Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

Rolf Krahnert rolfkrahnert.com

Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

I have put this short guide together so that it may assist you with
your practice of self inquiry.

I hope that you can gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your
place in life.

I’m offering individual coaching/mentoring sessions, private group online

coaching programs and webinars. Through my website you have access
to my blogs, videos and eBooks, assisting you on your journey of Self
Inquiry, Self Knowing and Self Awareness.

The best service you can render to humanity is to recognise the

true nature of your being.

Rolf Krahnert

Coach and Mentor for Transformational Processes

Redland Bay, Queens-land, Terra Australis

rolfkrahnert.me

Rolf Krahnert rolfkrahnert.com

Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

DISCLAIMER

This guide is provided for and on behalf of ConsciousLiving

Foundation, it is private information for educational purposes only
and does not constitute medical advice.

Rolf Krahnert rolfkrahnert.com

 Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

Exploring Awakening - Inquiry - Realisation - Liberation -

Spirituality

Barriers to Awakening

The rst barrier to awakening is the belief that awakening is not

possible for yourself, that you are not good enough and that awakening
is only reserved for a few special beings.

Yet awakening is available to anyone at any given moment. It is as

natural as breathing.

The second barrier are deeper layers of doubt and insecurities. The idea
alone that you would have to let go of your identity, imagined securities
and familiar concepts, roles and identi cations seems frightening.

You might think ‘Who would I be without my identity? I might even have
to join a club, do practices and convince others. I would rather continue
to live within my imagined secure narrative.’ It’s the fear of the
unknown.

The separate self wants you to stay within it’s boundaries.

The third barrier is the unwillingness to realise the nature of thought. It’s
the fear of letting go of thoughts, concepts and beliefs and that even
some shadow work is necessary.

For the sake of it’s own preservation the separate self does not want
you to see and sense clearly that thought, thinking and the thinker are
the same. This experiential shift entails the realisation what thought is
and what it is not. Thoughts and beliefs are the root cause of separation
and show up as experiential reality.

Awakening means the realisation that if you can write something

down or talk about it ... it's a thought. Thought is always changing;
that which knows thought does not change, BE THAT, knowingly.

You ARE THAT already.

Rolf Krahnert rolfkrahnert.com

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 Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

Getting started

To get started it is necessary to acknowledge that awakening is the

most important thing for you right now.

With self inquiry, the practice of investigating thought and identity, the
rst step is the revelation of the illusory one who thinks thoughts (the
imagined separate self) and that which is aware of thoughts (awareness
itself).

If you feel it might be helpful you can also exposure yourself to a

resonating resource, a teaching or a teacher.

Basics

When you are ready to unveil the root cause of su ering, you connect
with a sincere desire to awaken, or i should really say that a sincere
desire to awaken connects with you, well, really with itself. Life itself
wants to shape moment to moment experience with uninterrupted deep
inner peace, a deep authenticity and interconnectedness.

The fundamental question for deep self inquiry is the identity

question ‘who am I?’

Readiness, curiosity and open interest leads to learning to dissolve

perceptual lters and habits, investigating the truth about reality and
nding living answers.

By su ering I mean an almost constant underlaying sense of unease,

resistance and seeking, a feeling of lack and inadequacy, including
emotional reactive patterns like shame, guilt, regret (past) and worries,
anxiety, expectations and attachment to outcomes (future).

Finding living answers will lead you to release resistance and end
seeking. It reveals the deep inner peace that rests at the centre of
your being.

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 Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

Dissolving Perceptual Filters

A sense of separation, the sense of being a distinct subject or self in a

world of objects or other selves, the existence of an actual existing self,
a distinct sense of I, an agency, a doer, instead of knowing oneself as
unlimited, ever-present awareness.

The experience of space, the sense of perceiving and experiencing

three dimensional space, distance and objects, experience and form
occurring within it, constantly re-informing the sense of separation,
instead of one seamless experience, and the realisation that there is
nothing outside of non-local awareness.

The experience of time, the sense of thinking, imagining and

experiencing a constant ow of time, being at the mercy of an all-
consuming and unstoppable construct of time, instead of being always
and ever in this timeless present moment, which is outside of time. Any
experience is only experienced NOW, past and future are mental
constructs. There’s no past, no future, there’s just this eternal moment.
There’s no me having this experience, there’s just pure experience. Life
experiencing itself as that right now.

Dissolving Perceptual Filters leads to a complete absence of any

sense of a separate self, body/mind, objects, boundaries, and an
absence of any sense of time and locality.

Dis-identifying with thought

Think consciously, move attention towards where thoughts arises, don’t

engage with it like we usually do, meaning we get unconscious, mind
identi ed, forgetting that we’re caught in thought, forgetting that we’re
not the thinker.

Thought is not what i am, i am here during thought, before thought and
after thought. As thought arise, move directly into that. Don’t think
about it, don’t comment, just be it.

The mind is like a house of mirrors, thoughts re ecting on thoughts

re ecting on thoughts ... no distinction between subject and object,
what you are is not separate from thoughts, what's you are is not
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Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

separate from consciousness, it's all the same substance, fundamental

knowing, knowing knowing or being being.

Questions for Self Inquiry

1. What is here, right now, that is not a thought, a feeling, a sensation, a

perception?
2. Who am i, right now, when there's no thought or memory to de ne
myself?
3. What is right here, when I let go of all doubt? When I let go of all
roles, labels and identi cations, memories, characteristics, memories?
4. What if all this disappears, do I disappear?
5. Where am I, right now, without referring to a space or the body?
6. Can I just settle, right now, into a sense of being, without thinking?
7. What is the nature of thought? What are you in relation to thought?
What is it that is aware?

No conclusions, No questions, Just being

No Time - No Thought - No Self

Unbinding from the binding to thought

Letting go or dropping a narrative means letting go or dropping the

attention to that particular narrative. The mind, or attention has the
tendency to get attached to, or entangled in thought.

Turn to sensing and feeling, and perceiving

Turn to the seamless awareness, all inclusive occurrence of life, the all
encompassing Isness of all That is, no separate experiences, no
coming in, no going out, no birth, no death !

Inquiring into the nature of the mind, the body and the world

Beyond victimhood (belief in powerlessness), separation (belief in

fragmentation) and forgetting (belief in materialism).

Thoughts (the mind), feelings and sensations (the body) and

perceptions (the world).

Rolf Krahnert rolfkrahnert.com

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 Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

Remember:

1. Don't believe your thoughts (passive) and question all beliefs (active)
2. Turn towards the mysterious (that which you don't know, an
immediate knowing)
3. Just relax into all forms of experience (formless consciousness at
zero distance, luminous, intimate)

Inquiring into the nature of presence - being, happiness - peace,

awareness - knowing.

What you need:

1. Willingness to go beyond the conceptual mind, perceptual lters,

identi cations, roles ... into the not known, the mind
2. Willingness to be honest and authentic, vulnerable and
uncomfortable
3. Trust your intuition

Shadow Work

Meaningful shadow work is the recognition that su ering is based in

avoidance and feeling stuck in reactive patterns.

Shadows can be triggered by a sense of guilt, shame or regret, which

refers to the past, or it can be triggered by fear, worry, anxiety,
expectations or attachment to outcomes, which refers to the future.

If you identify as a powerless victim you most likely complain or blame, if

your sense of lack and inadequacy is triggered you resist what is and
seek what is not, if the belief that you share the limits of the body is
triggered, you defend your sense of self out of feeling vulnerable or even
attack.

Your real self is unlimited, ever-present awareness, it is your essence,

your centre. So when you are not at peace, you are not at your centre,
you’re not here and now ... you're not your true self!

We could say that every time you are resisting what appears in the
present moment you're in shadow territory and fear is in the driver seat.

Rolf Krahnert rolfkrahnert.com

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Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

Every time you’re not connected to this deep seated, unshakeable

peace (which passes understanding) reactive patterns drive your
behaviour and shape your experience.

It's a limited state of mind, a frequency, a vibrational state. You’re are out
of your high vibrational peaceful state and driven by a lower vibrational
fearful state.

Presence

Pure presence is simple and always available, right here, right now.
Presence doesn't come and go, acknowledge it, it's beyond thought,
feelings, sensations and perceptions.

Aware Presence or Knowing Being is that which is present during

perceiving, feeling, sensing, thinking, imagining.

Questions for Self Inquiry

- What is at the centre of your being

- The one that is aware about experience
- Complete rest, pure knowing
- Pay attention to paying attention
- Pure knowing of being
- Don't look for it
- Pure amness, as you are right now
- Still and moving, or neither still nor moving

When ask the question ‘Who am I?’ …

Don’t keep asking "Who am I? Who am I?" Self inquiry is not a thinking
exercise. Ask the question once, and be aware of where the question is
pointing you.

It is important that you understand that this question does not need to
be intellectually answered. The mind asks the question and does not
know the answer. Understand that anything the mind can say is just
another concept. Therefore, do not go looking in mind for an answer.
You are not supposed to nd an answer to this question in thoughts.

Other variations for Self Inquiry

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Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

What am I?
Am I aware?
What is it that is aware?
What is it that knows my experience?
What is it that here now?
What knows this experience?
What is this “I” or "me" that is aware of thoughts?

Pick the question which connects with you the most. Di erent pointers
out of this list will resonate with you at di erent times in your inquiry.
The important thing to see over time is that all of these questions point
you in the same direction (inward to yourself).

Be aware of where the question ‘Who am I?’ is pointing you

Go there with your attention, without referring to thought. Be aware of

what you sense and feel.

Consider where the question “Who am I?” is pointing you. “Go” to that
place. Go there with your attention. Wordlessly, thoughtlessly, look at
what you feel the question “Who am I?” is pointing you to.

This is a SELF inquiry. Your sense of self “I” is in question. Go to your

sense of “I.” Notice what the word “I” refers to in experience.

Just like the word “table” is not a table - it is referring to the physical
object that you know as “table.” The word “table” is a concept, a label.
Whereas, the physical object that the concept is referring to in
experience is the actual thing being spoken of. Just like that, bring your
attention to what the word “I” is referring to in your experience.

Do not entertain any concerns such as “Am I doing this right?” Or “Is
this what the question is pointing to?” Notice how when you fall for
such thoughts, your gaze once again turns away from “I” and gets
focused in thoughts. And then you are no longer practicing self inquiry.
When such thoughts arise, simply have no interest to pursue them.
Move onto step 3.

Keep your attention rooted in your sense of self or ‘I’

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Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

When thoughts arise, instead of pursuing them, notice the awareness in

which they arise. Without referring to thought, notice ‘I am aware of this
thought.’ And once again return your attention to your sense of self, ‘I’
which is aware.

Keep your attention rooted in your sense of self “I.” When thoughts
arise, instead of pursuing them, notice the awareness in which they
arise. Wordlessly, thoughtlessly notice “I am aware of this thought." And
once again return your attention to your sense of self, “I,” which is
aware.

During this practice, have no interest in pursuing thoughts, no matter

how compelling or important they may seem. You have to start to look
past the seeming importance of thoughts during moments of practice.
Have no interest in what they say, have no interest in the content of
those thoughts. Instead, be more interested in your awareness, in which
they arise.

Learn to discern between awareness and thinking. Thinking is mental

chatter. Awareness is the bare seeing, knowing, looking IN WHICH
thoughts are seen. Here’s a practice to see this clearly: Notice that
sometimes there are thoughts, sometimes there are no thoughts.

When thoughts are there, awareness is there. Because without

awareness, thoughts wouldn’t be known. And even when thoughts are
not there, awareness is still there. Because even the absence of thought
is registered in your knowing, in your awareness.

So understand, that awareness is subtler than and prior to the thinking

which appears and disappears in it. Awareness is your bare looking,
bare observing, bare knowing. Thinking is the mental chatter which is
seen to come and go by me.

Stay there without expecting something to happen and without the

desire to realise something

Rest in and as Being. "Stay there” without expecting something to

happen and without the desire to realise something. Rest in and AS
your concept-less Being.

Rolf Krahnert rolfkrahnert.com

Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

Expectation keeps you stuck in thoughts, in personal identity. During

this practice, if there is any expectation present, you must notice it and
discard it as not-self. Instead of being interested in the expectation, be
interested in the awareness of it. “There's awareness of this
expectation." What is this “I” or "me" that is aware? Once again return
to self-awareness.

In self-awareness, all notions, all concepts, all conditioning, all

personhood comes to a halt. In that moment, it all dissolves in silence.
And this silence (absence of concepts) is the source of wisdom, it is the
true teaching. In silence, all identi cations and misunderstandings
gradually come to and end.

Keep repeating this: When thoughts arise, just let them arise and return
to noticing the awareness which knows thought. Now again, do not
worry "am I practicing this correctly?" This is just another thought and
even if you get caught in that thought, life will gradually correct it by
itself if you stay consistent.

Growing in your practice

As you grow in your practice, see when you are not maintaining
awareness or Being. Every time you return to self-awareness (noticing
your sense of self “I”), see that this is not lost when you are engaged in
activity or conversation.

It only appears to have been lost because we get hypnotised in the

limited perspective that thoughts impose on us. But see that awareness
does not disappear or change. Actually, even that contracted state of
mind identi cation is something that there is a pristine awareness of. It
is only because of the awareness of it that I know it in the rst place!

Awareness or Being is always present. It is the changeless background

upon which all the thinking, feeling, and doing are appearing as
momentary appearances.

Seeing this more and more clearly will help you realise that you are not
maintaining your being, you are yourself always. And by realising this
more and more, your identi cation with the changeful objects of
perception will gradually diminish.

Rolf Krahnert rolfkrahnert.com

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 Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

“I” have no name, no form

Over time, as you become more comfortable with what is means to

"abide in and as Being or Awareness," start to see that “I” am not
present as any particular thing.

I am not an object of perception. I cannot know myself as an object that

I can point to and look at. I am not anything particular inside of
experience that appears as a "this" or “that”.

Whatever experience that appears is seen BY ME as a changeful

object, meanwhile I myself never appear phenomenally. Begin to
con rm in your experience that Being cannot be de ned by any
objective quality such as size, shape, colour, duration, etc.

Nothing to promote, nothing to prefer

Also over time, notice that because “I” have no objective quality and I’m
not present as any particular thing, I am incapable of preference or
resistance, desire or fear.

It is similar to how the space of this room is incapable of liking one

object and despising another. It is incapable of clinging to one object
and resisting another.

Space is incapable of even conceptualising like, dislike, good, bad,

right wrong, etc. It simply is. Just like that, my Being is inherently free
from all such notions and is therefore free of su ering.

I am pure awareness, pure acceptance, pure allowance, simply Being.

Spiritual Practice

This will give you a clear picture of what the direct spiritual path entails
and guide you on how to live in a way that will help you uncover
spiritual truths.

Meditation practice, sitting with what is

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Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

This is the foundation of your entire spiritual practice. It cleanses you,

replenishes you, makes your perception subtler, and keeps you from
getting entangled in personal concerns.

The meditation practice dissolves the veil to understanding. Sitting in

silence is the main ingredient which softens intellectual understanding
into experience.

Determination to be present during the day

Be adamant and diligent in letting go of mental chatter the moment you

notice yourself in it. During the day, experience as many moments of
silence (absence of thoughts). Begin to clearly discern between
awareness and thinking. Drop thinking as often as you remember and
rest as silent awareness.

In every moment of remembrance, just let go of thoughts by bringing

attention to yourself (the awareness which is aware). The more you
practice in the moments of remembrance, the more frequently you will
remember to practice. And gradually, thoughts will lose their capacity to
pull you into identi cation.

Non reactiveness through self observation

Rather than identifying with your thoughts, feelings or other triggers,

you now have to observe them and see that they are not you. You do
not need to cling to or resist thoughts, feelings or triggers. You no
longer need to believe in stories about who wronged you and what
happened etc etc.

Whatever triggers you on this path is your friend, not your enemy. It
brings up all your conditioning little by little, and through observation of
those triggers, through judgement-less awareness of those feelings,
you break identi cation with them. Let all your mental impressions
unravel in this way.

Acceptance of what comes and goes

Stop clinging to what is. Stop resisting what is. Have your plans and do
what you wish to do in life, but do not resist what happens.

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Guide for Deep Self Inquiry Practice

You can have your plan, but ultimately, surrender to Life’s plan.
Trust in life’s wisdom more than you do in your own ideas of what is
right or wrong for you.

Take everything that you’re experiencing as exactly what you need in

this moment to awaken to your true self. Take all circumstances,
people, and things that you encounter on your personal journey as the
gifts to help you awaken to your true Self. Therefore, live in total
acceptance of what is.

By remaining in con ict with what is, you remain in bondage.

An ongoing discernment of change vs changeless, seen vs seer

Discern between “I” the changeless awareness vs objects (what I am

aware of as changeful experiences). Let go of identifying with anything
that appears. You are nothing that can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted,
touched, felt, thought or perceived as an experience.

The Self cannot be found as an object within knowledge. You cannot

know the Self, you can only Be the Self.

Beyond personal desires

Keep seeing through your own observation that desire for transient
experiences binds you in a limited identity (personhood). If you want to
discover the truth of what you are, you will have to start seeing your
personal desires more as surface level, super cial wants that are not
really of much importance.

They will steer your personal journey from here to there, and that is ne,
but don’t be so invested in them, don’t identify with them, don't need
them to be ful lled. Pursue your personal desires if you wish, but know
that what it's all really about is awakening to who you truly are.

Join our community!

As a member of our community, you will be able to deepen your

practice faster and dissolve mind identi cation. For more information go
to my website rolfkrahnert.me

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