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: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
- Hits: 1152
There is some wisdom to be found in understanding the four classical elements: earth, water, air and fire. They may seem a little dated these days when we have classified many elements in the periodic table and we know that water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, and that air contains a number of different elements like nitrogen, oxygen and argon. But there is a simple wisdom in the understanding of the four elements.
You see, the four elements are the expression of the reality that underlies the universe. Earth symbolises stability, unmoving, unchanging solidity. Water symbolises fluidity and continual change. Air symbolises boundlessness, transparency, clarity, being imperceptible but essentially present. Fire symbolises energy, vibration, expression and power. Even from a basic perspective we can see the progression from fire to air to water to earth. It shows the expressive force of fire contracting to air then water then earth. There is a range or spectrum of energy, from the most energetic to the least, from the most unstable to the most stable.
What's this got to do with Non-Duality? It's a way of understanding how the true non-dual nature of Reality is expressed in the appearance of the world. What that means is that the true non-dual nature of Reality is unseen, indivisible, unmoving, unchanging life energy. It's expressed in and through the world in the apparent separation of a Singularity into a spectrum of elements that range from near to far, from high to low, from light to dark, from fire to earth, from life to death. The four elements are the play of the Singularity expressed as an explosion and condensing of frequencies of vibration. In other words, the world of energy, gases, liquids and solids, is an expression of a Singular Reality as if blown apart. High energy is close to the heat, light and source of Life. Low energy becomes cold, distant and dark. Once apparently separated they can then interact as though they are different elements.
But even the most cold and distant of solid forms is not truly impermeably solid. There is only an appearance of solidity. Reality is a Singularity. It doesn't really get blown apart into a range of frequencies. That's just how it appears. The Reality is that there can never be anything other than the Singularity. The four elements are a play of separation that form the building blocks of the world, whilst the world remains timelessly as the Singularity.
The Singularity is the Quintessence. It seems to be the centre of the cross of the four elements, the place from which they have come, the source which separates outwards to form the elements. But truly the Quintessence is timelessly the whole of the elements, without separation. Picture a cross and consider each arm of the cross to be one of the four elements. It's not that the centre is the Quintessence. It is more like the Quintessence is the whole of the cross. The cross is truly undivided. The four elements are never truly separated. They only give the appearance of separation whilst remaining timelessly Whole, eternally One.
- Category: Non-duality
- Hits: 1150
Can the Infinite be understood intellectually? Some may say it's impossible. But it is possible to have a limited understanding of the Infinite intellectually. We can understand the Infinite in finite terms, but we can't understand anything in infinite terms - there are no infinite terms. Even the word 'Infinite' uses the term 'finite'. We say it is not finite. It is un-limited. It is un-bounded. It is in-divisible.
Our whole intellectual understanding and knowledge base is founded on finite terms. We use measurements for time, distance, weight, energy etc. These measurements intellectually divide up the indivisible. Time isn't really made of segments. Time is the continual flow of change. But intellectually we measure it in segments of seconds, minutes, days, years etc. Similarly with distance. Distance isn't really split into segments of metres, miles, kilometres etc. These finite measures are used by the human mind to understand portions of infinity.
What we have is an infinite world being understood in finite terms. These finite terms can be useful but never truly accurate. Humanity can develop a great intellectual understanding of the universe in finite terms, and that's useful, but it needs to be recognised that it will never be wholly accurate. Any theory about the universe, reality and existence will be inaccurate. It's just that some are less inaccurate than others. Knowledge is seemingly limited.
There is a difference between knowledge and knowing that may be overlooked. We may have knowledge about how to make a spaghetti bolognese, but there is a knowing of this knowledge. The knowing of knowledge is the same knowing of feelings, sensations and perceptions. When a bird is seen to fly past, a car is heard driving by, or a train of thought flows by, these are known in the same way that knowledge is known. There is a Knowing. This Knowing, in Non-Duality terms, is Aware Being. It is the Awareness or Consciousness in which the world is perceived. It is the Formless that perceives form.
It is this Infinite Knowing in which the apparently finite knowledge of the infinite appears. Nothing is truly finite. All seemingly finite things appear in the Indivisible Infinite. Time is not divided. Space is not divided. Forms flow continually from this to that, without ever truly being divided into this or that. We have knowledge in finite terms, but the Truth is Infinite.
- Category: Non-duality
- Hits: 1145
It's difficult to find peace in the world. By nature the universe is continually moving and changing. If a peace is found then it's only a temporary peace. However, there is a Permanent Peace. It's not something to be found, but it's at the heart of all the searching. Permanent Peace is timelessly present whilst the world spins around. In the world it is like the still centre, and this pattern repeats throughout the universe - a still centre at the heart of movement and change. We see it in the strong trunk of a tree, from which the branches grow outwards. It's in the swirl of water going down a plughole, and the eye of the hurricane as it whirls around. It's in the opening and closing of a flower and the seeming stillness of our view from planet Earth as the stars and planets move round.
These pockets of peace that we perceive aren't wholly accurate. Planet Earth isn't really still. Nothing in the world of movement and change remains still. It's just that they can seem still or they can represent stillness temporarily. Yet there is a True Stillness. It is this True Stillness from which and in which this world of motion is perceived. True Stillness is beyond time and space. Time and space appear within its timeless spacelessness. It's an infinite indivisible Singularity. It's always Here and Now.
Eckhart Tolle often mentions Presence or Being Present in his talks. He sometimes mentions The Present Moment. It's not really a moment in time, of course. He is referring to the timeless Now. This Presence is the true nature of all things. It is That in which time and space seem to stretch out. All the while, Presence is right Here, Now. It is the pure, perfect peace. It's not made of anything. Presence wasn't created. It is timeless and formless. It's an unshakeable Singularity. It cannot be moved or harmed. It cannot be broken or split in two. It is the true nature of the seemingly ever-moving world.
Presence has no beginning or end, no inside or outside. How do we know it's here? Because we know. The very fact of being aware tells us that we are here. We are the Aware Presence that is here. It's not that because there is a human there is Presence. The human is perceived because of Presence. Presence comes first. Well, it would be more accurate to say Presence is timelessly present, before any appearance of first and last. It reminds one of the Bible quote (John 1:8), "Before Abraham was, I am." It means that before the world appeared, Being was present. We can think of it like this: before the universe began, Presence was all that there was; but there was no time, no past or present tense, just Presence, Now. So Presence was before any appearance of beginning. It remains as it is throughout all apparent time and change, and is all that there is once time seems to come to an end.
It's difficult to understand it if one is firmly rooted in the notion of time as reality. The problem is that time isn't reality. Presence is Reality. That's why the question of what was before the beginning doesn't seem to make sense. There is no beginning, or end. There is only the timeless Now/Presence/Peace, and in this the world of time and space whirls around.
- Category: The Universe
- Hits: 1147
We all know about The Big Bang. It refers to the moment when the universe was created, when from a singularity this multiplicity exploded. Like a seed of potential, the unmanifest singularity split open explosively and grew into the universe that we see now. The universe continues its expansion with the momentum of this initial explosion. That's a simplistic version of it anyhow.
Let's look at it from the Non-Duality perspective. That is, the perspective in which it's recognised that the duality, separation or multiplicity only appears to be that. The universe only appears to have forms that are separate, whilst there is no true separation. It doesn't mean that we need to dismiss the Big Bang theory. All theories are flawed, it's just that some are less flawed than others.
We can understand the Big Bang theory and creation of the manifest universe in terms of Non-Duality. Consider what was 'before' the Big Bang. There was no 'before' really, because there was no time, or indeed space, before the Big Bang. There was only a spaceless timeless Singularity. Some may call it the Void or Emptiness, but it is a Full Emptiness, a Completeness. It is the unmanifest Whole. It cannot really be described accurately. Even 'Singularity' implies that it is one, whereas it is more an Infinite One, without limitations, boundaries or definitions.
So consider the Singularity, from which the Big Bang appeared. The Non-Duality perspective would be that this Singularity never exploded into many. The Big Bang only seemed to split the Singularity into many particles and opposing forces. The apparent world of duality, or The World of Opposites, as I call it, did not and cannot divide the Infinite Indivisible One. This appearance of duality, separation and multiplicity is a play of opposites within the timeless spaceless Singularity that remains eternally unchanged and ever-present.
This is why there is no end to the universe. Although it seems to be expanding, really there are no limits to its expansion. There is nothing beyond the universe. There is no 'other' that is beyond it. The universe has no boundaries. The edge of the universe cannot be found. Similarly, the smallest final particle cannot be found. There will always be deeper and deeper search into the infinite. The answer of the universe can never be found. The answer is right here all along. The answer of the universe is right Here and Now.
Time and space are the great play of the universe. The Singularity is Here and Now. There is no outside or inside. There is no near or far. These opposites are a play of reflection within the Singularity. The Invisible appears. The Indivisible appears divided. The One appears as many. The Infinite appears to be limited. The Formless appears as form. The Peace appears as conflict. The Reality appears illusory. The Unchanging appears as continual change. The Unmoving appears as motion. The Timeless appears as time. The Infinite One Being appears as many separate beings.
So the Big Bang explodes apparently outwards into the infinite. The reflective nature of the manifest universe means that a Law of Opposites applies throughout the universe. What goes out must come in, to restore the apparent imbalance of seeming to fall out of unity. So the expanding universe will in time return to the original state of Oneness. But truly it never left.
- Category: Spirituality
- Hits: 1144
What is it that prevents enlightenment? We may understand the spiritual theory but still feel like we are a long way off from being enlightened. We may understand Non-Duality and know that there is only One, an Infinite Indivisible One. We may understand that concepts, labels and forms can never truly be defined. We may recognise that there are no limits, and there isn't a multiplicity. We may understand that this means we are not the separate identity that the mind thinks we are. We may grasp the teaching that identity is thought-based, and thoughts appear and disappear in the Awareness or Consciousness or What Is, and we know that we are That. But this knowledge, no matter how thorough it is, doesn't make us enlightened.
So what is it that is stopping enlightenment if I know and believe all the theory? It's the separate self, or rather the sense of being a separate self. It can't really be defined, because it's not real, it's a thought-based identity. Let's call it the ego. It's the ego that thinks it knows all this. It's the ego that claims it is the one who knows and believes Non-Duality theory. It's the ego that wants to be enlightened, or at least wants to find peace and contentment. But the ego generally values its identity too much. Without its identity it is nothing. If it lets go of its sense of self then it effectively dies or disappears. Enlightenment is the death of the ego, the end of the separate self that never really was. It is the ego that feels the need for enlightenment and the ego that prevents enlightenment. Kind of.
The 'kind of' issue is that the ego doesn't really prevent the enlightened state. The enlightened state is here already. It is the natural unlimited, undefined state of being. The ego is the sense and belief that it is a defined and limited being. So although the ego may claim the knowledge that there is no separation, the ego is still waving its flag of identity whilst it does so: "I know that there is no separate me!" This is where the issue lies.
The separate self cannot attain enlightenment. Only in making the ultimate sacrifice of itself is the enlightened state revealed. This means the death of separate identity, not death of the body. Some call the enlightened state the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the placeless place where there are no limits, there is only Freedom. The separate self cannot enter. It needs to discard its limits and its definitions of itself, which is what makes it a seemingly separate self. Only then, when there is no ego, is the Kingdom of Heaven revealed to be always here. Paradise is right here. Freedom, Peace, Love and Contentment is right here in the natural state of being. It is hidden or missed because of the ego's ignorance to it. The ego itself is the ignorance of the infinite indivisible nature of Reality.
The knowledge that we gain can only point to What Is. Knowing about Reality is not enough. We need to loosen and drop the identity of the one who claims to know it. This can take time and effort. The ego needs to work at unravelling itself, using the knowledge and practices learnt. Self Enquiry seeks out the source and nature of the identity, and realises that it is illusory and non-existent. The Infinite One is all. Worship and service to the whole lessens the strength of the ego identity, till the devotee is lost in the Infinite One.
Who realises this? No-one. Reality is an Infinite Singularity. It has no true accurate name or definition. It is no-one, yet all appear within it. It is Nothing yet Everything.