of density of form. With the density comes the stronger sense of limits and separation, yet it is all consciousness.
The term 'Consciousness' is a name for the basic ingredient of existence. We could equally call it Awareness, Spirit, God, The Infinite One, or I Am That I Am.