The Background of Peace

A man asks about feeling responsible for the world. Rupert suggests that the suffering he feels is impersonal suffering. To the degree that our mind is free of personal emotions, to that extent we feel others suffering as our own. This is a result of a diminishment of ego. We all have a sacred responsibility to share this understanding in one way or the other. At one end, it could have no outward expression; at the other end, we could be very active in the world.

A man, who shares he has internalised trauma, asks ‘What exactly is liberation?’ Rupert suggests that liberation is the recognition that what you essentially are is inherently free. Liberation is not something that is achieved by someone; it is the recognition that we are free. There is no one bound and there is no one liberated. But liberation is a misnomer. If you know that you are free from the content of your psychology, then who is asking to be free?

A man clarifies that for him the term liberation means the realignment of the body and mind. Rupert suggests that, in that case, there are two liberations: liberation from the tyranny of our thoughts and feelings, and liberation to, which is the realignment of the body-mind. We should seek freedom and happiness, but we should seek it in the right place. It is not possible to bring that search to an end without that recognition. Keep seeking freedom.

A man asks if shame and recognition can co-exist. Rupert suggests there can be very deep habits in our mind. With recognition, that habit of shame continues but it is no longer supported by the belief that you are a shameful person. You have stopped watering the plant of shame. Sooner or later, through lack of nourishment, it will wilt and finally die.

A man asks about the form and formless and embracing or dismissing our humanity. Rupert suggests that humanity is our divinity, expressing the qualities as such – compassion, tolerance, warm-heartedness. First, we explore our true nature and recognise its qualities, and then there is the expression of it.

A woman asks about love, and asks, ‘What is it that makes me cry?’ Rupert suggests that she cries when she comes close to love because she feels something in herself melting or dissolving, something that has a tightness to it, a separation or shell. Love is the dissolution of that barrier that we hide behind. Love is either an explosive agent or a dissolving agent.

A man asks about expressing this understanding through work, with feelings of unworthiness and self-doubt. Rupert suggests that he has an intuition that there is more for him to give. The self-doubt is the ego, which wants to keep you contained. Whenever we seek to move beyond limits, the ego experiences a little death. It is defined by its limits. Athletes do it by breaking records, projecting the true intuition to go beyond themselves on to their sport.

A man asks about the nature of preferences in the absence of the separate self. Rupert suggests that our preferences can arise on behalf of the body, the mind, awareness and the ego. Preferences on behalf of the body and mind are natural. Preferences on behalf of awareness are those that express qualities inherent to awareness – love, kindness, etc. The only one that is problematic is the egoic preferences and should be questioned.

A man, who arrived late to the retreat, says that he is thankful for the delay as he now feels peace. Rupert suggests that peace is the nature of being. Peace isn't a state. What is it that prevents this peace from being found? It is the discrepancy between a current experience and what we want. Once you accepted your situation at being delayed, your frustration ceased and the background of peace was able to flood into you.

A woman says that when Rupert talked about the pathless path, something fell away and she became eternity. Rupert suggests that she is right, she fell out of time and became eternity. She then asks, ‘Is this what abiding is?’ Rupert responds, ‘Yes’. Being is pure abidance. There is no person to abide in being.

A woman who had a deep experience of abiding, asks about longing to return to it. Rupert suggests that she not let her longing take her into the past. Let it take you into the depth of yourself now. Because the mind cannot access that it projects what is present deep within you now into the past. Don't listen to it.

A man, who relays an experience after an energetic healing, asks how not to rely on these encounters to feel inspired and creative. Rupert suggests that something about this encounter diminished the limitation, the obscuring of his mind, which became transparent to its inherent creativity. That’s what inspiration is. Now learn to go there on your own without relying on a person or medium.

A man refers to a previous question about welcoming and becoming one with thought. Rupert says that to welcome something you must stand apart from it, label it and then say, ‘I, over here, am going to welcome it, over there’. That is the first step, but it’s not enough. When you embrace it, kissing the toad, you have lost yourself in the other and the other is no longer other. There is only the thought or the feeling. In fact, we cannot even say what it is.

A woman shares her experience of imagining having what she can't have, which brings her joy. Rupert suggests that through that image, that imagining, you make contact with your joy, but it would be better to go there without relying on any image. Try experimenting with going to your true nature without going via the image.

A woman, who is an internal family system coach, talks about the approach of welcoming anger or shame, which often goes back to childhood. Rupert suggests that it sounds like a very intelligent system, as long as we know why we are doing it. It won't bring us to our true nature, but there are good reasons for doing it, like working out the dynamics and dysfunction of the family.

A man asks about feeling responsible for the world. Rupert suggests that the suffering he feels is impersonal suffering. To the degree that our mind is free of personal emotions, to that extent we feel others suffering as our own. This is a result of a diminishment of ego. We all have a sacred responsibility to share this understanding in one way or the other. At one end, it could have no outward expression; at the other end, we could be very active in the world.

A man, who shares he has internalised trauma, asks ‘What exactly is liberation?’ Rupert suggests that liberation is the recognition that what you essentially are is inherently free. Liberation is not something that is achieved by someone; it is the recognition that we are free. There is no one bound and there is no one liberated. But liberation is a misnomer. If you know that you are free from the content of your psychology, then who is asking to be free?

A man clarifies that for him the term liberation means the realignment of the body and mind. Rupert suggests that, in that case, there are two liberations: liberation from the tyranny of our thoughts and feelings, and liberation to, which is the realignment of the body-mind. We should seek freedom and happiness, but we should seek it in the right place. It is not possible to bring that search to an end without that recognition. Keep seeking freedom.

A man asks if shame and recognition can co-exist. Rupert suggests there can be very deep habits in our mind. With recognition, that habit of shame continues but it is no longer supported by the belief that you are a shameful person. You have stopped watering the plant of shame. Sooner or later, through lack of nourishment, it will wilt and finally die.

A man asks about the form and formless and embracing or dismissing our humanity. Rupert suggests that humanity is our divinity, expressing the qualities as such – compassion, tolerance, warm-heartedness. First, we explore our true nature and recognise its qualities, and then there is the expression of it.

A woman asks about love, and asks, ‘What is it that makes me cry?’ Rupert suggests that she cries when she comes close to love because she feels something in herself melting or dissolving, something that has a tightness to it, a separation or shell. Love is the dissolution of that barrier that we hide behind. Love is either an explosive agent or a dissolving agent.

A man asks about expressing this understanding through work, with feelings of unworthiness and self-doubt. Rupert suggests that he has an intuition that there is more for him to give. The self-doubt is the ego, which wants to keep you contained. Whenever we seek to move beyond limits, the ego experiences a little death. It is defined by its limits. Athletes do it by breaking records, projecting the true intuition to go beyond themselves on to their sport.

A man asks about the nature of preferences in the absence of the separate self. Rupert suggests that our preferences can arise on behalf of the body, the mind, awareness and the ego. Preferences on behalf of the body and mind are natural. Preferences on behalf of awareness are those that express qualities inherent to awareness – love, kindness, etc. The only one that is problematic is the egoic preferences and should be questioned.

A man, who arrived late to the retreat, says that he is thankful for the delay as he now feels peace. Rupert suggests that peace is the nature of being. Peace isn't a state. What is it that prevents this peace from being found? It is the discrepancy between a current experience and what we want. Once you accepted your situation at being delayed, your frustration ceased and the background of peace was able to flood into you.

A woman says that when Rupert talked about the pathless path, something fell away and she became eternity. Rupert suggests that she is right, she fell out of time and became eternity. She then asks, ‘Is this what abiding is?’ Rupert responds, ‘Yes’. Being is pure abidance. There is no person to abide in being.

A woman who had a deep experience of abiding, asks about longing to return to it. Rupert suggests that she not let her longing take her into the past. Let it take you into the depth of yourself now. Because the mind cannot access that it projects what is present deep within you now into the past. Don't listen to it.

A man, who relays an experience after an energetic healing, asks how not to rely on these encounters to feel inspired and creative. Rupert suggests that something about this encounter diminished the limitation, the obscuring of his mind, which became transparent to its inherent creativity. That’s what inspiration is. Now learn to go there on your own without relying on a person or medium.

A man refers to a previous question about welcoming and becoming one with thought. Rupert says that to welcome something you must stand apart from it, label it and then say, ‘I, over here, am going to welcome it, over there’. That is the first step, but it’s not enough. When you embrace it, kissing the toad, you have lost yourself in the other and the other is no longer other. There is only the thought or the feeling. In fact, we cannot even say what it is.

A woman shares her experience of imagining having what she can't have, which brings her joy. Rupert suggests that through that image, that imagining, you make contact with your joy, but it would be better to go there without relying on any image. Try experimenting with going to your true nature without going via the image.

A woman, who is an internal family system coach, talks about the approach of welcoming anger or shame, which often goes back to childhood. Rupert suggests that it sounds like a very intelligent system, as long as we know why we are doing it. It won't bring us to our true nature, but there are good reasons for doing it, like working out the dynamics and dysfunction of the family.