Getting Off the Roller Coaster

A man, who struggles with others at work, asks how to be peaceful amidst challenging thoughts. Rupert suggests that he can be peaceful in the midst of these thoughts by seeing that what he is essentially is being or being aware, even in the midst of his agitated thoughts. Peace is always in the background.

A man asks about what one should do when one recognises the nature of their being. Rupert suggests that we can watch the movie without ceasing to see the screen. We align our thoughts and feelings with the qualities that are inherent in being: peace, joy and love. We don't judge, but it is appropriate to discriminate.

A woman asks how to cross the imaginary bridge of the fearful annihilation of herself. Rupert suggests that, as a mind and body, she is a part of the whole, and at the deepest level, she is the fact of simply being, which is the same being as a tree or flower or mountain.

A man asks for a clarification of the word ‘luminosity’. Rupert references the sun, which is the illuminating factor in nature, rendering it visible. When we go to our thoughts, they are known. What is it that renders thoughts knowable? Consciousness, which renders experience knowable in the same way the sun makes the landscape visible. Consciousness is illuminating with the light of knowing.

A woman asks if there is a way to get off the roller coaster of expansiveness and contractiveness. Rupert suggests that to begin with we get a brief glimpse. However, our conditioning is typically so great that the glimpse is quickly obscured, but then we go here again and again, hence the back and forth. Every time we trace our way back, experience’s capacity to take us away weakens slightly.

A man references the three approaches to meditation and asks how to rest in the ‘I am’. Rupert suggests that mantra meditation focuses the attention on an object. The Direct Path inverts that attention onto itself, instead of an object like the mantra. Who am I, really? And the Pathless Path is not tracing the attention anywhere; it is abiding in being, as being, as the ‘I am’.

A man reads a summary of his understanding of the teaching for Rupert to comment on. Rupert paraphrases his statement that ‘the ego is necessary for enlightenment’ and uses the John Smith and King Lear metaphor to elaborate. King Lear cannot know himself as John Smith. To know himself he must cease being King Lear. Enlightenment is a misnomer for John Smith.

A woman shares her experience of energetic pressure when she sits for meditation, which comes and goes and sometimes results in a headache. Rupert suggests that she not handle it; it is flowing in and through her. Awareness doesn’t have to handle the energy like the sky doesn’t have to handle the thunder clouds. Your desire to handle it adds to the tension.

A woman talks about the death of her daughter and her practice of focusing on her breath. Rupert suggests a meditation practice in which she very lovingly turns toward her grief, not away from it. Open your heart to the grief. It’s a battle, a kind of violence, to avoid grief.

A man asks about suffering when all there is is awareness. Rupert suggests that ultimately everything is an expression of awareness. Awareness doesn't know anything directly. In order to know it, it must overlook its own being and seem to localise itself in a temporary finite self. John Smith doesn’t suffer, only King Lear does.

A man ask about why there is suffering, as it doesn’t seem necessary. Rupert suggests that just as a screen is intimate with everything in the movie, in the same way awareness gives itself totally to its creation. It doesn't hold anything back. The price it pays is the overlooking of its true nature.

A man asks if there is divine will. Rupert suggests that from the point of view of the person, it is experienced as personal will, but it’s really the gravitational pull of awareness. Rupert uses the analogy of John Smith and King Lear to extrapolate. It is experienced as the desire for happiness.

A man shares that he has expectations when it comes to experience, which freezes his response. Rupert suggests that expectation is from the mind, while being is free from any goal or interest. The screen doesn’t mind what happens in the movie, but the character does. It’s natural for the mind to do so.

A man asks about the ananda aspect of self-enquiry. Rupert suggests that when westerners heard of ananda, as bliss, we assumed that enlightenment was some extraordinary experience, and therefore, were somehow failing. In fact, it is just the simple quiet nature of our being after it is divested of all experience.

A man, who struggles with others at work, asks how to be peaceful amidst challenging thoughts. Rupert suggests that he can be peaceful in the midst of these thoughts by seeing that what he is essentially is being or being aware, even in the midst of his agitated thoughts. Peace is always in the background.

A man asks about what one should do when one recognises the nature of their being. Rupert suggests that we can watch the movie without ceasing to see the screen. We align our thoughts and feelings with the qualities that are inherent in being: peace, joy and love. We don't judge, but it is appropriate to discriminate.

A woman asks how to cross the imaginary bridge of the fearful annihilation of herself. Rupert suggests that, as a mind and body, she is a part of the whole, and at the deepest level, she is the fact of simply being, which is the same being as a tree or flower or mountain.

A man asks for a clarification of the word ‘luminosity’. Rupert references the sun, which is the illuminating factor in nature, rendering it visible. When we go to our thoughts, they are known. What is it that renders thoughts knowable? Consciousness, which renders experience knowable in the same way the sun makes the landscape visible. Consciousness is illuminating with the light of knowing.

A woman asks if there is a way to get off the roller coaster of expansiveness and contractiveness. Rupert suggests that to begin with we get a brief glimpse. However, our conditioning is typically so great that the glimpse is quickly obscured, but then we go here again and again, hence the back and forth. Every time we trace our way back, experience’s capacity to take us away weakens slightly.

A man references the three approaches to meditation and asks how to rest in the ‘I am’. Rupert suggests that mantra meditation focuses the attention on an object. The Direct Path inverts that attention onto itself, instead of an object like the mantra. Who am I, really? And the Pathless Path is not tracing the attention anywhere; it is abiding in being, as being, as the ‘I am’.

A man reads a summary of his understanding of the teaching for Rupert to comment on. Rupert paraphrases his statement that ‘the ego is necessary for enlightenment’ and uses the John Smith and King Lear metaphor to elaborate. King Lear cannot know himself as John Smith. To know himself he must cease being King Lear. Enlightenment is a misnomer for John Smith.

A woman shares her experience of energetic pressure when she sits for meditation, which comes and goes and sometimes results in a headache. Rupert suggests that she not handle it; it is flowing in and through her. Awareness doesn’t have to handle the energy like the sky doesn’t have to handle the thunder clouds. Your desire to handle it adds to the tension.

A woman talks about the death of her daughter and her practice of focusing on her breath. Rupert suggests a meditation practice in which she very lovingly turns toward her grief, not away from it. Open your heart to the grief. It’s a battle, a kind of violence, to avoid grief.

A man asks about suffering when all there is is awareness. Rupert suggests that ultimately everything is an expression of awareness. Awareness doesn't know anything directly. In order to know it, it must overlook its own being and seem to localise itself in a temporary finite self. John Smith doesn’t suffer, only King Lear does.

A man ask about why there is suffering, as it doesn’t seem necessary. Rupert suggests that just as a screen is intimate with everything in the movie, in the same way awareness gives itself totally to its creation. It doesn't hold anything back. The price it pays is the overlooking of its true nature.

A man asks if there is divine will. Rupert suggests that from the point of view of the person, it is experienced as personal will, but it’s really the gravitational pull of awareness. Rupert uses the analogy of John Smith and King Lear to extrapolate. It is experienced as the desire for happiness.

A man shares that he has expectations when it comes to experience, which freezes his response. Rupert suggests that expectation is from the mind, while being is free from any goal or interest. The screen doesn’t mind what happens in the movie, but the character does. It’s natural for the mind to do so.

A man asks about the ananda aspect of self-enquiry. Rupert suggests that when westerners heard of ananda, as bliss, we assumed that enlightenment was some extraordinary experience, and therefore, were somehow failing. In fact, it is just the simple quiet nature of our being after it is divested of all experience.