Sunday, August 16, 2015

Keeping That Cute Little Monkey On Your Back


I've been in a deep crisis about my job lately and that's because I know it doesn't align with my desire or plan to have fulfilling Life Purpose.  How ridiculously typical for a spiritual seeker of my less-than-tender age!

There's no time in the linear trajectory I like to think of as the 'history of my life' that I wasn't looking for the next or better thing.  It's been a real source of dissatisfaction, if I'm honest. More than that, it's been a source of pain, and you might even say Suffering.

Oh, you too?

Only after beginning to work with this particular inquiry did I discover that the suffering is completely false.  Firstly, because I don't recall learning about a predetermined or neatly paved path which I have been commanded to follow.  What's more, there are zero accounts of Maps to the Universe having been handed out by the OB-Gyn who tended to my birth.  And if he was in the business of handing out life maps upon arrival, it's long since been lost.  There's no absolutely no GPS for This, and therefore, it's impossible to get lost.

So where did this idea of Sempre Further, Stronger, Faster, Better come from?  Why the dissatisfaction with my current state of affairs?

Sunday, August 9, 2015

The Neverending Universe of Inquiry


While the urgent energy of spiritual seeking can end at some point, it's my experience so far that inquiry can't.  It's an ever expanding universe of wonder and awe.  Well, when inquiry isn't leading up to a headache, that is.  And if it's giving me a headache, that's probably a good sign that I'm working it like a logical math problem instead of a simple check of reality. 

This brings me to an excellent blog comment on my last post.  I see it as an invitation to an Inquiry Challenge Round. 


"This is a textbook case of realizing the difference between actual experience and thought overlay."I'd think that thought overlay is part of actual experience, and that the realising is just another overlay.

"Where this hold true for me, it must also hold true for him."......Must? 

- Neony


How and where to start!

I think of inquiry as an art form.  Or maybe it's an eternal musical composition.  Either way, it's always a good idea for me to not call a session "closed" or "done".  Instead, I let it just keep opening doors and before writing out the results of an inquiry here, I've more than likely spent a full week in contemplation even when I've done these countless times before.  Finding a breaking point at which to write is always much more challenging than I expect.

Neony's right.  When I look, I see that thought overlay is indeed part of actual experience, and realizing IS just another overlay.  Everything is experience.  There is no escaping it, even if I think about falling asleep at night and experiencing nothing, that's not true.  I can't possibly know whether I've actually missed anything at all.  

My recommendation to you, dear reader, is to take none of these inquiries as complete, closed, or finished.  Challenge each one and see whether you can take it further. 

Because you can.  Always.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Friends, Lovers, and Other Strangers?


The question is....Exactly what is it that I see when looking at another?

In the midst of trying to give this inquiry my full attention I find myself giving several distracted glances in my husband's direction.  I note the rounded shoulders of his seated form as he reads from his laptop.  Then I remember that he hates that laptop.  Or maybe it's just a healthy disdain for Windows 8.

Anyway!

Besides the visual cues of shape and color, I'm pretty proud of my spiritual acuity in easily noticing that there is absolutely nothing there that says "husband".  That notion, I understand, comes in a series of thoughts which claim to tell a story about that particular shape and form.  This is a textbook case of realizing the difference between actual experience and thought overlay.

I get 10 bonus points for this round of inquiry and move onto the next space on the board.
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Next, I start looking at the question of how and where these particular thoughts came to be.