What to look at? Suppose you don't happen to find yourself in Yosemite so you can't contemplate Capitan as you do some licks. What then? What do you look at? Millennia-old traditions around the world vary: eyes closed, eyes a little open, eyes open and looking at drawings, painting, sculptures. You can tell from my selection of pictures that I prefer nature, or images of nature. Other people thrive on mandalas, icons, candles, and the like. Explore and discover what you are most comfortable with. In nature, I find there is a kind of almost amplification of effect. The more complex the object I look at, the more soothing the result. Increased serenity comes more easily from a tree than from a blade of grass. (No doubt that says more about me and about the depth of my particular ruts than it does about the "value" of the blade of grass.) Let me refine that suggestion. If we draw a line representing the degree of complexity, and on the left end of the line we put inanimate objects such as rocks, and on the right end we put living objects, I've actually observed that my most helpful reactions occur at either extreme: tree, on the one hand, or rock, on the other. And, not to forget, not all inanimate objects are "simple." I remember one night sitting alone in the outdoor amphitheater above the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns, a moonless, cloudless night, endless miles of dark desert spread before me and you-know-what above. That sky was as profoundly rich a focal point as any I've found. Nor do I want to belittle the simple. A rock, for all the simplicity of its structure, has a chronological depth which can act as its own focusing device for you. |
