Residing in the Space Between

Everything that we call form and phenomena, that we call observer and observed, is all coming from the same place, including our own thoughts. The world is a discontinuity, and every experience arises because of the discontinuity. So, what does discontinuity mean? Let me give you an example. If I go to see a movie I see on the screen a continuous picture, but when I go to the projection room I find out that there is a series of still frames with little spaces in between. If I move the reel fast enough, I cannot see the 'off': I can only see the 'on'; so I experience in consciousness a continuity. But the reality is that the movie is a discontinuity. When I see a television programme, I see an image moving from one part of the screen to another part of the screen, but nothing actually moves. Only electrons and photons flash in and out in a certain sequence, and because I cannot see the off, but I can only see the on, then I experience it as a continuity. Scientists believe that perception is possible because of this discontinuity. All the form and phenomena of the universe expresses this 'on-ing' and 'off-ing', and our senses are such that they can perceive the on and not the off. Yet without the off we would not experience the on. [...]

There is a presence, and that presence is in the on/off of your thoughts: there is a thought flickering on and off and in that off there is a presence. In that presence thoughts come and they go. So a thought emerges, it hangs on for a fraction of a second, literally, and then it goes. Then of course through association it leads to another thought, and that comes and that goes. In that presence emotions come and go. In that presence the perceptions of the world come and go. In that presence the molecules of your body come and go. In that presence everything that happens comes and goes. […]

So when you were a baby your body was different, your perceptions were different, your thoughts were different, your emotions were different, but they all happened in the presence that is there right now and was there at that time as well. When you were a teenager, everything was different, and when you are an old person, everything is different but the presence remains constant.

-- Deepak Chopra