The seer, the seen and the act of seeing – where these three are One, there the Brahman is realized.
– Anandamayi Ma
How do we discover this for ourselves?
The most direct may be to find our nature, what we are in our own first-person experience. And then notice that seer, seen, and seeing all happen within and as that.
Even here, parts of us – and old habitual patterns – may still take these concepts as something we fundamentally are. That’s where a more thorough inquiry comes in, for instance through examining how each of these – the seer, seen, and seeing – happens in the sense fields. How do each look in the mental field? What mental images and words are there? What sensations in the body does the mind associate with these mental representations?
What happens when I examine the mental representations and notice that’s what they are? What happens when I rest in noticing the associated sensations and notice them as physical sensations? Does it weaken the link between the two?
Through this, we may notice that our nature is capacity for the seer, seen, and seeing. That each one happens within and as what we are. (They are not what we more fundamentally are.) And we may notice how our mind creates its experience of each, we see through the magic trick, and the sense of solidity and reality of each weakens.
As usual, knowing about this mentally is a good first step. And it’s transforming – for our perception, life, and psyche – only to the extent we keep noticing and living from it in daily life.
OWN INQUIRY
I thought I would include a summary of my own inquiry on this.
THE SEER
First, I am exploring any sense, however slight, of being a seer, and aim at leaving no stone unturned.
Where do you find the seer? The one who sees?
I see an image of my body and my eyes. Is that the seer? Is there any response in you when I ask if it’s the seer?
Yes, I can notice a connection with some sensations in and around the eyes and the face.
I feel the sensations in and around my eyes and face. Is that the seer? They are sensations connected with an image, and that’s it. And at the same time, I can find a slight sense of it being the seer.
What gives you that sense? I see an image of a graphic design arrow pointing out of the eyes.
Look at the image. Is that the seer? No.
Where do you find the one who sees? I hear the words “he is sitting here”.
Listen to the words, are they the seer? No.
Where do you find the one who sees? I can find a slight sense of it in the sensations in and around the cheekbones.
Feel those sensations. Notice the sensations, and rest in the noticing.
Are the sensations the one who sees? No.
Where do you find the seer? There is something in and around the eyes. A sensation and an image of eyes.
Notice the sensations and rest with them. (As I rest in the noticing, they become more clearly sensations in space.)
Look at the image. Rest with it. Is that the seer? No, it’s an image.
Open your eyes. Where do you find the seer? He is sitting right here looking.
Look at the visual impressions of this one. Look at the color. Texture. Is that the seer? Yes, I notice a slight response in me to that question.
How do you know it’s the seer? I can see people telling me it’s the seer. My parents. Teachers. The adults when I was little.
Look at the image(s) of those people. Is that image the seer? No.
Still, with your eyes open, look at the visual impressions of the human self. What do you see? I see arms, hands, fingers, legs. I see colors. Shapes. Textures.
Is that visual impression, that image, you the one who is a seer? Yes, I notice a slight response connected with the sensations from the chest up and a mental image of me sitting here.
Close your eyes and feel those sensations. Are those sensations the seer? No, but there is a slight charge around an image of my eye area and the sensations there.
Rest in noticing those sensations.
[…]