Insight on Insight

Transcript

Let’s talk about insight on insight.

The other day I was sitting in meditation and it occurred to me “Alright, I’m going to focus on a specific idea with the intention of gaining insight on that idea.”

So I thought which idea am I trying to gain insight on and the answer in my head was “insight.”

I was like “Yes, insight on insight. I’m going to meditate on insight to receive insight about insight.”

I thought “Okay that sounds really cool.”

So I began.

At first things went a little slowly, maybe I just sat there thinking trying to hold this concept inside in my mind.

Nothing really is happening and I guess that sometimes you have to be patient.

Once you plant the seed you need to wait for the fruit.

Then the fruit did come.

The first thing that came to mind was about intention and specifically I started thinking about before I do cognitive behavioral sessions I will pray and I will normally pray that this person begins to see things in a different light, that they will receive insight and that they will implement that insight in their lives and move towards a more fulfilling productive happy joyful life. Amen.

And the point of this in my meditation was one must set an intention. It seemed kind of obvious, if you want to do something then it is vital that you really intend to do it. If you want to get insight in your life then of course, you should intend or want or desire to get insight and that is going to help you on your path to get insight.

The next thing that came up is a lack of ego or agenda. So I’m not going in with the intention to convince anyone of anything when I do these Cognitive Behavioral Session. I try to avoid giving people advice in general. Sometimes I slip.

I try to avoid that. The idea is, or the vision I had in my mind at that point. If I have an agenda, it’s something very rigid. I have this line in my mind and beside that was this grand nebula, this grand mystery, this grand chaos. The great mystery one might say.

This is the complexity of unrestrained reality. So if we have this rigid structure, this agenda. Like I’m going to tell this guy about his life. Normally isn’t going to work because life is a lot more complex than that and by being humble and setting our egos aside in one’s own life and when one is trying to comfort others. In that way we can enjoy the mystery together so that’s also the third point that came up.

One surrenders to the mystery. Finding insight means letting go of past expectations and exploring the unknown and actually this relates very much once again to “On Becoming a Person” by Carl Rogers.

He talks about how in the beginning of psychotherapy someone might have a very fixed idea about who they are and it’s when they allow themselves to let go of their fixed ideas about themselves that they begin to become a person.

That is they begin to discover they are an ongoing process, not a static thing and their self from moment to moment might be very different. And it’s perfectly ok to be that way.

The final thing, the additional point is about something that happens sometimes when I am giving these sessions. Someone will say to me “Oh, that’s a good point.”

Or they say “I see what you did there” when I just asked some questions and actually in that moment I have no idea what I did, I was just asking questions to try to explore things with them.

They attribute this insight to me but it didn’t come from me, I am the facilitator in the exploration of an infinite mystery and that’s wonderful when we explore that together.

They try and give me the credit and I try to explain to them like “No, it’s not me, it is a collaboration. We are exploring together and that’s where the insight comes from. Letting go of conceptions, setting the intention, moving into these mysteries.

That’s where we can find things that really change our lives.

Sometimes we go through our lives, day by day.

It’s easy to get sucked into this habit. We do the same thing over and over like going to a job, coming home, kiss the wife and go to bed.

And we don’t necessarily stop to think “What could be really different about this? What could be incredible? How could miracles happen every day?”

Alright things that happen will fall short of a miracle. Then again, maybe not. Maybe things will change in such a wonderful way if we begin to intend to find insight, to surrender and let go of preconceptions and the agenda of who we thought we were…

And of course to take action on the insight that we receive.

Insight plus action equals transformation.

Thank you for listening, have a wonderful day. Thank you for receiving insight when it comes, thank you for being open to it. Thank you for exploring those mysteries, having the courage to gaze into the unknown and wonder what it might be like.

Thank you.