There is no way to get behind the absolute requirement of the observing mind in interpreting the results of quantum experiments, leading some to the startling conclusion that consciousness paints reality.
Athletes, creative artists, and musicians often focus intently on a specific task to great satisfaction. This attentive state of mind is sometimes referred to as a “flow state” or “being in the zone.”
We do not consciously think when we enter a flow state—in fact, it feels more as if the thinking mind is taking a break. While in this state, brain-wave studies reveal that activity is reduced in the prefrontal cortex, a region associated with analysis and monitoring our behavior.
The flow state is an ideal time to learn to recognize your inner observer – that is who you truly are – as contrasted with your thoughts, the roles you play, or your outward appearance to others.
Becoming more aware of this inner observer can be most useful as you begin to consciously notice your thoughts and emotional responses from a different part of yourself—with no judgment.
This part of you that notices the thoughts is objective and neutral. As you start to notice, the key is to realize this part of you is separate from your thoughts. It does not analyze, it simply observes. This is the first means to connecting with the larger part of you that exists beyond your physical body. As you create more conscious awareness of this observer, you begin to witness your thoughts as being separate from your observer.
This “observer” can be viewed as the self-awareness of the universe, manifested as an eddy current that we see as the subjective experience of a sentient being. This “observer” aspect of consciousness is at the core of the measurement paradox of quantum physics, where choices made by the “observing mind” directly impact the results of the observation.
PRACTICE
During your daily practice, begin to notice your inner observer. This is the part of you that notices when you have lost focus due to distracting thoughts. Realize that you can observe your thoughts from this separate part of yourself without attaching to them.
RESOURCES
The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav
The Large, the Small and the Human Mind by Roger Penrose, et. al.
I very much appreciate Dr. Alexander that you are willing to share your expertise of neuroscience, the brain, and your NDE. The brain as a filter is fascinating and motivates me to meditate regularly. I’d like to share 2 things. As a Somatic Movement Educator, I help people look inside themselves to develop “First Person Perspective.” It’s self sensing. Our intention is to make connections to improve mobility and relax muscle tension and pain. It’s an interesting experience helping people segue from the “doing” to the sensing. Some people treat the movements like exercises, fixes, or pain relievers. In the beginning, they over exert, brace themselves, and all kinds of things because it takes time to soften our old habits to new experiences. It takes a willingness. But, (1) we do the movements (2) to create sensation (3) and we watch the sensation. This “formula” creates a rich internal experience that calms the nervous system and feels beautiful. Personally, I believe this internal listening is learning how to listen to our bodies instead of habitually imposing our will on them. Or, trying to “do it right” which isn’t listening at all. I wish our education system focused more on tactile self sensing. Babies are quite good at it! The other point I’m pondering was stirred by Peter Smith who was the President of the Michael Newton Institute and has since created a Quantum Consciousness experience of his own. He said (paraphrased), of the 8 billion bodies available when we chose to come into this life, this is the only one that would do. It’s the supreme act of unconditional love. I recognized after hearing this that I was treating my body as a limited material thing (interesting perspective for a Somatic Movement Educator). But since hearing this, I (the part of me that chose the body that I call Soul) now includes my body and my brain in everything instead of excluding it as inferior. I love it with my whole heart and integrate them into all of my experiences. There is so much to experience when we open ourselves to listening and sensation. Thank you for the space to share these ideas. With gratitude, Tricia
The “Observer” lesson is very powerful because it will help me stay focused in a second-to-second distracting environment. Thank you Dr. Alexander for this blessing.
Hello Everyone.
I wanted to share my experience that has happened twice now. I am curious if anyone has had this experience, and if they know what it means. A little back story; I lost my dog recently. He was very special and found me when I moved to TN. Literally found me. Showed up at my new home and wouldn’t leave my side. I found him two new homes, and the next mornings I would wake up and he was on my porch. He was old, had a broken leg and countless health problems. We could not be separated and he helped me with my anxiety. I really loved that dog. I had him for two years before I had to put him down. Naturally I feel guilty and miss him with hopes to see him again after this life.
Experience:
While meditating (which I am completely new at) I laid under a stick tree at the park which hasn’t bloomed yet. During this meditation I saw bright colors that eventually turned red when I thought of my dog. It was a dark red ball that circled into light red around the ball. Then, It was like I opened my eyes. I saw a beautiful blue sky and the tree tops of vibrant green trees with the most beautiful full green leaves that made a complete green tree top circle. I thought I accidentally opened my eyes during the meditation, so I actually opened my eyes to ruin it. However, I did then figure out that I was indeed somewhere else. The next day I had the same experience except the sky was different colors. I tried to go further but couldn’t. I also get freaked out because I have seen too many scary movies and am afraid I will invite dark energy into my life. Does this exist? Is that possible?
Has anyone else been here? I love reading everyones post. I hope to chat with everyone!
Hi Samantha,
Thank you for sharing your wonderful story about your dog, and your meditation experience. I have had similar experiences to your’s and many more great experiences, and so I wanted to connect with you and let you know, that you are safe to continue those types of experiences. You are not opening yourself to dark energies, because you have not invited them in.
Although movies portray that dark energies visit people by “chance”, I do not believe it to be so, nor have I experienced that. To be clear, I believe that all types of energies do exist, both positive and negative. However, the wonderful thing about being a conscious creator born into this dimension is that we have the choice to select what we wish to experience.
I meditate with the intention to connect to the love and the light that I really am, and to expand my consciousness by reconnecting to my soul. Because of that choice, every time I meditate, I feel great and I have wonderful experiences. It’s almost as though I feel “high” when I finish meditating and I open my eyes. I feel a great connection to the universe.
I hope this inspires you to keep up the great work. There’s a whole universe (or two!) out there to discover, that is filled with love.
Namaste
I have been in “the zone” occasionally but my husband, a musician, mentioned several times that he felt like it was someone else playing! He was awed by that experience.
This “observer” aspect of consciousness is at the core of the measurement paradox of quantum physics, where choices made by the “observing mind” directly impact the results of the observation.
What does this mean? Can you please clarify.
Conventional materialist neuroscience states that since the brain is nothing more than physical matter following the fundamental laws of physics, chemistry and biology that all of consciousness is a complete illusion created by physical material following those laws, and thus would scoff at any notion of free will. They describe consciousness as an “epiphenomenon” of the chemical reactions and electron fluxes within the brain, and assume them to be completely deterministic. Many quantum physicists would claim that something like Hugh Everett’s Many Worlds Interpretation of the measurement paradox (or contextuality, that defines the mystery of free will choices by experimenters having such a fundamental effect on the outcome of experiments) in quantum experiments, where each possible answer to the probing questions of the scientist assessing the universe through quantum experiments leads to a different universe, necessitating an infinite profligation of different universes to explain results of quantum experiments, is sufficient. However, given that we seem to experience one shared consensus reality as our universe, I believe free will is a fundamental part of sentient beings in this universe, and argue that quantum physics with its apparent indeterminacy suggests that mind is actually fundamental to the universe, and that the one observed universe ties the findings of quantum physics together through a top-down causality of a mental layer in the universe. The mental thus governs the emergence of the material. Our very conscious awareness emerges from that ontological primitive of the mental layer of the universe. Sentient beings have access to that layer of organization, which preexists the big bang, and is thus more fundamental than our physical universe and brain. It is our awareness of self-existence that is so difficult to understand for conventional science, and I believe that self-awareness is a property of the universe itself. Thus the importance of acknowledging the “observer”, not confusing that awareness with the ego or linguistic brain or stream of thoughts in consciousness, but as something more fundamental in the universe that is filtered in through the brain, but not produced de novo out of physical material of the brain. This observer can be experienced as “higher soul” in meditation, all the way out to the primal god force of the universe if one is suitably attuned.
Thank you so much sir! The observer within is God himself.
As a lifelong artist am keenly aware of the state of flow/zone and the perspective of watching without intervening. When I am creating, especially the kind of work that requires high levels of concentration, it feels like the pieces create themselves. My hands almost seem to be a separate “thing” that is doing “that thing” with the art materials. While my artist side is doing the making, another part of my mind watches, maybe sometimes thinks about life-stuff. If my environment is especially quiet, I often am not aware of much of my surroundings. I am Mind and Hands. It’s a wonderful place to be.
Thanks for sharing, Amy. Interesting, and I imagine it is indeed a wonderful state of mind.
I feel a little bit like David Hume. When I ponder this “inner observer” I have to wonder, well, “Who is it that is aware of him/her/it?” This it seems leads to an infinite regress.
Dear Karen,
I would appreciate a reply from you on the content of day 5’s lesson. As a musician, I am aware of the state of “flow”, when all distinctions between the playing, the music and myself disappear in an overwhelmingly “alive”, beyond-time-and-space, vibrating “Isness” beyond self, or thought. But I can’t see the connection you make between this state and the “observer” in which, as I see it there’s a distinction between the observing subject and observed object. Detachment is clearly implied for impartial observation, as opposed to “flow” where all distinctions disappear. I would appreciate some elucidation on this point!
Many thanks
Thalia
You bring up an interesting point and I can understand the confusion. Here is a statement of someone else describing their state of flow: “You are in an ecstatic state to such a point that you feel as though you almost don’t exist. I have experienced this time and again. My hand seems devoid of myself, and I have nothing to do with what is happening. I just sit there watching it in a state of awe and wonderment. And [the music] just flows out of itself.”
Note the part where he says, “I just sit there watching it in a state of awe.” There is a part of us, always, that watches. That said, there is a time to absorb into the flow state unconcerned of the observer and a time to make note of it. In states of awareness associated with meditation that are not necessarily considered to be a state of flow, the same concept applies. There is a wide range of states of consciousness and the observer is ever-present, even if our awareness does not discern it. I hope this is helpful.
Excellent point! If there’s an ultimate observer, how is it that we perceive him/her/it? What is it that makes him/her/it perceivable and by whom is he/she/it perceived??
I am in recovery from substance abuse for 30 yrs. I have discovered the exact nature for myself. The old beliefs aquired from childhood continue to dominate the serenity I seek. Well awear their destructive power destroys the present. I have acceped how these thoughts affect emotions but have difficulty accessing deeply held tramma. Spent years believing the only way out is through. The malady continues to frustrate me. Am I to dismiss this model of recovery to embrace a new one. Or will your meditation intigrate the path already formed. Dysfunction is truly damaging as you are awear.
I am not getting following. Could you explain it to me ? I really appreciate any answer.
Does this mean thoughts & emotions from another area of physical body ?
Or as if it comes from another entity within myself ?
“Thoughts and emotional responses from a different part of oneself…”
Many thanks !
Eric
The “different part” refers to the observer’s perspective, for example, the part of you that notices if your thoughts are wandering. We do not mean from another area of the physical body as the observer is your consciousness and therefore nonphysical. The “entity” within is more aptly described as a greater part of you, a more expanded awareness that is not normally accessible in day-to-day living. I hope this is helpful.
Aha, thanks Karen. This (your reply) brings me conscious awareness. I realized that I identified with negative thoughts in mind, which (this behavioral pattern) keeps generating issues outside as projections. Outside, I mean including physical symptoms such as CFS & fibromyalgia. This “observer’s percepective” is very important for my growth & evolution. Love. Eric
My earliest experience of the Watcher was when I was little. At what age, I have no idea. I was petting my cat or something like that while sitting down & was suddenly intensely aware of looking out of my body through my eyes! After that first time, it was a routine part of my life. When I was talking to my brother many years later about the ghost in the machine & other such ideas that he was fond of scoffing at, I told him about the Watcher & its peering out of the “windows of my soul.” You should have seen the look I got that time!
I can relate to this Kim. My funny story of first being aware of ‘the watcher within’ was when I was walking to the toilet. Yes! So funny. I remember being keenly aware of my eye sockets, looking through them . . . And thinking, “I wonder how I got in here anyway?”. I was about 5. My second keen experience of this was at the age of 11 when a German Shepherd dog attacked me. I left boy for reason, as though I were bumped out. That was an experience of watching of a different kind. Maybe I’ll share with the group at some point. Amazing!
Good night All
In regard to perceiving my true Self, I was not yet been able to do it, though I know, that he exists.
I need to understand things in a rational and whole / global way, to form an image of the whole and analyze the parts.
I was able to rationally visualize a model of what this real interaction seems to be: the real I (a car passenger, or a rider, observer) and the physical body (car with artificial intelligence, or horse not trained with own wills, executor, actor). The passenger (I, with consciousness and ample or infinite knowledge) enters the car (with finite incomplete intelligence) and emits a command and the car obeys, and tries to go to the destination, being the best route chosen by the program of the car, but sometimes the optimal route chosen passes through places with danger of death (as has happened several times here in Brazil), due to a lack of complete knowledge of the situation. Admittedly, there may be corrections and adjustments to the robot car program.
Either the rider (I with infinite consciousness) rides on the horse (ego with finite consciousness) and the horse does not meet the rider’s requests because he has not been trained for it. Has no practical experience that he is carrying a knight with infinite consciousness and need to attend to him calmly, quietly, without any adverse reaction to the knight?
The question is: how a horse (physical body with selfish ego) with finite consciousness will understand that it needs to attend the rider (I real with infinite consciousness), if not trained for it? What training is useful for that?
This course, and others also, say that one must meditate in silence, turn off ego’s thoughts, or act as an observer of thoughts and emotions and not consider them or engage with them? How can a finite and selfish conscience be able to understand this process to arrive at desirable results, with no experience, that sometimes could be very easy but seem to be inaccessible? Does this exercise of seeking (a horse with finite consciousness) pose as the observer (a being with infinite consciousness) will work, in which way? This is difficult in practice, though I believe I have understood it in theory. But I do not see how to reconcile a horse thinking like a knight. Perhaps the Greeks with their Centaur have given an idea: vigorous body of horse (vehicle) with direction of the human head (infinite consciousness), totally neutralizing the interference of the egoistic head / conscience of horse.
This situation gives us fear and insecurity because we have been trained to live in this world with the tools of the ego.
Jesus of Nazareth encourages us to do just this leap: sell everything what is material and follow me, follow my path, try to express the Father, and the Father will provide you, will not leave you helpless. For this, Christ in his letters says clearly: seek to meditate in silence of thoughts, asking the Father, the Divine Consciousness, to take control of my life, seeking to nullify of the ego´s wills and its command of our lives, and for that we must also train in purifying our minds and consciousness of all thoughts and emotions of low energy frequency, replacing them with those of high energy frequency (as Hawkins also suggests in his studies).
Would anyone have any idea how to solve this dilemma in practice? In your own experience?
big []s to all
You are not WITH infinite conciousness, you ARE infinite conciousness. So is the horse, and the Earth. The horse and the rider and the Earth are ONE.
You are all wrapped up in Beliefs. Do a search on Gary VanWarmerdam on YouTube.
If you decide to part from materialis just remember my garage is full of Amazon boxes. No more room for your stuff?(:<{)
Good evening
I believe that I was entering this flow state, when giving technical lectures with slide projection, wishing to give the best to the listeners it seemed that I was in an altered state and there appeared words not current in my vocabulary, but that later I considered pertinent and included in the my vocabulary of future lectures. I could feel an altered state, perhaps more energetic, the appearance of new words, it seemed that someone was helping me, but not as a mere observer. The certainty was that the words did not come from my memory.
All the best to all.
Hey, Odo
I believe that if you keep meditating, you’ll find w/ practice that your awareness during it will change. I was sitting in a guided meditation that began w/ chanting that gradually faded into silence. I will never forget the awe I felt at the sudden perception that the chanting was coming from so very, very far away! Later, I had feelings of rapidly traveling down a vast hallway & other sensations that I won’t bore you w/. I think you’ll just have to get more relaxed & adjusted to the “inner world,” so to speak. Practice makes a lot of difference; if you can find some experienced meditation devotees to practice w/, that is bound to help. Best of luck. Just hang in there!
I notice my inner observer. I can observe my thoughts, from this separate part of me, without relating to them.
I’ve had so many miraculous incidents in my life and cut them off when my first husband passed away. Now I’m ready to open up again
Joanne
For about three decades, beginning when I was in my 20s, and continuing through my 30s, and 40s, I would suddenly see the scene before me and realize that I had lived this before. I wonder if I am living a life that I have lived before. I sincerely hope not because, like a lot of people, my life has been very sad and very physically painful for 50 + years. During that time I also had prophetic dreams. I would love it if anyone could enlighten me on what this means?
Hello Joanne,
What you have said reminds me of something I read a year ago about how sometimes the brain will experience an event and believe that it has lived that experience before…it is curious that at that time I was reading about what medical researchers called
fringe or not so very obvious schizophrenia. Don’t panic because we now know that we are justified to question everything that science and medicine tell us about ourselves and the functioning of our thoughts. I was researching a similar issue for myself, that of ‘having known something before it happened, then it happened and I would say “I thought that already happened” or “I already knew that” (many times but most specifically the tragedy of 9/11 which I saw hours before just before waking up on that day). I read the medical explanation, and I do not remember the source, and thought “well, what do they know?” and dismissed it as not useful to me. Several years ago I came up with the term “expanded awareness” to explain to myself how is it that I know more than people around me….Just this week I read this term “expanded awareness” in my Alexander/Newell readings and thought “well, they get it, finally there are others who understand my life experiences that seem out of the ordinary.” As these instances of awareness occur throughout my family of origin I have come to wonder if we are especially unique (ancestry via generations back in a particular mountainous locale of the U.S.) or if we are in fact not just genetically passing on this expanded awareness but are also part of a spiritual family. I regret that your entry is from months ago and that you may not even come across my thoughts because I would love to continue this conversation, particularly with respect to your history of pain. We are unique but not so much as we think, there are others. We are now passing through a door of new acknowledgement of awareness and we must leave the door ajar….there are others coming. May I recommend a video I just watched on Netflix called HEAL, not so much a promise that someone will ‘heal’ you as a supportive take on the grand possiblities that we hold within. Nona
Robert Moss, a professor of ancient history, best-selling author, shaman, and expert practitioner and teacher of dream-work, has an interesting theory that might possibly shed light on your experiences;
that in dreaming, one of our activities is to “preview” our upcoming experiences in waking reality, planning our experiences, and our responses to them, trying out various options, perhaps, and even collaborating with others, especially over those events that create change in our lives or theirs. He posits that we all do this, constantly, but that most do not remember our relate what they remember to the physical events as they occur in waking reality. This is just one of the ways that dreams may provide a window into our “larger” existence.
Joann, I wonder if we traverse the spiritual realm in our sleep. Could that account for your deja vous?
There are many levels of dreaming—the ordinary levels of integrating experience, then there are higher dream states that are clear and meaningful at a nonordinary level; then there is yoga nidra, in which you move into clear consciousness. I have a free book on the topic at https://www.lifeenergypowers.com/free-lucid-dream-book.html. It covers all aspects of dreaming, as well as dream yoga and Seth’s dream-art science.
I am in awe of the beautiful observing of you miraculous folks. What a joy this is to read, and praying I might have a chance some day, to have the same opportunity. I did see different colors, like violet and pinks and, oh yes there was also some green, that I observed. Thank you Karen and Eben, for this blessed opportunity, of sharing the glorious stories. I do so look forward to experiencing these myself.
Sandie,
Two nights ago, all i saw was purple and violet colors during my meditation 🙂
I do not enjoy this mental gymnastics exercise of trying to observe the observer within myself, it feels cold, clinical and detached – like I am trying to play God.
I hope this journey leads us back to the warmth, love and unity of our hearts soon because, in truth, without any doubt this the real centre of our being.
Thank you Fred,
I agree that the continued clinical approach to the wonder of the Greatness seems to leave out the sweet, personal and true presence of my own spirituality since childhood. It feels like being a child going to the Emergency Room with an injury where all the help is focusing on cold clinical protocol (although necessary) when I would really like a gentle nurse or doctor to look me in the eye and really see the pain and fear I am in. Enter, in my life, the real presence of my spiritual sustenance, the Sacred Holy Spirit, my partner in this earth dance.
Hi Nona and Fred,
Some of the terminology that Eben and a Karen present is logically from their lexicon (derived from a medical background) and their ‘clinical’ choice of words may feel cold to some as you both point out. But the subject of which they analyze and present is far from cold. The primordial consciousness they are talking about is warm, all enveloping universal love and bestowal upon creation and is the identical divine force of nature that is meditated upon in Hindi, Buddhist, and Jewish religions as well as in New Age religions including transcendental and mindful meditation plus any other meditative practice. Some meditations are guided and some are not but the observation of the breath is always the gateway to relaxing or numbing or anesthetizing the brain so that one may experience for once in one’s life one’s true surroundings. With this comes the quite voice that is the voice of that life force that breathes for you and beats your heart and causes your blood to flow: the observer. Involuntary functions of the body are maintained by the warm and loving primordial consciousness, the observer. We refer to the observer and if we possessed it and it is different for each person, but this is not the case, while the observer is deeply personal to each one of us in this lower world, just like the ego is deeply personal to each one. the observer is primordial consciousness and we are all interconnected, like points on a grid, what affects one, affects all. Keys: primordial, interconnected.
So Krishnamurti is wrong? The observer is NOT the observed? There IS separation?
Love Krishnamurti! He’s not wrong. There are just multiple expressions of reality (as A. H. Almaas points out)—and they are all real creations! Apparent separation is one of them: to give the whole multiple viewpoints. It’s fantastic. There is endless expression and discovery. The observer can play with perspectives and adopt any perspective it wishes. It can pretend separation to learn something new. It can pretend to be many or one. And it is all true. It only causes discomfort if the self or observer forgets its nature—then, pretending separation causes anxiety. 🙂
Very interesting comment. Thanks for putting into words something that I identify with but had not been evident to me.
Today as I tried to meditate, the current events of the immigration crisis kept coming into my thoughts. Then I realized that the observer brought me back to my breathing and saying the “om” with no judgement–only gentleness! I had never noticed how gentle and nonjudgmental the observer is until today.
Thank you to everyone who has shared here today… and thank you to Eben for creating this venue on these beautiful topics. I also have had many experiences with predictive visions of being that came into my life, internal predictive videos of events that unfolded exactly as shared with me minutes before, and would say as indicated in the script by Eben here, that what has always set any information apart from my own brain information, is the sense of “observation”. When there is no judgement in the information, this is another sign that this has come from a place of great consciousness for me. I recall once walking into a library to get a dictionary at a friend’s home, and as soon as I touched the book, a video unfolded in my mind’s eye that took all of a split second… no sense of time really… and then the word “obsessive” came to me… but without judgement. (Let’s fact it, some of our greatest contributors in the world have been obsessed with what they are exploring or studying.) There was no sense of negative or positive about the word. I then went back into the living room, sat down, looked up the word, and then went to place the book beside me. A conversation played out in the course of the next 60 seconds that was verbatim of the video that had been flashed before me. My friend stomped out of the room and returned the book. I was in shock and said nothing but was aware of the message that had come to me through another source. The most important lesson for me here was the lack of judgement when message comes from a higher source than our own brains. I think that Eben has identified a very important element that exists in the realm beyond this one…. observation vs judgement. I am working on learning to “judge less and observe more” in this life. Not an easy task for me:)
I am also having trouble with this! I have always had trouble trying to meditate. I will keep trying and maybe one day I will get it right.
EVERY effort is worthwhile and valid. It is all good for you.
As you close your eyes to meditate just keep reminding yourself that you are not your mind, you are not your physical body and you will start feeling weightless and just peacefully will switch to observer. When in observer state there just is no judgement. At 58 and decades of trying to meditate it finally clicked when i made or learned from these exercises that im not that “thinking” machine. Im part of it “all”, and “all” is not inside my head, but i have a feeling “all” will become a bigger and bigger part of me the more i go into this weightless observer mode. Hope my layman explanation helps.
Be like a child and enter the kingdom of heaven! Remember being a child when everything around you was miraculous and mysterious? When a speck of dust floating in the air caused you to shriek in ecstasy? Be like a child, playful, not serious, not trying to do anything. I call it “sitting in wonder.” Like Einstein said, we can relate to life as if everything were a miracle or nothing was a miracle. He opted for the miracle, and so do I …
‘You are the Universe, expressing itself as human for a little while’ – Eckhart Tolle
It was suggested to me that to initiate change, first “See yourself coming.”
Debbi, can you expound on this?
I love this, James! It sums just about everything up!
The other morning, I think it was Day 2 or Day 3, I had a negative thought as I was walking down the hallway, and my observer let out a “shriek”, very high pitched, it sounded “female”. I thought it was my wife, and I raced back into our bedroom. It wasn’t her shriek, but she said she heard it too. We live alone, no children, 1/4 acre lot, very quiet, we don’t even hear our neighbors car engines starting up in the morning. First time in my life I heard that shriek.
I think it was Richard Feynman that said “if someone tells you they understand quantum mechanics they are lying”. Until recently I believed that a theory of everything would one day be found. Now I’m really doubting it. The more they look the stranger the universe appears. Any scientist worth his salt would say that the exact nature of reality if far more complex than we can imagine. Speaking as a former atheist upgraded to agnostic I can’t understand the complete lack of willingness to even discuss God when it comes to trying to figure out our origins. I think Eben hit the nail on the head when he said that is their blind spot. True scientists are suppose to keep and open mind. I only learned of Eben about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I guess because he is so bright I was more inclined to believe what he’s saying. Also, after putting it down for the last 20 years I have been studying music for the last year or so. My memory for the stuff has become way more efficient than when I first started. At first I was getting head aches after only a small amount of study. I have memorized the positions of all kinds of scales, arpeggios and chords. I memorized Beethoven’s 5th (can’t play it at a performers level yet) and Canon in D along with lots of other stuff. Could it be that strengthening those areas of my brain has given me a fighting chance of perceiving what you guys are talking about. Things that I once scoffed at are seeming more and more likely to me. Anyways, Thank you to everybody for your input.
I used to be agnostic till my late 20s when I came across the Baha’i Faith, the latest (1844) of the Abrahamic religions, denied by the Muslim Faith, of course). I had a scientific look at the claims of the founder, Baha’u’llah, a Persian, His life, His writings, and concluded He was who He claimed to be – the latest Messenger of God, Promised One of all religions. He said God existed so I’m no longer agnostic.
I was never agnostic but I also became a Baha’i because to me it made sense of everything, including the understanding that science and religion are complementary, not mutually exclusive.
In response to the comment above, regarding the Muslim Faith denying the Baha’i Faith, I think it is very important to realize that most faiths deny the faiths of others. Instead of promoting any one religion or faith, let us all join together in our “sentientness”–our belonging to Consciousness and our love for each other as interconnected Souls in the web and fabric of Consciousness.
Right on Andrea Adams! : )
You might find value in reading or listening to the works of Neale Donald Walsh, http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com.
I’m trying, intermittently successfully, to practice mindfulness after my morning meditation. Watching when my mind trips off from what I am concentrating on and then bringing it back by staying present. It’s a continual discipline to work towards and it does get easier. At one point in my life I thought it was an achievement to multi-task, and there is a time for that when duty calls, but running continually it keeps you from being in the present. I think it was Blavatsky that said ‘The Mind is the Slayer of the Real’ and Dr Douglas Baker who always said, ‘Meditation begins in the space between thoughts’.
Nice!
Do I realy dare to write something to this complicated topic? Quantum physics is not easy stuff and when I read books about that in german it’s not much better than in a foreign language. The problem is to think it. I can imagine that there is more than I can see with my limited senses. I even can feal that there is more when I practice TaiChi. A chinese sage, I’m sorry I forgot which one, said: We are in CHI and CHI is in us. Cheng Man-ch’ing said: The CHI wich is flowing in our body is the same than the CHI wich is moving the stars. When I practice TaiChi it feals lika a dance at the border between matter and energie. (For people who would like to read more: by Wolfe Lowenthal – There are no secrets – Professor Cheng Man-ch’ing and his Tai Chi Chuan). So I’m used to think in energie and when someone says, there is no matter at all, I think well the chinese were right. But what puzzles me is when physicists discuss, if the moon is still there when nobody looks. Do they mean that literally? Unfortunately the moon is too far away and too big so we can’t stumble over it in the dark like a friend of mine did in the dark hotel room with her suitcase. She didn’t see it, she didn’t think of it and I didn’t expect that noise, because she was trying so much not to wake me up. We were laughing in giggling half way through the night. Do You just want to say, that we see only a small part of the whole? Bees, bats or snakes see a diffrent world. I am pleased to see a chance to influence things for example for healing, but it is difficult to think that everything is illusion. To think about an orchid from Madagascar which has only one single pollinator, a butterlfy (Angreacum sesquipedale) makes it impossible for me, to think of an observer smaler than the BIG ALWAYS LOVING OBSERVER – THE OM – or THE BIG LOVE how I like to call Him/Her.
The think about the moon in the sky and the tree in the forest—hey, there are other consciousnesses out there to perceive. Not just Man, who believe he is at the top of the pyramid in a universe with billions of galaxies. And if consciousness is fundamental, there is always Basic Reality to be a witness. And there are animals in the forest. If a tree falls, I bet they hear it, too. So, can anything that occurs in this universe ever go unknown? Even the fall of a sparrow?
In this corporal world it is all real but it is not the truth! It is a playground, a game. We are missing the correct filter to feel, to experience, to see the primordial consciousness that is everywhere.
I like what you said.
Day 5, not sure I understand what I’m supposed to do…I started like always with breathing, saying some prayers, thanking God and Jesus, colors were various shades of green, later some yellow. Thought about last night at my daughters, observing after the fact…
Is anyone else having problems with this stuff? It seems that all the posts are about people having wonderful wuwu experiences. I’m not. Day #1 I received a blank email with the word “experience”. I spent all day trying to figure out if it was one of those ‘one hand clapping’ riddles. Day #2 I actually got a regular email with content, including a link to the Day #1 stuff I missed. I tried sitting quietly, but was restless and kept trying to figure out how I would know when the 10 minutes was up. Day #3 no wonderful childhood memories popped into my head, so I thought about experiences as a child growing up with my dog.. Day #4, I read the email, but when I tried to do the daily practice, I could not remember what I had to do, I guess I lost focus; a coincidence, or was that the point of the exercise? I finally sat quietly, and just as my arms felt like they were getting numb and disappearing, the cat jumped on my chest and began to purr loudly in my ear, at which point I stopped and went back to playing Candy Crush. Day #5, I just read the email and haven’t figured out yet, how I am going to find the observer observing me. I enjoy and understand the science concepts, but the rest is harder to understand and implement. Please post if you are also having trouble with this stuff, so I know I’m not the only one.
Ray, it seems you were doing a fine job of observing what you think you are not doing. I’m not sure, but I think I would try to identify more with the Observer then the Doer. What part of you is making all the judgments and observations? If you look closely I think you will find that it’s not the person sitting quietly trying to meditate or choosing to do Candyland. It takes some switching around in your thoughts and a different perspective.
I completely identify with your experience and I imagine there are others reading these comments who agree – you are not alone. When I first began meditating, it seemed like a waste of time. I heard stories like others are posting here that seemed fantastic and impossible at the same time. It can be discouraging to have “experience envy” but eventually, I realized that we each have a unique way of reaching these states, but to find out, one must try. I applaud you for giving it a chance! Throughout the course, there will be further techniques and tips and I encourage you to keep at it. You may find the sound recordings helpful, as I did, or possibly not. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to do this. It’s great you are enjoying the intellectual piece of the course, but in the end, personal experience is quite powerful and it absolutely can be cultivated, but it takes time and commitment.
I meditated from 1988-2017 with limited success using kriya yoga and rosicrucian techniques; I quickly achieved success in Dec 2017 using karma yoga to finally bring together my 30 years of studying various philosophies and techniques. Everyone has a different path to the same goal.
I rely on the sound of water and birds chirping from the MUSE App.
Ray, You are doing fine simply by being open to this 33 Day Experience.
I have been studying Consciousness, Laws of Attraction, Deepak Chopra and a host of other thought practices and spiritual paths for over a decade, but got more serious in the last year or so…
The good news is no matter who you study they all basically say the same things, there is very little contradiction, which I find comforting, and everyone speaks of the importance of getting to know the part of yourself (your Soul) that is fully connected with Source energy, God, The Force, The Universe, whatever you want to call it. That’s the part that is the Observer.
The bad news is, it doesn’t come easily, none of it. Meditating is difficult, you’ll find new ways along the path to help you stay in it longer and breakthroughs that make you continue and then you’ll slip back for a moment, stop, then realize the importance and start again.
I have yet to manifest the life I intended when I started down this path, but I feel richer in other ways and it’s helped tremendously with my anxiety and depression. I definitely feel hope and a sense of trust I didnt have before; but it came gradually. Just stay open 😚
Yrs infeed…definitle not as easy as some “The Secret” would have us believe. I’m looking forward to those other options coming later because really when you look at the mess we ate in vs the prosperity od otgers, you begin to eonder if youve midsed a trick somewhere along the line. Or if it really is about wusening up on some other level. Ive got to a certain stage of “acceptance” but wonder if it’s just the Menopause.
I’m having trouble too Ray. I have a particularly questioning mind, acutely observing. I remember once going to a hypnotist for something medical, only to be told I was “unhypnotizable” because I was too questioning. I’m not convinced the experiences described by people are real reflections of the “worlds” of the universe, or something else. If they are real, why isn’t it happening to me? If they are real, how can they help the plight humanity is in in THIS world?
If they are real, how can they help the plight humanity is in in THIS world?
Christine, I can assure you they are real and they are helping. Eben and Karen are part of their help.
Ray, you’re not alone.
I thought that I identified with problems as I am the problem, but not, now realized. Only it was my confusion like a bottomless swamp or lost identity to know who I am. I believe this is a journey to know who we are. Peace. Eric
Linda McCarthy has said something profound. Two things that the hypnagogic state is what my friend and I used to verify the transmission of thought for over 9 months. Secondly, when my dearly loved grandmother on my mother’s side passed she came to me the exact time and took me to that place that Linda described exactly. Telepathy, infinite love – compassion, no hunger, pain, but grass that was translucent. I wanted to stay and three times she told me I must return. I have no fear of death since that experience.
I am going to continue to practice from the perspective of my inner observer and integrate this into my daily life. This awareness will help me not to react to things, people, and the world from self centered fear… I’ll try to remain neutral and cOMe from a place of compassion and love…
Thanks for replying to my experience with death of my ex on day7. This course has me so engrossed and I skip back to read again sometimes. You respond a lot to others and I wish I also made time for that. I did not see your previous answer on that day 7, nor my own post. I guess it takes a while to appear or be selected. But your answer to me as “your heart is more expensive than the ocean” is poignant and also synchronistic, because after I had written my post, I thought so of my heart , and responded to a friend in those very words “My heart is more expensive than the ocean!”
ExPANsive!
I had an OBE and left my body for 45 minutes. I met my dad on the other side, and was surrounded by the light and love of God. I was told it wasn’t my time, but my dad and I had a telepathic conversation. I know that there are multiple dimensions of reality, this is only one aspect. I have had experiences in a hypnagogic state, where I have felt a hug from spirit. I even had the opportunity to kiss his arm, and hand. Truly a blessing.
Wow… that’s incredible… so happy you had that sacred time with you Dad… what a blessing
I had a similar experience and was also told that it was not my time and that I should go back to the body lying on the dock that I was observing from on high. I was only 14 at the time, a very, very long time ago, long before I was aware of any of this. Many, many years later, I have received contact from a very close and dear friend. This friend had passed a long time ago. I need help at the time. How could all be known without there being another reality? Eben is bringing a further understanding and corroboration. Thanks.
THis reminds me of the book I am currently reading (of course because I’m for your book to be released) The Untethered Cord. I was starting to think I was mentally ill until I got to the 5th or 6th chapter. I try sit back and observe all the time but old habits are not easy to break. I still get involved and attached to my ego and its wicked thoughts. I am really enjoying this journey, Eben and Karen.
Hi Nicole,
Michael Singer has a book called “The Untethered Soul,” is this the one you read? The reason I ask is because I can count on one hand the books that have led to paradigm shifts in my spiritual growth, and this book was one of them. This was a few years ago, but I bought several copies for friends who were also on spiritual journeys. Some loved it and others weren’t quite “there” yet. I have recently revisited this book and have talked to some of those friends about it, and I love that many have also come to embrace the concepts of universal consciousness. I love that you too are finding yourself moved by his work. I’m sure you’ve read Tolle’s books, but when I read them back in the mid-2000’s they were the first that led me to take a look at a different idea of Ego and Consciousness. Now that I have read Alexander and Newell’s book, I am finding myself going even deeper within the concepts of consciousness. What a beautiful journey we are on!
I’ve always had something about me that is in contact with the other side. I had experiences as a child that earned me the reputation of being a horrible unrepentant liar when I shared those events with other people, and I was often punished. So I stopped telling others and the experiences became less frequent, but I have continued to have them until now, in my 70th decade of this life. Shall I share two of them? I married and had two daughters. While pregnant with my first, I had several “visions” of a lovely child about 5 years old, with long cornsilk blonde hair in 2 braids and very blue eyes. The baby was a girl and I can show you her first grade photograph. Yup, it’s her. And the second child was a girl, too. Their father and I divorced and I was living near the opposite border of our country from my previous family, the children having opted to remain with their father in the home they had grown up in, and graduate from their local high school. One night in the frozen North as I lay sound asleep, I suddenly sat straight upright in bed, fully awake and conscious and stretched out my hand for the bedside telephone. As I did so, it began to ring. I spoke into the mouthpiece, “Which one is it?” and my ex-husband said it is Bxxxx. Come now. She might not make it.” I got the particulars from him – she had been hit by a drunk driver and was broken all to pieces in their local hospital; no one could predict if she would live. Happy ending, she did recover, over a long period of time. But I wanted to share that I knew daughter 1 before she was born, and I absolutely knew my ex would be on that phone and that my child was terribly injured. How? It’s all part of the mysterious spiritual journey, along with my NDE. Namaste.
Thank you for sharing. You definitely have a unique gift. I hope you stay open to sharing with others.
Yes… my Mother of 11 children Grace was the same way… she intuitively knew if one of us was in trouble…
I also ‘knew’ my 1st daughter, before she was conceived. As soon as I met the man I later married, it was like she was sitting on my shoulder telling me, “mum, mum, this is my dad, this is how I’m coming in, hurry up!”. I realised I didn’t really love him in the way I would have wanted, and another part of myself (higher self? guardian/mentor?) was saying simultaneously “no, no, don’t marry him!” Needless to say, I was very confused! I had to eventually make the choice, and I made it for my daughter (who grew up to be just the person I recognised before she came), but after a 2nd daughter the marriage ended. Somehow it seemed the 2 choices I had were in opposition to each other, at least in our human dimension, but I believe now there would have been a 3rd option, I may have realised if I’d been more spiritually wise (or open) at that time. We live and learn!
A few years ago, when I was learning about the strange quantum mechanical effects of the observer on what was being observed, I mentioned to my wife how it seems that atoms behave differently depending on whether they are being observed or not. Without missing a beat, she said, “Sort of like children, I suppose.” I wanted to protest, saying “But children are way more complicated than simple atoms! Atoms aren’t complex enough to realize that they are being observed, much less to be able to respond differently. They are just simple assemblages of protons, neutrons and electrons, spinning around according to known laws.” Well, maybe not. Maybe we just think they are simple. Maybe there is a lot more going on down there than we can tell. Maybe there are unseen dimensions of connectivity of which we are as yet unaware. Maybe we need more humility in our efforts to know reality.
Back in the ’80s as part of my continuing spiritual journey, I participated with a group of women who met every week for two years reading Jane Roberts’ book, “The Nature of Personal Reality,” one of the Seth books. Seth, who was channeled through Jane, taught that the mind, our thoughts, creates our reality. We did exercises to help us see this. It was a very powerful experience, especially coming from a place in life of feeling powerless over my world.
When I was a child I would spontaneously have experiences that happened periodically and lasted into early adulthood. I would be out playing with my friends, or doing some any day thing, and suddenly everything would ‘look’ different, though it still looked the same. This experience was accompanied by a strange sensation throughout my body. It scared me at first but I got used to it. It lasted a brief period of time and would pass. As I got older and understood more, I named the experiences “reality shifts.”
I also had these experiences which I now refer to as, “spontaneous meditative states”. They started as a young child and they often had a powerful lesson to teach me. This was in the late ’40s and I have followed a pretty spiritual path since, learning as I went. Sometimes ambling way off the path, but always returning. Have you ever had one or several of your senses ‘blocked’ or felt you could see or hear outside of them? That one still confounds me.
When I was first getting into really exploring spirituality and meditation, I had many incredible experiences. One that stands out when you mention having your senses blocked was; I could no longer read fiction. The words on the page made no sense and I knew I was only to read non-fiction or spiritual books. This was about 30 some years ago and lasted for a very long time.
I had those same experiences. I wondered if aliens were trying to invade my mind! To this day, I have wondered about them. The experience was back in the early 70s. It lasted a few yrs and I found them to be quite unsettling. Finally I just accepted them and then they stopped occurring. I would appreciate knowing more.
My tendency has been to consider I’m off track, not with the experience of the moment when the observer self is noticed. You seem to be giving a more positive spin saying the observer is more with it than I’d previously given credence to.
That’s so true what you say about being more conscious as the observer of your thoughts and separating yourself from the random thoughts floating by looking for energy and attention. To me it’s like identifying more with the programmer than the software running in the background. A little trick I found helpful was to treat the thoughts which manifest as voices in your head as lodgers in your home. I would name them according to their energy, fear, anger, frustration, irritation, etc. If they were only lodgers in my home and wouldn’t conform to house rules they would have to leave. For me it worked.
Sept. 20, 2017 Back on August 23rd, I was putting the dinner dishes into the dishwasher. I glanced out the kitchen window and saw my cat, Trooper, racing at breakneck speed across the backyard, heading for the back door, with a big white dog on his tail. I hightailed it out of the kitchen, around the breakfast counter, through the dining room, and reached the back door just after Trooper had leaped up and slammed into the screen door crashing back down onto the porch with the dog right there. I opened the door and Trooper darted in and I dashed out. I chased the dog into the forest all the while lamenting about the fact that I forgot to grab my rifle, or at least my bear spray, that I keep next to the back door. I wanted to fire a warning shot over the dog’s head to let him know he is not welcomed on my land. When I came back into the house, my sister, who had been in the living room watching TV, was in the dining room consoling Trooper. She had no idea what had just happened. All she knew was there was a lot of shouting and running going on in the kitchen. It wasn’t until later, when I went to bed and was laying there reviewing and contemplating about what had happened to Trooper, that I suddenly realized I had described the event, to my sister, from the viewpoint of me standing in the backyard watching the whole event. To this day I can still see in my mind the view of my backyard when one stands on the edge, where the lawn meets the forest, and looks back at the house. That is, I saw Trooper running around the corner of the house, across the backyard, the white dog behind him, Trooper make a flying leap up the porch, grasp for the screen door but slam into mostly the glass part (there are still claw marks in the screen part), fall back down onto the porch, and the white dog right there almost on top of him. That is the scene I described to my sister, after I came back in the house from chasing the dog away. Now, how could I be in the house opening the back door letting Trooper in and also be standing in the backyard watching Trooper running and slamming into the screen door all at the same time? That was so bizarre to realize I had actually been in TWO places at once!! How awesomely cool is that !!!! I want to do it again. : )
The other weird part of this is that I had two different feelings about all this. Once again, I didn’t realize it until later after contemplating. My feelings, while in the kitchen, was one of panic because I didn’t want Trooper to be attacked. The other feeling was one of calm and indifference, as I stood in the backyard watching the scene unfold. I somehow “knew” the dog was not going to attack and all would be okay. When I did finish chasing the dog away and go back into the house, I was inwardly calm about everything. At the time, it just all felt like yeah, whatever…. Once again, it wasn’t until I was laying in bed that night reviewing the event that I realized I felt calm about it. It felt fine. Normally, when something panicky happens a person will still feel uptight about it hours or even days afterwards. Nope. Not this time. Weird….yet, totally awesome! Now, I want to know why did I get to be in two places at once for this event and not some other past event? I have had a few other events, in my lifetime, that were more traumatic than what happened to Trooper. In those events, I am the one who had the highest potential of actually being killed. But, putting my law enforcement training into practice prevented a potential death.
I told my friend, who can contact the Ascended Masters and practices Feng Shui, about this Quantum Physics event. She advised me that with my constant reading, studying, and contemplating about spiritualism, near death experiences, reincarnation, synchronicity, Feng Shui, Quantum Physics, and so on, that my soul is moving into a higher state of awareness. I would love to hear any feedback comments about all this. Has anyone else experienced being in two places at once? Thank you for taking your time to read this rather long post.
dear Laura… appreciate your sharing..indeed i can identify.. as you, i have been on “the quest” ..searching reading studying over the yrs .. this is now starting to gel.. confirming ones experiences that do not fit into the everyday reality… i say BRAVO ..to Dr Eben for stepping up to the plate ..so to speak
feels delightful to have a person with his training that can be taken in with confidence of source ..love an light yvonne B.C. Canada
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As we are living in a ‘holographic’ universe; many of us are now moving towards ascension as the 26,000 year cycle draws to a close; given that there is no time as such, we are each living in a multi-dimensional universe and experiencing the ‘Mandala’ effect more so now than ever in history. Our ability to bi-locate has always been our right but the past few years have seen the most extraordinary increase in our inter-dimensional abilities and our spiritual growth. I have personally ‘changed time’ and while it is a long story from my days in Denver, Colorado, I am to this day perplexed and in awe of having been able with the help of my spirit guides to stop time and arrive somewhere terribly important to me at that time in 1/3 of the time it would normally take…..seriously, left me humbled, puzzled and on a quest to know more…..hope my reply adds a bit extra on your journey…Cheers..
I loved reading your story. No, I have not experienced being in two places at one time. But I can certainly attest to that calm indifference you refer to, which you felt while having your “outside the house” part. That calm indifference is actually the marker for me of something numinous, real, meaningful. While IT is going on my attitude is “Oh yeah, that” as if it is normal and drama-less and not something to think about or even feel about. My late husband, right after he died, used to come lay down with me while I was in that delicious hypnagogic state between sleeping and waking. And my inner attitude was always “Oh yeah, that’s Jer, that’s familiar.” No drama, no booga-booga something psychic is happening, just regular life. Hope this helps you. Mary
Thanks for sharing your experience. I wish I could say I’ve had a similar experience myself, but cannot. It’s exciting to know that it’s possible!
Fascinating story Laura… your consciousness being in 2 places at the same time. The only other story I heard like yours was Blessed Martin de Porres was seen begging in 2 different places at the same time. He was collecting food for the poor.
I am aware myself, perhaps several time a week of being the watcher or the observer and with certain people, they and I are akin to that special moment.
observing the Observer is difficult, it requires high concentration. The body isn’t important, neither surroundings. Somehow all almost blend. The third eye widely opened, vision with dip perspective. I lost sense of existence/being here and now for some time. Then I was surrounded with crown chakra colors. I had enough and opened my eyes, meditation lasted 14 min.