Re: Does The Work really work like surgery?

January 9, 2008

Hi ,

For me it's a bit of both - sometimes something is cleared and from

then on it can't ever be true for me again, even when the thought

comes up.

Other stuff is more persistent - but then again, I've been running

with many of these thoughts for a LONG time, so no surprise that old

habits take a while to change.

I find it's a bit like gardening (from what I know of gardening!) -

sometimes it's about digging up weeds, sometimes it's an entire tree

root system and that takes more than one inquiry.

Also, what I do notice is that even if I continue to believe something

very strongly, there's a part of me that recognizes this - the part

that brings me to inquiry.

For me there's also a recognition that often I'm not ready for a deep

change or shift - that lots of smaller ones feel 'safer' to me and

that's Ok - it's all doing the same thing.

With love and thanks - I just realized some stuff about my own process

in writing this,

Jon

January 9, 2008

PS With reference to " All snakes are ropes / pieces of wood " I've been

finding it very useful to inquire into my beliefs about snakes, which

have been a big no-no for me.

I have now bought a book about snakes and can look at some of the

pictures without getting completely freaked out :-)

Jon

January 9, 2008

For me thoughts are like an iceberg: The peak is visible but the biggest

part is under the water. Enquiry starts chipping away at the visible part. I

may work at the thought that is in my awareness, but there are a whole lot

more beliefs under the surface that supports that thought. Only when the

whole belief structure supporting it finally goes (will it ever? :-)), will

the thought not have any power over me again.

Another way I see it is that I started with a thick wall in front of me.

This wall reflects other people's anger, judgements etc. right back to them.

As I enquire, bricks get removed and holes appear in the wall. Where I

previously would have reflected back, it now just flows right through me.

There are some very persistent and closely-related bricks that need a lot of

work to disappear. Sometimes the disappearance of one brick makes a couple

of others fall out too. As the wall gets less and less steady, Love starts

to flow freely in and out through the holes. And eventually, like with

the wall collapses and Love is all that remains.

Thats my story anyway:-)

Hanle

Does The Work really work like surgery?

>I am sure most of you have heard BK's story about the snake and the

> piece of wood - you know, it is dark in the desert and you think you

> see a snake and then, after a while, you realise that it is not a

> snake but a piece of wood. And, then, from that moment nothing is ever

> going to convince you that it is a snake. And this, of course, is an

> analogy for the process of enquiry. It is a good analogy I think. My

> question is, however, do you think it really works like this when it

> comes to thinking and thoughts? In my experience, I find I need daily

> maintenance of my stressful thoughts to keep me 'clear'. I have had

> many extended periods where I have not done The Work and what tends to

> happen is that I start believing all of the old stressful thoughts all

> over again. Is it really the case with The Work that once you see the

> truth, you see the truth - and that's that? Is it really surgery? Or

> does the truth - all those valuable insights - tend to sink into the

> background - be forgotten - without some kind of daily enquiry work?

> For me, it seems to be the latter - but very interested to hear what

> others think about this.

> Best wishes

> N

>

January 9, 2008

Wow - I've really enjoyed pondering this!

I've had great success completely undoing many stressful thoughts, but some,

deep-rooted thoughts do resurface (some of them daily) and I do still feel

stress over them. At first, I was disappointed in myself and in The Work when

those thoughts crept back in. But, over time, I've actually come to enjoy doing

The Work on those thoughts over and over again. The Work at least works for me

in that moment & I return to peace. Maybe for those recurring, stressful

thoughts, the surgery we're doing is more like trimming our fingernails or going

for a haircut!

Thanks for bringing this up.

" Scalpel! "

~Dr. Tamtheleo

garyniemen wrote:

I am sure most of you have heard BK's story about the snake and the

piece of wood - you know, it is dark in the desert and you think you

see a snake and then, after a while, you realise that it is not a

snake but a piece of wood. And, then, from that moment nothing is ever

going to convince you that it is a snake. And this, of course, is an

analogy for the process of enquiry. It is a good analogy I think. My

question is, however, do you think it really works like this when it

comes to thinking and thoughts? In my experience, I find I need daily

maintenance of my stressful thoughts to keep me 'clear'. I have had

many extended periods where I have not done The Work and what tends to

happen is that I start believing all of the old stressful thoughts all

over again. Is it really the case with The Work that once you see the

truth, you see the truth - and that's that? Is it really surgery? Or

does the truth - all those valuable insights - tend to sink into the

background - be forgotten - without some kind of daily enquiry work?

For me, it seems to be the latter - but very interested to hear what

others think about this.

Best wishes

N

---------------------------------

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January 9, 2008

I love the brick wall analogy. I can really visualize that.

Thanks for sharing!

Hanle wrote:

For me thoughts are like an iceberg: The peak is visible but the

biggest