Meditation: Come Back to Yourself

simply allow your experience to be as it is  without any attempt to change it in any way notice that whatever we are experiencing we  are present in the midst of our experience if   I am lonely I am present there if I am tired I  am present if I am hungry I am present if I am   depressed I am present there in the midst of the  depression if I am in love I am present in the   midst of the feeling whatever I am experiencing  I am present in the midst of the experience Oh our lives we have been saying statements  about ourself such as I am ten years old or   I am 30 years old or I'm 50 years old I am  married or I am single I am a mother or a   father I am a friend I am tired I am lonely I'm  in love I am dreaming I am attending a retreat I   am reading such in such a book etc etc in  all these statements we refer to our self   our basic self or our basic being that we refer  to when we say I am and in all these statements   our basic self for being is qualified by  various feelings activities relationships   States etc all the feelings the activities  the relationships the states continuously   change but our essential being that to  which we refer when we say I am remains   consistently present throughout these changing  feelings states activities and relationships in other words throughout our life our essential   being becomes mixed with and as  a result apparently qualified by various activities states feelings relationships  etc and in almost all cases we give our attention   exclusively to the feelings the activities the  states the relationships which color or qualify   ourself but we neglect or overlook off again our  self so for instance when we say I am tired we we   give our attention to the feeling of tiredness  and the being that I essentially am goes as it   were into the background we overlook it if I  am depressed or in love we give our attention   to the feeling but not to the self not to our  basic to our sensual being that is qualified   temporarily by a feeling of depression or being  in love so the first thing we do here is give our   attention to ourself which means we give our  attention to that which we say to that to which   we refer when we say simply I am before what I am  has been qualified or conditioned by experience no need to reject any experience that  we are having so whatever experience   you are having now whatever your  primary experiences I am listening   to a guided meditation I am tired I am  lonely I am sad whatever you're feeling   don't touch the feeling but emphasize  the I am aspect of your experience instead of emphasizing the objective content of   your experience and allowing yourself your  essential being to fade into the background let the objective content of your experience  fade into the background and emphasize your   being yourself not your thoughts not your feelings  not what I am saying not your bodily sensations just become aware of what you said refer to when   you say simply I am before what  I am is qualified by experience don't try to find or know what I am as an  objective experience what I am is too close   to my self too close to itself to be able to  be known or found as an object of experience   just as the eyes are too close to themselves to  be able to see themselves the eyes can only see   something that is at a distance from them likewise  how herself can only know something that is at an   apparent distance from itself we cannot separate  ourselves from ourself in order to know our self   as an object of experience at the same time  our own being is not something unknown to us in fact our own being is more intimately known  to us or by us than anything else our own being   is closer to us than our most intimate thoughts  and feelings so we don't have to go anywhere or   do anything in order to be aware of ourselves if  I were to ask you now relatively speaking stand   up and take a step towards yourself where would  you go what would you do it's the same thing here   where do you have to go or what do you have to  do to know yourself to be aware of your own being if I were to ask you be aware of  the sound of the wind you direct   your attention towards the sound if I were  to ask you be aware of the sensation of the   soles of your feet you direct your attention  towards the sensation I were to ask you be   aware of these flowers you direct your  attention towards the flowers but if I   were to suggest be aware of yourself where  do you go what do you do with your attention remember the word attention from the two Latin  words are 10 and 10 dari ah meaning to or towards   and 10 dari meaning to stretch we can stretch  ourselves we can stretch our attention towards an   object of experience but there is no distance from  ourself to ourself no distance to be traveled no   pathway from ourselves to ourself and therefore no  room for the stretching or directing of attention simply be with yourself most people are most people live in their thoughts  feelings activities and relationships and in doing   so overlook or ignore themselves live in yourself  be established in yourself remember yourself be   aware of yourself that is be aware of your being  or more accurately simply be aware of being when I say be aware of being I suddenly imply  that being is one thing and we can be aware of   it I subtly imply a difference between being  and we who are aware of it I do not mean to   imply this when we say I am aware that I  am or I know that I am we do not refer to   two different eyes the eye that knows that  I am is not different from the eye that I am I that I am is the same I that knows that I am  in other words our own being knows itself that   is our being is self-aware self knowing our own  being is not known by something other than itself in other words our own being is aware being and the only reason that we  can each say with absolute   certainty that I am is because I know that I am it's knowing of our own being is the most intimate  the most obvious the most familiar the most   well-known experience there is but most people  are so fascinated by the content of experience that they overlook their own  being they ignore their own being our own being is not something  unfamiliar to us it is simply   buried as it were underneath  or behind layers of experience later I will contradict that statement but  for those for one who is lost in the drama   of experience our own being seems to be hidden  as it were behind experience behind layers of   thinking feeling acting relating our own being  is not unfamiliar to us it is more familiar to   us it is more familiar to itself than any  other experience but it is in most cases so   thoroughly mixed with experience as to seem  to be buried or obscured by it what is true   they call enlightenment or awakening is not the  acquisition of some marvelous new experience it   is simply the recognition of our being as it is it  is the revelation of the nature of our essential   being the word revelation coming from the Latin  revel re meaning to lay bare what is called   awakening or enlightenment is just a laying bare  of our essential being not a being that we might   become if we meditate for long enough or practice  hard enough but the being that we always and   already are but in most cases obscured or colored  by experience so what is called what is referred   to traditionally as enlightenment or awakening  is not an extraordinary or an exotic experience   it is not an experience at all it is simply the  recognition of the nature of our being that lies   at the heart of all experience irrespective  of its content its recognition of itself ask yourself the question what  is the nature of myself before   myself is qualified or conditioned by experience the name that each of us gives to our self is  I what is it that we refer to when we say I we   have always been I we say I had a dream last  night I slept well last night so I must be   must remain present through all three states of  waking dreaming and deep sleep what isn't that   remains present in your experience through the  three states of waking dreaming and deep sleep have been calling ourselves I all our  lives so I must be that element of   experience that remains continuously  present throughout all changing   experience what is that what element  of your experience is always with you no thought feeling sensation perception  activity relationship yes is always with   us all of these are appearing and disappearing  but I remain consistently present throughout   all changing the experience what  is this I know that I essentially allow beam objects of experience that is  your thoughts images feelings sensations   perceptions etc to fade into the background  of your experience and allow your being which   was previously in the background of  experience to come into the foreground simply rest in being as being  don't leave yourself don't go   away from yourself come back to your cell phone instead of living in thoughts feelings   activities and relationships live in  yourself with yourself as yourself come back to yourself the Sufi mistake  Lana said I traveled so far in search   of God but when I finally stopped and  turned around there he was within me consider the possibility that what is  traditionally referred to as God that   is infinite self aware being shines in each of our  minds as the knowledge I and permeates each of our   bodies as the feeling of being but is not limited  to our minds or our bodies just as space fills   and permeates this room but he's not limited  he's not confined in or limited by this room just as relatively speaking there is a a  single unlimited and indivisible space in   the universe that permeates all buildings  but is not divided by them or limited   to them consider the possibility  that there is in reality a single infinite and indivisible being  from which all selves borrow   their and their illness and all  things are oh there is necessity consider the possibility that when  you look out across them fields here   and you feel the beauty of the landscape  but what you are really feeling is your   shared essence in other words consider  the possibility that the experience of   beauty is the recognition that we share  our being with the object or the landscape in other words consider the possibility  that the experience of beauty is an   intervention of reality into our normal  dualistic way of perceiving the world but it is once a son calls a taste  of nature's eternity a taste of   what is eternally true or eternally real in nature and consider that possibility that when we meet  each other this week in love and in friendship   that what we are really experiencing in that  love in that friendship is our shared being you open to the possibility that the knowing of  our own being as it is is not only the direct path   to peace and happiness within any individual  but is also the foundation for any loving or   harmonious relationship with that relationship  between individuals communities or nations   and must also be this knowing of our own being  must also be the foundation of our relationship with the earth thank you you

Channel: Rupert Spira

Views: 226,276

Keywords: Meditation, Rupert Spira, Zen, consciousness meditation, Non-Duality, Ramana Maharshi, Atmananda Krishna Menon, Advaita, Non Duality, Awareness, Consciousness, Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Francis Lucille, Jean Klein, Krishnamurti, Chan Buddhism, Shankaracharya, awakening, enlightenment, non duality explained, nondual, nondualism, nonduality, Vedanta, elements of experience, elements of experiance, what is experience, experience, always present, ever present, being present

Id: UgJVRnpWwOA

Length: 49min 58sec (2998 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 16 2019