Photo Credit: Marty Correia, Kate Sitting with Rothko
In physics, the Observer Effect is the idea that the mere act of observing a phenomenon inevitably changes it.
The Observer Effect
I am not a scientist, and I will take the words above for face value while letting you know that scientists and mathematicians have observed, documented, and proven this concept to be true. The combination of the Observer Effect and the belief that our bodies know what they need to heal can help us find our authentic selves. The stories below are connected to the Observer Effect in some way. They are also connected to trusting that there is knowledge beyond our thoughts that can guide us if we let it.
Searching for Peace Amidst the Spiritual Energy of the Holocaust
I recently read a book by Ellen Korman Mains, Buried Rivers: A Spiritual Journey into the Holocaust. It is an excellent book in which Ellen recounts her journeys to Europe to connect with the residual energies of the Holocaust. Ellen sensed them while traveling on a train in Germany. She felt these energies as a combination of grief, revulsion, and much more. Ellen eventually made finding a way of relating to these energies her life’s work and has written this book to describe her journey.
What Ellen found when she came in contact with these unresolved energies or spirits was that she eventually was able to hold space for them by dropping the habitual tendencies to judge them (thereby fearing or rejecting them) or to identify with them (thus feeling shame). As she learned to hold space for them in this neutral way, a natural state of compassion emerged.
From Observation, Grief, to Compassion
As Ellen held space for them, they also held space for her own healing. The process that both she and the suffering spirits shared provided mutual benefit. Because of her capacity to observe and sense energies that others might not recognize, she was able to hold a space of compassionate presence for them. With her support, these spirits were able to experience their own capacity to heal. At the same time, her connection to the Holocaust, as the daughter of an Auschwitz survivor, also improved.
In doing this work, Ellen was supported in her lifelong quest to live deeply in the present. Her Buddhism and Focusing practices helped her find basic goodness even in the aftermath of the Holocaust by observing and accepting exactly what was already there. This helped her bring an attitude of steady, quiet attention and open curiosity. In the end, she found she could heal herself while helping others by holding space for what was there, allowing the energies she encountered to be witnessed, and giving them the time and space they needed to heal.
Ellen continues this work by sharing her book with audiences around the world.
Kate and Mark Rothko Observing His Space Together
A friend, Kate, told me about an experience at the Whitney Museum in New York City. She was interested in having a more meditative experience in the museum rather than walking by one painting after another. She asked the staff to provide her with a small stool that some museums offer patrons. The stool gave her a chance to sit and be with a painting or other art object.
As Kate walked around the museum, she found a painting that called to her. It was Mark Rothko’s Four Darks in Red. Continue reading “The Release of Suffering: Observer Effect”
