Deep Conversations at Bethesda Library -- What is your true inner voice?
Details
Quotes for Dec 1:
"Whatever set of fears and desires is making the most noise determines your action or inaction – until there’s sufficient detachment from identifying with the view (i.e. those fears and desires). To look objectively means not flinching from the contradictions you’ll see about what you believe yourself to be."
-- Art Ticknor
"Watch the decision-making process in your mind, learn to distinguish among the conflicting desires. You may have the intuition to eat a doughnut. Over time, you will recognize that is an intuition of the body and is to be ignored at times. You may recognize a higher intuition that says not to eat the doughnut and to take a walk instead. During your walk, an even higher intuition may be sensed which says that neither doughnuts, nor walking, nor anything about you is of importance. "
-- Shawn Nevins
Question: What is your true inner voice? How do you know?
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“I am struck with how rare it is to find a few good friends on the path. It is easy to find people who simply want to sit and be entertained by teachers, or who want to sit and entertain by playing the role of teacher. In other words, the quest for affirmation often outweighs the quest for truth.
Yet you may have one or two good friends, and definitely have one or two waiting to be discovered. Find them; be thankful.”
— Shawn Nevins
'What will make me happy in life?' ... 'Am I my thoughts?' ... 'What is Enlightenment?' ... We meet every week to ask questions like these in the pursuit of Self-Knowledge and Truth.
We are interested in topics like: Zen, stoicism, spirituality, psychology, mindfulness, Nisargadatta, non-violent communication, Socrates, existential philosophy, Alan Watts, taoism, Eckhart Tolle, meditation, Ramana Maharshi, etc. But we are not affiliated with any dogma, philosophy, or religion.
Our goal each meeting is to serve as mirrors for one another using question-based inquiry in a safe environment. In a session, every participant takes turns discussing the week's question or topic, and the group asks reflective questions without any agenda besides trying to understand the person's beliefs.
A few other guiding principles of our group:
- No one is obligated to share
- Be honest with yourself and others
- Do not try to convince others to believe or think as you do
- Keep the focus on the person being questioned
We meet at the Bethesda Library every Monday. The library is a 5 minute walk from the Bethesda Metro on the Red Line, approx 25 minute Metro ride from Metro Center and Gallery Place stations. The library has a a parking lot with metered parking for $1/hour.
*** WE WILL BE IN MEETING ROOM 3 UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED ----- THE MEETING ROOM IS IN THE BACK OF THE LIBRARY ***
Please contact us with any questions!