Interpretive Translation by Joseph Le Page  (Integrative Yoga Therapy)–

2.22 The Seer and the Seen

 

Even though the seer is free, he/she still shares a world with others who don’t see that it has only a relative reality.

 

Commentary: The Seer and the Seen

 

The seer, recognizing that the seen never touches our essential being, no longer experiences limitation and suffering, and resting in freedom, achieves life’s deeper purpose and meaning.

 

Although free, the seer lives with others in a world of duality, where “happiness” is the nectar squeezed from the seen in a never-ending struggle to succeed.

 

To live in this world of duality requires both wisdom and compassion; the ability to see that all beings, within the limits of their understanding, seek the same freedom, peace and unity.

 

Those who seek material possessions are ultimately chasing the shadow of their own inherent safety; looking for security within the seen that will only be revealed by awakening the seer’s true identity.

 

Those who seek satisfaction through approval, success and degrees are actually searching unconsciously for a mirror in which to perceive the essential wholeness of their true being.

 

Those who manipulate the seen to transform dreams into reality never find the results fully satisfactory because no how much they achieve, it will only be a dim reflection of their limitless true being.

 

Those who seek freedom through relationship have chosen the right path, but not in the way they believe, for relationship will set them free only by revealing all the beliefs that limit their awakening.

 

Those in despair and poverty, climbing toward the light of opportunity should continue their climb, but also see that their journey is ultimately a metaphor for the dignity of their true being, possessed by all equally.

 

And those that are suffering are in some ways closest to freedom and peace, for although their minds may be clouded with grief, they know best of all that the seen will never provide the happiness they seek.

 

And every human being is, in some way, waiting for an opportunity to leave behind the complex issues that crowd their minds to begin the hard but simple climb to awaken their essential self inside.

 

And along this journey, everyone struggles with a thousand different drives, desires and perceived needs that are the legacy of an animal body whose priorities are survival, procreation and hierarchy.

 

But beyond these survival needs, our inner being is always waiting to be revealed as wisdom and clarity; the ability to perceive that the melodramas are not life’s meaning, but only a field for awakening.

 

And even before awakening, we can journey more lightly, by recognizing that everything within the seen has only a relative reality and nothing needs to be taken so personally.

 

And when the seer is finally free, suffering is destroyed, but the seen continues to exist as the field of learning for all other beings, while the seer holds the lamp of liberation for all to see.

 

And once free, the seer wants and needs nothing from the seen, no unfulfilled longing or need to succeed, just an ever-present experience of unity within creations infinite beauty and mystery.