Thought and Awareness are Two Names for the Same Reality

Rupert Spira

R: What is the relationship between that thought and whatever it is that Knows it?

Q: It seem to pass through the mind, the Knowing.

R: Just leave the concept of ‘mind’ alone; don’t bring that into it because you’re confusing the
issue.

There is a thought and there is whatever it is that is aware of it.

Now, what is the relationship between the thought and whatever it is that Knows it?

Try to see: Can you isolate these two distinct things in your experience?

Q: It is very difficult.

R: It is very difficult. Yes. It’s like trying find two distinct objects. 1. Called a screen and 2. The
image. There aren’t two things there. What is the relationship between the screen and the image?
There isn’t a relationship. For there to be a relationship, there has to be two things. The screen is
not related to the image. It IS the image. There is no relationship between Awareness and your
thoughts; between whatever it is that Knows your thoughts and your thoughts.

Just ask yourself again … take a thought, ask yourself: Is there anything there other than the
Knowing of that thought?

Q: No.

R: No, there’s just the Knowing of it. That Knowing IS what we also call Awareness. The
thought is a modulation of this empty Knowing.

Q: So, if I were to observe this thought from the point of view of the mind, it would be another
thought; something in my mind that divides?

R: Yes. It is thought that divides thought from Awareness. It is a thought that says that the image
is separate from the screen. Just as the image is never separate from the screen, the thought is
never separate from Awareness. In fact, thought and Awareness are just two names for the same
reality. Just as image and screen are two names for the same thing. It is thought that divides
them; that makes two things out of one reality. It doesn’t actually divide them; thought just
imagines that they are divided.
Q: It is maybe this thought that I call mind. That I have to be silent; it’s a thought.

R: Yes, it’s a thought that is telling you that thoughts have to disappear. Is Awareness saying
that? Is Awareness saying: I need all these thoughts to disappear? Is Awareness saying: Thoughts
are a problem?

Awareness doesn’t even know a separate object called a thought. There is no such thing as a
separate thought or any separate object. A separate thought or a separate object is just a concept,
never an experience. So, thought creates this separate object called a separate thought and then
says: I better meditate to get rid of it.

It all happens in a little bubble of thinking whilst all the time, Awareness is just resting happily
in Its own Being.

Let go of the idea that you have to still your mind. Thought just perpetuates itself ad infinitum by
trying to get rid of itself.

Q: That I call ‘mind’.

R: Yes, it’s absurd. It’s that silly. We laugh. We should laugh. It’s absurd. Does the screen ever
get up in the middle of the movie and say: I don’t like this scene?

A character in the movie says: I don’t like what’s going on. I want a divorce.

But the screen never says that. So, the character in the movie is thought. It’s that thought that
runs around the world, saying: I want things to be different.

But Awareness never says that. That’s why It’s always happy. That’s why happiness is the nature
of Awareness, because It’s always totally okay with the way things are. That’s why the screen is
always happy, because it’s just okay with the movie as it is.

The screen never moves out of the Now, never tries to change the movie.

That’s what happiness is; just being okay with the movie. Just being one with the Now.
~~~
.
.
.
Rupert Spira
Thought and Awareness are Two Names for the Same Reality
https://non-duality.rupertspira.com/watch/thought-and-awareness-are-two-names-for-the-same-
reality?fbclid=IwAR1QXwX6pqGKPNnySwjJ-5KwkCCx_gdjJj1GpKn5bN8591oI-hHYJADL-
zA