Shell of Materialism has Cracked

“The materialist paradigm is a philosophy of despair and conflict and, as such, the root cause of the unhappiness felt by individuals and the hostilities between communities and nations. Far from being abstract and philosophical, its implications touch each one of us directly and intimately, for almost everything we think, feel and do is profoundly and, for the most part, subliminally influenced by the prevailing paradigm in which we have been raised and now live.

As long as we continue to seek the source of happiness on the part of individuals, and peace amongst communities and nations, from within the existing materialist framework, the very best for which we can hope is to find brief moments of respite from the general trend of experience that is growing ever more divisive. However, there have been epochal moments in history when the collective intelligence of humanity could no longer be contained within the parameters that had evolved over the previous centuries for the purposes of advancing it. The cultural forms that evolve precisely to develop, refine and express humanity’s growing intelligence are, at some point, no longer able to accommodate it and become the very means by which it is stifled. The beliefs in a flat earth and a geocentric universe are two such examples.

The idea of a flat earth that prevailed in the ancient world was first challenged by Pythagoras in the sixth century BCE, but it took another two thousand years for his spherical-earth model to be fully accepted by all cultures. Likewise, the idea of a heliocentric universe was first suggested as early as the third century BCE, but it was nearly two thousand years before the Copernican Revolution would make it mainstream. In each case, a belief that had served humanity’s evolution thus far subsequently became the very means of its constraint. But not without resistance! In each case the prevailing paradigm was so tightly interwoven into the ways people thought, felt, acted, perceived and related with one another, and so deeply inculcated into the fabric and mechanism of society itself, that it took two millennia, more or less, for the last vestiges of these ideas to be erased…

I believe that the materialist paradigm, which has served humanity in ways that do not need to be enumerated here, can no longer accommodate its evolving intelligence. All around, within ourselves and our world culture, we see evidence that the shell of materialism has cracked. The growing organism of humanity can no longer be accommodated within its confines, and humanity’s struggle to emerge is expressing itself in all aspects of society. Nor can its host, the earth, any longer survive its degradation and exploitation.”

-- Rupert Spira, The Nature of Consciousness: Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter
“Rupert met Francis Lucille. The first words Rupert heard him say were, “Meditation is a universal ‘Yes’ to everything.” Although this is the sort of phrase anyone on the spiritual circuit might come across, nevertheless it was pivotal moment in Rupert's life. “At this moment I realized that I had arrived home, that this encounter was the flowering and fulfillment of the previous thirty years of seeking.” When Rupert asked Francis at that first meeting what to do next, he replied, “Come as often as you can.” Over the next twelve years Rupert spent all the spare time that work and family commitments would allow with Francis, exploring the sense of separation as it appears in the mind in the form of beliefs and, more importantly, how it appears in the body as feelings of being located and limited. Francis also introduced Rupert to the Direct Path teachings of Atmananda Krishnamenon, and the tantric approach of Kashmir Shaivism, which he had received from his teacher, Jean Klein.

Of the essence of these years, Rupert writes, "The greatest discovery in life is to discover that our essential nature does not share the limits nor the destiny of the body and mind. I do not know what it is about the words, actions or presence of the teacher or teaching that seem to awaken this recognition of our essential nature as it truly is and its subsequent realization in our lives but I am eternally grateful to Francis for our friendship." Rupert lives in Oxford, UK, with his wife, Ellen, a therapist and yoga teacher in the non-dual tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, and his son, Matthew. He holds meetings and retreats worldwide.”

~ rupertspira.com