“When objective experience – including any conventional religious or spiritual practices that involve directing attention towards some more or less subtle object, such as an external god, a teacher, a mantra or the breath – has been exhausted as a possible means by which peace and happiness may be obtained, only one possibility remains: to turn the mind around upon itself and investigate its essential nature.”
~ Rupert Spira, Being Aware of Being Aware
"Rupert Spira (born 1960) is an international teacher of the Advaita Vedanta direct path method of spiritual self enquiry, and an English studio potter. He first studied pottery with Henry Hammond and later with Michael Cardew at Wenford Bridge Pottery from 1980 to 1982.
Spira's early pottery work was reminiscent of these early influences being in a very traditional Bernard Leach style. This work is mostly practical in nature taking the form of teapots, functional vases and other culinary ware.
He later moved to set up his own pottery in Shropshire where his style changed from a functional to a more minimalistic style. While he continues to make and sell functional pottery he is now known for his more recent studio pottery. His best and most recognizable work contains poems, both self written and by Kathleen Raine the celebrated British poet. The poems are either scratched into the glaze in the sgraffito style or written as embossed letters either in a square block or in a single line across the surface of the vessel. These works vary in size from prayer bowls only a few centimetres across through to huge open bowls 50 cm or more in diameter. He is also known for his cylinders which are often made as part of a series and while beautiful in their own right were made to be exhibited as a group. These also vary in scale from a few centimetres in height through to the largest being a meter or more high. He works mainly in simple white, off white and black minimalistic colors but he does also occasionally make deep redly glazed bowls and very distinguishable yellow tea sets.
His work can be found in many galleries throughout Britain including the V&A and Sainsbury collection as well as in many private collections worldwide.
Spira is also a spiritual teacher and writer in the branch of nonduality (Advaita, in Sanskrit), exploring the nature of experience in his essays and texts. He has published several books (see below), and a few DVDs with interviews. He holds regular meetings and retreats in the UK, Europe and the US.
One of his talks about nonduality is included in the video game The Witness."
~ Wikipedia
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