How To Get Deep Into Doubting/self-inquiry

[Huz]

When I sit down and do doubting/self-inquiry I find it hard to go deep into my mind and find root causes of my behaviour and the foundations of my believes. The answers my mind gives are superficial. There is not structure to the process so and my mind gets easily distracted all the time (would it be better to write it down?). I find it hard to hold onto an inquiring process of a single believe. Can anyone help me with this or provide some questions which you aid me with the process. Or even give a few examples of how the process would work. 

[philosogi]

@Huz As you suggested writing it down, I find it very useful to write things down. Give your ego some acceptance so it can tell you the things which are threatening to it, so it doesn't have as much motivation to obfuscate the truth. Sometimes the answer to your inquiry is not obvious. Keep trying! You could start with a question that is not too painful first to practice, and then move onto the deeper questions. Or, if you get bored with easy questions, start with a really difficult puzzle to keep interested. If your mind gives a superficial answer, don't let it go. Ask the next logical question that follows the thread.

[Leo Gura]

1) Do retreats where you have nothing else to do but contemplate/meditate

2) Psychedelics are extremely helpful

3) Eliminate distractions in your daily life so you have time to focus

4) Have a daily concentration practice that trains up your focus and patience

5) Be more persistent. You will fall off the path hundreds of times. The trick is to get back on.

[Dragallur]

On 8/26/2016 at 10:58 PM, philosogi said:

Keep trying! You could start with a question that is not too painful first to practice, and then move onto the deeper questions.

Could you list some of those questions please (the easier part)?

[philosogi]

 

2 hours ago, Dragallur said:

Could you list some of those questions please (the easier part)?

They're going to be different depending on the person. If it was me, I'd think about something that is bothering me or had recently bothered me, and ask myself why I did it, and keep following the "why" thread asking successive questions so that everything is broken down into elemental pieces. So for example:

Thing that is bothering me: I felt angry after spending time with a friend (sometimes I even have trouble identifying this)
"How do I feel?" 
"Angry"
"What does that feel like?"
"...Like I have a ball of fire in my stomach"
"Why do I feel angry?"
"I don't know."
"Am I sure? Did I feel angry 3 hours ago?"
"No. I guess it was after seeing the friend."
"What happened?"
[insert recall of the time spent; probably identify a part of the conversation that my emotions reacted to]
"So it was when the friend took out the phone and started texting while I was telling a story?"
"Guess so"
"Why did that make me feel angry?"
"Dunno. Normal people would feel angry about that!"
"Maybe, but I'm talking about me here, not other people. So why did that make me feel angry?"
"The friend should respect me more!"
"I deserve respect? Doesn't the teaching I've been doing say that I don't *deserve* anything?"
"I guess not"
"Am I sure I felt angry? Is there another feeling under the anger?"
[insert resistance here]
"I guess I felt hurt."
[insert a while of just sitting with the new *hurt* feeling and feeling what it feels like]
"Awww. It's ok. I still love me... Do I still feel angry?"
"No, I feel more at peace now."

So, I guess in this example, I uncovered the underlying belief that I believe that I should be respected, discovered that my feeling "hurt" was masquerading as "anger," and that I was comparing myself to other people as a point of validation. I also learned that my mind wouldn't easily give the most honest answers. So one innocuous interaction when examined gave me so much information about myself in this example.

[Dragallur]

@philosogi Great! Thanks for the idea, sounds cool