[Excerpts from an article by Nic Higham]

1. The inward-facing path differentiates between our self and the objects of experience. It is a path of negation, exclusion and elimination: I am not this, not this. In theological terms, it is the Via Negativa; in the Zen tradition, the Great Death. On this Path we discover what we are not. It is the movement in understanding from ‘I am something’ to ‘I am nothing’ the path of wisdom or discrimination. The mind turns its attention away from objective experience towards its own essence or reality. This is the essence of meditation or prayer.

In meditation the simple experience of being aware is extricated from everything that we are aware of and the mind falls inwards. As it does so it is gradually (occasionally, or suddenly) divested of its finite, limited qualities and, at some point, stands revealed as pure mind, original mind or infinite consciousness – the fundamental, underlying reality of the apparent duality of mind and matter.

The culmination of the inward-facing path is the recognition of the presence, the primacy and the nature of awareness – or, in religious language, spirit or God’s infinite being – which transcends all knowledge and experience. However, it is not yet the full experiential understanding in which awareness itself, or God’s infinite being, is known and felt to pervade and saturate all knowledge and experience, and indeed to be its sole substance and reality. It is to recognise the transcendent nature of awareness but not its immanence.

2. The outward-facing path is one of openness, inclusion and allowing: I am this, am this. It is a path in which the apparent separation between our self and anyone or anything is dissolved. It is a path of unconditional love. It is the Via Positiva. It is the Great Rebirth in the Zen tradition. This path is the means by which we recognise the inherently peaceful and unconditionally fulfilled nature of our being. It is the cure for suffering, the direct path to peace and happiness.

In the outward-facing path we recognise that our being is shared with everyone and everything. It is the remedy for conflict and the means by which kindness, harmony and justice are restored to humanity. On this Path we discover what we are. The movement in understanding from ‘I am nothing’ through ‘I am everything’ to simply ‘I’ could be called the path of love. This is also the moment at which the traditional spiritual path of renunciation becomes the Tantric path of embrace and inclusion. It is the moment at which the full spectrum of experience is welcomed, explored and celebrated for what it truly is.

In the final stage of this exploration the distinction between consciousness and its objects collapses completely. Experience is not just known by consciousness; it does not just appear in consciousness; consciousness is all there is to experience. To begin with, as we take our stand knowingly as aware Presence, the mind, body and world recede into the background. When the presence and primacy of our self has been established, objects come close again, closer than close. They dissolve into our self and reveal themselves as none other than the shape that our self is taking from moment to moment. Presence is so utterly and intimately one with every appearance, it says ‘Yes’ so unreservedly to every experience, that it is also known as love.

So, to summarise, we move from the formulation, ‘I am something’ to ‘I am nothing’, from ‘I am nothing’ to ‘I am everything, from’ I am everything’ to ‘I am’ or ‘Awareness is, from there to simply ‘I’ and from ‘I’ to… we truly fall silent there. To begin with, we understand objects as appearing to Consciousness. Then we understand that they appear in Consciousness. Then we understand that they appear as Consciousness. Consciousness knows itself in and as the totality of experience. Once the essential, irreducible nature of the mind has been recognised, and its inherent peace and unconditional joy accessed, it is necessary to face ‘outwards’ again towards objective experience, realigning the way we think and feel, and subsequently act, perceive and relate, with our new understanding.

Excerpts from an article by Nic Higham

[Credit: Rupert Spira
The Nature of Consciousness: Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter – by Rupert Spira
Being Aware of Being Aware – by Rupert Spira
The Transparency of Things: Contemplating the Nature of Experience – by Rupert Spira
Presence, Volume I: The Art of Peace and Happiness – by Rupert Spira
Being Myself – by Rupert Spira
Presence, Volume II: The Intimacy of All Experience – by Rupert Spira]

Link to Nic Higham’s original: https://nisargayoga.org/what-are-the-inward-and-outward-facing-paths/