'I Am' Is the Constant Factor in All Experience

Whatever is happening – I am thinking, I am feeling, I am sensing – there is a common factor in all experience. I am not always thinking, feeling or sensing but I always am. ‘I am’ is the constant factor in all experience. Temporarily coloured by experience, it is never actually qualified by it. Thinking, feeling and sensing have qualities, whereas being has no qualities and never appears as an object of experience. Being is never absent; it is overlooked due to our fascination with the content of experience. This overlooking seems to create the need to embark on a great search, and to make great effort to attain or recognise it. Being seems to be nowhere because it is everywhere. In meditation, awareness of being outshines awareness of objects, which is the experience of love. Peace, happiness, beauty and love are the nature of being, of our self. They don’t have to be acquired, only recognised.

The remedy for sadness and anxiety is to be found in the inherently peaceful nature of our being, Rupert suggests in response to a woman who says that as much as she loves to explore non-duality, she continues to struggle with anxiety and sadness. Rupert says that we don’t have to make an effort to disidentify ourself with these feelings, just as the screen never struggles with the movie; it never says, ‘I must get rid of this colour or this image’. The screen knows it isn’t stained by these temporary colourings. As long as we struggle with our sadness, we give it power.

A man has trouble understanding being as opposed to understanding awareness. Rupert asks, 'Do you exist?' to point to the experience of being which can always be answered 'yes' with certainty and confidence because 'I know that I am.' There is no difference between being and awareness.

Is suffering the friction that is caused by the resistance to what is?', asks a man? Rupert responds, 'Yes'.

A man who says he is drawn to both surrender and self-enquiry asks if he should choose one path over the other. Rupert responds that it is fine to explore both paths, but it can also be useful to stay with one for a while. However, both surrender and self-enquiry, in the end, are the same.

Is this thoughtless space what I am? Rupert responds 'yes' because thoughts, feelings, and sensations are no longer the centre stage or the focus of your attention and experience, and only perception remains, and what are you then, besides that open space?

‘There is nothing but consciousness’, says Rupert, in response to a woman who wants to know if energy is consciousness. Rupert suggests that there is no such thing as matter or things that may, or may not, be consciousness. It’s like asking, 'are the paintings hanging behind you a part of my screen or separate from my screen?’ There is just one infinite invisible reality, and objects only seem to come into experience because we seem to arise as subjects. Rupert suggests that her work as an artist is to express this unity.

A man asks about how maths fit into non-duality. Rupert responds that he doesn't think about maths except when listening to music or admiring architecture as they embody mathematical aspects. However, he suggests that if this is of interest, then to follow it as it can be a language, a portal or a path that leads beyond appearances.

A man wants to know how awareness relates to fossils or a photograph; things from the past. Rupert suggests that when we look at snow through orange tinted glasses, the snow appears to be orange. In the same way, when infinite consciousness views its own activity through the lens of the finite mind, it views reality through the twin lens of thinking and perceiving, which appears as the universe of time and space.

Rupert suggests developing the habit of remembering, in response to a man who is frustrated when he forgets awareness. Rupert suggests that there are numerous gaps throughout the day, like pauses between thoughts and experiences, which are opportunities to go back to our self. To begin with, it will seem that our true nature is only present in the gaps, but over time we remain in touch with true nature during the presence of experiences.

‘Take your readers on a journey’, suggests Rupert in response to a man who asks if writing fiction is in line with the non-dual understanding. Rupert suggests that the ultimate purpose of art is the revelation of reality for the reader, in this case, through the medium of words.

Is the practice of returning to your self an egoic endeavour because it involves effort? Rupert responds, that in the beginning if it seems to require effort, then make the effort. He uses the example of John Smith and King Lear: King Lear might well make the effort to trace his way back to his true identity as John Smith.

A woman asks about exploring anxiety and other difficult emotions as a practice and the tendency to want to get rid of them. Rupert suggests asking about the self that is anxious, and to look for that self and see what happens to the anxiety. And yes, trying to get rid of difficult emotions creates resistance and a sense of a self. Face the anxiety and look for that self.

Rupert suggests that we go deeply into one approach that appeals to both our heart and mind, when a man shares his confusion after exploring and following many paths. Using the analogy of learning an instrument, Rupert suggests that, whilst at first we might explore many teachers and styles, eventually we will want to go deeply into one.

A discussion about lucid dreaming is elicited by a woman who describes her experiences of flying and leaving herself in dreams. Rupert uses the analogy of Mary and Jane, and the 'I' that is consistent throughout--to be followed like Ariadne's golden thread to the understanding of our self, and the dissolution of the localisation of the separate self.

Whatever is happening – I am thinking, I am feeling, I am sensing – there is a common factor in all experience. I am not always thinking, feeling or sensing but I always am. ‘I am’ is the constant factor in all experience. Temporarily coloured by experience, it is never actually qualified by it. Thinking, feeling and sensing have qualities, whereas being has no qualities and never appears as an object of experience. Being is never absent; it is overlooked due to our fascination with the content of experience. This overlooking seems to create the need to embark on a great search, and to make great effort to attain or recognise it. Being seems to be nowhere because it is everywhere. In meditation, awareness of being outshines awareness of objects, which is the experience of love. Peace, happiness, beauty and love are the nature of being, of our self. They don’t have to be acquired, only recognised.

The remedy for sadness and anxiety is to be found in the inherently peaceful nature of our being, Rupert suggests in response to a woman who says that as much as she loves to explore non-duality, she continues to struggle with anxiety and sadness. Rupert says that we don’t have to make an effort to disidentify ourself with these feelings, just as the screen never struggles with the movie; it never says, ‘I must get rid of this colour or this image’. The screen knows it isn’t stained by these temporary colourings. As long as we struggle with our sadness, we give it power.

A man has trouble understanding being as opposed to understanding awareness. Rupert asks, 'Do you exist?' to point to the experience of being which can always be answered 'yes' with certainty and confidence because 'I know that I am.' There is no difference between being and awareness.

Is suffering the friction that is caused by the resistance to what is?', asks a man? Rupert responds, 'Yes'.

A man who says he is drawn to both surrender and self-enquiry asks if he should choose one path over the other. Rupert responds that it is fine to explore both paths, but it can also be useful to stay with one for a while. However, both surrender and self-enquiry, in the end, are the same.

Is this thoughtless space what I am? Rupert responds 'yes' because thoughts, feelings, and sensations are no longer the centre stage or the focus of your attention and experience, and only perception remains, and what are you then, besides that open space?

‘There is nothing but consciousness’, says Rupert, in response to a woman who wants to know if energy is consciousness. Rupert suggests that there is no such thing as matter or things that may, or may not, be consciousness. It’s like asking, 'are the paintings hanging behind you a part of my screen or separate from my screen?’ There is just one infinite invisible reality, and objects only seem to come into experience because we seem to arise as subjects. Rupert suggests that her work as an artist is to express this unity.

A man asks about how maths fit into non-duality. Rupert responds that he doesn't think about maths except when listening to music or admiring architecture as they embody mathematical aspects. However, he suggests that if this is of interest, then to follow it as it can be a language, a portal or a path that leads beyond appearances.

A man wants to know how awareness relates to fossils or a photograph; things from the past. Rupert suggests that when we look at snow through orange tinted glasses, the snow appears to be orange. In the same way, when infinite consciousness views its own activity through the lens of the finite mind, it views reality through the twin lens of thinking and perceiving, which appears as the universe of time and space.

Rupert suggests developing the habit of remembering, in response to a man who is frustrated when he forgets awareness. Rupert suggests that there are numerous gaps throughout the day, like pauses between thoughts and experiences, which are opportunities to go back to our self. To begin with, it will seem that our true nature is only present in the gaps, but over time we remain in touch with true nature during the presence of experiences.

‘Take your readers on a journey’, suggests Rupert in response to a man who asks if writing fiction is in line with the non-dual understanding. Rupert suggests that the ultimate purpose of art is the revelation of reality for the reader, in this case, through the medium of words.

Is the practice of returning to your self an egoic endeavour because it involves effort? Rupert responds, that in the beginning if it seems to require effort, then make the effort. He uses the example of John Smith and King Lear: King Lear might well make the effort to trace his way back to his true identity as John Smith.

A woman asks about exploring anxiety and other difficult emotions as a practice and the tendency to want to get rid of them. Rupert suggests asking about the self that is anxious, and to look for that self and see what happens to the anxiety. And yes, trying to get rid of difficult emotions creates resistance and a sense of a self. Face the anxiety and look for that self.

Rupert suggests that we go deeply into one approach that appeals to both our heart and mind, when a man shares his confusion after exploring and following many paths. Using the analogy of learning an instrument, Rupert suggests that, whilst at first we might explore many teachers and styles, eventually we will want to go deeply into one.

A discussion about lucid dreaming is elicited by a woman who describes her experiences of flying and leaving herself in dreams. Rupert uses the analogy of Mary and Jane, and the 'I' that is consistent throughout--to be followed like Ariadne's golden thread to the understanding of our self, and the dissolution of the localisation of the separate self.