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Know Thyself

E121 - Rupert Spira: The Essence Of Non-Duality: Ego, Love, Awareness, Death & Happiness

Know Thyself

André Duqum

Self-improvement, Education

4.8658 Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2024

⏱️ 149 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Rupert Spira provides a profound exploration of non-dualism, addressing fundamental questions about our true nature and the essence of existence. Beginning with the inquiry “Who Are You, Really?” Spira guides us through a journey that challenges our habitual thoughts and beliefs, encouraging a deeper connection to our being. He delves into our inherent longing for happiness and the qualities of awareness that shape our experience. As he explains how the universe separates itself to know itself, he highlights the implications for morality and our relationships, viewing them as containers for growth and understanding. Spira also discusses the transformative journey of enlightenment, the different types of meditation, and the potential pitfalls of spiritual ego. 

This exploration not only sheds light on the nature of thoughts but also offers practical guidance to embody your true self, making it a must-watch for anyone seeking deeper understanding and fulfillment in life. 



André's Book Recommendations: https://www.knowthyself.one/books


___________


0:00 Intro

1:55 Who Are You, Really?

11:01 When Thoughts Lead You Astray, Being Leads You Within

16:28 Investigating Our True Nature 

24:48 Our Inherent Longing For Happiness

28:49 The Steps to Recognize Your True Being

33:10 The Inherent Qualities of Our Awareness

47:39 How the universe separates itself to know itself 

59:32 What Love & Happiness Are

1:07:50 The Implication This Has on Morality & How We Experience the World

1:10:48 Relationships as a Container for Growth

1:18:18 The Journey & Experience of Enlightenment

1:25:14 3 Different Types of Meditation

1:31:30 Spiritual Ego & The Pitfalls of Intellectualization

1:41:15 Beyond Suffering: The Meaning of life

1:43:35 What Happens to Our Identity When We Die

1:53:48 How Non-dualism Sees Uniqueness

1:58:41 Properly Relating To Our Emotional Experience

2:05:27 Practices to Embody Your True Self

2:09:41 Embracing the Wholeness of Your Human Experience

2:14:55 The Nature of Our Thoughts

2:21:51 A Reminder: Spirituality is Simple

2:26:29 Conclusion

___________


From 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.


Website: https://rupertspira.com


___________


Know Thyself

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knowthyself/

Website: https://www.knowthyself.one

Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ4wglCWTJeWQC0exBalgKg


Listen to all episodes on Audio: 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4FSiemtvZrWesGtO2MqTZ4?si=d389c8dee8fa4026

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/know-thyself/id1633725927



André Duqum

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreduqum/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

If you want to know the nature of reality, you have to know the nature of yourself.

0:04.0

It's the only way. Why does everybody seek happiness?

0:07.0

In each of our hearts, there is this wound, there is this longing, there is this memory of our eternity.

0:13.0

If we didn't know the taste of happiness, we wouldn't know what to see.

0:16.0

Many people, they've been failed often enough by the world.

0:19.0

They begin to suspect that happiness

0:21.2

can't be fined in the conventional world. And then we start on a great spiritual search. We

0:25.8

arrive at one experience, namely the awareness of being. We really want to know the nature

0:31.5

of awareness. We must, as it were, in some expressions of the traditional non-dual teaching,

0:37.0

there is this initial turning away from body,

0:39.3

I'm not this, I'm not this, I'm not this.

0:41.3

If that's as far as the teaching gets, then this leaves us with rejecting the world and rejecting the body.

0:47.3

We need to then turn back again and realign it with this new understanding.

0:52.3

We fully inhabit our life as an individual, but our life is then used in the service of this understanding.

1:04.4

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Know Thyself podcast. Our guest today for many years has been inspiring countless people through his books,

1:12.5

his talks, his retreats, and courses. And he's been supporting really us, recognize the true

1:18.5

nature of ourselves as awareness itself. The teachings of non-duality have immense implications

1:25.2

in daily life. And it also feels like the main reason I started

1:30.0

this podcast, named it know thyself to begin with. And so I hope you enjoy this conversation as

1:35.0

much as I'm about to. Rupert Spira. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Very nice to be here.

1:40.1

Thank you for inviting me, Andre. Yeah. It really is my honor. I've loved your talks and your shares and pointings for many years,

1:47.9

and so this is a cool moment.

...

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