Deepak Chopra is a doctor and well-known author and speaker on integrative medicine and personal transformation, with a keen interest in Rupert’s teaching. In this informal conversation in November 2017, Deepak and Rupert discuss Rupert’s book Being Aware of Being Aware, which had recently been published.
Rupert explains that we normally give our attention to that which we are aware of, rather than to that which is aware. Being aware of being aware is the essence of meditation and prayer. When we use the word ‘I’, what we are really referring to is ‘that which is aware of my experience’. Because we all want happiness above all else, this understanding is vital.
It is through the recognition that our essential nature of awareness is innately happy that we are able to cease looking for happiness in objective experience, where it can never be found. Through investigation, we discover that this essential nature is identical in everyone and everything. That understanding leads not just to peace and understanding individually, but also to the resolution of conflicts in families, communities and nations. It is the foundation for world peace.
The discussion turns to the materialist paradigm and the commonly held view that the brain is the source of consciousness. Using the analogy of a dream, Rupert explains that matter is what mind looks like from the perspective of the dreamer.
Deepak asks Rupert to explain why he describes the Direct Path as ‘effortless’. They go on to discuss the concept of ignorance, what happens upon the death of the physical body, and whether the idea of reincarnation has any validity. Rupert emphasises that nothing ever happens to awareness and therefore our true nature can never be affected by what arises in experience.
