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Realisation: The Mysterious Hot & Cold Water Experiment
Try this intriguing experiment! Prepare three bowls - with cold, warm and normal water (at room temperature). Simultaneously, immerse your left hand in the cold water, and your right hand in the warm water. When the sensations of opposite temperatures are mindfully felt, remove both hands, and submerge them in the normal water together. Something confoundingly strange happens - your left hand now feels the water to be warm, while your right feels cold! How did the conflicting sensations swap places? And how can normal water be both cold and hot at once? Truth is, the water never changed; only the experience of the water changed. That was one of the very first science lessons I had as a child. What's the "moral"? We need to be empirically objective; and not be fooled by subjective observation. Scientists would not subjectively "feel" to check temperatures. To be objective, they would use thermometers.
How we interpret a new experience is conditioned by our past experiences, habits and karma, and of course, coupled with our present attitude. A previously cold hand touching normal water naturally feels the contrast as warmth. Vice versa, a warm hand feels the contrast as coldness. Though neutral in nature, the normal water feels extreme in temperature! Trapped between the relative, we fail to "see" the absolute. Incidentally, coldness and warmth are equally meaningless without any personal experience, with definitions differing from one person to another. "Magical" as the water experiment may seem, it proves that we trick ourselves, more than the world tricks us. We see the world as we are, not as it is. To attain Enlightenment is to see things as they truly are. To become more and more "enlightened" is to become more and more spiritually objective - this is the realisation of wisdom, while recognising and respecting the fact that others might be less objective, thus needing our readily rendered help - this is the cultivation of compassion.
Our "abnormal" sensation of the water cannot be a true property of the normal water itself, since it mirrors ourselves. Likewise, what we perceive by sight, hearing, smell, taste and thought is not entirely accurate. It is a humbling truth that in everyday life, as mindful as we might be, our best of judgements might still be faulty - because we "see" with clouded perception, which filters and distorts the clear view of reality. This is not to say mindfulness is useless. In fact, being mindful of the possible fallacies of our snap judgements urges us to improve our spiritual objectivity. Via meditational practices, our mindfulness can be further refined, which leads to greater calmness of the metaphorical "lake" of our mind. With this stillness, the mists of misperception dissipate. With a settled mind, insights will be realised when we peer within the depths of this "lake". When we realise the nature of our mind, we become free of its delusional trappings. In fact, we become absolutely free - enlightened! - Shen Shi'an
Article from TheDailyEnlightenment.com Weekly 08.09.06
Try this intriguing experiment! Prepare three bowls - with cold, warm and normal water (at room temperature). Simultaneously, immerse your left hand in the cold water, and your right hand in the warm water. When the sensations of opposite temperatures are mindfully felt, remove both hands, and submerge them in the normal water together. Something confoundingly strange happens - your left hand now feels the water to be warm, while your right feels cold! How did the conflicting sensations swap places? And how can normal water be both cold and hot at once? Truth is, the water never changed; only the experience of the water changed. That was one of the very first science lessons I had as a child. What's the "moral"? We need to be empirically objective; and not be fooled by subjective observation. Scientists would not subjectively "feel" to check temperatures. To be objective, they would use thermometers.
How we interpret a new experience is conditioned by our past experiences, habits and karma, and of course, coupled with our present attitude. A previously cold hand touching normal water naturally feels the contrast as warmth. Vice versa, a warm hand feels the contrast as coldness. Though neutral in nature, the normal water feels extreme in temperature! Trapped between the relative, we fail to "see" the absolute. Incidentally, coldness and warmth are equally meaningless without any personal experience, with definitions differing from one person to another. "Magical" as the water experiment may seem, it proves that we trick ourselves, more than the world tricks us. We see the world as we are, not as it is. To attain Enlightenment is to see things as they truly are. To become more and more "enlightened" is to become more and more spiritually objective - this is the realisation of wisdom, while recognising and respecting the fact that others might be less objective, thus needing our readily rendered help - this is the cultivation of compassion.
Our "abnormal" sensation of the water cannot be a true property of the normal water itself, since it mirrors ourselves. Likewise, what we perceive by sight, hearing, smell, taste and thought is not entirely accurate. It is a humbling truth that in everyday life, as mindful as we might be, our best of judgements might still be faulty - because we "see" with clouded perception, which filters and distorts the clear view of reality. This is not to say mindfulness is useless. In fact, being mindful of the possible fallacies of our snap judgements urges us to improve our spiritual objectivity. Via meditational practices, our mindfulness can be further refined, which leads to greater calmness of the metaphorical "lake" of our mind. With this stillness, the mists of misperception dissipate. With a settled mind, insights will be realised when we peer within the depths of this "lake". When we realise the nature of our mind, we become free of its delusional trappings. In fact, we become absolutely free - enlightened! - Shen Shi'an
Article from TheDailyEnlightenment.com Weekly 08.09.06