The Two Aspects of Self-Inquiry

Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman
Ojai, California - August 15, 2006

The first aspect of self-inquiry is always available to you: to see what you are. That is easy, because you are always here. You cannot deny that. What you are has not changed, and it is unaffected by the story. So what you are, in reality, is the source of that absolute certainty that you exist. Nothing can be said about it, but it can be noticed or felt, intuited, again and again. This that you are is never absent, never unavailable. So, the first aspect of self-inquiry is to, repeatedly, whenever it occurs to you, stop for a second and taste that reality, the ever-present, unchanging, unmoving presence that you are.

The second aspect of self-inquiry (and Ramana spoke about both of these aspects interchangeably) is to find the truth of what you have believed yourself to be, to find who you are, who is at the core of the story, the subject, the actor, the sufferer, the seeker. It is the who that the story is about: you, ... I. It arises, propagates, dissipates, and arises again. When the story is present, "I" is present. So, look for the entity that the story is about. When you look for it, it disappears, and what remains is only that same ever-present reality, the seeing of which is all that's needed ever.

Do this inquiry in either form whenever it occurs to you, whenever you can; stop for a second, relax and feel this unmoving, permanent presence, the background of everything. Never concern yourself with the times when you don't do it. Just do it when you can. This is the medicine. It is not like shaping or fixing something. Just take the medicine whenever you can, and everything else gets taken care of.

And, whenever you can, look to see if you can find this entity that you believe yourself to be, which is what the story is about.

© 2008 John Sherman. All rights reserved.