As my vision continues to improve, I have been entranced by the increasing depth of objects, such as trees and flowers. It reminds me of really beautiful photos in which the subject stands out and the background is soft.
Or perhaps like those cool cards in which a part pops out saying “Surprise!”
I first experienced this perception of depth while I was walking on a lovely trail in our neighborhood. I felt safe and seen. I loved looking up at the tall trees. I was receiving images rather than grabbing for them.
It’s taken a lot longer for this effect to occur around buildings, cars. . .and people! I’ve slowly understood that’s because my inner state isn’t the same. I’m more cautious around concrete and people I don’t know. Trees and flowers just evoke my inner child and sense of safety and trust more easily.
I’m willing to be open and to receive.
There’s also an inner attitude reflected here which occurred to me as I was preparing some orzo this morning for lunch. When draining the orzo, my mind went to something else about my day and instantly I could feel the world around me flatten to 2D. I could also feel myself flatten. As soon as I noticed it, I brought my mind back to the orzo and everything opened up again.
By the way, it isn’t just thinking about the orzo but the state you’re in as you do that.
This three-dimensional way of seeing is related to central fixation and peripheral awareness described by Dr. Bates. I believe it’s also a step towards conscious depth perception according to Peter Grunwald (EyeBody). Since trust and safety are key to seeing naturally, conscious depth perception includes what Peter calls the etheric layer, the energetic field that permeates everything. Trees, flowers, and Nature certainly have more of it than concrete. When we learn to tune into that layer in everything around us, we receive images rather than grabbing. My way of sensing that is through an inner expansiveness and movement (as opposed to stuckness) that reflects in my outer world as imbued with trust, safety, and Geborgenheit (a German word referring to being held as a mother holds her child).
What would it be like to experience the world with this deep sense of trust, safety, and being held? That is clearly what I experience more and more often on the trail. And the more I do it there, the more I carry it back to the rest of the world in which it isn’t so easy – to my computer and challenging relationships.
So not only do I want to let the images come to me but I need to let the learning come to me as well. Remembering that I can access this state more easily on the trail can be a reminder for me to go out on the trail more often rather than try to force it where it isn’t happening yet.
And that helps me remember that the whole thing is a journey – there isn’t a goal per se. There will always be some place easier for me to experience that state and other places more challenging. That’s just how life works. Jungian psychology describes the tension of the opposites as two opposing poles. Most of us try to get get one pole to go away and the other one to stay forever. But what if we can hold both poles together? This then gives rise to “the third” – something new.
So by our staying with this journey, we are giving birth to something new each moment. And that something new is us. It is by becoming more real and three-dimensional bit by bit that the world around us appears so too.