Good morning! Welcome to the DKos Sangha weekly open thread.
This is an open thread for members of the DKos Sangha and others who are interested in discussions concerning how we integrate our progressive political activism into our spiritual practice. If you have observations about the political discourse of the week, or about practice, or about anything else related to walking a spiritual path through the political world, if you wish to share, or if you seek support, or if you simply want to say hello, please do; this space is for you.
If you would like to write a diary for the DKos Sangha, please let me know.
If you care nothing for spiritual practice and only wish to denigrate and disparage, please do so elsewhere, and respect that this is a community diary for the DKos Sangha.
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Inquiry
Inquiry is, for many, perhaps the most beneficial of spiritual practices; especially if one's spiritual path is to awaken from the dream of separate self, to awaken to one's true nature.
You can find a lot of information on the web about the practice of self-inquiry (atma vichara). Here in the West, this practice is most commonly associated with the teachings of Ramana Maharshi and the many teachers who are within his tradition. Although the word inquiry suggests an intellectual exercise, ultimately it is not.
The most common example of this inquiry is the question "who am I".
Separate self has lots of responses to this question. Responses that might quickly arise may be associated with one's employment, talent, hobbies, political positions, family situation, favorite sports team, automobile, home, state, ethnicity, religion, college, degree, clubs, etc. And of course another quick response is that I am this body.
All of these are transitory, subject to change; they are things that separate self identifies with to create and maintain the illusion that it itself exists.
Inquiry then is not an exercise in listing all of these transitory ideas that separate self identifies with. Rather, it is an invitation to look much deeper within. It is not an intellectual exercise that has as its result an "answer" crafted from thought; rather it takes us prior to thought.
When we look within, when we look prior to thought, we find that thought arises within our awareness, that there is a noticing of the thoughts that arise, that thoughts arise and fall away, that some thoughts are helpful and some are meaningless. And in this noticing, this watching, of thought, we realize that we aren't the thoughts; we notice that who we are is prior to thought.
And eventually we realize that separate self is itself just an idea, a belief, a collection of thoughts.
While the process of awakening is different for everyone, there is often a shift of consciousness, sometimes subtle, sometimes profound, when identification with separate self is broken and separate self falls away.
But inquiry continues, as we then see and meet with our conditioning within awareness.
The practice of inquiry benefits from vigilance; throughout each day there are many opportunities to ask who is it that is having this thought, who is it that thinks they are doing this action, who is that thinks they are in opposition, in conflict, stressed, upset, annoyed, irritated, angry. Who is it that thinks they are somehow better, or worse, more deserving, less deserving, superior, inferior.
And the practice of inquiry benefits from compassion. Who is it that judges, belittles, guilts ourself. Who we really are is compassion itself. Wherever we are on our path, wherever we are right now, is okay; we move forward from here.
Inquiry is an invitation to go beneath, or prior to, the stories, beliefs, thoughts, and ideas, the identification, the separation, the isolation, and discover, uncover, who you really are; to awaken to your true being as compassionate awareness.
Namaste
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You are welcome to join us each week in our Monday night group meditation here at DKos Sangha. This online group meditation is hosted by Ooooh, and the diary is posted at 7:00 Eastern. So that we are able to be together for as many here at Daily Kos as wish to participate, the meditation period runs from 7:30 to 11:00 Eastern. This group sitting is open to beginners and advanced, and is not restricted to any particular traditions or practices. It is not expected that you sit for the entire period; sit for as long as you like, when you like. The idea is that we are here together; supporting each other, holding space for each other.
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Enjoy your day!
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