Rupert Spira: A Gentle Practice to Remain Aware of Being

Hello, Natasha. Natasha. Yes, Natasha. Natasha. Well, what a marvelous background you have. Thank you. I love I love colors. That's That shows uh I stark contrast to my rather minimalist background. I've heard for you uh for the first time uh one week ago. I and I I would like to say that I really resonate with every word you say. Uh uh so I would really like to leave that what you are saying during daily life. So I have uh two questions maybe. First one, how during uh daily life, how to develop improve our life to be aware of being uh resting and in being and not to live uh life uh from mind when daily activities uh us inside and Natash when You're watching a movie. Yes. Most of the time the drama of the movie absorbs your attention. Okay. And you lose yourself in it. It's so terrifying or exciting or or you lose yourself in it and and you forget that you're just seeing a screen. You overlook the screen. It's exactly the same. Most of the time, our attention is absorbed or lost in the drama of experience, our thoughts, feelings, perceptions activities relationships the sights, sounds, tastes, etc. And as a result of that, we overlook the the background of being, the screen of being. But that doesn't mean that it's not present. When you overlook the screen in a movie, it doesn't the screen hasn't disappeared. It's always there. Yes. It's the same with being. And it's just a It's just a very very subtle shift of attention. It it's like it's not really taking a step back, but it's like taking a step back from the foreground of your experience. By the foreground of experience, I mean thoughts images feelings and sensations and so on. Just taking a step back into your being like like now let let's do it now. Natasha, you're listening to my voice. You're experiencing your own thoughts. Maybe there are some feelings. There's the perceptions of your all of this is the content of your experience. But as we're talking now, just remain aware of being. Yeah. Keep just just keep on just keep on talking. Keep on having the conversation. But you just remain remain in your being. Don't don't give yourself away completely to experience. You just remain in your being. Yeah. That that's hard for me. That's why I asked No, no, no. Don't don't don't tell yourself it's hard. That's just repeating an old story. It's so easy. It's so easy. You You're looking at my face on your screen. Yes. Can Can you see the screen? Yes. Yes. Yes. Is it Is it hard to see the screen? No. But when I do this, does it make it more difficult to see the screen? Is it more difficult to see the screen now? No. Yeah. Just attention always seeing the screen. Attention goes from the same. And so now, are you aware of your being as we're having the conversation? Yes. How how hard is it? How hard is it to be aware of your being? Yeah. It's so easy. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. And now let's let's imagine that it now we're having a a a pleasant, easy, enjoyable conversation, but imagine that life was a little bit tougher. There was a you were experiencing a difficult experience, a difficult relationship, a difficult a painful a painful sensation. It so sometimes experience intensifies and as a result we lose touch with our being but but even then you you you your being is still there. just move move our attention or awareness. A little shift of attent just a tiny shift of attention. It's you could say it's it's like the shift of attention that is required going from your from the image to the screen. Now, it's true. When the image is as colorful as your background and as exotic and interesting and colorful as your background, it may seem a little bit difficult to take one step back to the transparent screen behind it. And it's the same when our experience is as colorful and demanding as your backdrop, all those flowers and colors and shapes. When when experience is is that colorful, it may seem a little difficult to go back to the screen of being. But actually, it's not difficult. Yes. And of course, the screen of being is not really behind your experience any more than your screen is behind the image of my face. Your screen pervades the image of my face. Being pervades experience. or ju just get used to remaining in touch with being. So I mean the best probably is to practice that. Uh it's a gentle practice. Yes. It's just a gentle practice of remaining in touch with being. Okay. I was at um Heathrow airport recently checking in just before my last trip to America and just before I get got to check in, the woman was checking my passport and she said, "What what what do you do for a living? I I always rather dread that question." So I I said something like, "Oh, I I I write or something some rather evasive answer." And then she said, "What do you write about?" So I said, "Ah, I write about philosophy and meditation." Oh, she said, "I've never been able to meditate. Look, look, look at look at me." And she and she she pointed to the queue. We were having this chat about while she was checking passports and the queue was building up. She said, "Look at the queue here. I have to deal with all these people all day long. I can't possibly meditate." And I said, "No, no, no. You can you can meditate all day long." And she she said, "What do you mean I can meditate all day long? I can't possibly meditate all day long with a job like this." what do you mean by meditation? And and I said to her, just just remaining in touch with the feeling of being, just remaining in touch with your being in the midst of experience. And she paused and then this beautiful smile came over her face and she just said, "Is is is that what meditation is?" She said, "You mean I don't have to control my thoughts or stop my thoughts or focus on?" She said, "It's just remaining in touch with being." And and I said, "Yes, just remaining with being, remaining in being, remaining as being." And I could see I could see by the expression on her face, she she got it. And then I passed on and and Great. Can I ask you one more thing? Yeah. Uh during meditation, your meditation for example, I am not so sure if I am with my attention or awareness resting in my mind which is maybe just quiet or resting in my being. How can distinguish that? I mean that you are not just resting in mind which is maybe quiet or resting. Yes. Because your being is or awareness is present. Uh both in the presence of the activity of your mind and in the absence of any activity. that emptiness like uh no qualities. So yes, in other words, don't just awareness is not a blank state of mind. A blank state of mind would be like an empty screen saver. Your screen saver is probably a very colorful flower garden, but my screen saver is just an empty blank screen. That's the difference between us. But um so sometimes on my screen there are emails and images and sometimes there's just a blank empty screen. But the real screen is equally present when there are emails and images or when there's the screen saver. The screen saver is is a blank empty mind. And you're quite right to make a distinction between a blank empty mind which is a state of the mind which comes and goes and the real presence of awareness which is ever present both when there are thoughts and perceptions and in the absence of thoughts and perceptions. Okay. Thank you so much. Nice to meet you Natasha. Nice to meet you too, Robert. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Thank you. Bye. Bye.