Exploring the Nature and Dynamic of Experience

In this conversation between A.H. Almaas and Rupert Spira, moderated by Zaya Benazzo, the speakers discuss what we mean by “experience,” then dive down deep into the mystery of its nature. From the perspective of realization, what is experience? What is meant when we say we experience? Who or what is the experiencer, this “I” we refer to? And what is experience really made of? What is the awareness that is experiencing? 

The Conventional View of Experience - Highlights from the Talk

Almaas offers that experience inherently means there’s awareness and consciousness of something occurring. Spira explains that the popular view of experience often divides it into two parts: the “inside” experience of our thoughts and feelings, and the “outside” experience of the world we perceive. We tend to believe that our thoughts and feelings define who we are – our “self” – and that the world, made of matter, is everything else. In this framework, experience is seen as a transaction between a separate self and a separate world. 

But is this really the case? Spira challenges this conventional wisdom by asking: “What is our experience really made of? Is experience truly divided into these two essential ingredients: a personal mind on the inside and impersonal matter on the outside?” 

The Role of Awareness 

The first step in questioning this duality is to recognize that all of our experiences – thoughts, sensations, and perceptions – are known. They appear in the light of something called awareness. This awareness is the constant, unwavering presence that remains even as the contents of our experience change. It’s like the screen on which a movie plays; the movie’s images come and go, but the screen itself remains. 

"The experience of being aware is ever-present,” Spira says. “It doesn’t appear and disappear. It’s not an object." 

This is a critical insight. Our true nature isn’t the fleeting thoughts or sensations, but the changeless awareness in which they appear. This awareness is the “I” that has been present throughout our lives, from childhood to adulthood, and through the states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. It is the only thing that consistently qualifies for the name "I." 

Is There Experience Without an Experiencer? 

This leads us to a fascinating and profound question: Can there be an experience without an experiencer? The short answer is no. Almaas and Spira agree that experience requires awareness. An image cannot exist without a screen, just as experience cannot exist without awareness.  They also agree that awareness can exist without an image; it can simply be aware of its own being. 

Almaas then introduces a new perspective on this, suggesting that while the essence of all experience is awareness, it is also expressed through a unique, individual consciousness. He likens this individual consciousness to a “window” through which pure awareness perceives the manifest world. The ego’s sense of “I” is a limited, often deluded, reflection of this deeper, more fundamental individual consciousness. This individual consciousness, in his view, is not a “collapse” or a mistake but a necessary and beautiful expression of reality itself. 

“The individual consciousness,” he explains, “is a faithful, true servant of pure awareness... It doesn’t die through ego death. Ego death is the death of the collapse of the individual consciousness, not the collapse of pure awareness.” 

The Nature of Reality 

Ultimately, both teachers guide us toward a nondual understanding of reality. They agree that all experience, whether it’s a thought, a feeling, or the perception of the external world, is a modulation of awareness itself. There is no separate experiencer and no separate world. There is only one indivisible, infinite consciousness manifesting itself in all the forms of experience. 

The illusion, they clarify, is not the existence of individual consciousness or the world but the belief that they are separate from this infinite reality. The awakening is the recognition that what you are is not the limited character in the movie but the screen on which the entire movie of life plays. 

This profound insight has life-altering implications. To live from this understanding is to live with a sense of imperturbable peace and freedom, knowing that what you are is deathless and whole, regardless of the ever-changing landscape of your experience.