observer & observed

This is another duality which we become increasingly aware of on the spiritual journey. Indeed, some meditation teachings emphasise that we are the observer, we are the witness, the witnessing consciousness, the awareness, and that everything we are aware of is not us. See the duality. The witness and that being witnessed. The observer and that being observed.

And by observation we don’t just mean sight. Anything that the awareness can rest on: any experience, any sensation, any thought, any emotion, any feeling – these are all things we can observe dispassionately. And if we feel ourself to be this observer, then there is not much to become emotionally embroiled in. Life can become calm and peaceful. Some people reach this state, of realising themselves to be the observer, the witness, and don’t go any further. This is the risk. In that case one is still living in duality. There is me, the observer, and everything else, that which I am observing.

Even this duality can be transcended. Eventually, one can feel the observer and the observed to be one and the same, not separate. And in this non-separation, the duality of the observer and the observed collapses. They disappear. There is just observing happening, without a subject and object. This is observing in totality, when all the energy is involved in the observing. Then there is no separation. So with this, we also feel whole.

So even this duality, of the observer and that which is being observed, can disappear, it can be transcended.