From: Paul C.
To: Art Ticknor
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 7:10 PM
Subject: seeing what you're looking out from

Art –

At the last TAT meeting, you discussed the epiphany that occurred when you finally saw what you were looking out from. From your description, it seemed like you saw something that was so obvious (in retrospect) that you don't know how you missed it. You also thought it was akin to Rose's Individual Consciousness of Awareness on Jacob's Ladder.

In the letter I read during the Friday evening session, Bart described it (I think) as follows:

"The degree to which you do not exist cannot be overstated. No one has ever become enlightened or Self-realized and no one ever will. No matter how “deep” we look, there is no one.

“There is, however, what might be called the “ante room” to the Absolute—a realm between, say, no-thought and pure undifferentiated Awareness—where Awareness is somehow witnessing itself as Void. This is as good a description of the “experience” of Self-realization as any. The observer we think we are somehow stumbles into the ante room to the Absolute and “witnesses” No-thing being aware of itself as No-thing, simultaneously realizing that (No-thing being what it is) there is no possibility of there being an observer separate from it."

From my experience in watching the Process Observer...I recall reading the Psychology of the Observer at the age of 20 and asking myself, "Where am I (my status) on Jacob's Ladder?" Over time, it became quite obvious what Rose meant by Somatic Awareness, but its polar opposite—the Higher Intuition—was elusive and only became apparent much later in life. Of course, it’s crystal clear in retrospect, but by no means did I gain a more accurate perspective during a sudden epiphany.

Do you think, for most seekers, that "seeing what you're looking out from" is different than the drawn-out process I encountered as a Process Observer?

Paul