Spiritual experiences are inspiring but very different from the permanent state of spiritual realization. Momentary highs are temporary because, afterward, our consciousness is still lost in our thoughts, emotions, and learned preferences, which continue to drive our reactions and struggles in life. Deep growth begins by realizing you are not your thoughts or emotions but the observer of them. The everyday commitment to inner work that releases past emotional blockages, fears, and preferences is how you climb the permanent stairway to heaven. The ultimate goal is transcending the ego and experiencing the eternal oneness of your existence.
Provocative questions and life-changing answers. That’s what the Insights at the Edge podcast is all about, and this episode is no different. Here, Tami Simon speaks with celebrated minister Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis about her new book, Fierce Love, and our shared calling to follow the compass of our hearts as we navigate these times of uncertainty. Tune in as Tami and Dr. Lewis explore how to find joy and inspiration amid grief and despair, gaining a deeper understanding of what it means to love your neighbor, and more.
They explore recovery and resilience through community; the honesty that love demands; the “holy other” that is both of and outside of us; how a familial sense of the divine boosts faith amid uncertainty; the aquifer of joy; the sustaining grace of God’s steadfast presence; entering a transformative, not transactional, relationship with God; embodying fierce love when tragedy strikes; holding up a mirror to the best parts of ourselves; the qualities of fierce love, and the writings of Saint Paul; the shift from fear and overwhelm to wise action; loving your neighbor and the essence of Christianity; the extraordinary kindness and generosity often offered by complete strangers; nonpossessive delight; hand-to-hand reckoning and accompanying; interrogating our self-limiting identities; discovering “the sweetness in the sorrow”; making amends; a special blessing to support us in responding with love; and more.
Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.
Being is the shared element in all people, animals and things. Just as there is one universal physical space that pervades all individual buildings without being limited to them, likewise there is just one unlimited being from which everyone and everything borrows its apparent existence.
Just as the space in a room is not contained within its walls but is an apparent limitation of universal space, likewise the individual being that each of us seems to be is not contained within or generated by the body but is an apparent limitation of the one infinite being.
Infinite being is felt by each of us as the amness of our self. This feeling of ‘I am-ness’ is infinite being shining in each of our finite minds. Just as universal space seems to acquire the limitations of the four walls within which it seems to be contained, but in fact always remains the universal space,likewise infinite being – God’s being – seems to acquire the limitations of the body within which it seems to be housed, without ever actually ceasing to be infinite being. The apparent mixture of infinite being plus the content of experience seems to create a temporary finite being, a separate self or ego.
As a concession to the separate self or ego that we seem to be, most spiritual teachings give us something to do to become enlightened. This is like giving the space of a room a practice in order to become universal space. But the space needs no liberation, for it was never bound. The space inside is always and already identical to the space outside.
Likewise, our self needs no liberation or enlightenment. If we go deeply into the simple experience of being, we find no limit there – it is already infinite, already free. While thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations and so on have limits, these limitations do not pertain to our being.
Even to say being is mixed with experience isn’t quite right. Just as space remains unmixed with the walls that seem to contain it and the objects that it seems to contain, our being is never really mixed with experience. It always shines in its original condition: untarnished, unmixed, unlimited, unmodified. Inherently free and at peace.
Infinite being needs no enlightenment or spiritual practice. So, for whom are the teachings and the innumerable practices that have been elaborated in the various religious and spiritual traditions? For the temporary, finite separate self we seem to be. They are, as such, compassionate concessions –legitimate ones – but ones that ultimately perpetuate the illusion of a separate self. Therefore, the highest teaching is no teaching, no teacher, no effort, no practice – just the shining of being, the one being we all are.
Imagine that the vast physical space of the universe is conscious. If you were to ask the aware space in the room in which you are sitting about its nature, it may look at the walls around it and describe itself in terms of their limitations. And it would imagine that the space outside the walls was separate from it, and might engage in various efforts to know it or unite with it. But if instead it looked only at itself, it would recognize that it contained no inherent limitation. It would recognize that it is already the vast space of the universe. All its efforts would cease with that recognition.
Similarly, our apparently finite being, seemingly located in and bound by the body, looks beyond its limitations at the vast universe and ponders the nature of its reality. It may even engage in great efforts to know that or unite with it. But all we need do is look closely, to taste the nature of our own being. If we do so, we find no limitation there – our being finds no limitation in itself. Our being is already the one infinite being, the only being there is – in religious terms, God’s being. There is just that, just this.
This utter absence of anything other than itself – this absence of otherness, separation, duality – is the experience we know as love. Love is, as such, the shining of infinite being in each of our hearts. It is the taste of God’s being in us, as us.
Rupert Spira discovered Rumi’s poetry at age fifteen, sparking a lifelong journey to understand the nature of being. He studied Advaita with Dr. Francis Roles, explored Sufism, and drew inspiration from Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi, and Nisargadatta Maharaj. He also pursued an interest in ceramics, training with British pioneers before opening his own studio. Meeting teacher Francis Lucille in the 1990s deepened Rupert’s understanding, integrating the teachings of Advaita and Kashmir Shaivism. Rupert holds regular in-person retreats, as well as online retreats and webinars. For more, see rupertspira.com.
Stephen Batchelor is a former monk in the Tibetan and Korean Zen traditions with a humanistic, non-dogmatic approach to Buddhism. He is the author of the book Confession of a Buddhist Atheist, and the Sounds True audio learning program Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening. In this episode, Stephen speaks with Tami Simon about the importance of doubt in spiritual practice, lessons from the historical life of the Buddha, and how he is exploring the Buddha’s teachings in a postmodern world. (64 minutes)
Tami Simon interviews scientist Carl Johan Calleman, PhD about his unique take on the significance of the Mayan Calendar. He shares with us some of the keystones of his view, including the 9 galactic underworlds and the all-important tree of life. (37 minutes)
Dee Joy Coulter speaks with Tami Simon about the nature of the creative mind. Dee is a nationally recognized neuroscience pioneer with a doctorate in neurological studies and holistic education from the University of Northern Colorado. With Sounds True, she has recently released the book Original Mind: Uncovering Your Natural Brilliance and an audio program called A Guided Tour of Brain Development. In this episode, Dee examines why the creative mind values emptiness and open focus, how we can recover the perceptual freshness we had when we were first born, how creativity lets us tolerate ambiguity, and how we can enjoy thinking as a rich, multi-dimensional experience. (69 minutes)
