Enlightenment Is Not Rare or Exotic from the media Being Is Eternally Secure
A woman asks why the majority of people on spiritual paths, including the Direct Path, fail to awaken. Does strong identification with mind and body, or perhaps the sweetness of worldly life, keep people from realising pure consciousness? Rupert responds that in his experience, most people do awaken. He explains that the misconception lies in thinking of awakening as an extraordinary event. Instead, it is the simple recognition of one’s true nature – what one already is. Enlightenment is not rare or exotic but merely a deep understanding of one’s essential being.
- Duration: 10 minutes and 41 seconds
- Recorded on: Aug 21, 2024
- Event: Webinar – Wednesday, 21 August
Just be aware of the full spectrum of your experience – thoughts, feelings, sense perceptions. None of these are what you essentially are. You are the silent presence that is aware of them. In meditation, we step back from the content of experience to the silent, aware presence in the background – intimately one with but unconditioned by experience. Our peaceful, joyful true nature of simply being is effortlessly ever-present. It does not need to be manufactured, practised, or maintained. Each time we come back to our being, the habit of forgetting weakens, and eventually we find we are living in being, as being. For the mind, there is seeking and resisting, enlightenment and ignorance, but for the silent, aware presence we essentially are, there are none of these things. It just is what it is – seeking nothing, resisting nothing, always present, always aware, always at peace.
A man reflects on how, in his dreams, the mind creates a past, future, and cause and effect, and he notices the same in the waking state, where the past is created in the present. Rupert elaborates, saying that if we try to leave the now and step into the past, we cannot do it. He asks, is there such a thing as a present moment? The present is not a moment in time but the eternal now – ever-present, not everlasting.
A woman asks why some past traumas surface spontaneously, and whether it’s necessary for all suppressed material to emerge for healing. Rupert explains that while bringing trauma to conscious awareness can help, not all trauma needs to rise for healing to occur. Sometimes, like having a medical procedure under anaesthesia, healing can happen without the mind’s awareness. On this path, emotions naturally surface as one realises they are the peaceful space of awareness, no longer needing to avoid their darkness. He likens it to a well: when awareness shines into the psyche, buried feelings rise to the surface, drawn to the light.
A man asks how to make decisions in life, particularly regarding career, relationships and spiritual pursuits. Rupert points out that while these areas aren’t essential to peace and happiness, they do remain sacred vehicles for expressing the qualities that are the nature of being. He encourages the man to align his choices with love and understanding.
A woman asks who carries out surrender if awareness is already surrendered to itself. Rupert explains that for the separate self, the highest state is complete surrender to God. At a deeper level of understanding, where there are no individual beings, there is only infinite being, where the question of surrender no longer arises.
A man shares his experience of fluctuating between bliss and suffering, especially when tired. He describes having felt intense emotions while waiting to ask his question. Rupert advises him to recognise these feelings as internal weather patterns, conditioned by the mind. Rather than trying to control or change them, he encourages the man to step back several times a day and disengage, and feel the silent, witnessing presence that is always at peace and free.
A woman asks for a poem recommendation to read at her wedding ceremony, perhaps one of Rupert’s. He promises to send her a poem soon and wishes her and her partner a beautiful wedding and a joyful life together.
A man shares his fear that expressing suffering in his poetry might influence others negatively. Rupert reassures him, saying that some of the most beautiful poetry is written about longing, and it’s not the content of the work of art that matters, but the viewpoint the artist takes. He encourages him to be real and true, and not to wash a veneer of non-duality over his experience.
A woman asks why the majority of people on spiritual paths, including the Direct Path, fail to awaken. Does strong identification with mind and body, or perhaps the sweetness of worldly life, keep people from realising pure consciousness? Rupert responds that in his experience, most people do awaken. He explains that the misconception lies in thinking of awakening as an extraordinary event. Instead, it is the simple recognition of one’s true nature – what one already is. Enlightenment is not rare or exotic but merely a deep understanding of one’s essential being.
A man wonders if non-existence, or security from external harm, is possible. Rupert leads him to the realisation that the infinite being he has projected outside himself as ‘God’ is, in fact, his own being – indestructible and eternally secure. While the mind and body experience change, suffering and fear, one’s true self, or being, remains ever-present and untouched, like the space in a room that remains unaffected by the activities within it.
Just be aware of the full spectrum of your experience – thoughts, feelings, sense perceptions. None of these are what you essentially are. You are the silent presence that is aware of them. In meditation, we step back from the content of experience to the silent, aware presence in the background – intimately one with but unconditioned by experience. Our peaceful, joyful true nature of simply being is effortlessly ever-present. It does not need to be manufactured, practised, or maintained. Each time we come back to our being, the habit of forgetting weakens, and eventually we find we are living in being, as being. For the mind, there is seeking and resisting, enlightenment and ignorance, but for the silent, aware presence we essentially are, there are none of these things. It just is what it is – seeking nothing, resisting nothing, always present, always aware, always at peace.
A man reflects on how, in his dreams, the mind creates a past, future, and cause and effect, and he notices the same in the waking state, where the past is created in the present. Rupert elaborates, saying that if we try to leave the now and step into the past, we cannot do it. He asks, is there such a thing as a present moment? The present is not a moment in time but the eternal now – ever-present, not everlasting.
A woman asks why some past traumas surface spontaneously, and whether it’s necessary for all suppressed material to emerge for healing. Rupert explains that while bringing trauma to conscious awareness can help, not all trauma needs to rise for healing to occur. Sometimes, like having a medical procedure under anaesthesia, healing can happen without the mind’s awareness. On this path, emotions naturally surface as one realises they are the peaceful space of awareness, no longer needing to avoid their darkness. He likens it to a well: when awareness shines into the psyche, buried feelings rise to the surface, drawn to the light.
A man asks how to make decisions in life, particularly regarding career, relationships and spiritual pursuits. Rupert points out that while these areas aren’t essential to peace and happiness, they do remain sacred vehicles for expressing the qualities that are the nature of being. He encourages the man to align his choices with love and understanding.
A woman asks who carries out surrender if awareness is already surrendered to itself. Rupert explains that for the separate self, the highest state is complete surrender to God. At a deeper level of understanding, where there are no individual beings, there is only infinite being, where the question of surrender no longer arises.
A man shares his experience of fluctuating between bliss and suffering, especially when tired. He describes having felt intense emotions while waiting to ask his question. Rupert advises him to recognise these feelings as internal weather patterns, conditioned by the mind. Rather than trying to control or change them, he encourages the man to step back several times a day and disengage, and feel the silent, witnessing presence that is always at peace and free.
A woman asks for a poem recommendation to read at her wedding ceremony, perhaps one of Rupert’s. He promises to send her a poem soon and wishes her and her partner a beautiful wedding and a joyful life together.
A man shares his fear that expressing suffering in his poetry might influence others negatively. Rupert reassures him, saying that some of the most beautiful poetry is written about longing, and it’s not the content of the work of art that matters, but the viewpoint the artist takes. He encourages him to be real and true, and not to wash a veneer of non-duality over his experience.
A woman asks why the majority of people on spiritual paths, including the Direct Path, fail to awaken. Does strong identification with mind and body, or perhaps the sweetness of worldly life, keep people from realising pure consciousness? Rupert responds that in his experience, most people do awaken. He explains that the misconception lies in thinking of awakening as an extraordinary event. Instead, it is the simple recognition of one’s true nature – what one already is. Enlightenment is not rare or exotic but merely a deep understanding of one’s essential being.
A man wonders if non-existence, or security from external harm, is possible. Rupert leads him to the realisation that the infinite being he has projected outside himself as ‘God’ is, in fact, his own being – indestructible and eternally secure. While the mind and body experience change, suffering and fear, one’s true self, or being, remains ever-present and untouched, like the space in a room that remains unaffected by the activities within it.