This could be the last post on the What Is Non Duality web site. As my life journey flows, my perspective has changed.  I was a seeker who, after an encounter with non duality, ceased seeking. I then made the short video What is Non Duality which to date has been viewed over 30,o000 times on You Tube.

Read more

Why is belief so attractive?

• Belief comforts you
• Belief makes you feel secure
• Belief counteracts uncertainty
• Belief allows you to join with others who share your belief
• Belief can put an end to searching

It appears that human brains are wired to believe in things. Often these things have not been proven, such as believing in:

• God
• Flying Saucers
• Homeopathy
• Conspiracy theories
• Ghosts
• Psychic powers
• Gurus
• Non duality speakers Read more

There is a tendency amongst speakers on non duality to say that once you have “got it” then that’s it. You are liberated, awakened and have reached the final frontier as far as spirituality is concerned.

I disagree. Once you have realized the oneness, seen that there is no separation, no duality of you and the rest of the universe; then you have certainly reached the end of seeking.  You then have the opportunity to embark on another journey – the journey to enlightenment.

Read more

You’ve read all the Non-Duality books and have been going to non-duality speakers for years. You still have not got this.

Along comes Jenny Upstart who, after a few weeks exposure to non-duality, is walking across Clapham Common one day and, with a blinding flash of awareness, gets it.  She then declares herself a realized and liberated soul and starts to teach all about non-duality.

You are a member of the audience at one of her meetings and put your hand up to ask a question?

“Is there anything I can do to get this?”

Jenny says: “No, there is nothing you can do. There is no you, so there is no you to do or get anything?”

This seems so unfair to you. Why her, and not you? You are the one who has been a spiritual seeker for years and years. Read more

For many long years I struggled as a spiritual seeker, seeking out:

• Gurus
• Spiritual teachers
• Mystical experiences
• Spiritual practices
• Spiritual companions

Although I developed ideas about compassion, wholeness and emanating love to heal the world; to tell the truth, I was basically seeking from the perspective of self interest. There was something I felt was missing in my life. I did not know what that was, but I felt that somehow spirituality would provide the answers and this would ease the pain in my life. Read more

One of the states of duality is the sense that there is an I which resides inside a body, and then there is a world outside the body.

I look out through these eyes to a computer screen on which text is appearing as I type. For most practical purposes this view of me and my relationship to the outside world works. It allows me to function in the world, to interact with the world, to communicate with other people in the world.

What is really going on here? There may indeed be a computer screen in front of me, but I cannot see it as it really is. Light passes from the screen into my eyes. These light waves are then interpreted by the brain which then constructs an image which I label computer screen. Am I seeing the screen out there or is it in here, inside my brain?

Read more

One things that non-dualists says is that there is no separate self.

How does the mind get around that one? It seems so obvious that you exist. Every time that you use the word ‘I’, you are establishing that you exist as a single standalone entity.

So let’s find the I. Can you find the I without the content of the I? What I mean by this is that, when you use the word I, you are generally referring to an experience. You say:

• I am hungry
• I will get back to you on that one
• I feel sad
• I will think about that

Read more

I was watching a video on the internet today. It was a talk by a man who had been involved in research into the secret of a long life. He looked at several areas of the world where the average lifespan is considerably longer than the average.

He showed slides of 102 year olds water skiing, a 97 year old heart surgeon and a 103 year old grannie. They all appeared to live happy and active lives. When he looked into why they lived longer, one thing that these people had in common was a strong social life and a religious belief. In American, there is a community of Seventh Day Adventists who spend 24 hours every week worshipping God and socialising.  Research has shown that a religious faith can add about 4 years to your life.

Read more

How does a non-dualist spend Christmas?

I’m  spending a day with my family: eating good food, drinking fine wine, opening presents, taking the dog for a walk in the snow, playing silly board games. A normal Christmas I suppose.

What is the meaning of Christmas?

As I am not a Christian then I do not have religious feelings about Christmas. For me, Christmas has no meaning. It is there to be enjoyed. Indulging in pleasurable experiences needs no reason.

Read more

The human brain has evolved to do complicated things. Whenever I see a scientist pictured in front of a blackboard covered with equations, I think to myself how complicated the equations look, and what a brilliant mind the scientist must have to figure it all out.

I’ve just finished a computer program Life Manager Pro that involved hundreds of lines of computer code. My brain managed to sort out all the complex interactions involved to make the program do what it is supposed to do.

The human brain is great at complex stuff like this, but when it comes to non-duality there is a tendency to over complicate what it is all about. If you go to Non Duality Press you will find lots of books written about non-duality. If you read them all there is the danger that you mind will make non-duality into some intellectual puzzle that needs solving.

I was thinking of how to express the essence of my perspective in as few a words as possible. How do I reduce all the ideas and concepts to their essence?

Read more