Emotional connection, sufficiency, and knowing versus thinking

Asked whether acne has an emotional component, the Wonders say it varies by individual; in his case the mental and emotional components are so minimal that focusing on the physical will clear them, though he has plenty of other emotional work to do.

Turning to that, they ask what he sees when he looks at himself emotionally — a strong, whole, sufficient person, or someone lacking.

He answers that he has moments of lack within a life of sufficiency; they disagree with his self-assessment and say he is not yet connected to himself emotionally, though he knows himself mentally and has explored emotionally more in recent years.

Their practice for him is to keep asking 'how do I feel about this?' about whatever is in front of him, then how he feels about that answer, and again, digging down to the real sense of who he is — which is the sufficiency they have always spoken of, an awareness that he is sufficient in all moments with nothing lacking at any time.

Frederick describes something that is not physical feeling but more a knowing; they confirm the knowing feeling is what he is aiming for, but warn that the mind can convince him a knowing is present when it is only thinking about the feeling.

He has many moments of genuine knowing and lives by it a good deal, with much thinking running alongside; the mind is an amazing tool not to be discarded, and the skill is knowing when to command it and when to let it go.