We need to help prison populations integrate and transform their unconscious habit energy into alive direct understanding. We need to help people in prison come to inner peace, in a way that can be shared outside of prison. For real change to occur, we have to help them deal with their anger, envy, confusion, resentment, and deep feelings of separation.
It would take a lot of listeners to heal the anger that is now in our prison system. If we had enough highly trained psychologists, say one for every 30 prisoners, and had them working full time, we would make progress. With 2,424,279 prisoners (2008) it would take 80,809 psychologists. Unfortunately the full time costs would be prohibitive. The mere size of the problem requires a new approach.
States spent $52 billion on Corrections in 2008 alone. To compare, states spent $158.2 billion on higher education and only $25.1 billion on public assistance. National Association of State Budget Officers 2009
This page is not finished. More work is needed.
Everyone is in life, right, so everyone "ought" to know the answer? True, there is a lot of information, but most of it is indirect knowledge. At an Enlightenment Intensive we only want indirect truth if it leads to direct personal truth. The life question is therefore really big! You have to know what direct truth is to move in that direction. To answer the question of "life" with indirect knowledge would take thousands of years of continuous speech. We don't have that much time. We want a more powerful answer. We want a direct personal experience and not the experience of general dogma. Few of us experience our own dogma. We "believe" it to be true - so we are stuck with it.
Life is the biggest question and it is also a dangerous question. Life is so wide open in structure, it is easy to lose your focus and get swept up into someone else's drama. With the life question, anything is a fair subject. You are easily seduced into acts of contaminating the people you are working with. This question takes great personal strength not to contaminate others.
Contamination is a real temptation. If you are to make progress towards any form of Enlightenment you must do your own work and further you must let others do their own work. Contamination is one of the big sins you can commit with the best of intentions. For example; suppose my question is "Tell me what Life is" and during my turn, I work on the trouble I have with my car. Maybe it has bald tires, and I am working on how that is "life" to me. My partner may be working on "Tell me who you are" and they bring up something very interesting. Maybe they find lots of anger about "Mother-in-law" in their nature, and they start off on a tirade. They are hot and bothered and in listening to them you become very connected to what they are saying. Now it happens to be your turn again. You must not change your focus because of "Mother-in-law" or bring up that subject. This requires great strength to let other people go their own way.
This web site is all about how to work on this question and other questions in what we call a dyad. A Dyad is designed to prevent contamination, but it does not work without your attention. You must not contaminate, even if it is done with great love. The question "Tell me what Life is" should only be attempted by people who have successfully worked on other questions. It requires great self-control and a real trust that people don't need to be protected from Life.
On the other end, this question can be used for clearing. Clearing is useful for people who are into big problems, always in a crisis. Unfortunately "clearing" only prepares one for Enlightenment; it can not be used as a direct path to enlightenment. Clearing deals with indirect knowledge not direct knowledge. Clearing is on a par with therapy. It is a temporary fix for the troubles in life. Taking an Enlightenment Intensive for its clearing properties can be useful, but it is not the original intent of the process.
In the final analysis, it is your choice what you work on. You are in charge of your life. You must do what you think is best. Just be sure you don't contaminate others. The first rule is "Do No harm to others." If you are willing not to contaminate others, it is a really great question. It is the core of everything.