The paradox that might save us from ourselves.
Something that puzzled me about Krishnamurti’s paradoxical double use of the word observer, besides the fact that he was basically a non dualist, came down to the realisation that I’d conditioned myself to the understanding that the observer was always outside thought looking in. Never a construction of thought itself, but always the watcher on the hill, detached from its own conditioning.
However Krishnamurti’s deeper appreciation of the dualistic nature of the observer revealed to me an inescapable insight.
In order to know that there is an observer, there must be a second observer, outside the first observer… there must be the awareness of the first observer… This second observer is what we’re interested in. This second observer is the awareness that creates the possibility for us to escape from our conditioning. To know the conditions of thought itself.
The awareness of being aware.
This second attention, as Don Juan Matus, of the legendary Carlos Castaneda series of books illuminates, is how we go about Seeing Energy. It is an innate faculty of the human being, to be able to perceive that which is beyond the ever present minding of the mind. Indeed, without this second attention, we would not know that we know. We would be as dogs and cats, blind to ourselves and unable to appreciate the hell we find ourselves in. In other words we would still be in the garden of Eden.
Yes, you’ve guest it. This second attention is nothing less than the gift bestowed upon us from the Tree of Knowledge. (Of Good and Evil).
So why is not being aware, evil?
Because we can trace all wrong doings back to ignorance, to the sin of not being aware. And why is not being aware a Sin? Because awareness is Truth, therefore not being aware is to act not of Truth, therefore sinful, ie, evil. And to act from awareness, is therefore Good… Yeah I realise theres a bit more to unpack there, but lets go with that for now…
And being aware of our habitual patterns, whilst initially may be uncomfortable and painful, ultimately leads us to being able to pull ourselves up with our own boot straps… it is indeed the necessary leverage required to transform ourselves from dogs in to gods. Self actualised beings capable of fully conscious action.
So it’s evident that once upon a time in our ancient past humanity did indeed give rise to a son of god, a being of second sight, and many perhaps. And so, such men and women formed schools and gathered to instruct one another on the methods of attaining such awareness and all of the knowledge gleaned therein. Of which, magick, metaphysics, philosophy, and all the arts and sciences were born…
Upon realising this, it seems that our present day society is in somewhat of a dark age. How did we go so off course?
I can’t help but wonder if some global catastrophe toppled humanity from its paradise some time in our past. Was this our fall from heaven? Or was Sodom and Gomorrah a prophecy of our present times?
Either way, humanity seems to be caught in a loop, destined to be forever trying to escape its own ignorance. Why do we resist so strongly the Second Observer?
