Understanding the non-dual understanding of consciousness can transform our experience of the world and foster a deeper connection internally and with the world around us.
The metaphor of John Smith and King Lear highlights the importance of recognizing our essential self and restoring happiness by tracing our way back to it through practices like meditation or prayer.
Consciousness or awareness is the foundation of all experience and recognizing its unchanging nature can help us detach from the content of experience and find inner peace.
Deep dives
The non-dual understanding of consciousness
The non-dual understanding of consciousness is at the core of almost every religious or spiritual tradition. It recognizes that peace and happiness are our essential nature and that we share our being with everyone and everything. By understanding this, we can transform our felt experience of the world and feel more connected internally and to the world around us. Seeking external things for happiness is seen as a pitfall, and the practical implications of non-duality for individuals and society are explored.
The metaphor of John Smith and King Lear
The metaphor of John Smith and King Lear is used to explain the concept of our essential self being masked by thoughts, feelings, actions, and relationships. When we identify too strongly with these aspects, we suffer. However, by recognizing our innate peace and joy, we can trace our way back to our essential being and restore happiness. The analogy also highlights the importance of tracing our way back to our essential being through practices like meditation or prayer.
The nature of consciousness
Consciousness or awareness is that with which all experience is known and within which all experience arises. It is also the substance out of which everything is made. The analogy of a cinema screen is used to illustrate how thoughts, feelings, and perceptions arise within consciousness, like a movie playing on a screen. This understanding of consciousness can help us untangle ourselves from the content of experience and recognize the unchanging nature of awareness.
The importance for mental health professionals
Understanding the non-dual understanding is essential for mental health professionals. It allows them to see their patients from the perspective that peace and joy are their essential nature, even in the midst of suffering. This understanding informs their approach, creating a context of openness, acceptance, and love that enables patients to explore their suffering. It also helps mental health professionals recognize the shared being with their patients and approach their work with kindness and compassion.
The paradigm shift and its implications
If the non-dual understanding became the default paradigm, the world would see a shift towards peace, joy, and love. People would feel fulfilled and creative, engaging in ways to bring this understanding into the world. Conflict and unkindness would diminish as individuals recognize the shared being with everyone and everything. This shift in identity, from a separate ego-self to the recognition of ourselves in others and the planet, would lead to a deep care for all life and a sense of oneness.
Rupert is one of the world’s leading teachers on the nondual understanding of consciousness and its application to improving our everyday quality of life. He gives talks internationally and has written several books, including: Being Myself, The Nature of Consciousness, and You Are The Happiness You Seek. In this conversation, you’ll learn:
— What the nondual understanding is and how it’s at the core of almost every religious or every spiritual tradition
— How understanding this simple idea can transform your felt experience of being in the world; helping you to feel more connected both internally and to everyone and everything in the world around you
— The pitfalls of seeking happiness in external things and why this almost always fails
— The practical implications of nonduality for the individual and society
And more.
You can learn more about Rupert’s work by visiting: www.rupertspira.com.
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From an early age, Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality, beginning to meditate at the age of seventeen and studying the teachings of the classical Advaita Vedanta tradition over the next twenty years. In 1997 he met his teacher, Francis Lucille, who introduced him to the Direct Path teachings of Atmananda Krishna Menon and to Jean Klein and the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. More importantly, Francis directly indicated to him the true nature of experience. Rupert lives in the UK and holds regular meetings and retreats in Europe and the US. You can learn more about his work at www.rupertspira.com.
3 Books Rupert Recommends Every Therapist Should Read:
— You are the Happiness You Seek - Rupert Spira: https://amzn.to/3VmUUhf
— Conscious is all - Peter Dziuban: https://amzn.to/3icDxBt
— Awareness and Tranquility - William Samuel: https://amzn.to/3Vf1czE
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