656. Bernard Carr

In 2014, I awakened to the realization that being aware is my true nature. The experience of just being aware without the identity of a person who is aware was at once exhilarating and disorienting. This simple but profound realization transformed my experience of life to one of effortless being. A wonderful result of this awakening is a lasting peace that transcends all experience. In this awakened sense of pure being, the physical body is experienced as an objective sense of being, and the mind is experienced as an objective sense of knowing. There is no longer the need for an individual identity as a person who ​is living life. There is only awareness and the experience of the objective sense of awareness in various forms of expressions. The illusion of a person being aware of objects dissolved and was replaced with a pervasive sense of joy and freedom. Before 2014, my life was based on the story of a woman named Victoria Ukachukwu who is a trained scientist with a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and is a divorced mother of two daughters. All of my experiences derived from this core identity. Over time, this identity became very limiting and questions about God and the nature of reality began to arise. Science offered no satisfactory answers nor did the Catholic religion in which I was raised. In 2010 I discovered the teachings of non-duality. In particular, the teachings of Mooji and Rupert Spira. In 2012, I went to my first ​retreat with Rupert Spira and came away with more questions. It was not until June 2014 when I went to a second retreat with Rupert Spira that all questions dissolved with the recognition of my true nature. Subsequently, in 2019, I discovered the timeless teaching of Joel Goldsmith which further reaffirmed and expanded my burgeoning understanding of spiritual principles that illuminate the nature of being. In his book, The Master Speaks, Joel Goldsmith reminds us that the Truth of being is eternal regardless of how many different ways it is presented. Consciousness is the creative principle of life. Consciousness is the eternal truth of being. In my experience, being aware or Awareness Itself is our true nature and our only purpose. It is Absolute. Victoria's email address Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Summary and Transcript of this interview Interview recorded July 16, 2022 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction and Background 00:04:36 - Growing up Catholic and questioning belief in God 00:09:15 - The Bookstore Encounter and Meditation Journey 00:13:21 - Being More and Doing Less 00:17:29 - Discovering Rupert Spira 00:22:53 - Exhilaration and a sense of being aware 00:28:01 - The Nature of Being and Pure Awareness 00:33:17 - The simplicity of realizing true nature 00:38:09 - The Secret of Harmonious Living in the Bible 00:42:54 - Unity of All Beings 00:47:18 - The Presence of God and Harmony 00:52:13 - The Power to Overcome 00:56:56 - Right Action and Restoring Peace 01:00:36 - A Near-Drowning Experience 01:04:19 - The Limits of Tools and Identity 01:09:59 - The Personal and Universal Self 01:14:19 - The Illusion of Separation 01:18:00 - The Power of Clarification 01:22:25 - Elevating the Level of Consciousness 01:26:48 - The Release of Identity 01:31:27 - Seeking the Kingdom of God 01:35:43 - The Fear of Contagion and the Vaccine 01:40:34 - The Eternal Nature of Being 01:45:33 - Integration and Belief Systems in Psychology 01:49:39 - The Master-Student Relationship 01:54:25 - Freedom from Negative Emotions 01:59:15 - Addressing from a Place of Power and Compassion 02:03:26 - The Two I's and the Conscious Realization of God 02:08:51 - The Power of Stillness and Self-Realization 02:12:51 - Rupert's Teachings and Intellectual Rigor 02:16:23 - Farewell to the Team