As I write this Going Deeper section I want you to know I went deeper this month. I spent three days in Atlanta in an intensive workshop with Byron Katie. Katie (as she is called) and her work, Inquiry, is the basis of commitment 10 of the 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership.
Commitment 10 invites conscious leaders to see that the opposite of their story could be as true or truer than their story. This commitment is also the key to applying commitment 2, which is choosing curiosity over being right. In a nutshell, it’s impossible to be truly conscious and a conscious leader as long as we still believe our stories about reality are TRUE. The ego will fight to the death to prove to us and to everyone that the way it sees things is accurate and right. Conscious leaders choose over and over again to do The Work to explore the possibility that the exact opposite of their story could be as true. Once they do this, conscious leaders step out of all the drama around proving how right they are and they start learning new things, because they are actually curious instead of invested in their story about events.
Here are a few of my takeaways from spending three days doing Inquiry on many of my beliefs (these are “going deeper” takeaways not for the faint of heart/mind):
- All suffering (upset, stress, conflict, wanting) comes from my beliefs, not from the circumstances of life. No circumstance ever causes suffering, only my beliefs about the circumstance.
- Therefore all suffering is optional. Since my beliefs are under my control and can be thoughtfully examined I can escape from the prison of my beliefs and the suffering they cause.
- My attachment to my beliefs keeps me from truly seeing and empathizing with other people. Until my beliefs are examined I don’t see people, I only see my beliefs about people. If we all paused here and got this, really got it, our relationships would change for the better in an instant.
For years now I have known that the purpose of my life is to experience the truth of what is in every moment and to give my gift to the world. The process of inquiry is one of the best, most reliable practices I know for experiencing the truth in every moment. If experiencing the truth and living in the freedom and liberation that comes from letting go of attachment to our beliefs interests you I invite you to join me in the meditation of inquiry.
