This morning, I was reading Rupert Spira‘s new book, Presence. One particular passage touched me deeply; I knew without doubt upon reading it that it was true. It blew my mind. This is an expression that dates me–I suppose it originated in the Timothy Leary acid-dropping days of the 1960s. What the expression actually points to is–that in the face of truth–thoughts stop. In that moment of stopping, awareness shines as itself, luminous, transparent. So what passage stopped thought this morning?
“Normally we think that the mind knows objects. However, the mind is known; it does not know. The mind seems to know objects in the same way that the moon seems to illumine objects on a dark night. Objects seem to be illumined by the light of the moon, but in fact, the moon is not a light. The light with which the moon illumines objects on a dark night is the reflected light of the sun.
Likewise, it seems as if the mind knows objects but, in fact, the light or the ‘knowing’ with which the mind seems to know something comes from our own aware being.”
—Presence, vol 1, page 32.
It’s so obvious, and yet I never quite saw that way before. Thank you, Rupert.
the heart of the matter 
Yowza ! This was the insight that triggered the almost-awakening-turned-panic-attack in March 2010 ( ” First Break ” ) . In that case, it came from Nirmala’s book “Nothing Personal”, and I too was surprised at its obviousness.
It is also one of the starting steps for the Direct Pointing technique that has helped hundreds of people finally see through the illusory self.
Great post !
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You bet! Happy Thanksgiving, Kathy.
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OK, I read this over 10x, then waited an hour, and read it again. It hasn’t dropped in yet. But I sense there’s something significant in that statement “Likewise, it seems as if the mind knows objects but, in fact, the light or the ‘knowing’ with which the mind seems to know something comes from our own aware being.”
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Reading this blew my mind, also. Thanks for that.
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Missing you, hoping you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am filled with gratitude, including gratitude for you.
With love,
Amrita
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