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DIRECT SCIENTIFIC EXPERIENCE
THE BRIDGE FROM UNDERSTANDING TO KNOWING
Current scientific experience is indirect. Perception and experience become
separated through the rational activity of the mind. Humans have the capacity to
watch their mind. Everybody can watch their thoughts and emotions. Through
watching them we can become aware of the way they influence our experiences.
This awareness creates a direct connection between perceiving and experiencing,
so experience becomes direct.
Let's analyze the current, indirect way of experiencing. Information enters the
senses, goes into the mind where it is processed, reaches the subject and
becomes an experience.
reality - senses (perceiving) - mind (processing) - subject (experiencing)
The mind processes the perception of an object through analysis, comparison and
synthesis: that's how experience is formed. Experienced objects are different:
nature, the human body and its sensations, emotions, images and thoughts. Let's
do a simple experiment. You observe for a few moments a plant in your room or
outside the window and then close your eyes. Inside yourself you observe many
thoughts, like how big the plant is, what color it is, and so on. Mind's
elaboration creates a gap between perception and experience.
The question arises: is it possible to experience the plant directly as
perceived by the senses without the mind elaborating on it? Direct experience
requires us to become aware of conscious and unconscious thoughts, emotions and
images that are associated with the object or situation that we experience. This
awareness may calm the mind so that it does not interfere between the perception
and the experience.
Watching is the function of consciousness. By practicing watching we discover
consciousness itself. We can imagine consciousness as four-dimensional space.
Thoughts, images and emotions three-dimensional stream into it, as it
consciousness were the ocean, and thoughts the fish swimming in it. By watching
the fish we become aware that we are not them, we are the ocean, consciousness,
the space itself.
According to the personal experience of the author the first step towards direct
experience is practicing body-awareness by watching the way we walk, seat, eat,
talk, move hands. The duration of the first step depends on the person. Once
perfect in body awareness we can add watching our breathing. Once we are prefect
in body and breathing awareness we add awareness of thoughts and emotions. At
the end we are fully aware of all that is happening in the body and in the mind.
The process of reaching full awareness may can take a few years. It cleanses the
conscious and unconscious levels of the mind and allows us to experience the
universe as it reaches our senses.
By practicing watching our minds becomes calm, always fresh and ready to work
when we need them. Mental activities use a lot of energy. Having a calm mind we
save energy, we become more vital, more healthy. Watching is an efficient
prevention method against stress and psychosomatic diseases that have its roots
in the excessive mind activity. Today's mind is overloaded because of immense
daily information input (about mind's relaxation see more in the article
LIFE&SPACE..).
Human capacity to watch is self-evident. It makes no sense to do much scientific
research on it; rather we start to use it as an Individual Research Method (1).
Current scientific approach is analytic, its inquiry concerns the outside world,
the objects. Its aim is understanding. The approach of Direct Scientific
Experience (D.S.E.) is synthetic, its inquiry is about becoming the inner
awareness of the ways the mind influences experience. Its aim is knowing. An
ancient technique of watching is Vipassana (2), created by Buddha. The efficient
modern technique of watching is Dynamic Meditation (3), created by Osho.
Watching has all characteristics of a scientific experiment: it is repetitive
and measurable. Consciousness is the observer, mind is the object. Watching the
mind is repeatable, we can observe it whenever we want. By watching it, mind
calms, the brain produces alpha waves that can be registered with
electroencephalogram (EEG). However, watching is not accepted yet by main stream
of science.
Today's world political and economic situation is the result of the conflict
between different cultural and religious minds. By practicing D.S.E we become
aware of how cultural conditionings and religious beliefs influence our
experience and actions in daily life. We become individuals with self-trust and
responsibility for life around us, and yet we still remain a part of our
culture. We think globally as a member of civilization on this Earth, and we act
locally as a fully-aware human being. This way Direct Scientific Experience is a
scientific base for the dialog and enrichment between different culture and
religion.
References:
1. Sorli (2001), Watching the Mind as an Individual Research Method,
Frontier Perspectives, Temple University, Philadelphia, Vol. 10, Nr. 1
2. http://www.dhamma.org/
3. http://www.osho.nl/New-Osho-NL/Meditation-description/Dynamic.htm