If we look carefully within ourselves we find a permanent element. Bodily sensations come and go, feelings change in intensity and range, thoughts flow through and memories fade. Something in us remains to experience this stream of activity. This someone or something is the Self, the observer of the experience.
In order for transformation to happen, a change in consciousness needs to occur. Our greatest tools in this process are identification and dis-identification or detachment and the powers of observation. Our challenge is to free ourselves from a limited view of self and identify with an ever expanding whole.
Piero Ferrucci has said, “We dis-identify by observing. Instead of being absorbed by sensations, feelings, desires, thoughts, we observe them objectively without judging them, without wanting to change them, without interfering with them in any way, we see them as distinct from us as if we were looking at a landscape. We calmly observe those psychic arabesques from a detached viewpoint. This attitude of serene observation can be practiced at any moment of our life and its first effect is that of liberation. I am fearful, I observe my fear, I see its contours clearly, I see that the fear is not me, that it is a thing outside my Self; the Self is free of that fear”.
Pythagoras exemplified this attitude of contemplation in the metaphor of the festival.
Some people come; he said, to the festival to compete, to show off, some come to ply their trade, and some come to meet other people. But some individuals come just to watch, they do not have to prove anything or try harder. And they are the freest.
Right Proportions: Perspective, Perception and Relativity
When observing we need to keep in mind the need for right proportion, because most things are not as they seem. If we hold things too close our vision can become obscured. It is important to look to the big picture; to hold the widest view, that we look at all angles relative to each other, we learn from the past to gain perspective in the present and plan for the future.
Perception is the process of registering stimuli as meaningful experience; this can lead to insight, intuition, or knowledge gained, ‘ if; our view is clear. It can also lead to confusion, as it is often influenced by expectations, needs, unconscious ideas, values, and conflicts. As all things are relative, they need to be considered in relation to something else.
Besides evoking a sense of wonder in us and making us a little less pompous or arrogant, the following meditation brings us a larger perspective and is a reminder of the immensity of the universe: by it we are prompted to reflect that we, our planet, the solar system, those distant stars with their planets orbiting around them, and possibly supporting some kind of life, and the most distant galaxies receding into invisibility, all are governed by the same laws, made of the same basic material, part of the same life. Thus we learn to think and feel on a larger scale, as citizens of a universe.
