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Nov. 28th, 2006 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swaas""
II
Watching
i While we are doing nothing, perhaps in a relaxed fashion, we watch,
we look, we observe: ourselves, our surroundings, people around us, and the interactions
and interrelationships between these.
ii We look at ourselves as if we were looking at a friend we love: impartially,
without judgement, without criticism. We simply look. In time, we gather information
about this animal that we inhabit: what it does in recurrent circumstances, what it feels
and thinks about those particular circumstances. We notice how what it feels and thinks
and does impact upon each other.
iii We learn what we may ask the creature to do, notice where it is prepared
to accept direction, where it refuses to follow instruction, when it goes on strike.
iv Although we have done nothing, simply by looking, something has changed.
When one small part of a whole changes, the whole is itself changed. One small variation
and, as if a butterfly has flapped its wings, there is a change in the overall economy and
ecology of the human being.
v Four qualities of watching:
Staring
Looking
Observing
Seeing
vi An observer is being constructed in personality, where part of us
is becoming accustomed to look at other parts of us.
Not all of our energy is flowing into customary channels.
Our attention is being divided.
vii One day, when looking, a shift takes place.
We move from looking to seeing.
viii When we have acquired more information while doing nothing,
we begin to gently and gradually see what is possible in acquiring an efficient technique.
II
Watching
i While we are doing nothing, perhaps in a relaxed fashion, we watch,
we look, we observe: ourselves, our surroundings, people around us, and the interactions
and interrelationships between these.
ii We look at ourselves as if we were looking at a friend we love: impartially,
without judgement, without criticism. We simply look. In time, we gather information
about this animal that we inhabit: what it does in recurrent circumstances, what it feels
and thinks about those particular circumstances. We notice how what it feels and thinks
and does impact upon each other.
iii We learn what we may ask the creature to do, notice where it is prepared
to accept direction, where it refuses to follow instruction, when it goes on strike.
iv Although we have done nothing, simply by looking, something has changed.
When one small part of a whole changes, the whole is itself changed. One small variation
and, as if a butterfly has flapped its wings, there is a change in the overall economy and
ecology of the human being.
v Four qualities of watching:
Staring
Looking
Observing
Seeing
vi An observer is being constructed in personality, where part of us
is becoming accustomed to look at other parts of us.
Not all of our energy is flowing into customary channels.
Our attention is being divided.
vii One day, when looking, a shift takes place.
We move from looking to seeing.
viii When we have acquired more information while doing nothing,
we begin to gently and gradually see what is possible in acquiring an efficient technique.
