Rupert Spira's Books

The Nature of Consciousness

Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter

By: Rupert Spira

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The Nature of Consciousness

Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter

By: Rupert Spira

“I’ve gained deeper understanding listening to Rupert Spira than I have from any other exponent of modern spirituality. Reality is sending us a message we desperately need to hear, and at this moment no messenger surpasses Spira and the transformative words in his essays.” —Deepak Chopra, author of You Are the Universe, Spiritual Solutions, and Super Brain Our world culture is founded on the assumption that the Big Bang gave rise to matter, which in time evolved into the world, into which the body was born, inside which a brain appeared, out of which consciousness at some late stage developed. As a result of this “matter model,” most of us believe that consciousness is a property of the body. We feel that it is “I,” this body, that knows or is aware of the world. We believe and feel that the knowing with which we are aware of our experience is located in and shares the limits and destiny of the body. This is the fundamental presumption of mind and matter that underpins almost all our thoughts and feelings and is expressed in our activities and relationships. The Nature of Consciousness suggests that the matter model has outlived its function and is now destroying the very values it once sought to promote. For many people, the debate as to the ultimate reality of the universe is an academic one, far removed from the concerns and demands of everyday life. After all, life happens independently of our models of it. However, The Nature of Consciousness will clearly show that the materialist paradigm is a philosophy of despair and, as such, the root cause of unhappiness in individuals. It is a philosophy of conflict and, as such, the root cause of hostilities between families, communities, and nations. Far from being abstract and philosophical, its implications touch each one of us directly and intimately. An exploration of the nature of consciousness has the power to reveal the peace and happiness that truly lie at the heart of experience. Our experience never ceases to change, but the knowing element in all experience—consciousness, or what we call “I”—itself never changes. The knowing with which all experience is known is always the same knowing. Being the common, unchanging element in all experience, consciousness does not share the qualities of any particular experience: it is not qualified, conditioned, or limited by experience. The knowing with which a feeling of loneliness or sorrow is known is the same knowing with which the thought of a friend, the sight of a sunset, or the taste of ice cream is known. Just as a screen is never disturbed by the action in a movie, so consciousness is never disturbed by experience; thus it is inherently peaceful. The peace that is inherent in us—indeed that is us—is not dependent on the situations or conditions we find ourselves in. In a series of essays that draw you, through your own direct experience, into an exploration of the nature of this knowing element that each of us calls “I,” The Nature of Consciousness posits that consciousness is the fundamental reality of the apparent duality of mind and matter. It shows that the overlooking or ignoring of this reality is the root cause of the existential unhappiness that pervades and motivates most people’s lives, as well as the wider conflicts that exist between communities and nations. Conversely, the book suggests that the recognition of the fundamental reality of consciousness is the first step in the quest for lasting happiness and the foundation for world peace.

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198

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New Harbinger Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1684030021

ISBN 13

9781684030026

You Are the Happiness You Seek

Uncovering the Awareness of Being

By: Rupert Spira

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You Are the Happiness You Seek

Uncovering the Awareness of Being

By: Rupert Spira

How may we find happiness and peace? In this book, Rupert Spira distills the message of all the great religious and spiritual traditions into two essential truths: happiness is the very nature of our self or being, and we share our being with everyone and everything. Drawing on numerous examples from his own experience, Spira demonstrates that to seek lasting happiness through objects, situations and relationships is destined for failure and disappointment, and skillfully guides the reader to recognize that we are already the happiness we seek. This book is for anyone who yearns for lasting happiness and is open to the possibility that it is continuously available within ourselves, irrespective of our circumstances. Could there be any greater discovery in life than to know that we are already that for which we long?

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265

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New Harbinger Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1684030145

ISBN 13

9781684030149

The Transparency of Things

Contemplating the Nature of Experience

By: Rupert Spira

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The Transparency of Things

Contemplating the Nature of Experience

By: Rupert Spira

The purpose of The Transparency of Things is to look clearly and simply at the nature of experience, without any attempt to change it. A series of contemplations leads us gently but directly to see that our essential nature is neither a body nor a mind. It is the conscious Presence that is aware of this current experience. As such, it is nothing that can be experienced as an object, and yet it is undeniably present. However, these contemplations go much further than this. As we take our stand knowingly as this conscious Presence that we always already are, and reconsider the objects of the body, mind, and world, we find that they do not simply appear to this Presence; they appear within it. And further exploration reveals that they do not simply appear within this Presence but as this Presence. Finally, we are led to see that it is in fact this very Presence that takes the shape of our experience from moment to moment while always remaining only itself. We see that our experience is and has only ever been one seamless totality, with no separate entities, objects, or parts anywhere to be found.

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209

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New Harbinger Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1626258821

ISBN 13

9781626258822

The Heart of Prayer

By: Rupert Spira

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The Heart of Prayer

By: Rupert Spira

In The Heart of Prayer, Rupert Spira elaborates on the understanding that the peace and happiness we seek can be found in the knowing of our own being. Drawing on the wisdom of Being Aware of Being Aware and Being Myself, this new volume explores another essential aspect of meditation—that which is known as union with God and traditionally approached through prayer. The belief shared by most people that we are a separate person, a tiny part of a vast world, leads us to project the idea of God beyond the world, at an infinite distance from ourselves. As this person, we enter into a devotional relationship with God, we surrender to God. When, through an understanding of our self as unlimited, intimate being, God's being, the sole reality of all that is, we see that we are not separate from God. Our longing for God is found to be God's longing for us. This volume is comprised of guided meditations that Rupert Spira gave during meeting and retreats in 2020-22. Throughout The Heart of Prayer, Spira interlaces his contemplations with his own invocations—as well as teachings, prayers, and poetry gathered from centuries of great works and sacred texts—creating a rich experience of the unity of the perennial non-dual understanding.

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123

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New Harbinger Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1648481507

ISBN 13

9781648481505

Being Myself

By: Rupert Spira

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Being Myself

By: Rupert Spira

Being Myself is a contemplative exploration of the essential nature of our self. Everyone has the sense of ‘being myself,' but not everyone knows their self clearly. In most cases, our sense of self is mixed up with the content of experience and, as a result, its natural condition of peace and happiness is veiled. Through investigation and analogy, the meditations in this collection take us back to our true nature again and again, until we begin to find our self naturally and effortlessly established there, as that. In time, experience loses its capacity to veil our being, and its innate peace and joy emerge from the background of experience. * * * The Essence of Meditation Series presents meditations on the essential, non-dual understanding that lies at the heart of all the great religious and spiritual traditions, compiled from contemplations led by Rupert Spira at his meetings and retreats. This simple, contemplative approach, which encourages a clear seeing of one’s experience rather than any kind of effort or discipline, leads the reader to an experiential understanding of their own essential being and the peace and fulfilment that are inherent within it.

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ISBN 10

1684031648

ISBN 13

9781684031641

Presence, Volume I

The Art of Peace and Happiness

By: Rupert Spira

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Presence, Volume I

The Art of Peace and Happiness

By: Rupert Spira

Your self, aware presence, knows no resistance to any appearance and, as such, is happiness itself; like the empty space of a room, it cannot be disturbed and is, therefore, peace itself; like this page, it is intimately one with whatever appears on it and is thus love itself; and like water that is not affected by the shape of a wave, it is pure freedom. Causeless joy, imperturbable peace, love that knows no opposite, and freedom at the heart of all experience…this is your ever-present nature under all circumstances.

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166

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New Harbinger Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1626258767

ISBN 13

9781626258761

Presence, Volume II

The Intimacy of All Experience

By: Rupert Spira

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Presence, Volume II

The Intimacy of All Experience

By: Rupert Spira

All that is known is experiencing, and experiencing is not divided into one part (an inside self) that experiences and another part (an outside object, other, or world) that is experienced. Experiencing is seamless and intimate, made of “knowing” or awareness alone. This intimacy, in which there is no room for selves, objects, or others, is love itself. It lies at the heart of all experience, completely available under all circumstances.

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166

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New Harbinger Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1626258791

ISBN 13

9781626258792

Rupert Spira

Bowl

By: Rupert Spira

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Rupert Spira

Bowl

By: Rupert Spira

This volume documents the work of Rupert Spira, a leading ceramic artist in the middle of his career, tracing its development from his training under Henry Hammond and Michael Cardew, two of the great studio potters of the twentieth century, to a recent exhibition tour of Japan."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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134

Published Date

ISBN 10

094600949X

ISBN 13

9780946009497

Presence

The Art of Peace and Happiness -

By: Rupert Spira

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Presence

The Art of Peace and Happiness -

By: Rupert Spira

Your self, aware presence, knows no resistance to any appearance and, as such, is happiness itself; like the empty space of a room it cannot be disturbed and is, therefore, peace itself; like this page, it is intimately one with whatever appears on it and is thus love itself; and like water that is not affected by the shape of a wave, it is pure freedom. Causeless joy, imperturbable peace, love that knows no opposite and freedom at the heart of all experience....this is your ever-present nature under all circumstances. Rupert Spira Presence is a profound and luminous book with great power and is obviously the fruit of many years of contemplation. These two volumes together are a relentless and utterly thorough examination of the nature of experience, exploring every square centimeter of the territory with absolute excellence and ruthlessly precise analysis. Their astuteness and clarity will be extremely exciting to those readers who are ready for the next steps in lifting the veil of separation and I suspect it will become a spiritual classic that readers will savour slowly and return to again and again. Victoria Ritchie Former Manager of Watkins Bookshop and Editor for Eckhart Tolle

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214

Published Date

ISBN 10

1908664037

ISBN 13

9781908664037

Being Aware of Being Aware

By: Rupert Spira

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Being Aware of Being Aware

By: Rupert Spira

Everybody is aware, all seven billion of us. We are aware of thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions. All people share the experience of being aware, but relatively few people are aware that they are aware. Most people’s lives consist of a flow of thoughts, images, ideas, feelings, sensations, sights, sounds, and so on. Very few people ask, 'What is it that knows this flow of thoughts, feelings, and perceptions? With what am I aware of my experience?' The knowing of our being—or rather, awareness’s knowing of its own being in us—is our primary, fundamental and most intimate experience. It is in this experience that the peace, happiness and love for which all people long reside. The happiness we have sought so long outside of ourselves, in situations, objects and relationships, turns out to be always present and available in the simple knowing of our own being as it truly is. The knowing of our own being shines in each of us as the experience ‘I am’ or ‘I am aware’, or simply the knowledge ‘I’. This obvious, familiar and intimate experience has no objective qualities and is, therefore, overlooked or ignored by the majority of people. This overlooking of our own being is the ultimate cause of unhappiness. What is the nature of the experience of being aware or awareness itself? The exploration of this question is the subject matter of this book and the essence of the Direct Path to peace and happiness. * * * The Essence of Meditation Series presents meditations on the essential, non-dual understanding that lies at the heart of all the great religious and spiritual traditions, compiled from contemplations led by Rupert Spira at his meetings and retreats. This simple, contemplative approach, which encourages a clear seeing of one’s experience rather than any kind of effort or discipline, leads the reader to an experiential understanding of their own essential being and the peace and fulfillment that are inherent within it. Being Aware of Being Aware is the first and introductory volume in The Essence of Meditation Series.

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New Harbinger Publications

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ISBN 10

1626259984

ISBN 13

9781626259980

The Transparency of Things

Contemplating the Nature of Experience

By: Rupert Spira

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The Transparency of Things

Contemplating the Nature of Experience

By: Rupert Spira

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209

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ISBN 10

1626258821

ISBN 13

9781626258822

The Nature of Consciousness

Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter

By: Rupert Spira

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The Nature of Consciousness

Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter

By: Rupert Spira

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198

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ISBN 10

1684030021

ISBN 13

9781684030026

Being Aware of Being Aware

By: Rupert Spira

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Being Aware of Being Aware

By: Rupert Spira

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1626259984

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9781626259980

Presence, Volume II

The Intimacy of All Experience

By: Rupert Spira

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Presence, Volume II

The Intimacy of All Experience

By: Rupert Spira

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166

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ISBN 10

1626258791

ISBN 13

9781626258792

Presence, Volume I

The Art of Peace and Happiness

By: Rupert Spira

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Presence, Volume I

The Art of Peace and Happiness

By: Rupert Spira

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166

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ISBN 10

1626258767

ISBN 13

9781626258761

You Are the Happiness You Seek

Uncovering the Awareness of Being

By: Rupert Spira

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You Are the Happiness You Seek

Uncovering the Awareness of Being

By: Rupert Spira

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265

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ISBN 10

1684030145

ISBN 13

9781684030149

The Heart of Prayer

By: Rupert Spira

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The Heart of Prayer

By: Rupert Spira

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123

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ISBN 10

1648481507

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9781648481505

Being Myself

By: Rupert Spira

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Being Myself

By: Rupert Spira

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1684031648

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A Meditation on I Am

By: Rupert Spira

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A Meditation on I Am

By: Rupert Spira

“Rupert Spira is one of the great souls. Read his books, and be clarified.” —Coleman Barks, translator of Rumi, including Soul Fury A contemplative poem about the intimate, impersonal, infinite nature of being. In A Meditation on I Am, Rupert Spira contemplates the essential nature of our self before it has been conditioned or qualified by the content of experience. It is a poem, a prayer and a hymn of praise to the simple fact of being that is the source of the peace and happiness for which we long above all else. For seasoned spiritual seekers and newcomers alike, this meditative poem explores and celebrates the truth of what we essentially are: the awareness of being that shines in each of our minds as the knowledge “I am,” which is temporarily coloured by experience but is never modified, changed or harmed by it.

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