The Pinnacle of Nondual Understanding: Rupert Spira

[Music] when Mauricio and Zion first told me about this retreat I said that I was unable to come because I'm coming to the West Coast later in the month and it was just too much to fly from England to California twice in a month and then we were talking casually that dinner join the sand conference in the science and on geology conference in October and Ziya told me a little bit more about the conference she said what we really want people to do is to take a Sutra an old sacred text and to talk about it in the context of contemporary science or contemporary thought and as she said that this some beautiful text came to mind and and I something in cite me say to him you just have to go and speak about this this text it's a text that I've only fairly recently discovered and is not for some extraordinary reason well-known on the non-dual circuit I consider it to be one of two or three books in existence that are the absolute pinnacle of non-dual understanding and it's an it's a book called know yourself the subtitled an explanation of the oneness of being order an explanation of the unity of existence and it's written it was originally attributed to it Nairobi who many of you will have heard of I certainly had but more recently people think that it's written by someone called Alfred Alden Bally Ani who was a contemporary of given arabes and roomy in the 13th century a 13th century Sufi apart from that nobody knows anything about him and it's a very short text and some of you were present to the sand conference in October where I was very disparaging about a certain Oxford professor of philosophy and so now it's nice to have the opportunity to redeem the reputation of Oxford University because this was translated by a professor of Arabic there Cecelia twinge and she's done a fabulous job of not just translating the the literal meaning but but really conveying the the deep meaning of this really beautiful text so I'm just going to start reading and commentate as I go I don't know whether I'll get further than the first page or whether I'll finish it we'll just see how it goes the entire book is a commentary this is ballet on E commentating on a single line from the Prophet Muhammad in which Muhammad says whosoever knows their self knows their Lord this is 13th century Persia so they're relying the language of course is religious language so he uses the word Lord or God for what we might term the ultimate reality whosoever knows their self knows the ultimate reality of the universe so this is this could have been written yesterday and it could have been written precisely as a message to our contemporary culture in general in our contemporary scientists in particular if we want to know the ultimate reality of the universe we have to know the reality of ourselves there's no other way what is the reality of ourselves what are we essentially we are obviously that which is aware of experience I am that which is aware of the sound of the waves I am that which is aware of my thoughts I'm aware of the sight of this room the sensations of my body I am aware of my thoughts I am aware of my feelings I am aware I am aware I am aware it pervades all experience the experience of simply being aware the only experience that never disappears the only experience that never moves or changes the only experience that it doesn't appear grow old or disappear this simple experience of being aware this non-objective experience of being aware I say non-objective because it has no objective qualities it cannot be known nor felt as an object and yet at the same time it is an undeniable factor of experience nobody can deny right now the experience I am aware we don't believe I am aware we don't think I am aware we all know for absolute certain I am aware I know that I am aware the eye that is aware knows that it is aware the experience of being aware which is also sometimes referred to as consciousness or awareness its first experience its first knowledge is the knowing of its own being so what and Muhammad originally was saying and what Bayani is now commentating on is that is this sentence whosoever knows their self which in the context of what I've just said whosoever knows the nature of consciousness knows the ultimate reality of the universe in fact the only way to know the ultimate reality of the universe is to know the nature of consciousness in fact our entire world culture east and west is founded upon the belief that consciousness what I essentially am is temporary and finite that it shares the limitations of and lives in the body this is the founding presumption the original presumption upon which almost all our thoughts feelings beliefs attitudes and subsequently our activities and relationships are built are built on the presumption that consciousness is temporary and finite the presumption the consciousness lives in and shares the limits of the body it is a presumption for which there is not one shred of evidence and yet our entire world culture is founded upon it and not only as our entire world country founded upon the belief that consciousness is temporary and finite everything we know subsequent to that belief is in some ways an expression of that belief in every in other words everything we know is an expansion of the belief by consciousness and temporary and finite so but I Annie then proceeds to explore this simple idea and he begins obviously in religious language the prevailing language of the day in thirteenth century Persian praise be to God before who's oneness there is no before unless the before is he and after whose singleness there is no after unless the after is he praise be to God praise it comes from the Latin word pretium meaning to give value to praise be to God give value above all else to consciousness because consciousness is our primary experience there is no experience prior to consciousness or prior to awareness I use the words consciousness and awareness and aware being and being aware synonymously not everybody does but in my use of language I use them synonymously give ultimate value to consciousness for the simple reason that it is our prime experience before whose oneness there is no before unless the before is he and after who singled us there is no after unless the after is he he is I am I'm weaving my commentary by the way him in these words so I'm not going to make it clear when I'm commentating and reading I'm just improvising he is in other words I consciousness an and there is not with him any before or after above or below closeness or distance there is no how or where or when time or motion or moment or duration nor manifested existence or place for consciousness for that which knows for the knowing element in experience from the point of view of consciousness which is the only real point of view because consciousness is that which knows experience from the point of view of consciousness there is no before or after for the finite mind there is time but consciousness knows nothing of time consciousness experience is always happening now not now a moment in time but now the eternal present not here as we heard last night a location in space but here the place for this place where I am where consciousness is I am there is there is not with him any before or after above above or below there's no closeness or distance no no experience from the point of view of consciousness is either closer to or further from itself than any other experience from the point of view of the finite mind that is from the point of view of the consciousness that seems to be located in and as the body some experiences are close my most intimate thoughts and feelings some experience is a little further away the sensations of my body and some experiences the perceptions of the world are even further away so experiences ranged on a scale of closeness and distance that's from the point of view of the finite mind the self that locates itself in a particular place at a particular time but the separate self is just an imaginary limit superimposed on the true and only self of infinite consciousness for whom there is no closeness or distance no experience is closer to or further from consciousness than any other experience because consciousness experience from the point of view of consciousness is simply a modulation of its own infinite being and he and he is now there is with him there is no know how and aware or know when no time no moment no duration no manifested existence or place and he is now as he has always been i am i infinite consciousness and now how i i have always been the very i with which each of us is now knowing our experience but i ani is not talking about some extraordinary consciousness some consciousness that only a few enlightened beings have access to and that others don't he's talking about the very consciousness the very knowing with which each of us is now knowing this experience the simple experience of being aware that pervades or the experience is in the same condition now as it has always been just check that out in your experience let allow your attention to wander freely over your past experience go all the way back remember the the five-year-old girl or boy the 10 year old 15 2013 at any moment of experience you consciousness were aware of the current thought feeling sensation or perception whatever it may be since then innumerable such thoughts and perceptions have appeared and disappeared but the you the I the knowing with which our experience is known has remained present and he is now as he has always been I consciousness that is the non objective experience of being aware is in the same condition now as it has always been no experience modifies consciousness consciousness is to experience what a screen is to an image intimately one with it absolutely free from it no image ever modifies the screen never hurts the screen ever stains the screen ever colors the screen the experience of being aware is like that the experience of being aware pervades all experience it is intimately one with all experience and yet it is never colored or stained or harmed or touched or moved or aged or destroyed by any experience it just runs ever-present this non objective and yet absolutely intimate experience of being aware I consciousness am now as I have always been he is not composed of name and named for his name is him and his name is him and there is no name or named other than him he is not composed of name and named for those of us brought up in the Sanskrit Sanskrit tradition it's the same as saying he is not composed of name and form for his name is him and his form is him and there is no name or form other than him name and form name is supplied by thought form by perception it is consciousness itself that takes the shape of thought and perception and appears as name and form mind and matter but thought and perception are made of consciousness there is nothing to a thought or a perception other than the knowing of it the only substance present in thought and perception is pure knowing pure consciousness consciousness is not made of any of the forms that it assumes any more than a screen is made out of the end any of the objects that appear in the movie the screen is made of itself it is unmixed with anything other than itself no name or form goes into the make of consciousness it is pure knowing when I say pure knowing I mean knowing that is not mixed with any objective qualities any limiting qualities again I want to keep reminding us that I'm not talking about some extraordinary consciousness that I have access to that you don't have access to I'm talking about the very knowing with which each of us is now knowing our experience that knowing runs present throughout all experience in fact all experience is simply a modulation of that knowing there is no other substance present in experience other than this knowing or pure consciousness he is the apparent without appearance and the hidden without hiddenness high consciousness and the apparent I am everything that appears and the the totality the reality the substance of all thought and perception and yet I don't appear as a thought or perception the screen is the entire content of the the entire reality of the movie but the screen never appears in the movie I am the apparent without appearance and the hidden without hiddenness if the focus of our attention is exclusively engaged with the drama of the movie we've seen not see the screen the screen seems to be hidden by the movie and just like if we are exclusively fascinated with the objects of thought and perception the experience of being aware seems to be veiled by them in fact the experience of being aware is never failed because the experience of being aware is all there is to experience I am the hidden without hiddenness I seem to be hidden behind the mind but in fact I am shining not behind or within all experience but on the surface of all experience all for instance we know of this room at the moment is the experience of seeing there is no evidence for a room outside seeing and touching there is no evidence of a world outside seeing hearing touching tasting and smelling but the only substance present in seeing hearing touching tasting and smelling is the knowing of them the consciousness of them it is consciousness itself that is modulating itself in all forms of experience I mean that he is the very existence of the letters of the names of the first and the last the apparent and the hidden high consciousness and the very existence of everything that appears this is the the great equation which hopefully one day will be the new equation of contemporary physics it's a little bit it's a little simpler than e equals mc-squared I'm hoping that one day Marie turns I would changed their equation whereas in of an equal emissary C squared and replace it simply with C equals e consciousness equals existence it's the ultimate equation of physics ultimate equation of experience the existence everything that all these objects be those objects subtle objects of thoughts and feelings or gross objects and tables and chairs and people all these objects borrow their existence their seeming existence their reality from consciousness itself it is consciousness itself that lends its reality to all appearances giving those appearances their seeming reality and then he says understand this so as not to make the mistake of those who believe in incarnation he is talking about the Lord he infinite being God's infinite being pure consciousness he is not in anything and no thing is in him either entering into him or coming out of him so this is a swipe of the materialists of his day understand this so as not to make the mistake of those who believe in incarnation that is understand this so as not to make the mistake of those amongst us the belief the belief that consciousness is incarnated that is in the body it's the the founding presumption of the materialist worldview the belief that consciousness lives within and shares the limits of the body the the founding idea upon which our world culture is based understand this so as not to make the mistake of those who believe that consciousness is temporary and finite consciousness if he is not in anything consciousness is not in anything and no thing is in consciousness if we say that consciousness is in things or the things are in consciousness we are starting with things we are starting with the presumption of objects the presumption of matter it's like saying that the image is it's like saying that the screen is in the image or the image is in the screen but when such a statement makes a presumption that there is one thing called an image and another thing called the screen the screen is not in the image there is no independently existing thing called an image which is pervaded by something else called a screen nor is there something called an image which lives in the screen there is just the screen modulating itself from time to time in the form of the image there is just consciousness that is our experience can anybody now find anything other than the knowing of their experience rain go wherever you like with your imagination try to find something other than the knowing of your experience could you ever find anything other than the knowing of your experience has anybody ever found anything other than the knowing of their experience why do we believe as a culture that there is something other than the knowing of experience don't you think by now that somebody would have just spotted it just got a glimpse of it this thing outside the knowing of experience nobody has ever could ever or will ever find anything outside the knowing of experience that is outside consciousness because all experience appears in consciousness is known by consciousness and is made of consciousness so don't believe understand this so as not to make the mistake of those who believe in incarnation those who believe that consciousness is temporary and finite or even those people that think that consciousness is in things or the things are in consciousness this is a very when people first hear about the non-dual understanding it's very common to hear people say our consciousness is everywhere consciousness is never think yes consciousness is not just in my body but consciousness is in all the animals as well and then we hear people saying aren't consciousness is not just in the animals it's in the trees and in the in in the rocks and and in the cars and consciousness is in everything this is a a new age version of non-duality consciousness is not in trees consciousness is not in rocks consciousness is not in flowers or waves consciousness is not even in animals I'm afraid it's even worse than that consciousness is not even in us this this belief that consciousness is in everything is called Pan psychism it's a kind of materialistic view of non-duality a materialistic version of non-duality it's an attempt by the materialists to bring non-duality within their compass but consciousness is not in anything an ultimately no thing is in consciousness although as a halfway stage of understanding it is legitimate to say that all experience all thoughts sensations and perceptions take place in consciousness I sometimes say that many non-jews teachers sometimes say that it is a legitimate thing to say it's not quite true but it is a legitimate halfway stage his veil is his oneness since nothing veils him other than him his own being veils himself his Vitas being is concealed by his oneness without any condition so for those of you that are in familiar with them advisor teaching that he's talking about Maya here the illusion what is sometimes translated as an illusion as illusion but what he's saying is that it is the screen itself that takes the shape of the image and thereby seems to veil itself so from the point of view of the screen there is no true veiling of itself it is only from the point of view of one of the characters in the movie that the screen seems to be missing from the point of view of consciousness Maya is not illusion it is just a creative display of its own energies it is only from the point of view of the finite mind that thoughts feelings sensations and perceptions seem to veil consciousness I'm just going through this to see what passages to select I can see we're not going to get very far with with this and there's so much wonderful material he goes on no other no one other than him sees him no profit no saint no angel brought clothes knows him his profit is he his messenger is he his message is he and his word is he he sent himself from himself to himself he sent himself from himself through himself to himself there is no intermediary or other than him this is said to people who believe that consciousness needs the mind in order to know itself again it's a very prevalent belief on the non-dual circuit that consciousness somehow doesn't know itself by itself it has to assume the form of the finite mind in order to discover its own nature it's not true consciousness is like the Sun it is self illuminating the Sun doesn't need to shine it's light on the moon in order to be reflected back on itself to illuminate itself the Sun illuminates itself simply by being itself it is self illuminating consciousness is self knowing it does not need to rise in the form of the finite mind in order to know itself in fact consciousness needs to rise in the form of the finite mind to know something that is apparently other than itself and that is exactly why consciousness rises in the form of the finite mind in order to bring manifestation into apparent existence in order to know something other than its own infinite being consciousness must localize itself in the body and there Seaton thereby seemed to become a temporary finite mind it is only in the form of that temporary finite mind that he can look out and no the world so in order to know something other than itself consciousness needs to assume the form of the finite mind in other words it must limit itself consciousness freely limits itself in order to bring manifestation into apparent existence but to know itself it doesn't need to rise in the form of the finite mind it knows itself simply by being itself simply by resting in its own being in fact for consciousness to be itself is to know itself it is the knowing of its own being no one other than he sees him there is no intermediary or means other than him because of this the prophet god bless him and give him peace said whoever knows their self knows their Lord he also said I knew my Lord through my lord beautiful I knew my Lord through my lord I consciousness know my own infinite being through my own infinite being I do not require any other agency to know myself as I am but the Prophet pointed out by that is that you are not you but you are him and there is no you it is not that he enters into you or that you enter into him or that he comes out of you or that you comes come out of him that does not mean that you have being or you are qualified by this or that attribute what it means is that you never were and you never will be whether through yourself or through him or in him or with you you have neither ceased to be nor are you existent you are him and he is you without any of these imperfections if you know your existence in this way then you know God if not then not the you in you the I in each of us is God's infinite being the very knowing with which each of us is now knowing their experience is God's knowing assuming the form of innumerable finite minds in order to shake take the shape of innumerable perceptions but if we direct our attention not towards the objects the perceptions that are known but that towards the eye that knows it as the finite mind goes on a journey as the finite mind turns its attention towards itself it is in most cases gradually divested of its limitations and stands revealed as the only true eye there is the eye of infinite consciousness God's infinite being what the Prophet pointed out by that is that you are not you but you are him and there is no you you never were and never will be whether through yourself or through him or in him or with him you have neither ceased to be nor are you existent you are him and he is you without any of these imperfections most of those who claim to know God make the knowledge of God depending dependent upon the passing away of existence and on the passing away of that passing away the knowledge of God does not require the passing away of existence or the passing away of that passing away or the passing away of that passing away because things have no existence and what does not have existence cannot pass away passing passing away implies the prior existence of the thing that passes away if you know yourself without existing and passing away then you know God if not then not what does he mean when he says the knowledge of God does not require the passing away of existence because things have no existence and what does not exist cannot pass away the word existence the word existence comes from two Latin words ex and sister a ex meaning out of and sister a meaning to stand the idea that an object that has existence stands out from the background of being that's how it seems to be it seems as if all these objects have their own existence and when the object disappears its existence disappears that's the conventional notion of objects what Bali Ani is saying is no things have no existence things do not exist no thing no object stands out from the background of consciousness in just the same way that no image stands out from the screen it appears to stand out from the screen the flowers appear to be in the foreground and the mountains appear to be in the background but no thing no image actually stands out from the screen in exactly the same way no experience again I'm not talking about some extraordinary experience I'm talking about the very experience that each of us is now having we're having thoughts feelings sensations and perceptions none of those experiences stand out from consciousness none of those experiences have their own independent existence they are all simply modulations of your own being of your own infinite being I've been told I only have five more minutes so I'm skipping through these lovely passages what is the way to knowledge of the self and knowledge of God that is or what is the way to the knowledge of consciousness and to the knowledge of the ultimate reality of the universe the answer is this it consists of being aware that God is and that nothing is with him and he is now as he has always been it consists of being aware that God is being aware that consciousness is or simply being aware of being aware this is the the direct path 'less path that we find in all the great religious and spiritual traditions it's called different things in different traditions self inquiry self remembering the practice of the presence of God sinking the mind into the heart focusing on the I am these are all different phrases that refer to the same non objective experience simply being aware of being aware he consists of being aware that God is that I am and that no thing is with him that from the point of view of consciousness all things are modulations of its own infinite being then God showed him what is other than himself as himself without the existence of what is other than him so he saw things as they are that is he saw them as the essence of God who is exalted without how or where the word things applies to the separate self and to other things because the existence of the separate self that is the temporary finite consciousness that seems to live in and share the limits of the body and the existence of things are equal in terms of being things when you know the things you know yourself and when you know yourself you know the Lord the ultimate reality of the universe because what you think is other than God is not other than God but you do not know it you see him and you do not know that you see him when you know the things you know yourself and when you know yourself you know the Lord when you see that all things that is all thoughts sensations and perceptions if you see that their reality is consciousness alone then you know that that consciousness is the ultimate reality of the universe in other words what you think of is other than God other than consciousness is not other than God but you do not know it you see him and you do not know that you see him that means our experience now when we look around ourselves the so-called outside experience of perceptions sights sounds tastes textures and smells we think they are objects we think they are stuff made out of matter we don't realize that it is consciousness itself that has freely assumed the form of the finite mind by apparently locating itself in a body in order to bring the world into existence in other words infinite consciousness freely overlooks the knowing of its own infinite being and in doing so assumes the form of the finite mind and it is only as the finite mind that it can know something called matter in other words infinite consciousness divides itself into a self on the inside made of mind and the world on the outside made of matter is why Rumi said knowledge of the world is a kind of ignorance he didn't mean by ignorance stupidity he meant ignoring the experience of an apparently finite mind sorry the experience of an apparently finite world made of matter requires the ignoring of the reality of experience it requires consciousness to overlook the knowing of its own infinite being and consciousness freely it's not a mistake consciousness freely gives up itself it brings in the world into existence through an act of sacrifice like a like a mother giving birth consciousness freely overlooks the knowing of its own infinite being in order to take the finite mind to take the form of the finite mind it is only as the finite mind the consciousness can know something called matter so the belief in the existence of stuff called matter is predicated on the belief that consciousness is finite that the mind is finite but if the mind explores its own nature if the mind takes a journey not outwards towards objects but inwards towards the nature of itself during this journey the mind is progressively divested of the limitations that thought and feeling have superimposed upon it and at some stage it stands revealed as infinite consciousness that is why I feel that the ultimate science is the science of consciousness the physicists of the future if they want to understand the nature of reality the stuff that the universe is made of the only place to look is in their own minds that sooner or later the evidence for the non-existence of stuff called Mattern will become I hope so compelling that any serious scientist let alone any serious lay person like most of us will realize that the only place to look for the reality of the universe whether we call that reality God or whether we call that reality matter is in our own minds and if our own minds turn their knowing turn turns its knowing upon itself and sinks its attention deeper and deeper and deeper into the source of its own knowing at some point there is this revelation the knowing with which I know my experience is eternal and infinite and everything I experience is made of that thank you [Applause]

Channel: scienceandnonduality

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Keywords: rupert spira, Nondual Understanding, Balyani, Nature of Consciousness

Id: a78jhhXtXgI

Length: 46min 9sec (2769 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 02 2017