Thinking As an Escape from the Current Experience
- Duration: Video: 1 hour, 58 minutes, and 48 seconds / Audio: 1 hour, 58 minutes, and 48 seconds
- Recorded on: Aug 5, 2021
- Event: Webinar – Thursday 5th August 4:00pm, UK
Be aware of any impulse to move away from your current experience. See that the purpose of thinking is to provide an escape from the present moment. Don't attempt to stop thinking, simply notice it. Ask yourself, ‘How would it be to lead my life in such a way that my sense of well-being was not invested in the content of my experience?’ This openness is not a mental position. It does not come from disciplining the mind. It is our natural state. As we make this openness our natural condition, there is less and less impulse to avoid our current experience through thinking, and we sink more deeply into the peace of our true nature. This deep peace is not generated by any activity. It is our innate peace emerging from the depths of our self. Openness without resistance is the very nature of the awareness that we essentially are.
A man asks about the movement aspect of yoga meditations, which for him have resulted in a feeling of elegance and grace in his bodily movements. He asks if there is a best way to do these meditations, and Rupert suggests approaching them without any sense of a destination or goal.
A woman asks about the role the brain plays in creating and limiting experience. Rupert suggests that there is an assumption in the question about the brain from a materialistic perspective, and therefore that it could have the capacity to limit consciousness.
A woman asks if it is possible to have an experience without the body. Rupert responds that the question comes from the materialistic assumption of the body as an independently existing entity, apart from consciousness.
A man new to non-duality asks if finite minds, or localisations, are separate from each other, such that they cease at death. Rupert replies that because the universe is the activity of universal consciousness, localisations dissolve in death like waves in the ocean.
A woman asks what are the differences between any experiences in the world? Rupert responds that the difference is only in appearances that arise from an underlying undifferentiated reality.
A woman from Wisconsin asks if there is a difference between grief and love. Rupert replies that grief is a thin veil over the underlying love.
A woman from Hungary describes an experience of knowing God when her father passed away, and now she has a beneficial impact on many others. She asks about setting boundaries. Rupert responds that it is necessary to set boundaries.
A man asks for help with depression, and says he has tried eveything. Rupert asks if he has tried to befriend his depression, and then guides him to embrace the feeling.
A man from Varanasi, India, asks who wants to be enlightened. Rupert suggests he ask himself that question since he is already that which he seeks.
A man asks about a vibration he feels after spiritual experiences, and why that experience is different from ordinary awareness. Rupert responds that experience always changes, but awareness stays the same.
A man from Sweden asks what difference it would make if scientists could actually find matter or thoughts. Rupert replies that it's highly unlikely they'd ever find anything outside or separate from consciousness, and that there actually are no thoughts or things.
A man asks if the exploratory Tantric, or the investigative Vedantic approach is best for dealing with difficult emotions. Rupert responds that after years of the Vedantic approach, it may be time to try the Tantric approach that goes deeper into the nature of the emotion itself.
Be aware of any impulse to move away from your current experience. See that the purpose of thinking is to provide an escape from the present moment. Don't attempt to stop thinking, simply notice it. Ask yourself, ‘How would it be to lead my life in such a way that my sense of well-being was not invested in the content of my experience?’ This openness is not a mental position. It does not come from disciplining the mind. It is our natural state. As we make this openness our natural condition, there is less and less impulse to avoid our current experience through thinking, and we sink more deeply into the peace of our true nature. This deep peace is not generated by any activity. It is our innate peace emerging from the depths of our self. Openness without resistance is the very nature of the awareness that we essentially are.
A man asks about the movement aspect of yoga meditations, which for him have resulted in a feeling of elegance and grace in his bodily movements. He asks if there is a best way to do these meditations, and Rupert suggests approaching them without any sense of a destination or goal.
A woman asks about the role the brain plays in creating and limiting experience. Rupert suggests that there is an assumption in the question about the brain from a materialistic perspective, and therefore that it could have the capacity to limit consciousness.
A woman asks if it is possible to have an experience without the body. Rupert responds that the question comes from the materialistic assumption of the body as an independently existing entity, apart from consciousness.
A man new to non-duality asks if finite minds, or localisations, are separate from each other, such that they cease at death. Rupert replies that because the universe is the activity of universal consciousness, localisations dissolve in death like waves in the ocean.
A woman asks what are the differences between any experiences in the world? Rupert responds that the difference is only in appearances that arise from an underlying undifferentiated reality.
A woman from Wisconsin asks if there is a difference between grief and love. Rupert replies that grief is a thin veil over the underlying love.
A woman from Hungary describes an experience of knowing God when her father passed away, and now she has a beneficial impact on many others. She asks about setting boundaries. Rupert responds that it is necessary to set boundaries.
A man asks for help with depression, and says he has tried eveything. Rupert asks if he has tried to befriend his depression, and then guides him to embrace the feeling.
A man from Varanasi, India, asks who wants to be enlightened. Rupert suggests he ask himself that question since he is already that which he seeks.
A man asks about a vibration he feels after spiritual experiences, and why that experience is different from ordinary awareness. Rupert responds that experience always changes, but awareness stays the same.
A man from Sweden asks what difference it would make if scientists could actually find matter or thoughts. Rupert replies that it's highly unlikely they'd ever find anything outside or separate from consciousness, and that there actually are no thoughts or things.
A man asks if the exploratory Tantric, or the investigative Vedantic approach is best for dealing with difficult emotions. Rupert responds that after years of the Vedantic approach, it may be time to try the Tantric approach that goes deeper into the nature of the emotion itself.