There are so many forms of inquiry that reveals the complete innocence of anything about our human selves. The Work is one.

And Adyashanti suggests another...

Adyashanti's inquiry into what you really really want

1. Make a list of what you want. Don't hold back. List everything, including or maybe especially those things that seem patently unspiritual, immature and embarrassing: money, sex, fame, eternal vacation, beach, hot women/men, the adoration and love of others, power, the ability to eat anything at any amount without getting out of shape or sick.
   
   
2. Then go through each one on the list and ask: what do I really hope to get out of this? What is the best possible outcome? Again, be sincere. Find what you really want to get out of it. What do you think and wish you will get from it? When you find it, ask the same question again: what do you hope and wish to get from this one? Then repeat, and repeat, until you arrive at something that seems irreducible to something else.
   

The results from my inquiry

For me, when I do this, I find that each one - no matter how unspiritual and immature they may seem to be in the beginning, end up in freedom from suffering, and happiness. That is where they all lead. The real motivation is revealed as completely innocent.

And it also happens to be the explicit and essential motivation for practice in several traditions, including Tibetan Buddhism.

What started out as a clearly wicked wish ends up as a completely innocent wish, and the most sincere motivation for practice.

Deep seated suspicion of our human self, unravelling quickly when we look a little closer

Yet, as Adyashanti points out, there is the myth that our desires are inherently flawed or will lead us astray. There is a deep seated suspicion of our human self in so many traditions. A suspicion that unravels as soon as we scratch just a little bit under the surface.

Labels: adyashanti, innocence, inquiry

Although less than before, the word "ego" is still used in some teachings, often talked about as something substantial, something that resists change, something that functions as a straitjacket. Even - sometimes - as something that is implicitly or explicitly bad, evil, holding us back, to be overcome, and so on.

Belief in the idea of I

When I look at it, all I find is just a belief in an idea. A belief in the idea of "I", and placed on something finite - usually part of our human self, or placed on something that is not really finite, but certainly just a segment of what is, the seeing, the witness.

And from this belief comes all the things we associate with "ego": sense of separation, sense of being an object in the world, resistance, narrowness, self-centeredness, protectiveness, rigidity, stuckness, blind attractions and repulsions, and so on.

Innocent mistake

There is just an innocent and temporary mistake, resulting in a wide range of phenomena in our human lives - most of which creates a sense of drama, and of suffering.

It all comes from an unexamined belief. A core belief, which forms our whole outlook on life and the world, and how we live our lives. I does have dramatic consequences. But it is still an innocent mistake. And not even a mistake, it just is. It is part of being human today, and has been for generations.

Falling away

As soon as we see through this belief, as soon as we realize that no phenomena - no segment of what is, has any inherent "I" in it, then we drop it as a hot coal as some say. There is no struggle. Nothing to resist. Nothing to fight. Only the seeing of it. Then the rest happens on its own.

Process

Before this happens, here is a habitual sense of self, and it is unexamined. It seems very real, very substantial. I believe in the idea of "I" and place it on some parts of this human self. I am an object in the world. I am here, everything else is out there. From this, the whole human drama is created and plays itself out.

Then, there is an intuition of selflessness, a hunch, a glimpse, a taste of it. And we cannot really believe in it any longer, although the vague habitual sense of self may still hang around for a while. It is a habitual pattern, after all. Here, when I look I find myself as that in which the whole world of phenomena plays itself out, including my human self.

Finally, after more exploring, more glimpses, more tastes, it shifts and comes into the foreground. Now, there is no doubt, no question, nothing more to explore. It is clear. There is no "I" inherent in any forms, no "I" in any phenomena, no "I" to be placed anywhere. There is just what is, with no "I" anywhere. Just the field of what is. Just the groundless ground, forming itself into these myriads of temporary forms - this human self, these sensations, feelings, emotions, thoughts, focus, awareness, and this world, these trees, buildings, cars, people, plants, clouds, stars, galaxies.

Labels: ego, innocence, process, sense of I