Go Within or Go Without

Before writing this post, I tried to find an original source for this quote and found it referenced to Gloria Benish, Yogi Bhajan, Viktor Frankl, and Neale Donald Walsch. Although the origin is uncertain, its meaning is clear, at least to me.

This is a very powerful quote. Five words that remind me of where to find the answers to deeper questions.

For me, this quote means that all truth, love, and real power exist within each of us. This beautiful, amazing, troubled physical world we live in is full of conflicting needs, goals, beauty, and tragedies. It seems that we take two steps forward and yet many profound, important issues linger while new ones crop up.

I live in an interior mental and emotional world that is not much different; full of conflicts and beauty, fear and glory, wisdom, irrationality, and stupidity all at the same time. And I sometimes forget that it is up to me to sort that out.

My Creator blessed me (and everyone) with a discerning mind. It is up to me, not the Creator, to use the mind I was given for my wellbeing and the good of all humanity.

Our world and even our individual lives are filled with what may as well be an infinite number of options. Some of those choices are easy to dismiss, but there are still so many on the table that they spill onto the floor.

I want … (fill in the blank). That might just be the easy part, but then:

• Will it be good for me? Will it satisfy what I really need?
• How can I get it? What do I need to do first, second, etc.?
• What will my life be like then? Better? Not so much? Worse?
• What will it cost me to become the person who gets to have that?
• What will I have to sacrifice to achieve/obtain it, enjoy it and not get distracted by it?
• And a thousand other questions.

Where can I find the answers?

My health (or lack of), my financial security, my career, my relationship issues, on and on and on. Where can I find the answers?

Sound familiar? Frustrated yet?

Oh wait, there’s the internet. Google will have the answer for me. Sure there is information there. Solutions abound there. I just Googled “weight loss” and got over 3 Billion hits. I know I can try “weight loss near me”. That narrowed it down to 1.46 Billion. That’s so much better.

We have gone from not enough information to way too much information. In fact, it’s an information tsunami we are dealing with today. Information and opinions everywhere. But … , very little wisdom, and very few answers, very few practical solutions.

And even if we could find an ideally reliable source of information on the internet, if we looked carefully we would see that “a” is best for some people and “b” is best for others depending on many different factors. So, what is best for each of us individually, for you, for me?

So, I am not going to find the answer to what I should do in any given situation by looking outside of me at the situation and the information I can find in written or digital libraries. The information is useful for understanding and background. But often, it does not provide the answer to the really important questions.

Go Within or Go Without

To find what is best for me to do in an important situation, I must go within. I must quiet my mind (actually turn down the volume and inner drama, it is never really quiet) and then ask and listen. The answer is almost always available, but I need to pay attention to meditating mindfully, asking appropriately, and listening lovingly:

Meditate Mindfully:

There is so much to say about this topic that I created a separate post about Mastering Meditation.

Meditation is a powerful technique that opens the door to the vast realms of consciousness within you. It has many benefits which are enumerated in the above-mentioned post. There are many myths guarding the door to meditation. They are dispelled in this post. The post includes a set of guidelines and instructions for beginning the practice of meditation.

Meditation is the way to quiet the mind enough to allow you to focus on what you want to ask and to gain enough inner silence to be able to ‘hear’ the answer.

If you have not meditated before, give yourself a few sessions where you focus on the meditation with no concern for inner guidance (it may come anyway). If you haven’t meditated in a while, give yourself one or two sessions to get back to it before diving in for deeper answers.

Asking Appropriately:

• Practice asking and listening for answers starting now using small issues that don’t really matter to you very much, where you have little or no emotional charge around the answer. For example, which shirt should I wear today? What should I order for dinner? Which book should I read? Which TV show should I watch?
• While you should start with issues where you have no emotional attachment one way or the other, you should undertake this exercise with enthusiasm about proving to yourself that this works for you. No emotion on the issue, lots of enthusiasm around the practice.
• You can only really know how this works for you if you follow the guidance that you get and see what happens. This is important even if the ‘answer’ sounds foolish or wrong. Follow the feedback you get and see what happens. I can’t tell you many times I have been surprised by the result.
• As you gain confidence that you can get good feedback on issues that don’t matter a lot, you can try using it with issues that are more important and significant for you. But it is still important to keep as much emotion out of the outcome as possible.
• Best to start asking about issues that just relate to you rather than asking about what someone else should do. You may suggest this process for a friend to try, but it’s best not to use this to discern what they ‘should’ do.

Listening Lovingly

• To listen effectively, you may need to take some time to quiet your frantic mind. The best way I know to do this is with meditation.
  • Many resist the practice of meditation because they believe it will take a LONG time to receive any benefit and/or because when they try it they become very aware of their monkey mind. They have been keeping so busy trying to ignore or escape from it and here it is loud and clear. These issues are all addressed in the post mentioned above.
• When you ask the question, expect to get an answer that will serve your current purpose and your long-term highest good.
• The answer may not come while you are sitting there quietly. You may have to get up and get started on the journey actually doing something on this project to open the channels of communication enough to be able to hear the answer.
• If you don’t get an answer in a reasonable amount of time, ask your Wise Source within: “Am I asking the right question in the right way?” and tell It that “if you gave me a clear answer that I missed, please repeat the answer and make sure I get it.”
• Sometimes the listening is not to words spoken but to feelings felt and images that pop up. Any and all of your inner senses may be involved in ‘listening lovingly’.
• Sometimes the answer may come to you in your daily activities. Someone might say something that hints at your answer. You may notice a billboard that points to your question. The lyrics in a song may take on new meaning. The answer can come in a million ways. Be open to hear it.

 In Summary

The steps are simple and the technique is very powerful. Meditate to quiet your mind, ask to focus your need, listen to ‘hear’ the answer.

 Give it a try and leave a comment with your feedback or questions.