One summer in my mid-teens, I sat outside on the west side of the house under the birch trees and read. I think I did it most days since I sitting outside reading. I wonder if this was the summer I read through the several-volume encyclopedia my parents had.
SEEING A LIGHT AROUND THE LEAVES
I remember looking up at the leaves of the birch trees, seeing them against the dark blue sky, and noticing a light around the leaves. I thought it must be some kind of optical illusion I hadn’t noticed before.
Over the next few days, this light became stronger, and I started seeing it around everything – plants, animals, people, and even inanimate objects. The light had a structure, and that structure was different around each of those.
I realized that what I was seeing was some kind of actual energy around living and non-living things. Most likely, I had heard about auras without taking it very seriously, and now I seemed to be seeing it for myself.
Looking back, I think this was the summer when I was fifteen, half a year into the observer-observed duality and half a year before the oneness shift.
Seeing this energy around humans gave me some information about what was going on with them, and I later discovered I could sense at a distance and also do distance healing.
VERIFICATION
When I was nineteen, I met a woman (BH) at tai chi who also could see energies. She had stood behind me and saw the awakening in my system, and sat down next to me and talked with me after class for that reason.
We both took the train from Oslo to Ski after tai chi, and I remember sitting with her in the train station, looking at the energy system of people, and comparing notes. We always saw the same and it gave me confidence that what I saw was something real and not just imagination. (I knew that anyway, but a part of me needed that extra confirmation.)
WHAT I SEE
For humans, what I most easily see is the level or degree of awakeness in the system. I can see how awake it is to itself. More specifically, I see how far out from the body it’s awake to itself.
For most, it’s in the area relatively close to the body, maybe 20-30cm out. (Likely what people call emotional and mental body.)
If the person is doing meditation or is on an awakening path, that extends further out. For those more awake, it goes infinitely out and the field in general is much finer, lighter, and uniform.
If someone is doing body-centered practices like tai chi, yoga, or even more conscious dance, the area close to the body is typically much stronger and brighter. (Likely what people call the etheric body.)
I typically don’t see colors, apart from one time during one of those tai chi classes.
WHAT I USE IT FOR
I don’t use this more physical seeing very much, apart for when I meet spiritual teachers. Then I usually check how awake their system is.
Is it awake out to infinity? How fine and uniform is it?
Of course, there is a lot more to guiding than this, but it’s one aspect and it’s good to notice.
In general, seeing this light is a reminder of the divinity of all.
It’s a visual and steady reminder not dependent on states or other shifts.
THE PERSONAL AND UNIVERSAL
Why do I write about this?
I know this is not so unusual, so I wanted to contribute my little story to the larger collection of experiences and stories on this topic.
Even if I didn’t happen to know about that, I assume there is something universal in all of my experiences, and that makes it worth sharing.
It makes it worth sharing to say that (a) this can happen and it’s part of the human experience, (b) it’s really not that unusual, and (c) you are not alone if this or something similar has happened with you.
The photo is from a walk along Akerselva in April (not birch tree, obviously).