Witnessing and Living - a simple practice to both

Regarding Witnessing I was reading The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts and I came across a method that can make witnessing second nature and a habit for all of us.

It is this: We all have this concept of ourselves as some being or entity that experiences life, which thinks or acts, chooses, decides or lives.

Instead of this start thinking of yourself as an ever-changing process that is constantly experiencing or living or acting. When I am thinking, there is just a process of thinking. There is no thinker apart from the act of thinking. There is just the process of thinking.

Similarly we can regard ourselves as an ever changing process that is constantly experiencing life. Be it drinking coffee, cooking, eating, reading, walking, talking – this process is constantly experiencing life. This process is constantly changing and THERE IS NO ENTITY OR SELF APART FROM THIS PROCESS.

If you regard yourself in this manner then over a period of some time you may make a fundamental change in your opinion of yourself and of life. I tried this line of thinking myself and this is the conclusion that I reached:

If all I am is an ever changing process that is constantly experiencing life and living, then that is the whole purpose for which I have come to this Earth. I have not come here to think or to gain understanding and insight, I have not come here to accumulate wealth, I have not come here to gain the respect of my fellow men and women. In short I have not come here to get anything from life (as if life were a bank to be robbed). I have come here simply to live – to do the experiencing of life. I am simply an ever-changing process that experiences life in many different ways.

And this is all that I need to do – now and forever. Simply do the experiencing of life – I just need to step out of the way and allow myself to LIVE.

This insight – that there is nothing to gain, nothing to achieve, nothing to change – about myself or people around me or the world – that there is nothing that I am compelled to do. This insight that there is nothing to do but to live and do witnessing of life in all its manifestations will give you a tremendous sense of relief. You might feel that the weight of the world has come off your shoulders.

But – you might say – the process of living is painful and transient and unsatisfactory. There is no lasting happiness to be found anywhere. What is so good or great about living such a life?

To this I think I will answer with a story:

The Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tzu are in heaven and are chatting and whiling the time away. They are each offered a glass containing the drink of Life.

The Buddha says that Life is painful and is misery. He says that he does not anything to do with such a Life and refuses to touch or drink from his glass.

Confucius says that he can only make up his mind about Life after tasting from his glass. He takes a small sip and decides that the Buddha is right. The drink of Life is bitter and not worth drinking. He also refuses to drink further.

Lao Tzu decides differently. He first takes up his own glass of the drink of Life and downs the contents in one swallow. He then takes the glasses of Confucius and the Buddha and drinks them also. Then he starts dancing in ecstasy.

And this is the only way to live; to understand the mystery of Life; to know Life. The method is simply to DRINK TO THE FULL AND DANCE.

If you take these two guidelines – that you are a process put on this Earth to live and decide to DRINK TO THE FULL AND DANCE – then you will find that even pain and the process of experiencing hurt ceases to be a problem. You do not try to avoid or hide from the hurt or the pain or the unpleasant experience. You simply live it. There is no problem. You simply hurt – period. This way you are witnessing without reacting automatically.

It is in the process of our wanting to avoid or to change or to achieve a certain result that we create problems for ourselves. But living in the Here and Now is not a problem at all. It is simply an experiencing and a witnessing – a process of living. And this is all that you have come to this Earth to do.

Try this method – it will work wonders with you. I am speaking from experience. It works like magic whenever I try it.

For more details please read The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts. It is excellent.

I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful to you. This is a great way to incorporate both witnessing and living life fully into your life.

Stay tuned for more articles in this continuing series.

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