There is a meditation technique known as the Reading Skip Jump. In normal meditation, the meditator quietly contemplates the scene before them, a room, a field, the sky, endeavouring to hold the entire scene in their field of vision at once. By meditating on the external, silence descends and an inner peace is attained.
A change comes when one first observes oneself observing. It
can be disconcerting to begin with, to hold the scene before you in your
perceptual range, including oneself and one's own drifting thoughts, and feel
removed from the scene like some form of out of body experience. It takes a little
practice, but this view of the world soon becomes comfortable, even comforting.
The stillness becomes deeper. The meditator becomes the 'Watcher'.
The Reading Skip Jump takes this technique to its next
plateau. The adherent adopts a comfortable position and begins to read from a
novel or other descriptive work (there should be no pictures - this is
important). In reading, one starts to visualise the scene being described. The
skill is then to incorporate the imagery into the general framework experienced
in becoming the 'Watcher'. The meditator meditates on the scene before them,
whilst also meditating on the narrative in their head. Some practitioners have
reported catching glimpses of the action out of the corner of their eye in the
real world.
But why, I hear you cry, is it called the Reading Skip Jump?
It is said that the true masters of the Reading Skip Jump can flip their
perception at the critical juncture, tricking the mind into thinking that the
fictional is the actual and the actual, fictional. In doing so, they are
propelled, with a skip and a jump, into the fabric of the novel. From there,
any number of new adventures are possible. It is at this stage that the
'Watcher' truly becomes the 'Reader'.
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