How do you use your current self-knowledge to go beyond your current vision?

Question

Perhaps you've realized that the self-knowledge you've gained so far, comes in pieces, sort of like a progression of steps. When you gain a new insight, you see things you didn't see before. You kind of know you are in a valley and can't see the hilltops above you, yet you know they exist, because of your climbing. So you might know you are in a kind of blind state, but also you know you have your truth - as that which you last received as an insight.

So we know that to keep growing and not get stuck clinging to our truth, we have to keep challenging it. How do you 'personally' use your last insight in regards to your self-knowledge, to keep yourself open to receiving new information?

Right now, today, do you have an outstanding essential question (meaning regarding yourself - not other people)?

If so, might you share that here? Perhaps you could also list what your last 'aha' or insight was, and how this self-knowledge might help you to rise another step?

Betsy

My ongoing question is how to establish an essential communication, not only to share my own creativity but also to be able to receive others. The main ‘aha’ I received was that to communicate, a channel had to be open, and that I myself was the wall that had to be broken down - “I” was the biggest obstacle. Practically, this is learning to listen and to feel the other’s energy, to make contact with myself & them in an essential way. Then I can respond to what is there in them & me, in this moment, not taking me away from reality. The bottom line is still about being aware and present, and knowing that each time I’m successfully present, then I grow. I know my thinking is conditioned, so truth is not in my thoughts, yet thoughts are my visible consciousness, thus my working field. I think that the best use of my mind is to question the object, and the main object is my thinking. My intention is to keep questioning my reaction, & to keep doing this until all is quiet.

Seeing the replies here, I realize that there will be no Best answer to this question. Neither can there be a good nor a bad answer. Our individual self-knowledge definitely is our guide, and nobody can judge another person's guide as being better or worse than anothers. We see what we are capable of seeing, this is our step, where we are right now is our vision. For everybody who has answered this question, you have done it for yourself. By answering it, you can get an idea of what is your next step. I did that today, feeling that I was the one losing out, if I wouldn't take the time to consider this more carefully and give an answer to my own question.

I also see that one doesn't always need to have a question. One can rest for awhile in between, letting the last revelation settle, gaining strength in repose, just enjoying the ride for a time.

Answer 1

I love this question. When a person gets to a point where he thinks he has all the answers he needs, doesn't need to seek any more and doesn't need to think about what God/the Universe/Allah is telling him, stagnation happens quick.

My essential question is, how do I keep learning how to tell the difference between The Truth and my perception of the truth? How do I keep that shaky balance between clinging to The Truth while always being ready to find misperceptions in "my truth" and shuck them off to make way for The Truth.

The last "Aha!" was related to that, a revisitation of an old one: that I am not as powerless as I tend to believe and that a lot of my problems spring from how I see myself versus the very different perspective other people have of me.

Answer 2

I've been feeling guilty about not spending enough time with my children for a long time now, but couldn't bring myself to do it, because I was so focused on intellectual accomplishments. I came on Y!A, learned some about meditation, etc, released the guilt while keeping the wish to be a better mother, and things are finally beginning to have an impact on my desires. I've been having more fun with the kids, and REALLY having fun... not just being there so they can have fun. My heart is reaching out to them much more. I'm enjoying each moment with them more and, because of that, spending more time with them, and being more patient with them as well.

Same goes for doing my housework. I always hated it because it was so boring, and did not lift my spirits at all. Now I feel happy (more or less) whatever I'm doing. Songs just come to me, and I let them come, if it feels natural, and if not, I don't force it. (I sing while I work sometimes.) I want to make my home a house of peace and order, each moment pure and unsullied by the next/previous. It removes all of those thoughts like, "I don't want to..." or "But I want to..."

My next step from here is to get off the computer. Bye. :-)

Answer 3

You articulate very well the "process".

What insight I have been awakened to has come as a consequence of my meditation, but this is too subtle for me to integrate directly, so what I have done for about thirty years now is to write. Which is one reason I engage the Answer forum so much. It gives me an opportunity to reach within myself to intuitively vent what lies within my Apapsyche. Apparently my Karma has not been eliminated to the degree that would allow me to access such intuition without the aide of writing?

An outstanding essential question? Hummmn... I have for some time realized and somewhat wondered, whether or not [and if not why not] I seem less than compelled to engage in my meditation more? My answer to myself has been essentially that my Karma is such that some blockage must remain to enable me to address the Karma I have yet to encounter. Of course this is pure speculation and perhaps even some rationalization of my MIND?

Peace

Answer 4

When I realized there was no "self" to know and that I know nothing I became open to now and the eternal "aha" that is within. My current vision is of this monitor and keyboard, the dust in the cracks and the light reflecting off of the keys. They have a depth that is awe inspiring. The hills and valleys of life are just there and they hold no great secrets. There is nothing to search for, no mountains worth climbing except for the sheer joy of the climb. I now see life is living me.

Truth is a state of being, it is alive and flowing. When the ego tries to grab hold of it and claim it as "the truth" it dies, becomes static and no longer Truth. To live in the now is to live in a continual state of insight ("aha") in the state of being that is Truth. When the sporadic "aha" moments are realized as just the times you became completely present, no longer lost in thought and identified with past and future, the searching and striving stops and Truth is realized always now.

Answer 5

For me being a Christian is a walk that continues to bring growth and insight until my death. It is a road that allows the traveler to walk in growth according to how far they are willing to travel. Like an investment of any type it comes down to the more you are willing to give the greater the pay out. And if you ever come to a place where you think you have all the answers or traveled far enough, you have only detoured off the path and hopefully find your way back

Answer 6

My outstanding essential question is how to go about practically saving the Amazon. The valley is daunting, but the task is essential.

I keep getting challenged when reality smacks my dreams into oblivion, but I continue to climb, because the battle is worth the pain.

Answer 7

Well.. I am an engineer so I am lucky enough to have about 2 of those a day when I am working hard. Mine are kind of boring though, like figuring out where the grounding problem in an RF receiver I was building was occuring.

Answer 8

Great question. I just try to build on the knowledge I have acquired. I try to learn, grow and be a better person everyday. It isn't easy. Sometimes it is tempting to stay stagnant but I make a conscience effort.

Answer 9

Being Separate Consciousness, what ever we may do, we can never fully realize the Universal Consciousness - The Whole. Closer you move, more mysterious It becomes. Road lead to another road. "THIS IS SO"!

In Upanishads a realized one declared "I know that I know not, but I also know that I know That"!

Answer 10

i just say cool and immediately intrigate it. i am constantly on the look out for the new thing, so in every situation you never know when something will come...looking at a leaf, water, a person.etc

being mind full