Whom Scroll

Meditation XXIX · 20 minutes

The Witness Behind the Witness

Gnosis Self-inquiry

Whatever can be seen has a seer behind it. Take that seat, and look again.

The Mirror’s Question turns you back to yourself in a single step. This working takes the long way round, one seat at a time. You step back from your thoughts to the one watching them. If that watcher has any quality you can notice, such as calm, amusement or kindness, then it too is something seen, so you step back to whoever noticed it. You keep going until there is nothing left to describe.

The working

  1. Sit comfortably with your back upright, close your eyes and let a few breaths settle you.
  2. Watch your thoughts drift past like clouds. Don’t follow them. Notice that there is someone watching them, and settle into that watcher.
  3. Rest there for a while. Then turn and look at the watcher itself. Does it have any quality? It might feel calm, amused, patient, tired, kind, or have a certain energy to it.
  4. If you noticed a quality, something did the noticing. Whatever can be described is being seen, and whatever is seen needs someone to see it. So there must be another observer behind the first one. Ask, Who noticed that?, and step back into that observer.
  5. Now look at this new observer the same way. If you can find any quality in it, the same rule applies: someone is seeing that quality, so step back again into whoever sees it.
  6. Keep going, one seat at a time, each time you find something to describe. Go gently, without hurrying or straining.
  7. When you look and can’t find any quality at all, only plain awareness with nothing in it to describe, stop stepping back and rest there.

For example: you watch your thoughts, and find a watcher who feels calm. Calm is a quality, so who is noticing the calm? Step back into that one. This observer seems quietly amused. Who sees the amusement? Step back again. Perhaps the next one feels spacious. Who notices the spaciousness? Step back once more, and keep going until there is nothing left to notice.

Closing

Let the steps go and rest as you are for a few breaths, then open your eyes. If the stepping back starts to feel dizzying or unsettling, stop, feel your feet and the seat beneath you, and come back to an ordinary breath.