There Is No World Out There

A man asks, ‘Can we trust awareness?’ Rupert replies that the man needs to discover this for himself. He can do this quite easily, as the experience of being aware is accessible to him. Therefore, he can investigate it and observe in his own direct experience whether awareness is trustworthy.

A woman who found the morning meditation difficult seeks advice. Rupert acknowledges that it was truly ‘a dive into the deep end’. He explains that in the question that opened the meditation – What am I prior to the arising of experience? – he was referring to the space in which all experiences of thoughts, feelings, sensation, and perception arise. That which is prior to the arising of experience is you.

A woman who has visited Krishnamurti’s home and Ramana Maharshi’s ashram asks about the energy and peace of a teacher. Rupert tells a story about spending a week in Krishnamurti’s house and feeling it was imbued with peace. If the mind that has designed a home or space is saturated with the peace of its essence, the space itself will be a satsang.

A man wonders if, instead of knowing nothing, infinite consciousness could actually know everything in ways that the human mind can’t understand. Rupert responds by saying that a finite mind cannot comprehend the infinite, because it is finite. What we are experiencing in each moment is infinite being; when the finite mind looks at the infinite, it perceives it in a way consistent with its own limitations. There is no world out there; there is reality out there.

A woman who recently started eating meat after being a vegetarian for most of her life asks, if we share our being, why does nature eat itself? Rupert replies that he doesn’t know why human beings eat. He says he is very reluctant to prescribe any specific form of behaviour. We are all adults and capable of living the implications of this understanding.

A woman, whose long-time psychoanalyst has recently retired, shares her dark experience through which she felt as if everything she could hold onto was vanishing. She expresses her gratitude for all the guidance she received from Rupert and shares a quote from Lao Tzu: ‘When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready the teacher will disappear.’

A man shares his story of discovering his true nature and asks how he can express his immense gratitude for Rupert’s friendship and guidance. Rupert replies that the best way to say ‘thank you’ for this teaching is to go out into the world and express it, to pass on the gift.

A woman asks about prayer. Rupert says that from the perspective of the person we appear to be, the highest form of prayer is a complete surrender to the divine. The higher form of prayer, he explains, would be to understand and feel that you do not exist as an individual being; there is just God’s being. To be that knowingly is the very highest form of prayer; it is the ultimate surrender.

A man asks how to explain what happens at the retreat to his family and how Rupert would describe his job. Rupert replies that whenever people ask him about his profession, he usually replies that he writes and speaks about philosophy and meditation. He shares an anecdote about having this type of conversation with an airport passport control officer.

A man asks about Rupert’s five book he would take on a deserted island. He selects: The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence; Know Thyself: The Unity of Being, by Balyani, edited by Cecilia Twinch; Ashtavakra Gita, translated by Thomas Byrom; The Complete Works, by William Wordsworth; and The Collected Works, by Meister Eckhart.

A woman asks if Rupert ever loses his composure and about how to handle the fluctuation of emotions. Rupert replies that he very occasionally loses his composure. He advises the woman not to worry if she does. The more deeply you delve into your being, the more you remain in touch with being, and fewer experiences will have the capacity to distract you from your self. Don’t go for perfection; allow yourself to be human.

A woman asks how consciousness breathes life into us. Rupert replies that at the deepest level, consciousness is all there is; there is no individual into whom consciousness would breathe life. The best way to spend time as a body-mind is to recognise the essential nature of who we are as an apparent life, and then to spend the rest of one’s life using the faculties of one’s body and mind to express the qualities of our being, and to communicate and share them.

A man asks, ‘Can we trust awareness?’ Rupert replies that the man needs to discover this for himself. He can do this quite easily, as the experience of being aware is accessible to him. Therefore, he can investigate it and observe in his own direct experience whether awareness is trustworthy.

A woman who found the morning meditation difficult seeks advice. Rupert acknowledges that it was truly ‘a dive into the deep end’. He explains that in the question that opened the meditation – What am I prior to the arising of experience? – he was referring to the space in which all experiences of thoughts, feelings, sensation, and perception arise. That which is prior to the arising of experience is you.

A woman who has visited Krishnamurti’s home and Ramana Maharshi’s ashram asks about the energy and peace of a teacher. Rupert tells a story about spending a week in Krishnamurti’s house and feeling it was imbued with peace. If the mind that has designed a home or space is saturated with the peace of its essence, the space itself will be a satsang.

A man wonders if, instead of knowing nothing, infinite consciousness could actually know everything in ways that the human mind can’t understand. Rupert responds by saying that a finite mind cannot comprehend the infinite, because it is finite. What we are experiencing in each moment is infinite being; when the finite mind looks at the infinite, it perceives it in a way consistent with its own limitations. There is no world out there; there is reality out there.

A woman who recently started eating meat after being a vegetarian for most of her life asks, if we share our being, why does nature eat itself? Rupert replies that he doesn’t know why human beings eat. He says he is very reluctant to prescribe any specific form of behaviour. We are all adults and capable of living the implications of this understanding.

A woman, whose long-time psychoanalyst has recently retired, shares her dark experience through which she felt as if everything she could hold onto was vanishing. She expresses her gratitude for all the guidance she received from Rupert and shares a quote from Lao Tzu: ‘When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready the teacher will disappear.’

A man shares his story of discovering his true nature and asks how he can express his immense gratitude for Rupert’s friendship and guidance. Rupert replies that the best way to say ‘thank you’ for this teaching is to go out into the world and express it, to pass on the gift.

A woman asks about prayer. Rupert says that from the perspective of the person we appear to be, the highest form of prayer is a complete surrender to the divine. The higher form of prayer, he explains, would be to understand and feel that you do not exist as an individual being; there is just God’s being. To be that knowingly is the very highest form of prayer; it is the ultimate surrender.

A man asks how to explain what happens at the retreat to his family and how Rupert would describe his job. Rupert replies that whenever people ask him about his profession, he usually replies that he writes and speaks about philosophy and meditation. He shares an anecdote about having this type of conversation with an airport passport control officer.

A man asks about Rupert’s five book he would take on a deserted island. He selects: The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence; Know Thyself: The Unity of Being, by Balyani, edited by Cecilia Twinch; Ashtavakra Gita, translated by Thomas Byrom; The Complete Works, by William Wordsworth; and The Collected Works, by Meister Eckhart.

A woman asks if Rupert ever loses his composure and about how to handle the fluctuation of emotions. Rupert replies that he very occasionally loses his composure. He advises the woman not to worry if she does. The more deeply you delve into your being, the more you remain in touch with being, and fewer experiences will have the capacity to distract you from your self. Don’t go for perfection; allow yourself to be human.

A woman asks how consciousness breathes life into us. Rupert replies that at the deepest level, consciousness is all there is; there is no individual into whom consciousness would breathe life. The best way to spend time as a body-mind is to recognise the essential nature of who we are as an apparent life, and then to spend the rest of one’s life using the faculties of one’s body and mind to express the qualities of our being, and to communicate and share them.