The art of Observation aka The Procrastination of Osiris at the King Street Arts Centre

Another post by Osiris

When you listen to music which you appreciate, there is no resistance. You go with it, you shake your head, you clap your hands, you do all kinds of things to express your understanding of the quality of that music. There is no form of defence, no form of resistance; you are flowing with it. In the same way, kindly listen, not to be instructed, not to be told what to do, but to understand what is written.

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Prometheus knows the score

Our consciousness is its content. That is, our consciousness is made up of its content, made up of one's beliefs, one's tendencies, one's desires, anxieties, loneliness, and so on. For without the content, there is no consciousness as we know it. Content makes
the consciousness and that consciousness is conditioned. And since it is conditioned, it is in conflict. This conflict arises when there is duality.


For example our little friend 'Chris' says one day "I am greedy, I should not be greedy" he has the ideal of non-greed or of practising non-greed, thus he is in conflict. The fact is Chris is greed, the non-greed is an idea, a concept, it is not an actuality. But Chris thinks pursuit of non-greed will help him to become non-greedy, that he will be free from greed. Chris has propagated this idea of non-greed, and yet being greedy, he is propagating something which he is not. Chris is gradually, day by day, practising, not to understand greed, but to become something which he has called non-greed. His mind is all the time saying `l must achieve non-greed', hence there is conflict.

But when Chris is observing, learning, enquiring into the fact, there is no conflict in his mind. He says "I am greedy, what is the root of greed? What is the nature of greed?" He doesn't condemn it, he simply observes it. Therefore, when he observes it, he eliminates altogether this inward sense of duality. Then there is no question of suppressing it, escaping from it, analysing it. It is there.

He has eliminated altogether the opposite. There is now only this 'what is', which he lives with like a precious jewel that he has discovered; he is watching it, seeing the beauty of the jewel, the light, the many aspects of it, which are parts of himself.

The fact is when there is such observation, it is not the word, it is not the memory, it is something totally new. Chris is facing this new reaction, called greed, anew. To observe requires great enquiry, energy, vitality, to see actually `what is'. Observation is light without any shadow of the past, and that very light is liberating.When you observe the full moon, do you really observe it, do you see the beauty of that light, it's extraordinary quality, or do you say it is a full moon, name it and simply move on? Have you seen the moon, the new moon that is coming up, as though for the first time in your life? Or do you just say it is a moon - just a mechanical observation?

Our story is an illusion we think into existence

Post by Osiris


Story, fable, myth and metaphor are often created to encourage love and understanding. Some elicit fear and extremism. The potential for stories to heal what ails humankind or to keep us stuck in anxiety and worry, is both a tool of the human potential movement and a primary instrument of personal and institutional propaganda. In both instances, story appears to be enjoying a renaissance.The finest stories are signposts, pointing toward a deeper reality within the teller and listener. Counter-productive stories come from and feed upon the fears and ignorance existing within our memories, our cultural story. The threat to our freedom inherent in propaganda (though often more transparent) is the same in the very stories that inspire us to seek liberation.Even on the lookout to reinforce our world view, we gobble up words that speak to our fears and fantasies. We seek comfort in the known ­ and in so doing stay stuck in our story. Even in stories which contain a map to our transformation (no matter how beautifully created, crafted and told) the deeper point, the essence of the message; is generally missed. The story is subsumed into our story, adding to our accumulation but naught to our wisdom and common sense ­ becoming one more chapter in an expanding myth in which we stay trapped. Those stories, that trap, we give all sorts of descriptions: reality, my life, how I am, the way I was born, my upbringing, my nationality, religion, etcetera.Listen! We are not our story ­ neither our past, present, nor future story. Our life is not the story we make up about it ­ and yes, it hasn¹t to do with this story either. Our story is an illusion we think into existence,nothing more, appearing in our mind as reality. Our present reality, no matter what that is, is the story we are imprisoned in. And ever shall it remain so until we wake up from that dream.Who we are exists before, and is hidden from us by the story we create ourselves, about others; about each and every aspect of life, our past (from a nanosecond ago back to our beginning) manifesting as experiences, opinions, beliefs, ideas, philosophies and values around all that we consider good or evil, right or wrong, what we think works and what we think matters. All stories in which we innocently ensnare ourselves. We are the victims of our own story, and being lost in it we see ourselves as the victim, not of our story, but of the past, current, or future circumstances of our life, the way we tell ourselves it is. The way out of victim hood is awakening to our certitude in stories (ours or others) being thetruth; rather than the illusion we inhabit. Freedom comes as we realise that truth does notexist in stories, not even those based firmly in verifiable circumstances, scientifically provenfact or millennia of religious faith. The truth is not the story. The truth lies within the soul ofeach of us. Universal in nature, pure in essence, exquisite in feeling, magnificent in its powerto transform. All human stories masquerade as truth, including my statement about the truthlying within the soul of each of us and the description of truth I just made up. That too is justa story! Truth is independent of story.In waking up from the trap of our endless stories we become conscious of LIFE'S infinitepossibilities. Possibilities exist as a priori to any story. In that awakening, we begin to see andunderstand how we have trapped ourselves in story. We start to gain clarity around IFE and the game of living. A deeper reality emerges, impossible to express even in the finest story.Who we really are starts to unfold, and all that we have yearned for and been separatedfrom by our endless stories begins to be experienced.In a glimpse of a reality that precedes the formation of our stories we recognise thateverything, absolutely everything, emanates from LIFE's infinite possibilities; including everystory ever told. We see that each new possibility comes into existence from LIFE viaThought, consciously experienced, in each fresh, creative moment. We see too thatimpossibility comes via Thought, recreated from a bygone moment held in memory, carriedthrough time, solidified in story, fable, myth and metaphor and re-experienced,(unconsciously), as the past relived in the moment.As the human expression of LIFE, we begin discovering that nothing is beyond us either infinite possibility as a conscious reality or the impossibility of story unconsciously relived.The infinite possibilities of LIFE are who I am, you are, we are and they are. To actually seebeyond our story, before accumulation, the illusion of right/wrong, good and evil, doing whatwe think works or what we think matters; invokes freedom. Freedom to love rather thanfear, understand instead of judge, create not destroy, open up not close down, embracerather than reject - live in peace and harmony rather than enmity and war.Living in a story (be it comforting or traumatic) rather than in the creative moment is not problematic - as long as we see that we are the thinker and feeler, the creator of the storywe are living. As long as we see that our moment to moment reality (created via the gift ofThought) is not the truth. The pathway to a liberated mind comes through understandingthat crucial aspect of Consciousness.There are no answers to be found in our story, this or any other story, however factually trueor painfully tragic. Look within your quietened mind and your softened heart. These are thegateways to Universal Consciousness, the soul of the universe. The answers we seek await us there. This is my story