Inner exploration, not using the mind to discount the journey, and nothingness

Frederic asks whether inner exploration can have role models the way outer life does, or whether it is a matter of reading more and having only oneself, and admits he struggles because the mind gets involved with fears and judgments.

The Wonders tell him not to use his mind to discount his own journey - that he has struggles, that it is scary, that he is afraid to face things inside himself is real, and dismissing it as 'that's just the mind' devalues something the mind finds very valuable.

Since the mind is the tool he created to explore this existence, it would be wise to let it go deeper into itself to find the psychologies and belief structures stopping it from being the brilliant tool it was created to be, capable of mirroring himself in this world.

When the mind plays its game of discounting, he should tell it to stop, acknowledge the fear, and ask where it comes from, where it leads, and what exactly he is afraid of.

They raise the theme of absolute nothingness discussed in recent study groups and workshops, saying the mind will judge it in order to make something out of it because it fears nothingness as its own death and non-existence - and that finding out whether that is true would be amazing.

Frederic describes what he has explored as the space between thoughts, a stillness or quietness always present, from which everything emanates and which was not frightening; the Wonders point him to their last workshop on the subject.

They say reaching that exploration requires acknowledging the mind's fears and digging until the mind sees they are illusions created at some point by others and by himself, which leads to the two main emotions, love and fear, and to finding the psychology or belief structure that obscures one behind the other.

Frederic asks whether people play a game of believing they can enjoy love more after first experiencing fear; the Wonders ask where that psychology came from, and say digging means asking where it came from, why he chose to think that way, and what benefit that thinking pattern gives him.

Eventually this leads to asking what existed before the mind came into being - and that is the nothingness, which most people avoid for any reason whatsoever, but which some realize the value of exploring, not to create something, but to be comfortable and aware in nothing.