The Observer

An artist who is intuitively feeling the present moment in his creation would have to be, to some degree, assuming the role of the observer. That person would be experiencing the P-A narrative and expressing in his/her art a response to one or all of Three Great Questions:  Where am I?  Who am I?  and Why am I here? 

In the following review of the Austrian film Revanche (revenge) by filmmaker Götz Spielmann (who wrote and directed the film) we can sense that awareness. “The perception is that of a distant but sympathetic witness, who is incapable of being agitated because he has already unraveled the mystery at the center of things. Who is this all-knowing, unseen entity whose perspective we’re invited to share?”[i]

The phrase “incapable of being agitated” is a good definition of being in response as opposed to reacting, of being the observer as opposed to being caught up in the illusion of P-B.

Notice how being the observer transcends the false self and identification with the body, mind or emotions. “But partaking of that viewpoint [that of the observer] means feeling, at various times during ‘Revanche,’ compassion without worry, sadness without despair, and heartbreak without distress.”[ii]

Try this … watch this film to see if your false-self energy centers become triggered. If they do, see which of your issues you project  onto the screen. It’s a revealing, very worthwhile experiment.

Although we may eventually become detached from the illusion of the P-B story ourselves, we still feel compassion for those caught up in the self-destructive impulses that define the human condition.

The Observer

[i]     La Salle, Mick. Handout at the Starz Film Center with a review from the San Francisco Chronicle, no page. 

[ii]     Ibid.

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Find a much more in-depth discussion in books by Roy Charles Henry.

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