2. One must experience what I call an 'existential opening.' By the latter, I mean whatever breaks me open s/t that I'm turned back on myself. Now I–the questioner–am IN, am IMPLICATED BY the question. This, properly understood, IS the incipient moment of 'introspection.'
— Andrew Taggart (@andrewjtaggart) January 12, 2020
4. In the face of suffering, typically I turn to "problem solving" or to the desire forthwith to get rid of my suffering. But what if whatever "tools" or "means" I turn to will not make this suffering ultimately and utterly go away?
— Andrew Taggart (@andrewjtaggart) January 12, 2020
6. Let's invite the Indian teacher Ramana Maharshi into this stream. He'd want us to engage in self-inquiry by asking: "Who, ultimately, am I? Who, or what, am I really?"
— Andrew Taggart (@andrewjtaggart) January 12, 2020
8a. What is my experience of the body? My *belief* is that the physical body is a (i) solid & (ii) perduring entity or object. But were I to meditate on this long enough….. I'd begin to see directly that it's actually no such thing: it's rather fluid waves of pulsating energy.
— Andrew Taggart (@andrewjtaggart) January 12, 2020
9a. Next, consider the experience of mind. AM I the mind? Well, my experience of the mind is not that it's a "container" or "theater" IN WHICH thoughts or feelings arise. Rather, minding IS thinking and/or feeling.
— Andrew Taggart (@andrewjtaggart) January 12, 2020
10. Next, consider the proposal that I AM the Doer. (Cf. Total Work.) The Doer is the undertaken of actions on behalf of the body or the body-mind. Yet soon it becomes clear to me that I CANNOT BE the Doer, for I'm always witnessing doings as they come and go without BEING them.
— Andrew Taggart (@andrewjtaggart) January 12, 2020
12. Now I'm open to loving, earnest, and truth-seeking questions. Such as: is what I truly am localizable in space-time? If I'm not the body (which is born and whose fate is to perish), then was I born and can I die? Am I ontologically different from 'others' or 'objects'? Etc.
— Andrew Taggart (@andrewjtaggart) January 12, 2020
14. Henceforth life may be scented w/ the perfume of Mystery. Henceforth I may give myself up to loving contemplation of the self and of Reality. Henceforth my astonishment may know no bounds. Call this the genuine beginning of (for lack of a better word) authentic spirituality.
— Andrew Taggart (@andrewjtaggart) January 12, 2020
I’ll be exploring these matters, as well as many others, on my new YouTube channel, which is called The Second Axial Age. If this sort of thing calls you, then feel free to join us by subscribing.
Andrew James Taggart, Practical Philosopher, Ph.D. 