Observance

The theme for today is "Observance"

I'll try to tie together some recent themes.
Perhaps we can connect the dots
or enjoy the energy that comes up

when we make them "neighbors"
and play host by inviting them to a party
To give them opportunity to mix and mingle.

I observe that as humans we are formed in many ways,
embodied and bounded in many ways

free and bound at the same time
and through the very same things.

The neuropsychologist David Eagleman
describes "self" metaphorically
as a passenger on an ocean liner

unaware of most things about what's on it,
how it works, or where it's going,

yet enjoying the ability to take credit for it all,
to feel like captain of the ship
(as well as the main cargo, I suppose).

This image is a bit spooky
if we think there aren't many other passengers on board.

We can also explore this ship
through observation
and (as we will later see) observance.

Let's board the good ship "Language"
which has traveled through time
and the oceans of culture.

Many of its staterooms have labels over the doorway.
We call these labels "words".

This word "observance" is not heard much in modern times, but "observation" is:
* The action or process of observing something or someone carefully or in order to gain information
* A remark, statement, or comment based on something one has seen, heard, or noticed

* The act of noting and recording something, such as a phenomenon, with instruments
* An inference or a judgment that is acquired from or based on observing

* An act or instance of observing a custom, rule, or law

Most of these definitions are very objective -- object centered
with little sense of the process, the meaning,
the wider context.

The last one is a doorway
to a different, older room on the Ship of Language.

Contrast this with the older word "observance"
and its word senses
* An act performed in accordance with prescribed usage, especially a religious or ceremonial one
* The act of keeping customs, attention, respect, regard, reverence

* The attending to and carrying out of a duty or rule
* The act or fact of paying attention

This is much more an activity,
not an object or a datum,

more meaning-oriented
relational
connected to and beholden to larger forces.

The stakes are high.
The old sense of "watch" means "to be vigilant",
to "guard someone or some place";
to keep under Observation.

"It has been observed"
means someone was alert,
and chose to watch or guard something important.

It has been observed
that the most valuable thing we possess is attention.

What an interesting statement.
It has the modern sense of objectification
and commodification
and also quite a "spiritual" sense:
the valuing of something that we consider immaterial
or at least, not built of "matter".

In the past we've considered the themes
of "Ritual" and "Sacrifice"
and wondered at their possible meaning
for people in "these times".

We structure our personal and social lives through ritual
which is what we do in order to shift experience
from one state to another

to move through a doorway
from one room of our Ship to another.

Rituals generally involve sacrifice.
Sacrifice is to give something up,
to leave something behind.
A necessary loss,
if we are finite beings.

Perhaps this is the meaning of old metaphors.
The camel cannot fit through the eye of the needle.
The full cup cannot receive more tea.
The monkey is trapped
because he won't let go of the banana inside the jar.

This is also one meaning of the "check in" we do in the group.
or even an ordinary greeting
a choice of activity or a topic of conversation.

We shift attention from one thing to another.

In doing so, what we sacrifice
is opportunity to be connected with something
to value it,
to attend to it,
to be in observance with it.

And we receive a mysterious freedom
to value and be in observance of something else.

The mind is driven, and led
by value, by valuing
as one of the most essential acts.
Sometimes we do this consciously,
intentionally,
and more often, unconsciously.

Let's consider
this in a personal sense.

Do you have some things you do with attention
that give order and structure to your life
and put you in relationship to it and to larger figures?

Or to "other me's"?

What do you "observe" and value in doing so?

What is left behind, lost or sacrificed?

How are you "different" through doing this?