Reasoning with Oneself

2015-01-02

In the online group we are beginning to work with a method of self-development that can fairly be called "reasoning with oneself".  In presenting it I wrote:

“...I propose that we take “Reasoning” as our first line of enquiry. Can we reason with ourselves to the point of ‘inescapable clarity’ about our relationship to the Work and to ourselves? Can we reason with ourselves to the point of real transformation with that method alone?”

As you can see, this is not just thinking about things. It's a process of connecting all the dots, positive and negative, around a particular issue. We clearly visualize all of the negative results if something is not dealt with. And by the same token we visualize all the positive outcomes if the issue is dealt with. But it's not just the outcomes, positive or negative, that we focus on.

An essential part of reasoning with ourselves involves mobilizing our experience and our accumulated wisdom. Otherwise we're likely to focus on a "should" type of response, as in we should do this, or we shouldn't do that. Instead we include in the reasoning process a realistic understanding of what 'reasonably' can be done. Even then, it's more a matter of 'seeing' than 'prescribing'.

This latter point is important, because what we are after is not so much an intention to be 'better' or do better, as it is an intention to enter into such a profound state of clarity that we have no realistic choice other than to manifest in accord with what we have seen through reasoning with ourselves.

If all of this sounds a little confusing… or on the contrary, it doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary, it's because most of us don't actually have any experience with a process of real reasoning.  If we did, then change, or more accurately 'transformation', would become an integral part of our nature.  We would understand how to transform.

Occasionally life forces us into a process of reasoning. For example, if we have a heart attack that transforms our priorities about work, family and health, it's not because we suddenly 'know' something that we didn't know before. It's because we suddenly 'realize' where our true priorities lie.

Real reasoning allows us to come to this same point of transformation without the need for a heart attack.