When Zooming Out Becomes Meaningless
Cuando alejarse pierde todo sentido
A student describes the collapse of the sense of "zooming in and out" in awareness, and the teacher cautions against reducing others to a fixed interpretation, pointing toward the mystery that remains.
When Zooming Out Becomes Meaningless
A student describes the collapse of the sense of "zooming in and out" in awareness, and the teacher cautions against reducing others to a fixed interpretation, pointing toward the mystery that remains.
When the zooming out feels completely meaningless.
The whole sense of zooming in and out, the whole sense of that movement, becomes meaningless in the sense that there isn't anywhere to zoom out to, or anywhere to zoom in to or from.
It's just always right here.
What changes is appearance
What changes is what comes into the foreground. What changes is just the appearance, the sensations, the thoughts. The sense of zooming out is just the changing of appearances. That gives the impression of zooming out or zooming in, as if something is moving. What actually is, is this constant movement of all experience, and the infinite emptiness that knows it, which is that which is moving itself as well.
It feels like I always knew it, like I'm remembering it, like I already had it.
It's what we are. It's where we come from.
Don't reduce another to a map
One thing I did want to comment on: when you described seeing the emptiness in another, and you described your father, you also described a whole lot of thinking. You said, "You are only this automated conditioning, this karma, and you don't know that." I thought it was important to point out: I understand there is a seeing of that which is conditioning, karma. But watch out for that becoming a fixed knowing of what another is, or even what you at the body-mind level are. There is a lot of mystery there.
It's just because he triggers me so much. We have a difficult relationship. And I was just able to see him. There was no more judgment. The judgment was lessened enormously, because I saw that his actions, his words, how he treated me, were just a result of this play.
That's true. And on another level, there is also something more, something mysterious. I'm recommending and encouraging you not to reduce him to just that, because you can't know what another is. There is an interiority and a mystery in it. The aspect that is karma, that is conditioning, is there as well. But even what that is, is mystery.
Okay. Thank you.
So notice that this is a map, a belief system being placed on an aspect of reality, being placed on another person in that moment. Keep seeing: "That's another map, that's another fixed knowing." Sure, it may apply in that moment, and it can be helpful.
Sorry, I missed what you said. Could you repeat that?
It might be helpful, when that map appears, to notice, "Oh, this is just conditioning." But know that it's not only that. It is a map, and there is a mystery. That will leave you more open to the mystery of what he is, what you are, what this is.
Remaining open to mystery
I'm seeing people differently. There's definitely a lot more time needed to ground into this.
Keep exploring it, and let the exploration be playful and curious. That which we are is curious and interested in this experience because of the nature of its beauty and mystery, even in the things that are uncomfortable, even in the things that are scary or painful.
It's so funny how, when I finally just gave up and stopped searching, there was so much power in that. Thank you so much. I'm so grateful for your time. These meetings have been life-changing for me.
You're very welcome. Very glad to hear that.