Separation; An Antidote for Identification

Separation; An Antidote for Identification

When we are present, we can say that ‘we’ exist; the silent, neutral Observer of all that is occurring, both inside and outside of us. Something separate from all of our ‘I’s, simply aware of them as they come and go. All of our thoughts, emotions, sensations are observed from the ‘outside’, as it were, while the observer itself remains neutral, unmoved; the so-called ‘Seer behind the seeing’.

When we are identified, the ‘Seer’ is lost, and we take ourselves to be ‘the seeing’. Negative emotions, and all the accompanying nonsense like judgement, indignation, fear, justifying, all become ‘real’, all become ‘me’.

In reality, identification is a state in which ‘we’ do not exist. From this angle, it is all about the observer. My teacher often reminds us that the answer is always the same -Be Present Now- and identification is no exception.

In fact, the idea of separation as the antidote to identification is exactly what the word implies: a re-establishing of one’s sense of self back into the observer, separate from that which is observed.

Again, from my teacher: “You are the observer, not what you observe.” Or, as another student put it, “If I can see it, it’s not me.”

This is wonderful news if we do our work. All our efforts to observe ourselves through the ideas of the Fourth Way, all of the exercises such as dividing attention, not expressing negativity, external consideration and so on. All of this gradually deepens our self-knowledge; we begin to ‘see’ more and more of our inner world, from the ‘outside’.

If we can see it, then we are already separate from it in that moment.

Last Judgement (Detail), Michelangelo

Join the discussion