Gaia: Time, Space, and Knowledge - Practicing the Vision

Re: DTS Ex. 18 Pastness Knowledge

http://brucealderman.gaia.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:11:11 GMT

Yep. :-D

Re: DTS Ex. 18 Pastness Knowledge

http://tlcoriginals.gaia.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:35:01 GMT

lol...oh i knew that...i b silly...but yes...this is great...and i find that all of TT's writings are so openended that rereading them always is new pretty much...such an amazing vision...so thankful u love it as well...and so grateful for u posting this...it is awesome...i will probably be reading it over and over as well...it is just so nice to be able to communicate with you about it...so grazie mio caro bella amico!!!

love and tskisses...haha*

Re: DTS Ex. 18 Pastness Knowledge

http://tlcoriginals.gaia.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:28:09 GMT

I am so inlove with this vision...

The patterns of the past pull on us with a powerful force. Deeply involved in conducting the past forward, we enact a commitment to the pre-recorded. Yet this trend can be reversed. We can be lovers of knowledge, seeking to cherish rather than possess, free from the wish to take on yet another dogma. Then the daily unfolding of our lives can become a rich source of knowledge.

Re: DTS Ex. 18 Pastness Knowledge

http://Davidu.gaia.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:26:56 GMT

Hi Star, No, he didn't say anything to me. You are both my friends, and anytime you post something a notice shows up on my Profile Page. I saw all the activity so I came over. I remembered enjoying this thread. I noticed Bruce's TSK reference and decided to look it up and decided to post it.

I'm reading for perhaps the 4th or 5th time. For me, it requires a multiple readings as it sinks in. Remembering this is from a Rinpoché extolling knowledge of the past, but not with the conventional way of viewing it, seems important to me. Anyway, I thought it might be helpful. Hang in there sister. :-)
D

Re: DTS Ex. 18 Pastness Knowledge

http://tlcoriginals.gaia.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:25:55 GMT

Another way to conduct this inquiry is to look for a more encompassing knowledge embodied in each situ ation. Is this unacknowledged knowledge affected by the more specific turn away from knowledge that you are investigating? Is it covered over? If you are willing to feel the pain or sadness that comes from knowledge denied and knowledge distorted, you may be able to bring into the open knowledge that was previously rejected or covered over. Even though you are focusing on the past, you may find that this discovery of knowl edge availability has a powerful impact on the present and on the way that events unfold in the future.

I guess this describes what Brucie is doing...lol...

Re: DTS Ex. 18 Pastness Knowledge

http://tlcoriginals.gaia.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:23:48 GMT

oohlala...i liked this...i like it all...but some parts excite me more...esp. the parts that bring the past...alive and open...a knowledge NOT frozen by time...presencing into the future...

The many schools of knowledge that have flourished in the past—schools of science and philosophy, history and religion, social thought and political theory—can guide us to a deeper appreciation for knowledge in time. Each new set of theories or beliefs must somehow engage the accumulating weight of history, trying to make sense of what has gone before. Whether consciously or not, each engages in a twofold inquiry—not only judging, but judg ing how best to judge; not only knowing, but knowing how best to know. Systems of knowledge are put into effect, shaping human achievement at every level. In the study of such developments knowledge is available, ready to be thawed or melted in the ‘infolding’ of time.

Re: DTS Ex. 18 Pastness Knowledge

http://tlcoriginals.gaia.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:19:11 GMT

We could also look at the ways that human beings respond to what time presents, molding the ways that knowledge will manifest. Confronted with the constant momentum of change, individuals and cultures seek to shape it toward their own purposes. They pursue their own judgments as to what is best and accord their conduct with their judgments. Values emerge, expressed in terms of virtue, happiness, spirituality, or truth, shap ing the ongoing search for meaning.

this too is so relevant...and it's frustrating...b/c we keep repeating...*

Re: DTS Ex. 18 Pastness Knowledge

http://tlcoriginals.gaia.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:14:36 GMT

Thnx David...gol...am thinking Bruce sent u a pm that said..."pls. get star out of my hair!!!" lmao...

this is long...but packed...this jumped out at me...

We could see how knowledge has been trapped and limited and denied; how the human spirit has been reduced; how willful ignorance or uncon scious patterns have slowed the growth of knowledge.

this IS what i see...and i long to address it in an appropriate and helpful way...

DTS Ex. 18 Pastness Knowledge

http://Davidu.gaia.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:40:19 GMT

Once you have developed confidence in your own willingness to activate new knowledge, you are ready to explore the ways that the past has conducted knowledge forward. Look in terms of humanity’s past; in terms of your own personal history; in terms of the last week or the last five minutes. Be especially sensitive to the quality of endless repetition, so characteristic of a time governed by pastness. Trace out the time wasted through not knowing how to conduct knowledge beyond the recorded patterns of the presupposed.

Now take the knowledge and resolve that come from such reflections and apply them in your daily life. How can you act in ways that expand beyond self-imposed limits? How can you go beyond what feels comfortable? Beyond likes and dislikes? What special efforts will let you climb the ladder to a lighter way of being—toward the enlightening? How can you make this effort in a way that does not duplicate old patterns? DTS p.313

DTS Ex. 18 Pastness Knowledge

A. To open the past as resource for knowledge, look back at the immediate past, reviewing a period of a week or so. What mistakes did you make during this time; for example, wrong choices, miscommunications, or steps that you forgot to take?

As examples of mistakes begin to surface, trace out the consequences they have led to. What patterns did they reinforce? What new difficulties have they led to or are they likely to lead to? What limits have they helped to set in place? Can you see how such mistakes have actually reduced the knowledge available, or even the knowledge potentially available?

See if you can ask these questions in a fresh, new way, discovering mistakes you may have previously overlooked, or seeing connections different from the ones you usually make. It may help to look from a distant perspective, as suggested in Exercise 8.

Comment 18A

Often we undermine the availability of the past as a resource for knowledge through a kind of disrespect for what has already happened. If we look to the past at all, we tend to approach it as we might study a dusty book that we pulled down from a library shelf. This exercise asks us to become more deeply involved in the past, so that what we are looking at comes alive. In this way knowledge takes on the transforming depth of inwardness.

B. Studying the history of knowledge can serve as a valuable gateway to inward time. For example, we might trace out lost battles in the struggle for knowledge: the past as a record of defeat. We could see how knowledge has been trapped and limited and denied; how the human spirit has been reduced; how willful ignorance or unconscious patterns have slowed the growth of knowledge.

Look at a period of history that interests you with this way of understanding in mind. Alternatively, investigate a news story of current national or international interest in terms of such questions. How would you rewrite the stories you read to reflect this focus on the knowledge dynamic?

Comment 18B

The many schools of knowledge that have flourished in the past—schools of science and philosophy, history and religion, social thought and political theory—can guide us to a deeper appreciation for knowledge in time. Each new set of theories or beliefs must somehow engage the accumulating weight of history, trying to make sense of what has gone before. Whether consciously or not, each engages in a twofold inquiry—not only judging, but judging how best to judge; not only knowing, but knowing how best to know. Systems of knowledge are put into effect, shaping human achievement at every level. In the study of such developments knowledge is available, ready to be thawed or melted in the ‘infolding’ of time.

The patterns set in place in this way range through extremes that could never be imagined in advance. In some periods what happens seems to depend almost entirely on individual choices about livelihood and ways of life and on the free play of a knowledge available for each person. In other eras almost the opposite seems true: Fate is determined for the whole culture, with individuals caught up in a destiny not of their choosing.

In history’s endless variations, some eras simply seem to function better than others. In such times the choices made promote more knowledge and a greater sense of purpose and well-being, leaving a legacy of accomplishment. Sometimes it is clear why this is so; in other periods, the interplay of forces follows a patterning that remains mysterious. But as we investigate there is always the opportunity to ask questions that can illuminate and reveal, deepen and enlighten.

There is a way to look at these different patterns objectively and without taking a position—as one would look at scenery from the window of a passing train. Yet inquiry must also be guided by a deep caring, for being the disinterested bystander is one of the most rigid positions of all. Maintaining a balance between these two factors does not require careful maneuvers; instead, it is the natural outcome of deepening inquiry. At the point where the inwardness of knowledge meets the infolding of time, ‘objectivity’ and ‘caring’ are in no way opposed.

The special availability of the past as an object of study in today’s world offers a unique opportunity. We can discover in each alternative way of knowing, each system and each set of choices, a way to transmit knowledge. We can draw on any or all of them.

But the past is not simply a storehouse. We are not likely to have good results if we sort through old models in order to adopt one particular way of knowing as our own. Nor do we need to comb the records of the past in search of lost techniques or overlooked mechanisms. The availability of the past gives us an opportunity at a different level. Tracing its various manifestations through time, not confined by the positions that we ourselves have adopted and now are playing out, we can go past positioning to awaken the infolding dynamic of knowledge.

C. Review your own past for points where knowledge was explicitly denied or rejected, or less consciously covered over or erased from the canvas. Try reviewing the events of the past day; then conduct the exercise again, focusing on events earlier in your life. At least initially, it is better to focus on events that are fresh rather than incidents that you have rehearsed in your memory hundreds of times before. On another occasion, review events in recorded history that seem to reveal similar patterns.

As you conduct your review, you are likely to see characteristic moments when a decisive turn was made: moments when emotionality came to the fore, when clarity was somehow lost, or when situations erupted into conflict and tension. Focus on such moments, developing a sense of the feelings involved and the impact they have on knowledgeability.

Attempting to explain how such moments arose is likely to lead back into the realm of stories. Instead, you can conduct a more subtle inquiry. The past can refer you forward to the present; the present can lead you with renewed insight into the past. Feelings can disclose motives; present emotions can guide us toward past arising.

D. Another way to conduct this inquiry is to look for a more encompassing knowledge embodied in each situation. Is this unacknowledged knowledge affected by the more specific turn away from knowledge that you are investigating? Is it covered over? If you are willing to feel the pain or sadness that comes from knowledge denied and knowledge distorted, you may be able to bring into the open knowledge that was previously rejected or covered over. Even though you are focusing on the past, you may find that this discovery of knowledge availability has a powerful impact on the present and on the way that events unfold in the future.

Comment 18C-D

The moment we call the past into question in the name of knowledge, willing to let our questioning transform the present, we can conduct knowledge inward. In this inward conducting, past and present and future are equally the carriers for knowledge, and each is freely present, not bound by the ‘from’ and ‘to’ of directional time. Embracing the knowledge they conduct, we can see to it that we invest our time—including the time that has already ‘vanished’ into the past—in fruitful and productive ways.

Willingness gives us the power to conduct inwardly. We discover that whether knowledge emerges into the light depends on our attitude. After all, in this emerging, there is nowhere to go, no direction to set out in, and no goal to be attained. There is only the commitment to human freedom and human capacities.

The patterns of the past pull on us with a powerful force. Deeply involved in conducting the past forward, we enact a commitment to the pre-recorded. Yet this trend can be reversed. We can be lovers of knowledge, seeking to cherish rather than possess, free from the wish to take on yet another dogma. Then the daily unfolding of our lives can become a rich source of knowledge.

In times past, men and women have walked the earth who have followed such a path of inquiry, learning to abide in wisdom and communicate compassion. If we know how to look, we can discover the strong impressions such persons have left on the ‘stuff’ of history. Drawing on their example for inspiration, we can learn to walk in their footsteps. Eventually we make a remarkable discovery: It is their time that we now inhabit. DTS pp. 313-319

Re: A Space Practice

http://brucealderman.gaia.com — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:57:16 GMT

Hi, Steve, nice to see you. I didn't find these exercises as problematic as you did, but I agree that her descriptions of space do stick generally to (TSK) first-level presuppositions -- where space is related to as a container, or a physical expanse.

In my experience, not only with these exercises but in general, the 'sense of self' often can be found to have a location in the body -- a particular area of identification, a subtle positioning, a point around which attention orients, etc. This doesn't mean the 'self' is real in any metaphysical sense, of course; only that we often have this sort of habitual positioning. As I read her exercises (which probably are better understood in the context of her book), she is working with this unconsciously 'given' sense of self, inviting clients first to experiment with moving it around, then expanding it and opening it up. Once we find that it is subject to being moved around and transformed, it no longer can really serve as the unconscious anchor for a pre-given self; we become aware of the self's constitution, its emergence in the moment. So, I do think this can be useful (in a TSK context), similar to the way that TSK invites you to notice the 'coming out' of a positioned observer after experiences of openness or unpositioned knowing.

Regarding your critique of the apparent "effort" involved, I don't see her use of the word, "bring," as any different from similar instructions in TSK to bring awareness to the throat center, or "trying to reverse" subject-object polarization. I'm not sure why you're finding a problem with this.

All the best,

B.

Re: A Space Practice

http://results.gaia.com — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:38:12 GMT

This may be a kind of space practice if we use the word 'space' VERY broadly. However, I don't find it close at all to exercises in the TSK books. In general, compared to those exercises, it more easily evokes a self trying and doing the exercise, sets up dualities such as inside-outside, self-other, and rigidifies ordinary things presumed to exist and occupy space. It makes a BIG difference how exercises are worded, prerequisites, and the audience for whom they're intended.
And some other short, indicative comments: References to inconsequential particulars: "in and out of your nostrils," References to effort: "Bring the breath," "bring the inhale" (strange 'word'), use your inhale to make deep inward contact with yourself -- does this presume that 'you' have some 'deep' insides? Or that 'you' are deep inside your body somewhere? The exhale is a release from deep inside your head. -- a 'release' from your head? What is this? feel that you are inside your feet -- like a tiny person inside a foot and ankle? "you inhabit [y]our feet" -- we inhabit planets, countries and towns, but feet? "Attune to the quality of your self inside your ankles and lower legs. " Is there ever ANY self inside? This suggests there usually is. "Feel that you are inside your hip sockets, with a very subtle mind." -- Do we need to think this is a 'mind' of some kind? " find the inside of both hip sockets at the same time." -- very likely this is confusing, only useful if you'd like the student to have the dualistic, inside-outside thinking exploded. Feel that you are inside your neck. -- instead of what? . . . Now get back behind that point so that you are seeing it from behind it, from deep inside your head. With practice, you may see a point or a sphere of light there. -- seems way too location-oriented. Now feel that you are inside both sides of your brain, all the way to the back of your brain, the bottom of your brain, and the top of your brain. Attune to the quality of your understanding inside your whole brain. -- is understanding inside the brain? Then isn't it very limited? Bring your breath through your head and let it pass through the quality of understanding inside your brain. The breath has to be very subtle to pass through your brain. -- why? Now feel you are inside your whole body all at once. If we say that the body is the temple, you are sitting inside the temple. -- then who am I? Attune to the quality of your self inside your whole body. Let yourself feel that you are one self inside your body. -- what about outside? Now open your eyes. Again feel that you are inside your whole body all at once. Attune to the quality of your self inside your body. -- of what use is the concept of 'self' in this exercise? Steve R

Re: Piet Hut on Subject-Object Reversal

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:12:49 GMT

(I am glad you shared the Bali story, for it triggered memories of similar experiences, which in turn help us to reflect on when we have also felt we were paying attention, and therefore better identify when our sight might be limited so we can go beyond those limitations!)

Re: Piet Hut on Subject-Object Reversal

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:47:46 GMT

Balder, I appreciate your story! Thinking about resetting a focal point resulting in the richness you and Tom describe, I wonder if there is a difference between reduction - and - condensing (with subsequent expansion of inquiry within the condensed field).

Would Galileo have been reducing or condensing, by starting with "an utterly unreasonable starting point", therefore clearing the noise and space of what was "reasonable" and expanding inquiry from a new starting (focal) point? Or can we use either word interchangeably here?

I think of TSK as straining out "conditioning" where we can start with a purer, clearer point of inquiry. Should I be on another thread at this point? :)

Re: Piet Hut on Subject-Object Reversal

http://brucealderman.gaia.com — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:02:36 GMT

What might I be reducing to the extent I am missing essential and valuable information or perspectives? Which of my focal point settings are out of focus? Where am I limiting my inquiry?

Soleil (and Tom), this reminds me of a little incident, of no major consequence, really, but which nevertheless represented a sudden recognition of the narrowness of my focal setting -- and an opening for a shift in perspective. I was living on Bali at the time, staying in a little hut in the middle of a rice paddy at the edge of the jungle. One day, as I leaving the hut and getting ready to walk into town, I suddenly found myself attracted to a little pool of water, high grasses, and flowers near my porch. I walked by it every day, but this time I stopped and just sat with it. I suddenly recalled Annie Dillard's A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and I settled down and let my attention narrow in on this little forgotten (decorative) space, noticing suddenly all of the unseen life there -- many different types of bugs, water creatures, inconspicuous plants, and so on ... a vibrant world that I had passed by daily, usually noting only for its striking splash of color in the green field.

Living in Bali, so often my "focal setting" was on "being in Bali" -- a wide focus, intent on taking it all in. But I saw then what I was missing with that wide, and habitually rigidified, position, and I slowed down, and focused in, and began to appreciate new levels of richness and vibrancy that I had been missing. The external flash and exoticism of Bali is seductive, so it was easy to focus on the surfaces of things. But from that time forward, my sense of time and place shifted and I settled "in" to the place more, allowing my attention to linger in smaller spaces. A reduction that was also enriching.

This story (essentially, a "stop and smell the roses" story) is pretty unexceptional and I would feel embarrassed even to share it, except for one point: at the time, I really did think I was paying attention. I was enamored with my setting and intent on taking it in. So, finding the limitation of my enraptured, attentive gaze at that time was all the more striking for me.

Re: A Space Practice

http://brucealderman.gaia.com — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:55:51 GMT

Here's another of Blackstone's practices, this one to be practiced with a partner:

Exercise Six

Sit facing each other, with our eyes open. (Both partners follow the instructions at the same time.) Feel that you are inside your whole body at once. Find the space outside of you. Experience the space inside and outside your body is the same, continuous space. It pervades you.

Experience the space that pervades your body also pervades your partner. Remain in your own body as you experience this.

Let your breath pass through your own body, so that you are breathing your own location in space.

Relax your visual field so that it becomes one with nondual consciousness. Experience that the space sees both you and your partner (you do not have to make any effort to see). Let the space receive both you and your partner, just as you are.

Feel that you are inside your brain. Attune to the quality of understanding inside your brain. Attune to your own quality of understanding and your partner’s quality of understanding at the same time.

Feel that you are inside your neck. Attune to the quality of your voice, your potential to speak, inside your neck. Attune to your own quality of voice and your partner’s quality of voice at the same time.

Feel that you are inside your chest. Attune to the quality of love inside your chest. Attune to your own quality of love and your partner’s quality of love at the same time.

Feel that you are inside your midsection, between your ribs and your pelvis. Attune to the quality of power and personal strength inside your midsection. Attune to your own quality of power and your partner’s quality of power at the same time.

Feel that you are inside your pelvis. Attune to the quality of your gender inside your pelvis. Attune to your own quality of gender and your partner’s quality of gender at the same time.

Feel that you are inside of your whole body at once. Attune to the quality of your self in your whole body. Attune to your own quality of self and your partner’s quality of self at the same time.

Find the space outside of your body, the space in the room. Feel that the space inside and outside your body is the same continuous space. Feel that the space that pervades your body also pervades your partner.

Re: Piet Hut on Subject-Object Reversal

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:10:52 GMT

Bruce: "It invites a playful, inquisitive open-endedness that is appealing to me."

I need to reread my TSK books and revisit how the value of playfulness is discussed. A sense playfulness seems intrinsic to the process of inquiry.

Tom, I appreciated: "In return for doing so, though, it gives what Feynman indicates, which is an added dimension of richness, much as a powerful magnifying glass does. People almost universally miss this aspect when speaking of scientific reductionism."

I remind myself to consider: What might I be reducing to the extent I am missing essential and valuable information or perspectives? Which of my focal point settings are out of focus? Where am I limiting my inquiry?

"And yet Galileo made that utterly unreasonable idea his starting point."

:)

Re: Piet Hut on Subject-Object Reversal

http://serengeti.gaia.com — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:19:52 GMT

Hi soleil, I likewise enjoy anything life brings, including science. Science, for purposes necessary to doing science, yes, reduces the complexity of that which it views. In return for doing so, though, it gives what Feynman indicates, which is an added dimension of richness, much as a powerful magnifying glass does. People almost universally miss this aspect when speaking of scientific reductionism.

Re: Piet Hut on Subject-Object Reversal

http://brucealderman.gaia.com — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:05:55 GMT

Hi, soleil, I appreciate that metaphor as well. It invites a playful, inquisitive open-endedness that is appealing to me.

I had recently read your blog on Feynman (Ode on a Flower), and while I haven't had an opportunity to watch the video yet, I look forward to it. Feynman was clearly a very creative and innovative thinker...

Re: Piet Hut on Subject-Object Reversal

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:56:19 GMT

I like the concept of "life as laboratory."

As a child, I was "conditioned" differently (Ode on a Flower) than many, though I didn't realize how differently until well into my adult life. It was not until I discovered TSK - through your entries and this group - that I joyfully discovered the number of others who practiced integrating spirituality with a life of S/O reversal and other inquiries, exploring happily "outside the box."

It is a pleasure to enjoy these evolving expansions of perceptions in a spiritual context, well beyond fairy tales (as playful and fun as they are)...limitless and timeless beyond our initial comprehension. What minds - such as Galileo!

We're all in this lab together :)

~ soleil

Piet Hut on Subject-Object Reversal

http://brucealderman.gaia.com — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:59:56 GMT

Subject-Object Reversal

Each moment a world of experience opens up for us. We are trained from a young age into one particular way of being in which we squint at this world through a peephole, but even catching a glimmer of the possibilities of some other modes of being is already a highly rewarding experience. And it can be the beginning of an exploration that can soar far beyond the ego-centered swamps and lowlands, to wide vistas from mountain peaks of seeing the world in a more detached way as freely arising, and on up into the skies of a view of full freedom from identification of any kind.

Conditioning

We have been conditioned to close our eyes and minds to the many possibilities that come with being human, having a human body and mind. Growing up in a society that values practical skills above contemplative skills, as no other society has ever done before, we have become more clever in reading and writing, cunning in reasoning and arguing, and apt at using abstract knowledge to manipulate the world around us. All these skills are marvelous gifts in themselves, if we would only know how to use them wisely.

Well before leaving elementary school, we have been trained to inhabit a very small corner of the world that experience offers to us, and before long we have lost all memory of alternatives. Art and music and nature walks and other aesthetic or sensual encounters may give us a heightened sense of being alive and free and open to the world and to others. But generally this does not amount to much more than stretching our arms and shoulders and wiggling around a bit without leaving the little corner we're in.

All this is not surprising, as long as we're not aware that there is anything else in the world that we could visit, apart from our little corner. We are like the proverbial big frog in a little pond. Perhaps we have heard about lakes and rivers and dazzling concepts like oceans, but we consider those as metaphors. The very thought of an ocean, when taken seriously, would make the frog faint, and when not taken seriously, would make the frog pontificate about its theoretical existence or non-existence, depending on whether the frog is an idealist or a realist with respect to the land barrier that so clearly surrounds the frog's pond.

The Canvas of Consciousness

Close your eyes, and the world disappears. All the vibrant colors and shapes that were there a moment ago, all that is gone, and only a memory. Open your eyes, and immediately the world of visual experience is there again, in its full glory. Whatever we can say about the independent existence of the world, the way it is built up out of atoms and molecules, and the way others can open and close their eyes at different moments, as far as our direct visual experience is concerned, the world we see is our creation.

We hallucinate a visual world, each moment of our waking and seeing life. The content of our hallucinations is not at all random. Under normal circumstances at least, it is sharply delineated by the information that our sense organs pick up from the world around us. But even so, what is delivered to us, arising in our experience, is ours, and we can do with it what we want. The blue of the sky, the green of the leaves and the brown of the bark on a tree, it is our mind that is painting those colors on the canvas of our consciousness.

We are all artists, creating a fresh visual scene, more than a dozen times a second. And with the flick of a finger we can change what we see. Apart from opening and closing our eyes, we can walk around and change what we see. Without walking, we can still turn our neck, and change the scene completely. Or even without turning our neck, we can move our eyes around, focusing on different spots. We have so many degrees of freedom already under under finger tips, so to speak, and we use them so habitually, that we rarely pause to ask ourselves whether there are others, ones we haven't even begun to explore.

Degrees of Freedom

Here is a very simple example, of a degree of freedom in perception that we are normally not aware of. Perhaps you have stumbled upon it by chance, at some point, or maybe you've always been familiar with it; chances are you've never tried it. We are not in the habit of talking about these things, and so we know little about person-to-person differences. I found this to my surprise when I started reading Husserl's descriptions of phenomenology, and decided to use his methods to embark on some new explorations for myself.

Look straight ahead of you, focusing at a fixed point on a wall, say, or any fixed object. Don't move your body, and in particular keep your head an eyes fixed. At first blush, this would suggest that you do not have any freedom left to concentrate on anything else except the point you are focused on, having frozen our ordinary means of exploring the world through body, neck, or eye movements. But don't give up so quickly. Can you try to redirect your attention, if not your focus, toward particular parts of your field of vision?

While keeping your gaze and focus straight ahead of you, see whether you can direct your attention to the left. Soon you will notice that you will actually see more of what is present in that direction. Then move your attention to the right. There, too, you will see that you can become aware of more of what is there, just by mentally directing your attention in that direction, without any physical movement in eye or any other body part.

Switch a few times from left to right to left to right. Same with up and down. Then try to describe a circle with your consciousness around the center of your vision, or spiral in or out. Isn't that fun? My own reaction, when I discovered that I could flex these unexpected mental muscles, was one of surprise and delight. Your reaction to this particular experiment may differ, depending on whether you've already stumbled upon this degree of freedom in perception, but even if you're already familiar with this particular freedom, you can probably think of other new ways to experiment with ordinary situations in new ways.

Going a Step Further

Undoubtedly cognitive psychology books will give you many hints as to other ways to explore perception in novel ways, although it may be more fun to come up with new ideas for yourself, before looking at such books. But these degrees of freedom are only the first step. They do not change the fact that we keep inhabiting only a tiny portion of our experience, in a highly repetitive and unimaginative way.

Typically we take up residence somewhere a few inches behind our eyes, in an ego fortification that has been carefully built up and equipped with many fine details over the course of our lives. Like a turtle we carry this burden with us wherever we go, and it does not even occur to us that we have an alternative -- many alternatives, in fact. Even catching a glimmer of the possibilities of other modes of being is already a highly rewarding experience.

Since my consciousness is constructing a whole world around me, visually as well as through all my other senses, why take up residence only between and slightly behind my eyes, and why identify the boundaries of my sense of self with the boundaries of my body? After all, when we drive a car, we know what it means to identify with the boundaries of the body of the car, and we have a visceral reaction when we are about to hit or even slightly scratch something.

How about taking a particular object, and handing our active subject role to that object? You can look at a stone or a tree or whatever object you choose. Instead of you looking at the object, just relax and let the object look at you.

Quick Results

One of the surprising, and frankly rather shocking, aspects of this maneuver is that it works! Unlike the philosophical frog pondering and pontificating, letting an object look at you is guaranteed to shift your world, to shift your way of being. You don't have to sit in a cave or on a cushion for days on end; this experiment generally works in a matter of minutes or sometimes even seconds. It works, that is, if you do it, if you actually let the object look at you, instead of analyzing the notion of what it would be like to let the object look at you.

Avoiding that last trap may be a bit tricky, especially for intellectually trained individuals, but my experience is that most people quickly `fall into' the reversal experience. Once you have experienced it a few times for yourself, you can ask others to do the same. And you don't have to ask them whether it `works', whether they experience a shift. You can tell from their eyes, or perhaps from their smile and other reactions. Whether they show a sense of delight or initial apprehension, it will be clear when something has started to shift.

Many people's first reaction will be: but that stone doesn't have eyes, how can it possibly look at me? In that case, you can say something like what I described above, that we don't have to give eyes to a rock; for starters at least, we can just explore our own consciousness differently, off the beaten track. We are free to let our experience of the stone look at our experience of our body. We can keep our felt location inside our body; all we need to do is to play a more passive role, like that of an object, while handing over the more active role of a subject to the stone.

Typically a little nudging will be enough to let someone make the shift from analyzing to experiencing what it is like to let an object look at you. Each one will then provide a report that differs in its details, but that is recognizable in its similarities. People may talk about a sense of the world expanding, feeling more openness and relaxation, or they may describe a sense of initial unease at being looked at, something that typically transforms and melts into more of a sense of intimacy, when the experiment is continued, or picked up again a little later.

Easy and Profound

There are all kinds of variations that we can apply, making this experiment more complex and inclusive, and shifting emphasis to different aspects. We will investigate some of those in greater detail in Part 1. But for now, isn't it nice to know that an entry into a richer world of experience is so easy, and so close at hand? You don't have to pay for entering a monastery or meditation retreat. And once you've become familiar with this type of shift, you can share it with others -- at a party, if you like, or when walking on a street with someone, or sitting in a cafe. If you can let someone be quietly absorbed in the initial try for a few minutes or more, so much the better.

Definitely, don't do this while driving a car or operating other dangerous equipment. And you probably shouldn't ask someone to do this experiment if you know that they have a tendency to mental instability. But apart from such common sense precautions, the experiment in itself seems pretty harmless, according to my experience and of that of other people I know who have worked with it.

With harmless in this context I mean that it is unlikely to let you freak out or cause accidents. But in another sense it may be harmful in the sense that it may affect your sense of being an isolated self, locked up in your very own ego-fortification. That sense of isolation may be harmed significantly. Bricks may fall out along the narrow slits through which you tended to look out and line up the arrows aimed at the world around you. The world may begin to open up more to you and you to the world.

The Galilean Vision

Children, artists, and fairy tale tellers are generally comfortable with subject-object reversal. After all, pots and pans and rocks and stones may talk and look at you in fairy tales, and young children have not yet learned to delineate and freeze their sense of self the way older children and adults have. But my aim here is not so much to explore the aesthetic or therapeutic aspects of these experiments, significant as they are.

My aim is to use this simple experiment as a first entry into what I indicate with the notion of `life as a laboratory.' Just as Galileo explored simple phenomena of falling objects in order to come to a deeper understanding of gravity, we can explore simple phenomena related to the subject-object structure of experience, in order to understand experience, and ultimately reality, better. In Part 1 we will go deeper into this, in a more systematic way.

What was special about Galileo was not that he let objects drop to the ground. Anyone before him could do that and had done that. What was remarkable about him is that he had a vision of the world as being understandable. It is impossible to overestimate the significance of this shift.

A New Vision

Imagine yourself to live in a time and place well before science took off. Look at leaves blowing in the wind and slowing falling down, scattering here and there. Look at waves splashing onto the shore, clouds forming and dissolving in the sky. Sure, there are general regularities that can be discerned, but the details seem highly chaotic and unpredictable.

Who could have seriously thought that human beings could ever penetrate into the secrets of the details of the behavior of the world around us? Even if we would restrict ourselves to the insentient world of leaves and waves and clouds, the project would seem ridiculous. Whether the world would be truly chaotic in its details, or whether a hypothetical supernatural mind could somehow have access to such detailed knowledge, for sure such knowledge would be out of the question for mere mortals.

And yet Galileo made that utterly unreasonable idea his starting point. His working hypothesis was that the world of objects was understandable. Using this as an act of faith, he dedicated his considerable talents and energy to the project of uncovering the knowledgeability that he had posited to be there to begin with. He did not live long enough to see how very far we have come, amazingly far, with the program he started. He did live long enough, however, to see the first significant results, which must have greatly encouraged him and strengthened his belief in his vision.

We can follow in Galileo's footsteps, by taking up a new vision, with the working hypothesis that reality is understandable in a more radical way. Instead of just positing that the world of objects may be understandable for a subject, we can posit that reality is understandable period. Sure, we can start with a subject understanding objects. But why stop there? Been there, done that. Yes, that clearly works, and we'll continue to find a lot more surprises and insights there. But why not go a step further? Could it be that reality is understandable by itself, beyond a polarization into subjects and objects? Part 1 will begin to explore that hypothesis, and part 2 and especially part 3 will follow that line of investigation where it will want to go.

From Piet Hut's "Life as a Lab" website