Self-inquiry, June 28, 2023

/in /by

Self-inquiry

With Mukesh Gupta

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Esquimalt Gorge Pavilion, Victoria

 

Seven people in total gathered at the lovely Pavilion to explore together their true nature and the possibility of living in harmony with it. The dialogue began with the question “What is the truth of our experience, and how can we know it in a profound way?” A number of answers were given and the threads followed into the interesting thickets of ideas and perceptions that were put forward as we looked closely into the questions that arose. One participant asked if truth has its own action beyond the realm of “doing” with which we are familiar. And is it possible to go beyond our conditioning and habitual behaviours which tend to guide our thoughts and actions? A sense of separateness seems to play a very large role in determining our behaviours and we might ask ourselves if we are freeing ourselves from it. 

Is truth something to do with how we are feeling? Is it related to the degree we are feeling a sense of wholeness and well-being? To what degree do we question what we really know? Can we move beyond the presence of an “ego” or “self” which creates conflict, fear, and violence. Is it a matter of seeing the limitation of our self-assertions and staying fully with “what is”? When the ego is functioning, there is inevitably suffering and love is hard to find in ourselves and others. 

Staying in the process of self-inquiry was offered as an essential aspect of gaining freedom from the self-centred mind. An important element of this “practice” is the willingness to expose oneself so that the ego-centric elements can be seen and dissolved. At the same time one must have compassion with oneself and with others and be able to find the loving generosity of our inner goodness, Persistent inquiry is of the utmost importance in that one must keep watching all the movements of the self and allowing the structures of that self to break down and make way for love and generosity to emerge. This kind of “vulnerability” brings inner contentment and peacefulness.

 

DB