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: 518
This doesn't seem a very spiritual question: How heavy are you? Neither may these: What is your size? What is your age? These all seems like questions it can be considered rude to ask. But explore them from a spiritual angle, not a personal one, and they can point to the true nature of our being.
Weight, size and age are relative to the human perspective in the human world. But look deeper to who you are. Look to where you are looking from. I don't mean the eyes. We experience seeing, yes. We perceive other senses as well: hearing, taste, touch, smell, balance etc. We experience these senses from a central point. In the Non Dual understanding we are Awareness itself, that unchanging state wherein all change is perceived. Let's look there. Or rather, let's look Here. It is the closest point of being you. Closer than the arms and legs. Closer than the eyes and ears. Closer than thoughts even. Let's look here, where even thoughts are perceived.
How heavy are you here? There is no weight. What is your size here? There is no size. What is your age here? There is no age. The real you is formless intelligent awareness. You are as you are. There is no ageing here, no being born or dying. There is no time or space. Just formless awareness perceiving the play of time and space. Being formless, you have no depth or change. You cannot be weighed down. You are neither large nor small. We could say your size is infinite, but even the concept of infinity is not accurate enough, as you have no size.
No qualities stick to you. You are perfect, in that you have no faults. Perfect from the human perspective, but just as you are in truth. You have no lack or need. In that sense you are complete, but beyond the concepts of complete and incomplete. These are human concepts, similar to weight, size and age.
Being formless you are not limited by the appearance of the world, by descriptions about you, or by the appearance of forms that are perceived. Here you are, the basic component of all life. That which is. That without which the world does not appear. You are I Am, the basic quality of being, without attachment or identity. There is no attachment or identity because there are no limits to divide you and separate you from something else. There is no something else. You are as you are. I am that I am.
- Category: Spirituality
- Hits: 503
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.
- Category: The Universe
- Hits: 466
All we ever know is consciousness. We never experience anything outside of consciousness. Thoughts, feelings, sensations, perceptions, are all in consciousness. Our experience of the mind, the body and the world are all in consciousness. Consciousness is our core state of being and knowing, within which life is experienced.
Although common human belief is that consciousness is in the body or the head, Non Duality sees it differently. The body is in consciousness. We may believe that we are in the body, but truly the body is experienced in consciousness. A useful way to consider the world, a theory if you like, is that the body and the world are condensations of consciousness. That is, the matter of the world and the body we experience in consciousness is a condensing of consciousness as hardened dense form. Thought forms can be considered as condensed consciousness also, though less dense than matter. It's a way of understanding the world as varying degrees of consciousness, in keeping with the fact that all we ever know is consciousness.
It's a useful theory in coming to terms with the prevalence of consciousness and recognising consciousness as the substance of the universe. In spirituality and science there is an understanding of the world as vibration. The world is seen as different levels of vibration. This ties in nicely with the condensed consciousness theory, when we consider that it is consciousness that is vibrating.
So we have a good theory there that the world appears as condensed consciousness vibrating at different levels or frequencies. But we can go a step further and say that although this is a good model for understanding consciousness and the universe, it's not wholly accurate. You see, really there isn't a condensation of consciousness. Consciousness stays exactly as it is. The condensing of consciousness is an illusory appearance. It is the 'maya', the magical or illusory appearance of the world.
The world only seems to be a condensing or vibrating of Consciousness. The true nature of Consciousness is perfect stillness, undisturbed and unchanging. Consciousness does not really become something else. Consciousness is beyond time, space and dimension. It is formless, complete emptiness. So how does the world appear in Consciousness?
Although ripples of consciousness seem to be perceived, and it could be said that over time and space the ups and downs cancel out, truly Consciousness does not vibrate at all. This appearance of a vibrating pulsing universe is like a reflection upon the still, perfect surface of the Infinite Ocean of Consciousness. The appearance of highs and lows, depth and distance, variety and change, is a reflection on the unchanging surface of dimensionless Consciousness.
It is not dissimilar to how a three dimensional landscape appears on a two dimensional TV screen, whilst the TV screen remains unaffected by any fires, floods, or explosions that happen in a movie. The depth in the movie is illusory. The time in the movie is illusory. The change and variety upon the screen is illusory. The screen remains as it is.
Suitably the appearance of the world is a reflection, as it demonstrates the opposite qualities of Infinite Consciousness. Form appears in the formless. Distance appears in the dimensionless. Time appears in the changeless. Limits appear in the limitless. Fluctuation appears in the stillness. Restriction appears in the free. Separation appears in the One.
- Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
- Hits: 469
Many years ago in my early twenties I went to bed one night, but before I drifted off to sleep I had an unusual but refreshing experience. Whilst my eyes were closed I saw a shower of swirling symbols. Not only did I see this, but there was a freshness about it, like a soft breeze from a fan blowing on my face.
As I watched and experienced this I started to become alarmed, because I realised that the swirling symbols were swastikas. At that time all I knew about swastikas was that they were the Nazi symbol. As uplifting as this experience was, I was confused that these were swastikas swirling down on me like snowflakes. They felt like uplifting energy, but they symbolised evil, hate, cruelty, and genocide. It really didn't make sense. Then after a few minutes the experience came to an end.
It took some time and study for me to realise that the Swastika isn't a symbol of hate. The Swastika was used long before the Nazis appropriated it. The Nazis used the symbol in reference to their claims of ancient inheritance as the supposedly superior human raice. There is plenty to be said against this kind of delusion, and Eckhart Tolle has explained about the deluded collective ego well. Here, the focus is on the spiritual symbol of the swastika, that really should have nothing to do with fascism, racism, or any kind of superiority delusion.
The Swastika has been used by many cultures across the planet and is still in use today in the East, where it has a longstanding history as a symbol of luck and prosperity. Use of the Swastika was banned in Western countries after the Nazi movement was overthrown. It remained as a symbol of humanity's lowest ebb, understandably being hated by Jewish people and others persecuted by the people who wore that symbol.
But historical use of the swastika has been found in cultures as far widespread as Mayan, Norse, Celtic, Chinese, and Native North American, amongst others. Often the symbol is believed to represent the sun and spiritual energy. That certainly sounds something like my experience. The Nazi use of the Swastika sadly seems to be another case of evil taking something good and turning it bad. But they didn't really make it bad. They tainted it in the western mind of humanity. Some Hindu, Jain and Buddhist organisations have had to campaign to raise public understanding that the swastika is not a Nazi symbol, but one that is used in many cultures and religions as a symbol of peace and good luck.
Hopefully one day it will be free from the deep association with the evils of humanity, and regain its recognition as a spiritual symbol of swirling, life giving energy. It is a symbol of light in the universe. The four arms of the cross represent the separation of the universe whilst remaining one. The spinning arms represent the motion of the universe whilst the centre remains still.
The Spiritual Swastika is a simple symbol of the universe and the creative energy, the forces that bring animated life into the world.
- Category: Non-duality
- Hits: 461
Where do you place your centre of identity? Many people place it right in the human body they experience. In other words their identity is with the body. They identify as human. Many believe they are human beings, going about their human lives whilst they can. Even those who believe they are a soul still identify as human for much of that human experience.
It's a slightly complicated but important thing to recognise. If your centre of identity is in the human body, you will be engrossed in the activities of the body. But if you believe you are a soul, why on earth would you place your centre of identity in the body? Well, that's just the way it is sometimes. We can have knowledge, understanding and beliefs that we are not the body, but our centre of identity is still right there in the body, making things confusing.
If I believe I am a soul and I've placed my centre of identity in the body then I need to do something about that to reclaim my centre, so to speak. If, following the Non Duality teaching, I believe I am neither the body nor the soul, but I am the Beingness, Presence, Awareness, What Is, then I also need to reclaim my centre.
We need to start recognising the errors that we routinely accept. We talk of 'I' as if I'm the body. We talk of 'mine' as if something belongs to this body. We talk of 'we' as if we are doing the talking. You see, that's the problem - are we really identifying with the body? It's the body that talks about being the body. But it's the mind that coordinates this talk based on the mind's beliefs.
Are we the mind then? Should we place our centre of identity in the mind? If we withdraw our centre of identity from the body, the next stop is the mind. It is indeed in the mind that the sense of identity is found to be constructed, although its focus is in the body. We can withdraw the centre of identity to the mind, but the mind still identifies with the body somewhat. The mind still thinks, "I'm going to do this or that. I don't like this. I don't like that." And it's all attached to the body, as if the mind is the body.
We need to go deeper still. We need to ask: who is it that witnesses this centre of identity? This sense of identity is observed or witnessed. These thoughts and thought forms that focus around identifying as a human being are witnessed by someone. So we look deeper into the centre of this identity. We withdraw identity from being a human and recognise that we witness this human experience. We withdraw identity deeper still and recognise that we witness the sense of identity and thoughts in the mind. We withdraw deeper still, to where we are looking from, to the witnessing of the sense of separate individuality. Then we let it go.
This is akin to returning to the heart of the universe. We turn inwards to where everything came from. We go back to the centre. We turn from the world of separate things and go back to the singularity, the oneness of being. It is not too dissimilar to finding the heart of a storm. It is a hollow centre. A centre of the Infinite Singularity.
For those who understand and accept Non Duality, we know that there is not truly a centre. There's not a true identity, but we still need to root it out, by searching for it. Intellectual knowledge of it is not enough. If there is some illusory identity then we need to look for its centre. We look for its core or heart. And in looking we find that there is a hollow centre, or indeed no centre. There is a centre of infiniteness. Our true identity is infinite, without limit or form. Our true identity is no-identity. We are not this or that. We are Pure Beingness. The full emptiness.