EXERCISE 39: The Mystery of Consciousness – 2
We will pursue the exploration of the radical nature of our consciousness.
Again, find your still space and reflect on this:
Remember as a child being asked this puzzling question: ‘Does the tree make a noise when it falls and no one is there?’
In fact, this is a basic Zen Koan – a kind of puzzle that you can’t solve with your logical brain, but only with a quiet, sudden insight. It is designed to get you to reflect on the nature of consciousness.
Think of this: when the sun sets but there is no one around, are there colours? Remember, you can’t go there to look, because you’d be ‘someone around’!
So, what aspects of the familiar world we know, actually depend upon us being present?
There are scientists who seriously state that, according to quantum mechanics, ‘matter’ doesn’t exist until someone observes it…
Record your thoughts about this in your journal.