The Self-Inquiry Process: Using Powerful Questions to Awaken Awareness
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About this ebook
Linda Brierty
Linda Brierty, LCSW, is an integral psychotherapist and Reiki Master. She was trained by Diane Shainberg, Ph.D., noted psychoanalyst and Zen priest. Linda is the director of The Bodhi Tree Holistic Center in Manhattan. She also has a deep love for music and is a classically trained musician.
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Book preview
The Self-Inquiry Process - Linda Brierty
The Self-Inquiry Process
Using Powerful Questions to Awaken Awareness
Cover © 2007 Cosimo, Inc.
For information, address:
Cosimo, P.O. Box 416
Old Chelsea Station
New York, NY 10113-0416
or visit our website at:
www.cosimobooks.com
Cover design by www.kerndesign.net
ISBN: 978-1-60206-718-9
©2005 linda Brierty, LCSW
All rights reserved
Also Available:
Linda’s Lightwork (guided meditation CD)
Integral Psychology: The Radio Series (12-CD set)
www.lindabrierty.com
Table of Contents
Preface
How to Use This Book
Introduction
1. Uncovering Your Self
2. Expressing Your Self
3. Listening With Your Self
4. Taking Care of Your Self
5. Finding Your Self
6. Reclaiming Your Self
7. Being With Your Self
8. Exploring Your Self-Origin
9. Opening Your Self to Intimacy
10. Seeing Your Self
11. Integrating Your Self
12. Help Your Self
13. Fear of Self
14. Self in the Now
15. Your Infinite Self
Your Miniautobiography
Glossary of Defenses
Psycho-Spiritual Terms
Cited References
Recommended Reading
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my teacher, Diane Shainberg, Ph.D., for the privilege of being her student. This book is dedicated to her. She introduced me to the process of Self-inquiry and repeating questions and their transformational power. She taught me how to sustain contact with my Self. Love & Gratitude!
I would also like to thank my editor, Vanessa Porto Caskey, for having the vision to bring this book into its new incarnation. Her essence is now in the pages, and she brought order, color, beauty, and polish to the text. We spent many wonderful hours meticulously refining the messages and sitting with the questions themselves. She was a strict taskmaster, pushing me through the difficult sections and reading the text as the reader would experience it. She also added her voice throughout.
Thank you, Vanessa, for your shimmering intellect, inner beauty, and light.
Love & Gratitude!
Linda Brierty
(Jangchup Dronma)
New York
June 2006
Disclaimer
This book is not intended to take the place of therapy with a trained professional. Readers are advised to consult with a professional regarding any necessary psychological treatment. Neither the publisher nor the author takes any responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment or action taken by any person reading or following the information in this book.
Preface
The Indian guru Ramana Maharshi explained that Self-inquiry is the one infallible means, the only direct one, to realize the unconditioned, absolute Being you really are.
The immediate question arises: What is Self-inquiry? And how do you begin this process? This is a fundamental question for those seeking relief from suffering.
Holding in high esteem this sacred teaching, Linda Brierty’s Self-Inquiry Process offers us an opportunity by posing carefully developed questions that aim to aid us in our search to understand who we are and the nature of our suffering, and by guiding us through an investigation of the blocks and obscurations keeping us from living in harmony with our true nature. Based on what she has witnessed in years of experience as an integral psychotherapist and energy healer, and on the wisdom she has acquired through her devoted spiritual journey, the questions merge sound Eastern spiritual concepts and philosophy into a psychological examination.
The Self-Inquiry Process questions have a jolting quality to them, not far in spirit from the puzzling directness with which Eastern spiritual teachers have traditionally presented themselves to their pupils. The idea is to shake us into a direct experience with what we need to learn, to crack us open and thrust us deep into the heart of the problem. Linda’s voice is felt throughout the workbook: her language is simple, clear, and direct. No beating around the bush. No sugar-coating. I stopped in midair when I came upon questions like: What is your preferred method of self-sabotage? Do you need a crisis to feel alive?
Before I was able to complete my reaction of denial (I don’t sabotage! But my crises are real!), images of many moments when I could have acted in line with my essence swept through my mind. I smiled, because then I understood the difference.
Sets of questions are followed by words of wisdom, which have a soothing effect and serve to clarify that which we learn in the process, often by pointing to a clearer understanding of the nature of the ego, and the liberation that comes from taking responsibility, living in the present, and going beyond it. The beauty of Linda’s words of wisdom is that they translate complex spiritual concepts into simple language, which when combined with our answers to the preceding questions, enable immediate application to our everyday experience.
Maharshi taught: The cause of your misery is not in the life without; it is in you as the ego. You impose limitations on yourself and then make a vain struggle to transcend them. All unhappiness is due to the ego; with it comes all your trouble. What does it avail you to attribute to the happenings in life the cause of misery which is really within you? What happiness can you get from things extraneous to your self? When you get it, how long will it last?
Linda’s Self-Inquiry Process is faithful to this teaching, and