Being Aware of Being Aware

by Rupert Spira

it embarks on a journey in an objectless direction – a pathless path – away from thoughts, images, feelings, sensations and perceptions and towards its essential, irreducible essence of pure awareness.

‘sinking the mind into the heart’.

In the Zen tradition it is referred to as ‘our original face’.

Such a mind is like a wave denying the existence of water.

an object of knowledge or experience.

it is because it is so close. It is closer than close.

In order for any knowledge or experience to be known, a knowing subject must stand apart from the known object, other or world.

It is absolute knowledge.

The sun’s nature is illumination. Just by being itself the sun illuminates itself.

Illuminating itself is not something that the sun does; it is what it is. It is self-illuminating.

From awareness to awareness there is no space, no distance, no time and, therefore, no possibility of a path or practice. Thus, being aware of being aware is a non-practice.

This is why the Direct Path is referred to as a pathless path. In the Direct Path we start with the goal and we stay there.

Meditation is not something we do; it is something we cease to do. Thus, it could be called self-returning or self-resting.

‘For the sage, even blinking is too much trouble.’

Being aware of being aware is the essence of meditation. It is the only form of meditation that does not require the directing, focusing or controlling of the mind.

self-enquiry or self-investigation, which naturally leads to self-abidance or self-surrender.

That is, only gradually, in most cases, will it become clear that meditation is what we are, not what we do, and that the separate self or finite mind is what we do, not what we are.

In time it will become clear that we cannot make an effort to be or know our self – we can only make an effort to be or know something apparently other than our self – and at that point our effort will come spontaneously to an end.

relaxation of the previously undetected effort of closing

until there is no longer a distinction between meditation and life.

Thus, our knowledge of our self is God’s knowledge of Himself. It is for this reason that in the mystical Christian tradition, the resting of the mind in the heart of awareness is known as the practice of the presence of God or the surrender of the mind to God’s infinite being.

‘I searched for God and found only myself; I searched for myself and found only God.’

‘Self-abidance’ or ‘self-resting’ would be a better translation.

‘What is it that knows or is aware of my experience?’, ‘Where do thoughts come from?’, ‘What is the nature of the knowing with which all knowledge and experience are known?’, ‘Am I aware?’ or ‘Who am

Meditation is what we are, not what we do.

All these forms of meditation or prayer require directing the mind towards more or less subtle objects and, as such, they all maintain the subject–object relationship. Whilst these are entirely legitimate and, in many cases, necessary preludes to the ultimate meditation or prayer, they must at some point be abandoned.

as a result, has fallen into partial darkness.

‘I travelled a long way seeking God, but when I finally gave up and turned back, there He was, within me.’

King Lear could not do anything, because there is no real person called King Lear.

we are suffering we are by definition already engaged in a relentless search for happiness in objective experience, and therefore ‘doing nothing’ is not an option. Seeking happiness in objective experience is the activity that defines the apparently separate self.

Only John Smith has the experience of being John Smith.

‘No one sees Him except Himself, no one reaches Him except Himself and no one knows Him except Himself. He knows Himself through Himself and He sees Himself by means of Himself. No one but He sees Him.’

‘When thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions can no longer take you away’.

sitting at the back of the hall, stood up and said, ‘Because he never had one!’ The recognition of our true nature is not an exotic experience. Indeed, it is not an experience at all.

finite mind is the freely assumed activity of infinite awareness, through which and as which awareness knows itself as the world. The

wave cannot find peace and fulfilment in another wave. The only way for it to find lasting peace and fulfilment is to sink into the depths of itself, thereby progressively losing its agitation.

However, this does not mean that the finite mind or separate self does not exist. It simply means that it is not what it appears to be.