There Is Only One Being

Conversation about love and compassion. Rupert explains that being is the ultimate reality; doing encompasses the entire content of experience, including thinking, feeling, sensing, and perceiving. Love is the nature of being, and compassion is how that nature of love is expressed in our actions. Compassion is love in action.

Dialogue on decision-making and the separate self. Rupert says that all decisions are made by the mind; the separate self doesn’t make any decisions because it doesn’t exist. What is important is to understand on whose behalf the mind is making decisions: the felt sense of separation or the qualities inherent in our true nature. It is also possible that the mind may make decisions on behalf of the body.

A woman asks about the desire to be of use, to help others, and to express or share. Rupert replies that our real sense of worth is derived from being. However, for some people, there is an impulse to share; one uses their interest and skill to express the nature of their being and the qualities of being.

A man, who has suffered from frequent fight-or-flight responses for many years, wonders if Rupert has an opinion on neurobiological training for an overly activated amygdala in the brain. Rupert says that personally, he wouldn’t undergo such training. Instead, he recommends trying to catch oneself when this impulse is provoked, pause, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and return to your being.

A man expresses his gratitude to all the friends and shares his experience from the yoga meditation the previous day, during which he felt his body, the chair, and the building being made of love. Rupert validates that this experience is not crazy at all and everyone at the retreat understands this feeling. He says that he cannot add anything to Hunter’s statement, it was beautiful.

A man asks about understanding. Rupert uses the example of telling a joke: a good storyteller builds the audience’s anticipation and tension before delivering the punchline. Then, the audience laughs. The joke must have concluded before the understanding of it takes place. However, the understanding happens before the laughter. The understanding brings the mind to an end and plunges us into the heart of awareness.

Conversation on understanding and losing all hope of seeking and craving happiness in objective experience. Rupert says that happiness, which we used to think resides in what we seek, actually resides at the source of craving. The way to find this happiness is to let the craving subside into being. Rupert recommends to just close our eyes and allow the craving to subside into being; then, we will find ourselves in peace. We may still desire an object or activity, but not from a sense of craving, but from fullness.

A woman shares her experience of embracing her emotions, discovering Tantric Shaivism, and realising that everything is made of being. From this perspective, her life became full of meaning. She feels that something transformative has occurred, and there is no turning back. Rupert thanks her for sharing her insights.

A woman shares that she seems incapable of seeing the oneness in names and forms. Rupert replies that everything she looks at exists; existence is shared by everything. All of the faces on the screen during a Zoom meeting are appearances of one screen. Being is the fundamental nature of things; everything is a name and form of this fundamental is-ness. There is only one being and it is our being.

A woman asks about the feeling of the pulsing of being. Rupert guides her in exploring the experience we call the body. It is more accurate to say sensation than to say the body. She goes from describing the body as sensation, to vibration, to movement, to energy, to knowing, and then she falls silent.

A man states that he cannot hold onto being, to which Rupert responds that being is the only thing we cannot lose. Being cannot leave us because it is us. Being is the most precious thing, yet we are not in danger of losing it.

A woman asks how she can know that she exists if awareness cannot know itself. Rupert replies by saying that awareness’s knowledge of itself is a unique experience. It’s the only experience that doesn’t take place within a subject–object relationship. When you say ‘I am’, it is true because you have the experience of being. The reason you can say ‘I am’ is because you know that you are; you have the experience of being.

Conversation about love and compassion. Rupert explains that being is the ultimate reality; doing encompasses the entire content of experience, including thinking, feeling, sensing, and perceiving. Love is the nature of being, and compassion is how that nature of love is expressed in our actions. Compassion is love in action.

Dialogue on decision-making and the separate self. Rupert says that all decisions are made by the mind; the separate self doesn’t make any decisions because it doesn’t exist. What is important is to understand on whose behalf the mind is making decisions: the felt sense of separation or the qualities inherent in our true nature. It is also possible that the mind may make decisions on behalf of the body.

A woman asks about the desire to be of use, to help others, and to express or share. Rupert replies that our real sense of worth is derived from being. However, for some people, there is an impulse to share; one uses their interest and skill to express the nature of their being and the qualities of being.

A man, who has suffered from frequent fight-or-flight responses for many years, wonders if Rupert has an opinion on neurobiological training for an overly activated amygdala in the brain. Rupert says that personally, he wouldn’t undergo such training. Instead, he recommends trying to catch oneself when this impulse is provoked, pause, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and return to your being.

A man expresses his gratitude to all the friends and shares his experience from the yoga meditation the previous day, during which he felt his body, the chair, and the building being made of love. Rupert validates that this experience is not crazy at all and everyone at the retreat understands this feeling. He says that he cannot add anything to Hunter’s statement, it was beautiful.

A man asks about understanding. Rupert uses the example of telling a joke: a good storyteller builds the audience’s anticipation and tension before delivering the punchline. Then, the audience laughs. The joke must have concluded before the understanding of it takes place. However, the understanding happens before the laughter. The understanding brings the mind to an end and plunges us into the heart of awareness.

Conversation on understanding and losing all hope of seeking and craving happiness in objective experience. Rupert says that happiness, which we used to think resides in what we seek, actually resides at the source of craving. The way to find this happiness is to let the craving subside into being. Rupert recommends to just close our eyes and allow the craving to subside into being; then, we will find ourselves in peace. We may still desire an object or activity, but not from a sense of craving, but from fullness.

A woman shares her experience of embracing her emotions, discovering Tantric Shaivism, and realising that everything is made of being. From this perspective, her life became full of meaning. She feels that something transformative has occurred, and there is no turning back. Rupert thanks her for sharing her insights.

A woman shares that she seems incapable of seeing the oneness in names and forms. Rupert replies that everything she looks at exists; existence is shared by everything. All of the faces on the screen during a Zoom meeting are appearances of one screen. Being is the fundamental nature of things; everything is a name and form of this fundamental is-ness. There is only one being and it is our being.

A woman asks about the feeling of the pulsing of being. Rupert guides her in exploring the experience we call the body. It is more accurate to say sensation than to say the body. She goes from describing the body as sensation, to vibration, to movement, to energy, to knowing, and then she falls silent.

A man states that he cannot hold onto being, to which Rupert responds that being is the only thing we cannot lose. Being cannot leave us because it is us. Being is the most precious thing, yet we are not in danger of losing it.

A woman asks how she can know that she exists if awareness cannot know itself. Rupert replies by saying that awareness’s knowledge of itself is a unique experience. It’s the only experience that doesn’t take place within a subject–object relationship. When you say ‘I am’, it is true because you have the experience of being. The reason you can say ‘I am’ is because you know that you are; you have the experience of being.