Does The Work really work like surgery?

[Guest guest]

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