Rupert Spira on Non-Dualism, Consciousness, God, and Death
Jun 18, 2021
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In this conversation, Rupert Spira, a renowned expert on non-dualism and spiritual self-enquiry, dives deep into the essence of consciousness. He articulates the distinction between awareness and belief, inviting listeners to embrace a singular understanding of reality. Expect insights on the infinite nature of consciousness, the relationship between love and shared existence, and how suffering can awaken us to our true selves. Spira's reflections creatively challenge the boundaries of traditional perception, offering a fresh lens on enlightenment and identity.
Our waking state experience is like a dream within universal consciousness, with individuals as localized perspectives of infinite consciousness.
Infinite consciousness needs finite minds to perceive its own activity, akin to viewing objects from multiple perspectives for clarity.
Recognizing one's true nature is akin to lucid dreaming within a dream, allowing for a transcendent perspective.
Enlightenment leads to peace and joy by recognizing shared being with others, transcending sufferings and unveiling intrinsic happiness.
Fear of accepting challenging truths hinders spiritual growth, necessitating the exploration of inner conflicts to deepen awareness.
Dissolving perceived limits enhances peace and love, connecting individuals with all beings and deterring harm towards others.
Deep dives
Consciousness and the Dreamer's Mind
In the podcast, the concept is discussed that individual minds could be localized points of infinite consciousness, similar to how dreams are created with a dreamer's mind creating the dream world. The analogy is used to explain that our waking state experience is like a dream within the universal mind of consciousness, with each individual as a localized perspective of infinite consciousness perceiving its own activity as the universe.
Infinite Consciousness and Self-Awareness
The discussion delves into the idea that infinite consciousness is self-aware but needs the perspective of finite minds to perceive its own activity as the universe. The analogy is made where looking at an object from multiple perspectives would blur understanding, suggesting that infinite consciousness does not directly perceive its activity unless viewed from localized perspectives like individual finite minds.
The Limitations of Infinite Intelligence
There is a debate around the limitations of infinite intelligence in perceiving its own activity directly. While some argue that infinite intelligence should comprehend all perspectives simultaneously, the point is made that direct perception of an object from every possible viewpoint simultaneously would not yield clarity but a chaotic amalgamation, similar to viewing a single object from multiple locations simultaneously causing the integrity of the object to dissipate.
Recognition of True Nature as Lucid Dreaming
When recognizing one's true nature, it is likened to lucid dreaming within a dream. This analogy implies that enlightenment does not end the dream but allows one to perceive the dreamed world from a perspective that transcends the localized subject of experience.
Exploring the Relationship Between Consciousness and Enlightenment
Enlightenment, defined as the recognition of the nature of one's essential self, leads to qualities such as peace and joy. The recognition of shared being with others fosters feelings of love and beauty. By understanding the commonality of consciousness in all experiences, one transcends sufferings, veiling the inherent happiness within.
Navigating Fear and Acceptance in Spiritual Growth
Fear of accepting truths that challenge one's identity or beliefs can hinder spiritual growth. Exploring inner conflicts and attachments, like the fear of losing oneself or loved ones, is essential for deepening awareness. The process involves confronting one's finite sense of self to unveil the intrinsic happiness and interconnectedness within, paving the way towards true peace and understanding.
Exploring the Dissolution of Limits and the Magnified Innate Peace and Love
The dissolution of perceived limits leads to an enhanced sense of innate peace and love. By transcending these self-imposed limits, individuals experience a magnification of peace, love, and shared being both inwardly and outwardly.
Understanding the Inevitable Consequence of Recognizing Essential Nature
Recognizing our essential nature leads to a profound sense of connection with all beings. This recognition makes it intolerable to cause harm to others as individuals start perceiving others as an extension of themselves. The shared essence with all beings deters actions that inflict pain or suffering on others.
Distinguishing Between Functional and Dysfunctional Attachments
Functional attachments, such as those between a parent and child, serve a practical purpose in caring for loved ones. In contrast, dysfunctional attachments stem from the illusory belief in a separate self and lead to emotional dependence on others. Recognizing the difference helps navigate healthy relationships and emotional well-being.
Exploring Emotions: Positive and Negative Misconceptions
Emotions are often classified as either positive or negative, creating a misleading distinction. The speaker challenges this classification, suggesting that emotions like joy, peace, and love are the very nature of our being, not mere emotions. In contrast, afflictive emotions such as anxiety and jealousy are associated with the temporary separate self or ego. The analogy of clouds obscuring the blue sky illustrates how positive emotions like peace and love represent the unobscured awareness of our true nature.
The Validity of Emotions and Self-Awareness
The speaker contends that all emotions, whether afflictive or positive, are valid as they arise based on the sense of self from which they originate. Afflictive emotions stem from the illusion of a finite separate self, while positive emotions like peace and love arise in the absence of this sense of separateness. Self-awareness and understanding the source of emotions can lead to experiencing one's true nature as peace, love, and happiness.
Shadow Work and Self-Realization in Non-Duality
In the context of non-dual recognition, the progressive path involves purification of the ego through shadow work before realizing one's true nature. In contrast, the direct path focuses on immediate recognition of awareness without prior purification. Emotions like competitiveness are explored, indicating they can stem from either egoic tendencies or a desire to manifest one's true nature. The speaker emphasizes that self-realization involves aligning habits with enlightened understanding post-recognition, highlighting the ongoing nature of shadow work in personal growth.
Rupert Spira is a teacher of the "direct path"-method of spiritual self-enquiry, and a world renown expert on non-dualism. Sponsors: https://brilliant.org/TOE for 20% off. http://algo.com for supply chain AI.
Patreon for conversations on Theories of Everything, Consciousness, Free Will, and God: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal Crypto (anonymous): https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802 Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything
LINKS MENTIONED: Rupert's Website: https://rupertspira.com/ Rupert's Twitter: https://twitter.com/RupertSpira Interview with Bernardo Kastrup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAB21FAXCDE Interview with Donald Hoffman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmieNQH7Q4w Interview with Iain McGilchrist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-SgOwc6Pe4
THANK YOU: Cooper Sheehan and Henry Hoffman-Bakoussis for formatting the audience questions.
TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:06:07 Overview of non-dualism 00:09:09 Experience vs consciousness vs awareness 00:10:31 "In ignorance, I am something. In understanding, I am nothing. I love, I am everything." 00:14:29 Discovering "you" by taking off your thoughts and perceptions 00:17:09 Meditative exercise to see union between the self and the world 00:33:14 Can you be aware of not being aware? 00:48:34 Why can there only be "one" consciousness? 00:51:54 Consciousness as fundamental. Not matter 01:04:55 Why does infinite consciousness need to become finite? 01:09:17 There no real "things" 01:11:40 Definition of enlightenment 01:14:47 Are atheists / materialists lying when they say they have peace? 01:21:30 It's okay for your body's pain to not have caught up to your mind's peace 01:28:19 The nature of consciousness is happiness 01:34:55 Logos 01:40:35 Donald Hoffman and Bernardo Kastrup 01:48:03 Psychedelics 01:58:01 Consciousness as "love" requires subtlety to understand 02:00:19 Love, truth, and beauty are the same, but depend on the path one takes 02:04:12 Psychological suffering is veiled happiness 02:07:31 Some truths will break you at your core 02:17:40 New age is missing the malicious element of humanity 02:24:26 Rupert's distinctive manner of speech 02:27:07 Does infinite consciousness "speak" to us? 02:29:15 Why does suffering exist? Why does it have to be so drastic? 02:43:04 "Overlapping consciousness" and the objective world 02:49:40 Materialists don't disagree with non-dualism 02:51:22 Curt's "fractal" theory of reality and the extremization of a parameter unifying with its opposite 03:00:17 On death, and continuing on 03:06:11 Science 2.0 ("abhijgnosis" as Curt calls it) 03:18:48 [Hubur Galula] Does Rupert still get overwhelmed with emotions / attached to objects or people? 03:23:44 Functional vs dysfunctional attachments (co-dependence) 03:25:37 [Inannawhimsey] Rupert, is there any emotion that isn't valid? 03:35:22 [Rebecca Briggs] Ego and shadow work in the non-dual recognition tradition? 03:42:10 Why are we separate at all? Why are these truths something we have realize? 03:47:59 Descartes was wrong, or right? 03:52:27 The East vs The West (the East was first to non-dualism) 03:57:59 Rupert Spira interprets the Prodigal son with non-dualism 04:02:59 Prayer in the West vs meditation in the East
