The Portal in the Back of the Mind

"There are different descriptions of non-duality – some say it’s the essence pervading everything, others that it’s transcendent and can’t really be known. How do you understand it intellectually, and how can it be experienced? Rupert says: ‘You’re right – non-duality cannot be described or defined. Consciousness is that in terms of which everything else is described – you can’t go back further. So consciousness cannot be defined accurately, but it can be evoked. Hence our use of analogies, metaphors, stories, poetry – not attempts to define consciousness but to evoke recognition. Is it true we can only experience consciousness in its immanent aspect? That would be true but for one experience: the awareness of being. Through the awareness of being, we have direct access to the transcendent nature of consciousness. All other experience is mediated through thought and perception, giving indirect access to the immanent nature. We could do a meditation going deeply into the experience of seeing – reaching into perception to touch the stuff it’s made of. There we’d experience the immanent aspect. Consciousness both transcends perception and is present in perception, as perception – like the screen that precedes the movie but is also its substance.’"

From event 27 February - 01 March, 2026 The Nature of Consciousness – Online Weekend Retreat at Home 27 February–1 March 2026

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