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: Spiritual Practice
It requires no effort to make no noise, or at least in theory it shouldn't require effort. In theory it should also require no effort to be still. And no effort should be needed just to be aware. But the world is topsy-turvy. It seems that we need to exert effort to do nothing, to be still and to remain alert. If you consider meditation, a common aim is to do nothing, to remain alert, still and steady. Really this should require no effort, but it can seem like hard work trying to keep still for a length of time.
Truly it doesn't require any effort to be still. The nature of being is perfect stillness and clarity. It requires no effort just to be. But when there is identity with the body it seems that 'we' need to do something to reach this natural state of effortless enlightenment. It seems to require effort to keep the body quiet, still and alert. The body is so used to moving about, making noise, being distracted and falling asleep. The aim in meditation then is to bring some peace to the body-mind. Even when the body sits still and comfortable the mind will wander.
But all this apparent movement, activity and change is okay. That's how the world appears. It doesn't change the nature of being, which remains unmoving and alert. Being doesn't move about when the body goes for a run or travels in a plane. Being is placeless and timeless. It has no location. Its stillness is effortless. It's not something that we can reach. It's where we would be reaching from, and it is where we are reaching through. It cannot be grasped, in the same way that silence cannot be heard.
So this is why enlightenment is effortless. Enlightenment is the natural state of aware being. It is right here now. It is Aware Being that is the heart and whole of all experience. It seems to be at the heart, but within the heart it is the whole, because it has no form and no limits. Imagine a sheet of paper with many circles drawn on it. Each apparently separate entity is like the circles, and the heart of each circle is the whole paper in which the circles appear. Beingness is shared by all seemingly limited separate beings, and it is in the heart that we find the limitless Being that pervades all.
Take this insight with you into meditation and into daily life, knowing that you are already That. What the body-mind does or thinks is not you. You remain timelessly effortlessly as you are throughout the appearance and disappearance of the world. You don't talk and walk. You don't fall asleep. You perceive the movement from the eternal place of Stillness, Aware Being.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
There is a theory that this planet is a simulation. I'm no expert on this theory, but we can examine and explore it from a Non-Duality perspective. The theory goes something like this: the planet is a simulation or virtual reality, which is controlled by possibly hostile beings. Some may say it is like in The Matrix movie, where we are trapped in a virtual world believing it to be real, whilst our real selves are in a form of trance state, where other beings control 'the matrix' and harvest energy from us.
Certainly, what we perceive is not what it appears to be. We could look further and further out to space and find no end. We could look deeper and deeper into the atomic realm and find no end there either. No beginnings or ends can be found in this world. Solid walls aren't really as solid and impervious as they seem. They are made of porous atoms. The firm ground that we walk on is not really firm. It is always moving, shifting slowly and spinning through space.
So it's right to question the nature of reality, because reality is not what it appears to be and it's not what people generally consider it to be. Humanity has a general belief that there are limits to things, that things begin and end, and that things can be defined. But that's not really the case. Walls aren't impervious. The sky doesn't end. A rainbow isn't really divided into seven colours - it's the mind that divides it.
In some ways we could say that yes, this world is a simulation, because there is a magical quality to Nothing appearing as Everything. This world that we perceive is amazing, when we understand that the reality is an unmanifest infinite indivisible Singularity. How does a timeless, dimensionless Singularity explode into a multiplicity through time and space? The answer is that it doesn't. It only seems to. This apparent world of opposites and motion is a simulation of multiplicity within the indivisible Singularity.
So do we accept the simulation theory? Not exactly. There is a flaw. The flaw is that there are no 'other' beings besides the great Beingness of the Singularity in which the world appears. We are not in a simulation. The simulation is in us. The seeming world of opposites appears within the Singularity, which we are. We aren't human, and we aren't some other being on the other side of this world. There are not many beings. Multiplicity is the illusion of the world. The Singularity is the reality. Let's say, for instance, that we broke out of the trance state of the illusion of this world, and we saw (like Neo in The Matrix) that the world was a very different place, who's to say that that isn't also a simulation. One could fall through endless simulations trying to find reality.
But the Reality is right here. There is no 'over there'. There is no other place. There is no place. Only Here Now. Distance, time and movement are the illusion within the unmanifest Singularity right Here Now. You never go anywhere, as there is nowhere outside of you. There is not you and something else, only This. You are This. We are This. This has no limits. You can never be trapped. There can only be a simulation of being trapped - an experience of being limited. That is the human experience - the notion of being limited and separate from others. It's the ego trap. But the ego isn't really the being it thinks it is. It's a complex bundle of thought that forms the notion of being limited and being trapped.
The Singularity (who we really are, and all there really is) seems to experience limitation and separation through this simulation of multiplicity. Humanity can indeed break free from the ego trap and the limitation of the simulation. It is done through revealing that there are no limits and there is no separation, and allowing this recognition to permeate through and dispel the ego delusion.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Human Experience
In Non-Duality we don't really dwell on the issue of the soul and its existence. Non-Duality points to a truth higher than both worldly and spiritual things. Truth with a capital T is that there is only This. It means that there isn't really a multitude of objects and beings. There is just One, an Infinite One. It's not even one, it's no number. Reality is indivisible infinity.
Let's understand this a little. Consider that there is only One. There is nothing other than this One, because that would mean there are more than one. For this One to be all there is it can't really have any limits. There is nothing else that could limit or form a boundary around it. So this One is infinite. But if it's infinite then it's not really one. Hence it is no number. We can't really understand infinity, as it defies explanation. Even the words infinite, limitless, boundless, unending, have to use the opposite terms to describe what it is. We have to say, it's 'not' finite or limited, and it is 'without' boundaries or ends. It's a bit like describing silence as soundless.
It's important to understand this essential aspect of Non-Duality before discussing the soul. Just as we are not a human, we are also not a soul. There are no true limits that divide the Infinite One into a multitude. Multiplicity is a play within the reality of indivisible infinity. The world appears as a play of separation, where the reality of indivisible infinity seems to be divided up into separate forms. So the world appears to be full of many creatures or beings, and we can also consider that there seem to be many beings at a less dense level of separation and solidification, which we call souls. We may view that a soul inhabits a human body in a similar way to how a human would put on a diving suit to be able to interact in the underwater world.
So there is the real Truth that there is only one indivisible infinite This, and then there is the play of the world, where things are not wholly true but appear to be closer to the Truth or further from the Truth. Though in reality there is only ever the Truth. With all that said, accepting that the world is a play, we can fairly ask what is playing out here on Earth?
Earth can be considered as a school for souls. There are many things here for the soul to experience and learn. We can consider that in the play of the universe souls go outwards exploring, developing and experiencing. The principal experience here on Earth is what seems to be dark, heavy, hardened, resistant, dense separation. The soul experiences what it's like to be a being separate from the world. This separation seems to be much more defined than in what we would call more spiritual realms. We even think of the planet and human life as material, where it is simply spiritual formation at a lower, denser level.
We can consider that the soul incarnates as a human and experiences a life of being close to some and distant from others, uniting with some and clashing with others. The soul can also experience what we call "rock bottom" where the content, complete, fullness of Oneness is reflected as the distraught, lacking, isolation of being separate from others. The soul experiences the opposite of its true nature here on Earth. It experiences severe limitation and separation. That's the extreme opposite of the reality of indivisible infinity. The soul can experience the terrifying extremity of limitation, where the play of the universe seems to become a cruel reality of its own. But this is only a temporary experience.
The play of separation is within the apparent world of opposites and reflection. So the soul seems to live and die, recede and return, over and over. But as the soul develops through this play, it goes through the limitation process, hits rock bottom, then starts to recede. It's a similar natural process as the tides rushing in and rushing out, or the lungs breathing in and breathing out. The soul eventually turns inwards from the outside world. The soul experiences 'being' human, then recedes and knows that it is not human. It recedes further and knows that this also means it is not a soul.
The grand awakening from this initiation of the soul on planet Earth is the revealing that it is not these things. The true nature of the human and the soul is This Infinite Oneness. The human and the soul are found to be only a play of limitation and separation. The reality of Indivisible Infinite Oneness is revealed.
- Written by David Hall
- Category: The Universe
Through the Non-Duality understanding we see that consciousness is all there is. Everything we know is known in consciousness. Everything we experience is experienced in consciousness. The universe itself is experienced in consciousness. Nothing can be known or experienced outside consciousness.
Let's understand that a bit more. You perceive the world through the human senses of seeing, hearing, smelling etc. We consider this to be our perception of the outside world, or the universe. You also perceive thoughts, ideas, and dreams, which we consider to be internal and in the mind. Yet the perception of both the internal and external happens in the mind. It is the mind that seems to be a central focal point of knowing or experiencing. The mind recognises a mountain in the distance through the aid of seeing. The mind recognises the voice of a friend calling from another room.
Seeing, hearing, smelling and so on, are all experienced right here. The perception of the mountain in the distance is right here. All distance is perceived right here. The ideas of inside and outside are right here. Although the mountain may be considered to be far away, we see it right here. It is here in consciousness.
We can go further, in realising that we are not a body that we see or feel. We see it. We feel it. We are not it. So too with thoughts and dreams. We perceive these. We are not them. We are where they are perceived from. They are neither far nor near from us. They are right here. But we are not something that we can perceive. The eye cannot see the eye. Consciousness cannot perceive itself. At best we can only perceive a reflection of ourself. And this is the obvious secret of the universe, looking right back at us.
The universe appears to be a reflection of who we really are. The true nature of consciousness, which is what we are, is unbound, undivided, perfect clarity. The universe appears within this perfect Consciousness as a world of reflections, where we experience limitation, separation, and confusion. The universe appears as a world of opposites, pushing and pulling, gaining and losing, rising and falling, separating and uniting. All the while Consciousness remains timelessly as it is.
Consciousness is like the screen in which the movie of the universe plays out. The screen remains unchanged by whatever seems to happen in the movie. Buildings may appear to be in the distance. Planets may seem to be huge in size. Burning fires may rage and torrential rains may soak the landscape, but the screen remains untainted.
But how does a perfect, pure, dimensionless Consciousness give rise to a world of opposites and reflection? Well, one answer is that it doesn't really happen. The universe doesn't explode outwards from the Singularity of Consciousness - it's always right here. But it seems that it has, at least from a human perspective. Even if we consider that the universe is always right here, we must conclude that there is an illusion of separation and distance. So how does the illusion of the universe come about?
Consider Pure Consciousness as a perfectly smooth, endless blanket, before time or space began. If this blanket compresses within itself it can seem to form ripples. These ripples naturally give the impression of a duality, of highs and lows. Each crease has the appearance of a high peak and a low trough. From the perfect Singularity there then appears to be definition and a seeming divide into opposites. But the opposites of the peak and trough of a ripple in a blanket are only illusory, as the singular nature of it remains. A blanket isn't divided in two when ripples appear. It is the same with the appearance of duality on the Singularity of Consciousness. Consciousness is not divided; it only seems to be. Multiple ripples can continue and become the vibrations of energy that constitute the universe. All the while these ripples in Consciousness are nothing other than the Singularity in which they appear.