Be The Seeing Not The Seer
Rupert Spira Session—Be The Seeing Not The Seer—February 11, 2018
Today we had a very profound and inspiring session. We started with a silent time to get centered and then listened to Rupert’s audio on this topic. It was powerful. He was discussing the phenomenon of seeing and noting that there are three ways of seeing. The first is gross seeing where we look out and see a finite world of objects made of matter. We’re separate from this world and the very fact that we see external objects presupposes that we’re a separate subject. The next is subtle seeing where we see into the finite relationship between the seer and the seen. This is the world of mind. The third way of seeing is seeing seeing itself—that is to say knowing seeing experientially. This way is infinite because to see it is to experience infinite awareness. We do this, not by striving for awakening or the fulfillment of goals, but simply by relaxing, melting and falling back into ourselves. Instead of moving out to see an object we relax our eyes and let objects find us. Metaphorically speaking, the first way is like seeing a family photo on our computer screen and noticing specific relatives in it. The second is like seeing that there’s an image on our computer screen. The third is noticing the screen itself. Actually, there’s nothing there but screen. The worlds of mind and matter are made of nothing but screen. (Awareness). When it comes to seeing, nothing is happening other than three different ways of seeing the same phenomenon. So seeing objects external to ourselves is nothing more than just one way of seeing. The other ways of seeing get more and more magical the more we penetrate them. And these insights are practical in real worldly ways—if we can shift our experience by noticing how we are seeing, rather than what we are seeing, we open ourselves up to significant injections of freedom and space. As we move into pure knowing, or pure seeing, we experience peace, tranquility and joy—no matter what appears to be happening out there in an “external world”.
Our discussion was lively and we touched upon other teachers who’ve spoken about seeing or other relevant subjects. Teachers like Krishnamurti, Tolle, Gurdjieff, Lucille and Myss. We paused for refreshments and ended the session at 4 pm with another short period of silence. Many of us are looking forward to Passia’s full Retreat, or parts of it—along with the follow-up sessions. (Whatever form they take.)
