Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Sideways Glance is The Key To Raising Your Consciousness Raising Your Vibration
I watched a movie last night. Stayed up watching it till 1:30 am. Way past my bedtime, because it was urgent for me to watch it. lol.
I knew there was something very important in it for me to get. but what?
I had seen this movie, back in Hungary, 50 years ago.
The movie is called ‘The Lawyer’
There are two important elements relevant to your life in this movie.
The two crucial elements that are relevant to my life and to you. Let’s see the lessons the movie teaches.
The movie is about the conviction and subsequent acquittal of a doctor accused of murdering his wife.
The prosecutor’s team is so sure that the doctor is guilty, they don’t do any investigation. None.
In spite of that, the jury finds the doctor guilty… Based on only circumstantial evidence that tells a likely story.
The doctor appeals the decision.
Preparing for the appeal the lawyer’s team does all the work of investigation they can do in the sixties… which is not a whole lot, but something-something.
The closing words of the defense (pay attention) is that ‘the American judiciary system says: when the accused walks in he is innocent unless proved guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt.’
And the lawyer then tells the story of ‘what really happened’, an alternative story, another likely story, another interpretation of the same circumstantial evidence.
A likely story…
A second story just as likely, just as probable, just as believable, as the first one that was used to convict the doctor.
A story where other people had the motive, the opportunity and the means to commit the murder. Every single element is accounted for and explained… just like before, but with a different interpretation.
And the jury this time acquits the doctor, because the existence of two believable stories, two possible interpretations, made neither of the stories beyond a reasonable doubt.
And that was the first lesson. That the same pieces of information, the same pieces of happenings can be put together more than one way. Which means: neither of them is the truth, or at least we don’t know what the truth is.
A Sideways Glance At The World
The first time I encountered this phenomenon was in an inspired moment, back in 1987.
I was at a week long class. Between two exercises my group had to wait, so our leader suggested that we sit down and allow our minds to clear.
As I was sitting, I thought that I had never revisited the incident when my father molested me. This was as good a time as any. We were on a beautiful mountain, the weather was mild, the colors of the fall were exploding… perfect time.
My mind chose to look at the incident as if it were part of a historical exposition in a museum: the museum visitors separated from the scene by a velvet rope only. I watched from the side…
I was watching the scene unfold, the little girl with curly hair, one sock slipped down, screaming, her mouth full of goop. There was no sound. It was like a silent movie. And it was funny… A lot like those cream-pie-in-your-face movies. Funny to look at, but you don’t really want to be the one with the pie in your face.
I remembered the incident that ‘it was horrible.’ Not funny, but horrible…
Funny. Horrible. Funny. Horrible. It can’t be both… either one or the other… Or maybe neither?
And in that moment I was free from that whole experience… it was just what happened.
I have been able to maintain the sideways glance, the museum scene. Without the funny, though.
The lawyer in the movie, because of his sideways position, look at what happened from the sidelines. And with the exact same circumstantial evidence he could make up a second likely story that invalidated the first… and acquitted his client.
You see, the capacity for a sideways glance is grand. And rare.
The prosecution is like you. You aren’t able to do it unless you can step aside and look anew… As in ‘re-spect’… look again with different eyes.
The prosecution (you), as always, is mired in the same story from the beginning. And because of that you can never change your life.
If you were me and had my story, you would choose to live out your days as an abused child. You would NOT choose to move on because what happened is JUST what happened? You wouldn’t choose to grow, to expand, and fulfill your dreams. Like the prosecution, you would insist that your story is true.
Why am I saying this? Because after coaching hundreds of students, I have rarely seen any who was willing to change their story.
What allowed me to escape that ‘abused child’ predicament is the sideways glance… my first foray to a higher consciousness.
Without the sideways view, without being able to look at the original story and allowing it to not be true, your consciousness will not rise. You’ll continue to be a pedestrian, and a victim.
Sideways glance is the secret sauce. Coming from and causing higher consciousness.
And it is not only the original story that can be made malleable with the capacity of the sideways glance, but any new story. And also the way you view people.
You see, the human condition makes us view ourselves as an object in the world of objects. And as an object we are always threatened. Threatened to be slighted, to be undervalued, to be attacked, to be blamed.
But when you view yourself and others as an object you are cut off from what makes you human: joy, love, gratitude, peace of mind. They are not possible for an object living in a world of objects.
And how can you love an object… your spouse, your parent?
Respect and this sideways view are the exact same capacities. Where you catch that you are looking from a fixed way at the world, and can shift it to look from a different place… so the world can occur differently to you.
This sideways glance capacity is called the Driftwood… I know it is a funky name, but the condition of the driftwood is such an apt description of the human condition: I could not resist.
The capacity of this sideways view is one of the most difficult to master. And yet it is one of the most potent capacities of all.
If and when you can get a second glance from a different angle, with a different, empty mind, everything shifts for you as it did for me.
Here is the session I teach the capacity…
Learn the invisible dynamic… 
Ok. I don’t understand it yet. I’ll have to forget what I think I know (again… Haha) Thanks
it’s a useful practice. it is not the sideways glance though
I tend to ruminate and replay uncomfortable memories over and over- usually as participant, rarely observer. But sometimes I can watch the scene like a movie clip & add a laugh track or absurd dramatic music. It happened spontaneously once & I try to use it as a tool now. Is that like a Sideways Glance? Or is that a useful practice, you think?