Exploring Ourselves, June 5, 2022

Exploring Ourselves with Jackie McInley

June 5, 2022

Zoom online

Jackie joined us from Southern France for this meeting. There were eleven participants all included, most of them being familiar with the dialogue format employed by Jackie, which could be described as an open questioning of all assumptions and expectations. The session began with one of the participants introducing the subject of “judgement”. In our dialogue, are we making subtle judgements about each other and about ourselves? And when we ask questions, is it with an open slate or are we bringing a background to our inquiry? Is it possible to proceed in dialogue without bringing in the past in any way? And does a background have any value in considering a question? It seemed we were exploring an awareness with a rare kind of subtlety that takes nothing for granted and carries no beliefs.

As we proceeded with the exploration, the topic of judgement expanded into looking at polarisation, the desire for security, and the activity of the “me” or “self” in dialogue and in our daily lives. It was suggested that within such discussion what we are looking for may be an open awareness and a “shared sense of being”. The fact of a sense of fear at the deepest levels of our consciousness was brought forward. There was some agreement on the shared feeling of anxiety provoked by “emptiness” and the sense of a void within and, at the same time, some questioning of how participants were approaching the issues being raised. Rather than having disagreement, it was suggested, could different approaches be inclusive and useful to consider? There seemed to be some open questions remaining to be explored.

DB