Philosophical self-inquiry meeting

This Meeting Location: (see location explanation below).

Topic: Transcending the Mind

Objective: Solve the existential riddle (and big problem) of life and death.
Direction: Inquire into the core of being.
"Our view of identity is that it's a structure made of what we identify with. Rumi says that identity must be torn down, completely demolished along with its little tailoring shop, the patch-sewing of eating and drinking consolation. Inner work is not all ecstatic surrender. Don't listen too often, Rumi advises, to the comforting part of the self that gives you what you want. Pray instead for a tough instructor. Nothing less than the radical disassembling of what we've wanted and gotten, and what we still wish for, allows us to discover the value of true being that lies underneath. The pickaxe, for Rumi, represents whatever does this fierce attention-work: clear discernment, a teacher's presence, simple strength, and honesty with oneself. The pickaxe dismantles the illusory personality and finds two glints in the dirt. Like eyes they are, but these jewels are not personal. Rumi points to a treasure within our lives unconnected to experience. It is intrinsic, beyond calculation, a given, reached after the ego is cleared away and a one-pointedness digs under the premises. ~ "On the Pickaxe" introduction by Coleman Barks to Chapter 9, "The Pickaxe: Getting to the Treasure Beneath the Foundation," of The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition.

The discussions are focused on self-inquiry and structured around a topic or whatever is on your mind.

We meet on alternate Saturdays (occasionally with an extra week between), and since 2013 all meetings were at the Main Alachua County Library ... until 2025. The library system allows us to reserve one meeting room each month in advance, then not until the day of any other meetings. So far this year we haven't been able to reserve rooms in advance at the main library.

We will include locations reserved in advance on these meeting blurbs. For other meetings, we will message members who accept messages as soon on the meeting day as we've been able to reserve a location.

At meetings at the main library, check with the information desk on the 2nd floor for the exact meeting room location.

> Philosophical Self-Inquiry is an unconventional adventure.
> Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence.
> Self-Inquiry is going within to find answers.
> The general self-inquiry question for each meeting: What are you at the core of your being?