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: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
The world appears as a reflection of Reality. The common appearance of reflections in the world makes it a pattern or expression of that which can't be perceived. Reflections appear on the flat surfaces of water or smooth objects, such as glass, polished obsidian, or our commonplace mirrors. Reflections occur in the processing of the visible image in the eye, the echo of sounds off walls, light bouncing off surfaces, and in many human inventions such as radar and x-ray imaging.
Reflections appear as opposites or inverted copies of an original. They may appear more or less accurate depending on the pureness or smoothness of the surface they appear in. They're never absolutely perfect, as they can’t truly be the original. The reflection appears as an inverted inferior copy of the original.
Another pattern I've written about is 'the hollow'. It's commonly found in the world and expresses the infinite empty completeness of Reality. Reflection can be considered in a similar vein. The pattern of reflection expresses the nature of the world as a reflection of Reality.
It would be a mistake to think that 'the world is a reflection of me'. That's not it. The world is what appears or is perceived. That incudes thinking and the sense of identity or 'me'. These are perceived and are part of the world that appears.
This all appears as a reflection of that which cannot be seen or known. The world appears as a multiplicity of many separate things. Some things are alive, some not. This is a reflection of Reality, which is pure infinite indivisible Life. Reality isn't seen, as there is not really a separate one seeing something else. There is no real subject-seeing-object divide.
Humans can't really see themselves, only reflections of themselves. The eye can't see the eye. The Infinite One Being can't see itself. All the Infinite One can do to kind of see itself is to use the appearance of reflection and separation. So there appear beings and a world. It's all the Infinite One expressing itself by aid of reflection, separation and opposites.
The world appears imperfect, reflecting the Perfection of Reality. The world appears to continually move and change, reflecting the Unchanging Stillness of Reality. The world appears as separate forms, reflecting the Formless Indivisible Singularity of Reality.
But the world isn't really imperfect. It doesn't really move and change. There aren't really separate forms. Although the appearance of the world seems to be a reflection of Reality, there can never really be anything other than Reality. There is only ever the Infinite One.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
Can you be in tune with the whole? Can you be so at one with the world that all your actions are in harmony with the world? Well, yes and no.
As long as there is a 'you' or a 'me' there is a sense of separation from the whole, a falling out of harmony with the whole. So 'you' can never be in complete harmony with the world or the whole. You will be more or less in disharmony with the whole. At best 'you' can be close to harmony. At worst, far from harmony. When close to harmony, the sense of 'me' is diminished to such a degree that 'your' actions are for others and for the whole, as best as 'you' can. When far from harmony 'your' actions would be disruptive and harmful to others and the world. The 'me' will be out of harmony to a greater or lesser degree. Or so it seems.
The good news is that there is a true Harmony. Harmony is the truth. Harmony is the truth within the appearance of disharmony. What appears to be you and what is believed to be you is not you. What appears has no limits. What appears is the Whole. There is nothing other than the Whole and it isn't really divided up into separate forms.
The human mind sees the world as separate and believes this, developing its sense of identity as separate from others or the rest of the world. This sense of separation is thought based and at the root of identity. This is the 'me' that can feel alone in the world, fearful of the world or angry against the world. The stronger the sense of separate identity, the more 'I' will feel distant, isolated, or at odds with the world. This is where the disharmony comes in.
The 'me' can't achieve harmony because it is by nature a sense of separation and disharmony. It's a separating out from the whole, like an imaginary cutting out a piece of the whole. But the whole is never truly separated. The Harmony is always here. The whole is always the whole. Nothing is gained or lost. It just is.
So what do we do to find this Wholeness? We let go of the sense of being separate. We allow the recognition of Oneness to permeate this sense of being separate, so that it gradually dissolves. Know that the sense of 'me' is witnessed, but you are not it. It appears and disappears within the whole. You are not this or that. You just are.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
We tend to think of opposites as separate qualities. Good is different to evil. Light is different to darkness. High is different to low. Order is different to chaos. Happiness is different to sadness. On is different to off. But there is another way to understand opposites – we can consider opposites as expressions of one quality seemingly stretched apart. A continuum.
Take a heartbeat for example. The heart beats rhythmically as a pulse. We could understand this as a beat of on, off, on, off, on, off etc. But that’s not really what is happening. The rhythm of the heartbeat is continually flowing. The heart is pulsing, extending and contracting in a flowing motion, with peaks and troughs that give the sense of on and off. The heart flows between these opposite states, giving the sense of a beat or pulse So with the heartbeat it’s useful to understand it as a pulse of on and off, but it’s more accurate to understand it as a continuum of opposites.
Let’s also consider day and night. We usually think of these as opposites. Day is when the sun is in the sky. Night is when the sun is below the horizon. We know, of course, that the sun isn’t rising and falling as it appears to be. This is just a reflection of the planet's rotation, that gives the appearance that the sun is moving. That’s pretty basic really, and taken for granted these days. But it is an example of the reflection of movement and stillness in the world, a great display of the mechanics of manifestation. But let’s get back to the point of day and night. We can consider them as opposites, where one is light and the other dark. That’s one way to understand it. But a more accurate way is to understand it as a flowing between the brightening and darkening of light, a continual flow of brightness, becoming more bright, then less bright, more bright, then less bright. We could call it a Continuum of Brightness that gives the appearance of what we can then call day and night.
Perhaps a more difficult and emotive pair of opposites to consider is good and evil. These too can be considered as a continuum. Goodness is a kindness, a closeness to others, an openness, a selflessness, showing actions that are constructive and supportive of the whole. Evil is its opposite, hateful, distancing from others, closed, selfish, with destructive actions that are self-serving and against the whole. We can consider them as distinct opposites, but they have a connection. The opposites are bound together as reflective qualities of one quality. They are not clear cut. We could say there are degrees of goodness and evil, ranging from great goodness, to slight goodness, to okay-ness, to some badness, to destructive evil. We can consider this a Continuum of Goodness, a flowing out from supreme goodness, stretching away, becoming its opposite as extreme evil. Evil actions are actions at odds with Wholeness. They are actions seemingly far removed from the respect of the Wholeness of Life. Yet they are inevitably still within the Wholeness of Life.
You see, the opposites are never really separated or divided. Wholeness is maintained. The opposites do not stand alone, separate from one another. The Continuum of Opposites is the appearance of separation whilst maintaining Wholeness. This brings us back to the point mentioned above, where the reflection of opposites in the world shows the mechanics of manifestation. The apparent separation of opposites is the means by which the universe appears. Contrast is needed for something to appear from nothing. Yet these contrasting qualities can never truly be separated. They can only appear to be separated. The Wholeness of the Singularity is timelessly maintained throughout the appearance of separation that makes perception of the world possible.
I have often used the term ‘The World of Opposites’. That’s a way to understand the appearance of the world. A more accurate way would be as ‘Oneness’.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
In ancient Chinese philosophy there is an understanding of opposites in the world, with the Yin and Yang forces or qualities. But these opposites were considered to appear within the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji), which is a Perfect Inexpressible Singularity. Let’s explore and understand what this means.
So we know that this seems to be a World of Opposites. There are opposite qualities such as light and dark, good and bad, clear and clouded, moving and still, truth and lies. But these are not the Truth. They have some relative truth, but they are not the Absolute Truth. So words spoken or written may be close to or far from the Ultimate Truth, but words can never be the Truth. The reason that words can’t be the Absolute Truth is because they are expressions dependent on opposites and relativity.
It’s useful to really understand this. In the world all words are less than true, all movement is illusory, all clarity is less than perfect, all goodness is less than perfect purity, and all light is darker than Pure Light. So even though the opposites may appear to be like and unlike the Supreme Ultimate, the Absolute, Reality, they are inevitably less than it. They are less than the Ultimate because they are expressed in the seemingly divided World of Opposites.
It seems as if the world has fallen out of the paradisiacal state of Pure Perfection. It seems that the Supreme Formless Singularity has been divided to create a world of forms and opposites. So all that appears in the world is less than Perfection. What the world has to offer will never suffice. Even the most beautiful is less than perfection. Even the kindest of people is less than the Selflessness of the Supreme Singularity.
This is why the Supreme Ultimate can also be called the Great Extremity, or the Supreme Superlative. It is the Highest of the high and low. The Greatest of the good and bad. The Purest of the pure and tainted. This world is like an expression of the Supreme Ultimate by means of contrasting opposites, those like it and unlike it. But they are never really it. The expression always falls short of Truth and Reality. The Reality is imperceptible, as there is no other, no separation, no division of what is and what isn’t. There only seems to be a division of the Supreme Ultimate. It is Pure Unseen Perfection. Perfect Clarity. Formless Being.
But there is a seeming paradox. The world that appears seems to be less than the Whole, less than the Supreme Ultimate. But it isn’t. There is only the Whole, only the Supreme Ultimate. The seeming paradox is that although the world is to be understood as being less than the Supreme, it is also to be recognised that there is only the Supreme. There is never more than or less than the Supreme Singularity. The opposites are illusory in nature. Oneness is never divided in two. The world only seems to be a World of Opposites.
I could say it is the Supreme Singularity reflecting within itself. But all statements about it will be less than the Truth. The closest we can actually come to describing the Supreme Ultimate is by saying nothing.