She has trained in the yogic tradition of Paramahansa Yogananda, and her questions come from the perspective of trying to integrate an understanding of the non-dual teaching into daily life. How to deal with challenges when things get difficult, when we’re emotionally reactive with those to whom we’re closest? Is there a place for striving to achieve our goals? And how can we let go?
Rupert begins with this description of the essence of the non-dual understanding: ‘Peace and happiness are the nature of our being, and we share our being with everyone and everything’. He continues, ‘The antidote to the suffering people feel because of a sense of separation is simply to recognise who we really are’. Which means, to understand the true nature of the ‘I am’ that we always feel we are; the pure awareness of being before being is qualified by any experience.
He takes Kimberley and those listening through a brief meditative exercise to return to the ‘I am’ and to then remain there in the midst of a conversation. He suggests practical ways to introduce such a simple, yet homeopathically powerful, practice into the activities of an ordinarily busy daily life.
In response to a question about a situation of irritation – impatience with a partner, for example – he recommends just pausing. Take a few seconds to return to the basic understanding that these two people, who appear to be in conflict, do in fact share their being; try to connect with that feeling and take the focus away from the actions perceived as provoking. If we can deeply feel our shared being with another, then it’s almost impossible for there to be hostility and conflict.
This realisation can happen in a matter of seconds. And the same approach can be applied to deep-seated patterns of emotional reactivity; simply turn towards instead of away from your feelings, whatever they are, and allow them to be there. Further than that, positively welcome this ‘enemy’ we have fended off and battled with all our lives, such ‘big’ feelings as profound sorrow, loneliness, lack of confidence. Over time, once anything is embraced, it loses its power to disturb and becomes integrated.
When, rather than as attempts to fill the discomfort of emptiness, our activities out in the world spring from the sense of being, they then become energetic expressions of that; so the question of striving does not arise. When our actions are in service of truth, they are beyond ego.
Finally, as Rupert says, ‘sooner or later, everything has to be let go’.
‘Let everything that comes, come. While it is present, allow it to be there; and when it goes, let it go’.
‘Awareness is like the space of a room, completely unaffected by whatever is or is not within it. And the more established we are as the space, the more we’re able to let experience flow through us without seeking what is not present or rejecting what is’
