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: The Universe
- Hits: 954
The world appears as a state of disharmony. It's as if the natural unmanifest state of Oneness, a Singularity, has fallen out of unity and harmony into what now appears as a fluctuating world of disharmony. In today's scientific world view, it's as if the Big Bang blew apart the peace and harmony of the unmanifest Singularity.
It's a useful way to understand the world. It's like a state of chaos. But there is some order to it. The disharmony hints at a state of harmony that can't really be known. The Oneness of a Singularity, in other words Total Harmony, cannot really be perceived. But we can understand what Pure Harmony is by seeing what it isn't. This world of disharmony fluctuates and swings between opposites. Things can seem to be more in harmony or more in disharmony. As I've explained elsewhere, we can understand it as a Continuum of Disharmony, ranging from very little disharmony to great disharmony. This 'very little disharmony' is usually what we term as harmony. But it can't be a true harmony. It's just disharmony that is more harmonious.
You see, disharmony is the falling out of equilibrium, the falling out of unity or oneness. That's how the world appears. Without this apparent separation from the Singularity it would be impossible for one to perceive something. There needs to be a sense of separation between the subject and object for someone to perceive something. That utilisation of the appearance of separation, which gives rise to the appearance of the universe, has a seeming downside in that it disturbs the peace and harmony of the Singularity.
What that means is: the creation of the world is the creation of disharmony. Disharmony is inevitable in the world because it is the cause of the world. Chaos will inevitably appear. So we'd do well not to expect life to play out simply and calmly. There will be periods of relative calm and relative disruption. That's life. Human life, anyway.
Now to the important bit. Disharmony is just a play. The Singularity of Pure Harmony is never destroyed. It doesn't fall out of harmony in order to create the world. There only appears to be a world of disharmony. The Truth is that Pure Harmony is timelessly here. Prior to the appearance of the world and disharmony, Pure Harmony is. It is within the Singularity that the seeming division of the singularity appears. In other words, the world of disharmony isn't really created, it's just a play within the Infinite Peace and Harmony of the Singularity.
You are not someone who sees the world. There is only the totality of the world, whether it may appear to be blown apart or not. There is only an appearance of a turbulent life, with ups and downs. You remain as you are, as the world seems to fall into chaos and come back again. You are unchanged by the changing appearance of the world. Nothing is gained. Nothing is lost. It only appears to happen.
Infinite Peace and Stillness is your true nature and the nature of all as One.
- Category: The Universe
- Hits: 945
Sometimes this question comes up: Is the world an illusion? Or even: Is the world a simulation? Let's have a look at this from the Non-Duality understanding.
We'll start with, 'Is the world a simulation?' Well, if it was then it's possible that whatever beings were controlling the simulation could also be considering if they are in a simulation, and so on and so on. It could be an endless rabbit hole of simulation anxiety.
Let's consider the possible illusion of the world. Maya is quite a well known Hindu philosophical term. It means magic or illusion and is used to describe the nature of the phenomenal world as illusory. It is the illusion that traps the soul in the endless round of rebirth, or samsara. The soul becomes entangled in karma, or the Law of Opposites as I call it, flowing back and forth between human incarnations, endlessly until enlightenment.
It's a useful understanding but not wholly accurate. No theory can ever be wholly accurate, anyhow. The Truth cannot be spoken or defined. It can only be pointed at, and that pointing is inevitably inferior to what it points to. Anyway, is the world an illusion? Ramana Maharshi explained, "The universe is real if perceived as the Self, and unreal if perceived apart from the Self. Hence maya and reality are one and the same." (The Self, with a capital S, is used to mean the true nature of being.)
What this means is that it's useful to understand the world as an illusion if one is caught up in it, caught up in the drama, caught up in the belief of separation. The belief of separation (or duality) is the crucial point. Non-Duality understanding explains that there is no duality. There are not many forms, many creatures, many people. The world is just One Being appearing as many. That's the illusion, that what seems to be a world of multiplicity, or many forms, is really just One, an Infinite Indivisible One.
As one breaks free from the belief of separation and duality, and explores the Non-Duality understanding, a realisation dawns. This apparent world of illusion cannot really be an illusion. There is only the Infinite Self, the Indivisible One. What appears to be something other than the Infinite Self is not 'other'. The illusion of multiplicity is only a mistaken perspective. The world is nothing other than the Infinite Self. So there really isn't an illusion, there is only the Real. There is nothing other than Reality. It's just that sometimes Reality is believed to be something it's not.
So there is a transition of development in Non-Duality understanding, from believing that the world is real, to recognising that it is illusory, to recognising that there is only the Real. There is a Zen quote attributed to Dogen: “Before one studies Zen, mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after a first glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and waters are no longer waters; after enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters.”
This doesn't mean that there was a duality and a world and later it is recognised that even the duality is the Infinite Self. It means that there never is a duality or world, and once this is realised the world can be spoken of without false separation, attachment and belief. There is only Reality, appearing to be mountains and waters.
Are the mountains, the waters and the planet a simulation? Well, yes and no. They're not really what they appear to be. There is only the Infinite Indivisible Self. We are That.
- Category: The Universe
- Hits: 907
Consider that before the world appeared from the Big Bang there was a Singularity, a state of no time, no space, no form, no change, no limits. For a True Singularity there is nothing else. It is Pure Perfection, Flawless, Pure Clarity, Completeness, Emptiness, Nothing, Everything, Wholeness, Peace, Oneness.
Similarly, imagine Infinite Light. It is Pure Imperceptible Clarity. It's not something that can be seen. For Infinite Light to be perceived it needs a contrast. It must seem to divide itself into what is like it and what is not like it. So a light appears in the darkness. In creating the perceivable world, the Singularity seems to divide itself into its likeness and its opposite. Interaction ensues and a multiplicity branches out. It sounds a bit like the Adam and Eve story...
Anyway, the Singularity seems to scatter itself into a range of what is close to it and what is far from it. Infinite Light appears as a range from bright light to darkness. This pattern multiplies throughout the universe. We can see it here in the formation of trees, flowers, and the fingers of human hands on human arms from a central torso. The universe seems to scatter outwards from a central point, and the pattern repeats.
What we see in this world of time and space is what seems to be an Infinite Singularity divided through dispersion and reflection. Oneness becomes one and many. Pure Light becomes light and darkness. Perfect Harmony becomes harmony and disharmony. Order becomes order and chaos. Peace becomes peace and war. Life becomes alive and not alive. Or so it seems.
Well, it's not what it seems. The opposite of Reality cannot really exist. Darkness doesn't really exist. Opposites don't really exist. The Light of Life is Infinite. There is no real end of this Infinite Life. Life only seems to come and go in a play of opposites. There is no distance in the Infinite, no far away or near. There is no past or future in the Timeless. The timeless Singularity can never end, or begin. The Singularity didn't really end when the perceivable universe began. The Singularity remains exactly as it timelessly is.
So what was there before time began? Time never did begin. The Singularity never changes. It only seems to change. There is no past or future. Nobody can experience these, only conceptually, not really.
And where does this universe end? It doesn't. It appears in the Infinite, stretches out across the Infinite, and returns to the Infinite. But it doesn't go anywhere. Nobody can ever experience being anywhere other than Here. 'Over there' is only conceptual. Distance only appears far away. What seems far away is only ever experienced right Here.
The Timeless Singularity can never become anything other than that. The world is a play of reflection and dispersion within the Infinite Consciousness of the Singularity. The Singularity is Reality. Dispersion and reflection are illusory. Yet there is nothing other than Reality.
- Category: The Universe
- Hits: 924
I often write about opposites. I've written about the Law of Opposites and the World of Opposites. You will also hear mention of the 'interplay of opposites' in Non-Duality teaching. What have opposites got to do with Non-Duality? Opposites would mean duality, right?
I call this world 'The World of Opposites'. The reason is that the world appears to be an imbalance, a splitting of a singularity into opposite qualities or opposite energies that separate and interact. The opposites seem to spread out and rejoin, over and over, creating the multiplicity of life that we see in the world. We understand the qualities of good and bad, right and wrong, high and low, true and untrue, real and illusory, strong and weak, formless and form, free and restricted, boundless and limited. This interplay of opposites forms the building blocks of the universe. It repeats in the falling of rain and rising of vapour, the flowing tides, the flow of breath, the procreation of life forms, the creation of night and day, magnetic forces, and so on.
This splitting of a singularity into opposing forces gives rise simultaneously to the Law of Opposites. The Law of Opposites pervades the universe. It is the inevitable interaction between opposites, bringing repulsion and attraction, dispersion and reunification. What is done must be undone, what goes up must come down, what goes out must come in etc. The Law of Opposites maintains equilibrium in a universe that has seemingly fallen out of unity. The opposites that appear are like and unlike the singularity from which they have seemingly separated.
But that's not the whole picture. The Non-Duality understanding is that this is a play of opposites. The Singularity doesn't really divide itself into what it is and what it isn't. There is never anything other than the Singularity. The Singularity remains Whole. It's infinite. It has no limits. The universe can never be less than or more than what it is. The Singularity seems to split in two and interact within itself, with what is like it and its opposite. Hence the World of Opposites is a reflection of Reality. Reality is an Indivisible Infinite One Aware Being. Division and limits are illusory.
Let's consider as an example, Light. The Singularity is neither light nor dark in itself. It has no form, no space or time, no distance. Yet it is perfect clarity, which is the purest Light. The Singularity is Aware, it is alive and knows clearly. Light and darkness arise when the Clarity of formlessness seemingly divides itself into formless and form. Form appears to block the clarity. The blocking of clarity develops into darkness. We can then understand the Singularity as Pure Clarity, or Pure Light. Its opposites - darkness, obstruction and confusion - give the contrast to demonstrate the nature of the Singularity. So from Pure Light there appears the opposites of light and darkness, but they are never separate. There is a Continuum of Light ranging from most light to least light (or darkness). The most light is closest to the Singularity. The least is furthest from it.
Another example may help. Consider the range from white to black. White and black seem like opposites, but if you imagine or see the gradual shading from white, through greys to black, then it can be understood that the opposites are not truly separate. It is a continuum of shading.
So even when opposites appear they are not really divided. It is more of an apparent stretching out of Oneness into what is like it and what is not like it, with a range or continuum in-between. But truly there can never be anything other than Oneness. The opposites are illusory. There is only Reality.
- Category: Spiritual Practice
- Hits: 890
If asked, you could probably say where you are now and what the time and date is. But that's not really where and when you are. That's where the body is relative to the planet and according to the accepted timekeeping of the area. We can only say where something is relative to where something else is, so there's a never-ending relativity of location. There's no definitive or absolute location. Similarly with time, we can only give a date and time relative to the accepted timekeeping system.
For example, if I say I am in London in the UK, and the current time is 10am on January 5th 2025, that gives a rough idea of the time and place of where this body is in relation to the planet. 'London' isn't very specific. We could be more specific by giving a street name, post code, or even giving geographic coordinates. The location detector on a phone could detect exactly where this body is, thanks to geolocation techniques utilising satellites. Well, not quite.
The location is never perfectly accurate, in that it cannot specify the exact location by millimetres or less than that. (We could go on and on to find the finest most accurate measurements.) There is always some vagueness. Besides, this isn't a universal location, as the planet is always spinning through the universe. The universal location is continually changing. Also, the time is based on the accepted timekeeping system for the area. At that time it was a different time on other parts of the planet. Even 10am isn't accurate. Time is always flowing on. We can't give a perfectly accurate time for now.
There's good reason why space and time are only relative. They are illusory. The distance of space is only ever experienced Here. The change of time is only ever experienced Now. It is the play of the formless unchanging singular nature of Reality to give the appearance of distance and change.
It's useful to find where you really are, although it can never be found. In meditation recognise that you are not the body, nor the mind activity. You perceive the mind activity and the body activity. Go deeper in to find that placeless place Here. There is no weight, distance, time, form or disturbance in this still spaceless place. Wherever the body goes it's still Here. Whilst time seems to pass, Now remains as it is. Here and Now doesn't get caught up in the dreamlike world of space and time. Space and time play on without disturbing the timeless unchanging peace that is always right Here and Now. It's helpful to 'find' this in meditation. You can't really find it, because it's right Here already. It's where you're looking from.
Here and Now is the Reality of Being. Some call it Consciousness, Awareness, or Presence. It is the same placeless place that permeates all space and time. It is the heart and whole of all perception. It is the Beingness of every being and apparent non-being. It has no airs and graces, no pretences of grandeur. It's simply here all along, beyond time and change. We are This.