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: The Human Experience
Part of human evolution has been to recognise or discover that evolution exists. It is evolution that has brought humanity to this point, and all other species to their respective points. It is a monumental discovering in the development of self awareness - to discover the source of one's being.
But there's more. If we analyse evolution, or more importantly analyse what we consider to be the limits of things, we find that really there are no limits. The limits that we have assumed are not accurate. What we describe as a specific species distinct from other species, is not the finished product. Evolution is continual. For example, what we may now label as the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) continues to evolve, albeit slowly. At what point would we notice that this species is diverging. There are other Fox-like Canids that have diverged from an earlier source. We can't give a fixed point where an evolutionary leap takes place, because it is continual.
And there's more. Just as the apparent limits of a species can't conclusively be defined (because a species is always in a state of change), it can be questioned whether there are any limits at all. So the species Red Fox isn't fixed and limited, and is likely to continue evolving, and each apparently individual fox may not be as fixed and limited as is assumed. What I mean is that each animal form isn't a closed circuit. There are no real closed circuits. Foxes breathe and assimilate air, eat and assimilate food, drink and assimilate water. Although the fox appears to have a defined shape that we can say, "It's a fox!" and not something else, the fox does not really have a fixed stability in its form. What we call a fox is a form developed within the overall evolution of the planet, as the planet expresses through a seeming multiplicity of forms within its own form.
What this means is that there is a 'surface' appearance of many separate animals, but the reality is one life force appearing as if it is many. There is one life force that expresses as a seeming multitude of forms, that are assumed to be separate, but on closer inspection it can be seen that they are not truly divided. There are no clear divisions of these life forms. The air that seems to separate them actually flows through them, is assimilated and expelled, in a continual flow of change and interaction.
Why is this important to point out? Because there is a general assumption that when we describe something it is distinct from something else. Although this has its uses, it should be recognised that it is not wholly accurate. Ultimately the unlimited indivisible nature of reality should be recognised, as human evolution continues.
Recognising the infinite indivisible nature of reality breaks down the barriers that hold us back. It leads to a recognition that there aren't many life forms, there is just one, an infinite one. What has seemed to be other is no longer other. And what we assumed was our identity as a human being is not that. The human body itself is not as distinct and separate as the mind thinks it is. The mind also is not separate from the one infinite indivisible life force.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
Okay, this is going to be perhaps a more advanced Non-Duality exploration. The basic understanding is that there is only One, an Infinite One, which is really no number, there is no true separation of things in the world, there is no separate identity, and our true nature is That Which Is, the Infinite One Being or Beingness, Pure Consciousness or Aware Being. Recognition of this infinite indivisible oneness, or the dropping of the notion of separation and division, is Enlightenment or Self Realisation.
This Pure Consciousness or Aware Being in which the world appears (as everything appears in consciousness) is formless, complete, content, timeless, dimensionless, unmoving and unchanging. The world of motion and change that appears within the Changeless is known to be an illusory appearance, a play of change, and has been called Maya or Lila. So form and change are illusory. Reality is dimensionless stillness, complete and content.
We can go further in the understanding of Maya. The world that appears seems to have fallen out of the Singularity of Being. Where once, timelessly, there was no appearance of the world, there now seems to be an appearance of time and space, ever changing and moving. The Singularity is not broken, yet the world appears as if it did break, was divided, causing ripples of interaction and fluctuations between opposites. This world of opposites appears as a division of the timeless and formless Singularity, stretching out in time and space.
So this is the nature of the universe, an interplay of opposites (or 'The World of Opposites' as I call it) that seems to have appeared from the primordial Singularity. In Taoism this is described as the opposite forces of Yin and Yang arising within the oneness of the Supreme Ultimate. The appearance is not really 'from' the Singularity. The Singularity remains. So the world appears in the Singularity. It appears in the Pure Consciousness. There is no true division of Consciousness into what it is and what it is not. It's all Consciousness always.
Now to take this to a deeper level, so to speak. If Reality is formless and there is nothing other than this, how does the form of the world appear? The answer must be that it does not really appear... This seems to go against our observation, but it can be understood. Where does this form of the world begin or end? It doesn't. The apparently separate forms are not separate, so there are not numerous forms. We could say the universe is one form flowing through different appearances or expressions. Consider it like one continuous piece of string making many different shapes or forms, rather than many separate pieces of string making separate forms.
So the world appearing is not separate from the one in whom it appears. We usually consider the world as a subject-object appearance, but it is more like Awareness being aware of itself, or Consciousness knowing itself. There are not forms separate from the seeing or knowing of them. We could call it one form, but it is not just form. The one form is 'part of' the formless knowing of it. So the form and the formless are one. The form and the perceiving of it is like the stretching of Aware Being into the subject-object relationship of knower-knowing-known.
Aware Being, which is timelessly self-aware, seems to stretch itself apart in what we call space and time, and sees itself within itself. But the substance of 'form' (or what appears) is nothing other than the formless in which it appears. The form only seems to be 'solid' or dense because there is an apparent restriction, and restriction prevents it from being seen through. Yet the restriction or solidity of anything is only relative. Form cannot be wholly restrictive. The shapes and forms that are seen are not true shapes and forms. They only appear to be forms. They only seem to restrict awareness.
The forms that are seen are made of consciousness. Everything is consciousness. There is only consciousness. So there are no forms. Only formless, unseen Consciousness.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
We generally all experience pain and suffering, whether it's psychological or physical. We may suffer the psychological pain of loss, rejection, loneliness, abuse, anxiety or depression. Physical suffering can be experienced with body aches, injuries and illnesses of many kinds. It may be questioned why a benevolent God allows us to suffer. Let's explore this from the Non-Duality viewpoint.
In Non-Duality pain and suffering can be understood as part of the apparent interplay of opposites within the infinite singularity of Being-Consciousness-Bliss. It goes like this. Infinite Being is formless and unexpressed. For Being to be expressed contrast is necessary, so this apparent world of interplaying opposites appears to show what is like Being/God and what is not like Being/God.
Let's break that down. There is One Infinite Being. We can call this God, Being, What Is, Isness, Consciousness, The Great Spirit, The Self of selves, and so on. The nature of Being is timeless, formless, stillness, peace, completeness. It is an unmanifest singularity. For it to become manifest (as the world we now perceive) there needs to be a contrast, an opposite, so that What Is stands out from what it is not. This apparent division of What Is into 'what is like it' and 'what is not like it' can be considered the creation of the universe. The division into opposites interacts and multiplies creating the world that we now perceive. In Non-Duality tradition it is described as the apparent interplay of opposites. I call it the World of Opposites.
From Being's Oneness there appears separation and distance. From Being's timeless Stillness and Peace, there appears movement and conflict. From Being's Contentment there appears pain and suffering. And so on, with Good and evil, Right and wrong, Love and hate, Harmony and disharmony, Freedom and limitation etc. The extreme opposite of the Oneness of Being is the hardened isolated selfish ego that focuses on itself against the Whole. We call its actions evil. It is seemingly so far from the love, peace and contentment of Being-Consciousness-Bliss that the ego appears as a reversed reflection of Wholeness.
There is no-one to blame for this apparent interplay of opposites. Rather it is for the seemingly separate ego to come to the realisation that there is only ever Being-Consciousness-Bliss, and the play of opposites and separation is not what it seems. Being can never divide itself into Being and 'not being', and nothing can ever be separate from the Whole. So the separation that gives rise to the world never really happens. It only seems to happen.
The individual that seems to go out into the world as the ego and becomes hardened and far from Being/God, faces pain and suffering in the clashing world of duality. It then rejects this and turns back to the oneness of the Whole, the Heart from which it came. Though truly it never left. It only felt like it had become hardened and separate and distant from the Whole. The Wholeness and Content Completeness of Being-Consciousness-Bliss is timelessly here all along.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Non-duality
Let go of the belief of being somewhere in time. That's not you. You are not in a place and you are not in a certain time. The space and time that is perceived appears within you, within Consciousness. The mind, body and senses through which Consciousness perceives a localised world of space and time is not you. All that can be perceived by you is not you.
The Consciousness that is the heart of all seemingly separate individualised perceptions is One. That means that although there seem to be many conscious beings perceiving the world of space and time from different perspectives, the core of where they are perceiving from is One Consciousness. It is similar to how the fingers of a hand reach out and have different touch sensations, the whiskers of a cat reach out and have individual sense abilities, and the numerous senses of sight and sound, and so on, reach out into the world and feed back to a central point of perspective. The One Consciousness is the heart of all perspectives that reach out into the world and experience the world of space and time.
This doesn't mean that the One Consciousness reaches out. It doesn't go anywhere. There is nowhere other than the One Consciousness for it to reach out to. The world of space and time is within Consciousness, is made of Consciousness and is perceived by Consciousness. Truly there is no 'reaching out'. There is no inside or outside. There is just Consciousness. You are That.
Okay, so earlier I said that all that can be perceived by you is not you. That's not entirely true. You see, there is nothing other than you. But the belief that you are the thinking, the believing, the feeling, the sensing and the body that is perceived, is a mistake, as it limits your identity to some of what is perceived and not the whole. Truly you are the Consciousness in which the whole is perceived. But the whole can only be perceived in an appearance of separation, through what we call space and time.
Where is this Consciousness? Nowhere. It takes up no location in space. Space is the illusion of distance and separation. There is an appearance of distance that we call space, yet this is only ever perceived right here. 'Right here' is no location. Location is a relative perspective of illusory space and distance. As all space appears within Consciousness, it is clear that Consciousness itself has no location.
It is a mistake to consider Consciousness as being something airy that isn't as solid as the world. The world is not truly solid. It is made of Consciousness and is only ever perceived in and by Consciousness. There is only Consciousness.
The time that is perceived is the flow of change within space. It can be considered as a fourth dimension, but in truth it is not a dimension, nor a thing at all. Time is a name and understanding given to the appearance of change within space. Space necessarily changes because it is the appearance of One Consciousness as if it has been exploded from a Singularity into a multiplicity, from Harmony into imbalance. It is the play of opposites within the unmoving singularity of Consciousness.
We, Consciousness, are nowhere in time or space. An appearance of time and space flows within the play of separation in the singularity of Consciousness. Withdrawing from the play of space and time, dropping the belief in a reality of space and time, brings awareness to the unmoving, unchanging Consciousness that is the heart and whole of all. It's right here now, nowhere, no-when. You are not really spinning around on a planet. You can't feel or perceive the point of peace, but when the belief of space and time is released, all there really is is Perfect Peace.