Sartre's theory of the Look

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Professor Ellie Anderson, co-host of Overthink philosophy podcast, introduces the theory of the look (or "the gaze") in existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness.
This video was created just for our KZbin subscribers (thank you for your support!) based on Professor Anderson's Existentialism course at Pomona College.
You can read Dr. Anderson's article on Sartre's theory of shame in Philosophy Today (mentioned in the video) here: www.academia.edu/50305253/Sar...
For more from Dr. Anderson, check out Overthink podcast! Available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen (including previous episodes here on KZbin!)
Overthinkpodcast.com

[@sleethmitchell]

i remember being 7 or 8, riding in the backseat of my mother's car. a stranger on the street locked eyes with me as we rode by. at that instant, i felt that we could exchange souls or bodies.... now, in my 70s, the boundaries between me and other people, dog, spiders, blocks of wood are all fading away. and, soon, i will fade away as well.

[@user-ph6we3bz6b]

that’s beautiful

[@thatonehoots]

You are a water drop descending towards a body of water - you can view the water, as it is, and the water views you, as you are, but only for a fleeting moment before you are the body of water. Existence is everywhen and everywhere - what may seem like empty space between you and I is not in fact empty or void of existence. I feel that, with life and beyond the furtherance, there is no fading away, but a constant motion of existence.

[@SiliconBong]

@@thatonehoots Good answer. *wish I could remember the name of the video, it's about children who remember things they shouldn't be able to; one kid describing a 'big man who opened a door so I could get out' -he was delivered via cesarean section by a tall doctor. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

[@DavidChristopherCasey]

@@thatonehoots well said.

[@DavidChristopherCasey]

@sleethmitchell that’s interesting. I never had that experience as a child, but I have, as an adult. Thanks for sharing your story.

[@Catholic_Fiat33]

I personally get really uncomfortable when people look at me. So I can relate to his idea that we are masters of our own world when we are alone as the subjects of our reality. But as soon as another person steps in we become objects and it's fundamentally threatening to our freedom. Especially because we can get into power struggles over 'what we are'. If someone defines us as a bad person and we define ourselves as a good person there is an automatic battle over who's view is more correct. Who has the greater authority of judgement. I think it explains why sensitive people prefer to be alone. Because when your alone you are free to define yourself and to live freely in that definition.

[@yawningchasm33]

🐱‍🚀🐱‍🚀

[@gristlevonraben]

This is why I like god's way of seeing us, to god, everyone is valuable. We may do horrible things when young, but we deserve more chances to change, because we mean something to him and others and to ourselves. Our value is not something that can be changed, no matter how much people want to be above us or make us lower. Such people are still children.

[@blaketheshepherd]

It's also why delusional/stubborn people prefer to be alone lol

[@Bat_Boy]

Great comment!

[@bubbafug00gle51]

I know exactly what you mean... I get really uncomfortable when people look at you too. I wish you would stay home more. Sorry, couldn't resist... but I am seriously the same way.

[@tonysienzant6717]

This explanation made me think of our current technology, wherein virtual spaces like Facebook, Instagram, KZbin, etc. are having the effect of transforming young people into 'objects' for others' gaze, as if their very personhood (or subjectivity) is on view as a 'brand,' a commercial entity, a consumer commodity. And then, the negative emotional effects of constantly 'needing' that attention, that outside validation of their inherent worth as a person. It's as if they've lost their subjectivity in the electronic morass of object-hood presence. They've become dehumanized by an addictive technology, which cares not for the soul of man, but for its own proliferation which is monetized for profit.

[@OverthinkPodcastPhilosophy]

Keep an eye out for a forthcoming podcast episode on "Influencers," in which we discuss this! You might also enjoy our episode on Zoom and self-objectification from 2021: www.overthinkpodcast.com/episodes/episode-11 The audio podcast has a lot more conversation and detail! Our KZbin channel here is an offshoot :)

[@marciasloan534]

BINGO

[@Phoenix-qv2jq]

@@marciasloan534 Wow! I was just going to reply the same...

[@Phoenix-qv2jq]

@@marciasloan534 I think we've been thinking about this for a long time

[@sweatshopjesus]

Yes, you're right, the lady presenter is very attractive.

[@colinfrags5691]

I get so excited when a theory I have on something is actually a real thing that somebody else thought too. It makes me know that I'm not alone in my deep introspection on the psyche. Very cool explanation of this theory I otherwise wouldn't know about.

[@NorthernKitty]

This helps me considerably to understand my social anxiety. It's very situational and I've never been able to quit put into words what triggers it. Oddly, it's not when people perceive me as an object. Contrary to the "shame" that Sartre talks about, I am comfortable with that. I am comfortable blending into the background as if I'm just part of the scenery. Or, to use an analogy of the gaming world, being a "non-player character". Like in the movie "Free Guy". It's when they elevate me to being a subject that I have difficulty, when they elevate me to player status. There is a different sort of expectation or judgment that goes with that.

[@prod.hxrford3896]

Man I’m glad that this stuff has been written about and articulated, because I’ve felt this and thought about this a lot, without ever feeling like anybody else was realising the same thing

[@bubbafug00gle51]

Nothing you will ever feel or think is truly original... whether that is comforting or horrifying depends on your mood and general temperament. It's like the saying "this too shall pass"

[@darkmythos4457]

altough one might feel unique, we are anything but, any conceivable feeling, idea, situation we might experience was already lived thousands of time by others

[@prod.hxrford3896]

@@bubbafug00gle51 Yeah, I guess it's loneliness, not originality. That being said, it's very possible to be original amongst the people you're around. In the history of all thought, nobody is really original, but in the scope of a sample of average people I believe it is very possible to have realisations others don't have.

[@bubbafug00gle51]

@@prod.hxrford3896 I am sure that is true in some sense. It's definitely possible to be the first person to articulate feelings or ideas in a culturally unique way. Einstein's relativity theories being an example from science instead of philosophy.

[@deathchips926]

I find it fascinating how i'll have these nebulous exisential thoughts only to realize later that it has been thoroughly examined and articulated by someone else. This is a perfect example where my struggle in the past has been seeing others as "objects" and thus realizing that I am nothing but objects to them as well. This creates that feeling of shame in Sartre's view as well as a feeling of insignificace.

[@sappho3000]

This video showed up in my KZbin recommended page. I decided to give it a try and... I've binged watch all your videos on continental philosophy! You really have a gift of explaining complex ideas in a simple and clear way. It's also nice to see a fellow woman in mostly men dominated field. Great job and keep it up :)

[@jakobson219]

@Ali Al-Mahdi hahahahaha! The thoughts of a man who can't get any because he is sick in the head.

[@rmx6737]

@Ali Al-Mahdi Pls seek professional help....

[@DrAbadie]

@Ali Al-Mahdi you're just projecting bro, every one of your "women think that" can be replaced by "i think that" Example : Moreover, I think that bleeding reflects a deficiency, and that is why I see women as generally insecure, and as a result, I don't see them as capable beings worthy of engaging in societal affairs, so that's why I tend to see them as submissive!

[@thebackrunner7372]

@Ali Al-Mahdi You're diseased if creativity is called a disease.

[@Baraa.K.Mohammad]

@Ali Al-Mahdi bro! علوش! Are you okay my man! You seem to be having a lot of fun with LSDs, that's definitely not Ramesses' piss, homie!

[@jdparker9]

So clearly explained. Sartre’s being-for-others is, I think, a key insight to understanding our contemporary world in which we are understood and understand ourselves primarily in terms of how others see us.

[@alicegam]

This was great, glad I found this channel! Looking forward to watching more of your stuff!

[@mitrikoudsi8060]

I'm so glad I found your channel. You have such calmness and deep wisdom in your field of study. You are a great professor and I appreciate your message 🙏❤ . Thank you for your service to the awaking humanity.

[@kirkaur]

I love your videos Professor Anderson! You're really good at explaining concepts. Looking forward to reading your paper 💜

[@RahulWaslekar]

This is so engaging and well presented! So glad I found this channel! Thank you

[@jasonhu4225]

Thank you so much Professor ! ! I am really grateful for the subtitles since English is not my first language. Your channel is so underrated~💙

[@jamesh2499]

Sartre's view on shame is pretty mind blowing, glad I stumbled upon this video and channel 👍

[@mthompson0977]

I enjoyed this ! Thank you ,Professor Anderson ,for making these videos available !

[@williamkraemer8338]

What a great delivery and such clarity. I hope to listen to many more of Prof. Anderson's lessons.

[@bastianflimm825]

thank you for this excellent video, on the technical side: there are hardly any cuts, you go through it so easily, you seem so much inside your field, that it leaves me speechless

[@mikicasains2309]

Excellent, very well displayed concept of the Look by Sartre: clear, precise, and just fun to watch, thanks!!

[@XanderGimbel]

this was so well put together, amazing video

[@stews9]

He's talking about going from a playable character to a non-playing character in the simulation, which changes with being observed versus observing, Observing is active, playable. Being observed is passive, non-playable. It's that helplessness in suspense stories when the viewpoint character feels watched, stalked. Power drains, fear builds.

[@diemanhto8037]

I am learning about Sartre, and this lecture helps me immensely in understanding the subject! Thank you so much!

[@heshamlive1968]

Thank you for this video. I'm a nonnative speaker but my love for philosophy is beyond any language💖💖

[@a.e.jabbour5003]

Thanks especially for the link to the article, expanding on this. I really look forward to reading it.

[@VinylMonkey]

This was a very positive video and I enjoyed the insight it provided! I also thoroughly appreciated Dr. Anderson's reading of Sartre's interpretation of 'the look' and adding her understanding of it. This is a great video and I can't wait to see more :)

[@mcmacshalfilya]

I'm looking at U😍

[@jsguitargeek1432]

This is brilliant - thank you for posting it.

[@fauseth]

Wow. Quite a bit to think about tonight before bed. Thank you for spreading the opportunity for personal insight and a different perspective on others.

[@biancan653]

You explain a very complex subject in such a clear way. It reminds me of my philosophy teacher, she was one of the best teachers i've ever had. thankfully in my school we had a k-12 program that included philosophy and music since kindegarten. i arrived at seventh grade but i'm still thankful for all the skill it has given me in my life, now that i'm "transitioning" to adulthood. i'm glad that this video randomly played while i was doing my chores, this seems like a great podcast. :)

[@DSteinman]

This is the clearest explanation of Sartre I've heard, thanks!

[@itriedmany]

EXCELLENT OBSERVATION AND EXPLANATION OF SARTRE'S THEORY OF THE LOOK! I love your being! Looking forward to more! Subscribed!

[@glorIA1A2B]

Thank you ..clear and crisp, handling complexity with grace.

[@sbh1311]

I find it so compelling and vital to delving into this type of introspection

[@vince6625]

So glad I stumbled upon your channel!

[@sahilrbakshi5563]

The explanation given is extremely simple. Extremely enriching !

[@johnmatthewhall]

Ellie Anderson is brilliant. She never wastes a word, making the complex concise and understandable, even for laymen like me.

[@Miss37Orange]

This is such an interesting topic, loved how such a complex philosophical idea was articulated perfectly! This has literally allowed me to understand how I feel around others vs being alone, thank you!x

[@MrBuzzzzz]

Interesting how many of you left comments that are almost the same. It's quite obvious the whole comment section for this video is fake

[@dinodracula24]

I remember being a kid in my yard at home and seeing a girl from elementary school down the street walking with her family and not expecting to see her there. I was existing in the bubble of being at home, and at ease. When I saw her, I instantly felt like I was at school, and under the gaze of the entire classroom and no longer at ease. Basically, I was transported in spirit to my sort of habitual emotional alignment at school, which was different than my at home at rest state. I understood it because there was only one factor that made that happen, the act of seeing her and no longer feeling alone because of the potential of being seen back by her.

[@gristlevonraben]

As an autistic person I did and still do see myself as equal to everyone else, as people. It still gets me in trouble when meeting people with more education and anyone in authority. If I am interested in a subject I will explore it and have read new things that educated people in a particular subject have not learned, which instead of exciting them, actually irritates them. When someone in authority tells me to do something, they can see me pondering it, which also irritates them. I don't follow laws or rules because I have to. I do so out of kindness, orderliness, or love. Like many autistic people, I created my own social contract with society. I was just blessed to not have created a sociopathic contract which makes everyone else something to be used, as many scientists and business people have done. I can feel shame, but I try to remember that others do too, so I try to be a gentleman and not make them uncomfortable. I used to hate my autism and naivety, but it has made me a more caring person to others and myself.

[@eduardomoroyoqui622]

OMG I do the same. I don't know if I am in the spectrum or not, but I life is easier if I think I am. So going back to to the topic, I always feel that I am the one who is observing, and trying to grasp all the information I can, at the point that I forget that I am being seen also hahaha. Can you please explain a little bit about that you created your own social contract with society? That sounds very interesting. Thank you in advance ^^

[@Aeimos]

I'm on the spectrum and I feel the same way about authority. Because I'm free from mental constraints of the rest of society and able to flout authority without any self conscious doubt, I set out for the past couple decades to create a new set of rules for a new society. It's just a matter of finding a way to recruit people to this new order.

[@BigJuice69]

@@Aeimos I'm down

[@BigJuice69]

Your comment about deciding whether or not to do something when told totally makes sense as to why authority figures hate my guts, always wondered that, not gonna stop though.

[@Aeimos]

@@BigJuice69 The foundational tenant of my philosophy is people of European descent are the creators and thus the inheritors of Western civilization and it's our authority to guide it in the direction that most favors our survival. Still down? ;)

[@amarijayamari]

Thank you for a lucid and engaging talk. Tank you for the link to your Philosophy Today paper.

[@dukerobinson5421]

An excellent explanation of this concept. Thank you.

[@pmccarthy001]

These are really difficult concepts to understand. Your videos make the really hard a bit easier. Thank you.

[@giantessmaria]

great stuff, thanks! I could only imagine that endless feedback loop he must have felt when you have one of those very deep, heart to heart conversations that always seem to go into the wee hours of the morning because they're so enjoyably intense! For me, when I get into this situation, I start feeling; WOW, this person is me and I am them, or we are one! No shame, no intimidation, no guilt, just pure mind boggling amazement that we almost feel inseparable when engaging in such a deep, intimate way. Both subject and object. both observer and the observed without the sense of being either one or the other, for just a magical moment in time!

[@bruce-le-smith]

Agreed, accepting we are mammals and allowing that feeling of an 'undifferentiated us' in a moment of abandon is an integral part of the mystery of being human. It's been a long time since I grappled with Sartre, but he seems very Apollonian in this case!

[@greghampikian9286]

Thank you for providing a crystal clear explanation.

[@johnsiegfried]

Wonderful! Thank you for explaining the look.

[@telosbound]

Such a brilliant insight!! You explained it very simply as well :)

[@Azz97aro]

Thanks for the article.

[@swamification]

KZbin’s algorithm can’t be all evil if it recommended your channel. Subscribed!

[@nationaltwin]

Amazing idea for a series. Can't wait to delve into this.

[@fizihkull]

Thanks for doing this! Awesome delivery of really interesting material. Easy like and sub.

[@Slim7073]

Very interesting concept to know about. Thank you for making this video.

[@chris-nevillekaragiannopou9945]

Great content and delivery! Cool stuff!

[@Fuff63]

My Dad often said to me, ‘hey man, don’t overthink it’. So it made me smile when I saw the name of this channel.

[@artford8674]

That's a great explanation for what I (we) have perceived, but never consciously thought out. Thank you.

[@ud0ntevenkn0wme]

You have a great speaking voice. I hope your channel keeps getting bigger!

[@emilewilmar4919]

This is so intuitive! Because when I look through the screen into your eyes, you become the centre of my universe…

[@sophiafake-virus2456]

Emile your libido is bigger than your intellect

[@off6848]

So where is your shame entering in?

[@gunnarlarson8586]

Agree with Sappho and others. These are exceptionally well-organized and intelligently presented talks. Good work Ellie. I always enjoy seeing someone who's good at what they do.

[@jfrancis6191]

I like that idea of possibilities vs probablities. I think this is why it’s so satisfying to prove people wrong when they underestimate you. Your possibilities have trumped their probabilities. It’s honestly one of the best feelings in the world.

[@StefanGBucher]

Oh, this is so interesting! I have that experience hearing my upstairs neighbors. And this dovetails with a few things in my therapy. Thank you for this!

[@bikecaptain8015]

No shade, This is one of the coolest channels I've found in years. New, but immediate big fan. I'm surprised the professor didn't draw a parallel to how Sartre's concept of The Gaze relates to existing within a State. You *are* an object, now and forever. If that guy over there isn't looking at you that way, it's only because he feels an appointee is handling the responsibility. "Hey, I'm no cop. We got cameras."

[@NoOne-jr2wp]

Wow, I love this, thank you!

[@aetherin7263]

This was so helpful!

[@snowdriftmoon]

great video, glad to see more inspection of B&N other than bad faith. It’s also interesting how much solipsism lingers in Sartres ideas even despite his attacking it quite heavily in the text.

[@monicaalvarado1166]

Very nice and interesting lesson, thank you!

[@elis9344]

Clear, concise, instructive, excellent 😘

[@zenclover8468]

I appreciate that there was no nonesense up top. She got straight into it and didnt waste my time.

[@TheCompleteGuitarist]

This feels strangely like a missing scene from Annie Hall. Joking aside, I can relate to this in part when I travel on the bus and you sit looking forward and are not sure if the person in the opposite row of seats are looking at you or not. In some ways this reminds me a lot of RD Laings The Politics of Experience where he explores how we cannot see ourselves through the eyes of another, how we cannot know their experience of us.

[@price724]

This is all over my head but you are captivating

[@samuelazevedo9112]

Thank you for such an elucidating video

[@SuChingYu]

thanks for your great content

[@AndrejaAndric]

I feel that there are many leaps of thought in this reasoning. The thinking goes linearly, and no alternatives seem to be explored. "I am an object of a gaze and my sense of self completely collapses. (....) my subjectivity vanishes. (...) Feeling of being an object circles shame". How are these things supposed to follow from one another? To me it could be quite the contrary. For example: "I am an object of a gaze and my sense of self completely collapses." - the sense of self is, on the contrary, built and strengthened through the eyes of the beholder(s). We get to, moreover, know ourselves and our place and agency in the world more readily through the eyes of others.

[@off6848]

He hated himself for lusting after children. Every axiom starts at misanthropy

[@pipersolanas3322]

I love listening to you!

[@dstuart2918]

This is so great--thanks

[@nasrinvahidi5515]

Very now nice. Great job! Thank you

[@port525]

Good job. Thank you 🙏

[@abdelrahim5184]

Wow I switched these without even knowing, now I look rather than feeling of being looked at and I tell you it's Soo relaxing, even wen I feel like the object of the look, am still able to at from my subject point and what a wonder to behold. Namastê

[@gabrielbburn]

This video couldn't have popped up in my reccomended tab at a better time. Just a few days ago while I was at work, for seemingly no reason I look up from what I'm doing to see one of my coworkers looking at me. And for whatever reason I was filled with this incredible flash of fear. It was bizarre.

[@BummersAbound]

I do landscaping and some of my customers (mostly the elderly ones) watch me work. One guy even hides behind bushes or curtains and thinks I can’t see him. Being watched drives me nuts and takes my mind off of my work. Inevitably I’ll make a mistake because I’m not focusing on my work. They of course see this and complain and watch me even closer from then on. A few customers I’ve never actually seen. We communicate by text. They are the best customers.

[@odietamo9376]

This channel is well named. Overthink indeed. Sartre was no great philosopher, but an archetype of French intellectualism spun out of control. He was dangerous. His work could be a guidebook on how to achieve mental illness. He will mess with your head if you allow it. Georges Simenon had great contempt for Sartre’s ideas. Simenon was a great artist. When I was much younger, for years I regularly tied myself in emotional knots, obsessing about how people looked at me or what they might say about me. I really suffered from that! But eventually I matured, got stronger, and grew a thicker skin. This video has taught me one thing. Now I know where the millennial/Gen Z notions of micro-aggressions, being triggered, and feeling threatened by a word, an idea, or even someone’s name comes from. The children of Sartre and the Existentialists. What a legacy!

[@MichaelMarko]

This is great. Perfect driving home stuff!!

[@AlchemicalForge91]

Whoa.. fascinating. And perfect clarification of the idea.

[@jaypandya9661]

Amazingly explained.

[@MartB1979]

Thank you for this. I'm just a hobbyist with Western philosophy, and this is really helpful. I read through Being and Nothingness recently and found it a bit of a slog. I really didn't get on well with it (Heidegger strangely I have found easier to get to grips with and relate to the concepts), but this has helped me probe a bit deeper. Are you planning to do any videos on other Satre themes?

[@bruce-le-smith]

It is amazing how Heidegger is easy to engage with!

[@MartB1979]

@@bruce-le-smith I clearly can't profess to be fully confident that I understand what he is on about in all of Being and Time, but I can get some of the gist, and even for those sections that are less clear, they generally mean something to me and help me reflect on a different aspect of life or way of looking at things. I think it's because he didn't restrict himself with language and created his own words. To be honest, those parts where he uses his own unique terminology more frequently, I probably feel that I have more of an understanding of the intended theme. To me, Satre seems to cook things that bit further and it goes outside of my palate range sometimes!

[@Ricardo-ez1ir]

health and wellness to you Prof. Anderson. decades ago I was in the milieu of Logic and Philosophy and Greek mythology... fascinating disciplines!

[@bruce-le-smith]

Great video, thank you. Exceptionally clear! I don't recall many of my professors making difficult ideas this approachable. I can't help but wonder if Sartre kept all his food clearly separated on his plate. Seems easy to agree with critiques that the world is a constant jumble of many little messy states at once and not big simple on/off moments.

[@italianbirdvideos6190]

So good. Thanks.

[@Thundercats-HOOOOO]

Self conscious vs. Confidence is what you just described from my perspective.

[@auntieroach]

Thank you so much! This was such a good prep for my lecture! The reading on this broke my brain a little hah

[@meesalikeu]

GREAT JOB -- I LOVED YOU IN FIRESTARTER AND I LOVE YOUR NEW CHAT SHOW

[@keepitreal333]

So fantastic to finally put terminology to this phenomenon of the gaze or being' looked' at, the switch between being the looker and being looked at. Also the last idea about black in a 'white space'.. simply fascinating. I wonder if this also explains the psychology of imposter syndrome? Really insightful stuff, thank you!

[@Phoenix-qv2jq]

Also, being white in a "black space" (or being a minority for that matter)

[@philiplacey5430]

Tuned in for some overthinking - wasn't disappointed. I'm generally oblivious to other humans but I manage to bumble through life with a pleasant demeanor.

[@doc2590]

im a Allan Watts fan and really enjoy listening to his lectures, to me he makes a lot of sense. Now I have stumbled upon overthink and am enjoying your videos too. thx for taking the time to do this.

[@odietamo9376]

Alan Watts is far superior. In fact, he frequently called the Existentialists “dangerous.”

[@jysmtl]

@@odietamo9376 “superior”!?

[@odietamo9376]

@@jysmtl In my experience, yes. Without going into details, Watts educated me about much of life that would be hard to overstate. History, philosophy, religions, and more. An approach to life that has been enriching. I find the Existentialists, including Sartre, bleak and downbeat. What you are left with is a kind of emptiness and despair. An almost oppressive absurdity of life. I recall hearing many years ago a lecture of Watts in which he mentioned the Existentialists. He said, “Watch out for them.” Implying that if you are not careful, they can lead you down a dark and dangerous path. At that point I had already read a bit of Sartre and some others. It left me cold. After hearing Watts comments about them I began to understand my reaction. I’m not saying don’t read Sartre, not at all. Study what you like. I only urge a kind of intellectual caution.

[@mikhailshipotko3201]

Awesome podcast, keep it up👏

[@cranstonsnord3625]

I Iove your lectures.

[@robertadams3437]

I really liked this video. I think Sartre descried it perfectly. Also I really appreciate when a professor or a youtube channel can explain these concepts in real world language that is easier to understand. Thank you for posting this video. So my question is, is it possible to have a brain with complex thoughts and high order thinking and not experience the self consciousness and insecurity that Sartre talks about in this situation?

[@ImSimplyAHuman]

@Robert The first type of person that comes to mind is a psychopath. but I’d love to hear an example of someone who is not a psychopath - but also doesn’t feel this shame and insecurity 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@Qs_-uy8ye]

Thank you🙏🏼

[@Rory_Arlo]

So glad you showed the picture of the grass, bench and tree otherwise I wouldn’t have understood what you meant.

[@anitaostrander4301]

Sarte is so deep. I like how you broke down this theory. I wonder if you wouldn't mind tackling his theory of hate in the same book. I'm having a hard wrapping my mind around it.

[@02108]

i live in a large apartment building and sometimes i become very much aware of the fact that the actual distance between me and the people living around me is not as vast as the inner map of contrived passageways and barriers that i imagine as separating us

[@JJBushfan]

Interesting. I'll think about it and work out my own version. One thing I might say, however, is that I've spent my life rarely connecting with people, but instead observing them. So when somebody looks at me and I don't know why, it's actually a pleasant experience to be the object for a change.

[@McLKeith]

The subject/object feeling is artificially created by thought. Douglas Harding in his book "On having No Head" says: we see our image in a mirror 3 feet away, turn it around, place it on our shoulders and take it to be ourselves. Further, our parents give us a name and our personality coalesces around it. In a Zen kensho experience, the subject object dichotomy disappears. In neuroscience, it is the left hemisphere that thinks and the right hemisphere is the holistic. I realize that this is an over simplification. But when we live from our senses more than from our thoughts, we enter this holistic way of being in the world.

[@daintiestquarters3411]

Fascinating. I am going to get Being and Nothingness right away.