What is Inquiry?

Dear Mr. Swartz,

I just finished reading "How To Attain Enlightenment." I won't pretend to have even
begun to digest all it contains. But it excited me greatly.
I first discovered Vedanta in my teens, through the writings of Alan Watts. It
immediately "felt" right to me. I was struck by how often you use the words "self
evident." It was always self evident to me that consciousness was primary, not a mere
epiphenomenon. It was also not difficult for me to have experiences that I would call
epiphanies. I sometimes think my childhood was spent in such a state near-constantly!
But it was also true that in itself, that did not lead to any useful improvement in my
existence.
So I was struck by what seems to be the central point of your book; or at least one that
you return to over and over. That epiphanies are useless unless they lead to, or are
accompanied by, self-inquiry, informed by scripture. That is the element that has
always been missing for me.
I was hoping for more instruction as to how to go about self-inquiry. You discuss it in
general terms, but anything resembling a "method" is left very vague. So I am
somewhat at a loss how to proceed.
Can you point me in the right direction?
Bill
Hi Bill,
Here is an email to a person on this topic. He was having trouble with a sense of
impatience that arose when he was communicating his self knowledge to other
people. If you need further explanation please write back.
The basic technique is to discriminate your intellect from your self, awareness. The
impatience you feel when you come in contact with people who do not get it (or any
other emotional state) shows that you are not discriminating in your daily life because
you are identified with a particular idea. If, when the thought that others SHOULD
understand what you are saying arises you are practicing discrimination, you will

recognize it as not-self and dismiss it without making karma out of it. The karma in
this case is the agitation that you feel when others dont get it. This way the know-it-all
tendency, the belief that you are right, will be burned out.
Discrimination is a moment to moment practiceassuming you have a suitable
lifestyleand can keep your attention on the self, not on what is happening in your
mind and the world around you.
So far your understanding is intellectual. You are identified with the intellect, not the
self. Now it is time to separate the self from the intellect. Self inquiry is not asking the
Who am I question, except indirectly. It is questioning the platform from which your
thoughts (and the emotions that flow from them) arise. You do this by comparing them
to self knowledge.
Discrimination is the practice of self knowledge. The self is free of all thoughts and
feelings, so when a particularly troubling thought arises it is an opportunity to turn your
attention away from the thought to the awareness illumining the thought. When you
do this the thought either dissolves or shrinks to manageable proportions. In this way
you work on removing those thoughts that obstruct your appreciation of yourself as
awareness. As you progress more obstructions arise. At the same time you will notice
a subtle lightness and contentment. Eventually, you will remove the last obstructing
thought and rest in awareness as awareness.
James