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The Essence of Meditation #1
Being Aware of Being Aware
Everybody is aware, all seven billion of us. We are aware of thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions. All people share the experience of being aware, but relatively few people are aware that they are aware. Most people’s lives consist of a flow of thoughts, images, ideas, feelings, sensations, sights, sounds, and so on. Very few people ask, “What is it that knows this flow of thoughts, feelings, and perceptions? With what am I aware of my experience?”
The knowing of our being—or rather, awareness’s knowing of its own being in us—is our primary experience, our most fundamental and intimate experience. It is in this experience that all the peace, happiness, and love we have ever longed for reside. The happiness we have sought for so long outside of ourselves, in situations, objects, and relationships, turns out to be always present, always available, in the simple knowing of our own being as it is.
The knowing of our own being shines in each one of us as the experience “I am” or “I am aware,” or simply as the thought “I.” Because this simplest, most obvious, most familiar, and intimate experience is to the mind not a thing, or nothing, it is overlooked or forgotten by the vast majority of humanity. The overlooking of our own being is the root cause of all unhappiness and, therefore, the root cause of our search for happiness. What is the nature of this experience of being aware? The contemplations in this collection will lead readers toward their own experiential understanding of that which we all call “I.”
Being Aware of Being Aware is the first and introductory volume in the Essence of Meditation series of collected meditations on the fundamentals of non-duality. Each volume will include six essays, compiled from contemplations led by Rupert Spira at retreats.
The knowing of our being—or rather, awareness’s knowing of its own being in us—is our primary experience, our most fundamental and intimate experience. It is in this experience that all the peace, happiness, and love we have ever longed for reside. The happiness we have sought for so long outside of ourselves, in situations, objects, and relationships, turns out to be always present, always available, in the simple knowing of our own being as it is.
The knowing of our own being shines in each one of us as the experience “I am” or “I am aware,” or simply as the thought “I.” Because this simplest, most obvious, most familiar, and intimate experience is to the mind not a thing, or nothing, it is overlooked or forgotten by the vast majority of humanity. The overlooking of our own being is the root cause of all unhappiness and, therefore, the root cause of our search for happiness. What is the nature of this experience of being aware? The contemplations in this collection will lead readers toward their own experiential understanding of that which we all call “I.”
Being Aware of Being Aware is the first and introductory volume in the Essence of Meditation series of collected meditations on the fundamentals of non-duality. Each volume will include six essays, compiled from contemplations led by Rupert Spira at retreats.
128 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2013
About the author
Rupert Spira
73 books603 followersFrom an early age Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality. At the age of seventeen he learnt to meditate, and began a twenty-year period of study and practice in the classical Advaita Vedanta tradition under the guidance of Dr. Francis Roles and Shantananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the north of India. During this time he immersed himself in the teachings of P. D. Ouspensky, Krishnamurti, Rumi, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta and Robert Adams, until he met his teacher, Francis Lucille, in 1997. Francis introduced Rupert to the Direct Path teachings of Atmananda Krishna Menon, the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism (which he had received from his teacher, Jean Klein), and, more importantly, directly indicated to him the true nature of experience. Rupert lives in the UK and holds regular meetings and retreats in Europe and the USA.
www.rupertspira.com
https://transparencyofthings.substack...
www.rupertspira.com
https://transparencyofthings.substack...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 143 reviews
March 10, 2018
"Awareness is aware of awareness."
Some books arrive in one's life through very special paths. This book was one of those.
One day my hand waved on its own at a stranger in the library. The stranger turned out to be a familiar face from years back, and some days later he gave me this book to read, because "he had a feeling I should read it."
The visual appearance of the book is beautiful. Amazing simplicity of appearance; simple, pleasant feeling material of the cover with harmonious color. A small book with beautiful fonts, very lightweight, oozing momentous atmosphere. The looks of the book send a message that these words are going to count. And they did.
This book is a powerful technology. Spira's advice is to carry on meditating to let the words chosen for the book to properly sink it. The essence is simple: becoming aware of being aware. Unraveling a space within where a certain state of meta-awareness is present, allowing pure illuminating awareness come into being. The words and conclusions are circular and complex, yet in the most simple format. For this book is trying to do one thing, to promote this state of awareness as the fundamental resting state of the mind.
Whilst reading and meditating on the book I noticed a particular effect, which was my mind's natural ability to bring itself to this state of pure awareness. It is the simultaneous state of complete non-attachment, and pure presence. Relaxed focus, and unlimited attention.
"A mind that is accustomed to repeatedly dissolving in its source or essence becomes progressively saturated with its inherent peace. When such a mind rises again from the ocean of awareness, its activity makes that peace available to humanity."
Also, one of the most interesting ideas that came from this book was the idea of the original sin being the ignorance of the essential element of experience - the awareness of consciousness itself, this in religious terminology would mean that turning away from God was an act of the mind.
"In other words, we have forgotten who we are and what we essentially are and have mistaken ourselves instead for a collection of thoughts, images, memories, feelings, sensations, and perceptions."
This perspective, which derives from Advaita Vedanta tradition, opens an outlook that can be vital for the peaceful being of many humans on this earth. An amazing little book! Would like to purchase a number of copies and leave them on bus stops for people to find.
And the ultimate favorite from the romantic Rumi, who captured something wonderful about a profound human connection here...
"In the existence of your live, I become non-existent. The non-existence linked to you is better than anything I ever found in existence."
Some books arrive in one's life through very special paths. This book was one of those.
One day my hand waved on its own at a stranger in the library. The stranger turned out to be a familiar face from years back, and some days later he gave me this book to read, because "he had a feeling I should read it."
The visual appearance of the book is beautiful. Amazing simplicity of appearance; simple, pleasant feeling material of the cover with harmonious color. A small book with beautiful fonts, very lightweight, oozing momentous atmosphere. The looks of the book send a message that these words are going to count. And they did.
This book is a powerful technology. Spira's advice is to carry on meditating to let the words chosen for the book to properly sink it. The essence is simple: becoming aware of being aware. Unraveling a space within where a certain state of meta-awareness is present, allowing pure illuminating awareness come into being. The words and conclusions are circular and complex, yet in the most simple format. For this book is trying to do one thing, to promote this state of awareness as the fundamental resting state of the mind.
Whilst reading and meditating on the book I noticed a particular effect, which was my mind's natural ability to bring itself to this state of pure awareness. It is the simultaneous state of complete non-attachment, and pure presence. Relaxed focus, and unlimited attention.
"A mind that is accustomed to repeatedly dissolving in its source or essence becomes progressively saturated with its inherent peace. When such a mind rises again from the ocean of awareness, its activity makes that peace available to humanity."
Also, one of the most interesting ideas that came from this book was the idea of the original sin being the ignorance of the essential element of experience - the awareness of consciousness itself, this in religious terminology would mean that turning away from God was an act of the mind.
"In other words, we have forgotten who we are and what we essentially are and have mistaken ourselves instead for a collection of thoughts, images, memories, feelings, sensations, and perceptions."
This perspective, which derives from Advaita Vedanta tradition, opens an outlook that can be vital for the peaceful being of many humans on this earth. An amazing little book! Would like to purchase a number of copies and leave them on bus stops for people to find.
And the ultimate favorite from the romantic Rumi, who captured something wonderful about a profound human connection here...
"In the existence of your live, I become non-existent. The non-existence linked to you is better than anything I ever found in existence."
March 14, 2021
Rupert Spira excels once again in providing an exceptionally clear and accessible guide in plain English to awakening the knowledge of the essence of our own minds—the simple experience of being aware of awareness itself. Like his previous books, this book is basically an extended contemplation to be taken slowly, leading to meditation, which is not, as he says, something we do, but what we are. I highly recommend it for anyone who has a serious interest in knowing the nature of their own being.
February 6, 2018
Excellent read by a very clear author who has the direct experience of what he is talking about. Mainly deals with the idea of awareness or pure consciousness as per the meaning of nondual Vendanta and Eastern mysticism.
This is a small and compact book, but lends itself to being read again and again for deeper insight. I recommend this to anyone interested in the nondual teachings minus any historical background in Eastern teachings, or prerequisite understanding.
This is a small and compact book, but lends itself to being read again and again for deeper insight. I recommend this to anyone interested in the nondual teachings minus any historical background in Eastern teachings, or prerequisite understanding.
January 31, 2019
March 2026 Interesting to read this alongside Joseph Goldstein’s Mindfulness, a Buddhist approach. Deepened my understanding of both in a way that led to some rich reflections on the nature of meditation.
“The mind can only stand as such by attending to an object, so when the mind asks itself the question’Am I aware?’ it embarks on a journey in an objectless direction - a pathless path - away from thoughts, images, feelings, sensations and perceptions and towards it’s essential, irreducible essence of pure awareness.”
Jan 2019 Wow. There are not enough stars to properly convey how much I loved this book. It is the best book I’ve read on the experience and practice of meditation, and I’ve read a few. Highly recommended for those wanting to understand the essence of meditation.
“The mind can only stand as such by attending to an object, so when the mind asks itself the question’Am I aware?’ it embarks on a journey in an objectless direction - a pathless path - away from thoughts, images, feelings, sensations and perceptions and towards it’s essential, irreducible essence of pure awareness.”
Jan 2019 Wow. There are not enough stars to properly convey how much I loved this book. It is the best book I’ve read on the experience and practice of meditation, and I’ve read a few. Highly recommended for those wanting to understand the essence of meditation.
December 5, 2019
Rupert Spira is a teacher of non-duality (advaita vedanta as it is called in the East).
This is a summary of Spiras talks on youtube. When reading his words they somehow become more flat than when listening to him answering a question. Spira lays out a clear explanation of why there is just Awareness and why the perception that there exist a subject-object relation is illusory.
Awareness is simply there; we just fail to notice it most of the time which is why the book is called being aware of being aware. Thoughts, sensations, and perceptions are a part of our awareness but we these things manage to trick us into believing that the person writing this review is real. In fact writing is just happening. There is really no one doing it.
I have to admit that I have yet to fully grasp the implications of non-duality and especially the consequences it will have on my life (if it is true). I would recommend viewing Spiras talks on youtube first and foremost if one is interested in learning more about non-duality.
This is a summary of Spiras talks on youtube. When reading his words they somehow become more flat than when listening to him answering a question. Spira lays out a clear explanation of why there is just Awareness and why the perception that there exist a subject-object relation is illusory.
Awareness is simply there; we just fail to notice it most of the time which is why the book is called being aware of being aware. Thoughts, sensations, and perceptions are a part of our awareness but we these things manage to trick us into believing that the person writing this review is real. In fact writing is just happening. There is really no one doing it.
I have to admit that I have yet to fully grasp the implications of non-duality and especially the consequences it will have on my life (if it is true). I would recommend viewing Spiras talks on youtube first and foremost if one is interested in learning more about non-duality.
June 6, 2022
ugh. this could have easily been compressed into one page. the seperate self is an illusion. only awareness can be aware of itself. awareness does not get lost, it only gets clouded through the mind. essentially there's no actual 'way' to enlightenment because enlightenment is not an experience but rather a kind of remembrance. i don't know if spira's youtube talks are any better but this was not it. the repetitive structure made it really hard to get through although i appreciated some of the metaphors the author provided for a clearer understanding.
January 15, 2018
หนังสือเล่มนี้นำเสนอมุมมองอันเรียบง่ายเกี่ยวกับการภาวนาที่ไปพ้นจากคำสอนศาสนาและพิธีกรรม ในความเรียบง่ายนี้เอง เราจะได้เห็นความเชื่อมโยงของแก่นคำสอนของศาสนาต่างๆ เกี่ยวกับการภาวนา ซึ่งทำให้ผมรู้สึกว่าสิ่งที่เป็นความจริงย่อมเป็นความจริง ไม่ว่าเราจะเรียกมันว่าอะไร ในหนังสือเล่มนี้ การภาวนาไม่ใช่สิ่งที่เราทำ แต่คือสิ่งที่เราเป็น การตระหนักรู้ไม่ใช่สภาวะพิเศษที่ต้องอาศัยความพยายามในการบรรลุถึง แต่การตระหนักรู้มีอยู่แล้วในตัวเราทุกคน เพียงหวนกลับไปตระหนักถึงมัน
June 30, 2026
The Screen Behind the Movie
You are a self. Intuitively this seems like the most basic fact about your existence. Yet, in the first months of your life, your selfhood wasn't fully developed. You had some body awareness, but no self-concept. Awareness, then, is even more foundational for our existence than selfhood. Everything that we experience - our thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions - is experienced by means of our awareness. Except in our sleep, we are thus continually in the state of being aware. It is the continuous element in all changing experience. But are we ever actually aware of this awareness itself?
'Being Aware of Being Aware' is the title of this book by Rupert Spira in which he offers meditations on what is known in the Vedantic tradition as the "Direct Path", whose culmination is the "recognition of the presence, the primacy and the nature of awareness - or, in religious language, spirit or God's infinite being - which transcends all knowledge and experience."
One of the first things Spira notes is something that we can probably all confirm from our experience: Being aware itself usually remains unnoticed due to the exclusive focus of our attention on the objects of experience. A helpful image to understand this is the movie screen: Often when watching a movie, we are so absorbed in it that we forget that there is a screen at all, even though the screen is what makes watching the movie possible. The content of the screen keeps changing (just as the contents of our experience), but the screen itself never changes (just as being aware itself does not change). Just as the screen is never affected by what happens in the movie it shows, awareness itself can never be perturbed by anything that happens in experience. In this understanding, awareness (or being aware) is inherently whole and eternal - and this is why Spira equates it with what religious language calls God's infinite being.
To make sense of this affirmation we need to keep in mind that this is a non-dual perspective which claims that the separation between subject and object does not exist, except as an illusion. While it may seem that I am a person with my own thoughts, living in an actually existing world and interacting with actually existing beings and things, in fact there is only one cosmic mind (or mind-at-large as others have called it). Everything I seem to perceive is an illusion and my separation from all other beings is also an illusion as they are part of the cosmic mind just as I am.
While, intuitively, this might seem highly implausible, to me it started to make more sense when I considered the phenomenon of dreaming: In my dream I interact with a world that seems totally real and with other separate beings that act totally independent of me. Only after waking up from the dream do I realize that the world I inhabited in my dream was a construct of my mind, and the other beings that appeared in my dream were also not actually separate from me, but imaginings of my mind. Just as everything seems completely real in my dream while I'm still dreaming, so the distinction between me and different objects, the others and the world seems undeniable. The equivalent to waking up from a dream is the spiritual experience of awakening in which the absence of duality and separation is experienced.
In this understanding my separate self is nothing but a contraction of infinite awareness: "We have forgotten who or what we essentially are and have mistaken ourself instead for a collection of thoughts, images, memories, feelings, sensations and perceptions."
Spira uses religious language to illuminate this further: God's infinite being shines through this contraction as the longing for God or the desire for happiness. Original sin is the overlooking, ignoring or missing of awareness itself (or God's infinite being). The attraction of grace is the pull of inherently relaxed, peaceful awareness on the contraction of the separate self.
If we understand our separate self or mind to be a contraction of infinite awareness, we can see how becoming aware of being aware is not possible by means of the mind. The parallel with the phenomenon of dreaming once again makes this point clearer: A character in a dream cannot know the dreamer's mind because he is himself a limitation (or contraction) of the dreamer's mind.
So what's to be done? In a sense the "Direct Path" is a non-practice in which there can be no effort. Because the separate self is a contraction, more effort just increases the contraction. The required move is more like the unclenching of a clenched fist - letting awareness relax the focus of its attention (the objects of experience) and thus letting awareness be itself and rest in itself. Spira claims that this is the only form of meditation or prayer in which the separate self is not maintained, which makes it the highest form of meditation.
Where do I stand on all of this? After having read this book and a few other perspectives on non-dualism, I can say that it doesn't seem as absurd as I thought it was initially. The most important question that remains open for me is the following: Why would these contractions in awareness (which manifest as our separate selves), appear in pure awareness (or oneness) in the first place? In religious lingo the same question could be asked as: Why would God create anything at all? Or in metaphysics: Why is there anything rather than nothing? Especially in the first two formulations this question carries particular weight. The existence of separate selves causes a lot of suffering. The good enabled by creation has to outweigh the enormous amount of suffering and evil that appeared in creation. While there are some possible answers to these objections, I haven't found them to be very convincing.
My second struggle with this perspective is of a more practical nature: Cognitively knowing that I am aware is easy, even self-evident - but, as already mentioned above, the experience of being aware of being aware is not accessible by rational means alone. For years I have been trying different forms of meditation on and off (even did a specific "Direct Approach" guided meditation series more recently) and while I liked many of them and found them to have several positive effects - I came nowhere near this awakening experience.
Lastly, I'm not quite sure how to situate love and other values which I find most meaningful in my life, in the framework of non-dualism. If we don't actually exist as separate entities and if the world and everything we perceive is just an illusion, isn't love as an inter-personal phenomenon also just an illusion? If I deconstruct my self what is there left for those around me to enter into relationship with? How can there be a meaningful I-Thou relationship when both I and Thou are nothing more than figments of our imagination? Is it God loving himself all the way down? Is this all there ever was?
You are a self. Intuitively this seems like the most basic fact about your existence. Yet, in the first months of your life, your selfhood wasn't fully developed. You had some body awareness, but no self-concept. Awareness, then, is even more foundational for our existence than selfhood. Everything that we experience - our thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions - is experienced by means of our awareness. Except in our sleep, we are thus continually in the state of being aware. It is the continuous element in all changing experience. But are we ever actually aware of this awareness itself?
'Being Aware of Being Aware' is the title of this book by Rupert Spira in which he offers meditations on what is known in the Vedantic tradition as the "Direct Path", whose culmination is the "recognition of the presence, the primacy and the nature of awareness - or, in religious language, spirit or God's infinite being - which transcends all knowledge and experience."
One of the first things Spira notes is something that we can probably all confirm from our experience: Being aware itself usually remains unnoticed due to the exclusive focus of our attention on the objects of experience. A helpful image to understand this is the movie screen: Often when watching a movie, we are so absorbed in it that we forget that there is a screen at all, even though the screen is what makes watching the movie possible. The content of the screen keeps changing (just as the contents of our experience), but the screen itself never changes (just as being aware itself does not change). Just as the screen is never affected by what happens in the movie it shows, awareness itself can never be perturbed by anything that happens in experience. In this understanding, awareness (or being aware) is inherently whole and eternal - and this is why Spira equates it with what religious language calls God's infinite being.
To make sense of this affirmation we need to keep in mind that this is a non-dual perspective which claims that the separation between subject and object does not exist, except as an illusion. While it may seem that I am a person with my own thoughts, living in an actually existing world and interacting with actually existing beings and things, in fact there is only one cosmic mind (or mind-at-large as others have called it). Everything I seem to perceive is an illusion and my separation from all other beings is also an illusion as they are part of the cosmic mind just as I am.
While, intuitively, this might seem highly implausible, to me it started to make more sense when I considered the phenomenon of dreaming: In my dream I interact with a world that seems totally real and with other separate beings that act totally independent of me. Only after waking up from the dream do I realize that the world I inhabited in my dream was a construct of my mind, and the other beings that appeared in my dream were also not actually separate from me, but imaginings of my mind. Just as everything seems completely real in my dream while I'm still dreaming, so the distinction between me and different objects, the others and the world seems undeniable. The equivalent to waking up from a dream is the spiritual experience of awakening in which the absence of duality and separation is experienced.
In this understanding my separate self is nothing but a contraction of infinite awareness: "We have forgotten who or what we essentially are and have mistaken ourself instead for a collection of thoughts, images, memories, feelings, sensations and perceptions."
Spira uses religious language to illuminate this further: God's infinite being shines through this contraction as the longing for God or the desire for happiness. Original sin is the overlooking, ignoring or missing of awareness itself (or God's infinite being). The attraction of grace is the pull of inherently relaxed, peaceful awareness on the contraction of the separate self.
If we understand our separate self or mind to be a contraction of infinite awareness, we can see how becoming aware of being aware is not possible by means of the mind. The parallel with the phenomenon of dreaming once again makes this point clearer: A character in a dream cannot know the dreamer's mind because he is himself a limitation (or contraction) of the dreamer's mind.
So what's to be done? In a sense the "Direct Path" is a non-practice in which there can be no effort. Because the separate self is a contraction, more effort just increases the contraction. The required move is more like the unclenching of a clenched fist - letting awareness relax the focus of its attention (the objects of experience) and thus letting awareness be itself and rest in itself. Spira claims that this is the only form of meditation or prayer in which the separate self is not maintained, which makes it the highest form of meditation.
Where do I stand on all of this? After having read this book and a few other perspectives on non-dualism, I can say that it doesn't seem as absurd as I thought it was initially. The most important question that remains open for me is the following: Why would these contractions in awareness (which manifest as our separate selves), appear in pure awareness (or oneness) in the first place? In religious lingo the same question could be asked as: Why would God create anything at all? Or in metaphysics: Why is there anything rather than nothing? Especially in the first two formulations this question carries particular weight. The existence of separate selves causes a lot of suffering. The good enabled by creation has to outweigh the enormous amount of suffering and evil that appeared in creation. While there are some possible answers to these objections, I haven't found them to be very convincing.
My second struggle with this perspective is of a more practical nature: Cognitively knowing that I am aware is easy, even self-evident - but, as already mentioned above, the experience of being aware of being aware is not accessible by rational means alone. For years I have been trying different forms of meditation on and off (even did a specific "Direct Approach" guided meditation series more recently) and while I liked many of them and found them to have several positive effects - I came nowhere near this awakening experience.
Lastly, I'm not quite sure how to situate love and other values which I find most meaningful in my life, in the framework of non-dualism. If we don't actually exist as separate entities and if the world and everything we perceive is just an illusion, isn't love as an inter-personal phenomenon also just an illusion? If I deconstruct my self what is there left for those around me to enter into relationship with? How can there be a meaningful I-Thou relationship when both I and Thou are nothing more than figments of our imagination? Is it God loving himself all the way down? Is this all there ever was?
January 3, 2024
I had been searching for a spiritual book to read for the new year and stumbled upon this one on my Kindle Unlimited. I'm grateful to the universe for guiding me to this book.
The book revolves around the simple yet profound question: What is aware of our experience?
Spira argues that most people get caught up in the stream of thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, overlooking the fundamental awareness that underlies them all. He guides readers towards uncovering this inherent awareness, the source of true peace and happiness.
Spira translates an old truth into modern terms that everybody can grasp. He shows that recognizing our true nature -- pure awareness -- does not require a spiritual journey because it is already there in the here and now. He illustrates this using the analogy of a movie shown on a screen. The ever-changing image and the ever-present screen are inseparable. Other excellent analogies are employed in the poem, such as a modest wave on an infinite ocean.
"Deep sleep is not the absence of awareness; it is the awareness of absence."
In Rupert Spira's world, awareness is omnipresent, an ever-present blue sky obscured by the grey clouds of our thoughts and worries. He reminds us that we're not merely these clouds, but the vast sky itself, forever unmarred beneath the transient weather of our minds. Unlike a mountain peak, we struggle to climb, awareness isn't a state to be attained; it's simply a matter of realizing it's already our true essence.
The only criticism that I felt was Spira approaches the same central issue from various perspectives. The book is largely concerned with non-dual teachings, primarily from Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism. It might not appeal to people looking for a larger spiritual perspective.
This short book can be read in just over an hour, but I recommend taking your time with it to get the most out of it.
You might want to reread it.
I highly recommend it, while I read the second and later parts.
Happy Reading and Have a great year ahead!!
The book revolves around the simple yet profound question: What is aware of our experience?
Spira argues that most people get caught up in the stream of thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, overlooking the fundamental awareness that underlies them all. He guides readers towards uncovering this inherent awareness, the source of true peace and happiness.
Spira translates an old truth into modern terms that everybody can grasp. He shows that recognizing our true nature -- pure awareness -- does not require a spiritual journey because it is already there in the here and now. He illustrates this using the analogy of a movie shown on a screen. The ever-changing image and the ever-present screen are inseparable. Other excellent analogies are employed in the poem, such as a modest wave on an infinite ocean.
"Deep sleep is not the absence of awareness; it is the awareness of absence."
In Rupert Spira's world, awareness is omnipresent, an ever-present blue sky obscured by the grey clouds of our thoughts and worries. He reminds us that we're not merely these clouds, but the vast sky itself, forever unmarred beneath the transient weather of our minds. Unlike a mountain peak, we struggle to climb, awareness isn't a state to be attained; it's simply a matter of realizing it's already our true essence.
The only criticism that I felt was Spira approaches the same central issue from various perspectives. The book is largely concerned with non-dual teachings, primarily from Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism. It might not appeal to people looking for a larger spiritual perspective.
This short book can be read in just over an hour, but I recommend taking your time with it to get the most out of it.
You might want to reread it.
I highly recommend it, while I read the second and later parts.
Happy Reading and Have a great year ahead!!
June 16, 2018
Very repetitive ... it seems that the author wants to harp on the same point ad infinitum - awareness. He also makes analogies and quotes scripture in ways that are simply not accurate, again, only to harp and/or find confirmation for his point of view.
January 28, 2025
If I think you're an asshole, does that make me an asshole for thinking you're an asshole?
This could've been shorter.
I grasp his teaching right away from the first chapter.
I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would.
Free on KU.
This could've been shorter.
I grasp his teaching right away from the first chapter.
I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would.
Free on KU.
April 9, 2021
Rupert Spira sure has a way with words, and he hits home with the very core of the non-dual understanding in this very short text.
September 17, 2021
An excellent meditation on the non-dual nature of consciousness. Reading this is not totally unlike doing a good acid trip. It has the same mind and consciousness expanding properties that I’ve previously only found at the bottom of a hallucinogenic well.
The book is short and easy to read. You could easily read it in a couple of hours although I wouldn’t recommend that. Instead, I recommend reading one passage per day, and spend the rest of the day ruminating on that passage.
For me, I’m fascinated to know more about non-duality: this idea that the self is an illusion; and to apply this knowledge to leading a better, considered life.
I’ve skirted around the concept of non-duality a while. It took me a couple years to even figure out there was a name for this concept. Having discovered the name, I discovered this book, and it did exactly what I wanted: which was to unpack the concept intuitively using lots of easy metaphors.
I’ve given it five stars as I expect this book has had a deep impact on how the rest of my life plays out. I expect to return to its passages regularly.
I almost deducted a star for the various religious references. It’s starts out very secular but then with an increasing number of references to the sayings of religious sages, texts, and God.
This is all fine and easy enough to ignore. However in some of his references, I detected a hint of “the hammer that sees every problem as a nail”.
What I mean is that he’s a person who has spent all his time thinking about the nature of awareness (hammer). Thus, when he reviews religious texts and quotes, he sees all of them as alluding to or confirming some part of his teachings (nails).
In some of the cases, yes I do very much see how that sage was alluding to that same concept he was describing. In other cases though, I think it’s a bit of a stretch. The fact that he stretched in those cases hurt his credibility a little bit for me. And all these “stretchy” religious references were totally unnecessary for me. They added nothing to an otherwise excellent meditation, they only detracted.
The book is short and easy to read. You could easily read it in a couple of hours although I wouldn’t recommend that. Instead, I recommend reading one passage per day, and spend the rest of the day ruminating on that passage.
For me, I’m fascinated to know more about non-duality: this idea that the self is an illusion; and to apply this knowledge to leading a better, considered life.
I’ve skirted around the concept of non-duality a while. It took me a couple years to even figure out there was a name for this concept. Having discovered the name, I discovered this book, and it did exactly what I wanted: which was to unpack the concept intuitively using lots of easy metaphors.
I’ve given it five stars as I expect this book has had a deep impact on how the rest of my life plays out. I expect to return to its passages regularly.
I almost deducted a star for the various religious references. It’s starts out very secular but then with an increasing number of references to the sayings of religious sages, texts, and God.
This is all fine and easy enough to ignore. However in some of his references, I detected a hint of “the hammer that sees every problem as a nail”.
What I mean is that he’s a person who has spent all his time thinking about the nature of awareness (hammer). Thus, when he reviews religious texts and quotes, he sees all of them as alluding to or confirming some part of his teachings (nails).
In some of the cases, yes I do very much see how that sage was alluding to that same concept he was describing. In other cases though, I think it’s a bit of a stretch. The fact that he stretched in those cases hurt his credibility a little bit for me. And all these “stretchy” religious references were totally unnecessary for me. They added nothing to an otherwise excellent meditation, they only detracted.
February 5, 2018
The only thing I am sorry about is this was not my book and I couldn't underline passages that caught my breath. I will need a copy of my own. This is an excellent book on the subject of awareness. Yes, there is repetition in it and some mind twisters but but I personally enjoy that. Often times a book comes along that you need at the precise moment and this was timely. I always seem to be attracted to books on "non-duality". They make me dive deep into the nature of reality which is a mind boggling subject as you can't use your mind to experience it. I don't mean to sound disrespectful but I love this kind of shit! It makes me feel so alive! Again excellent book!
December 23, 2018
Advaita at its best.
This is the best Ramana or Nisgradatta could be explained in english language. The 'Direct Approach ' simply means directly residing in the' I Am' . The' I Am' is revealed in between the minds activites. Reside there as often as possible , exploring it. And Don't bother about the results, because as Ramanamaharshi said... everything falls in place automatically from there on. Thanks Mr. Spira....This book is going to last forever , as the world reqiures this approach more than ever.
This is the best Ramana or Nisgradatta could be explained in english language. The 'Direct Approach ' simply means directly residing in the' I Am' . The' I Am' is revealed in between the minds activites. Reside there as often as possible , exploring it. And Don't bother about the results, because as Ramanamaharshi said... everything falls in place automatically from there on. Thanks Mr. Spira....This book is going to last forever , as the world reqiures this approach more than ever.
December 21, 2022
It might seem contradictory to even care to write and publish a book about this subject: awareness, as experienced and understood by Rupert Spira. After all, doing so brings this thought into our 'objective reality', while behind it lies a much more profound one. Nevertheless, I am glad he did. In many ways all other books become irrelevant after reading this one -though I'll certainly keep on reading, but I will keep the knowledge contained in this one very alive throughout the remaining of my life.
August 29, 2021
A wonderful revelation for the ever curious.
This book will bring a lot of clarity in your understanding of oneself, whilst constructively framing the objective experience that we’re so blinded by.
An essential truth that cannot be told, only discovered.
This book will bring a lot of clarity in your understanding of oneself, whilst constructively framing the objective experience that we’re so blinded by.
An essential truth that cannot be told, only discovered.
May 29, 2022
Truly & Amazingly Profound!
Lucid, inspirational & evocative of Stillness! Reiterative but not repetitive. Highly recommended for all earnest seekers of spirituality amidst growing, confusing divergences!
Lucid, inspirational & evocative of Stillness! Reiterative but not repetitive. Highly recommended for all earnest seekers of spirituality amidst growing, confusing divergences!
May 4, 2022
The best, and most helpful, part of this book is the title.
March 29, 2025
Lots of good analogies! Due to the nature of the book, there isn’t much content, but it feels as though the ideas within carry on through your mind. I can imagine many meditative inquiries being inspired by this material.
June 7, 2022
Although the language used in this book was very simple and clear (which is somewhat rare with books dealing with non-duality), there were a lot of complicated concepts that I still haven't wrapped my head around.
I enjoyed the read nevertheless.
I enjoyed the read nevertheless.
January 21, 2024
A wonderful piece that assesses what it means for us to be aware of our consciousness. Each chapter provides a strong meditation and deliberation on how to be aware of your own awareness.
November 16, 2019
It contains 8 short essays on the nature of awareness. Here is a short poem to review the book:
Those who see awareness, don't need it. Those who need it most, can't see it.
Those who want awareness, can't grasp it. Those who can grasp it, can't give it.
Those who live in the illusion of awareness, are unaware of reality.
Those who live in awareness, stand in awe to the reality of its illusion.
Some of the best excerpts from the book:
-Thus, to know itself awareness does not have to undertake any special activity or direct the light of its knowing in any particular direction. No effort is required for awareness to know itself. In fact, any effort would take it away from itself.
-Thus, all there is to experience is knowing, and it is knowing that knows this knowing. Being all alone, with nothing in itself other than itself with which it could be limited or divided, knowing or pure awareness is whole, perfect, complete, indivisible and without limits.
-Our love for God is God’s love for us.
-It is the only form of knowledge that does not require the subject–object relationship. It is absolute knowledge. That is, it is the only knowledge or experience that is not relative to or dependent upon the finite mind, the apparently separate subject of experience
-I searched for God and found only myself; I searched for myself and found only God.’
-It is for this reason that Rumi said, ‘In the existence of your love, I become non-existent. This non-existence linked to you is better than anything I ever found in existence.’
Those who see awareness, don't need it. Those who need it most, can't see it.
Those who want awareness, can't grasp it. Those who can grasp it, can't give it.
Those who live in the illusion of awareness, are unaware of reality.
Those who live in awareness, stand in awe to the reality of its illusion.
Some of the best excerpts from the book:
-Thus, to know itself awareness does not have to undertake any special activity or direct the light of its knowing in any particular direction. No effort is required for awareness to know itself. In fact, any effort would take it away from itself.
-Thus, all there is to experience is knowing, and it is knowing that knows this knowing. Being all alone, with nothing in itself other than itself with which it could be limited or divided, knowing or pure awareness is whole, perfect, complete, indivisible and without limits.
-Our love for God is God’s love for us.
-It is the only form of knowledge that does not require the subject–object relationship. It is absolute knowledge. That is, it is the only knowledge or experience that is not relative to or dependent upon the finite mind, the apparently separate subject of experience
-I searched for God and found only myself; I searched for myself and found only God.’
-It is for this reason that Rumi said, ‘In the existence of your love, I become non-existent. This non-existence linked to you is better than anything I ever found in existence.’
September 6, 2026
R E V I E W
I very rarely give anything a "5." The insights and their impact on me make this close. The only limitation is my ability to understand the language and the style.
2026.10 I read this book three years ago. It was an experience of discovery - a recognition of truths that altered my views at some limited level. It stuck home at an level I could neither understand nor explain. I modified my meditation practice to try to fit my new limited understanding. For a short time, my practice seemed to find a new depth. But it was not sustainable and I soon returned to practices based in objective experience - trying to eliminate ego and self-centeredness. I was struck this time with the realization that I had been searching for awareness rather than disentangling from objective experience.
This time through the book seems to be more of an uncovering, not a new discovery. In the interim, my awareness of the impermanent nature of objective experience has grown and I have become more comfortable with the idea of an illusory "self." My illusion of self limits awareness. This is beginning to settle in. I cannot name it because "all names refer to objects of experience and knowledge." My experience cannot be shared.
TAKEAWAYS:
Happiness is my essence. Knowing never changes. It is the eternal. All objective experience is impermanent. My practice has focused on acceptance or avoidance of objective experience, hoping for a "profound alteration in my reaction to life." Awareness is already and always there. It cannot not be discovered, only recognized: the effortless path. Meditation is not something I do, it is who I am. Awareness is revealed, uncovered. The practice is to abandon objective experience and rest in the essence. Awareness assumes the form of the mind to know objective experience. There is no separate self/ego to be eliminated. Once the delusion of a separate self (ignorance) is removed, knowing our essential self-aware being will shine. A separate self is an illusion. It does not mean that it doesn't exist, only that it is not what it appears to be. "In being aware of being aware, there is no room for a separate self."
The big question is: the HOW of practice? Start with the question "Am I aware?" But then? Just sit with it? Carry it with me? Continue to watch for attention to objective experience? When it arises, observe without engaging? Maybe I just need to shut up and start...
N O T E S
Introduction "The Intuition of Happiness"
[] Everyone seeks happiness; most believe it can be found in objective experience, seeking or resisting the events/objects we believe drive our happiness. Clinging and aversion. We don’t recognize the impermanence of achievement or avoidance.
[] Experience can lead to an intuition that objective experience cannot bring lasting peace and happiness and the willingness to explore approaches.
[] The “inward-facing path,” turning away from the objects of experience to investigate the nature of the one who experiences.
[] **HAPPINESS IS NOT INTERMITTENT. IT IS OUR ESSENCE.** The analogy of an overcast sky with patches of blue. Investigation reveals that the overcast is not the essence of the sky but that the blue patches are windows onto “the ever-present expanse of blue sky in which the grey clouds temporarily appear and disappear.”
[] The Direct Path, the inward-facing path, turns our attention towards our own essence or reality. It focuses on “direct means for accessing the essential, irreducible nature of one’s mind…” Meditation, ethical behavior
[] Once we realize our essential nature, we turn back to the objective world to “realign the way we think and feel, and subsequently act, perceive and relate, with our new understanding…” This second stage is beyond the scope of this book.
[] Turn our attention inward, to the one who suffers. Let go of trying to end the suffering.
Chapter 1 "Knowing, Being Aware or Awareness Itself"
[] We are always aware of our objective experience - “thoughts, images, memories, feelings, sensations and perceptions of external world… sights, sounds, tastes, textures, and smells” - although we not be aware of its content.
[] "Knowing" - synonymous with being aware, awareness, consciousness. "The experience of knowing itself, irrespective of whatever is known or experienced."
[] Consciousness is ever-present; all other elements of objective experience are impermanent. **“THE KNOWN ALWAYS CHANGES; KNOWING NEVER CHANGES.” **
[] Knowing is the non-objective experience, the background for our objective experience.
[] It usually goes unnoticed; our attention focuses on the objects of experience.
[] There is no prerequisite for recognizing knowing. Let objective experience move into the background and allow knowing to come to into the foreground. Simply notice the experience of being aware. Peace and happiness reside there.
[] "I” is the common term used for the knowing element of all knowledge and experience. It is awareness ("I") that is aware of being aware.
[] Awareness' nature is to be aware of itself. It does not need to direct is its attention. "Awareness knows itself simply by being itself."
Chapter 2 "The Nature of Awareness"
[] **BEING AWARE IS NEVER DISTURBED BY THE CONTENT OF EXPERIENCE.** It is never perturbed by anything that occurs in experience. “…its nature is peace itself, an inherent peace, always available in the background.
[] Not correct to claim that awareness pervades all experience (duality). Pure knowing is all there is to experience.
[] “Knowing, being aware or awareness itself is the essential, irreducible essence of the mind prior to its conditioning in the form of conditional experience.” Knowing does not change; it is the same at birth as it is at death."
[] The mind believes that awareness resides in the body. It believes that awareness is born when the body is born and awareness dies when the body dies.
[] The experience of being aware is eternal, it has no age. It does not change, even as the conditions about which it is aware change. “Nothing ever happens to awareness.”
Chapter 3 - "The Overlooking of Our Essential Nature."
[] CEASE BEING EXCLUSIVELY FASCINATED BY WHAT YOU ARE AWARE OF AND BE INTERESTED INSTEAD IN THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING AWARE ITSELF.
[] Being aware has no objective features. Consequently, it is usually ignored or overlooked. We focus on the content of experience - thoughts, images, feelings, sensations, and perceptions. We overlook the KNOWING, awareness itself.
[] We mistake ourselves for "a collection of thoughts, images, memories, feelings, sensations, and perceptions."
[] Most people believe and feel themselves to be a combination of these properties and the body, a separate self or EGO. We think we are the FIVE SKANDAS, a corollary to the overlooking of our true self. Not self. Emptiness.
[] Awareness is never fully obscured by experience. Being aware knows itself throughout all experience. But awareness loses itself in objective experience.
[] Ignorance. The contraction of true self into the ego/finite mind. The inherent peace and happiness are also eclipsed but remains as a memory. The longing for this peace is the "defining characteristic of the apparently separate self or ego."
[] FORGETTING OF OUR TRUE NATURE IS THE SOURCE OF ALL PSYCHOLOGICAL SUFFERING. THE REMEMBERING OF OUR TRUE SELF IS THE SOURCE OF PEACE AND HAPPINESS.
[] Once the ego has exhausted all efforts to find peace/happiness in objective experience, it may be open to looking within. It has to recognize its essential self of pure awareness that is not limited by objective experience.
[] We cannot direct our mind towards the experience of being aware. We must relax our attention on objective experience, allowing its attention to come to rest within itself.
Chapter 4 "The Disentangling of Awareness"
[] Self-remembering: "the recognition or knowing again of something that is present and familiar, but seemingly overlooked or forgotten due to the clamor of experience."
[] Meditation is the remembering of our self, the experience of being aware that we always and already are.
[] "AWARENESS IS WAYS PRESENT AND AWARE OF ITSELF, BUT SEEMS TO CEASE KNOWING ITSELF … WHEN IT LOSES ITSELF IN OBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE."
[] Mind is the activity of awareness. Awareness itself seems to lose itself (become entangled) in its own creativity.
[] "MEDITATION IS THE DISENTANGLING OF AWARENESS FROM ITS OWN ACTIVITY… THE SIMPLE EXPERIENCE OF BEING AWARE IS EXTRICATED FROM EVERYTHING THAT WE ARE AWARE OF."
[] The mind cannot find or know awareness. It is a limitation of awareness. Meditation - the subsistence of the activity of the mind and subsequent revelation of pure awareness.
[] "AWARENESS CANNOT BE DISCOVERED; IT CAN ONLY BE RECOGNIZED."
[] Question" Am I aware? The answer, with certainty: YES. To answer, we must KNOW (be aware of) the experience of being aware.
[] Awareness finds it difficult to remain with itself, being accustomed to directing itself toward objective experience.
Chapter 5 "The Effortless Path"
[] Attention - the directing of awareness toward an "object of knowledge or experience."
[] We cannot take a step toward ourself. We are already standing at ourself. For awareness to know itself it does not have to do anything or go anywhere. It is already standing at itself.
[] For the subject to know an object, it must be separate from the object. All knowledge and experience is known because of the subject-object relationship.
[] Awareness' knowledge of itself is unique. It is ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE - it is not an object separate from the subject. Awareness knows itself simply by being itself.
[] "Awareness is our primary experience… Before awareness knows objective experience, it knows itself."
[] The direct path starts with itself and stays with itself. The effortless pathless path. "The highest meditation is simply to be."
[] "Meditation is the relaxation of the tension in attention and the subsequent return [recognition] of awareness to itself… not the directing of the mind toward any kind of objective experience." Being aware of being aware is its essence.
[] Meditation as self examination is a practice that may be needed to let go of the objective experience of a separate self. It will seem to require effort. The separate self is what we do, not what we are.
[] "Once our true nature of pure awareness has become apparent, we realize that no effort is required to either return to it or remains there."
[] EFFORTLESS BEING IS OUR NATURAL STATE.
Chapter 6 "The Inward-Facing Path"
[] The knowledge "I am" is awareness' awareness of itself. Absolute knowledge. God.
[] Focusing on the "I am" is not a directing of the mind but a resting in the mind's own essence. The direction to look for peace and happiness.
[] Meditation/prayer - the mind's journey from objective experience to its "ever-present, innermost, irreducible essence." The inward facing path. Inwards --> not into the body but away from the objects of experience. Initiated by a questions: "Am I aware," "who am I?," "what is aware of my experience?" MEDITATION IS WHO WE ARE, NOT WHAT WE DO.
[] Revelation is not a new experience but an "uncovering of an essential truth that was previously obscured or distorted."
[] Most meditation practices direct the mind's attention to subtle objects, like the breath. They maintain the subject-object relationship. They must eventually be abandoned. Being aware of being aware is the highest form of prayer or meditation that all other forms are preparing us for. It is the only form in which the ego is not maintained.
[] It is only when we give up the search for peace and happiness in objective experience and allow the mind to sink deeper into the heart of awareness that we begin to taste the "lasting peace and fulfillment for which we long." It is available to all.
Chapter 7 "Trailing Clouds of Glory"
[] "If we are suffering we are already engaged in a relentless search for happiness in objective experience,"… which is the activity that defines the apparently separate self."
[] Preparatory practices are aimed at freeing the mind from its fixation on the objects of experience. Then the mind will need only a small hint about where to find the peace it seeks, such as the question "Am I aware?"
[] The mind has not a separate entity. It has no existence of its own. "It is the that awareness assumes in order to know objective knowledge and experience."
[] We do not have to eradicate a separate self to know the infinite. "There is no separate self to be eliminated." Efforts to eliminate it, maintain it. Seeing the reality of infinite awareness is the death of the ego. It will continue to arise but its sense of separateness has been neutralized. It is only a matter of time until it fades.
[] The ego, the sense of an objective self, is an illusion, a misunderstanding. When ignorance is removed, knowing our essential self-aware being will shine.
Chapter 8 "The Ocean of Awareness"
[] Thoughts are the waves and emotions the currents of the ocean of awareness. It is always still in the depths, with no activity or motion. :… all thinking, imagining, feeling, sensing, and perceiving are only awareness vibrating within itself.…"
[] Infinite awareness assumes the form of finite mind to manifest objective experience. Meditation reverses this process: finite mind subsides and awareness loses its temporary form.
[] Mind is not a separate self-entity. It is the activity of infinite awareness "through which and as which awareness knows itself as the world." Infinite mind never ceases to become finite mind; "it just colors itself with its own activity…"
[] "… the only place in which an apparently separate self or finite mind can find lasting peace and fulfillment is in the depths of its own being." Searching for peace in objective experience is like "an ocean current in search of water."
[] A separate self is an illusion, real from its own illusory perspective." **It does not mean that it doesn't exist, only that it is not what it appears to be. **
[] The illusion of a separate self limits awareness to its objective experience, and consequently limits the inherent peace within - which is the reason that the separate self's primary motivation is finding peace or fulfillment. The heart of awareness invites finite mind inwards to the peace at its source.
[] "The returning of attention to its source is the essence of meditation…"
[] "IN BEING AWARE OF BEING AWARE, THERE IS NO ROOM FOR A SEPARATE SELF… WHAT REMAINS CANNOT BE GIVEN A NAME, FOR ALL NAMES REFER TO OBJECTS OF KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE…"
I very rarely give anything a "5." The insights and their impact on me make this close. The only limitation is my ability to understand the language and the style.
2026.10 I read this book three years ago. It was an experience of discovery - a recognition of truths that altered my views at some limited level. It stuck home at an level I could neither understand nor explain. I modified my meditation practice to try to fit my new limited understanding. For a short time, my practice seemed to find a new depth. But it was not sustainable and I soon returned to practices based in objective experience - trying to eliminate ego and self-centeredness. I was struck this time with the realization that I had been searching for awareness rather than disentangling from objective experience.
This time through the book seems to be more of an uncovering, not a new discovery. In the interim, my awareness of the impermanent nature of objective experience has grown and I have become more comfortable with the idea of an illusory "self." My illusion of self limits awareness. This is beginning to settle in. I cannot name it because "all names refer to objects of experience and knowledge." My experience cannot be shared.
TAKEAWAYS:
Happiness is my essence. Knowing never changes. It is the eternal. All objective experience is impermanent. My practice has focused on acceptance or avoidance of objective experience, hoping for a "profound alteration in my reaction to life." Awareness is already and always there. It cannot not be discovered, only recognized: the effortless path. Meditation is not something I do, it is who I am. Awareness is revealed, uncovered. The practice is to abandon objective experience and rest in the essence. Awareness assumes the form of the mind to know objective experience. There is no separate self/ego to be eliminated. Once the delusion of a separate self (ignorance) is removed, knowing our essential self-aware being will shine. A separate self is an illusion. It does not mean that it doesn't exist, only that it is not what it appears to be. "In being aware of being aware, there is no room for a separate self."
The big question is: the HOW of practice? Start with the question "Am I aware?" But then? Just sit with it? Carry it with me? Continue to watch for attention to objective experience? When it arises, observe without engaging? Maybe I just need to shut up and start...
N O T E S
Introduction "The Intuition of Happiness"
[] Everyone seeks happiness; most believe it can be found in objective experience, seeking or resisting the events/objects we believe drive our happiness. Clinging and aversion. We don’t recognize the impermanence of achievement or avoidance.
[] Experience can lead to an intuition that objective experience cannot bring lasting peace and happiness and the willingness to explore approaches.
[] The “inward-facing path,” turning away from the objects of experience to investigate the nature of the one who experiences.
[] **HAPPINESS IS NOT INTERMITTENT. IT IS OUR ESSENCE.** The analogy of an overcast sky with patches of blue. Investigation reveals that the overcast is not the essence of the sky but that the blue patches are windows onto “the ever-present expanse of blue sky in which the grey clouds temporarily appear and disappear.”
[] The Direct Path, the inward-facing path, turns our attention towards our own essence or reality. It focuses on “direct means for accessing the essential, irreducible nature of one’s mind…” Meditation, ethical behavior
[] Once we realize our essential nature, we turn back to the objective world to “realign the way we think and feel, and subsequently act, perceive and relate, with our new understanding…” This second stage is beyond the scope of this book.
[] Turn our attention inward, to the one who suffers. Let go of trying to end the suffering.
Chapter 1 "Knowing, Being Aware or Awareness Itself"
[] We are always aware of our objective experience - “thoughts, images, memories, feelings, sensations and perceptions of external world… sights, sounds, tastes, textures, and smells” - although we not be aware of its content.
[] "Knowing" - synonymous with being aware, awareness, consciousness. "The experience of knowing itself, irrespective of whatever is known or experienced."
[] Consciousness is ever-present; all other elements of objective experience are impermanent. **“THE KNOWN ALWAYS CHANGES; KNOWING NEVER CHANGES.” **
[] Knowing is the non-objective experience, the background for our objective experience.
[] It usually goes unnoticed; our attention focuses on the objects of experience.
[] There is no prerequisite for recognizing knowing. Let objective experience move into the background and allow knowing to come to into the foreground. Simply notice the experience of being aware. Peace and happiness reside there.
[] "I” is the common term used for the knowing element of all knowledge and experience. It is awareness ("I") that is aware of being aware.
[] Awareness' nature is to be aware of itself. It does not need to direct is its attention. "Awareness knows itself simply by being itself."
Chapter 2 "The Nature of Awareness"
[] **BEING AWARE IS NEVER DISTURBED BY THE CONTENT OF EXPERIENCE.** It is never perturbed by anything that occurs in experience. “…its nature is peace itself, an inherent peace, always available in the background.
[] Not correct to claim that awareness pervades all experience (duality). Pure knowing is all there is to experience.
[] “Knowing, being aware or awareness itself is the essential, irreducible essence of the mind prior to its conditioning in the form of conditional experience.” Knowing does not change; it is the same at birth as it is at death."
[] The mind believes that awareness resides in the body. It believes that awareness is born when the body is born and awareness dies when the body dies.
[] The experience of being aware is eternal, it has no age. It does not change, even as the conditions about which it is aware change. “Nothing ever happens to awareness.”
Chapter 3 - "The Overlooking of Our Essential Nature."
[] CEASE BEING EXCLUSIVELY FASCINATED BY WHAT YOU ARE AWARE OF AND BE INTERESTED INSTEAD IN THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING AWARE ITSELF.
[] Being aware has no objective features. Consequently, it is usually ignored or overlooked. We focus on the content of experience - thoughts, images, feelings, sensations, and perceptions. We overlook the KNOWING, awareness itself.
[] We mistake ourselves for "a collection of thoughts, images, memories, feelings, sensations, and perceptions."
[] Most people believe and feel themselves to be a combination of these properties and the body, a separate self or EGO. We think we are the FIVE SKANDAS, a corollary to the overlooking of our true self. Not self. Emptiness.
[] Awareness is never fully obscured by experience. Being aware knows itself throughout all experience. But awareness loses itself in objective experience.
[] Ignorance. The contraction of true self into the ego/finite mind. The inherent peace and happiness are also eclipsed but remains as a memory. The longing for this peace is the "defining characteristic of the apparently separate self or ego."
[] FORGETTING OF OUR TRUE NATURE IS THE SOURCE OF ALL PSYCHOLOGICAL SUFFERING. THE REMEMBERING OF OUR TRUE SELF IS THE SOURCE OF PEACE AND HAPPINESS.
[] Once the ego has exhausted all efforts to find peace/happiness in objective experience, it may be open to looking within. It has to recognize its essential self of pure awareness that is not limited by objective experience.
[] We cannot direct our mind towards the experience of being aware. We must relax our attention on objective experience, allowing its attention to come to rest within itself.
Chapter 4 "The Disentangling of Awareness"
[] Self-remembering: "the recognition or knowing again of something that is present and familiar, but seemingly overlooked or forgotten due to the clamor of experience."
[] Meditation is the remembering of our self, the experience of being aware that we always and already are.
[] "AWARENESS IS WAYS PRESENT AND AWARE OF ITSELF, BUT SEEMS TO CEASE KNOWING ITSELF … WHEN IT LOSES ITSELF IN OBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE."
[] Mind is the activity of awareness. Awareness itself seems to lose itself (become entangled) in its own creativity.
[] "MEDITATION IS THE DISENTANGLING OF AWARENESS FROM ITS OWN ACTIVITY… THE SIMPLE EXPERIENCE OF BEING AWARE IS EXTRICATED FROM EVERYTHING THAT WE ARE AWARE OF."
[] The mind cannot find or know awareness. It is a limitation of awareness. Meditation - the subsistence of the activity of the mind and subsequent revelation of pure awareness.
[] "AWARENESS CANNOT BE DISCOVERED; IT CAN ONLY BE RECOGNIZED."
[] Question" Am I aware? The answer, with certainty: YES. To answer, we must KNOW (be aware of) the experience of being aware.
[] Awareness finds it difficult to remain with itself, being accustomed to directing itself toward objective experience.
Chapter 5 "The Effortless Path"
[] Attention - the directing of awareness toward an "object of knowledge or experience."
[] We cannot take a step toward ourself. We are already standing at ourself. For awareness to know itself it does not have to do anything or go anywhere. It is already standing at itself.
[] For the subject to know an object, it must be separate from the object. All knowledge and experience is known because of the subject-object relationship.
[] Awareness' knowledge of itself is unique. It is ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE - it is not an object separate from the subject. Awareness knows itself simply by being itself.
[] "Awareness is our primary experience… Before awareness knows objective experience, it knows itself."
[] The direct path starts with itself and stays with itself. The effortless pathless path. "The highest meditation is simply to be."
[] "Meditation is the relaxation of the tension in attention and the subsequent return [recognition] of awareness to itself… not the directing of the mind toward any kind of objective experience." Being aware of being aware is its essence.
[] Meditation as self examination is a practice that may be needed to let go of the objective experience of a separate self. It will seem to require effort. The separate self is what we do, not what we are.
[] "Once our true nature of pure awareness has become apparent, we realize that no effort is required to either return to it or remains there."
[] EFFORTLESS BEING IS OUR NATURAL STATE.
Chapter 6 "The Inward-Facing Path"
[] The knowledge "I am" is awareness' awareness of itself. Absolute knowledge. God.
[] Focusing on the "I am" is not a directing of the mind but a resting in the mind's own essence. The direction to look for peace and happiness.
[] Meditation/prayer - the mind's journey from objective experience to its "ever-present, innermost, irreducible essence." The inward facing path. Inwards --> not into the body but away from the objects of experience. Initiated by a questions: "Am I aware," "who am I?," "what is aware of my experience?" MEDITATION IS WHO WE ARE, NOT WHAT WE DO.
[] Revelation is not a new experience but an "uncovering of an essential truth that was previously obscured or distorted."
[] Most meditation practices direct the mind's attention to subtle objects, like the breath. They maintain the subject-object relationship. They must eventually be abandoned. Being aware of being aware is the highest form of prayer or meditation that all other forms are preparing us for. It is the only form in which the ego is not maintained.
[] It is only when we give up the search for peace and happiness in objective experience and allow the mind to sink deeper into the heart of awareness that we begin to taste the "lasting peace and fulfillment for which we long." It is available to all.
Chapter 7 "Trailing Clouds of Glory"
[] "If we are suffering we are already engaged in a relentless search for happiness in objective experience,"… which is the activity that defines the apparently separate self."
[] Preparatory practices are aimed at freeing the mind from its fixation on the objects of experience. Then the mind will need only a small hint about where to find the peace it seeks, such as the question "Am I aware?"
[] The mind has not a separate entity. It has no existence of its own. "It is the that awareness assumes in order to know objective knowledge and experience."
[] We do not have to eradicate a separate self to know the infinite. "There is no separate self to be eliminated." Efforts to eliminate it, maintain it. Seeing the reality of infinite awareness is the death of the ego. It will continue to arise but its sense of separateness has been neutralized. It is only a matter of time until it fades.
[] The ego, the sense of an objective self, is an illusion, a misunderstanding. When ignorance is removed, knowing our essential self-aware being will shine.
Chapter 8 "The Ocean of Awareness"
[] Thoughts are the waves and emotions the currents of the ocean of awareness. It is always still in the depths, with no activity or motion. :… all thinking, imagining, feeling, sensing, and perceiving are only awareness vibrating within itself.…"
[] Infinite awareness assumes the form of finite mind to manifest objective experience. Meditation reverses this process: finite mind subsides and awareness loses its temporary form.
[] Mind is not a separate self-entity. It is the activity of infinite awareness "through which and as which awareness knows itself as the world." Infinite mind never ceases to become finite mind; "it just colors itself with its own activity…"
[] "… the only place in which an apparently separate self or finite mind can find lasting peace and fulfillment is in the depths of its own being." Searching for peace in objective experience is like "an ocean current in search of water."
[] A separate self is an illusion, real from its own illusory perspective." **It does not mean that it doesn't exist, only that it is not what it appears to be. **
[] The illusion of a separate self limits awareness to its objective experience, and consequently limits the inherent peace within - which is the reason that the separate self's primary motivation is finding peace or fulfillment. The heart of awareness invites finite mind inwards to the peace at its source.
[] "The returning of attention to its source is the essence of meditation…"
[] "IN BEING AWARE OF BEING AWARE, THERE IS NO ROOM FOR A SEPARATE SELF… WHAT REMAINS CANNOT BE GIVEN A NAME, FOR ALL NAMES REFER TO OBJECTS OF KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE…"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 11, 2021
Clean and Clear Explanations
This is my first time reading Rupert Spira. He is uniquely clean and clear in his explanations and analogies of the Direct Path, or inward-facing path. He is something different from other spiritual teachers. There is the saying, "if you can't explain it simply enough, you don't understand it well enough." This does not apply to Rupert. His understanding of Awareness is profound and his articulation of it a thing of beauty. Perhaps this is the only book one needs to read in the Essence of Meditation Series, but I look forward to diving into the others.
This is my first time reading Rupert Spira. He is uniquely clean and clear in his explanations and analogies of the Direct Path, or inward-facing path. He is something different from other spiritual teachers. There is the saying, "if you can't explain it simply enough, you don't understand it well enough." This does not apply to Rupert. His understanding of Awareness is profound and his articulation of it a thing of beauty. Perhaps this is the only book one needs to read in the Essence of Meditation Series, but I look forward to diving into the others.
March 28, 2022
An Experiential Approach To Nonduality
I've been a follower and fan of Rupert Spira for several years and have been inspired and informed by his YouTube videos. This book encapsulates so much of that experientially direct exploration and contemplation of what it is to be awareness.
As a student of Advaita Vedanta, I truly appreciate his approach to the nondual understanding from a point of view that doesn't rely on reference to the Vedas. This shows the accessibility of the nondual understanding to all our minds.
I've been a follower and fan of Rupert Spira for several years and have been inspired and informed by his YouTube videos. This book encapsulates so much of that experientially direct exploration and contemplation of what it is to be awareness.
As a student of Advaita Vedanta, I truly appreciate his approach to the nondual understanding from a point of view that doesn't rely on reference to the Vedas. This shows the accessibility of the nondual understanding to all our minds.
August 7, 2023
I've been studying Eastern philosophy for 20 years, and, until recently, I hadn't been introduced to Rupert. What a shame. In all these years, no other teacher transformed my life as profoundly as he has. Rupert has a gift of explaining abstract concepts (namely non-duality) in a simple and succinct framework that makes you go 'ah-ha, now I get it!' All the other great teachers who came before him laid the foundation of my understanding, but Rupert was undeniably the pinnacle of my experience. He is a treasure. Highly underrated.
January 2, 2019
Rupert Spira at his finest
Being Aware of Being Aware explains non-duality perfectly, as only Rupert Spira can. Having watched him speak many times online, I read this with his voice in mind. The layout, which allows for reflection, is exactly what you need as a reader. Highly recommend this book for long-time Rupert Spira fans, and also anyone who is interested in or searching for peace and happiness
Being Aware of Being Aware explains non-duality perfectly, as only Rupert Spira can. Having watched him speak many times online, I read this with his voice in mind. The layout, which allows for reflection, is exactly what you need as a reader. Highly recommend this book for long-time Rupert Spira fans, and also anyone who is interested in or searching for peace and happiness
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