To see without the shadow of yourself

Good morning everyone,

Here is today's quote:

Seeing is a very complex affair. One sees casually with one’s eyes and swiftly passes by, never seeing the details of a leaf, its form and structure, its colours, the variety of greens. To observe a cloud with all the light of the world in it, to follow a stream chattering down the hill; to look at your friend with the sensitivity in which there is no resistance and to see yourself as you are without the shades of denial or easy acceptance; to see yourself as part of the whole; to see the immensity of the universe—this is observation: to see without the shadow of yourself.

Letters to the Schools vol II, pp 30-31

Here is my reflection.

To look at something without your needs, without your desire imprinting itself on that thing or person. Your past catses a shadow over everything and everyone you meet. They are haunted by your shadow, your words, your projections, your desire for them to be this way or that way for you, not just when you are with them but long after. They carry that mark, that brand; it buries deep into their psyche. Your words, which are always words of judgement, imprison them, condition them, give them their reactive tendencies, their pain. Can you stop all this and just be sensitive to them and let them live? Can you end your resistance to them in a moment of startling self-awareness that you are doing all this and that it is creating the distance between the two of you? Can you start to live too?

Best wishes

Robert