tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13617569.post114031505115974748..comments2024-03-27T02:13:58.088-07:00Comments on Integral Options Cafe: Life as a Creative Processwilliam harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13617569.post-1142574761065099292006-03-16T22:52:00.000-07:002006-03-16T22:52:00.000-07:00Hi, I am Aryen Hart, the artist of the painting sh...Hi, I am Aryen Hart, the artist of the painting shown above. Thank you for linking my art with your spiritual paths. You can see more of my work at http://www.aryenhart.com<BR/><BR/>namaste, AryenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13617569.post-1140488981462542042006-02-20T19:29:00.000-07:002006-02-20T19:29:00.000-07:00Thanks, Kai. I guess I'm having trouble perceivin...Thanks, Kai. I guess I'm having trouble perceiving or understanding how a part of our awareness that observes anything is a "non-participant." If, for instance, the Witness "observes" the mind thinking thoughts, isn't the Witness also thinking those thoughts? For that matter, are the mind and Witness really different things? Are the Witness and thoughts really different things? If so, how does one reconcile this with the the old Zen poem that says, in effect, that there are thoughts but no thinker thereof, deeds but no doer thereof?Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02549770321948541384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13617569.post-1140485821032617882006-02-20T18:37:00.000-07:002006-02-20T18:37:00.000-07:00Nagarjuna, you can think a thought, you can observ...Nagarjuna, you can think a thought, you can observe that you are thinking a thought, you can even observe that you are observing that you are thinking a thought: you'll notice however, if you sit quietly and investigate the matter, that no matter how busy and circular and skeptical your thinking is, there is always and finally a "prior" part of your awareness that can observe the feelings, thoughts and skepticism: and observe without participating. That observant non-participant, sitting at the back of the class watching the kids (your thoughts and emotions: the ego) raise hell, is the witness.<BR/><BR/>Kai in NYCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13617569.post-1140479312558179132006-02-20T16:48:00.000-07:002006-02-20T16:48:00.000-07:00I'm afraid I'm too much of a novice in intellectua...I'm afraid I'm too much of a novice in intellectual knowledge and direct experience of these matters not to be confused by all of this talk of egoic (gross and subtle?) consciouness, Witness (causal?) consciouness, and Witness-transcending (nondual) consciousness. <BR/><BR/>One thing I don't understand is how the Witness can be what Ken Wilber characterizes as a formless field of awareness and see "through the ego's false claims." It seems to me that Formless awareness wouldn't be able to "see through" or understand anything, because it is supposed to be "consciousness without an object" whereas understanding or seeing through something is consciousness with an object. And so I wonder how a Witness that allegedly sees through ego is not ego in the sense of being a conscious something or "I" that sees or understands something outside or beyond or somehow separate from itself.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02549770321948541384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13617569.post-1140430355952507842006-02-20T03:12:00.000-07:002006-02-20T03:12:00.000-07:00All the masters agree that the experience is alrea...All the masters agree that the experience is already fully in our field of awareness, which suggests to me that whatever the hell I think it is, it's probably not. In other words, you, me, we're constantly drifting in and out of the experience of "ego" "witness" "beyond witness" and not even noticing! It's not way over there, or a long time from now, it's...<BR/><BR/>Kai in NYCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com