Presence, Volume II

The material in this book needs to be contemplated very deeply. It's clear that Rupert talks about this stuff from his direct experience, but doesn't make much sense for someone without the same living experience.

He claims that a separate self is just a thought. In fact, he says that it is not even an entity, but something that we do actively. It is an activity of avoiding and seeking and tells us that we can stop doing it. But what is lacking from this book, is the instructions for how to actually do it, how to actually stop thinking ourselves into existence.

He also tells what happiness is from a nondual perspective. It is supposed to be our natural state, beneath all the resisting and seeking that goes on and on. What if real happiness comes after we stop seeking it in the future, embrace the present moment fully and surrender everything. Sounds paradoxical, doesn't it?

To really appreciate the material in this book, I think that one should have an ego-death. That is what Rupert Spira didn't say and what I would add to his beautiful phrasings and smart metaphors. The Presence, our real identity, as he calls it, reveals itself after lots of contemplation on the nature of existence. This is a serious spiritual practice, that requires discipline and hard work, at least from my perspective.

In short, I think that Rupert Spira did a great job communicating his nondual teachings in his unique and non-mystical way.