The Active-Observation (A-O) Principal

Art by Jerome Van Valkenburg

 What is “active-observation”? the Taoists might call it “Wu-Wei: effortless effort, and Quantum theorists might call it the “Observer Effect.” This is when you can step out of the automatic, passive or reactive experiences of life and bring in greater awareness and intention to enhance the experiences of observation and action.

I believe pretty much every aspect of life boils down to an action or an observation. If you “observe” your daily routines, they can be divided into actions/reactions or activities that are observed and recorded.

One involves outward expression that interacts with the physical world, the other involves receiving and inwardly processing info much like an antenna.(While receiving can be an act in itself, it can be done passively—so observation can also be viewed as a passive action).

Adding the element of conscious awareness to either of these two experiences transforms and enhances each one and provides a marble-colored layer of “active-observation” to the mix.

HUMAN AUTOMATONS?

If ‘passively observing’ as we go through life, it can feel like living alongside a conveyer belt, where all sensation becomes attuned to automated and narrowly focused stimulation—It could be tantamount to apathetic mechanistic living or a blind acceptance of whatever comes and goes in front of you.

Similarly, passive action—or action without the added ingredient of active-observation resembles the experience of being the conveyor belt or being on it. Many of our basic survival functions are passive actions, and that’s a good thing. But in these cases we are either preprogrammed to act in a certain way to fit a protocol, or we may be following the brain’s orders out of habit. Like passively observing, the defining feature is the same: a limited cause-effect experience of life. 

When reacting passively, it’s similar, except that the reaction may be an automatic emotional response traced to a wound. New and old hurts, resentments, and negative sensations (and a craving for thrills that get in their way) are a recipe for reactiveness. And in the case of passive reaction, a habitual association with emotions may interfere with life and develop into an addiction as we become dependent on ego-driven feelings giving the orders. 

ACTIVE-OBSERVATION and a MORE INTEGRATED LIFE

Active-observation could be one key to meditation. Indeed it could be the act of bringing a meditative mindset into any interaction with the world. The result is to move beyond survival, reaction and automation and into the realms of creativity, play, inspiration, spontaneity, and healthy natural being. Where the experience of whatever we are doing carries a natural flow of feedback between observer and observed and between actor and action.

Someone who is experienced at active-observation, may develop and refine these skills so they provide the basis for an integrated-existence. Here, a person becomes so familiar with their own unique place as an agent of constructive interplay with conscious observation and action that the two merge and synch guided by an intent of creating more sustainable access to active-observation. Perhaps this integrated state might even begin to wire a person to develop higher brain functions and bring forth Lao Tzu's state of "valuable, necessary, and long lasting service."

The Hindu’s believe that one ideal of life is to experience Satchidananda, or to break out of the action-reaction cycle of karma and live-out our true nature. Could they have considered “active-observation” and integrated-existence as ways of unlocking our highest potential on this path?  

Gaining an awareness of life's essential unity and learning to cooperate with its natural flow and order enables people to attain a state of being that is both fully free and independent and at the same time fully connected to the life flow of the Universe - being at one with the Tao. From the Taoist viewpoint this represents the ultimate stage of human existence. ~ Ted Kardesh

Why Shamanic Tools?

In a prior entry, I discussed the simplistic lifestyle of the Ancients and how it was suggested that they had an easier time of accessing Spirit in the past. I noted that our ancestors may have channeled wisdom from outside realms using shamanic tools during an era when it was acceptable to tune in to explore the mind’s gifts.

Today, we talk about shamanic technology or tools as those natural instruments or substances that are used by a shaman to heighten their senses or travel to other realms/altered states and gain insights not normally accessible —others call this psychonavigation.

With shamanic technology, I come at life with the view that I can overcome my challenges because I believe we each carry the necessary wisdom within us to do so.

There is also an intention to heal and an implicit trust in a shaman’s goal of reminding the individual about their innate power to make the best choices. Under this model, technology is used as a support for raising the consciousness and elevating the mind. In other words, the nature of shamanic tools is to quiet or focus the mind’s busy operations and machinelike functions, so Spirit can be set in motion. Much like a hidden force activating the lotus flower to open in bloom from the murk of mud and water, these tools remind us to use our inner resources to honor our natural path and have faith in the process of development.

It seems to me that while we consider modern technology to be neutral, most new tools are “designed” to inhibit our psychonavigation powers and elevate the hyper-processing behavior of the “monkey mind.”

From the ages of industry to information, we have been more focused as a society on producing toys, machines, and other tools that provide luxury, maximize efficiency, and increase access to entertainment. Many argue that the costs outweigh the benefits of these new models and the multimillion dollar marketing campaigns that go with them because they create a culture of dependency and wastefulness. These designs are in stark contrast to the direct experience of clarity brought about from the shamanic tool. And its ability to help us explore fresh ways of thinking independently.

There are three key considerations that come to mind here: while new technologies are great for improving certain functions, any tool or technology in a profit-driven society is frequently subject to abuse and misuse. Multiple threats to health, for example, are associated with side effects and unintended consequences of modern technology. We’re aware of the damage done to eyes by peering at monitors for too long, or the health risks of using microwaves, synthetic pharmaceuticals and cellphones, to name a few. Other technological terrors like modern weaponry and factory farms are self-explanatory.

Secondly, efficiency and mass consumption of replaceable parts and products as a goal makes it easier to routinely deplete and pollute natural resources; destroying the environment and distancing us further from nature’s lessons, chi energy, and holistic healing. An assault on nature is an attack on the self.

Finally, while all these matters exist, we cannot roll back time and we cannot be deterred. We cannot deny that we are in an high-tech age, and we can’t reject what is already here. As modern shamans, this truth makes it incumbent upon us to be facilitators of a modern consciousness, to help form communities that integrate technology creatively and constructively. The few shamans of old who are left are deliberately keeping the knowledge and wisdom of the ancients alive for people like us to receive it and bridge the gap, finding ways to unite the two worlds.

In coming full circle, hope can be found in our capacity to awaken to our potential; as original thinkers; and as those who can combine the best elements of the past’s high awareness and the future’s opportunities for advancement. I’d like to think more about ways our work can merge the two and realign appropriate modern technologies into shamanic tools-- or at least to prevent them from actively dumbing us down. One possibility is a shamanic intermediary network or guild, to more formally explore some of these concepts and present positions that represent us as a collective.

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“One of the science fiction fantasies that haunts the collective unconscious is expressed in the phrase "a world run by machines," in the 1950s this was first articulated in the notion, "perhaps the future will be a terrible place where the world is run by machines". Well now, let's think about machines for a moment. They are extremely impartial, very predictable, not subject to moral suasion, value neutral and very long lived in their functioning.

Now let's think about what machines are made of, in the light of Sheldrake's morphogenetic field theory. Machines are made of metal, glass. gold, silicon, and plastic ; they are made of what the earth is made of. Now wouldn't it be strange if biology were a way for earth to alchemically transform itself into a self-reflecting thing. In which case then, what we're headed for; inevitably what we are in fact creating, is a world run by machines. And once these machines are in place, they can be expected to manage our economies, languages, social aspirations, and so forth, in such a way that we stop killing each other, stop starving each other, stop destroying land, and so forth. Actually the fear of being ruled by machines is the male ego's fear of relinquishing control of the planet to the maternal matrix of Gaia.”

--Terence McKenna