Innriheimur

7.9.2007 | 09:50

Observation

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The Bridge ~ Step 100 ~ Global Observance Day

You are learning the language that has no words

As a way of celebrating the 100th step of The Bridge, we'd like to propose a new holiday - Global Observance Day. And what historical event or remembrance, you may ask, are we observing? The answer is none whatsoever. This is not about creating a new place on our calendars so that we need to buy or sell more greeting cards, or glorify labor unions, or honor a "discoverer" who coldly massacred entire tribes of peaceful Natives, or rouse more patriotism so our friendly arms and airplane manufacturers can make more money. No, this is something different entirely. It's a truly challenging, invigorating experience, designed to have us look at the world around us in a new way. Here's how it works:

Pick a day - any day you like - and for as long as you can remember to do so, simply observe what goes on around you (hence the name Global Observance Day.) On this day, you're not going to judge, label, categorize, analyze, record, or even give a name to anything in your immediate world. Likewise, you needn't believe, accept, reject, or react to anyone else's ideas unless you want to. All you have to do is witness what's going on.

Other than that, you can go happily about your day as usual. If you drive somewhere, you can be observing while you're driving. If you go to work, you can still be just as efficient (perhaps even more so) by refraining from any judgment making. If you choose to interact with others during this time, you can tell them what you are doing or not. It doesn't matter. Those who are concerned about how people might react, or who feel that it would be easier to stay in an "observing mode" if there were less distractions around them, may want to spend the day out in nature, taking a walk, or sitting beside the lake. It's up to you.

After you get good at impartially observing your outer, worldly surroundings, then go on to observing your inner thoughts without judging them. If you notice at anytime throughout the day that you've slipped back into judging or labeling things, be easy on yourself. Don't browbeat yourself - simply start over with your impartial observing. Even if you have to begin anew a hundred times over the course of the day, that's okay. Eventually your perceptions will shift and when you least expect it, you will step into a world that was unavailable to you when you were putting your spin on everything. You'll get a glimpse of the world as it really is, where everything is connected to everything else, where everything glows, and where you know you are part and parcel of a Great Oneness that has been there along. From that point on, you'll be less apt to harm or judge anyone ever again because you'll know that you would only be harming or judging another part of yourself.

No wrong, no right
No dark, no light
No good, no bad
No sane, no mad

No low, no high
No yours, no my
No rich, no poor
No less, no more

No weak, no strong
No short, no long
No big, no small
No spin at all

No there, no here
No far, no near
No gain, no name
It's all the same

It just is.