Exploring Experience Empirically

“Experience is all that is known or could be known. So let us start here. Where else could we start? What is the reality of this current experience?” – Rupert Spira (non-duality author and teacher)

Unlike conventional scientific or philosophical approaches that rely on models, abstractions, and interpretations, empirical exploration invites an intimate, first-hand investigation into the raw, undeniable fact of what is present in every moment. Exploring experience empirically is about ceasing to define it and instead, allowing it to define itself, in its own terms. This radical shift in orientation, away from conceptual frameworks and towards the direct, non-verbal actuality of what is, is the heart of the message of non-duality.

The Nature of Experience: The Sole Actuality

As we explore in our non-dual therapy course, the foundation of this empirical approach is the recognition that experience is. Experience is the singular, unassailable, self-evident fact of existence. Everything else, including what we typically consider to be reality (the objective world, bodies, thoughts, emotions, and other people), appears within experience and is interpreted as such.

Consciousness itself is the only actuality we can truly know, and everything manifests within this amorphous, infinite, indescribable continuum of impressions and experiences. There are no fundamental distinctions between subjective and objective experiences; they are all equally present and equally objective within this single field of experiencing. Distinctions like “my sight,” “my feelings,” or “my thoughts” are merely conceptual abstractions imposed on this non-dual wholeness. This whole is inseparable – there’s no you that’s separate from it. There’s no it that’s separate from you. This means you are experience.

Experience is not a conceptual construct; it is supremely concrete, immediate, and obvious. It is always here, always now, and always happening.

The Empirical Approach: Direct Engagement and Investigation

To explore experience empirically means to observe it directly, intimately, and without the filter of pre-existing models or interpretations. It is about adopting a scientist mindset: assuming “I don’t know what’s going on” and simply gathering data from the raw experience. This contrasts sharply with seeking answers from external authorities or trying to fit reality into existing conceptual frameworks.

Methods of Exploration:

1. Textural and Sensory Engagement: Rather than analysing, the emphasis is on perceiving “texturally”. This involves embracing experience texturally and feeling it sensually. This bypasses conceptual thought and allows for a direct appreciation of the unconceivable, wholly indescribable, wholly uncategorisable nature of existence.
2. Undermining Concepts and Interpretations: A key aspect is to suspend all descriptions and definitions of experience, recognising that our analyses are always oversimplifications and hence always wrong or incomplete. The objective is to be with experience non-definitionally, allowing it to reveal aspects not captured by our conventional thinking. This involves recognising that verbal descriptions are partial and cannot capture the whole.
3. Focusing on the “More-ness”: Experience is infinitely more subtle, complex, ephemeral than ordinarily conceived. By allowing oneself to be surprised and notice the unacknowledged fields of experience, one can access a profound richness beyond habituated perception.
4. The Yoga of Radiant Presence: This approach, which we explore in our non-dual therapy course, is a form of spiritual practice founded by Peter Brown that focuses on recognising the inherent radiance and intelligence within experience. It is about learning to be with experience more profoundly and more precisely. 

Benefits of Empirical Exploration

The empirical investigation of experience yields profound benefits, transforming one’s understanding of reality and self:

• Self-Verification and Clarity: This approach leads to self-verifying, undeniable certainty about the nature of reality. It’s about seeing what actually is without being swayed by theories or popular consensus.
• Liberation from Interpretation: As one develops direct evidence of what is truly present, the significance of narratives, interpretations, and beliefs diminishes. It’s a shift from living in a state of resistance or attachment to embracing the fullness of what is.
• Direct Access to Reality: Experience is the sole reality. By exploring it, one gains complete, unlimited access to the totality. The inherent beauty, exquisiteness, and profound intelligence of reality become directly palpable.
• Transcendence of Dualities: The exploration reveals the arbitrariness of subject/object distinctions, as well as internal/external or subjective/objective differentiations. It’s not about merging two separate things, but discovering their inherent oneness and the flexibility of these apparent qualities.
• Intrinsic Intelligence and Meaning: Experience is not a dead, inert thing but an exercise of inconceivable intelligence and meaningfulness. By plugging into this “mainframe” of direct experience, one receives profound insights. This is the juiciness of experience, and experience is pure self-love, eternally exploring itself.

Comparison to Conventional Approaches

This empirical exploration stands in stark contrast to conventional ways of understanding:

• Versus Scientific Methodology: While science investigates experience, its models and measurements often oversimplify or distort the direct experience, especially when it assumes an objective world independent of experience. The empirical approach, by contrast, operates on the principle that categories, definitions, and logic are imposed on experience, not inherent to it.
• Versus Philosophical Abstraction: Philosophy and theoretical discussions about reality are overly intellectual when not grounded in direct experience. The problem starts when one tries to explain experience.

Challenges and the Unending Journey

Exploring experience empirically is not without its challenges. It can be counterintuitive to step out of lifelong habituation to the human perspective. The mind is accustomed to simplifying and categorising, creating an oversimplification that seems to bind and limit. 

However, the empirical exploration is inherently self-correcting and builds on itself. It’s like learning to swim by getting in the water; the water itself teaches you. The goal is not to stop thought or emotion, but to recognise that their actuality is part of the larger field of experience, and that they are insignificant in the face of this greater reality.

The journey of empirical exploration is ultimately unending. Experience is intrinsically infinite, ambiguous, unfathomable, and unresolvable. It’s a continuous unfoldment of existence. Yet, it is this very unending, undefinable quality that makes it so profound and liberating.