Being Aware of Being Aware

by Rupert Spira

We cannot know happiness as an objective experience; we can only be it. We cannot be unhappy; we can only know unhappiness as an objective experience.

Enlightenment or awakening is not a particular experience or state of mind that may be achieved by practising hard enough or meditating long enough. It is the recognition of the very nature of the mind.

The mind that seeks awareness is like a current in the ocean in search of water.

Ramana Maharshi referred to this non-process as ‘sinking the mind into the heart’.

In fact, to suggest that the mind embarks on a journey to rediscover its essence or reality may be misleading. How much distance is there between an image and the screen?

there is no distance from itself to itself.

It is not because awareness is so far that it seems to be unknown or missing; it is because it is so close. It is closer than close.

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 order for love to be experienced, both the lover and the beloved must vanish.