Back in the 1600s, Descartes postulated that his existence was predicated on his ability to think – “I think, therefore I am”. That is where he placed his focus.
The idea of knowing yourself as the observer through awareness of the observed is not a new one. It’s been around for thousands of years and shared by many a guru.
Exploring your mental screen is merely adding some structure to a process that has been mired in mystery for many years. It is a simple way to observe the observed. Your thoughts and emotions don’t have to be elusive reactions to an outside world. There is a process and it can be decoded to put you back into the driver’s seat.
Now in the last post we discussed the content of your mental screen. So how many items did you identify? How many items can you be aware of on your mental screen? As you may recall, your mental screen is the background of your mental visual field. You may or may not be aware of your mental screen just yet. Often times, people are aware of the image in the foreground. For example, if you were to think back to when you were in your car the last time, what pops up on your mental screen. You? The car? A part of you or the car? The road? The landscape zipping past the car?
How many possible things could have popped up in your mind? When you become aware of that, then expand your focus so that you find the edges of that image and become aware of the foreground of the image separate from the background of the image. Unless you are fully associated into the image and experiencing it in full IMAX 3D, you will have a separation between the foreground and background.
Once you identify the foreground, explore changing the background. If you a car floating there against a black or white background, change the color of the background. How would the car look against a blue background? A pink one? A yellow and black polka dot one? A green chalkboard?
The more you unearth about your inner workings, the more you uncover how to create your life. Whether you focus on the foreground or the background impacts your experience.
Explore some more different images to practice this further.
Here are some words to start with.
- Tree
- Lizard
- Bicycle
- Mom
- Ice cubes
- Book
- Antennae
- Bottle
Give it a go and see what you discover.
