A Course in Miracles and Direct Path Comparisons from the media We Move, Live and Exist In God's Being

Imagine the faculty of thinking is removed from you. No need to stop thinking, just imagine that thinking ceases and remain as you are. Imagine removing the experience of seeing and the capacity to smell and taste. Be as you are in their absence. Imagine that all feelings are removed and the experience of sensing – the way we feel the body from the inside. Remain as you are in the absence of thinking, seeing, hearing, feeling and sensing. When the content of experience is removed, what remains of our experience of ourself? All that remains is being, God’s being, the only being there is. The imperturbable nature of being shines as peace. The whole nature of being shines as happiness. The indivisible nature of being shines as love and beauty. We believe we move and live and exist in time and space. But in reality, we move and live and apparently exist in God's being.

A man says he has difficulty communicating with others due to a language barrier, so he has a hard time finding community where he lives. Rupert responds that it is important to find community and to do whatever we can to try to enter into social activities that give us an opportunity to interact with others.

A woman asks about the value of mantra repetition, because she is confused about various teachings she has followed. Rupert responds that it is useful for those whose attention is exclusively on the ten thousand things because the repetition dissolves that narrow focus of attention. It is a preliminary practice in the Direct Path which goes directly to your true nature.

A woman asks about expressing emotions around death, specifically teachings that suggest that crying inhibits the passage of those who have died. Rupert responds that he cannot find any intelligence in the idea that crying is detrimental to the soul, and perhaps even damaging if it is masquerading as truth. He encourages the full expression of grief in the experience of the death of loved ones and family members.

A man asks how he can act from awareness in the world since the world is ego-based. Rupert suggests that we not judge how others or the world behaves, but know that we are all the same being. We are to hold this understanding in our heart when acting and interacting with the world, which is a way of communicating this truth.

A woman describes automatically interacting with others in the hope that they will like her, which is draining, and asks about how we can interact from the non-dual approach. Rupert explains that we interact from our being, rather than an image of our being that we are trying to maintain. What we truly are has no need for praise and is not a limited image or idea.

Triggered by a difficult experience, a man became aware of his being and had a high experience for days, which has passed, but the peace is still here. Rupert replies that the high, or sense of elation, is actually the absence of constriction, but what is important is that the peace is still there and remains.

A man reads a passage by Ramana Maharshi that refers to silence and stillness as 'intense activity'. He asks for Rupert's impression of this characterisation. Rupert suggests the reference is to and for the one whose attention is disbursed and distracted by the ten thousand things, so effort is required to focus attention inward, and intense activity is the movement or energy of consciousness.

Imagine the faculty of thinking is removed from you. No need to stop thinking, just imagine that thinking ceases and remain as you are. Imagine removing the experience of seeing and the capacity to smell and taste. Be as you are in their absence. Imagine that all feelings are removed and the experience of sensing – the way we feel the body from the inside. Remain as you are in the absence of thinking, seeing, hearing, feeling and sensing. When the content of experience is removed, what remains of our experience of ourself? All that remains is being, God’s being, the only being there is. The imperturbable nature of being shines as peace. The whole nature of being shines as happiness. The indivisible nature of being shines as love and beauty. We believe we move and live and exist in time and space. But in reality, we move and live and apparently exist in God's being.

A man says he has difficulty communicating with others due to a language barrier, so he has a hard time finding community where he lives. Rupert responds that it is important to find community and to do whatever we can to try to enter into social activities that give us an opportunity to interact with others.

A woman asks about the value of mantra repetition, because she is confused about various teachings she has followed. Rupert responds that it is useful for those whose attention is exclusively on the ten thousand things because the repetition dissolves that narrow focus of attention. It is a preliminary practice in the Direct Path which goes directly to your true nature.

A woman asks about expressing emotions around death, specifically teachings that suggest that crying inhibits the passage of those who have died. Rupert responds that he cannot find any intelligence in the idea that crying is detrimental to the soul, and perhaps even damaging if it is masquerading as truth. He encourages the full expression of grief in the experience of the death of loved ones and family members.

A man asks how he can act from awareness in the world since the world is ego-based. Rupert suggests that we not judge how others or the world behaves, but know that we are all the same being. We are to hold this understanding in our heart when acting and interacting with the world, which is a way of communicating this truth.

A woman describes automatically interacting with others in the hope that they will like her, which is draining, and asks about how we can interact from the non-dual approach. Rupert explains that we interact from our being, rather than an image of our being that we are trying to maintain. What we truly are has no need for praise and is not a limited image or idea.

Triggered by a difficult experience, a man became aware of his being and had a high experience for days, which has passed, but the peace is still here. Rupert replies that the high, or sense of elation, is actually the absence of constriction, but what is important is that the peace is still there and remains.

A man reads a passage by Ramana Maharshi that refers to silence and stillness as 'intense activity'. He asks for Rupert's impression of this characterisation. Rupert suggests the reference is to and for the one whose attention is disbursed and distracted by the ten thousand things, so effort is required to focus attention inward, and intense activity is the movement or energy of consciousness.