Is
it possible, even for just several moments, to set aside what I will
refer to as “the known”, and simply listen and observe freshly to
what is being said or talked about? By “the known” I am referring
to our prejudices, beliefs, what we think is 'right' or
'wrong'......in other words, the whole content of the conditioned
mind. That is not to say it has been obliterated, which is impossible
anyway, except maybe in instances of some forms of brain injury.
Rather, to allow “the known” to be in abeyance, which happens
when the energy is in the listening and looking at this moment.
This kind of listening is itself
transforming, because it requires the brain to quiet down from its
usual activity of “directing the show”. In meditative
inquiry one doesn't know where the looking, questioning, and
listening will lead. Can inquiry or looking happen out of interest,
out of curiosity, rather than in order to obtain a result? Maybe the
search for an answer or some result is what has originally motivated
us, but at the moment of inquiry, can that 'ambition' be put aside?
This type of inquiry is not what we are typically familiar with in
our day-to-day lives. Our conversations are mostly about things
and can stay on a superficial level, rather than a probing more
deeply into our thoughts - such as our rigidly held notions or
beliefs about ourselves and each other.
An
important ingredient in meditative inquiry is this act of open
listening. Listening, wondering and not knowing: this can all happen
alone or together with like-minded people. Looking together with
others has the opportunity wherein someone might point something out
that we haven't noticed or seen before. In the spirit of something
Nisargadatta – an Indian teacher - once said, in an instance such
as this.....”what does it matter, who is who?!” What matters most
is the looking itself – in which there is truly no 'me' and no
'you'. Can we meet together in that spirit?
