“We have discovered, over the past decade and a half, that a conceptual system contains an enormous subsystem of thousands of conceptual metaphors — mappings that allow us to understand the abstract in terms of the concrete. Without this system, we could not engage in abstract thought at all — in thought about causation, purpose, love, morality, or thought itself. Without the metaphor system, there could be no philosophizing, no theorizing, and little general understanding our everyday personal and social lives. But the operation of this vast system of conceptual metaphor is largely unconscious. We reason metaphorically throughout most of our waking, and even our dreaming lives, but for the most part are unaware of it. At present, the metaphor system of English has barely begun to be worked out in full detail, and the metaphor systems of other languages have been studied only cursorily. Working out the details would be a huge job — not as big as the human genome project, but most likely more beneficial. For what is at stake is our understanding of ourselves and our daily lives, and the possibilities for improvement through that understanding.”
- George Lakoff, ‘The Neurocognitive Self’ in The Science of The Mind, page 229.

tagged: beliefs, inquiry, metaphor, thoughts   » leave a reply   -  

I am a special case. 

(I am or should be exempt from  many of the human experiences – loss, grief, pain, illness, death.)

- 0 -

read on…

tagged: own inquiry   » leave a reply   -  

Here is an image that keeps coming up for me, with feelings:

I am a baby in a crib, alone in a dark room.

Some statements:

tagged: statements for inquiry   » leave a reply   -  

Loneliness is not cured by contact with human beings. Loneliness is cured by contact with reality.
- Anthony de Mello

tagged: anthony de mello, loneliness   » leave a reply   -  

Alchemy can perhaps be said to have two facets:

First, a transmutation from lead to gold, finding wholeness as who we are, as human beings in the world. This may be invited in through any number of practices, therapies or ordinary maturing and human experiences.

Then, immortality, notice what’s already here, what is – what we are and everything is – noticing itself. That which everything happens within and as – including time and space and who we are – noticing itself. This is, in a sense, finding immortality. What time happens within and as notices itself.  This may be invited in through simple inquiry, although it happens on its own schedule.

read on…

tagged: alchemy, who and what we are   » leave a reply   -  

In the beginning, I strongly believed that there was something wrong with me. Later on, I acquired the spiritual concept that there was something wrong with being or having a ‘me’ in the first place! Double trouble! These days, I realise that there’s nothing wrong with me, AND nothing wrong with ‘me’. The ocean dances as the wave, in all its extraordinarily perfect imperfection. What freedom!
- Jeff Foster on fb

tagged: jeff foster   » leave a reply   -  

With just about any inquiry or practice, what’s visible in the world is usually the tip of the iceberg.

In The Work, the words are visible to the world. And yet, the words are just an invitation for inquiry and a reflection of what surfaces. The Work is meditation, it reorients us at emotional and energetic levels, in how we perceive and are in the world. Inquiry is not about the words, and yet the words are an essential tool in inviting in this reorganization and realignment with reality.

It’s the same with Breema. It may appear to be about the movements and body work, but it’s really about how we are independent of what we do. It’s about what happens when I bring attention to the body, when I am guided by the nine principles.

tagged: breema, inquiry   » leave a reply   -  

It’s a friendly universe.
- Byron Katie

I can perceive the universe as friendly in two ways.

I can see it as friendly when it conforms to my shoulds. I believe I should be healthy, so when I am, it’s easy to perceive the universe as friendly.

And I can see it as friendly in any situation, when I find more clarity around my stories about what’s happening. I believe I am not healthy but should be, investigate those stories, find what’s more true for me, and may again perceive the universe as friendly.

tagged: beliefs, byron katie   » leave a reply   -  

I live in an apartment building and am about to take the elevator down. It’s an open paternoster elevator. A woman waits with me and steps out too soon so she falls down. I am certain she will be killed. My fear of heights surface. She then floats up safely, only to be nearly crushed by another elevator. A small group of people appear and one of the pushes the red stop button for the elevators. It seems it was all a test to see how I would react, and I see I froze due to my fear of heights and also because of frozen parts of me here and now – initially frozen in childhood. 

Some beliefs to look at:

I will fall. I will die. It’s terrible to die. If I die, it means something is wrong. I will miss out (of life, experiences) if I die now.

I am responsible for helping. I should have done something. She expected me to help her.

It’s safer to be numb/frozen. I am safer if I hold back/am passive. I am safer if others don’t see/notice me.

tagged: dream, statements for inquiry   » leave a reply   -  

It can be very simple.

How and when do I stop myself from living an uncomplicated life?

Asking for what I want means….

She will see me as vulnerable. She will reject me. She won’t like me. She will see me as greedy. She will see me as selfish. She will talk about me behind my back. I will feel too exposed.

 What I am most afraid would happen if I told her how much she means to me, is….

 She won’t say anything. She will see me as naive. She will dismiss me. We will feel uncomfortable. She will leave. She will talk about me behind my back. They will make fun of me. They will mock me.

tagged: beliefs, simplicity, statements for inquiry   » leave a reply   -  

Some facets of FEAR – Fantasy Expressed As Reality:

It’s from a belief, a mistaken perception. Really, it’s from a temporary mistaken identification – with a viewpoint, an identity.

It’s a pointer to a belief or set or beliefs. Fear is a guidepost to thoughts taken as true.

It’s actively created here and now. And it may be believed at an emotional and/or energetic level, even if it’s not consciously taken as true.

It may appear to be “stored” in the body, and can be released through certain activities such as TRE. (This may reflect active beliefs at emotional and energetic levels.)

It has an survival function (evolution). It encourages me to take care of myself. It offers advice, caution. I can harvest this advice through dialogues with fear.

It adds to the drama of a mistaken identity. It’s part of the play of reality. It’s Lila. It’s life temporarily scaring itself and experiencing itself that way too. If life can go somewhere, it does.

read on…

tagged: beliefs, fear   » leave a reply   -  

All the money in the world is yours. We’re just holding it for you.
- Byron Katie

tagged: byron katie, money   » leave a reply   -  

I sometimes feel squeezed these days, and I see I squeeze myself with my beliefs. Or rather, life squeezes itself through taking certain stories as true, including the story of I that this is happening to/for.

tagged: beliefs   » leave a reply   -  

 Do you know about Soul imprints that are beyond thought? Strong pulls that have come around before.

Beyond thought. I can find lots beyond thought – anything that isn’t thought is beyond thought. Anything appearing in any of the sense fields – sensation, sight, sound, smell, taste. And all of that is of course filtered through thought as soon as there is a label.

In this context, you can say that energies, wounds, habitual patterns etc. are beyond thought, although they are really labels, interpretations and images appearing in my world of images.

I notice a wound around feeling alone and being unlovable. That’s a label and an interpretation. And I can add other stories to it: It’s from my early childhood. It comes from western child-rearing practices (lack of body contact, babies not sleeping with their parents). My parents were not comfortable with themselves, so couldn’t offer me the love and comfort I needed. It’s from past lives. And so on. The stories can be endless. And although the wound is there at energetic, emotional, physical and behavioral levels (again, this is sorting, labels and interpretations happening in thought), they also reflect and mirror a set of beliefs: I am unlovable. I am alone. Nobody likes me. Something terrible will happen. I will die. It’s terrible to die. Those beliefs can be questioned. And when that’s done as meditation, the shift happens and is reflected at all levels. And that too is a story.

Really, none of that is my business, apart from identifying and questioning beliefs. (Not even that is really my business. It happens or it doesn’t.)

Note: Any imprint comes from an initial belief, even if it appears at energetic, emotional and physical levels. That belief is reflected in the energetic, emotional and physical patterns (AKA wounds, hangups, knots). And that belief can be identified and questioned, allowing an unraveling of the knot and more availability of our natural kindness and wisdom. It can be very helpful to approach these knots from many different angles, including energetic, emotional and physical (such as TRE). And for it to resolve more completely, it’s helpful to identify and inquire into the set of beliefs behind it. It’s all an invitation to find what’s more true for us than the initial belief, and find our own guidance in the turnarounds. It’s all an invitation to come home.

tagged: beliefs   » leave a reply   -  

The deeper message of the crucifixion: Pain, deeply accepted, breaks the heart wide open.
- Jeff Foster

read on…

tagged: crusifixion, jeff foster, jesus   » leave a reply   -  

This came up in a conversation with an inquiry-friend, and also reflects what I have noticed for myself.

Ideologies in counseling or therapy may serve as a pointer to where the therapist/client may get “stuck”.  Of course, the client – or therapist – may at any point move beyond it.

For instance, a therapist may have an ideology (belief) that the client is a victim and in no way is responsible for a traumatic episode. And yet, taking responsibility for our own part is often essential for healing and resolution.

I may have the belief that “he did it to me”. As long as that belief is there, I am “stuck” in the situation because it’s not quite true. It’s not aligned with reality. Through inquiry, I may find “I did it to me” with specific examples: I didn’t stop it or leave the situation. I have replayed it in my mind many times after it happened, so continue to do it to me. And all of it – all images, all stories – happens now in my own world of images. Recognizing this is a big relief for me. It’s more aligned with my truth. (And as Katie so often points out, this is in no way condoning what happened or abuse in general. If anything, it frees me up to prevent it from happening again.)

tagged: inquiry, psychology, the work   » leave a reply   -  

In the beginning of this excerpt, Arne Næss speaks as if deep ecology and Kant are incompatible.

For me, both appear equally valid.

Deep ecology invites a deep caring for the whole of nature, a deep meaning, and it supports a deep engagement.

Kant invites an exploration of how I create my world. I come to recognize that my world is created in my own world of images, and this helps me hold it all more lightly.

tagged: arne næss, deep ecology, philosophy, sustainability   » leave a reply   -  

I am interviewing, getting to know, and reviewing the life of an amazing person, who is me and not me. He or she works with a number of other people on research projects relating to art, art history, photography, architecture, sociology, biology, ecology and sustainability. I am shown their research projects, which are very familiar to me and yet not.

About to review a turning point in this person’s life, I pass a lake I swam in often as a child. The water is there, and yet not. Initially, I walk on the bottom of the lake and look up. It’s beautiful with clean sand, and I can see the fish swimming and the plants on the bottom and floating on the surface. Then I swim under water, as if there is water there while it’s also not. I don’t need to surface to breathe. This is apparently how this person functions, and it’s very familiar while also not. It’s my life, and it’s as if I am just reminded of it.

Going back to a turning point in this person’s life, I see that he is a man and his life has stagnated a bit. He has done art and much more, and the zest has gone out of his life. A woman comes, who is partly physical and partly not. She floats as she arrives. She is partly him and partly not. They were originally one, then had separate lives, and now she returns. He had forgotten they were one, and also now remembers. They are now one and not, and benefit from their combined experience and abilities, and do amazing work – both inner work and in the world. As she arrives, she reminds him how she can benefit him by touching a woman who is his client, and supporting her to be comfortable in a way he was initially not able to. This person has had and will have an amazingly rich life, both inner life and in the world, physically and not, as man and woman and both and neither. There is a fullness and richness here as rich as the world, and a freedom in that richness.

read on…

tagged: dream   » leave a reply   -  

Something very basic about love:

Love is independent of feelings and emotions, and it includes – sometimes – saying no.

It’s perhaps easiest to see this in the love a parent have for it’s child, or the love a couple may have for each other. Sometimes it’s felt, sometimes not. And it doesn’t really matter.

Also, love can be filtered through beliefs such as:

Love is only here when I feel it.

I need this person in my life.

I need him or her to behave a certain way.

And in this case, it looks the way an ordinary human life looks. Love filtered through beliefs and some confusion.

Finally, love is what we are. Love is what everything is. It’s life’s love for itself. Sometimes, it’s filtered through beliefs and looks like confusion, ideologies, fear. Sometimes, there is more clarity and it looks like ordinary kindness and wisdom.

tagged: love   » leave a reply   -  

What’s my will, what’s Your (God’s) will?

I find three layers here in my own experience.

First two where there is the appearance of my will vs. God’s will.

My will is what happens whenever a thought is taken as true. It’s what’s revealed through question #3 in The Work. Believing any thought – such as “she should do the dishes” – is my will. It’s something that appears to be in opposition to reality, and it can be painful.

When that thought is investigated, there is more receptivity, kindness, access to wisdom, and so on. For instance, I may lie in bed thinking I should get up, wanting myself to get up, and there is struggle. Or I may lie in bed with curiosity about when this body will get out of bed, watching and noticing. In the first case, “my will” creates struggle and drama. In the second, it just happens. Any thought can be used as an example here. I believe my body should be healthier, and there is stress and struggle. My will is for my body to be healthier, and reality – in my mind – is different, so there is struggle. I investigate that thought and find something else is more true, and there is more alignment with reality, kindness, peace, and access to practical wisdom. Finding what’s more true for me than the initial belief gives a sense of aligning myself more with reality, with God’s will.

And when all of this is investigated a bit closer, what’s revealed is that it’s all God’s will. Getting caught in a belief, finding more clarity, it’s all God’s will. Whatever is here is God’s will.

What’s here is God’s will. And that includes any impulse to act, do something, change something.

tagged: god's will   » leave a reply   -  

Through inquiry, there is a shift into a YES around whatever the topic is about.

And there is a sense – or glimpses – of a deeper YES to whatever happens as well. A shift into a deeper trust, deeper sense of not knowing, and a deeper knowing that whatever NOs surface are there to be seen, felt and loved. They reflect a temporary belief, not reality.

There seems to be always new layers here.

tagged: beliefs, yes   » leave a reply   -  

The worst loss you’ve ever experienced is the greatest gift you can have.
- Byron Katie

tagged: byron katie   » leave a reply   -  

Some of what I find helpful right now:

Prayer. Ask for deep resolution (inner/outer). Ask for shifting into a deep yes to what’s here, whatever it may be.

Breathe, feel, turn over. Bring attention to the breath. Feel whatever is here (emotions, tension, stressful thoughts etc.). Turn it over to infinite intelligence/love.

Trembling and shaking, releasing tension and reorganizing through TRE. This happens mostly spontaneously now.

The Work. Identifying and inquiring into beliefs.

Self-Breema, and looking forward to receiving and giving more Breema sessions again.

And of course friendships and nature.

tagged: currently   » leave a reply   -  

I did an inquiry on the thought it’s from the past yesterday.

This refers to the (apparent) childhood wounds that have bubbled up recently,
along with feelings and thoughts such as I am alone, nobody likes me, I am unlovable.

- 0 -

It’s from the past.

Is it true?

Yes.

Can you know for certain it’s true?

Yes.

What happens, how do you react, when you believe that thought?

I see it (the childhood wound) as in the past.

I cannot do anything about it – that it happened.

I blame my parents, life.

read on…

tagged: inquiry, past, the work, three times   » leave a reply   -  

During some inquiries, I yawn a great deal. It seems to happen when I do inquiry on apparently quite deep seated beliefs.

I assume it is to help release tension, as are the temporary “vacations” – such as getting up to put more wood in the wood stove – I sometimes engage in during those inquiries.

tagged: the work   » leave a reply   -  

I find I don’t use the word projections much anymore.

It’s obviously useful since it’s a well known term. It refers to imagining something that’s here – in me, out there in the wider world.

And as with so many terms, it makes less sense the closer I look at it and the more I get familiar with it.

It’s really all happening within my images of the world.

There is an image of a me here and a wider world out there. A story of qualities or something else. An image of these qualities out there in the world and not (so much) in here. An image of space it all happens within. An image of a timeline with past, present and future. An image of an I as an observer or doer.

And it’s all happening within and as my world of images. It’s all happening right here.

read on…

tagged: projections, sense fields   » leave a reply   -  

Some thoughts that come up around this:

It’s police brutality. The police officers are arrogant and stupid.

It’s unfair. (Innocent dancers are put in prison while police officers abusing their power go free.)

Americans are uninformed and uncivilized. (Allowing systematic abuse of power at many levels.)

People shouldn’t abuse their power. It’s better when power is not abused.

The US is going down the drain.

Something terrible happened. (Innocent people arrested.)

read on…

tagged: inquiry, society   » leave a reply   -  

I notice for myself that tension in my body supports and makes beliefs possible. Through tensing up parts of my body, I create the conditions for believing a thought. I see this especially well through TRE.

And beliefs leads to tension. They lead to stress, bracing myself, and physical tension. I explore these dynamics through answering question #3 in The Work – What happens, how do you react, when you believe that thought?

A military stance and marching is a good illustration of how making our body tense and rigid, and reduce feelings, makes it possible to mindlessly follow orders and temporarily set our individuality and natural kindness and wisdom aside.

So when I notice physical tension, I can shift into noticing that this is already allowed. There is a noticing of what it already happens within and as. And that releases some of the identification out of the beliefs that goes with this tension. I can also find the beliefs behind the tension, write them down, and take them to inquiry.

tagged: beliefs, tension, the work, tre   » leave a reply   -  

 shrink/SHriNGk/

Verb: Become or make smaller in size or amount; contract or cause to contract.

Noun: A clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, or psychotherapist.

I assume the second use of the term refers to psychologists or psychiatrists who reduce the richness of their client to fit their own theories and expectations. They take the richness and mystery of the human experience and makes it small, confined and a bit boring.

And that I do as well as soon as I believe a thought. I shrink the infinite richness and mystery of reality into something that appears to fit a story.

read on…

tagged: psychology, statements for inquiry   » leave a reply   -  

Byron Katie sometimes talk about the new and old ways.

The old way is what we are all familiar with: Looking at the silver lining, positive thinking, complaining, offering advice, distracting, comforting etc.

The new way is to inquire into our stressful thoughts, find what’s more true for us, and find our own guidance in the turnarounds.

The new way is not really new, although it may be for some of us. And what about the old way? As long as I still believe whatever thought is here, I may still use it. It may still appear helpful when I interact with folks who don’t have inquiry. But I suspect that may change, or not. I don’t know, and may get to see.

tagged: byron katie   » leave a reply   -