“Our beliefs and perspectives need to disintegrate in order for new awareness to emerge.”
— TJ Woodward
It is not helpful to tell our minds to stop seeking answers. That would be like telling our heart to stop pumping blood or our lungs to stop breathing.
But we can lessen the importance we give to those answers. That is primarily because the answers our minds come up with are always based in our level of conscious awareness. In other words, nothing changes if nothing changes.
If we are always listening to and being guided only by our mind’s answers, nothing can ever change in our life. We are reminded that all we know is not all there is to know. The practice of living in the question is actually quite simple. When we notice our minds collapsing in on an idea or an answer, we simply pause and ask ourselves a question or a series of questions.
A common method for practicing spiritual inquiry is to repeat a chosen question, over and over again.
With each repetition, the mind is given the opportunity to stretch a little further, and then even further, as it seeks an answer. Expanding the mind’s capacity to know, in this way, takes us into new dimensions of understanding.
Using this method, the question itself is more important than the answer. After some time of doing this, you may notice that the awareness seems to come from a deeper place than the logical mind. That is when it can get really interesting. This inquiry process can either be done alone or with a partner.
If done with a partner, start by sitting and facing each other. Person A asks person B the question, and listens for an answer. Person B gives a short answer. Without responding, person A then repeats the same question, and so on, for whatever period of time you choose. I recommend asking the question repeatedly for at least three minutes.
Here is a list of questions designed to open you to infinite possibilities rather than collapsing in on finite answers. You may try these questions, or create your own. Notice the answers are open-ended. That means they cannot be answered with a yes or no. And they do not start with “Why…?” It has been said that “why” is not a spiritual question. That’s because the mind believes answering “why” will “fix” you or a situation. And remember, you are not broken.
- Who are you?
- What are you?
- What is love?
- What is spirit?
- What is ego?
- What is pain?
- What is heaven? What is hell?
- How does life get even better than this? What else is possible?
Here’s the great news…we don’t know what else is possible, in our minds.
But we do know infinite possibility in our being. When we live in the question, we access a deeper understanding and a deeper knowing, and we also open ourselves up to more and more possibilities in our lives.