Stopping the World

By Thomas James Martin
Published by Suite101 on: June 12, 2003

I am teaching you how to see as opposed to merely looking, and stopping the world is the first step to seeing. --The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda

In the companion piece to this essay, Looking Breathlessly, I introduced the concept of "seeing" as related in the teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda. Don Juan, the Yaqui shaman or sorcerer that Castaneda encounters in the Sonoran desert of Mexico, impresses on his student, Castaneda, the importance of going beyond the intellect to truly experience the greater reality of the world.

I remembered Castaneda's words as my wife, Joyce, and I recently as one of our annual spring rituals visited a local nursery to purchase cut irises and bulbs which are Schreiner's specialty. After we had walked over the gardens on the grounds and selected about two dozen of the elegant flowers in all shapes, colors and sizes, we were walking back to the car when we noticed before us the acres and acres of Iris blooming before us as far as the eye could see.
I stood gazing at the layers of colors in the field: Bands of bright yellow, pale and royal blues, purples, lavenders, oranges. Then, it occurred to me that I was not really "seeing" all that beauty. I was merely observing it with my intellect, having a superficial experience.
However, the nursery is located on a country road, and though popular in the spring, is rather isolated. Suddenly, I realized that I was hearing bird song, different calls of birds mating and gathering nesting materials in the spring.

As I listened to the birds, I felt a small breeze ruffle my hair. I was not just watching the different bands of color in the fields at Schreiner's any longer, but had entered the realms of sound and hearing also.

Then, in a moment, I felt closer to the beautiful sight before me, the fields of growing blowers. I realized that I was now not just looking but seeing those fields. The sounds of the birds and cool breeze on the balmy spring day had helped to take me "out of my head."
I brought out the pad of paper that I always carry around with me, and wrote down a few lines of poetry that occurs to me sometimes in such moments. I do not always write in such moments. Sometimes though, I do not want to think about artistic expression; I just want to be with what is happening or I just want to be.

After recording a few lines, I found myself still in a joyful state, and began noticing with more depth the other people around me, seeing flowering plants and hearing the sounds of nature more from the heart than with the head. The sense of this phenomenon is hard to relate, but all human beings experience it from time to time.

The problem is not that we do not as Don Juan says, "See." We all experience this state of being from time to time just from being members of the human race. It's a natural state of consciousness.

Rather the problem is one of cultivating the experience so that we are not always running around anaesthetized and held prisoner by the tryarnny of the monkey mind, the one that chatters constantly, wants you to worry neurotically about money or what someone thinks about you or the thousands of other fears and anxieties that we are prey to.

How then shall we cultivate that special blessing called "seeing" that is known by so many names in all the cultures of the Earth, names uch as inspiration or oneness or the "grace of God".
Well, I am not sure anyone truly does anything by oneself. I feel that the sacred (or inner nature or God) stands ready to help us at all times if we can but open ourselves to it body, mind and soul.

While regular meditation certainly helps greatly in learning to "stop the world," and cultivate a rich inner life, here are some techniques that have collected through the years that have helped others and myself to fall from the head into the unity of consciousness found when head connects with heart.

Concentrate on the breath; feel (and possibly hear) your breath going in and out. Do not try to force it or control your breath; just witness the experience of breathing.
Softly or mentally repeat a mantra or other word of power or expression of your own choosing. Repetition and fixating on your word(s) calms the mind which is a necessary conditon for this experience.

Singing a song that inspires you is another good technique and helps balance your breathing, producing the calmness necessary for the experience. (Sing to yourself or mentally if you do not want to be heard by others.)

Here is one of my favorites. Since so many of us get most of our information visually, sometimes focusing on your surroundings with another sense helps you to experience the world in a more feeling way. I find, for example, that relating to the world through sound often helps me to get in touch with myself. Listening to the sounds of the forest—the whisper of the wind running through the leaves of the trees or the sound of running water does it for me. Others find that focusing on pleasant fragrances or touching the bark of a tree or petals of a flower puts them more in touch with their feelings.

Many people find prayer useful to enter a receptive, feeling mode of being.
Experiment! Find what works for you. A friend of mine finds she "stops the world" by the simple act of taking water. She has come to experience drinking as a sacred rite (which like the taking of food, is considered a sacrament in some spiritual paths).

Often, "seeing" is simply reaching a state of consciousness where you appreciate experience of the true self and that life that is happening moment by moment so beautifully. I shall never forget being alone in the forest after a storm and listening to the drip of the rain off of the leaves. Suddenly, I started experiencing each drop and every drop at the same time, and, though it was extraordinary and mystical in its own way, it was a very simple experience.
As the Zen master says:

Before a person studies Zen, mountains are mountains, trees are trees, and stars are stars;
After the first glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and trees are not trees;
After enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and trees once again trees and stars once again stars.

In other words, the beauty and mystery are always with us; Indeed those flowers and trees and rushing waters and winds whether--breezes or gales--are part of us in my view. We simply must awaken to experience the world through our true nature, to see. . .to see with the heart.

Copyright 2003, Thomas James Martin, all rights reserved.