Civilization and its discontents







Why do these approaches work on so many issues?





Here are some examples:







Tree metaphor for healing and awakening work


In many types of healing work, we work with branches, trunks, and roots of issues.

We may start with an everyday issue as it’s presented. One that makes sense from our conventional experience of the world. We then refine it into a central issue which is the metaphorical trunk. We find the underlying beliefs and identities, the roots. And then, whatever beliefs and identities that branch out from the central issue.

That’s the simplified version, and it leaves out some important parts: protection, supporting beliefs, deeper and additional roots, and additional trunks coming from the roots.

Fear and protection. There is often fear around approaching and releasing any cherished beliefs or identity, and we’ll often need to acknowledge and meet this fear. It may be good to start here, and do so with respect, patience, receptivity, and understanding that the fear has a purpose, is there to protect the self, and comes from a visceral sense of care and kindness.

Supporting beliefs. There are also related beliefs and identities that support the initial belief and the underlying beliefs. If we want to be thorough, we’ll identify and explore these.

Deeper and additional roots. And we can go deeper and broader in identifying underlying assumptions. What other underlying assumptions are there?

Additional trunks. We can also look at what other beliefs and identities come out of the root, which ones are fed by the underlying and more assumptions.

All this can take time, but with central emotional issues it’s worth it. And the release will often be felt broader in life than in just the initial issue.

Here is a simple example:

Presented issue: Feeling socially awkward at school. Unease.

Central issue: Feeling isolated and judged in school.

Underlying assumptions: I am unpopular. They don’t like me. I don’t have good friends.

Branches: I need to stay quiet in social settings. I need to hide away.

Fear in approaching: It’s painful. It’s overwhelming. I’ll get to see it’s true.

Supporting beliefs: I don’t have good social skills. It’s important to be popular.

Additional underlying beliefs: There is something wrong with me. I am unloved. Life is difficult. Life is a dangerous place.

Additional trunks from the roots: My life won’t go well. I need to stay safe. I shouldn’t take risks.

Of course, we’ll often discover branches, roots etc. naturally in the course of a session. And the issues don’t always fit so neatly into this outline. But sometimes, it can be good to keep this map in mind to see if we have overlooked something.

In theory, and if we are thorough enough, we can start anywhere and eventually get to just about any issue. And, in reality, we’ll be moderately thorough and then keep exploring issues as they show up in daily life.

In my case, I use this general approach mostly in inquiry (Living Inquiries, The Work) and with Vortex Healing.


Fear as the gatekeeper


Fear is often the gatekeeper to what needs to be healed or awakened.

It’s there for a reason. If we enter these areas of ourselves with insufficient skill, we risk retraumatizing and stir up things without much effective healing.

So if we trust we have sufficient skills, or work with someone who has, or we use an approach that’s less likely to retraumatize, then it’s good to address the gatekeeper along with what it protects.

If the fear is strong, we may start with the fear. We can meet it with kindness, respect, and patience.  Allow it to be there. See that it does have an important function. We can explore how it shows up in the different sense fields and see what’s associated with it (Living Inquiries). We may find a belief or identity behind it, and inquire into it (The Work). We may dialogue with it (Big Mind process).

And then we can explore what it protects, if that feels right.

This is a much gentler approach than diving right into the trauma or the emotional issue. If done well, it will feel – and be – much safer. We ease into it. We address the – genuine, understandable – fears first.

And we can do this no matter what approach we use. For me, it’s typically inquiry, subpersonality work, or energy work such as Vortex Healing. For someone else, it will probably be something else.

The more experience, skill, and understanding we have, the easier it is to approach the fear with respect, kindness, patience – and presence. It comes naturally the more we have done our own work, and the more insights we have into the dynamics. We see that the fear has a genuine and important function. We know it from ourselves. We know it comes from kindness, care for the self, and love. And that brings up a natural patience, respect, and kindness. It also tends to bring up a natural curiosity and wish to listen to it.

Note: When I write “what needs to be healed or awakened” I am aware it’s not very accurate. Another phrasing is probably better, such as “what we wish to invite in healing and awakening for”. Nothing “needs” to be healed or awakened. And we cannot “will” anything to heal or awaken. We can just invite it. We can create a situation where it’s easier for a part of us to heal and awaken. Also, when I say “healed or awakened” it’s because healing or awakening for any part of us means that it aligns more with reality. When it aligns more with reality, it tends to heal and – to the extent it aligns – awaken.


Jeff Foster: Why you haven’t healed yet


Are you wondering why, after all these years, you still haven’t healed, awakened, transformed? Why your pain, confusion, doubts, sorrows, your deep longings for home, are “still here”?

“I should have found the answers by now. By now, my sorrow should have disappeared. By now, I should be free from fear. By now, I should be feeling more peaceful, clear, awakened. By now, joy should be consistent, my natural state. By now…”

Friends, ‘by now’ is the biggest damn lie of all!

There is no such thing as ‘by now’. There cannot be a ‘by now’.

There is only Now. Only this moment.

No ‘by’. No ‘still’. No ‘yet’. Healing is not a destination.

If we can drop the expectations and the false hopes around healing, drop the myth of ‘by now’ and instead bow to what is actually here, honour our present experience, see its sacredness and its intelligence, celebrate THE WAY WE ACTUALLY ARE TODAY, even if we feel sad, even if we experience doubt, or anger, or fear, then we may experience a total paradigm shift…


“Pain, sadness, anger, fear, why are you still here? I hoped that you’d be gone by now!”


“Ohhh! You ARE here! Yes! What an honour to meet you, here! You are life, too; a sacred wave of consciousness! There is no mind-made story that says you shouldn’t be here! No demand for you to have disappeared ‘by now’! You are not ‘still’ here, of course; there is no time. You are here, now, in this moment, only! Still here! I am still, here! And in the stillness that I Am, in this oceanic field of Presence, we can truly meet…”

A thought or feeling does not arise to be healed, friend; it arises to be HELD, lightly, in the loving arms of presence.

So that’s why you feel like you’re ‘not there yet’.

You are not there yet! You will never be there!

There is no ‘yet’. There is no ‘there’. There is no ‘by now’!

You are here. You are always here. You will always be here. Here is your home and your sanctuary.

This is true healing: the surrender into Presence. The sense of being held by something infinitely greater than yourself. No time required.

This is the great paradox of healing: You are already healed.

– Jeff Foster