The Paradox of Oneness and the Separate Self

A man asks about clinging to emptiness. Rupert suggests it’s like closing down all the programs on your computer, but the screensaver is still there. The screen saver is a blank object, but it’s still an object. Behind that is the peace of our true nature.

A woman talks about her ongoing relationship with the divine as ‘other’ and how turning to her true being feels like the loss of God. Rupert suggests that Meister Eckhart prayed to God to rid him of God. He did that because he felt that God was other than himself, a being separate from him. That is the highest state of the individual, but if we are separate, then God must have a limit. This denies God’s infinite being, which is blasphemy.

A man talks about the paradox of oneness and the separate self. Rupert suggests that if John Smith wants to have a relationship with Cordelia he must do so as King Lear. He consents to limit himself and the price he pays is his innate peace, hence his longing. John Smith can still go on stage and fully play his part as King Lear without losing touch of himself as John Smith. He loves acting; he is compelled to do so.

A woman shares that with the realisation of awareness, perception sometimes appears holographic and clearer. Rupert suggests that it’s possible, as a result of the understanding, that the content of perception may change, but we shouldn't take that as a sign. It’s also possible to realise the understanding and not have any perceptual shift. It’s not what we see; it’s how we see. The real evidence is the felt sense of oneness.

A woman shares her resistance to AI’s possibilities. Rupert suggests that not only will computers never experience emotions or become conscious, even human beings don’t nor ever will. The only one that experiences is consciousness, and it is not in need of awakening. It is the awakening from the human being, not the awakening of the human being. Only being has the experience of being.

A woman asks about whether animals can awaken to their true nature. Rupert suggests that one of his two childhood dogs had awakened to her true nature. The knowing of being is always the same experience, no matter who it takes place in -- a dog, a criminal, a sage, or God.

A man says that he sees the illusory nature of the person and doesn't know what he is. Rupert says you may not know what you are, but you know that you are. Ask yourself the question, ‘From what experience do I derive the experience that I am?’ Find the source of 'I'.