A reader writes:
Dear Ed,
I wanted to add to my question I sent...and not sure this needs to be added to the online site...up to you...
The Work question... "Is it true?" also stops the mind, like "Who am I?" or "What am I?"
I find for myself that I no longer need to write thoughts. That last night when I thought "I am crazy" I then asked myself "what is crazy?" and found myself laughing. I practice direct asking "what am I? or "what is upset?"..."what is going through this?" or "what is having a stomach ache?" I continually find the answer as no one, nothing, no "I"... peaceful, still, empty, no- thing SELF, always there. I find nothing is ever happening, that all arises and falls away in this SELF that is present, happy, still, silent, like a watcher, observing all phenomena, itself empty but alive, love, benevolent SELF, holding all without preference, hereness, amness, beingness.
Although I do not stay here but return to mind world, I believe I return because of familiarity of old conditioned self.
Anyway, wanted to add this because I wonder if The Work can also bring folks here, although maybe not this self, or perhaps I am cheating myself by not writing it all down and being lazy?
Thanks for the help on all this...feels good to get this all out.
Response:
Any strong question stops the mind, but only "Who am I?" or similar help you locate the thread of consciousness that leads back to the source.
Is it true only stops the mind and thinking, but does not provide the thread.
Realizing the Manifest Self--the Life Force permeating our humanity--and the Unmanifest source from which it arises.
The Work doesn't stop with the question,"Is it true?" It serves to interrupt the conviction though that the content of thinking must be answered. That it's reality is beyond question and must be resolved on it's own terms. In my experience, it serves as a stairstep to the next question. "How do I react when I believe xyz?" This questions reveals that I am suffering my reaction and not some actual condition happening to me. It reveals the consequence of believing content. The last question is the one that is essentially the same as "who am i?" It is, "who am i without that thought?" The earlier questions til the soil for the last one. Over time, none of them happen verbally anyway and they happen as one single moment of recognition...
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