Proposition 1: The Observer

Observation implies an observer.

Argument: It must be established that all objective experiences are simply observations. Initially, it may seem as if a thought, a feeling, a sensation, or a perception is, somehow, just an independently existing event. But this is not true. A little reflection shows that a sight never occurs unless there’s someone to whom the sight appears; that a sensation never arises unless there’s someone to whom it arises; and that a thought never appears unless there’s someone who knows it.

Let’s consider this last remark. You might believe that a thought “just happens,” but then how do you know that there’s a thought just now? You couldn’t know this unless there were some observer. The same line of argument applies to feelings: you can’t know that sadness is occurring unless there’s an observer of this sadness.

The conclusion is as elegant as it is true: all experiences require an–indeed, the–observer.

Proposition 2: Your Identity

You are the observer.

Objection: You might insist that sometimes you’re an observer (as when you stand at the seascape and gaze out at the seagulls) and that sometimes you’re an agent, one who feels deeply, and so on. Your objection would, then, have to do with the ubiquity of the proposition (“I am always the observer”).

Reply: While a lengthy rebuttal would be in order, let me offer a simple one here: how could you know that action is taking place unless you were observing it unfold? How could you know that joy is appearing unless you were observing it–that is, unless you were aware of this joy? You’d never be in a position to report on this experience unless you were already taking your stand as the observer.

Conclusion: You are the observer.

Proposition 3: Practice Instruction

Be the observer steadily.

Argument in 2 parts:

1. In P3, I’m able to take up common confusions. Sometimes one falls into error, believing that he is the feeler. As a result, he feels that he is the angry or overwhelmed one. This, I suggest, is a common habit–indeed, a bad one. The remedy is to BE the observer: that is, to stand your stand knowingly as the observer and see what this is like.
2. P3 is also able to account for wavering. That is, it can account for the unsteadiness whereby I mistakenly identify with the physical pain and then feel: “I am the one who is in pain.” It’s in this sense that P3 is a practice instruction: continue to take your stand as the observer and, in due course, this stand will become stable or steady. See what a steady stand is like.

This last line–“See what a steady stand is like”–brings us to the fruits (P4).

Proposition 4: The Benefit Of Practice

To be the observer steadily is to be calmly clear.

What you’ll discover if you take your stand steadily as the observer is calm clarity. You’ll know peace by being at peace. You’ll know intuitive clarity by being established in intuitive clarity.

P4 can be regarded as the promise of the practice contained in P3. While calm clarity is not established overnight, it is, indeed, the actual experience of the unwavering and therefore observer.