36. Meditation 18

Examine various objects in your visual field to see if they’re really separate.

So yesterday, we engaged a fairly structured analysis of the feeling of being inside one’s head. I think we’ll continue there for a few minutes. So as you get comfortable in your seat. I keep your eyes open. And just gaze into space. It doesn’t matter what you’re looking at. Could be your desk. It could be gazing out a window. You could be staring. At the ground in front of your feet. Whatever you see. Notice that what you actually see is a field of color and light and shadow. And it’s true to say that the objects you see. Are defined in their separateness by concepts. See if you can relax your sense of. The discreetness of any of these objects. Just see an undifferentiated field of color. And like. Just as you would relax your sense that. You can feel the shape of your hand. As you attend more and more closely to the raw sensations of tingling and pressure and temperature. So, too, with your visual field. Just see it as a play of light. And rather than move your eyes across that space. Keep them steady. And. See it all at once. Let your vision go very wide. It’s as though your mirror. Simply reflecting. This unified scene. Of color and light. Now, as you gaze on. This visual field. Simply rest. As the space in which it. And all other sensations are appearing. Notice that your head is not appearing in this space. It’s like there’s a unified sphere. In which all perceptions. Are appearing. You might still feel that you have a head. You might feel the sensations of your face or your eyes. But those two are just appearing in the same context. Let your mind go very wide. Keep dropping back. And recognize that you are this prior condition subjectively in which anything that can be noticed. Arises. And has noticed. Take a moment to feel any tension in your body. And see if you can deliberately relax. You might take a few deep breaths. And just release any tension. You might feel. And whatever can’t be released. Just notice. Consciousness is the prior condition in which it, too, is appearing. And the moment you notice. That your mind has been captured by thought. Unwittingly. There’s no need to judge yourself. Just observe what happened in that instant. That, too, is part of the practice. And come back to your visual field. And just sensations in the body. And it sounds. And in the last minute of the session. Close your eyes. And pay very careful attention. To the breath. See if you can stay with the breath continuously. Once again, thank you for taking the time to practice. I think you’ll find as we continue in these days and weeks and months and years. That doing this even for a few minutes a day. Can make a profound difference in all those other moments where it is still true to say that it is just your mind that you’re experiencing in each moment. It’s not that the world doesn’t exist, but your every encounter with the world and with other people happens in and as this conscious mind. So getting clear about what that is like intrinsically. And how we distorted perturb it. Each moment. By reacting and judging and at bottom thinking incessantly without knowing it. That really is the the great project and adventure of living and examined life.