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Can you see the 3-D dinosaur in the picture above? With a little time, most people are able to see the 3-dimensional image pop right out. While there are several methods that you can try, here is what worked for me.

The secret is to focus on a point that is farther away from your eye than what you would normally use. You don't cross your eyes, blur your vision or soften your gaze. You keep a sharp focus at the deeper distance. One way to do this is to pretend that the computer screen is a window that you need to look through without even noticing the window. Try putting the tip of your finger to the side of the screen but about 8 inches farther away than the screen. Then move your finger behind the screen while focusing intently on it. Of course you won't be able to see your finger once it goes behind the screen but you should pretend to still be looking at it. When you get it right, a 3-dimensional dinosaur will pop right out of this artwork that seems to hold no meaningful images at all!

A book containing many of these computer-generated images was published in 1995 and it was called Magic Eye. Since then, there have been several additional volumes. You can find more information on the internet including more examples and additional methods for seeing the images. What fun!

Anyway, why do I bring this up? Well, this reminds me of seeing the mystic's view. As I have discussed in other essays, the mystic's view holds that God and creation are the same reality in different forms. The most appropriate words are hard to find but I like to use the analogy of water and ice. Ice does not just come from water; it is the water, but in a different form, what scientists call a different state. This gives rise to a completely different set of properties, which might even trick some people into thinking that water and ice have nothing in common at all. That is, of course, until they see the ice melt! In the mystic's view, God is the invisible, formless source of all things and creation is the form that the divine essence transforms itself into. Both God and creation share the same essence and this essence always remains unchanged.

If you have been able to see the dinosaur, you know for sure that you have seen it; no one can tell you that it is not there. But if other people don't see it, they might think that you are imagining it. Let's explore this idea a little further.

Let's suppose that this image is over your city and so big that it fills the entire sky. Suppose that all throughout history, everyone thought that it was only a meaningless mass of colors without any recognizable images. Then one day a little boy and girl look up and proclaim, "We see a dinosaur in the sky! We see a 3-D dinosaur!" They are brother and sister and their parents have no reason to think that their children would lie about this but since no one else has ever seen this, well, they become concerned about the children's eyesight and take them in to get tested.

The doctor gives them every test in the book and the results are perfect. Not a spec of trouble anywhere. Then they get the idea that maybe the reason other people don't see the image is either that other people just don't look for it or that they have some unknown problem with their vision. So everyone starts to look for the dinosaur and, just to be sure, everyone gets their vision checked. But no luck. Only the two children are able to see this mysterious creature, which is now taking on mythic proportions.

Disappointed that they haven't been able to see the dinosaur themselves and frustrated that they haven't resolved the situation with their children, the parents now have the best psychiatrists come to evaluate the children. This brings both good new and bad news. While the doctors can find no indication of any personality disorder, the conclusion is inescapable: the children are hallucinating. The logic is as solid as a rock: the image is not present, yet the children say they see it. It must therefore exist only in their minds. But the children know the truth of the matter even though they have no way of logically proving it to anyone else since the proof comes in the form of a personal experience. All the children can do is repeat that the dinosaur is really there and encourage people not to give up trying to see it.

This example points out the difference between seeing something and recognizing it. Obviously, everyone that looks at the image sees the same image and the dinosaur is always there. But only the people who look deeper into the image in just the right way realize that the image contains the dinosaur. They recognize it. Likewise, everyone sees the physical world that is all around us but few people recognize it as the divine presenting itself in a disguise.

But there is more to this so let's dig deeper.

It is most common for people to look at the world with great interest while paying virtually no attention to the awareness that actually holds all of these perceptions. As long as their awareness is "working" as expected, the focus is on the people, things, and events that are perceived, not the awareness. This awareness seems so unimportant. Oh sure, you need it without a doubt, but it doesn't do anything other than hold all of these perceptions. It itself never changes. If it is working correctly, our attention is off to where the action is: the exciting world around us. In this way, the liberating treasure of realizing what the awareness actually is escapes most people.

Mainstream science holds that the material qualities and chemical processes of the body and the brain give rise to our awareness. In other words, the material world is the foundation of reality and awareness is an aspect that comes forth from it in order for all sentient beings to be alive and aware. In this view, our awareness depends on the body.

But what if it is the other way around? What if awareness is the foundation, the building block, of everything?

Our common daily experience shows us that there is a link between our body and our awareness. In addition to that, past-life research shows us that while there is a relationship between our awareness and our body, the body is not the source of our awareness. The true nature of the self is beyond the body. Honest scientific research into subjects such as out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences and past lives all point to a nature of reality that is profoundly different from what is commonly believed. Our amazing awareness is not even visible to us and yet we know it exists because we experience the world through it. In other words, our awareness exists not as an object of any kind, but simply as awareness itself.

Of course we all see that our bodies were born into the world, but is it not also true that both our bodies and the entire world are born into our awareness? Our awareness holds everything that we experience. Our awareness hosts our entire personal reality.

And the mystic carries this even further. A mystic understands that the divine awareness that looks out of your eyes is the same awareness that looks out of his or her eyes. What is seen is different but the awareness is the same. There is only one awareness, that of the eternal divine essence. And this formless, unseen awareness is what animates all of life!

It's like there are billions of hand puppets on earth, all apparently different people, animals and plants. But when we see beyond the illusion of separateness and correctly perceive the full picture of what is really taking place, we see that there is only one puppet master with billions of hands animating it all. What a miracle! What a mystery!

Everyone knows that they have awareness. But just like the 3-D dinosaur that most people don't recognize, most people don't recognize that their awareness is their fundamental, unconstructed self. So take some time to really ponder your awareness. Notice that it is primal and everything including what you normally think of as yourself depends on and arises in your awareness. When you focus deep enough in just the right way, you will see that your awareness is what you really are. When you get it, it pops right out in such a surprising way! How could something so significant that has always been present been so overlooked? This is what brings the liberation that the mystics have been talking about throughout the ages. So keep trying. Don't give up until the true nature of your fundamental self pops right out into your clear understanding, just like the 3-D dinosaur!

The End

Thanks for reading my essay. Have a magical and mystical day!

Written: September 7, 2009

Thomas Razzeto