The essential is invisible to the eyes
"The essential is invisible to the eyes."
~Antoine de Saint Exupéry
This quote struck me when I came across it today because I’ve been writing about the Six Element Practice, which is a meditation where we reflect on the ways that we’re connected with the world. We reflect, for example, on the Earth element in the body — everything solid — and how all that has come from the Earth element outside of us. And therefore the Earth element in the body is not us, does not belong to us, and we are not it. And we repeat this for the elements Water, Fire (energy), and Air.
The Space and Consciousness elements are a bit different. You could see the Space element as being the shape that contains the other elements, so it’s the form that you recognize as yourself and identify with. This too is forever changing, and you also can’t own space or hang onto it (you don’t even occupy the same space for two consecutive moments because the earth on which you live is moving through space). So the space element also isn’t you, isn’t your’s, and you are not it. And the consciousness element reflection is noticing the arising and passing of sensations, feelings, thoughts, and emotions. So they are not inherent to the mind and so they’re also not to be identified with.
Anyway, in the meditation practice there’s a lot of imagination involved. In the Earth element section, for example, you have to imagine those parts of the body you can’t directly sense You have to imagine the external Earth element (everything solid outside you). You have to imaginatively recall the ways in which the external Earth element enters the body and the way the internal Earth element leaves the body (crapping, shedding skin cells, etc). You end up seeing the Earth element as being a flow. There’s a river of Earth passing by, and you happen to identify with that as being you. So that’s a deeper kind of truth than is evident to our senses, and that’s why the phrase "The essential is invisible to the eyes" struck me today when I read it.
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You’re currently reading “The essential is invisible to the eyes,” an entry on Bodhipaksa's blog, bodhi tree swaying
Published: Jul 28 2009
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Category: Meditation & practice
Each year now for some time, I’ve set my senior French students the task of reading and responding to “Le Petit Prince” where that quote is found. I imagine you know the book well. The whole text is an elucidation of that one thought. This year, when reading the student responses and reflecting on the text, more than ever before I was struck by the author’s simple wisdom. “The essential” is indeed the imagination, but also relationships, which are invisible, arbitrary and unquantifiable, and which make us vulnerable and hurt us, and make us… us. Anyway it is a truly beautiful work.
This Six Element Practice you speak of… It intrigues me. Is there a way that I can practice this at home, by myself?
Hey, Brandon. I have a sketchy outline of the practice on Wildmind and there’s a link to that in this post. I’m pretty sure there’s an audio version in there as well. If you don’t find it let me know, because it’s possible I forgot to post it. It’s a fairly long practice. I find it often takes me an hour if I’m doing it justice.