Yesterday, Abby and I were out on a photo-shoot in a park by King and Church. Photography can be used as an exercise of selectivity, but as is the case with any thing "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
A few years ago, I learned of a set of zen-based workshops, one of which Abby eventually took (Miksang), that taught us another means of what ACIM was getting at.
Abby takes both selective and non-selective photos now; but it has also allowed me to be a selective and non-selective photo subject.
While I pose, sometimes I look at the lens other times I look out at the scenery before me. I'm looking at something to focus on to keep my pose steady.
For one shot, instead of focusing on something that seemed separate from me, I broadened my perspective to everything and thought: "I'm one with everything." The view became quite flat, as though I was looking at a billboard or projection. "Nothing I saw in that place meant anything."
In learning to deny the separateness between Abby and me, I imagine seeing me through her eyes. If nothing I physically see of Abby (i.e., "proof" of separateness) means anything, then the reality of our unity is available to give me truer perspective.
Multiply that with anyone else physically around me, and I could have a 360ยบ view of my physical self.
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I'm always saddened by the unforgiving condemnation of people (Chris Brown, today) by television commentators. Apparent acts and their apparent effects that don't mean anything are just mistakes in judgement of both the condemned and those condemning.
By seeing everything as not meaning anything, we take the step to learning how to forgive.
Aaron
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