Witnessing Consciousness
Only a witnessing consciousness can really sing, dance and taste life. It will appear like a paradox -- it is! What is a witness? A witness is one who participates yet remains alert.
A witness is in a state of WU-WEI. That is Lao Tzu's word: it means action through inaction. A witness is not one who has
escaped from life. He lives in life, lives far more totally, far more passionately, but yet remains deep down a watcher; goes on remembering that, "I am a consciousness.
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Try it walking on the road: remember that you are a consciousness. Walking continues -- and a new thing is added, a new richness is added, a new beauty.
Something interior is added to the outward act. You become a flame of consciousness, and then the walking has a totally different joy to it; you are on the earth and yet your feet are not touching the earth at all.
That's the meaning of the Eastern symbol of the lotus. A lotus is a flower that lives in the water and yet the water cannot
touch it. The lotus does not escape to the Himalayan caves; it lives in the water and yet remains far, far away.
Being in the marketplace but not allowing the marketplace to enter into your being, living in the world and yet not of the
world -- that is what is meant by a "witnessing consciousness."
That's what I mean by saying to you again and again: Be aware! I am not against action, but your action has to be
enlightened by awareness. Those who are against action, they are bound to be repressive -- and all kinds of repression make
you pathological, not whole, not healthy.
Where can you be a witness if you move away from the world of action? The world of action is the best opportunity to be
aware. It gives you a challenge, it remains constantly a challenge.
Either you can fall asleep and become a doer; then you are a worldly man, a dreamer, a victim of illusions -- or you can
become a witness and yet go on living in the world; then your action has a different quality to it. It is really action.
Those who are not aware, their actions are not real actions but reactions; they only react. Somebody insults you and you
react. Reaction is dependent on the other -- he pushes a button and you are only a victim, a slave; you function like a
machine.
The real person, who knows what awareness is, never reacts; he acts out of his own awareness. The action does not come from
the other's act; nobody can push his button.
If he feels spontaneously that this is right to do, he does it; if he feels nothing is needed, he keeps quiet. He is not
repressive; he is always open, expressive.
His expression is multidimensional. In song, in poetry, in dance, in love, in prayer, in compassion, he flows.