Spirituality
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
In spiritual circles we may hear of different states of consciousness, of raising the level of consciousness, and progressing to higher levels of consciousness. Is this something to aim for? Is it something we can achieve?
Let's first explain what we mean by consciousness. There are different states of being conscious or unconscious, when the body is physically awake or asleep. That's not what I mean here. We are talking about the spiritual state of awareness a being has. How spiritual a being is, we could say.
But in Non-Duality we don't consider there to really be multiple beings or multiple states of consciousness. Consciousness is all there is. It is One Infinite Awareness. It has no form. It doesn't move and it doesn't change. There is nothing to achieve. Though Consciousness seems to be stretched out like a beam of light dispersed into a rainbow of variety, it is only an appearance of many different levels. Truly there is no divide between the levels, just as there is no clear divide between the colours of the rainbow. The colours flow through the change.
The rainbow is a good way to understand how One Consciousness can seem to cover many different states, whilst remaining one. The apparent colours of the rainbow can't really be numbered. We can single some out and call them yellow, red, blue etc. But they aren't really defined. There aren't even multiple shades of yellow, for instance; there is spectrum of yellow, just as there is a spectrum of each colour we choose to single out from the flowing spectrum of colour that is a rainbow. Note also that what we see as a rainbow is really colourless 'white light', seemingly dispersed as a spectrum of colour. The total sum of this dispersion of colour is the colourless 'white light'.
Similarly, Consciousness does not disperse into multiple consciousnesses or a range of states of consciousness. It only seems to do that. Consciousness remains One throughout the seeming dispersion. What this means is that this world of many aware beings is really One Aware Being playing at dispersing itself as many. This apparent separation doesn't really happen.
The One Aware Being, or Consciousness, does not move or change. It doesn't need to become something else. There is nothing else. It cannot raise its level. It is no level, yet it encompasses all seemingly separated levels. Progression is a play within Perfect Consciousness. All progression through states of consciousness aims to reach a culmination in Infinite Consciousness. The aim of spiritual progression is to transcend progression and realise the timeless, ever-present Consciousness. Aware beings seem to develop, or fall from high states of consciousness to low states, then work towards returning to the highest state of consciousness. But it is all a play of separation. None are separate from the Perfect Clarity of Consciousness that is the Infinite One Aware Being.
Within planet Earth lifeforms have developed and continue to develop. They rise up from the low levels and take to the air. They rise up from hardened limited forms to become freer. Their highest achievement is Self Awareness. It is the dropping of the error of individuality that brings the freedom of the recognition that there is only this One Aware Being, in which this seeming spiritual progression plays out.
This spiritual progression towards the highest state of consciousness cannot be achieved. There really is no end to the progression. Well, the end is in the recognition that there is no end. You see, reality is infinite, not finite. Reality is not divided into states or levels. It only seems to be. So there comes a leap of recognition, from developing states of consciousness, recognising that there is only Infinite Consciousness. This is Self Awareness, Enlightenment, or Liberation. It is the dropping of ignorance. The dropping of the knowledge of finite things as being correct, and an opening up to the natural freedom of the Infinite.
We are not bound by spiritual progression. At heart we are complete. We are not that which progresses. We witness progression and change within the permanent perfect clarity of Infinite Consciousness.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
When I was about 20 years old I started to have an interest in spirituality. I had read a bit about eastern philosophy and wondered how karma could work. Then it occurred to me: it is the law of opposites. I had never thought about a law of opposites before, but suddenly things started to make sense. Actions must be balanced out with opposite actions because of the Law of Opposites.
I started to see that this Law of Opposites was everywhere. The world seems to be an imbalance of opposites, flowing this way then that way. Rain falls down then evaporates back up into the clouds. We breath out then in. Waves ripple with peaks and troughs. The tide comes in and goes out. People make friends then go their separate ways. We have periods of peace followed by periods of turbulence. The sun seems to rise then fall. And on it goes, in a neverending cycle. It's everywhere.
And it made sense that that is how karma works. We do something bad then it gets balanced out by the opposite, with something bad happening to us. We help someone out, then someone helps us out. It makes sense when understood from the perspective of a universal Law of Opposites. But then why is there a Law of Opposites?
The simple answer is: because balance must be maintained in the universe. It's not a must because some powerful God decided it should be. It's a must because the true nature of the universe is perfect Balance. The universe is a perfect singularity. It seems to have fallen out of balance, creating the Law of Opposites as it divided the singularity into polar opposites (what it is like and what it is not like). Truly the universe is the total sum of all opposites, but it appears from the human perspective to be in a state of temporary imbalance. Without this appearance of imbalance nothing can appear in a singularity. Without this apparent division into opposites the universe cannot be seen. What we see as a universe is a perfectly 'balanced' or complete whole Singularity seemingly split into a world of opposites and separation through time and space.
It goes like this: for a singularity to be seen it must have contrast, so it seems to have divided into what it is and what it isn't. But really there can never be what isn't. This division into opposites only seems to happen. It's always What Is. But this play of opposites expands and appears as how we see the universe now, with life and death, peace and war, love and hate, breathing out and breathing in. It's an apparent state of imbalance that is either pushing away from balance or returning to balance. The push and pull is inevitable. It becomes what we call karma, where actions create reactions, what is done must be undone.
It wouldn't be possible for the Singularity to seem to explode into a world that never returned back to the Singularity. The Singularity will always be maintained. It is time and space that seems to separate it, but these must return to the Singularity that they never left.
That's the background and the reason for what we call karma. But there's more. Eastern philosophy says that karma can be overcome. We can break free from karma and the endless wheel of rebirth. We can be free of the Law of Opposites by recognising that it is not real. The Law of Opposites is a play of separation with the Singularity. We are the Singularity. We are not an individual being stuck in the play of time and space forever. We are That in which time and space appears. We are That Singularity that plays at being separate individuals whilst remaining infinitely One.
Ultimately we do not need to be concerned about karma or good versus evil. The universe will balance out once it has finished playing. Or we can recognise that is in perfect balance right here and now. There is no good or evil. No doing or undoing. We are not a doer of actions. Actions only seem to happen. We are not a thinker of thoughts. Thoughts only seem to happen. The Singularity, which we are, remains timelessly perfect, whole and content. We are That.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
You've probably heard of Collective Consciousness or Shared Consciousness. What does it mean and is it real?
Collective Consciousness refers to a wider consciousness that is shared by a group of seemingly separate beings. The seemingly separate beings have their own point of consciousness or awareness within the collective. The individual consciousness is like the crest of a wave. It is at the forefront, but there is a great depth behind it, so to speak, the collective consciousness.
Understood this way, we can see that the individual consciousness isn't really individual. It is a focused point of the collective. It's worth sharing the sheet of paper analogy again, as it shows how the seemingly individual points of consciousness work. Consider a perfectly clear sheet of paper, which we can understand as Consciousness. Consider then that numerous circles are drawn on the sheet and represent multiple perspectives or points of awareness. We may then consider that each circle or point of awareness has a core consciousness of its own. But really its own consciousness, if it were to turn and look at it, is the one consciousness of the whole sheet of paper. Each apparent centre of each circle of awareness is the same one consciousness. We can say it's at the centre of each circle of awareness, but it's not really the centre. The Consciousness is the whole sheet.
So that is considering Consciousness as a whole. It's a way of understanding the nature of Consciousness in which many seemingly separate conscious or aware beings appear. They are not truly separate, although their circle of appearance may make them seem different to each other. Seemingly at the heart of each apparently separate being is the One Consciousness. I use the terms 'seemingly' and 'apparently' because that's not really how it is. There is just One Consciousness. Not really many beings.
So the One Consciousness is like the Supreme Collective within which the multitudinous points of awareness appear. And this example branches out through the play of the universe, like a tree branches out. There are clusters of points of awareness from one branch and clusters from another, and so on, and so on. It is in this way that the pattern of many from one multiplies through the appearance of points of awareness or seemingly separate beings. Each 'branch' stems from a collective point. So the collective consciousness of one group is shared and seemingly separate from other groups. Yet all groups stem ultimately from the same One Consciousness, like great branches reaching outwards from the main trunk of the tree.
When people gather under a certain heading or group there develops a shared consciousness where seemingly separate individuals within the group begin to co-ordinate with the whole group and work as one or with the same purpose. This could be a family or a football team, a business or a nation. Admittedly, there isn't always cohesion in a family, football team, or even a business or nation. This is a play within the world of opposites, so there is always imbalance. There will be those in tune and those not in tune, and they will clash. That's a simplified way of putting it. It would be more accurate to say that those within a collective are more or less in tune, so there will be a variety within the collective. The collective is not static. It will rock and interact within itself and with other collectives that are like it but different.
Here are humans, rocked in the sway of the human collective consciousness, pushed and pulled by the collective of the nation, the collective of the family, the sports team, and so on, and flowing with the collective of the evolution of humanity.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: Spirituality
Many people interested in the spiritual side of life may seek Enlightenment. It is the Self-Realisation, Liberation, Moksha or Nirvana, in which Reality is clearly known. It is the end of suffering and the end of ignorance. Yet it is not something that can be found. Why is this?
Anything that can be found must be temporary. It must be something that wasn't found previously and will in time be lost again. Anything expected to last forever, eternally, cannot be something that was missing. Eternity has no beginning or end. Nothing that has a beginning can be without end.
The Enlightenment that is sought is here all along. Liberation or Freedom is right here. Self-Realisation is right here. That's what 'enlightened beings' say. And they're right. Enlightenment is never found. It is here all along. But why isn't this ever-present Self-Realisation realised?
Self-Realisation is the removal of ignorance (or Avidya). Well, when ignorance is removed Self-Realisation is revealed to be ever-present. Ignorance in this sense means the misunderstanding of the mind, or indeed any form of understanding in the mind. If the mind thinks it has it then it's wrong. If the mind thinks it knows what reality is, then that knowledge, no matter how accurate it seems to be, will never be wholly accurate. With the dropping of all knowledge comes the clarity or Pure Knowing, which we call Enlightenment or Self-Realisation. It is like the silence that underlies all sound, the stillness that remains throughout the appearance of movement.
So now it is known that Self-Realisation is our natural 'state' of being, what can we do to reveal this. We need to get to the root of who 'we' are. That is part of the 'ignorance' - the belief that separation is real and that 'I' am someone trying to reveal my true nature. Truly there is nothing to be done to be as we are. But the ignorance of the mind seems to prevent this clarity of Knowing. Ramana Maharshi taught that Self Enquiry was the surest method to uproot ignorance. Self Enquiry is seeking out "Who Am I?" It doesn't mean repeating the phrase. Rather it is the deepest searching and questioning.
It is the mind activity that does this search to find out who 'I' am. It will root out the false sense of 'I' that is the flagpole of ignorance. Once the root of false identity is removed as the cause of ignorance, then the true nature of the Infinite Indivisible Self is revealed. Enlightenment, Liberation and Self-Realisation is revealed to be timelessly present, without beginning or end.