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 experience, our most fundamental and intimate experience. It is in this experience that all the peace, happiness, and love we have ever longed for reside. The happiness we have sought for so long outside of ourselves, in situations, objects, and relationships, turns out to be always present, always available, in the simple knowing of our own being as it is.

The knowing of our own being shines in each one of us as the experience "I am" or "I am aware," or simply as the thought "I." Because this simplest, most obvious, most familiar, and intimate experience is to the mind not a thing, or nothing, it is overlooked or forgotten by the vast majority of humanity. The overlooking of our own being is the root cause of all unhappiness and, therefore, the root cause of our search for happiness. What is the nature of this experience of being aware? The contemplations in this collection will lead readers toward their own experiential understanding of that which we all call "I."

Being Aware of Being Aware is the first and introductory volume in the Essence of Meditation series of collected meditations on the fundamentals of non-duality. Each volume will include six essays, compiled from contemplations led by Rupert Spira at retreats. Future titles include The Nature of Mind, I Am, and The Nature of Happiness.

About the Author
From an early age, Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality. At the age of seventeen he learned 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. Lucille introduced Spira 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. Spira lives in the UK and holds regular meetings and retreats in Europe and the United States. For further information, see www.rupertspira.com.


Book Information
ISBN 9781626259966
Author Rupert Spira
Format Paperback
Page Count 104
Imprint New Harbinger Publications
Publisher New Harbinger Publications
Weight(grams) 140g
Dimensions(mm) 130mm * 180mm * 10mm