Taking the Witness Stand

Understanding spiritual matters can be daunting for the surface mind with its material orientation to reality. That is why every spiritual tradition offers insights in the form of stories to illuminate the essence of truth within the context of familiar scenarios. Jesus, of course, spoke to his disciples in parables, “because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." Recently I came upon this story, from the Advaita Vedanta tradition, which is found in the Upanishads, and poignantly illustrates the journey of spiritual realization.

Two birds of beautiful plumage, inseparable companions sat upon the same tree, one on the top and one below. The beautiful bird below was eating the fruits of the tree, sweet and bitter. One moment a sweet one, and another a bitter one. The moment he ate a bitter fruit he was sorry, but after a while he ate another, and when it too was bitter, he looked up and saw the other bird above who ate neither the sweet nor the bitter but sat in stillness, simply, quietly observing. He was calm and majestic, immersed in his own fulfillment. But then the poor lower bird became distracted and went on eating the sweet and bitter fruits again, until at last he ate one that was extremely bitter. He stopped again and once more, looked up at the glorious bird above. Then he hopped up higher, came nearer and nearer to the other bird, and when he had come near enough, rays of light shone upon him, and enveloped him and he saw he was transformed into the higher bird. He became calm, majestic, free, and found that there had been but one bird all the time.

This story symbolizes the vacillations of our attention as we navigate the vicissitudes of life, seeking pleasure and comfort, and avoiding the unsavory circumstances that inhabit the human experience. While this tendency to alternate between desire and aversion is understandable human nature, rooted in evolutionary imperatives, it can be exasperating and exhausting. And it keeps us on the treadmill of seeking but not finding the ultimate satisfaction that we crave at our core.

Even a modicum of mindfulness will reveal evidence of this inclination. As I have committed to being more attentive to the meanderings of my mind, it has become alarmingly obvious that there is very little neutrality in the character of thoughts that arise. In almost every case, the thought is some kind of judgment of what is happening or could happen. It’s either a “yes” or a “no” reaction. That is, it’s either a thought of “I want this” or “I don’t want this.” Such vacillation of preferences is the root of psychological suffering. It’s the mind’s demand that life must be a certain way for me to be okay. It drives me to constantly strive for a better moment than this one. But the truth reveals that there is no other moment than this one. What’s happening is just what’s happening. What is, is simply, what is. Until I label what’s happening with a positive or negative evaluation it remains neither. Shakespeare expressed this truism, through Hamlet’s words, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Well, what’s the answer... to stop thinking? Good luck with that! Thoughts arise from a lifetime of conditioning. We don’t choose them or have much if any control over what thoughts arise at any given moment. But what we do possess, that has been underutilized by most of us, is our ability to notice our thoughts and recognize when we have passed judgment on a situation. That’s a pivot point in our sense of well-being. We may have no choice about what happens, but we can intervene in the propensity to label something good or bad.

When I find myself resisting a situation, yearning for life to be different, I can catch myself and call forth a higher perspective that has the capacity for allowing and acceptance. Notice I didn’t say, “change my mind.” That is an exercise in frustration and almost always futile. Like the bird on the lower branches, driven by instinctual reflexes to seek the sweet and avoid the bitter, our minds function according to the data of past programming. Thus, we must move to the higher branch of our true nature, through prayer or meditation or whatever means allows us to break free from the gravitational pull of survival instincts, and witness life from the perch of observation and neutrality.

The good news is that this capacity for pure observation is not something we have to develop, it is freeware that is always present and available in our very being. Consciousness or awareness is what we are in our essence. Like the screen behind a movie, it is completely neutral and “unconcerned” with the content of the film. It is the pure capacity to illumine any experience in life, allowing any story to play without preference. Or like the space in a room, it accepts whatever and whoever enters the space without preference or objection. This is the part of us that you and I must become familiar with to achieve the sense of wholeness and well-being that is our divine nature and destiny.

To be the witness of life puts us above the fray of life’s ups and downs. It’s also who you and I already and always are. Taking the witness stand is not a spiritual bypass. Quite the contrary it puts us in a place of clear seeing, sans reactivity, from which wisdom can lead to right action. It may take a minute to get there, but what is more worthy of our time and effort than finding our true place in the tree of life?

Namaste,

Rev. Larry