What Is the Purpose of Pain? from the media Courage and Doubt

A woman tells a story about God bestowing two gifts in a letter – a legacy which Rupert would hand on and a personal one that he would keep. She asks Rupert what those gifts would be. Rupert says that the legacy gift would be that the teaching be made widely and freely available, that abidance and friendship will remain. He says that the personal gift would be a small cottage on a breathtaking hill with a companion and a cat.

A man shares how a lightness seems to be happening, but he works hard at it during the day. He asks how to relate to the directing of himself towards the positive. Rupert suggests that he not think about it as controlling his experience. Think of it as lovingly and gently tending to his body and mind. It’s not negative.

A woman asks about how best to enquire into health challenges and death. Rupert suggests that it is completely natural not to want to die. We don't want to because deep in us there is an intuition that what we are is eternal. Dying violates that understanding. This fear arises on account of our love of being. So if being were to come to an end, we say ‘no’. And we are right, because being doesn't die.

A woman asks, ‘Is pain personal?’ Rupert suggests that pain is not personal, but nothing is personal. We never find the entity on whose behalf anything is or happens.

A woman asks, ‘How do we know that we've come to acceptance?’ Rupert suggests when we've done everything that we possibly could, then we must accept it. However, we continue to explore the cause and its alleviation.

A woman asks Rupert where his courage comes from and if he ever experiences doubt. Rupert says that it doesn't feel like courage. He just has the experience of sitting at home with dear friends talking about what we love most. He also shares that he doesn't experience doubt. When we love someone deeply, do we doubt that love? Love is its own evidence.

A woman shares her experience of concepts and beliefs happening, but no one was there. Rupert suggests that it’s like when you are watching a dark, heavy movie, and then you see the screen. You continue experiencing and watching the movie, but it isn't as heavy and dark. Though the movie doesn't change, it feels lighter, more spacious.

Rupert suggests that the recognition of our true nature is not an embodied experience. It impacts our experience – the mind and body – but it is not an experience that happens in time. Attention is always the stretching of our attention towards something. By definition, there are always two points and attention is what joins them. If you let go of the thought or object, attention springs back to itself.

A man asks about the role of friendship and community. Rupert suggests that the permission and blessing that everyone at retreat gives him to do what he does allows him to do it. The retreatants are facilitators. Rupert suggests that it is the teaching, conversations and the community itself that administers the teaching. The community is an implementation of the teaching, a vehicle for it.

A woman shares two ways she experiences walking. She also references something Rupert said, ‘Imagine removing being.’ Rupert says that this suggestion was one way to help us experience, not just know, that we are God’s being. What would remain of the universe if we removed being? Nothing. There is only being. The two experiences of walking – one with the landscape moving through you and you moving through the landscape – is your mind interpreting a deeper intuition that consciousness never goes anywhere.

A man shares a deep experience of peace and feels that he couldn't have gone there without the presence of Rupert and the community.

A man, who shares his frustration with not being able to figure out what he wants to do, shares about an opportunity that has come to him. Rupert suggests that usually an impersonal desire is fulfilled. It is difficult for the universe to fulfil a personal desire because it is at odds with the universe. Your desire to be compassionate and useful is an impersonal desire.

A woman asks how to live abundantly without creating art that I think people want, thus commodifying it. Rupert asks what her ideal illustration would be, and if she were on holiday, what would she draw. Rupert suggests that she immerse herself in drawing plants, her answer to his question.

A man asks about the Tantric approach as it relates to the subject–object relationship. Rupert suggests that the eyes cannot see themselves because they cannot stand apart from them. An object can only be known from the perspective of the subject. They rise and subside together. When the subject turns towards the object and faces it, welcomes it and kisses it, then the subject and the object cease to be separate.

A man asks about anger, sharing that he is not successful with welcoming it. Rupert suggests that when we are angry, it is because we have been triggered by something. There is the subject ‘I’ and the object we are angry at. Rupert suggests that he not sit with the anger, but instead investigate who is the ‘I’. Rupert leads him in self-enquiry to explore that ‘I’.

A woman shares about her recent divorce and the need to make money and find what she can do in life. Rupert suggests that she take the risk. The universe won't abandon her now. But it is a leap.

A woman tells a story about God bestowing two gifts in a letter – a legacy which Rupert would hand on and a personal one that he would keep. She asks Rupert what those gifts would be. Rupert says that the legacy gift would be that the teaching be made widely and freely available, that abidance and friendship will remain. He says that the personal gift would be a small cottage on a breathtaking hill with a companion and a cat.

A man shares how a lightness seems to be happening, but he works hard at it during the day. He asks how to relate to the directing of himself towards the positive. Rupert suggests that he not think about it as controlling his experience. Think of it as lovingly and gently tending to his body and mind. It’s not negative.

A woman asks about how best to enquire into health challenges and death. Rupert suggests that it is completely natural not to want to die. We don't want to because deep in us there is an intuition that what we are is eternal. Dying violates that understanding. This fear arises on account of our love of being. So if being were to come to an end, we say ‘no’. And we are right, because being doesn't die.

A woman asks, ‘Is pain personal?’ Rupert suggests that pain is not personal, but nothing is personal. We never find the entity on whose behalf anything is or happens.

A woman asks, ‘How do we know that we've come to acceptance?’ Rupert suggests when we've done everything that we possibly could, then we must accept it. However, we continue to explore the cause and its alleviation.

A woman asks Rupert where his courage comes from and if he ever experiences doubt. Rupert says that it doesn't feel like courage. He just has the experience of sitting at home with dear friends talking about what we love most. He also shares that he doesn't experience doubt. When we love someone deeply, do we doubt that love? Love is its own evidence.

A woman shares her experience of concepts and beliefs happening, but no one was there. Rupert suggests that it’s like when you are watching a dark, heavy movie, and then you see the screen. You continue experiencing and watching the movie, but it isn't as heavy and dark. Though the movie doesn't change, it feels lighter, more spacious.

Rupert suggests that the recognition of our true nature is not an embodied experience. It impacts our experience – the mind and body – but it is not an experience that happens in time. Attention is always the stretching of our attention towards something. By definition, there are always two points and attention is what joins them. If you let go of the thought or object, attention springs back to itself.

A man asks about the role of friendship and community. Rupert suggests that the permission and blessing that everyone at retreat gives him to do what he does allows him to do it. The retreatants are facilitators. Rupert suggests that it is the teaching, conversations and the community itself that administers the teaching. The community is an implementation of the teaching, a vehicle for it.

A woman shares two ways she experiences walking. She also references something Rupert said, ‘Imagine removing being.’ Rupert says that this suggestion was one way to help us experience, not just know, that we are God’s being. What would remain of the universe if we removed being? Nothing. There is only being. The two experiences of walking – one with the landscape moving through you and you moving through the landscape – is your mind interpreting a deeper intuition that consciousness never goes anywhere.

A man shares a deep experience of peace and feels that he couldn't have gone there without the presence of Rupert and the community.

A man, who shares his frustration with not being able to figure out what he wants to do, shares about an opportunity that has come to him. Rupert suggests that usually an impersonal desire is fulfilled. It is difficult for the universe to fulfil a personal desire because it is at odds with the universe. Your desire to be compassionate and useful is an impersonal desire.

A woman asks how to live abundantly without creating art that I think people want, thus commodifying it. Rupert asks what her ideal illustration would be, and if she were on holiday, what would she draw. Rupert suggests that she immerse herself in drawing plants, her answer to his question.

A man asks about the Tantric approach as it relates to the subject–object relationship. Rupert suggests that the eyes cannot see themselves because they cannot stand apart from them. An object can only be known from the perspective of the subject. They rise and subside together. When the subject turns towards the object and faces it, welcomes it and kisses it, then the subject and the object cease to be separate.

A man asks about anger, sharing that he is not successful with welcoming it. Rupert suggests that when we are angry, it is because we have been triggered by something. There is the subject ‘I’ and the object we are angry at. Rupert suggests that he not sit with the anger, but instead investigate who is the ‘I’. Rupert leads him in self-enquiry to explore that ‘I’.

A woman shares about her recent divorce and the need to make money and find what she can do in life. Rupert suggests that she take the risk. The universe won't abandon her now. But it is a leap.