You’ll have to do it, if it is going to be done.

It is probably best to leave it alone than to have someone else try and fix it for you. Otherwise, you might end up with one of those terrible Extreme Home Makeover disasters…

I was walking today, in a deep state–not a state, but you know what I mean. Later the thought popped up “how do I describe this” and I can’t. It’s both ordinary and extra-ordinary.

Presumably, humans have egos for a reason. Its just too bad we can’t take them in for servicing…

That arose naturally. But as a discipline? Certainly not. The way some describe it, that seems too much work.

Ah, I see where I made my mistake…I didn’t mean to imply inquiry is a necessary part of anything. I meant to say, for those ‘using’ self-inquiry, or for those wanting to know how to do it, the only thing they need to know about it is the definition, otherwise we get caught in how to do it, how does he or she do it, am I doing it right, what is the best way, and so on.

Yes, it is not a discipline, really. And not a cultivated skill, in the sense of accumulating more knowledge and refining one’s technique.

Last night I was talking with a few people, and one of them asked a question something like, “When you have a bad feeling, what do you do?” It was asked of everyone. Some said they listen to music, go to the movies, talk with other people about it, and so on.

Then they looked to me for an answer. I said, “If I feel bad, I am suspicious of that feeling. It is not thought of as a state triggered by someone else, or the result of my being mistreated. All I can do is investigate the thing, and even that is gratuitous because I have yet to find anything.”

I’ve not talked about inquiry all that much; at least not directly. Perhaps there is a lot of inquiry in what I have written…well…I am sure there must be, but I’ve not made a conscious effort to insert it in there as something to do in order to get something else in the end.

As a discipline, no. Certainly not. I cannot even say it is something done consciously. You know, it is not even about a real, verbal question. There are no actual words or inner speaking. None of that.

I’m not yet prepared to say it is a natural function of the organism, but it just might be.

The word inquiry implies a question. Something you can pose and play around with. And perhaps that is the only way to approach it in the beginning. But there will come a time when the words fail, but not because you are doing something wrong. Maybe it is just time for them to die?

How you go deeply depends on the person. A little of forgiveness, meditation, inquiry… so many ways. A car horn. (laughs) As one sage mentioned, even the smoke of a stinking bus…

I can see now where the “search” has become an integral part of my ego identification. But that’s ok, I accept my foolishness and forgive it. Forgiveness, now who taught that, I wonder.

Anyway, it was a wonderful read, Takuin, and as usual I used it to gauge where I am, spiritually; where I measure up and where I fall short.

Egos! Like everything else they just are. HA!

As to choice, the deeper question is to ask who is doing the choosing. It has nothing to do with the person. The me just takes credit or blame for what is occurring to obtain a sense of control. As you observe, the apparent choice takes place if the person is conscious or not.

It is very curious how everything becomes a concept. The mind likes to explain things, so when it hears of an experience it hasn’t had, it makes a concept and shares it with others. Many quite profound truths and spiritual experiences are thus degraded into ideas. A teaching emerges. (laughs)

I suppose this is because everything in fact IS a concept. The person builds personal concepts when reality has not shared it’s global concepts yet. As above, so below.

Reincarnation is one example. It is discussed as a concept or belief. One cannot find proof until after death. It is considered unknowable. And yet it is something that many do experience/remember directly. And can be proven by inference via details that arise that can be verified historically.

Largely, I would agree that pursing one’s past has little overall value. In fact, it can be a trap, taking one away from the point of the spiritual journey. But there can be minor benefits that arise when the bigger picture is gradually remembered. Naturally unfolds. For myself for example, a loss of the fear of death and a context for the curious nature of my life. (laughs)

As we shift deeper and deeper into who we are, the bigger picture naturally unfolds in whatever way has value. This brings natural side effects, including a broader vision and new abilities. But to pursue them directly is to get lost in an alley.

Sorry the comment is long and disparate.

No,no, it came off just fine.

The reincarnation bit–I stay away from spiritual concepts.

These ’spiritual concepts’ are something we play with during life, perhaps just to pass the time…I can never say it is necessarily wrong, you know. It may turn out to be right in some way, but we can never know for sure.

It is a secret we’ll all take to the grave with us. In order for any of us to find out, we have to be truly dead, and by that time it is too late to do anything.

Through knowledge, we can build up beliefs about what will come to pass after we come to pass. But I can see no importance in this activity.

To be conscious, or to live in reaction to mind and conditioning, is a choice, but when we don’t realize it is a choice, is it a choice?

Well, let’s imagine on person is completely unconscious in their choices, or we might say an unconscious self. This self chooses this or that; whatever might strengthen its life and maintain its continuity. It just does not realize it as such.

Then there is the other, a conscious self (and these names are not really important; we’re just having a look). They might realize there is a choice, of sorts. But it is still a movement toward what it strongly desires to have.

In both cases, there is a person choosing a better life, or striving to have more (or less) in the future. So between the two (in this example), there is no difference.

Even when many of us do realize it is choice – when we realize that the basic dysfunction is the identification with thought – most of us are still not able to rest in awareness.

That is a great point you have, and we hear it all the time. It is a superficial realization brought about by our hope of gaining from another person’s functioning. We read about the clarity another individual might hold, and we want that for ourselves. So we study and study, until eventually, on an intellectual level, we understand how it should work, in theory.

Don’t get me wrong, inquiry may be the key to all of it (I won’t say it is or it isn’t), and we have all heard stories of people coming to freedom through inquiry. But not once have I heard of a person coming to the end through someone else’s form of inquiry.

To inquire is to question. And that is all the teaching we’ll ever need on the subject.

Thanks, Kaushik…

There is much wisdom here, and all of it resonant.

Right, it is ungraspable.

It is noticing not a process but it is a process until noticing happens.

The reincarnation bit–I stay away from spiritual concepts. I recognize it provides a framework for many. I go with Adyashanti, who says he can’t figure out for the life of him how spirituality and awakening got mixed up.

The time thing is confusing–I see it only in bits. It’s takes time to go from one known to another known. Spirituality, beliefs, wisdom, changing, improving takes time. This is going from known to unknown, where there is not superstition of time.

To be conscious, or to live in reaction to mind and conditioning, is a choice, but when we don’t realize it is a choice, is it a choice? Even when many of us do realize it is choice–when we realize that the basic dysfunction is the identification with thought, most of us are still not able to rest in awareness.

“We rely too heavily,
On the ‘people who know.’”

Beautiful.

Sorry the comment is long and disparate.