I run to the post office and while waiting by the traffic light I notice somebody beside me who looks really strange.I look at this man with a pale face,who is unshaved and unclean,wearing dirty worn- out clothes and looks completely lost in his thoughts.His lips are moving slightly,talking silently to himself.On the floor I notice couple of plastic bags with food and rolls of toilet paper.I think about asking him something and observe how other people react when seeing him.But hardly anybody noticed him for more than a second……
Again I start to wonder,why are we so cold and interested only in ourselves.Who is this man,what's going on in his world,what went wrong? It is obvious that he is not in good health or is it just my perception.I feel sorry for him.I realize how easy is to start making judgements about him and to sort him out.So easy to dislike him.And it hurts me,because I am too afraid to get in contact with him.I rather move on and stay in a comfort zone.Leaving post office I look curiously around and look for him but he is gone. For a moment I think: »This deep feeling of separation,me here and you there;is that really what life is all about? Isn't this kind of ordinary perception responsible for every damn war on this planet? Is this the whole picture?«
Englishman Douglas Harding (www.headless.org ) invented special experiments that proved our minds to be wrong.He said that the common perception of being face to face is the biggest lie in the world. »Being individual is just a half of the truth.The individual is only minus part of the two batteries and the plus part is also needed for proper functioning.«
His most famous exercise is the pointing finger experiment.We start with pointing the finger towards some object and say outloud what we see. We can point towards book on the shelf,computer,glass,our hand, knee,…..Whatever we perceive through our eyes.After a few changes we turn the finger opposite direction; towards ourselves or to the place we are looking out of.What do we see there?
I will leave the answer to you,but what I realized while doing this exercise for the first time was that I am available and open for everything I perceive through my senses and there is nobody inside who can prevent anything to enter.It's obvious that's how nature made me and wants me to live. Fully open to receive the world. Douglas Harding very much liked this idea of being space or capacitiy for each other and he felt this is the only reality we can't escape from,no matter how much we try.
Then question may arise: »Why are we so afraid to connect with people we dislike prima facie? Why so much fear and separation arises if we are built by nature to be open? Is it because of deep human conditioning or because the seeing is not total? By seeing I mean the whole picture,being aware of the fact that we are never face to face but me being space for you and you being space for me.Why we see only apparent reality-duality?
In Indian philosophy and their Vedas (written scriptures) there is a common word for a deluded perception of ourselves and the world we live in.It is called Maya and stands for apparent reality or illusion.In such reality we stick to a principle of seeing is believing and take things for granted.The easiest example that comes in my mind about Maya is the image of water in the far out distance. It Is called fata morgana in Latin or mirage. From personal point of view it is absolutely clear that we see an image in the distance and we can fool ourselves that we can touch that image if going closer to it. Well, we may try as much as we can, but there never was any image existing on the horizon.The same way we may be sure of our individual existance; this »I« which feels so solid and fixed. At the end of our lives we might surprise ourselves and find out that this »I« existed only as a mirage, means only in our minds.
If this sounds scary, we could as well find our real identity and awaken to the truth before the story ends.
Englishman Douglas Harding (www.headless.org ) invented special experiments that proved our minds to be wrong.He said that the common perception of being face to face is the biggest lie in the world. »Being individual is just a half of the truth.The individual is only minus part of the two batteries and the plus part is also needed for proper functioning.«
His most famous exercise is the pointing finger experiment.We start with pointing the finger towards some object and say outloud what we see. We can point towards book on the shelf,computer,glass,our hand, knee,…..Whatever we perceive through our eyes.After a few changes we turn the finger opposite direction; towards ourselves or to the place we are looking out of.What do we see there?
I will leave the answer to you,but what I realized while doing this exercise for the first time was that I am available and open for everything I perceive through my senses and there is nobody inside who can prevent anything to enter.It's obvious that's how nature made me and wants me to live. Fully open to receive the world. Douglas Harding very much liked this idea of being space or capacitiy for each other and he felt this is the only reality we can't escape from,no matter how much we try.
Then question may arise: »Why are we so afraid to connect with people we dislike prima facie? Why so much fear and separation arises if we are built by nature to be open? Is it because of deep human conditioning or because the seeing is not total? By seeing I mean the whole picture,being aware of the fact that we are never face to face but me being space for you and you being space for me.Why we see only apparent reality-duality?
In Indian philosophy and their Vedas (written scriptures) there is a common word for a deluded perception of ourselves and the world we live in.It is called Maya and stands for apparent reality or illusion.In such reality we stick to a principle of seeing is believing and take things for granted.The easiest example that comes in my mind about Maya is the image of water in the far out distance. It Is called fata morgana in Latin or mirage. From personal point of view it is absolutely clear that we see an image in the distance and we can fool ourselves that we can touch that image if going closer to it. Well, we may try as much as we can, but there never was any image existing on the horizon.The same way we may be sure of our individual existance; this »I« which feels so solid and fixed. At the end of our lives we might surprise ourselves and find out that this »I« existed only as a mirage, means only in our minds.
If this sounds scary, we could as well find our real identity and awaken to the truth before the story ends.