The doer and the observer

The doer and the observer

Let us analyze a serious inquiry, which has been running in my mind. We are going to analyze a very basic question of our lives. Who am I? Let me illustrate to you by giving this example:

a.     A boy looking at a cat, which was running in the garden and trying to catch it.

b.     The boy’s sister also looking at the same cat and at the same time looking at the boy as well.

           

Now let us analyze the scenario. First we start with the boy who is looking at the cat and chasing it. The boy’s eyes have fixed the image of the cat and it is interpreted by the boy’s brain to enable him to chase it. But actually who is seeing the cat? Is it the boy who is seeing the cat? Is it the boy’s eyes seeing the cat? Is it the boy’s brain seeing the cat? Definitely the eyes needed to see the cat. Suppose the boy is blind, no way he can visualize the cat. But do eyes alone suffice to see the cat? The boy needs the brain to interpret the image he has seen. Definitely without the brain, the eyes can’t interpret the image seen. A functioning eye has the capability to see many images but it is the brain, which tells the boys that particular image is a cat and not a dog. So are brain and eyes themselves sufficient enough to see the cat? How the brain interprets that particular image as cat and not any other animals? So the boy’s brain has learned in the past about a cat’s image and the moment he sees similar visual, the brain signals to him to bring out his past memories to match the animal and he identifies that particular animal as a cat. So, the brain is definitely needed like a computer CPU to store and to interpret visual images for the boy. These illustrates that the eyes, brain and the boy all are needed to see the cat. But are we missing something? If the boy’s brain sees the visual image via the eyes and interprets it and the boy identifies it as a cat, now the question arises as who is seeing the cat?

            The part of the brain that is involved in the interpretation of any visual images is the occipital lobe, which is the posterior part of the brain. So the image of cat goes through the eyes to the retina and the signals send to the occipital lobe. The final image, which is projected on the occipital lobe, is interpreted as cat.  But actually who is interpreting? Is it the brain? Does a brain alone have the ability to interpret the cat? No. The brain is needed but together with the functioning eyes and the boy must be alive to see the cat. So, there is ‘something’ that connects the eyes, the brain and the boy to make him to see the cat and to chase it. That ‘something’ is the life energy or awareness or consciousness that unifying the eyes, brain and the boy’s body to enable him to see the cat and chase after it.

            In the above illustration we understood that there is awareness or consciousness playing a role for the boy to see the cat. It’s not just the eyes or the brain or the boy’s other part of body but the awareness is needed to see the cat. But do you think the boy knows that his awareness is the one, which is looking at the cat. I doubt so, as the boy just sees the cat, get excited with the cat and running together with the cat to catch it. His emotion of happiness and excitement drives him to catch the cat. He is not aware at that time of running that his consciousness or awareness is the one seeing the cat. The same question I throw to the reader who is reading this article at the moment. Who is reading the article? Is your brain reading the articles? Which part of the brain in you reading this article? To read this article, you need functioning eyes to see the words. The words need to be translated by the brain into a meaning to be understood by the reader. So the reader reads the articles and comprehends it according to his understanding. But does the reader realize who is actually reading it? Does the reader aware during the state of reading? While the reader observing the words (the observed) does he aware, who is the observer?

            Now we go back to the same scenario as I pointed earlier. How about the girl? The girl is seeing the cat and the boy. So the girl is seeing the boy who is seeing the cat same time. In the above illustration, in a simple term the girl is the observer who is observing the boy and the cat. Does it make sense now? So taking into context the above illustrations, what ever we perform in our daily life, there is always the observer. It does not matter whether we are talking, reading, singing, dancing, eating or sleeping the observer is always there. It’s just whether we perform things as an observer or the doer. In most instances we are the doer and not the observer. We perform certain things, thinking that we are the one who is doing the thing by becoming a doer. We forget about the observer. It is just a shift of paradigm needed to be an observer rather than a doer. 

            Whenever we perform things as a doer, we identify ourselves with the action that we perform and take pride of it. We become upset when the result is not achieved according to our desire and we are happy if the result is achieved.  We fall into the cycle of karma each time we takes the role of doer. The ‘ego’ sets in each time we become the doer. We tell ourselves, I am the one who did it. I am the one who achieve it. I failed. I passed. The ‘I’ or the ‘ego ‘ attached to it. Being a doer we fall into the cause and effect rule or the law of karma. By being an observer, all the actions done are not attached to the ‘ego’ or ‘I’. It is possible to become the observer and the doer at the same time. If the observer is the doer, he is not bounded to the attachment of his actions.