Witness , observe or comatose
I have often suggested a healthy person is both an observer and an actor in this life journey. Observing is, in my opinion, the action of attending in detail to what is happening. If one is both the observer and the actor one might notice that one is non-judgmentally noticing whether one is acting or reacting; whether one’s behavior is consistent with one’s core values; whether one’s action is a result of giving power to another, whether one has accepted an invitation from another to a negative space. One of my primary spiritual teachers suggested that if the goal is to grow spiritually - to more consistently act in accordance with one’s core values or spiritual goals - one will not judge an action as good or bad but merely lovingly notice. I understand this to mean if the action/thought is not one which one wants to repeat one’s energy needs now to be available to being more intentional in the future. Judging consumes a lot of energy and, paradoxically, is more likely to result in one repeating an unwanted thought or behavior.
One might observe one’s own behavior, that of another or that of some other animal, plant or event. An anthropologist or other scientist is usually dispassionately observing and recording what happens. They are not normally seeking to establish an intimate relationship with what they are observing. That would change what they are observing.
The author/contributor of wikidiff.com suggests to witness an action or event “is to furnish proof of, to show.” Many of us have frequently been observers, but not witnesses to acts of oppression. The history of the United States is rife with incidences of, at best, observing, but not witnessing. Lynching’s, for example, were often treated as a social event. The fact that the primary history of lynching are the postcards depicting them attests to this fact. The fact that Jim Crow laws were and are allowed to continue attests to this fact. The fact that females continue to often earn less than males for the same work attends to this fact. The fact that school funding is all too often local attests to this fact. The fact health care is considered a benefit one has to earn and not something which all of us deserve attests to this fact.
People of color have historically in the United States born witness to racism - acts of oppression. The Black Lives Matter movement consists of those determined to bear witness to murder of black males by police as well as other overt acts violence. The rage which erupted and continues to erupt in many places in the United States bears witness to the murder of George Floyd and others; to the attachment of many in these United States to the use of lethal force as if many individuals and communities are disposable. The more recent insistence that officials in Tulsa, Oklahoma finally acknowledge the massacre of the people of Greenwood and the destruction of the community is an act of attempting to bear witness.
Poems, music, dance and other creative acts bear witness; furnish proof of how we treat each other and Mother Earth.
Many people in these United States are no longer willing to be passive observers but are committed to bearing witness. A witness insists on meaningful change. A witness is present to the pain and the joy of all they observe. A witness cannot be dispassionate. One cannot endlessly absorb the pain, joy, confusion, death, hurt or ecstasy of another without passionate eruptions. Anyone who has participated in “church” in the African American Community; in a native dance; in a wake; in a Greek wedding knows they will experience all the intense emotions which are stored in each of us. A witness demands one’s attention.
For too many of us are not observers or witnesses. We do not notice much less bear witness. We craft a life which blocks out sight, sound, emotional energy and the taste of anything which might change the channel portraying the world we want to believe is the one and only “real” one. We are then are shocked when it is no longer the winner of all they Oscars.
Written April 27, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
I have often suggested a healthy person is both an observer and an actor in this life journey. Observing is, in my opinion, the action of attending in detail to what is happening. If one is both the observer and the actor one might notice that one is non-judgmentally noticing whether one is acting or reacting; whether one’s behavior is consistent with one’s core values; whether one’s action is a result of giving power to another, whether one has accepted an invitation from another to a negative space. One of my primary spiritual teachers suggested that if the goal is to grow spiritually - to more consistently act in accordance with one’s core values or spiritual goals - one will not judge an action as good or bad but merely lovingly notice. I understand this to mean if the action/thought is not one which one wants to repeat one’s energy needs now to be available to being more intentional in the future. Judging consumes a lot of energy and, paradoxically, is more likely to result in one repeating an unwanted thought or behavior.
One might observe one’s own behavior, that of another or that of some other animal, plant or event. An anthropologist or other scientist is usually dispassionately observing and recording what happens. They are not normally seeking to establish an intimate relationship with what they are observing. That would change what they are observing.
The author/contributor of wikidiff.com suggests to witness an action or event “is to furnish proof of, to show.” Many of us have frequently been observers, but not witnesses to acts of oppression. The history of the United States is rife with incidences of, at best, observing, but not witnessing. Lynching’s, for example, were often treated as a social event. The fact that the primary history of lynching are the postcards depicting them attests to this fact. The fact that Jim Crow laws were and are allowed to continue attests to this fact. The fact that females continue to often earn less than males for the same work attends to this fact. The fact that school funding is all too often local attests to this fact. The fact health care is considered a benefit one has to earn and not something which all of us deserve attests to this fact.
People of color have historically in the United States born witness to racism - acts of oppression. The Black Lives Matter movement consists of those determined to bear witness to murder of black males by police as well as other overt acts violence. The rage which erupted and continues to erupt in many places in the United States bears witness to the murder of George Floyd and others; to the attachment of many in these United States to the use of lethal force as if many individuals and communities are disposable. The more recent insistence that officials in Tulsa, Oklahoma finally acknowledge the massacre of the people of Greenwood and the destruction of the community is an act of attempting to bear witness.
Poems, music, dance and other creative acts bear witness; furnish proof of how we treat each other and Mother Earth.
Many people in these United States are no longer willing to be passive observers but are committed to bearing witness. A witness insists on meaningful change. A witness is present to the pain and the joy of all they observe. A witness cannot be dispassionate. One cannot endlessly absorb the pain, joy, confusion, death, hurt or ecstasy of another without passionate eruptions. Anyone who has participated in “church” in the African American Community; in a native dance; in a wake; in a Greek wedding knows they will experience all the intense emotions which are stored in each of us. A witness demands one’s attention.
For too many of us are not observers or witnesses. We do not notice much less bear witness. We craft a life which blocks out sight, sound, emotional energy and the taste of anything which might change the channel portraying the world we want to believe is the one and only “real” one. We are then are shocked when it is no longer the winner of all they Oscars.
Written April 27, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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