The Nature of Consciousness | Rupert Spira

All that is, or could ever be known, is experience. And all experience is known in the form of mind. Therefore, to understand the nature or ultimate reality of anything, it is first necessary to understand the nature of mind. Whether the mind perceives a world outside of itself, as believed under the prevailing materialist paradigm, or projects the world within itself, as understood in the 'consciousness only' approach shared by nearly all great religious and spiritual traditions, everything experienced is experienced through the medium of mind.

Thus, the first imperative of any mind that wishes to know the nature of reality must be to investigate the reality of itself. Everything the mind knows or experiences is a reflection of its own nature, just as everything will appear orange to someone wearing orange-tinted glasses. Having become accustomed to the orange glasses, orange becomes the new norm, leading the wearer to imagine that the orange color they see is an inherent property of reality, rather than a limitation of the medium through which they perceive. In the same way, the mind's knowledge of anything is only as good as its knowledge of itself. Until the mind knows its own essential nature, it cannot be sure that anything it knows or experiences is absolutely true, rather than simply a reflection of its own limitations.

Thus, the ultimate question the mind can ask is, "What is the nature of mind?" or "Who am I?" And the ultimate knowledge it can attain is the answer to that question.

From an early age, Rupert was deeply interested in the nature of Reality. For twenty years, he studied the teachings of Ouspensky, Krishnamurti, Rumi, Shankaracharya, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, and Robert Adams. Twelve years ago, he met his teacher, Francis Lucille. Francis introduced Rupert to the teachings of Jean Klein, Parmenides, Wei Wu Wei, and Atmananda Krishnamenon, and more importantly, directly indicated to him the true nature of experience.