What is Inquiry Method?

In our culture we are taught to discover and move our lives toward "what I want", this inherently flawed pursuit has lead to much of the pain and suffering that we experience and inflict on others."What I want" is not invalid as a developmental stage, it is in fact an important part of our development akin to adolescence but we would not want to stop there or see it as the ultimate expression of being human or even being an adult.Nor are we best served by regressing into the even less satisfying and less harmonizing approach of "what you want" expressed by the process of "giving ourselves away to others" as a tool for ultimate happiness.What is needed is the larger perspective of not "what I want" or "what you want", but "what is wanted"."What is wanted" can be discovered through Inquiry Method by opening minds to exploring the truth of what is present within a system, whether that "system" is myself, someone else, a relationship, business, friendship, group, environment, political body, or planet and from the foundation of that truth uncovering or discovering what serves the well-being of that system. This is a subtle but profound shift in perspective that provides radically different results from the traditional approach.When we change our questioning from the egoic "what I want" to the broader "what is wanted" or in other terms "what serves harmony, alignment, and well-being?", we step into realms of a higher order that provide an equally higher order of satisfaction and happiness that includes but is not limited to the small self.There is an underlying flow of events and forces that are flowing around us all of the time. We have all experienced being in this flow at one time or another and enjoyed the feeling at some level of “at oneness”: the feeling of alignment with ourselves, a group, or our environment. Inquiry Method seeks to reunite ourselves with this inherent ability to find and merge with what is occurring within and around us, an ability that we have largely lost as modern human beings. Nothing can be more profound or necessary than rediscovering this crucial capacity, it is in fact what we are all yearning for on the deepest levels.The yearning for this state of “at oneness” keeps us seeking even when we achieve or get what we want. We stay dissatisfied, even under conditions of wealth and abundance because on a deep level, what we think we want is not what we truly want.No amount of success, power, wealth, achievement, approval, awards, status, etc. will provide sustainable satisfaction; this can only come through an inner rewiring and orientation toward being in harmony with self and life. This happiness and joy that we are always seeking but not truly understanding ironically can result in success, power, wealth, achievement, approval, awards, status, etc.Learning to change your orientation toward “what is wanted” is a process that requires growing within different levels of self, within your mind and thoughts, within your body and emotions, and working with and exploring your source and capacity for inner-knowing.Our capacity for harmony within mind, body and spirit is limited by our culture, what we have learned or been taught, is limited by our experience from our past, the pain we carry and the coping mechanisms we have developed around this pain and is limited by our internal drive to satisfy the unmet needs we still carry from our development.To truly practice Inquiry Method and experience this sense of at-oneness and the joy and satisfaction it brings requires us to inquire into these parts of our self to reset the mechanisms that allow us to sense and participate in “what is wanted”.This process also requires a radically different viewpoint about life, relationships, business, communication, parenting, health, time, money, etc; it requires reorienting our lives toward happiness; an objective that we have somehow lost in our process.Inquiry Method is a process and it is not intended that we necessarily achieve "at oneness" all of the time, The intent is that as we do our work we spend more time at altitude, meaning that we continue to expand and develop our capacity and ability to be in harmony and alignment with our world and the others around us. The benefits of this lead to experiences of deep happiness, satisfaction and success that are not possible any other way.We are designed for this happiness. Ultimately, our suffering is due to the inner knowledge of this happiness and our yearning for it. We can find and cultivate this capacity for happiness within us. The journey itself is an extraordinary adventure for those that have to courage to step onto the path of inquiry.