Imagine that you are standing under a waterfall. The water
pounds down on your head and shoulders and pins your feet
to the ground. The steady rush of water feels good. At
times, it feels ecstatic.
But often the force of the water is too much. It hurts.
You want it to stop. You tilt your body slightly, hoping
to find a gap in the sheets of water cascading down on
you. You do, and for a moment the pain lessens. But then
the full force of the water finds you again. The pain is
intense. You feel trapped.
Now imagine that one day, for no reason you can think of,
you step back from the waterfall. You had no idea there
was a space behind you the whole time, a cavern cut into
the rock that easily accommodates your frame. The relief
you feel is immense. Your body feels light. You witness
the water pouring down inches from your nose. The inches
seem like miles. Now the water begins to flow from you.
Tears of joy are streaming down your cheeks. You have
stepped away from the steady rush of water, from the
endless cycle of pleasure and pain you’d been
experiencing for as long as you can remember.
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We spend
our lives immersed in a flood of thoughts, unaware that
another dimension of consciousness is available to us. It
is a dimension in which we come to know ourselves as
something other than thinkers. By taking a step back, we
become the witness of our thoughts. Of the millions of
steps we’ve taken in our lives, this subtle but radical
step may be the most important because it leads to a
profound sense of peace.
We cannot think our way into this witnessing dimension.
It
only emerges when thought subsides, hopping like a bunny
from the bushes when the coast is clear. The thoughts that
pleaded for our attention gradually recede in the presence
of our steady witnessing gaze. In this transformative
moment we have stepped back from the flow of thought into
the serene space of our awareness.
This space is not as mystical as it might seem. Haven’t
we all experienced moments when we’ve witnessed the
thoughts flowing through our minds without getting dragged
into their current?
Have you ever quarreled with someone and refrained from
expressing a hurtful thought that surfaced in your mind?
How were you able to perceive that thought? Was it
illuminated by the light of your awareness?
Have you ever sat on an airplane, minutes before takeoff,
fearing that it was going to crash and that you’d never
see your loved ones again? What stopped you from
unbuckling your seatbelt and bolting for the door? Was it
because you were you aware, if only vaguely, that the
thoughts parading through your mind were a bit farfetched?
We experience these brief but revealing glimpses of our
witnessing capacity without recognizing their value.
We
move past them inattentively, the way we might a Rembrandt
at a yard sale. But to spend one clear-eyed moment in this
space is to observe that the territory of thought is
limited, that it is easily contained within the greater
space of our awareness. This flash of insight will awaken
us to a new identity. By observing thought, we are born as
its witness.
If we wish to dwell rather than dart in and out of in this
vibrant dimension, we must do more than simply change the
way we think; we must change our relationship with
thought. We must become its ever-present witness to avoid
being its ever-suffering accomplice. Helpful one moment
and devious the next, thought is like a petulant child
requiring our constant attention.
As thought’s witness, we are its master. We can summon
it if we wish to bake a cake or split an atom, and dismiss
it when it shows up uninvited. But for this cozy
relationship with thought to last, we must keep it
permanently in our sights. This will take every ounce of
energy we have, and at first even that won’t be enough.
We have been thought’s servant for so long that we’ll
continue to obey it by sheer habit.
But
in time our tolerance for suffering at the hands of
thought will lessen. The pleasure will no longer seem
worth the pain. And those isolated moments when we glimpse
the chains and pulleys driving our thought process will
begin to connect like stars in a constellation. As we step
further and further back from the realm of thought, we
will see it in its entirety and know that we exist beyond
its borders.
* * * * *
About John: My
life has been enriched by the teachings of great spiritual
leaders. My essays attempt to demystify these sometimes
perplexing teachings so that more may be exposed to their
wisdom. They appear on my website, On Second Thought, johnptacek.com.
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more on
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