Rupert Spira shares his personal story with Mark Matousek, describing how he integrated his love of truth and his love of beauty after meeting his teacher Francis Lucille. He discusses pitfalls on the path of knowledge, why he avoids the word "enlightenment," and how recognition of our true nature relieves suffering.

The Seekers Forum is an online community founded by author and teacher Mark Matousek, known for his Writing to Awaken method of self-inquiry as well as his two award-winning memoirs and other books. At The Seekers Forum, topics related to creativity, spiritual practice, and ethical well-being are explored through writing and discussion. Find out more at https://theseekersforum.com

About Rupert Spira

From an early age Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality. At the age of seventeen he learnt to meditate and began studying and practicing the teachings of the classical Advaita Vedanta tradition under the guidance of Dr. Francis Roles and Shantananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the north of India, which he continued for the next twenty years. 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. Francis introduced Rupert to the Direct Path teachings of Atmanada Krishna Menon and to Jean Klein and the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, and, more importantly, directly indicated to him the true nature of experience.

Rupert lives in the UK and holds regular meetings and retreats in Europe and the U.S. In these meetings, he explores the perennial non-dual understanding that lies at the heart of all the great religious and spiritual traditions, such as Advaita Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism, Hinduism, Buddhism, mystical Christianity, Sufism and Zen, and which is also the direct, ever-present reality of our own experience. It is a contemporary, experiential approach involving silent meditation, guided meditation and conversation, and it requires no affiliation to any particular religious or spiritual tradition. All that is needed is an interest in the essential nature of experience, and in the longing for love, peace and happiness around which most of our lives revolve.

Rupert is author of The Transparency of Things: Contemplating the Nature of Experience. Being Aware of Being Aware, and Presence: The Art of Peace and Happiness. Prior to becoming a spiritual teacher, Rupert was a world-renowned potter and ceramicist whose work is in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum and other major venues. He lives in Oxford, England with his wife and son.