Saturday, 14 September 2024 – South Fremantle, Western Australia
Morning meditation with music.
During the session, something became clear — not suddenly, but steadily.
I noticed the image of a circle forming.
Not as a concept, more as a felt structure.
Birth did not appear as the beginning of life, but as the opposite of death.
Life itself seemed to stretch between them.
I saw how the mind fills up over time.
Not deliberately.
Not selectively.
It accumulates — through parents, siblings, school, friends, media, mentors, governments.
Through language, expectations, repetition.
I noticed the weight of that accumulation.
What we call a life looked, in that moment, like a long process of digestion.
Taking in.
Sorting.
Trying to make sense.
At some point — not early, not guaranteed — a question seems to surface:
Who am I beneath all this?
When that question appears, attention turns inward.
Layers begin to loosen.
Conditioning becomes visible.
Not all at once — slowly, unevenly.
What I noticed was not disappearance, but disentangling.
Less noise.
More space.
Clarity didn’t feel like acquiring something new.
It felt like returning to something familiar.
The mind appeared lighter — not empty in the sense of ignorance, but unobstructed.
Capable of seeing without constant filters.
What remained carried experience, but less distortion.
That combination struck me:
clarity with lived experience.
I noticed a quiet satisfaction there.
Not excitement.
Not certainty.
Focus became easier.
Distraction less compelling.
Questions followed.
Is this awakening? Possibly.
Is it enlightenment? I don’t know.
Is it simply life, understood differently? That felt closer.
What stayed with me most was the circle.
The sense that clarity at the end does not negate the journey —
it completes it.
And that understanding loosened something else: fear.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
The idea of ending softened.
Not as disappearance — but as return.
That stayed with me after the session ended.
More field notes. ********* What is a field note?
One thought to “Field Note: The Circle”
“Death is not the opposite of life, birth is the opposite of death”! When I heard Eckart Tolle say this in an interview, I was filled with pure joy! This quote has remained with me ever since! <3