Self-inquiry explained.

[Truth Addict]

You are aware, and the one who's aware must always be meta.

What does that mean?

When you ask yourself the question: "Who am I?" , and then you try to locate yourself in your direct experience, you simply just go meta on yourself.

Okay, so what does that process do?

That allows you to disidentify from anything that is not you (the idea of you for example), and simply brings you closer to your true self, which is awareness (the meta), and then you keep persistent with the question, until being meta becomes a second nature, and then you will know who you are.

Some of the practical benefits of self-inquiry:

1. True happiness, which is peace of mind.
2. You gain control over your thoughts and actions.
3. Making decisions becomes a lot easier and of more quality.
4. Most of your problems will seem ridiculously simple.
5. Positive emotions become deeper and stronger.
6. Negative emotions become deeper and stronger as well, but you become more comfortable and peaceful with them.

That was my experience with self-inquiry, and everyday things are getting clearer and better.

I hope this thread will be useful to someone who is in need.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Truth Addict

[Peo]

The only problem for me is that whenever i try to ask who is aware of my visual field my mind saids it is a sensation in my eyes. When i ask who is aware of that again my mind says now it is the sensation in the back of my head. When i then ask who is aware of that again my mind says it is my chest. Then i ask who is aware of that again and my mind this time says it is the I thought that is aware. Finally ask my self who is aware of that again then it goes full circleI, back to my eyes again. I'm going on an endless chase on who is aware.

I'm sorry for my english is bad.

[Highest]

@Truth Addict Very nice. But ultimately one must go full circle on the Self-inqury path and become conscious that "yourself" cannot be located. You are non-local and everything.

 

[Truth Addict]

27 minutes ago, Peo said:

Then i ask who is aware of that again and my mind this time says it is the I thought that is aware. Finally ask my self who is aware of that again then it goes full circleI, back to my eyes again. I'm going on an endless chase on who is aware.

From what I understand, you reach the point where the answer is "I am a thought".

How are your eyes aware of the thought?

@Highest ?

Edited March 27, 2019 by Truth Addict

[Telepresent]

@Peo Maybe stop asking & answering, & just experiencing those sensations. 

It's really hard to not answer, particularly if you KEEP asking 

Try it

[Telepresent]

1 hour ago, Truth Addict said:

From what I understand, you reach the point where the answer is "I am a thought"

Then? 

[Nahm]

@Truth Addict 

Why are people afraid to self inquire?

What should they do if there is anxiety, panic attack, etc?

[Arhattobe]

Self inquiry if done mentally, as a thought process is not at all that effective. When your asleep. There is no world. The world arises upon waking up. Where does it arise from. It’s not a place, but a sense. 

Sense that which everything arises from.

That which is not what arises. That’s self inquiry.

[Jkris]

@Peo Hold on to the sense of me continously that's self enquiry. 

Or just try to witness every thoughts feelings emotions. 

[Truth Addict]

5 hours ago, Telepresent said:

Then? 

A thought is an object, and I can't be an object, because I am aware of the thought, so that supposedly means that I am the subject.

So I have to keep looking.

5 hours ago, Nahm said:

@Truth Addict 

Why are people afraid to self inquire?

I am not a master, nor a doctor.

But I know that self-inquiry helps disidentifying with the false self (beliefs about the self), which is dear, so everytime one loses some part of their imaginary identity, it feels like dying.

At the end of the inquiry, complete death of the false self will occur, which is terrifying, because the whole structure of the self becomes destructed.

6 hours ago, Nahm said:

@Truth Addict

What should they do if there is anxiety, panic attack, etc?

I'm not sure, but I think they need to believe in the outcome that will free them from the anxiety and all that, and keep trying.

Or, if it's so much terrifying, it can wait for another time when they are ready.

To me, it didn't terrify me at all, in fact, it feels more like freedom, and I haven't died yet.

I wonder how death feels like.

6 hours ago, Arhattobe said:

Self inquiry if done mentally, as a thought process is not at all that effective. When your asleep. There is no world. The world arises upon waking up. Where does it arise from. It’s not a place, but a sense. 

Sense that which everything arises from.

That which is not what arises. That’s self inquiry.

Exactly!

It must be done through direct experience.

[Nahm]

6 hours ago, Truth Addict said:

To me, it didn't terrify me at all, in fact, it feels more like freedom, and I haven't died yet.

I wonder how death feels like.

 

6 hours ago, Truth Addict said:

At the end of the inquiry, complete death of the false self will occur, which is terrifying, because the whole structure of the self becomes destructed.

 

6 hours ago, Truth Addict said:

It must be done through direct experience.

 

[Truth Addict]

@Nahm

I'm failing to get what you're pointing me to.

[Preetom]

Great thread. Actually once the habit of self-inquiry is firmly established 24/7, it takes only 6 months to 2-3 years to get WOKE as fuck. There have been many many testaments to this claim.

It is the particular conditioning, destiny, fears and desires of the seekers that don't let self-inquiry to establish firmly. And thus it takes several years to many years to thousand lifetimes to get enlightened

[Tony 845]

@Preetom adyashanti, Rupert & Peter Raulson I believe his name is all said they would do self inquiry basically from sun up to sun down until their awakenings. 

[who chit]

Inquire:
Who or what is it, that experiences itself as "I"?

[Truth Addict]

@Preetom thank you for the input! I'm still in my third month of practising self-inquiry, the results are good so far, but no huge breakthroughs yet.

@who chit I don't think I understand the question quite well. If you please would elaborate.

[who chit]

1 hour ago, Truth Addict said:

.

@who chit I don't think I understand the question quite well. If you please would elaborate.

Not directed at you specifically, just a suggestion to anyone doing self inquiry.

[Truth Addict]

@who chit and I would like to understand if it's possible.

[Hima Izumi]

11 hours ago, Preetom said:

Great thread. Actually once the habit of self-inquiry is firmly established 24/7, it takes only 6 months to 2-3 years to get WOKE as fuck. There have been many many testaments to this claim.

It is the particular conditioning, destiny, fears and desires of the seekers that don't let self-inquiry to establish firmly. And thus it takes several years to many years to thousand lifetimes to get enlightened

I don't think that's true.

It took annamalai swami decades.

[Preetom]

13 hours ago, Tony 845 said:

@Preetom adyashanti, Rupert & Peter Raulson I believe his name is all said they would do self inquiry basically from sun up to sun down until their awakenings. 

I'd disagree with that. While it's true we can never guess the truth but I doubt they were doing self-inquiry from the start. They probably were doing a whole batch of spiritual practices and contemplations for decades before they finally stabilized in 'real' self-inquiry.

Adyashanti: I don't know a great deal about the specifics of his personal path but he meditated like an Olympian 4-5 hours days in his late teens and 20s. But they were mostly a batch of concentration/vipasana meditations. In his final few years, self-inquiry really got hold of him tightly and he awakened permanently that time (he had many other glimpses before but they didn't stick)

Rupert: He didn't do self-inquiry from the start. From his late teens to his 40s that's like 25 years- he was reading vedantic scriptures, doing mantra meditation(something that is a complete inverse of self-inquiry) and keeping Ramana's photo near his bed. he did just that for 25 freaking years without any permanent awakening experience. Finally he met Francis who introduced him to the direct path of putting awareness on awareness..that indeed liberated him within 1-2 years. In his own words, that time was like a constant fire works for him as everything he read in the scriptures were being directly experienced so clearly.

Peter: I'm not familiar with neither his teaching nor his path so I can't comment on that. I only know that he did inhuman level of sitting and contemplating.

4 hours ago, Hima Izumi said:

I don't think that's true.

It took annamalai swami decades.

Well it's because he was busy with construction works for decades and didn't have the patience/maturity to sit still and self inquire. Upon doing that self-less work for many years, finally his mind was purified and he got enlightened very soon when Ramana finally gave him permission to leave and meditate in a secluded place.

Meanwhile, Shivprakasham Pillai and Sri Sadhu Om are examples who grasped the essence of Ramana's teaching very quickly and got enlightened within 2-5 years.

Like I said, the technique self-inquiry (putting awareness on awareness) is the final gate. But it depends on people to people to come to this door due to their particular idiosyncrasies. Some may take 1 year to come to this gate while others may need lifetimes. 

And self-inquiry is not at all about asking questions or doing some sort of intellectual, clever gymnastics. In a sense, it is an 'unique' 'activity'. The only 'unique' activity there is. While all our experiences are about attending to objects, self-inquiry turns that around and starts attending to the subject. No other activity in any plane does that. And thus people will take their time to get the essence of this practice

Edited March 29, 2019 by Preetom