The Work Is Meditation
And yes, there are a few ropes to learn: four questions, turnarounds, examples.
But once you get a handle on the ropes, it’s time to allow the experience of inquiry to carry you home. Home to your own truth. Home to your own peace. That’s the only purpose of The Work.
Here Is One Person’s Experience
She is participating in The Work 101 course and is starting to experience The Work as meditation. She was working the statement, “I want him to be gentle (toward me.)” She writes…
“The most powerful thing was experiencing question 4. My partner had to ask me twice what it would be like if it were impossible to think the thought ‘I want him to be gentle’. I was very grateful to be looking at this line with a partner because he was able to question my answer and I realized that I was still looking from the point of view that ‘he was being rough’.
“Finally I just let go into ‘don’t know’ mind and got the message that without the thought I would be Acceptance. As this realization dawned in my mind, I then just sat with it longer, eyes closed. I felt a tingling sensation on a cellular level and experienced something that was hard to put into words but when I tried what came was Receptivity.
“It was as though without the thought I was in a space of pure receptivity and there was no obstacle to receiving ‘that which was being offered.’ Upon further reflection, I see it as having a wide open heart, open to receive. I see that there is an original thought ‘I need to protect myself’ and that believing this means shutting the door to the heart.
“When I experience that moment without the thought ‘I need him to be gentle (toward me)’ there is actually nothing that needs protecting from anything but there IS something that can be open to receive in gratitude. This was a very powerful insight and I continue to reflect upon it”
This Is the Experience of Opening
She took the question into her heart and sat with it. At first there was resistance to answering the question and her partner had to ask it twice. But as she sat, and allowed the question to settle inside of her, a whole new experience opened up for her.
The question was an invitation for her heart to open and be felt.
This Work is powerful. It is not just an intellectual exercise. It is an invitation for the peace of inner being to melt the hard knots of thinking.
I love that this participant experienced The Work as meditation. And I invite you to approach The Work with the same willingness and patience. If you are sincere in asking, and willing to give yourself time to answer each question—even if you have to ask the question more than once—it is nearly impossible for the heart to resist answering the call.
Have a great week,
Todd
“It’s like diving. Keep asking the question and wait. Let the answer find you. I call it the heart meeting the mind: the gentler polarity of mind (which I call the heart) meeting the polarity that is confused because it hasn’t been investigated. When the mind asks sincerely, the heart will respond. Many of you will begin to experience revelations about yourself and your world, revelations that can transform your whole life, forever.” Byron Katie, Loving What Is
