Taste Your Being
- Duration: Video: 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 48 seconds / Audio: 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 48 seconds
- Recorded on: Feb 14, 2024
- Event: Webinar – Wednesday, 14 February
If thoughts are like surface ocean waves, and feelings like currents beneath, then our being is the still, silent bottom depths. Meditation or prayer, then, is not seeking new experience, but rather sinking into the depths of our self. The nature of simply being is neither affected by nor dependent on thoughts and feelings, so no need to change them – just cease being interested in them. Being is what we refer to before ‘I am’ has been qualified by experience. In meditation or prayer, we simply return to or recognise ourself as the pure ‘I am’. Unqualified. Unconditioned. From the mind’s viewpoint, being is boring. From its own experience of itself, it is peace. It is the mind that expects, is disappointed, bored, etc. Our being is free. Whatever I’m experiencing, the ‘I am’ is always shining there. Meditation or prayer is the shining of being – not something we do; it’s what we are.
A man enquires about disconnection from intuition. Rupert clarifies that the only true certainty is our being, the knowledge of ‘I am’. He advises not to seek external certainty but to accept that it cannot match the certainty of ‘I am’.
A woman asks how to stay with being for longer periods during her daily activities. Rupert responds that we often lose ourselves in experiences, and all that is necessary is to return to our being. He notes that it is never difficult to see the screen when we watch a movie. As soon as we notice we are lost in experience, our being is right there. The ‘I am’ is always present. Emphasise the ‘I am’.
A man asks about self-enquiry, wondering if he should focus on questions that allow him to delve deeper. Rupert replies that any question that takes you deeply into awareness is the right question to ask. Self-enquiry is awareness knowing itself. ‘I am’ is the highest form of self-enquiry. Being simply being is the essence of self-enquiry.
A man asks about raising his vibrational frequency to manifest something and whether this contradicts non-duality. Rupert responds that having desires in themselves does not contradict a non-dual understanding. However, it is important to inquire on whose behalf these desires arise. When we hear of someone suffering, our desire to help them stems from compassion.
A woman seeking to align her feelings and sensations with non-dual understanding, asks for guidance on overcoming misconceptions. Rupert explains that we don’t need to focus on the blockages and residues of the separate self. It’s important to return to our being and taste it. Then, the certainty about being develops. The same ‘I am’ is present in all experiences.
A man asks about healing from childhood trauma. Rupert explains that trauma is stored in the body and recommends his collection of yoga meditations, Transparent Body, Luminous World. These meditations impact the body, leading to sensations becoming less dense and more transparent.
A man asks how he can establish himself as awareness and see others only as awareness. Rupert replies that you have to go to your self and see that it shares none of the qualities of experience; it is infinite. Feel that what ‘I’ essentially ‘am’ is not conditioned by anything that takes place in experience. Untangle ‘I am’ from the content of experience and remain as ‘I am’.
A woman, feeling flat and neutral about both negative and positive experiences, asks Rupert for guidance. Rupert says that meditation is not about what you are feeling; it is about being. It is always ‘I am’, temporarily qualified by a feeling. You are already pure being.
A man asks about self-doubt in relation to the creative process. Rupert says not to see that doubt as something negative; it is a part of your emotional makeup that goes into the creative process. Incorporate it into your art.
A young man, interested in non-duality since his teenage years and aspiring to be a boxer, seeks guidance on life navigation. Rupert, finding his interests marvellous, advises him to integrate the non-dual understanding into his boxing career. Rupert recalls his own mother saying he discovered non-duality too early, but he assures the young man that he will be fine.
A man questions the idea of past lives and soul missions. Rupert explains that the notion of past lives is a simplistic way for the mind to understand its experiences; valid but not to be taken literaly.
If thoughts are like surface ocean waves, and feelings like currents beneath, then our being is the still, silent bottom depths. Meditation or prayer, then, is not seeking new experience, but rather sinking into the depths of our self. The nature of simply being is neither affected by nor dependent on thoughts and feelings, so no need to change them – just cease being interested in them. Being is what we refer to before ‘I am’ has been qualified by experience. In meditation or prayer, we simply return to or recognise ourself as the pure ‘I am’. Unqualified. Unconditioned. From the mind’s viewpoint, being is boring. From its own experience of itself, it is peace. It is the mind that expects, is disappointed, bored, etc. Our being is free. Whatever I’m experiencing, the ‘I am’ is always shining there. Meditation or prayer is the shining of being – not something we do; it’s what we are.
A man enquires about disconnection from intuition. Rupert clarifies that the only true certainty is our being, the knowledge of ‘I am’. He advises not to seek external certainty but to accept that it cannot match the certainty of ‘I am’.
A woman asks how to stay with being for longer periods during her daily activities. Rupert responds that we often lose ourselves in experiences, and all that is necessary is to return to our being. He notes that it is never difficult to see the screen when we watch a movie. As soon as we notice we are lost in experience, our being is right there. The ‘I am’ is always present. Emphasise the ‘I am’.
A man asks about self-enquiry, wondering if he should focus on questions that allow him to delve deeper. Rupert replies that any question that takes you deeply into awareness is the right question to ask. Self-enquiry is awareness knowing itself. ‘I am’ is the highest form of self-enquiry. Being simply being is the essence of self-enquiry.
A man asks about raising his vibrational frequency to manifest something and whether this contradicts non-duality. Rupert responds that having desires in themselves does not contradict a non-dual understanding. However, it is important to inquire on whose behalf these desires arise. When we hear of someone suffering, our desire to help them stems from compassion.
A woman seeking to align her feelings and sensations with non-dual understanding, asks for guidance on overcoming misconceptions. Rupert explains that we don’t need to focus on the blockages and residues of the separate self. It’s important to return to our being and taste it. Then, the certainty about being develops. The same ‘I am’ is present in all experiences.
A man asks about healing from childhood trauma. Rupert explains that trauma is stored in the body and recommends his collection of yoga meditations, Transparent Body, Luminous World. These meditations impact the body, leading to sensations becoming less dense and more transparent.
A man asks how he can establish himself as awareness and see others only as awareness. Rupert replies that you have to go to your self and see that it shares none of the qualities of experience; it is infinite. Feel that what ‘I’ essentially ‘am’ is not conditioned by anything that takes place in experience. Untangle ‘I am’ from the content of experience and remain as ‘I am’.
A woman, feeling flat and neutral about both negative and positive experiences, asks Rupert for guidance. Rupert says that meditation is not about what you are feeling; it is about being. It is always ‘I am’, temporarily qualified by a feeling. You are already pure being.
A man asks about self-doubt in relation to the creative process. Rupert says not to see that doubt as something negative; it is a part of your emotional makeup that goes into the creative process. Incorporate it into your art.
A young man, interested in non-duality since his teenage years and aspiring to be a boxer, seeks guidance on life navigation. Rupert, finding his interests marvellous, advises him to integrate the non-dual understanding into his boxing career. Rupert recalls his own mother saying he discovered non-duality too early, but he assures the young man that he will be fine.
A man questions the idea of past lives and soul missions. Rupert explains that the notion of past lives is a simplistic way for the mind to understand its experiences; valid but not to be taken literaly.