You Are What Is Always Present

A woman asks about the connection between emptiness and creativity, wanting to relate it to her experience as a painter. Rupert replies that true creativity brings something new for humanity, not simply a continuation of the past into the future. While developing one’s craft happens along the line of time, real inspiration comes from another dimension. Creativity is the conjunction of two axes – the practised skill and the inspiration from beyond time, the eternal now.

A man shares that after his morning coffee, he sits with the being that he is – peaceful, fulfilled. Being shines effortlessly in the foreground, like seeing the moon as white paper in a painting. His days are joyful, and he’s not easily rattled, even in his work as a divorce attorney with ‘egos on steroids’. Rupert replies, deeply happy to see how this understanding has moved from the man’s mind to his heart. He reflects on their journey from teacher and student to dear friends, saying this is how the teaching evolves – into deep friendship.

A man shares his practice of waiting on God without expectation or agenda. Rupert says he likes the man’s formulation of waiting without expectation but notes there’s still a slight tinge of becoming. He explains that if you take time out of waiting, it reduces to being, where there’s no expectation or becoming. This, Rupert says, is the process the man is going through – his understanding and language catching up with his experience.

A man shares a brief suggestion to wake up with enthusiasm without expectation.

A woman shares her contemplation of infinity as a cosmic pulsation, streaming out and returning, expanding and contracting. She describes feeling the dance of infinity, alive yet dimensionless. She adds that while she resonates deeply with infinity, eternity feels less alive for her, more intellectual. Rupert replies that she doesn’t need to resonate with every metaphor. Then he guides her to explore her experience of now. He asks how long the now lasts and how many moments have passed since they began speaking, and she admits she cannot count them. Rupert suggests that if now is not extended in time, it cannot be called a moment. The Now is not moving, but alive.

A man asks if there is a difference between awareness and being. Rupert replies there is no difference, it’s just another line of investigation. One could ask, ‘Am I aware?’ or ‘Do I exist?’ and both lead to the same recognition. He explains that our true nature has two qualities: ‘I am’ and ‘I know’. These are expressed as aware being or luminous emptiness, where luminosity is the knowing quality and emptiness is the spacious being quality. Either path can be explored deeply, leading to the same understanding through the felt sense of being.

A woman shares her experience of feeling movement during meditation and wonders if it is part of being. Rupert replies that she is not describing being but a mixture of thoughts and feelings. He guides her to recognise that she has always referred to herself as ‘I,’ and though her thoughts, feelings and relationships have changed, this ‘I’ has remained constant. What does this ‘I’ refer to? It cannot refer to something transient like thoughts or feelings. It’s the ordinary, familiar sense of being, which has always been with her. Only that which is always present is herself.

A man asks if we can redirect desires for relationships, substances and wealth into longing for the infinite, or if it’s purely grace. Rupert says that the finite mind thinks it’s seeking the infinite, but really the infinite is drawing the finite – that’s grace. He explains that desires come from a sense of lack, but when you get what you want, it’s not the object that’s satisfying – it’s the happiness of your own being shining through, which you mistakenly project onto the object.

A man asks if learning language creates the idea of separateness. Rupert says it’s not about returning to a pre-verbal state but recognising a post-egoic understanding, which has some similarities but is not the same. The mind can only provisionally formulate the infinite, but it cannot truly know it. Trying to fit the infinite into the finite is like fitting all of space into a room; it doesn’t work. The finite must lose its limitations and stand revealed as the infinite, which it has always been.

A man asks about addiction and wonders if desire is truly the pull of grace calling us back. Rupert says desire is always for happiness, which is the nature of our being. The object, substance or relationship is simply the means by which we think happiness will come. Addiction arises when the mind confuses the object with the source of happiness, seeking more to dissolve the sense of lack.

A woman asks about the connection between emptiness and creativity, wanting to relate it to her experience as a painter. Rupert replies that true creativity brings something new for humanity, not simply a continuation of the past into the future. While developing one’s craft happens along the line of time, real inspiration comes from another dimension. Creativity is the conjunction of two axes – the practised skill and the inspiration from beyond time, the eternal now.

A man shares that after his morning coffee, he sits with the being that he is – peaceful, fulfilled. Being shines effortlessly in the foreground, like seeing the moon as white paper in a painting. His days are joyful, and he’s not easily rattled, even in his work as a divorce attorney with ‘egos on steroids’. Rupert replies, deeply happy to see how this understanding has moved from the man’s mind to his heart. He reflects on their journey from teacher and student to dear friends, saying this is how the teaching evolves – into deep friendship.

A man shares his practice of waiting on God without expectation or agenda. Rupert says he likes the man’s formulation of waiting without expectation but notes there’s still a slight tinge of becoming. He explains that if you take time out of waiting, it reduces to being, where there’s no expectation or becoming. This, Rupert says, is the process the man is going through – his understanding and language catching up with his experience.

A man shares a brief suggestion to wake up with enthusiasm without expectation.

A woman shares her contemplation of infinity as a cosmic pulsation, streaming out and returning, expanding and contracting. She describes feeling the dance of infinity, alive yet dimensionless. She adds that while she resonates deeply with infinity, eternity feels less alive for her, more intellectual. Rupert replies that she doesn’t need to resonate with every metaphor. Then he guides her to explore her experience of now. He asks how long the now lasts and how many moments have passed since they began speaking, and she admits she cannot count them. Rupert suggests that if now is not extended in time, it cannot be called a moment. The Now is not moving, but alive.

A man asks if there is a difference between awareness and being. Rupert replies there is no difference, it’s just another line of investigation. One could ask, ‘Am I aware?’ or ‘Do I exist?’ and both lead to the same recognition. He explains that our true nature has two qualities: ‘I am’ and ‘I know’. These are expressed as aware being or luminous emptiness, where luminosity is the knowing quality and emptiness is the spacious being quality. Either path can be explored deeply, leading to the same understanding through the felt sense of being.

A woman shares her experience of feeling movement during meditation and wonders if it is part of being. Rupert replies that she is not describing being but a mixture of thoughts and feelings. He guides her to recognise that she has always referred to herself as ‘I,’ and though her thoughts, feelings and relationships have changed, this ‘I’ has remained constant. What does this ‘I’ refer to? It cannot refer to something transient like thoughts or feelings. It’s the ordinary, familiar sense of being, which has always been with her. Only that which is always present is herself.

A man asks if we can redirect desires for relationships, substances and wealth into longing for the infinite, or if it’s purely grace. Rupert says that the finite mind thinks it’s seeking the infinite, but really the infinite is drawing the finite – that’s grace. He explains that desires come from a sense of lack, but when you get what you want, it’s not the object that’s satisfying – it’s the happiness of your own being shining through, which you mistakenly project onto the object.

A man asks if learning language creates the idea of separateness. Rupert says it’s not about returning to a pre-verbal state but recognising a post-egoic understanding, which has some similarities but is not the same. The mind can only provisionally formulate the infinite, but it cannot truly know it. Trying to fit the infinite into the finite is like fitting all of space into a room; it doesn’t work. The finite must lose its limitations and stand revealed as the infinite, which it has always been.

A man asks about addiction and wonders if desire is truly the pull of grace calling us back. Rupert says desire is always for happiness, which is the nature of our being. The object, substance or relationship is simply the means by which we think happiness will come. Addiction arises when the mind confuses the object with the source of happiness, seeking more to dissolve the sense of lack.