What Self-Inquiry Is & Is Not · Beyond Mental Affirmations
⁘ “Self-inquiry is not a verbal or intellectual exercise. You won't reach self-realization by the mechanical repetition of "Who am I". Nor will you attain self-realization by disconnected philosophical inquiries. The core practice is the simple attending to the focal point of your attention. Returning to the center of the ground of being of your ongoing experience. Seek the ultimate inquirer. Recognize deeper and deeper planes of awareness.”
As we return to self-inquiry,
let's be very clear.
This is not a verbal exercise.
This is not an intellectual indulgence.
It's not that you will attain self-realization
by the simple mechanical repetition of
"Who am I", "Who am I", "Who am I".
Nor will you attain self-realization
by philosophical inquiries into the nature of the self,
disconnected from your living experience.
These two, mantraic repetition and philosophical reflection,
will support you – but they are not the core practice.
The core practice in itself
is the simple opening of a perspective
into the focal point of your attention.
To bring you to the center of the ground of being
of your ongoing subjective experience –
that is self-inquiry.
Whatever ground of self and being
you may then reach, realize –
This is hollow.
I'm holding on to it.
It is not the ground of being –
it is still the ground of becoming.
Go deeper, go further inward.
Seek the ultimate inquirer.
Recognize deeper and deeper planes of awareness.
Still, framings for prime consciousness –
undifferentiated, underlying all phenomena.