Trauma, Healing and Our True Nature
- Duration: Video: 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 42 seconds / Audio: 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 42 seconds
- Recorded on: Sep 21, 2022
- Event: Seven Day Retreat at The Vedanta – 17th to 24th September
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A man talks about getting lost in the illusion of the content of experience and wonders whether we should attempt to manipulate it. Rupert suggests that it is only necessary to manipulate experience if it is so intense that it prevents you from going all the way back to your true nature. In which case, an intermediary step may be required. But those of us who come to the teaching are ripe for the Direct Path and the understanding.
A woman says she had concerns about the teaching when she first came to the retreat. She asks about a tendency towards narcissism wounding for instance. Rupert responds it helps to ask who or what is wounded. Something is hurt, but can you find it?
A woman asks if Rupert would consider doing a teaching programme for young people. Rupert says that he is about to publish his children’s book ‘I Am Always I’. It is a self-enquiry for children.
A man who is new to the teaching asks about seeking, which he feels as tension. Rupert responds by leading him in self-enquiry: removing thoughts, memories, images, feelings, sensations, sounds, tastes, smells and sights from experience. Having removed the entire content of experience Rupert asks, 'What remains?' to help him discover his true nature, a fundamental sense of aliveness that is always here and readily available. It doesn't have to be maintained, only noticed as the background of all experience.
A man asks if there a timeframe for this realisation leading to full-time abidance. Rupert suggests going directly to the aliveness, being, and asks him how long it took. It doesn't take any time; it is outside of time.
Rupert suggests that when we imagine removing all the contents of experience, we don’t have to actually remove all the objects from the room to imagine what the room would be like when emptied. It is a powerful thought experiment.
A man shares that he has been experiencing sleep paralysis, which creates a lot of fear. Rupert suggests that his mind has divided, like in lucid dreaming. One part was in the waking state, aware of yourself asleep, but another part of you, which governs the body, was still asleep.
A woman asks how relationships work when partners have different mindsets like the metaphor of the one who lives in the city and the one who lives in the country. Rupert suggests moving to the country, although there may be some resistance to the shift in perspective.
A man, who talks about how something ‘fell apart’ due to trauma when he was young, asks if there is something to be healed by recognising our true being. Rupert suggests that it’s possible that the residues from this trauma will never completely dissolve, but they don’t need to. They don’t prevent you from being in touch with your true nature.
A woman says she has been able to derive a sense of community and support from the friends she's made at retreat, both for herself and her son who is not mentally stable. Rupert thanks her for her comments and contribution to the discussion on overcoming trauma.
A man asks about how coming to the understanding can help others. Rupert suggests that the extent to which we see ourself as who we truly are is the extent to which we see others as they truly are. This establishes a relationship of love irrespective of the behaviour. Love is a healing agent.
A woman asks if healing through others, or recognition of our shared being, is just the idea of healing itself. Rupert responds that there are two aspects of healing. The first is the recognition of that which is already whole. The second is the implication, or the effect, of this recognition on the mind-body, whereby something is actually changed and made whole again.
A man asks if the mind registers awareness. Rupert replies that only awareness is aware. In order to register something, you must be aware of it. The question is like asking, does King Lear register John Smith. King Lear is not an entity in his own right; he is a limitation of John Smith.
A man, who experiences pain and says that his reaction is to contract, asks if this is a rebellion of the separate self. Rupert suggests that it is possible that the belief in separation and the fear and anxiety that attends it could cause the body to tense up. However, pain doesn’t arise to create the separate self.
A man asks if, after contacting being behind the content of experience, there is a 'what next'. Additionally, he asks who ate his lunch? Rupert asks what form would the 'what next' take after all experience was removed? The need to do something could not even arise absent content. Awareness never asks the question 'What next?' And Rupert replies that the body ate lunch. Rupert guides the man in self-enquiry to see if he can find the self.
A woman who is struggling with the aftermath of her father’s death, shares that she is doubting that the world is beautiful. Rupert says that the world is beautiful but not everybody knows it. Your father, if he could speak to you, would tell you that he loved you and that the world is beautiful. He is with you.
A man talks about getting lost in the illusion of the content of experience and wonders whether we should attempt to manipulate it. Rupert suggests that it is only necessary to manipulate experience if it is so intense that it prevents you from going all the way back to your true nature. In which case, an intermediary step may be required. But those of us who come to the teaching are ripe for the Direct Path and the understanding.
A woman says she had concerns about the teaching when she first came to the retreat. She asks about a tendency towards narcissism wounding for instance. Rupert responds it helps to ask who or what is wounded. Something is hurt, but can you find it?
A woman asks if Rupert would consider doing a teaching programme for young people. Rupert says that he is about to publish his children’s book ‘I Am Always I’. It is a self-enquiry for children.
A man who is new to the teaching asks about seeking, which he feels as tension. Rupert responds by leading him in self-enquiry: removing thoughts, memories, images, feelings, sensations, sounds, tastes, smells and sights from experience. Having removed the entire content of experience Rupert asks, 'What remains?' to help him discover his true nature, a fundamental sense of aliveness that is always here and readily available. It doesn't have to be maintained, only noticed as the background of all experience.
A man asks if there a timeframe for this realisation leading to full-time abidance. Rupert suggests going directly to the aliveness, being, and asks him how long it took. It doesn't take any time; it is outside of time.
Rupert suggests that when we imagine removing all the contents of experience, we don’t have to actually remove all the objects from the room to imagine what the room would be like when emptied. It is a powerful thought experiment.
A man shares that he has been experiencing sleep paralysis, which creates a lot of fear. Rupert suggests that his mind has divided, like in lucid dreaming. One part was in the waking state, aware of yourself asleep, but another part of you, which governs the body, was still asleep.
A woman asks how relationships work when partners have different mindsets like the metaphor of the one who lives in the city and the one who lives in the country. Rupert suggests moving to the country, although there may be some resistance to the shift in perspective.
A man, who talks about how something ‘fell apart’ due to trauma when he was young, asks if there is something to be healed by recognising our true being. Rupert suggests that it’s possible that the residues from this trauma will never completely dissolve, but they don’t need to. They don’t prevent you from being in touch with your true nature.
A woman says she has been able to derive a sense of community and support from the friends she's made at retreat, both for herself and her son who is not mentally stable. Rupert thanks her for her comments and contribution to the discussion on overcoming trauma.
A man asks about how coming to the understanding can help others. Rupert suggests that the extent to which we see ourself as who we truly are is the extent to which we see others as they truly are. This establishes a relationship of love irrespective of the behaviour. Love is a healing agent.
A woman asks if healing through others, or recognition of our shared being, is just the idea of healing itself. Rupert responds that there are two aspects of healing. The first is the recognition of that which is already whole. The second is the implication, or the effect, of this recognition on the mind-body, whereby something is actually changed and made whole again.
A man asks if the mind registers awareness. Rupert replies that only awareness is aware. In order to register something, you must be aware of it. The question is like asking, does King Lear register John Smith. King Lear is not an entity in his own right; he is a limitation of John Smith.
A man, who experiences pain and says that his reaction is to contract, asks if this is a rebellion of the separate self. Rupert suggests that it is possible that the belief in separation and the fear and anxiety that attends it could cause the body to tense up. However, pain doesn’t arise to create the separate self.
A man asks if, after contacting being behind the content of experience, there is a 'what next'. Additionally, he asks who ate his lunch? Rupert asks what form would the 'what next' take after all experience was removed? The need to do something could not even arise absent content. Awareness never asks the question 'What next?' And Rupert replies that the body ate lunch. Rupert guides the man in self-enquiry to see if he can find the self.
A woman who is struggling with the aftermath of her father’s death, shares that she is doubting that the world is beautiful. Rupert says that the world is beautiful but not everybody knows it. Your father, if he could speak to you, would tell you that he loved you and that the world is beautiful. He is with you.