The Question You Ask Makes All The Difference
If the peacock asks, “Why is it that I can’t find a mate?” its mind goes down a road of analyzing everything looking for an answer.
“Let’s see, maybe one of my spots is off. Or maybe it’s my personality. Do you think I come across too cocky? I know. My dad never taught me how to strut right. I wish my upbringing could have been different.”
The question, “Why is it?” points the mind in the direction of finding more proof why things are the way they are. And often “Why is it?” has a hidden flavor of “It shouldn’t be that way.” So digging deeper into “Why?” tends to dig me deeper into the my story.
But The Question, “Is It True?” Points In The Opposite Direction
If the peacock asks, “Is it true that I can’t find a mate?” its mind goes down the road of reconsidering, looking for any possibility that it might not be true at all.
“You know, I didn’t ask every hen on the property yet. And, actually, now that I think about it, when I tried earlier it wasn’t mating season. What was thinking? LOL!”
The question, “Is it true?” points the mind in the direction of countering, or undoing, all the proof of why things are the way they are. It does so by looking for any way to debunk the theory that “I can’t find a mate” instead of substantiating it.
This Is the Basic Principle of The Work
The first question of The Work is “Is it true?” And all the other questions and turnarounds of The Work are contained in seed form in this one question, “Is it true?”
This question sets the direction of inquiry. The direction is back towards all possibilities again, and away from “I’m stuck dealing with an immovable problem.”
The brilliance of The Work lies in just this one thing: the direction it takes for inquiry. The direction towards optimism and possibilities, and away from hopelessness and limitations.
The Mind Will Prove Whatever You Ask It to Prove
If you ask it to prove why this is a really serious problem, or why this whole problem arose in the first place, the mind will do it. It will faithfully follow the question deeper and deeper into the mud, finding more and more reasons why things are the way they are in your life.
But if you ask the mind to explore the idea that this problem may not actually be a problem, it will faithfully run in that direction. And the same powerful mind that can drive you into the mud will now take you out of it by finding all the reasons why this is not a problem at all.
The mind is like a powerful horse. You just have to direct it towards where you want to go. If you direct it well, it will pull you out into the streaming sunshine no matter how deeply you are in the mud.
That’s what The Work does for me.
Have a great weekend,
Todd
“Everything turns out to be a gift—that’s the point. Everything that you saw as a handicap turns out to be the extreme opposite. But you can only know this by staying in your integrity, by going inside and finding out what your own truth is—not the world’s truth. And then it is all revealed to you. There isn’t anything you have to do. The only thing you’re responsible for is your own truth in the moment, and inquiry brings you to that.” Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy
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