Frequently Asked Questions
You may have arrived at this FAQ with a specific question, or you may have arrived simply with a sense of curiosity.
Whatever it was that brought you here, I recommend that you read through the whole question-and-answer series. The questions and their answers build on each other, providing nuances that will lead you to a more complete understanding when read as a whole rather than in parts.
If you have a question that’s not answered here, or if reading through these brings up new questions for you, please drop me a note and let me know. This is a living, growing document, and its questions come from my readers and my clients — in other words, they come from you.
What is inquiry?
Inquiry is a way to explore the unknown, explore possibilities. By asking big questions with no expectation of an answer, inquiry allows you to feel your way through your internal landscape, rediscovering and remembering the wholeness and connectedness that you already are and already have. Inquiry is one of the keys to the Remembering Room.
What isn’t inquiry?
Most of all, it’s not a mental process. It’s not problem-solving or figuring anything out. It’s not an intellectual exercise or a way to understand something mentally/intellectually. It’s not analysis.
What questions are appropriate for inquiry?
Some of the most interesting inquiries are into your core beliefs. When you find yourself struggling with a belief, a thought, a dilemma, or a “should” that seems to define who you are and how you appear in the world, ask yourself: Is it true? Who would I be without this belief? Who and what am I, really? What is the cost of this belief to me and to the people in my life?
Allow the answers to these questions to arise without judgment. There is nothing wrong or right about how you feel or about how the belief, thought, dilemma, or “should” has affected you, your life, or other people. It simply is, and in inquiry you’re simply noticing.
How do I “do” inquiry?
Let the inquiry drop into the deeper place within you, and allow the response to come as it will. Inquire, and then let everything be as it is. Be in the body as much as possible. Don’t try to figure anything out. Just ask — and then go on about your day.
Be aware of the inquiry working its way in your consciousness, in your body, and see what comes up. Don’t anticipate answers; expect to be surprised.
Click here to see an example of what inquiry might look like. It will open in a new window.
What’s the relationship of inquiry to letting everything be as it is?
Inquiry allows you to explore aspects of your life where you’re struggling. It’s a window into the possibility of letting go of that struggle — of, in short, letting everything be as it is.
When you inquire without judgment of right or wrong, you’re allowing everything to be as it is. When you ask deep questions about your core beliefs, allowing yourself to be curious about the validity of those beliefs and about their effect on you and your life, you take steps along the path to the deep freedom of allowing everything to be as it is — allowing everything to be ok.
What’s the purpose of meditation?
Meditation is a way to observe that you’re not your mind, you’re not your thoughts, and you’re not your emotions. It provides a sense of objectivity, a way of witnessing/observing what happens to you, and a means to reconnect with your natural groundedness and wholeness.
What does it mean to let everything be as it is?
Have you ever had someone apologize to you for something that didn’t matter in the least — it was perfectly ok?
Letting everything be as it is means — it’s all perfectly ok, just as whatever it was that person apologized for was perfectly ok. That person believed there was a problem; you saw no problem.
When your mind relaxes, when your thoughts about the situation relax, then everything can be as it is. There’s no problem until you think there’s one; it’s your thoughts about a situation that create confusion, fear, worry, and struggle.
How do I explore these ideas and ways of being?
Begin from a place of not knowing and curiosity — and see what happens.
How can I understand these things when I have no reference point? I feel like you’re explaining what an orange tastes like — if I’d never eaten an orange, it would make no sense, and this makes no sense to me!
Just as you start riding a bicycle without knowing how to balance, how to stay upright going around a corner, how to brake without skidding — so you come to inquiry, meditation, and letting everything be as it is with no reference point. Your body creates its own bicycle-riding reference point as you practice riding, falling over, and getting up again; so your true self will find, will remember, its reference point for allowing everything to be as it is.
Begin by recognizing that you don’t know, and see what happens.
What’s a core belief?
Core beliefs are deep-rooted, often unconscious beliefs about who you are, about your place in the world, about how the world operates.
Most of my clients, for instance, share a core belief in their own inadequacy, that they’re somehow never good enough, never perfect enough, never responsible enough.
Were your questions answered?
If not, please contact me with whatever questions you have. I’ll be happy to answer it!