Consider Everything to Be Yourself

A man shares that he recently gave a talk about the impossibility of trying to talk about what Rupert teaches. He found himself saying to his audience that what they are is simple awareness and that when not seen as part of the body or individual, it is universal consciousness. He asks if this is right. Rupert agrees and explains that the awareness with which we know our experience, though it feels individual, is the one universal awareness, just as the space in the room is one universal space.

A man shares that in day-to-day life he is lost in thoughts, and occasionally remembers that he is forgetting himself. He asks what he is doing wrong, as he tries to witness his thoughts but feels he is failing. Rupert asks if he is clear that he is separate from the sound of an aeroplane. The man acknowledges this, and Rupert explains that thoughts are like sounds – they appear, vanish, but the awareness that witnesses them remains. He suggests staying in touch with the awareness of being, and extending that to daily life to establish the habit.

A man describes an experience where his thoughts appeared hollow and impersonal, at a distance, and easy to manage. He asks if this was a shift in mindset, comparing his mind to a factory that produces thoughts which don’t feel like his own. Rupert responds, saying thoughts appear and vanish, but one doesn’t feel that when a thought disappears, one disappears too. The awareness with which one is aware remains unchanged, as it was in childhood. This recognition creates a natural distance from thoughts, revealing that one is not truly implicated by them.

A woman asks if her participation in 12-step support groups, which helps relieve her distress, is unintentionally reinforcing the sense of a separate self. Rupert responds that it’s good she attends these groups, as they are a beneficial use of a progressive path practice, relieving her tension, and that it would be a harsh interpretation to say she is merely reifying the separate self by doing so.

A man asks Rupert what he finds works best when guiding people without using logic, describing his approach as a ‘playful, Disney-like loving-what-is’ version of the direct path. Rupert replies that what he’s doing now works best – not only logic, but also metaphors and stories. He adds that it doesn’t need to be about actively loving what is, but simply being open without resistance – saying yes to what is. If this way of openness particularly resonates with the man, Rupert encourages him to emphasise it in his sharing, as it would be the right thing to do.

A man asks if it would be equally true to say that his thoughts are him, another’s thoughts are him, and even the sound of the aeroplane is him. Rupert replies that yes, it would be true. He suggests two approaches: either consider nothing to be yourself, which is the Vedantic path, or consider everything to be your self, which is the Tantric approach. Both paths lead to the same destination. He encourages following either the Vedantic or Tantric path, based on inclination, and explains that the measure of which path to follow is the experience of causeless peace on the inside and unconditional love on the outside.

A woman shares her experience of many years in the Zen tradition, where meditation was practised with eyes open, and asks about meditating with eyes closed. Rupert explains that it makes no difference whether the eyes are open or closed, but traditionally, we begin with eyes closed because seeing occupies the larger part of our perceptual field. In the early stages, this helps us avoid overlooking our being in favour of the content of experience. Later, when we are stable in being, opening the eyes will no longer distract us.

A man shares that during the guided meditation the previous night, Rupert’s words about seeking in relation to the separate self were very provocative, and he found himself agitated. He reflects on the separate self rebelling, as seeking had felt valuable and led him to where he is now. Rupert explains that seeking can arise from a sense of lack, where one feels incomplete and seeks something to fulfil themselves, or from a sense of fullness and sufficiency, like feeling at completely at peace or very loving and inviting a friend to dinner or to go for a walk. He clarifies that his references the other night were to the kind of seeking born of lack.

A woman asks if concentration-based practices, such as training the monkey mind, are like training wheels for the Pathless Path. Rupert replies that you don’t really need to train for the Pathless Path because everyone is already fully equipped. He acknowledges that effort-based practices have value but not as preparation for the Pathless Path. The experience of being is not something that requires practice; everyone is being all the time, though we tend to not notice it. Once one has understood what it means, no preparation is necessary to just be.

A man asks about following intuition versus making plans when sharing this understanding with small groups. Rupert reflects that while meetings may happen spontaneously, this gathering required planning. The impulse to share arises from an overflowing of love but must also be combined with organisational planning. He shares that his first step when he began sharing his understanding was placing a handwritten notice for a meditation session in a local shop, where only one person came. As things grew, more organisation became necessary.

A man asks how Rupert began writing about non-duality. Rupert shares that he was on a long train journey from his home to Edinburgh for an exhibition of his works. During the trip, he started writing for his own pleasure, something he had always done a little. By the time he returned, he had completed an essay. He continued writing, and friend suggested sending it to a publisher, which led to the book The Transparency of Things. That caught the attention of Conscious TV, and through Francis Lucille, he was invited to the Science and Non-Duality conference, then Omega Institute. And it just built up from there.

A man shares his experience of touching what he calls ‘God-space’ between two experiences, describing it as a space of all possibilities, needing nothing, and truer to who he feels himself to be than anything else in life. He asks if this aligns with Rupert’s teaching. Rupert agrees, explaining that the man has touched the aware, empty space that holds all experience yet often goes unnoticed. When we become aware of this space, Rupert adds, we can infuse our experience with its transparency, emptiness, love and peace, allowing its presence to permeate your daily life.

A man speaks of his morning runs, filled with gratitude for the world and his body’s ability. He prays in thanks to God but wonders if he limits his experience by objectifying God. Rupert says abiding as being is the highest prayer, where the distinction between self and God dissolves – there is only God’s infinite being. This is the highest surrender. Yet, Rupert adds, this doesn’t prevent us from thanking God for something, everything, or even asking for something. These forms of prayer are not incompatible with abiding as being.

A man reflects that if there is no separation between God and himself, it is God being grateful to experience life through him. He asks about meditation, recalling Rupert’s teaching that meditation is what we are, not something we do. Rupert explains that we often mistakenly think of ourselves as finite individuals engaging in meditation, but in reality, meditation is the very nature of being aware. The separate self, which we tend to identify with, is not an actual entity but an activity of thinking and feeling that occurs within the infinite awareness we truly are.

A man asks if the experience of the world is inherently dualistic, like seeing white snow through orange goggles. Rupert affirms that experience is apparently dualistic, as it requires a subject–object relationship. He gives the example of seeing: as long as there is distance, the subject perceives the object. However, this distinction doesn’t exist in reality.

A man shares that he knows that he is but doubts everything conceived, yet struggling to let go of identification with the body-mind. When he speaks, a ‘gremlin’ of residual identification arises, disturbing the unity he feels. Rupert observes how much the man has changed over nearly twenty years, with his clarity, demeanour and articulation becoming beautifully clear. Referencing the Zen master who said, ‘All I can see are my mistakes’, Rupert reminds him that while we see our failures, others see his progress and transformation.

A woman expresses the challenge of wanting to be in the world but not of it, noticing how abiding in being brings openness, but her attention shifts to the world, causing her to lose contact with being. She asks about the difficulty of tracking both. Rupert replies that this back-and-forth is natural as attention shifts between the world and being. Over time, as one becomes more established in being, it’s possible to engage fully with the world while remaining rooted in being, living in both simultaneously without losing touch with one’s true nature.

A man shares that he recently gave a talk about the impossibility of trying to talk about what Rupert teaches. He found himself saying to his audience that what they are is simple awareness and that when not seen as part of the body or individual, it is universal consciousness. He asks if this is right. Rupert agrees and explains that the awareness with which we know our experience, though it feels individual, is the one universal awareness, just as the space in the room is one universal space.

A man shares that in day-to-day life he is lost in thoughts, and occasionally remembers that he is forgetting himself. He asks what he is doing wrong, as he tries to witness his thoughts but feels he is failing. Rupert asks if he is clear that he is separate from the sound of an aeroplane. The man acknowledges this, and Rupert explains that thoughts are like sounds – they appear, vanish, but the awareness that witnesses them remains. He suggests staying in touch with the awareness of being, and extending that to daily life to establish the habit.

A man describes an experience where his thoughts appeared hollow and impersonal, at a distance, and easy to manage. He asks if this was a shift in mindset, comparing his mind to a factory that produces thoughts which don’t feel like his own. Rupert responds, saying thoughts appear and vanish, but one doesn’t feel that when a thought disappears, one disappears too. The awareness with which one is aware remains unchanged, as it was in childhood. This recognition creates a natural distance from thoughts, revealing that one is not truly implicated by them.

A woman asks if her participation in 12-step support groups, which helps relieve her distress, is unintentionally reinforcing the sense of a separate self. Rupert responds that it’s good she attends these groups, as they are a beneficial use of a progressive path practice, relieving her tension, and that it would be a harsh interpretation to say she is merely reifying the separate self by doing so.

A man asks Rupert what he finds works best when guiding people without using logic, describing his approach as a ‘playful, Disney-like loving-what-is’ version of the direct path. Rupert replies that what he’s doing now works best – not only logic, but also metaphors and stories. He adds that it doesn’t need to be about actively loving what is, but simply being open without resistance – saying yes to what is. If this way of openness particularly resonates with the man, Rupert encourages him to emphasise it in his sharing, as it would be the right thing to do.

A man asks if it would be equally true to say that his thoughts are him, another’s thoughts are him, and even the sound of the aeroplane is him. Rupert replies that yes, it would be true. He suggests two approaches: either consider nothing to be yourself, which is the Vedantic path, or consider everything to be your self, which is the Tantric approach. Both paths lead to the same destination. He encourages following either the Vedantic or Tantric path, based on inclination, and explains that the measure of which path to follow is the experience of causeless peace on the inside and unconditional love on the outside.

A woman shares her experience of many years in the Zen tradition, where meditation was practised with eyes open, and asks about meditating with eyes closed. Rupert explains that it makes no difference whether the eyes are open or closed, but traditionally, we begin with eyes closed because seeing occupies the larger part of our perceptual field. In the early stages, this helps us avoid overlooking our being in favour of the content of experience. Later, when we are stable in being, opening the eyes will no longer distract us.

A man shares that during the guided meditation the previous night, Rupert’s words about seeking in relation to the separate self were very provocative, and he found himself agitated. He reflects on the separate self rebelling, as seeking had felt valuable and led him to where he is now. Rupert explains that seeking can arise from a sense of lack, where one feels incomplete and seeks something to fulfil themselves, or from a sense of fullness and sufficiency, like feeling at completely at peace or very loving and inviting a friend to dinner or to go for a walk. He clarifies that his references the other night were to the kind of seeking born of lack.

A woman asks if concentration-based practices, such as training the monkey mind, are like training wheels for the Pathless Path. Rupert replies that you don’t really need to train for the Pathless Path because everyone is already fully equipped. He acknowledges that effort-based practices have value but not as preparation for the Pathless Path. The experience of being is not something that requires practice; everyone is being all the time, though we tend to not notice it. Once one has understood what it means, no preparation is necessary to just be.

A man asks about following intuition versus making plans when sharing this understanding with small groups. Rupert reflects that while meetings may happen spontaneously, this gathering required planning. The impulse to share arises from an overflowing of love but must also be combined with organisational planning. He shares that his first step when he began sharing his understanding was placing a handwritten notice for a meditation session in a local shop, where only one person came. As things grew, more organisation became necessary.

A man asks how Rupert began writing about non-duality. Rupert shares that he was on a long train journey from his home to Edinburgh for an exhibition of his works. During the trip, he started writing for his own pleasure, something he had always done a little. By the time he returned, he had completed an essay. He continued writing, and friend suggested sending it to a publisher, which led to the book The Transparency of Things. That caught the attention of Conscious TV, and through Francis Lucille, he was invited to the Science and Non-Duality conference, then Omega Institute. And it just built up from there.

A man shares his experience of touching what he calls ‘God-space’ between two experiences, describing it as a space of all possibilities, needing nothing, and truer to who he feels himself to be than anything else in life. He asks if this aligns with Rupert’s teaching. Rupert agrees, explaining that the man has touched the aware, empty space that holds all experience yet often goes unnoticed. When we become aware of this space, Rupert adds, we can infuse our experience with its transparency, emptiness, love and peace, allowing its presence to permeate your daily life.

A man speaks of his morning runs, filled with gratitude for the world and his body’s ability. He prays in thanks to God but wonders if he limits his experience by objectifying God. Rupert says abiding as being is the highest prayer, where the distinction between self and God dissolves – there is only God’s infinite being. This is the highest surrender. Yet, Rupert adds, this doesn’t prevent us from thanking God for something, everything, or even asking for something. These forms of prayer are not incompatible with abiding as being.

A man reflects that if there is no separation between God and himself, it is God being grateful to experience life through him. He asks about meditation, recalling Rupert’s teaching that meditation is what we are, not something we do. Rupert explains that we often mistakenly think of ourselves as finite individuals engaging in meditation, but in reality, meditation is the very nature of being aware. The separate self, which we tend to identify with, is not an actual entity but an activity of thinking and feeling that occurs within the infinite awareness we truly are.

A man asks if the experience of the world is inherently dualistic, like seeing white snow through orange goggles. Rupert affirms that experience is apparently dualistic, as it requires a subject–object relationship. He gives the example of seeing: as long as there is distance, the subject perceives the object. However, this distinction doesn’t exist in reality.

A man shares that he knows that he is but doubts everything conceived, yet struggling to let go of identification with the body-mind. When he speaks, a ‘gremlin’ of residual identification arises, disturbing the unity he feels. Rupert observes how much the man has changed over nearly twenty years, with his clarity, demeanour and articulation becoming beautifully clear. Referencing the Zen master who said, ‘All I can see are my mistakes’, Rupert reminds him that while we see our failures, others see his progress and transformation.

A woman expresses the challenge of wanting to be in the world but not of it, noticing how abiding in being brings openness, but her attention shifts to the world, causing her to lose contact with being. She asks about the difficulty of tracking both. Rupert replies that this back-and-forth is natural as attention shifts between the world and being. Over time, as one becomes more established in being, it’s possible to engage fully with the world while remaining rooted in being, living in both simultaneously without losing touch with one’s true nature.