Self Inquiry Questions

[softlyblossoming]

Do you ask "What am I?", "Who am I?", "What is observing?", "Who is observing?", "What is aware of ___?", "Who is aware of ___?" or something else?

Why?

I'm very excited to see what others use and why. Thanks everyone 

Edited February 7, 2022 by softlyblossoming
needed a cute emoticon

[This]

I've noticed that i don't get any answer no matter what i ask. I think it would be really startling if the silence suddenly replied to my question ?

 

 

 

 

 

[BlueOak]

It peels back layers of the ego and strips beliefs down to their truth or fiction. Its like taking something dusty and polishing it. I haven't done it for ten years but it was powerful when I did practice it. I think these were the questions I asked.

Individual Why's:

Is that real. Why? Is my explanation of that real. Why? Is my explanation of that real? Why? etc. You keep going even if the answer is yes, until you break things down to the core truth of it.

Where did that thought/belief come from, is another way to do it. Then when you answer, you ask where did that answer come from? Repeat. Its an interesting line of enquiry until you reach the very bottom of the pile of half truths or other people's beliefs that got you there. You might eventually get a very simple and clear emotion toward a very simple and clear event or you might see the ego dissolve slowly.

Consciousness Observations:

Who is observing is a meditative question to try to focus on. It can help focus pull back and back and back :D. Focus on the sensation and whatever comes up, then ask who is observing that and keep asking. If a thought pops up ask who is observing that, if a sensation comes up ask who is observing that, if you feel consciousness expanding or contracting ask who is observing that. It will be unique to you so whatever comes up comes up, no wrong answer or wrong experience. 

These help get the proverbial monkey off your back or monkey mind as they call it.

I'm going to have a run of it now and see what happens again, could be fun.

 

 

 

[Tim R]

I don't ask myself anything. And to be honest, I never really understood why people would sit there and repetitively ask themselves things like "who am I?" or "who is observing?"

I try to feel into whatever it is I'm inquiring.  Feel into existence, feel into awareness, feel into perception, feel into the body, feel into thought, feel into emotions. But without labelling them as such and without a questioning mind. 

By feeling I don't mean "emotion". I mean the absolutely raw, unmediated, unprocessed quality of experience, completely merging into the "that-ness" of reality. 

[Salvijus]

43 minutes ago, softlyblossoming said:

Do you ask "What am I?", "Who am I?", "What is observing?", "Who is observing?", "What is aware of ___?", "Who is aware of ___?" or something else?

Why?

Yea, i grew up on this practice from the very beginning of my spiritual journey. It's in my blood and bones this practice. I used to do this practice in my dreams even lol.

It's the most powerful practice if done right imo. But I would say majority of people are not doing it right. Or are not getting the technique right.

If done right, the question will gradually pull the awareness out of the mind and trancend deeper and deeper layers of personal identity. 

If done wrong, there's a danger of becoming deluded and fake enlightened. Which is quite common imo.

If self-inquiry is too confusing just do aware of awareness, the results are pretty much the same, but with less potential for confusion and mental masturbation.

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by Salvijus

[softlyblossoming]

@BlueOak @Tim R @Salvijus Thank you so much, these really wonderful replies are super helpful.

57 minutes ago, This said:

I've noticed that i don't get any answer no matter what i ask. I think it would be really startling if the silence suddenly replied to my question ?

@This I'm sure you're doing it right. From what I've heard, you're not supposed to find a real self during self-inquiry!

[BlueOak]

1 hour ago, Tim R said:

 I never really understood why people would sit there and repetitively ask themselves things like "who am I?" or "who is observing?"

Putting aside the benefits of the practice. Methodologically its a bit like why you would focus on the breath or do any repetition/ritual. Its a way of silencing, calming, getting in state or focusing. For the same reason your method probably works well for people who spend a lot of time in their heart, its especially useful if you are a logical person, spend a lot of time in your head or have thoughts naturally during meditation.

Edited February 7, 2022 by BlueOak

[Tim R]

8 minutes ago, BlueOak said:

Methodologically its a bit like why you would focus on the breath or do any repetition/ritual. 

I see. So it's like a mantra? 

[BlueOak]

32 minutes ago, Tim R said:

I see. So it's like a mantra? 

Often thoughts in an overworked or chaotic mind are random and observations intermittant. In its final state perhaps yes it reaches that but its starts off much more disorganized. I always looked at it like a ball of string being untangled.

Edited February 7, 2022 by BlueOak

[softlyblossoming]

6 minutes ago, BlueOak said:

like a ball of string being untangled

That's a really cool observation. Why do you look at the mind like this? Thanks, @BlueOak :-)

[VeganAwake]

The idea is to recognize that this individual that endlessly seeks & inquires IS AN ILLUSION. 

❤  

[BipolarGrowth]

Stop asking linguistic questions and start looking for the feeling of a self at the level of sensations. Body scanning is a good way to do this at the beginning levels. 
 

Asking linguistic self-inquiry questions did pretty much nothing for me personally. You can of course start the inquiry with a linguistic question to get the sensation-based inquiry rolling. 
 

This is the best thing I’ve seen/used in regard to self-inquiry over the years other than tweaks to it I’ve developed personally 

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by BipolarGrowth

[BlueOak]

12 hours ago, softlyblossoming said:

That's a really cool observation. Why do you look at the mind like this? Thanks, @BlueOak :-)

String because the mind is full of connections and relationships between things, events, people, feelings. You live your life in these connections and relationships because they define what life means as you experience it. How you relate and experience your life, forming your perspective. If they are tangled up in knots or the string is all over the place, then the connections are either blocked, else worse you are relating something harmful, exaggerated, hindering, or false to something else in your life and its hurting you.

To example. Your relationship to food, your relationship to money, to work, to anger, to your family, to socialisation, to responsibility, to yourself, to this forum, to this comment and my words. How they effect you, what you make of them. What influence they have. Everything. Getting to the truth of life gives you strength, certainty, clarity, honesty, relief, bravery, healthy relationships, and hopefully eventually some self love for what/who you are.

*Also because many of these strings get in the way of spiritual truth

You are welcome  all the best.

Edited February 8, 2022 by BlueOak

[softlyblossoming]

@BlueOak Thank you, that's wonderful.

@BipolarGrowth Did you ever do a self inquiry phase during your own path, Brandon?

[softlyblossoming]

10 hours ago, VeganAwake said:

The idea is to recognize that this individual that endlessly seeks & inquires IS AN ILLUSION. 

❤  

Thank you for your reply, @VeganAwake. Intellectually, I am well acquainted with the knowledge that the ego is an illusion, but identification with the illusion remains and I still suffer. However, sometimes when I get taken over by a particular state of reactivity, after a while I remember (believe) that it's an illusion and subsequently let go of some of my attachment to it. What methodologies/techniques/schools of thought do you recommend for someone at this stage of practice? As an aside, how important do you think just simply being good at concentration or being a very relaxed person is?

[BipolarGrowth]

@softlyblossoming I tried typical linguistic self inquiry a number of times. It didn’t do much although it did work to some degree. I spent about a month or two doing the type I mentioned in the post pretty much every day. Had some large changes from that. 

[VeganAwake]

3 hours ago, softlyblossoming said:

Thank you for your reply, @VeganAwake.

No prob!

Intellectually, I am well acquainted with the knowledge that the ego is an illusion, but identification with the illusion remains and I still suffer.

I completely understand what you're saying.

Notice there isn't a YOU & then another thing called an illusion to identify as.

YOU is the illusion....it's the total sense or experience of being a separate individual.... this includes all of the so-called good & bad attributes.

However, sometimes when I get taken over by a particular state of reactivity, after a while I remember (believe) that it's an illusion and subsequently let go of some of my attachment to it.

That conditioned reactivity is completely normal.... there isn't a real YOU inside that body deciding to react that way or not, it just happens.

Then a thought arises identified as MY thought & saying: I shouldn't have reacted that way.... and feelings of guilt and suffering occur.

Sound about right?

What methodologies/techniques/schools of thought do you recommend for someone at this stage of practice?

There isn't a way because that would suggest there is a real separate individual that can find or figure out what it feels like is missing..... and there just isn't.

However sometimes it can be recognized that this needy ME that constantly feels like something is missing and needs to be found, isn't actually real.

Liberation is the recognition that the seeker is an illusion!

As an aside, how important do you think just simply being good at concentration or being a very relaxed person is?

It's just spiritual concepts stemming from an illusory experience of being a separate individual with free will & choice.

❤ 

 

[Nahm]

SELF INQUIRY

This is a meditation technique of enlightenment, i.e. "self realization". By realizing ‘who’ you are, the bonds of suffering are broken. Besides realization, self-inquiry delivers many of the same benefits as other meditation techniques, such as relaxation, enhanced experience of life, greater openness to change, greater creativity, a sense of joy and fulfillment, and so forth. 

Focus on the feeling of being "me," to the exclusion of all arising thoughts. 

1. Sit in any comfortable meditation posture. 
2. Allow the mind and body to settle. 
3. Let go of any thinking whatsoever. 
4. Place your attention on the inner feeling of being "me."
5. If a thought does arise, ask yourself to whom this thought is occurring, as this returns your attention to the feeling of being "me."
Continue this for as long as you like. 

This technique can also be done when going about any other activity. 

Many people misunderstand the self-inquiry technique to mean that the person should sit and ask themselves the question, "Who am I?" over and over. This is an incorrect understanding of the technique. The questions "Who am I" or "To whom is this thought occurring?" are only used when a thought arises, in order to direct attention back to the feeling of being "me." At other times the mind is held in silence. 

This practice of turning awareness back upon itself, prior to the ‘I’-thought, is a gentle technique, which bypasses the usual repressive methods of controlling the mind. It is not an exercise in concentration, nor does it aim at suppressing thoughts; it merely invokes awareness of the source from which the mind springs. The method and goal of self-enquiry is to abide in the source of the mind and to be aware of what one really is by withdrawing attention and interest from what one is not.

In the early stages effort in the form of redirecting attention from the thoughts to the ‘thinker’ is essential, but once awareness of the ‘I’-feeling has been firmly established, further effort is counter-productive. From then on it is more a process of being than doing, of effortless being rather than an effort to be.

https://www.actualityofbeing.com/self-inquiry

[softlyblossoming]

Hi, @Nahm. First of all, thank you for sharing your technique with me. I have a few questions in regards to it, if that's ok.

2 hours ago, Nahm said:

4. Place your attention on the inner feeling of being "me."
5. If a thought does arise, ask yourself to whom this thought is occurring, as this returns your attention to the feeling of being "me."

2 hours ago, Nahm said:

The questions "Who am I" or "To whom is this thought occurring?" are only used when a thought arises, in order to direct attention back to the feeling of being "me." 

2 hours ago, Nahm said:

In the early stages effort in the form of redirecting attention from the thoughts to the ‘thinker’ is essential, but once awareness of the ‘I’-feeling has been firmly established, further effort is counter-productive. From then on it is more a process of being than doing, of effortless being rather than an effort to be.

I thought I was supposed to treat the feeling of being "me" as merely yet another wrong answer to the question (and the same with any sensation), so when it came up, to look for who is observing it, then who is observing that observation, and so on and so forth. Why is just keeping attention on the feeling of being "me" enough in this version? Isn't this just concentration? Can keeping the mind one-pointed like this with no further effort to investigate really lead to enlightenment?

2 hours ago, Nahm said:

At other times the mind is held in silence.

2 hours ago, Nahm said:

It is not an exercise in concentration, nor does it aim at suppressing thoughts; it merely invokes awareness of the source from which the mind springs.

What's the difference between suppressing thoughts and holding the mind in silence?

Edited February 9, 2022 by softlyblossoming
wrongly used italics

[softlyblossoming]

Thanks for such an in-depth elaboration, @VeganAwake.

4 hours ago, VeganAwake said:

I completely understand what you're saying.

Notice there isn't a YOU & then another thing called an illusion to identify as.

YOU is the illusion....it's the total sense or experience of being a separate individual.... this includes all of the so-called good & bad attributes.

Oh my gosh, the illusion is so strong! Should I steer clear of the good or only the bad attributes of the ego?

4 hours ago, VeganAwake said:

That conditioned reactivity is completely normal.... there isn't a real YOU inside that body deciding to react that way or not, it just happens.

Then a thought arises identified as MY thought & saying: I shouldn't have reacted that way.... and feelings of guilt and suffering occur.

Sound about right?

Yes, but gosh darn it moves too fast to notice! I also feel a sensation that I'm making the movement happen at the exact same time while it happens. How the heck do I even begin to notice that things are just happening on their own?

4 hours ago, VeganAwake said:

Liberation is the recognition that the seeker is an illusion!

Is just remembering this and strongly holding it as a belief enough to count as a recognition of no self? If not, how should I go about this recognising business? Are repeated recognitions enough to reach enlightenment?

P.s. Have a wonderful hump day 

Edited February 9, 2022 by softlyblossoming
hump day woo!