Descriptions of practices here are historical and educational, not personal instruction or health advice.
Life
Rupert Spira was born in London. He trained as a studio potter, including an apprenticeship with Michael Cardew, and for about thirty years made ceramics now held by the Victoria and Albert Museum and other collections; he closed his studio in 2013 to concentrate on teaching. From seventeen he studied the Advaita Vedanta tradition at Colet House in London under Francis Roles, and read Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj. In 1997 he met his main teacher, Francis Lucille, through whom he came to the 'Direct Path' of Atmananda Krishna Menon and to Kashmir Shaivism. He teaches through retreats, online meetings and books, guiding listeners to notice the awareness in which all experience appears and to explore whether it is limited by the body and mind. ORDL presents this as contemplative philosophy, not personal instruction.
The system
- Non-duality: experience is one seamless field of awareness, not a subject facing separate objects.
- 'Being aware of being aware': turning attention back to awareness itself.
- The Direct Path: inquiry into experience as it is, rather than gradual self-improvement.
- Lasting peace is found in the nature of awareness, explored patiently as a long-term practice.
Key works
- The Transparency of Things (2008) Amazon
- The Nature of Consciousness (2017) Amazon
- Being Aware of Being Aware (2017) Amazon
- You Are the Happiness You Seek (2022) Amazon
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Where to start
- Being Aware of Being Aware is short and practical; The Nature of Consciousness gives the philosophical argument.
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