When the Observer Holds the Reins

Walking a spiritual path is about learning how to get in harmony with all our experiences, whether they might be physical or emotional, or whether they happen on a spiritual or an intellectual level.

To be in harmony requires to be completely present at this special moment. We feel our body, we perceive our emotions, we hear our thoughts and we are connected with our spirit. All this happens at a time when we are completely immersed in the occurrence of the moment. To say that we have an information overload would be putting it mildly - we are one with the Flow when all that just melts into one feeling of lasting connectedness.

There is an observer at work when your agenda fades into the background. Everyone has to have an agenda, that is what the concept of the "I" is all about. Before we walked the Way we perceived and felt things differently. With tunnel vision you just zoom into the stuff you want to get out of a situation. But in doing so you often overlook things that the "I" considers as non-essential, though a spiritual traveler would tell you they matter a lot! The tunnel vision also often puts you out of touch with your emotions, body and spirit.

The agenda of a spiritual traveler is not to have one. Over and over we have learned that tunnel vision brings trouble. Again and again we realize that we cannot really root for something given that we ourselves don't really know what constitutes "good" and "bad". When we get in tune with our body, emotions and spirit, we feel the situation we are in and the thoughts become a conclusion rather than a precursor of the situation we aspire to be in. When the observer holds the reins, the Self is projecting Itself through us. Whenever this connection is there, we feel peaceful and harmonious and we are sure to walk the Way.

By Christian and Su Zhen