Rupert Spira: The Nature of Consciousness and Non-Duality
Rupert Spira teaches non-duality: the recognition that awareness is your fundamental nature. You are not a person having experiences—you are the aware presence in which all experience appears. This understanding dissolves the sense of separation underlying all psychological suffering.
You Are Not What You Experience
Thoughts appear in you but you are not thoughts. Feelings appear in you but you are not feelings. The body appears in you but you are not the body. You are that in which all these appear—awareness itself.
The Search for Happiness
Everyone seeks happiness, but we look in objects and relationships. Spira shows happiness is awareness's nature. When we stop seeking it in appearances and recognize our true nature, we find happiness that never leaves.
Collapsing the Witness
Beginning practice involves being the witness of experience. But ultimately, there's no separate witness. Experience and awareness are one. The apparent distance between you and what you perceive collapses into intimate knowing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is non-duality?
Non-duality points to the recognition that reality is not divided into perceiver and perceived. There is only aware presence appearing as all experience. The sense of being a separate self in a world is a misperception.
What does Rupert Spira mean by awareness?
Awareness is not a thing but that which knows all experience. It's the knowing element of every experience. You can't find it as an object because it's what is looking. It's closer than close—it's what you are.
How do you practice non-dual inquiry?
Ask: "Am I aware?" and notice that you are. Then explore: what is it that is aware? Can you find any boundary to awareness? This investigation reveals awareness has no edges—it is infinite.
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Related topics: rupert spira teachings, non duality explained, nature of consciousness, awareness meditation, direct path spirituality
