The Noticing

To See That Which Is Unseen

Have you ever wondered about how you notice things? Why it is that you see what you do, while others see other things.

It first came to my attention as I observed my dad. He just seemed to know things that a person ordinarily shouldn't. He would know what was happening behind the curtains in private business rooms. The things the big movers and shakers were talking about and planning but I knew that he wasn't part of those discussions. He also wasn't in the habit of gossiping, he just had the ability to notice these things us ordinary mortals didn’t.

Then I noticed similar abilities with many other people, some super close in my life, others meer acquaintances. Each had the power to notice certain things that were completely oblivious to me or other people around them.

For example, there are certain people I have walked forests with. They spot edible mushrooms, exotic beetles, a shoot of a tree yet to bloom or some other feature that I never see, not until they point it out that is.

Then suddenly these features appear.

It's not that I didn't know about this mushroom or that beetle or what to look for, it is just that I didn't see it, not until the other person pointed it out to me.

Many a time I have been actively searching for the same shroom as my foraging partner but the forest looks like a undifferentiated blob, until that is, it is pointed out to me. Then it’s clear, it was always there, I just didn't notice it.

Or for example, I was with a dear friend in Texas recently. He's found this land and is about to develop it. I know for sure I would have driven straight past this bare patch of land, or at best walked the property and left none the wiser. But he took me there, he sees a township, the capacity to grow an orchard, a farm, livestock, a community and many other things. Once he pointed it out to me, I could see it too. The only difference is he noticed it.

Or for example the pandemic. Here it was the other way round, my perception was heightened. I noticed the predators right off the mark, while almost everyone around me didn't. The biggest difference being that this time, even pointing out particular features had no effect on the unseeing. They couldn't notice what was happening if you slapped their face with it, so deep was their trance.

But it all did lead me to think about The Noticing. About how much we miss because of our particular mode of thinking. To travel this journey that is life, to be open enough to notice what is actually happening.

It is to simply sit and notice, whether it is the nature around you, your children, your spouse, your friends or colleagues, the business environment, the law, the institutions of society, the spiritual realm, industry, farming, the arts or so much more. To be sensitive enough to feel the truth, as supposed to imposing your will upon it.

That I feel is the real art of life.

The real mastery of truth.

Not to be the bull in the china shop, though at times, leadership is required. It's the ability to read and follow the environment. To guide it's energy when needed. To be part of the equation without becoming the equation. To be absorbed, not self-absorbed.

To commingle with all life, no matter what value you assign to it.

The ability to notice all that is around you, and with that noticing, to live a fruitful life.

I was introduced to this art very recently by the master himself. It was a revelation. A revelation that was so startling that the world felt anew afterwards and has ever since.

It has been written about for thousands of years, from the Dhamapada to Tao te Ching. I have read these texts and others several times and yet it never quite clicked. So don’t suppose this post will do it for you either.

It is a form of effortless non-doing doing. A flowing. A trusting. Trust is required to let go. Not to guide, but to be guided by that which is unseen.

Try looking up sometime. Look directly into that blazing light without any filters.**

Welcome to The Noticing.

And that’s,

The Vikid Truth

** Try not to blind yourself. Be smart, during the midday sun, you can use foliage to reduce brightness. Otherwise sunrise and sunset are good times. You may be surprised by what you see. Paradoxically, you may see the unseen.