The Witness - An Essay

[Guest guest]

The Witness - A Short Essay

---------------------------

 

What is the Witness? It is that (in us) which is detached and observing

all phenomena, simply registering events (input through the five senses,

thought, emotions, everything). The Witness simply observes, and usually

the observation gets stored in memory - thus, it serves the function of

observing/recording, like a video camera or tape recorder. Even

remembering something from the past is witnessed and stored as a memory,

the memory of recalling memories.

 

In every state there is witnessing, but it is normally confused with the

person (= memory = thought = time). It is possible for the identity of the

person with the Witness to break, and this has occurred to me at least

once. One time I remember clearly -- it was a most curious sensation. I

was brushing my teeth at the time. Suddenly I was observing the body as it

went through the motions of tooth-brushing. It was like the body was

moving by itself, and I was watching - " I " was not doing anything but

watching as the body faithfully performed as it was supposed to. It was

most unusual, as if watching a puppet perform, but not at all

disconcerting. As emotions are a form of thought and arise from memory,

there was no emotion connected with the event.

 

At other times, I have experienced a most peculiar phenomenon, where I can

" feel " what others are feeling (as physical sensation). For example,

seeing someone grip the steering wheel in a car, I can feel the sensation

in their hands as they grip it (it is not felt in " my hands " but is simply

felt). This is so disconcerting that it can be immensely disturbing. It's

possible that so-called " depersonalization " experiences (where a person

sees themselves but does not recognize who they are seeing, or simply has a

dramatic (but usually temporary) sensation of not knowing who they are) are

experiences where the Witness is temporarily dis-identified with " the

person " (again, the person = memory).

 

Most depend on the Witness regularly, but are unaware of it. Anyone who

has driven home from work in a deep daydream or half asleep, and is

startled to " come to " suddenly and find themselves arriving home safely,

has been guided by the Witness. Some people have driven a car dead drunk

for miles, yet somehow managed to get home. The Witness obviously serves a

vital function, yet when confused with remembered events, appears as " the

person. "

 

Being universal (as consciousness), the Witness is not limited in

perspective as the eyes and other senses are. It can observe and register

from " above " the body, or to any side, similar to a movable camera. This

has been routinely observed in past-life regression therapy, where the

person observing themselves in their past life sometimes sees out their own

eyes, and sometimes from an " external " or third-person perspective (this

has puzzled some past-life regression hypnotists). It can also be observed

in near death experiences (NDE's), when the body is seen from above, being

worked on by doctors, and in so-called " out of body experiences. "

 

It seems there is in reality only one universal Witness. Could this

account for so-called " ESP " or " mind-reading? " How about those times when

a person KNOWS something has happened to someone they are close to (despite

any supporting evidence) and it turns out to be true? It seems likely that

all minds are linked as the universal Witness. A lot of conclusions can be

drawn from this idea, and it certainly explains many unusual things that

are otherwise unexplainable.

 

The Witness is the bridge between the Absolute and the person. When the

Witness ceases to register " external " or " internal " events (for whatever

reason) and begins to witness ITSELF, the bridge is crossed. Since the

Witness is really the Self, if the Witness witnesses itself (sometimes

referred to as " awareness of awareness " or " awareness attending to itself, "

the Self is seen. This does *not* get recorded in memory, since there is

nothing to record (the Self is not an object of perception). Rather, a

radical change in perspective occurs. The Witness " becomes " the Self

(Reality, Absolute, Brahman) and is no more. It seems that this can be

either permanent or temporary, and that there is the illusion (created by

the mind) that this dissolution it is a process, taking time. I suspect

that it is really instantaneous (timeless) but the person (thought-memory)

perceives it as a process taking time to complete. The habit of perceiving

everything as process is a difficult one to break.

 

As the Absolute, identity remains. Transcendence does not mean

destruction. The body is really the mind (and vice-versa,) and to separate

the two is a falsehood. As long as the body-mind continues, identity

continues, although not memory-based personality. Some have said that a

sort of " shell " of an ego is left behind, but filled with Divinity (= Void

= Total Fullness) rather than memories and habits. When the body of a

" realized " person finally dies, the last of the identity dies with it,

leaving only the Absolute and nothing to be reborn as another body.

 

Tim

 

-----

BEING *IS*; What can add to or take away from It?

 

Visit " The Core " Website at http://coresite.cjb.net -

Music, Poetry, Writings on Nondual Spiritual Topics.

Tim's other pages are at: http://core.vdirect.net.