One of the things that has fascinated me with inquiry is that it is a multi-tasking thing.
At one level, we are exploring a theme. While we are doing so another of other processes are in play, affecting us/working on us at different levels. Simultaneous 'healing' seems to occur. In the tolerant, non-interfering presence of the 'good-enough' other, good things happening at the level of bonding, security and self-confidence.
What do I mean by inquiry, and what does it heal?
- self esteem
- the invisible self [narcissistic needs]
- equalizing the voice
- attachment style 'pre-verbal' presence
- non-abandonment and non-impingement in states of distress
There is a second layer: the sublime, little details that might otherwise never surface. the flowers that might not have blossomed, the 'unthought known that might not have surfaced, but for that space. in this sense, it often has elements of integration of 'the healing we took birth for' in Stephen Levine's phrase..
'we may fail to connect either with ourselves or with others, and what we are feeling slides away. We may pretend such slippage is unimportant or a normal part of living, and so nullify it or play it down. But somewhere we are left with frustration and perhaps loss, as feelings that carry our most intimate facts and selves remain unborn or undeveloped.' Michael Eigen: Emotional Storm