An artist who is intuitively feeling the present moment in his creation would have to be, to some degree, assuming the role of the observer. That person would be experiencing the P-A narrative and expressing in his/her art a response to one or all of Three Great Questions: Where am I? Who am I? and Why am I here?
In the following review of the Austrian film Revanche (revenge) by filmmaker Götz Spielmann (who wrote and directed the film) we can sense that awareness. “The perception is that of a distant but sympathetic witness, who is incapable of being agitated because he has already unraveled the mystery at the center of things. Who is this all-knowing, unseen entity whose perspective we’re invited to share?”[i]
The phrase “incapable of being agitated” is a good definition of being in response as opposed to reacting, of being the observer as opposed to being caught up in the illusion of P-B.
Notice how being the observer transcends the false self and identification with the body, mind or emotions. “But partaking of that viewpoint [that of the observer] means feeling, at various times during ‘Revanche,’ compassion without worry, sadness without despair, and heartbreak without distress.”[ii]
Try this … watch this film to see if your false-self energy centers become triggered. If they do, see which of your issues you project onto the screen. It’s a revealing, very worthwhile experiment.
Although we may eventually become detached from the illusion of the P-B story ourselves, we still feel compassion for those caught up in the self-destructive impulses that define the human condition.
[i] La Salle, Mick. Handout at the Starz Film Center with a review from the San Francisco Chronicle, no page.
[ii] Ibid.
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Find a much more in-depth discussion in books by Roy Charles Henry.
