A Discussion on Suicide and What Ends at Death from the media Find the Place of Peace and Share It
A woman asks about a comment Rupert made about suicide not guaranteeing that mental activity ends. Rupert responds that if the mind has lost the capacity to create happiness, there is no guarantee that that would change with death. There is nothing to suggest that the mind comes to an end at death, and it may or may not be similar to the state before death. He suggests the best preparation is to make sure that our happiness is not dependent upon the content of the mind. They reflect on Bernardo Kastrup's analogy of the whirlpool and what may happen to the body and mind at death.
- Duration: 10 minutes and 30 seconds
- Recorded on: Jun 4, 2022
- Event: Seven Day Retreat at The Vedanta – 3rd to 10th June 2022
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A man who often speaks in group settings was told by a woman that she wishes he were less egoic and that he should watch his tone. He was surprised by this and asked Rupert about it. Rupert suggests that a personality doesn't retain egoic qualities, but instead is the unique expression of one reality.
A man, who describes having problems with remaining as 'I am' when he starts thinking about his thoughts, asks if this is where problems begin. Rupert responds that whatever you're having thoughts about there is the experience, 'I am thinking'. The 'I am' is shining in the experience. Think what you like but discern the 'I am' that shines in the experience of thinking. Don't control or try to silence it, just be aware of the 'I am' that is aware of and behind the thinking.
A man references meditating on ‘I am’ says he doesn't feel himself as being but that there is being. He asks, ‘What is the role of I?’ Rupert suggests that ‘I’ is the name of being. The ‘I am’ is not something we identify with, it is what we are. Rupert also suggests that Buddhists don't like the word ‘I’ because in common parlance ‘I’ refers to the ego. Referring to simply ‘am’ is fine.
A man wonders whether seeking peace is a distraction or a trap. Rupert agrees that happiness or peace is the nature of being and all people love happiness because they love their self. The only difference between so-called spiritual people is that those who don't have the spiritual bent are still searching for happiness in objective experience. The search for enlightenment is going within to one's being. Rupert uses the metaphor of football fans whose tension briefly comes to an end when their team scores, so the happiness of their being is free to shine.
A woman says she felt intense pain in her shoulder during meditation. She asks if she should change her position when she feels pain. Rupert says that we should move when we feel pain. In this approach, there is no particular posture we need to take. The only posture we need to assume is ‘Shiva awareness’, that is, sitting as awareness.
A woman describes how she feels her belief in separation interferes with her understanding and wonders how to see through this belief. Rupert responds there are thousands of beliefs in separation. Don't attend to your belief in separation; attend to your self. He guides the woman in self-enquiry to discover the nature of this self, the one who is aware and present.
A woman asks about staying aware during sleep in preparation for death. Rupert suggests that we stay aware of our self as awareness throughout all the fluctuations of the waking state as the thing to focus on. Let sleep to take care of itself. Observe in your waking life what experiences still have the capacity to take you away from your self.
A woman says she doesn't have a memory of meditation and ask, ‘Where am I in meditation?’ Rupert suggests that she fell asleep while remaining awake. That’s meditation. What happens when you fall asleep? Your perceptions leave you, which is dreaming. Then thoughts and images leave you, that’s deep sleep. Meditation is letting go of it all and remaining as awareness. You, awareness, never go anywhere.
A woman asks, ‘What does Samadhi mean?’ Rupert suggests that Samadhi is not a state, it is the natural condition of awareness, unmixed with the content of experience.
A woman asks about a comment Rupert made about suicide not guaranteeing that mental activity ends. Rupert responds that if the mind has lost the capacity to create happiness, there is no guarantee that that would change with death. There is nothing to suggest that the mind comes to an end at death, and it may or may not be similar to the state before death. He suggests the best preparation is to make sure that our happiness is not dependent upon the content of the mind. They reflect on Bernardo Kastrup's analogy of the whirlpool and what may happen to the body and mind at death.
A woman finds the idea unbearable that if the mind doesn't end with the body and, therefore, suffering may continue. Rupert suggests it requires courage to face the truth. The materialist paradigm says that everything ceases at death, but it isn't true. Find the place of peace and then share it.
A woman describes a shift she's experienced at retreat in terms of not feeling separate from others, but it seems to be stressful for her body. She doesn't know what to do with this knowledge that there is nothing but herself. Rupert suggests a simple thing to do is to recognise the nature of 'I'. All our lives revolve around this 'I' all day long, so we would do well to be clear about what that is and live the implications.
A man asks about what to do when one finds they aren't living the understanding. Rupert suggests that we pause and refer back to our self, establish there, and then turn back around and relate in a way that is in keeping with our recognition – that the nature of our being is peace and that we share that being with everyone and everything. The first principle takes care of the inner life; the second principle takes care of the outer life.
A man, who speaks of intense suffering that does not seem like awareness seeking to know itself, asks how to make sense of suffering from this perspective. Rupert responds that the rubber ball analogy explains how infinite consciousness is always tending toward its natural state of peace and equilibrium and, regardless of circumstance, this is the happiness that we all seek.
A woman reflects on how she feels she’s not living her truth in some of her reactions. Rupert suggests if our desires arise on behalf of love and understanding, we may confront obstacles and be firm about them. If we meet an obstacle to love and understanding, we may have to be firm. It’s not personal. He relays an example of being kind but firm when he arrived on the grounds of the retreat.
A woman speaks of her desire to be 'awake in the dream'. She no longer feels she is the body and describes an experience of oneness and asks how to continue. Rupert responds that everything that exists, is. It is not limited to anything but is the ground out of which everything arises. Infinite being shines in each of our minds as 'I am'. Whatever we experience, know that there is a single whole behind the appearance of ten thousand things. Understand and feel this with every person, animal and thing.
A man says he knows that he can't make the understanding happen. Rupert agrees that the mind cannot make it happen. We simply open ourself to it and there is a resonance in us that knows it’s true. Rupert says he didn't know what Ramana Maharshi was saying for a long time, but he knew it was true. Slowly it became his understanding. Grace is not an experience; it is continually happening.
A man who often speaks in group settings was told by a woman that she wishes he were less egoic and that he should watch his tone. He was surprised by this and asked Rupert about it. Rupert suggests that a personality doesn't retain egoic qualities, but instead is the unique expression of one reality.
A man, who describes having problems with remaining as 'I am' when he starts thinking about his thoughts, asks if this is where problems begin. Rupert responds that whatever you're having thoughts about there is the experience, 'I am thinking'. The 'I am' is shining in the experience. Think what you like but discern the 'I am' that shines in the experience of thinking. Don't control or try to silence it, just be aware of the 'I am' that is aware of and behind the thinking.
A man references meditating on ‘I am’ says he doesn't feel himself as being but that there is being. He asks, ‘What is the role of I?’ Rupert suggests that ‘I’ is the name of being. The ‘I am’ is not something we identify with, it is what we are. Rupert also suggests that Buddhists don't like the word ‘I’ because in common parlance ‘I’ refers to the ego. Referring to simply ‘am’ is fine.
A man wonders whether seeking peace is a distraction or a trap. Rupert agrees that happiness or peace is the nature of being and all people love happiness because they love their self. The only difference between so-called spiritual people is that those who don't have the spiritual bent are still searching for happiness in objective experience. The search for enlightenment is going within to one's being. Rupert uses the metaphor of football fans whose tension briefly comes to an end when their team scores, so the happiness of their being is free to shine.
A woman says she felt intense pain in her shoulder during meditation. She asks if she should change her position when she feels pain. Rupert says that we should move when we feel pain. In this approach, there is no particular posture we need to take. The only posture we need to assume is ‘Shiva awareness’, that is, sitting as awareness.
A woman describes how she feels her belief in separation interferes with her understanding and wonders how to see through this belief. Rupert responds there are thousands of beliefs in separation. Don't attend to your belief in separation; attend to your self. He guides the woman in self-enquiry to discover the nature of this self, the one who is aware and present.
A woman asks about staying aware during sleep in preparation for death. Rupert suggests that we stay aware of our self as awareness throughout all the fluctuations of the waking state as the thing to focus on. Let sleep to take care of itself. Observe in your waking life what experiences still have the capacity to take you away from your self.
A woman says she doesn't have a memory of meditation and ask, ‘Where am I in meditation?’ Rupert suggests that she fell asleep while remaining awake. That’s meditation. What happens when you fall asleep? Your perceptions leave you, which is dreaming. Then thoughts and images leave you, that’s deep sleep. Meditation is letting go of it all and remaining as awareness. You, awareness, never go anywhere.
A woman asks, ‘What does Samadhi mean?’ Rupert suggests that Samadhi is not a state, it is the natural condition of awareness, unmixed with the content of experience.
A woman asks about a comment Rupert made about suicide not guaranteeing that mental activity ends. Rupert responds that if the mind has lost the capacity to create happiness, there is no guarantee that that would change with death. There is nothing to suggest that the mind comes to an end at death, and it may or may not be similar to the state before death. He suggests the best preparation is to make sure that our happiness is not dependent upon the content of the mind. They reflect on Bernardo Kastrup's analogy of the whirlpool and what may happen to the body and mind at death.
A woman finds the idea unbearable that if the mind doesn't end with the body and, therefore, suffering may continue. Rupert suggests it requires courage to face the truth. The materialist paradigm says that everything ceases at death, but it isn't true. Find the place of peace and then share it.
A woman describes a shift she's experienced at retreat in terms of not feeling separate from others, but it seems to be stressful for her body. She doesn't know what to do with this knowledge that there is nothing but herself. Rupert suggests a simple thing to do is to recognise the nature of 'I'. All our lives revolve around this 'I' all day long, so we would do well to be clear about what that is and live the implications.
A man asks about what to do when one finds they aren't living the understanding. Rupert suggests that we pause and refer back to our self, establish there, and then turn back around and relate in a way that is in keeping with our recognition – that the nature of our being is peace and that we share that being with everyone and everything. The first principle takes care of the inner life; the second principle takes care of the outer life.
A man, who speaks of intense suffering that does not seem like awareness seeking to know itself, asks how to make sense of suffering from this perspective. Rupert responds that the rubber ball analogy explains how infinite consciousness is always tending toward its natural state of peace and equilibrium and, regardless of circumstance, this is the happiness that we all seek.
A woman reflects on how she feels she’s not living her truth in some of her reactions. Rupert suggests if our desires arise on behalf of love and understanding, we may confront obstacles and be firm about them. If we meet an obstacle to love and understanding, we may have to be firm. It’s not personal. He relays an example of being kind but firm when he arrived on the grounds of the retreat.
A woman speaks of her desire to be 'awake in the dream'. She no longer feels she is the body and describes an experience of oneness and asks how to continue. Rupert responds that everything that exists, is. It is not limited to anything but is the ground out of which everything arises. Infinite being shines in each of our minds as 'I am'. Whatever we experience, know that there is a single whole behind the appearance of ten thousand things. Understand and feel this with every person, animal and thing.
A man says he knows that he can't make the understanding happen. Rupert agrees that the mind cannot make it happen. We simply open ourself to it and there is a resonance in us that knows it’s true. Rupert says he didn't know what Ramana Maharshi was saying for a long time, but he knew it was true. Slowly it became his understanding. Grace is not an experience; it is continually happening.