text: Proximity and Vastness | Seeing the World as It Is
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  Proximity and Vastness
  Posted on 6 January 2012	by Timothy Wong
  Sunrise off the coast of Mexico near Cabo San Lucas
  At sea when you observe the horizon you will notice the separation between the ocean and sky.
  This separation is very real but also recognise the illusion when attempting to reach its beginning or ending. The same phenomenon will be experienced even when we observe the horizon only by the ocean or sky.
  Our attentive consciousness becomes aware of this when we direct our attention from the scene to the one who is observing and then into the intelligence behind it.
  It is self-enquiry through effort that is externally triggered to effortless spontaneity happening from within.
  Notice that we are withdrawing from the sense object to the senses, then taking it to the one who is sensing and even further into the inexpressible subtle being.
  We are moving from the observed (experience), to the observing (experiencing), then to the observer (experiencer with identity), and then into the sensitive non-dual intelligence.
  This very phenomenon is the process of shifting the attentive consciousness from the state of recognition to realisation.
  Be acutely aware of the alternating shift in the attentive consciousness between the sense of proximity and that of vastness. This is the space of realisation. It is moving from observation to sensitivity.
  Notice that separation can be experienced in both the proximity and vastness. Proximity being the sense of closeness and vastness as being boundless. It can also be experienced as effort and effortlessness respectively. This is the space of recognition.
  Many seekers have entrapped themselves in this space of experiencing through the sense of observation.
  Consider these reflections closely.
  Cognising beyond recognition and realisation is reconciliation. Where the proximity and the vastness become one. This is the space of reconciliation. It is a very sensitive spontaneity.
  Understand that recognition is an externally driven effort while realisation is an effortless spontaneity happening from within. Both seem like opposites in nature but they also give rise and value to each other.
  The separateness perceived in their nature is similar to the experience of observing the horizon at sea.
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