Being Aware of Being Aware in the Midst of Experience

A woman asks how to remain aware of consciousness as the background of experience while thinking and perceiving.
This clip has been taken from Rupert's Retreat in Titignano, Italy in Summer 2019. To watch the full video please follow the link below.
non-duality.rupertspira.com/w...
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[@hisathyagmail]

the lady asking question explained where we all stand very thankful to her

[@michaelphillips5302]

Yes thought may be made out of awareness, but misidentifying with thought as who we ARE is the very definition of unconsciousness which is the entire basis for teachings from Eckhart Tolle, A Course in Miracles, & the biggest reason to take up a dedicated meditation practice since peace is our very nature, all 3 teachings/practice are for the same primary goal: consistent peace of mind. So it's not that either the lady or Rupert are "wrong". I sense rather that they're both just correctly reporting from their direct experiences. She's in the middle of undoing the painful ego thought system (labeling everything) of separation, & Rupert I sense might not have adopted it so much when he was younger at least to the point where suffering from identifying with thibking was a painful enough problem where it had to be addressed (I could be wrong don't know enough about his past. I'm happy to be proven wrong. Just can't think of any other viable reason. Other explanations?). That's likely why he senses she's unhappy with his answer. It took me years to see this about Rupert's teaching, if my observation is accurate. I think it's more about his past experiences. t's true yes there's nothing "wrong" with thinking. Although in my experience at least, it can be inaccurate for someone who is at the stage where they're suffering a lot BECAUSE of IDENTIFYING with thoughts made out of awareness all day long & they are now actually wanting the Peace of God(Love) instead. This is the very definition of the sleeping mind according to Echart/ACIM and is in fact basically a total mental/spiritual coma in my direct experience. But yes once enough sanity/peace is restored deep deep into mind training (guessing probably necessary for the large majority of the population were they to suddenly all want peace, & why Power of Now for example is so popular/helpful) undoing the completely insane ego thought system to at least where someone is back into like 90-100% intuitive mind (ACIM calls this thinking with our right mind, which means of course we also have a wrong mind), so yes then AT THAT POINT nothing wrong with thinking as much as we feel like, it's safe then we're not reacting to our thoughts by then, & the purity/quality/Holiness of thinking goes way up into only Loving thoughts. 💚Some people apparently don't need Eckharts teaching or ACIM to find true consistent peace & can just use say Ruperts' for example, so all true Spiritual teachings like these are Blessings for whoever makes an effort to discern them. It's all truly helpful. Gratitude 💚🕊🦢🐶🐥🐳🎈🌈

[@JumpingRock-oo7br]

​Brother can you eloborate in simpler.term?@@michaelphillips5302

[@marekvandenoever8786]

13:00 - "this is not mindfulness" so good, so important

[@Shunya0101]

I am grateful that such a teacher lives during my lifetime, and his sharings are being documented for generations to come. 🙏🏻

[@claudedupont7432]

This is not mindfulness but rather choices awareness.

[@limeros88]

What helped me with this is the realization that thoughts are constructions of memorised sensperceptions, pictures, smells, sounds, textures, tastes. So if one doesn't pay attention to the story of the thoughts one can experience the thoughts as sensations.

[@Roonitochka]

That's really helpful!

[@sidsh7011]

Beautiful. ..helped me realize my own predicament intuitively, thank you.

[@mitchellias]

This is exactly what I’ve been going through recently. The oscillation between the peaceful state of awareness and the object of experience. That I seem to lose the presence of awareness when I focus my attention on a specific action or thought. I have been practicing allowing the backgrounded awareness to permeate the focused foregrounded object during these times. I feel ever closer to being able to merge the distinction between the two, so that there will be just awareness, even if my attention is focused on an object or action. This is such a timely video for me. Much love to all.

[@jellewever1225]

I can totally relate to this as well... this helped me so much. Take care!

[@abhijithnandigama2562]

Same here. Did that distinction collapse now or still fluctuating ?

[@mitchellias]

@@abhijithnandigama2562 still fluctuating, which I think is natural given what the act of focusing is. To focus is to concentrate on one thing at a time.

[@yoseeev8306]

Hey! Curious, how should we react to this?

[@FabSia]

Exactly. Attention rises from Awareness (source) to the object (say thought). It can either be on the object or back home. How can it co exist at both places? I understand her question so well. Like if I pay attention to the thought, it would disappear. Thought and awareness does not seem to co exist. But a sensation and awareness does. I can be totally aware and feel the sensations. But with thought it's not possible. Only after thought has passed.

[@RafiDude]

"The world is not what we see, it is the way we see." When I take the world seriously, I am giving matter/mind/separate-self (ego) the permission to become real. Initially, to overcome our separate-self/ego, we need to put effort into gently relaxing the mind into Awareness. At some point in time (maybe in months/years), this Being Aware of Being Aware becomes the new default. In the current polarized environment, Being Aware of Being Aware is challenging.

[@oscar3490]

Thanks for writing. You have a nice way with words.

[@GrowthIntentionz]

It’s so “Unchallenging” to the mind that makes it so challenging 😆😆😆

[@Stayinthelite]

I am going to send a pic of what you just wrote to my friend bc I just got off the phone sharing a very similar perspective. . But as far as Being aware of being aware is challenging ....I would add it is if you say it is.

[@Westeroni3]

This is exactly a question I've had recently. Happy to see this was uploaded today!

[@FabSia]

She's right. I had the same question. It is possible to watch/pay attention to a sensation or a feeling, but not a thought. Thoughts and attention can't co exist. When I sit for meditation I can look between two thoughts but not the thought directly. Because when I pay attention to a thought, it disappears. Try it now. Tell your mind to think a thought and be aware, try paying total attention. No thought would come. Also, awareness=present moment= beyond time & space. Isn't it?

[@ruudpierre227]

“There’s nothing more to thinking then the knowing the knowing of thinking itself.” That statement which lead me to that realization really helped me out a lot thank you Rupert! Thoughts can become so stressful and negative that it’s easy to feel that they are enemies when in fact that’s far from the case. When the only thing to a thought is the awareness of it it really makes them nothing. Now after realizing this now the trick is how do I stay in that space especially in a busy workweek filled with what seems millions of thoughts. Hmm 🤔

[@TaxemicFanatic]

Speaking from experience and what I have understood from other teachers is that we abide in the space of awareness and the more we do this the less important thought becomes.

[@michaclaessen1265]

there is no trick needed for an "I" to stay in that space, because you ARE that space in which the "I" appears. It is rather a matter of taking a good look and coming to see that a busy workweek is just an apparent appearance in that which you already are, as what you are, which is all awareness.

[@KathyAnnCoe-McLean1133]

Nnn

[@DilbagSingh-sp2yp]

​@@michaclaessen1265 yes micha truly, a good look ,may be over and over until you really see it, longchenpa seems to be humours when he uttered the following words, "If something is not so trying will not make it so while if it is so there is no need to make it so though effort and achievement pretain to a relative perspective from the ultimate perspective of mind itself nothing whatsoever need be done"

[@tejaspuramwar5891]

Namaste from India Rupert :) Tat tvam asi (You are that) !!!

[@innerlight617]

Hari OM ॐ ॐ ❤

[@visagedelayla1]

I love you Mr. Spira💖💫🦋 Lots of Gratitude!!🌹

[@adelson33]

I would deeply enjoy a conversation - many conversations - with the lady speaking. I would kiss her brain. 💓🧠

[@yvonnemidgley8083]

Absolutely love this eloquent description of the subtlety of experience 🙏🙏🙏

[@annreneelanneau3309]

Thank you so much Rupert❤️

[@WigWamSam7]

Merging the distinction is my frustration too. My repulsion to an intrusive or upsetting thought relegates my awareness to the background and I take responsibility for the object (the thoughts). Once I fall out of the thought and become more aware, I realise it was just a thought but I still feel stained in someway by having the intrusive thoughts and it lingers within.

[@razoo9]

It's so clear now. Thank you 💕💕💕💕

[@yaimaghanem2962]

This is amazing!!! Clarifies so many questions! Thank you for asking this! Thank you Rupert for your answer!

[@GOzoRAW]

Thank you for your methodical patience in explanation Rupert. From Linsi in Malta 🇲🇹

[@audacityofimagineering7209]

Very Powerful sir. Thank you so much.

[@buddymc]

These talks have opened up and given me a clearer understanding of all the Abhidhamma teachings I had received years ago. Thank you.

[@jeffp2695]

This question is fantastic

[@SamayaKefaliGermain]

Absolutely Absolute ❤❤❤. Thanks so much Rupert 🥰💞🙏

[@larrygreen7522]

So happy I found the work of Rupert. It resonates with something deeply inside. I get confused a lot. When he interacts with others I feel so connected. Thanks again, as I journey on as well.

[@DigESource]

Thank you Rupert!

[@bqfilms]

I've been doing body scanning + listening to talks, make for a calmer meditation, this seriously was a game changer, the experience of awareness changed as he started explaining the duality between the object and awareness is not even there

[@fabianandresdemurogarcia8725]

Thank you very much Rupert!

[@kathrynphillips3710]

huge respect for rupert, his pure loving kindness and outstanding patience in helping teach all who are ready open and willing to re- awaken to re-discovering their true self and the total reality of pure consciousness 💗🙏💗 Love him..🙏

[@kathrynphillips3710]

Love the analogy of the screen 💗🙏 it truly helps to explain the reality of everything as awareness being one with everything, as everything being a part but never seperate from the all that is 🙏💗

[@dvrnise]

Very well put. This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing!

[@pilargarcia6724]

Genial!!! Muchísimas gracias!!!

[@aquariandude3195]

Good questions and good explanations of the truth

[@pepacastillo408]

Awesome!!! Thanks.

[@maikiling8286]

Thank you!

[@JorgeRodriguez-nx5eq]

I think that the questioner is still identifying herself as the “experiencer” and and not as the empty field of awareness where both the the experience and the experiencer arises

[@kwixotic]

True but that's true for virtually everybody in attendance at the retreat who might just hopefully come to realize the fallacy of that.

[@davidsweeney111]

the questioner certainly sounds like a spiritual being, angel or even god

[@TaxemicFanatic]

How does one identify the sound of particular beings as God but not others? Isn't this just mind identification?

[@feelsokayman3959]

Literally everything is God

[@jgarciajr82]

I knew god was a woman 😆

[@TaxemicFanatic]

@@jgarciajr82 careful now, Jesus only had old testament language to explain what he'd found and ultimately it was his proclamation that he was God's son that got him killed. If you're going to say you're the bosses son you must also allow this for everyone else lol, or even better know that you are that but keep it to yourself.

[@jgarciajr82]

@@TaxemicFanatic So serious. I was joking. Egos don't see jokes do they? You didn't see your like from me? 😆. Have fun with life this is god speaking wisdom.

[@beverleysmith8704]

Great question.

[@arjunjain5714]

i think Rupert here helps the seekers break free of the "idea of meditation" which seems to be culturally rooted in separation or a deep-dive escape from the current experience into another thought-shutting seemingly 'silent' experience, without the knowledge that ANY 'experience state' itself is made of pure awareness.❤

[@ecologiesofmindfulness564]

Great points.. I would add that both cessation (total or partial absence of thought but it could be any sensory experience) andddd active thought/active sensory experience are both awareness.

[@PsychedelicActualization]

That stillness of mind itself becomes the empty awareness of awareness. You are it ❤️🙏🏽

[@borkapajic4154]

🙏So just we See Gods Presence manifest As..💖Thank You Rupert🌺for sharing🌠🌠🌠

[@Sethan777]

Every single thought, is a pointer to Awareness.

[@archiekennedy4741]

The content of thought is compelling. Instead of focus on the content, she should instead consider the texture, speed, movement of mind directly. She is recalling the compelling content. Content is a seducer

[@evanrose3459]

Great edit! That’s how you’re supposed to do it.

[@thegaspatthegateway]

I feel the angst in this video is like, trying to stay awake/"aware of being aware" when you're so tired you're nodding off to sleep/"attachment or repulsion to objects." The natural state doesn't seem to be a permanent awakeness, and it isn't an effort to fall asleep. The difference is, sometimes "falling asleep "is falling into a depression for months at a time, which is far less preferable. Is it the ADHD? Dissociation? Years of isolation and "living in my head?" I've never been able to lucid dream, but this reminds me of listening to people who have a natural knack for it.

[@thegaspatthegateway]

huh, somehow I was so in my head that I literally was zoned out alar 9:43 and misses what he said make the effort until it's no longer an effort sounds good

[@alondraacosta-mora6504]

i am being aware of being aware of my shitty situation.

[@karimali8269]

🤣 ‘ you’re Beautiful

[@ExtendingLovePresence]

Situations don't matter. Life is just a dream. 😂 😍 ❤️

[@TaxemicFanatic]

It is the ego that plays the role of the victim of a life situation.

[@ExtendingLovePresence]

@@TaxemicFanatic exactly

[@kiplambel4052]

What can you say about the nature of the one who is aware?

[@charlesgodwin2191]

Experience is the content of Awareness. Awareness is Being's way of knowing itself. Content consists of qualia/qualities of impressions received and constructed through the five senses, represented and interpreted according to given and acquired filters.

[@869475397]

There is awareness of thoughts.

[@calwendreamkeeper3556]

Standing as awareness or not, I will always choose the comfy bed over the bed of nails.

[@malia.karalizperkins1776]

When I become aware in a public speaking I become self conscious and lose track of what I was trying to say

[@borkapajic4154]

💖Thank You🌺for sharing Rupert🌠Sometime in the moment of distraction of not being fully present or Aleart "we forget our True lD and give in to temptation to object or person to have p o w e r over us" so that we Are pulled away from What lS Real and loose our Self momentarily in the temporary object suggested by the senses to be source of our good or happiness.. Untill we are awaken and re-turn back to our True Self in the Realization oh' No my Good lS Always Within Always of THAT Which lS Beyond sense perception or thought suggetion🌠

[@J0nnyTheJ3w]

A thought I had about his screen analogy - The screen is still the screen without the movie, but there is no movie without the screen. In other words, there cannot be a thought without the awareness inherently present in that thought. I think that is what he means when he describes the thoughts as an 'activity' of awareness.

[@mukeshdesai2862]

4:45 MIMP 14:02 14:33 16:16

[@DanKro]

Opening up consciousness with what is means being humble enough to know what you don't know. If you know a thing, it can never be as complete as what is. Life is continuous now. A thought is an indification with limited energy about what is. The evolution of consciousness. I'm aware that I'm aware of my awareness. It's like putting mirrors in front of each other and reflecting without ending. Namasté 🙏🫶

[@davidoneill7627]

Socrates said Know Tyself. Beyond the intellect,in the realm of the heart,in the realm of feeling,not thinking,dwells the infinite reality.You cannot explain the unexplainable,you cannot describe the indescribable,and in the same way as a recipe can never satisfy our hunger,we as human beings are designed to feel that joy,that contentment,that love that resides in the hearts of all.

[@nietztsuki]

I am in accord with Rupert's spiritual philosophy, but I wish he would re-think the "movie vs screen" analogy. This analogy in my view suggests dualism, since in our experience the movie is generated from pure light from the projector, and the screen is a passive physical component. A more appropriate analogy, in my humble opinion, would be the analogy of the "movie vs light from the projector" as it passes through the film of our brain and sense organs, where the movie is the content of consciousness and the light from the projector is pure awareness (consciousness).

[@utdadda]

The screen vs movie analogy is better because it can teach us that the screen (awareness) can still exist without the movie (objects). Many Vedanta teachers use this analogy too. With the projector light vs movie analogy, when light is off, the movie is off too!

[@sri0utube0ram]

If you are experiencing awareness then you aren't going really "get it". Awareness isn't an object to be experienced. The lady repeatedly says "I can stand as awareness with respect to other objects except thoughts ". I think she might be really standing as a thought watching these experiences and objects of that experience. When you have an afterthought that you had experienced thoughts, it means that your mind got carried away with those thoughts and you weren't looking at those thoughts as objects.

[@-AD--]

wow

[@nickbaigent2714]

Rupert, when you say “knowing” do you mean aware of…or having knowledge of something ?

[@ajsalonius8455]

A year later…..love

[@blueapple9077]

Robert Adams Satsang,,,,,

[@dr.susheelkhemariya8966]

Wahwah AhaAha wonderful Chamatkaric Vishmaypurna wonderful DhanyabadDhanyabadDhanyabad thanksgretitude Rupertspira dhanyabadDhanyabadDhanyabad Wahwah AhaAha wonderful

[@nsbd90now]

Right at about 13:55 is really good. However, if the object is frosted doughnut, y'know there is going to be an attraction and constriction of awareness.

[@govindatimilsina9530]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@MaMaRobynBird]

❤

[@anabelchamber4488]

🙏

[@correiapnatalia]

What videos should I watch before this one in order to understand better what is being discussed here? I came across Rupert Spira through the book of Rhonda Byrne The Greatest Secret and started watching his videos as a side study...

[@Fairy-8080]

„The highest meditation“ from rupert spira explains this topic she is asking also very well. Maybe this helps

[@dhvanishah682]

Can someone tag the video where Rupert talks about that witnessing is just a half way stage its called some kind of samadhi but it's just half way and we eventually need to collapse the distance ...can't find that video

[@Fairy-8080]

„The three stages of understanding „ is one you might be looking for and also „are there stages“ have fun🤗

[@ajsalonius8455]

Some meals.... I’d rather be thinking....grin

[@artofunk]

Awareness...........God................

[@eddieneal9920]

I am aware that I am aware, then I am aware that I am aware that I am aware, and then I am aware that I am aware that I am aware that I am aware, and on it goes forever and who is this I that is aware and aware and aware etc. Any ideas? Any help?Who is this I that I Am?

[@moonglow6639]

I don't understand what her problem is. Why does she want to be aware or be aware of being aware ?

[@ExtendingLovePresence]

because its the most beautiful thing to experience

[@davidkim2005]

Cause that's your true nature

[@oneofthepeoplehere]

That's one way that people pose the question but the "problem" is really more about identity. Most people's seat of identity is in their thoughts and bodily sensations. They think that who and what they are is their thoughts and body (or as I say, bodily sensations, since the evidence of a body equates to sensations and perceptions of/from a body). After some investigation some people realize that since thoughts, ideas, beliefs, wordviews, sights, sounds, feelings, body shape, size, appearance, etc. are always changing - but still there is a Self that has been an unchanging witness to all of these changes, that it has been a mistake to think of the seat of identity as lying within those ephemeral things especially since there has been something more concrete underneath. That "more concrete" thing is the unchanging awareness itself. The goal of this practice is to readjust the seat of one's identity from the thoughts and bodily sensations (sometimes also encapsulated by the term body-mind) to the awareness itself. That's why she is asking about that. She means to "distill" the awareness from the objects within it. It is also impossible, since that Awareness is only the subject and cannot be made an object no matter what the practice. But this line of questioning is a natural result in the transition of identity from the former to the latter.

[@snapcracklefizzle9954]

@@oneofthepeoplehere goode one

[@donnatotten5854]

My humble understanding of late, there is no need to be aware of awareness. What ever is happening you do not have control of. It is simply arising in awareness. Whether that is being lost in thought and the suffering that can bring or being aware of being lost in thought. There are not two. The whole point of non-duality. Just be lost in thought and embody the feeling it invokes. You are being lived by awareness, not the other way around.

[@something-about-us]

Get rid of that goddamn I 😂 - robert adams

[@allertonoff4]

i'm kinda schiozogenic .. i don't really percieve rules & boundaries .. i was hypereducated before school by a really smart Scandinavian immigrant .. my MOM

[@stupid4President]

Always seeing the moving AND the screen. TBH, that sounds annoying :D

[@stupid4President]

@the12eternals good point!

[@cosmicgliderBruce]

Who is it that seems to be unhappy with? (I can see that you are...) lol DRAWING [linguistic patterning]. Quite poignant Rupert; distinct from... TY🙏🌈💓🤽🌅

[@PoleaM]

❤