How Do You Perceive Your World?

Knowing yourself or exploring yourself requires you to unlearn the way you currently look at your world.

How do you perceive your world? If you see it inside-out, then this article is obviously not for you. You’re already on your journey.

If you see it outside-in, you have some exploration to do. By outside-in, I mean you rely on your senses and take all your information from the outside world. That’s not a bad thing. However, that’s not a good direction for you to follow if you want to know who you are and if you want to manifest/express the best version of yourself.

Suppose you want to find out who you truly are, but you do not know where to start, as a person who sees outside-in, you begin to take note of what other people tell you about you.
Someone may say you’re uncaring, some may feel you are caring, some may say you’re an achiever, someone else may say you’re a failure, someone may say you’re loyal, and others may say you’re not trustworthy. If you start paying attention to all the opinions, you’ll drive yourself insane.

No one knows who you are but you. What others have is an opinion based on their experience with you from their own unique point of view.

Here is a little story that comes to mind. 

How is Your Scrap Picking Going?

I was in my teens. My family, especially my mother, would go on these regular spiritual retreats with a spiritual preceptor whose teachings she followed.

Thanks to her, I, too, was gradually becoming spiritually inclined. This spiritual teacher was one of the most loving beings I have encountered. If there could be Pure Love walking on two legs, it would be him for me. But he was also a very hard taskmaster when it came to inner work.

As a teenager, what caught my fancy was people’s mystical experiences while meditating. In one particular retreat, during the lunch breaks, I remember regularly asking quite a few people about their experiences. As they would relate, I would listen enamored. I wondered if I would ever have those experiences myself.

I didn’t realize that never once did I sit down to meditate myself. While they (the grown-ups) were meditating, I would be busy strolling around either in the park, playground, or browsing the book store nearby. The moment they came out of the meditation hall, I would make a beeline for those ready to talk and who would not get irritated with my questions.

Every morning, all the people would gather to greet the preceptor. One such day in the morning, I too was there in the crowd. He walked in, smiled, talked to a few people, suddenly looked at me, came near me, and asked, “How is your scrap picking going?”

I was confused. 

He continued, “You go round asking about their experiences. You’re collecting their scraps. Have you experienced anything yourself?”

I was stunned.

“Do you believe what they say?” He asked. “Yes,” I replied, overwhelmed that he was talking to me and overwhelmed that he noticed I was going around asking questions all these days.

He suddenly leaned closer, looked directly into my eyes, and asked, “What about your experience? What have you experienced?”

I stared back because for a split second it felt like He was mirroring me. This is the question I had asked the retreat participants all these days. Now this teacher, my mirror, was reflecting the same question back to me!

I fumbled for words and then started saying, “I know that they….” He cut me off immediately. “I am not asking for second-hand accounts. I am asking you. What has been your experience?”

“Nothing,” I replied hesitatingly. “Have you meditated?” he asked. “No,” I replied.

“Then you will believe whatever they tell you and also what they tell you about you and the experiences you should have.”

He looked at me intently and continued, “Forget what they told you. Forget what I told everyone here. Forget everything. Nothing is true because you haven’t experienced it. IT IS NOT TRUE.” He emphatically stated:

“Now, you sit and meditate on your own. Stop picking up scraps. Experience it yourself.”

And he turned abruptly and left. I stared after his retreating figure.

To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement, considering the stature of this spiritual teacher. Yes, now I know things like ‘stature’ are a mental construct and conditioning. I also know now that he saw no difference between himself and me. Then I didn’t. 

 So, in a way, the overwhelm I felt actually let the words sink in. That helped me process the conversation later. What kept ringing in my ears though were these words – “Forget what I told….. meditate on your own…Experience it yourself.”

I knew something important had transpired, although I could not understand the full import then.

Now, years later, I know that those few moments of exchange became a significant milestone for me in my spiritual quest. It started because of those words. Of one thing I became certain – I will never again pick scraps. No matter from how great and adept a person or a Master.  

However, the most crucial guidance I received in this interaction was the direction. In all honesty, even after this interaction it still took quite a few years for me to become a regular meditator. But I got the direction I needed to turn my sight towards – inward. And direction is the fundamental starting point in any journey.

Teachers Only Show the Direction – Within

Why did I narrate this story here? Because unknowingly, that’s what many people do initially. Be it a spiritual quest or a material quest, be it manifesting – Scrap pick. 

That can keep you directionless for ages.

And how it starts is when you track/judge your own journey based on what a teacher narrates about their experiences or what your peers relate about theirs.

That is looking outside and letting others define your journey about who you are! No one knows who you are. Not even a teacher/Master. And therefore, the teachers only show the direction. Within.

There has to be a starting point for you to learn about yourself to manifest the best version of yourself. So, for now, without accepting anything as the absolute truth, go within. Unlearn the way you have conditioned yourself to see and redirect your vision and focus inwards. That is the preparatory foundational work.

Seeing the World Inside-Out

Flip your model of seeing the world, by looking at it inside-out as your starting point.

Which means:

• You are not in the universe. The universe is within you.
• You are not in the world. The world is within you.
• You are not in the body. The body is within you.

Much like fish in the sea.

With this model of seeing, your identification with the body drops off. All that is needed is a tweak in the direction of your seeing.

While going within, sure, start with the body. The body, of course, is the most vital part here on earth for you to live and enjoy a full life. So, become aware of the sensations and feelings within it. (That’s essential for your freedom.) And yet you know deep inside, it’s not simply the body that makes up the whole of you. And that’s where you start your questioning, your self-enquiry.

“I am not this body. So who am I?“

Let your truths unravel for you one after the other, and gradually you will learn about all the parts of you. And as you learn in this journey, manifestations will occur. Because manifestations are simply your nature. Your unique way of expressing yourself.

You mistake manifestations for goals. They’re not. They are simply a part of your nature. A by-product. They occur incessantly when you turn your focus towards yourself because now your vision is turned in the direction of the source, which projects the scenes onto the movie screen, which you call the world.

You are so much more than your manifestations, though, for you are an unending journey. …an eternal adventure.

And no, don’t take my word for it. Please don’t take any Guru or teacher’s word for it either…..be it the Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Neville Goddard, Rumi….etc.

“Forget what I told….. meditate on your own…Experience it yourself.”