Dearest Rupert,
In one of your interviews on Conscious TV, you say, ‘I had some preconceived notions about how the non-dual understanding was expressed in everyday life. I later on realised that those notions were not true….I had an idea about the shape this understanding might take in the world…and I tried to superimpose this shape…and of course it did not work.’ Would you please elaborate on this statement, and also point out the most common fallacies or beliefs that seekers have on this subject?
Thanks in advance,
G.D.
Dear G.D.,
Yes, in the early years of my spiritual search I read about the lives of many saints and sages and wrongly presumed that the outer forms of their lives, particularly the asceticism, was an imperative corollary to their understanding. It was this misunderstanding that led me to suppress my natural enjoyment of the world, and for a long time it created a conflict between my work as aartist and my deep love of and interest in truth.
It wasn’t until I met my teacher many years later that I discovered that the love of beauty was identical to the love of truth, and likewise that nothing needed to be denied in the realm of the mind, body or world for this understanding to be explored or realised.
The most common fallacies or beliefs in this regard fall into two categories: the realisation of one’s true nature, and its expression.
It is commonly believed that the realisation of one’s true nature is accompanied by an extraordinary event in the mind or the body. This is sometimes the case and these tend to be the stories that are well documented. However, more often than not, the non-objective revelation of the background and substance of experience is accompanied by far less conspicuous signs in the mind or body and can even happen without the mind being aware of it at all.
In fact, the mind is never aware of it. It is only when the mind rises again that it notices the difference. However, in some cases the falling away of the separate self sense may not even be formulated by the mind for some time.
As regards the expression of this understanding, it is commonly believed that everyone who realises their true nature goes out and starts teaching. This is by no means the case. Many, perhaps most, people do not go out and talk about this. They just lead a normal life and share this understanding and love in a natural way with those in their immediate environment. Of course, the opposite is also the case, that not everyone who speaks about this is speaking about the same thing.
With love,
Rupert
