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Understanding Yourself
Self-Inquiry |
Foundation Four
I will take steps to know myself and to have that knowledge become a living truth in my life.
I resolve to know myself, to fearlessly question my assumptions and the deep-seated concepts I have about myself, to understand my underlying beliefs, priorities, fears, and desires, and to become aware of the subconscious forces that shape my thinking and determine my actions and reactions to life.
I will put my knowledge into action; I will “walk the walk and talk the talk,” for knowledge is a burden if it doesn’t positively inform my life … I am grateful for all the knowledge that has come to me, and those who have generously shared their knowledge with me; and the best way I can express my gratitude is by honoring that knowledge, by having it become a living truth that uplifts my life and brings benefit to this world.
What is Moving You?
What is motivating you? What is prompting your actions? Are your intentions inspired by the positive and loving qualities of Spirit or by the negative states of fear, guilt, insecurity, selfishness, or misplaced obligation? It’s your task to find out. It’s your task to know what is motivating you and, if need be, create new motivations for your actions that are in line with Spirit and the pure positivity of your own nature.
Who am I?
Doing self-inquiry by asking questions such as, “Who am I?” or “What is true for me?”—or pondering any question about your nature—puts you into the right relationship with life. It puts you in a position of not knowing, of openness to possibilities that you have heretofore overlooked or have not considered. Few people dare to question the core beliefs they have about themselves because those beliefs are protected by one’s identity structure and a wall of fear—and that wall is thick and obstinate, and must be dismantled brick by brick. This is not an easy process. It requires strength, support, and perseverance. It requires us to make “a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves.” But it also requires that we be open, accepting, and gentle with ourselves. When doing the difficult work on yourself always remember: “Handle with Care.”
Removal of Subconscious Blocks
All of us have had incidents of physical and emotional pain that result in “trauma blocks” which, in the course of our development, get energetically buried or entombed in our subconscious mind. These blocks, though we are not directly aware of them, alter our experience of life and diminish our own aliveness. They lower the vibration of our entire psyche, use up our vital life-energy, and fearfully distort our actions and reactions to life. They bring about disease. All spiritual advance is undermined by the presence of these deep-seated trauma blocks and any complete program of spiritual and human development involves their systematic removal. This removal brings about a release of the emotional charge (associated with the original trauma) which then lightens our life and frees up all the life-energy that was heretofore used to hold that charge in place.
Exposure of these subconscious trauma blocks to the light of our own consciousness—through a systematic, one-on-one process or persistent self-inquiry—is one way these blocks can be uncovered and discharged. We can’t remove these blocks by running away from them or pushing them deeper into our subconscious mind; the only way to fully exorcise these embedded traumas is to shine the light of awareness on them and face them, now, from a place of safety, strength, and support.
Removal of these embedded trauma blocks is a long, systematic process that is never really complete; but every step we take, every trauma or painful incident that we remove from our subconscious mind moves us toward freedom, toward a truer sense of ourselves, and toward a more joyous experience of life.
People gifted in the art of removing trauma blocks (or what might be seen as DNA-embedded emotions) can be of great assistance in helping a person remove blocks that they are not aware of, including traumas that are too deep or painful to recall or traumas involving ancestors.
Clearly seeing our specific beliefs about ourselves is of crucial importance because so much of our suffering is based on unconsciously holding on to these beliefs without ever questioning their validity. Until we see these beliefs clearly and repeatedly—the beliefs that make up the basic story line of “me”—they will continue to dictate how we fell and act. … The first phase of practice is not limited to simply looking at our beliefs. We also need to become aware of and observe our most frequent emotional reactions. Do you know yours? Is it anger? Anxiety or fear? Confusion? … Eventually, we have to move from simply observing our emotions and fears to actually entering into them, or residing in them, experientially—which means to feel them fully in the body. … Residing in an emotion occurs when we feel the physical experience nonconceptually—that is, without being hooked into the storyline of thoughts, the storyline of “me." (Bayda, Zen Heart, p. 8-9)
__________________ ◊ ◊ ◊ __________________
I will take steps to know myself and to have that knowledge become a living truth in my life.
I resolve to know myself, to fearlessly question my assumptions and the deep-seated concepts I have about myself, to understand my underlying beliefs, priorities, fears, and desires, and to become aware of the subconscious forces that shape my thinking and determine my actions and reactions to life.
I will put my knowledge into action; I will “walk the walk and talk the talk,” for knowledge is a burden if it doesn’t positively inform my life … I am grateful for all the knowledge that has come to me, and those who have generously shared their knowledge with me; and the best way I can express my gratitude is by honoring that knowledge, by having it become a living truth that uplifts my life and brings benefit to this world.
What is Moving You?
What is motivating you? What is prompting your actions? Are your intentions inspired by the positive and loving qualities of Spirit or by the negative states of fear, guilt, insecurity, selfishness, or misplaced obligation? It’s your task to find out. It’s your task to know what is motivating you and, if need be, create new motivations for your actions that are in line with Spirit and the pure positivity of your own nature.
Who am I?
Doing self-inquiry by asking questions such as, “Who am I?” or “What is true for me?”—or pondering any question about your nature—puts you into the right relationship with life. It puts you in a position of not knowing, of openness to possibilities that you have heretofore overlooked or have not considered. Few people dare to question the core beliefs they have about themselves because those beliefs are protected by one’s identity structure and a wall of fear—and that wall is thick and obstinate, and must be dismantled brick by brick. This is not an easy process. It requires strength, support, and perseverance. It requires us to make “a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves.” But it also requires that we be open, accepting, and gentle with ourselves. When doing the difficult work on yourself always remember: “Handle with Care.”
Removal of Subconscious Blocks
All of us have had incidents of physical and emotional pain that result in “trauma blocks” which, in the course of our development, get energetically buried or entombed in our subconscious mind. These blocks, though we are not directly aware of them, alter our experience of life and diminish our own aliveness. They lower the vibration of our entire psyche, use up our vital life-energy, and fearfully distort our actions and reactions to life. They bring about disease. All spiritual advance is undermined by the presence of these deep-seated trauma blocks and any complete program of spiritual and human development involves their systematic removal. This removal brings about a release of the emotional charge (associated with the original trauma) which then lightens our life and frees up all the life-energy that was heretofore used to hold that charge in place.
Exposure of these subconscious trauma blocks to the light of our own consciousness—through a systematic, one-on-one process or persistent self-inquiry—is one way these blocks can be uncovered and discharged. We can’t remove these blocks by running away from them or pushing them deeper into our subconscious mind; the only way to fully exorcise these embedded traumas is to shine the light of awareness on them and face them, now, from a place of safety, strength, and support.
Removal of these embedded trauma blocks is a long, systematic process that is never really complete; but every step we take, every trauma or painful incident that we remove from our subconscious mind moves us toward freedom, toward a truer sense of ourselves, and toward a more joyous experience of life.
People gifted in the art of removing trauma blocks (or what might be seen as DNA-embedded emotions) can be of great assistance in helping a person remove blocks that they are not aware of, including traumas that are too deep or painful to recall or traumas involving ancestors.
Clearly seeing our specific beliefs about ourselves is of crucial importance because so much of our suffering is based on unconsciously holding on to these beliefs without ever questioning their validity. Until we see these beliefs clearly and repeatedly—the beliefs that make up the basic story line of “me”—they will continue to dictate how we fell and act. … The first phase of practice is not limited to simply looking at our beliefs. We also need to become aware of and observe our most frequent emotional reactions. Do you know yours? Is it anger? Anxiety or fear? Confusion? … Eventually, we have to move from simply observing our emotions and fears to actually entering into them, or residing in them, experientially—which means to feel them fully in the body. … Residing in an emotion occurs when we feel the physical experience nonconceptually—that is, without being hooked into the storyline of thoughts, the storyline of “me." (Bayda, Zen Heart, p. 8-9)
__________________ ◊ ◊ ◊ __________________