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Reference: Book II: Subject Clearing

Thought = Substance that gives form to the universe
Consciousness = all the forms that appear and change
Awareness = the open “space” in which everything shows up

Objectivity and subjectivity

We usually think “objective” means what is out there in the world, and “subjective” means what is in here, in our minds. This text suggests a different view: our thoughts and feelings are also part of the universe, and there is a deeper kind of awareness that can see them just as it sees everything else.

If we look from that deeper awareness, the split between objectivity and subjectivity starts to fade.

Awareness and consciousness, in simple terms

Let’s separate two things:

• Consciousness is what you are aware of: sights, sounds, body sensations, thoughts, emotions, memories. All of these are contents that appear and change.
• Awareness is the simple fact that these contents can be noticed at all. It is the open “space” in which everything shows up. Awareness itself is not a particular thought or feeling.

In this view:

• Thoughts and feelings are real events in the universe, just like physical objects and light.
• Consciousness is made from these events.
• Awareness is the clear field that can notice all of them, without being any one of them.

Seeing thoughts as “things”

Here is a short exercise you can try.

1. Let a simple thought arise—perhaps a picture of a tree, or the memory of yesterday’s lunch.
2. Instead of getting lost in it, look at it as if it were an object on a table in front of you.
   • Is it sharp or vague?
   • Bright or dull?
   • Does it stay, or does it quickly fade?
3. You are not the thought itself. You are the awareness that can look at it.

If you can look at a thought this way, then that thought is something happening in the universe, just like a sound or a flash of light. It is not a separate, private “subjective world” sealed off from everything else.

Awareness exercise: what is common?

Try this second exercise.

1. Close your eyes for a moment.
2. Notice, in turn:
   • A body sensation (for example, how the chair feels).
   • A sound (traffic, a fan, a bird).
   • A thought (for example, “I am doing this exercise”).
3. Ask yourself: what is common to all three?
   • In each case, something appears, and there is a noticing of it.
   • The body sensation, sound, and thought are contents of consciousness.
   • The simple noticing is awareness.

Awareness is the quiet background that does not change when the contents change. That background is not “inside” any one object. It is what allows every object—external or internal—to be seen.

Letting “subjective” melt into “objective”

We often call feelings and personal stories “subjective” because we strongly identify with them. We say “I am anxious” or “I am angry,” as if the feeling is what we are.

Try this small shift:

1. Bring to mind a feeling like anxiety or irritation.
2. Look at it as you did at the thought:
   • Where do you feel it in the body?
   • Does it move, tighten, loosen?
   • Does it change if you simply watch it for a while?
3. Now quietly say to yourself:
   • Not “I am anxious,” but “Anxiety is appearing in awareness.”
4. The feeling is no longer your whole identity. It is an event showing up in the same universe as everything else. From the standpoint of awareness, you can examine it as clearly as you would examine the weather or a sound.

In this sense, what we call “subjective” experience is just another set of objects. When we stop gripping them as “me,” they can be seen and studied objectively.

A link to older teachings

Many spiritual traditions have said something similar in different language. The Vedas, Hinduism, and Buddhism all encourage relaxing identification with the changing forms—body, thoughts, emotions—and resting as pure awareness instead.

From this quiet place:

• You do not disappear; you simply stop confusing yourself with passing contents.
• Mind, including the subconscious, becomes something you can observe, explore, and understand as part of the universe.

Put simply: when we stand in awareness and see thoughts and feelings as events in the universe, the sharp boundary between “objective” and “subjective” loses its force. There is one universe of things to be seen, and awareness that can see them.

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