Happiness Resides in Our Self
- Duration: Video: 2 hours, 1 minutes, and 41 seconds / Audio: 2 hours, 1 minutes, and 41 seconds
- Recorded on: Nov 9, 2020
- Event: Five Day 'Retreat at Home' – November
A man is concerned about the intensification of physical sensations and emotions during practice, which he describes as like a hurricane in his head. Rupert speaks of how thought usually acts as a smokescreen that protects one from feeling difficult emotions.
A man asks if the vast, open, empty field of awareness is beyond the capacity of a finite mind to be perceived for what it is, and whether it is an entity. Rupert talks about perception being limited but there being no limit to understanding. It has no form so cannot be an entity.
A man from Boulder says that during yoga meditation, when shifting attention between sensations, he cannot discriminate between them; 'here' and 'there' do not apply. He asks if attention also is non-local. Rupert explains that there are not two objects but a single experience.
A man from the Netherlands says that he has recurring difficulty with noise where he lives, and asks for guidance in regard to being disturbed. Rupert explains that it is understandable to seek silence, yet directs him to look for the 'I' that doesn't like noise, and to ask on whose behalf this need to move arises.
A man says he is stuck in story while abiding as awareness, and he needs convincing that abiding as awareness is not part of the story. Rupert leads him through self-enquiry in regard to thoughts and feelings that arise as part of the story.
A man says he is touched by the scripture 'unless you become like a child', in light of the experience of his essential being, and feels like the Biblical 'heaven' must refer to consciousness. Rupert talks about the allegory of returning to the Garden of Eden.
A man who says he has watched Rupert's videos on YouTube asks what makes the live broadcasts a deeper experience than the recorded videos. Rupert suggests that it is talking to being rather than an image on a screen.
A woman says that during meditation it is like being behind a painting, but after meditation she goes back to feeling separate from the images. She asks how to retain the meditative perspective, and why she reverts to the old perspective. Rupert talks about the strong habit of feeling separate that can shift from the sense of the presence of awareness to establishment as that and the collapse of distinctions.
A woman says that she experiences that everything happens within, but she is having trouble locating where it is all happening. Rupert explains that space is the last concept to go, and guides her in self-enquiry.
A man wants to know why, if infinite consciousness recognises itself, we still have finite experience. Rupert explains that infinite consciousness must downgrade to finite experience through a narrow perspective.
A man asks, in reference to Rupert's Mary dreaming she is Jane analogy, what happens to the dreamer when she dies?Rupert speaks about the gradual dissolution of the dreamed character and brings in the analogy of the whirlpool.
A woman says that she doesn't know what to do, how to plan or how to live. She asks if she can trust the divine flow. Rupert suggests not spending her life looking for security and happiness in objective experience, and asks if her need to plan comes from a place of fear or from this inner intelligence.
A man asks about the intense bodily reactions that happen after yoga meditations. Rupert discusses the effects of yoga meditation on the old sense of separation as a kind of rewiring.
A man who is the caretaker for his elderly mother is feeling depressed and helpless, and wants to know how to bring peace to this situation. Rupert speaks of the window of opportunity at the end of life for one's being to shine in the ending of the struggle.
A man is concerned about the intensification of physical sensations and emotions during practice, which he describes as like a hurricane in his head. Rupert speaks of how thought usually acts as a smokescreen that protects one from feeling difficult emotions.
A man asks if the vast, open, empty field of awareness is beyond the capacity of a finite mind to be perceived for what it is, and whether it is an entity. Rupert talks about perception being limited but there being no limit to understanding. It has no form so cannot be an entity.
A man from Boulder says that during yoga meditation, when shifting attention between sensations, he cannot discriminate between them; 'here' and 'there' do not apply. He asks if attention also is non-local. Rupert explains that there are not two objects but a single experience.
A man from the Netherlands says that he has recurring difficulty with noise where he lives, and asks for guidance in regard to being disturbed. Rupert explains that it is understandable to seek silence, yet directs him to look for the 'I' that doesn't like noise, and to ask on whose behalf this need to move arises.
A man says he is stuck in story while abiding as awareness, and he needs convincing that abiding as awareness is not part of the story. Rupert leads him through self-enquiry in regard to thoughts and feelings that arise as part of the story.
A man says he is touched by the scripture 'unless you become like a child', in light of the experience of his essential being, and feels like the Biblical 'heaven' must refer to consciousness. Rupert talks about the allegory of returning to the Garden of Eden.
A man who says he has watched Rupert's videos on YouTube asks what makes the live broadcasts a deeper experience than the recorded videos. Rupert suggests that it is talking to being rather than an image on a screen.
A woman says that during meditation it is like being behind a painting, but after meditation she goes back to feeling separate from the images. She asks how to retain the meditative perspective, and why she reverts to the old perspective. Rupert talks about the strong habit of feeling separate that can shift from the sense of the presence of awareness to establishment as that and the collapse of distinctions.
A woman says that she experiences that everything happens within, but she is having trouble locating where it is all happening. Rupert explains that space is the last concept to go, and guides her in self-enquiry.
A man wants to know why, if infinite consciousness recognises itself, we still have finite experience. Rupert explains that infinite consciousness must downgrade to finite experience through a narrow perspective.
A man asks, in reference to Rupert's Mary dreaming she is Jane analogy, what happens to the dreamer when she dies?Rupert speaks about the gradual dissolution of the dreamed character and brings in the analogy of the whirlpool.
A woman says that she doesn't know what to do, how to plan or how to live. She asks if she can trust the divine flow. Rupert suggests not spending her life looking for security and happiness in objective experience, and asks if her need to plan comes from a place of fear or from this inner intelligence.
A man asks about the intense bodily reactions that happen after yoga meditations. Rupert discusses the effects of yoga meditation on the old sense of separation as a kind of rewiring.
A man who is the caretaker for his elderly mother is feeling depressed and helpless, and wants to know how to bring peace to this situation. Rupert speaks of the window of opportunity at the end of life for one's being to shine in the ending of the struggle.