Quote from The Nature of Consciousness
The Nature of Consciousness: Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter
by Rupert Spira
New Harbinger Publications, Oakland, California, 2017. 295 pp.
"Now if, instead of asking whether or not we are aware of a thought, sensation or perception, someone were to ask simply, ‘Are you aware?’, we would pause for a moment and then respond, “Yes’. The question 'Are you aware?’ is a thought. The answer ‘Yes’ is another thought. In between these two thoughts something takes place which is not itself a thought. It is as a result of this ‘something’ that we are able to answer ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Are you aware?’
In order to answer ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Are you aware of thoughts, sensations and perceptions?’ we have to experience the thought, sensation or perception to which the question refers. It is as a result of that experience that we are able to affirm that we are aware of each of them. To what experience do we refer in order to answer ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Are you aware?’
The experience to which we refer takes place in the gap between two thoughts: ‘Are you aware?’ and ‘Yes’. What is it that takes place in the pause between these two thoughts? The experience of being aware. In that pause we become aware of being aware. The experience of ‘being aware of being aware’ is triggered by the question ‘Are you aware?’ If we did not experience ‘being aware’ we would not be able to legitimately answer ‘Yes’ to the question.
In order to answer ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Are you aware of thoughts, sensations and perceptions?’ we have to experience the thought, sensation or perception to which the question refers. It is as a result of that experience that we are able to affirm that we are aware of each of them. To what experience do we refer in order to answer ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Are you aware?’
The experience to which we refer takes place in the gap between two thoughts: ‘Are you aware?’ and ‘Yes’. What is it that takes place in the pause between these two thoughts? The experience of being aware. In that pause we become aware of being aware. The experience of ‘being aware of being aware’ is triggered by the question ‘Are you aware?’ If we did not experience ‘being aware’ we would not be able to legitimately answer ‘Yes’ to the question.
Ask yourself the question ‘Am I aware?’, but don’t answer the question with the thought ‘Yes’. Just ask the question and allow your attention to be drawn to the experience that will subsequently inform the answer ‘Yes’. The experience that takes place in between the two thoughts ‘Am I aware’ and ‘Yes’ is not an activity of mind. It takes place between two activities of mind.
Stay with the pause between these two thoughts.When we remain in this pause before the answer formulates itself, what takes place ‘there’ is the most valuable and, at the same time, the most underrated or overlooked experience that one can have." (p. 69)
-- quote submitted by Mora F.
To visit the blog and see more reviews and quotes from books in the collection of Center for Sacred Sciences' Library, click here https://centerforsacredscienceslibrary.blogspot.com
Stay with the pause between these two thoughts.When we remain in this pause before the answer formulates itself, what takes place ‘there’ is the most valuable and, at the same time, the most underrated or overlooked experience that one can have." (p. 69)
-- quote submitted by Mora F.
To visit the blog and see more reviews and quotes from books in the collection of Center for Sacred Sciences' Library, click here https://centerforsacredscienceslibrary.blogspot.com