Ask Anyone Anything? Live With Whom? Minor “Ask Us Anything” Restart?

The description for this now edited April 26th Insight Timer live event:

A few teachings on inquiry and investigation while also reviewing and asking your suggestions for the monthly “Ask Us Anything” show format fellow Insight Timer teacher Denny K Miu and I started in September 2020 to determine a potential restart, recreation and/or transmutation

To focus on the core inquiry teachings in the podcast version a call-in via Wisdom app is edited out as well as my multiple repeats of the changes surrounding the monthly Ask Us Anything shows. This is based mostly on the following past blog posts (while only including minor relevant feedback/audience comments during the show):

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Listen to the full unedited replay (without needing to join or download anything): https://join.wisdom.audio/A6kK

The raw unedited YouTube transcription of this podcast:

coldness and welcome this is josh

dippold

integratingpresence.com today’s title is

ask anyone anything with whom potential

ask us anything live restart okay so the

main teaching here why and why not

to inquire

is one of the blog posts that i’ve had

in the past and then

possibly be drawing on wisdom snippets

inquiry and investigation this has been

a big part of my path is inquiry and

investigation so i think a good starting

point for all this would be just the

public schooling system probably many

people listening this if they haven’t

been involved directly with the public

schooling system

then they know plenty of people who have

and i will just give my experience which

will show my age here date me a little

bit is that

i went through high school in the public

schooling system in the 90s

mid to late 90s to say

and you know what i get with

investigation is

well you get people that are like

teachers pets right they’ll ask

questions to you know get um admiration

and you know affection from the teacher

asking a custom question like that and

you know getting a pre-prescribed answer

in a really

you know

formatted way in a box

and you’ve got people that are rebels

that will like just asked

basically to piss people off to harm for

kicks or whatever like that so those are

two main types that i’ve

familiar with and there’s plenty more

well you know the the classic one where

the teacher will call on you and then

you have to answer or what the dreaded

oh don’t call on me kind of thing but so

that whole thing i feel is structured in

where the teacher in the public

schooling system is the authority

and it’s handed down from them

and so

a lot of times it’s taken as a challenge

if a questions asked like oh you’re

challenging my authority you’re

challenging my knowledge

i might look stupid i

might have not the right answer that

people want to hear

and if i don’t know then people will

think that i’m you know not qualified to

teach or whatever and so this dynamic i

feel

runs rampant or did when i went to

school if i’m not completely off and so

that

mentality is taken forward in after

school so now if somebody comes up to

just a regular anybody that’s not really

considered teacher and asks them a

question that whole dynamic unless it’s

been

it’s really conscious that it’s going on

it’s still there right so

uh somebody asks us a question a lot of

people will take that as a challenge to

them like okay

who do you think you are

asking me a question about something do

you think i’m stupid or do you think i’m

not you know who do you think you are

asking me a question kind of thing again

when people don’t know they think okay

well i have to kind of make something up

to either look like i’m not stupid look

like i’m qualified or not instead of

just coming off oh i don’t know you know

just as simple as that or they don’t

want to disappoint people by saying i

don’t know they feel somebody just

really wants an answer to either appease

their emotions or something like that

kind of be

molly coddled in that way it’s another

dynamic

when i would go even after

the schooling system and go into these

groups that i thought were you know

they’re really after truth they’re

pursuing truth at all cost you know they

should encourage

uh inquiry and investigation and to get

after the truth right well no um

unfortunately a lot of these dynamics

are still in play

egos are involved as well in these types

of situations and sometimes child just

questions can be really challenging and

they can be really taxing on

the emotions

personality people might have just a lot

going on in life and

questions can be really intense and

they can bring up a lot of things people

aren’t ready to see or deal with

acknowledge makes them uncomfortable

will trigger

things in their past

things will come up where they’re

relating things to the past you know

there might there might be anxiety about

the future come up with certain

questions you know some people might

think they’re stupid for not being able

to know the answer

or there might be

dissatisfaction in the answers given and

that might not be able to be properly

expressed

i guess integrated or handled or

responded to

by the questioner

so there’s all

tons and tons of dynamics involved

in this thing nicole amber says great

topic all my questions were not the type

that could be answered big questions and

yes these are the

the lovely questions right and i love

those because

yeah and so this is even if we can’t get

to the answers of these just asking them

i feel are really worthwhile because

they show how mysterious life can be

right they show the vastness that goes

beyond just the prescribed program were

given to run with the house the car the

kids the job the eat sleep repeat

entertain uh vacation maybe some time

that talked about this in the past and

that’s all okay but

for those who want to go beyond that

that’s kind of more what i’m looking at

you know how do we address that too

nicole amber says a lot of my questions

start like this

what if we did something totally

different than

yeah yeah it just um

so saying yeah what if we did something

totally different

than the way we’re doing things now

right what if we flipped everything

upside down or started over that’s right

in so many people and then this is also

tied to a comfort zone

so a lot of these are tied to a comfort

zone right and people don’t they’d

rather stay comfortable than

even just ask these questions even some

just a consideration can sometimes be

uncomfortable with some people

so when you actually start to seriously

consider even just making changes or

doing something different now i know

for me in the past sometimes changes the

ones that i wanted couldn’t come quick

enough the changes that i didn’t want

were dreadful right

and then flipping everything upside down

and starting over yes and especially in

meditation practice just starting over

being comfortable with that because how

many times we have to just start over

and over and over again in meditation

practice just have to be it’s almost be

okay with infinitely starting over and

turning upside everything upside down

that is pretty much a given a

requirement for me a lot of times

because so many things are inverted

reversed distorted that is just a good

exercise to just look at the exact

opposite the polarity

polarity and opposite of that

okay so now on to this um why and why

not to investigate these things where

we’re triggering people when i was

asking questions with them and so i how

would i take responsibility for this

well i had to come up with what is my

intent for asking questions

and i wrote here a few reasons some

simple some setting a very high bar i’ve

noticed in myself and others on perhaps

why to inquire and mostly why not to

inquire and ask questions this all comes

with the intent of inquiry so i’m just

going to read these here

first and foremost zero harming not

having any kind of intent of harming

when asking questions

and it’s not for

to ask questions for denigration to

invalidate or say something is being

done wrong and that goes to the comment

we just had about non-judgment right

non-judge non-judgmentalism

not to challenge anyone’s knowledge

not to discredit anyone or anything not

to challenge authority

not to promote one viewpoint over

another

not to upset the surrounding status quo

and certainly not to evo divide

not to test anyone not for domination

not for control

not to inquire for distraction

not for delay to delay something not to

not to question in order to mislead or

misguide

not to disrupt anything

not for uneasiness

not to

enact in any agendas known or unknown or

otherwise other than valid reasons to

inquire question

not just ask questions for grandstanding

gaining favor merit credit or brownie

points

not to impress anyone not to destroy

anything

nor to uphold anything not to rebuild or

reconstruct from a place of loss or

defeat so that one would be like okay so

now i feel defeated i got this answer

back from this question i feel defeated

so now i need to

rebuild or reconstruct and so i take a

different approach and ask different

questions in a way i think that’s what i

was getting at there with that one not

for any specific changes

now i don’t know about that one um some

changes need to be made but it would

probably have to be agreed on before we

start an inquiry right

instead of just jumping in there and

saying well i have this agenda of what i

want to change and this is the questions

i want to to ask in order to get these

specific changes but i’m not going to

tell what i’m trying to change if we

weren’t obviously

want specific changes that would

probably need to be clear and with the

line of questioning not the question to

prove who’s right and who’s wrong from a

place of righteousness it’s a big one

for me

especially in the past i mean just oh

this person is not right i’m better i

have the moral high ground which may or

may not be true but then to go and prove

that i’m right and the other person’s

wrong people argue for days and days and

days about who’s right and who’s wrong

this next one

not to ask questions in order to or

inquire in order to prove one’s doubt

you know so we might go and doubt

someone and then oh i’m gonna just find

out you know whether they’re

whether i my doubts

worthwhile right

skeptical doubt’s okay for getting to

the truth but again this goes to proving

i’m right there wrong kind of thing

not for the requirement to receive an

answer so sometimes

we question we have to have an answer

and that’s not necessarily all the case

because you can it’s a valid way to

answer a question is by complete silence

too it’s one of the ways the historical

buddha was said to answer questions out

of four ways

one of the reasons for that is uh

depending on the situation somebody

might come in flustered want a yes or no

uh answer to something and then either

way if you answer it yes or no

it’s going to cause harm either way so

staying silent in those cases

can cause even less harm than answering

yes or no depending on how it’s how it’s

coming at you

not for any unskillful unwise

unwholesome reasons associated with

modern day schooling systems aka

educational institutions so that’s a big

one it’s pretty vague too i don’t really

have time to get into all the unskillful

unwise unwholesome reasons associated

with modern day schooling systems not to

nitpick and get lost in the weeds so

sometimes it can get into arguments and

just start

losing the entire

main thread of

why we’re asking the questions right

just go all over the place and

start nitpicking and

get things that are irrelevant

also not to leave any others behind

right to kind of be that star inquirer

to stand out and look like i’m the best

or the opposite where i just think that

oh i’m not good enough i’m just gonna if

i’m forced to pip squeak up a question

then only if i have to

this goes again to division right so

um we don’t ask questions i mean it

doesn’t make sense to divide people when

inquiring not to patronize or speak down

to anyone as well when inquiring not to

dumb down oneself for a better chance to

be understood or overstood that’s a big

one in our society too a challenging one

because

it seems like the news is on like a

sixth grade level so people have just

been kind of conditioned to not be

very

smart i guess just say it but then to go

and dumb down oneself

just because they want to be understood

better it’s almost condescending to have

to dumb down oneself i feel a lot of

times

not to ask one thing but mean another so

how many times in life do we see people

saying one thing

but meaning another thing but then

actually doing something entirely

different and so when that was pointed

out to me it made a whole lot of sense

in one way but i still haven’t had an

answer to that how

why people say one thing will mean

another not to inquire to personally

prove oneself right people are out to

prove themselves

not to suggest preferences or desired

outcomes without clearly stating them so

again this is kind of like leading the

witness right in a trial or something

like that where

the subtext of what’s going on the not

directly saying but suggesting certain

preferences or desired outcomes without

making them clear so it’s kind of a

deception type thing

it would be even more helpful if i could

give examples but we’d be here a long

time i think not to ask because one can

now i don’t know about that i might have

changed my mind about this

because if we do

if we withhold on this then we could be

kind of limiting ourselves the wisdom in

this i feel is just kind of being

reckless because you have the ability to

just ask anything because i can

that doesn’t seem all that wise to me

but at the same time

basing that just on ability alone

i have to have to sit with that one more

i guess it depends on who it’s asked to

one hand we don’t want to limit

ourselves but on another hand yes no

would be reckless

number 35 here not to be seen and or

heard in order to be seen heard and or

seen now this is not discrediting from

the fact that yes we need to be seen and

heard but can that happen in other ways

besides i guess forcing questions

on someone just in order to be seen or

heard unless it’s the right appropriate

space right i’m i guess i mean randomly

here just for those purposes because

there’s other i guess more wholesome

skillful ways to be seen and heard than

just

questioning for just that reason alone

and not for just mere curiosity not for

mere curiosity so i don’t know if that’s

enough to really get a line of inquiry

going just because you’re curious

although wow i can’t believe how many

times i’ve broken these and this is i

know from experience right

and of course i invite questions

to these and obviously you’re welcome to

break these in order to question them

you know so then why should we question

and acquire and i posit here perhaps

inquire

assess and question with the intent to

lean towards true knowledge liberation

and the long-term well-being of all so

as far as i know as of now that’s the

main reason to engage in a line of

reasoning this is one of the reasons i

was drawn to buddhism is because they

have this doctrine of open inquiry and

it’s funny it’s called a doctrine

because usually doctrines are in order

put questions to rest right so you have

a doctrine so everybody understands

everything you don’t have to question

you already know with a doctrine this

kind of turns it on its head and says no

it’s open inquiry you can ask you’re

encouraged to ask you have to

investigate and see and know for

yourself and then this is from a suit on

asking questions and five one sixty five

uh sarah putin said all those who ask

questions of another do so

from any one of the five motivations

which five

one ask a question of another through

stupidity and bewilderment one ask a

question of another through evil desires

and overwhelmed with greed

one ask a question of another through

contempt

one ask a question of another when

desiring knowledge or one ask a question

with this thought if when asked he

answers correctly well and good if not

then i will answer answer correctly for

him venerable sorry puja said to be

known as the foremost amongst wisdom and

the followers the early followers of the

buddha

and then this is i did a thing on uh

full don’t associate with fools i don’t

think uh this comes from

number discourses three

yoni so suta improper

so a fool is known by three things what

three they ask a question improperly

they answer a question improperly

and when someone else answers a question

properly with well-rounded coherent and

relevant words and phrases they disagree

with it these are the three things by

which a fool is known an astute person

is known by three things what three they

ask a question properly they answer a

question properly and when someone

else answers a question properly with

well-rounded coherent and relevant words

and phrases they agree with it okay so

this other post i have here

inquiry and investigation

so as i said in the last

at the end of the last post here you

know why even bother investigating or

inquiring and it’s with the intent to

lean lead towards true knowledge

liberation the long-term well-being of

all it’s also to know the truth of the

way things actually are and then align

with truth to bring great happiness but

how and why does aligning with truth

bring happiness maybe it’s time to

investigate that for oneself right

so one of the primary draws to the

buddha dharma this is talking about for

me is the encouragement to deeply

thoroughly and fully investigate

horizontally vertically and beyond

there’s this phrase ahi pasako it’s a

polyphrase basically meaning come and

see for yourself you know don’t take my

word for it you must look in to

investigate so you know for yourself

some of the modes of investigation i’ll

go into here in a second but read this

quote from ajahn suchito that i heard

him saying in a podcast years ago i

don’t know if i don’t think i can find

the exact podcast when this is just in

the middle of the talk he was given a

section and he says people are prepared

to transcend all moral boundaries

to sustain their view and fixate upon it

beyond all reason beyond investigation

investigation

is considered a conspiracy to actually

try to find the truth is considered a

deviant occupation and i love love that

so much and this is the saying like i

did on the truth

uh event where a lot of people they

don’t really want to know the truth they

just want to be reassured what they

believe

is true so now onto some modes of

investigation so how do we actually

investigate things here’s some ideas for

that we you can go

and discover the root of something the

root causes

and conditions

and so this can be done you know

traditionally through

you know other people’s investigations

so you listen and read and watch what

other people have to say about

the roots of something but can also sit

and ponder this and think about it

actively sit

and reflect and contemplate it

another the other way most people aren’t

taught is to go into meditation about it

you um just go in there with the that

intent

and i guess one way to do it now i don’t

know if this is the the best way to do

it or not but you can just take that as

the meditation object with just holding

an awareness the intent

okay what am i trying to inquire and

find the root of the root causes the

root condition so you can just say okay

i want to i would like to

investigate the root causes of

fill in the blank and hold that intent

in awareness and just keep coming back

and back to that over and over again and

answers will

come

not necessarily in words and images

although that will happen too it can

kind of be like a just maybe even a

download or just a knowing and the body

can be involved in this too the body

doesn’t lie as much as the mind

especially starting out the idea of

muscle testing some people talk about

not necessarily an act of muscle testing

but along those lines

the wisdom knowledge memory

intelligence inside the body another

mode of investigation would be looking

into the origins of things

with traditional investigation who all

is involved

is there a who involved in this

and as you go deeper and deeper into

meditation

start getting into some of the not self

teachings and i won’t go into that but

that’s an interesting deeper dynamic of

who all’s involved right beyond the just

everyday mundane levels and then of

course discover and examine any and all

core intentions involved in what’s

investigated because the intention

will drive decisions actions it usually

starts with an intention as far as i

know and even if things are done by

habit patterns over and over it seems at

some point along the line there was an

intention involved even if we learned

something from our parents or

grandparents or their great-grandparents

at some point along the line something

happened where an intention was made

then an action was carried out and

repeated and then that was repeated

again down through the generations until

someone

will

you know investigate and find out why

that is and you don’t have to know the

exact intention or who did it but

usually there’s an intention involved in

as far as i know

in most of our actions even the

repeated actions that seem to go on

autopilot

more or less in a way of speaking the

buddha taught about the three things

gratification danger and escape so what

is the gratification of whatever we’re

trying to investigate some kind of maybe

behavior we’re involved in sometimes

it’s easy to see you know with the

gratification the benefits what we think

we’re benefiting from from the behavior

sometimes it’s elusive so investigating

you know why might what’s the upside

what’s the positive part of this and

then the danger sometimes we might think

something’s all good but usually there’s

a danger involved somehow in it a lot of

times so the downsides what are the

danger to whatever we’re investigating

um what we’re looking into and then the

escape how do you go beyond what is

there escape involved in going beyond

the gratification and the danger of what

we’re investigating and then who

benefits a lot of times i mean just in

traditional life if you look in the

newspaper news you know who’s benefiting

from

whatever’s going on in the news or who’s

writing this kind of the agenda behind

it and who’s really going to reap the

benefit involved in this one of the

things i learned when investigating a

lot of times i would cling to having to

have an answer so it’s okay not to get

an answer and then the other danger of

this uh again is okay well i get one

answer but then it just leads to way way

way more answer uh questions to find

Ask Anyone Anything? Live With Whom? Minor “Ask Us Anything” Restart?

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