Heaven Is God's Presence as Our Being from the media Everything Is a Colouring of God's Being
A man asks if, after we depart, awareness de-localises. He also wonders if God is all there is, where do heaven and past lives fit in. Rupert quotes, ‘Before death, God is in me; after death, I am in God’. Heaven is God’s presence, which is both within us, as our very own being, and spread out over the face of the earth, appearing to us as the world. Hell is the overlooking of that fact.
- Duration: 2 minutes and 1 second
- Recorded on: May 8, 2022
- Event: Online Weekend Retreat – The Practice of the Presence of God: The Path of Christian Mysticism
A woman, who says she’s always been seeking and has this understanding, asks what the purpose is of continuing to seek, and asks if it is egoic. Rupert suggests that it’s not understanding you crave, it’s peace. When we are happy, there is no seeking. If you have recognised God’s being as your being, what experience would be greater? Attending this weekend retreat is not necessarily out of lack, but simply for the joy of sharing. It is possible to seek from fullness, as well as from lack.
A man asks if, after we depart, awareness de-localises. He also wonders if God is all there is, where do heaven and past lives fit in. Rupert quotes, ‘Before death, God is in me; after death, I am in God’. Heaven is God’s presence, which is both within us, as our very own being, and spread out over the face of the earth, appearing to us as the world. Hell is the overlooking of that fact.
A woman, who was raised Christian, struggles with the belief that God is not separate. Rupert suggests that we become nothing from the point of view of the ego, but the ego doesn’t really exist. Still, the separate self doesn’t realise that. It is an imaginary limitation of the true self. When the movie ends, the screen doesn’t cease to exist.
A man, who has been on the progressive path, asks, ‘How do I fully establish in the presence of God?’ Rupert suggests going back to your being over and over again. Each time, we weaken the power that objective experience has to take us away from our being. Slowly, we don’t just return infrequently and briefly, we return more often and remain longer. Fewer and fewer experiences have the capacity to take us away.
A woman asks about recognising that others are not others, that we share the same being. Rupert suggests that when we recognise our shared being, that doesn’t mean that we want to embrace and melt into everyone. He suggests that there are characters in the media that he doesn’t like, nor would embrace, but he still feels that he shares his being with them. We don’t have to like everybody, we just know that other’s feeling ‘I’ is identical in everyone.
A man, who uses psychedelics, asks if they can help dissolve the egoic structure. Rupert says he doesn’t know the answer because he’s never used them. Can it alter the content of your mind? Of course. Can it help you recognise the nature of your being? May be, but it seems the long way round. Just take the thought, ‘I’ or ‘I am’. Using an object or substance is the progressive path, but why not go there directly. This is the era of the Direct Path.
A woman says that when she is with people, nature or animals, she feels God’s being shine through them, but when she looks at objects, all she sees is matter. Rupert suggests that isness is the common factor in all existent things. Only something with a name and a form can exist. What does an object stand out from? Something cannot emerge from nothing. What is the background from which all things emerge? Being. Everything is a colouring of being.
A man references the gap between thoughts but says when he tries to do that, he finds no gap. Rupert suggests it’s not necessary to wait for a gap in the stream of experience to become aware of being, just as it’s not necessary to turn the TV off between two movies to see the screen. You can always see the screen; you are always being. Being will emerge from the background of experience; you don’t have to wait for experience to end to experience being.
A woman, who feels she’s been in a dark night of the soul for years, asks about how to communicate with a violent ex-spouse from a place of being. Rupert suggests it is possible to communicate with another and state your legitimate needs whilst feeling your shared being.
A man, who experienced physical movements during meditation, asks the understanding and subconscious patterns that need to clear. Rupert suggests that tensions in the body and hidden patterns of feeling in the mind begin to unwind in the open space of awareness, and hidden layers of feelings begin to emerge. This is sometimes accompanied by shaking, laughing or crying. Stabilising in our true nature helps these residues gradually clear up.
A woman says it’s been harder to be happy in this world because others are caught up in duality. Rupert suggests that we can’t wait for everyone to be happy. We will wait forever. See that your happiness is not dependent on anyone or anything. It is prior to and independent of the content of experience.
A man struggles with the analogy of the image and the screen, real and illusion. Rupert suggests that he is not saying that the world is not real. It is an illusion in that it is not what it appears to be. It appears to be a multiplicity and diversity of things existing outside consciousness. It is as real as consciousness, as God’s being, but unreal as material objects. Rupert elaborates using the dream analogy. We are characters in God's dream.
A woman asks about compassion as it relates to infinite being, which is unable to suffer. Rupert suggests that to have compassion is to feel what someone else is feeling because, at that moment, we feel their being as ours because we share being. God’s infinite being is whole, complete, perfect, and is a realm of eternal peace. We suffer emotionally or psychologically when we feel we are a fragment. Suffering is the signal to remind us to return to our true nature, God’s being.
A woman asks about how to sink more deeply into being. Rupert leads her to being. How do you practise sinking into being? By sinking into being. How do you practise tennis? By playing tennis.
A man asks, on behalf of his teenager, ‘Does the universe, God’s being, have a purpose for each of us?’ Rupert suggests that there are two purposes in life: One is to recognise the nature of our being, and the second is to express the qualities inherent in your being in your life. Find what you love to do.
A woman references something Rupert said in meditation and asks about how to handle expectation. Rupert leads her in self-enquiry as she rests in being. Just stay in being.
A man on the Gurdjieff path asks about the relationship between awareness and the heart. Rupert suggests the experience of being is what Gurdjieff meant by self-remembering, but it was often misunderstood. It's the awareness of being, the love of simply being, the love to be.
A woman struggles with the idea of the crucifixion as the death of the ego. Rupert suggests that the ego is not really an entity. The only entity or being there is, is God's being. The ego is a belief and a feeling that God's being, infinite being, is temporary and finite. The death of the ego is not really the death of an entity but the disappearance of a belief and a feeling and the concomitant revelation of our true nature. The crucifixion represents death, or dissolution, of the separate self.
A man remarks on the phrase, ‘I and my father are one’ and what it brings up for him. Rupert suggests that what I am – my inner most being – and my father is – the reality of the universe – are one. What I am on the inside and what the universe is on the outside are one indivisible whole, or reality. Next, we bring this into our hearts, perceptions and relationships so we might feel, perceive and act as an expression of this understating.
A woman asks if infinite consciousness ‘looks’ for a Rupert, Bernardo Kastrup, or Steve Jobs to fulfil a purpose. Rupert suggests that when we die, the body dies and dissolves into Mother Earth and the mind dissolves into Mother Consciousness. It takes time – the mind doesn’t immediately disperse before it completely dissolves into pure consciousness. There is nothing to suggest that this mind might not coalesce and form the basis of a new mind. Consciousness doesn’t evolve. The content of experience evolves.
A man asks about the relationship between silent teaching and silent learning. Rupert suggests that we get so involved in the movie that we completely forget the screen. We are the aware screen that is both watching the movie that is playing on us and is the reality of that movie. We, consciousness, are aware of the screen and aware of the movie, but we don't lose ourselves completely in it. We are aware of our self at the same time as being aware of the content of experience.
Rupert recites a prayer to close the weekend retreat at home.
A woman, who says she’s always been seeking and has this understanding, asks what the purpose is of continuing to seek, and asks if it is egoic. Rupert suggests that it’s not understanding you crave, it’s peace. When we are happy, there is no seeking. If you have recognised God’s being as your being, what experience would be greater? Attending this weekend retreat is not necessarily out of lack, but simply for the joy of sharing. It is possible to seek from fullness, as well as from lack.
A man asks if, after we depart, awareness de-localises. He also wonders if God is all there is, where do heaven and past lives fit in. Rupert quotes, ‘Before death, God is in me; after death, I am in God’. Heaven is God’s presence, which is both within us, as our very own being, and spread out over the face of the earth, appearing to us as the world. Hell is the overlooking of that fact.
A woman, who was raised Christian, struggles with the belief that God is not separate. Rupert suggests that we become nothing from the point of view of the ego, but the ego doesn’t really exist. Still, the separate self doesn’t realise that. It is an imaginary limitation of the true self. When the movie ends, the screen doesn’t cease to exist.
A man, who has been on the progressive path, asks, ‘How do I fully establish in the presence of God?’ Rupert suggests going back to your being over and over again. Each time, we weaken the power that objective experience has to take us away from our being. Slowly, we don’t just return infrequently and briefly, we return more often and remain longer. Fewer and fewer experiences have the capacity to take us away.
A woman asks about recognising that others are not others, that we share the same being. Rupert suggests that when we recognise our shared being, that doesn’t mean that we want to embrace and melt into everyone. He suggests that there are characters in the media that he doesn’t like, nor would embrace, but he still feels that he shares his being with them. We don’t have to like everybody, we just know that other’s feeling ‘I’ is identical in everyone.
A man, who uses psychedelics, asks if they can help dissolve the egoic structure. Rupert says he doesn’t know the answer because he’s never used them. Can it alter the content of your mind? Of course. Can it help you recognise the nature of your being? May be, but it seems the long way round. Just take the thought, ‘I’ or ‘I am’. Using an object or substance is the progressive path, but why not go there directly. This is the era of the Direct Path.
A woman says that when she is with people, nature or animals, she feels God’s being shine through them, but when she looks at objects, all she sees is matter. Rupert suggests that isness is the common factor in all existent things. Only something with a name and a form can exist. What does an object stand out from? Something cannot emerge from nothing. What is the background from which all things emerge? Being. Everything is a colouring of being.
A man references the gap between thoughts but says when he tries to do that, he finds no gap. Rupert suggests it’s not necessary to wait for a gap in the stream of experience to become aware of being, just as it’s not necessary to turn the TV off between two movies to see the screen. You can always see the screen; you are always being. Being will emerge from the background of experience; you don’t have to wait for experience to end to experience being.
A woman, who feels she’s been in a dark night of the soul for years, asks about how to communicate with a violent ex-spouse from a place of being. Rupert suggests it is possible to communicate with another and state your legitimate needs whilst feeling your shared being.
A man, who experienced physical movements during meditation, asks the understanding and subconscious patterns that need to clear. Rupert suggests that tensions in the body and hidden patterns of feeling in the mind begin to unwind in the open space of awareness, and hidden layers of feelings begin to emerge. This is sometimes accompanied by shaking, laughing or crying. Stabilising in our true nature helps these residues gradually clear up.
A woman says it’s been harder to be happy in this world because others are caught up in duality. Rupert suggests that we can’t wait for everyone to be happy. We will wait forever. See that your happiness is not dependent on anyone or anything. It is prior to and independent of the content of experience.
A man struggles with the analogy of the image and the screen, real and illusion. Rupert suggests that he is not saying that the world is not real. It is an illusion in that it is not what it appears to be. It appears to be a multiplicity and diversity of things existing outside consciousness. It is as real as consciousness, as God’s being, but unreal as material objects. Rupert elaborates using the dream analogy. We are characters in God's dream.
A woman asks about compassion as it relates to infinite being, which is unable to suffer. Rupert suggests that to have compassion is to feel what someone else is feeling because, at that moment, we feel their being as ours because we share being. God’s infinite being is whole, complete, perfect, and is a realm of eternal peace. We suffer emotionally or psychologically when we feel we are a fragment. Suffering is the signal to remind us to return to our true nature, God’s being.
A woman asks about how to sink more deeply into being. Rupert leads her to being. How do you practise sinking into being? By sinking into being. How do you practise tennis? By playing tennis.
A man asks, on behalf of his teenager, ‘Does the universe, God’s being, have a purpose for each of us?’ Rupert suggests that there are two purposes in life: One is to recognise the nature of our being, and the second is to express the qualities inherent in your being in your life. Find what you love to do.
A woman references something Rupert said in meditation and asks about how to handle expectation. Rupert leads her in self-enquiry as she rests in being. Just stay in being.
A man on the Gurdjieff path asks about the relationship between awareness and the heart. Rupert suggests the experience of being is what Gurdjieff meant by self-remembering, but it was often misunderstood. It's the awareness of being, the love of simply being, the love to be.
A woman struggles with the idea of the crucifixion as the death of the ego. Rupert suggests that the ego is not really an entity. The only entity or being there is, is God's being. The ego is a belief and a feeling that God's being, infinite being, is temporary and finite. The death of the ego is not really the death of an entity but the disappearance of a belief and a feeling and the concomitant revelation of our true nature. The crucifixion represents death, or dissolution, of the separate self.
A man remarks on the phrase, ‘I and my father are one’ and what it brings up for him. Rupert suggests that what I am – my inner most being – and my father is – the reality of the universe – are one. What I am on the inside and what the universe is on the outside are one indivisible whole, or reality. Next, we bring this into our hearts, perceptions and relationships so we might feel, perceive and act as an expression of this understating.
A woman asks if infinite consciousness ‘looks’ for a Rupert, Bernardo Kastrup, or Steve Jobs to fulfil a purpose. Rupert suggests that when we die, the body dies and dissolves into Mother Earth and the mind dissolves into Mother Consciousness. It takes time – the mind doesn’t immediately disperse before it completely dissolves into pure consciousness. There is nothing to suggest that this mind might not coalesce and form the basis of a new mind. Consciousness doesn’t evolve. The content of experience evolves.
A man asks about the relationship between silent teaching and silent learning. Rupert suggests that we get so involved in the movie that we completely forget the screen. We are the aware screen that is both watching the movie that is playing on us and is the reality of that movie. We, consciousness, are aware of the screen and aware of the movie, but we don't lose ourselves completely in it. We are aware of our self at the same time as being aware of the content of experience.
Rupert recites a prayer to close the weekend retreat at home.