Emptiness and Fullness of Peace and Happiness from the media The Deepest Healing
A man wonders whether emptiness is also fullness when the limitations of name and form are removed. Rupert explains that our true nature is empty with respect to the objects or content of experience. However, in its own experience of itself, it is full of itself alone. The experience of peace feels empty – it’s the absence of any agitation. But the experience of happiness feels full. We feel both the empty and full qualities of our true nature in the experiences of peace and happiness.
- Duration: 4 minutes and 33 seconds
- Recorded on: Jan 6, 2024
- Event: The Pathless Path – Online Weekend Retreat at Home – 5 to 7 January
A man wonders whether emptiness is also fullness when the limitations of name and form are removed. Rupert explains that our true nature is empty with respect to the objects or content of experience. However, in its own experience of itself, it is full of itself alone. The experience of peace feels empty – it’s the absence of any agitation. But the experience of happiness feels full. We feel both the empty and full qualities of our true nature in the experiences of peace and happiness.
A woman asks whether abiding in pure eternal awareness requires the total cessation of the mind. Rupert replies that neither the silence of the mind nor any mystical experiences are required. It doesn’t require anything; it’s not dependent on anything. It’s just the simple awareness of being.
A woman asks for guidance on how to integrate non-dual awareness into her daily life. Rupert suggests that, in regards to relationships with other people and animals, before knowing anything about them, recognise that their being is a reflection of your own being. Then, relate to them in a way that is informed by this felt sense of our shared existence.
A man is seeking understanding regarding having lost sight of a glimpse of freedom he’d experienced three years ago by observing his thoughts and feelings. Rupert asks him whether he can observe his thoughts and feelings now? The man affirms that he can, and Rupert explains it wasn’t some special experience he’d had three years ago. He suggests: every time you find yourself with agitated thoughts or sorrowful feelings, simply recall, ‘No, I’m not these thoughts and feelings. I am that which observes them, knows them, or is aware of them.’ Immediately, that will bring a measure of peace.
A woman asks how to attract money. Rupert suggests that one can do that by feeling the sense of abundance of one’s true nature rather than scarcity. From the point of view of our true nature, there is no scarcity; there is nothing lacking, nothing missing – it is full of itself, whole, complete and perfect. If you are projecting lack out into the world, you are not coming from your true nature. However much or little money you have, you want to feel abundance, a sense of fullness, completion, perfection. Because there is a deep connection between our inner and outer worlds, you tend to find that your inner state is mirrored in the world.
A man says that he is practicing non-meditation, falling asleep while remaining awake, but finds that his mind is not completely turned off. Rupert replies that he never mentioned any suggestion to turn the mind off. Does awareness ever say, ‘I need the mind to be turned off’? To the space in the room, it doesn’t matter whether people are fighting or dancing in it. Awareness is always peaceful irrespective of whatever happens. It’s the mind that says that the mind must stop.
A man, occasionally dozing off during the silent intervals of guided meditations, wonders if he should stand to avoid that. Rupert suggesting that, yes, if you notice yourself drifting off during the silences, then simply stand up. Throughout the meditations, Rupert encourages a focus on our being, not just on what he’s saying. The most potent times of the meditation are when Rupert is not saying anything.
A man describes his practice, which he calls ‘non-dual microdosing’, involving returning to his being multiple times throughout the day. He wonders if this practice is merely additional busywork, contributing to the drudgery of his life. Rupert responds that he appreciates the concept of non-dual microdosing. As our interest grows in understanding the nature of reality, our true nature, there may be no need for a reminder to return to our being when our attention is not demanded by the world. Naturally, our attention tends to gravitate there during the brief pauses between the activities of daily life.
A woman enquires about a video clip in which Rupert mentioned a man on a Vedantic path experiencing relationship conflict with his Tibetan Buddhist wife, stating that between the two, the man has the greater understanding. Rupert responds by explaining that in all traditions, individuals may interpret them in different ways. He clarifies that he did not mean to imply that someone with a Vedantic approach automatically possesses a deeper understanding than someone with a Buddhist approach. Quite the contrary, he could have expressed it the other way around.
A man, attending his first event, says that when he goes back to being, he cannot find it. Rupert replies that he is absolutely right; you cannot find being. Trying to find it is like trying to see your eyes. We can’t see our eyes because we are looking through them. The only way to find something is to be apart from it. All experience takes place in a subject–object relationship, except the awareness of being. The subject and the object are the same when we say, ‘I know myself’; the ‘I’ that knows and the ’self’ that is known are the same. That’s why the man quite rightly says, ‘I can’t find myself.’ Rupert says that he can’t find himself either. But at the same time, he knows that ‘I am’.
A man says something like, ‘During meditation, I was aware of heaviness in my chest and coldness around me.’ Rupert points out that in the man’s statement there are two elements: the heaviness and coldness, and the ‘I’ that was aware of them. Rupert guides the man in self-enquiry, asking him to tell everyone about the ‘I’ that is aware. What is this ‘I’? Trying to answer, the man falls silent. Rupert suggests this is because there is nothing objective there to know and therefore to describe.
A woman asks about Rupert saying, ‘in order to localise, being sacrifices its happiness’. Rupert replies that being does that for no reason; it is its nature to do so. To say that being localises itself in the form of our finite minds is true from the perspective of the finite mind. However, from being’s own point of view, it does no such thing. King Lear is only King Lear from the illusory point of view of King Lear. John Smith never really becomes King Lear. It’s only in the form of King Lear that King Lear thinks ‘I am King Lear’.
A man enquires about the neti neti process and the role of imagination in these teachings. Rupert provides an example involving thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions that can be experienced during meditation. He explains that none of these are essential to our true nature. We can imagine removing them from our experience, similar to how we might visualise removing all the furniture from a room and only space would remain. We don’t need to physically do this to realise that only the space remains, doing it in our imagination is sufficient. When we remove everything that is not essential to us, only empty knowing remains.
A woman expresses her calling to share this understanding with others in the form of recordings of prayers and poetry, but she feels that this desire may be coming from her separate self. Rupert encourages her to put her work out into the world. The use of the faculties of body and mind in service of this love and understanding is their highest use. He said that it is a beautiful calling and she should follow it. It is a sacred desire.
A man wonders whether he should bypass his feeling of depression. Rupert observed that people with depression can sometimes fall below a certain threshold beneath which they lack motivation to lift themselves from depression and seek happiness. This deep inertia makes it seem impossible to return to our true nature. Rupert suggests an indirect path, an intermediary step: engaging in activities that can elevate one above this threshold of demotivation. Activities requiring full attention can alleviate the heaviness of depression and free up energy to engage in some form of meditation practice.
A young woman asks why awareness is said to be infinite and unlimited. Rupert responds by guiding her in self-enquiry. During this process, the woman realises she cannot ascribe any qualities to awareness because it possesses none. If it doesn’t have any qualities, how could it be finite? There is no evidence in our experience to suggest that awareness is finite. Love, the recognition of our shared being, is the evidence that awareness is unlimited and universal.
A young woman expresses her understanding that she is not the mind but, because of past trauma, finds it challenging to stay centred in her being. Rupert acknowledges that sometimes emotional pain can be so intense that our being seems deeply entwined with it. He advises that we simply have to bear it and let its intensity diminish. During periods of calm from the emotional turmoil, it is possible to feel that we are the sky of awareness, the peace that surrounds the painful emotion. Even in moments of intense pain, you are still the sky of awareness in which the dark cloud appears.
A man asks about healing trauma and its relation to the Pathless Path. Rupert replies that even though this retreat is focused on the Pathless Path, he does not mean to imply that the other two paths –progressive and Direct – are not valid. They are all appropriate for different people at different stages of their lives. You may go back and forth among different paths. In Rupert’s opinion, we should be very fluid, not rigid. We shouldn’t be non-dual fundamentalists.
A man asks whether Rupert ever feels like he is abandoning the world of experience by going back to his being. Rupert says yes, when we return to being, we are turning our attention away from the content of experience, but he wouldn’t use the word ‘abandonment’; it’s not a rejection of experience. Although, Rupert says, in his younger years he misunderstood the teaching and there was a sense of rejection of experience.
A woman experiencing self-doubt asks whether compassion and awareness share the same root. Rupert says yes, although he would have expressed this differently. Love or non-separation is the nature of awareness, and compassion is the name we give to the action we take in the world that is informed by and expressing that love. Compassion is love in action.
A man expresses his gratitude for the teachings and wishes Rupert a Happy New Year.
A woman acknowledges that consciousness inherently embodies peace, yet she does not perceive it as love, bliss or joy; to her, it seems merely neutral. Rupert responds that the mind interprets the nature of awareness as peace in contrast to its usual state of agitation; as happiness in comparison to suffering and sorrow; and as love in relation to feelings of separation. He notes that these terms are merely the mind’s contrasts to its typical experiences. Essentially, Rupert suggests, it’s more accurate not to assign any specific words or adjectives to awareness.
A woman enquires about the efficacy of alternative healing methods. Rupert explains that the deepest healing is the recognition of our true nature. He emphasises that true healing originates from reconnecting with our wholeness. He notes that physical symptoms, like those stemming from a broken arm with misaligned bones, won’t necessarily be resolved just by recognising your true nature; in such cases, medical attention is needed. However, if the underlying cause of symptoms is the tension inherent in separation, then these may dissipate upon this realisation.
A woman, having glimpsed her true nature of awareness, asks how to make this recognition last. Rupert explores with her the question: Is there awareness? He enquires about the experience she refers to that enables her to affirmatively answer this question. What is it, in the moment, that realises the presence of awareness? Naturally, it’s awareness itself. This is the one undeniable fact. While we may question the reality of our current experience, wondering if it’s a dream, the certainty remains that we are aware of it, dream or not.
A man wonders whether emptiness is also fullness when the limitations of name and form are removed. Rupert explains that our true nature is empty with respect to the objects or content of experience. However, in its own experience of itself, it is full of itself alone. The experience of peace feels empty – it’s the absence of any agitation. But the experience of happiness feels full. We feel both the empty and full qualities of our true nature in the experiences of peace and happiness.
A woman asks whether abiding in pure eternal awareness requires the total cessation of the mind. Rupert replies that neither the silence of the mind nor any mystical experiences are required. It doesn’t require anything; it’s not dependent on anything. It’s just the simple awareness of being.
A woman asks for guidance on how to integrate non-dual awareness into her daily life. Rupert suggests that, in regards to relationships with other people and animals, before knowing anything about them, recognise that their being is a reflection of your own being. Then, relate to them in a way that is informed by this felt sense of our shared existence.
A man is seeking understanding regarding having lost sight of a glimpse of freedom he’d experienced three years ago by observing his thoughts and feelings. Rupert asks him whether he can observe his thoughts and feelings now? The man affirms that he can, and Rupert explains it wasn’t some special experience he’d had three years ago. He suggests: every time you find yourself with agitated thoughts or sorrowful feelings, simply recall, ‘No, I’m not these thoughts and feelings. I am that which observes them, knows them, or is aware of them.’ Immediately, that will bring a measure of peace.
A woman asks how to attract money. Rupert suggests that one can do that by feeling the sense of abundance of one’s true nature rather than scarcity. From the point of view of our true nature, there is no scarcity; there is nothing lacking, nothing missing – it is full of itself, whole, complete and perfect. If you are projecting lack out into the world, you are not coming from your true nature. However much or little money you have, you want to feel abundance, a sense of fullness, completion, perfection. Because there is a deep connection between our inner and outer worlds, you tend to find that your inner state is mirrored in the world.
A man says that he is practicing non-meditation, falling asleep while remaining awake, but finds that his mind is not completely turned off. Rupert replies that he never mentioned any suggestion to turn the mind off. Does awareness ever say, ‘I need the mind to be turned off’? To the space in the room, it doesn’t matter whether people are fighting or dancing in it. Awareness is always peaceful irrespective of whatever happens. It’s the mind that says that the mind must stop.
A man, occasionally dozing off during the silent intervals of guided meditations, wonders if he should stand to avoid that. Rupert suggesting that, yes, if you notice yourself drifting off during the silences, then simply stand up. Throughout the meditations, Rupert encourages a focus on our being, not just on what he’s saying. The most potent times of the meditation are when Rupert is not saying anything.
A man describes his practice, which he calls ‘non-dual microdosing’, involving returning to his being multiple times throughout the day. He wonders if this practice is merely additional busywork, contributing to the drudgery of his life. Rupert responds that he appreciates the concept of non-dual microdosing. As our interest grows in understanding the nature of reality, our true nature, there may be no need for a reminder to return to our being when our attention is not demanded by the world. Naturally, our attention tends to gravitate there during the brief pauses between the activities of daily life.
A woman enquires about a video clip in which Rupert mentioned a man on a Vedantic path experiencing relationship conflict with his Tibetan Buddhist wife, stating that between the two, the man has the greater understanding. Rupert responds by explaining that in all traditions, individuals may interpret them in different ways. He clarifies that he did not mean to imply that someone with a Vedantic approach automatically possesses a deeper understanding than someone with a Buddhist approach. Quite the contrary, he could have expressed it the other way around.
A man, attending his first event, says that when he goes back to being, he cannot find it. Rupert replies that he is absolutely right; you cannot find being. Trying to find it is like trying to see your eyes. We can’t see our eyes because we are looking through them. The only way to find something is to be apart from it. All experience takes place in a subject–object relationship, except the awareness of being. The subject and the object are the same when we say, ‘I know myself’; the ‘I’ that knows and the ’self’ that is known are the same. That’s why the man quite rightly says, ‘I can’t find myself.’ Rupert says that he can’t find himself either. But at the same time, he knows that ‘I am’.
A man says something like, ‘During meditation, I was aware of heaviness in my chest and coldness around me.’ Rupert points out that in the man’s statement there are two elements: the heaviness and coldness, and the ‘I’ that was aware of them. Rupert guides the man in self-enquiry, asking him to tell everyone about the ‘I’ that is aware. What is this ‘I’? Trying to answer, the man falls silent. Rupert suggests this is because there is nothing objective there to know and therefore to describe.
A woman asks about Rupert saying, ‘in order to localise, being sacrifices its happiness’. Rupert replies that being does that for no reason; it is its nature to do so. To say that being localises itself in the form of our finite minds is true from the perspective of the finite mind. However, from being’s own point of view, it does no such thing. King Lear is only King Lear from the illusory point of view of King Lear. John Smith never really becomes King Lear. It’s only in the form of King Lear that King Lear thinks ‘I am King Lear’.
A man enquires about the neti neti process and the role of imagination in these teachings. Rupert provides an example involving thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions that can be experienced during meditation. He explains that none of these are essential to our true nature. We can imagine removing them from our experience, similar to how we might visualise removing all the furniture from a room and only space would remain. We don’t need to physically do this to realise that only the space remains, doing it in our imagination is sufficient. When we remove everything that is not essential to us, only empty knowing remains.
A woman expresses her calling to share this understanding with others in the form of recordings of prayers and poetry, but she feels that this desire may be coming from her separate self. Rupert encourages her to put her work out into the world. The use of the faculties of body and mind in service of this love and understanding is their highest use. He said that it is a beautiful calling and she should follow it. It is a sacred desire.
A man wonders whether he should bypass his feeling of depression. Rupert observed that people with depression can sometimes fall below a certain threshold beneath which they lack motivation to lift themselves from depression and seek happiness. This deep inertia makes it seem impossible to return to our true nature. Rupert suggests an indirect path, an intermediary step: engaging in activities that can elevate one above this threshold of demotivation. Activities requiring full attention can alleviate the heaviness of depression and free up energy to engage in some form of meditation practice.
A young woman asks why awareness is said to be infinite and unlimited. Rupert responds by guiding her in self-enquiry. During this process, the woman realises she cannot ascribe any qualities to awareness because it possesses none. If it doesn’t have any qualities, how could it be finite? There is no evidence in our experience to suggest that awareness is finite. Love, the recognition of our shared being, is the evidence that awareness is unlimited and universal.
A young woman expresses her understanding that she is not the mind but, because of past trauma, finds it challenging to stay centred in her being. Rupert acknowledges that sometimes emotional pain can be so intense that our being seems deeply entwined with it. He advises that we simply have to bear it and let its intensity diminish. During periods of calm from the emotional turmoil, it is possible to feel that we are the sky of awareness, the peace that surrounds the painful emotion. Even in moments of intense pain, you are still the sky of awareness in which the dark cloud appears.
A man asks about healing trauma and its relation to the Pathless Path. Rupert replies that even though this retreat is focused on the Pathless Path, he does not mean to imply that the other two paths –progressive and Direct – are not valid. They are all appropriate for different people at different stages of their lives. You may go back and forth among different paths. In Rupert’s opinion, we should be very fluid, not rigid. We shouldn’t be non-dual fundamentalists.
A man asks whether Rupert ever feels like he is abandoning the world of experience by going back to his being. Rupert says yes, when we return to being, we are turning our attention away from the content of experience, but he wouldn’t use the word ‘abandonment’; it’s not a rejection of experience. Although, Rupert says, in his younger years he misunderstood the teaching and there was a sense of rejection of experience.
A woman experiencing self-doubt asks whether compassion and awareness share the same root. Rupert says yes, although he would have expressed this differently. Love or non-separation is the nature of awareness, and compassion is the name we give to the action we take in the world that is informed by and expressing that love. Compassion is love in action.
A man expresses his gratitude for the teachings and wishes Rupert a Happy New Year.
A woman acknowledges that consciousness inherently embodies peace, yet she does not perceive it as love, bliss or joy; to her, it seems merely neutral. Rupert responds that the mind interprets the nature of awareness as peace in contrast to its usual state of agitation; as happiness in comparison to suffering and sorrow; and as love in relation to feelings of separation. He notes that these terms are merely the mind’s contrasts to its typical experiences. Essentially, Rupert suggests, it’s more accurate not to assign any specific words or adjectives to awareness.
A woman enquires about the efficacy of alternative healing methods. Rupert explains that the deepest healing is the recognition of our true nature. He emphasises that true healing originates from reconnecting with our wholeness. He notes that physical symptoms, like those stemming from a broken arm with misaligned bones, won’t necessarily be resolved just by recognising your true nature; in such cases, medical attention is needed. However, if the underlying cause of symptoms is the tension inherent in separation, then these may dissipate upon this realisation.
A woman, having glimpsed her true nature of awareness, asks how to make this recognition last. Rupert explores with her the question: Is there awareness? He enquires about the experience she refers to that enables her to affirmatively answer this question. What is it, in the moment, that realises the presence of awareness? Naturally, it’s awareness itself. This is the one undeniable fact. While we may question the reality of our current experience, wondering if it’s a dream, the certainty remains that we are aware of it, dream or not.