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 Human Experience
- Hits: 767
Thoughts are not always a problem, but sometimes they can seem like they are. It may be that we can't stop thinking about something that worries or troubles us, or we just can't stop thinking at all and we want a break from it. Let's look at what it means to be free from thoughts and thinking, and how to achieve that.
Here's where I have to say that we can't stop thinking. Thinking happens by itself. If you've ever tried to stop thinking you'll have probably found that there is a brief cessation, then thinking starts up again. But we can raise our understanding of what is happening with thinking and move away from being a victim of negative or incessant thought.
What actually happens when we feel we have become frustrated with thoughts and they just won't stop is that thinking has created an idea of itself, and it is this mental sense of identity that becomes frustrated with all its mental activity. The frustration is itself mental activity, and the one frustrated is mental activity. Attempting to stop this mental activity is also mental activity. Mental activity can't actively stop itself, because that's just more mental activity. So the sense of being the one who is frustrated, the frustration, and the thoughts at which the frustration is aimed, are all the flow of the same mental activity. It's mental activity that separates itself out into, "Me annoyed about thinking."
The important point here is to recognise that we are not the thinking. That means we are not the worrying thoughts, the frustrated thoughts, the pleasant thoughts, or any mental activity. We perceive all of this. We perceive the flow of thoughts, we perceive the frustration or annoyed thoughts, and we perceive the sense of there being a 'me' who is troubled by this. So, to overcome being troubled by thoughts, and to be free from thinking, there needs to develop the awareness that we are not the thoughts, they don't trouble us anyway, and the 'one' who is troubled is also perceived. It's not that we perceive a being or entity or human that is troubled. The root of it is that we perceive the egoic sense of a 'me' that is troubled. But if we really look for who that is it can't be found. It is a 'me' made out of imagination. It is a sense of 'me' that is formed by mental activity.
This 'me' becomes entangled and frustrated by its own mental activity. It wants to stop it and achieve some freedom from distressing thoughts, and maybe it goes on to seek freedom from all thoughts, to attain the highest peace. But it's all mental activity itself. We are the untainted witness of all this thinking. Our nature is Perfect Peace. We are never the one who is troubled. The core of Being is formless, timeless and unchanging. We are Freedom itself. We have no limits. It is only mental activity that imagines there are limits and it finds itself trapped by its own thinking.
So the answer to be free from thoughts is to let them go. To be free we need to detach. This isn't strictly true, as we are Freedom already and always. There is nothing that we need to do. Remember, it is only mental activity that seeks freedom. For the mental activity to find freedom it needs to let go of itself. We are never attached to this. We are never limited. By withdrawing attention and attachment to thinking, not being entangled in it, the mental activity naturally untangles itself and finds the freedom that is always here. The mental activity needs to give up its sense of 'me' and allow the clarity of unbounded peace to just be as it is.
The practice (for the mental activity) is to let go of its belief of identity, to see and assimilate the recognition that the 'thinker' is itself a thought, and both the thinker and thinking are perceived by our True Being.
- Category: The Human Experience
- Hits: 765
Has anyone ever really seen you or heard you? If it is assumed you are the body, a limited human form, then this will seem an absurd question - of course people have seen you and heard you speak. But if it is recognised that you are not the human body, and the real you has a spiritual nature, then it shouldn't seem such an odd question. Even then, when it is known that I am not the body, the mind still associates with the body. So it's useful to shake the tree, as they say.
Nobody has ever seen you. You have no form. You are that in which the form appears and disappears. Nobody has ever heard you. You don't have a voice. You don't make a sound. You are the stillness in which sounds appear and disappear. You don't have arms and legs, a head and a brain. That's the human body. It is the body that is seen and heard, felt and known. You are not the apparently limited form.
We think of the human body as being made of matter. But matter isn't really what it appears to be. The solidity of the human body is only relative. Our usual understanding of 'solidity' is something stable, unchanging and impervious - nothing can get through it. But there is no substance that is truly stable, unchanging and impervious. Solid matter is not truly solid. It's only relatively solid compared to other levels of solidity. For example, ice is only relatively more solid and stable than water. Ice is not truly stable, but it appears more stable than its more fluid form.
The human body is only relatively stable. We know this. It is continually changing. It's not perceptible that the body changes within an hour, but the nails are slowly growing, hair is slowly growing, skin is slowly being replaced, air is entering the body system. The body is not a closed system that remains stable. So even if we did identify as the human body, we couldn't really say where its limits are. Although the body seems to be autonomous within the planet, it is really made of the planet substance and is continually flowing and changing with the planet.
It's quite a shift for the mind to turn from identifying as a human. Recognising the spiritual nature of oneself brings in another consideration. Is not the substance that the body is made of, namely matter, just a form of condensed spirit, as ice is a form of condensed water? And if it is thought that I am a soul, isn't the soul also unlimited in a similar way to how the body is unlimited? The soul would be one with its environment also, and not really a solid, limited unchanging form. And if there are no limits, then there cannot truly be many souls.
Some may argue against this in defence of the soul, and that's fine. It is a way of understanding how the spiritual world works: souls take on human form and experience life as a human on planet Earth. That's fine and a useful understanding. But if we closely examine it, it will be found that there are no limits to anything. Humans only appear separate by the air or space between them, yet they continually interact with the air and space. So humans aren't really separate from anything. They are more like interactive, flowing, evolving, forms that only appear dense, limited or solid relative to the environment in which they appear and of which they are made. It is similar with souls also.
The message here is that we are not human and we are not souls. There are no real limits between the human forms or soul forms. Our true nature is unlimited. The universe's true nature is unlimited. There is only What Is, the Infinite One appearing as though it is many. What seems to separate the many is nothing other than the Infinite One that is the substance of all.
- Category: God
- Hits: 757
Aware Being is the fabric of the universe. There is no universe outside of consciousness. The universe appears in consciousness, made of consciousness, known by consciousness. All that you can ever know is consciousness knowing itself. That needs a bit of exploration and explanation.
What are you aware of right now? Maybe some warmth from the sun, rain on the window, a comfortable carpet underfoot, a soft bed or sofa, or a firm chair. Maybe you can see the inside of a room or the expansive outdoors. You may hear voices or distant sounds. You may feel the wind blowing on your face or body. It may feel hot or cold. And what of the mind? When reading this the thoughts appear in the mind. If you pause reading for a while, the mind considers other thoughts. They float along, from this to that, and disappear.
All this that you perceive is in consciousness. The thoughts, the sounds, the sights, the smells, the tastes, the feelings, the buildings, the cars, the animals, the people, the music. All of life. Everything that you've ever known has been in consciousness. It's not possible to get outside of consciousness, because you are consciousness. It is the root of all that is perceived. It is awareness or knowing. It doesn't mean there is a knower, a separate self that is aware of other things. The sense of identity is thought based, and this too is perceived. Who perceives the sense of who you are? Consciousness, or Aware Being.
The universe is the play of Consciousness or Aware Being. It's a play of opposites, of what is and what isn't, of this and that, of me and other. Yet there is no other. There is no this and that. There is no what is and isn't. What isn't cannot exist. The play of opposites and reflection is necessary for the universe to appear. It's the contrast of opposites that allows for manifestation to happen. It is the seeming separation of subject and object, the perceiver and the perceived. But it is all a play of separation into opposites. Remember, there is no other. There is One Infinite Aware Being. We are This. This is all there is, everything and nothing.
It helps to understand intellectually that nothing can ever be experienced outside of consciousness. Nothing can ever be proved to be outside of consciousness, and ultimately the whole of our experience is consciousness itself. The whole universe is a fluctuating, reverberating flow of consciousness within itself. There are no limits to consciousness. There are no limits to the universe. There is nothing outside the universe. There is truly no inside or outside. Opposites and limitation are the play 'within' Consciousness.
This Aware Being that is the universe plays at being and not being, being aware and not aware, alive and not alive. But Aware Being, or the Universal Being, is Life itself. Life plays at being alive and not alive. By this use of opposites within the singularity of Being, Consciousness expresses itself within itself.
We are One Universal Being, and this Being that we are expresses itself by nature of opposites, giving rise to a multiplicity of forms. The appearance of many beings arises from the play of opposites within the One Universal Formless Being: Consciousness.
- Category: Spiritual Practice
- Hits: 758
Much of what we consider as spiritual progression is about diminishing the ego, letting go of the sense of being a separate self and realising Oneness. It starts with recognising that we are not this body, we are not the apparently limited human form. We recognise that there are no real limits to the body anyway. We couldn't really say where this body ends and the environment begins, because the body is a flowing part of the environment. The vague sense of identity we have attached to the body is flawed. Our real spiritual nature is formless and limitless.
It stands to reason that the less selfish our identity becomes, the less material, the less limited and the more spiritual we seem to become. It's not really that we become more spiritual. Rather it is that as the mental association of being a limited physical being is reduced, the natural free spiritual nature shines through. It's like removing layers that seem to cover and limit our true being. This usually happens gradually. As the strength and hold of the selfish ego is reduced, the more the true free nature of being is revealed. It's a simple peace and contentment that is always here but seemingly hidden.
So let's look at some techniques for reducing the ego, cutting down that sense of being a separate, limited self. It's worth noting that although we're discussing the ego here, it's not a real thing. It's not a real entity, only a thought-based presumed identity, that seems to have a monopoly on human life.
The aim is to let go of selfishness. That means letting go of belongings. Belongings bolster the sense of being a separate self; but ownership isn't real. Nothing belongs to anyone. Let go of the sense of ownership. Nobody owns anything. Let this understanding permeate through. There are no separate things, no separate beings, and no ownership of things. It doesn't mean you have to give things away. Just let go of the attachment to objects or others. It doesn't mean you have to turn your back on people. Just let them be as they are. It allows a greater openness and freedom to flow.
Recognise how drama and emotional turmoil rock around the ego. Let it go. Let go of the drama of life - reactions and retaliations, gossip and accusations, blaming and complaining. The ego loves getting caught up in it all. It strengthens the ego's sense of being separate and different. Let it go. Let the drama play on without getting caught up in it. It's not who you are. You are witnessing the world's play; you're not a character in it.
Accept life as it is. It's not that life deals you a hand and you have to accept it. You are Life. The Whole of Life is played out through the seemingly many separate perspectives. All perspectives are the One Life. It will play out how it plays out. Resistance to life just builds up walls of limitation. Let those walls come down. Let life just flow as it is, and know that you are not one who flows with it or is rocked about by it. You are the ever-present Stillness in which the flowing is perceived. That doesn't mean allowing illness to go unchecked when there are doctors who can help. It doesn't mean leaving someone to suffer if they have fallen. It is more like accepting what appears to happen and allowing the natural responses to life's events without objecting and complaining. If work needs to be done, accept it. If something fails to happen, accept it. Accept the flow of life.
Help others. Now, there really are no others. There is only One Infinite Being appearing to divide itself into many. But helping 'others' naturally breaks down the mental barriers that the human mind has built up. It breaks down the barriers that seem to divide, thus weakening the hold of the selfish ego. The most selfish ego doesn't want to help others; it would sooner fight them. The least selfish ego will put others first and look to help them. So this is what we should do if we wish to weaken the hold of the ego. But it should be understood that there really are no others. What happens when 'others' are helped is that the oneness of love comes through, breaking down the barriers of division.
There will come a time when the ego is released and is seen to be nothing other than a dream of separation and identity, an imagined persona that has disappeared. The reality is One. The Whole of Life is One.
- Category: The Human Experience
- Hits: 737
It's useful to understand what loneliness is and why we feel lonely sometimes. When we feel lonely it may be because we miss someone who used to be around, or they are usually around but not with us at the moment. It may be because there is no-one around who is close to us, and that could be because we haven't had a relationship like that or we used to have a relationship like that. So the surface reason can be that we have lost someone we were close to, or they are not with us for a while, or we've not had a close relationship with anyone.
That's the surface reason. But there is a deeper reason or meaning for the feeling of loneliness. It's about Oneness. Simply put, loneliness is the feeling of separation and the need for oneness. When we feel close to someone we feel the warmth, happiness and peace of oneness. We feel less separate from the world. There's a sense of unity. It's similar to being part of a team or a close family, being a supporter or follower of something, like a religion, culture or ideology. This reduces our feeling of isolation and separation.
When we feel lonely, it is a feeling of the lack of oneness, love and peace. We feel that we want others around, or we want someone to be close to. There is a natural instinct in the human being to need a companion, which leads to a feeling of being incomplete when we don't have someone close to love and who loves us. Love is Oneness. It is the shared Oneness of all. When we experience love we feel the oneness of life, that mystical principal that unites all seemingly separate beings.
So loneliness is the feeling of being separate from Love. It's natural for this to be a difficult feeling to cope with. We are not supposed to just cope with it. It tells us something. It tells us that the belief of separation has got such a hold that we feel we need others and that we are lacking what we need to be happy. Being one separate from others is the opposite of True Being. Our true nature, the simple nature of Being, is Oneness. At the heart of the experience of being a separate individual is the shared Oneness of Being. It's like the centre of the wheel of life. We are One. There really is no 'we'. Just One Being experiencing what it's like to be many separate beings. And that means pain, hurt, loss, lack, need, and at the extreme point, loneliness.
As real as loneliness can seem when we are caught up in it, it's not permanent. It passes, like all feelings. This separation isn't real. It's what the mind perceives reality to be. Oneness is reality. Separation is the opposite of reality. That's what the pain of separation points to. It highlights that separation is wrong. Oneness is right. Or rather, separation is false, and Oneness is true. The answer isn't in finding someone to feel at one with, although that's okay. The real answer is in finding the Permanent Oneness that is right here all along. It means recognising that there is always Oneness here, despite what the mind thinks, and living this recognition that we are truly One.
Some may think that if there is only One Being, then it must be lonely. But that's not true. Loneliness is a feeling of lack, need, and separation from others. Loneliness is the lack of wholeness, completion and oneness. The One Being is a complete, whole Oneness, where there is no loss or separation.