Inquiry & Empathy
One of the outcomes of examining my beliefs is understanding and empathy - with myself and others.
I see that when I believe in any particular thought, it brings about certain outcomes in many areas of my life - all of which amount to variations of suffering. Listening to others doing their own inquiries, and looking at people in general, I see that these patters seem mostly universal, shared by most or all of us and played out in very similar ways - with a certain unique flavoring in each case.
This means that it is often helpful to inquire into any belief, even if I don't at first recognize from our my life. It is most likely there, in one form or another.
At the very least, it helps me understand how it is to be a human being believing that thought - it opens for more genuine empathy from having walked in those shoes. In most cases, I realize that I have walked in those shoes myself, even if I didn't see it at first. And at a minimum, I walked in the shoes through inquiry, through living myself into how it would be for me to have that belief.
Labels: compassion, the work