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Post by question on Nov 10, 2010 21:27:47 GMT -5
Note: "Who am I?" doesn't count. Silly riddles like "what is truth?", "what's the sound of one hand clapping?" or "who was I in my past life?" also aren't allowed.
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Post by karen on Nov 10, 2010 21:36:28 GMT -5
Since you have defined the parameters, perhaps you should tell us the right question.
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Post by zendancer on Nov 10, 2010 22:20:28 GMT -5
Question: The "right question" for you is whatever question seizes your mind and demands an answer. If the question is intellectual, then it can be solved intellectually, but if the question is existential, then you'll have to dive deeper than mind and dualistic thought. You can do this by bearing in mind what you want to know and then becoming silent. Ignore the internal chatter and let not-knowing take over. Become empty. The answer will arise in a different way than usual, and it will not be verbal or linear.
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Post by Portto on Nov 10, 2010 23:08:07 GMT -5
"Why does it seem that there would be a right question?"
"How is it possible to be aware of things?"
"Who wants to know?" "Is it a part of the brain that wants to know?"
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Post by michaelsees on Nov 10, 2010 23:15:03 GMT -5
The right question comes with no answer.
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Post by runstill on Nov 10, 2010 23:28:13 GMT -5
Hi Question,maybe the right answer comes first
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Post by sherry on Nov 11, 2010 2:16:24 GMT -5
It seems there's no 'right' anything; only your question and 'mine' ........ and I guess that (as runstill wonders) that the 'right' answer is present before the question can be formed.....
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Post by zendancer on Nov 11, 2010 5:38:59 GMT -5
Howard Falco has written a new book, mentioned in the current issue of "Spiritual Enlightenment Magazine," titled "I AM, The Power of Discovering Who You Really Are." His story is fascinating. He writes in the interview, "My awakening in conciousness occurred in two separate events spread over a four month period of questioning why, at a time in my life when I thought I had everything in my life (good marriage, two wonderful children, good job, etc) I was still not completely happy and at peace. I was yearning deeply to know the answers to true peace, happiness, and what leads to a life of fulfilling creative expression."
Two weeks later he was in a training session for trading equities and had a big breakthrough. He writes, "I was astonished at how I had asked an intense set of questions and a few weeks later my reality presented me with the awareness of the answers! This spurred me to ask many more questions about life. The egg had cracked."
The answer to any question that can be conceived is already present, but it may reside at a very deep level, not immediately accessible. G. Spencer Brown once wrote that the universe "responds to request." Our questions cannot be trivial, however; they must be driven by a desperate need to know. This kind of question, borne in mind, can plumb the depths and return with answers that are totally out of the box. After this has been experienced one or two times, one begins to trust the process and discover that any question can be answered by turning the question over to something deeper than mind.
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Post by unveilable on Nov 11, 2010 6:55:49 GMT -5
I keep coming back to the idea that all of this...everything is about openness. For me, I seem more open when asking a question in silence as ZD has mentioned. And like M C's has mentioned, the answers are not always verbal. I would add that sometimes the (right) questions themselves come up in silence as well. Ive been observing my identification with thought and feeling lately. I didnt know that was what I was doing until it hit me one day to ask myself "Is this who I really am?" The understanding of what had been happening began to unfold from there. The question was useful for me at the time because it came from me...from within. Utilizing a system of questioning developed by a guru has not worked out too well.
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Post by enigma on Nov 11, 2010 22:53:10 GMT -5
The questions represent imaginary boundaries. The ideas which lay at the foundation of the question is all that forms the question, and the ideas are ultimately meaningless in the largest context, so the question is likewise meaningless. One doesn't actually find a meaningful answer to a meaningless question, and so the best that can happen is the dissolving of the question in the seeing of this meaninglessness. Hencely, there can be no correct questions as there are no correct answers. The entire process is simply a misconceptualization which ultimately dissolves under it's own weight.
We could say there are contextually bounded answers to contextually bounded questions, as are being given here, and this might be useful as a means to point beyond them, but as Zen seems to imply, the question consists of your boundary that your mind has erected and has no relevance beyond that. You are the one imagining a pink elephant and pondering what to feed it. Others who are not imagining a pink elephant can neither provide a true answer nor acknowledge the validity of your question.
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Post by ashtavakra on Nov 12, 2010 4:17:05 GMT -5
A question gives rise to the questioner....if not.....is there really a questioner ?!!!
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Post by question on Nov 12, 2010 14:22:04 GMT -5
Since you have defined the parameters, perhaps you should tell us the right question. I have no idea what the right question is. But from trying out, I know which questions suck and aren't for me. I feel like there is a question lingering in me, it's just a feeling, maybe it's not a question at all. It refuses to be put into words, like it's too cool to be called anything. And so if anyone utters a question and I compare it to what's in me it's obvious that it doesn't come close.
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Post by question on Nov 12, 2010 14:23:17 GMT -5
The questions represent imaginary boundaries. The ideas which lay at the foundation of the question is all that forms the question, and the ideas are ultimately meaningless in the largest context, so the question is likewise meaningless. One doesn't actually find a meaningful answer to a meaningless question, and so the best that can happen is the dissolving of the question in the seeing of this meaninglessness. Hencely, there can be no correct questions as there are no correct answers. The entire process is simply a misconceptualization which ultimately dissolves under it's own weight. We could say there are contextually bounded answers to contextually bounded questions, as are being given here, and this might be useful as a means to point beyond them, but as Zen seems to imply, the question consists of your boundary that your mind has erected and has no relevance beyond that. You are the one imagining a pink elephant and pondering what to feed it. Others who are not imagining a pink elephant can neither provide a true answer nor acknowledge the validity of your question. Yes that's exactly my thinking. But when that's obvious, how does one proceed? I feel like there's a serious problem, and usually in solving a problem one defines it, sets the parameters and then finds a solution. But here the felt problem refuses to be contextualized, which means that it can't be put into a question and hence not be resolved with an answer.
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Post by zendancer on Nov 12, 2010 14:29:52 GMT -5
The questions represent imaginary boundaries. The ideas which lay at the foundation of the question is all that forms the question, and the ideas are ultimately meaningless in the largest context, so the question is likewise meaningless. One doesn't actually find a meaningful answer to a meaningless question, and so the best that can happen is the dissolving of the question in the seeing of this meaninglessness. Hencely, there can be no correct questions as there are no correct answers. The entire process is simply a misconceptualization which ultimately dissolves under it's own weight. We could say there are contextually bounded answers to contextually bounded questions, as are being given here, and this might be useful as a means to point beyond them, but as Zen seems to imply, the question consists of your boundary that your mind has erected and has no relevance beyond that. You are the one imagining a pink elephant and pondering what to feed it. Others who are not imagining a pink elephant can neither provide a true answer nor acknowledge the validity of your question. E. Well put. Indeed, when we tell people that they can find answers to their questions, what we mean is that their questions can become irrelevant in relation to the obviousness of the actual. It is our ideas ABOUT reality that prompt questioning. When the ideas collapse, the questions also collapse. The only thing that prevents our perception of the infinite is a veil of ideas. The infinite is always here and now, but we imagine that it is elsewhere and elsewhen.
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Post by enigma on Nov 12, 2010 22:11:58 GMT -5
A question gives rise to the questioner....if not.....is there really a questioner ?!!! Don't questions presuppose a questioner? Even without a question, can there still be a person? If there is a person, isn't a question likely to arise?
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