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If you prefer to watch a video, here is an earlier version of the blog. It's a talk given during one of the online sangha meetings.
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Self-inquiry is central to nondual teachings, and as it is presented in nondual Western teachings, this goes back to Ramana Maharshi and his question Who am I that he suggested for self-inquiry.
In my own practice, and also in mentoring and guiding people, I found that actually in the West this is not the best question to use. This may be different in more traditional Asian contexts, but in the more individualistic Western context, there is an almost obsessive concern with our personal identity: who we are, who we are in the world, are we ok, are we not ok. |
There is so much habitual turning around this idea of who we are, and so much inner turmoil, that all this psychological weight gets projected onto the question of Who am I. It comes to be all about ME.
This is ironic, because self-inquiry is supposed to liberate us from all this self-concern. And it can, but in asking the question, Who am I, all that baggage that’s very personal, emotional and mental, often stands in the way of the question really guiding us. I’m not saying it can’t guide us, because it is a very powerful question. If it calls you, do use it. But if you use it, be aware of what you project onto it.
By contrast, a question that comes with a lot less baggage, and is much more direct, is: What is Here?
This is ironic, because self-inquiry is supposed to liberate us from all this self-concern. And it can, but in asking the question, Who am I, all that baggage that’s very personal, emotional and mental, often stands in the way of the question really guiding us. I’m not saying it can’t guide us, because it is a very powerful question. If it calls you, do use it. But if you use it, be aware of what you project onto it.
By contrast, a question that comes with a lot less baggage, and is much more direct, is: What is Here?
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