Apertures

Here’s a metaphor I find really helpful, as I observe my mood fluctuating, all day long.

APERTURES.

For those of you old enough to remember how a real camera works… there’s an aperture inside, that lets more, or less light through, depending on how open or closed it is.

(For the digital kids, this is primarily the ‘exposure’ setting. Back in the day, it was really easy to screw up an entire roll of film by either having your aperture too closed, leading to under-exposed photos, or too open, over-exposing the whole lot. And you never knew, until you got them back from the printers! Honestly, we have it so easy now 🙄👴🏻)

Anyway, here’s a visual representation of APERTURES, as it pertains to your experience of life.

And before we take a look at this metaphorical diagram, I want to drop in a quote from Alan Watts, to set the context a bit. He said:

“Every one of us is an aperture, through which the whole cosmos looks out.”

So instead of using my descriptor—LIFE—he's saying “the whole cosmos,” which is pretty much the same thing, isn't it?

We're both talking about the ineffable. The source of our experience. The energy that delivers the sorts of things you see in the bottom picture: creativity, love, connection, good ideas, intuitive nudges, possibility, perspective.

None of these things come from the mind, or ego. (More on this, below.)

And so the wider our ‘aperture’ is (i.e. the more present we are, in any given moment), the more of all the good stuff—delivered free of charge, by LIFE—gets through.

And the more closed down our ‘aperture’ is (i.e. the more our attention is on ego, blabbering away in our heads), the less of the good stuff we experience, and the more we experience all the things obstructing LIFE energy, instead.

I made this diagram for a client years ago, so the contents of the f/8.0 closed-aperture version are how it looked for them. You’ll have your own, and the details aren’t important (they’re all thought-created; products of a mind, talking to itself).

What’s important for me are these two observations:

1. The experience of LIFE (the f/1.4 open-aperture version) is universal. This is what we all get, when our (individual/unimportant) mental analysis falls away. LIFE always comes through us—so it has our ‘flavour’ or unique aperture-shape—but the source is the same: impersonal, universal life energy (‘The Allness’ as I've heard Syd Banks call it, in old audio recordings).
2. The two states feel different, in a way that’s instantly recognisable: closed-aperture feels tight, revved up and stressed, whereas open-aperture feels relaxed, calm & resourceful.

Which is why one of my Key Messages from the IMPLICATIONS module of my RECONNECT course is this:

The feeling you're in lets you know the state of your aperture, moment to moment – it's the human operating system's built-in alarm system that lets you know when you're off course, and attached to your egoic thinking.

One to remember, next time you’re feeling tight, revved up and stressed out: LIFE awaits – relax your aperture and let it through!

💟

Giles

p.s. I get a very real sense of this when I'm writing. If I'm aperture-open, then what needs to be said just flows through me, onto the page. And when I'm caught up in the many, varied forms of insecurity the Giles Ego Construct 📦 has been practicing its entire life (i.e. aperture-closed), then I'll find myself second-guessing, procrastinating and feeling stuck.

p.p.s. The observant among you will notice that how-open-or-closed-your-aperture-is-at-any-given-moment is exactly the same as which-floor-of-the-Great Glass-Consciousness-Elevator-you're-currently-at. (Because there's really only this one thing going on!) ↓

Thought, masquerading as presence

The one about the Great Glass Consciousness Elevator ↕️

The Daily RemindersGiles P Croft