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
A common mistake about Non-Duality is that it is something to be attained, or it is a state of consciousness that we can reach beyond this world of duality. But Non-Duality is really an explanation of the nature of reality - that it's not two, meaning that there is not a duality or a multiplicity, there are not many. Sometimes people may feel that it is necessary to overcome duality by drawing inwards to a point of Non-Duality, but that's not the case. It is rather a recognising that there is no duality, no inside or outside, that reveals the true nature of reality as a Non-Duality. Let's understand this some more.
Most people may have no concept, understanding or interest about whether reality is a oneness or not. There is a generally accepted view amongst humanity that there is this and that, me and you, me and them, these and those. It is what we call a dualistic view, seeing the world as consisting of many separate forms. People generally don't realise it in that way; it's just how the world appears and their everyday view of life isn't really questioned or highlighted. The Non-Duality understanding points it out. It highlights that we see the world in this way, mentally - that we have a mental view of the world as made of separate forms and separate beings. I describe it as a World of Opposites, because not only does the world appear to be made of separate forms, but there appears to be a force of opposites through the world, where these opposites seem to be stretched apart. For example, we conceptualise high and low, good and bad, near and far, stillness and movement, permanence and change, and so on.
So it's useful to recognise this apparent World of Opposites, and that the world behaves as if there is a push and pull between opposing forces. Moreover, it's useful to recognise that we see the world that way and we believe that this separation of opposites, or the separation of the world as a multiplicity, is true and real. That's an important recognition. But Non-Duality goes further. It says that this apparent separation and appearance of the interplay of opposites in the world is not really how it is. There's not really a separation. There are not two. There are not many. Only an Infinite One.
Just as a painting appears to contain many forms but is one, just as a movie on a screen appears to have many forms but is one, the appearance of the world in consciousness is one. The play of an unfolding universe is one. Although it may seem that the universe came from an unmanifest Singularity, bursting forth into opposite forces that interacted and multiplied, really the Singularity remains. There is no creation and destruction. What appears or disappears from the Singularity is always the Singularity, although it may appear to be its opposite. The universe now is no more or less than ever.
So Non-Duality is not something to be reached. It's right here now. It's not something for which we need to raise our consciousness to attain. Rather, it is recognised in the letting go of the ingrained human belief of separation. It's not that we live in duality and need to reach a state of Non-Duality. There is no duality. There is only Non-Duality; there is only an Infinite Indivisible Oneness. The world is not a duality. It appears to be, but what appears is a play of opposites within the Oneness of Reality. The world cannot appear without a play of reflection: what is and what is not. But it is all What Is.
It's hoped that humanity can take this on board and start living in a way that recognises the Oneness of life. Non-Duality does away with selfishness, competition, fighting and war. There are no separate selves. There is only Infinite Oneness.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
This is perhaps a useful way to understand Non-Duality. We think of the world as being outside of us, and we are on the inside. If we believe we are the body, then we still think of ourselves as thinking from the inside of the body. If we believe we are a soul, we may think that we are the soul inside the body. If we think that we are consciousness, then we see the thoughts as inside our consciousness and the body and world as outside of our consciousness. That's a generalisation, but people often think along those lines.
However, in the Non-Duality understanding there is no inside or outside. All that we know is Consciousness. The apparently internal and external 'worlds' appear in Consciousness. The thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations and perceptions that are experienced are all within Consciousness. Nothing is ever truly experienced outside of Consciousness.
So from that perspective what appeared to be the inside and the outside are found to both appear inside Consciousness. But we need to go a step further and recognise that 'inside' Consciousness isn't really accurate. When everything is 'inside' then there is no 'inside'. When 'outside' doesn't exist then the word 'inside' has no meaning. It just is as it is.
This is Non-Duality. There are not two. The opposites that we believe to be real are not really real. When we withdraw inside to the heart of experience we find that everything is 'inside' Consciousness or Awareness, and then there is no dualistic term by which 'inside' can hold any accuracy. So we recognise the duality, then go to the heart of where we perceive this from and realise that really there is no duality. The Heart is the Whole.
Similarly, we can say that when it is recognised that there is only Consciousness or Awareness, then these terms mean nothing. We can switch to the term What Is. Even the term 'Being' loses its meaning when all there is is Being. So the Truth is inexpressible. When we try to explain it we hide it somewhat. Yet it is never hidden.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
It's generally accepted by people that space is vast. By 'vast' we mean huge; so huge that we can't say how big it is. People may also consider the mind to be vast, or indeed One Consciousness to be a vast consciousness in which we all exist. But is space, mind or consciousness really vast?
I'm going to say these aren't vast, but they are beyond measurement. What I mean is that space, mind and Consciousness are not limited. They have no size. The expanding universe cannot expand into something else. There is no something else. If there was then we could include the 'something else' in what we call 'the universe', and it wouldn't be something else. There is no limit to the universe and then something outside that limit, which the universe is expanding into. Rather the content of the universe is expanding apart, or the non-content is expanding, seeming to separate the content of the universe. It's a play of content and no-content in the infinite oneness of the universe.
Similarly with the mind or consciousness. I could describe the mind as that in which human thought, dreams and imagination takes place, as well as where perceptions and sensations are experienced. But there isn't a place. The mind isn't vast. It's dimensionless. Dimensions can appear within it: we can dream a world that we walk around in. But it is itself dimensionless. The mind does not take up any space as we know. When we think of the mind as vast, really it has no limits. The only limits the mind has are those that it imagines. But those are not real limits.
It seems to be a difficult thing for the mind to grasp that it isn't really anywhere. The mind doesn't exist in time and space. Rather time and space appear within the mind. That's the experience: the mind experiences space and time. Additionally, we can't really define what the mind is.
But let's now consider the One Consciousness. By that I mean the One Consciousness understood from the Non-Duality perspective as That in which the world appears. We are That. It is the One Consciousness in which the seemingly many minds appear and within the many minds the world is perceived from different perspectives. It is this One Consciousness in which the universe appears. Ultimately we can know nothing other than consciousness, though there appears to be a universe of separate forms. What Consciousness perceives is only ever made of consciousness.
The universe isn't separate from Consciousness and the seemingly many minds aren't separate from Consciousness. Really there is only Consciousness. How vast is this amazing Consciousness? It's not vast at all. It has no dimensions, yet it allows the appearance of dimensions. Consciousness takes up no space or time, yet it allows the appearance of space and time within it. Again, space and time are not vast, they are infinite. The true nature of space and time is the Infinite One Consciousness.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
The human mind likes to categorise the world. It likes to put limits on things. In doing that it gets caught up in the belief that the world is limited and limitations are real. We feel that there must be beginnings and ends to things. We feel that there is cause and effect, question and answer, start and finish, seeking and finding. It's time to shake off that mistaken viewpoint. The world is infinite.
Although we may conceptualise causes and effects, truly the cause doesn't begin, and the effect doesn't end. We could say that an effect of something is brought about by a cause, and that the cause comes from a series of causes and effects chained together. But truly there is just an unending flow. What from one point of view can be considered a cause can also be considered to be an effect. So although it's useful to consider causes and effects, it is not strictly true. It is more like the flow of a sine wave, where we can label peaks and troughs of the wave, but really it is a continually flowing wave.
This applies to the whole of the world. The world is a never-ending story. Although the universe may seem to explode into activity and ultimately return to stillness, its beginnings and ends are in infinity. The universe appears out of the infinite, remains in the infinite, and returns to the infinite. Really the universe doesn't go anywhere. It is the appearance of going somewhere and returning back to where it always is.
But the human mind doesn't really think like that. It likes to have limits on things. Thinking works dualistically in a Non-Duality. That means that thinking works with objects, this and that, where the real nature of the world is This. The real nature of the world is an infinite indivisible Singularity, whereas thinking can only process in terms of distinct and separate things. So thinking inevitably assume limits on things.
We have thoughts that if we achieve something then we will be happy, or if we find the answer to an important question then that will suffice, or there is a peace that we can find. This may be how thinking works, but experience says otherwise. Really, we know that there is no magic thing that we can achieve that will bring a lasting happiness, and that answers usually prompt more questions. The good news is that the peace that we will never find is right here now. Searching for peace is like trying to find silence by calling out for it. Only when we stop the searching and accept what is, will the peace that is right here become evident.
The never-ending story of infinity doesn't have an end or a beginning, but the reality is the permanent peace and stillness that remains throughout the story of searching and struggling. The answer isn't out there, it's right here. The message here is to recognise that limitation isn't an accurate way of describing or understanding the universe or yourself. There are no limits. The Truth can't be found because it is right here already. If we drop the limitations that the human mind imposes on the world, then the peaceful truth of being just as it is will be revealed. There isn't a this and that, a here and there, a beginning and an end, a cause and an effect. There is just What Is.