And my goodness,
There's so many different ways we can approach this topic of the cosmic mirror.
But actually I'm inspired to speak about this today because last night I was reflecting on the experience of perceiving other people and perceiving life.
It just hit me so hard that I'm not really seeing other people.
I'm not really seeing life,
But rather I'm seeing how I see other people.
I'm seeing how I see life.
It's like you could be sitting across from another human being.
And in one way it really looks like you're seeing another person out there.
Not realizing that you're seeing your own scene.
And so as you look out,
You're looking in.
Naturally,
This can be quite confusing for some,
Maybe quite obvious for others.
But I'd like to explore this with an illustration that I use quite a bit,
But for me,
This makes it so much more simple and self-evident.
And that is the analogy of a cinema projector.
When you go to the cinema,
You're watching a movie on a screen.
And in the back,
There's a projector that is effectively putting the image on the screen.
And so we can imagine for a second that this projector has a personality.
And as the projector watches the movie,
It becomes convinced that it's watching something outside of itself.
The projector is convinced that the image is out there,
Separate from itself.
And naturally the projector has a really good argument.
It says,
Look,
It's out there.
What the projector doesn't recognize is that what it's looking at is coming from inside of itself.
It's literally looking at its inside.
What it sees on the outside is coming from within.
Do you see the reflection in this?
Just like a mirror.
In another way,
When you are having a circumstance or an experience,
Are you experiencing the circumstance or are you experiencing how you see the circumstance?
Your interpretation,
What you think it means,
Who you think other people are.
The question here is what are you experiencing?
So commonly we're quick to assume that I am experiencing something out there,
Something separate from what I am.
Naturally this creates a bit of an agitation,
Creates a bit of a fear.
When somebody says something,
Are you experiencing what they're saying or are you experiencing your interpretation of what they're saying?
What you think it means.
This brings us to a question of,
Well,
If I'm just experiencing my painting,
My projection,
What's really out there?
What is it really?
Can I bring our attention back to the cinema beyond the movie plane?
What's really there?
And we recognize there's a blank screen.
So much to say that there's nothing happening.
It's empty,
Which is also like saying it doesn't mean anything at all.
Do you see the meaning is the movie?
It's not just what we think is happening.
It's what we think it means.
This has been spoken about since the beginning of time,
A meditative invitation to be still and know to see what's real,
To see what's true.
Almost like an invitation to see that what you think is happening isn't really happening.
Really inviting us back to a place of presence,
Of relaxation.
I find this to be quite fascinating because as I live my life,
My humanness,
I see how easy it is to assume that what I'm seeing is out there.
So easy to assume that the meanings I project,
The meanings I create are a meaning that exists outside of what I am.
In this,
I've become a prisoner to the outside.
Meaning once again,
That I'm experiencing something out there beyond my own creation.
You know,
Once again,
I bring our attention back to the question,
What am I experiencing?
Am I experiencing what's really happening or am I experiencing the ways in which I see it?
Two people can go through what we might call the same experience,
But have two different experiences.
It's like given any global situation,
There's 7 billion different interpretations.
Maybe there's some who perceive it as a hell,
Others who perceive it as a heaven.
Some who perceive it as positive,
Others who perceive it as negative.
And yet each person's experience is to experience how they see it.
In this,
The world they experience is a reflection of the world they see,
Which is also to say the world they create.
What I recognize is the more I think I'm perceiving something separate from what I am,
The more lost and confused and painful my life becomes.
And the more I recognize that I am not separate from what I am perceiving,
That I am creating it,
The more present I become,
The more soft and gentle I am.
And this brings me to an interesting point of the inquiry,
Which is asking,
Why do I see what I see?
Why do I see people this way or see people that way?
Why do I interpret this way and not that way?
Why do I see the world that I see?
