Going
Back To The Source Of Looking
Dr.
Jordan Peterson,
”Our
eyes are always pointing at things we are interested in approaching,
or investigating, or looking for, or having. We must see, but to see,
we must aim, so we are always aiming. Our minds are built on the
hunting-and-gathering platforms of our bodies. To hunt is to specify
a target, track it, and throw at it. To gather is to specify and to
grasp. We fling stones, and spears, and boomerangs. We toss balls
through hoops, and hit pucks into nets, and curl carved granite rocks
down the ice onto horizontal bull’s-eyes. We launch projectiles at
targets with bows, guns, rifles, and rockets. We hurl insults, launch
plans, and pitch ideas. We succeed when we score a goal or hit a
target. We fail, or sin, when we do not (as the word "sin"
means to miss the mark). We cannot navigate without something to aim
at, and while we are in this world, we must always navigate.”
 |
| Dr. Jordan Peterson |
Animals,
most of them anyway, remain attentive of their surroundings. They do
this to know whether they are safe or not. Human beings also go into
this primitive mode, for example in stressful situations. Soldiers of
special forces, such as SEALs, are taught how to disengage from
tunnel vision caused by fearful reaction by returning peripheral
vision by looking left and right, which is a classic meditation
exercise in the buddhist tradition. Our gaze reveals and reflects our
mental state, whether instinctual, habitual or meditative.
Seeking
from Outside
In
the above quote, Dr. Peterson describes what in yogic teachings is
called seeking from outside. Yogic tradition says that
unsatisfied beings seek pleasures and relief to their existential
confusion outside of themselves, rather than from within. It is an
instinctual habit for humans to seek happiness and acceptance from
outside. We try to fill the void within with foods, drinks, love,
sex, money, possessions or by asking affirmative responses from our
boss or parents. We go about our life by trying to fill the void
within. However, the nature of all experiences, pleasant or
unpleasant, is that they pass and therefore cannot make us
permanently content.
The
tragedy of habitual seeking is that it takes a lot of repetition and
a solid belief in the material world, until people begin to realise
that pleasures are fleeting. A new car or an amazing orgasm won't
keep us happy for long. When relief and satisfaction vane, again, we
begin to seek from outside and so it continues. We blindly follow our
wants and desires. This is cyclical existence, going around in
circles, bumping our head to the same wall again and again. This is
ignorance of our true condition.
Becoming
Aware of the Origin of Looking
Teachings
of yogic meditation are primarily interested in breaking the vicious
cycle of seeking. It is unsatisfactory so why keep repeating it? When
we manage to do that, stop seeking from outside, our mind comes to
rest in its natural condition. When that happens a recognition of our
natural state takes place. At that moment, our mind meets and
merges with its source. This source is called by many names in
religious and philosophical traditions. The name for it is
irrelevant, may those so inclined debate on that. However, the actual
experience of it changes lives and liberates.
There is nothing more satisfactory than knowing oneself without a
narrow identity and a storyline. The thought of this experience might
be scary but the actual experience is very pleasant, imbued with
freedom, clearmindedness and creativity.
So,
we aim our attention to our externals. We project our gaze to things.
We looks at things, one after the other, we seek, we seek, we seek...
When we do this from morning until night, we become tired because our
vital energy gets scattered. What happens here can be compared to
beacon that projects its beam of light outwards. As mentioned, this
is seeking from outside that can never make us happy.
A
simple way to stop looking outside is to bring our attention back to
the physical eyes and the area behind the eyes inside our head. When
we become aware that we have gone into the searching mode, looking at
things external to us, we simply bring our attention back into the
head or back to the source of beacon's light. This can be learned
after a little bit of experimenting.
What
happens with this is that becoming aware of the source of looking,
interrupts seeking (1) and makes us aware of our natural mind (2)
that is effortlessly aware and knows things, experiences and events
appearing in the mind.
Fulfillment
Tradition
of yoga is very old. It has specialized in solving existential
problems caused by the sense of us having a self or me within us, in
our thoughts, ideas and emotional reactions. Through the valuable
teachings and meditative exercises such as the one above, it offers
to solve our internal conflicts by making us aware of our liberated
condition. Numerous generations of female and male practitioners have
verified, that such methods are effective in solving neurotic and
deluded behaviour. By becoming aware of our instinctual and habitual
human animal behaviour, yogic practice helps us become clearminded,
satisfied and realistic human beings, not by adding anything to us
but by recognising what we already are.
Thank
you for reading,
-Kim
Katami, 29.6.2019
Open Heart Sangha,
Open Heart Sangha,
