To paraphrase friend and teacher Rupert Spira, there is no distance on the direct path. That is why it’s also known as the pathless path. The direct path referred to is the spiritual path of self-inquiry – ‘Who am I?’ – or, more accurately, self-abidance – ‘I am’ – which can lead to the understanding of our true nature – the realization that our essence is that of eternal and infinite consciousness.

When we consider the nature of reality, the core of our identity, what feelings arise when we hear the words ‘no distance’? Nestle into this statement like a newborn nestles into its mother’s embrace. Imagine how that feels. How it felt. Warm. Secure. Intimate. Close.

If there is no distance on the direct path, and therefore pathless, what step need we take? There is nothing we can think, do, or say to get any closer to the truth because we’re already there, already it. The relationship between the one who knows and that which is known is, as Rupert is fond of saying, ‘Closer than close.’

The discovery that the knower and the known are one begs the question, who or what knows this? All that’s left on the conceptual level is the knowing presence of awareness in which everything arises, is known by, and made of. This knowing presence of awareness, or consciousness, has no edge or boundary, no beginning or end, and is therefore everywhere and indivisible, infinite and eternal. In other words, there is only one thing going on. Only this. The seeker is the sought.

We dance gracefully along the direct path, going nowhere, no distance, because in every moment we are already there. And with this understanding, this indisputable knowing, the heart bursts with the all-pervading sense of unconditional love. And you, I, we are that.

On the Direct Path, the Pathless Path

Travel No Distance and Discover that All Manifestations

Are but Unique Expressions of Unchanging Awareness

That Only Knows Itself

And We are That

Closer than Close