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.
- Category: Non-duality
- Hits: 1913
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.
- Category: Non-duality
- Hits: 1722
We perceive the world as made of many things, many objects that we have labels for. If we look around we can name them: trees, houses, cars, people, roads, rivers, mountains, clouds, stars, and so on. But are there really many things, or is there just one that appears as many?
We can consider planet Earth as one. When looked at from space, Earth is a sphere of colourful life. It is one in itself. Yet within the Earth's oneness there is this magnificent celebration of variation, the appearance of many. We cannot truly say that the clouds, the houses, and the people, are separate from Earth. They are a play or appearance of separateness.
Equally, consider your fingers. They are not objects separate from your hand, and your hand is not an object separate from your arm or your body. There is a whole that we label and identify parts of. Yet the apparently whole body is not complete in itself. It does not have limits. It blends and flows with the planet. The body is continually changing and interacting with the environment, through the food we eat, liquids we drink, air we breathe, and other subtler energies that affect it.
Consider also the colours of the rainbow. The rainbow is a dispersing of white light into a spectrum of colours. The colours are not truly separate, it is a separating of white light into a range of frequencies. The colours that we label are not true. If we focus on red then it appears separate from blue. But if we focus on the whole there is one continuous range of colour. Similarly the world appears as a dispersing of a singularity into an appearance of many. If we focus in on something we can label it, but the reality remains as a singular whole.
The labels we have for separate things are useful but flawed. Labels are not the truth. Reality is as it is, before we put labels on it. Of course, whether we label it or not it remains as it is. And whether there is an expression of a multiplicity or not, the Singularity remains as it is.
- Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
- Hits: 1673
The world is full of answers, patterns that point to the underlying nature of what we see.
Let's consider trees, that are so important to the expression of life on this planet. Firstly, the structure of a tree shows the pattern of Many from One: there is the solid central stillness of the trunk, and then branches spread out in all directions. This shows us how the universe appears. The tree repeats the pattern of the universe. We can see this pattern in the tree's leaves and flowers. It's evident also in rivers and streams, lightning forks, and the evolution of forms to include legs and toes, arms and fingers. It is the same pattern of Many from One.
We call it bifurcation, where one splits into two. The tree repeats this pattern to create a multiplicity of branches. Or so it seems. Whatever happens, however many branches we perceive, there is always the one tree.
Beneath the appearance of the tree there is an unseen aspect that supports the tree we see. The unseen roots go deep.
The tree also shows us the cyclical nature of the world in its seeds. One tree scatters many seeds. Each seed holds the potential to create a separate tree and continue the flow of life. Each successful seed will grow to produce many seeds, and the pattern repeats.
- Category: Non-duality
- Hits: 1685
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.
- Category: Spirituality
- Hits: 1654
Let's understand these terms and how they all tie up in understanding Awareness, Consciousness, Beingness, or God. By those names I mean the same Infinite One Being. Some might find any or all of those names difficult. So let's clarify that first.
There are many names that are used for God or That Which Is. It is not here considered that God is a bearded man in the sky, watching over humanity. The God discussed here is much more personal than that, yet impersonal. That sounds confusing maybe, but what I mean is that the Impersonal is at the heart of all persons. The core of our being is That Which Is. God is that essential impersonal nature that gives life to the world and allows the appearance of personal beings, such as humans and animals.
This is the Immanence of God, being within all beings. Immanence means that God is within. Many of us seek that inner peace and stillness that is God's nature. Some people seek the Infinite Stillness within. Some people feel a personal relationship with God, which is a path to God. It is the path of worship and devotion, where the personal relationship draws the apparently separate beings towards the Infinite Being of God.
God can also be considered as Omnipresent, being everywhere present. The reason for this is that although God may seem to be at the heart of all beings, the heart is infinite. Nothing is outside of God. Limits are illusory. There really is only God.
Yet we can also consider God as Transcendent. That means that God is beyond the world. So how can that be? God does not appear in the world. God is beyond the appearance of the world, yet the world appears within God.
So firstly I said that God is within (Immanent), then I said that God is everywhere (Omnipresent), and then I said that God is beyond the world (Transcendent). You may think, "C'mon, Dave, make your mind up." But really all three are acceptable references to the nature of God. The three are one, you could say.
The world appears as if God is the heart of our being, and in seeking God within we find the Peace of God (some may also call it the Kingdom of God). However, God's Peace is without end. God is timeless and formless. So we find that God only seems to be at the heart of our being, and in fact God encompasses the whole. God's infinite nature cannot be limited by the appearance of form. God is formless, without end, so God is beyond the appearance of things.
That should neatly sum up God's Immanent Omnipresent Transcendent nature. Seemingly contradictory but beyond contradiction. This is the nature of being.