Ever since combining releasing with inquiry – I have noticed some amazing ways that both methods facilitate the other. One example of this is the way that persistent releases provide an indication as to what belief needs to be question using inquiry.
One of the great things about releasing is that you are not encouraged to simply “guess” what the want is coming from. I have noticed that one of the most frequent questions that are raised on the releasing forums by inexperienced releasers is about what wants are behind a reaction or feeling in response to a particular situation. There are often replies to such questions on these forums – some of them sound very convincing, whilst some can be off-the-mark or just fanciful.
The only way that we can truly know what want is behind our reactions to a situation, is by quieting the mind and asking the question, “Does this come from a want for approval, control or security?” Then, wait for the answer to arise from the subconscious mind to the conscious mind; it might take several seconds, but it will come. It will come in words, pictures or feelings – but it will come. Sometimes more than one want arises. Sometimes the opposite want arises, e.g. a want to disapprove rather than a want for approval.
There are times when the basis of a want is rather obvious. For instance, when you are worrying over money-matters, it is obvious that it is want for security. When you are in a traffic jam and feeling impatient, waiting for the traffic to move, it will likely by a want for control. When someone does not seem to appreciate your efforts to please them – it will be a want for approval. But for those times when the want is not so obvious, it is useful to ask the question, “What want does this come from?”
I have found it very useful to regularly ask myself, when experiencing negative emotions or a sense of unease, “What does it want?” The answer will always come if I still my mind and wait for the answer.
We are not always certain if there is a want operating in a situation. If a man sees a woman he is attracted to and is in an emotional state of grief, but then rises to a state of lust, he might actually believe that he is experiencing love. It is only when he asks what want is present – that the truth is revealed. In this situation, there is a want for approval present. Perhaps love is also present, but if that man could release on the want for approval, then he knows that the want for approval was present to some degree. Perhaps the man is attracted to the woman in a way that is natural and in it comes from the higher self, in that case, there is nothing to release on.
We become trained through regular, recurring situations, to know what want is behind our reaction to a certain situation. 1 John 4:1 talks about testing a spirit. Perhaps this has something to do with testing the spirit, the essence of something, in order to determine whether it is genuine and of God?
I know that 1 John 4:1 has been applied in Christian spiritual warfare techniques to ask evil spirits to name themselves during deliverance sessions. In such deliverance sessions, the evil spirits will typically reply that they are a spirit of fear, lying or high-blood-pressure or whatever. But these techniques are really in the realm of the neurotic and the extreme. The secure minded Christians that I know of how no need or inclination to partake in such practices.
The Bible also talks about bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). When we ask what wants are present in a given moment – we are fulfilling, I believe, the requirements set-out in 2 Corinthians 10:5. We are also fulfilling the requirement of Romans 6:12 and Ephesians 4:22 – to name but a few. If we attempt to deal with sin, in the moment, without releasing, we will end-up moving into self-effort with people-pleasing, repression and behaviour modification programs in operation.
These wants, in given circumstances, can therefore become a means of establishing the wrong belief operating in that given situation. Byron Katie often talks about this subject: like when a person indulges in a bad habit of some kind, such as drinking, or they have an outburst of anger, there is always a wrong belief that they are attaching to in that moment. If a person gets into the practice of releasing when they feel stressful – they become more in-tune with their thoughts and feelings. This can only have a good affect on a person’s use of inquiry.
In relation to the example I gave above, about the man wanting a woman’s approval, we can articulate the underlying belief in a very simple way, as follows, “I need ________’s approval – is it true?”
So when we find that there are certain wants in operation in given circumstances, these should be an indication that we need to go deeper using inquiry in order to experience a more permanent relief from that wrong belief. In fact, I am of the opinion, and it is just an opinion, that releasing is a way of gaining a temporary relief from the wants established by wrong thinking. In order to establish permanent relief from those thoughts and wants – I believe that inquiry is the best means of doing this.
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