Should There Be No Experience at All?

During meditation, when guided to soften attention and turn away from the content of experience, confusion arose about whether the goal is to have no experience at all. Rupert says: ‘I didn’t say there should be no experience . . . I just meant don’t be involved with it . . . You don’t have to turn away from the wall or turn away from the soles of your feet. You just don’t give them your attention. In fact, all day long you’re quite used to not giving your attention to elements of your experience, which nevertheless are within the field of awareness . . . Soften your attention. Relax the focus of your attention . . . Because when you soften or relax, you feel you’re sinking back into yourself . . . If you make having no experience at all a goal, then you are objectifying or reifying your true nature. And you’re trying to make the absence of experience an experience to be reached.’

From event 12 - 14 December, 2025 The Shining of Being – Online Weekend Retreat at Home, 12–14 December

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