The Observer

Tutorial for March 2022
 
The Observer
 
To be “The Observer,” also sometimes called “The Witness,” requires you to enter a realm of consciousness that is absolutely neutral and free of attachments. The Observer realm of consciousness is simple awareness, noticing, seeing without judging, just being present with the here and now. When you are observing yourself, you are gathering information about who you are, therefore gaining in self-awareness. This information ultimately becomes a database for your perceptions, and the foundation for the stories you tell yourself about who you are.
 
You don’t have to conjure up this realm of consciousness, it is a part of your natural state. Your experience is the sensory data you have amassed combined with your perception of the data, and that is followed up with your inner narration of the events. How you engage with the sensory input and how you perceive it is habitual, and generally automatic and unconscious. You can, however, train yourself to perceive things in new ways—this is what an artist does. An artist can learn to see things in terms of shadow, light and perspective, for example, and use that trained perception to reproduce what is seen on a canvas with paint. A pet owner can learn the various sounds their pet makes and interpret them, while anyone else might just hear generic pet noises.
 
The part of this process over which you have the most agency is the inner narration. In The Observer realm, you are aware of your thoughts and feelings and have some sense of their usual biases. But you also have the capacity to shift from your usual point of view to something more unique and responsive to the here and now moment. The story you then generate is not attached to the point of view, but rather is fluid and malleable. You come to realize you are not stuck or submerged in any of it, not the experience as it is narrated, nor the narration itself. This Observer becomes liberated from habitual processing of sensory input. That is sometimes seen an experience of “stepping back” but it is actually a releasing of your customary way experiencing.
 
With the self-awareness that arises in the Observer realm as we are calling it, often comes the ability to feel more joy and compassion for self and others. It is truly a present state of One Life Awareness. By paying attention to the subtleties of the inner narration, you can train yourself not to believe the parts that are full of judgments and attachments even if these judgments and attachments do creep into the story from time to time. By not believing your inner stories as being absolute truth, you open the door for the judgments and attachments to simply dissolve. Once you know the place within you that is not attached to your stories and judgments, you will glimpse the pure view, the experience as it simply is, life as it simply is. There is great joy in simply being alive and being right here, right now. Assuming The Observer point of view can be a wonderful tool to remember that joy.
 
Let being The Observer be a centering tool for you. Have confidence that you know what we are speaking about—it is not a great mystery. It is just the observance of the mind and its habits of perception without distractions. You don’t interfere with what you are observing, you are not affected by it, but instead, when noticing how you are interpreting the experience, let go of believing it. It is like the outbreath of the experience. Breathe in and out, and let it all be. 

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