Photo by Takuin Minamoto
I don’t really give exercises, and I do not prescribe fixes for illusory problems. But I thought it might be of some use to go into what is inquiry. This will be a relatively quick post, as we can go into it further in the comments and flesh it out from there.
For this inquiry, we’ll take on a subject that has tightly held beliefs. In fact, this is what one may want to look for in their own inquiry; the things you do not want to disbelieve. These are the sentries that guard the most precious gems.
When this question is asked, pay attention to what happens. Nearly everyone will have their own answer, and let me tell you, this answer is of no significance. What you are doing is sitting with the process. You are seeing this movement, how these answers arise.
This is where you have to find your own way. I could tell you a million things to do with these answers that arise, but it would be the wrong prescription. You must find out how this moves within you, on your own. I will go into finer detail in the comments, but for now, take the first question and go with it.
Here is the first question:
What is consciousness?
As this question is asked, what happens within you? Do you instantly have the “answer”? Do you immediately “know” what it is? Have you read books on consciousness, memorized what sounded good to you, then spew it out as an answer to a question? The activity described here is useless.
Inquiry has nothing to do with what you believe, or what you have memorized. It has nothing to do with YOU. It is an exploration of the moment at hand. There may be a topic or subject to one’s inquiry, but it cannot be questioned from a fixed conclusion. If that is all you are doing, you are not questioning at all, but merely holding the subject at arm’s length to see how it fits into what you already believe.
Everyone has their own ideas about Consciousness; what it is, how it works, the various levels therein, etc. I am not interested in any of that. I am interested in seeing the thing without any of those ideas.
Here is a second question:
Do you only know consciousness through the ideas you already have?
If that is true, what is consciousness? What is its importance?
If you answer this second question with “NO,” how did the answer arise? How did the certainty arise? What is this center that is making these decisions?
(These questions may seem to differ from the point of origin, but these things can move in any direction. I want you to see the freedom in all of this.)
If you answer “YES,” go into it. How did it arise? It is all in seeing the movements that arise.
Is There Actually an Answer?
There is an “answer” to these questions. But that word is in quotes because it is an answer free from certainty. It is not an answer one gives because they “know”. It is an answer arising from clarity beyond the need to be right; clarity beyond decision; clarity beyond the clamorous self.
There is inquiry that can get to the bottom of all these questions, and we may go into that in the comments, as well. But this particular exercise is all about seeing how the answers arise.
But let it come as it will. Allow yourself to be carried away in whatever direction it pulls you.
Get Busy
Bomb away in the comments everyone. I am not here to tell you how it is, or to say you are wrong. Tell us all how these things have occurred to you. I may question it further, but it is only to be clear as to what is being said.
(Side Note: I had not thought of it, but you could easily exchange “consciousness” in these questions for many other topics. Give it a try if you like, and remain flexible with all of this.)
13 Comments
In each question I pose, a thought came after another thought. Some I could recognize as something I’ve read and I’ve heard - from where or from whom I’m not always sure.
I can hear cars zooming by, the wall clock ticking - sometimes loudly but at times getting faint when a thought crosses my mind. Sometimes I can feel my pulse, my heartbeat from inside. Sometimes I can only feel I’m breathing. Suddenly, I’ve forgotten the question…
Have I found any answer? There are ones that arose that satisfied my fancy. Stuffs that I currently believe or once believed….I see them, they are there, a lot of them. Shall I select one to be the answer? On what basis?
The more I questioned each the whole exercise just got ridiculous and confusing. I left the questions alone…
Then I hear the cars zooming by and the clock ticking. Felt this body breathing and beating…
what is consciousness
Answering only from this moment. It’s to be conscious of whats going on. It is to be conscious of behaviour, action, one’s thoughts, ideas,life around you, life in you. It is to be aware. I really don’t know. It is also awakeness. To be awake to what is going on. There you deliberately act or think and not be like a conditioned robot. Somewhere then one begins to see that everyone has the same kind of consciousness, that it underlies all of us, some of us are sensitive to it, some not. Consciousness then is awareness.
Do you only know consciousness through the ideas you already have?
Well, I just thought of this right now, in this very moment though I could have quoted things I have read. So am thinking the answer is No.
How am I certain. I am not. I feel I am right, but not certain. Interesting, what is certainty then? A feeling,but feelings are too ephemeral. I just feel, see, that the “answer” seems right, to me. Maybe different for others.
Ok Takuin, dissection may begin.
For the first, I would say what is not consciousness? Only the silence within Itself.
For the second, No. See above.
The center is itself. Although ideas sometimes do come up that muddy perception.
For three, Yes. But the answer will change as the position of the observer changes. The answer is not absolute but rather a vehicle for the emergence of knowledge.
Recently, some new clarity arose. As usual, some concepts came up to meet it and were dissolved. Now a new subset of answers is arising that integrates this. They too shall fall but in the meantime serve as stepping stones to deepening.
Hey All,
This has turned in a way I had not expected, which is wonderful.
It may be an active expectancy on the part of the questioner, as these answers seem to reflect an “asker” placing itself in a position to receive an answer. But that is not at all the point of this particular “exercise”. I will go into this further tomorrow.
I am still working on some matters of this new blog design. But I will go into these wonderful comments at some point tomorrow.
That is great, Sass. You see this in a wonderful way.
And remember, it is not a person searching for the answer; it is the truth of the organism as it is functioning from moment to moment. The answer to the question is absolutely insignificant. The point of this exercise is not to find the answer, or to see what is right or wrong, but to see who or what it is that answers.
There is a question in front of you, and as a reaction, the answer is thrown up. The answer that comes is not important; that is for the seeker to slave over. The reaction, the functioning of the mind, is what one must see. The truth of how this creature is functioning.
So when I say to see how the answer arises, or whatever it is I have said, I am not looking for what you believe to be true. I am looking for a break in the illusion.
Does that make sense to you?
Uzma,
Your inquiry is very nice. I like the questions you raise.
I see you have approached this as someone answering a question. That is fine; nothing wrong with that. But i am more interested in the functioning of your mind; the pure functioning.
So, a question is raised, and knowledge comes up, doing what it likes to do. But it is still the viewpoint of the person seeking an answer. What I am looking for is the mind quiet enough to see beyond that limited process.
Instead of, “There is a question, and I am going to answer,” it is a seeing of the entire mechanism. When the question is asked, thought may or may not rise to the stimulus. But you don’t have to be intimately involved.
It is possible to see this movement for exactly what it is. That is the overriding interest for this exercise. It has nothing to do with any answer you may hold. It has more to do with the mind moving in such a way to bring about that answer.
One must be quiet to see this. If you are still, you can hear your heartbeat; feel it. It is the same within the mind. When you are still, these movements are no longer apparent, but exact. It is so lovely.
Not exactly a dissection, but there you have it. Haha.
Davidya,
That is great! I enjoy hearing about how these things unfold in others.
I always enjoy hearing your answers, but I am more interested in the Q & A process itself; how it arises, how it functions.
For this particular “exercise,” it is the seeing of how the process unfolds that is important, and not so much the person giving the answer.
It may be a seeing of how one supplies the answer, without being attached to that answer. There is no intimate involvement, or maybe it is better to say, no one hoping to be right.
The question is asked, the mind goes where it goes, and it is all seen as it is. Now, the answer may come up, but when this happens, there is no one that takes it and runs. There is no one that needs the answer, for any reason. It may very well be right and correct and all of that, but it is not important.
I am not saying this is right, and anyone should believe it and run with it. Please, run away! Don’t take it with you!
One must be quiet. I think you see that very clearly, Davidya.
“There is a question in front of you, and as a reaction, the answer is thrown up. The answer that comes is not important; that is for the seeker to slave over. The reaction, the functioning of the mind, is what one must see. The truth of how this creature is functioning.”
just some reflections…
1. that’s it. the answer is “thrown up”….mechanically:
a question and then an answer. a mechanical force of
habit, perhaps? hehehehe.
i understand that whether the answer is right or wrong is,
indeed, not significant at all. whether i believe them to
be true or not are also insignificant. they are there…
there as bubbles: one moment they are floating,
the next moment they pop out. one may choose to chase
the bubbles for entertainment purposes. but it can be a tiring
endeavor, albeit an exciting one.
2. in this mechanical exchange, the answers arising are, if
i may use your word, “reactions” rather than the “answers that end
the questions” to the question. and if i may use a metaphor,
the answers arising are like my “ouch” when someone stepped on me.
3. and yes “it is not a person searching for the answer; it is
the truth of the organism as it is functioning from moment
to moment.”
i want to say “i agree” but i find this metaphor to be a
more resounding yes: “when it’s hot, the body sweats and
then cools itself. and suddenly, one feels the nuances of
temperature. ” (this i know for sure, and it allowed me to
significantly lower my electric bill… :-))
That is wonderful, Sass. I’ll just touch a bit on your points.
1. Maybe I should have picked a better phrase than “thrown up,” haha. But it is very apt, isn’t it? Thought is, in its own way, a physical reaction. There really is nothing so very mystical about it.
There may be a danger there. I have seen others say the same thing (or write the same thing). and there is always that feeling of holding down the process, as if thought is a second-class citizen (I am not saying you have done any of this). There may be a realization, thought is seen as it is for just a moment, then it is put down; “Look at you, thought. I know your game, and see your stupidity. You are far too simple for a creature such as I,” and so on.
But we must remember to be kind to thought. It is an indispensable element of the whole thing.
2. Yes, that does seem to be the case.
3. Isn’t it interesting that many people resist the normal functions of the body? Especially during the summer months. One may sweat profusely, wishing all the time for relief. In the summer, we wish for the cold; in the winter, we wish for the heat. Never once can we sit with what is happening at any given time.
The deepest lessons are hidden within our apparent discomfort.
Takuin - yes i know what you mean. From whence the response arises. How this shifts as the observers apparent position shifts. It is hard to convey as the mind so likes an ‘answer’, and not just the mind of a person but deeper, the mind of the persons, what we might call the collective. Mind focuses on content, missing what is the container and how the container moves.
I see this but some shards of person remain. Bits that arise here and there and are seen. The process continues…
Davidya,
It certainly is not easy to see. But it is simple, if you know what I mean. Not difficult in the sense of effort, but the traps are subtle (and possibly sinister).
The “viewpoint” may be the most subtle piece of the puzzle. It may still be expressed as, “Yes, I see it,” where there is still this intimate involvement in doing. It is something being done by the person wanting the result.
If there is a prescription for any of this, I’d start with curiosity.
Hallo. For me my answers, where light and without words. Only a feeling of being myself. Thoughts slipped, words slipped I only was and still sitting infront of my computer. Maybe I am still impressed by the video first part I saw from Bruce Lee the Interview you linked. I saw this moves at the end of the interview let them be the answers to your three questions.
Best regards.
iamasimpelman
iamasimpelman,
Thanks so much for your participation. I am glad to have you here.
It is the most simple thing one may encounter. It is devoid of everything, and at the same time, lacks nothing. But this kind of language seems circuitous to the wanting mind; the must-have-it-now mind.
Just sit. The end is not far off.
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