Another one of your subtle and devilishly tricky questions, John. :)

Inward Quest is an interesting name in my view because of two main elements.

Firstly, the word Inward is not the same as the word Inner. In other words, the starting point for the quest is not specified. You might be starting your quest from the "outer" world or the "inner" world but your direction is towards the inner...so it's Inward.

Secondly, the word Quest, as you say, has the same root as Question - which implies to me, given the Q&A nature of the website, a journey of curiosity. And in this quest of questions, there is no end because the questions will never stop...something that mirrors the expansionist nature of the universe, perhaps?

I think your comment at the end Is the benefit more in the questions or the answers? is the key to the real purpose of this website.

Often, the teacher learns as much from the student as the student learns from the teacher. As is often said: if you want to learn something, teach it.

And in a similar vein, if you want to really probe your own spritual understanding and viewpoint, try answering questions about other people's.

The paradox of Inward Quest is that it appears that those who are asking the questions are gaining knowledge but the truth is that those who are providing the answers are actually gaining wisdom.

When the first you start seeking self-improvement in any endevor in life you think to yourself: "Ok, I just wani to have this part of my life handled, then I'll be happy."

But the fact of the matter is that the so-called reason you started was just a "trick", a clever way of forcing yourself on looking for answers. What are the answers? You tell me, what are your questions?

Everyone asks diffrent questions and that is ok. That's the point really, to explore as may diffrent pathways as possible. if their was just onee way there would only be one person.

So why is it inward? Because your "outside" reality is a projection on your state of being. It's not about what you do but who you are that matters.

"Circumstances DON'T M-A-T-T-E-R only state of being M-A-T-T-E-Rs." It means that your state of being materializes circumstances in your life. Why is it so? Because we got the whole spiritual thing a little backwards. Pople think that we are huan beings having a spiritual experience, while in fact we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Why is it crucial to realize it? It's crucial because then tou realize that your thoughts, your feelings, your words are the things that CREATE your surroundings. So whenever you see a situation that SEEMS as if it hasn't got a place in your life ask yourself "Why have I attracted myself to this situation? What is it suppose to show me about myself?" And then LISTEN and wait for the answer. Whe faster you get the first lessons the quicker you will graduate to a higher class.

So one more thing why the quest is inward and not outward is because life has no built-in meaning. Is the meaning you give to the situation that determines the effect that you get out of the interaction.

Many people struggle with this concept but once you realie that from EVERY situation, no matter how negative it might seem, you CAN get a positive effect, you start creating your reality that way.

I'll give you an example close to my heart. I was terrible in relationships with women and when a women dumped me I used to blame her for it, calling her names and not seeing anything wrong with me and my behavior. So what started my "awakening" was in fact the fact that I took responsobility for my life and instead making excuses for myself I asked: "What if this woman was sent here to show me I needed to change? What if she's an angel and I just need to embrace her and thank her for this exchange?"

That in fact I believe is the moment it ALL started for me. So that's why the most impoerant thing is to make the decision that YOU want and need to change and that in fact is the hardest part, cause saying YES to one instant is like you said YES to all if them.

So why is it a quest? Because at the level at awareness that human beings are at this point our minds could not concieve what we are capable of.

It's like the effect of a snowball. When you stand on the top of a mountain and make a snowball it starts uot slow and clumsy. But after a while ti starts getting bigger and starts getting faster and faster.

That's what I think is happening with most of people at the begining of their journey. They make 5 meditation session and they expect to quite their mind completly. It doesn;t work that way. The thing about the Universe is that it's gona test you at first. It will say "Oh so you think you've change? Let's see how you handle this." And bam you thought you got some part of your life covered but then you feel sinking in the old habits. And it's ok. At first their's gona be moments of extreme highs and extreme lows. It's calles the limbo state. It's thae time when you work out your belief systems and cross examine your behavior.

That's the first step and I think it's the hardest, because sometimes something can sneak up on you and you don't know where it came from. But as you know more and more about the nature of life and everything around you, your capacity of handling those things growse also.

So at first after changing your uotside world might not change at all. That's how it happens for most people. But for YOU to know you change is examine how you react to the SAME circumstances in your life. For example if you used get angry in a traffic jam and now you consider it a oppoturnity to meditate, slow down or whatever that means you change. And that also means that Universe might spear you form any more traffic jams in your life, but it doesn;t have to.

Some people get caught up in their own self-rightesness and start preaching others about how they should change to. But words don't change people but their actions. So if you think you've changed SHOW everyone around you, ACT as if you got that part of your life covered and others will wonder and marvel you. Some may choose to follow you and some don't. That's their decision and their resposobility. You don't have to feel guilty for them. In fact guilt is a negative emotion but feeling compassion is positive.

So why is it a quest? Because the snowball never stops rolling. It moves and moves and moves just for the fun of moving. It snows their's nowhere to go and it knows that it will keep on growing indefinetly. So their is no destination, their is just the pure joy of learning and expanding.

The journey IS the goal.

See also Bashar on youtube.

What does inward says to me would be an study of my very own inward, knowledge in my consciousness and how to awaken my senses to understand my own subsconsciousness and how it works. But first I must peer into my own conscious mind and see what is going on in there and if I don't like it how can I make an change.

I was on an site that said look around your own reality and if you are not please with it than you need a change and in order to change that reality you need more data. You have got to go to the subconscious and give it more data that will improve your reality. It says that it does not no right from wrong, it does not judge, it just keeps the vital organs going and collect data and according to your vibrations send it to universal consciousness, God, Super sonsciousness what ever you call it.

Inner change does effect outward change. I can rememeber when I was so depressed about something probably the lack of money I had worked so hard not to have enough money to help my family out. So I was around these people who were always happy and cheerful and treated me like part of the family and the more I was around them the better I felt until my depression was gone. Now mind you I was in deep prayer to God to help me an he sent me to these wonderful people.

So once my inner feeling changed I precieved the world to be an better place where as before I percieve it to be an world of doom and gloom. So yes the inner feeling is so very important to the outer. If you are feeling good and happy you see the world in an better light it is like you have change the lens at which you are looking through still looking at the same world just through an different lens.

So, here the quest is to ask questions and give answers and comments to stimulate your mind sometimes and others to gather knowledge you didn't know or maybe you knew but this person has another answer that makes you stop and ponder what you know and what they have just said and than you are stimulate to search more to redefine the two together and come up with an deeper understanding which you hadn't previously percieved.