Whom Scroll

Meditation XVI · 5 minutes

The Numbered Lanterns

Illusion Visualization

In the counting house of the mind, the lanterns light themselves.

We read every number we see, saying it silently whether we mean to or not. In this working you let numbers appear in the mind’s eye and simply watch them. Their colour, shape and lettering often fill themselves in before you’ve decided anything.

The working

  1. Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and let the space in front of you go dark, or picture a plain white page if the dark is hard to draw on.
  2. Picture the number 1. Don’t say it. Just look at it. Notice its colour and how it’s written.
  3. Begin the one-times table: 1 × 1 = 1, 1 × 2 = 2, and on up to twelve. Watch each line appear rather than reciting it.
  4. Move on to another table. For 2 × 6 = 12, try seeing two sixes, one above the other, sliding together into a twelve.
  5. Play with them. Change the lettering, the colours, the angle, how many numbers appear at once. Try Roman numerals, like the ones on this scroll’s pages.
  6. If you catch yourself saying the numbers, that’s fine. Go back to watching.

Closing

Let the numbers fade one by one, like lanterns going out at the end of the evening, and open your eyes.